#bc it really does not take more than that to recognize what they're doing in this movie

[aethersea]

I do think Blazing Saddles handled its one depiction of native americans very poorly, and the full extent of its representation of chinese workers on the railroad is they were literally just there. not even one single speaking line. unclear if this is worse or better than the redface.

it's fucking phenomenal at lampooning antiblack racism though. extremely blatant, extremely funny satire, which is constantly and loudly saying "racism is the philosophy of the terminally stupid at best and morally depraved at worst, and we should all be pointing and laughing at them 24/7"

plus the main character is a heroic black man who has to navigate a whole lot of bullshit but is constantly smirking at the extraordinarily stupid racists and inviting the audience into the joke. the one heroic white character is a guy who was suicidally depressed until he met the protagonist and they just instantly became buds, and he's firmly in a supporting role the whole time and happy to be there. the protagonist saves the day with the help of his black friends from the railroad, and uses the position of power he was given to uplift not only those friends, but all the railroad workers of other minorities too, in an explicit show of solidarity.

anyone saying "Blazing Saddles is racist" had better be talking about its treatment of non-black minorities. it had better not be such superficial takes as "oh but they say the n-word all the time" or "they have nazis and the kkk in there!" because goddamn if that's the full extent of your critique I very seriously suggest you read up on media analysis. there is too much going over your head, you need to learn to recognize satire.

[skrunksthatwunk]

something he can't put into words.

[gaspshichat]

extremely long pearl appreciation post except this time i'm maintagging bc i want her to see this. she deserves to see this

she is the kindest soul ever. every bit message, every sub message, every gifted sub, and as many chat messages as possible are read. she genuinely doesn't want anyone to be left out

pearl had a rough start to stream today with a bunch of bots saying really weird things and someone revealing private information of hers which is weird. i have choice words for them but i'll keep myself pg for this post

it resulted in her having to turn on sub only mode which she said upset her. what did chat do?

they gifted probably around 200-500 subs to the community

pearl kept saying how bad she felt that she was practically forced into turning on sub only mode but she also said she didn't want her community gifting so many subs bc of an awful situation. they still did

i will always say that pearl is the nicest person ever. anytime smth bad happens to someone in chat, she's sympathetic and kind and gives them a message. anytime smth good happens to someone in chat, she's very excited and happy for them

it takes someone who is genuinely kind and selfless to do that. pearl does not have to read every bit message and sub message. but she does

her community reflects this kindness. i got broken up with two hours before valentine's day and told chat [bc streams for me are 6am-10am]. chat was so kind and gave me ideas on what to do with the flowers [which i did what they suggested!]

i've been in fandom communities for almost ten years now. pearl's is the kindest. there are so many people in chat i recognize [secret agent, sapphicwhimsy, kawaiitron, voxkeys, cardmoney, etc] that i look forward to seeing in chat. usually i dread seeing what happens in twitch chat's

not hers. hers are so full of kindness bc she is full of kindness and it just radiates and spreads to her community. yes it's fairly no nonsense, her deleting any weird messages, but that's to make sure it's a good place to be

i've been having nightmares and flashbacks recently due to reasons i wish to keep private. very few youtubers/streamers are able to help me sleep without those issues. pearl is one of them. her community is genuinely safe

i tell everyone interested in mcyt to watch pearl. i've been spreading pearl propaganda [/silly]. she deserves so much more than she has. pearl deserves the world

this is an extremely long post but i need to get my point across to her and anyone else, whether they're a pearl fan or not [yet]

pearl, we all love you and are proud to be part of the community. you are such a genuinely sweet person who deserves all the kindness in the world. i'm so sorry you had to deal with that bullshit [pardon my language]. it does genuinely suck but i hope the ~300 subs helped make you feel better hehe 🫶🫶

[oh-no-its-bird]

Half Hatake Tobirama where he took after his mother really strongly instead of his father, while Hashirama took after their father and not their mother.

Ok but now give Hashirama imposter syndrome about it.

He's technically Hatake too, but not "enough" to be recognized by the clan while for some reason his brother is

He's wild like the trees, not the wolves, and they can smell it on him

He's not one of them, even if he does have the same amount of their blood in his veins as Tobirama, and no matter how badly he might want to be </3

Hashirama living vicariously through Tobirama's stories of visiting the clan, and Tobirama is going out of his way to ask questions and do things while there he knows his brother will like hearing about

Idk I just think there's potential there. A lot of half hatake Tobirama fics will directly mention that they're full blooded siblings but then not go into how Hashirama might feel ab Tobirama's closeness to the Hatake while he's apparently either not afforded that same closeness or had never tried to reach for it

Which ofc is a valid take and makes things easier writing wise but like !!! I wanna see him have thoughts about it !!!

The Hatake join the village and Hashirama got weirdly emotional about it (bc this might finally mean he can interact with his mother's clan) and no one can really understand why, except Tobirama who's kind of the reverse of him with being too Hatake for most Senju. But even then it's not the same

Play with it some more, say he did inherit some traits and habits from the wolf clan, just not enough for them to really recognize him. But enough for some of the Senju also kind of side eye him sometimes.

He's too Hatake for the Senju but too Senju for the Hatake.

He has to mask any Hatake traits he has to make people more comfortable when around others, but then doesn't know how or what to try and exaggerate to get the Hatake's approval

Picturing like, when the boys were young and there mother was still alive. And their aunt, the Hatake clan head and their mother's sister, coming to visit.

And she spends time with both Hashirama and Tobirama, then when leaving tells the boys that Tobirama is welcome to visit the clan lands once he's of age

And Hashirama kind of pipes up and asks if he can come too and she just sort of pats him on the head and says something about not thinking it was really "for him"

And later that night Hashirama approaches their mother and asks why he couldn't visit either, and why their aunt seemed to like Tobirama so much more than him.

And his mom has to struggle with how to say "The Hatake are a very private and protective clan, and you aren't not Hatake enough for her to let you into her home" in a way her like 9 year old son can understand while still being nice about it (she tries her best but years later and that one conversation is still one of Hashirama's strongest and saddest memories of his mother. He has a lot of conflicting thoughts about it)

But yeah !! Give him cultural imposter syndrome and jealousy of not being enough to count as one of them

[marimeeko]

Thinking lately about Izuku(a civilian now) getting caught up in some Villain shenanigans(think like a random hostage situation or heist/robbery)(he is literally at the wrong place at the wrong time) and the possibilities of what could happen.

The possibilities of the civilians recognizing him and hoping for him to save them? Him doing his best to keep them all together and calm?

The possibilities of whether or not the villains recognize him or slowly start to figure it out? Do they know he's actually Quirkless now and try to take advantage of that? Or do they think he still has powers and immediately try to restrain and overpower him?

How Izuku either fights back or tries to thwart the villains? How he stays quiet at first, but is observing and analyzing the crap out of them and their Quirks?(while it's technically illegal for him to act as a hero, he also wouldn't stand down if the villains were threatening to harm any of the hostages)

If he has an actual altercation with them? And what if he gets injured? (I imagine he can hold his own reasonably well in a hand to hand fight! He still trains and is in shape, maybe even spars with Kacchan, and he has that extremely high pain tolerance! But he still gets clocked especially if he's trying to prevent them from doing harm)

And what happens when GEMG DynaMight gets to the scene. And does Katsuki know before hand that Izuku is involved of find out afterward when Izuku is released with the hostages? Or when he busts in to stop them and sees Izuku himself??

Or do the villains know enough about Izuku and Katsuki to make Izuku their primary hostage and hold Izuku hostage for some sort of ransom or deal with DynaMight?

And do they know enough to know that that's pretty much a death wish for them?

How about Izuku being just cool as a cucumber even though they're threatening DynaMight bc he knows enough about these suckers now to know that they are no match for Dynamight....much less when he is ANGRY.

Or how bout Izuku actually trying to talk them out of their dumb idea (full on teacher voice activated) because he knows they're petty criminals who are acting this way for a reason, but they shouldn't add kidnapping to their rapsheet.

DynaMight busting in and busting them, of course, and putting the fear of god into the villains whenever he is aware of Izuku being involved. He takes it personally, maybe hitting the guy holding down izuku a little harder than the others before arresting them.

What about when Katsuki gets Izuku out of there, he fusses endlessly over Izukus injuries and bloody face, and refuses to let Izuku go home by himself(he needs to be monitored for a concussion, that's all!)

I MEAN WHY HAVE WE NOT THOUGHT MORE ABOUT THIS ASPECT THERES SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE.

