#and yknow. I’m also feeling bad bc I didn’t mask all the time

[problemeule]

fml. I’m going to throw myself off a fucking bridge

[mythiccheroacademia]

My bad, I’m just now seeing the rules😭 I’ll choose shiguraki, dabi, and Hawks for the time traveling kids reaction

A/N: You’re all good baby! I kept looking at this trying to come up with a fitting situation for them and then I dreamt about being in all three situations last night??? lmaooo it was both terrifying and lucky hehe~ Hopefully, it’s as good as I’m imagining it

Side Note: I’m writing this with a baby (thankfully, but unfortunately, not mine!) on my chest. Get on my level. Jk, but everyone say hi <3

Warnings: Cursing 

Shigaraki Tomura:

you and shigaraki came back from your daily walks 

aka, people watching

and you two planned to play on the PS4 later

whiles you’re setting up the TV in the living room, he goes to his room to get the console and remotes

he opens the door, sees a baby on his bed, then immediately shuts the door

goes to you and kurogiri

him: “any of you know why there’s a baby on my bed?”

kurogiri: a baby? 😐

you: a BABY!!!?? 😍💞💞

you rush in there and to your amazement, there is a baby no more than six or seven months, gurgling on the bed

kurogiri is giving tomura the most judgemental look and shigaraki kinda feels embarrassed even though he swears he didn’t do anything

“please don't tell me it’s yours”

“i can assure you, y/n and i use prot--”

“oh my gosh, shiggy, she looks just like you with my hair and nose!”

kurogiri is over it 

tomura is malfunctioning

you’re gushing over the baby girl, totally ignoring the fact that a literal child, who just so happened to look like a perfect mix between you and tomura, just appeared like a sick magic trick

was it a quirk?

was it time travel??

did tomura knock you up and everybody just somehow forgot???

so many questions, so little answers

in order to keep from getting a migraine, everybody followed your train of thought and just went along with it for now

shigaraki was less than pleased that his plans with you had been scrapped

he spent the day going shopping (stealing) for diapers, getting formula, buying clothes, and buying toys

feeding the baby was annoying

changing her was a nightmare

shigaraki threatened to disintegrate the child if she puked on him one more time

but everyone just adores her

she’s such a cutie

her toothless smile just warms up everybody’s hearts

even kurogiri is smitten

the day ends with you, the baby, and shigaraki in his room, getting ready for bed

he’s grumbling bc “can’t we just leave her on the couch or something”

you ignore him and he’s forced to get in bed bc no matter what, he’d never give up the chance to cuddle with you...even if it is with some stupid baby

after she falls asleep, you sigh and lean on his shoulder

“you really think she’s ours?” you ask

he wants to say i hope not, but the way you look at him with all the hope in the world makes his heart tingle 

instead of answering, he softly kisses your lips and tucks the both of you in

when you both wake up, the baby is gone--probably back to her timeline

you're a little sad and shigaraki only says what he says NOT BC HE THINKS IT’S TRUE OR SOMETHING but bc your misery makes him itch

“don’t worry. i’m sure we’ll see the brat again someday”

Dabi:

when you came back to your apartment, holding a load of groceries, you were quite surprised to see the situation at hand 

in the middle of your living room was dabi, at his big ass age, wrestling with a kid that couldn't be older than 12 

least to say, you were pissed 

“come on, fess up you little runt. did my old man have another kid”

“for the last time, NO! i’m yours!!”

“stop lying! my pull out game is too strong for that”

“EW! get off of me you staple-faced, burnt chicken nugget lookin’ fu--”

that’s when you intervened

“chicken nugget lookin’ what?” you questioned, looking at the boy with the look™️  

 the boy’s expression went from angry to scared in 0.2 seconds

dabi’s kind of impressed

“father. i-i was gonna say father”

“oh, that’s what i thought bc if you were gonna say what i thought your were gonna say, then i’d have to whoop your ass. but you weren’t, correct?”

“no ma’am”

“so we’re good?”

“yes ma’am”

“perfect. now what’s this about him being your father?”

dabi is taking out of his smugness and flinches under the heat of your glare

you ask him one time who he slept with and when he tells you you're crazy, you lunge at him

your kid lets you get a couple of good hits in before he decides to drop the news that he’s you two’s son of three from the future

you pause, his hand on your face and your fist in his hair

“deadass?” dabi says 

the boy nods his head and you two take the time to look at him

his features are undeniably yours and dabi’s; he was one of those kids that if you sat them next to one or the other, they could look like both parents

you two take it better than he thought you would 

“i always knew you wanted kids with me. simp”

dabi can’t even deny it. he just rolls his eyes and acts all tough 

then he asks, “you sure you’re not gonna get erased from the time continuum by telling us?”

the boy shrugs “i mean...i hope not”

it’s beyond y’all at this point

so you spend the day with the kid, who was named after Dabi (Touya Jr.), and it’s so obvious he’s a momma’s boy 

he helps you cook, set the table, and wash the dishes 

smiles at you like you’re the entire world

dabi is kind of jealous from all the attention you’re giving him 

fumes at the middle finger junior sneakily flips at him 

does it back 

claims to hate the kid but wipes the crumbs off his lip without hesitation

junior got the itis and is down for a nap

calls you two mom and dad before falling asleep 

you get all 🥺 and even dabi is a little nostalgic when junior disappears 

it’s quiet for a moment and then he says, 

“wanna do a practice round in baby-making. yknow? for the future”

you roll your eyes but you aint say no! 

Takami Keigo (Hawks):

hawks didn't expect to see a tiny kid on the edge of a building on his day off

there wasn't a lot that scared him, but he couldn't deny the fear hammering against his ribcage as he saw the child look around before jumping

thank goodness his speed wasn’t just talk

he caught the girl who didn't look a day past six 

he’s in the middle of giving her a huge lecture about safety and mental health, she just giggles and gives him the biggest kiss on the cheek 

“haha! i knew you’d catch me if i fall, papa~”

he’s too angry to even register what she called him

“that was totally dangerous, kid! what if i hadn't seen you? then what?”

“then i would fly” she said like it was the most obvious thing

he’s dumbstruck as two beautiful white wings sprout out of thin air and allow her to float next to the hero with ease 

hawks blinks bc yeah anyone could have wings, but he could tell that feather pattern from anywhere

it was his 

it was like his own fingerprint was staring at him 

did he accidentally knock someone up bc that would be a big uh-oh

y/n wouldn't like that at all

he asks the child who he is to her and she repeats, “papa~”

he then asks who the mother was and she goes, “mommy~”

she’s not the brightest crayon in the box, that’s for sure 

“what’s mommy’s name, kid,” he asks with the patience of a saint

“Takami Y/N~”

“you’re coming with me”

flys across the city with conviction

you’re lying on your bed, face mask on and reading a book in peace before your oh so wonderful boyfriend comes crashing through your open window

you don’t even flinch. so used to his surprise visits, you close the book and sigh

“to what do i owe the great pleasure of having you break into my house? again”

hawks holds the cute girl up, squishing her cheek as she laughs from the adventure they just went on

“mommy!”

“surprise!”

this time, you drop the book

eventually, with some cupcakes and chicken, the little girl tells you two about how she went to play with some kid and got zapped by a quirk and ended up here 

you also find out she’s the youngest of four

you look a little sick but keigo gives you a shit-eating grin

he’s so excited about having a family with you

you can’t deny the tingle in your heart

parades the girl around the house and they’re both laughing the same laugh, eyes bright with joy

it makes your heart hurt and now you have to join into the shenanigans 

you spend the day playing games, doing face masks, and reading books to fall asleep to

when you wake up, she’s gone but keigo’s arms are still firmly wrapped around your waist

“so now that you know i’m gonna trap you with four kids, when are you gonna pop the question?”  you joke 

but hawks isn’t laughing. instead, he’s smiling at you in a way that makes your eyes widen

he digs in his coat and pulls out the ring

“i was gonna try and make it a little more romantic. but why wait? so, what do ya say to taking my last name?”

[highdwightofmylife]

If your requests are open, could I request something with Jeff and his s/o basically adopting the legion as their kids please 🥺 thank you so much

God so WHOLESOME THANK YOU... also I'm writing this while waiting for a match why do I load in immediately as surv but the moment i wanna play killer it takes 300 years... just let me be Evan bhvr

ALSO FUCK THIS GOT SO LONG IM SO SORRY 😳😳

Jeff, His S/O and Their Four Teenage Ruffians

Jeff had told you that he'd met with the Legion prior to all... this. The fog, yknow? He told you about how he'd painted a big mural for them; how they gave him drinks, how... How he felt like he couldn't leave them alone up in that abandoned lodge after he'd finished their commission because it didn't feel right. So he told you he often checked up on them, and they always seemed so happy to see him. He told you it was like he'd suddenly adopted four kids that he'd occasionally bring snacks and cds for and make sure they were looking after themselves.

So now in the fog. His kids are a lot more vicious than he thought they were! But... That didn't mean he wasn't their dad anymore!

You met Jeff here, you started dating him here, and, well, with Jeff comes his misfit kids.

It takes them some time to view you as anything other than just another survivor, really. They have respect for Jeff but still kill him (although they have, occasionally, turned a blind eye to him in trials). So you? You worm you way into Susie's heart first. She doesn't trust you by any means, but her curiosity about what papa Jeff see's in you is too much to ignore. She begins to like you because you don't talk down to her. You don't treat her as the child of her group, as some people have done. She likes that you talk to her as an equal.

Doesn't mean she won't kill you though. But, at least she feels bad about it.

Joey's next. He trusts and respects Jeff, but he also sees how you are with Susie, and that's a bonus for him. He's more laid-back than the others, and he would have no qualms about approaching you when you're alone, sitting down beside you and gently asking some things. About what you did before all this, about how you and Jeff got together... He's really chill to talk to, and once you start conversing with him, he gets more at ease. Consider the first spontaneous meeting alone to be a test where he sizes you up and decides whether you can get closer to he and his family.

Susie talks about you all the time. She really warmed up to you and fast. Honestly Julie has gotten sick of hearing how nice you are and veing asked when you can come over.

Surprisingly? Frank's the one that follows suit with liking you. He starts teasing you every time he sees you, "ewwww, they liked Jeff,, ew... Old people love". Doesn't matter how old you are. You could be 18 and this man still calls you old just for being with Jeff. "ew are you two gonna fuck?? Gross"

But all that teasing is literally just because he's not very good at dealing with things, and he doesn't want to admit he likes you without making a fool of himself.

But you know he does like you because one time in the dead of night he came to you to ask you to bandage something for him and he was all like "BUT THIS IS ONLY BC UR THE LAST OPTION, I ASKED EVERYONE ELSE" but when you patch him up and send him on his way he says "thanks mom/dad" and then you see him go rigid and he's like "I-I-I MEAN... UH... FUCK YOU" and then runs away

Julie is the hardest kid to warm up to you. She always puts on a sour face when she sees you, and she actively distances herself. It's like. She doesn't need a parent. Doesn't want one. Says Jeff is more so "just some guy who painted our wall once" but everyone knows that's a lie. And when the other three start flocking to you, she feels very left out. She feels angry that you're taking her family from her. Stereotypical biological kid getting mad at a step parent for existing.

Julie accidentally let's her emotions flow in front of just you and Jeff. He says something trivial and she just blows up. "YEAH?? WELL ITS NOT LIKE I WANTED YOU TO BE MY DAD. BUT NOW YOU'RE IGNORING ME AND EVERYONE ELSE LOVES /THEM/ BUT I JUST KNOW THEY HATE ME"

And Jeff looks at you and looks at her and. "When did you assume they hated you?" And you can hear sniffles from behind her mask as she sadly/angrily kicks at the floor and, "Well it's obvious isn't it?? Why would they not"

Jeff looks you dead in the eye. "Sweetheart, do you hate Julie?"

"Absolutely not. Never have, never will."

And Julie looks up like ?????

