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silverwhittlingknife · 8 months ago

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So you're a go to source for all things Dick&Tim bros and you tend to write primarily from Dick's POV. So, odd question, but if you were to summarize their relationship from his POV in FIVE panels which panels would you pick? Keeping in mind that one specific aspect of their relationship that you love needs to be clearly represented by each panel (loyalty, trust etc). I hope this is a fun challenge and not an annoying question so if you don't want to answer that's cool! Have a wonderful day!

No more talk. The same thoughts run through two minds... (SotB 29) / You're my equal. My closest ally. (RR 1) / I can't stop thinking how much I rely on him. (GoG 3)

25 Feelings Dick Has About Tim

This was such a kind ask & a cool challenge which I totally failed; here are TWENTY-five panels of Dick's POV on Tim sdfdsfds Look, I got carried away! Marcia and Cindy! The boys!!

OKAY SO BEFORE I GET TO THE PANELS A FEW NOTES:

WARNING THAT THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN HERE because I love conflict but but but you gotta remember those are not the final word!! They are complicated people and sometimes they get mad at each other BUT ultimately their relationship is so hugely important in both their lives & they love each other and rely on each other so much -!!! <3

Also I have CONCLUDING THOUGHTS at the end about what Dick's POV leaves out (mostly: a lot of Dick defending & protecting & supporting Tim, which Dick does instinctively but isn't very self-aware about most of the time)

I have loosely organized my list into 5^5 format (5 categories with 5 examples each!), so if you want to skip to a relevant one, here are the categories!!

Below the cut:

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1-5)

On second thought, he's endearing & fun (#6-10)

Grief is complicated & he's all tangled up in mine (#11-15)

I love him & think highly of him (#16-20)

I rely on him & though it's hard for me, I trust him (#21-25)

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1 - 5)

1) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze me and Bruce, but he doesn’t know me at all, he should get lost (New Titans 61)

2) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze Bruce but he doesn’t know Bruce at all, he should get lost (Gotham Knights 26)

3) He is so nosy about stuff that is MY business (Robin 0)

4) He sounds like an insincere suck-up half the time... but okay, fine, if you push him he's got a sense of humor about it (New Titans 65)

5) I'm sure he's a better vigilante than me. It's my fault for being a failure, but I resent him anyway. (Nightwing 9 - Dick's having a nightmare)

On second thought, he's kinda endearing (#6-10)

6) He worries too much and gets anxious so easily, but it makes him fun to tease (Robin 67)

7) I'm not that competitive - okay, so maybe I'm a little competitive, I gotta make sure he doesn't get a swelled head (Prodigal)

8) I'm supposed to be his favorite! It is not cool for him to be fanboying over my not-girlfriend's not-boyfriend!! (Birds of Prey 19)

9) We have fun together. I can kick back and relax when it's just the two of us. Plus I get to boss him around a bit. (Prodigal)

10) He’s always trying to reassure me, and I guess it's a little comforting, but also he doesn’t really get it. Or me. He makes excuses that he shouldn't, because he doesn't understand that I suck. (Nightwing 64)

Grief is complicated and he's all tangled up in mine (#11 - 15)

11) He reminds me of everything I try not to think about. Sometimes the memories are so strong it hurts to look at him. (Batman 441)

12) WHY IS HE BEING IMPOSSIBLE ALL OF A SUDDEN??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (Nightwing 139)

13) We're the same. He says all the things I don't let myself think about. It's like arguing with myself. (Nightwing 139)

14) He thinks he gets to tell me what to do but he doesn’t, fuck him (Battle for the Cowl)

15) Life sucks, so what. I sucked it up so he should too (RR 1)

I love him and think highly of him (#16 - 20)

16) He’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have. If someone hurts him I will hurt them harder. (Nightwing 6)

17) I can't handle the idea of losing him. (Nightwing 97)

17) He’s so good and I’m not. I'm afraid I’m bad for him. (Nightwing 110)

18) He’s better than me, and it’s kind of a relief because I know no matter what he’ll be okay. (Gates of Gotham 3)

19) In my head he’s the responsible one. (Gotham Knights 10)

