#but HEY I'm still learning lmao

[scourgeblooms]

commander ⇾ wayfinder

[ahollowgrave]

Hiiii do you have any more writings or musings about None? I was in your writing tag the other night and they came up a couple times but I'm not sure if I should be picturing a miqo'te or some sort of service animal/familiar lol

Hello! That's so fair, my Odette writings do not offer a lot of description for them! They do have their own tag [HERE] although not much is in it, currently. Some of the screenshots I'm including here and the writings which you've already seen! I'm very sorry for how rambling this is but None is where a lot of alts and relationships spawn from! None is neither a miqo'te nor a service animal (though I think they'd give a huff at the title)! None is the saddest creature in the whole world, a widower, Odette's favorite lil guy, Gerry's estranged step-parent, and a Lalafell:

A Lalafell ranger who makes their living guiding people through the Shroud. These days they are 'mostly' retired. They're well past their middle age and when they were younger they made a deal with sylphs. To be fleet-footed and quick and the best hunter. It came with some side effects:

They wear a hat to cover the ears. It's a bit silly to have two sets and, frankly, None doesn't wanna talk about it. They are stoic, pragmatic, and a bit of a hermit when they can afford it. None is a widower, their late wife was an duskwight woman named Aloutte, who was a widow herself with a young child; Geraldine. None and Gerry were never close and in the wake of Aloutte's passing that distant only grew. None and Odette met at the Menphina temple she was raised at. The Sisters there offer grief counseling and when Aloutte first fell sick she made them go to make the transition easier. A child at the time, Odette was obsessed from the moment they met. A pale shadow trailing after them. Where None failed with Gerry, they bonded with Odette. After Aloutte's passing None returned to the temple to live long term, some grievers need more support than others, they and Odette spent a lot of time together. They very much fill a uncle/aunt role for Odette; a trusted advisor who isn't the adults who raised her. When Odette took her vows and started to travel it was None who traveled with her, taught her basic outdoors skills, bought her Beauty and taught her how to care for chocobos. When Odette has to leave her flock of karakul to travel it is None she calls to care for them. Also, while Aloutte's loss and the grief that follows is very important to None as a character I feel it is important to note they were the saddest creature in the whole world before they knew the warmth of Aloutte's embrace! Sometimes you're just born with a heavy heart, you know? Because of how important they are to Odette. Odile... fucking hates their guts. Oooh, she hates their guts so much!!! The feeling is mutual and Odile and None have come to blows a few times. Something they both keep from Odette; None because they don't want to make her worry, Odile because she'll use the information to drive a wedge at some point. None also features in Odette's WoL AU, they're an honorary scion and spend most of their time with the other off-screen members. They spend time with Krile and Tatatru discussing lalafell things and I like to imagine that F'lhaminn and None have a lot to talk about. This is... pretty long so I will stop here! But I hope this satisfies some curiosity about None and thank you SO MUCH for asking about them!

[crehador]

first attempt at knitting! stuck to a very simple scarf for samanui but. uh. might have made it a bit too long

not to worry

ichinui knows what to do

[discoreptile]

Beasties of Greenhollow soundtrack! Some tracks on this are from older projects like elphame but all of them have been reworked in some way. Most of them are entirely new. Enjoy!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also it's something (better) like, the exercise of deliberately [art imitates life imitates art] holding up Billions to My IRL Things Perspective and going like whaaat would i want for winston. first answer is you want any character to not have been within the scope of the show in the first place, and to exit it since they are. and you kind of get that in the accidental reward in banishing winston, since like in the end it's just that the show doesn't care about him existing at that point But like it's winston sitting there quietly as everyone leaves & turns out the lights & Then he can leave too; others have peaced out & nobody remembers he exists so Now he can go off & do whatever.