If this is a fic already I really want to read it... Daniart already made an art to this theme and I saw it today, meanwhile I have definitely been pondering it for a day or two *bkdk brainmeld*

[humorisstoredinthetits]

The Heathers + Veronica Headcannons

This is mostly just gonna be some random HCs plus some demographic information

Sorry this one is late, it was supposed to be last week's, but after certain world events I kinda lost all motivation to do much, but I'm doing better now then I was a few days ago

Heather Chandler:

Her birthday is on February 24th

She's 5'5 which is only ever so slightly taller than Duke, a fact that she never fails to remind her about

Everyone thinks she's the tallest, but that's bc she wears high heels 24/7

Mac is actually the tallest Heather, but she refuses to wear heels bc of how much they hurt her back, so it looks like she's the shortest

She's Pansexual but has exactly 0 interest in any man, especially after what happened with David

She is white as can be, specifically with French ancestry, her family is super racist and would disown any member that married someone of a different race

(For all of them, I hc that they look and sound like the off-broadway cast, so Veronica looks like Barrett, Mac like Elle McLemore and so on)

She doesn't know much French but she'll insert what little she does know into her speech, making her sound like Ms.Piggy

For example, "If you'll excuse moi I'm going to bed"

She tried learning more French but it frustrated her so much that she just gave up

She's an atheist, after seeing all of the things her mother did in the name of God she is convinced that there is no higher being

She is 100000% a bottom, she might be dominant irl but in the bedroom she just melts

She's one of those people who cannot function without coffee, if she doesn't have some first thing in the morning she will be even more bitchy than usual, which is saying something

She likes hers with a shit ton of creamer and sugar

She actually hates the taste of coffee but recognizes that without it she is basically a zombie

Chandler loves cats

She loves their mischievousness, the ways their ears move, their adorable little meows, she just thinks they're neat

This made it all the more upsetting to her that Heather Catler doesn't like her

She is the most fearful of her wives, a fact she likes to keep hidden despite knowing that they won't judge her for it

She's afraid of bugs (all kinds), snakes, flying/heights, ghosts/zombies and the like, blood, and dogs

She had a bad experience with a dog as a child and refuses to go anywhere near one, even service dogs

If she sees a dog she will nope out and get the hell outta there as fast as she can

One time a dog came up and started sniffing her as dogs do and she screamed so loud she broke a window before climbing on top of Veronica

She's also afraid of needles and the others have to trick her like she's a child to get her to go get her shots

She cries the entire time it happens and they have to go get ice cream after

Even Mac who is an absolute crybaby doesn't cry when she has to go get shots

She often threatens to kick one of her wives (usually Duke) out the bed because of something they did

Whenever she follows through on this threat she ends up missing them and going to join them in wherever they had been exiled to, which inevitably leads to the others joining them

She's the most mature of the four of them and is the one who has to come bail them out whenever they do something stupid

One time they were at Target and the three of them were acting stupid as usual and a mom came up to Chandler who was facepalming and told her that she understands how hard it is to have three teenage daughters

She only facepalmed even harder

She's tried to get them to act normal but they said "nah I don't really feel like it"

She pretends to hate it but she finds it super endearing

She likes red flavored things, except for Strawberry

She'll take Cherry or Raspberry or anything else, but if its Strawberry flavored she will gag

One time JD pranked her by getting her a Strawberry slushie and after realizing what flavor it actually was she dumped it on his head

She eats at least 3 bags of corn nuts a day, one at breakfast, at least once during the day and one at dinner

They have a whole shelf in their pantry dedicated to fucking corn nuts, BQ obviously

She's a total neat freak

She has a system for things and if someone messes with it she gets very upset

One time Veronica put the paprika where the cinnamon was supposed to go and Chandler was cross with her for the rest of the night

This conflicts with their very messy pets, or at least two of them

Catler's fur gets fucking everywhere, even in rooms that she's never been in before

Every time it looks like she's gotten the last of it she'll find another clump of fur in a corner

And don't her her started on Munchkin

Thankfully his destruction is limited to his room but there are hay and poop and toys everywhere and it makes her die inside when she sees it

When she gets upset she gets fucking pissed

When that happens her wives know to leave her alone and that when she calms herself down she'll come to them for comfort

Her temper is short and uncontrollable and it doesn't take much to get her to the point that she's screaming at the top of her lungs

And she is ruthless when she gets mad, one time some guy was being a sleazebag while she was on a date with Duke and she roasted him so badly that he started sobbing in the middle of the restaurant

She takes forever in the shower, so long that most days her wives get tired of waiting and just come join her

Her red schrunchie was a gift from Mac and when she got it she vowed to wear it every day

To this day she has worn it every single day, even her wedding day

She fucking hates winter and gets cold super easy

It might have something to do with the fact that she wears skirts every single day no matter what

If it is a single degree under 70 she spends all day bundled up under several blankets

She is a blanket hog and will steal everyone's blankets

Some once somehow stole Veronica's even though she was on the other side of the bed with Mac and Duke between them

When she is sick she is awful to be around

She whines and complains and is just really snappy, when it happens Duke and Veronica leave because they would end up losing their tempers on her quick, but Mac has dealt with this much longer and knows that she doesn't mean it

She gets nightmares really frequently but she refuses to let the others know or help her

They know but don't want to push her into talking if she's not ready

She so desperately needs to be the strong one, because if she's not the strong one then what is she?

Heather Duke:

She was born March 17th, 20XX

She's 5'3, making her the shortest Heather

She fucking hates that she's so short

She has a hard time grabbing things on high shelves, people always look down on her (literally), it makes her less intimidating, its just generally annoying

On that first thought, Veronica will literally pick her up so she can grab the thing that she was trying to grab

She'll also put her in the kid seat in shopping carts, which Duke can't get out of herself

She's lesbian, exactly 0 interest in any man

She actually thought she was AroAce for a while, but she realized she was lesbian when she joined the Heathers

She's full blooded Korean, and she can speak the language fluently

When she gets really upset she'll switch to Korean unintentionally and start ranting

She's an atheist as well, but I can also see her being a pagan or Wiccan

Her family adopted Christianity when they moved to America, but they did it mostly for show and to fit in with the American culture, so true belief was never really passed down to Duke

Definitely a switch, leaning dom but is submissive sometimes

She has dyslexia and for the longest time had trouble reading

Eventually she got some glasses to help her, and now that she can read without difficulty she fell in love with it

Duke was worried about how glasses would make her look, but her wives were incredibly supportive

Chandler told her that she thinks that she looks sooooo sexy with her glasses, and that meant a lot to Duke bc she knows that Chandler isn't one to censor herself or lie to save other's feelings

Bc she's so small she can wear the other's clothes without any problems and so she'll often be seen wearing one of Mac's sweaters or Veronica's sweatpants or something

She's mostly gotten over her eating disorder, but occasionally those thoughts come up

Her wives have learned how to read her body language and can tell when she's having those kinds of thoughts, and if they see it they'll all take the day off and pamper her

When she gets upset at one of her wives she'll kick them, and her kicks fucking hurt

One time she kicked Chandler so hard after she made some snarky remark that a bruise formed and she started to tone it down

When she gets mad its a kind of quiet anger and it scares the shit out of her wives

If she starts to get really quiet her wives know something or someone fucked up and know to stay out of her way

Even Chandler will not interfere

She's so petty that she plays multiplayer games like Mario Party in her freetime just so she has the advantage on Chandler whenever the next game night rolls around

Heather McNamara:

She was born on June 22nd, 20XX

She's 5'7, being the tallest actual Heather, but of course Veronica towers over them all

She's a lesbian just like Duke, but unlike her she's known it from the day that she met Chandler

She's also white, specifically from Irish Heritage, but she knows fuck all about Ireland and has no real desire to learn more about it

Mac's not really sure about religion, she thinks that there's some kind of deity or higher power but she's not sure which

The best way to describe it would be agnostic, but Mac doesn't have a label for it

She's decided to just live her life in the best way she can and in a way that works for her and to not sweat about a god or afterlife

Mac is a Disney shill

Despite her cute personality and demeanor, she is a top and takes charge in the bedroom

She loves everything Disney puts out (not so much Star Wars or Marvel, but Pixar, the Muppets and regular Disney Animation yes)

She spends a lot of time watching old movies or shows on Disney+ or trying to convince the others to plan their next trip to Disney World

She is also an avid reader of fanficiton

She normally doesn't like to read, but when it comes to fanfiction she's almost as bad as Duke or Veronica

She mostly reads MLP stuff, but also branches out into Frozen and Pokemon

If chicken nuggets weren't one of her safe foods she would probably be a vegetarian, she loves animals and can't stand the thought of eating them, but at the same time chicken nuggets are really good

She 100% plays with her dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets before eating them and gets sad when they're in her tummy

She has autism and was thankfully diagnosed early in life, allowing her to have many years of therapy to help develop coping mechanisms and understand what sets her off

However there are still some things that can trigger a meltdown, such as abrupt changes in schedule, especially if it involves her wives like one of them having to stay late at work, certain loud sounds (mostly alarms), itchy/uncomfortable fabrics, being forced to be around certain unsafe foods, and crowded indoor spaces

She insists that she isn't cute, and the others have to agree with her there

She's not cute, she's really cute

Her pout can make even the most stubborn person she knows (Chandler) bend to her will, a fact that she uses to her advantage frequently

She cries very easily and often

Usually its not for anything bad, but whenever she feels some strong emotion, be it anger, joy, or fear the tears will start to flow

She hates making eye contact with people and will refuse to do so, even with her wives

She is super strong, not like super buff or anything but she has very well defined muscles

She kept up with an exercise regiment even after leaving the cheer squad so she's stayed in shape

Because of this her hugs feel really good, same with her cuddles

Most nights she falls asleep on the couch and has to be carried to the bed

She's always dreamed of acting in a play, but she's too nervous to go and audition, so for now at least she sticks to singing in the shower and car

She wanted to do drama in high school but Chandler convinced her to do cheer instead, staying drama is where the nerds went and the popular girls did cheer

She has hundreds of stuffed animals, and she's named each of them and remembers all of them

She fucking suckssssss at Math, it is her worst subject by far

She cannot do anything more complicated than multiplication without a calculator

Veronica Sawyer:

