#and y'all can suffer with me
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samstree · 1 year ago
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“I never…” Geralt’s voice is deep with the promise of sleep. “I never tell you enough.”
“Hmm?”
The forest is shimmering with moonlight when Jaskier cracks open his eyes. Geralt is watching him closely, something soft in his expression. They press together on the small bedroll, knees touching, face to face, breaths settled in the quietness of the night.
“How lucky I am,” Geralt adds. “With you. To have you. I don’t tell you enough.”
“Oh,” Jaskier breathes, catching the hint of guilt in Geralt’s voice. “It’s alright.”
“It’s not.”
“Hey.” Jaskier finds Geralt’s hand, squeezes in reassurance. He never wants Geralt’s guilt, not when he carries too much of it already. “None of that. Not with me.”
Geralt sighs softly. “See? Too lucky, perhaps. More than I deserve. I just hope…” he pauses, tentative, “that I’m not too late.”
Moonlight threads between the leaves, catching on Geralt’s hair. Hope shines in his eyes when he looks at Jaskier.
He leans forward, tugging Jaskier’s hand to his lips, and kisses his fingers. One kiss leads to another, on the back of his hand, on his wrist, and then…
“Geralt?”
Jaskier’s breath hitches when Geralt presses a kiss on his forehead, affection clear in the way he hides a tiny smile there.
“I’m not too late, am I?”
Their lips brush against each other’s, breaths mixing. Geralt stops there, lingering, waiting, sweet and kind.
Oh, but he is.
He is too late.
Jaskier pulls away, just a little bit, but it took the strength to move between worlds. Their eyes meet, and for once in a poet’s long life, no words are needed.
This should hurt, Jaskier thinks, when Geralt realizes his answer and that smile fades. It does hurt, deep in his chest, an ache that wouldn’t let up for twenty years.
It still won’t let up, the unfairness of it all.
“Oh.” Geralt retreats, letting go of Jaskier’s hand. “I am.”
Something within Jaskier shudders. “Yeah.”
“I see.”
Coldness surrounds him when Geralt pulls away, turning his back. Jaskier sleeps under the silvery moonlight, fingers still touching his lips.
He dreams of the hope in Geralt’s eyes.
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shellem15 · 3 months ago
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Can I just say, I really appreciate how Critical Role plays the Devil trope straight. There's been this phenomena in a lot of modern media (I'm not going to mention specifics but I'm sure a few examples pop up in people's minds) where Hell and the Devil aren't scary or malevolent forces. Hell is portrayed as being basically the same as our world just "edgier", and the Devil is a pretty decent guy actually. Heaven are secretly the real bad guys!
But Critical Role doesn't do that. In Exandria, Asmodeus *feels* like the Devil. He's malevolent and manipulative and terrifyingly powerful and he hates you, personally. We never see that type of portrayal anymore! And it's amazing! And he still manages to be sympathetic and tragic without losing his edge!
And the "Good Gods" are portrayed as flawed without being secretly evil or something! Like, actual nuance? In my Heaven/Hell dichotomy? What!?
It's just such a breath of fresh air after so many "The Devil was right, actually" stories. So props to Matt and Brennan and the cast.
