#and it has a lot of sense tbh

[maxdibert]

In Rowling's first books, Snape is older than 50 years old and in the illustrations he looks 50 years old, not 31 years old. After the third book, she began to come up with the Snape Lily line. Rowling's drawing shows a man of about 50 years old, not 31 years old.

I actually disagree. I think that, at first, Rowling intended for James and Severus to have a rivalry over Lily, but she hadn’t planned out the full backstory between Lily and Severus, nor had she decided that James would be a bully. That’s why James’s initial portrayal is so different from how he’s later shown. We know that Lily was a self-insert for Rowling and that James was inspired by her then-husband (in fact, if you look at photos of Rowling’s ex, he is James Potter—I was shocked when I saw him because he looked exactly like how I had imagined James in my head). And what better way to insert herself into the story than as the saintly, Mother Teresa-like figure who gives her life for her son and becomes a venerated icon, with two men fighting over her, but ultimately choosing the handsome, popular athlete? From a psychological analysis standpoint, it’s crystal clear what’s going on here.

But what a coincidence that Rowling not only changed her portrayal of James, but also started to considerably soften Severus’s character exactly when she divorced Jorge Arantes? And what a coincidence that after having a million problems with him and publicly accusing him of being an abusive husband, she suddenly releases Order of the Phoenix and James is portrayed as a bully with no clear reason, and the whole subplot of Severus being a victim of the Marauders begins?

My personal intuition (and I’m rarely wrong) is that Rowling initially didn’t plan for James to be a bully, but after divorcing Arantes and realizing that he had been a terrible person, she projected that onto James and turned him into someone just as abusive as her ex. Obviously, by then, she had already established a lot of the story and couldn’t change everything, but it’s pretty clear from how the first two books are written that the original idea wasn’t for James to bully Severus, but rather for them to be rivals over Lily (hence Lupin’s comment about Severus envying James for Quidditch, which makes no sense even for him to say because Remus knew the real backstory). But in the end, she changed it so that James was just a complete bully for no reason.

That’s why this supposed “transformation” of James is extremely inconsistent, and why it’s hard to understand how Lily and James ended up together after everything she witnessed. That’s why Lily’s sanctimonious, ultra-moral personality doesn’t make any sense when you consider that she willingly married an abusive man—because that probably wasn’t the original plan, so it either ended up being a plot hole or just an inconsistency between the character and what we’re told about her.

[ozzo-the-wozzo]

I know all of these were due to plagg lol but I’m glad they’re letting my boy be over the top goofy again in his civilian form ‼️

Real Adrien heads know he was always silly lol, but a lot of his little mannerisms and expressions that were more prevalent when rewatching season one got covered up with blank faced Adrien sweetness in later seasons and, while it did help further emphasis the control Gabriel had over him (wink wink), and the thousand yard soft eyes stare is still very Adrien, I’m glad he’s back to letting his goofy ass self shine through!! he is cringe fail like his gf and they are showing it again bless up 🫶

(While we’re on the topic though, I also hope a lot of his sarcasm and wit that he had back then comes back as well! He was a diva in season one let us see that again!!)

[generalsdiary]

you brought your partner a flower bouquet. it isn’t something they often receive, and you felt a desire to change that. being a solemn, thoughtful person after thanking you they said;

“yes… it is sad that I’ll have to watch them die.” “they started dying the moment they were picked. kind of like humans, from the age of 25 their bodies officially begin to die.” upon hearing your words they look back at you, sharing a knowing look. “that is too short. I…” they clench their jaw for a moment. “humans have too short of a life span. we- I will find a way” soft, whispered words flowing between you two like a breeze on an early spring morning.

depending on the context behind their words, that perhaps brought you joy, that your loved one would go above and beyond to have as much time as possible with you. or it filled you with fear, knowing their history with such ways of life manipulation.

“no matter how much time we have, we will be alright. I cherish every moment I get with you. and once I’m gone-“

“please don’t say that.” their voice fell to a broken whisper. noticing the change in their body language, you moved closer, cupping their face, and matching their quiet tone you said, “let’s stay in the present. I’m right here, living and breathing. focus on me, on my heart,” you take their hand and place their palm on your chest. “on how it beats for you. for us.”

Dan Heng, Jingliu, Blade, Dan Feng, Neuvillette, Xiao, Wanderer, Scaramouche, Capitano

divider cr: @saradika

[meamiki]

mira !!! :]

[otaku553]

Procrastination doodles of sabo for the king sabo au :)

[turtleblogatlast]

Something I think is cute is that - y’know how Raph’s eyes are more on the yellow side?

Well, you know who also has slightly yellowed eyes? Donnie.