And then Jeff laughs and it's very hearty and just... Good man...

Julie is now your aloof daughter than every now and then will give you a quick hug from behind, where you can feel her sigh and get all her emotions out, and then glare at you and power walk away.

You love your kids.

All six of you watching old VCRs on a beaten up TV in the lodge. Jeff and you snuggled up in the middle of the couch. Susie with her head on your lap. Joey sprawled out on the other side of Jeff with his legs dangling over the arm rest. Frank on the floor, hogging some really shitty popcorn. Julie sat on the back of the couch, closer to you than she ever thought she'd let herself. One happy, albeit dysfunctional family.

Joey seems to be taking after Jeff. Sometimes you and Jeff would just sit and draw or paint (or if you don't, you just vibe with him as he does). It was nice. And now sometimes, Joey gently asks if there's a space for him. It's so soft to see Jeff enthusing about his work while Joey eagerly listens. You like to watch them both lying on their stomachs on the floor, sketching. Jeff is teaching him all his tricks and Joey just eats it all up. Father son activity that you get to witness. And sometimes Joey will lift up his art and show you! If he has taken off his mask you'll see the absolute joy in his eyes.

Susie makes u a keyring I don't make the rules. Its made out of scrap and she had to get evan to help and when she presents it to you she is just SO HAPPY. The model daughter except she kills people on a daily basis

[iamanartichoke]

I wrote a Thing. It’s extremely long. I’d prefer it not be reblogged; I wrote this for my own catharsis and would prefer it not be circulated, bc of Reasons. 

I changed my mind, okay to reblog. <3 

Under a cut for (extreme, did I mention?) length. 

So I got about 12 minutes of sleep last night, as you do, and around 3am or so I found myself - out of sheer curiosity - going down a meta hole of Ragnarok discourse, trying to figure out where this "satisfying redemption arc" for Loki happened. (I mean, there's a lot of things I would like to figure out, but I started there.) Because I could. 

Basically I was looking for meta that went into detail about how Loki was redeemed in a satisfactory way. The ‘satisfactory’  is an important word here bc there is a redemption arc in the film, in that Loki starts off the film as an antagonist (kinda) to Thor and he ends the film as an ally to Thor, standing at Thor's side. In that sense, yes, there's a redemption arc. I didn't find much (and I had no idea how much people just despise Ragnarok "antis" [I really dislike that word] but that's another topic [that I don't particularly want to get into, tbh]) but I did find some. I read what I could find, and I read it open-mindedly, and overall I came away feeling like, okay, there are some valid points being made here and I can kinda see where they're coming from.

But it was a bit (a lot) like -- flat. Idk. The best comparison I can think of is that it’s like if a literature class read, I don't know, The Yellow Wallpaper for an assignment, and some of the students came away from it feeling like it was a creepy story about a woman slowly driving herself insane, and the other students came away from it incensed at the oppression and infantilization of women in the late 19th century -

- and neither side is wrong, but the former is a very surface-level reading and the latter isn't (bc it stems from looking at why she drives herself insane, why she was prescribed 'rest' in the first place, the context of what women could and couldn't do back then, etc; basically, a bit more work has to go into it). 

[Note: I am not disparaging the quality of The Yellow Wallpaper. At all. It’s just the first relatively well-known story that popped into my head.]

In this sense, I can see the argument for Loki's redemption arc, but I don't think it's a very good argument. Not invalid, but not great.

I mean, for example, I think the most consistent argument I found variations of re: Loki's redemption is that Ragnarok shows Loki finally taking responsibility for his bad behaviour and misdeeds. This includes recognizing that his actions were fueled from a place of self-hatred and a desire to self-destruct in addition to bringing destruction on others. That he probably feels awkward and regretful of these things and doesn't know how to act around Thor, but he figures it out by the end, and decides that returning to Asgard is the best way to show that he's ready to make amends. His act of bringing the Statesman to Asgard is an apology. He allies himself with Thor and ends up in a better place, both narratively (united with Thor once again) and mentally (having taken responsibility and made amends for his past).

And setting aside that he had already made amends by sacrificing his life in TDW (and also setting aside that the argument is made that Loki redeems himself in IW by sacrificing himself to Thanos but if that's the case, wouldn't that imply that he hadn't achieved redemption in Ragnarok or else there would be no need to achieve it again in IW? Or, if you think he did achieve redemption in Ragnarok, then what the fuck did he give his life in IW for? What was his motivation there, and why did the narrative not make it clearer? I digress.) 

- setting aside those two factors, I think this is a very fair argument. Loki is fueled by self-hatred, and he does want to self-destruct, and he does want to inflict that pain on others as well (particularly Thor). No lies detected here. 

However, I also need to know where that self-hatred and desire for destruction (toward himself and others) comes from and for that, we need to go back to Thor 1.

Thor 1. 

Loki starts Thor 1 out as "a clenched fist with hair," to borrow a quote from the Haunting of Hill House (that I tucked away in my mental box of Lovely Things bc it says so much so very simply). He's very used to bottling everything up, pushing it down; he slinks around behind the scenes, pulling the strings to this plot or that. He's "always been one for mischief," but the narrative implies that the coronation incident is the first time Loki's done anything truly terrible. And it all immediately pretty much goes to shit, so Loki spends the rest of the movie frantically juggling all these moving pieces while trying to seem as if he's got it all under control, every step of the way. That's how I view his actions. 

But I always come back to that quote where Kenneth Branaugh tells Tom, of the scene in the vault, "This is where the thin steel rod that's been holding your mind together snaps." In other words this is where Loki discovering he's Jotun is just one thing too many. He can't take it. But though the rod snaps, his descent isn't a nosedive. It's a tumble. As the story progresses, the clenched fist starts to loosen, the muscles are flexed in unfamiliar ways (that feel kinda good, after being stiff for so long), and it culminates with the hand opening completely and shaking itself out. All of that repression, that self-hatred, that rage and jealousy just explodes so that, by the time the bifrost scene happens, Loki's already hit bottom. It's not just about proving his worthiness to Odin. He wants to hurt Thor, too; he, essentially, throws a tantrum. (That's right, I said tantrum.) 

(Note: The word 'tantrum’ has negative connotations bc we normally equate it with a toddler stamping their feet and screaming in the aisle when their parent won't buy them the toy they want. But in itself, the word tantrum isn't infantalizing. It's an "emotional outburst, an uncontrolled explosion of anger and frustration" [paraphrasing from dictionary.com]. That's exactly what happens here [and why Tom called Loki's actions a massive tantrum, but people took that to mean Tom agreed it was childish whereas I doubt Tom meant it that way]).

He's been pushed past his limit, and he does bad things. He does really shitty things. He hurts Thor, he hurts his family. I'm pretty sure he knows this all along so this isn't, like, some revelation further down the line that "hey, those things I did were probably kinda bad." He got the memo already. 

Ragnarok 

Fast forward to Ragnarok, and we're introduced to a version of Loki who's had 4ish years to sit with everything that's happened. To sit with it and not do much else. The rawness of it has faded, and now it seems as though it's just become a thing, like when you move through life aware of your childhood traumas and have more or less just accepted them (and you probably share a lot of really funny depression memes on Facebook, which is kinda the equivalent of Loki's play, but that's probably just me). 

Loki has, more or less, chilled out. He seems more bored than anything else; he's been masquerading as Odin for longer than he ever planned or intended to, so he's more or less ended up hanging out, letting Asgard mind its own business, and entertaining himself with silly plays. This is the version that starts out the movie as an antagonist to Thor - a version that is, arguably, in a much different place [and is a much milder threat] than the version who originally did those Bad Things. 

And of course Thor is still mad at him, and of course they're going to butt heads, because that's what they do (and Thor's grievances are genuine, I’ll add, bc it's not really his fault he assumed Loki faked his death, nor can he be blamed for being pissed about Odin).

One argument framed this version of Loki as being a person who is facing the awkwardness of coming out of a dark place, which is fair. If we're going to frame his actions in Thor 1 as a tantrum, then Ragnarok would be the part where the toddler has been taken home, possibly has had some lunch and a juice box, and is now watching cartoons. They're over the tantrum, and would probably feel pretty silly about it if they weren't, yknow, toddlers. They probably can't remember why they even wanted that toy so badly. If they're a little older and self-aware, they might even be embarrassed for having melted down.

Like the word tantrum, this feeling isn't a thing limited to toddlers. I know I've had a few epic meltdowns as a grown ass adult, and I know I always feel deeply embarrassed afterwards - like, want to crawl into a hole and die. I've said things I can't take back. Adolescents and teenagers throw tantrums, mentally ill people throw tantrums, adults throw tantrums (I mean, my god, look at all the videos of Karens having screaming meltdowns - screaming! - over having to wear masks in order to shop at stores). Humans throw tantrums. And usually, after the feelings have been let out and the tantrum has passed, humans feel pretty regretful and awkward and embarrassed about whatever they did and said in the midst of their meltdown. 

I get all of that and agree it's valid and that Loki probably feels it. By the time Ragnarok happens, Loki's had some time to reflect and think hmm, yeah, probably could've handled that one a lot better. The argument further goes that in order to navigate this awkward period, Loki must come to terms with what he's done, acknowledge that some things can't be unsaid or undone, and begin to make amends. Supposedly, some people feel that Loki becomes a better person because he does "own" everything he did wrong and, even though he feels like a jackass (paraphrasing), he sets that aside to become a become a better person by choosing to help Thor and Asgard at the end. 

Thus, the overall arc goes like this. Loki, Thor's jealous little brother, 

throws a tantrum of epic proportions bc Reasons 

continues to act badly and make things even worse (Avengers) 

has to face consequences for his actions (prison sentence) 

ends up with a stretch of time in which he's free to contemplate and chill out 

feels embarrassed and awkward about how he's behaved

sees an opportunity to make up for it and decides to take it 

helps Thor, saves the day, and ends the film a better person. 

Redemption achieved.

None of this is wrong. The film supports it. It's a fair interpretation. But it leaves. out. so. much.

To circle all the way back around Loki being "a clenched fist with hair," and his actions stemming from his self-hatred, you have to ask - how did he get that way? He didn't end up with all this self-hatred on accident. Generally, one isn't born despising themselves, it's a learned behavior. (I realize chemical imbalances are a thing, obviously, as I have Mental Shit myself, but for argument's sake I'm assuming that's not the case with Loki [at this point in time]). 

Where did Loki learn it? From his family, from his surroundings, from his culture. We see examples of these microaggressions in the first, like, twenty minutes of the movie - a guard openly laughs at Loki's magic after Thor makes a joke about it (the tone of the conversation implies that Thor "jokes" like this often) and though Loki does the snake thing, the guard faces no real consequences. Thor doesn't acknowledge that anything went amiss. Not much later, on their way to Jotunheim, Loki's barely gotten two words out to Heimdall before Thor cuts him off, steps in front of him, and takes charge. Loki doesn't look annoyed at this; he looks resigned. 

Then, for absolutely no reason at all, Volstagg decides to make a jab at Loki ("silver tongue turned to lead?") just because he can. The ease with which he makes this comment and the way that no one else blinks an eye at it implies that this isn't out of the norm. And Loki doesn't react, not really. In the deleted version, he delivers a particularly nasty comeback but he delivers it under his breath, without intending Volstagg to hear it. In the final version, he simply says nothing, though his expression can be read as hurt or stung. Either way, the audience sees an example of Loki being walked all over by Thor and his friends and bottling up his reactions instead of standing up for himself. 

Microaggressions matter. They are mentally and emotionally damaging. They hurt. The implication that this is not unusual treatment for Loki means that Loki's probably gone through this for most of his life. It's like the equivalent of being, I don't know, twenty two and you're the friend who has to walk behind the others when the sidewalk isn't wide enough, and it's been that way since the first day of kindergarten. At this point, you're used to it, but that doesn't make it hurt any less when the jabs come seemingly out of nowhere, for no reason other than to make you feel bad.