but like in true form i think they definitely accidentally baked in another divine reward for winston in that, like, the way he's kept around as fodder for these fun little [pov: enjoy abusing this guy] asides with him, where it Just So Happens that he's autistic as something they're unaware of but is completely relevant to the expectation we understand him to be inferior(tm), it Just So Happens that he's also ""bad"" at not ""causing"" abuse to be turned on him. he's ""bad"" at staying in line. like well yes Yes that's what i want for him. just like In Real Life it's like yeah Ideally i'd want people to be able to extricate themselves from where they're trapped in power structures & i'd want them to have the perspective about it of understanding they're not Inferior / i.e. they are as much a person as anyone else and they're not corrupting everything good / i.e. it wasn't them Bringing It Upon Themselves and it's not them being Destructive by toppling a jenga tower of a hierarchy that happened to be pressing down on them. and winston is the kind of [the ruinerrrrrr] who is Turned On exactly because he keeps acting like someone who's on the verge of breaking out of the [being in line] someone demands of him as autist, employee, whatever other supposed manifestations of [inferior]

like in the 5 second stretches in which winston's allowed to speak before retaliation, it's because he's like "matter of factly" delivering whatever Information that's useful for another plotline. then he Brings It Upon Himself by making people aware that he's Also existing in his own right as a person rather than what they think serves their own deal / what they want from him at all times, perhaps by expressing his personality (didn't appeal to them! so it was Wrong) or not b/c of anything in particular said or done at present, just b/c people have a constant / accumulating contempt for him so their being in the same room as him & able to see & hear him is already dangerous. the [we're just seeing Any Abusive Dynamic in action] continuing apace.

and it's like, well, right there. he's written as acting like someone who doesn't blame himself for how he's treated, which billions frames as being Rude & Mean, and so too does everyone's abusers lmfao like and that these are his moments that are written to be Bringing It Upon Himself. and it's like hell yeah he doesn't blame himself. hell yeah that his self-esteem can manifest as anger at all. hell yeah that he keeps expressing himself with personality & confidence & doesn't even disguise his having been hurt, & it's this [his ass is Not grey rocking] that billions frames as both him "causing" his abuse & making that abuse "successful" lol, wrow just like real life!! and when like speaking of real life yeah it's not "bad" that people Do engage in strategies to mitigate & survive, including things like blaming themselves or being too "boring" to be anything but a non dialogued background character b/c that's all that goes unpunished, it's bad b/c it's done to them at all, not [ohh they're doing it to themselvesss] and like i'm asking myself like Ideally. what do i want Ideally. and i'd want winston to know that it's being Done To Him & i'd want him to find as much room for his personhood & autonomy as possible. and that's basically how he's written anyways, and billions hates that like You See this is why he deserves it this is why he's doing it to himself. and i'm like my god if that's not Inspiration for like "so what if people don't find you Personally Likable" and not preemptively holding back all personality or anything that'd draw attention as if you exist as a person in your own right & not something that only either gets in the way of or serves their wants of a Real person (someone with more power) like hell yeah you have him out here doing it =']

another fun addendum is like, billions isn't getting into it much b/c it doesn't seem to care much about "what if some people were peers & seem to have a genuine, recipcrocal relationship?" but that it just so happened to be like "oh tuk as the next closest loser who deserves it might be nice to winston" while it's framing winston as the "worse" Loser as being....unconditionally supportive of tuk. while the one downside of billions Also giving bentuk as much as it is is that it also inevitably has that shadow of "but ben is Superior to tuk" and like that it's correct that everyone encourages tuk to Stop Bringing It Upon Himself and start being less of a loser; it's wrong for winston to be like hey let's go have a foursome. like yeah probably don't make a list of the women you work with you'd be dtf but it's not like i'm convinced "ah billions and it's strong anti misogyny stance like" roflmao and billions is Not reflecting on "the downsides of unconditional support?" there when winston was beaten up for criticising taylor earlier like we WILL take his ideas while looting his [beaten unconscious] body there but he WAS wrong to express them as though he's BETTER than taylor!!! mafee's beautiful show of loyalty in kicking his ass even when he might agree with the argument and then benefit when it's adopted by taylor anyways! so it's as usual actually purely based on hierarchy & who gets to be in charge of people. it's correct for ben to be in charge of tuk, unless he has to step aside for that bizarre dead-end subplot about how it's tuk's fault if he's treated badly, b/c it's really his own Failure to have Confidence to know he has good ideas [raising our voice to deliver this message over the sound of breaking desks and chairs and computer monitors over winston because he had the confidence to act like he deserved to talk to someone and because he knows his ideas efforts & results are good & valuable around there] like. and isn't it sooo fucked up to talk about who you're dtf in the episode that has it be neutral if your boss is dtf & lets you know but is nice about it (and you're already Correctly tending to their ego, which you're responsible for!) like hey no possible problem! it's not even so much of a problem for a boss man to have the sex they're entitled to & be rude about their leveraging their power in that acquisition that it Stays a problem into the next season. ew, winston is Known (Inferred) Dtf??? we'll use it to exploit His vulnerability, exacerbate it, & punish him further for good measure in another episode that just revels in abuse & violation with a sexual aspect once again, but like, hey tuk don't do that, winston's such a Bad Influence for being like, shrug, kneejerk intervening with the Good Friendship where the One In Charge leaps in & Tells tuk the Correct thing to do. obviously there's also the tragedy that billions will Never let winston push back against Real Winners like rian or taylor in A Way That Matters (actually gets in their way at all) lol like. one thing that would have really been fun, winston should've literal kneejerk started physically fighting wags in either pertinent scene in 7x03 for real 110%. i wouldn't be like Gasp Violence Is Never The Answer if he just hit someone to hit them b/c fuck you. or broke anything on his way out etc etc. billions would Never let him. which is the other side of the same coin of [why he should get to]

