#and even there if I say that it may make her likeable

[vogelmeister]

yes its all cool and fun and games when an oc calls you out but have you considered oc being so unlike you in every possible aspect

[harmoonix]

Sun's Kiss☀️Astrology

✧Observations✧

Sun of mine

I feel it, you rose above my street,

And now that you have come,

It will always be this way.

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

──☀️────☀️─────☀️────☀️────☀️───

☀️ Sun in the 7th house or Sun rulling the 7th house natives can get partners with good personality/traits. They can also be popular or known in their circle

☀️ Oh to be blessed being loved or loving someone with Pluto - Venus aspects is something to appreciate a lot. Once attached to someone their love is forever

☀️ Sun aspecting Chiron is an indicator of being anxious about yourself and you can often ask yourself questions like "Who I am" because in a way you need to discover who you are (Applies if you have Chiron or Sun in the same house aswell)

☀️ Leo or Aries Sun are often portrayed as people who have an likeable aura and personality, because Sun likes to be these zodiac signs

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☀️Saturn in the 4th, 6th, 8th, or 12th house can have toxic karmic debts who also involves their families. They have this "I'm stuck here forever" energy.

☀️ Leo in the 5th, 7th or 8th house can have potential at attracting charming partners or having charming relationships, they can also have these partners who are completely obsessed with them.

────────────── ☀️ ───────────────

Sun of mine

You're shining bright when I feel bad

One without the other

It wouldn't be the same anymore

───────────── ☀️ ──────────────

☀️ Ascendant ruler in the 9th house can indicate the native might like traveling or can end up travelling around the world (Even moving in other country for school/education)

☀️ Ascendant ruler in the 2nd house can indicate that the native has an impressive physical health, they can be strong both mentally and physically, also a good personality

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Something admirable about the earth placements is that they are born with this love for life, they appreciate life and her little things that matters

☀️ Leo/Aquarius Juno have high chances to met their partners on internet or in a big circle of people, even influential people.

☀️ Lilith at 5°, 17°, 29° degrees can be indicators of popularity, you must have something that is very pleasing to people's eyes and that thing can make you popular

☀️ Lilith at 8°, 20° degrees can indicate intimidation, the native can look intimidating at the first glance

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ An Cancer native falling in love with an Libra native give CINDERELLA vibes. One person is always searching for the other while one of them is dreaming about their love

☀️ Something very fascinating about Moon/Venus or Mercury in the 9th house is their love for other cultures is something to appreciate because not everyday you find someone who can love the culture more than they do (I said this and I will say it forever, 9th house placements= A mix of everything)

☀️ Mars - Uranus aspects (especially the harsh ones) are scary when they angry, this may sound odd but they have an hidden anger

☀️ Uranus chart ruler can give natives unexpected moments in life, like you end up with a lot of unexpected moments and think "Wait how this happened" but Uranus represents uniqueness so there is a reason for everything

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Uranus Beauty is something very UNDERATTED on tumblr, With Uranus representing uniquenees and innovation they are often ignored by astrologers but not today

Uranus in the 1st or 2nd house have a beautiful body and their voices can sound different than others

Uranus in the 3rd house gives unique voice and expression to the native

Uranus in 10th house can end up working in a unique place where they didn't expect at all, also they may have a pretty big image

Uranus in the 12th house can have an unique personality, you are liked by people very fast

(By the way every planet rules upon a specific part of our bodies, Uranus rules over our nervous system so yes the mars - Uranus aspects being angry totally approves 100%)

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Leo & Libra placements can look so beautiful with make up on (You are very beautiful naturally aswell) but the make up takes out your beauty

☀️ Aries Risings have a perfect chart (in the whole sign chart) they have every house in their matched sign

☀️ Sun at Taurus Degrees (2°, 14°, 26°) are so beautiful, they have a drop of Venus in themselves. Your hair and your eyes are important when it comes to your appearance, you are loved Venus child

────────────── ☀️───────────────

Sun of mine

You're shining bright when I feel bad

One without the other

It wouldn't be the same anymore.

────────────── ☀️───────────────

☀️ Sun at Aquarius Degrees (11°, 23°) are the type of people who get along so good with others. With their social skills and their smart brain, they are so lucky

☀️ Rising at Cancer Degrees (4°, 16°, 28°) can make the native hypersensitive or in general emotional more softly which is perfectly fine because they are a feminine energy

☀️ Taurus/Virgo Moons/suns/risings can be the most attracted to nature, is like a part of mother earth is in their soul

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

──☀️────☀️─────☀️────☀️────☀️───

|☀️| When the Sun is always shining Harmoonix is here with a new post ☀️

☀️ I really hope everyone who reads my notes has a good day full of light and warm vibes, is October so make it cozy ☀️🥰

☀️ May the sun's rays touch your skin and bless your heart with light and joy, Sun's Child ☀️

- With love, Harm☀️☀️nix

[essjujutsu]

?? QUESTIONABLE GROUP

DESC: yuji's friend group! notes at the end ( ˶^ᗜ^˶ )  masterlist

NOTES + CHARACTER INFO:

nobara lives with her grandmother , shes very outgoing which makes her close friends with everyone , she has a part time retail job (she only works so she can buy clothes) , has decent grades , and dosen't do any sports

megumi lives with gojo , he considers gojo to be his father figure but he dosent like to talk about his feelings—meaning he wouldn't ever say anything , i love stsg so gojo & geto are married >ᴗ< , tsumiki is in collage so she doesen't live with them currently , nanako & mimiko are like megumi's little sisters (they are in middle school) , he gets the best grades out of the group , that one rich kid that dosen't realize that their rich .. like would see something SUPER expensive and his ass would go "thats even that much??" (wait this is actually cannon i just remembered) but more ab him coming that will be revealed later!

maki's parents don't want her to go to public school (mai actually goes to the boarding school yn used to go to) but she goes anyways , she lives with her parents but 99% of the time shes staying over at someone in the groups house , she gets good grades and she does a sport for each season

toge is lowkey that one kid that moans in the back on class ... hes funny though , he acts like he pulls but his ass does NOT !! most people don't know he exists because hes really quiet—but he is the opposite when you get to know him , he does track & field and has pretty bad grades , fights the gay allegations daily

yuta is probably the most mature in the group—though he can definitely say some out of pocket things if provoked , he gets pretty decent grades and hes in band (not a band kid!! trust) , hes the newest in the group and moved to their school around a year ago

panda is a panda !! just pretend everyone dosen't think anything of it...shh...its normal.... , his grades are NOT good but he is on like every sports team and trys to bribe teachers to give him better grades (hes likeable so it works) , he works a part time job at mcdondalds so he can get free food , he trys to be matchmaker for his friends but is not very good at it .. its the thought that counts!

ps : there will be some other characters like the kyoto students that will be incudled ! i just didn't have room to add them here

TAGS: @1ndee ( ask 2 be added )

[srbachchan]

DAY 6088(i)

Jalsa, Mumbai Oct 18, 2024/Oct 20 Fri/Sat/Sun 1:54

A few mistakes pointed out by the ever efficient Ef .. is a result of this added Blog .. they said that Friday and Saturday are missing .. so checked , found it partially correct and so here ..

For the Friday ..

And so here .. a picture ..

.. and so here a prepare for the GOJ .. which is getting diminished by the Sunday or by the day .. but even if there are a few dedicated ones .. this one shall be there ..

Friday at the turnstiles was a joyous experience .. and joyous experiences come about when the live audience at the show .. is , well ..

LIVE ..

on the arrival itself one gauges their temperament .. the reception the smiles the laughter the applause .. all give the impetus for the following game and the desired interest , attention and cooperation by them ..

So they were SOOOOOO .. good and involved that the rise of the early was forgotten at an instant ..

Then when the contestant arrives and brings with him or her the spring of involved love and care and play at the game , it makes our work intensely, likeable and loved ..

May they ever be such ..

The age group is .. err .. ELDER ..

But then what else can one expect ..

They tell their stories of the times gone by, when they had encountered , yours truly .. and it is most refressioning , but also a slight at the age difference ..

To be expected .. and admired and enjoyed ..

so till the fall of the lights and the Sun today .. we say ..

Love you .. and the goodness of the evening ..