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wispurring-moss · 4 months ago
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no thoughts just These TwoTM touch-starved losers gradually evolving into the epitome of casual touching/cuddling for absolutely no reason and they probably don't even realize they're doing it lol <'3
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tea-cat-arts · 6 months ago
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Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will
#svsss#scum villian self saving system#shen qingqiu#shen yuan#the fact that people think scum villain#-a series that examines and criticizes common tropes in fiction-#is somehow against criticism or being a little hater is wild to me#especially since shen qingqiu never gets punished for being a hater#heck- he's still a little hater by the end of the series#he mostly gets punished for treating life like a play and like he and the people around him are characters#(or in other words- he suffers for denying his own wants and emotions and his own sense of empathy)#I think some of y'all underestimate how much writing/art is inspired by creaters being little haters#like example off the top of my head-#the author of Iron Widow has been pretty vocal about the book being inspired by their hatred of Darling in the Franxx#I think my interpretation of Shen Yuan's transmigration is also supported by the fact that this series is an examines writing processes#side note- though i understand why people say Shen Yuan is lazy and think its a valid take it still doesnt sit right with me#i am probably biased because my own experiences with chronic pain and depression and isolation#but ya- i dont think Shen Yuan is lazy so much as he is deeply lonely and feels purposeless after denying parts of himself for 20ish years#like yall remember the online fandom boom from covid right?#being stuck completely alone in bed while feeling like shit for 20 days straight does shit to your brain#the fact that no one came to check on him + he wasn't exactly upset about leaving anyone behind supports the isolation interpretation too#+in the skinner demon arc he describes his life of being a faker/inability to stop being a faker now that he's Shen Qingqiu#as “so bland he's tempted to throw salt on himself” and “all he could do is lay around and wait for death” (<-paraphrasing)#bro wants to be doing stuff but is stuck in paralysis from repeatedly following scrips made by other people#another point on “Shen Yuan isn’t lazy” is just the sheer amount of studying that man does#also he did graduate college- how lazy can he really be#he doesnt know what hes doing but he at least tries to actively train his students#and he actually works on improving his own cultivation + spends quite a bit of time preping the mushroom body thing#+he's experiencing bouts of debilitating chronic pain throughout all this#but ya tldr: Shen Yuan's transmigration is an encouragement to write and not a punishment and also i dont think its fair to call him lazy
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kor0kke · 4 months ago
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💖 Caption this
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bluespiritshonour · 7 months ago
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here's 18-19 year old aang sketches. been hearing aang is ugly discourse—no he ain't. he was just 12.
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deadpoetmagda · 5 days ago
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The way everyone now took up in arms blaming women and girls for the elections results and young men turning into the far right truly made something click in me, literally everyone and their grandpa is blaming women, even groups who hate each others are now bonding together like besties just to blame women, so excuse me for ranting on tumblr.com, this is gonna be long :)
What's been happening lately really opened my eyes to how hypocritical everyone is, what's everyone only ever good at is pointing their fingers at women and throwing the blame at us, misogyny and violence against women in all its shapes and forms since the dawn of time till these days didn't cause women to go out on the streets and murder men in masses, yet apparently misandry is real and some comments online made by the evil feminists were enough to radicalize young men and turn them into far right incels and are to blame for the elections in the US, women are always to blame for everything, I'm not surprised with this coming from men but to see women spewing this dumb bullshit too is so disheartening, to me you're no different than the conservatives who blame women for men's "loneliness epidemic" instead of encouraging them to start treating us better, teenage boys and men are shouting "your body our choice" at little girls and young women yet all you fuckers can take from that is that these girls and women are somehow to blame for it!!! A 19 yo girl typing I HATE MEN on her silly little Facebook page or reddit discord after years of nothing but stories of rape and misogyny in the news and in her neighborhood and her school and her home and literally fucking everywhere is to blame for men and boys being radicalized actually, meanwhile the internet is filled with men sharing rape videos and their violent fantasies about us and then they go out in real life shouting and smirking at us admitting how badly they want to strip us of our rights!!
Teenage boys are watching violent porn, men gang rape teenage girls, women and girls get trafficked, raped, beaten, murdered on the daily around the globe, it's statistically proven that husbands mistreat and abuse their wives on such a high scale even in first world countries, not to mention the daily misogyny and sexsism we face, men don't even need to get "radicalized", the majority of men out their don't want us to reach them and be "nicer" to them like you preach, they simply want power over us and to misuse that power, and women and girls who recognize this and see it clearly in the world we live in right now and the thousands of years of recorded history we have and not even to mention personal experiences are the ones to blame... for being aware of it and acknowledging it and demanding change!!!! How fucking dumb are you, or maybe you're just a pretentious hypocrite :)
No one's ever blamed these boys and men for me and other women to end up having radical feminism views, nah they're too busy calling us demented and mentally ill and lecturing us about how to treat men better lest we fail them and blaming us for everything wrong with the world!
Ever since I got introduced to radical feminism and found myself agreeing with some of its ideas and arguments I was always still critical and sometimes even wary of it and never really called myself one, but now if I get totally sucked into it and get "radicalized" myself it's actually all your fault, how about that? Congratulations, centuries of men raping us and creating endless systems to oppress us in unimaginable ways didn't radicalize me, you and your hypocrisy did that instead :)
Honestly fuck all of you dumb shitheads, you can't gaslight us into cuddling men while they keep beating us bloody, I've had enough!
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enstars-syndrome · 3 months ago
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guess who listened to a certain mitski song for 1 hour 21 minutes again
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howdoyouget · 5 months ago
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taking jason todd rights away from dc and putting them up on the shelf. you know what, bruce wayne rights too. you can have them back when you learn how to treat them kindly.
