#and like consistently more ppl showed up behind us

[babsaros]

went to a real dispensary and got real weed like a big kid today

[bloominglegumes]

earthspark season 2 head in my hands,,,

maybe ill delete this later but i want to just get some thoughts out

spoilers below

ok i absolutely love what they set up in season one, every member of the malto family was used so well to compare and contrast with the experiences of the cybertronian characters familiar to us, these tired war veterans and resentful past allies ,,, like one of the big ones in my head right now being their choice to use bumblebee, The Kid Appeal Transformer, making him switch out of being a soldier and into a mentor (not sergeant, not commander, just unqualified older sibling-type position) for a herd of kids who have practically no concept of war and its implications was so so juicy. it's been repeated in practically every bit of transformers media ever that bumblebee is the designated little guy, the friendly one, the autobot who most easily makes friends with aliens, we've seen it in g1, in idw, in bayverse, tfa, tfp, cyberverse, i'm sure there are more versions that i can't think of at the moment

what they did to bumblebee in earthspark was essentially still put him in this best friend role, but the twist was how bumblebee did not even want to be there and didn't know a thing about kids and i loved it and i know many other people loved it as well.. even if the earthspark characters were roughly developed from their g1 base, this bumblebee was so clearly more used to being on a battlefield than just hanging out, he struggled with interactions that weren't like the 'ready to jump into a fight in an instant' dynamic that he was used to, though still having that sort of fuzzy playfulness that bumblebee is always written with ykyk

i think the writers made some really fascinating choices in taking some darker elements like in the idw comics and sort of filtering it for the audience through the malto family, but not baby-padding the real emotions behind the characters' experiences if that makes sense?? take megatrons grief and guilt for instance, the presence of the kids didn't diminish the reality of what he'd done or the consequences, but they sort of worked like a frame to have megatrons actions recounted in a particular direction. thrash's unwillingness to deal with the aftermath of a war the terrans had no part in was so.so real, ik i say it all the time but it was, the characters and the relationships between them were written with this real and intimate nuance that i really wouldn't normally expect from a show targeted for kids, not to mention the very clear and loving representation for poc, lgbtq+ identities, immigrant experiences, disabled ppl,,,

dont even get me started on the visuals, the sound design, the animation quality,,, i've only loosely been in animation college for a bit, i know there's still so much i don't know, but for sure i feel like earthsparks quality was pretty insane for regular series episodes

plus their character designers knew what they were doing + went so hard in the best way,,and the action scenes were beautifully choreographed, every character had their own unique movements and fighting style (think of the soundwave fight in decoy or megatron + optimus against skywarp + novastorm in age of evolution) in a way that i think definitely rivalled tfp in its intricacy and life-feeling. the camera work was stunning, the acting was on point and consistent for each character, the 2d effects were vibrant and gorgeous and so full of life, i'd say earthsparks effects are one of its most distinct stylistic choices and its so so excellent and i adore every smoke cloud and smear and electric zap and ghgruhgf

which is why it breaks my heart seeing season 2 open with such a noticeable decrease in quality,, breaks my heart that they didnt receive enough of a positive reception or whatever exactly it was that led to the earthspark team having to trim down and cushion their story

i still think earthspark is a really fun transformers show with a delightful cast, amazing voice actors, and i don't want to bash any particular member of the crew for things beyond their control. there's no doubt in my mind that the current team on earthspark is full of incredibly skilled artists, and i'm sure many people, including myself, will continue to enjoy the series going forward,, i'm just. disappointed that its not the best that it could have been.

a lot of season 2's writing just felt like.a regular kids show??? feels almost similar to cyberverse's fluctuation in tone throughout each of its seasons, s1 was full of generically-kid-friendly humour and gags, then sort of shockingly plummeted into that whole arc with starscream and the allspark monsters,, like, either direction would be fine and fun, but it's just the sudden change that makes it oofy for me ;-;

from just looking at the visuals, the character animation is less crafted and careful than it is in season 1,, i can really only describe it as it now being closer to what i'd think of as 'regular tv animation, made to be released on a schedule', rather than 'oh my god look at that secondary action replay replay now'. the characters movements are stiffer, less weighted, less natural-feeling, and if you're looking for it, it's clear where they loop animation or sort of sneak their camera shots to simplify actions, like a few fight scenes that had sections simplified into slowmo hit poses rather than being fully animated,, again its more or less fine for any other tv series, but it just feels off after being used to the look we had in s1

then the character animation goes hand in hand with the character writing + the dialogue, also just feeling like a lot of the original story they wanted to tell has been padded up and swaddled with more lighthearted, universally acceptable, safe plots. the goals and obstacles that came up in each episode didn't have the same emotional depth as in s1, where the main leads of each ep gained some sort of insight after their experiences + had some sort of vulnerability exposed, yknow yknow??

there are still traces of some juicier bits in there, like for instance i really like the section with the quintesson executioner causing mo to begin doubting quintus prime's intentions, then later the titan being all 'quintus is a prime and you should respect him' in a decently menacing way,, and i am glad that they had hashtag call out starscream and reminded him of their earlier conversation, i really hope they do something with those, but my point still stands that there were few parts of s2 i felt had some deeper meaning that can be built upon in the future.

i feel like the decision to make a timeskip was somewhat of a cop out as a means of explaining away how robby + mo have full control over these cybersuits now, how the maltos aren't shown having any more intra-family or identity-related conflict, how the decepticons all decided to follow starscream and go right back to fighting, etc etc, like 'oh well a year passed, things happened, this is just how things are now' like??? what happened to all that delicious heavy emphasis on growth and the choice to become better as a person and connecting to other people that was in s1,,

i know the decepticons wouldn't all have suddenly decided to buddy up with the autobots, but timeskipping a year and just reverting to the typical autobots vs decepticons dynamic we've had forever, without ever again really showing the thought processes of any of the characters in depth regarding the return to hostilities, when they just spent the whole previous season establishing how everyone is handling the aftermath of the war,,,, its like they've suddenly been turned back into generic cartoon villains instead of the unique individuals with their own thoughts and motives that they were introduced as,,

[diverting for a sec here im also just so sad that theres been nothing to fuel my enjoyment of megatron being very estranged from his high command,, barely anything to fuel the divorced-remarried 3p megoplita dynamic like,,,,, starscream praised soundwave and shockwave both individually, op and megatron had another one of those finishing-each-others-sentences moments, op called his and elitas relationship "complicated" and i love that, but please i'm begging here elaborate,,,give me more drama to work with,,]

even when there are like.objectively horrible scary things happening, like mo going 1v1 against the quintesson, cosmos being fully conscious trapped in alt mode for 15 years, jawbreaker essentially fusing with aftermath and getting betrayed and all their cavewater stolen (is that not an issue??) ,, i feel like the characters are remarkably.unreactive???? maybe its just another timeskip cop out, ~a year has passed so they've gotten used to it~, except they all still clearly behave like the children they are,.

and it seems to be turning earthspark from being, in my opinion, one of the most emotionally charged + mature transformers series out there rn into just. i'm going to say it again, it's just starting to feel like a generic kids show, unless whoever controls this show at hasbro can get it back to the high standard it started itself at.

i've read news of nightshade's pronouns being cause for negative reception, and some reviews of s1 say earthspark is too 'woke', that kids shouldn't be watching shows pushing that type of agenda. i'm not sure if that's the main reason for this big change in s2 for the much 'safer' writing, or if there's more that i'm just not aware of right now, but like. man. i hate.creativity trying to survive capitalism the show is about love and family and cool robots wtf is wrong with people who genuinely hate that

i know i won't make much of an impact with just this post, i doubt anyone is still reading this,, but seriously, earthspark is clearly a love letter made by tf fans for tf fans, in such a wonderful, gorgeous package, and it really breaks my heart so much to see all the great things established in season 1 practically go to waste. i haven't said this enough before, if you enjoy earthspark, please support it through official means however you can, leave good reviews or buy their stuff, just let the decision-makers know they can profit from making this show better,, i really hope it survives to complete the story they want to tell

[acourtofthought]

ohhhhh i love this!! “Elain is meant to be shared with their entire world.” its so obvious to me that elain doesn’t belong in the night court, and i can see why some people don’t agree saying she wouldn’t leave her sisters behind because honestly it’s a sad thought, but that literally happens all the time in real life, it would not be a crazy plot twist that’s unimaginable????

the thought of my younger brother moving away makes me a little emotional, but if it was something he truly wanted and i know would help him grow, i would be sooo happy for him!! even if it made me a little sad haha and i’m 1000% certain that’s exactly what would happen if elain left the night court as well like it’ll probs be a little emotional but so realistic🌸✨

i feel like ppl might not like idea of her leaving bc it’s something that is very real and it’s sad to see your sibling go and they are thinking of their own siblings leaving (well aside from a certain ship obviously…..) but i think seeing elain grow and go out into the world will be such a beautiful story!!! that i think will help so many! dunno if this made sense but 💕💕

Thank you!!! Really, I hate the takes where Elain's entire arc will consist of her having only the friends she met while living in Feyre's house and ending up with the only single male she's met since being turned outside her mate and remaining in court that is pretty opposite of everything we know of her character. And of course we selfishly want our loved ones to be close to us, just like I imagine Feyre wants her sisters close to her so she can keep an eye on them and ensure their happiness but that doesn't mean it's what is best for them. Elain's personality (as she's been described by the author and in the books) is kind and capable of showing love in a way that neither Feyre or Nesta were able to. She's sunshine and light, generous and able to convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles yet some really think she's best suited to sneaking around in the shadows? Spying and lying and staying in court known for it's cruelty? I personally think she shines too brightly for the NC, that she is meant for more, where she has the opportunity to bring about change for the many (not just the residents of Velaris).

[icarianarts]

hi from another veryy shy person! was it hard to feel comfortable on vrchat/SL for you at first? i always get too timid to play with or meet others comfortably just bc im unsure how to participate … could i ask you for any tips to start for ppl like us and how to have more fun / break out of our shell on games like that?

With VR Chat and Second Life specifically, I always feel the need to emphasize the atmosphere in these games can be highly unpredictable and a good half of the time I run into a lot of unpleasant people. My method for this is to block as quickly as I can and not entertain these any further, so if you are curious about either of these just be aware that they can and will house really annoying and bad people a lot of the time….BUT with that being said, with VR Chat specifically I find a lot of folks on there are already in a similar boat. There is a ton of equally shy, but also curious people and I find that usually the quickest way of getting into a conversation with someone is finding someone with an avatar that is from a game/show/whatever you enjoy. It is much easier to figure out common interests off the bat and usually people there just love to talk about that type of stuff.

