#best ships with the best parallels

[333itgirl]

total insanity.

[sloanegabe]

Love, Rosie (2014) and One Day (2024) parallels

[intermundia]

anakin's unparalleled ability to become his vehicle, to extend his awareness beyond himself and mesh into the machinery, disappearing into the environment of the race, the battle, and reacting with superhuman unconscious skill and reflex—it's been with him since he was a small boy, and continued well into his adulthood. it's a fundamental part of who he is and how he interacts with the force, the context in which he excels beyond any other human. he doesn't have to reason, doesn't have space to even think, he's bigger than himself and transcends himself. qui-gon told him to feel, not to think, to trust his instincts, and this is the only time when that advice is completely valid. when anakin is a pilot, he can forget about all his pain and fear. he can be really free to lose himself, and become the best version of himself at the same time.

[starcurtain]

Hello! Wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed your analysis on Aventurine’s theming - and yea big agree that part of the charm of the guy is that he’s a weird paradox (he got everything one should technically want, and he also lost absolutely everything he cares about) - and also I like your comment that he is, as a character, actually pretty obnoxious (it’s an odd character charm point to me)

Also your post on the way he interacts with the ladies in the cast kinda reminded me - I know folks tend to focus in Ratio’s note but I ended up zoning in on his convo with Acheron more than anything else - because a lot of Penacony is Aven butting heads with other aeon-touched people (Acheron, Sunday) - but Acheron seems like a fun foil because she also has a pretty double-edged metaphysical blessing that is associated with losing everything she loved, but she ironically hasn’t given in to full meaninglessness.

I think one of Aventurine's defining character traits is that he "tests" everyone he encounters to judge whether they are trustworthy or whether they are a danger to him (I guarantee you, he has some kind of mental ranking scale for how likely people are to dislike or mistreat him), and I think his being obnoxious is actually a direct offshoot of this.

Kakavasha clearly was raised with manners; he knows how to be polite and to tone down his responses to social situations as appropriate, which means that, in every other scenario, he is actively choosing to be obnoxious, even in situations where it seemingly won't benefit him (like talking back to the slave master or being too forward when first meeting Sunday, for example) because it allows him to gauge exactly how others feel about him and exactly how much they will let him get away with.

People who play along are potential allies (Robin, the Trailblazer) and people who act grumpy but actually tolerate the obnoxiousness are safe (Ratio, Sparkle, most of the rest of the Express Crew), while people who respond poorly (Sunday, basically everyone else Aventurine dealt with in the past, etc.) are forced into showing their true colors. If minor obnoxious behaviors can provoke them, then it means their core response to Aventurine is likely to be one of dislike and disrespect. He's just forcing that response from them out into the light sooner, rather than later, by being obnoxious from the get-go.

(And, to a certain extent, I think he also just finds it fun to be a bit obnoxious. Like, he's free to say and do whatever he wants now--who is going to stop him from being a brat if that's what he feels like doing?)

But on to Acheron... Yes, I do think there are a lot of parallels between Acheron and Aventurine (came from a doomed people, lost everyone, both determined to hold out against nihility and live just for the sake of living, "blessed" by aeons), but I think narratively speaking, the story puts Acheron in a different position when her tale entangles with Aventurine's: the surrogate big sister role.

Acheron's a very good parallel to Aventurine's sister in numerous ways: First, she essentially sacrificed herself to defeat the evil threatening her people, but is ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in the permanent loss of all she knew.

This loss also resulted in Aventurine's sister actually dying, while Raiden Mei experienced a symbolic death, taking on the name "Acheron" to evoke the Underworld, getting a ghostly, bleached white form, and prowling the river of nihility like a wandering spirit of the dead.

Second, the philosophy Acheron espouses is nearly identical to Aventurine's sister. When even as a child Kakavasha was doubting the value and meaning of life, his sister was the one constantly reaffirming that life has meaning, despite its hardships, and that continuing to exist is the way to honor those who have sacrificed for you. Just as Aventurine's sister expresses that people must hold on to faith, Acheron reminds everyone she encounters to cling to the last bit of color and light in their lives.