While Raph’s are more yellow, I think it’s cute that this is something that they share and I don’t see it pointed out too often?

It’s also something they both share with Draxum and Splinter’s current form (though again, these two have much more yellow sclera than the boys do.)

But yeah, I like that there’s this little detail that ties Raph and Donnie together, even if it’s small.

[meta-squash]

I think two of the most important things about Jack Harkness, two things that inform almost everything he does and the choices he makes, are this: that he is a soldier NOT a leader, and that his entire life since childhood has been awash in survivor's guilt (and his whole existence after becoming immortal is an even more extreme version of survivor's guilt).

Jack is not a natural leader. He can think on the fly and he's good at getting people to listen to him, but he's not good at control, or at being objective. He's a natural second in command, he's a soldier. He was brought up to do what other people told him to, and to improvise if he had to (Time Agency, etc). But I really don't think he wants to be the leader of Torchwood. Unfortunately, everything about him means that he has to be. He knows from experience that others having control over him is dangerous, others knowing about his immortality while he's a subordinate to them is dangerous, and he also knows that his own immortality gives him an advantage as a leader. But I don't think he's good at leading. He tries to be. But he's fumbling along, in a time period he's not native to and a planet he's not native to and an unfathomable lifespan, and as charming as he is I think he's often not good with people. He's detached where he should be personal and emotional where he should be detached (or at least more level-headed). He's often too extreme or not harsh enough when it comes to things like discipline or dealing with the problems/traumas/mistakes of his employees or even civilians. He can't handle his employees seeing him uncertain/vulnerable and it makes for huge problems over and over again.

But all of this does make sense because I think in the back of Jack's mind there's always this wheel spinning, these gears turning and turning and calculating the impact and trauma each of his actions or decisions or the events around him are going to have on his own emotions for far longer than normal humans tend to consider. Because the catalyst for any part of the life we see him leading is survivor's guilt. He lost his father and his brother on the same day, joined the military and lost his best friend, joined the Time Agency and lost his memories (and maybe thinks he did something terrible). Then he died, and when Rose brought him back, he was all alone on the satellite with nothing but the corpses of the people who had fought beside him and zero explanation as to why he survived, and he had lost Rose and the Doctor besides. And then all his life on earth since, he has lost coworkers and lovers and civilians he tried and failed to save and probably also aliens he tried and failed to save. And I think by the time he becomes reluctant leader of Torchwood, every action is, whether conscious or subconscious, taken with the intent of minimizing that kind of trauma and the impact of loss.

Except that I think that the survivor's guilt has another layer to it, which is that feeling of needing to sacrifice or absolve himself in some way. No one else is willing to make the difficult decisions, no one else will move forward with the painful and unpleasant actions, even if there's no other way, even though they will someday perish and no longer see the ripples of their actions. But Jack - who cannot die, who must live with the guilt or the pain or the trauma of those actions and decisions for the rest of his very very very long life - is the one who realizes that he must take on those painful responsibilities and must do certain things even though they're terrible, because it ends up being the sacrifice of one over the whole world. And every single time, he's guilty about it, and that makes him want even more to sacrifice his own hurt for the grief and loss of others.

So it's this strange cycle of wanting to protect himself from hurt and from loss and from the survivor's guilt, but being driven by guilt towards painful and/or self-sacrificing actions. Which then makes him fear being seen as vulnerable or uncertain, and he struggles to do things on a smaller scale or in a more level-headed way, because he's not supposed to be leading like this, it's not something that comes naturally, and if he makes emotional connections by being a leader, he'll end up trapped in survivor's guilt yet again each time one of his employees or friends or lovers dies.

It's just a terrible cycle and he's trapped in it for the rest of his existence. Although if he really is the Face Of Boe, then I imagine at some point he eventually finds peace with it all or something, but I think so long as he has a human-form he's stuck with this cycle of leadership and loss and sacrifice and mistakes.

I think it's really important that Jack is not good at his job as a leader. He makes a ton of mistakes, he fucks up so much and his employees or even civilians end up collateral damage, whether physically or just emotionally. He wants to be a good leader, I think, and he's trying, but he's fallible, and he's a stranger in literally every sense, and I think a really big part of his character is that he constantly is forced to live in this bizarre dichotomy where he has to be both very distant and cold and detached, and also very emotional and intense and personal. And any other person would collapse under the stress of repeating that over and over and over again for decades, but he has to figure out how to navigate this weight as an infinite existence that can't ever collapse or let it burn him up and kill him.

[dutchs-paisley-vest]

Been thinking about Hosea a lot as I write this analysis on Dutch and Micah.

