#but its also like. who are you to dictate what is and isnt okay for a relationship that isnt yours

[zedif-y]

the reminder that only i get to decide what's fair to me is actually really fucking soothing

[eternalera]

so people have been wondering why caitvi is a lot less popular now within the arcane fandom than ships with timebomb or jayvik and as someone who ships them let me explain mostly why this is happening, of course mostly from the writing perspective as there is likely some misogyny included in said reason but thats just what ive heard and not seen (this does NOT mean it isnt happening though). and im also not including it because im just addressing why even some caitvi shippers (that i know) ended up not caring for it in s2

(click read more because this... this is a long one)

first off im stating that this is just a combination of what ive seen from other people and my own opinions. in your opinion these points can be completely dogshit and thats okay because they're opinions. not fact. with that being said lets get started.

1. Tension, s2 act 2 kills almost ALL of the tension that the first act sets up. in the first act you have them getting together, you have them finally kissing and breaking the previous tension in s1 then to keep people interested in the ship in the same episode they have them breakup. and this works people talked a SHIT ton about this and were going feral over it, looking at the trailer and seeing 'oh look at emo vi and her dictator gf!!' and even the 'there are two ways to handle a gay break up' memes. it was all over.

people were feral, waiting for the next act to see them interact and have beef with each other (before inevitably getting back together because we all knew it would happen). but in act two we dont really get that. we get the aftermath from vi's perspective and kinda cait's???? but then we have their interaction and people are hyped at this moment. because this is the moment. the one that they were all waiting for and there's a small scuffle before... it stops.

vi calls cait cupcake and... all if forgiven rather quickly in that scene (obviously in act 3 they have some more drama but we'll talk about it later). they have their moment and its cute. you have cait folding after being called cupcake, its cute. but thats just the thing. its nothing else but cute. there are still stakes dont get me wrong but that moment is just... so bad for cait's character. she has the whole dictator arc and it just takes vi calling her a pet name for her to switch sides.

and yes its adorable, its everything you want in a ship. but it doesnt really make sense when you take in account everything that they've been building up for cait. her dictator arc, her gassing zaun, training with ambessa, losing her mother, breaking up with vi. it all seems undermined by vi calling her a petname and all of the sudden the tension is taken out of their relationship.

they get back together (sorta) and help plan to take down ambessa and that's all it took. its like having a really evil villain who did a ton of bad things but the good guy gives them a pep talk (vi doesnt even do that) and all of the sudden their mind changes completely

it's not realistic, it doesn't make sense.

then you have act 3 and where vi actually confronts cait about ambessa and her going along with her actions and they have a small argument thats kinda just resolved by cait saying that she knows what she did wrong and that she tried helping jinx not get arrested too and then BAM there's a shift in the argument and then we're back to jinx and it never gets brought up again (correct me if im wrong)

their relationship follows this, happy moment, create something that causes tension, build up tension, refuse to follow through.

its like its tightening a string on an instrument to get a tone but before you pluck it the string loosens and all of the sudden you get this really really dull and kinda disgusting sound that doesn't leave you feeling 100% satisfied in the end

or if you're an artist almost filling in a circle completely but at the last second you color just a little bit outside the lines. it's not satisfying.

2. The sex scene, this is just mostly stuff ive seen and while i dont agree with all of it i must say that they do have their valid points of thinking that the scene was a little misplaced. most of the complaints of seen of this is that vi was out of character and that she should've been looking for jinx since it was implied that jinx was going to kill herself to 'fix' everything. and while i dont think vi couldve really known this i do see where theyre coming from as vi is inherently protective of jinx and her actions and even if there was the slightest chance that she might harm herself vi would do anything in her power to stop it and... she just doesnt.

when cait unlocks the cell she doesnt rush out to jinx, she just wallows a bit longer and mopes (WHICH IS FUCKING VALID BTW). then you have cait talk to her and... SEX. yeah there is other stuff between that but some people felt that they shouldve had them have their talk and then had vi rush out to help jinx.

a lot of people also felt that cait was taking advantage of vi in this moment (i do NOT agree with this at all) to an emotional extent and saying how the scene didnt feel right because vi wasnt in her best state (i agree slightly with this) and that the sex in the cell wasnt really reclaiming anything from all those years of being in the cell like the directors originally intended it to

then you have people saying that it was misplaced (and i kinda agree) and that it just felt so sudden for the both of them especially considering everything with them and then there's the next reason...

3. Caitlyn herself, there was so much drama about her character. in the first arc you have people defending her actions and who were ready to die for her and people getting mad at her, saying she was the worst and that she didnt deserve vi after what she did to her. this also comes with her character being set up to do a lot of evil shit in the future. there was drama (when is there not) and that meant the majority of people loved or hated her with a slim minority not really caring her for at all.

she was implied to have gassed zaun (actually its not even really implied as she, vi, and the gang do it that one episode in a montage and they actually show them doing it for like... a scene or two) and overall just have been a really shitty person to zaunites. she slept with maddie (which people HATED) and they kept leading up to her being the big bad the person who vi would have to convince but once again... they meet and all tension is ruined.

cait's character is one of the best and worst things in arcane. they did such a good job setting her up only to fumble last second and yeah... thats enough to effectively kill a ship as one half of it is the other character (assuming is a monogamy ofc) and 50% is not passing. people arent going to be as committed to a ship when they hate the other character in it and thats just a fact

4. Time, it just... didnt work. timebomb got a full episode (practically) devoted to it and jayvik was kinda in there as crumbs. not to mention that their entire arc is sprinkled a lot more effectively and more long lasting throughout s2 of arcane. with timebomb THEY GOT A WHOLE EPISODE

people already like both characters of ekko and jinx so yeah theyre going to go feral over what coudlve been. the dance, everything and it effectively builds up tension with showing us how good everything couldve been and fully releases it in a satissfying way with ekko's leave. with jayvik you have him going insane and realizing that he has to kill viktor in order to stop what happens in the future (GIVING US THE ANSWER TO WHAT HAPPENED IN EP6 and this also gives us more tension in the relationship when viktor comes back).

you have ekko stopping jinx from ending her life (another reason people didnt like the sex scene cause jinx was actively trynna off herself during it) and telling her to give living another chance because you can build something more you can start again. and you also have the implications of them drawing on themselves in the artbook and just in general during the show. you have the hot air balloon contraption that they create. its everything

jayce then meets with viktor in the room and there is tension so much tension and it all goes to them. then you have jayce confronting and giving himself to viktor on the battlefield and its so well written. now, personally i have my issues with how jayce talk not jutsu-ed viktor into stop being evil or whatever (personally that scene was like a 6/10 for me). "BUT WAIT WHAT ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINTS WITH VI AND CAIT AND CAIT FOLDING AFTER BEING CALLED CUPCAKE?!?!" they would be lessened if we were shown them talking and discussing what happened, what went wrong. with them we dont do that, we dont get the release of them regretting what they've done, their actions. that declaration of love.

with jayvik we do (love can be interpreted as romantic or platonic) and they probably spend more time in that scene talking about each other and how much they care for one another than caitvi do in the entirety of s2 when it comes to discussing their relationship.

basically what happened was that the writers confirmed 'yes theyre canon now, nothing else is going to happen to them. okay time to focus on other things' and caitvi got sidelined SO HARD in the end that come people stopped caring for them entirely and put more attention to ships and dynamics that were getting more attention and love from the show.

basically thats all i could think of and its 1am so sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes lol. tell me if i got anything wrong, if you agree or just your general opinions on the matter because this is what i could find/gather about them. have a good day/night everybody :)

[archetypal-archivist]

hey man, i've been following u for a while but i saw your comment and dude.. bringing up the age of consent means jackshit man. it isnt a cultural difference, if brazilians ( the ones who were literally the first people who brought it up ! and translated everything ! ) say its weird and wrong, then it's weird. you don't have to defend forever, put your morals before your entertainment.