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webshood · 7 months ago
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making Dick's character be all about hooking up, cheating, being aggressive (angry Robin), using drugs and sexualizing him, while using the excuse that you're trying to escape the "eldest daughter" and "therapist" tropes, is not only disgusting, but racist too
y'all love to claim Dick's rroma heritage, but refuse to research about it and fail to recognize the racism and stereotyping you commit
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jennycalendar · 8 months ago
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in homecoming (3x05), willow references the song playing in the bronze as a song oz wrote for her. this is that song. ♥
special shoutout to @via-whitmore who legally i must tag in all oz content always.
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devildom-moss · 1 year ago
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Roses for You (8)
This had all started when you noticed a link between a book on the language of flowers you had borrowed from Satan’s room and the current lessons from your Seductive Speechcraft and Magical Potions classes.
In Seductive Speechcraft, you had just reached a section on the effectiveness of spells using non-verbal communication: enchanting glances, dance, and offerings. Meanwhile, in Magical Potions, the professor had been discussing the significance of using specific quantities when concocting potions; they had spent fifteen minutes just providing examples – including adding petals from two different flowers when using them for a love spell.
You couldn’t resist discussing the use of flower language – utilizing the type, color, and quantity of the flowers – to specify the magical intent of an offering as a form of seductive speechcraft. Asmo and Solomon listened intently. The same idea popped into both of their minds, and before you knew it, everyone was looking into color and number meanings, searching for the perfect combination to convey their feelings for you and try to put you under their spell. The only rule for their little competition to charm you? Only roses are allowed.
Will you be charmed by their attempts?
Eight Roses - Diavolo
Word Count: +900
Gratitude / Support
“MC,” Diavolo greeted you at the castle door with a huge puppy-energy grin, “come on in.”
“Oh, Diavolo, where’s Barbatos? Doesn’t he usually answer the door?”
“He’s at the market with Simeon. Besides, aren’t you happy to see me?” A pout sat on Diavolo’s lips.
“Of course, I am. I came here because you asked me to; of course, I was looking forward to seeing you. I was just a bit surprised, that’s all.”
Diavolo took your hands in both of his and flashed that sweet, princely smile of his. “Allow me to surprise you again. Will you come to my room with me?”
He awaited the slight nod of your head as if he thought rejection was a possibility. At times, it was unfair that Diavolo’s personality and his status made him so difficult to say “no” to. Fortunately for you, what Diavolo craved – second only to his desire for peace between the three realms – was your happiness. It was easy to indulge him without a second thought. Even though you had no clue what awaited you behind his bedroom door – although given the rose antics of late, you had some clue – you trusted Diavolo entirely.
When you got to his door, Diavolo turned and asked you to close your eyes. You obliged, and with one hand firmly on your back, Diavolo guided you safely into the room. His touch left you slowly with a small squeeze to your side: a signal for you to stand still. The absence was followed by the soft thud of the door closing behind you and some indeterminate noises.
“Should I be concerned?” you asked the entire room, certain that Diavolo was somewhere in there with you.
“Open your eyes, MC.”
Diavolo was on one knee before you, holding out a bouquet of eight roses – four peach and four lavender – in a black anatomical heart vase. As he looked up at you, the sweetness in his gaze was overwhelming – like light brown sugar and honey. Your breath caught in your throat as you stared back, trapped in that sweetness.
A blush grew on Diavolo’s cheeks, suddenly flustered by your speechlessness. His confidence faltered momentarily, and he wondered if the message was unclear. Perhaps you would appreciate the words from his lips more than soft petals and pale colors. Without a second more of hesitation, he spoke: “I’m certain I’ve made it clear how much I adore you by now, but I need you to understand something else: I’m indefinitely grateful to you. All your hard work and support is more than I could have hoped for. You’ve brought so much joy into my life, and I need you to stay by my side. I know I have ambitious goals, and you’re often put in difficult situations because of me, but I couldn’t do this without you. Your presence only encourages me. You’ve charmed me – body and soul – and I’m eternally thankful for all of it. So, thank you, and please let me support you, too.”
Eight roses symbolized his gratitude and support. Peach was also a sign of thanks and appreciation, strengthening the message. Lavender signified his enchantment. Perhaps four of each color implied the lasting, steady nature of those feelings. All of it was stemming up from the heart. You meant so much to the future King of the Devildom. As loved as you were, in that moment, to be appreciated so deeply was worth more than any love you had known before. Tears welled up in your eyes, threatening to spill.