This ends up being echoed by the role of guidance that she plays for Aventurine, with him both directly relying on her for his continued survival:

And turning to her in his moment of greatest emotional need:

(Sound familiar? It should. This is the exact same question Kakavasha once asked his sister.)

But there's also a very, very nice visual parallel that goes on with Acheron and Aventurine's sister: the dusk rain that accompanies her.

For Aventurine, the rain has complicated emotional connotations. For the Avgin, it was desperately needed, life-giving water, and thus was considered a direct blessing from Gaiathra. Rain on Aventurine's birthday was the sign of his being favored by the aeon, and yet it also rained on the day he lost everything and had to flee from the only home he had ever known (conveniently also his birthday, dude this guy's life sucks).

Meanwhile, the rain for Acheron is equally complex--rain can bring life, the renewal of barren, lifeless lands... But we also see the rain accompany Acheron through her worst loss, the final collapse of her planet:

It also is said to rain constantly within the shadow of nihility, a lightless gray that washes away all that people wish to cling to.

For both Acheron and Aventurine's sister, the rain accompanies the end of their "lives," the backdrop to their ultimate sacrifices.

Yet it is also in the rain that they both send Aventurine onward, escaping from the cage of his destiny into a "better" life. From beneath the shadow of the storm, they both bid him to go and not turn back, freeing him and permanently changing the course of his life.

The rain that took everything from both Aventurine's sister and Acheron is ultimately what saves him.

It's all a very tidy and well-written parallel.

[alliseaisfandom]

Look.

I'm not saying I've seen this film before.

BUT

I'VE SEEN

THIS FILM

BEFORE

(and I fucking hated the ending)

[unicornblossom13]

[Catadora & Megop Parallels]

At the start of Transformers One, I think Orion Pax was a bit more similar to Catra, as both were stuck in jobs they were unsatisfied with and wanted to do something more with their lives.

Meanwhile, Adora and D-16 were more serious minded and content with following the rules and work their way up in an environment that was unfair, and sometimes cruel, but was all they knew.

However, in the second half of the movie, when the truth is revealed, that’s when they switch roles.

Orion wanted to fix the corrupted system, trying to avoid using horrible and unnecessary methods if possible. Adora wanted to immediately stop the Horde once she realized what their true intentions were, joining the Rebellion to fix the damage they have done.

On the other hand, D-16 became more and more consumed with wanting revenge against the lies fed to him his entire life. Now, while Catra was well aware of the Horde’s true nature, she desperately wanted to prove her worth to those that constantly doubted her since she was a child.

So driven by their desires and goals, both D-16 and Catra were willing to remove the ones they believed stood in their way, Orion in his case and Adora in hers.

Both Orion and Adora gained an incredible power that allowed them to make a difference and to right the wrongs they had seen.

But it came at the cost of losing their best friend, someone they loved and trusted more than anyone.

Even though these differences in goals and ideals caused them to drift away, their is no denying both pairs are always drawn to each other. Whether friends or enemies, they influence one another’s decisions and actions.

The lingering feelings they have for one another adds to the conflict as they are torn between longing, betrayal, what is right and wrong, and what they desire.

[simplysparrow14]

Pikelan is probably the most complex CR ship and more people need to realize that instead of branding it as the "haha funny gnomes" ship.

because the entirely of Pikelan revolves around Scanlan, a very charismatic bard who flirts with literally everyone around him but is head-over-heels in love with his cleric friend but is tragically dogshit at expressing it so he resorts to doing crude bits and gags that ultimatly mask who he truly is.

And then you have Pike, a cleric brimming with self-confidence, who absolutely loves Scanlan for who he is, but is constantly getting mixed signals, because on one hand, he's constantly doing crude jokes and flirting with every person he sets his sights on (even so far as going after his unknown daughter) but on another, he tenderly holds her while she's bleeding and he's constantly at her side during battle and even tends to her emaciated brother for her and it's beautiful to watch, but the moment, the moment she brings it up, he reverts back to his crass personality and it just leaves her reeling about who he truly is.