Okay first: I don't agree with pedophilia and regardless of age of consent, going out with younger people when certain age gaps and power dynamics are at play is a scummy thing to do. I'll agree with you on this and I'll ask that you read the entirety of this post explaining why else I commented before you start metaphorically stabbing me.

Second: My reason for bringing up age of consent is not to excuse what he's done, not in the least. The reason I am is because there's a nonzero chance that there's cultural shit at play and as a white person from the USA, I don't know enough about the situation to say anything for sure. For example, in Japan it's very common for women to be sexually assaulted in trains- some statistics put that number higher than 20%. It's not excused there, people there hate it as much as people here. However, when numbers are that high, one does have to wonder what percentage of the population assumes that it is okay. What percentage assumes that yes it's scummy, but it's also to be expected. In Japan, while there are laws against sexual assault, the chances of anything being done about it are... not always promising.

Obviously sexual assault is not okay. Obviously the people who do it are in the wrong. I am not excusing this behavior, nor should it be normalized. However, the fact remains that there are cultural norms that may be at play here and those norms may dictate to some people that it is okay. Even if it's not. (Think about how many entitled dude bros are in the US who think commenting on a woman's bust size is okay, or think it's normal for a husband to physically punish his wife.)

The fact here is that whether or not Forever went out with an underage fan, so long as the fan was over the age of 14, it was not technically illegal. And as such, there may be cultural norms in some locations that make a young 20-something think going out with a 14 or 15 year old is okay. Is it a good thing to do from a moral standpoint? Absolutely not. But until I know what percentage of 14-15 year olds in Brazil date/get hit on by older men or someone from Brazil can fill me in, I don't have enough information to know if Forever's going out with this person was to do so with scummy intentions. It's a scummy action sure, and people are welcome to dislike it. But I want to know the degree of scummy before I make a personal decision, you know?

There's a difference between peer pressure + not knowing better and going out with intent. One of which will make me distance myself from the situation until he makes an apology, the other makes me start deleting old work with him in it. Regardless, until there is more work from Forever in making up and apologizing for his past actions, I will not be supporting him.

Third reason: The person who's dragged up all those old tweets is apparently an anti and has spent a lot of their time trying to dig up dirt on the Brazilians. There's a logical fallacy regarding disbelieving a source simply because you don't like them, but there's also something to be said about believing someone on the internet wholeheartedly regarding context and what they think was going on when you don't know the person and they have reason to be biased. Again, I want to know. And I want other people to fill me in and for other people to have information so they too can be filled in. I'll be doing my own research too of course, but again, I'm not from Brazil nor do I speak Portuguese.

As such, I'll close this post with this: If you are from Brazil, can you weigh in with your takes on the situation and the cultural norms regarding the age of consent in Brazil? Also, if you are not from Brazil and/or you also think you may be missing something about this whole situation, feel free to sit in the corner with me while we watch this shitshow and hope for more info. Just- don't go attacking people. Please.

I'd rather not get an outpouring of hate in my inbox.

[spidermanifested]

as someone who likes to think hes thought a decent amount about the story of fullmetal alchemist. aka every single day for the past however many years. the thing about the bafflingly prevalent contingent of people who insist that fmas politics are actually very nuanced and leftist is. that i honestly cant figure out what parts of it they even mean?

is it the part where fascism is defeated by war criminal "heroes" who insist that the best way to enact large scale change is to never directly challenge systems, but to infiltrate them and work your way up to the top until you can become the dictator yourself and then tell everyone that actually voting is cool. unless the whole world is about to end, in which case youre allowed to do One coup but then you have to lie to the whole country about what happened and go back to doing incrementalism

is it the part where fascism isnt interrogated realistically as a cultivated product of social unrest, stratification and bigotry, but instead was instituted by a Cosmically Evil Badguy, and all the imperialism and genocide was just kind of a byproduct of that, and if we beat that one guy then everything will eventually be fine

the part where the difference between a Good King and a Bad King is that a good king CARES about his subjects and a bad king DOESNT care >:( but even within the "we need to turn amestris into a democracy!!!" lukewarmly liberal moral framework theres zero discussion of the fact that maybe monarchies are also pretty bad. and the good ending is when the Good King promises to protect the oppressed ethnic minorities in his country but god forbid those minorities actually have any political power themselves

is it the part where the most oppressed ethnic minority in *amestris* is represented by "Religious Terrorist (But Sad)", "Terrorist's Dead Brother", "System-Loving Cop", "Old Lady Who Shows Up Once To Say Not All White People", and "Literally Gandhi. Look At Him Hes Saying A Gandhi Quote"

is it the part where killing people is the worst thing you can do, but if you do mass murder to civilians on behalf of a government but feel really bad the whole time you can still be a good guy, but if you do any amount of killing for any other reason or while feeling an emotion other than sadness youre a borderline-irredeemable monster, unless youre barry the chopper in which case it was funny so its okay (< the only part here thats true)

is it the part where the main character gains the respect of a member of the aforementioned ethnic minority by being racist to him. the part where a black girl has to get scolded by a white girl to realize that stealing is wrong. the part where the only major character to refuse to take part in a genocide is constantly called a coward for doing so by his epic girlboss hypernationalist sister and this is never really challenged. the part where the Sad Religious Terrorist gets guilt tripped so hard about killing 2 people while he was having the worlds most understandable panic attack that he decides hes fine working together with the guys who killed his family, because the System Loving Cop is so heroic, for wanting to do incrementalism, which again, is inherently moral

like the more i think about it the less i get it. this is the most milquetoast "bad things are bad and good things are good" status quo loving political narrative for 15 year olds on earth. where is the super relevant social commentary. because it feels like its just incredibly surface level "the bad guy is like hitler so the author is antifascist and based!!!" 2014 harry potter fandom type nonsense and its REALLY weird that it always comes from people insisting that theyre just that much better at media analysis than all the haters?? and that any criticism must be missing the point. what point. what is the point

[system-of-a-feather]

Honestly, I was talking to my sister who was a teacher in the Bronx about some cultural respect / nuanced discourse topics from a multicultural and intersectional lens since I had questions that I felt really was out of my range of experiences as it pertained to afrolatine individuals from the inner city and low socioeconomic status and I will be 100% honest, the amount of individuals I have in my "regular talking group" that are of african descent, latine descent and of more lower-economic status inner city backgrounds are pretty low - really only having one individual from the "lower-economic status inner city background" in the people I talk to regularly and it was a really interesting and insightful conversation that helped me develop and see further depth and complexity into topics that - as an outsider that has just been told how to not be racist - always thought of in a very simple single faceted lens.