😀

Amitabh Bachchan

[izels-writing]

s. black — how you get the girl [1/2]

*idea was given to me by @sunny-prongs !! <3

Pairing: sirius black x fem!reader

Summary: sirius has no idea how to get the girl this time.

Warnings: i actually suck at writing flirting, slightly ooc sirius?, i accidentally keep making all these gryffindor!readers so i apologize,

PART ONE, PART TWO

you weren't quite sure someone had made you feel so many emotions at once the way sirius black did. even when he'd enter the room, the ínstense emotions you'd experience being in his general vicinity was absolutely mind-boggling. not that you'd ever admit it.

sirius black was the one boy at school that everyone wanted, even if they didn't admit it. he was funny, he was unbelievably handsome, and he was admittedly smarter than he gave himself credit for. and dear god, did he know it...

the boy didn't exactly lack confidence—matter of fact, he may have too much of it. but that didn't matter, because everyone believed that yes, he deserved that confidence in himself. he earned it. he could breathe in someone's direction and they're instantly melt—he was inconceivably charismatic and likeable. even the professors admitted it so.

yet, the only person who didn't seem to think so was you.

not because you desired to be different from everyone else—because, unfortunately, you found him handsome as well and you found yourself day dreaming what it would be like to be loved by him. but because you saw the way he treated the girls he had flings with. you saw the way he'd be so indifferent to their attachment and infatuation with him. more noticeably, you noticed the way he never bothered to keep a consistent relationship with any girl he managed to seduce—if that was even the right word for it.

you didn't want that. you had seen so much of it growing up. you couldn't bare it in a potential romantic partner. so, you didn't. you didn't allow him to see the way you found yourself glancing at him, you didn't allow him to see the way you'd quickly walk away when he did something gentlemanly like hold the door for you, and you certainly didn't let yourself react to his many compliments.

and unfortunately for you, though you didn't know it, you were the one person he wanted that he couldn't have. not for lack of trying, but because you wouldn't allow yourself.

he watched you from afar, mischievous grey eyes following your every move—in a curious, desirable way. nonetheless, you looked at him for a split second before turning to resume your conversation with daniel mckinnon, marlene's older brother.

"anyway, you should talk to her, i'm sure she'll understand," you told daniel. he chuckled and sighed.

"i suppose so, thanks y/n," daniel smiled. he went to say something else, but he glanced behind you and bid you a kind goodbye—all before walking off.

you were left confused, until you felt a presence by your ear, likely because of the loud music booming around you. it was difficult to hear in the common room which held a celebration for the gryffindor quidditch team.

"he's always been good at taking hints," a silky voice whispered in your ear. immediately recognizing it, you turned around and raised an eyebrow at the eldest black brother.

"yeah, he is—something you lack apparently," you replied, glaring at sirius challengingly.

sirius grinned. "oh come on, princess, you can't be that way with me. you look great, by the way, is that a new dress?"

you glanced down, smiling slightly at the fact that he noticed. then you came to your senses and rolled your eyes, "i bought it last week, thanks," you replied monotonously.

"of course, doll," he smiled. you rolled your eyes, but he never faltered. you supposed there was an admirable aspect to it.

you took a sip of your drink, before looking up at him. "what do you want, black?" you demanded.

sirius laughed. "what makes you think i want something? what if i just wanted to ask how you were doing?"

"but you don't," you corrected. "which raises the question, as per usual..."

"fine, how about you let me dance with you...and if things go well, let me take you on a date next weekend?" sirius suggested, brushing loose hair from your face behind your ear.

you had to admit to yourself, he made you incredibly nervous. he was suave and handsome, and just the perfect amount of flirty without being uncomfortable to be around. he had a thing with calling you pet names that normally you'd cringe at the mention of, but when he said it, they didn't sound so bad. and dear god, when he subtly touched you, you felt like melting into the ground. nonetheless, you knew this was just part of his strategy to sleep with you. you'd seen it with other girls he interacted it, perhaps not to the extent he did it with you, but he certainly did it. you had to keep reeling in your common sense.

"in your dreams, sirius," you scoffed. quickly, before the other part of you could take it back, you walked off and immersed yourself into the party.

sirius watched you walk away, smirking like he had actually gotten you to say yes.

——

you waited patiently for your friend marlene mckinnon to return from quidditch practice before heading up to your shared dorm. normally, you preferred to be in your own room and on your own bed—but marlene hated being alone in the common room, as she was easily scared despite the tough facade she put on in front of dorcas.

a quick patter of footsteps rushed over to you, before they finally sat beside you. the boy, who you quickly and unfortunately recognized, kicked his feet up on the coffee table and put an arm on the couch, so that it was almost around you. you sat back and turned to him, narrowing your eyes at him. sirius grinned happily at you.

“you’re like a lovesick puppy, you know that?” you scoffed, crossing your arms. you knew it was all an act, but you could help the feeling of happiness it gave you knowing that he only really showed you this type of attention.

“only you bring out this side of me, did you know that?” he attempted, but you rolled your eyes and looked away momentarily. unfortunately for you, you turned to look at him again and your (e/c) eyes met his grey ones. and dear god, they were easy to get lost in.

“where’s your boy band? usually you four are attached at the hip,” you asked, genuinely curious despite your nonchalant tone. he smiled at you before replying, counting off the three in his fingers.

“remus is doing his prefect duties, james has quidditch practice, and peter is on a date,” he replied. “leaving me, all on my lonesome…with you, of course,” his smile brightened the room and it seemed like he knew it.

“surely you have something interesting to do,” you commented, liking the fact that you could at the very least have a conversation with him.

“none as interesting as you,” he grinned.

you chuckled. “okay, that was smooth, i’ll give you that one,”

“what’re you doing down here anyway?” sirius then asked, looking curiously at the book in your lap. you closed it, finding that perhaps a genuine conversation with him was worth having even despite the flirtations.

“waiting for marls, she hates coming into an empty common room,” you replied. “creeps her out,”

he smiled. “you’re a good friend, you know that?”

you turned to him curtly, smiling back at him—genuinely smiling back him. “thank you,” you replied.

your faces were inches away from each other, if even, and you couldn’t help but feel the slight tension. you wanted to pull away, you really really did. at the very least, he hadn’t tried anything.

he brought a tattooed hand to your face, pushing a hair behind your ear. he almost leaned in—or maybe you were imagining it. but then, common sense kicked you in the head and you cleared your throat.

quickly, you stood up and gathered your things. every nonsensical part of you wanted to stay and see where it would lead, and the other logical part of you knew better than to be so naïve. sirius was only interested because you had been so difficult to get, after he got with you—you’d just be another girl to him. you and any other girl at this school did not deserve that.

“yeah, i can’t do this,” you mumbled. without another word, you rushed up to your dorm. in your wake, you left a confused, mildly hurt sirius black on the couch. he could still smell your perfume and your bright smile was burned into the back of his brain like a prayer.

and for a moment, he thought what it would be like if he actually got to kiss you.

——

“i don’t understand,” marlene mumbled, stroking your head as you laid on her lap. you were feeling very dejected and upset after the whole sirius situation. “if you like him, and he more than obviously seems to like you, what’s stopping you?”

you sat up, situating yourself to look at marlene with a dejected look. “the principle, marls! you’ve seen how he treats every other girl here, these are nice girls who he would be lucky to have as his girlfriend! how do we know he won’t treat me the same? how do we know he actually likes me the way i like him?”

marlene sighed. “yeah, you have a point—i just hate seeing you so conflicted and upset, boys are so dumb,” she shook her head. you laughed, nodding in agreement.

“what if i talk to james?” marlene suggested. “if there’s anyone who knows him better than himself, it’s james,”

you groaned. “but then he’ll know i have a crush on sirius! and then he’ll tell sirius, and then sirius’ll know i have a crush on him!”

“true,” marlene huffed. “straight relationships are impossible,”

you laughed, shoving marlene. “shut up,”

——

“pads, maybe you should actually sit down and tell her how you feel,” james said offhandedly as he tinkered with a music box that lily gave him to fix. the two had only been dating for a few months, if that, and already it seemed like they have been together forever—in a good way, of course.

sirius, who had dramatically sprawled himself on the bed, lifted his head up to look at james. “what?! are you crazy?!” he exclaimed.

remus scoffed. “what’s so crazy about that? james did it and now he and lily are great together,” he closed his book, looking at sirius and waiting for his response.