Maybe I’ll eventually whip something up about him, but for now I’m left with thoughts about knowing that not only is Hosea just as guilty as Dutch when it comes to how their boys were brought up (and continued to be treated through adulthood and ultimately up to their deaths), but also the way the two irreparably damaged John and Arthur’s entire lives beyond even their own comprehension. FURTHERMORE, they set forth a viscous cycle of familial violence and neglect that maintained momentum into the next generation. (See: John and Jack.)

The way Hosea’s action, but more importantly his inaction had in part led to… well, [gestures vaguely to RDR1 + RDR2].

Hosea might have been gentler than Dutch on the surface, but he saw it all, and at times both implicitly and explicitly encouraged it through the meticulous timing of his decisions to remain a “silent watcher.”

Yes, refusal to mitigate the violence makes him complicit, but the matter of the fact is… Hosea can’t even feign partial innocence as a third-party bystander because of how calculated he is in nature.

Additionally, there is no “third party.” Dutch and Hosea are a single unit. They occupy the same space even as two separate individuals in John and Arthur’s lives.

The deliberate nature of Hosea’s inaction puts him in the same position as the “perpetrator” because he isn’t just a watcher, he corroborates directly with Dutch and agrees with what he is doing on principle. He reenforces it in perhaps more subtle ways, but that doesn’t make him any less responsible for the outcome.

The only difference between the two is that while they’re dealing different cards, they are playing the exact same game.

[mandareeboo]

Crack theory, but I think the reason Caine's glitching out is because he's trying to load too many objects at the same time.

Think about it! He's been fine doing this for years until Pomni came along. And when Zooble started to stay behind on missions, he had to load two maps at once- the Circus, and the adventure of the day. He's loading endless NPCs, (interactable!) objects, AND he's trying to communicate at the same time. I think all of that together is causing malfunctions.

[bearimba]

Silver doesn't need another father. He's already got one of those, technically, but the man turned out to be a weak, cowardly bastard who couldn't face his own problems let alone raise a child. The way he sees it, there's no need to set himself for more disappointment. He's got a roof over his head and food to eat, and that's far more than he could ever depend on in the last... however many years he'd been living on the streets. Lance and Clair are annoying as hell, but while he's training in the Dragon Den, he doesn't exactly have much room to complain. Not out loud, anyways.

Lance doesn't particularly want to be a dad either. He's already got too much responsibility on his plate as Champion, and this kid clearly needs so much more emotional support than he feels like he can provide. Simply convincing him to move into his guest room was enough of a struggle, and it only really worked because Lance had promised Silver he could "earn" his keep. What the hell is up with that, anyways? He's not sure what Silver's past looks like, and he's not about to go prying, but the bare minimum he can do is make sure he doesn't have to rough it out in the woods anymore. At least Clair seems to be having fun training him...

Clair is more than ready to be an aunt. The other two refuse to admit to caring for each other, but unlike them, she's not afraid of something as stupid as her emotions. The brat's slowly but surely been mellowing out during his training, and her idiot cousin has actually been taking care of himself for once in order to be a "good example." Silver has even caught on to calling Lance "old man" like she does, on account of those ugly-ass reading glasses the all-mighty Champion has to wear, and she couldn't be prouder. Best part is, she doesn't have to spend a dime except to treat the kid every so often! That's a win in her book if ever there was one.

[crmediagal]

I finished A Court of Frost and Starlight last night...and I have a lot of feelings. Putting them under the cuff and just gonna generalize the biggest peeves I had below...

Can the Inner Circle be anymore insufferable? They probably can…but they really gave me the ick in this book, even more than the others up to this point.

Feyre talking about how many Illyrians died in the Battle of Hybern or how many families in Velaris are displaced and homeless after the war…but then she keeps flexing about the endless supply of money she and Rhysand have. And doesn't even think about giving any of it away to those in need? Oh, and she's gifted another house at the end of the book?! The utter lack of self-awareness is gob-smacking and just makes her and Rhysand all the more unlikable.

My biggest pet peeve of all in this book: Feyre treating Lucien like actual garbage and Rhysand saying he "can't forgive him [Lucien]" for what he did to her UTM. I'm sorry, what kind of gaslighting is this?! Lucien?! Lucien did nothing but try to HELP Feyre every step of the way UTM and was even willing to let Rhysand turn his mind to soup rather than give up her name, and that's when she was still human! The gaslighting by the characters and author in these books over other characters' actions continues to drive me insane. Where did that assassination of Lucien's character even come from?!

Oh, and we can't forget Rhysand visiting Tamlin twice, who is CLEARLY deeply, horribly depressed - he's unkempt, not eating, barely communicates, and even asks for forgiveness at the end - and Rhysand just keeps verbally kicking the guy again and again. It was so unsettling and uncomfortable for me to read someone verbally abusing someone suffering this badly. If I had any more reasons to dislike the fandom's favorite High Lord, there it was. He's grotesque towards others' pains and faults but can't look in a mirror. Ever.