She was born on January 16th, 20XX

She's 5'11

She hated being that tall as people would make fun of her for it, but now that she's with the Heathers she enjoys it, as it makes messing them with so much easier

She's bisexual and definitely had a crush on JD when they first met, but now she only thinks of him as a good friend and he's AroAce anyway

She jokes that she's Heather-sexual but none of the Heathers find it funny

She's also white, from English heritage

Sometimes she'll get her monocle on and start talking in a bad British accent

If Chandler sees it she bangs her head against the nearest surface

Veronica is an atheist, but was a Christian when she first met the Heathers

Through some talks with Chandler and JD she became disillusioned with the church and with faith, but this split caused a rift with her parents, especially when she informed them that she wasn't getting married in a church or by a priest

Her parents aren't the "if you are gay you're going to hell" kinda Christians but they were still worried about her soul or whatever

Is also a switch, but she leans submissive

She's a huge history nut and is a walking encyclopedia of historical information

She finds going to museums and shit like that fun, but they bore her wives to death so she usually ends up going alone

She was a straight A student in school, was always on the honor roll and if she hadn't joined the Heathers and had to deal with all their drama she was definetly in the running for Valedictorian

She stays up late at night watching true crime documentaries on Youtube, a habit which annoys her wives to no end

They're trying to get some sleep but the light from Veronica's phone is keeping them up, not to mention the sound

Its made even worse by the fact that she uses light mode for some ungodly reason

Chandler eventually got sleep masks and earbuds for the three of them so they can actually get some sleep

Veronica has insomnia and has trouble falling asleep most nights, that's why she stays up watching videos

She's gone to doctors and taken some meds, but none of them really help

Despite everything being cool between her wives and friends, she still feels guilt over how she ended up married to the biggest bullies in school who tormented her and her friends for years

She likes the weird flavors of things like Sour Cream and Onion Chips or Salt and Vinegar chips

One time she ordered the ketchup flavored Lays from Europe and Chandler nearly vomited from the smell

The Heathers are convinced that she just doesn't have taste buds and eats this weird crap to freak them out

But no, she just legitimately likes the taste

She also has the most tolerance for sour things and can eat bag after bag of sour candy, long after her wives tapped out

Speaking of food, Veronica is like a black hole

She can just inhale food and still be hungry

Whenever they get a shareable food like pizza they usually have to get a whole pizza for just her

She collects records

Her dad gave her his old player when she moved out along with his old collection

Its one of the few things Veronica has that Chandler likes bc it "gives the home character" whatever that means

[idontmindifuforgetme]

Hi Cianna, just wanted to say I really admire your study ethic and general vibe on this blog (you inspire me to do better!)

Do you have any advice/tips for good study habits and staying focused? I find that I get some work done, but after a break I can't get back on track

Sorry for the long ask/ studyblr type of question;; what is your favourite hairstyle that you do with your hair! (I also have curly brown hair :)

Have a lovely day also <3

🌻🌻

hi! i touch on a lot of points in this other ask, but a few specific learning techniques i abide by are:

parkinson's law. parkinson's law states that work expands to fill the time. basically if you have an essay that's due in a week, it will magically take you one week to get it done, even if the task itself could've been done in one day. to counter this i just set artifical deadlines for myself--even if an essay is due in a week, my personal deadline has it due in two days.

prime your brain prior to learning. if you need to study a biology chapter, pre-skim it the night before. this is not the time to go into detail--it's the time to familiarize yourself with the overview of the topic, so you should only be making a quick scan of the chapter. another priming method is to make a concept map of topics before diving into a chapter. as you skim write down key terms haphazardly, google those you don't recognize, and draw a concept map linking them together. this is effective bc it requires you to actually put effort into connecting the topics, takes no longer than 15 minutes, and speeds up the learning process that follows. it doesn't matter if you find out you're wrong once you dive in; what's important is you're actively thinking of how these topics coexist, as opposed to mindlessly taking notes or highlighting only to forget what you learned a couple hours later. i'm also a fan of concept maps bc i get to go back and highlight stuff i'm weak in, which is always a plus.

if you like to take notes, use it as another means of active recall. don't just passively take notes as you go along. what i like to do is i read a paragraph, close the book, then try to take down notes based off memory alone. this helps me both phrase the topic in my own words and realize what my learning gaps are, rather than just passively summarize without putting effort into truly understanding/memorizing something. anything i get wrong i hammer into my brain until i can't get it wrong anymore.

take notes effectively. our brain does not learn in sentences and paragraphs. it learns in bullet points, diagrams, and figures--and that's how i like to frame my notes. first i ask myself if i actually need to take notes to begin with, or if there are online notes out there i can use to save time (which, as a stem student, there typically are). if i do decide to take notes, i never mindlessly summarize. i always condense the material into bullet points, diagrams, concept maps, or visual representations. i also like to phrase my notes as questions rather than just passive summaries, so that when i review them i'm already testing myself in a way. most people would not understand my notes bc they're either very low-yield stuff, stuff i'm weak in, or bare-bones fragments of information.

always prioritize weaknesses. if you're weaker at chapter 18 of your textbook vs chapter 1, maybe start with chapter 18. don't spend 6 hours taking notes on chapter 1 if you're already strong in chapter 1. always attack your weaknesses first.

practice practice practice!! so so important. i owe all my As to mock exams, quizzes i make myself, end-of-chapter questions etc etc. imo practice matters a lot more than passive content review.

interleaving concepts helps with retention. an example of this is i like to do biology and chemistry one day, biochemistry and organic chemistry the next day, physics and psychology the day after... i'm not just doing biology all day, every day. another thing i like to do if i'm in a massive rut is i hop between tons of different subjects on the same day, which keeps me from getting bored/helps me understand the subjects better through distinguishing their differences.

retrospective timetable. an example of this is if i find i'm pretty weak in a particular physics topic, the next few days will disproportionately focus on physics over other subjects. inversely, if i just breezed through a biology chapter, the next few days will have less biology than initially planned. i'm constantly going back and revising my study timetable based on my performance of the day, rather than relying on a rigid prospective timetable that doesn't take into account my progress.

less passive learning, more active. spaced repetition is a big one. i love anki for this bc there's an algorithm that dictates how often topics come up again based on how well you answer them. other methods include active recall, having friends quiz you, and trying to teach the topic to others (or the plushie in your bedroom haha). if you find you're struggling to simplify topics and explain them, that's a sign you don't understand them very well yourself.

[nutterzebutters]

I have a take to share about cookie run kingdom, now that I've gone through the store and essentially analyzed everything that I can and I'd like to remind ppl of something very important (which means this post isn't a thesis about the update as a whole but a specific detail) when it comes to accepting the gravity of the story, and this is directed at "lily is dark enchantress" deniers.

I better not see another person say that Lily is not dark enchantress, to disassociate dark Enchantress from Lily as De does in the story

De does so bc she sees lily as weak and a failure to her own goals, there is a ton of self-loathing. I genuinely don't think that attitude about these two cookies is meant to be performed by us, the players. That is dark enchantress's job, our job is to recognize that dark enchantress may deny it all she wants but it's still an irrefutable truth. They truly are more similar than what meets the eye.

"you can't completely subscribe dark and chantress's actions to Lily" is something I see a lot and now that we have been presented with the evidence that dark enchantress is truly a vile person here and there's absolutely nothing to glorify about her savior speak I feel the need to remind us all that the entire concept of the perfect cookie stemmed from lily, the purpose of seeking power to use it for her goals stemmed from Lily, regardless of who it hurts even after a countless patterns being told that she shouldn't have continued. It does not take a genius to see that a lot of dark enchantress's actions have parallels to Lily's own, and it's perfectly understandable why somebody might label lily as horrible for this bc shes exactly where it started regardless.

There is no evidence that dark Enchantress was just something trapped inside Lily that seeked to get out (as if it was a completely different entity inside her that happened to take the opportunity of baking its own body in the ultimate dough)

There's only ever evidence that dark enchantress is Lily's "darkness" that has gotten out of control, that has been festering for however long and possibly the exact thing that pure vanilla feared way back in the academy. Which can create another reason that pure vanilla blames himself for dark enchantress's creation, because she proves all of his worst fears about Lily's method of actions true- I feel like we as a community need to remember that just because a character we like does something irredeemable doesn't mean we have to deny it. It's still ok to love them AND acknowledge that maybe they're a little whack and should not be encouraged whatsoever.