(I personally identify a lot with this bc I experienced passive bullying in social settings for years. I was the 'doesn't fit on the sidewalk' friend; I hung around with people who'd pretend to be my friend and would be more or less nice to my face, but would laugh at me and make fun of me behind my back for whatever reasons. And often there'd be the random jabs at me, things that would come out of nowhere to smack me in the face, followed by the fake laugh and “just kidding!" so that I couldn't even get upset without being made to feel like I was overreacting and couldn't take a joke. I'd deal with this socially, particularly in middle school when girls are their most vicious, and then I'd go home and, because I was the only girl with a lot of brothers and because boys are mean and because I am who I am, the dynamic was that my brothers would just endlessly roast me to my face and sometimes it was a "just kidding!" thing, where I was the only one not laughing. But that’s beside the point; my point is that microaggressions, passive bullying, and consistent invalidation are harmful and that shit stays with you into adulthood.) 

So, yes, Loki needs to be held responsible for his misdeeds, and it's valid to say that he recognizes those misdeeds and wants to make amends. I have never disagreed with that. But the problem with this interpretation is that it lets every single other character who contributed to Loki's self-hatred and mental breakdown (let's just call a spade a spade here, that's what it was; he was broken psychologically) get off scot-free.

First of all,

Odin is not held accountable for instilling in the princes a mentality of Asgard first, everyone is beneath us but Jotuns are benath us the most, they are literal monsters. He is not held accountable for pitting his sons against one another (even if it was unintentional, he still did it) with "you were both born to be kings but only one of you can rule" being the general tone of their upbringing. He's not held accountable for his favoritism toward Thor.

Frigga is not held accountable for deferring to Odin both in supporting the above things and in keeping the truth of Loki's origins a secret while doing nothing to discourage the "monsters" narrative. 

Thor is not held accountable for his own tendency of taking Loki for granted (he assumes Loki will come to Jotunheim, he oversteps Loki constantly, “know your place,” etc.. He grants his implicit permission for Loki to be treated as the sidewalk friend in their “group,” a group which is loyal to and takes their cues from Thor as Thor continues to do nothing in his brother's defense).

[Note: Wanting Thor to be held accountable for things he's done wrong isn't vilifying him. Acknowledging that Thor benefited from Odin's favoritism and his own place as Crown Prince doesn't negate Thor also being raised in an abusive environment. I don't think anyone's saying that or, if they have, it's not something I agree with.]

Furthermore, 

Odin is not held accountable for his cruelty in disowning Loki (”your birthright was to die” is never going to be forgotten, speaking of people saying things that can't be unsaid or taken back) and in sentencing Loki to a severe prison sentence (life! only bc Frigga wouldn't let him execute Loki) for crimes that are no worse than what Odin himself has committed (around which the entire plot of Ragnarok revolves! Colonialism (and subjugation) is wrong is, like, a major theme [that people rush to praise, even] here). 

Thor is also never held accountable for not trying harder to understand what made Loki snap (fair enough, he didn't have a ton of time after returning from Earth, but certainly he had lots of time to sit around reflecting while Loki was being tortured by Thanos for a year). He knows Loki is "not himself" and "beyond reason" and accepts it at face value; he questions it once and then lets it go. He's fine with assuming Loki's just lost his mind, and isn't that a shame. (I realize I'm simplifying Thor's emotions but my point is that Thor could've tried harder to figure out that Loki was being influenced and/or not acting completely autonomously.) 

Thor is also never held accountable for - if not facing consequences for his own slaughter of Jotuns - then at least addressing why Loki can't kill an entire race even though Thor tried to do that, like, two days ago. (Granted, it’s difficult to understand how Thor got from Point A ("let's finish them together, Father!") to Point B (this is wrong!), but that failing belongs to Thor 1 (which is not, by the way, a perfect movie).

The interpretation that Loki is fully redeemed because he took responsibility for his actions, returned to Asgard, and allied himself with Thor to save their people is all well and good - but, why is Loki the only one here who has to take responsibility for their actions? 

What about all the loose threads in his story? 

For example, how did he get from: 

Point A (believing himself a literal monster, having a complete mental breakdown, getting tortured and further traumatized after that, etc) 

to 

Point B (Hey, yknow what would be fun? I'm going to write and direct a play about how I heroically died to save Thor and Jane, and I'll go ahead and have Odin say he accepts me and has always loved me. I'm going to do these things because Odin never said this in real life and instead of acknowledging my sacrifice, Thor left my body in the dirt, so someone has to validate what I've done right and that someone might as well be me. And hey, while I'm at it, I'm going to control the narrative on revealing myself as Jotun to Asgard, instead of living in fear of it being found out, and I'm going to do it in a way that they have to sympathize with me and revere me in death, bc they never bothered to do so when I was alive. And Matt Damon should play me, also.) 

to 

Point C (Yeah, I guess I feel kinda awkward about that whole tantrum thing, also I should help Thor and support him being king.)

? 

The answers to these questions are handwaved and the audience takes that to mean they don't matter. Furthermore, framing Loki's redemption around an act of service (more or less) to Thor makes Loki's redemption about Thor. Does Loki make this decision for the sake of Thor and of Asgard, or does he make it for himself? It's not super clear to me, and I think arguments can be made for both. Which, again, is fine, but - whatever.

If we're going to collectively agree, as a fandom, that Loki is complex, that he's morally gray, that he's worthy of redemption and therefore arguably a good person who's done bad things, then why is it asking too much to have it acknowledged that Thor (also a good person who's done bad things) played a part in Loki's downfall and has shit to apologize for, too? Bc one can only assume the reason is that you're taking a very gray concept and making it black and white by saying Loki has to apologize and make amends because he is the villain, and Thor doesn't because he is the hero (and it's his movie). And it's lazy.

This is where the crux of the issue lands. There's more than one valid interpretation, yes. And no two people (or groups of people, or whatever) are going to consume and therefore interpret or analyze the source material in the same way. I think I saw a post recently about how studies have been done on this, in fact. But, there is a lot going on under the surface that tends to get overlooked when exploring Loki's redemption arc in Ragnarok, as far as I can see, and that’s why I don’t consider it satisfactory. 

[I did read similar arguments regarding other issues that are often debated ('debated'), like Loki's magic and/or being underpowered, whether or not Loki's betrayal of Thor was the natural outcome of the situation on Sakaar or not, whether Thor actually gets closure with Odin [if he does, how does he reconcile the father he's idolized with the imperialistic conqueror he's discovered? Why doesn't he hold Odin responsible for covering up Hela's existence and the threat of her return, especially as he knew he was nearing the end of his life? Is Thor's "I'm not as strong as you" meant to imply that he acknowledges those shortcomings of Odin's and that he's okay with them, or that he's just overlooking them, or is he not okay with them but didn't have the chance to get into it bc he was in the middle of battle? T'Challa confronted his father on his wrongdoings in Black Panther; could Thor not have had at least one line that was confrontational enough to establish where he stands as opposed to this gray middle? Can someone explain to me how any of this equates to Thor gaining closure? Please?) but obviously I'm not going to go into all of them (well, I tried not to), bc this mammoth post has gone on long enough (I may not even post this tbh)]

- but my overall point to this entire thing is that when I say I'm critical of Ragnarok bc it's flawed, that Loki's arc was neither complete nor satisfactory, that many things went unaddressed and, due to all of these things, I do not think Ragnarok is a very good movie nor a very cohesive movie, this is where I'm coming from. I have not seen anything to change my mind to the contrary. 

But I am not saying that anyone satisfied with it is wrong, or shouldn't have the interpretation that they do. I'm not vilifying Thor in order to lift Loki up, just acknowledging that Thor is arguably just as flawed as Loki without the stigma of being Designated Villain. I think a lot of these arguments get overlooked or dismissed, and that's fine, but it doesn't make the people who do engage with them hateful, or bitter, or trying to excuse Loki's crimes, or feeling like redemption means that Loki's crimes should be erased rather than reconciled. 

And sure, yes, perhaps we are expecting too much and exploring all of these themes (or wanting them explored) means that somehow we think it should be Loki's movie (we don't). Loki is a supporting character, but he's still a character. And the movie itself doesn't have to delve into all these things - no one's saying that. (At least, I'm not.) We just want acknowledgement, from the narrative, that this stuff was an Issue. 

This could have been accomplished with - 

Some dialogue closer to the novelization (and original script), like Thor and Loki both acknowledging the harm they've done one another and their kingdom due to their Feels.

 A single line of Thor confronting Odin, or even asking "Why?" 

A narrative acknowledgement that Odin did both Thor and Loki dirty (”I love you, my sons” isn't an apology, because it doesn't acknowledge either that there's been wrong-doing or express regret for having done the wrong in the first place). 

A little bit more nuance in the way Loki treats his own past (ie, instead of flippantly telling the story of his suicide attempt, maybe - if it must be flippant - talk about getting blasted in the face with Hawkeye's arrow or sailing through to Svartalfheim [And in that moment, I sang ta-daaaa!]) or whatever. 

I recognize that wanting full, in-depth exploration on all of these issues regarding a supporting character is probably too much to ask or expect - but, I also feel like, if you're going to be professionally writing a narrative (or rewriting/improvising, as it were), it's not too much to ask that a little more care be taken in regards to all of the layers that have contributed to said supporting character's downfall and subsequent redemption arc. I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to want. 

And maybe if there had been more nuance and continuity in how these things were portrayed on screen (ie, if TW had actually done as good a job as his stans think he did), the fandom wouldn't have divided and conquered itself over which "version" of the same character is more valid and whether or not the film did its best to close out a trilogy (not start a new one), to the point where everyone in this fandom space makes navigating it feel like walking through a minefield. 

But, I mean 

(Again, please don’t reblog if possible.) 

Edit: Okay to reblog. <3 

[peechbea]

@yukiteruakari said: Ooooh I wanna know more about your headcanons :>>

idk if you meant abt the fic or Leon in general but i’m using this opportunity to ramble anyway, rip-

right off the bat, i hc that Leon’s mother died during childbirth and his father was devastated about it, but in order to support himself and Leon, he moved in with his brother and sister-in-law. since Leon grew up in the same house as Kanon, that's why he views her as more of a sister than a cousin

this is one i’ve already talked about here BUT, i hc Leon’s real name to be Kazuo Kuwata, but that’s also his father’s name, so before he changed his name, people called his father by his name and then they called Leon “Kazzy” or “Kaz”

( hearing people call Kazuichi “Kaz” still throws him for a loop )

he doesn’t like violence actually!! he’s temperamental and snarky sometimes, but he’ll avoid violence whenever he can, unless he has to, yknow,,,defend himself, just in case that would ever happen lol-

to add onto the above, i also like to think he stays far away from violence because he didn’t as a kid and it landed him in juvie ( which i also like to think is where he met Mondo briefly, but neither of them really remember each other )

and to add onto THAT, while he will avoid throwing a punch if he can, he will absolutely intervene if other people are getting hurt. even at the risk of his own safety, he’ll be the diversion so the original victim can escape bc, unlike the victim, he actually CAN defend himself if he needs to

in the game, it’s quickly brushed over but they mention breakfast meetings and after Toko says she’s never had breakfast with anyone before, Leon also joins in and says that it’s “been a while for him too”, so i like to think he USED to have breakfast with his family a lot as a kid, but then when tensions grew between him and his dad, he eventually stopped showing up altogether

the hair stylist he talks about in his FTE is actually an ultimate and a good friend of his and her name is Kaori, but they only really talked in the time Leon attended Hope’s Peak so he forgot her name by the time the KG rolled around

his hair is actually brown and surprisingly wavy, he just slathers it in hair gel to keep it upright

to add onto the above, Kazuo has blonde hair and green eyes while Leon has brown hair and blue eyes, which are both traits of his mother. the fact that he looks so much like her yet keeps changing his appearance is another thing that pisses his dad off, mans never coped with her death properly

this one may get a little long, but bear with me: when he and Kanon were kids, his dad was incredibly closed off emotionally, his uncle was VERY busy, and his aunt always felt like she was trying to be his mom and he didn’t really like that, i like to believe there wasn’t really anyone for he or Kanon to go to if there was a problem. so, in order to be the big brother figure he believed Kanon wanted him to be, he shoved his own emotions and problems way down and focused on helping her instead. since he was really the only person who ever cared for her or tried to support her, that’s why she got way too attached to him. he just didn’t realize how bad it was until they got older, and he feels bad about possibly cutting her off because there’s no one else for her to go to.