I rely on him, and though it's hard for me, I trust him (#20-25)

20) I know I have to trust him but I'm afraid he'll make the wrong choices and get hurt (Nightwing 139)

21) I'm sure I know what he should do because I see myself in him - not that I can take my own advice, but he should (Blackest Night 3)

22) I trust him. When I’m losing my grip on things, he pulls me back. (Gotham Knights 10)

23) I want him to trust me (Red Robin 12)

24) He can tell when I'm lying. Sometimes he sees my weaknesses better than I wish he did. (Detective Comics 874)

25) He’s always there when I need him. (Teen Titans / Outsiders Secret Files)

Final rambling thoughts:

TIM: Uhh, okay, so I'm just skimming this list - do you really trust me? you're not just saying that? - but anyway, I'm confused because you left some stuff out? Like some stuff that's kinda important? DICK: No? I think I got everything? TIM (starts counting on his fingers): The time I was having a bad day but then I called you. The time I got captured by Two-Face but then you saved me. The time I fell off a train but then you saved me. The time I fell off a building but then you saved me. The time I fell off a different building - DICK: I feel like you're trying to make some kind of point but I'm not sure what it could be.

SO THE THING IS, I put 25 panels in here and not a single one has Dick catching Tim when he’s falling!!! But I think that's a central motif of their relationship from Tim’s POV, not Dick’s. I love Dick, but in some ways I think he is spectacularly un-self-aware.

And I think he especially has a lot of blind spots about Tim. He kinda intermittently gets that Tim admires him, and he enjoys it in a playful I-get-to-boss-you-around way. But Dick tends to consistently underestimate all of his own good qualities & skills, and he meets Tim at a point in his life when he's especially down on himself & his abilities. And so he's unable to see his own influence on Tim, & therefore unable to fully understand a lot of Tim's priorities and loyalties and motivations, because you can't actually understand Tim without understanding Dick's impact on him. There's a fascinating moment in Bruce Wayne: Murderer when Dick's completely blindsided & upset to discover that Tim doesn't entirely trust Bruce, even though this has been a definitive fact of Tim's whole thing ever since he showed up with his Batman needs Robin theory, and Barbara has to actively remind Dick of the obvious-to-everyone-except-Dick fact that a lot of Tim's loyalty is to Dick, and Tim loves Bruce but feels free to be more wary of him. (And to give Bruce credit: this is not something he ever begrudges.) But anyway Babs points this out, and Dick manages to sorta process it for about five seconds, but he cannot actually accept it into his worldview so instead he discards it at the speed of light and goes off and has an argument with Tim instead sdfsfdsf

All of Dick's virtues - Dick's kindness at the circus and Dick's determination to fight through grief and Dick's rigid sense of morals and Dick's vigilante skills and every time Dick has ever backed Tim up or listened to him or protected him or saved him from something or just been casually kind to a stranger in Tim's presence etc etc etc - all these things loom really large in Tim's mental story of Who Dick Is, and What Dick And Tim's Relationship Is. Tim meets Dick before he meets Bruce, trusts Dick more than Bruce, aspires to be Robin instead of Batman. And so in Tim's default version of the story, Dick is the super-special and admirable hero and Tim is... nobody in particular, a tagalong outsider who's barely managing to be a hero, not part of Dick and Bruce's family and not part of their story, who, if he's VERY LUCKY and tries REALLY HARD, might be able to fight his way to proving himself and offering something to Dick that Dick will value, if Dick doesn't get fed up with him first.

But that's not Dick's version of the story!!!

Dick's version of the story is almost the exact opposite, a story where Dick's an outcast failure black sheep who's screwing up everything he tries, and meanwhile Tim is The Sudden New Perfect Robin Who's Better Than Me And Probably Bruce Loves Him More And Probably They Gossip About What A Loser I Am, mixed with a complicated edge of Tim Thinks He's So Smart But He Doesn't Know Me/Us At All. Dick gets much more attached to Tim over time, and Tim gets unnervingly better at the know-it-all psychoanalysis so then Dick gets to have complicated feelings about him being right instead of just annoyance at him for being wrong, plus Dick's relationship with Bruce improves a lot, so Tim stops feeling so threatening. But Dick never fundamentally changes his basic theory of their relationship in which Tim is highly impressive and capable, and Dick is not so much.