People on vr chat tend to also be stuck in goofy, usually light hearted pseudo roleplay improv type of stuff. I’ll go to the McDonald’s world and idle behind the cash register sometimes and people love to come up and pretend order random shit so sometimes you can establish banter right away LOL I think my best interactions have consistently been with people I stumble into that just want to get a good bit going. I am still thinking about this Skeletor avatar that clasped me by the shoulder and asked if I’d like to see a land where the receipts stretch for miles and he walked me over to a Walgreens.

For games like Second Life, voice chat is optional and texting is much more efficient. This is a much older game that also has been kind of closed off since its initial popularity has waned and generally speaking people take it much more seriously than VR Chat. It leans on the more older side, so usually I am the youngest player in a sim by over 10-20ish years if it is just me and my friends are not also with me. It’s one of these games where it is best explored with at least one other person until you fully get the hang of things, and also just a bit difficult to find active areas. Most the people here also kind of just are there to talk, avatars are much more personalized than how the general public of VR Chat’s tends to be and I find that asking questions or just simply going oh I love how you did xyz to your look! Usually can go a long way. They also have much more elaborate profiles and you can use that as a reference to go off of, you can tell who might not be interested in small talk very easily on there LOL

Second Life I would say might be a bit more difficult to comfortably socialize in for beginners just because of its history and how the userbase is known to act. I have a lot more content warnings to give about this game than I do VR Chat because of how much bigger it is

I always do my best to usually remain polite, I avoid a lot of humor that would be reserved for people who I would have known for ages—stuff like playful rudeness comes across as overfamiliar almost all the time and can also lead to misunderstandings especially if someone is a stranger. It’s a biiiit difficult to try and figure out a good starting point to offer advice for just because these games are so expansive and come with such crazy varieties. If you have any more questions let me know as I tend to kind of go off onto a ramble and don’t know if this. Fully answers things or not. 😅

[batsplat]

come on there’s gotta be at least 3 sete/vale rivalry appreciators (you me and pedro acosta)!! haven’t seen 2003-05 seasons in full but mugello 2004 alone was so great.

vale and gibernau finished 1&2 on the same podium SEVEN times in 2003, the only ppl who did it more in a single year (since 2000, was too lazy to look back further) were lorenzo/pedrosa in 2012 when they swapped 1&2 places 9 times on the podium.

I love you anon

listen, I know some people need their rivalries to be more balanced than this, but in terms of actual on-track battles it's like. one of the very best this century. (I'm trying to hold back from calling it the best this century but I don't not believe that?) also some might argue that the 1-2 achievement is even more impressive in 2003 than in 2012, given more riders were capable of fighting for wins and the field spread was way less dramatic. sete's 2003 season in particular is so underrated, man's scoring an average of 17.3 points per race, four wins, 10/16 races on the podium, only two races where he was worse than fourth... serious pace plus consistency! out of nowhere!

anyway, here's every notable on-track encounter between sete and valentino, with * to **** asterisks by how worth watching it is for the fight between those two specifically. (for most of these, of course you can find more details in the sete post and the valentino race recs post.) using italics I've indicated which races are available on youtube (or on facebook, in the case of phillip island 2004):

welkom 2003**: the first race after kato's death, and the one where sete secures his unlikely emotional victory. valentino applied heavy pressure on sete in the late stages, but sete stood firm

le mans 2003***: yes, valentino was unlucky when the race was interrupted by rain - but the resulting battle between sete and valentino in the last few laps in tricky conditions is fantastic. multiple overtakes on the last lap and both riders off-track at the final corner

catalunya 2003*: valentino looked locked-on for the victory until he made two mistakes, the second of which has him go off-track and drop several places to hand capirossi the win. vale finds some crazy pace to catch up with biaggi and sete and pass them both

sachsenring 2003****: valentino gets a big enough lead you think it's surely over... but then sete catches him, leading valentino to let him go by so he can study him from behind. a dramatic final lap that prompts a bit of an existential crisis from valentino

brno 2003****: valentino shows up after the summer break with red hair, a determined smile and a mission. this race is a thriller, a proper dogfight between 3-5 riders with plenty of twists and turns - before the whole thing distils into an all timer of a final lap duel

rio 2003*: valentino sticks behind sete for a while, but it feels like he was just biding his time. once he gets past, he pushes hard and pulls away for a comfortable win

sepang 2003*: the match point race, after valentino had run away with the season post-brno. valentino gets a middling start and has to hunt down sete, but once he does he again pulls away

mugello 2004***: MY BELOVED. this is where the momentum in that season really shifts, courtesy of one hell of a chaotic race. there is an excellent sete/valentino duel in this race, but it's far from the only thing going on. all of it's brilliant

catalunya 2004****: a race long duel! I love catalunya duels because so much of it is about tyres getting chewed up and the riders wobbling and sliding more and more. sete's home race and psychologically a very important race... one hell of a show

assen 2004****: the turning point of the relationship! I still FULLY believe this set up everything that happened next, even if nobody talks about this race any more. the fight slaps!! the last lap slaps!! the podium with bad vibes slaps!! valentino in that presser!!

brno 2004*: sete badly needed a win here, and in the end it's not particularly close. the early battle with those two and biaggi is fun, but eventually sete's newly upgraded honda has the clear edge

phillip island 2004****: the first duel post-qatar curse - so these two now hate each other. it's also a match point race! banger of a start, sete is proper feisty here leaving valentino to hunt him down. banger of a final lap too

valencia 2004*: last race of the season - and even though the title's been sealed up, wouldn't it be nice to get a morale-boosting win to take into the new year? at sete's home race too? ah, you know how this goes. the way valentino gets past sete is pretty funny

jerez 2005****: well of course! again, fierce start, and it takes a bit to get rid of everyone else so it's just those two again. the last lap is something special, as is the post-race drama

catalunya 2005***: back on sete home turf!! and sete rides such a good race, he's really doing his very best - except of course valentino is hunting him down again. there's a brutally dismissive quality to this victory

le mans 2005***: edwards streaks off in front until valentino catches him - and vale's content to sit on his teammate's rear tyre until sete catches them both. the race from there is a joy

sachsenring 2005***: another goody! hayden features quite prominently in this one, and crucially valentino never manages to make a break for it. sete leads going into the final lap

brno 2005***: the fun of this one is in remembering it's sachsenring // summer break // brno... and the duel here immediately picks up again with valentino brusquely cutting past sete on the first lap. really makes it feel like sete is trapped in some sort of a hellish time loop... the end to this one is proper CRUEL

qatar 2005***: one year anniversary of that race and of course sete is desperate to repeat his success. the more of these you watch the crueller they get, not least when it really does look like he's built up enough of a lead. melandri also plays a big part in this one

mugello 2006**: you just know how badly sete would have loved to win this (and so did the commentators). entire race is excellent but sete mainly features in the starting dogfight, not the latter stages

phillip island 2006**: this is a chaos bike swap race and there's a lot going on, all of which is very relevant to the title fight. relevant to this post is that sete and valentino end up fighting for the last podium place on the very last lap. their last duel before sete's career was cut short by injury

obviously, if anyone's looking to watch the full sete/valentino story, there's a few more races you'd have to add in like 2004 welkom, qatar and sepang. anyway, this rivalry slaps. hopefully soon a fourth person can be recruited to the cause

[eyes-of-nine]

question 17 & 18 for .... ALL of them!! :3 i wanna know more bout them all :'D

(but also of course u can also just choose to answer this question for only some of them that u wanna answer it for)

AHFDGGADFH ELLY!! i'll try to keep the intros really really short bc there's quite a few

17.Are they easily embarrassed?

18.What embarrasses them?

Asher (annoying guy with light powers who thinks he can out manipulate everyone.... he can't) i don't think he's easily embarrassed on most occasions, especially with the shit he pulls off, but there are some exceptions. The biggest thing you could embarrass them with is a big spoiler but let's just say an indirect compliment could make him scream internally.

Mitchell (champion of the Ennoia of Desire, he basically gets to be almost immortal as long as he does the gods' dirty work) easily the most embarrassible (??) one out of the ashmix trio. My man cringes every time he has to hold a conversation with anyone. Pointing out basically anything he does whether positive or negative would do the trick. He is very confused when ppl can perceive him.

Phoenix (is having the worst time bc suddenly and for seemingly no reason she might be able to destroy the world and not a lot of ppl are happy about it) Girl has NO SHAME. It would be impressive to get her to show any sort of embarrassment. ...maybe except for the fact she has like -7 perception or the fact her and Theo met bc she broke his nose after he snitched on her for skipping class.

Theo ( just some guy helping his sister run a cafe, saving up for top surgery and suffering bc he's best friends with Phoenix and that means he doesn't get to know peace...ever) He has a pretty decent grasp on his emotions so it's not THAT EASY to embarrass him. He does tend to put other's needs before his own tho so I think just making him the center of attention for long enough would be enough

Star (Theo's oldest friend and a chaos gremlin who runs around using the fact that nobody suspects a small almost blind guy of smuggling illegal shit to, well, do exactly that) He's not someone who likes to show weakness, thanks to the social circles he tends to deal with, so he hides his embarrassment behind hostility. You could not tell if anything affects him or not. But there are some that tend to hit him hard. Specifically his financial situation or his ability/the reason his eyesight is fucked. He'd dislike you for it tho.

Taru-zai (Ennoia of Time and Space, in charge of running the jail between worlds and hunt down possible dangers to the order of the world) No.

Desiderem (Ennoia of Desire, consists of two incarnations: Rem the previous Ennoia of Desire who well is very dead and Des, the current desire incarnate and Mitchell's patron) almost impossible tho they do have a soft spot for their champions which is very not indifferent higher being of them

Different universe time babey!!

Harlow (girl turned android war machine/bodyguard who after a failed android revolution that she barely escaped alive is forced to pick up pieces of her broken life back together on a desolate planet) Girlie should be happy she can't blush any more bc she would look like a tomato 24/7. If you mention anything about her not being a stoic, cold-blooded get things done no matter the cost war machine, it's over for her which looking at her choice of travel companion, she's fucked.

Caitlyn (buff himbo who sees the best in everyone until they hurt someone she cares about, running around a desert planet scavenging to help out her family and Harlow's great choice of travel companion) Not really. She's a very earnest person and rarely feels like she needs to hide something. She does get embarrassed if you use her full name instead of her super cool definitely didn't think of it in middle school nickname Cai. i love her sm

last character and last universe

Maddy (a young medium who just graduated high school and is, to her annoyance, full-time pinning over the ghost of her best friend's gf while also trying to solve her murder. just think ultimate trio of disaster lesbians) She's a bit awkward, like most teenagers/ just freshly out of high school ppl tend to be. She has a dad who loves to tease her and well looking at the bio, embarrassing her isn't that hard

oc asks

[marley-manson]

good things about Bug Out:

- Hawkeye nervous about performing a delicate proceedure he’s never been trained in and snapping at people, always one of my favourite things

- Hawkeye freely and emphatically telling Margaret he’s terrified when she points out he’s not acting scared

- uhhhhh Hawkeye’s parasol

bad things about Bug Out:

- it’s a bad episode bront

- Potter

- “This is the US army, if we want land, we don’t buy it we take it!” with 0 condemnation from the narrative.