Diavolo noticed and got to his feet, quickly engulfing you in his arms. He held you securely, and that was all you needed to allow a few tears to drip onto his shoulders. In a feeble voice, you whispered against his body, “Thank you.”
“That’s my line,” Diavolo teased and pulled away. He gave you a smile before placing a kiss on your right cheek. Then, the left. He kissed the corner just below your left eye, savoring the precious sight of you closing that eye and scrunching your nose up at him. He did the same on the other side. He kissed your forehead, the bridge of your nose, both corners of your lips, and finally, once all the anticipation had boiled up, and you were grinning, Diavolo placed a gentle kiss on your lips.
When you kissed him back, you returned the sweetness and intensity tenfold – so much so that Diavolo nearly dropped the vase in his hand from surprise. He chuckled against your kiss. I’m supposed to be the one surprising you, he thought.
Without warning, Diavolo lifted you up with one arm. Startled by the sudden movement, you wrapped yourself around him. He walked you towards his bed where he promptly set the vase down on his bedside table. His newly free hand supported your back firmly. You expected him to set you down, too, but he continued to hold you up.
Carefully, you pulled away from him slightly. There was a mischievous look on his face. “Diavolo?”
“We still have a while before Barbatos returns.” Diavolo smirked, running his tongue along one of his canine teeth.
“And?” you teased, knowing full well what that glint in his eyes implied.
Diavolo set you down softly at the edge of the bed and sank to his knees at your feet. He stared up at you through his lashes. One of his hands ran up your leg and squeezed the top of your thigh gently. “Let me give you a reason to feel grateful, too.”
Lucifer (1) | Mammon (2) | Leviathan (3) | Satan (4) | Asmodeus (5) | Beelzebub (6) | Belphegor (7) | Barbatos (9) | Luke (10) | Simeon (11) | Solomon (12) | Thirteen (13) | Raphael (14) | Mephistopheles (15)
A/N: Woo. We're half-way through, now. I wasn't even sure I was going to get over 500 words with this, and it's somehow the longest one so far. I got really into it. I low-key got too into character and cried on behalf of MC. But I can cry really easily if I just get into character. Oops. Hope you enjoy it~
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to-be-a-dreamer · 29 days ago
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A brain dump of thoughts after Agatha All Along ep 6:
Okay but like. The parallels between Agatha and Billy that we get to see now????
Both of their mothers chose to protect other people, complete strangers, over their own children??? Like. We know Wanda made the right choice, sacrificing her family for the greater good, but in her own twisted way did Evanora believe she was doing the same? Did she ever love her daughter? On some deep level, beneath the anger and hatred and warped sense of justice did it hurt her to try to kill her own child? She believed Agatha would bring countless death and destruction, that she was destined to be evil. As warped as her justifications were did she see it as a selfless sacrifice like Wanda's? Does that make it right? Does Billy have as much reason as Agatha to be angry with his mother for choosing to let him and his brother die? Do her truly selfless intentions matter to a child was just desperate to survive? Will he be able to forgive Wanda before that resentment is used against him? Is Agatha just trying to manipulate him by taunting him about Wanda or does she truly see a bit of herself in a child whose mother tried to kill him? (Edited)
Both of them were forced to do something horrible just to survive??? Agatha had to murder her own family. Billy had to steal the body of a boy who had just died. He had to pretend to be the child of these poor unsuspecting parents who just want their son back. Who have no idea their child is dead. The Kaplans will never get to bury William. He has to look them in the eye every single day knowing he's not really their son but what else was he supposed to do? He hates what he's doing to these people but what choice did he have? Could he even control it or did his soul instinctively seek out a new vessel to protect itself? Agatha was just a child who didn't want to die. Billy was just a child who didn't want to die. Were they selfish? Could they control it? Can we truly blame them if they could?