And so asking Dick about Tim is kinda like if you asked George Bailey to tell you about Harry Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life; like, you'll be there for five hours while he tells you how great Harry is, and how accomplished Harry is, and how he doesn't really get how or why Harry does the things he does, and maybe George does feel a little resentful or jealous sometimes, but that pales in comparison to all his admiration and trust for Harry who he loves so much, who's better than him in so many ways, and he's not gonna openly gripe but secretly he can't help but feel sometimes like he's such a failure in comparison to Harry, a perfect person who emerged fully formed from Zeus's head with all the virtues and also all the accomplishments, etc. etc. etc. --

-- and he will not actually remember the part where he changed and saved Harry's whole entire life unless you literally send him to an alternate timeline in order to force him to remember it. <3

#i enjoyed thinking about this so much i wrote a novel with All My Thoughts sorry sdfsdfs #tim drake #dick grayson #somewhat tangential but as i was writing this i was thinking about zahri's post #about how different types of stories offer different kinds of emotional payoffs #and i think for me for dick and tim the main two payoffs are:#1) someone who sees & understands your grief for deaths that will never get fixed or get better #and who will face your ghosts with you EVEN WHEN you're also mad at each other #2) someone who you look at and you see all the ways that you suck & he's better & you're a loser who's failed him etc etc #but it turns out that you're wrong. that you're good enough. not that none of the failures were real or that they were all in your head #but it turns out that it's okay that you didn't always immediately do or feel the right thing #and it's okay that you weren't perfect. you can fuck up six thousand ways & everything you did right will still matter #not because of making excuses or allowances or somebody pityingly trying to make you feel better #but because in the end the things you did right are just Genuinely More Valuable than anything you did wrong #all the times you tried & everything that you tried to give - everything you think wasn't good enough - it was.#IN OTHER WORDS they are both convinced they're not good enough & they are both wrong <3 #anyway dick and tim are both INCREDIBLY SIMILAR and also CONSTANTLY misreading each other and i love that for them #and like. they will sometimes totally misread each other & then never figure out the part that they misunderstood #but then they manage to keep going anyway. we love each other on purpose <333 #ask tag #dick&tim

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casualavocados · 1 month ago

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How's that possible? Since when did you start eating spicy food? I told you I'd do it for real next time. ...Don't touch me, or—I'll kill you!

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 12

#kiseki: dear to me #kisekiedit #kdtm #kiseki dear to me #ai di x chen yi #chen yi x ai di #nat chen #chen bowen #louis chiang #chiang tien #jiang dian #uservid #userspicy #userrain #userspring #pdribs #userjjessi #*cajedit #*gif #chen yi is really sitting there the whole time with only one thought in his mind and it is: i am gonna kiss this man. and then he does!!#okay but heres where i gotta get analytical about it bc ppl will say blah blah theyre so good at miscommunication and im sorry but NO #THEY ARE THE OPPOSITE. when ai di runs away at the end of ep10 after chen yi says he's figured it out and next time he'll do it for real-#chen yi does not seek ai di out Once after that nor does he try to force him into any admissions. HONESTLY HE DOESNT SINCE THE EP10 BAR #he LETS AI DI COME TO HIM EVERY. TIME. he lies a little to keep ai di from running but he doesnt ever actually force ai di to return to him #any time AFTER he CONFIRMS ai di has real feelings for him-which he does during the bar scene. there was no miscommunication there #it was only listening and observing. and chen yi doesnt push farther than offering gifts or that little lie because he wants ai di -#All of ai di. the truest parts of ai di.... he wants the REAL AI DI the one he knows and loves - to come to him of his own volition #in Whatever Form That May Be. because he loves him!! & in this case the form is in torture and accusations bc chen yi's lie has been caught #but chen yi is nothing less than DELIGHTED. bc AI DI STILL CAME. its further proof of ai di's feelings for him and chen yi loves it #& now it's chen yi's turn to show ai di all the ways in which he loves and belongs to him. its time to play his hand after waiting so long