thanks to how he grew up, he is INCREDIBLY closed off and doesn’t like showing his emotions to anyone because helping people is HIS job, he can’t have people help him if they see him break, that’s not how it works 

AND ANOTHER THING, since he often felt alone as a kid, he sought out attention from other people, so he thrived on the approval that baseball gave him. eventually, he kind of got addicted to that attention and would seek it out in any way he could. he quickly found out that bad attention often kept people talking about him more often than good attention did, so he built up a reputation as a player even though he was never really interested in girls to begin with

( speaking of, i do think he is homoromantic/pansexual, if that clears up any confusion there might’ve been rip )

he's also just, really good at masking how he feels?? like, i could look at his behavior in chapter 1 as just something to make the game run smoothly, but i wanna look at it like this: Leon is panicking, he's stressed because he committed a murder that he JUST found out he's going to have to try and get away with, and yet his behavior doesn't even change. he wears his usual mask, makes his usual comments, still has the balls to be kind of an ass to Toko, and all this while he's probably crumbling inside. he has had so long to cover his feelings, man-

also?? he will always introduce himself as “Leon Kuwata”, but when he’s alone and talks to himself out loud, he still refers to himself as Kazuo

despite being an extrovert, he's still incredibly anxious, and that extends to public outings!! because of this, he's developed a kind of code for his friends so they know what he needs since words don't always work. a tug to someone's sleeve means "i need a second to calm down", two tugs means "i'm uncomfortable" or "i don't like this conversation/what's happening", and three means "my social battery is out" or "i need to leave ASAP"

the clip on his jacket and all those rings + his necklace??? they're there for show, mans has ADHD he needs stuff to fidget with

sometimes his brain is on autopilot and his thoughts mix with that autopilot, which sucks when he has to sign autographs. there’s been times where he’s signed things as “Kazuo Kuwata” and just prayed no one mentioned it

he doesn't trust easily!! not because he doubts people's intentions, but because he can't be sure they won't try to 1) use his fame to propel themselves upwards or 2) help him with his problems, which circles back to an earlier point. he loves to be seen but god forbid anyone understand him

his wikipedia page? nearly empty. it has his feats and public information on it, but stuff like his birthday or his real name aren't correct. the part where it would mention his life story & background is completely blank. he's also edited his height to say 6'0" ( ~182 cm ), this is not true, his shoes just give him a little extra height

 this one is just self indulgent but i like to think he’s drawn to Byakuya because he has his entire life planned out for him and has for a long time, meanwhile Leon has no idea what he wants to settle on for sure and is anxious/stressed but Byakuya never seems to be like that. he always seems cool and collected, and as Leon’s polar opposite, it’s only natural that he’s drawn to him

[willowistic22]

Compulsive redfinch (Acne prone! Albert) headcanons!!!

So yes, this will be some hardcore self projection mini (??? idk how long this will be) compulsive headcanon but i don’t care I need something like this right now. Having acne prone skin has ruined my self image, but today i will turn those insecurities into headcanons bcs idk how to deal with them the healthy and proper way :D and you guys should know better that i would self project on my fav ship so yeah, here, have some random redfinch stuff for the night. you will be getting some skin positivity related redfinch headcanons whether yall like it or not! 

Will i write this into a proper one shot? most likely but idk so i’m not promising anything yknow

Albert has acne prone skin ever since puberty first hit him (about the age of thirteen). It used to be all over his face, mostly his forehead, and sometimes on his neck, back, and chest. 

Some kids like to poke fun out of it, with no means to bully him but his feelings still get hurt and has made him grow up to be very insecure. Not only in his looks, but just Albert being himself in general

All his friends (the newsies) will defend him to no end. Not to say that he can’t fight, it’s just hard punching people when your head is beating yourself up too. Other occasions, his eyes gets watery a bit too quick to be able to punch a straight line.

Race, Spot, and Hotshot defends him the most bcs they are his best friends :D 

It’s one thing when other ppl insult him. It’s a whole other ppl when parents do it. Most of his friends don’t really know abt that but Race, Spot, Hotshot, Davey, and Jack does.

He’s the only one in his family that has shown signs of having acne prone skin since an early age. His father and two older brothers doesn’t. His mother does but the symptoms didn’t start until she first got pregnant.

Albert’s mother is hell bent on tryin to clear his skin. And both his parents have indirectly called him ugly and disgusting. It always hurts Albert the most when it came from his parents. 

It has ruin his self image so bad to the point he has accepted his faith that he’ll be single forever. Until Finch Cortez happened.

Albert knew Finch since high school. By then, his skin has gotten slightly clearer but it wasn’t ‘clear’ enough. Albert can’t deny how attractive he thought Finch was when he first got a one on one interaction with him and he felt quite embarrassed bcs at the time he forgot to do his nightly skincare routine the day before which resulted in more pimples and dry skin than usual. 

Finch was charming and mysterious on the surface. But what made Albert crush on him was what’s under the surface. A caring, bold, passionate, soft, and surprising person emerged and Al was head over heels for this boy.

He could only dream of having someone like him to be his boyfriend. So naturally, in sophomore year, he was surprised when Finch asked him out on a date in the middle of a Monday. Albert tried his absolute best to make his skin appear as presentable as possible, telling Finch that he’s only free on Friday bcs he needed to make a skincare appointment the day before.

And then there was the second date, since the first one was declared as a success. Then the third, the forth, and the fifth. Albert thought he was dreaming. Their dates were sooooo cute. (if i try to elaborate it will make this longer and also requires more energy and so i decide not to) 

On the sixth, Finch was for sure he wants them to be in a committed relationship. Al was unsure because despite after six dates he still believes that his faith is to be single forever. 

After hearing his explanation, Finch explained how handsome he thought Albert was and Al pulled him into a kiss bcs no one has ever called him handsome before. (akjdfaljkfblkjsfmcjkhfjlkscghjsh) 

Since they’re in high school, they just do the ‘go with the flow’ sorta relationship. Whatever happens will happen and whatever feels right will feel right. That relationship actually continued on even after high school. (till marriage actually :))))) 

Like abt a year or so in their relationship, Albert brought Finch home for the first time. His brothers knew that Al has a boyfriend named Finch (when his brothers are home they do a lot of catching up and basically never keep secrets and all) but has never met him. His parents had no idea he has a boyfriend in the first place, or the fact that he was gay. 

So Al’s like, ‘surprise i’m gay, i’ve been dating this guy for about a year, and he’s going to eat dinner with us tonight :)’, and his parents are like, ‘oh........ okay.......’ (this was his compulsive decision to bring Finch home one day after school) 

His family likes Finch instantly. They had a peaceful dinner. Until his mom mentioned what Albert looked like in middle school and just downright embarrassing his son in front of his boyfriend. 

Al didn’t say or do anything. He just sits there, trying to ignore her reading a list of all the things Albert hates about himself. Finch noticed his silence and, in the most respectful way, defended his boyfriend. 

Finch knew about Al’s insecurity ever since that sixth date but never knew what happened at home. So now he carefully watches his boyfriend. Anytime he picks up body language that indicates he’s feeling bad about himself, he will be sure to be there to remind Albert how handsome he is.

Finch would kiss the textured parts of his skin that he hates and Albert would blush and giggle and get all soft. He reminds Albert how handsome he is. Some days Albert actually believes it himself. 

Finch loves caressing Albert’s textured skin. One of his many love languages towards the boy. There are other times when Al felt bad abt himself and didn’t like the hand touches, so Finch diverts it by intertwining their fingers. 

When Finch catches Albert staring at a mirror for too long while focusing on one of his huge pimples, Finch will remind him how handsome he is. Al would laugh, seeing Finch being all sweet while tugging on his arm and move on from the mirror.

So Finch has memorized Al’s skincare routine. Sometimes he does it with him and by the end of it all they’d be wearing Korean sheet masks in Al’s bed and watching some movies while bundled up in a blanket and cuddling. Snacks will come after the sheet masks are taken off. (yus very soft much fluff can you tell that i’m pining?)

When they’re in college, they became roommates in their college dorm. Sometimes Albert comes home too tired or too drunk to do his skincare routine so Finch does it for him. 

He earns hundreds of face kisses the next morning.

In short: Finch loves every part of Albert. In time, Al has learnt how to love himself. He’ll still continue to do his skincare routine but he’s okay with his textured skin. t h e  e n d

[domjaehyun]

im an aries sun, cancer moon, virgo rising, aries venus, leo 12th house and scorpio 3rd house hehe

do we see smth here👀👀

i am so . conflicted by the information you have just given me 😭😭😭 when i see aries i am happy but i- i really. am not a fan of virgos 😭😭😭 while i’m at it i am also rly not a fan of cancers but i feel less strongly abt them than i do virgos skfkskdkd

i am going to . put this under a read more bc it got pretty long sjfjsjdkdj but here are my thoughts !!!!

IM GONNA BE UPFRONT THE HOUSES DONT MEAN ANYTHING TO ME bc i don’t know off the top of my head what each house stands for yknow? so my brain went brrr after the four placements you named 😭😭😭

however based on the virgo rising AND your aries sun i feel as if you might be absolutely insufferable when you think you’re right about something 😭😭😭 like genuinely if you ever presented a stance to me that i didn’t agree with, i would just disagree and walk away from you without another word bc i think you’d enrage me otherwise 😭😭😭

aries sun & cancer moon make me feel as though you tend to be someone who feels Very Deeply and Strongly about things bc cancer tends to be a pretty “sensitive” placement and aries is also very sensitive but ppl like to believe that we’re just Really Angry !! i think though tbh that like. aries placements can be very sensitive and feel very passionately about things but i don’t think that’s a bad thing at all !!! i feel like your cancer moon might make you slightly more prone to react with sadness? in instances of confrontation? like you might mask the sadness as a lot of people do, but your reactions might be initially Stemming from the sadness and may be more closely aligned with your sadness !! this isn’t to say that cancer placements are “sad” or anything but it’s that, like, from what i know, esp as a scorpio moon, between both of our moon signs, i’m Way more likely to suppress the initial seed of sadness where as i think of cancers as a bit more “in touch with” or like more readily inclined to share their emotions. also that’s an interesting combo bc i’m p sure i’ve heard cancer get depicted as a very Maternal Sign and aries gets depicted very like . Child Like if that makes sense? so it’s v interesting to me !! you might spend a lot of time attempting to self-soothe when you’re upset abt things !!

uH ngl i am not 100% sure what aries venus would imply off the top of my head besides the Very Passionate Lover part! you might be kind of a serial crusher? kind of like a hopeless romantic? but in the sense that aries is an easily excitable sign always looking for something new so you might always be developing lil crushes or obsessions w people!! on that same vein though you might come off to some as a bit … fickle isn’t rly the right word but like . HhHHh the word itself is escaping me but basically you might seem very like “i KNOW HIM YALL I KNOW HIM” one day and the next day you’re like “i’m sorry to say it i hope i don’t sound ridiculous—i don’t know who this man is” because people think you like someone and drop them super quickly but i don’t believe that’s the case at all!! keep in mind that i used the word “crushes” because they are superficial connections. it might be easier for someone like you to lose attraction to someone you don’t have an actual connection with BECAUSE you don’t have that connection with them. you wanna be passionate, you wanna be All In but if they’re not all in (which, if you don’t know them v well, they’re obviously not) then it’s very easy to lose interest. a lot of people think that aries placements, among other signs, are reeeeally into The Chase of attraction yknow? and like!!!!!! i really agree!!!!! i am super into the chase and the tension of the chase (admittedly, sometimes way more than i’m into whatever might happen when the chase ends and someone gets caught) but i think an important distinction to make is that a lot of people paint aries placements as the Chaser….which tbh i kind of find inaccurate and a bit reductive given that for some reason aries is a “masculine” sign? because the chase IS very thrilling for aries placements, but it can go either way. as an aries sun i am thrilled with Being Chased and Being Pursued but i am never in a million years going to chase anyone or initiate with anyone yknow?

but in that regard i feel like your other placements play a factor too—as a cancer moon, someone more “in touch” with your emotions AND with that “maternal” vibe might be more compelled to do the chasing; even your aries sun might be playing a factor in that you might be a little bit impatient if the chase isn’t happening the way you want it to? not to mention the potential impulsivity where it’s kinda like ….Fuck It YOLO kind of vibes yknow??

i’m very curious to know like . if i was correct abt any of this tbh so if you . wanna come back and let me know if any of this resonated w you i am eager to hear!!!!