- the military march version of the theme complete with asian stereotype riff

- WHY does Margaret stay with Hawkeye, and why does Hawkeye only offer one token protest????????? she is useless here.

- even more emphatic WHY DOES RADAR STAY???? Hawkeye doesn’t even say a word, he’s just like ‘k cool’ when Radar says he’s staying too, wtf lol. He should be picking him up and throwing him into the nearest truck, not buying him a drink at Rosie’s. it’s so arbitrary and stupid, clearly a nonsensical plot contrivance for the sake of like, padding the 2 parter out with the bar scene

- Potter makes Klinger give up all his dresses, no reimbursement or anything, and then it turns out to be pointless in the next scene anyway

- bad attempted dramatic references to wartime rape esp when we got Rainbow Bridge to compare it to. Rainbow Bridge is good because it’s a brief acknowledgement of harsh reality that’s accepted as a risk. Hawkeye makes a quick joke that I’m fine with bc it serves as an ic expression of nervousness, then we move on. In Bug Out Margaret brings it up in a serious enough way suitable for the tone, but Hawkeye dismisses her concern for some reason, telling her “there’s no reason to be afraid,” before the conversation shifts away onto him. Then the more slapstick-y panic at the end (like this scene features Radar trying to hide behind a pole, c’mon) includes Margaret screaming about being ravaged ft a dismissive Hawkeye joke (”tell them you’re with me”), and later exaggerating the danger they were in to Frank. And it also bugs me that Margaret specifies “female prisoners” when Rainbow Bridge acknowledged male rape. It’s like it’s trying to be a serious moment to draw attention to the danger of the situation, and then falls flat on its face.

- the overall plot doesn’t really make sense? is it just a coincidence that a bug out drill turned into a bug out rumour that was denied and then turned into a real bug out? considering they bug out like twice over the course of the show that seems pretty improbable lol.

- honestly I find the humour in this episode mostly bad. more racist jokes than usual, a few homophobic moments (Potter calling some singer a sissy, BJ’s “I’m staying with you but don’t get me wrong” no homo, everyone calling Frank Alice), and an offputting tone that doesn’t successfully balance its humour and its drama imo (see that paragraph about rape up there for an example)

- oh also why tf does Klinger immediately tell Frank about the bug out thing, without even mentioning the fact that it’s just a drill? I get that Klinger can’t keep a secret, that’s a fairly consistent thing, but why immediately go to Frank and Margaret of all people? Did he intentionally want the camp in an uproar? Why, if so? If it’s a prank we should’ve had a scene where he laughs about it, but nope.

- Hawkeye parking the car to wax poetic about the MASH good lord. serves you right that it stalled out. I don’t necessarily think it’s that ooc since it wasn’t positive, just ‘we spent a lot of time here, lots of ppl died here, hmm’ but i do think it’s dumb as shit and I don’t think Hawkeye lacks that much self-preservation

- no good gay jokes either :/ literally the best we got is Hawkeye saying, “You finally realized I have a beautiful body” after Margaret says she’s staying, which is the mildest of feminizing jokes.

It’s funny honestly, I remembered disliking this episode for Potter and the pro-military flavour and the lack of decent gay jokes, but upon rewatching there are so many more aspects to hate in addition to that

[p3rry-pi3]

I am so sorry for the people who followed me I completely forgot abt this acc

But anyway

I made a lil’ thing.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TW!!!!! I mention lots of violence, lots of cussing, lots of mentions on injections, i trauma dump for a bit (I think), uh, uh, uh, yeah. That’s it. Lmk if I needa add more.

It’s complicated but I was wondering what it’d be like if my sona was a miguel variant!

He looks a lot different each drawing I make of him due to me playing around with styles so keep that in mind that consistency is nonexistent to me.

I hope this reaches the right ppl lol

I was a little nervous to show this to such a big fandom but then I remembered this is tumblr! I can do whatever, be cringe, and survive!!!

So here’s this, it’s all gonna be under the cut cause I took this as an advantage to geek out lol (a blessing and a curse)

Okay! So! His face, right.

Facial features.

This face. I did a lil’ sheet of him with and without glasses. He looks scared but bare in mind this is technically my sona and if you know me almost all of them I make are in this constant state of anxiety, and this is my way of projecting. So shhh.

In contrast to Miguel’s heightened sense due to the injects, Perry’s senses are erratic. This man’s vision gets worse TENFOLD. I’m already blind as is irl (that’s sarcasm) and the injections being unpredictable due to this dude’s like. Whatever, it makes it WORSE. Also the overstimulation is BAD with him.

As a reference to Miguel’s slicked back hair, he has his hair behind his ears. It’s a habit he does and will often fidget with his hair by constantly tucking it behind his hair and he refuses to tie it up.

Build/suit

This man is somewhat chubby but all that action will definitely muscle him out. Here’s him in the suit btw.

I think he would wear clothes overlapping the suit but because it’s like holographic and emits SO MUCH HEAT, he can’t do it during summer.

Cause imagine how hot that thing is!!!

I’ve seen the speculations that miguel could be very well naked underneath that suit, and I’ve seen how it’s like a running joke, like sure, it’s funny

BUT IMAGINE WEARING THAT THIMG EVERYWHERE WITH NO A/C!!! NO FANS!!! I imagine it being just as bad as wearing fursuit during summer (not coming from experience, but I see the struggle)

It must be super hot! I don’t know how but it LOOKS like that thing just RADIATES heat.

But no, my sona isn’t naked.

Venom

And the little fangs ref is from me being half asleep and dreaming while being awake somehow, and I guess I drew that??? Who knows.

He has natural fangs but the injections 100% make them more pronounced.

I’m not gonna overpower him and make his venom more dangerous but I’d say in addition to paralyzing his opponents, it also causes skin irritation.

Just picture it.

You’re can’t move and have to wait it off, but, your skin starts itching. It gets itchier and starts to burn BUT YOU CAN’T SCRATCH IT!!!

So you’re just laying there like “AAAAAAAA” cause then you’re worried it’ll blister, (it won’t), and you can’t check cause you can’t move!!!!!

I’m an evil genius I know 🤓

Being bit by him would be the equivalent of having to use your teeth cause no matter how many times you scratch that one part of your hands as a kid (even as now) it wouldn’t stop itching!

Character personality/arc/dev

This part was trickier. I didn’t know if I wanted to make him completely different from canon or make him similar but not too similar. It was hard.

So I focused on small traits I knew I wanted him to have.

And I think I went bonkers.

Uh yeah. I told you the art style changes quite a bit.

I think this man would love to see Miguel’s year but not long enough to figure out all the futuristic stuff. He’d be an iPad peepaw 😞

Also I’m half Samoan myself irl, so I wanted to sprinkle in that Samoan rep in this. I see little to none in most of the media I explore around, and it makes me a bit sad but if there’s like an explanation lmk.

I know there’s some Polynesian rep in the community, just not as much as I like, so here I am adding to that in pride of my own culture. (I’m still doing research on it as someone who isn’t all that connect to my heritage so it’s not good rep but bare with me, I’m getting there. As these reference pages evolve so will the rep.)

I like making a lot of these sonas so I might remake this one in particular.

I figured I’d give him a more animated character while keeping miguel’s stoicism and attitude, so here’s the characteristics I did wanna give him.

Moody. Has mood swings due to various reasons but for Miguel’s character’s sake we’ll leave it vague.

Constant state of worry and paranoia. I have been showing signs of paranoia so I’m not pulling this one out of my ass, but I do see miguel showing signs of it during high stress. It’s a headcanon I have, but I’d imagine what years of being aware of the fact there’s more people like you in a whole strand of endless possibilities, and one of them is where you’re a fictional character and being conscious of that 4th wall, it can cause you to think some stuff.

Opinionated. That’s. That’s it.

Sassy. He’s so zesty and for what lmao.

Smartass and witty. I imagine him having huge yelling matches with miguel if they were to ever meet, but in the end would get along like an old married couple. Would miguel even remotely like him? No. Not even close. This man would HATE my sona. My sona would hate him back, but as someone who’s had yelling matches with other people he’d prolly be like “damn. I can respect that.” But wouldn’t DARE to tell miguel.

Intelligent. Yeah, he would’ve been better off being an art student or a lawyer, but because of the whole canon event he had, he’s stuck as spider-man. His civilian wear is a lot more cozy in duality to him being spider-man.

Forgetful. I imagine him going to the shop and just going “shock! I forgot to change!” And he’s already almost done with his grocery list in his spider-man suit so the people there are just like, “OMG SOIDERMAN WHAT R YOU DOING HERE???”

So uh, there’s that. One last thing I’d like to add is that I may or may not have studied Miguel’s character just for his personality and to take inspo.

Doodle time!!!!!1111!!1!!11!!1!1

I made doodles here.

So.

Yeah.

I think it’s clear I don’t take him seriously lol

I also think this man would have bad nightmares since I do (fun fact! I don’t dream. It’s constant nightmares) and because of that this man would 100% sleep with a nightlight and some background noises of crowds talking bc nostalgia is the best medicine.

But it gets awkward at other people’s houses and he’s afraid to ask so he ends up staying up all night in pure terror of his nightmares. His nightmares are enhanced due to his senses. (For me, it’s imagination and having a constant active mind, but since this is my sona and I don’t have an arc for him, it’s gonna be bc of the injections.)

I think he’d be just as gay and trans as me.

Being in a big multiverse, I think he’d learn quickly that life is just too short to live while being worried of the norm and what others think.

There’s two different types of social anxiety (<- sarcasm) and he has both.

Also here’s some other doodles of his face I did

Sometimes I like drawing them completely crazy, off the deep end, scared, or just having some loves :3

My sona would be very touch starved so he isn’t used to stuff like hugs and will often become flustered! It’s cute imo but gawd damn!!! Someone cuddle this boy and tell him he’s alright

LYLA!!!!!

His lyla would prolly be named lyla too. I think she’d just be a bit of a prototype.

But perry loves her like best friend. his lyla would be the lesbian in the dynamic while perry doesn’t care what gender you are, just please don’t use his coffee mug or mess with his pile of endless papers.