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wortaives · 1 month ago

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me when. when you. that bad end friends au but here are the draft pages I did

(check tags for additional info)

#pinescone #bad end friends #bipper #beast wirt #otgw wirt #gravity falls dipper #OKAY OKAY I PROMISE THERE’S EXPLANATION ABT THEM #however majority of it is wip and once it’s like #all good to share #I’ll give out what the AU is about #but for a sneak peek #the beast and bill are past their prime #and instead of like scaring both wirt and dipper #since their powers are both weakened #they will instead form a contract w them #(this doesn’t apply to canon since the beast is like. DEAD dead on otgw while bill is in therapy jail)#wirt and the beast both agreed and they were pretty chill #while bill and dipper had some arguments before agreeing #this in turn makes beast wirt and bipper one entity #but some stuff happens (esp on bipper’s part where he gets awry about beast wirt and how they handled it peacefully)#unlike bipper where it goes Bad #that’s the short summary of the plot for now #WHAJAHAHAH okay okay that’s it for rambling

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vynnyal · 1 month ago

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Finally finishing totk

#Totk #Art #Comic #Link #This one gets main blog privileges lololol #Context: I had beat 1 dungeon and promised my buddy not to progress without them. I was just filling out the map and these guys appeared #Totk spoilers in the tags #Okay so here's my totk story because it hurts everyone I tell including myself #First time I played totk I got really fed up with the tutorial. It would just never end.#I got so fed up with it in fact... I never did the story. At all!#My buddy wanted to watch me do the story but we kept missing each other #So I ended up avoiding anything even tangentially related to plot #I never met any characters. Never even knew there were bosses and dungeons. Never entered the castle #And one time my buddy told me there was the awesome boss in the depths I could fight-- a king dragon. Woaaahhh #I made my way over there and was so ready for this epic battle and ended up killing it in 5 seconds. I was too powerful 😂#Keep in mind I did NO DUNGEONS and had grinded up the dynamic difficulty entirely through common enemies to the point of silver lynels #So yeah I stopped playing because I realized I was way too overpowered to start the story #So I started all over again. Finally doing totk the Intended Way™#Uhh... Doing one single dungeon raised the difficulty to the point of black hoglins appearing?? What???#I'm basically rushing every dungeon (I just finished the second one) without preparing at all or doing any shrines #(I killed colgera while dying from cold damage at 4 hearts because I ran out of cold res LMFAO)#So this is really testing my Zelda skillz. It's very fun.#Also. During the first dungeon. I was so obsessed with the kid I almost looked up how I could keep him as my companion #My buddy was so excited for me to find out what the reward was for beating the dungeon 😂😂😂#What else funny... Oh yeah my old save was so jank I never actually got any more than 5 hearts.#Yes I had to defeat lynels mostly hitless since they can kill you despite the mercy quarter heart #I also went to do the first dungeon on the first save and accidentally entered the ship without the child. It TRAPS YOU INSIDE.#It doesn't even give you a warp it just says “die or warp out”. Except I didn't get the shrine halfway up. So I decided to hoverbike out 😓#Oh yeah and it turns out you can ABSOLUTELY get the master sword so so easily.#She flies right past the water dungeon and phases out of existence near immediately it's very funny.

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forgetful-river · 6 months ago

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Aradia August Day 19: Ashen

#okay I've already made the case for Ara & Vris blackrom but for Kan auspisticism I think that Vriska would get her involved thinking that #Kan would take her side often and be a bit of a pushover but by the time they're all grown up Kan has been dealing with Rose for years and #grubs. Her patience is much thinner than their youth. She also Works Out which Vris doesn't and Kan ends up figuring out that just picking #Vriska up and moving her to another room makes her calm down the fastest. Vriska fucking hates this turn of events but it does actually #help deescalate the whole thing since Vris and Ara are godtiered and can literally just kill each other without real consequence #or whatever #that was my thought process at least #aradiaaugust #aradia megido #hs #homestuck #my art #ms paint

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mbirnsings-71 · 1 month ago

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"I will fall in love with you, over and over again."