“because…those are real feelings! i mean i’d have to explain everything to her, how i feel around her, everything and i just…no, it’s too gross,” sirius sighed. “of course i like her, i’m in love with her actually! but i can’t just tell her!”

peter and remus exchanged a look before peter quipped up, “so you’re afraid of rejection and vulnerability and commitment?”

sirius looked up and glared at him. “what? nuh uh!”

“yuh huh,” peter replied.

“nuh uh!”

“yuh huh!”

“nuh uh!”

“yuh huh!”

“face it pads, you have issues with commitment, rejection, and being emotionally vulnerable,” james shrugged, continuing to tinker with the music box.

“james and peter are right, that’s why you’ve never had a girlfriend—well, that and you’ve been in love with y/n since our second year,” remus added, raising an eyebrow at sirius.

“shut up,” sirius grumbled.

“you’re going to have to get over that if you want to be with her, marlene’s told me why she won’t go out with you—and frankly i don’t blame y/n,” james said.

sirius scrambled up from his bed, practically jumping onto james’ to sit in front of him. “they talk about me? what did y/n say? what did she exactly say?”

james shook his head. “you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself, i won’t betray marlene’s trust,”

“prongs, please! you’re my only hope!” sirius exclaimed.

“no, marlene told me in confidence,” james replied. “ask her yourself,”

sirius grumbled. “fine…”

“you are the most dramatic person i’ve ever met,” remus chuckled, “and mary once cried over breaking her nail, granted it had taken her a long time to grow out—“

sirius glared at remus, making the werewolf quickly shut his mouth.

[uscss-prometheus]

Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｍ Ｅ Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｕ Ｓ

Embark towards the Heavens in THE CELESTIAL EDITION!

A fan-edit 10 years in the making.

I think you may believe me when I say my love for Prometheus knows no bounds. This bold, new vision for the Alien franchise, which I have grown up with all my life, blew my mind. It dared to answer some of the most unfathomable questions we are capable of asking ourselves, all while combining Alien, anthropology, the ancient alien theory, creationism and religion together, into a complex and definite answer. It reveals most of its secrets in such intricate, hidden ways and truly is the most courageous and important film of modern science fiction.

So, my friends, you can probably imagine what a great pleasure it is for me to deliver this project to you, at long last. The first draft of this extended cut dates from May 2014. The goal in delivering this definitive edition today remains the same as then : deliver the best possible way to watch Prometheus.

I think we were all surprised to see Romulus acknowledge Prometheus in such a way, so much so that a wave of appreciation for the film began to resonate all over the internet. So whether you feel like revisiting the film, experiencing it in another way, or giving the story and its characters another chance, this is the perfect opportunity.

Including not only a vast selection of deleted scenes, but also a major part of the blu-ray extras results in richer characters and a wider view into their world. The extras, which have become an essential part of my rewatches, are introduced into the first act, all before the crew even awakes, giving even the biggest rewatchers a refreshing kick-start. I have also reintroduced a few unused tracks and an alternate creature design.

I will not explain in complete detail what is different about this fan-edit. I think it's worth seeing for yourself. Not all deleted scenes and extras are included. There’s a special homage to Elisabeth during the transmission sequence. I really loved her, and her quest...

Something I believe is worth noting is the exclusion of the "Engineer Speaks" deleted scene. It does not add much. Weyland repeats himself, and verbalises the evident themes at play, while we still do not get to truly know what the Engineer says. Instead, I find the idea that our very own makers would answer our hopes and questions with nothing but silence and anger far more horrifying. It perfectly aligned with the film thematically, and so I left the scene intact.

If you watch it, you may also notice that I have spared us a few seconds of Millburn and Fifield's dumbest moments. I do not dislike them, they were absolutely iconic, but this makes them more likeable and credible in my book.

Disclaimer : I could not get my hands on the extras in great quality. I own the film twice, but have no way to port them. I may eventually re-upload with a visual fix some day, who knows... Please forgive the slight drop in quality for these sequences. 

Here is the trailer for my extended cut. You can watch the full fan-edit here!

Feedback and shares are immensely appreciated. Please share using the trailer or post only, thank you!

Download for HD - DO NOT USE CELLULAR DATA (18GB)

Follow @uscss-prometheus on Tumblr.

[heavenlymorals]

Sadie and Arthur and the Affects of Gender Roles in 1899 America

(warning: there is sexism and sexist ideas in this analysis because I refuse to sugarcoat the time period that RDR2 takes place in. Arthur is a product of his time and though it isn't shoved in your face, it's still there. Understanding the gender dynamics of this time period makes the characters much more understandable, nuanced, likeable, and better, if I'm being frank.)

I don't ship Sadie and Arthur, at all, it makes no sense to me besides two people liking the characters and thus putting them together. I like them as friends but that's about it.

And let's be so real for a second- even if they do get together for whatever reason, they absolutely wouldn't be compatible as partners because its been shown time and time again that Arthur believes in gender roles and gets visibly annoyed or angry when a woman takes up a man's role when a man is there or when a woman does something he thinks is unladylike in their line of work (just listen to his antagonization of Abigail (for her past as a prostitute, usually), Sadie, Karen, prostitutes, and female performers, all women who take on unconventional roles in their life(also pay attention to certain mission dialogues, and cutscene body language)).

Sadie proves herself as capable, and Arthur works with her, but he makes quips about her behavior or subtly judges her or makes fun of her("Oh, I'm sorry princess. Was there an insufficient feather in your pillow?" "You got a pair of pants and all of a sudden you think you're Landon Ricketts?" "You want to ruuuunnnn with the men?" "Few more like her and there wouldn't be much of a world left." "That ain't what you mean- I can still fight!" Or him being visibly annoyed when she doesn't take his hand to enter the boat and other similar things like that)

Arthur believes that a man should be the one doing the work that revolves around such physical exertion and if he isn't the one doing those things for a woman, he feels as if he is failing in his role as a protector and provider, which then provokes annoyance or in some cases, even anger. Sadie doesn't care about this obviously, and Jake Adler didn't either, hence why they worked so well together as a couple.

Not Arthur though. To put it quite simply, he prefers and is compatible with women who believe in the same gender roles as he does (Mary Gillis, Abigail Roberts, etc.).

This doesn't mean he dislikes Sadie, because it's quite obvious that he is fond of her, but given the intimacy of a relationship, Sadie would get fed up with him trying to be the ONLY provider and protector, and him getting fed up with her by encroaching on what he sees as his duties and responsibilities. He works with her in the way that he does because he has to and he respects that.

Some people may disagree with me on this analysis and that's fine, but to me, it feels like the most realistic outcome if they did become romantic partners. Another reason why I say this is because my mother comes from a culture that still operates a lot like 1899 America and I've seen this dynamic between men and women so many times that it's ridiculous- men who will accept working with a woman in more traditionally masculine roles and prefer partners who are more traditionally feminine.

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 23]

I think after this it's kinda natural that Joris will never ever put his trust into anyone that isn't Kerubim or Atcham ever again.

I am once again asking why Kerubim has these books and what was he doing at devil's sacrament.

He's never beating those necromancy allegations.

There's a canonical name for the evil-ass looking huppermages.

Once again, this is Them in Dofus 2 when they reveal to Joris that they framed Julith or something. (source: my beautiful mind)

The Dessous comic implies that Marline bought this stuff from Kerubim which is so funny. It's beautiful how little of a shit the man gives for the safety of others.

I may not like Khan in his present form, as a macho gobbowler, but I like the idea of him. Joris, and his little "ghnhnn I have to do what's right, I have sacrifice my happinesss for other people" complex needs someone like that in his life who will buy him alcohol and help him run away from home when he's 14-16.

I'm sure if given another movie, or a show, Ankama's plan would have been to make Khan more likeable. He seems like a ride-or-die friend.

A scene ago he was in Julith's arms. So, she found it important to get him into the arms of this dofus-powered doll. Personally, I like to think that he started thrashing and maybe even bit her.

What did she lie about though? Liking him? Not wanting the Dofus? Being a competent person and not a fuck-up? (I love Bakara and say all of this with affection)

Once again, I empathize, that Julith was gloating about this to Bakara. That she doesn't really care about Joris (and by extension, Joris's feelings.)