And me and my sister like to just talk about these things and she called it "theory" when we were closing up cause she was like "Yeah during summer I absolutely do not want to talk about kids and children in any regard cause its trauma (/hj, worker rights is garbo but she likes what she does)" and it made me think today

A lot of people look at discussions around "internet topics" as some sort of "not productive, too online" sort of conversation, a waste of time more or less because you aren't "really going to change much"

And to some level I agree (and to some level I also disagree), but I think one of the perspectives that might be a large difference between the rhetoric and aggression I see in #syscourse VS the atmosphere of the people i talk to in and around #sysconversation and just people I like to actually talk to is a LARGE perspective and intent change between "I want to make a difference and change how things are" and "I want to understand and learn more about the human condition because I either enjoy it, it makes me a better person, it helps me understand the world, and/or it helps me understand myself and others better"

Because as much as I like the intent and sentiment of the first (and I was also very much there), I find that it is 1) not really congruent with the method of delivery as it is often not the right target and the online environment is not a really good depiction of the real off-line environment and 2) it is focused on trying to control and dictate behavior and experiences of others without spending much time to actually reflect on your place and role in all of everything that is going on.

It's good to want to make a difference and change how things are, but its really important to know that the only person you can realistically control is yourself and trying to exert that energy onto others is throwing your energy into a void; most importantly, I find that for every topic that needs improvement, there is not a single person who is completely innocent in being a COMPLETELY uninvolved in the system that keeps it up. And that ISNT bad, it's just a statement of realistic, honest, cultural humility. Every social issue, every social topic, is multilayered and multifaceted involving multiple people with multiple traits that are undeniably intertwined to the point that you can't really say "okay but this is ONLY about this" - and in every social issue, with how many layers there are to it, there is always going to be something you have relative privileged over others with; and that's something very important and helpful to analyze and reflect upon because you can control how that privileged affects your views, your actions and the way you handle these complex discussions.

If we are talking on an explicitly online environment, then one of the best ways you can make an ACTIVE change that you can ACTIVELY see in the world, it is to look at yourself and see what you can do to make a productive change towards your goal

((And its also helpful to actually sit and think about the change you want to see and reflect upon what your stances / arguments that are the 'hills you will die on' and see if the core values and changes you'd like to see are in line with those values))

[aggressiveworldbuilding]

Can you rant about WotC's Orcs, please?

Orcs are such a fucking waste and also a byproduct of the Tolkenization of dnd. Orcs are - from LOTR - corrupted elves who chose to become servents of Saron's sugar daddy Morgath or whatever the fuck (can't be bothered to look up the asshole's name rn) so the reason they are 'evil' isn't bc they are biologically bad because they are orcs - its because they chose to serve the Big Bad Evil TM. or were tortured? p sure the first ones chose to but not the point

There are So Many cool monsters mentioned in passing in one of the books and the most mudane boring bland ass 'hur dur they evil' tone to all of the descriptions. WHy. You are telling me there is a whole section on orcs that ride flying bats and you made it immediatly unappealing? Your telling me there are badass women who grow out their nails to claws to worship their god and you made them BORING???

The only things i would keep about orcs is their religious fanatisism. I like that about them - i think they deserve a whole well thought out religion, whether it be a highly organized church or a more nebulous worship. A whole pantheon of gods and such. Give it to them. As a treat. Lord knows they need sometjing to validate their holy wars.

Another thing is that it is mentioned that women in their culture are oppressed. Arent you tired of oppressing women WotC? Like - yea okay sure sexism is Yet another thing we should discsluss but why is it the Catholic brand of 'women is object'? If ur gonna fantasy my real life issue, at least consider in the context of the culture Why that is.

Halflings in my lore are sexist towards women, because rhey have a patriarichal monarchy. HOWEVER. It isnt the same as 'women opressed and must obey man'. Female halflings arent so much as oppressed as forgotten. They are a legal loophole - many rights (and offenses) simply doesnt apply to half the populatuon because the inheritance of property is so important to them - ans can only be passed on by men.

Is it good? No. Is it right? No - but thats not the point. No society is "good or bad" inherantly. Its how a society interacts with the morals ans values of another that dictates how it is perceived. So Orcs are likely 'evil' to creatures who dont beleive in their holy violence. But that doesnt mean they eat babies or whatever.

Tldr: orcs are to evil what elves are to good - a rip off and cop out. Use ur brain ans actually tell me sometjint abt them besides rhey kill people and are religious - you just described Paladins and Clerics!!!! And also catholics

[rubberduckyrye]

im an ouma kinnie who cant even be open about it because ill get dogpiled to hell and back for being a n*zi when. he isnt one at all and its such a reach but i digress

Oh my god I am SO sorry for you, anon. Well, this is a safe space for kins of any kind, so I hope you can find some comfort in that. ;w;

Anyway major salt incoming.

As for the whole "Kokichi is a Nazi" thing--like. My god. This old debate. I hate it with a burning passion. It's just--it's just wrong.

Look. Japan uses a lot of similar imagery in their culture to Nazi Germany. The red arm bands used for club leaders in high school. School uniforms resemble what I think is formal Japanese military uniforms (like, non-war uniforms?) They use the same kinds of hats too.

Also. Fandom wake-up call time.

I'm sorry but if Kokichi is a Nazi then wtf is Kiyotaka to them?

Or Korekiyo???

These two have the red armbands and illusion to military attire--something FAR CLOSER to Nazi imagery than a stupid hat with a skull on it that doesn't even have a canon sprite to its name. Why do these guys get a free pass? Is it because Kokichi had the bad luck of being the Ultimate Leader and there was a piss poor fantranslation calling him a Dictator? Because literally the only elements to Kokichi design that you can say are Maybe Inspired by Nazi Germany attire is his hat. Which only just kind of looks like one of the hats worn by Nazi Germany. I never found an exact match for it myself, so idk. Regardless, Kiyotaka and Korekiyo both had WAY more ties to that attire than Kokichi does.

Or if we're going to talk about problematicly-designed characters in general, why is Fuyuhiko getting no hate? He's literally a crimelord--a mafia boss. Why are mob bosses okay? Are you saying that mob bosses don't maim, murder, exploit, or abuse people? Did you know that certain factions of the Yakuza are known for human trafficking? That includes sex slavery. You do know that, right?

Not only is Fuyuhiko properly translated to be a Yakuza/mob boss, but his design has FAR more ties to the Yakuza/mafia than Kokichi has to nazi germany. And the game he's in makes him a sympathetic character to top it off!

And let's not even get into the anatomical horror that is Hifumi. Like if you want to talk about offensive design choices, Hifumi is by far the worst contender as the most offensively designed character. Fucking egg with twig legs, as if that's how fat people work at all!