tl;dr how great that winston's being "out of line" means he's basically always noticeably flouting & rebelling against the [He Deserves Abuse] agenda lol. that IS what i want. his being "beyond hope" like ohhh he's sooo stupid he doesn't realize how much he has the bad tastes & wrong interests & annoying personality He Will Always Be This Way like hell yeah!!! billions like oh no winston's personhood will never stay tamped down & locked away such that some godawful person tolerates keeping him in their inventory :( ohhh the ABA will never work :( that's right!!!!!!!!!! although they're not sad about it because it's about relishing the promise there will always be True Inferiors you can enjoy abusing with your righteous power over, but like well you wrote him escaping anyways even while dragging other "better" characters into standing around to serve axe's need for more than 1.8 employees and [crickets, reverberating cough, sneaker scuff] like. another ""wrong"" thing for winston to do, another thing for him to not "deserve," which is itself godawful actually lol like lord what it "rewards" its Good, Deserving characters with, no thanks. meanwhile winston's punishment is that he's autistic and """bad""" at being abused like lmfao good for him, fantastic for him, just what i want

[magentagalaxies]

also speaking of (date post + kithfluencer post) on my coffee-date today i of course got on the topic of kids in the hall (in my defense they asked about the doc i'm making lmao) and they hadn't heard of scott thompson before so they were asking me to explain what his work was like and long story less long that's how i ended up essentially reciting the "faggos" sketch to my crush this morning

[keeps-ache]

i should learn to make hash browns

[natasha-in-space]

Gonna get sappy here for a sec, but it's so gratifying to reread my old work and reflect on just how much I've improved when it comes to writing in another language, and writing in general! It's a bit embarrassing at times, especially whenever I see a weird sentence or two, or a common misspelling I know I've fixed already, but... God, does it make me feel fulfilled to see the progress I've made with my skills thanks to this blog.

There's something so beautiful in knowing that in all this time I've managed to improve my writing skills, interact with so many wonderful and creative people, and even make others smile by doing what I love. How crazy is that! I still get so pleasantly surprised whenever I get a lovely tag saying something I've written cheered someone up or made them laugh.

Thank you to everyone who leaves tags, comments, sends in asks, likes my posts or just checks in on my shenanigans in silence. (I was a silent viewer for God knows how long. I see you! And I love you!)

Aight, with that, we're laying off on sappiness levels 'till next year. Or not! We'll see :)

[aeide-thea]

the thing abt this website (and really, every other website and also people irl) is that you'll be introduced to a new person who seems interesting (read: has some stuff to say that you agree with), and you'll think, ooh, maybe i should follow them! and then you'll check out their blog and realize, oh, fuck, right, they're the same person who was advocating 'systematic and targeted online harassment' of people who spread a message they dislike, as though that were either an acceptable way to behave or, for that matter, an effective way to convince anyone of anything—like, hello, if you harass your enemies they will shut their ears to you and become further entrenched in their current positions! also decent people will see what you're doing and distrust you even if your cause would otherwise earn their sympathy!