She is killing a thousand people, who did nothing to her. These are civilians who came to watch a sports match. How many mothers are here with their sons and daughters who just wanted to look at their idols? If Joris never had Grougalorasalar's soul, if he and Kerubim never learned of her plan, THEY would have been among these viewers.

Julith is a very interesting character because she's ruthless, she has no morals, absolutely no understanding or compassion for others, — even Bakara or her own son, — and yet she is driven by love almost entirely. And that's her one redeeming quality.

But also — does it really change things, when you're driven by love to kill a thousand innocent people? To ruin your son's life? Because it doesn't really change much, to me...

I think there's a tragedy in that. She does love the idea of Joris. She loves what she sees of him, his voice, his face, and eyes. If she learned more about him, she'd probably love the parts he didn't show too. She'd love to see how he grew up.

She'd love how committed he is to those he loves. She'd love his ruthless march towards what he thinks is right that will allow him to close his eyes as he does unforgivable things. The only thing she would dislike is his loyalty to Bonta.

But the reverse will never be true. Joris can become a warmonger, a dictator, and a war criminal, but he would loathe to place his needs above those of others. He wouldn't do horrible things if he didn't think it was for the greater good of mankind.

As a 600yo man, Joris has lived through two apocalypses, — and yet people like Nox and Julith will lose 1-4 loved ones and go insane, killing people. I doubt he feels much for her, except for disgust.

Their friendship is so important to me. But also, somewhere out there, Tatak is crying.

I think one of the great tragedies of Joris's character is that he is doomed to break his own moral code, slowly but surely.

One must imagine Joris Jurgen living happily with the blood of innocents on his hands, because the alternative is more haunting.

One of her main issues is that she projects the actions of a few onto literally everyone in Bonta. Which is a very crazy fucking reach.

But I understand how she arrived at this reach to begin with: I don't think she was ever happy, before Jahash, and when she finally was happy, for once in her entire life, they took even that away from her.

You wanna know who else in this scene is going to have only 2 people who give meaning to his life? Jo—— [I am forcefully restrained by the police]

I just really like pointing out the similarities between Joris and Julith, — and the way these similarities underline their differences.

Once again: she doesn't give a shit about anyone's opinion. She is betting everything onto a nebulous future where Joris and Jahash and Bakara forgive and forget everything she did, and they live as a happy Fambly (in Brakmar, because that's a GOOD city and they will LOVE to move there, after being no longer welcome in Bonta due to the 1000 dead people.)

(Guy whose very emotional and Julith and Joris voice) guys I think she's starting to realize that their familial relationship is going to be unfixable.

Joris and everyone present here are quite aware that stopping this will kill one of them.

They are also very aware that one dead person is better than a thousand.

[guidaozongshi]

On Sakura and SasuSaku's apparent popularity in the eastern fandom

One of the widely regurgitated talking points in favour of the Sasuke/Sakura relationship is that it is the most popular Naruto pairing in Japan and that Sakura is a very popular character but western fans apparently fail to understand the nuances of their relationship unlike their eastern counterparts. These claims range from half-truths to complete nonsense, in this post I attempt to counter these.

Firstly, let's talk about Sakura's reception in Japan.

Kishimoto infamously said that girls would come up to him to complain about Sakura and that he really struggled to make her likeable. But you don't need his statements to arrive at the conclusion that she is not well received.

Take a look at the Naruto Character popularity polls by Shounen Jump taken during the run of the manga.

Character Poll 1 , as of Chapter 60

1. Kakashi Hatake – 22,692 votes

2. Naruto Uzumaki – 16,729 votes

3. Sasuke Uchiha – 13,674 votes

4. Iruka Umino – 7,128 votes

5. Sakura Haruno – 3,055 votes

Naruto had just started to take off , with Team 7 being the main focus, yet look at the difference in votes for the members. Iruka, a character that barely appears overtook Sakura. What's ironic is that this will be the highest position she would ever receive because her popularity gets worse.

Character Poll 2 , as of Chapter 107

1. Naruto Uzumaki – 2,788 votes

2. Kakashi Hatake – 2,635 votes

.

14. Sakura Haruno – 359 votes

14th Position! Despite the fact she is from a trio of characters that are the most focused on. Not only the other Konoha rookies rank above her but even Gambunta ( the frog ) overtakes her.

In Character poll 3 , 4 ( chapter 199 ), 5 ( chapter 245 ), 6 ( chapter 292 ) and 7 ( chapter 531 ) her ranking becomes 9 , 10 , 8 , 12 and 12 respectively , while the other Team 7 members never leave Top 4. Characters with less panels and appearances repeatedly overtake her.

It is not an exaggeration to say that she was widely disliked as a main character. She has been repeatedly bashed, on Japanese online forums as well as by the author. ( more on this later )

All this of course doesn't mean that she doesn't have a fanbase, oh she has! a very loyal one and a particular kind at that . Women who love Sakura tend to be fans of Shoujo/Josei , something you can notice if you have come across SasuSaku artworks.

When Naruto ended , the majority of their comments were congratulating Sakura on her long one sided crush being finally reciprocated and how happy they were for her. Sasuke fans couldn't care less about the relationship as her character has hardly any effect on his story ( that is, until Gaiden came along and angered many people)

There is a noticeable difference in how JP artists portray their relationship in comparison to their western counterpart. The former portrays it as a 'puppy love' like between an idol and a fan. The appeal of the relationship comes from Sasuke, who is the classical male ideal and Sakura who is deeply ' loyal' to him , who then gets rewarded for it. It is one of the reasons why it only shot up in popularity post-ending.

On the other hand, the latter seems to believe that Sakura is Sasuke's equal, that she challenges and influences Sasuke, despite the fact that she becomes a doormat in front of him and according to Sakura's own words she couldn't come close to Sasuke's heart.

I have discussed why some Japanese fans like Sasuke/Sakura as it may appeal to their taste but these fans don't make much of the fanbase.

Case in point, one of the most hyped SasuSaku material i.e Sasuke Retsuden only managed to sell about 17k copies for the weeks it charted, in Comparison Naruto J Novels 1-7 sold about 470K when it was in circulation back in 2008.

Even the manga adaptation piggybacking on the anime couldn't even sell 40K copies for the first volume.

There was a time when Sasuke's name alone would be enough for a manga to sell out but the truth is that not only the majority of Naruto fans have moved on since 2015, even the loyal fans aren't interested in this content.

After Gaiden came out, Both Sakura and her relationship received harsh criticism, the 2channel threads kept bashing her and Kishimoto of the poor handling of the relationship.

Some of the snippets

"..with the release of Gaiden, the author just had worsened what was already bad. I guess he lost his willpower to write.”

“I was expecting before Sasuke and Sakura’s feelings would be shown in Gaiden but was edited out...because back time I thought I saw some spoilers that Sasuke and Sakura had gotten closer.

But now there’s no way there was some edit, no, this whole thing is a fucking lie.”

"A natural progress of loving, to slowly get accustomed and come to love someone, yeah I can’t imagine this with Sasu/Saku. Such extremely weird couple, how are they supposed to get used with each other over time? This is the vibe I get.

This relationship feels weird in my head, maybe I’m asking for too much to find a reason behind this.

But Kishimoto’s Sasu/Saku bonds is completely empty, I guess it’s funny that there’s nothing to add in it.”

"Sakura’s feelings is over the top terrible. She’s able to be happy with this..”

The thread is VERY long but you get the gist of it.

Fun fact : In 2015 Sasuke/Sakura was 6th most voted couple that should Break-Up by Japnese readers

Accusing others of not understanding their relationship because they apparently don't get their supposedly "culturally contextual relationship" is quite stupid and laughable because it's also hated by many Japanese people. It's only popular with a specific set of audience.

Which brings me to the other argument.

"Sasuke/Sakura is the most popular Naruto couple in Japan"

While this might be true today, it has not always been the case. Sasuke/Sakura shot in popularity post-Naruto ending while the most popular pairing throughout the run of the series (Sasuke/Naruto) declined. ( If anybody has the pixiv stats from 2012/13 , please feel free to add)

Take a look at this Naruto couple ranking list in Japan from 2012 ( the rankings are based on Google Japan results if I am not wrong)

サスナル (SasuNaru) —- 166,000 res.

ナルサス (NaruSasu) —- 78,400 res.