I also think he’s chose her own outfits and hair styles so while sure I’ll have her in pigtails to give movie lyla’s playfulness and duality a moment recognition. But you’ll also see her in black hairstyles with actual hair texture as her avatar varies cause I made her black for 1) practice and 2) just cause. Okay? Okay. (keep in mind i’m HORRIED with fashion. So I have no idea what I’m talking abt with her character design. You’ll have to learn with me and realize that I’m pretty much clueless on how the color wheel works, so be patient plz. I take constructive criticism tho btw.)

I think his lyla would be bossier and a lot more chatty. She’d sit there and rant about whatever information asked for and because he has ADHD this lyla would involuntarily speak like she has it too, but wouldn’t really show signs of it. If she were humanized i think she’d prolly have autism more than she would ADHD but because he works under conditions he prefers, he might make her a little all over the place cause I myself rlly hate routine and familiarity is hard for me to let go of in a certain way, so I think lyla would indirectly be made to where only he knows what works and what doesn’t with the important stuff

If miguel were to ever switch lylas he’d go crazy with this one. This lyla would stare at miguel like he’s speaking some other language since my sona would probably start with some bestie banter before getting into business so if miguel were to just start barking orders at her she’d be like “Uhm. Excuse me? 🧍” she’d put him in his place as she does with my sona but at the end of the day she’s still an AI so it doesn’t get so bad to where she can’t function and can’t get work done.

She would prolly have to remind my sona the time and other stuff like that cause if the forgetful factor but considering she has social skills my sona does, she’d prolly end up talking about something else entirely but at the end of the conversation she’d always remind him.

My sona would 100% giver her a stupid nickname like “android” or for shits and giggles a more human name “Andrea” and wouldn’t tell lyla abt it, but secretly whenever he’s talking abt lyla to civilians and family he’d refer her as “Andrea” for laughs but since it’s not in lyla’s code SHE’D HAVE NO IDEA!!!

I know it’s canon that lyla is canonically a small bit sentimental and somewhat secretly crushes on miguel in the comics (correct me if I’m wrong) but I’m p sure that happens and to that I say, she wouldn’t even remotely like my sona in that way, I see these two more as siblings in this universe than I do with the originals, so these two variants are seen as siblings and often times act like so!

Universe headcanons

I think what would separate the two from each other is my sona’s world would be a lot closer to what the 90’s kids thing we’d have in modern day society much rather what 2099 would have.

Like if you were to ask a kid from 1995 or something about what they think would happen and they said “flying phones” then so be it, bam it exists now lol

That’s just an example.

So it’s like what the 60s-90s predicted, or tried to, but a lot more realistic and the economy is better by 6%. Which isn’t a lot, but by today’s standards, it might as well be.

I like to think that his universe is WAAAAAAYYYY more diverse.

A lot more necessary items would be more available.

I also think my sona would be from the capital of oregon, Salem, much rather New York just because oregon has a special place in my heart.

This man’s civilian life is boring.

Before he was spider-man, I’d imagine him as an art guy. When he had time for it and used it as a job.

He’d probably be an artist with a psychologist degree. Which, yes, far from each other, but he uses it to the best of his ability to combine the two things.

Transportation would be funky, as flying cars would technically exist, but man would it make traveling easier.

Money would work the same way since I don’t really know how to make systems that would work out for the futuristic shit 2099 would offer, at first glance it seems a lot of it costs a lot, so I’d imagine it being a struggle.

And in any case, this also means my sona’s lyla isn’t his! This man stole got it from his brother.

My sona had two brothers as a reference to my own brothers, but for purposes of staying true to Miguel’s character (which I have not been doing well at doing) he’ll have to stick to having 1 that’s consistently mentioned. Which brother? I have decided to keep that vague.

End.

In conclusion: I just needed to rant abt this character and have been anxious to post abt him since this means a number of things and because I saw a bunch of other people come up with this idea many times before, but I really wanted to make this a thing since it’s been in my head nonstop.

Admittedly I thought abt this idea before I saw everyone else’s ideas, but after seeing them all I was super scared to post my version, but after some consideration i figured I’d just take down the post no problem if it comes down to it.

I don’t really like miguel as a person (this is not miguel hate/slander in any way), but man, he’s a great character. Like, sure. He’s an asshole with too much of an ego to save himself, which I’ve noticed is a running joke in the fandom.

But after seeing the script, I’ve noticed that this man is just misunderstood. Miguel is nothing more than an antagonistic hero who has nothing better to do than do what he views as right.

What he did is unforgivable, but it makes sense.

I will forever stay by Miles’ side of the whole plot, but it made sense why miguel would go to this extent. (Not saying he’s in the right. Miguel really isn’t and his cut and dry reasoning to why he does shit ARE NOT valid reasons as it’s completely unreliable, but if I were in his shoes and trying super hard not to fuck shit up, I’d PANIC.)

His biggest flaw is getting too caught up into the past and using his trauma as a reason for everything he considers logical, just to get by and help others the way he needs that help. The way he thinks is help for everyone, or the way he thinks is best TOO help.

Using trauma bonding (which is implied) to then “help” others to “not make the same mistake”, being so fixated on it to the point you can tell he hasn’t had human contact in any normal way for a while.

This also may explain the touch starve and touch adverse headcanons going around the miguel tag.

In a way, I admired miguel in that sense. He was like me, just if he was a bit grumpier.

He acted how I used to, and his shame was just as matched as it was with trauma.

And I felt that.

So, I decided to make a sona based off him. I promise I’ll make a more original one, but for now have this miguel rip-off.

While I hate miguel, I also respect his character as a whole.

(And because of the arguments of opinion and mischaracterization, no. This isn’t canon, this is my interpretation. And no, I will not demonize him just because I hate him. I honestly think he deserves just as much good as miles does, but miles needs a lot more attention as of recent events.)

[shiningmystic]

hey so recently for the past week or so ive had consistant dreams of being watched followed and in some cases chased and hunted usually the perpetrator is someone i dont recognise ie: hes wearing a mask or some type of suit or disguise but its still the unsettling feeling ive had whenever i try to recall said dreams and i still remember tidbits of them. so i wondered then if it really related to me in my waking life or if it was someone trying to warn me of their personal experiences? or was spirit just trying to show me what i should watch out for? i really dont know with this

for example the first dream was my younger self being chased with a guy holding a knife i hid behind a brown leather couch and covered meself and hid behind like a corner of a wall and cause i was small or much younger in this dream its like he was looking for me but couldnt see me for whatever reason same with the lion dream i had awhile ago where an aggressive lion was looking for me but couldnt see me directly even if i was in sight the lion could not get to me even if it tried too. and a few others like that sometimes its had ppl i know in it like an uncle or ex friend who would be directly looking at me whilst in an elevator again no idea wtf that was about. soddy for rambling but yh mad times innit tho?

Hey friend wow, I love interpreting dreams how did you know? (if your an old follower hello)

Well from what I have learned usually 'chasing' dreams can represent an anxiety or fear in waking life, even just stress. Our subconscious is always tapped into Spirit so you may be right. Spirit usually contacts us through dreams as does every energy out there because that is the closest space we can reach as humans to the other side. Maybe it's both, spirit may be cueing you into your stress and how there is a lot on you right now or some situation that has been creeping up on you.

A threat that cannot see you but keeps hunting you down...very interesting. I do believe this could be a stress dream and the feeling you have thinking about the dream is so important. 'Unsettling' makes me feel like a horror movie or anxiety eating at your gut. Our dream space is where we process everything in our day, and it would make sense for your mind trying to process a threat that never seems to reach you because you find ways to avoid it. Think about your waking life and ask yourself, are you stressed? even if its small it may lead you to other questions and answers. Besides the logical reasons let's see what some sources say:

On dreamdictionary.org I looked into Lion interpretations and went directly to chase/attacked by a lion. There is a lot about trying to stand up for yourself and take control over a situation in your waking life. The lion can represent your "fears and anxieties, people who dominate you, you're not the leader of the pack, fight for dominance, repressed instincts or sexual urges, Anger/temper." There even may be a suggestion in that you may be running away when a situation rises in your waking life. this could be a person as well in your life that is controlling, your brain is random but not that random.

Another website mentions your subconscious could be projecting anger onto the lion and letting you know that you need to let it out. (luciddreamssociety.com). There may be a deadline of something coming towards you and that's why this thing in your dream is watching you and hunting you. It's interesting you mention being your younger hiding from a threat. as children we are at our most vulnerable because usually, we have a lot of our power taken away and the theme of power is similar to both dreams. Just know you should believe in yourself and that you do have the strength to handle whatever comes up in life even if it's a surprised; you always get through it and you're not alone.

If any of this resonates ponder it some more and ask yourself some questions out loud and let your brain cook to see what pops out. Let me know what you think if you want :)

[lesser-mook]

Anime & Art #11: The creator’s tastes shouldn’t ruin your fondness of a ...

They're outraged for the wrong reasons. Content in general is a proxy for one's experiences, and issues if the creator lacks either restraint or feels it's necessary to convey a certain thematic tone, sometimes that makes good stories, depends on execution. Ego vs necessity.

So even if the subtext is lost on us, the context and overtone is still there. On principle, I can get why some would be creeped out & unplug,  IF that's their reason.

That's where Adulting or principle (keyword: principle) kicks in, some people don't want to support or consume that content on principle when it comes from a scumbag, some people have conviction, some people don't and just consume product.  And some people pretend to be principled because it's a good "take", as ppl call having a stance nowadays. The reason I say "outraged for the wrong reasons", is  some are not pissed because they genuinely feel compromised by reading some slimeball's softcore projection, because if they did they wouldn't have watched yet another loli-simulator in the first place, because really, where do these stories even go. #1 #2 The reason they're cramping now is (obviously) because they read the room they're standing in, so if the author they projected onto is a loli-con scumbag, that means "I'M A LOLI-CON SCUMBAG?!!" This is what some of em feel & think. The reason for that, is they project onto the artist because they want to by proxy claim- possession of the content and para-socially latch onto WHAT they think the artist is in plain sight, and they adopt the persona in a figurative sense, idealized effigy.

*This is ultimately why fandoms are  so passionate, and resemble cults. Projection.*

The cult members do one of three things, they project onto the art, artist, or both. If the author passes your criteria of acceptable, you conflate the two as the same.Pursue them para-socially as a means to connect further with the artwork, Horikoshi's fanbase does a similar thing, or any popular creator frfr.

(for example. Fetish artist continues to be a scumbag & draw garbage = their cult members continue to support. / If the Fetish artist got their fucking life together, and drew other stuff besides the same shit, cleaned up their conduct, evolved as a human being. The cult members will dissipate, rebel and go elsewhere. Because their idol taking accountability and self-improving makes them feel self-conscious, lacking, self-aware & they don't want to be.)