[nalivaa]

Hey about your Yeshua name hc! It reminded me Jesus is called the Morning Star like Lucifer, so it would be funny if they named their kid after Jesus for all the other reasons you mentioned, not knowing that lore, and then a few years later they learn about it 🤣 Lucifer jumpscare

about this post

OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT I'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT LMAOOO

which is actually really funny because in the bible the term morning star is actually used more often for good things in comparison with the one time it is subtly used in order to make a reference to the devil

it's just fascinating to me how that one time eclipsed every other mention of it to the point lucifer is now used as the name for the devil when that's just,,, not really supported in the canon books? or at least not in the ones that are mostly accepted as canon

because it's not even directly about satan! those verses are actually about king nebuchadnezzar! they're talking about how he started thinking so highly of himself because of his own glory that he started to think his throne would be above god's. they're calling him 'shining one and son of the dawn' because he was one of, if not the, most powerful king at that time. that's kind of what lucifer actually means it's not supposed to be a name it's barely a title it was just,, a way to describe someone who had a lot of glory on his name

it does have a double meaning and it's generally agreed upon that it's also talking about the devil but there's almost no evidence to support that Heh·lelʹ or Lucifer was ever meant to be his name at all

so it's just!!! so interesting to me that it completely morphed into becoming his name in the general public knowledge that i completely forgot morning star also was used for jesus even knowing all of this akdjskdnksk

i'm so sorry this was meant to be about michael freaking out he indirectly named his kid after his brother on accident he'd be so mad about it he made all that research and For What >:(

adam wouldn't care as much but he would totally use it to complaint about how michael rejected like 85% of his list of names for not having the meaning and/or vibes he wanted for their kid's name aksjakks

[moongothic]

I have a lot of scrap materials. Scrap wood, foam, fabric, and god knows what else. Just, a lot of leftovers from previous projects.

So I figured I could try to MAKE something out of them, just to put those materials into use so they could become something instead of just sitting around uselessly, taking space and collecting dust.

I thought making a footstool could be a fun, easy-ish project for me to do this winter.

So here, come along with me on this journey of making a wonky, scrap footstool

So key thing here is that I very specifically wanted to avoid buying ANYTHING for this project. I did end up buying two things, a pullsaw (which is a general tool I can use in other projects, so I figured I could get away with it), and one itty bitty thing that ended up costing like, what, 2€?

But yes, my goal was to use things I already have and give them a purpose, not accumulate any MORE scrap materials. This is important because through out this project I ended up using many Unideal Methods For Doing Things, mainly because I didn't have enough material to do it The Ideal Way.

This is not a tutorial for efficiency, this is my journey to repurpose garbage. Just wanna be clear about that. There are better ways to build a footstool.

Anyway, I started the project from arguably the weirdest part; figuring out how much fabric I had from the chair project

The thing was that I wanted to make the footstool as big as I possibly could with the material I had, so I had to start this project by figuring out the maximum size I could do with the fabric I had.

So I figured out the dimensions I could do (even cut the fabric pieces while I was at it), and then using those dimensions as a guide, I went off to figure out the wood pieces I would need for the frame of the stool, as well as the feet. Once I had things measured out, I cut the pieces and boom

Wood pieces obtained.

Sidenote, yes, a 90 degree angle on the corners would have looked much prettier than what I did, I just figured that this would be easier to cut (I cut those pieces before I bought my new pullsaw), also, I wasn't sure how I would perma-attach the pieces if the corners were done like that. Like, with these corners, I could fortify them with dowels or nails or whatever, but clean corners at an angle? I have no idea how to pull that off, and I don't have the energy to to try anything fancy, man, I wanted this to be semi-easy

(There was no way in hell I was gonna attempt somekinda dovetail joint here, I didn't have enough wood to work with (there was a point where I was actually worried I wouldn't have enough wood to build the frame at all) and god knows I'm nowhere near good enough at wood working to pull something like that off)

Anyway, I did originally intend to attach the wood pieces with dowels, since they'd be hidden and look neat (by not being visible at all), but when I drilled the first hole for the first dowel, I realized that 1) I didn't have a drill bit large enough for the dowel to fit in, and 2) I did not have it in me to actually do it. Like, to make sure the wood pieces would allign correct I would have to make sure I was drilling Very Straight into the wood, not once, not four times, but 16 times (since I was planning on using 2 dowels at each joint). If I didn't drill the dowel holes perfectly straight and perfectly aligned, the frame wouldn't come together, and I did not want to risk fucking that up, man, no

So I took the easy way out.