"'Would you fall in love with me again?' The question is spoken quietly, even though there's no need for quiet, but something about how gently it's asked shakes Eddie. 'You ask that as if I would ever fall out of love with you, Buck.' 'Haha very funny, now humor me. Would you fall in love with me again?'" -------------------------------------- Basically Buck asks Eddie a question and Eddie answers it as best as he can for him.

Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV)

Pairing: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)

Tags: Cuddling & Snuggling, Evan "Buck" Buckley Has Abandonment Issues, Evan "Buck" Buckley Has Self-Worth Issues, if you squint cause like it's just a throw away sentence but yeah, Eddie Diaz Loves Evan "Buck" Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley Loves Eddie Diaz, they just love each other basically, that's it that's the whole fic they just love each other, and reassure each other that they would always love each other, No Beta We Die Like Buck did for three minutes and 17 seconds, or how Bobby did for like 15 minutes, Post-Episode: s08e08 Wannabes (9-1-1 TV), cause I mention it soooooo yeah gotta tag that appropriately, Canon Compliant, Kissing, just one kiss but it should be tagged, One Shot, Praying they aren't super OOC! We will see, first published work in this fandom so please be nice!

Complete | 1,714 words | Read on Ao3

#Guys! Holy shit I posted some writing this year SDVKDFNVBKGF #Madi's writing :>#thought I'd never see that tag come back #Shoutout to Foxie for telling me that I've got this and can post something before the end of the year! And lettuce as well! Turns out I can #and turns out all I needed to do was have the ithaca saga looping in my head for a solid 5 days and to write something in a discord message #to make it stick cause that is actually how most of my fics get written in discord DMs sDVLDFKNBGFBF #also part of this fic GOT DELETED while I was writing it in a discord message and I nearly weeped BUT WE PERSEVERED #buddie #911 abc #911 on abc #911 fanfic #9 1 1 #9 1 1 fanfiction #9 1 1 on abc #evan buckley #evan buck buckely #eddie diaz #I do also have more 9-1-1 one-shots I can eventually post again it's just all about if I ever feel the need to finish them DVKNFDKVNF #so yeah if you guys read this thank you for doing so because This may have taken me only an hour or two and it may be short but it was fun!#okay I'm stopping procrastinating I'm posting this okay okay AAAA

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pondererswandererswonders · 17 days ago

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This started off as a neat little fun idea and nothing more, but my autism decided to finally take matters into its own hands.

A RoTTMNT playlist heavily inspired by the fanfic, "Mutant Ninja Midlife Crisis" by a_platypus; among different works like Trial & Error and Odd Man Out. Songs have been placed in specific order to MNMC, but can be enjoyed on shuffle as a general Rise playlist. TCEST DNI.

@mutantninjamidlifecrisis

I looked at other playlists to see common themes and songs that are enjoyed by the average Rise fan, while also looking all over creation for songs that I thought would best fit MNMC specifically. I ended up finding a couple of awesome GVF songs along the way, that I'm genuinely surprised no one has used for anything remotely related to Rise?

Not a lot of future-Leo-goes-back-to-the-past type of playlists, but I really suck at finding things, so it's not like there isn't a lot out there. But anyway, I was a bit afraid that this playlist would be ooc for the fanfic because of my song choices? So, it kind of took me a while to make the actual playlist on Spotify, let alone make this post. But I know I'm simply overthinking it. It's the perfectionism talking.

Most of the songs have lyrics that align with major key points of the Rise movie and the fanfic, but other songs I also put there solely for the ✨vibes✨ and instrumentals really. I am still adding songs here n' there every so often, but I do plan on eventually cutting myself off from the playlist.

I was going for a "soundtrack" or "songs that sound like they belong in movies" type of feel for the whole thing, which I think I did okay on, but it kind of slowly turned more into a playlist where you can make cool animations or AMVs to; especially since this is not a listen-while-you-read type of playlist, because there's too much going on with the music in general.

Overall, just something I made out of appreciation that I think turned out okay.