This is the opposite, author is corrupt, so people feel compromised. Regardless of the work.

Fandoms feel possessive of what they flock around precisely because  they project onto to the craft, and creator. Yes, separate art and artist, to a degree, but there's a reason why both words share the same key word or meaning: (Art/ARTist--Creation/CREATor) . They're not as separate as you'd think, no more than a cup of water to the stream or cloud it came from, because the story you're digesting is a piece of someone's mind. See if the artist is clean & the story is decent, then the art and artist are one,, people subconsciously  naturally link the two by positive association. (Example: Stan Lee and Spider-Man) But you see, if they're slimey? THEN separate the two! A lot of people fall into this fallacy, not accusing anyone here,  but ppl gotta be consistent about this and not just say that when it's convenient. However, again, depending on what it is, sometimes even projecting one's issues can work in a story, depends on execution. (Example: the TRUE context behind Giygas and Shigesato Itoi's childhood trauma)

Now, If the show itself is romanticizing little girls and the point isn't a direction along the lines of Kid Cosmic, Kids next door,  or Telgemeier's The Baby Sitter's club, where it's handled with care but instead to idealize, and polish the fact that they're cute girls as a novelty? obvious as to what you're dealing with. 

 Like Snob said, doesn't mean they're all pedo's, some people just make that shit cause that's the industry, industry geared toward pedo-coded pandering but the workers aren't all pedo's, just drones chasing the bag. 

 *Point being: This is a situation (again) where the audience is tone-deaf on purpose, pretend surprised because they'll get likes for being outraged over something everybody knows already.*

[urbancripple]

How do you balance recognizing that all disabled ppl need support with the fact that you feel left out of disabled spaces? It feels like a lot of the disabled community/groups/etc have become primarily people (if I'm being real, white women mostly) with chronic pain/fatigue, and while I think those ppl are valid and deserve support it can be hard to be left behind in a space that used to have more people like me. Especially considering I'm not even someone who can't work, I have a relatively normal life as far as crip stuff goes, like I've got a regular job and shit I'm just very visibly disabled while doing it. It really feels like the conversation around disability has started to revolve around white women with chronic pain/invisible disability that disrupts the ability to work, which totally is not at all what I'm handling, as someone who needs to (and enjoys) working and is not white nor a woman.

Like I am very glad that those people get support and visibility etc now. I just hate being left in the dust again, first by abled society and then by what used to be my community.

Hi reader who is most likely not the OP! This is going to be a #longpost. If you don't have the time to read the whole thing before responding and instead plan on letting your eyes dance around the text looking for key phrases to misinterpret, please fuck off.

For the rest of you, welcome and enjoy.

"How do you balance recognizing that all disabled ppl need support with the fact that you feel left out of disabled spaces?"

I don't. I can't, really.

I see a lot of the same problems that you mention in your question. A _lot_ of the disabled community in online spaces consists of white, fem-presenting folks talking about ill-defined, often invisible chronic conditions and advocating for better treatment.

To echo your point: this in and of itself is not a bad thing. Folks who fit into this demographic need better representation and help. But it feels like discussion of disability (especially in online spaces) is largely focused on and driven by this demographic. And for folks outside that demographic, it can feel isolating.

I feel isolated by the current discourse around disability. I feel like I cannot connect with the _vast_ majority of people who identify as disabled online. And it's not _just_ because the average internet user is getting younger.

What it means to be disabled has drastically changed in the last decade or so.

I once attended an award show where someone, upon receiving their award, ran up a flight of stairs onto the stage and proceeded to speak about how important the award was to them as a creative, a woman, and a disabled person.

She was talking about her depression.

As a full-blown cripply-ass human being, I struggle to accept or reconcile my very public, very obvious, very unavoidable physical condition with what that person said on stage vs how they literally got on stage.

Am I being a dick? Do I need to do some self reflection? Are my feelings based on a subconscious aversion to change?

Maybe.

On the other hand, these same conferences hold panels on "disability and representation in media" and then refuse to invite (and accommodate) a single wheelchair user. Instead choosing to fill the panel with folks struggling with "invisible disabilities" and/or mental illness. Why? Because folks with very visible disabilities (especially wheelchair users) are often the most complicated and expensive to accommodate (special transportation, flight arrangements, hotels rooms, bathrooms, service animals, etc.,)

It's frankly cheaper and easier to focus on disabilities that leave you access to four limbs and five senses than it is to make sure the folks on your panel represent the as many different disabilities as possible.

Am I saying that other disabilities are invalid? NO. Absolutely not. Get your hands off that fuckin' keyboard and finish reading this before you send an angry note.

Does it make me feel isolated from a community that I used to be very much a part of? Yes.

Does it make it difficult find, much less reach out to and help other wheelchair users? Yes.

Does it make it more difficult to share my experiences as a disabled person online? Yes.

Does it make it harder to try and raise the bar for disabled people in terms of fighting for a better quality of life? Absolutely. Especially when talking about how "living an independent life" means "having a job" and "taking responsibility for your physical well being"

It is incredibly lonely being a visibly disabled person who works full time, pays their bills, cooks, cleans, volunteers, and has a healthy marriage. Because of how disability is discussed online, I don't get to see disabled people _like me_. I don't feel comfortable talking about my experiences as a disabled person online because I know I'll get shouted down and told I don't belong because I'm not actively struggling to work or pay bills or whatever.

It sucks. It hurts. And I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you. If it makes you feel any better, you're more than welcome to talk to me directly about work or whatever. I'd be happy to be that person that you're struggling to find right now. Heaven knows we could all use a little bit of Community right now.

[sofipitch]

Im curious for the show in how theyll take inspiration from source material here. Like I think I will enjoy it knowing its not meant to be an exact adaption- though Im curious how they will handle Claudia with the actress being a grown person (or really all of them being aged up) Or Louis with his arcs of guilt and repression- when this time he starts owning a bunch of brothels and maybe has a past male lover? Im curious tho optimistic

I'm kind of confused bc this ask isn't a question? I can also only answer these to the best of my knowledge bc I'm not one of the show runners, I'm just some guy 😂

But if you are asking why I support the show and it's changes I'll say that I personally hated being a teenager and in this version Claudia will be 13. I think that is plenty young enough to feel stuck in one's body, which is Claudia's main issue. The show runners have said child labor laws were a reason they cast someone who was legally an adult but I think Durst was the only possible youngest Claudia. She was 12 and already an accomplished actress when she took the role, I read that Neil Jordan wanted a trained child actor since it's such a hard role for a kid to play an adult. The behind the scenes in my dvd copy Durnst even says at the time she didn't really understand what her character Claudia was going through, looking back as an adult made it make sense, so I'm guessing she probably had good stage direction for Jordan or other crew. So at the end of the day, I think to have someone reasonably play a character who is mentally an adult they needed to cast someone older. We haven't gotten a lot of images of Claudia but it looks like from the 2 we have she is still a "child".

I also kind of feel like comments that Bailey Bass is too old are rooted in racist stereotypes. Black girls get seen as "older" and "sexual" much sooner than white girls. Some of what I have seen ppl say about Bailey Bass has really disgusted me. I don't think you should be commenting on this girl's body parts, even if she is "legally an adult". She is still leagues younger than the ppl I see commenting on her body.

For the other characters I also prefer for them to be older. Lestat not having a fully formed prefrontal cortex might explain a lot of his bullshit but I also agree with others in saying that AR consistently saying the most attractive men alive are 21 (and later 20 and then 19) and her harping on how attractive Armand is (who looks 17) sounds more like a fetish than realistic. It's an old post by a friend, now @hedonisticgene but it was his old blog I think, said "Have you ever met the college kid who thinks he's a sex god? That's Lestat". So I do think making the characters older will make them seem attractive and charming and also have ppl not inquire too much about their lives be realistic.

As for the brothel it has the potential to be as morally repugnant as Louis having been a slave owner. I think fanon and late canon woobifies Louis so much that his general weak moral backbone is often ignored. Remember in the book IWTV Louis does not object to kill humans "bc it's wrong morally" but bc he thought it was an aesthetic experience he should work his way up to. He also describes his slaves in some awful ways, so I don't really think brothel owner is out of the question. And when it comes to Louis's repressed sexuality, well wouldn't it be the best cover, if you are gay and don't want others to know, to own a brothel. I am aware some ppl read Louis as bi while others (myself included) see him as gay. I also read IWTV as the interpretation that Louis's struggle to come to terms with vampirism is his struggle to come to terms with his sexuality. And Louis doesn't shy from telling us he went to whorehouses or that he maybe had feelings for Babette. What he shies away from is admitting his feelings for Lestat. So I think Louis being repressed has more to do with internalized homophobia than sex in general. So I feel like surrounding yourself with a whole bunch of hot women would be the best way to be "I'm totally straight! Look how straight I am!" 😂

I have my reservations about the show like any fan. These books (well the first three) mean so much to be I'll be devastated if this show sucks. But honestly for me it's not in these kind of small details, to me what matters is the character dynamic. That's what I love, and as long as this show scratches my brain the same way the books do I'll be happy.