Anyway what I'm getting at is that the people who don't like Kokichi look for any reason to hate on him, even if the reasons to hate on him would apply to other characters in the franchise. They just want to have a "legitimate" reason to hate him so they can legitimize their rage and validate themselves for attacking his fans. It's disgusting behavior tbh.

NOTE: The only design I think that's actually offensive out of the ones I've listed is Hifumi, solely for his piss poor fat anatomy. Even then, you don't see me going around and harassing people who actually like Hifumi for the fatphobia in his design.

.... I just noticed that Hifumi isn't even wearing SOCKS. nkdjegnjkngkfr

Anyway salt time over.

[hellishvxbes]

🔥🔥🔥

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. Bonus points if you include a topic. ( IE. shipping, roleplaying, ect. )

Okay. I struggled to come up with some topics to talk about for a while plus just issues through the entirety of this week. BUT I FIGURED IT OUT.

🔥 - PROMOS. tbh, promo's main use were to help roleplayers find other roleplayers, to spread the word about your blog and find more partners and people to make friends and broaden your experiences with learning about new and exciting fandoms. Now I just find them tedious, and annoying to make. if you aren't a popular blog the odds of your promo being reblogged and spread around is so minimal. it also just feels like clout chasing at this point. and yeah nothing wrong with reblogging your promo and having your friends hype you up, but then ppl wonder why they think the rpc is so alienating? cuz someone else will reblog their promo's expecting the same thing and they don't get it and then they feel left out. but if its just so you can get some nice thrown at you, it just feels like more clutter for my dash especially if I'm already following you. now if you're a NEW blog. if you just joined a fandom, and you want some exposure, I'm down for that because that is what a promo is supposed to be for.

🔥 - Personals. I actually like personals. sometimes personals care more about what I post than my own followers. i get ppl being upset if they reblog their threads, but liking your posts? and maybe reblogging a headcanon or something but idk i guess for me that stuff just doesn't bother me. I love when people reblog my headcanon and they agree. or they add onto it, with their own thoughts. or they tell me how much they love it. makes me feel seen. makes me feel cool. i just think people forget that tumblr is NOT a roleplay site. yes, we found a use to tailor it to our hobby, that doesn't mean everyone who comes across our blogs know that. they arent apart of our community, what makes you think they have to abide our guidelines for it? tbh, roleplayers have just gotten entitled to thinking that tumblr is supposed to bow to our whim. we share a space with non roleplayers. to demand, and just expect ppl are just going to see your rules and read them and respect it rght away?? come on ya'll. we know to look for rules cuz its what we've been doing for years, but you can't expect that from strangers who are likely mobile bound just seeing something you wrote in the tags. its gonna happen. i just dont like the mannerisms some people have with them. you dont gotta be rude about it. if its really bothering you just block them and be done. problem solved. going out of your way to make posts about how annoying they are is just unnecessary.

🔥 - duplicates. this is one is gonna get me fired but oh well. Ya'll we have GOT to love ourselves better. because it is plain and simple insecurity for why people feel they cant talk or write with duplicates. i know it does deeper in some cases, like your current partner leaving you for the shinny new roleplayer of the same muse you write. believe me I've been there. but fuck those people. when are we gonna stop letting others dictate how we feel about ourselves? i hate seeing shit when a new roleplayer pops up with the same muse and suddenly you get the vaguing posts about 'suddenly feeling very doubtful of my portrayal' like its not obvious you are threatened. and in this fandom??? we're i follow like 30 different alastors?? lucifers?? Angels"?? all different, all got something to add and share. i got news for you but your portrayal isnt the only ONE. its not the end all be all. and yes I talk to my ego all the time, cuz there are some muses i write where i'm like I AM THE GOD FATHER OF THIS MUSE. but thats me and my own pride, doesnt mean anyone else who writes this muse is less than me. or i'm suddenly less than them. and there are portrayals i dont fuck with. i simply just do not look their way. but theres always muses i love roleplaying with duplicates cuz its FUN. also being able to talk to people who love this muse as much as you?? learn to stop looking at everything like its a competition and things will not be as stressful. its what makes this hobby unfun when you let those insecurities eat you up. im not saying its not valid, and im not saying you cant be upset, but what does it really do for you? what would happen if you just went and talked to them? imagine it goes well? you make a new friend. dont deny yourself opening a door just because you are scared of what 'might' be behind it. and its something I am learning and teaching myself. our issue is we all wanna be see, and heard. we all wanna be the absolute best. we wanna have the best portrayal like this sort of acknowledgement does anything. cuz while I know ppl love my own portrayals, still doesn't change the fact that i got issues and i cry myself to sleep still. the 'love' i get on here, ain't a fix. and if you think seeking validation on tumblr dot com is gonna fix you? its not. the attention and love we seek on here is just a placeholder, its us using this as a distraction from actually fixing our problems, and turn i still see how so many of us are unhappy. let it go.

[bookishtheaterlover7]

I understand and feel the same issues with age. I see people, and sometimes im like, I feel like I should act older. I always got alowlng with people who were usually older or younger. Sometimes, I feel like I act too young. I dont feel my age i feel like a teenager. College has this way of combining people of various ages both with ine foot in the same life and one foot out . I feel silly sometimes seeing others who have families or are now graduated with careers. But i dont want to feel run down and stuck that im not moving as fast as I should be.

I dont want to feel old I don't want to feel like the world isnt my oyster. I like how I apprached things when I was a teen with open eyes, an open heart, and an open mind. I think that's why i feel young . I dont judge prematurely, and i try and go at things openly,

I think Will and Kate set a new presence since they got married and had kids older. Its no longer a get married and have a family befire your 20s are over even at 29 people aren't focused on that, and I feel like it takes the pressure off. As women yes we have a clock, and it sucks and I want kid, I honestly do. But now isnt the time. Our parents' generation and ours have so many things that seperate us we're living a diffrent age more akin to agriculture turning into the industrial revolution than any other time.

I see celebrities who are in the same age group and it amazes me how they diffrent they look and what they done. I look at people loek SarJo and Britney Spears and I find its amazing what they have done and they look so much older. And I have to remind myself its ok youre not them you're not meant to be exactly like them.

I understand why Miley Cyrus wrote I used to be young. But I dont agree. We are still young. To a 96vyear old a 40nyear old is young

To a 50 year old a 35 year old is young

To a 19 year old and early 20s a 33 year old is someone to look up to thst we set standards to

But look at yourself in your own position. Things must have happened to you that never happened to anyone else, and those changes can be good. Dont be afriad to take longer in school to get your degree

Dont be afraid to start learning a new skill or hobby

It's never too late to try something.

I have to remidn myself that my own journy is mine and taking the shorter path isn't always fun or how its cracked up to be.

We only see hilight reels.

Look at yours no one elses.

After 18 or 21 depending does age really matter when your heart and soul are worth the most weight? Just be a good person regardles if youre 18, 21, 25, 29, 32, 35, 37, 43, 57.... I just want to be a good person and be happy and i think that means accepting how many times i go around the sun doesnt need to dictate how I feel or what I do with my life.

Okay, seriously... How did I stumble upon the accepting people of Tumblr...🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

And also, y'all have officially made me cry 😆

And I'mma share this because honestly, it's beautiful. And I think it's a message people need to hear. I certainly needed to hear it.