[grlsgen]

my favorite 2020 kpop songs

there were some bangers this year... this includes title tracks & bsides and everything else under the sun.

i always got shit to say and i always see youtube videos like this but i simply can’t edit so here we are

you never know - blackpink

okay yeah i didn’t really fw hylt or lovesick girls when i first heard them but when i listened to the album you never know really stuck with me... i never get sick of it. definitely the best track off the album imo. rosé’s prechorus has made me cry a few times ngl

alien - lee suhyun

alright miss thing... i was obsessed with this song when i first heard it... the pre chorus with the ooo ooo ooo and the switch to the chorus is so good it gets me every time. she’s cute i like her... while we’re here i’ll also mention i really liked her ost in your time for it’s okay to not be okay.. i loved that drama and that’s my fav ost from it.. but anyway

lalalilala - april

They Served. Big time. the music video is so pretty and the song was stuck in my head for 6 months straight... they really did the damn thing with this. kinda sounds like an apink song but that’s a compliment... overall this whole comeback was really good and deserved better. honorable mention : the bside on this ep you.zip is so good too

open your eyes - iz*one

this is all i listened to for months after bloomiz dropped... izone’s music is really a hit or miss for me and i didn’t really vibe with fiesta but i’m so glad i gave the album a chance because open your eyes is definitely in my top 5 releases of this year. their other bside dreamlike is really good too

the book of us : the demon - day6 album

now where do i start with this... to this day i am still obsessed with 1 to 10... like that’s gotta be the best off this album imo. zombie was so good and i really liked the lyrics. the album as a whole was really really good. i sound like a broken record

children - bvndit

oh boy... another one of my top 5 releases from this year. not only is the overall sound of this amazing but i love the lyrics too. these girls deserve so much better

d-2 - agust d/yoongi/suga mixtape

my king. i shit myself when this dropped ngl... i don’t even know how to elaborate on how much i love this. daechwita was stuck in my head for the longest time.. i think the highlights off this for me have to be people, honsool & dear my friend. this mixtape was really a moment.. i love yoongi y’all

love again - baekhyun / underwater - baekhyun

alright alright .. i put these two together since they’re from the same album idk but it took a while for candy to grow on me but i’ve loved these since i first heard them... i was Obsessed. the final bridge/chorus whatever the hell thing he does in love again put me into shock for 3 months straight and the beat in underwater is heavenly

the dream chapter : eternity - txt ep

this serve. has to be my favorite from txt yet... rookies with the best discography fr. i love dark concepts and really like that they did something different with this. can’t you see me was Amazinggg. fairy of shampoo has to be one of the best songs i’ve ever heard it’s insane. i also really liked eternally, who else has that range... Nobody. top to bottom this ep is really good, i hope they do another dark concept like this again soon bc this hit big time

eight - iu & suga

it took a while for this to grow on me but whew...when it did... kinda makes me feel like i’m in a coming of age movie and i like that, makes me nostalgic for that. eight soty, they both did great on this

# - loona ep

Now... Cmon. so what was either a hit or miss for a lot of people but something i think everyone can agree on is that the bridge is godsent. like that shit makes me cry sometimes. the music video was really good, i always come back to the subway/train scene. number 1 is also so damn good. overall i really loved this ep. they really ate with this one

eyes wide open - twice album

when i first heard this album i didn’t like it That much but it’s really grown on me lately. the whole retro trend was fun and then it got a little overdone so i was tired of it by the time this dropped but actually.. some of the bsides are insanely good. behind the mask is definitely a highlight for me, mina’s bridge is heavenly. i love mina so bad. but anyway, i can’t stop me took some time to grow on me as well but it always gets stuck in my head. i also really like up no more & depend on you, they’re cute

maybe - gidle

Y’all... i love this song. it’s short and simple but it was so addicting to me. i really like that one part in the last two choruses if you know what i’m talking about (i’m not sure who sings it ? some people say soyeon some say shuhua idk, shuhua my queen btw) and soojin’s verse in the bridge hits. to this day i’m still obsessed with this song

a song written easily - oneus

this is so underappreciated, this is easily one of my favorite title tracks released all year. i’m not a huge fan of beat drops but this one was really nice imo, i also liked the lead in before the drop and the final chorus. this was really good and i never get sick of it

wannabe - itzy

CUT THE DAMN CAMERAS.... no fr this is my #1 favorite song released this year. talented brilliant incredible amazing... itzy seriously ate up everyone with this. i keep going back to this song it’s insane. iconic choreo good mv good styling amazing song.. like everything here lined up. i don’t know how they’ll ever top this for me. definitely my soty (next to psycho)

black swan - bts

this is excellent idk what else to say. i thought it was just okay when i first heard it but it’s seriously so good, me being yoongi biased i loved that he got multiple verses but i love the do your thing with me now breakdown part too. the choreo is one of my favorite from them and the mv was really pretty. black swan is one of my favorite movies so the comparisons with it made me love this song more. overall, probably my favorite off mots7

my time - jungkook of bts

jungkook always has the best album solos fr. i loved this the second i heard it, kinda justin bieber esque but it’s so good. i love the lyrics and transition it takes thru the song. the chorus hits man.. this song always makes me a little sad but he really did amazing on this

monster - red velvet irene & seulgi ep

my queens what can i say. i was so excited for this unit and they did not disappoint. monster still hits, aged like wine. the best track is fr feel good, i still have it on repeat.. insanely good. seulgi really delivered with uncover, it’s so beautiful. i think sm’s intention was always to have a subunit this year but i thought it was smart to do while wendy was recovering, hoping for ot5 soon y’all..

never gonna dance again : act 2 - taemin album

taemin my king wtf!!! i loved criminal so i was really excited for this and of course... he always delivers. top to bottom i loved this album, he really did amazing on it. identity might be the best song i’ve ever heard... and of course i loved the collab with wendy 🙏 overall such a good album, taemin always serves the best

pporappippam - sunmi

what can i say i love a little retro tune. even though i just said earlier i was sick of it idc i loved this. sunmi always shows up, i don’t know what else to say. this song never gets old

dystopia : the tree of language - dreamcatcher album

i didn’t expect to love this album as much as i did... i don’t listen to it as often anymore but i can’t deny that scream was a major serve. every time i hear it it’s like the first time... their bside jazz bar was so good. dreamcatcher’s bsides always hit what can i say

12:00 - loona ep

Yes. why not is not necessarily my favorite title from them ever (it’s butterfly, btw) but it’s always stuck in my head... obviously i loved voice/star, was obsessed for weeks and i was happy they decided to promote it a little. styling on those stages were so cute btw. i also loved fall again from this ep, chuu sounds angelic on it. loona had some amazing cbs this year

la di da - everglow

Obsessed. i watched every stage as they dropped and listened to this every 5 seconds, Amazing. sihyeon really owned this era for me and shes my bias so of course i ate this whole thing up. this was definitely one for the books, what more can i say

literally everything gfriend released this year

this might be their best year yet for releases imo, i really liked how they tried out different concepts and sounds this year, i’ve always loved their music but the switch was refreshing yknow. crossroads was so good, i loved that mv. here we are is still on repeat almost a year later... and now APPLE. apple was so mf good. i love that they decided to do a dark concept, this song really fit them well, still obsessed w it. mago might be my least fave out of the 3 but it’s still so good. don’t even get me started on yuju in the mv.. Queen. i liked the subunits on walpurgis night, especially better me. gfriend had a really good year imo, they deserved more for it.

Anyways. that was my 2 cents.

wannabe & psycho soty

[mieczyhale]

a messy explanation of things and unnecessary information about life lately

soooo... right. i’m sorry i haven’t really been around aside from popping in here and there, and that i’ve been taking longer than usual to reply to things / not replying to things at all. it’s NOT that i’m upset with anyone or trying to ignore / avoid anyone, and it’s not that i don’t care / don’t love talking to you (whomstever you may be) i love chatting with y’all and wish i could get myself to reply to things quicker but i do not control the me lmfao honestly my sleep has never had a schedule but in recent weeks it’s kinda been operating like there’s a lil gremlin in my head who spins a wheel and picks my sleeping times at random - and it’s either like.. two hours or most of a day. there hasn’t been a lot of in between so that’s a thing!!

also in a fun added mix of maybe sleep?, missing meds, being stuck in the house more often than not, and the FUCKING EVERYTHING happening in the world right now my mental health is... probably run by the same goblin that runs my sleep schedule lmao consistency whomst?? since the lockdown started the depression has of course been around more but actually, worse than that, is how my anxiety - and by extension: my ocd - have really amped up and i need y’all to know that the struggle is painfully real (and another thing that affects shit like my replies and writing. reading as well. fics have been kinda stressful and that should be illegal. who authorized this?) i don’t hate talking about it but i don’t really like it either?? especially like.. in depth. but i will say there has been crying, screaming, pain!, and i’ve acquired a few physical injuries.

so

yeah

on a personal level - a ‘just me’ level - shit is an even bigger mess than usual lmao but all these things will get better eventually - they always do. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOW

ON A PERSONAL LEVEL - THE FULL LEVEL - THINGS.... are pretty great actually! i mean aside from the state of my fucking house e__e but Josh has been working from home for two (2) months now and it’s been really nice - people complaining about their partners being home?? can’t relate. yknow what?? i just might love that tall bastard even more from all this.fuck all y’all miserable fucks

we’ve been going out for drives and we’ve gone fishing and the only place i’ve gone too that’s re-opened is goodwill. because i require.. the shop. they do have a masks required rule! (at least at the one here) and, alongside that, the places we’ve gone that never closed (like grocery stores and the gas station and the hardware store) have social distancing rules and stuff in place which i love. can we keep social distancing after this is all over?? more things here in wisconsin are opening up and we might go to some. idk though. we also might not. either way its still a weird kind of exciting to see things opening back up?? even though i do think we’re not totally in the clear because most of our gov. sucks (our mayor tried to extend our stay-at-home order - keyword there is TRIED. we are the land of cheese, cows, and no fucking braincells for anyone) 

having pets is obviously not a new thing for me but it’s still a thing. so it takes time and effort and energy and patience and love and a certain disregard for your own safety (claws. they really be as sharp as you think) so... it can be stressful, especially cuz we’ve had to keep them inside more as it gets hot out and something keeps breaking our porch screens (our cats are allowed onto our screened in porch or they can go out in a harness but we will never let them run free outside. fuck that noise)  my bbies are all so cute and their personalities and idiosyncrasies are just... *chefs kiss* i love em and they’re definitely a part of what has made quarantine better

i’ve seen my mom a few times, like for my birthday and when she needed help moving Isaiah from one dorm to another and such, but that’s primarily been an option because she has become anti-mask and anti-stay-at-home-order. initially she wasn’t - she gave Isaiah and i fun lil masks since at that time trying to buy them would be impossible and she thought nothing of staying home - but i guess either as its dragged on or as she’s consumed her middle-right wing news that changed s o. she does take social distancing in public very seriously though, so at least there’s that. our favorite coffee shop, where we - pre-lockdown - always went one (1) or two (2) times a week to do art for hours re-opens on monday and that’s one of the few things i’ve truly missed.

josh’s camping trip for this weekend with his friends had to be cancelled because the parks weren’t going to open in time. so today they’re going somewhere to do at least some of the things they would have done if they had gone camping. bikes, bonfires, and cigars. i’m kinda jealous negl but he was really excited about it so mostly i’m happy

trying to figure out how human services was running things during lockdown was rough but thankfully it didn’t take much to get it sorted. mostly because my mom made the phone call i was supposed to lol (the phone anxiety is on its own level) so wednesday afternoon my mom sat with me while i had the appointment with my psychiatrist over speakerphone (which was.. an experience)

ummm.....