[marciliedonato]

i used to adore panic from my early to late teens and still listen to the first four pretty often but i just can't for the life of me get into pftw & the three singles. idk if it's cause i don't like urine as a person or if his songwriting is genuinely just awful imo but i can't stop hating on it <3 also i keep seeing people say the new one has pretty odd vibes?? like po was actually good & imaginative idk what they're on about. or maybe i'm just a bitter old person now lmao

tbf i only got into panic right when 'they' were starting the too weird era and even when i was most into them i wasn't *that* familiar with the band's history/drama but no i think ur right lol i don't think he's ever rly been a great songwriter what he's had, however, is a lot of luck and talented ppl in his corner he could hide behind (bc the frontman is always gonna be the center of attention regardless of their involvement in the process)

ryan was always the one responsible for the theatrical/creative aspects and the lyrics in the beggining and you could tell bc there was a shift when he left but it was still pretty good bc of jon's (i think? correct me if i'm wrong) and pete’s involvement in vices. then around that time i think dallon joined, and we know he's a pretty good songwriter and artist in general, and someone else said it best in the tag that too weird was basically repuposed brobecks he didn't release and he carried most of that album on his back ...beebo piss basically just showed up and sang. i quite liked that one but i can't listen to it now bc remembering how shit beebo piss is and my hatred for him vs how much i love certain songs makes trying to listen feel like i'm a demon trying to enter a church lmao 💀

then doab you can tell he was more involved bc it was MIIIIIILES from what the 'band' used to be and a lot more focused on like, lyrics-wise living large and the pursuit of fame, money and drugs with a bunch of high notes so you'd think it was amazing (and my 15/16 y.o ass thought like half that album was THE SHIT for how it sounded) less creative both in lyrics and imagery and more in line with what was popping off at the time instead of going against the current

but like literally with pftw (which even when i was listening to him still i thought was just the cringiest and most try-hard name) is when it really starts to show he's literally just bad lyrics and high notes in a trenchcoat bc dallon wasn't there anymore and there was no one to hide behind so he had to do all that shit himself. i s2g the only time i listened to that album in full, a bunch of songs fused together in my subconscious bc they all sounded SO SIMILAR i knew they were different but they were just....eh i don't remember being super blown away by any of it and it was by far my least favorite bc it was just. SO pop. i simply couldn’t even bring myself to listen to that silver lining song bc the lyrics and the singing were ATROCIOUS like.....oh my god. yeah...

i haven't listened to any of the singles from this album except for a clip of the newer one to see how bad it was and....it wasn't just bad...it was *REALLY* bad. there's this massive post that compares his newer stuff to rejected imagine dragons and i think that's kinda generous bc imagine dragons might not be 'amazing' but at least they're consistent and the vocals/production is alright. even before for mr piss if the lyrics weren't great he could hide behind good vocals, decent production or talented band members but now even his voice, the star of the show, now sounds so strained from all the drinking and smoking that he can't pull those same notes he used to as his 'one trick' so it's straight up unsalvagable because there's nothing going for it like 'oh the song isn't great but the lyrics are good' none of that. it's just ALL bad now.

i've seen ppl say 'oh but he wrote some songs in po and those were good it's bc he has a lot of cowriters' but it's like. if he was actually good on his own he wouldn't need them and working with them wouldn't make the music worse. i think he's gotten way too comfortable over the years with other ppl doing the work for him and letting fame get to his head and he's no longer capable of making anything good bc he's not that person he used to be (and even then idk if he was v good as a person...)*edit: he's also surrounded by yes men and enablers (Idk if that creepazoid Zack is still around...)*he's been beating a dead horse for years after everyone that made it what it was (good, unique,etc.) left and thinking he was too big to fail. now no one's interested in his music anymore bc not only is he shit, his music is shit too. u kinda almost have to wonder how he managed to push everyone away. he should have taken the L and let the band name go years ago but he knows he's nothing without it and anything he can do on his own will never reach that level so he's living in a shadow thriving of the nostalgia of times long gone but it's just starting to not cut it anymore and people are starting to really see it, i think.

also i absolutely from the bits i have unfortunately seen, don't think it resembles po in any sort of way: it's not folksy, it's not imaginative it's just more sterilized top 40 friendly pop that sounds like 50 other artists and you could tell me anyone else made and i'd be none the wiser. there's no heart it in but it's sure to do well.....delusion is one hell of a drug ig

sorry this was so long i get mad talking abt his stupid ass i could dunk on him for dayyyyys

[iceheap]

Thank you!! I read your tags too and omg I'm so glad you liked my redemption arc hc for my lil gremlin boy cjfhfgzjhosvj and wow I don't really interact with a lot of hc on here so I didn't know ppl had tried to just hand magic Zane's actions away with like, chores around the village? ???? What???? That makes no sense, Zane is literally responsible for GENOCIDE I think in a way I'm also letting him off easy with house arrest like wtf. You can't just be like "and then they forgave and it was all okay!!!" Like wtf.

Zane was a nice challenge for me because it shows how reframing certain things canake a character a lot more sympathetic. I mentioned it in the post a bit, but the part I feel is the most inexcusable of Zane's actions is the anililation of Falcon Claw. You can't remove it from Zane's crimes, but you can REFRAME it.

This might totally ruin your good feelings about this hc or make it better, but basically this is a small glimpse of my process into recontextualising characters. I hc that, one: Zane was under orders to destroy falcon claw. It makes sense because FC was the closest village to O'Khasis. They were practically neighbors.

Two: during Aaron's time as lord, FC was going through an economical recession. Similar to how Phoenix Drop was at the start of the series. Except they had a lord and phonix drop didn't. It was going on because of a combination of factors, none of which were Aaron's fault. Lily was a big part of FC political climate going down the drain, actually. I know that Jess probably made her a terrible person in Mystreet due to like, romance and competition reasons so Aphmau and Aaron would end up together, but I like to mirror characters and their personalities etc and it makes sense to keep Lily consistent. Aaron frames her as a good person and never has anything bad to say about her because she's dead and also he was loyal to her and tried his best to be a good husband.

They were arranged for marriage, they didn't marry out of love. Aaron tried to make it work, Lily did not. Lily was a serial cheater and there were big odds that Jacob wasn't actually Aaron's child.

Lily had been planning a coup to take the title of lord of Falcon Claw for herself and had roped the rest of the village into it. Most of the children had been sent away temporarily as a result.

Zane arrives to "visit" the day the coup is planned. The villagers aren't subtle and Zane is really good at politics and listening to/finding gossip (it's considered information and can be useful even though Zane hates having to resort to petty gossip) so he figures out what's going on pretty quickly, and who's behind it.

And he also finds out about how Jacob might not actually be the Lord's biological child.

So he tests it. Aaron would let Jacom play around the village pretty independently since he trusted the rest of the villagers to keep an eye on him. Zane gets him alone and uses one of hisqny relics to test his paternity.

It comes back negative. Jacob is not Aaron's son.

And, keep in mind, the only reference to how an illegitimate child is treated is in his own family. So Zane, feeling bad for him (not gat he realizes it or admits it) kidnapps him. He puts him in this medallion thing, I think there was a mod where you could put pets in necklaces? Yeah he does that.

And then he sends a manmade imp to deliver the relic that will kill the rest of the village.

Zane leaves Aaron alive as MERCY. He thought he was doing him a FAVOR by killing his traitorous village members and his shit wife.

He delivers Jacob off to a couple in the country side who take care of him as their own and pays them off pretty well so they'll take care of him. Jacob grows up to be a NPC villager floating around somewhere in the world. I hc he probably actually moved to Phoenix Drop during their population boom since he probably has a business of some sort and wanted to take advantage of the high traffic in the area, and integrates himself into the community pretty well. Odds are is he goes by Jay instead of Jacob so no one even suspects he might be Aaron's kid.

Anyway, yeah. Does this excuse Zane killing a bunch of people? No, obviously, and when Aaron is eventually resurrected (that will happen, because not letting Jess get away with the clusterfuck that was his arc, my boy deserves justice and a proper developed romance) he doesn't just forgive Zane and call it a day. Aaron was robbed of seeing his kid grow up. He suspected Jacob wasn't his child but loved him anyway. He knew the villagers and Lily didn't like him and tried his best anyway. None of this excuses Zane's actions, but it changes him from a power hubgy monster who kills people for fun into someone who can even take accountability and change.

Anyway, yes, I try my best to keep original character beats and twist them around a little bit. I'm so glad you liked the og hc! I might have gone a bit wild with this response I'm so sorry!!!uenyhsybysnyney

@panicataphmausinsanity okay so Zane HC's LETS GOOOOOOOO

Before we start trigger warning for like, child abuse and torture and shit. Seriously this gets dark. Zane redemption must come at a price >:D

So. Something interesting to me in regards to Zane is how in MCD, He's like, this evil, terrible human being, but in Mystreet, he's like, a semi functional human being who can be a NOT bad person and NOT do bad things. And so I got to thinking.

I don't think Zane was born a bad person.

Personally, I kind of hate the way Jess wrote Zane. Like, yes, evil for the sake of evil is great and all, but like. In season one and two, Zane was this overarching antagonist who was always one step ahead of the cast and plotting and having a good time being a paice of shit.

And then season 3 comes around and now he's a shadow knight, on the run, has PTSD...

Look, I'm not knocking the guy for having PTSD. I'm just saying that the way it's portrayed kind of makes him seem like a whimpery coward. AGAIN, NOT KNOCKING PTSD!!

I think the position that Zane found himself in season 3 was a PERFECT set up for a redemption arc and it makes me SO MAD that it didn't happen.

So I guess I have to do it myself apparently -_-

I've been thinking a lot about Zane. I don't want him to stop being evil. Not right away. So we keep what happened in the first two seasons the same. He's a cackling maniac that has killed a shit ton of people and is on his father's payroll.

And then he dies.

(skill issue lol)

Anyway, Zane is dead. But he's also Zane, so of course he weasels his way out of being dead. And then he gets tortured and is subjected to the same suffering he condemned so many others to yada yada yada PTSD bleh.

Everything seems to be the same so far.

But then he breaks out if the nether. Still, we're on track, right?

He gets captured, he gets expedited to Phoenix Drop, he gets interrogated, it's all the same.

But here we find a canon divergence. Instead of being absolute dumbasses, they don't bring him into the nether. Let's scrap that plot point entirely.

Instead, we're going to let Zane bake in prison for a while!

Here are the main issues that make Zane irredeemable.

1. He's killed like, a shit ton of people, for funsies ig

2. He killed Vylad.

3. He destroyed Aaron's village.

Let's keep those things in mind.

So he's in prison. While in prison, Garroth starts to visit him (along with Travis but shhhh we'll get to him another day) and just. You know. Be angry.

Garroth has seen Zane as a spoiled brat his entire life. He's always been their father's favorite. He's always had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He's always been willing to do whatever it takes for power. He's greedy. He's psychotic. Garroth hates him.

But Zane is Garroth's brother. And Garroth is the type of golden retriever, gold hearted, kind type of character to still love his brother even if he hates him.

That doesn't mean he goes in and is like, nice to him though. Nope. Garroth goes to visit him and nine times out of ten it devolves into a screaming match where Zane antagonizes him the entire time and Garroth yells at him for being a shitty human being.

And then one day Phoenix Drop is attacked and Zane escapes.

They track him down eventually. When they find him, they strike a deal with him. Due to Irene related shenanigans they need his expertise as a scholar of Irene to figure out some more stuff for Aphmau. In exchange, they'll protect him from the Shadow Lord (who he pissed off by stealing one of his soul fragments lol Zane behavior).

Eventually they're able to establish a rapore with Zane. Garroth still gets a migraine whenever they have a conversation. Vylad still refuses to speak to him (oh btw he's visiting from his nether revolution vacation just so u know) and Aphmau still wants to tear out his guts for killing the love of her life or whatever, but he becomes manageable. They can like, stand him. A little bit. Slightly.

And then Zianna gets kidnapped or whatever. So they go rescue her. But when they get back to Phoenix Drop they forget to mention the fact that Zane is like. There and in the wild and not currently killing entire villages worth of people.