Thank you, dear N🫶nnie... 🥹🤗

God, we seriously need more of this positivity around...

[96percentdone]

Top 5 characters who haunt the narrative?

Yeah okay okay okay good question good question.

Guertena, Ib. You will never meet this man. You will NEVER know this man. The only words we know to be his own are that short journal entry, but the gallery of his works has taken a life of its own. It holds his spirit, or at least how his spirit has been perceived and interpreted by an audience. The world of his creation is brimming with life and feelings and intent, all born from his simple wish to be remembered, but he himself is absent. Unknowable. Mary wishes to meet her father, the gallery itself yearns for him, but all he will ever be, to them and to us, is a portrait hanging on the wall of his arm holding a paintbrush, born from the hazy memories of art and audience desperate to understand that which makes and moves them.

Lacie, Pandora Hearts. You see her in the past, but you can't change her fate. Hell the narrative concludes by not only changing nothing but by reaffirming that we should accept everything that had happened, good and bad, and even implies her support because its her song, the one she used to sing, the one that carries her name, that leads them to where it begins and ends. Pandora Hearts begins with that melody, and it ends at her grave. Her existence motivates and fuels everyone, whether they love her, hate her, never knew her, or have yet to remember her--she is the root of the tragedy, and she the one singing from the heavens that the world is still beautiful and worth living in no matter how cruel and senseless it gets.

Houjou Satoshi, Higurashi. Like with Lacie, although you can see him, meet him, in Meakashi, or in tips...you can do nothing for him. His fate is predetermined, and yet everything about what happened to him, his tragedy just plagues Hinamizawa. Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rena and Rika have all internalized his fate as their own failings, and it shapes the ways they interact with each other, and with Keiichi. And it affects Keiichi too! Keiichi who never knew Satoshi, who could never have known him or his fate is still affected by his absence. He is constantly responding to a void he looks like he's supposed to fill, down to using his locker and sitting in his seat, with the way his friends project Satoshi on him. Everyone is haunted by what happened to Satoshi. The adults of hinamizawa too, the conflict over the Houjou family, the internal bullshit with sonozakis--everything.

Gregory Edgeworth, Ace Attorney. The whole of Ace Attorney begins because on December 28th, 2001, a man was shot in an elevator. This one act of violence completely changed the course of every single character in the original trilogy's lives. Like not just Miles, and Yanni Yogi, and MvK, and the Feys, but it's Nick whose inspiration to be a lawyer stemmed from Miles imitating his father in the class trial, and Franziska whose life and ambitions were forever altered once MvK brought them together. His death causes an endless chain reaction. It all goes back to him. This is why No-DL-6 aus have the fandom in a chokehold. AND THIS ISNT EVEN GETTING TO THE HAUNTING OF I2, FEATURING GREGORY EDGEWORTH.

Okiura Renju, AITSF. As soon as the game begins, although you don't know it just yet, he's dead. But so much of the game is about him anyway! His failures as a father, his getting caught up in the yakuza as a kid, his inability to save one of his closest friends, the grief he can never come to terms with that dictates his every move, the fact that he's still so loved by the people who knew him despite his many failings (Date, Pewter, Hitomi, Iris, even Mizuki still loves her father), and they still want justice for him. Pewter even betrays everyone because he thinks he's doing it for Renju even though Renju has been gone from the moment this began. You could put Iwai Manaka here, because she like haunts Sejima and Hitomi and also Renju, and the stuff that happened there kickstarted the plot, but the thing is. I like Renju more and he has a lot more going on than just "innocent young woman whose life was tragically cut too short), so she doesn't make the cut!

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

okay so after i saw the announcement of a stranger things animated show, i looked into it just for more context and found out that this year, a stranger things stage show opens in london, and as a british theatre nerd, i may have fell down a rabbit hole.

to preface, i have not studied drama since i was 16. i did not pursue further it as much as i wish i had. i have, however, seen many many plays and musicals, both amateur and professional. i know at least a little more than the average person.

so if youre remotely interested in hearing amateur analysis of what we know of stranger things: the last shadow, welcome:

"take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension"

so in one article, i found this quote. i couldnt find who said it exactly, just someone associated with the play.

i'm hoping, this is just marketing; i really hope its just marketing. because this feels a bit insulting to uh, a lot of people who came before. such as augusto boal who founded theatre of the oppressed or konstantin stanislavski or bertolt brecht or antonin artaud who founded theatre of cruelty.

i mention artaud because im expecting some elements from theatre of cruelty. if you look up any artaud plays or theatre of cruelty plays on youtube, youll probably get why.

but anyway, as you might have gathered, this hasnt inspired confidence in me. and i already wasnt confident because it is very difficult to translate film or tv to theatre, and vice versa. look at phantom 2004. i dont believe the duffers would be able to do this; this isnt even a knock on their writing, i dont think most writers could do this without practice.

and so i went to their website to see who else was involved

now is probably a great time to mention how inaccessible their website is. in the background of their website, there are small flashing lights all over the screen. theres no warning for this.

it literally triggered a migraine in me and i had to take my strongest medication for it. fuck you website designer.

(also, just gonna mention it here, i do like the poster and some of the website design, ignoring the stupid lights, but i cannot find the artist ANYWHERE on the website, which as an artist, fuck you)

anyway, first thing i did was look at who is writing it, and im in two minds about it. there are four writers credited: kate trefry, duffer brother 1, duffer brother 2, and jack thorne.

if you recognise jack thornes name, its probably because he wrote the awful harry potter play.

HOWEVER, hes actually quite a competent writer like 90% of the time. his plays tend to get at least 3 out of 5 stars. looking through the reviews, his best regarded plays are bunny, hope, solid life of sugar water, and his adaptation of let the right one in

that last one is very promising because he drew both on the book and film in adaptation. jack thorne does know how to adapt media into different mediums. he has also won an adaption award for his adaption of a christmas carol. his adaptation of the film after life has also be commended for being a good adaption.

this is not to say his work isnt without criticism. i mean, he wrote cursed child. he also has been criticised for slow pacing, shallow writing and one of his more recent plays, sunday, apparently had a "hello fellow kids" vibe. he is now in his 40s afterall.

so a bit of a mixed bag, but a good sign in terms of it not being simply terrible due to lack of understanding of medium.

i also have to mention that jack thorne is disabled and is an advocate for disabled folks in the dramatic arts. when he wrote the solid life of sugar water, he dictated that one character should always be played by a deaf actor. he does also write many disabled stories. his impact is a net positive.