OH YEAH! Probably absolutely my favorite thing that’s happened is: WE’RE STARTING THE SEARCH FOR A NEW HOUSE!!!! it doesn’t mean we’re gonna be moving soon or anything, we don’t want to make the same mistake twice (buying the first house you tour that you love) because while it is a great house ultimately it is way too small for us. i mean there’s me and josh, all six cats, and ALL OUR SHIT. listen: i have an entire room dedicated to my various hobbies. and a walk in closet that isn’t big enough. and we both have collections we love and want to display (right now upstairs its hello kitty and downstairs its astronomy and the titanic. and then there’s pop figures, mtg, collectibles, our bottle collection and various knickknacks, etc.) plus all our books! then furniture and cat furniture (i.e towers) and all their shit because they are spoiled babies. and god forbid we ever have a human kid?? yeah. it’s just not big enough. 

so we’re gonna take more time with this choice but what we do know is:: we wanna live out in the country (i’m paranoid and don’t like to be looked at and he loves the outdoors, lived on a farm for awhile. i also enjoy the outdoors but mostly since we moved into this house i’ve struggled with doing anything outside... while we only have one neighbor on our road. but there’s one across the road and one at the other side of our backyard and that’s just too much lol) 

lets see.. um.... my birthday was may 2nd and that was pretty nice, for a pandemic birthday. there’s been a lot of stuff happening involving josh’s family but that’s not something i really wanna get into on here, tho i will say things have been better in recent weeks and it’s been... really nice. josh and i went to his mom’s house the other night and got drunk with her for fun and i actually had a really good time?? and didn’t complain about going?? that’s kinda unheard of.

i don’t have a job anymore - haven’t since early march-ish - and it kinda sucks but also the universe really did me a solid because my choices were either allow myself to work until i have a mental break again or quit. and i was leaning towards quitting (things had been going down hill with the owner and other employees and just the business as a whole for awhile and there’s a limit to the amount of bullshit i can take thanks) but now it doesn’t seem i have to. why do i think i’m jobless? i was barely working anyway, bc of the snow business was slow, and in march i got really sick and stayed home for a week. the day i was supposed to go back i was still sick, and covid19 was starting to become more of a serious situation everywhere, so josh called in for me and explained that between still being sick and my anxiety over covid (asthma + a not so great immune system) i wasn’t going in that day. i never heard from them again. so. 

but it’s all good - there are some options but i’m not looking into them seriously until it’s safe to.

SO

THAT’S ALL OF FUCKING THAT ON THAT

i felt it wouldn’t be a bad idea to come on here and explain A. what’s been going on and B. where i’ve been and C. that if i haven’t responded to you or acknowledged something you sent me / tagged me in it’s literally just because i either forgot to (for all reasons and none) or i don’t have the mental space / energy to. but that doesn’t mean you have to stop talking to me! even if i don’t respond or respond immediately i do read everything and i would die for any one of you fuckers (especially my clowns and the tom hardy movie) 

oh! and just btw - sometimes i don’t get notifications (quelle surprise) tumblr and skype should really pair up and talk about their truly great systems that function so well /s 8| ANYWAY: the best and most reliable ways to get my attention are twitter ( @/mieczyhale) and discord (same name) because i have yet to see their notifications fail. ahem.

i feel like i’m missing things / forgetting things but honestly this post is long enough and also enough of a rambley mess that i’m just gonna try and ignore that feeling and carry on with my goddamn day so i might actually accomplish something. sorry if there’s spelling off or missing words. i’m not taking the time to re-read this and might even delete it bc it’s already giving me anxiety bUT WE’LL SEE ALRIGHT HI AND BYE I LOVE YOU GUYS <3

[strawbrymilkshake]

i just watched the first six episodes of the mp100 netflix show for no good reason other than that i apparently hate myself, so to not put my pain to waste here’s a half-review half-rant thing

i guess ill start with the good and make my way to the shit i hated about this show, but as you can probably guess there’s hardly any good

tome was fun, i guess. she’s got that same chaotic™ energy and had some of the only lines i genuinely laughed at, but also she’s the only member of the telepathy club for some reason? and they merged her character with mezato’s, so i guess she’s got more to do. but judging by the sfx i doubt they had the budget for even one (1) more actor, so ig i can forgive them for that. overall probably the only adaptation that both wasn’t painful to watch and actually warranted the changes they made

teru (from the little i saw of him) was also pretty good. the fight had some....changes, but on his own i thought he was fine, pretty harmless adaptation overall. i stopped watching once i realised that they weren’t gonna go all in and give him the cactus hair so points deducted for that

and the last thing i liked about this show: ritsu! they got a young actor who was good and i didn’t have many issues with him. there was one interaction he had with tome that i liked when she introduced herself and he said ‘oh! tome’s my grandma’s name!’ and tome was like ‘...yeah you and mob are definitely brothers.’ the reason why he’s lower than tome and teru is because. for whatever fucking reason. he is in every. goddamn. scene. like even when it doesn’t make any sense. when mob joins the body improvement club? he’s there. when mob is taking down the lol cult? he’s there. the teru fight? he’s there. i lost count of how many times i was asking myself ‘why the fuck is ritsu here?’ he was inescapable. his presence in those scenes didn’t even add anything to the story. also he’s friends with tsubomi for some reason....i guess to give him more things that mob can be envious of?

speaking of tsubomi.....god. not to be like ‘they didn’t understand the source material!!1!!11!1!!!’ but like. please. it hurt. i get that they were probably trying to lean into the ‘guy gets the girl/high school romance’ type show more but uhh....way to horribly misunderstand the source material, guys. the problem with her is that she is in it so much that it almost entirely defeats the point of her character & what she’s supposed to mean to mob. they interact like every other scene! she’s a pretty close friend to ritsu, so that means they interact even more! she’s their next door neighbour ffs! i only watched the first six episodes and i think i still saw more of her than her entire screen time in the anime put together

and apart from her being so close to mob that it completely destroys the point of him idolising her, it also meant that the writers had to come up with a full personality for her and an actual dynamic for her and mob. and hoo boy they really went and decided that the two of them would have the most awkward, unappealing dynamic ever, huh. like there’s this running gag where she always messes up the words to common phrases, and mob has to correct her, and it’s painful every time. which, i guess (????) makes sense for what their relationship is in the manga & anime, where they’re not close anymore and mob doesn’t even know what she’s like/what he likes about her, but in this show, they were trying to push them together to lean into the romance tropes, so their uncomfortable dynamic doesn’t make sense anyway??

the stageplay got it fuckin RIGHT when they went and cast NO ONE for tsubomi. like. the legend jumped out. they got mob pining for a silhouette. chef’s kiss

holy shit this got long fast. ok the rest is under the cut

i guess im just going character by character now so: dimple. weird guy. the cgi was awful, but you knew that already. but he was just....so weird. and by that i mean he was awkwardly,, never there? when teru exorcises him it’s supposed have at least some impact, but in this show he had like three (3) scenes before it (rather than a couple episodes leading up to it) (and also they cut a shit ton out of the middle of the lol cult arc for...whatever reason) so when he gets exorcised here it’s like...oh no.....that guy...........did mob even speak to him more than once.....

speaking of the pacing of this show: it’s horrendous!! good lord i hate it!! the pacing is shit awful, and it feels like they’re just throwing in ‘’’’’’’’interesting’’’’’’’’ scenes that should take place later in the story bc they know that the audience isn’t going to want to stay around for the atrocious writing! case in point: we see the flashback of mob and reigen meeting in the second episode. the second fucking episode. the reason why it’s delayed so much in the anime (and even more in the manga) has a lot to do with the unfolding of reigen’s character depth and they just?? throw it in so early?? it feels like they’re just going ‘oh by the way, he’s good, or whatever. yeah, he’s totally complex and interesting. just trust us, okay, keep watching the show’ and the pacing of that completely throws off reigen’s character arc

i can’t really remember which episode(s) this was in but they also have this weird subplot with reigen going to the bar alone (yknow..like....s2 scenes...) and lowkey being friends with the bartender guy?? i gotta be honest i wasn’t paying much attention during these scenes but suffice it to say: god i hated reigen. like sure, he’s a sleazy character, but they just made him disgusting. netflix reigen does not drink his respect women juice, and that’s all i wanna say about that

also why is he like 40 years old

anyways back to the pacing, apart from throwing in scenes from wayyy later in the plot, this show also tried to have like four or five plot threads going at once. the place that this hurt the most was probably the teru fight, where the anime spends like two episodes entirely on it and nothing else, but in this show it keeps cutting to the start of the big clean up arc (probably just so they could keep showing ritsu) and reigen’s weird subplot 

and there’s other stuff like that, where they kept cutting to the awakening lab & the scars doing psychic stuff or whatever, i guess trying to entice the audience like ‘we swear there’s plot stuff!! it’s not just slice of life!! there’s evil™ people!!’ and i guess they were gonna pull the ol’ switcheroo™ where the audience thinks the awakening lab and the scars are working together but oh no!! only the scars are evil!! the awakening lab was actually on our side!! but i can’t be bothered to watch that far

also in the teru fight, they got most of the message across (don’t use your psychic powers against other people....mob and teru are the same...) but because they kept cutting away from it they lost the dramatic impact of all of it. the choreography and sfx weren’t as bad as they could have been i guess, but they definitely showed the budget. it also didn’t take place in a school (which...fine, whatever) but it led to something i actually did like: teru attacked mob with glass shards instead of knives, and although i do like the knife metaphor + imagery, you could also argue something about the destructive nature of his power use coming back to hurt him in the shards of glass, and also something about reflections or...something. i just thought it was neat, although i don’t know why they changed the setting from the school in the first place

also in the teru fight: it was raining and ???% stopped the rain katara-style mid air, and even though the cgi still wasn’t all that good, i thought that was a rad concept. but then he just made a tornado instead of ripping buildings apart and you get the idea not a lot of it was good

back to things i hate because i don’t have a good segue!! the writing!! bad!!

i see the writers of this show engaged in the age old storytelling practice of ‘tell, don’t show’

when reigen tells mob to be a good person: “ok, i won’t show off my powers or use them against other people. i’ll become a good person”

when mob loses control of his powers and hurts ritsu as a kid: “these powers are awful and cause nothing but trouble. i’m not going to be using them again”

god i wish i was exaggerating

and, going back to the lol cult, for whatever fucking reason they decided to have that latter line of dialogue to be the full explanation of mob’s complex. like i get that there’s a time for exposition and a time for subtly, but take some cues from the original author and maybe fucking explain the main plot device of the show and not the protagonist’s sad vague backstory rather than the other way around. want to confuse and alienate your audience? good fucking job!! you’ve done it!!

and just because this was my favourite episode in the anime and im fucking bitter!! they cut out so much of dimple’s monologue and just had mob get to 100% pretty much after all dimple says is ‘get a clue.’ like. he puts the mask on, it doesn’t work, ‘get a clue,’ 100%. yeah im totally gonna care when this character comes back to try and manipulate mob later.

also....mob...........

i havent talked about him that much here, have i?