So Zianna rolls up to Phoenix Drop and gets jumpscared by her youngest son and also, notably, Zane is NOT happy to see her. He shuts the front door in her face. It's hilarious even though Garroth doesn't think of it that way.

So, now we have our key players all in one place. Garroth, Vylad, Zane, and Zianna.

Let's say they have to all go find an artifact toghether or something and they need Zianna there because it's related to something she knows and they need Zane there because of Irene lore reasons. they go on this mission. One day, they sit and set up for the night, set up bedrolls, whatever. They're lounging around the fire and talking when Vylad eventually mentions his time as a shadow knight in the nether and something about torture.

Zane blinks, and, having not been included in the conversation initially, buts it to say,

"Oh, please. Don't tell me getting tortured by those amatures was DISTRESSING for you. I would have thought father's methods would have given you thicker skin."

The others bristle and start scolding him, of course, because Zane is like, the reason Vylad became a shadow knight in the first place. But Vylad himself, who is very observant and hard to antagonize, latches into something Zane said.

"Methods? What methods?" He says. He says it sharply, too.

Of course, Zane doesn't pick up on this. He just rolls his eyes.

"Don't tell me you forgot. Father had a whole floor dedicated to torture and loved collecting new methods from around the region. I think he even had a historian employed who would research for him..."

"What?" Garroth says, stunned out of his anger.

Zianna has gone silent. So has everyone else, and now they're watching with baited breaths.

"So what? What would that have to do with me?"

And for the first time that they've ever seen, Zane looks... Puzzled.

"What, did he go easy on you? Didn't you talk back to him all the time? Once, after just asking him a question, he had two of my nails pulled. Shadow Knight torture was child's play in comparison," he shrugs, then takes a bite out of his stale price of bread.

There's silence.

Zane looks back at all of them, confused and now kind of pissed off. He looks like he usually does when he feels like he's about to be scolded for saying something crass. Except, that's not what happens. Instead, Vylad looks him in the eye for the first time since Zane killed him, and with the most emotion they've ever heard from him, says,

"What?"

Zane hums.

"Come on. Don't play dumb. He hated you. Im sure he must have sent you to the "torture basement" at least once. You got on his nerves constantly,"

Garroth makes an aborted movement, like he's going to stand up and rush him, but Vylad stops him with a flick of his hand. And then Vylad starts doing what he does best. Interrogating him.

So remember that list, right? Let's reframe a few things.

Zane was not the favorite child. Garroth was.

Garte was a paice of shit. Garte hated Vylad. But he also hates Zane. Why wouldn't he? Vylad was his wife's affair child, sure, but Zane, Zane was Zianna's spitting image.

When Zane was little, he used to take snails and out them in the grass after it rained. He uses to clamor for his mother's pastries just like his brothers. He was a normal child, and he was NOT born a psychopath.

But Garte had a thought, one day.

Wouldn't it be funny... If he made his wife think he WAS one?

Wouldn't it be funny to punish her that way? Wouldn't it be funny to turn Zane into a terrible person, and have her think it was for no reason? Make her think that she birthed a psychopath? How much would it hurt her? How much would she weep?

Garte used to punish Zane for Vylad's joy. One of Vylad's laughs would equal one slap to the face. One side remark in defence of their mother would equal one hour locked in his father's study closet in his office.

Garte turns Zane against himself brothers. And the best part in his mind?

He makes Zane believe that they know about all of it.

He tells Zane that his mother knows about it. That his brothers don't care that he's beaten. That Vylad does things so he gets punished on purpose.

Zane grows up thinking that his brothers probably go through this too. He grows up thinking that his mother just doesn't love him. And so he doesn't say a thing.

Garte starts having him tortured instead of superficially physically abused? He says nothing.

Garte makes him become a priest of Okasis even though the consequence of failing the academy is death? He says nothing.

Garte would encourage Zane to blugeon animals to death and bring them to Zianna and laugh at her horrified face from afar. Garte encourages Zane to say psychotic things while they're eating dinner, and watches as his family becomes more and more convinced Zane is a monster.

Until Zane is one.

But this reframes a few things.

The people Zane killed? It was under orders. He eventually became his father's right hand man. Most of his overarching goals have been in service of his father.

For Aaron's village, we'll stick a pin in that one, but long story short, Aaron's village had been planning a coup that night under his wife's orders. Zane had them killed under his father's orders so they could eliminate them as political neighbors. He let Aaron live out of pity.

And Vylad.

Basically, remember when I said that Garte used to punish Zane according to Vylad's actions?

One day, Vylad gets into an explosive argument with Garte defending Zianna. And Garte, again, without the other's knowing, has Zane tortured. Except this time it's for a WEEK STRAIGHT.

So when Zane gets out. He's. Very unstable.

And then he comes across Vylad in a semi secluded area.

And Vylad is acting like he did nothing, and all he's ever done is make Zane suffer, and Zane hates him hates him HATES HIM--

And so he snaps. And he kills him.

Keep in mind, though, Zane thinks this is all normal. He doesn't realize that killing his own brother has traumatized him. He doesn't realize that he's a victim of abuse. He doesn't realize that what his dad did is not okay because he THINKS HIS FAMILY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED, and if they didn't contradict his abuse, then this must be normal. He thinks that Vylad has probably been tortured too. He thinks Garroth is their father's favorite because in his mind he's determined that Garroth not receiving any attention from their father is a GOOD thing because ATTENTION EQUALS TORTURE to him.

And this reframes a few things. His constant bid for power? It's not greed, it's DESPERATION. Power makes him feel safe. Hurting others makes him feel powerful because that's how his father had power over him.

His highly volatile and violent personality? It's l he's ever known. Do you have ANY idea what torture could do to a child? He has severe PTSD. Like, severe and repressed and his outburst are more common when he's uncomfortable or anxious or experiencing any negative emotion, which is often.

Garte took Zane's empathy from him. Turned him against his family. Made him into a monster. With these types of characters, I imagine it would probably be very difficult for them to redevelop their emotions and empathy because if they do that, they would have to face their whole mountain of trauma and the guilt of all the lives they've ruined.

I think eventually, after a lot of work, Zane does eventually regain his empathy. It probably finally sinks in during a small gathering. His mother makes her famous cake. Zane has long gotten used to being excluded during these sorts of things, but then...

His mother slides a plate of cake right in front of him.

Strawberry.

His favorite.

And she smiles at him.

This is probably after they found out about Garte being a peice of shit. Maybe a few months.

All Zane has ever wanted is to be loved. Maybe he didn't know it, but when he takes a bite of his mother's strawberry cake for the first time in decades and the nostalgic taste registers in his brain, something snaps.

And he becomes human again.

And he realizes:

Oh.

I'm a person.

I'm a murderer.

I'm a monster.

LMAO WAS THIS COHERENT SORRY PANIC I TRIED MY BEST I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE OSIBWIBDIBSIBU

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review , ch 110

The writer doesn’t need to rush to akito (antagonist) & give us quick background exposition & escalate her mentality to the exploding moment, simply cuz tohru (the protagonist) isn’t emotionally in her most vulnerable moment yet. Tohru’s issues will be presented deeper  with each pov chapter she’ll have. So what should the writer do now?

This is a connected plot, meaning the emotions belonging to the previous chapter are still lingering & needs to be dealt with. There is no stupid laughing & cooking or even dumber momentarily amnesia. Nope! There is this:

-The Art of Writing Slow-Burns: (Lingering Emotions:)

Last time kyo hugged tohru thro the sheets. sth he wouldn’t do if it weren’t for the heartbreaking moment of tohru’s tears & the reason behind them. Why wouldn he do it? cuz he believes he’s the reason of her pain & is setting his mind on leaving her & being imprisoned as a punishment. He  wouldn’t do it cuz he loves her but he did it cuz he loves her. why? cuz love is illogical. Kyo’s heart moved him effortlessly to embrace her & “ his tenderness covered her pain” as the writer put it at the end of ch109.

Last time tohru hugged kyo thro the sheets, sth she wouldn’t do if it weren’t for the comfort of his warmth enveloping her loneliness & providing safety & a home. A home can a person. Why wouldn she do it? cuz Tohru is someone who hides pain behind a smile, someone who thinks she’s ugly & unlovable cuz she’s grieving still after all this time. She’s thinks she’s a burden. But here she confessed to kyo unprompted or advised by anybody. He only asked a fleeting question. but tohru cant hide who she is friom him anymore. Still, he accepted her & tenderly held her thro the sheets & she threw her body at him, she initiated the hug.

The sheet hig is the biggest emotional moment between kyo/tohru yet. It altered how they feel for each other cuz in that moment tohru’s mask fell & kyo was the most honest with himself emotionally. That’s not sth you move from with the stupid ED song. They both try to carry out normally afterwards cuz they live together after all. The slightest touch brings..... sexual tension!!!  it was so bad poor yuki left the house running!!!!!!!!

The writer cleverly escalates the sexual tension as they awkwardly try to find a talking topic, then dissolves it a bit when kto asks if tohru wants to go out together & where, then escalates it when tohru suggests buying eggs cuz she’s awkward, then dissolves it when kyo grumpily agrees but this is just grocery shopping” not a fun going out”, the escalates it when tohru said she’s happy for just bring together with him regardless of the location & kyo looses it! sexual tension explodes!

The target of the slow-burn isn’t the characters... the target is the audience! the writer plays with their emotions & cleverly puts the audience in a place where they desperately want these two idiots together but still remember why they aren’t! that’s very important. Having the readers cheer for a romantic relationship includes the readers understanding the obstacles ahead & how big they are & still cheer. If the obstacles are meh~ the readers will find the couple unrealistic, if the obstacles are so big & the couples emotions aren't buildup properly, then the couple themselves will feel meh~. Glad kyoru survived such writing mistakes both manga & anime ( anime hurt their characters more than their relationship).

-Yuki wants to move on from the unofficial son third wheeling his mom & her man:

The writer jokes abt yuki admitting he felt as a son watching his mon & her bf. I love tha this joke becuz it cleverly addresses the following points:

it is cleverly weaved in with the kyoru incident from last chapter. Sth happen & yuki doesn't know what is & doesn't want to! Yuki represents the audience I talked abt in the slow-burn point above. He is us. He’ll cheer for them to be together & will be so frustrated when they can’t. It adds to yuki confronting kyo at the climax!!! You see in the anime kyo/yuki stopped interacting much in se03. Then tada~~ big fight when it’s a must! & can’t be escaped... Here we still have kyo/yuki moments despite each boy moving away from his issues being the fault of the other. Basically better writing.....