Nails.

I do kinda regret picking these nails, I should've used less obvious ones OR waited until the wood was painted before nailing them together because these are kinda pretty nails, so it ended up being kind of a waste to use them (since there was no way I was gonna AVOID these nails while painting the wood). IDK I was worried the glue alone wouldn't hold the wood strong enough while I was working with the frame or something and chose poorly here. But it is what it is. (On the plus side, we seemed to have exactly 12 of these nails, which was the exact perfect amount)

Anyways, yes, I chose to paint the frame because I have leftover paint (and primer) from the previous project so I figured I might as well use it up. Even though I hate this fucking paint so much

Two or three coats of primer, a gentle sanding after them, the wood was perfectly smooth and lovely

Then came the paint and it looks like shit, just like last time

I did like. What, four coats of paint. Sanding between the coats. Dilluting it so it wouldn't be so thick. And yet. And yet it looks like shit. Just like last time, with the chair I refinished. I mean I knew it was gonna turn out like ass but I'm still kind of shocked by how bad it turned out.

Anyway. Ideally you'd probably make a cushion onto some random piece of plywood (or something similar) that you would slot into the frame of the stool. I did not have any plywood pieces, nor did I have enough wood to make a small, thinner frame to slot into the main frame. So.

To create a bottom I used this ribbon that I have an entire fuckload of (since I bought it for that fucking lamp before realizing I couldn't use it and couldn't return either, literally have nothing better to do with it so here it goes) to weave a bottom onto the frame. And a bit later I attached a piece of fabric on top of the weaving (another leftover from the lamp project), as this would be what I'd glue the cushion onto.

But first, I had to make a cushion!

As you can see, I have a lot of scrap foam

(Yes I've kept the original foam from the styrofoam chair, I did cut it down to get rid of the damaged edges (after taking this photo) but otherwise the foam is fine, shhhhhh) (Also the white foam is what I bought for the chair project, the yellow foam is something my mom had bought years ago that we've had laying around for ages)

I wanted the cushion of the stool to have some height to it, but I didn't have any thick pieces of foam, so I figured I could just make a thick foam piece from the scraps I had, with some help from the foam glue I have (the same stuff I bought for the styrofoam chair but wasn't able to use since it melted the styrofoam).

Started by figuring out the rough dimensions of the foam piece I'd need (from the biggest, cleanest piece I had)

And I got started making a Foam Sandwich

Let me tell you my hands were an absolute mess during this whole process, I was essentially washing my hands with fucking nail polish remover (I just noticed the foam glue smelled like nail polish remover and realized it would probably get rid of the residue on my hands, which it did, thank fuck), it was nasty

But yes, Big Foam Sammich. I did start lowkey cutting it WHILE I was building the cushion, since my goal here was to not waste materials so. Y'know. I tried to make sure I wouldn't waste materials.

After the cushion was formed, I let it dry for a good while before I went in to shave the edges and cut it down. After that I used this floofier scrap foam to cover the sandwich. I could have glued it on, but I figured I had killed enough of my braincells while making the foam sandwich and breathing in the glue fumes that I decided that sewing would be good enough.

Two flooffy foam pieces were enough to cover the cushion, I just sewed them together on top and sewed them to the bottom of the cushion. It was quite easy indeed.

With that all done, I could attach the finished cushion onto the frame!

Brought the glue back out so I could just glue the foam onto the fabric that was stapled onto the frame, and I allowed it to dry (upside down, with some weights)

And yes, ideally you would staple the foam down onto a separate piece of wood, but since it was going directly on top of the frame and I didn't want to staple it onto the frame, I didn't. I wanted the wood (and my shitty paint job) to be visible, and the fabric would need to be stapled onto the frame anyways, so the glue just had to do the job here.

ANYWAY, UPHOLSTERY TIME

Since the fabric pieces were long done, I could just get straight into it. I pinned the fabric pieces down and handsewed the whole thing. I do admit I regret not ironing the fabric before I started though, I forgot and by the time I realized it was too late, and there was no way I was going to lift the fabric off the stool at this point. I learned my god damn lesson with the styrofoam chair, I know there would've been no way for me to put the fabric back down as neatly as it had been before, it was not worth it.