(hes also frank skinners brother-in-law which is fun)

now, the other three writers have never written for stage, which uh, yeah, no, that does the opposite of inspiring courage in me. it is a very different process than writing for films or tv, and none of them have any writing credits for stage work.

on the poster, kate trefry is credited as the main writer which could go either way. shes not written much for screen. she has at least written stranger things episodes so shes not going into it blind.

honestly, i just hope they use jack thorne and his expertise more than they need to. hes the wise old man in their group and i really hope they listen to him and dont just try and do it all themselves.

now onto the director: stephen daldry. ive never seen his work live, but when i was studying drama, i really wanted to.

to give you an idea as to why, when david hare was working on via dolorosa, he had daldry as a co-director and when daldry responded no to hare asking if something was over the top, hare said "your top is situated some hundred yards above everyone else. ive seen your productions."

do you get why i want to see one of his productions asdfdesd his work tends to be very expressionistic and vivid. his directing style has been described as consistent stylised helming. hes won a lot of awards and he tends to get 4/5 stars at the very least on his works.

hes also helped to adapt the billy elliot movie (which is both fantastic and directed by him) to stage and it was fantastic.

hes also gay <3

the set designer is miriam buether. ive never seen any of her work live so i cant speak for the atmosphere it creates, but her setwork looks fine. shes versatile and doesnt need to go over the top with spectacle for her sets to look good.

in particular, i really enjoy her sets for earthquakes in london. the colour work there is *chef's kiss*

unfortunately, theyve kept it all very under wraps as to the tone the stageshow is going to take so i dont know how either buethers set design of daldrys directing is going to translate.

by combining them, i would expect a very expressionistic, very brightly coloured show, which, theres some cognitive dissonance round the corner.

also the premise is about young!hopper, young!joyce, young!bob and henry creel, with some kind of mystery. id expect a more naturalistic approach with this premise, but daldry isnt exactly known for that. so im in two minds.

however, one of his best regarded shows is his adaption of an inspector calls. ive only seen a naturalistic version of that and it very much reads naturalistic. daldrys was the opposite, even going as far as swapping out the fancy dinner hall for the blitz. so if anyone is gonna make it work, it would be daldry.

in terms of light design, thats jon clark. once again, ive never seen any of his work in person so im going off of photos but oh my fucking god i love his work with shadows. hes won many awards and he fucking deserves them.

sound design is the same. ive never heard a paul arditti sound design show in person and bootlegs dont have the best audio. hes award-winning, however, so it seems like thats in good hands.

one thing i was very interested about was how they were going to translate the upside down and the monsters. the show relies on cgi which obviously, you cant really do cgi on a stage; it would just look kinda shit.

their solution seems to be hiring two illusion designers.

i couldnt find much on the first, chris fisher. hes a member of the magic circle and hes done a lot of work so he seems accomplished.

the second one, im honestly kind of excited about. the second is jamie harrison who is the co-artistic director for a company called vox motus WHO ARE SO FUCKING COOL.

there is no mention of his partner in vox motus, candice edmunds, but that could mean nothing.

instead of trying to explain what vox motus do, im just gonna copy two quotes from their website:

"ours is a theatre of story-telling visuals, transformational design, magic, comedy, music, physical performance, puppetry, multi-media and most importantly thrills."

"we are drawn to stories that explore extremes of behaviour and taboos in the contemporary world: often unbelievable true tales that delve into the bizarre, glorious, exhilarating and macabre."

look up their stuff, its so fucking cool. there is also definitely some elements of artaud in their work. it gives me a lot of confidence for the show being enjoyable even if the writing is bad, because spectacle can go a long way.

i genuinely kinda want to go see this show now because i really want to see their work, and id get a chance to see a daldry play.

so like a tl/dr for this part: im not confident in the writing but i dont necessarily think itll be bad. i think the worst itll be is sufficient and mediocre, if they listen to jack thorne. i do have a lot of confident in the visual aspects and spectacle; even if the writing is shit, it will look good.

now im going to be an annoying disabled person and point out some accessibility stuff:

as i mentioned before, the website has small flashing lights all over the background. theres no warning for this. it triggered a migraine for me which was the best three options considering they could have also triggered visual disturbances in my eyes (aka seeing things that arent there due to my iih) or epileptic symptoms due to brain damage.

the theatre itself does have wheelchair access at the side of the building it also has accessible toilets. there is no onsite parking which does make it more difficult for wheelchair users.

they have said they will present captioned, audio-described and british sign language performances, but the dates are not yet set. they instruct you to keep checking . im a little intrigued about this and a little concerned considering its currently may 9th and it opens 17th november.

if you need accessible tickets, you need to have atg access membership. this is a third party company. to have this, you have to show paperwork or documents to prove that you're disabled which is often not possible for many disabled folks. i dont have a written diagnosis for anything besides my adhd diagnosis because i was diagnosed in person or over the phone. luckily, i receive pip so i qualify but its a ridiculous standard.

in the faq, theres a question about being aware of any potential trigger warnings; the answer to this is copy and pasted from the question above which asked about age rating and parental guidance, apart from them adding that there will be flashing lights in the show.

and finally some extra details:

there is a £3.80 transaction charge on top of ticket purchases

you cannot book over the phone

they are all e-tickets

currently, you cannot buy group tickets or student tickets, and you can only purchase a max of 6 tickets.

they are planning a weekly-lottery for late-release tickets, and this will be announced closer to the first show

there is not a confirmed runtime

they have no current plans to move the show outside of london

the age rating is 12+. this means under 16s must be accompanied by adults and under 5s are just not allowed in. not entirely sure how it works if youre age 6 to 11.

the most common ticket price i saw was starting at £45 (about $57). the second most common was starting at £75 (about $95).

there were some tickets starting at £20 (about $25).

i might actually buy a ticket and see it. i would have to save for it but i could do it and then tell you if its shit or not lmao

[loztotkfanart]

Hi! I just wanted to reach out and say thank you, and that your blog inspires me to keep posting art, even though I don't think it's the best.

I love seeing what others have to share, and I really appreciate that you consider mine worth sharing too!

My recent post (16 different messy link sketches!) was a bit hard for me to share because it's both messy and not really appealing to look at imo. But this blog reblogging it was really nice and helped me out to keep going.

So this might be a silly question, but I was wondering, do you have a preference on what you would like to share for this blog? You might not and that's okay, but if there is a preference, I might want to try focusing my art on that if possible.

Thank you again and I hope you have a wondeful day! :)

ahhh yes, i thought those sketches were very cute! i enjoy them immensely. i went through your blog a little to familiarize myself again with your work, its very good. i don't think you should sell yourself short

IMO of what kind of artwork you should be making, whatever the hell you want. Don't let the lure of notes and popularity lead you to draw things you dont enjoy drawing. It's your skill, your time, your materials, no one should dictate what you do with them. unless its for commission, but that's a whole 'nother ball game

as far as my own personal preferences to what i reblog, im pretty open. though i do have some general rules that i follow. First of all, the artwork has to be from the artist themselves, ooooorrrr in rare occasion, the artist has to be linked prominently. like, i sometimes reblog stuff from RetroGamingBlog2, even though they do not create art, but does link to the artist.

second, the art has to be mostly zelda related. i prefer all zelda related, but, ehh. Like, sometimes people draw smash bros, which has some zelda characters, but not all of them. if its like, one zelda character in a scene of ten, i'll probably skip it. same thing with people posting "art dumps" of sketches with lots of different fandoms. like, if its ten pictures and only one or two are zelda, i might pass. the art has to be of substantial quality to get me to reblog it, cuz i do consider what my audience might like to see. the only exception is artist commissions pages, i do reblog commissions pages regardless of if they are in the zelda fandom or not.