And then we get to Bards Lament, and Scanlan, after tip-toeing around his true emotions for so long, finally snaps and lets everything he's been feeling (all the pain, and self-loathing manifested as anger towards everyone else, because even in his darkest moment, he's still so dogshit at expressing it for what it truly is) and Pike, who's been wrestling with these mixed signals, finally gets his true feelings on what he feels, calling her magic weird, hating that the same magic that has kept him alive and safe for so long brought him back to his sad existence, hating her for doing it. In the end, Scanlan leaves, just as Pike left the first time and the second time. And Pike stays behind, watching as he heads towards somewhere where she cant follow, abandoning the team and her and grog and everything they've built for themselves. She loves him, and him leaving brings her to that point.

The two are split apart, and despite the anger and hurt, the need for connection with each other is so strong. Scanlan reveals that he dident fully leave Taldorei at first, that he was only 20 miles away in another town entirely, listening to Pike's earing conversations. And eventually, when Scanlan is on another continent, he finds a temple of the Everlight (or just simply begins talking to Everlight) and prays, prays for guidance on finding forgiveness for what he said and did. He's deeply in love with pike, and still is, going to her god for answers to his problems, the quickest connection to Pike that he has between one giant ocean and a continent.

And Pike, despite holding a very rightful disdain for what he said to her, keeps him up to date, informs him of her happenings with the people of Whitestone. She should fucking hate his guts and yet the person she wants to speak to at the end of her day is a bard who (for all she knows) threw his earing away and traveled to some far off place, forever gone from Vox Machina, from her. Yet she keeps speaking.

They switch roles, with Scanlan becoming the quiet solitary one seeking forgiveness for his actions and Pike becoming the people oriented one.

When they reunite, it's tense and sad and angry. So many things said in anger and hurt and they don't really know where to step in the case that something, anything might send them back to that angry, angry place. And suddenly their back at the same place they were before, before the fight.

Pike is, again, trying so hard to sift through the mixed signals he's giving because he's being Scanlan again! Charming bard, essential party member, more confident than he's ever been! but now he's standing near the back and holding his hands and apologizing with a soft voice that she hasn't heard in over a year and a half and rebuilding the bridges he's burned and she doesn't know what to think!

And Scanlan is giving an honest effort at trying to fix what he's broken. He's working harder than ever, he's apologizing. He tries very hard to have conversations with people and fixing what he can. But, again, he's Scanlan, who is less dogshit at expressing what he feels, but still pretty dogshit none the less, and now he's a crime boss and still a beloved bard, but he's also surrounded by the friends, some of them he loves so dearly and he's trying, he's trying so hard

Eventually, everything is forgiven and in the end, Pike and Scanlan come to term with themselves and each other. Pike comes to terms with knowing that Scanlan is a complex person, a broken person just trying to figure his way through this world, just as she had done.

in the end, Pike becomes the person Scanlan feels the most free to be around, one where he doesn't have to put on the mask of a performer, where he can just be Scanlan the gnome instead of Scanlan, bard extraordinaire. and Pike comes to terms with knowing that Scanlan is a complex person, a broken person just trying to figure his way through this world, just as she had done before.

and together, they are beautiful reflection of each other.

[beanghostprincess]

Nami being the one who's scared the most about Vivi's safety during her disappearance (everyone's worried, but it's obvious that she's the one still concerned even after admitting Vivi is strong enough to take care of herself) and Zoro, for once, being the one to comfort her. He catches her crying on a corner of the ship, all alone and hugging her knees close to her chest. Her long hair is getting stuck on her cheeks with how wet they are now. She obviously doesn't want anybody to see and pretends to be fine after telling Zoro to fuck off a few times, but when she doesn't manage to make him go away, she just ends up silently accepting his company and letting him sit down next to her. Zoro tries to say something. Anything. Because believe it or not, it fucking hurts to see their navigator like this when she's always the one taking care of others and everything. She has always been strong, but strong only gets her so far and even Nami needs comforting sometimes. Zoro might not be the best person to help her, but he tries.