I'm speaking from the point of view of watching people at the time of the golden cheese Kingdom update switch up on "dark enchantress is lily" the second that they showed something she should be held accountable for. Conveniently forgetting that she did the same exact thing to vanilla's Kingdom prior and only ever reacting to cheeses bc it held more weight in detail. Yes, I agree that white lily is an excellent but accidental representation of what BPD can be, but I am finding that this is often used as an excuse for comfort more than it is acknowledged and actually looked at- it's perfectly okay to want to have a character appeal to a general audience a lot more, but I don't think we should be changing what makes the character the character in the first place - I will assume you never really liked the true character to begin with

On another note, when it comes to Lily's flaws a lot of them really do relate to silence, being complacent or even avoidant on matters that should have taken more priority or care. Being in her own little bubble all the time contributes to this, as it created such a disconnect between her and pure vanilla alone. Dark enchantress on the other hand, way more direct. This is a very key difference and something that should remind us that yes, there are very big differences. Just as there are very big similarities. The idea of building a perfect world was always something lily wanted, her life spent doing so will obviously shape the actions and thought process that dark enchantress has, aka the thought process of the cookie that was literally born from Lily's own dough and soul. This is not to say she's not on the path to redemption, because I do believe there is room for growth, it's only unfortunate that it happens after it's been too late to perform any harm reduction on the initial impact. I would like to believe her arc with silent salt will pave the way for a better Lily, perhaps even a better relationship with pure vanilla (possibly romantically if we get any substance on the two beforehand to build up to it, as her silence/bystander nature in ever responding to pure vanillas efforts to keep her safe is a big issue as well)

I'd like to believe the arc might bring her out of a lot of the self-pity attitude that she currently has, and make her more active in tackling more complex matters within herself. Remember, as evidence stands dark enchantress is a very current version of Lily, while the Lily that we have is a preserved shard reanimated that was saved from the past and now has the opportunity to deviate and make a new, different future than the one currently belonging to dark enchantress (which is another reason I think it's important to accept that DEs actions can be completely subscribed to lily, and at the very least do not deny that Lily is dark enchantress, because then it denies room for any growth on Lily's end)

When it comes to her relationship with someone like pv, It's possible she did not like her persistent and direct companion at first but whatever the case is he did eventually grow on her and that's an undeniable fact. It's also what happens to make the conflict of being dark enchantress so interesting- because she straight up wants to kill him. I have a small theory that dark enchantress could feel Lily's love even through the transformation, and she seeks to kill that. I believe it's also perfectly reasonable to say that for how strong Lily loved the traits for pure vanilla, is exactly how much dark Enchantress hates them as shown in ep 10. Like how she hates his smile the most, and yet Lily is extremely fond of it, his face and his nature.

That's all I just wanted to rant, the update reminded me that a lot of people can be very stubborn when it comes to their faves which is so damn understandable, but it's also extremely important to know that your fave can be problematic, they can be labeled toxic, and that's perfectly ok! Just like it's okay to like a character that can be all those things as long as you have a good understanding on what those things mean for the character. I love her writing, and because of that I have a love-hate relationship with pure lily as a ship, as I can separate her writing from who she is as a person, which is actually abysmal atm. Like she cares, and it's very clear that pure vanilla rubbed off on her and taught her a lot of the kindness she now demonstrates as she mimics him frequently (admiration ofc)

[xaeyrnofnbe]

HOW ID REWRITE ANGEL: THE SERIES

(bc i liked the show but i feel like things should have played out VERY differently) (i'm very biased towards certain characters also)

changes start around when cordy ascends to be a higher being and connor throws angel in the ocean

her boredom as a higher being leads to her coming back to earth (on her own accord!!) and giving up her godhood to do so, but retaining outward, physical demonic traits (themed around her brief appearance as a god bc i think the imagery there was very pretty) and this acts as a full circle moment for her character, mirroring doyle in season 1. whereas once she was disgusted by a half-demon, now she is one herself and couldn't be happier. she still has visions and some minor abilities but now she doesn't pass for human and doesn't get to be space-demon-god

connor and cordelia DOESNT HAPPEN. GIRL THAT IS YOUR SON. BOY THAT IS YOUR MOM. PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER

more lorne. idc what happens with him i just want him to be more of a main character

cordelia and angel have some brief awkward flirtations(?) which are super weird and uncomfortable and they conclude that they love each other dearly, but aren't into each other Like That (they only thought so to begin with bc all their friends kept saying it) (but they're buddies :]]])

connor seriously struggles with holt's death, and has to grapple with the emotional confusion of trying to live with and cooperate with the very man he was raised for the sole purpose of killing. but angel investigations really want him to be ok so they take good care of him throughout, even if he is hesitant to accept

uhhhh eventually wesley does get apologetic about betraying his friends. it takes him a while but he does recognize and regret his wrongdoings

i don't know what the big bad should be in season 4 since i'd fully retcon everything needed to make that plot happen. i like to imagine it would be better though

they DO end up running wolfram & hart. since i think it's funny. and spike's arc remains the same with him returning as a ghost, coming back to life, etc etc. he'd be a smidge different though, a TAD less antagonistic. not because i think he wouldn't but because i'd like to see more of the spike we saw at the end of btvs (it'd be hard to justify with buffy not being present, but i still think it's doable)

harmony gets to be more of a character also!!! she and cordy hang out :)) she also takes her job as angel's assistant VERY seriously, but in that way that only harmony could be, which is to say: not very serious at all actually, but she's very determined about whatever the hell it is she's doing

more hints that angel and spike banged when they were evil because 1. i think it's funny, 2. the implications for their characters and dynamic are EXCELLENT. i would also like a few more friend moments for them. and maybe they kiss idk whaaaat who said that. no but seriously the werewolf girl doesn't happen and instead that plot is taken over by spike. imagine. i mean whattt

more of angel acting silly bc he was adorable in the first season and i'd love more of that

fred doesn't die suddenly and horribly. preferably not at all

gunn gets to care about literally anything other than himself in s5. more emphasis on his resilience? his will to survive? and how that makes him more loyal to the people in his life? pretty please? and he hangs out with wes because they were friends once?

with cordelia not gone maybe they could somehow move dennis to wolfram & hart? or maybe cordy has a new apartment he could stay at? idk i just thought he was fun and SURELY there's a spell for that

basically there's road bumps for sure but at the core of the show is a band of friends. they LIKE each other, because i genuinely believe that's where the show is strongest. i never really cared for the dramatic plotlines, im really only in it for the characters i adore and their (ALMOST ENTIRELY PLATONIC UNLESS ITS FUNNY) relationships to one another. and it's at its weakest when everything's all gloomy and dramatic. so let it be lighthearted and let them be FRIENDS

[kinardsevan]

Okay so I know we saw Natalia have to contend with Buck and his antics with Lucy and Taylor in s6 when they were looking at that being the end, but I don't want that for Tommy.

For Tommy, I want Abby and Ali. I want him to meet Abby in passing (someone wrote fic about this that I think actually works well). Like maybe Abby is just in town for a minute on a trip and they meet, but instead of us getting Tommy seeing Evan's past relationship with her, we get this moment where Tommy's just kinda like "you broke him, and he tried to find a way to fix it for years. And I had to figure out how to piece him back together by the time we met". But also like, they don't hate each other? Because Tommy also understands why she left (similar to why he left the 118). But at the same time, Tommy recognizes that the relationship with Abby did more damage to Evan than his entire relationship with Taylor did. (Extra points if the invisible string theory about Tommy being Abby's Tommy is right, and it all just ends up being a weird tangled string, bc I feel like Abby would've known on some level then, and she'd just be happy to see Evan and Tommy both settled).

And then with Ali, it really writes itself. Evan does something Full Buck that gets him hurt, and Tommy is pissed and Evan thinks he's going to leave because that's what people do to in his life, and idk maybe they're bickering in a coffee shop and they run into Ali by happenstance, and then when she leaves, they're still bickering and Evan says something to the effect of "Why don't you take after Ali and just leave." And they're fighting so Tommy's all "okay fine, I will".

But then later on, after a shift or whatever (maybe he just called Eddie or Chim, and they told him the full story), he comes home and Evan is pouting, still not over their fight and Tommy has his moment of being like "I didn't realize you meant for good. But I'm not leaving you. I might get upset and need to breathe, but I'm in this with you".

I would like to see that kind of recurrence with the ex-girlfriends.

[ddejavvu]

hey!! can i request for aaron hotchner? so one day, aaron saw this trend on tiktok where people make their partner choose between two papers and whatever paper they choose decides which they're gonna do or eat, and aaron wanted to do that with girlfriend!bau!reader because he loves spoiling you 🤭💞💘

so one day, he was standing in front of you with a handsome grin (just thinking about him grinning makes me so 🤭💞💕💘💝) and then he holds up two papers with his one hand while the other is holding his phone, recording your reaction, and he's like "honey, choose," and you started laughing when you realized what he's doing and you thought he's gonna prank you or something (maybe a continuation from the bereal request by the other anon, — which is a really good fic by the way 🤭💗— so the reader's thinking maybe this is his payback from the time when you did a trend and wiped his kiss 🤔) but you went with it and chose

but he really does just wants to spoil you!! so by the end of the day, it was super fluffy and you were spoiled by aaron, and both of you are happy. aaron loves nothing more than spoiling you, seeing you smiling and happy, especially because of him 🥺🥺💗💗

ohhhh you totally think he's just messing with you!!!!!! especially 'cause penelope definitely saw the tiktok you made with aaron about wiping away his kiss and she is so evil that she teased him about it!! right in the middle of the bullpen she teased him about how worried he was and hotch's grumpy face got all red and >:||||

so when he approches you with the camera and a big ol grin on his face ( i agree, his grin makes me 💞💞💞💞💞 ) you kinda giggle like aah revenge, hm? but the first little slip of paper you choose says 'donuts' and you're like.. omg donuts for breakfast. i must have picked the good one.. what's the other one?? and you snatch that one too to look at it and it says ice cream!! you just look up at him with these sweet shiny eyes that have his heart thumping a million miles per hour in his chest and you're like omg 💞💞💞🥹🥹🥹 really?? really aaron?? really?!?!?!!? 🥹🥹🥹💞💞💞

n he's like !! yes really !! mhm !! let's go get dooonuttsssss ☺️☺️☺️ !!! so he takes you in and you get two donuts, but you definitely split it with him, 'cause he just got a cup of black coffee because he is the most boring grumpy man on earth - you're feeding him little bites of the donut and he's getting all flustered and blushy and grinny aaaah

next is a shopping spree!! probably lets you choose between shopping malls on your next slips of paper, and then you're free to run rampant around whichever one you choose. there is no spending limit, but he won't let you just take his card, 'cause he wants to do the spoiling himself >:)) he heads to the cashier with a big hefty basket full of clothes or shoes or craft supplies or beauty products or candles or books or cookware or athletic gear or whatever you manage to stock up on at the various stores and lets you snuggle into his shoulder as he swipes his card ( daddy's got money >:))) ) and ofc he's your bagboy!! you can run around the mall grabbing more stuff from stores, he'll trail behind you and carry all of your bags :]

next is lunch, and you've got the option between your two favorite fast food places :')) it's only fast food though bc he wants to double task, he lets you choose between visiting an animal shelter and visiting a museum and he wants to drive while you eat. you end up picking the animal shelter, which is a relief because he knows you would have been disappointed to miss that even if you did enjoy the museum. he doesn't actually let you see what you picked this time, but he'll let you see the 'museum' one so that you can get just a liiiittle sad that you're not going there and then BAM. pulls up to the animal shelter and it all goes away.