#rottmnt #rottmnt playlist #tmnt #tmnt playlist #mutant ninja midlife crisis #only the autism will make someone create an appreciation playlist of a fanfic that is a love letter to Rise #im a tiny bit surprised that MNMC doesn't have a chronology playlist? or many playlists for that matter #but maybe I'm surprised bc making this only made sense to me???#''i think this turned out okay'' watch this secretly be ass or something #its also the autism trying to make me delete the whole thing. this being an actual Tumblr post is a miracle #me when making this playlist: ''ahh. WHY am I making this?😭'' *seconds later* ''god DAMN I'm cooking 🔥''#I have no energy to write but I can make playlists ☝️😃. this playlist is concluded whereas the fanfic is yet to be as of this post.#I'm not saying that as a dig - art takes time n' shit happens. but the ending's vibes within the playlist may or may not end up being #accurate to what happens in the fanfic. if so my bad @___@#i may or may not make changes to it then.who knows. all of this was made with love and hyperfixation and THAT'S what matters #side-note: I have to say that the whole entire Eyelid Movies album from Phantogram reminds me of Leon. but I only used two songs #& a lot of Greta van Fleet songs reminds me of Rise in general but I already used like.what. twelve songs from them??#Spotify #save rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #seriously thinking of making a youtube music version of this playlist #bc you can only losten to these song non-shuffled on Spotify Premium or a computer #also Tears For Fears was inevitably going to be a strong backbone for the whole thing #i individually don't make the rules. the fandom does.#leonardo rottmnt #raphael rottmnt #mikey rottmnt #donatello rottmnt #memphis murmurs

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egophiliac · 1 year ago

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starting off with an amuse-bouche of some of my initial favorite bits! y'all, this update was WILD.

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #we really got it all in this update huh #we got flashbacks! backstory! shocking twists! cgs?!#we got the silver breakdown to end all silver breakdowns #the boy does not emote for 6 episodes straight and now it's POURING out and i am shoving my face directly into it #not to mention my favorite: action scenes represented by intensely wiggling the sprites around #and OF COURSE meleanor my beloved. your highness. ma'am. holy shit.#i guess it's mel instead of mal? hey she can spell her name however she wants #meleanor can do whatever she wants about anything. who is going to stop her.#meleanor: hold on baby. mommy wants to make a point. (yeets malleus' egg across the room into liia's face)#man though i am so afraid that crowley really might turn out to have been revaan this whole time #because this means we live in a world where dire fucking crowley managed to pull BOTH meleanor and lilia and i cannot accept that #briar valley are you okay. is it something in the water.#mrs. zigvolt took all the good taste and left none for anyone else

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subtle-knife · 10 months ago

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danny phantom 2x15 is like horrifying. pov in the span of a day and a half you become friends with someone suspiciously similar to you. then find out that your greatest enemy is obsessed with making his own version of you to be his son and you get tortured in the same way you died so he can get the last bit of dna he needs to create it But You Refuse To Give It. and throughout the day you’ve fought multiple unstable versions of yourself only to watch them dissolve into ectoplasm. then you find out that new friend is also a clone of you and is also on the verge of dissolving. like what the fuck

#then you have to go home and pretend to be normal bc your parents don’t know you’re a ghost and your sister would only worry if she found #out abt this whole situation. and the only people in the school who know are your two closest friends who were only there at the very end #of it all and would again only worry if they knew the full story #like okay. crazy premise for a show with a target demographic of 7 year olds #danny phantom #ash.txt #sorry for the rant abt a 20 year old kids show LMAO #when will it be my turn to have normal interests………

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revvethasmythh · 3 months ago

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So I went and watched all the possible endings, and it confirmed something I had been thinking, which is that the redemption ending choice is, perhaps, the most immediately regretful one--but that they all come with some form of regret. In the redemption ending, Rook has to knowingly deny themselves the catharsis of retribution (should they desire it, which, at least for me it felt difficult not to) in order to offer Solas one last, painful chance to do the right thing. That willful denial of your own catharsis feels like an immediate regret. Giving Solas the opportunity to pursue atonement might very well be the best choice all around, but it is also incredibly painful to offer that to someone who has done so many terrible things (not a small amount to you personally). Why does he deserve another chance? Especially when so many dead (including a beloved mentor) lie in his wake? Which, I suppose, is the point: he doesn't. But you offer it anyway and it SUCKS ASS, because how could it not?