Anyway, I sewed the fabric and to finish things off I stapled the bottom of the fabric down, onto the frame. And yes I did a wonky ass job, shush

And here comes the one thing I ended up buying for this project, the thing that cost me like 2€

Decorative ribbon to hide the staples! Since I couldn't think of any other way to hide the staples.

And y'all, I understand now why people normally just glue this shit on, it took me like FIVE FUCKING HOURS to sew the ribbon onto the stool!! Mainly because my smallest upholstery needle was WAY too big for this job, and my thinner straight needless were too hard to use for this. My fingers were hurting so bad even the next day, like I understand what thimbles are for now, holy shit

Also. I did not have black sewing thread. So I ended up using yellow thread and then gently went over it with a black (waterproof) marker so the thread wouldn't be visible over the ribbon. (I didn't take photos of it so you'll just have to take my word for it)

So yeah. Shit took forever, I wish I had a hotglue gun but I don't, so it just had to be done the hard way. All things considdered though, it worked out alright, and the ribbon is nice and secure on the stool.

Now, you might've noticed that I haven't mentioned doing anything to the feet of the stool. That's because I haven't finished them.

It's the middle of winter. It's cold. I can't be bothered to go outside to stand the cold for hours to finish the feet of the stool. I need to shape them, I need to sand them, I need to make sure they're all the same lenght etc, all this before I can even prime and paint them and attach them to the frame. But since I can't access our patio, I can't use my orbital sander to speed things up. And I can't be bothered to do all that word by sanding the wood by hand. I am far too lazy for that man, nah

So I'm going to finish this project when the weather gets nicer and our patio isn't covered in a meter of snow.

I'll finish the feet of the footstool later.

So there will probably be a follow up to this post later

But yeah, here's my unideal, imperfect footstool, made almost entirely out of scrap materials.

It looks like ass, but hey I've never tried to build a piece of furniture before, give me a break, I'm a comic artist not a furniture maker

[leaves-and-inks]

okay, i think i figured out my resolution issues, it's two-part i didn't know how tumblr image sizing works (which was tricky to find mind you) and that i messed up with resizing these ones, so next piece should be much clearer!!

[gonersgoners]

what can i say. my youtube dashboard recommended me a godlike zosan edit and i'm watching it daily now

[alsaurus-loves-dean]

.

[shiroxichigo]

Ichigo gets a lot of shit (typically from outside of the Bleach fandom) for being a character whose wants/goals never change from beginning to end of his series. He always wants to protect people (and even though I could argue that he went from only wanting to protect those close to him to wanting to protect everyone he can, that's not the point I'm making with this post).

I think a lot of people who only give Bleach a passing glance fail to see Ichigo's true character growth. It's not about what his goals are or who he's trying to protect, but rather, it's about how he achieves it.

Ichigo is very self-sacrificing in the first third of Bleach. He believes that if the mission is successful, then it doesn't matter how broken or close to death he gets. The mission, saving Rukia (and hurting/killing as few people in the process), is all that matters.

Then, when a part of himself (his inner hollow) emerges, and says "hey yeah no, I'm not letting you get yourself killed and I'm also not letting you hold back against your enemy", Ichigo immediately rejects it.

It's not until he defeats his inner Hollow that we see Ichigo really dive into a fight with the intent to kill. The problem is, once his Hollow is defeated, he thinks that's it. He's freed himself of that part of him and he can go back to being self-sacrificing.

We see this throughout the Hueco Mundo arc. It's why saving Orihime parallels saving Rukia. Ichigo naively thinks he can suppress a part of himself. He bottles it up until it explodes, coming back to haunt him in his fight with Ulquiorra, etc. He learns that side of himself isn't so easily tucked away, and if he recklessly endangers himself, he could end up endangering his friends too. At his own hand, no less.

Then Ichigo discovers he can commit the ultimate sacrifice. Final Getsuga Tenshou. He can throw away these powers and the parts of himself that he doesn't like, and he can get rid of Aizen all in one go. He's lucky that it worked, but only because Kisuke was there.

Then, once Ichigo is powerless, he learns that's not what he really wants. Life doesn't "go back to normal". The can is open, and there's danger out there beyond just Aizen. And Ichigo can't do anything to stop it unless he gets his powers back.