Nami is always a few steps further. "You wouldn't understand. You-" She sobs louder, hiding her head on her arms, pressing her legs closer to herself. Zoro wants to hug her, but he doesn't know how. He knows he should. He wants to tell her, too, that he understands perfectly, but she would be the one not getting what he means. "Have you ever missed somebody so much it's impossible to live, Zoro?! Not even basic human functions, fuck, I- I spent so much time without her thinking we'd meet again and now I might never see her again. Do you even know what that's like?"

Zoro knows what that's like. He doesn't feel like it's the right moment nor the right place to confess something like this, but they've gone through so much shit already it's almost inevitable for her to not know this.

The swordsman grunts before he pronounces his next words, double-checking if somebody else is watching them. Nami looks ethereal even while crying. It's sort of annoying. "I understand." The redhead looks up from where she's sitting, with a confused glance on her face. Zoro keeps his stare on his hands. "Two years ago. I- I couldn't do anything to save him. I couldn't protect him. I lost him. Every day I wondered if he was going to be okay and, fuck it, it's the stupidest thing because he's a fucking god at this point and the guy never ends up dying but-" He turns his right hand into a fist and presses his nails on his palms, fighting the urge to shake under the memories. "I couldn't eat. Or breathe. Live normally." When he shuts up, Nami makes a face he can't quite understand. He can't tell the difference between disgust and discomfort. Perhaps she's just judging him for being this weak for their stupid captain.

But the girl just scoffs and hides her head between the arms resting on her knees once again. "Of course you would." Her voice breaks mid-sentence. "But it's not the same." Zoro knew she wouldn't get it, at least not right away. It takes a long seconds of silence and Nami looking up at his uncomfortable expression haunted by past memories for everything to click. "Oh, it is the same." Zoro looks away, but she just moves closer to him. Nami rests her head on his shoulder, and he hates to admit how much he has missed her scent of fresh tangerines and home. "I'm sorry."

"S fine." Zoro manages to say it, somehow, without his attitude fading away.

Nami buries her head closer to his arm, and Zoro doesn't fight the need to hold her closer anymore to pull her into half an embrace with his left hand. "I didn't get to tell her how I feel."

The swordsman shivers at her trembling, frightened voice. "Me neither."

Nami scoffs. "But you still have time." If he feels her tears run through his body, he doesn't say anything. "I don't even know if she's alive."

Zoro doesn't have to bring his mind back to memories from a long while, when the last time he felt this way was whenever Luffy fought against Kaido

But he says nothing, because he knows there's no way in earth he can fix what just broke Nami's heart into pieces. If he could take her pain, he would, without any hesitation. He can handle it. And Nami is strong and all, but he fears that seeing her this way might bring him to madness.

So Zoro unexpectedly, for both of them, kisses the top of her head —like he used to do back when they were only three. Back when their ship couldn't even be referred to as one— and lets her cry. "I'm sorry." She just cries harder, and Zoro understands. They keep saying he doesn't understand, but he does. "I know. I know."

It would be easier if he could just cut whoever hurt her in half like he always does.

Luffy is the strongest, most powerful man Zoro has had the privilege to love and worship, and even when he disappears he forgets how to live.

So Zoro can fathom the way Nami feels. Vivi is strong, but love makes Nami feel the weakest she's ever been.

Nami gladly accepts his hug, and he knows she understands. And he'll help her live until she finds her way to her princess again.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Me when they confirm in Roku's 2nd novel that Ta Min has had the hots for Roku since school started (or sooner) but didn't say anything because of Sozin or something, and thus perpetuating the Ta Min/Rangi and Sozin/Yun parallel:

[delawaredetroit]

In retrospect, I actually appreciate how the narrative decided to handle Ochako's crush in this arc.