Both of them do terrible things when they feel backed into a corner or overwhelmed or emotional??? Things that they come to regret as soon as the emotions clear??? Billy looked horrified when he finally realized what he had done to Lilia and Jen but he's an intensely powerful and traumatized child who was overcome with grief and anger. Do we really think every single one of Agatha's kills was 100% self-defense? Do we really think she never killed someone in a fit of anger only to regret it after? And maybe Agatha has come to accept and embrace that now but she must have been like Billy when she was young. (Billy is literally the same age Agatha was when she killed her coven and was even younger when he took William's body) She must have been horrified at her power, at the things she did when she felt trapped. She must have bent over backward trying to defend herself and justify her own actions before realizing no one would believe she didn't want to do those things so she might as well embrace her power to its fullest potential ("I'm not that nice").
Both of them are walking the road for someone they lost??? I know Agatha says she's on the road for her power back but that's not how the road works, right? It doesn't give you what you want it gives you what you're missing. I think if Agatha was really able to get anything at all in the world, it wouldn't be her magic. Agatha is looking for Nicky. Billy is looking for Tommy. I don't know if either of them will really get that at the end but they are absolutely in this for the same reason.
I know there are mixed responses to this episode (at least when I first scrolled through the tag) but I for one really enjoyed it. I was really worried they were going to half-ass the explanation for why Billy was being Like This and fuck up one of the only queer Marvel Comics characters but comparing his actions to Agatha's and showing us this kid who is SO MUCH like how Agatha must have been when she was his age is so much fun actually. Like, it would have been really great but pacing-wise we probably couldn't have spent the necessary time going back into Agatha's past and diving deep into her progression from "scared child who does horrible things out of desperation for survival" to "cutthroat witch who is more than eager to hurt and betray others for her own personal gain". But we get to see it happen to Billy over the rest of the season and maybe even multiple MCU projects!!! Or maybe we'll get to see him make different choices. Maybe Agatha will be able to give him the chance no one gave her. Maybe history doesn't have to repeat itself. Maybe Billy's journey will give Agatha the chance to change her own story once and for all.
Idk this is really rambly and maybe my opinion will change as I think about it more but my first reactions are positive. Yeah on a meta level it sucks that the wlw couple is moving so slowly in their own show while the young, conventionally attractive mlm couple got to kiss within their first few minutes of screentime and they probably could have put in the effort to intentionally combat the miserable lesbians trope. But on a story level, I'm personally glad they're not rushing Agatha and Rio's arc. They're definitely going to get their moment but the reason they're so compelling is because of their history and the tragedy between them. We don't have all the details of what really happened between them yet but I don't think it's something you can just kiss and make up about. Billy and Eddie are teenagers with no real baggage between them. Agatha and Rio have possibly centuries of hurt and anger and betrayal to work through Let Them Cook! It'll be that much sweeter and their relationship is one of the CORE overarching plots of the show you don't want them to rush it. (Also I personally am too ace for the "we're gonna make up by having hot sex about it" type of conflict resolution and would have hated if Agatha and Rio were intimate before sorting at least some of their shit out but that's just me ik a lot of people would have enjoyed it and I'm sure it could have been really compelling but I actually cannot stand those kinds of plots most of the time.)
Also just keep in mind that the only other named queer characters we've had in the MCU literally ever are Phastos and Ben in the Eternals and like. Yeah it shouldn't have taken this long for a queer lead but the massive jump??? We went from one character (out of like ten mains) whose partner has minimal personality traits and like five minutes of screen time to a show with two main character on-screen queer romances!!!! In the Marvel Cinematic Universe??? And one of them is a season-long complex and interesting story that is a central plot of the series and not just half-baked fanservice!!! And one is just sweet innocent love between kids who care about each other!!! I do wish wlw stories didn't always have to come with attractive cis gay men but do y'all understand how huge this is for the MCU????? It shouldn't have taken this long and we can definitely criticize the negative tropes the show falls victim to but net positive progress is always something to be happy about. If you're not familiar with the greater MCU and the history of Marvel in general just understand that this is actually insane for them and I'm so excited for the doors that just opened for future queer storylines, but that can only happen if we show Marvel that, yes we do want queer characters being openly intimate on screen. Be happy for Billy, keep being happy for Agatha and Rio during all stages of their story and maybe we'll get to see more of this!!!