サスナルサス ( SasuNaruSasu) —- 244,400 res.

サスサク (SasuSaku) —- 54,700 res.

There's quite a large gap.

Even in 2016, 2 years after Naruto ended and many Sasuke/Naruto artists deleted their artworks or moved on from the fandom , it still rivaled SasuSaku in popularity on pixiv

SasuNaruSasu サスナルサス 9.502 works

SasuSaku サスサク 8.150 works

For other East Asian countries, I already wrote about how SasuNaruSasu is the largest pairing in China with no close second . I am unfortunately not familiar with the Korean fandom.

I will make a separate post for the Chinese Naruto fandom but they are very brutal against the Sasuke/Sakura relationship.

This is the general sentiment there :

Sasuke married Sakura to atone for his sins

🤍 10 K

[wilcze-kudly]

Suyin wasn't "coerced" to commit a crime, neither did she want to take herself out of the situation. She wanted to get her friends out of paying for their crimes because she's spoiled and entitled.

She didn't "have" to travel the world, she was sent to family members to take her away from a criminal and endangering environment, and she decided to escape because she's too much of a pick me girl to stay with the so called family "that didn't show her affection". To be honest, you speak of her as some kind of adult avatar-styled Rapunzel, instead of a teenager who deserved to be reprimanded.

She did turn her life around, and kudos to the creators for showing that. No one can say that her story and background is boring by any chance.

She, however, is not the most likeable character out there to a big part of the fandom, but I seriously doubt someone is taking it as seriously as you seem to do. Just chill.

Istg this happens almost everytime I post something mildly touching on the fact that Suyin deserves compassion too. Though you may be the same anon who blew up my inbox a while back so it might just be you.

I've always found the disdain we have for "troubled teens" upsetting because usually, when a teenager "acts out", there's more of a reason behind it that just "ooh they're spoilt or entitled".

[Trigger warning for self harm and suicidal ideation mentions]

Like, I was a very difficult teen back in the day. I argued with my parents, even got into physical altercations, skipped school, ran away from home at night. I was also going through a severe depression, dealing with a shitton of childhood trauma, cutting on the regular and making multiple attempts on my life. Hell, if my parents had brushed me off as "a kid who needs to be disciplined" I probably would've killed myself at 14. It doesn't excuse me for punching my dad in the stomach when he was just trying to stop me from running away into the night but it doesn't mean I didn't deserve help.

[End of Trigger Warning]

These two things can be correct at the same time. Suyin can have done a shitty thing that deserves reprimand and that she needs help that she seemingly had to find on her own. But like, guess which of these two is almost exclusively focused on.

And I mean, it's totally not like the Avatar fandom has a habit of expressing extreme hate towards young girls (especially young girls of colour) making sub optimal choices or just beind "annoying". I've just never seen that before.

Suyin grew up with Toph, who Lin herself has described like this:

Suyin : No, no. My children are a blessing. Lin: Yeah, mom used to say that too, but she never meant it.

Which btw, still an incredibly hillarious thing to say in front of Suyin's children: "Hi kids I'm your aunt Lin and your mother is lying about loving you"

While Suyin has, as a child, expressed doubt that Toph would even care that she's skipping school. And as an adult, she has described her childhood with Lin as "competing for their mother's affection" and still has doubts whether or not her mother is happy with how either of them turned out.

Hell, even though Su and Toph have been said to have made up, Toph still maintains a heavy layer of distance between them, seemingly dissappearing for years at a time!

It's honestly sad how Suyin hugs Toph and puts up statues of her everywhere in Zaofu and yet Toph still just fucked off to the swamp when Opal was probably less then ten and did not contact them.

I mean, sounds like there's not a lot of motherly affection going on there, dude. Idk what to tell ya. We know there were no fathers around either.

And Lin was also a victim of this environment, so I don't really want this to come off as me blaming her for the way she acted towards Su. But Lin is hardly what I would call affectionate.

So of course Suyin would put so much stock in her relationships outside the house. And her friends happened to be fucking criminals fucking hell. And of course Lin, being a kid too did not know how to approach this situation properly, so she inadvertently just pushed Suyin closer to them by insulting them and making her feel defensive.

Because that's what all fucking teens do. The internalise things, they rely on their peers to form their perception of things and they want to be independent. So when someone, especially someone who isn't a parent tries to control them, guess how they'll react? They dig their heels in. Especially a teen like Suyin who has virtually no reason to listen to her older sister other than a vague "I know better than you" type of vibe which really pisses teens off. That's like the time when talking down to them is the worst thing to do.

And fuck off with saying getting arrested and screamed at by your sister in the middle of the road isn't a stressful situation that you wolud wanna get out of. Lin punched a car so hard it dented! (Especially that Lin has already been confirmed to use her status as a police officer against people she has a vendetta against, like when SHE TRIED TO THROW PEMA IN JAIL FOR STEALING HER MANS like how tf did we brush over that)

What I always find interesting in this scene is the front that Su puts on in front of Lin, which slips up a few times, particularly when Lin can't see her expression. Because Suyin is, of course being a fucking brat and taunting Lin, but you can clearly see that she's stressed out.

Suyin also describing the reason she helped her friends as a getaway driver is something I find interesting:

Suyin: I didn't steal anything. I just drove the car. I owed my friends a favor. It's not a big deal.

Of course she's scared and minimising her involvement but the usage of "owing her friends" could very easily imply her not exactly being too hyped about this, as well as her insistence on not stealing anything.

Because the thing about Suyin is that, especially in the flashbacks, we see her only in Lin's PoV. We don't see her relationship with her friends, what led up to the robbery, anything. Which makes sense, because the flashbacks are supposed to be Lin's. But that means we're viewing Su with the inherent bias of Lin, who clearly has an agenda against Su.

Lin clearly blames Suyin for Toph leaving policework, despite us later seeing how burnt out and cynical Toph was about being a cop. Its more likely that Su's arrest was a wake-up call for Toph, but she left due to the buildup of stress and disillusionment and Lin, who has been idolising her mother and her mother's career blamed it on Suyin in her head.

Hell, even they made up, Lin still immediately pivots to accusing Suyin of being involved in the Red Lotus' attack. Despite the attack placing Suyin's life, the lives of her sons and the lives of her guards at risk and Suyin going out of her way to thwart it.

And Suyin's life is just a fucking mess after this point like: betrayal by close friend, daughter kidnapped by terrorists, anarchy in the kingdom, leaders of 2 foreign governments trying to pressure her into subjugating the people in the name of a monarch she doesn't support, betrayal part 2; child boogaloo, the country she lives in being declared a dictatorship, city under literal siege, threat of attack in 24 hours, the fucking Avatar doing fuck all to help, a desperate attempt at assassinating the leader, getting caught and placed in questionably humane restraints, having to watch her daughter be forced to flee, PUBKIC HUMILIATION, the arrest of her non combative son and husbandd, INHUMANE JAIL CELL...

Do I need to go on? Like the moment the Krew came to her gouse her life just started to fucking fall apart its actually kinda hillarious.

And calling Suyin a "pick me" is just... unfounded? Who's she trying to get picked by? Her mom who doesn't love her? Girlie just wanted a family she literally said so in the show, put your listening ears on, babes.

I understand that Suyin isn't the most likeable character to people. I can understand why they dislike her. She can be annoying, hypocritical, rash, the poor structuring of the episodes around her and Lin makes it so she gets unearned favour from the writers etc. People who like Lin and Kuvira, two extremely popular characters in the fandom have an easy villain in their faves' lives if they just tweak Suyin a bit.

But that doesn't mean I'm obligated to dislike her too or that I'm not allowed to post about her in a way that doesn't allign with the fandom's narrative of her. You're not obligated to read it, hun, you can block the #pro suyin beifong tag if it makes you that upset to see me

I want to appreciate parts of Suyin which aren't highlighted by the fandom and I'm allowed to do that. Just because it doesn't fit with your clearly overtly negative opion of the character well, tough luck. And hey, I gladly take the opportunity to talk about Suyin, but I've also made a ridiculous amount of posts around har and have probably addressed almost every single fandom complaint of her at some point so I'm starting to get a little tired of repeating myself lol.

And I'll be the first to admit, my own teenage years probably heavily affect how compassionate I am towards Suyin, particularly in her younger years. But I know how much people hate "troubled teens", how little compassion thet are given.