This scene comes immediately after Izuku decided to glue his Hero Deku mask to his face. This introspection from Ochako doesn't just set up Ochako as a potential love interest: it sets up Ochako as a narrative foil to both Izuku and Toga.

Both Izuku and Ochako determined to suppress part of themselves in this scene to pursue their pro hero ambitions. Izuku suppressed his negative emotions in pursuit of the smiling, confident symbol he is chasing. While Ochako suppressed an arguably positive feeling - a new teenager crush - to avoid any distraction from giving it her all like Izuku.

Toga in contrast, after being forced by others to suppress her desires for years and then snapping, chose not to suppress her feelings at all regardless of the consequences to herself or others. On the other hand, unlike Toga and Izuku*, no one discouraged Ochako from expressing her emotions - because they were within the norm. And it's ironic that it's what Toga told Ochako about what it means to love that was the deciding factor for Ochako to choose to suppress her feelings. Toga feels that love is wanting to become just like that person. Ochako is following Toga's advice by mirroring Izuku's emotional suppression.

*Izuku and Toga also have a common theme of external forces requiring suppression of desires/feelings outside the norm. Izuku's outside the norm desires just involved wanted the agency to reach out to others as a quirkless person rather than expression of romantic feelings. And the other negative feelings he suppresses involve his past that he is forbidden from addressing due to external pressures.

[nadiajustbe]

A little post about the parallels between Sophie and Howl and Justin and Suliman because I cannot be the only one seeing this

Fist of all — and I've already mentioned this in one of my older posts but it's worth mentioning again — Witch of the Waste is apparently rather repetitive in her plans, because she took Ben as "a bait to fetch Justin" the same way she has to get Sophie in order to catch Howl.

And the fact they were both very adamant about it: the loser Howell went to search for Sophie looking like a SCARECROW and Justin was arguing with his brother for month without changing the topic before he just RUN AWAY TO FIND BEN ANYWAY.

They say lovers are crazy, after all.

Second of all, whatever is happening here. I mean, I get it, Sophie is too happy too look away from her horrible husband but THESE TO GUYS DOING BASICALLY THE SAME THING THEY'RE DOING TEN STEPS AWAY FROM THEM? (Except they weren't holding hands, but well, there was no chance of happening anyway).

And the fact that there's no dialogue — all of these guys are basically just looking at one another in silence for some amount of time.

(I do not now how to comment this third quote. Besties seemed to be really happy to see eachother as this shaking hands-hugging stuff happened immediately after the horror that was Percival)

Third of all — and there's probably more but I'll stop on these one cause it needs context and one of my favs — this small moments in CITA hinting on both soldier's and the genie's real identities through Ben and Sophie accordingly.

This becomes even funnier when you remember that Howl and Justin were affected by the same kind of spell (although Justin's were lighter) and these two were a bit desperate to notice something familiar, anyway.

(Also I find it especially funny how Ben still stands on his take of knowing the solider even when Abdullah told him pretty clearly that's a random guy from Strangia. "Then he reminds me of someone who I know" HE LOOKS LIKE HE HAS BEEN THROUGH TEN WARS, HAS A DIFFERENT HAIRCUT, UNIFORM, HASN'T SHOWERED PROPERLY IN SOME TIME AND YOU LOOK AT HIM THROUGH DUSTY MIRROR?? These gives me Sophie's "what genie" vibes)

[ryoun]

kdrama parallels [4/∞] ▸ putting funny-looking headbands on

angel's last mission: love x twinkling watermelon

[dovahkiining]

crows parallels, part two! (part one)

or, faulty religion & devoted scars.

@/roach-works on tumblr | the war of vaslav nijinsky - frank bidart | fireflys - suzanne siegel | boyish - japanese breakfast | problem area - melissa broder | @/yunawinter on twitter | sun bleached flies - ethel cain | spring - mary oliver | dear layal - hala alyan | haruki murakami x2 | lisa marie basile | @/judas-redeemed on tumblr | warsan shire | @/doityourselfbombs on tumblr.

