#an annoyed viking

[lowstakesvampires]

minecraft

[tyrannuspitch]

thinking about the specifics of loki's sexuality for the first time in aaages and like... while i am personally not too fussed and tend to go with the flow here. i've decided i think it's fair to argue that the loki show is so far removed from the original character that you don't have to accept what it says on the subject.

obviously SOME people will be doing that maliciously, especially (but by no means exclusively) if their alternative is that he's cishet. it's def worth watching out for (and reflecting on a little in yourself.)

but at the same time - there are genuinely zero datapoints on mcu loki's orientation while he has his original characterisation. he's never visibly attracted to anyone, and he never expresses any personal feelings on sex or romance. (i mean, overtly. you can read anything into anything if you go looking for it, but nothing is canon.) loki is queercoded, but his queercoding in the first three films is entirely about gender presentation. so, if you accept that this era of canon is separable from the rest, then by the same logic it follows that loki's actual orientation is a blank slate.

so yeah. obviously if you like seeing loki as bi that's great, vive la bisexualité. but also. if you see loki as gay or aroace or whatever else, especially if you've been doing so since the 2010s, who are any of us to tell you you're wrong.

[stromuprisahat]

Gods, I hate how they're shoving Freydis- ✨the Amazing Badass Saviour✨- down the viewers' throats. She's just a badly written, pseudo-cool, basic bitch narrative bends to to accommodate, with the sparkly mojo of instant adoration from other dumb pagans.

You've got all the bad tropes accumulated in this "character", and for some reason, she gets whole shitload of screentime.

[kitschhazel]

This many scrunchies…

[phantom-of-the-501st]

It's weird how friendship works

One of my housemates literally went from "that one person who lives in the house that we get on with but probs wouldn't be really close to" to "the one I go to if I ever have any issues because I know I can trust them and they'll always put me in a good mood also when watching TV shows we both get distracted every time there's a goat on screen" and I literally have no idea how or when that happened

[probayern]

today i'm the biggest giants fan in the world. please

[spaceshipkat]

the more i think about the spoilers ive heard and also where i clicked “pause” and never clicked “play” again, the less inclined i am to finish Vikings Valhalla season 3 and goddddd that is so depressing because the first two seasons are SO good. far from perfect (i will never be over the audacity of killing both of Leif’s female love interests) but so fucking enjoyable and while season 3 started well, where im at in it and where ive heard it’s going is not making me wanna get to the end. i’d rather pretend it ended at s2.

[the-halfling-prince]

Had this vision in my head, had to draw it. Idk what the context is but here's another teen Zephyr drawing but this time one of my ocs is there too

[cementcornfield]

These are the exact vibes I wanted

[viikingwitch]

CONTINUED FROM HERE, WITH KLAUS ( @klaeus )

               Despite the chiding words, a genuine smile touches her lips. She is embarrassed, yes. But clearly far more fond. “Hmm. And why did nobody bother to warn me about just how exasperating little brothers can be? Had I known this is what family entails, I might have been far less hasty with my return.” Eyes lightening up at his choice of words, she nearly lets a giggle out. There was a time, not that long ago, when Freya believed Klaus would never accept her as a sister; that she was fated to remain alone till the end of time. Oh, how elated she is to have been proven wrong. “Bonding? Is that what we are doing, Nik?”

[not-that-syndrigast]

modern!ivar would either be the most popular asshole bastard or some weird ass lone wolf, nothing in between

[tyrannuspitch]

[petty grumbling begins here]

so. i've just read loki 2019. (what is continuity? i just read whatever, whenever i feel like it.) and... it's been quite a while since i last read aoa, so i'm not 100% sure of how much of this grumbling applies there, but the basic... outline for characterisation is the same, even if the execution might be better in aoa.

and god i'm sorry but. this version of loki grinds my gears. they're so flippant and so snarky, and it's always juxtaposed with this really abstract Thematic Musing about The Meaning of Stories, and it's just like..... there's no middle ground here. there's no centre. we have the totally superficial surface, and we have the Grand Meaning, but where's the depth within the character. where's the humanity. is there anything here i can reach out and touch, anything i can connect with, anything i can put an emotional anchor in?

(aoa has some of that, but... still really not enough for my tastes. and other things such as what i've just read have practically none at all. this version of the character is so easy to do badly.)

and another way the flippancy annoys me is like... it's this quite immature method of making a villain sympathetic, where the writers feel the need to just flip things and flatten everyone else to support it. i'm so sick of hearing predictable jokes about thor being stupid. even if we accept that he literally is stupid, that's not all he is. if you want me to believe loki is complicated, then stop trying to be a comedian and complicate his backstory. or at very least, get new material.

and the frost giants, too, since they came up in this run... i know loki's had bad experiences on jotunheim, blah blah blah, but their feelings about it should still be complicated. boiling it down to a few snobby jokes is just really boring. also, you're not challenging the status quo by doing this! not in the slightest! these comics have ALWAYS flattened and vilified jotuns. "haha they're big and stupid" your humour is stuck in the 1970s.

and both of these flattenings boil down to the same basic idea. they're not even flattening people into a variety of archetypes. it's just all brain/brawn, all the time. and like, i'm sorry, but when your version of brain/brawn rivalry and underdog complex is less original and more annoying than *joss wh*don's*... don't you think it's time to try something new.

urgh. maybe i'm being unfair here. it's hardly unbelievable for these characters to keep treading the same ground, and the things i'm complaining about flattening are not the focus of the stories in question... but still. idk.

everyone wants to break free of the chains of Fate And Narrative. no-one wants to give up their stock jokes and stop treating supporting characters as one-dimensional objects. bro. you literally ARE the chains, and we've already had a whole arc about breaking them, so you could choose to just stop doing that!!

[ivyithink]

i am forever thankful that in tlk religions and beliefs seriously influence actions and views of the characters, but all seemingly mystical and supernatural things have logical explanations, making the world grounded in reality and viewing experience a lot less confusing

that said, i am a complete hoe for some scary supernatural religious horror imagery, so yeah

[wool-string]

Nothing more satisfying than watching him loose

[chintzwife]

im having a blast nalbinding bc im insane and i like to learn something new and struggle, but seeing scandinavians weep about the integrity of a dying viking craft is nauseating. nalbinding 'died out' because it's an extremely inferior craft compared to like the potential of crochet or knitting which are much more forgiving since they can be unwound after a mistake and can work out of an uninterrupted string of yarn without having to attach new lengths. crochet and knitting can make dense or thin textile easily, have more decorative options, and crochet still incorporates the flexibility and improvisation possible in nalbinding. it just doesn't compete lmao, even if it doesnt unravel. also if it 'died out' why are so many of you posting to instagram about it.

[thelirofnorthlands]

Am I the only person who gets super excited when I receive a message in the hopes of a fun decent conversation about a Viking fandom or fanfic or anything… only to be presented with Mabels porn page ….WTF??