The narrative that if a misbehaving teenager just gets deisciplined and reprimanded enough they'll stop being "spoilt and entitled" or acting out is wrong and harmful. It hurts tons of teenagers by not getting them the help they need and it would've fucking killed me.

Also hun, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I tend to use hyperbole a lot. I'm a dramatic bitch. Like did you also think I was serious when I said I'd shoot myself if I saw another ad for Amazon's shit lotr wannabe show?

Tbh everytime I get an ask like this I vaguely consider doubling down and commiting to the bit of being the fandom's "Lin Beifong hater". Though I feel like a lot of people wouldn't realise its a bit and think I actually hate her for real lol.

[gffa]

On the topic of book recs, what do you think of Master and Apprentice? I read it when it came out and it’s been so long the only thing I meaningfully remember was liking Rael and I’m honestly still surprised he hasn’t shown up more.

Oh lmao what to say about that book--there was so much I liked! But there was also so much that utterly baffled me! I spent a lot of time trying to get my head around the narrative of the book, what it would tell me versus what it would show me, and that kind of drove me crazy and I wrote so many posts about it, to the point that I'm sure I was deeply annoying lol. Ultimately, I like the book! But I like it in a very specific way--that I think it shows Qui-Gon as someone who is deeply flawed in a very caring way and he should be allowed the space to be flawed without it being used to condemn him. Like, so much of that book drove me crazy because Qui-Gon would say he didn't think the Jedi should be so tied to the Republic and that it was mistake, but then what saves the slaves at the end of the story? That Obi-Wan acts as a representative of the Republic so that the organization was forced to let them go. But this isn't remarked on, it's just there! Or Qui-Gon would say that the Jedi aren't doing more to change things and then, when he is offered a chance to be on the Jedi Council, where he could make the changes he was looking for, he turns it down because he doesn't want to stop being Obi-Wan's Master and wants to continue doing whatever he wants. But I'm not sure the narrative recognizes the structure it's setting up, despite that it kept coming back to it again and again. So, ultimately, I recognize I may be reading against authorial intent (but honestly I'm a Lucas-centric fan, so that's the only word of author/authorial intent I often care about XD), but to see Qui-Gon being written as kind of full of himself, but in a likeable way, someone who didn't see the things he was doing while preaching at others, who was kind of terrible with actually talking to Obi-Wan (the book does acknowledge this!) made me actually enjoy it, but in that specific lens, rather than with Qui-Gon being 100% right or 100% wrong. My other qualm about the book is that it was billed as a Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan story, but honestly it's really not. Obi-Wan is there a lot, he even gets many point of view scenes, but the story didn't really have much to say about him (and it's not the author's fault, I thought she did great with Obi-Wan's character in her From a Certain Point of View story even when it was from Qui-Gon's point of view!) and I wound up with nothing to say about Obi-Wan in that book. Me! Nothing to say about Obi-Wan in a book! How??? But I loved the relationship Qui-Gon had with Dooku--for memory, I think it was a lot warmer than some people see it? Which made sense to me, given that Dooku seemed to genuinely think Qui-Gon would have joined him when he talks to Obi-Wan in AOTC. And I enjoy Rael as a character, too! I wish he'd shown up in more, other than Dooku: Jedi Lost, because he's such an interesting addition and a semi-reflection of Anakin's character (given his struggle with the Jedi lifestyle, the late adoption, etc.) There were also some banger lore quotes (that one about Qui-Gon saying that the Jedi creche taught them all about how darkness was inside them all is one I trot out often) and I think I'd enjoy a reread. I know it sounds like I'm bashing on the book or on Qui-Gon, but honestly I don't intend it that way, and I'd actually like to reread it someday to see if my feelings have evolved on it.

[david-talks-sw]

Okay so I watched Inside Man on Netflix. It's interesting. More importantly, it's a masterclass in crafting likeable characters and how the POV we follow in a scene affects the way we see a character. Also, this somehow relates to the Star Wars Prequels, I promise! 😆

The moral of the series is that "everyone is a murderer, all it takes is a good reason and a bad day." The main characters are:

A vicar who - through a huge misunderstanding - has now locked his son's tutor in his basement and doesn't know how to get out of this situation, played by David Tennant.

A convicted murderer and ex-criminal psychology professor who solves crimes from his cell, as he waits for his execution, played by Stanley Tucci.

So a man who locked a woman in his cellar and a guy who murdered his wife. In any other movie, these guys are the villains. Yet, both of these characters are extremely likeable!

This is achieved through how relatably they behave in their relationships (kind, humble, humorous)...

... and through the emotion and/or charisma brought by the actors playing them (it's THE DOCTOR/CROWLEY and Stanley Friggin' Tucci)... but also through the amount of screen time they get.

We're with them for most of the show. There's other characters (the journalist, the trapped tutor and the vicar's wife) and subplots, of course, but they're our two anchors.

So when I'm watching David Tennant lock his son's tutor in his cellar and consider if he should free her - only to see him and his wife make things worse - I'm not thinking "you monster" like I do when I see Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs for example.

No, I'm thinking "goddammit vicar you're making things worse, it'll come back to haunt you, there's still a chance to turn back, please!" I'm rooting for him to make the right choice because I'm seeing him struggle and despair and hesitate throughout many scenes.

When I'm watching Stanley Tucci guiltily say he deserves death, after being so darn charming, humble and in clear possession of a moral compass, my instinct as a viewer isn't to go "he's right".

It's to go "aaaw, no it's fine, everyone makes mistakes."

And these characters remain likeable and/or relatable for a huge chunk of time... until, every once in a while, the show reminds you that, "remember, these guys are criminals."

"One of them's killed his wife then decapitated her, and the other one is contemplating murder, so they did/are doing evil stuff, they're the villains and you shouldn't grow fond of them."

Then it goes back to making you empathize with them again.

It's quite the emotional roller-coaster, very intriguing yet frustrating, which I have to guess is exactly what the show is going for.

But the point is: the amount of time we spend with these characters is partially what elicits this emotional reaction out of us.

If we consider the tutor's character:

For all intents and purposes, we should feel sorry for her, or full-on fucking love her. Objectively-speaking, she's:

smart but obviously scared,

we establish early on that she has a brave heart and stands up for oppressed women,

she thinks she's trapped by a pedophile or a man defending a pedophile, figures he'll inevitably try to murder her, yet manages to stay resourceful, determined and cool-headed despite it all.

She's an absolute superhero.

But that's not how the narrative frames her.

She's framed as an antagonistic force, in the vicar's subplot.

She may be the one tied up in a basement, but she's in control and the vicar is not. She's almost framed as being in a position of power (when she's really not), which leads the audience to view Tenant's vicar as an underdog.

When the vicar is trying to look for alternatives to end this situation so that he doesn't have to kill her, she's unhelpful,

and even starts pitting the vicar and his wife against each other.

Again, in-universe, she's scared shitless and in "fight-or-flight" mode. She's putting up a front because she's just trying to get outta this alive. She's the victim, here, not the vicar who captured her.

But as a viewer, you don't feel that, despite objectively knowing that. Why and how?

Because we barely see this character, compared to Tenant's vicar. So we have more time to grow to feel for him. There's "why".

Also 90% of what we do see of the tutor is her being aggressive, manipulative, sometimes downright merciless and we're seeing her from the POV of the vicar or the vicar's wife. There's "how".

Result: the viewer feels sorry for the captor and frustrated towards the captive.

This isn't a rational reaction, it's an emotional one (the goal of any visual artform being to get an emotional reaction out of the viewer).

Which means the series and Stephen Moffat effectively did their job.

How does this relate to the Prequels?

Well, a lot of people see the Jedi in a negative light in the Prequels, and Anakin in a more sympathetic one.

Even though the Prequels are about how a good man becomes bad, and even though the Jedi embody one of the major Star Wars themes (selflesness) as opposed to Anakin who clearly displays the anti-theme (selfish)... a majority of fans feels more for the latter than the former. Why?

Because the Prequels unintentionally do what Inside Man does purposefully. You react to Anakin like you react to the vicar. You react to the Jedi like you react to the tutor.

Simply put: Anakin has more screen time than the Jedi. And we don't just see him more, we see him struggle, we see him about what he knows to be morally right vs what he really wants, we see him be overtaken by his own fear...