I don't know how this plays with other story choices (a sacrificed Davrin or a Harding who embraced her anger, for example), but within the context of my own choices, I can imagine an immediate satisfaction to either tricking or fighting him--especially the trick ending, where you can actively name drop Varric--but it feels like the sort of thing that would feel worse as more time passes. Once you've calmed down and are able to ask yourself if that's what the people you've lost really wanted. Varric, in Regret Superhell, didn't want vengeance. He just wanted his friend to walk a better path. And Harding always believed there was another chance for anyone, so long as you kept reaching a hand out for them--even when it sucked ass. So the redemption ending feels like a sort of indignance, an instant regret for not doing worse, for not getting comeuppance, for being forced to eschew satisfaction (related: I wonder if the Inquisitor feels those things as well coming out of this ending, considering how long they've lived under the shadow of Solas' actions). Conversely, the other two endings feel like an immediate satisfaction, because you got to trick the trickster with all the wits Varric taught you, or because you finally got to punch him in the face and it felt really good. But I feel like those endings would come with a creeping regret, something that sneaks up on you later, especially when remembering the fallen and what they would have wanted you to do. Ultimately, because of that, it feels like no ending is devoid of regret. Which I suppose, is rather thematic.

#i did actually watch the redemption ending on youtube with someone who had a male inquisitor and i felt less rageful about it lmao #it was the Convocation Of 3.5 Women i think that had me most like 'are you KIDDING me' about it #but also the areas where it feels bad or unsatisfying (to intervene like that i mean) are like. well yeah it would feel awful wouldn't it #to have to plead and persuade and TRUST someone to make the better choice by choosing the high road yourself #as it turns out the high road kind of sucks! it will probably feel better in the long run but at first blush it ain't fun!#so it's an interesting trade-off of regrets to be made between these endings. and really makes it clear that offering atonement #can kind of feel awful in your bones. even if it's the right thing to do. and so you do it anyway #*through gritted teeth* no one is past saving rook. i have to believe it or none of this matters #obviously user mileage may vary--if you really hated that guy maybe you didn't feel bad at all about choosing a harsher ending!#but this is based on MY pov and i know. if i'd chosen one of those ones i would have felt BAD about it #like i was letting down harding and varric #so i chose the ending that lacked personal catharsis because it's the one that honored my friends #which is interesting tbh as an exploration of regret as a theme #datv spoilers #rosie plays games kinda okay #that dragon sure does age

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smartzelda · 2 months ago

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Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#fandom wank #on the flip side it really just doesn't all happen with shipping #doesn't this go the same way when someone hates a character so they brand them with terrible terms and act like they're terrible without #actually taking a second to analyze them simply because they dislike that character?#Hell I've seen people get really invested in platonic relationships on the fanon side‚ start labeling them as siblings because the idea of #people shipping them makes them uncomfortable‚ and then when new canon doesn't fulfill their hopes they still act like those characters #being siblings to each other is canon because it makes them uncomfortable if that's not true #I've seen people watch a trailer for a piece of media before it comes out‚ build up an entire story in their head based on that trailer #that they've designated as their perfect idea of how to handle concepts presented in the trailer‚ and then when canon doesn't end up going #that way they decide that it's bad writing simply on the grounds that this wasn't the story they wanted. so they unironically act like #writers can only be good writers if the writers play into their specific wants as the audience or things they as an audience member thinks #would be great #genuinely even if people turn off the ship side of their brain or the side that gets obsessed with characters they can still be one of those #people who acts like they love media analysis but ultimately are shit at it #I didn't put this in the body of the post cause it didn't really fit but I have to say this too #I think that 'There are multiple readings one can glean from a text and no reading is the 'true' one‚ and this is okay' and 'not every #reading is a valid one or a good one' are statements that can and should coexist #There is a difference between genuinely reading into a piece of media based on what is happening in it and purposely miscontruing and #twisting canon in a direction that contradicts text so you can then quell all criticism by saying that it's just 'a reading' and #'all readings are valid'#What I'm saying is that if you see a blue car‚ the way you get 'valid readings is people who are determining what shade of blue it is or #what it being a blue car means or the author's intent making the car blue or even speculation as to why it's blue and not potentially other #color. A case of an 'invalid reading' in this case is if someone pointed at the blue car‚ said it's canonically red and the author obviously #intended it to be red and it's canonically red‚ and then when people point out that the car is very much not canonically red (that you #can see it is a very clear shade of blue) this person doubled down and started saying that the 'haters' are being rude by implying that #their personal reading of the text is invalid (in other words 'no you can't get mad at me for saying the blue car is red because it's my #reading of the text and all readings are valid no matter what!')#anyways sorry for going off there #it just pisses me off when people repeat the argument that people who like certain things as fans are inherently unable to perform good #media analysis and are the root of fandom media illiteracy.