you recognize the building, but there's a few little boutiques in the same parking lot so you turn to him like 🥺 aaron where r we going 🥺 trying not to get your hopes up bc you don't wanna pitch a fit if you think you're getting a pet and then you end up going clothes shopping again!! but he grins and leans over the center console to kiss you and he says 'we're going to the shelter, honey. penelope's on petsitting duty.' and !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💞💞💞💞

you're sooo excited, you race inside and whether you choose to head to the dog section, the cat section, the bird section, the bunny section, or whatever else they've got, you are just sososososo happy to be there making new friends :'))) aaron watches as you win over a really shy, really scared puppy, or get the hissiest, scratchiest little cat to trust you, or manage to get a bunny to fall asleep right in your lap and the entire time he's just got this crazy fond adoring smile on his face :'))) he takes a million and one pictures, and tbh he's not trying but i bet he's got little critters crawling all over him too.. like he's trying to take a picture of you loving on a sweet pitbull you're petting and there's a little chihuahua worming her way under his arm and sniffing all excitedly in his ear 🥹🥹🥹 he laughs and kinda squirms away from her wet little nose but he def spends the rest of the time petting her and he might even bend his original plan a little if you want to take her home as well :')) aaron is def the man to pretend he does NOT want a dog and then two days later is moving his spot on the couch every hour as the sun moves through your living room so that she can always be sunbathing in his lap 💞💞

anyways i got on a tangent about hotch + puppies BUT !! afterwards ofc you need supplies for whatever pet(s) you've chosen, so you head over to the pet store and you get to spoil your new babies just like aaron has spoiled you all day :')) it takes a while, you need to be sure you're getting the right stuff/enough stuff to keep them well taken care of, and maybe you get a little overboard with the toys.. whatever.. but then you head back home for a bit to get them situated, get everything dog/cat/pet proofed, and then it's time for dinner!! he's a little sad bc if you had gone to the museum he was going to take you out for a nice dinner afterwards but since you're home with new pet(s) now and you don't want to leave them quite yet, he decides to let you choose between takeout places, but he's only sad 'cause he doesn't get to spoil you with an elegant dinner!! he's more than happy to curl up on the couch with some takeout containers and your new pet(s), if you'd gone the dog route he's probably all stern while they beg for a bite of his dinner like >:| no >:| and ofc he's sooo scary and intimidating so the dog listens to him right away but you're less scary and intimidating and the puppy can have some noodles if they want !!!!!!!

if you'd gone the cat route, your new kitty probably does not beg for food, they just take it <3 aaron goes hey! and you look up from the tv to see a little clawed paw swiping away a piece of his chicken >:)) this is the beginning of their feud they bicker all the time.

the birds and the bunnies (and probably whatever other animal you'd decided on) are easier to wrangle for dinnertime, but the night ends with you all snuggled up with aaron and (probably) your new pet(s), you're watching a movie on the couch and do not think about aaron and your new little puppy or kitty yawning in unison 🥺🥺 UGH you are just so happy and full of love for your wonderful man who looooves spoiling you, you definitely give his face a billion smooches and he gets all grinny and red and smiley when you do !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if he posts the video as a tiktok (with penelope's help) no one lets him live it down, they're all teasing him about how whipped he is for you but atp he doesn't care !!!!!!! he's more focused on watching you watch the video and reliving the memories :')))

[bubba-draws]

Ok I'll bite; in the Radi Vessel AU, what would Hollow's relationship with Ghost be? Would they be hostile toward them, welcoming as long as they don't try and stop them, or protective toward them to try and make up for the past? Heck, I could even see in that case Radi!Hollow trying to keep Ghost at their side at all times and learning to gaslight them into staying with them?

OK SO It took me a bit to answer this because to me the relationship between Ghost and Hollow is very unusual, especially bc of personal Headcanons I have about them

To me Ghost and Hollow were somewhat closer the moment both of them hatched in the Abyss, maybe not 100% attached to each other, but they still did care about the other, up until Hollow was picked by PK and they just decided to go with him, not thinking too much about their decision at that moment bc, well, you cannot expect a kid to take good decisions HAKDHAJD

I don't think Ghost felt betrayed? Just very confused as to why their sibling isn't there anymore? and lonely because there was barely any living vessel down there and the ones that lived didn't want anything to do with them (kinda like when u take a puppy from their litter and it misses their presence)

After they escaped the Abyss and went out of Hallownest, Ghost would eventually forget about Hollow (because bugs that leave Hallownest lose their memories), in the other hand though, Hollow does remember Ghost, and as they grew older they would always wonder happened to them (They were definitely dead, right? Just like the rest of their siblings down there, right?) But as the Hollow Knight they forbid themselves to think too much about it and then as the Radiance Vessel there was no point on wondering, even if they left the Abyss to exist, they could no longer go there, for their light was dangerous to the void and vice versa, if they were dead finding their mask was hopeless, if they were alive they would def try and attack them or hide from them

In the game Ghost comes back to Hallownest bc of Hollow no longer being able to hold on the Radiance, their scream (or rather Radi's scream, though I'd like to think part of the call came from them as well, even if they don't really have a voice?? It's weird ahskshdjd bc to me rather than following the call of the Radiance it was the vessels trying to find the sibling that called bc they're in lot of pain) calling the vessels towards them, if we go by this au, it would be because Ghost would accidentally stumble back into Hallownest, no call to answer, just coming to a kingdom that is far too eerie

At this point I am not sure how they reach their meeting, but I know it's not gonna be a pleasant one. It would take time for Hollow to recognize Ghost, but by the time they do they wouldn't just accept them with open arms, mostly bc I think at this point Ghost tried to pull an Ultrakill in the kingdom AJDJAKFBSKJG so it's a bunch of mixed feelings

But when the anger of their reunion dies down I think the guilt Hollow felt back then would crawl back, the thoughts they stopped from forming many times finally appear and the grief they were trying to ignore comes in waves, bc hey, the sibling they missed was alive all along! But they don't seem to remember them at all and is 100% down to throw fists

So, to summarize: First there's hostility, then guilt and sadness, then annoyance at Ghost's attempts to fight Hollow but also protectiveness because despite everything, Hollow wants to give Ghost the life Hollow wish they could've had (plus if somehow they make Ghost not wanting to attack anything Radi related then maybe they can use that as a case so Radi can let Hollow search for any other sibling that may stay still alive)

All of that could happen if Hornet does not intercede Ghost before they go bonkers in Hallownest HAKDHSJD

Hopefully this answered ur question! If u got any more or any ideas you'd like to share I'm open to hear them :3

[aangarchy]

Netflix atla live action review ep 7-8

Home stretch baby. I figured since i love the source material i should just be able to enjoy it, or at least be entertained by it somewhat. But even that was just not possible. I pirated it after the first three episodes just bc i didn't want to give netflix the satisfaction of a view.

It's not so much the acting, the costumes or even the bad/mediocre cgi, it's the writing. It's an absolute shitshow, a mess of the highest caliber. For someone who claims to love the source material, it really seems like Albert Kim didn't understand why a lot of the things in the original worked the way they did. Things that are important for character growth got removed, and lore that we normally don't see til later on in the show (or even in a completely different story within this universe!!) got crammed in. For no good reason too bc it doesn't really add anything, just gives us another obstacle or useless exposition that's supposed to explain another useless thing they added.

Both of the last episodes take place in the north pole. This makes sense somewhat because in the original all three of the last episodes took place there. The reason they did this in the original is to have room for all of the stories that still need to take place (pakku, zuko, spirit world, koh, waterbending training, sokka and yue etc.) However in this version, even though minutes wise we have more time, we have less story. Like way less. Also episode 7 proportionally is much shorter than 8 and it really gives issues with pacing.

Let's start with what annoyed me most. Where is the waterbending training? Where is it? The season's title is Water and Aang bent ZERO water this entire season unless he was in the avatar state. Katara "trains" yes, but it's mostly practicing moves she found on the scroll (which gran gran just gave to her? Why didn't this woman give it to her sooner???). She gets NO guidance from anyone, and the way she gets better at bending each time is because a BOY told her encouraging things. A BOY. In the OG we get Pakku saying "raw talent alone is not enough", which makes sense because bending in this universe is an extension of martial arts, and you have to train to become good at martial arts. This LA show however treated bending like a magic power, basically giving some mumbo jumbo about balance and a clear head and think of the people you love to become a better bender. And while yes, your mental headspace also is important (as highlighted in the original where zuko couldn't bend anymore bc he had no aggression left) it wasn't the only factor, it wasn't even the main factor.