... and just by contrast, that makes him more relatable than the Jedi, who have already overcome their character arcs and mostly all learned to keep their flaws in check.

The narrative doesn't intend to frame them as antagonistic. We do see them talk about how worried they are, we do see them emote.

And if you think about it, it's easy to see why:

their entire way of life is going to crap,

their values are being corrupted as they're forced to fight and die, alongside their clone brothers, in a war they wanted no part of,

they sense that the Force is close to the breaking point and that the galaxy's inhabitants are suffering on the daily.

But, for example, when Mace or Ki-Adi Mundi are shown expressing concern in the Prequels... as worried as they are, in-universe... out-of-universe, their measured reactions doesn't emotionally impact a viewer as much as Anakin's intense ones do.

So a big chunk of the audience will sympathize more with him than them. But like the tutor in Inside Man, the Jedi are objectively the victims and Anakin is objectively an unstable space-nazi who betrayed and destroyed them.

Just because we're not shown these characters be worried beyond just monotonously saying "I'm worried" doesn't mean they're not actually worried as Anakin is in Revenge of the Sith (if not more).

However we don't see it.

Because these three films aren't about the Jedi Order, they're about the Republic and about Anakin and about how each of these two beautiful things were corrupted (by Palpatine and by themselves) into becoming the very thing they stood against.

The Jedi aren't a factor in either of those two themes set up by George Lucas.

They became a factor when fans - who despite not liking the Prequels, still admirably chose to engage with the material - made the Jedi be more important to the narrative of the Prequels by re-framing these films as "The Failure of the Jedi".

Now, should Lucas have recognized that most fans wouldn't give two shits about why a Republic falls or the "matinee serial" format, and would've rather he focused on the Jedi, and developed them accordingly? Probably.

But good luck telling an indie filmmaker with a bunch of money how to tell the story he wants to tell.

Could Lucas have done more with the Prequels to highlight the fact that the Jedi are the underdogs of the story, not Anakin's oppressors? Yes.

But, firstly, he probably didn't think that was a point that needed explaining. And secondly, as he explained at Cannes, in 2002, feature films are a very limiting format to tell a story, especially one of the Prequels' scale. If it doesn't directly contribute to the story you're telling... it's gotta go.

A limited show would've been better to cover every aspect of the Prequels more in detail and avoid confusing the audience re: who they should be rooting for.

Which is why it's interesting, to me, that Stephen Moffat used his limited show to INTENTIONALLY confuse the audience! 😃

[plaidos]

i havent done homestuck 2 but your defence of common "pluto is still a planet to me!!" "why didnt rose let jack share with her" esque braindead parrot takes have sold me on why they're wrong. what actual legit criticism of hs2 do YOU have, though? im genuinely curious

i’m actually not totally up to date with HSBC. i was for a little while, i think up to the hiatus (or close) but i’ve been running a homestuck reread workshop in my discord server which has taken up most of my homestucking time. that being said, i do have some thoughts though. for the purpose of this discussion, HS2 will refer to pre-hiatus (with the old team) and HSBC will refer to the comic since James’ team took over.

firstly, this is a lighter criticism, but the pacing of HS2 felt out of whack & i think some of the conversations/character relationship moments shouldve had a longer build up. the Meat storyline particularly felt like it was plodding along even much more stagnantly than the gold ship/asteroid days of HS1; i think a greater focus should’ve been given to the immediate post-Epilogues stakes. i understand that that’s just where the story picks up, a large journey, but i think they should have more things to do than reminisce on their relationships without that tying further in to the wider plot. ironically, the Meat spaceship plot felt too “candy” to be impactful, to borrow the framework of the narrative.

i also think there were some pretty major art issues? i really don’t mind stuff being quick and gritty or simplistic and sketchy — it’s part of what we love about HS1 — but some of the HS2 art felt unfinished in a decidedly bad way. which is a major shame, because actually, when HS2 gets it right it rrrreally gets it right. the immediate full cartoony style we get for like, Jane’s antics in Candy is some of the tastiest homestuck art period.

ah, sorry, i’ve fallen back into what i like, but bear with me here for a moment, i need to praise HSBC too to gear up to some criticisms — i really like some of the stuff HSBC has shifted along since starting back up, including some of the changes. i also laud their commitment to keeping a lot of the really controversial elements of THE/HS2 because i think fan-approval seeking retcons would’ve been a bad move. that being SAID, there *are* a few things they’ve somewhat backpedaled on, and i think they are really weak. particularly, the Kanaya/Rose fight may be tasty, but i think it undermines the contextual reason it was skipped over, which is because the narrative is damaging their ability to challenge stuff that is “out of character”; it’s something John notices even. i don’t mind the conflict eventually coming up, it makes sense, but it felt thrown in there to appease some of the more inane criticisms of the comic. my other thing is that some of the changes they’re making to Vriska are… well, i haven’t read it. so i shall hold my tongue. but i’m really worried they’re making her more palatable & straight-forward in an attempt to make her more likeable or give her an arc that, imo, is antithetical to what is interesting about the character? but… again. i haven’t actually read it all myself, and it’s not all out yet, so it’s hard to say.

i really, really hope that the Beyond Canon team hires some transfeminine writers, however. to my knowledge they currently don’t, and when your main cast includes a depressed egg, a traumatised and violent trans woman, & a sex addict cis woman with a huge dog dick as some of the principle & most iconic characters, it might be time to hire a trans woman to help? keep things? on track???

so yeah. less fan-appeasing retcons & hire some trans women.

[runabout-river]

What do you think Jujutsu Kaisen's legacy will be in the long term? While it has been praised for its moments of innovation and has translated well into anime, some argue that its focus on fighting and overly complex power systems, particularly towards the end, undermines its lasting appeal. Do you believe it will be remembered as a modern benchmark in the shonen genre, or do you think that it may eventually be overshadowed by newer, more character-driven series? Why?

I can see that actually but I don't think a character-driven story itself would easily translate to be being better than JJK. There is character work in JJK and it's enormous in many places but also subtle in others. It's more subtle towards the end where the Shinjuku fight took a big space of the story so I can see why those things stand against each other in the public conciousness.

What I mean by subtle: I made a post about Yuji's accumulated trauma after Cho's death, interpreting his reaction and the past events he went through in a way where an imminent breakdown should've come Yuji's way because his cog mentality needed to break.

Yuji did not have a breakdown though because he had overcome his cog mentality during the timeskip without us seeing it. His reaction later when he pulled Sukuna into his domain was not out of character and showed how he matured on his own.

You could debate now if this subtle approach was a bad decision in the end, just like ending the manga after Sukuna's defeat instead of letting the story flow into a merger arc even if it had been a short one. But there is still character work everywhere but again towards the end it gets really subtle and sometimes the emotional work characters went through are behind the scenes.

In theory the power system has no connection with this lowkey character work, so a simple "less complicated PS for more character driven story" is not a formular that guarantees a better story than JJK. Gege always had his complicated and multi-layered system in place in the manga, it's just that at the end people expected more consequences and emotions other than happiness for his characters.

It's like the power system and fight choreography peaked in Shinjuku but the character work didn't quite catch up. But maybe I'll have a different opinion on that when I read the manga through a second time.

Personally, I wished for Megumi not to be neglected and for his relationship with Tsumiki to be put into the spotlight and his relationship with Sukuna to be explored.

So what will JJK's legacy be? A likeable protagonist whose story you would like to read and watch again. A deuteragonist who looks like he will become someone as strong and powerful as the villain, sometimes ruthless but still full of heart, who becomes a suicidal object in the last arc of the manga. His story is tied to his goal and his power but then he's stripped of both... and the resolution of it is... well...

One legacy of JJK that is already on full display is the Gojo-like character that has started to pop up everywhere but most don't reach his level of well writtenness (from what I heard, I don't read and watch that many anime/manga). Another legacy that JJK might solidify is NOT to put a main character (Nobara) into a maybe-grave and have her be removed for half of the runtime of your manga.

There is a reason why that's not done often and it's because it's wasted character potential.

The power system itself could become a legacy with how well and detailed it's crafted. Future mangaka might look at it say "I want that but with more/less [insert whatever you want]"

Just to make something clear here: however many people are disappointed in the ending being too... wasted and happy or whatever, it's still a fine ending to a good and partly excellent manga. We're not talking about Game of Thrones level of shit-ending here. I was there when that happened. JJK is fine.