third, i do try to reblog as much from learning artists as more skillful ones, but sometimes the quality just isnt there. and esp. if the learning artist posts many pictures at a time, i might just choose a couple to reblog instead of spamming everyone with a lot of that artist. or it goes straight into the queue, which doles out art over a period of time at a more manageable rate

and fourth, i try not to reblog Ben Drowned stuff, cuz im not really sure its zelda related??? i also find horror stuff distasteful in general, esp without proper content warnings. but that doesn't mean i havent. and usually that stuff isn't tagged by the OG posters, and i'll add tags myself, which slows me down if i have to add a lot of tags. cuz anyone who follows this blog knows i reblog a lot XD

the last thing i'll touch upon is the lemon stuff. im ok with lemon content, heck i make my own lemon content, which i've reblogged to this blog ^^* i tag it "legend of lemon" for anyone who wants to block the tag. and now tumblr has added that mature filter, which is such a big help. sometimes the OG poster doesn't add a mature label and i'll just do it myself to ere on the side of caution. that being said, most lemon art is not posted by the OG artist, and doesn't have a link to the artist either. i also find some lemon art personally distasteful, and i feel weird reblogging it even with a mature label and tags. BUT, ya know, im here to serve. if people want me to reblog everything, then everything i shall reblog. i know there is quite the split in the zelda fandom between lemon and not lemon. i've been blocked by a couple folks because of it XD

hope that answers your question. please create art that you enjoy creating, and if you do have any zelda art that you want me to reblog, just send me a DM or @ me in the post. more than likely i will reblog it

[4chanid]

i dont care how the fuck traumatized you are. youre sitting there identifying in an ideology thats killed MILLIONS. as a "gender" i literally identify as many xenogenders but you cannot identify as that dude, i know me saying this wont stop you but if you went outside for 5 minutes and said youre a nazi youd get your fucking head kicked in RIGHTFULLY. you saying youre a nazi is meaning you support the murder of anybody who isnt white, especially jewish people, you want dictators who will enforce that, and you support at least most of hitlers actions. thats it. thats what a nazi is. if you say "well i dont actually" then thats like me identifying as pupgender and saying "oh no i dont like puppies and dont identify as one and i think theyre disgusting" doesnt make sense does it? and if you think it DOES then i genuinley think you need help really, you wouldnt go get a swastika tattoo because you know that theyre bad people and actual nazis would bash your face in and would enjoy everything you love, under nazi dictatorship youd be one of the first, i dont care if youre radqueer or whatever as long as you dont hurt anybody thats okay, its just not my thing, but this does, this genuinley does hurt people dude, it does no matter how much you deny it, it does hurt people. if youre a nazi sharpie a swastika on your forehead and shout 14/88 and see how that turns out, even if you dont align with the ideologies somehow(then its just pointless) its like skinheads, people think theyre nazis, theyre not, if you saw a skinhead in public knowing every skin youve seen is a white supremacist nazi, youd assume that they are too, unless they was wearing a SHARP badge, then youd know theyre not racist, and most likely not a nazi, but the difference is that theres actual skinheads that arent nazis, but every nazi is well, a nazi, a racist horrible person who supports murder of minorities, and youre preaching you are one. no matter what you think your identity is it means a horrible person, i cant change what you identify as but fuck it hurts people, but i doubt your brain has developed enough to know when youre hurting people and when youre not. since youve gotten this far.

Alright, back from taking a break from fronting, what did I miss? More hate asks? Great. I'm going to dissect each point, this will be a long post so I hope you're prepared.

"youre sitting there identifying in an ideology thats killed MILLIONS. as a 'gender' i literally identify as many xenogenders but you cannot identify as that dude" While my transnazi identity is connected to my gender, I assume you're referring to me being transnazi in general, in which case that isn't gender related. I'll explain this again. Due to me in source being/having similar ideologies, I identify as a transnazi, not because I approve of cisnazis. I do not agree with cisnazi ideology, that's the first thing you should learn before making these claims.

"i know me saying this wont stop you but if you went outside for 5 minutes and said youre a nazi youd get your fucking head kicked in RIGHTFULLY" I'm not even going to touch on this, depending on where you live, you could have the same reaction to saying you're queer or any other identity you think is valid, let's not base morality on what other people think, alright? You are also taking how I identify out of context to make it sound worse, but I'm loosing patience to try to explain this to you.

"you saying youre a nazi is meaning you support the murder of anybody who isnt white, especially jewish people, you want dictators who will enforce that, and you support at least most of hitlers actions. thats it. thats what a nazi is." First off, we as a system aren't white, so do with that what you want, it'd be pretty weird if we were a cisnazi considering we're non-white, queer and mentally disabled.

"if you say "well i dont actually" then thats like me identifying as pupgender and saying 'oh no i dont like puppies and dont identify as one and i think theyre disgusting' doesnt make sense does it?" Let's not go down that way of thinking, there are many ways to identify with xenogenders apart from "I like this thing". Maybe that is someones way of identifying with pupgender, that they don't like puppies or identify as one, you think people having more unique experiences with xenogenders makes them invalid or something?

"you wouldnt go get a swastika tattoo because you know that theyre bad people and actual nazis would bash your face in" Yes, cisnazis are bad people, good job! I also share a body with 400+ other people, I would never think of getting something like that because it frames us all as bad people, I'd rather be the only one you think is a bad person because I know I can defend myself, I don't know if they can.

"under nazi dictatorship youd be one of the first" Rude.

"i dont care if youre radqueer or whatever as long as you dont hurt anybody thats okay, its just not my thing, but this does, this genuinley does hurt people dude, it does no matter how much you deny it, it does hurt people." Identities themselves don't hurt people. My identity just makes you uncomfortable so you think it's hurtful. That's all this is.

"if youre a nazi sharpie a swastika on your forehead and shout 14/88 and see how that turns out, even if you dont align with the ideologies somehow(then its just pointless) its like skinheads, people think theyre nazis, theyre not, if you saw a skinhead in public knowing every skin youve seen is a white supremacist nazi, youd assume that they are too, unless they was wearing a SHARP badge, then youd know theyre not racist, and most likely not a nazi, but the difference is that theres actual skinheads that arent nazis, but every nazi is well, a nazi, a racist horrible person who supports murder of minorities, and youre preaching you are one." God it hurts to read this, I'm usually not going to care about grammar or spelling because everyone goes through their own struggles but holy fuck. This is one sentence. This could be like five.

"no matter what you think your identity is it means a horrible person, i cant change what you identify as but fuck it hurts people" Again, identities themselves don't hurt people, it's the actions attached to them. Yes, if I was spouting hate speech at people who didn't consent to it or if I was justifying cisnazi actions, then I would be a horrible person, but I'm not.

[tasmanianstripes]

You know, for people who love to insist being fat is an illness, fatphobes sure do love harassing the supposedly ill people. I mean, we already know it's just an excuse to be a disappointing waste of space but it still says a lot about your morality when you have 0 issues with harassing people for their illness.

"BuT tHeY'vE cAuSeD iT tHeMsElVeS!"