When we arrive at the North Pole, Pakku and the chief of the North both expect Aang to help with battle strategy in order to stop the attack bc they're already aware it's coming. Aang tells them he doesn't really know how (wtf were they even expecting it mean that is a whole 12yr old) and they turn away going "guess we can't count on the avatar" like? Dude?? If they have such good intel that they already know the fire nation is preparing an attack, and that the Avatar is alive, how tf did you not hear that the Avatar is also 12 years old and far from a master of the four elements? Idk this weirded me out.

They removed the deserter episode, which means Aang doesn't renounce firebending, which means we get no storyline of Aang dealing with his conflicted feelings surrounding firebending because fire gives life, not just destruction. Katara also doesn't find out she can heal naturally. We just get told that healing is just a thing all waterbenders can do if they train for it. Katara's necklace has no significance at all in the story currently. Yugoda doesn't recognize that Katara is Kanna's granddaughter. Katara's gran gran being from the north originally doesn't play part in the story at all. Katara doesn't even once utter the words "this necklace used to be my mother's". Idk why that bothers me so much but it does. They also removed her rage at not being allowed to fight. Sure this show's Katara also goes to fight Pakku, but literally everytime she speaks she just sounds reasonable. She fights him not because she's So Enraged at not being allowed to become the master she's meant to be, but because the script demands it. She says it so matter of factly too. She's like a mellowed out shell of who Katara is supposed to be. I feel like this overall for her character in this show btw. I don't blame Kiawentiio bc i saw clips of her performance in other works (anne with an e notably) and she's good. This genuinely just seems like poor writing and directing. They removed all of Katara's passion. She's not warm, she's not feisty, she's not angry, she's not nurturing, she's also not flawed at all. I hate to say it but in this version she's giving Mary Sue, especially bc she just learns waterbending on her own, and then gets called a master out of nowhere. That's not how that's supposed to work. You're supposed to earn the term master.

Let's talk about Yue. Amber Midthunder is a great actress, but damn, that wig. Their budget was over 100 million dollars and yet they couldn't give my girl a lace front? Her wig was so structured and stiff, and if it were any other context like cosplay or a drag show this would have been perfect. Now it just looked really unnatural and instead of the hair being platinum it was gray. Yue's character got given more to do here. They changed the story to have her break her own engagement, but it's implied that the reason she did this is bc she met Sokka in the spirit world and... fell in love? Idk it was a bit weird. Both Suki and Yue were inexplicably entranced with Sokka. In the OG it's implied that Yue likes Sokka bc he's so different from the boys in the north, kind of like a city girl falling in love with a country boy. But here it feels different, he doesn't stand out at all compared to the other boys, and Hahn isn't a dickhead like the OG. I will say i like that Yue is a stronger character here. She takes charge of her own destiny and she is the one to realize that she can save the moon spirit, and wasn't told by someone else that she could do it. I am confused by them making her a waterbender, but i'm not mad at that change per se. I liked her sacrifice scene, her own acting was great. Sokka however... i genuinely burst out laughing, like so loud. The zoom in on his face, the expression, it was too much and too little at once. Overall, Yue's story was okay. Was it better than the original? Debatable. But it wasn't bad and that's a win.

We get Avatar Kuruk way earlier than we originally got him. I'm still kind of confused about the whole "you can talk to past Avatars but only in their shrine with their statue" thing, because if that's the case how in the hell is Aang ever gonna ask advice from Roku (or Kyoshi, since the writers clearly have a bias towards her and want to make her the main Avatar guide ig) without having to travel all the way to the shrine? Can they only talk in the one specific shrine or can we take a miniature set of Avatar action figures with us just in case we ever need advice? Also this lore abt the shrines and statues is flawed at best bc later on Kuruk shows up for Aang during the fight, while they're not present at the shrine. Either way, Kuruk was far from the go with the flow Avatar he was characterized as in the original. I know that we got some insight into Kuruk's story in the Kyoshi novels, and turns out it's a lot darker than expected, but Kuruk never let that change his character. He always remained chill, or at least kept up the facade, and i don't think OG Kuruk would be the type of man that is angry about how his life turned out. In this version, Kuruk is this scared, mean, bitter man who is really unsatisfied with his destiny, which he lashed out at Aang for. He seemed really angry at Aang to for no good reason. We're also not supposed to know this part about Kuruk's life yet. It's too much information and de waste time learning about his life story, the only reason we learn it in the first place is to explain the Special Spirit Killing Knife. Also the actor for Kuruk.... yikes bro. Idk which hallmark movie they pulled him from but he and his stupid polar bear hat looked like ass the whole time.

So there's this weird part about Kuruk having a Special Knife that is able to kill spirits. Idk if this is a thing from the Kyoshi novels that also made it into this show bc truth be told i haven't made it far into those novels yet at all, but it was strange to me. Somehow Zhao has this knife. We don't know how he ended up getting it (did the fire sage give it to him? I didn't see it but i might have missed it) and we pretend that this is the Only Thing that can kill spirits even when the spirits are mortal. Doesn't that negate the fact that the spirits are mortal, if they can only be killed by a Special Knife? Also there's this weird convoluted part about how the spirits actually live in the spirit world and only cross to the physical world once every ice moon to know what it feels like to be "mortal" and choose a different "mortal" form each time and this time they happened to be fish. But still, they can Only Be Killed By The Special Knife. Huh? What's the purpose of this added extra lore? I saw someone say the underlying point is that it shouldn't be this easy to kill spirits but.... that's the whole idea behind the Ocean and Moon spirits having permanent mortal forms? Them being mortal and choosing a form as insignificant as a fish, constantly circling each other to represent the precarious balance between Ocean and Moon, a balance that can be thrown off very easily. The whole point was that they're fragile so why add all this extra exposition for no reason? Why make the spirits harder to kill if in the end you're still just gonna have a guy stabbing a wet bag and not some rough spirit killing battle?

Zhao also just gets told by the fire sage that killing the moon is a thing he can do. I don't like what this changes about Zhao's character. Zhao is supposed to be this cunning man. He's scary, determined, strategically inclined, but alas overconfident and willing to go too far which ends up being his downfall. His ambition is what led him to do his own research by visiting a spirit library to find any weakness he could potentially exploit, and that's precisely what he found. In the original, Zhao always fought for his own career. His own accomplishments got him the tools to try and beat Zuko in the Avatar race. But in this version, Zhao just keeps getting handed things. He's a slippery snake that plays friends with Zuko and then tries to steal the glory from under his nose. He gets handed the archers, he gets handed the information on the moon spirit, he gets handed a war balloon (which completely ruins the surprise of the fire nation suddenly having air power at the invasion), and he gets helped by Azula of all people. It makes him look a bit chumpy in this story, and it really worsens his villain qualities.

On a completely other note, this LA seems to have a thing for making adults yell at a 12yr old Avatar for leaving the world behind, and it doesn't make any sense, because in this story Aang left on Appa for a joyride to clear his head. Aang didn't purposely leave. He had every intention of returning after an hour. Yet every adult in this show, even the past Avatars that know damn well Aang didn't flee from his responsibilities, yells at him bc he accidentally got encased in ice. And somehow this Aang gets made to feel worse about it than OG Aang even though he deserves it way less bc this Aang didn't actually run away! I don't like what this changes about Aang's character. In the OG, Aang has one fatal character flaw and that's avoiding responsibility. He runs away, and has problems with taking accountability for what his actions cost the world. He goofs around, plays games and likes to have fun to avoid having to face his destiny, all while carrying the guilt and blame for the century war. It's a huge part of Aang's character journey. The guilt he feels isn't misplaced bc Aang knows he ran off, and he knows that the world is in its current state because of his decision. In the end he takes responsibility by showing up to the fight with Ozai alone. In this LA, even though by all means Aang shouldn't feel responsible, he ends up taking responsibility right away. He goes to Kyoshi Island, not to goof around and ride giant koi, but because he knows he can talk to Kyoshi there. Kyoshi yells at him for leaving (again, why? She knows he didn't run away) and gives him a vision about the watertribe getting destroyed. Instead of panicking about it (like OG Aang did after finding out abt the comet) he just accepts that he needs to go and help. And while this Aang does get to have fun moments (i especially loved how in the first episode he sees playing watertribe children and immediately joins them, that was quintessential Aang), he just seems very down and serious a lot of the time. He's scared of people getting hurt and is very worried abt the safety of his friends to the point where he agrees with Pakku and tells Katara she shouldn't fight. It's not Aang at all bc OG Aang was rooting for Katara when she fought Pakku. To sum it up: i think the casting for Aang was perfect. A cute southeast asian skater kid that loves to have fun and genuinely just looked the part? Brilliant! I am genuinely not upset at Gordon's performance at all (although sometimes i wish he'd enunciate a bit better). But the writing messed up the character so much that i couldn't even feel the joy for having the perfect looking Aang. I will say Koifish Godzilla (Koizilla if you will) looked dope. What did confuse me abt the Koizilla scenes is that sometimes there was no music (which is a choice i often like bc it gives the scene extra gravitas) and then sometimes there was a majestic score playing in the back, like they couldn't choose how they were gonna execute it and just picked both. I know that's nitpicky but it bothered me nonetheless.