So even if some people have gripes with the ending it won't overshadow the manga itself. People won't say the ending is so bad you should never start the series. They might say "the ending was a bit lackluster but watching it as a complete anime might improve that actually."

As a last word on that I have one wish that I hope Gege would do: sit down with the anime production team and improve his character work for the fourth and last season of the anime. Just add canon material to it to make it feel more. Expand on the timeskip flashbacks; expand on Megumi; expand on Megumi and Sukuna; expand on Sukuna's backstory so his past with Uraume is something that exists and his last words about different paths he could've chosen gives us a concrete idea where those emotions came from.

At some point in the future, a new series will definitely overshadow JJK but that's just how it is, nearly everything gets overhsadowed at some point. But that won't happen in the next few years and it might not happen until a few years after the anime ends.

[kozachenko]

One very last thing: I definitely feel part of the moral greyness of this series is ZUN's writing style. On the one hand, he believes that it's easier to write selfish jerks than selfess people, because they don't need a reason to fight each other, and need to have a particular reason to help others. Yet, I also get the impression from all his comments that he admires all his creations in some way. He's never really "insulted" them in any way in the interviews I've seen. He's never stated that the world of Touhou would be better if a character was dead or didn't exist.

Honestly, that's something I really love about the series and it's writing. It's very rare to find someone who is 100% selfless in real life, and while yes fiction is fiction and shouldn't be tied to reality, I do think it's nice seeing some characters who are just unapologetic selfish assholes, because what's more fun? A nice goody two-shoes who's perfect in every single way and doesn't have a selfish bone in their body? Or an asshole who's selfish and highly flawed, but they are so unapologetically themself that it just loops back around to them being fun? It's something that really differentiates Touhou from most media where the series is willing to take risks with a character's personality even if they may come off as incredibly unlikeable. In Touhou, the likeablity of a character is second, and establishing who they are as a person takes precedent. The characters aren't made to please you, they're there for themselves and themselves alone, and there's something really fun about that (at least that's how I interpret a lot of the characters in this series).

With the second thing you brought up about how ZUN sees his characters, I appreciate how even though many Touhou characters aren't morally perfect, they aren't demeaned or seen as lesser than in the eyes of the narrative. Sure other characters may not like them at all, but the narrative itself isn't going to eternally punish them for just existing. Now that I think about it, there's never really been an interaction in Touhou where a character will outright bully and put down another one. Sure we've seen the characters harshly criticize each other, but they still don't really feel like bullying and the narrative doesn't make it a big deal. Most of the time it isn't even one sided and both parties have something snarky to say about the other one. The only character who ever really got close to bullying was Keiki oddly enough, that being her roasting the animal spirits in her pre-fight dialogue (still love that part by the way, it just gives her so much personality and I think that's one of the reasons that she stuck out to me in the first place). I definitely think that ZUN's level of respect for all of his characters comes through in the writing via the character interactions and relationships.

[wooimbouttamakeanameformyself]

Okay listen hoes.

I’ve been surfing these anti Danneel, anti Jenneel, anti this and anti that tags for like… over a year. I’ve always been watching from the sidelines with my lil bag of popcorn, given an anon ask every now and again to other blogs, but never bothered to make a post about it. Because I didn’t think it was relevant, correction, I didn’t think Elta was relevant enough to make a venting post about — which is why I’m baffled as to why she even has stans — but also I just figured in the long run, none of our speculations, opinions or posts about this lady mean anything to anyone.

Actually, I may be incorrect there, as the AA’s may butcher me, or worse… Danneel may get Cliff to make another post… sheesh!

But anyway, seeing this latest Wales con, I got a real bad case of FOMO and decided I wanna bitch on tumblr as well (no hate to the bitches, I love scrolling through everyone bitching about the ‘perfect’ couple)

Here’s my take on everything, even tho no one asked:

Yes, it is painfully, horribly, excruciatingly obvious that those two don’t even like each other let alone love each other.

But I’ve seen some people and blogs talk about Danneel physically abuse Jensen, which I just don’t personally believe — each to their own opinion, though — but I just personally haven’t seen any evidence or receipts of that being true. Emotional abuse, yes, verbal abuse, definitely. But physical is something I ain’t gonna say I think is happening.

Danneel’s a bitch, as we all know, as the stans like to pretend isn’t true. But I really don’t think Jensen’s a saint or a victim — and I say he isn’t a victim only because in the end, looking over the financial consequences and the custody of the kids thing that would come with a divorce, she has little hold over him. He has the fame, the money, and what do you wanna bet that all of the Elta followers would do a 180 on their ‘Kween’ if Jensen ever spoke up about anything? And by no means am I suggesting that men can’t be victims before anyone jumps down my throat, I’m just saying that Jensen has the capability to fight back to her or leave her if he wanted to.

But he won’t, because — and I’m bracing myself for the hate I’ll get for this — he’s also kind of a narcissist and a liar!!! 😱😱😱 surprised I’m still writing and wasn’t just assassinated on the spot for saying that lols! Dare I say… he’s just as bad as Danneel in some aspects? That he has pretty privilege? Though not so much anymore since he and Danneel have clearly started doing couples Botox sessions. Wooof I’m really pushing my luck.

Trailed off a lil there, but what I was supposed to say is that he won’t because he’s embedded some kind of belief into his mind that his career will crash and burn if he doesn’t have his perfect ‘family man’ image. Even though let’s be honest about two things, your marriage is probably doing more harm than good to your image, and buddy, you’re a c-list actor who’s acting range is zero to none — I mean, he couldn’t stand playing anyone other than Dean Winchester that he tried, and failed, to make a spin off of Supernatural just so he got to play a brooding, macho hunter again. Though look how that turned out — your career isn’t some sacred artefact that can’t dare even be scratched, all he does these days is make money from cons, and a very occasional cameo playing as Dean in a different font. I’m worried the dude has Foreign Accent Syndrome but with Dean Winchester — as in he’s done it for that long that its irreversibly in his consciousness, to the point Danneel has to tell him to stop being Dean at home (sure she got a dig out of him mentioning that in the panel)

But I’m trying to focus talking about this con so far — even though I’ve trailed off multiple times already — first of all, ignoring the fact it’s insane that Danneel’s even at a Suoernatural con when her character (which was a nepotism role) wasn’t even in a full season, served no purpose, wasn’t even a likeable character — unless you like vapid, vain, and poorly portrayed characters — and added nothing to the storyline. And yet she gets treated like she’s a main cast member? Half of Dean’s flings who were in half an episode served more to the plot that Anael did in the whole five episodes she was on the show! And it pissed me off that Danneel’s getting the sort of treatment of main cast when Gen’s character was actually important to the plot, yet she wasn’t at the con. Not that I think Gen’s that bothered, which shows the difference between her and Danneel.

And apparently she auditioned for every single female role??? HUH?? Are we talking about the same Ms Gurl who made fun of Supernatural in the earlier seasons, claimed to not wanting to interfere as it was Jensen’s thing, demeaned and made fun of fans on twitter, criticised her own husband’s role and showed doubt of the series duration??? Make it make sense.

I’m kind of relieved Jensen hasn’t shared any of his made up domestic stories of them, to try and make it seem like they can even stand each other, although it would’ve been interesting to see him talk about it with Danneel there — just to see her reaction, cause I’m certain Jensen just makes up these stories as he goes along. But I guess my guy couldn’t even manage that, probably not after how much Elta knocked him down in front of everyone — she barely did anything else other than make jabs at him the whole time. Surprised my girl didn’t go blue from all the snarky remarks she was making.

Oh wait, it’s ‘sarcasm’, right? Silly me, I forgot that ‘that’s how they are with each other’ 😐😐😐 even AA’s have spoke up about her behaviour in this con — shows how much effort those two are bothering putting in to keep up the image. But hey, I’m proud that some of the delusional Jenneel shippers have developed a frontal lobe, probably because their self-insert isn’t doing what they want her to be doing!

Anyway that’s all from me, my thumbs hurt, can’t believe I wrote so much. Free will is a crazy thing. Excited to see what kind of hate I get from this ✌️😝

This ain’t grammar checked before anyone bullies me.