okay specifically w the lol cult first, the whole thing where they put the mask on and he’s not smiling is completely devoid of any impact because!! he’s full on emoting throughout the rest of the show!! like he’ll look worried, embarrassed, he’ll cringe or smile or whatever, and the most it looks like is that he’s just slightly uninterested, but otherwise has a pretty good grip on his emotions. unlike the anime + stageplay where it’s clear that he’s (seemingly) completely unemotional. the reason why i bring up the stageplay is bc, while i know that setsuo ito is 10ish years older than the guy that plays mob in the netflix show, i kinda wish that they just....cast him anyway.....bc they clearly didn’t have any hangups on casting adults for all the other middle schoolers, and ito did such a good job in the stageplay. he’s the only guy who is mob to me lmao (kyle mccarley is on thin ice but he can stay)

i mean mob just straight up showing emotions through the show could have been down to the directing as well. also i’m pretty sure a majority of it is bc he’s constantly around tsubomi, so. stupid decisions lead to stupid outcomes!

and that’s basically it for my weird review/rant on this show. the writing’s bad, the pacing’s bad, they didn’t care at all about the source material, i’m not entirely sure if they cared about the audience either, there was maybe two (2) changes i liked, if that, and everyone should go watch the stageplay. there were probably way more points that i wanted to bring up but i think my brain is already repressing the memory of it for my own safety

if i ever try to watch the rest of this show, shoot me

[howlsmovinglibrary]

(1) Hey I get your that you thought the portrayal of women in the show suffered bc of men. The writing on women was so bad it masked itself as (white) feminism. I'm an intersectional feminist, but you have to consider that a man can also suffer bc of a woman and of D&D's writing. The Jnerys romance was so riddled with abusive connotations (& forced consent) that it made me uncomfortable. Truthfully, Jon's character suffered the most when it converged with Dany's.

(2) Suddenly, we didn’t even see a lick of his POV before 8x05. Even in 8x06 where we could finally hope to see his POV to all this madness ever since he set foot to Dragonstone, his POV ended to prop Dany’s arc to madness! Remember R+L=J? We didn’t even SEE the consequences of it on him! That plot point only served as a thorn for jnerys and Dany’s journey to IT. We could only see Dany’s POV, not him. What’s the point of this twist on Jon?

(3) Also, i know you didn’t think that the whole season was catering towards Dany. But imagine if we could see Jon’s angst & the Stark’s POV on the twist, the culmination of the Stark’s “the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives”, development of Bran’s endgame as King, and more Starks bonding tgt (yknow, bc they’re the HEROES of this story), it wouldn’t be felt as much as Dany’s show. Instead, they spent all their time building Dany’s twist at the expense of more emotional and grounded writing. 

Hey anon! 

This is a long ass ask and I’m wary of drowning my dashboard in GoT stuff for all those people that don’t care, but I wanted to publish it all because I think your interpretation is interesting and people will definitely want to read it.

I’m going to be level with you, I have very little to say about Jon because I don’t really care about him as a character and never have. This isn’t to trash all the people who do love him and care about his character, which has definitely been treated terribly like many others in this season, this just means that I don’t personally have the energy or feel qualified to analyse and deconstruct his story. There are plenty of fans who will do that for me, and much better than I ever could! A lot of my strong opinions circulate around Sansa/Brienne/Jaime, the three characters I continued watching this show for, and then Danaerys because she has been the focus of this season. So I see a lot of validity in your argument, but other than posting this ask saying ‘yes, I see your point’ I’m not really sure what I can do to add to it. Other than publishing it so people see your point of view.

All I can honestly say is that I think Jon’s arc and its inconsistencies is just another huge example of how lots of writing was rushed in this final season. The romance does indeed have abusive connotations; I do not in anyway defend it. My only thing that I can add is that it’s hard to divorce this sudden swerve in how Dany acts around men from her “”BECOMING EVIL”” - Dany’s femininity and sexuality suddenly becomes predatory because that’s how evil women are connoted in media. It doesn’t exactly exist in a vacuum, and it does her character as much a disservice as his. I didn’t personally see him as singled out because everyone was a victim of bad writing, even the character who obscured his focalisation. The pointlessness of his parentage reveal is as similarly pointless as so many reveals, from the books Sam stole from the library to why the Night King was made by the children of the forest to Cersei’s prophecy and Arya’s ability to wear! faces! Because there’s so few episodes, for completely arbitrary and lazy reasons, they picked characters to focus on. And they picked Dany because she has dragons, which are a main marketing draw, and because they wanted to use her for a plot twist, which was even executed badly. I personally think she is a protagonist of equal status to Jon, but there is no denying that the route they took her character down was rushed and meant that suddenly they were laser focused on whatever would give them the best shock value - which in their eyes was what could cause the most trauma. Which is the person with dragons, the nuclear weapons of Westeros. 

I’m sorry I can’t give you any kind of resounding tear down, other than “it’s just bad writing!” I think you, anon, seem to be more qualified than me to write about his character. I confess that I have very little energy left to spare for GoT and it will now all be dedicated to stanning Sansa Stark.

[petemaldonado]

eldonado warriors let's go. just my luck au

• Sam is Ashley, and look I don't even know exactly what the job was in the actual film but let's just say he works for a big company. Sam is extremely lucky. Like, unnaturally lucky, has been all his life. He barely even noticed it bc thats just how life is for him. He has two rlly close friends (Gabi and Ming) who always comment on how lucky he is but he's just like

• Peter is Jake, the unlucky one. He works at a bowling alley to scrape by, and he's trying to get this undiscovered band (the wayback boys) off of the ground. But, bc he's unlucky, this isn't working out for him. His boss is a dick, and little things just seem to go wrong for him day by day. Even the wayback boys are like "dude we love u but we are gonna have to find someone else to manage us this just isn't working." Peter is like "fine give me a week and if I don't get you guys a gig/something substantial by then you can drop me"

• meanwhile, Sam has to plan masquerade ball for his company. It's like a promotional party, execs and sponsors from other companies are gonna be there etc. Of course, since it's Sam, it goes off without a hitch.

• Peter heard about this party and all the sponsors that'll be there and since like, hes pretty desperate at this point to get a break he decides to go to the party, mainly bc he heard that a v big record company exec (I'm thinking Jenna) will be there n he thinks he could convince her to publicise the band. But bc it's like an exclusive party he has to sneak in there, so he's wearing the only fancy suit he owns n a mask. (Bc it's masquerade ball)

• But when he's there, Peter is just dumbfounded when he sees Sam. Mayb it's love at first sight or mayb he just hasn't gotten laid in the longest time. (Sam is also wearing a mask, does this make sense?? Not rlly but who cares) Anyways the drinks he took to calm his nerves with speaking with Jenna mellow him out enough to approach Sam. They talk really briefly and end is dancing and making out. Sam sees something go wrong behind him ( a fight breaking out, idk) and is like oh shit I have to go and Peter's like well fuck I didn't even get his name ????

• they don't know it yet, but their luck switched. Peter, having not even found Jenna at the party decides to leave. But ends up saving Jenna from getting hit by a car outside the party. Jenna, wanting to repay Peter, hears him out. She says to bring over the wayback boys to her tomorrow so she could hear them out and see if she wants to sign them or not.

• Sam doesn't really notice it until the next day but, his luck flips. He loses his job due to his boss flipping out at him, his apartment floods, (which means he has to live w Gabi for a bit) and just general misfortune. In an effort to understand what's happening to him, he goes to a fortune teller. He explains what happened at the party and she's like haha big oof maybe he needed your luck more than u did. You want it back, kiss him again

• Sam is at a cafe a few days later and he ends up causing A Scene w the manager there bc, yknow, the bad luck. It's not rlly his fault but nothing is going right for him and he feels like he's having some weird break down and he lashes out at the manager there when he comes for him. Peter is there, feeling bad for this guy so he pays for his food + coffee and helps him leave. They befriend each other and Peter helps him get a job at the bowling alley. He introduces him to the wayback boys too and Sam is just. Touched by his kindness. At this point they're both falling for each other, spending a lot of time with each other. Peter sympathises w Sam bc he gets what it's like to have an unlucky streak.

• Sam ends up getting really close to Peter, even spending a few nights at his house (platonically at this point) which makes Gabi go 👀👀👀 . One day they're hanging out in a recording studio w some other people and he overhears peter talking about his luck just completely changed and he's like. Fuck. It's him. I have to kiss him. Desperate to get his life back, he goes over then and there and kisses peter (maybe taking a second to actually enjoy the kiss too) and then he just. Dips. He feels guilty but he rationalises it in his head by saying it was HIS luck in the first place.

• later that night tho, he starts thinking about all That Peter could lose without his luck (the band, his apartment etc) and is like fuck I care too much about this guy to do this to him. The next day he shows up at Peter's apartment, kisses him again and is like "I can literally never see you again! Bye!" And Peter is like "wait what the fuck is happening here Sam" so. Sam explains, thinking peter will think it's crazy but is surprised when Peter just. Gets it. It's way too much of a coincidence.

• Peter tells Sam that he's worth all the good luck, and he wouldn't trade the happiness he feels when he's with Sam for all the good luck in the world. They end up kissing, a lot, so much so that neither of them know who has the good luck at this point. They both know it's going to be a mess, but it's fine as long as they have each other. In a weird way, it balances them both out.

[semiconducting]

okay so i wanna give my share of thoughts on wonder woman!!

spoilers under the cut lmao

alright so? holy shit first of all i absolutely loved it to death i was sitting there talking to my best friend who went to see it with me the entire time and just. screaming abt it honestly my mom told me to quiet down a couple of times lmao

so i suppose like it’s a very similar story to the 2009 animated film (though im sure this is kind of a staple plotline for wonder woman leaving themyscira and all, it’s been done a lot, it’s just a part of her story) except it was like. actually done well.

so to begin i really do love how they portrayed the amazons and themyscira, it was so beautiful and i loooove all the diverse women of all colours there. like it made my heart sing thank GOD. i do wish more of them had speaking roles, but i suppose i understand it being partially focused strictly on diana and her becoming a warrior or w/e between antiope’s encouragement and hippolyta’s dismay. but it would have been nice. i do wish to see more of the amazon mythos in films honestly because as entertaining as her adventures with the justice league and such are, i really want there to be more emphasize how crucial they are to who she is! she’s the child of the amazons my dude

also the island itself does remind me of living/touring in europe and i also really hope they based some of it off of turkish architecture? since themyscira is placed in turkey. but idk man.

the scenes with the germans coming to themyscira and how they portrayed the mirage/cloak/whatever was super cool, honestly. cheesy-ish but fun. i loved introducing steve and showing the amazons ready to fight. the bit with the first bullet killing one of them literally got a verbal reaction out of me and the battle was sooooo fucking COOL. as much as i hate war/brutal death scenes, just for my own reasons, it was quick and also just. really what it should have been.

antiope’s death really kinda pissed me off but i just am not a fan of death so early in a film to fuel a character idk. idk man. i guess i should’ve expected especially bc i recognized her tiara as the one diana wears so it. it was there.

i’m glad that she got a role, for sure, but ngl i thought she was supposed to be artemis at first and im kinda disappointed that artemis wasn’t. there. but i mean i love artemis so dsfjd

steve was genuinely good in this film. and i mean really, really good. i’ve never really liked steve trevor, a lot of the times because hes just a boring “charming” soldier (thinking dcau justice league) or a sexist, not-all-men type fucker (ww 2009) and just. ew. but in this film he was like, genuinely funny and sweet and really worth being the love interest. i love that he never took her naivety to take advantage of her, as simple a concept it sounds but it was something that made me smile especially because i just. tensed up at every opportunity that it could have happened. and it didn’t. bless.