[softbaymax]

like stepfather, like daughter

[cutter-kirby]

i could talk about the parallels between the dreemurr siblings and the skeleton brothers and how one is more reserved and is closely related to your choices and willing to make the hard choices that their brothers can't while the other is more energetic and refuses to kill even in the face of certain death and is closely tied to belief and hope and how both are so extremely codependent and how the dreemurrs were doomed because of it but the skeletons avoid their fate

but instead i'll just say that chara and sans are joined in "my brother is the coolest" solidarity

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

thinking about 4halo again and dying

they just. they used to be so sweet together. and then the election arc managed to genuinely turn them against each other (and bad is still affected by being caged in the museum) and i would NOT have been surprised if a rebellion had started within the next few weeks after their last fight and. they used to be friends and then they almost destroyed each other

and then the eggs went missing

and there are so many parallels between them, but one of the biggest parallels is how they're both protectors. they both protected the eggs (and, when he became president, forever extended that protection to the other islanders) but the eggs went missing and they had to put all of that aside. Forever was quicker to put it down than Bad was (it felt like only a very temporary truce, from Bad's end), but they put their problems on hold, because their eggs. were gone.

and another parallel. the destruction. both of them with their plans to cause ruin because then, maybe, theyll get their kids back. bad caused most of the grieving arc damage directly, and got aypierre and antoine to help him. he dug holes in the ground. he placed mines everywhere and leapt into them. he started the lavacasting process of the fed building (and was interrupted by admins, so he stopped, but philza and fit were still right to laugh at him lmaoo). he drilled a hole through the side of the federation office from a huge distance away. he has chosen to hurt his friends and himself to get the eggs back. whatever the cost.

forever destroyed the island. or he planned to destroy the island. or he was interrupted just before he destroyed the island or or or. I don't know. but it was big, and it was bad. bad enough that the feds had to step in and forcefully drug him, and kickstart the happy pills arc.

and the happy pills arc..... oughghghgh as fucking awful as it was for their characters to experience i genuinely truly think that it saved them from each other. when he was first told about forever being fucked up bad was still in the "i need to kick his butt" mindset, and was all ready for an excuse to kill forever. and then he saw forever. and the first proposal happened. and bad was angry and he was sad and upset and he was careful. forever tried to kill him. bad decided to save him. forever kept trying to marry him. forever kept taking the pills. forever was so scared of his own anger and all of the damage he could and would have caused to his family that he kept taking drugs that kept him so out of his mind he hallucinated his son was just sleeping safely at his house.

and they both tried to kill each other. and they both failed.

and bad showed phil and cellbit (and tubbo) the item scanner that dapper discovered, which could destroy him, because nothing else was working. because they needed to save forever. because bad was reminded by then that forever was a victim of the federation instead of just a mouthpiece for it. and then when forever woke up he saw bad, suffering, and so excited to see him awake.

and now they're here on opposite sides again with forever projecting his protection urges onto the fed worker in bad's basement and bad frustrated that he isn't being believed and his evil plans of giving ron lemons apology brownies is being interrupted and. look at them. soft "i hate you" and the appreciation room and bad's quiet heartbreak when he learned about forever being missing and the "i miss you" book bad got mad at because it asked him not to torture fed workers. does anyone hear me im so ill about them. do you understand they care about each other so much and the happy pills arc reminded them of that. forever realized bad is colourblind and bad assumed forever was poisoning him and then forever helped bad cheat on another colourblindness test and forever was giving bad flowers and bad was accepting them and accepted that he was colourblind despite his previously constant denial and! i don't know if im being comprehensible and i dont really care i will be honest i just need you to know i am frothing at the mouth like a rabid little beast. they are a TRAGEDY of miscommunication and external pressure but they love so so much. platonic or romantic or qpp they CARE and it tears me to shreds