Speaking of Koizilla. Wtf was that thing they added about Aang "succumbing" to the ocean spirit and being "lost"? They didn't even explain it at all, but both Yue and Iroh talked about how Aang would be lost forever now. We don't get a why, we don't get a how. And "lost" is such a vague word for it too. Like would his spirit be lost and only his body remain? Would he be completely swallowed up by the ocean? Would he remain Koizilla, forever rampaging at the ice wall? They added this for extra tension i guess, but it doesn't really work when only minutes later Aang is able to return no problem bc Katara talked him out of it, so we don't even get to find out what "he'll be lost forever" means. Also: the scene with Katara talking Aang out of it was cute, but the execution was weird. Originally Katara gives this speech when Aang goes Avatar state at the southern airtemple. I like that they still kept Katara's speech to Aang bc it highlights their bond which is especially important for later on in the show, but I don't like how now Katara had to give this really heartfelt emotional speech to Aang in front of everyone else at the northern watertribe. It's supposed to be quite an intimate moment between her, Sokka and Aang as a new family, they're supposed to promise they won't let anyone harm him, which eventually calms him down. Here though Katara's just yelling these words at him in front of everyone and all the intimacy is gone. It also doesn't work as well bc we barely got any time of the gaang bonding. They spend episode 3-6 apart most of the time, so really they shouldn't feel this bond towards each other just yet. Because this LA removed a lot of the side adventures, we don't get the feeling that these kids have known each other for months.

Another thing they removed is Appa and Momo as characters. In the original they each get their own moments, we even got one whole episode with Appa as the main character (which won an award btw). Here though, Appa is solely used as a transportation animal and Momo... honestly i don't even remember what he does but i think it's mostly a small comedic bit? Also he hands the acorn to one of the characters. This is a bad change bc in these episodes Momo gets hurt so bad he nearly dies, and it has no emotional impact at all bc he's just an accessory in this story. I felt no emotional attachment to Momo and he just has no personality. I wonder how this choice is gonna play out when we get the kidnapped Appa story bc so far it's not looking good.

Anyway, for positives. I warmed up on Dallas's performance a lot, i wasn't that mad at Ian Ousley's performance and there were moments where he genuinely made me laugh. The cgi for the creatures was decent, but for the backgrounds it looked horrible. I liked that they showed how devastating the Seige of the North ended up being, with the unnamed kid and Hahn both dying. I liked the effect showing those two had on our main characters. I liked when Aang, Sokka and Katara all worked together taking out that one firenation ship. I liked the way they showed Sokka and Yue bonding. I really warmed up to the costumes as well, i still wish they dirtied it up a little to make them look less new.

There's probably some more positives but they're really minor compared to the negatives and also my brain is just done atp. I'm never gonna rewatch it for more analysis either bc i don't think i'll survive it lol. I might make another post abt my opinion on the show as a whole? Like an overall summary? Bc this shit is VERY long and i do apologize. If you made it this far, uhm. Thanks for caring abt my opinion so much that you sat down for like 10 minutes to read my angry yapping? I appreciate it.

Anyway bye

[lazaruspiss]

Begging for jaydick headcanons because I'm also a Jaydick hoe 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

where do i begin. horny? horny probably.

Dick bottoms like 90% of the time but as far as any dom/sub things go those two are the switches to end all switches. both need to be told they're a Good Boy while getting the soul fucked out of em and both need to dote on the other and remind them how much they like (love) them.

i think they'd also both have a bit of a sadistic streak, but Dick is the only masochistic one. i don't think Jason would be too big on being roughed up in a sexual context, i just can't picture it. no physical roughness, no particularly intense degradation, but that just means Dick has to get creative lol. though on the subject Dick also wouldn't /like/ feeding his own sadism.

i have a fair few sadist Dick thoughts based of off the times in canon where he hurts someone, recognizes that he enjoys it, and express at least some level of disapproval towards himself for feeling that way. no one really talks about how Dick does seem to, yknow, like fighting. not bc he's some angry violent asshole or bc it's violence for the greater good, but just bc it scratches the ever persistent adrenaline need in his brain.

hmmmm. Dick getting fed up with Jason being too thoughtful. we're gonna tread a tiny bit into projection territory but stick with me. when someone spends too much time being used by people or constantly shaping themselves around what others want it can kinda fuck up their head. when someone approaches without wanting that, without wanting them to shape themself around what they want, it can be a shock. Jason so aggressively wants Dick to be independent and true to himself that it's something they fight over, bc Dick's entire life has revolved around serving others and Jason can't just uproot all that by telling him his entire life is a lie and that he should reevaluate everything about himself and everyone around him. ok yeah im having flashbacks to the jaydick thing i wrote forever ago. (x)

they can both cook and take turns planning meals, with one making sure to call/message the other if they get busy with something so that they can adjust their plans around whatevers happening. i can also see cooking being a bit personal and intimate to them. Jason sticks to eating shitty fast food most of the time and never really cared about proper meals when he was on his own, but now he has someone to come home to. someone to eat with. he cares a lot about cooking well because he wants to show without words just how much it means to him to have Dick around. Dick has been shown to cook for people when they come over, so i think it'd just feel like basic courtesy to him. some sort of standard politeness to feed and welcome his guests if he can. he wears himself thin a lot of the time and doesn't tend to make an effort to cook when it's just him, but when he does cook he enjoys it. repetitive motions, straightforward instructions, relaxing sounds and smells, cooking is fun. seeing Jason gorge himself is also very heartwarming, and more filling than any meal.

theyd have a mutual agreement to, /if/ they have kids, raise them non-religious. between Jason "possibly catholic but also died and so it's complicated" Todd and Dick "my religion is Batman" Grayson, they really don't wanna pass on any of that to any theoretical kids.

on the subject of child rearing still: i think Dick would be against sending them to any kind of private school. he had a very not good time there and thinks that if theres gonna be a chance for their kid to be picked on either way than he'd rather not waste the money. if anything he thinks private school would be worse, because all those shitty rich kids know each other and each others parents and he'd really prefer his kid not being beat up and called slurs bc of who their parents are. he'd rather homeschool if their schedules allowed it but he recognizes that would be too impractical. Jason would have more mixed feelings, bc there can be a bit of an advantage in the long run from having gone to a reputable and recognizable school, but he also isn't sure it's worth having an argument about when chances are the kids gonna learn all the important stuff from them anyways. there is a very tense conversation to be had before enrolling their baby in kindergarten.

they have a few too many conversations about theoretically having kids for guys who don't have the guts to just go for it. waiting for an orphan to drop in their laps like theyre fuckin batman. idiots.

they're a bit worried about the Titans' reaction but the worst that happens is Wally giving an exaggerated sigh as he gives Donna her well earned 50 bucks. everyone saw it coming, and you two are hopeless. Wally is excited to be Dick's best man for realsies this time, and Jason is on the receiving end of a few too many shovel talks. by the time Roy gets to him it's turned into

Roy: yeah i dont need to say it do i. blah blah hurt him and ill kill you and all that. congrats on the boyfriend.

Jason: oh cmon, i thought you would at least have some faith in me.

Roy: bros before hoes, sorry man.

Jason: ... excuse me?

Gar's version of a shovel talk is just turning into a grizzly bear and doing the "ive got my eyes on you" gesture. anyways Bruce is invited to the wedding on the condition that his assigned seat is next to the Riddler and he has to pretend that Brucie has gotten real into riddles lately. he has to laugh at Eddie's jokes under the threat of never being allowed to contact Dick or Jason again. Jason suggested it bc he thought it would be funny, Dick rolled his eyes but agreed bc it means Bruce can't corner him to berate him about his life choices.

[suddencolds]

sending u a star!! ⭐️ sorry i wanted to go thru and pick a specific fic but im too sleepy lol but any yvescent piece u had thoughts on :D

[from Fanfic Writers - Director's Cut]

hello!!! THANK YOU N, IT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY TO RECEIVE THIS 🥹🥹🥹

I also realize am responding to this like 2 months late :') I thought for a long time on which fic to comment on, and now that I've posted Atypical Occurrence pt. 2, I thought I might as well write out my thoughts on it while they're still fresh and bc it's close to my heart (I hope that's okay hehe)

—

⚠️❗️ Warning that I will be attaching snippets from my deleted drafts below!! Please read the published installment before you proceed to read this post. This is a little embarrassing... all I can say is that those drafts were deleted for a reason 🥴

—

There’s a grocery store that’s a ten minute drive from Vincent’s apartment. 

I rewrote this scene... 3 or 4 times? It gave me sooo much trouble 😭 I think in the first draft Vincent actually tears up tasting Yves's cooking. (I know, Vincent, I want Yves to cook for me too 😭❗️)

Terrible (ugh 😭) first draft screenshot under the cut (screenshot = old draft, indented quote = current draft):

(Yves pulling up a chair at the end... you can tell he is totally at a loss on what to do 😭 and I, too, was at a loss on what to do)

I wrote this ^, and I was like... this moment just feels unearned? I personally despise outlining + I love going in (mostly) blind. Sometimes the first draft works out of the box, and in this case, the first draft (and the second draft, and the third draft) were all soooo bad that I literally had to take a month-long break to regain my confidence 😭

Anyways! I knew right away that Y was going to cook something for V (it's mentioned here and there throughout the series that he is a really good cook 😭 And in part 3 of Fool Me Twice, Yves promises to make Vincent something more ambitious than hot chocolate. He's finally kept his promise now, 12 installments later 🙇‍♀️ )

From draft 2, there was only one scene which I was sure I was going to include in the final draft, aka, spared from the recycling bin. (But I just checked the final draft and it's nowhere to be seen?? Interesting.)