The writer cleverly used this to address that yuki still feels like tohru’s son sometimes despite being more independent now, which is natural as you cant switch ur feelings with a button. But also the writer doesnt stay in this moment long & use it to build the next moment.. yuki/Aya , yuki/machi & aya/mine.... sadly all there dynamics are shortened in the anime like kyoru’s.

-I don’t think yuki/Aya  moment suffered much from the cuts, the entire school parents meeting ep us enough to reconcile the brothers. Aya defended yuki that day & so did yuki. He completely accepted him & stood up to him in front of the mom.

- More aya/mine would’ve been good to see & I would’ve preferred it to yuki/motoko moments in the anime that served nothing. but aya/mine too are stand alone story. They’re the most alike couple in a healthy way. Aya is the guy who protected his woman the most. simply cuz he’s the snake. snakes are secretive. he kept her to himself, even from yuki!!! impressive.

- What I lament from the cut of this mini yuki adventure?

1- This: ( yuki’s facial expressions) This is sth the anime fears, either cuz (a) pretty yuki is 100% pretty all the time, so no expressiveness cuz it leads to showing eyebrows & hiding them under layers of hair is the A.B.C of pretty characters... (b) Yuki in the anime is a prince 98% of the time, except with kyo (they got rid of this in se03 & give them one honest/ugly moment together) & with kakeru (one tiny moment in se03 in match’’s focus ep & then quickly back to prince yuki!)..., ugh!!!!!! I hate how yuki is prince thro & thro in the anime!!that’s why they couldn’t get rid of any motoko content!!! he’s a prince there... heck! school girls float after him the graduation ceremony... what’s up with that!! lol.

2-. This: ( machi with the toy that tohru/kisa/kagura/momiji & kiro like! so cute!!! also, foreshadowing yuki’s future chosen extended family! (his bro & his wife), (yuki & his wife) & best friend/his brother in law! Also, yuki is so himself! no glitters, no bubbles & no pretending anger! <3

Side Notes:

The lovely @mizzraynelly​ made notice kto’s speech in ch109 abt not vising his mom’s grave! Even tho it’s such a minor line, it’s one of the biggest cuts that foreshadow the accumulation of kyo’s guilt towards his mom. Kyo’s thing is guilt towards ppl he loves & fear of hurting them, by keeping this feeling alive in readers’ minds, the writer is making sure that the climax will hurt like sharp knives cuz the readers are on the same wave liength as kyo!!! epic buildup consists of tiny subtle pieces!

 Luckily, kyoru as a ship felt so strong in both manga & anime despite the later cutting half of their moments. Why? cuz the chosen cuts didnt affects the romantic relationship...no... the cuts affects the characters’ own personal struggle... most precisely tohru. Kyo’s own character struggles had better luck in the anime despite the cuts, simply cuz (a) was drawn with very expressive emotions & the anime team lingered on them in his scenes. (b) His character design as a whole was very expressive, the anime team didnt give him constant wide eyes like tohru & didn’t fear expr4essivness will affect for his “beauty “ like yuki. (c) kyo was given one ep per season for his issues which altho not much but way better than tohru (d) most important: kyo’s issues are very universal & very relatable” feeling guilt, mistakes & choosing wrong. That’s sth we all do!!! Tohru’s thing is grieve: this is very personal & most ppl experience it differently. 

I love kyo’s oufit!!! we have a hint of this moment in se03, ep 10 when yuki was fighting kyo... but they made yuki see them shopping as opposed of him seeing them being sexually charged!

I’m so mad this kyoru moment is cut!!!!!! tohru as a woman with pending sexual emotions is so refreshing & underrated in the trope of “ girl saves guys”. Also, it contradicts the pure mom image that’s been suffocating her since se01 ep 1!!!!! oh now i know why it’s cut... That’s why! momma tohru is so pure for such things & only when it’s the last two eps, then will allow her to be a woman choosing to live away with her man by her own desire! Why the anime only allow things ti happen when there’s no escape!!! I’ve always felt tohru/kyo is the type of couple to be expressive emotionally & sexually with each other based on seeing that ALL of their romantic interaction involves body language & I’m so happy there’s a canon proof so early before the future glimpse in finale!!!!!! 

I liked the aya-story, but it felt like the typical “ lesson of the day” formula, so I didnt analyze it much, but I enjoyed the brotherly interaction so much!! It had a gold mine of yuki being himself & so nit a prince! Im so happy I saw it! <3.

Every time yuki looked expressive is a happy moment for me!

[stanfordsweater]

@aftershocked

moving this here because you’ve brought up a TON of points i’d love to dig into and the tumblr reply system is garbage--

(under the cut: much talk of possessive sam vs. possessive dean, benefits of a long-running series, ooc actions vs. consistent characterization)

“they change a lot over 15 seasons but it's consistent enough” i feel like differences and inconsistencies in episodes/writing/seasons are one of the reasons (besides personal preference) that ppl get twisted around when it comes to possessive sam and possessive dean, like it’s easy to focus on one or two things w/o taking larger patterns or predominant characteristics into account.

also it’s easy to focus on like, smth happening a few times that is in contradiction to something that happened many other times, & not want to Deal with the complexities & contradictions—but the complexities are the best part! i’ve seen you talk about it before too, the benefits of a longrunning series where we get to really watch the characters grow from young men to essentially middle-aged,

you get to actually have characters w the kind of multifaceted personalities you’d expect of, like, normal people (just way more fucked up and traumatized). so yeah, dean isn’t always straightforward in the way he’s content with keeping sam with him, and can dip into weird behavior (ESPECIALLY in the sort of parental “i make the decisions around here” sense)—

but his general preference, his base character, does not lean towards possessiveness at all. versus sam, who SEEMS like he’d be more grounded and chill, but is actually the crazy jealous guy. that kind of irony, those kind of subversions, are what make them enjoyable as characters and contribute to why possessive sam is so much fun to explore,

bc you Wouldn’t think he’d be the one who’s jealous enough that even when dean gives sam so much of himself already, sam still wants more. you’d look at him and expect him to be the brother capable of letting go, of being halfway normal, instead of like, sam’s built so much on seeking dean’s approval and lived his life at the center of dean’s universe,

so he’ll reject anything that threatens to change that dynamic. like the contradictions are weird and spicy and i like them a lot and god i love sam’s reactions to benny so much. i’d feel bad bc i really like benny & he deserved better, but it’s too much fun to see how much sam of all people unreasonably, irrationally, illogically hates the guy,

just because he represents someone dean might, might, might possibly actually like more than sam (even though we, the viewers, know that’s impossible). beautiful

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yes, you’ve hit on so many great points here! firstly, the inconsistencies in characterization: i think it’s very easy to see why people get annoyed by the writing, and i do think it’s occasionally justified; however, i’ve always found it a lot more rewarding to think about it as the same kind of inconsistencies that real people have! sam and dean might make “ooc” decisions and it’s okay because real people do that too, out of anger, resentment, sadness, trauma... it makes sense, to me, that they aren’t the same people they were fifteen years ago. getting stuck in one ‘mode’ of characterization is damaging to an overall reading of the show, but at the same time it’s okay to latch onto one era if that’s what you enjoy. it only bothers me when people take characterization from one era (for example, dean’s ptsd, anger, and jealousy over amelia) and apply it to every version of that character.

dean’s parental sense of possession over sam is one thing i do agree with wrt the possessive dean takes, and i think they’re more memorable for a lot of people because they’re not what you usually see from a family show-- it’s weird for dean to feel that way, and i don’t know if i’ve ever seen that intersection of parental ownership and romantic partner jealousy. it’s important that this comes out when dean is under pressure, not all the time-- AND it’s essential that sam does not cave to this. it gets iffy during dabb era, but i still don’t see sam immediately caving to dean’s demands. a good example is the scene where dean holds a gun to sam in season 15, which i see fairly often as an example of dean demanding obedience from sam... but sam doesn’t cave! and sam doesn’t even flinch, because he’s used to having guns pointed at him, and he knows that no version of dean could ever kill him. dean knows this too, and dean is the one who caves, as per usual. this is only not the case a few times in canon, like season 4, parts of season 7, and season 9, all for different reasons i won’t get into now. it’s remarkable when dean doesn’t go along with what sam asks, which is why it sticks in people’s memories, imo. dean is very loud with what he wants and what he thinks is best, but if sam disagrees he will argue dean around to his point, or he’ll go behind dean’s back to do it anyway (case in point, season 11 with the cage.)

anyway-- “the complexities are the best part!” and “you get to actually have characters w the kind of multifaceted personalities you’d expect of, like, normal people (just way more fucked up and traumatized). so yeah, dean isn’t always straightforward...” TOTALLY AGREE. i love the times when the brothers are making decisions that fandom disagrees with, because it’s interesting. the show is here to provide a compelling story. i’m not going to lie and say i always agree with that story or those choices, but it’s fun for me to try to get into why a character would make that decision, not just rail against it. i like the dudes we have in canon! they’re fun!

this is why possessive sam slaps for me. what you said here-- “sam, who SEEMS like he’d be more grounded and chill, but is actually the crazy jealous guy. that kind of irony, those kind of subversions, are what make them enjoyable as characters and contribute to why possessive sam is so much fun to explore” yes yes yes. 100%. and we see these subversions right from season one! it’s not new that dean isn’t actually the uber-confident womanizing asshole, but if you aren’t paying attention it can sneak up on you, i guess? and sam, who comes across as the level-headed one in common archetypes, the soft-spoken college boy, crashes the impala into a building. in the first episode. and in route 666, he  follows a crazy instinct that is proven correct and saves their lives (because he’s intelligent!) but toys with the chance that it could have failed and killed dean (because he’s reckless!)

the fact that we have all these examples of the ways the brothers fail to fulfill the tropes they would in a less-interesting tv show means that possessive sam makes so much sense. sam is built up as the independent brother, the one who left home, the rebellious one, but he loves his family and he needs dean. he needs him. “sam’s built so much on seeking dean’s approval and lived his life at the center of dean’s universe...” i love the way you put this. sam has had dean’s attention and protection for most of his life, and hell if he’s giving it up now for some two-bit vampire, lol. sam is independent, but like with everything else, dean is the exception. sam’s desperation for dean’s approval and attention is absolutely hilarious in the benny situation, because, like you’ve said before, benny is the least-threatening dude ever. he’s so nice. and the fact that sam won’t rest until he dies is-- well, i’m being a little uncharitable, i don’t think sam wanted benny to die, but he sure didn’t shed any tears over it.

the contradictions are delicious. i do think some of it is that dean gets his friendships fulfilled outside of sam, so sam is in a category all his own, while sam doesn’t have as many relationships as dean does so dean is fills all of his categories. but then again, that isn’t always true. it shifts over the seasons and even through episodes. broad trends!