There really wasn't much to like about this book, and it's a shame because the after-war reprieve could have been a lovely, cozy read. It was interesting getting other characters' POVs, too…but they all are so infuriating and self-righteous that it made the experience very un-enjoyable for me.

I'm basically hanging on to this fandom for Lucien's and Elain's POVs…and praying that their storylines are upheld, not gaslighted, or sh*t all over.

[elisedonut]

Marcus: I think I got your lunch. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I am very proud of you. Love, Percy’* Oliver: Oh yeah. I didn’t think this was for me. *Holds up a note that reads: ‘I love you but for the love of merlin, Please behave.’*

[kokodrawings]

You know, the technique of Minato the Hiraishin. There are several variations of this technique, but the one that strikes me the most is when during the fourth war, Genma, Raido and Iwashi teleport Mei Terumi and tell she ‘We can use the Fourth's technique, we just need to do it in a group’ Do you think Minato himself taught them this technique in person?I've always liked to think that they received the title of ‘hokage guards’ because Minato trained them for some time. I'd love to know what you think - your illustrations are great!

Hi!! Thank you, glad you hear you like my drawings!! 💖

Well, the last time I read the war arc was ten years ago with the weekly releases, so my memory is a bit fuzzy (not a fan of the arc so I prefer to delete it from my mental headcanons lol), but I think I remember what you’re talking about! Haha, this is a fun ask, let me ramble about that.

Okay, so… we have three guys around Kakashi’s age (in fact, if I remember correctly Genma is Gai’s teammate), but nowhere near Kakashi’s level. Three guys who were around 13-14 years old when Minato rose to power, and who were, at best, newly jounin or even chunin (again, Kakashi was promoted to jounin at 12 and that was an extraordinary ocurrence. And we can agree that these three don’t have Kakashi’s talent).

And you’re telling me that these three kids were the "Hokage Guard Platoon", in charge of protecting the legendary Yellow Flash himself? Yeah Kishi, no way xD

Since you asked for my thoughts, here’s my headcanon: I think that it was peacetime (so things were more or less chill), these kids probably admired the Yellow Flash and now the Fourth Hokage (maybe they were even his fanboys) and Minato thought it would be funny to keep then around as the “Hokage guards.”

And if Minato is going to keep them around, they need a way to get away fast. Because Minato is not a team player, he is a one-man team: he is very fast, strikes even faster and has the Hiraishin to get away quickly if shit hits the fan. He doesn’t need three kids around in the case someone decides to attempt an attack on his person because they will be more of a hindrance than a help (plus, he already lost two kids when he wasn’t around to watch their backs, he doesn’t need another three dead ones).

So, what can he do to solve this? Easy, teach them the Hiraishin! But the Hiraishin is not that easy to learn, you need the power and the skill, and although these three looked like they had the skill (performing a jutsu with other people as a team has to be much more difficult than doing it yourself alone) they lacked the raw chakra needed to power up the technique, so he modified it for them to use as a team.

TL;DR: Minato thought it was hilarious to have three kids trailing behind him like ducklings and taught them the Hiraishin not to protect him, but to protect themselves and get away while he kicked some ass. They're more like Minato's second genin team than a guard, imo.

[animentality]

a beta reader left a comment on my manuscript that was basically:

"this story is a waste of my time."

and it's like....

i have thick skin and all, since i've been working with beta readers for a long time, but...

ouch.

thanks, i guess. helpful.

[newtwithinternet]

TDP S7 ending really said "If the world faces a great crisis, the most important thing you have to care about is not resolving it, but keeping your hands nice and clean. no, we aren't saying that there IS a way to solve the crisis without dire methods, we are saying that someone else (who is conveniently stained already) will eventually show up to do the dirty work INSTEAD of you. and you'll be good for letting them do it."

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the biggest things that makes me see Leo as trans is absolutely the size of his carapace in comparison to his brothers’.

And I’m not talking about height! I’m specifically looking at his shell here, because when you compare him to the others, particularly Donnie who is nearly the same height as Leo, it’s very clear that Leo’s carapace is much longer in proportion to the rest of his body.

Like - standing side by side, even though Donnie is shorter his carapace ends noticeably higher up than Leo’s does. And I like this not only because it really helps push the idea that Leo could very likely be trans (or intersex!), but it’s also just a fun design difference between them.

(It also lends way to future scenarios of Donnie eventually getting taller than Leo, but sitting down still has Leo being the taller one haha.)