I would have managed fine on my own.

On this (deleted) scene, and more broadly: I think it's important to me that Yves recognizes that Vincent is self-sufficient in many ways: when Vincent says he will be fine alone, he is telling the truth. Yves doesn't have to stay—he recognizes this too, when he heads for the door in the published draft.

Still, Yves stays, of course—initially, because he insists, and later, because Vincent asks :)

“…You won’t leave unless I eat, then,” Vincent says. He says it evenly enough that it barely registers as a question. Yves smiles at him. It’s not a wrong conclusion. “Exactly,” he says.

It was really, really fun writing the differences between caretaker!Vincent (in Fool Me Twice pt. 5) and caretaker!Yves 😊 I usually don't like to say too much on the end of character analysis, bc I like my work to be interpreted as it is: the text is canon, and everything I'm saying here is just me yapping on about my headcanons. (I have been roasted for saying this by a dear friend of mine, probably rightfully so:)

With that disclaimer: Vincent to me (I can only speculate, etc) is a very no-bullshit caretaker (he likes to enforce whatever will lead most directly to the person's recovery; he actually worries a lot, but his worry often manifests as frustration/snappishness), whereas Yves is a lot more permissive and, for the most part, manages his stress—he is the eldest sibling, after all! I think he does what he can to make it a more tolerable experience :)

“So this is just a Yves thing.” “What? Showing consideration for my friends?”  “Showing consideration is one thing,” Vincent answers. “You could have left after dropping off the files. You would still have been showing your consideration.” “I guess that’s true. But at that point, I was already here,” Yves says, with a shrug. “It seemed logical to check up on you.” “Well, now you’ve checked up on me,” Vincent says. “So you can go.” Yves supposes this is true.

Vincent takes things very literally (and I think he's actually quite aware of the social niceties around these kinds of things, which is in part why he is so skeptical to assume that Yves means anything more.)

There’s a hand on his sleeve, tugging. Yves goes very still. When Vincent notices what he’s done, alarm flashes through his expression, and he pulls his hand away as if he’s burned.  “Sorry,” he murmurs, again. And just like that, he’s back to how he always is—his expression perfectly, carefully neutral, in a way that can only be constructed. “I’m sorry.” But Yves doesn’t forget what he’s seen. “You can go.”

This scene means a lot to me!! It took a loooot of editing to hammer into place (the doc I wrote it on is titled "fixing this scene would FIX ME" haha). I think this is the first time Vincent has actively sought out Yves's comfort 😭 And he regrets it almost as soon as he's said it, because he does not do things without a good justification, and wanting something—even wanting it badly—does not feel like a sufficient justification to him. But give Yves an inch and he will take a mile!! He will take a hundred miles!! That is just the kind of person that Yves is.

I was talking with some friends previously about how I wanted to write Vincent reaching out for Yves. How I wanted Vincent to, through the haze of fever, cross a line that he'd previously not allowed himself to cross :') I think it is a time-old trope to have someone, in their feverish delirium, utter something embarrassing and utterly uncharacteristic of them, or divulge something that has been difficult for them to say.

This whole time drafting, I was thinking, how can I set up a moment like that and have it feel earned? How badly would he have to be feeling? What kind of setup would justify getting past his 590859 mental defenses? (I do not like to outline, but sometimes I do have an emotional beat that I have in mind, and then I have to work backwards to figure out the setup. This took SO much working back from, and I really thought about it for very long). I was almost sure that Vincent would regret it immediately after too 😭

Yves opens his arms out in offering, tries on a smile. “I’ve been told I give good hugs. Good enough to cure all ailments, obviously.”

Ahh, so Y offering V a hug is inspired by a fic I read 6 years ago, where a character offers another a hug as a joke and then the other character surprises them by taking it. Yves is really offering here, but I think he recognizes that joking about it will make it easier for Vincent to accept 😭

Yves has hugged a fair share of people in his life. He doesn’t think he’d be able to list them all if he were asked to. It’s different, though, being so close to Vincent—so close that Yves can reach out and let his hair fall through his fingertips. He can lift up his palm and feel the rigid line of his spine, the slope of his shoulders; he could reach out and trace the dip of his wrist, the form of his hand. Vincent’s chin digs slightly into his left shoulder. His nose is turned slightly into Yves’s neck—like this, he is almost perfectly still. Yves can feel the warm brush of air against his neck whenever Vincent exhales. He is so close that Yves is afraid, for a moment, that he might hear how badly his heart is racing.

I have nothing to say about this paragraph except that I edited it for like 40 minutes straight.

Last thing!!

“We had a habit of keeping the heat off, in the winters, and closing the windows.”

The scene near the end (where Vincent tells Yves about his childhood) is actually the scene which came the most easily to me. I also did not write it last; I jumped around. It took me around 1.5 hours. (By comparison, simply editing the scene before it took 11 😵‍💫)

I did always intend for Vincent to disclose... well, /something/ about himself. (You can tell that when I plan, that's really as far as I plan LOL)

Anyways, when Vincent wakes Yves up (after Yves falls asleep at his desk), I initially wrote it so that Yves wakes Vincent from a nightmare.

But (as direct a link to vulnerability as that might have been,) Vincent would not talk about his nightmare 😭 So I switched gears.

I also specifically wanted to write about Vincent's experience being cared for growing up. I think something that's culturally resonant with me (as an Asian American, and the eldest daughter to immigrant parents) is like, the ways families can and cannot say I love you—the quiet things that are done in place of a more direct expression of it. The way that while unspoken consideration can speak volumes, it can just as easily be invisible. But even now, writing this post, I feel like it's difficult for me to untangle the feelings and experiences I've had into something that feels sufficiently multifaceted.

Vincent has a different childhood from I do (it is probably worth noting that I do not project onto any of my characters, nor do I use them as a vessel to get my own experiences across). I think I'm just drawn to writing tricky/non-straightforward expressions of love, in general :) Sometimes that is the kind of love that resonates with me most.

[justablah56]

Dndads?

DNDADS !!!! I'm assuming you're asking me like . what it is n shit . if not . my b . bcs I am about to give you as big of an infodump as I can without spoiling anything lmao .

anyways hello my dear follower , my beloved dungeons and daddies (not a bdsm podcast) is my favorite thing ever <3 it's usually very loosely a dnd podcast , season three tho switches into the call of cthulhu system .

season one is 69 (nice) episodes about four normal world dads and their sons who all get sucked into faerun , a dnd world basically , through a portal while trying to go to their kids soccer game lmao . they end up losing their kids and basically the whole season is them trying to find their kids and then trying to find a way back home with tons of little side quests and detours that they take along the way . most of it is super comedic and lighthearted and it's also just fucking insane sometimes but it also has a lot of super compelling emotional moments and iughencmd it's so good oh my god .

season two is a continuation of the world created in season one , but now the players are playing as the teenaged grandchildren of their original dad characters , and it's heavily influenced by season one so you can't really listen to it on its own . season two is 50 smthin episodes of these teens basically trying to clean up the world after the things that their parents (aka , the kids from season one , aka , the kiddads) and their grandparents did between seasons to try and fix things and kinda ended up making everything worse cbnsndnsnd and it kinda starts off with the kiddads all going missing and suddenly these teenagers are supposed to be in charge of everything the kiddads were originally doing to fix everything . season two is I think a bit less comedic than season 1 , but it does have like . twice as many of those absolutely fucking insane moments lmao , and it does still have a lot of cool emotional moments and ougjfj it's all so good .

a lot of what I post abt usually has to do with this sort of untold season that happened between seasons with the kiddads . a lot of people are very attached to the kiddads , and to me a lot of it is bcs these are the characters we've known for the longest and we've seen them as kids and we see how the events of the first seasons shaped them into the adults they are in season two and man . it's just so cool . season two gives us a lot of small hints to stuff that happened between seasons , and we get a few flashbacks , but there's a lot of stuff that we don't know , and there's so much speculation abt how things happened and it's a very fun sandbox to play in chwndnsnmxx anyways .

season three started just a bit ago , there's 3 episodes so far . they switched who was the dm and so it's a new universe with no relation to the first two seasons , and could pretty easily be listened to on its own . season three is set at some point in the 1950s , and the four characters don't really have like . a solid thing they can all be described as . there's like . a teacher and a weird wife and a car salesman and a teenager . they're great . but it's these four characters who are all in a bowling league together and they're kinda figuring out that hey weird stuff is happening around here and there's monsters and just a ton of stuff and so far it is absolutely hilarious , I love it dearly <3 every character is just . fucking insane . and the dynamic is great , it's just awesome and I personally am having a blast with it so far

ok anyways . thats dndads lmao . if theres anything more specific you want to know literally pleaaaaase ask me and I will be soooooo excited to tell you cndnmxmdmd I'm completely and utterly obsessed with this podcast , I've listened to it . so many times . I will talk about it any chance I get , it's just great . I love it . and that's not even to mention the wonderful community here on Tumblr !!!! it's a relatively small fandom , so for the most part everyone at least recognizes everyone else , and everyone is just so awesome , ive made so many friends through this fandom , its great