#i am literally gnawing at the walls about billy and agatha they're soooooo yes please give me more of this#yes this is agatha's show and she should be the center of it#yes we needed to see billy's backstory for his character to be fully-formed and to do the comics justice#two things can be true at the same time#again it is really frustrating on a meta level that the wlw couple had to get sidelined for an entire episode on their own show#but i also would have been really mad if they'd butchered such an important queer marvel character as billy kaplan#yes it's a very common trope of the wlw characters always suffering and fighting while the mlm characters just get to be happy#and the writers should be called out for it and we should be upset about it because they really should know better by now#yes billy and eddie are a monumental moment for the mcu and we need to celebrate that#because if they only see us angry about the SECOND EVER QUEER MCU COUPLE they'll use it as an excuse to cut queer storylines in the future#if y'all give them an excuse to think the reason you didn't like billy and eddie was because they're gay#and we get another twenty years of queerbaiting in marvel because yall couldn't be happy about baby steps for once i'm going to start bitin#ALSO ALSO last thing i swear but agatha harkness is not queer in the comics they GAVE us a new wlw relationship PLEASE be happy about that#agatha all along#agatha all along spoilers#agatha harkness#billy maximoff#teen agatha all along#mcu
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navree · 3 months ago
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i request monetary compensation from all the bitches in season 4 who were whining at jon about how immoral it was for him to ask people questions when apparently he could have been making people run to death or otherwise kill them after forcing statements (without even having to ask a question). y'all got the nicest version of what the archivist could be and you were assholes about it for no reason, shame shame i know your name
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yandere-daydreams · 9 months ago
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diff anon here but the overlap between sorority girls/fanfic readers is SO much bigger than u'd think. like maybe less common in ur stereotypical SEC school southern sororities, but among the rest of the US... i'm sure that number's gotta be close to like 60%. its just probably not smth we'd ever admit to irl LMFAO
that's actually so insane of you guys actually. ig i just mostly engage with theater kids and unhinged queer people who have no shame about admitting they binge x reader dilf smut on the reg and figure y'all are, like, busy getting blonde-brunette ombres or making out with each other or something. might have to take a few days to process this information. woah.
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anghraine · 3 months ago
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Today's unhinged "good God I hate how much extreme generosity I'm expected to extend to the Peter Jackson films by people who make wildly bad faith arguments about things I like" rant:
I am very deeply tired of people insisting with zero evidence that of course the LOTR films are imperfect, but the difficulties of adapting LOTR are such that it wasn't possible for them to be better than they were—in, apparently, any respect. They just couldn't be done better, at all, because it was so hard to make something watchable at all.
This is always just like ... really? Really?? Just what prevented them from making better decisions about anything? What exactly made casting every actor of color as barely differentiated villainous hordes in the twenty-first century so necessary and unavoidable? The glamorization and vast expansions of battle scenes and insertion of "heroic" war crimes was the highest film as a medium could aspire to in the early 2000s because of what insuperable force?
What made it impossible to give Arwen a coherent character arc? The films could not have been made without the underlying assumption that most of the cast are NPCs who will only do the right thing, when they will, if prodded or manipulated or influenced by main characters? In what way is this an inevitability of adaptation or film that simply couldn't have been conceptualized differently, much less better?
There is zero explanation or justification for why any of this stuff (or the myriad other flaws) had to be that way and couldn't have been done better in any way at any point. It's just stated that the films that exist must be the best films that could have existed because they're the ones that do exist and are popular. QED.
That doesn't make any sense, though, and it doesn't convince anyone who doesn't already agree. The idea that they could not have been better in any way (including their worst quality, which again, is the extremely racist casting), that some force was preventing not only the actual filmmakers but any filmmakers that could possibly exist from doing anything better just seems patently absurd.
You can like them and respect what they did achieve without demanding that everyone buy into a baseless and irrational argument that their pop culture success means nothing about them could possibly have been done any better. Look, I was in my mid to late teens at the time. I remember the early 2000s quite well. It wasn't now, but we are not talking about an age so divorced from our own that any of these things were somehow fundamental to the media landscape.
There are ways in which the LOTR films were very good that were essential to their popularity then and now. This does not require anyone to accept that it was literally impossible for them to be better than they are or that some defense is required against every criticism of them ever.
I am not, incidentally, talking about removing Bombadil, an entirely understandable and defensible decision that the film defenders in my notes somehow always feel the need to bring up. I know that changes had to be made, that adaptation is not a word for word transcription, that it would always be a difficult text to adapt, that structurally minor elements had to go, that they are cinematically beautiful films that a lot of work and love went into. I know this. EVERYONE knows this, because for the last 20 years it's been impossible to criticize anything about them without being reminded. Their accomplishments, and their existence, do not mean that any choice made by the filmmakers must definitionally have been the right call and could not possibly have been better in any way.
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