the romance was so gradual, it wasn’t a priority, it didn’t take over the plot and the little bits were so cute and it was like? actually likable? holy shit

i REALLY loved doctor poison and god i wish she got so much more screentime than fucken. ludendorf? :/ but every scene with her was amazing i LOOOOVE her mask design and shit, i really wish we could’ve expanded more on her and i would soooo appreciate having just. extra scenes with more on her working/the experiments because that was SO fucked up and well done. a perfect placement for world war i, too, since chemical warfare a huge part of it and all

also i dig the wwi backdrop? wonder woman fighting in a world war is always something that i need in my wondy mythos, though i always figured it was world war ii because of the comics originating in that time period and whatnot.

it, however, was a great choice as a background for the grey-morality plotline, and showing that all sides of war are flawed. instead of world war ii, which, frankly, the nazis should and always should be seen as objectively bad from any standpoint, and standing against them is not.

but yes! grey-morality was very well done here and it’s great to pair with a newly-introduced-to-the-world wonder woman. like GOD i hate born-sexy-yesterday troped wonder woman because it is so so so easy to paint her that way, but just so wrong. she’s not stupid or clueless, and it bugs the hell out of me because it just. throws her as a man-hating violent “feminist” or w/e and just. hlfgh.

however they didnt do that here, while still keeping her naive to introduce that whole grey morality and choosing whats right for yourself, not because everyone is objectively good and one bad man can be stopped to save everyone. her innocence wasnt just because she was amazonian in “man’s world,” because she was shown to be naive and ideological with the amazons themselves as well. it made all the difference and settled one of my biggest fears for this movie

by the way! the clothes scenes and bits with etta were so cute! etta candy was ABSOLUTELY adorable and such a good part of the film, thank god.

also in general it was so pretty? the scenes were so well done and the cinematography was GORGEOUS especially the fight scenes. fuck man fight scenes are so good on the eyes. the choreography was great, i digged the occasional cartoony punch-drop bit? im sure theres a name for the trope but idk how to describe it. also i know so many people have issues with the slo-mo but honestly it didn’t bother me at all, it didn’t feel cheesy to me and i actually thought they did wonderfully by timing it right to place such good emphasis on it? also all the flips and take downs and fUCK man im jsut. oooo i cant wait to watch that again.

also the jumping on shields/that shingle the boys were holding up for her? good fuckin. fuck. AAAAAAAAAA

and goodness diana was so cute. her gasping and going “a babyyyy!!” made me smile oomg. and the ice cream bit. i love the wonder woman ice cream bit she’s so fucking cute. mhm. i love her constant protesting and not quieting the fuck down when steve was trying to reason with her, like she just. it’s so refreshing to see, yknow? and always proving everyone wrong and choosing to save everyone when she’s told she can’t. goooooood that’s a wonder woman i love.

her saving the village and all the celebration was adorable too. but it made the death all the more heartbreaking and just. :(

i’m so glad they made diana a bringer of peace, because any war-mongering wonder woman just isnt her in my books. like i dont mind her not having a no-kill rule? it is necessary sometimes. but she won’t perpetuate an unnecessary fight. war must be stopped. all that. yeah.

which brings me to ares. i feel like the plot twist could’ve brought more hints, because there was no indication that the peace-brokering brit should’ve been the god of war. it kinda made me just. :/ it was pretty clear ludendorf wasnt gonna be him, but i didnt like whatshisface to be ares. sure i dont mind the whole, he inspires war but doesnt control it i suppose, but to literally be a peace-advocate? kinda defeats his purpose imo.

also good guy zeus. lmfao. anyway

speaking of zeus fuck did i not enjoy diana ~ACTUALLY BEING THE DAUGHTER OF ZEUS~ i was afraid it would come and i was so sad to see them take being molded from clay away from her. it made me roll my eyes. stop doing this to her tbh let her not have a ~manly~ influence, tbh? like i just read someone else’s review that mentioned a better take would’ve been to make her an incarnate of athena and like. yeah? yeah. no look i want my wonder woman completely originating free of any man’s influence.

oo and also. the guys she ran around with. idk what to call them but sameer the chief and charlie. they were absolutely adorable, honestly? they were well rounded, enjoyable characters with depth and i appreciate them being flawed. best sidekicks she could have for this movie, tbh. i really REALLY enjoyed sameer being there, because shit! not a total translation but any bit of representation of a race similar to mine is greatly appreciated. also the over-exaggerated stereotype when they were sneaking into the party? great. loved it. made me laugh so hard. 

also they were REALLY daring with recognizing the whole, fuckin, white man taking from the native americans shit? damn. that was unexpected but appreciated. 

and charlie was cute, the whole singing part was so sweet a bit of his character and i love how they portrayed his ptsd. it’s ugly, it’s not poetic or anything, it’s very realistic and i love what they did with it.

also the music was absolutely beautiful and i lost my mind every time wonder woman’s theme came up. dude. good shit.

anyway i’ve run out of steam and coherence but it was a fantastic movie, 9.5/10, i definitely recommend going to watch it. it was such a satisfying way to finally place her on the big screen and just incredibly well done. bravo to everyone who was involved.

[latefrequencies]

Okay so this is how Chromarose and IHNMAIMS are related in their setting

So descriptions of the settings:

as probably most of you know, AM from IHNMAIMS basically has the last five humans on Earth kept in a setting where AM can warp reality and create tortures and imaginary (sometimes) narrative scenarios for the humans, and what most of you didn’t know bc I just fairly recently decided this was that Chromarose has a Torture Basement in which they do all their filming (at first I wasn’t sure where they filmed bc I was like “isn’t a torture basement too unrealistic and cliche” and then I went “well like real life people have had torture basements and gotten away with it for a very long time and honestly where else are you going to have the setting be”) 

yes I am positing that AM basically just created the archetypical “torture basement” setting. He didn’t not do that.

So anyway both are scenarios where somebody has basically absolute power over the settings and creates sometimes very elaborate scenarios for the purpose of inflicting some kind of harm on people. Said creators of the settings have no regard for human life and they never did, thereby creating absolutely no complications in doing their respective things. There is sometimes vaguely religious imagery associated with them being “gods” of their scenarios (AM has the whole “I AM” thing and that’s a phrase associated with God in Christianity and I BELIEVE there were like...at least a few times in the short story where someone said something about about AM being the god of this setting and I’ve drawn Chroma with some religious imagery before and posited “what if they were the god of murder tapes” and I’m like actually considering making something like that canon-ish. Not like making them an actual god but making religious references canonically a thing.)

So you may be going “but Jude that’s what all murder basement settings have in common” but there are two things that basically kind of set Chroma and AM apart and make them similar to each other

First part is the fact that both people (AM is a “people” to me) created these settings and torture people in them because that’s the only thing they can do. AM is a war machine who was literally programmed to do nothing but inflict harm and probably literally only can do that. Chroma THINKS that all they’re good at is devising violent scenarios and they kill people as a means of realizing that “potential”. (I’m going to talk about this like Chroma really is only good at murder ((and also like music isn’t the other thing they think they’re good at)) because in their mind, that’s true and really in this situation what matters is that the person who made the situation thinks it’s true.)

Okay anyway Chroma is only good at harming people. Granted Chroma does kill people and AM. Doesn’t. It’s a plot point he doesn’t want them to die but yknow both do torture people (Chroma usually includes a torture sequence in any given video). They have created these settings of torture because in some way, it was inevitable for them to do so and there was nothing else they were good enough at doing or capable of doing.

Second part is the fact that both settings feature a narrative aspect. In Chromarose’s videos, there is always a sequence that Chroma personally sees as a narrative. They have things in their videos that aren’t the murders (they will interview victims, have them do something for the camera, put music in the video, etc.) and themurder is the conclusion and the finale we came to see, so to speak. To them there’s a beginning (the victim selection), a middle (everything that isn’t the murder), and an end (the murder). 

This is more in the video game than any other version, but in IHNMAIMS, AM creates narrative settings. Like, it’s clear that the “game” he plays with the humans involves putting them in scenarios that come with a narrative and I would entirely not be surprised if he did this kind of thing to them semi-regularly (I mean.....I feel like it’s also implied because all of them seem to have a sense of familiarity when in their scenarios like Oh It’s This Again). Even in the short story he does make a sort-of narrative for the humans, like he does the thing where he makes them go to get the food and provides varying obstacles and painful things along the way but he’s very clearly setting up a (very simple) story (which turns out to be basicaly just a rly mean practical joke kind of but yknow) where it’s like “these people did these things to this effect” and like. It’s clear he can stage scenarios and narratives if he wants to. Granted AM’s narratives are quite different than Chroma’s but it’s still this narrative quality. Like it’s very planned out as opposed to just “hey let’s torture somebody” it’s a specific “scene” of torture (yes I’m aware I just used and quote-marked that word that’s also used in sadomasochistic contexts to mean somewhat kinda the same thing I said it just seemed like the right word) There’s just this kinda stageyness and narrative quality present in both settings that isn’t inherent to the torture basement setting.

There’s also the fact that both AM’s and Chroma’s torture basements have similar outcomes for both themselves and the people in those settings. AM doesn’t kill the humans but he does prevent them from escaping or finding relief (until the end kinda but yknow. Also how many times have I said “but yknow” to mean “not exactly but still yes” in this post.) Chroma kills everybody. It’s not like the thing where the person provides the victims a way out if they do XYZ thing or where the victim escapes there are no escapees there are no survivors in AM and Chroma’s House Of Pain (I don’t know why I said it that way it sounds like I’m trying to be funny I might be trying to be funny I do not know.) And there’s no thing where someone Finds Out and shuts the places down. Obviously in IHNMAIMS there’s no way to make someone do that with AM bc he is Truly In Charge Of Everything. In Chromarose’s story just. That just never happens. 

Also vague religious references. AM’s whole “I AM” thing (that phrase is a reference to God in Christianity like it’s A Thing in Christianity) and the fact that I think at least a few characters call him the god of their world. I can’t remember who says that. I’m too tired to try to find out at this point in time. I’ve drawn Chroma in religious-esque settings (”Your own! personal! Chroma!”) and been like What If They’re The God Of Murder Tapes and I will probably make religious references at least kinda canon (not that I’ll make it so Chromarose is indeed a deity but like in one of the interviews I’m probably gonna do the Thing where someone’s like ‘I know there is a heaven for me and a hell for you” and Chroma’s just “regardless I am the god of the space we are in now and wherever you’re going to I’m very soon to send you on your way”) 

Also the way it ends for the creators of the painful environment? this is kind of a spoiler but I’ve talked about it the gist of it before but Chroma stops making films at around the time that VHS becomes obsolete because they realize they can no longer get attention the same way as they’re used to and their work isn’t serving them the same end (yeah that’s a difference between Chroma and AM never did I say they were like. similar, character-wise, as such. Just that they create similar environments for similar reasons-ish.) but no one stops them they stop of their own volition, and their Final Tape happens at the end of their story when their place of residence is discovered and the protagonists go to the place where Chroma is and they’re like “I’ve been waiting to do this for years!” and they film themself doing the ultimate final video where they kill themself and film it before anything else can be done.

the reason Chroma’s ending has anything to do with AM is because I’ve seen people apparently argue abt what happens to AM at the end of the story? because there are some people who are like “no he’s not really doing time distortion on Ted that’s Ted being an unreliable narrator and genuinely thinking there’s time distortion, AM actually shut itself off on purpose and is now basically dead” which is like. obviously of course a suicide. and then there’s like. apparently uncertainty as to whether or not he keeps doing bad things to Ted after The Event at the end of the story. because some people are like “and Ted just has this one extra horrible thing on top of the other terrible things he was experiencing before” and some people just assume AM doesn’t directly do anything to Ted again (except the time distortion, if that’s a thing) because what has happened now is the Ultimate Torture why does AM have to do anything else now. and like. Chroma dying in one of their own tapes is The Ultimate, time to go home everyone we just got the best on tape. obvs they. can’t do anything else after killing themself but they did see that as their Finale so yeah. in no cases does anyone survive the pain. no one escapes. they just have to deal with these horrifying gods of pain, one of whom is wearing a weird mask.