And smokers caused their own cancer but if you went up to a fucking cancer patient just to call them horrible names you'd still be a fucking dick.

[destinysbounty]

Okay, we've got height headcanons, face headcanons...but you know what we need? Name headcanons.

Okay, yes, I know, the ninja already have names. But their names originate from Earth cultures and Earth languages, which, uh, don't exist in Ninjago. Like!! The name 'Lloyd' is Welsh, but Wales isnt a place on the Ninjago map! And 'Zane' is German - but again, Germany doesn't exist in this fictional fantasy world either. How can Zane's name be German if Germany is nowhere on the Ninjago map?

Realistically I know this is because this show has painfully messy worldbuilding and they gave all the main characters simple European names that their young American audience would be able to easily identify and pronounce. BUT I love to overthink things so that's what I'm gonna do.

Logic would dictate that although their names have specific cultural contexts within our world, they have different contexts and origins within the world of the story. Their names would logically have some kind of different meaning in relation to the cultures, languages, and dialects that exist within Ninjago itself.

This is already canon, to some extent. The name 'Nya' already has a canon in-universe origin, with her being named after a legendary Merlopian hero - from this we can assume the name Nyad and its derivative Nya are Merlopian in origin. Which suggests the idea that the same is true for all the other characters as well, we just haven't gotten the chance to get backstories for their names yet. And there is so much untapped potential in exploring what their names could mean in-universe.

Here, I'll start with my own personal headcanons about the subject:

Most names in this series come from 'Classical Ninjargon', the ancient dialect that was spoken in the time of the FSM but gradually evolved into Modern Ninjargon, which is the dialect commonly spoken by the characters to this day. However, a lot of words, terms, and names still rely in some part on their classical roots.

'Kai' isn't really a name, so much as it is a noun. It's commonly used in the names of towns and villages. For example, Jamanakai Village. 'Kai' means 'shelter' - or, more specifically, 'a form of barrier or protection that defends against cold weather.' It's not a very common name to give to children, though, but it appears in the names of villages and settlements all across Ninjago. It seems fitting, considering the kind of person Kai is. His parents gave him that name as a reference to its more specific meaning. Shelter from the cold. During the Serpentine War, Ray and Maya's dreams of starting a family were what gave them comfort and kept them going. Kai wasnt just named as a shelter from the cold, but a shelter from despair as well.

Nya's name has its obvious origins - she was named after Nyad, the storybook hero who befriended whales and defeated Wojira. Nyad was also Merlopian, where her name means 'courage'. Likewise, Nya's name has similar connotations. Of course, Maya hadn't known that meaning when she named her child, as Merlopia was just a myth and its language much the same. She did know of the fairytale, though, and Maya's own mother had told her that story as a child, so she wanted to give her daughter a name that was meaningful in that same way.

'Jay' comes from a regional dialect of Classical Ninjargon that became prevalent in the Sea of Sands. The name itself originates from the term 'jairu', meaning "blessed storm." Some historians speculate the name goes back further than that, with the term 'jairu' originally meaning "Wojira's favor"...but there is much debate about that. Both Jay and Jairu are pretty popular names in the Sea of Sands. Jay was an unexpected but highly valued gift to Ed and Edna, just as a rainstorm is in a desert.

'Cole' was originally the word for earth/dirt, but over the centuries its frequent use in Classical poetry led to it acquiring a myriad of more specific meanings - 'solid foundation', 'stable ground', 'dependable and reliable', 'steady and unshaken amidst conflict', etc. The word itself has a lot of very poetic, very vivid interpretations, and when most people name their children 'cole', thats what they're referencing. But not Lily. No, she knew the name historically meant 'earth', and she wanted his name to be a pun. It was 100% intentional

'Zane' isnt so much a name as it is a colloquial term, from the Birchwood region. Even though the word has Classical roots, it still remains widely used in that region. The word 'zane', a noun, is in reference to the constant, unmelting snowcover that blankets the region year-round. In Classical Ninjargon the term means, "endlessly persevering" - but over time it became repurposed as their term for their endless snow. Dr. Julien always thought the snow was beautiful, and named his son after its remarkable endurance

Lloyd's name has an interesting history to it. In the time of the Stone Wars, when the FSM initially split Ninjago and sealed away the Overlord, the people of that era celebrated the occasion by turning it into a holiday. They called it "belloid", which Classically means "victory over darkness." Eventually a new tradition emerged where children who were born on the holiday were named after it - and so the name "lloyd" came to be. And although the holiday evolved and is now more commonly known as Festival Day (yes, thats a canon holiday), with its history and origins fading out of public awareness, the tradition still persists. But heres the catch: Lloyd wasnt born on that holiday. His dad's reasons for naming him Lloyd were twofold. First, because he made a promise to himself to resist the venom's corruption for the sake of his son, and the name "victory over darkness" served as a testament to that promise. And second, because 'lloyd' sounds like 'lord', and giving his child a pun name sounds exactly like something Garm would do

And of course, since the ninjas' rise to fame, they have inspired some increasingly popular baby names. 'Lloyd' has been the baby name of the year for four years in a row now, which is something the others tease him relentlessly for.

[solardrink]

this tommy situation is so weird they need to get their heads out of their asses. they think they know everything which is annoying as hell.

tommy is a smart kid but he also said himself he isnt always sure how to say what hes thinking. its absolutely a right move to leave twitter. try as twitter may try to "educate" which is force feed him into performative activism. the kid is learning and growing and this crazy pedestal hes on must be really insane.

its lovely to hear thats hes been attending therapy and advocates for people to try therapy if they can/need it. i dunno this is stressful but im forcin myself to think about it rationally cause stuff like this is important.

at the end of the day- support your favorite streamers, support people who know shit about politics like hasanabi, support charities, support the trevor project, support the homeless and people in need, support whoever the hell you want unless its morally wrong lmao

educate yourself outside of social media.

twitter specifically is a bad website/platform/media/whatever for teaching people shit in a compassionate and respectful way for a few reasons:

-anonymity: people can say whatever shit they want and get no repercussions because people all over the world use twitter, from terrorists to streamers to high schoolers to politicians to celebrities. plus theres no requirement to share your name or face online i.e. no real responsibility for one's words

-the algorithm of twitter: when a lot of people tweet about a topic at once, it gets on the trending tab. this means people excited about a topic, antis about a topic, rts, prts, comments, likes, Drama. twitter literally thrives on interaction good or bad. people tend to get upset when things are trending at the same time as other things but in reality they are not in control of that.

back to the tommy thing- i.e. hes genuinely apologetic even if he doesnt understand what people are exactly upset about. so chill out hes tired and confused, and no one is saying shit in a simple manner or respectful manner. clearly all hes hearing is people upset with him and leaving is an understandable response.

what needs to happen is a good conversation where he reads and understands why people are upset and the people who wanted tommy to address things need to also talk in a respectful way that he can understand. tommy is not an adult but he is mature and will understand if people actually explain shit instead of just getting mad.

it is completely okay to be uncomfortable and upset but it is not okay to attack people, force them to do what you want, or try to dictate peoples lives when you dont know them.

be kind to one another