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wouldtheybecomeafearavatar · 2 months ago

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Can I ask—what’s the difference between “by coercion” and “unawareness/conditioning”?

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if the wording is a bit confusing. As it's put in the intro post:

Yes, by coercion: they would go through with it, but only if threatened with a loved one's life or something along those lines.

Yes, by unawareness or conditioning: they wouldn't realize until it's too late or would be raised to be an avatar, unaware their way of existence is not normal.

To explain a bit further (spoilers for several character arcs in TMA):

Coercion means the character would be forced or manipulated into it by someone or something. It requires a degree of awareness of what is happening (otherwise they'd go under unawareness).

Robert Montauk being forced to work for The People's Church of the Divine Host to get his wife back could be an example, though I'm not sure he ever achieved full Dark avatar status.

Basira would have ended up in this category if she'd continued to work for the institute long enough to become an Eye avatar, as Elias forced her to sign the contract under threat of Daisy's life.

I'd probably put Martin in the coercion category too, since he was going along with Peter Lukas and The Lonely to potentially save Jon.

Conditioning means that the character was groomed into it by someone from a young age, or born to be an avatar. It should be noted that this only applies to people or beings who under other circumstances could have made a different choice. A being that came into existence as an expression of a Fear would be manifestation instead.

Agnes Montague is kind of the defining example of this category, though members of the Lukas family being raised into it also count.

I think Gerry Keay could be another example of this. Eye avatarhood specifically wasn't a foregone conclusion for him, but he never really had a chance at a normal life. Willingly may be more accurate; he didn't choose to get involved with the Fears, but he did choose The Eye.

Unawareness is pretty self-explanatory, though I would point out this doesn't mean that the character never realises they are transforming. That (strictly speaking) wouldn't actually work, since becoming an avatar does require an active choice at some point. In this case it's more that the character doesn't realise until they're at the point of no return and the choice they are making is between death or becoming an avatar. If they refuse once they realise it'd be "go along but stop before transformation".

Jon is an example. Coercion could also be argued, given that Elias was definitely pushing him to go further and further using the (false) threat of the Unknowing, but I think Jon was too unaware of how he was being manipulated to go in coercion.

I think Michael Shelley would also go into this category. He was manipulated into it by Gertrude, but he had no idea what was going to happen. His case is a bit of a strange one in general though, I'm not sure he even had any affinity for The Distortion to start with.

At the end of the day, these are just my opinions and you can vote however you want, but I hope this helps answer your question! (Sorry for the essay)

#the magnus archives #archivist activity #ask answered #mod Moth 🦋#not a poll #sorry for how long this took to answer #I knew it was gonna turn into an essay #then it got lost in the drafts #I'm trying to clear out the drafts and get this blog in proper ship shape over the holdiays #so there may be another essay or two before the end of them #I love talking/speculating about TMA lore if you couldn't tell #I think which category all the characters belong to is arguable really though #this is just my interpretation #and you might completely disagree #and that's okay #feel free to discuss further in the notes if you want #feels weird not being able to think of a proper coercion example #I'm sure they're in there #but I guess that people were making the choice to become an avatar was part of the point #and more in keeping with the themes of the magnus archives #so I guess it makes sense if there aren't many examples of this #robert montauk #basira hussain #elias bouchard #daisy tonner #martin blackwood #peter lukas #jonathan sims #agnes montague #lukas family

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