So he does. Then he cuts down the threat to his friends and family. And he doesn't hesitate this time. Yes, he still has compassion for his enemies (he even goes to the Soul Society to ask for Ginjo's body so he can give him a proper burial), but he's learned not to hold back and he's learned that new threats will appear and he'd rather have the power to face them head on.

So then comes TYBW, and Ichigo is facing battles head-on without hesitation. He goes straight to the "bad guys" with the intention of cutting them down. He learns the truth about who his Inner Hollow is, and he accepts it. He's even willing to accept whatever consequences may come from training in the Royal Palace and becoming stronger. He accepts his power and potential fully, and learns that he has what it takes to protect his loved ones with his strength, and not with a sacrifice.

Ultimately, he heals the part of himself that thinks his life is worth less than other people's. He heals the part of himself that blames himself for not protecting his mother (when he was 9!! Like come on Isshin, put the kid in therapy!! Anyway...) He grows into someone who knows his self worth. And I think, for me at least, that makes him one of my favourite protagonists of all time. Because can't most of us relate to feeling worthless at times? And don't we also wanna overcome that?

Thanks for reading my ramble lmao, I'm sure this could have been more elegantly written but I'm very sleepy and just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Wait, I was reading your posts and came across something I've found confusing. How is Adrien asking Ladybug wth she is doing in Volpina a bad thing? From Adrien's perspective, Ladybug's a celebrity tracking down a middle schooler with zero clout and humiliating her for lying about meeting her before. That's, uh yeah? Imagine if that happened irl lmao. Millions of teenage girls would perish at 1D's hands. My middle school would be a horror story. And it's made clear multiple times in the episode that her motivation is jealousy. It's one of the few episodes where the lesson Marinette gets makes sense I think, because she was genuinely spiteful in shitting on this random girl in front of her crush. That's significantly different than Ladybug just asking for a retraction from the Ladyblog. It's also one of the few times when Adrien's celebrity background actually affects how he acts, and it makes sense that Marinette doesn't make the connection between superhero=celebrity=not allowed to scream at middleschoolers in public. If half the kids in her school didn't lie about meeting Ladybug before, my suspension of disbelief is gone.

I've seen this argument before and it makes no sense to me, especially in the context of the lie that Lila actually told and the way the Lila confrontation actually goes down. A lot of people who have this take seem to think that Lila's lie was, "Ladybug saved me," and that Ladybug made a big public confrontation which is not what canon actually gave us. The confrontation was done in a mostly private setting and, while we never see Lila's full Ladyblog interview, this is how Ladybug sums up the interview in Volpina:

Ladybug:(sarcastically) Well hey Lila! How's it going? Long time no see. I saw your interview on the Ladyblog, awesome job. Oh sure! I remember our instant connection when I saved your life and we've been really good friends ever since! Practically BFF's! Uh actually, when did I save your life again, Lila? I don't recall. Oh yes! Of course, now I remember. Never! And we're not friends either! Miss Show-Off here was trying to impress you and everyone around her.

Lila didn't just lie about meeting Ladybug, she lied about having an ongoing, close relationship with Ladybug, two very different things. And Ladybug isn't just a celebrity, she's a superhero who is fighting an active terrorist. If I had to rewrite this confrontation, I'd keep it pretty much the same and just change the "Miss Show-Off" line to something like:

Miss Show-Off here was trying to impress you and everyone around her, putting herself and all of you at major risk! You know that Hawkmoth would do anything to get these, right? (gestures at her earrings) Did you even stop to think about what he'd do if he learned the identity of my supposed best friend? Of course not. You were too busy trying to look cool to stop and think things through like an actual superhero! We keep our identities and relationships secret for a reason!

Is this the kindest, most gentle way to confront someone like Lila? No, but it's very in character for Marinette to be filled with righteous fury when she sees someone using her name for their own personal gain. I really can't blame her for getting incredibly angry at this total stranger presenting herself as a Ladybug authority and using that authority to manipulate Marinette's friends. As I've said before, take away the crush complication and Marinette's actions still make total sense to me.

I'm not a huge proponent of virtue ethics. That's the idea that you need proper motivation for an act to be morally justified. If you do the right thing for the wrong reason, then the act is bad no matter how good the results and vice versa. If you view the world that way, then sure, you could possibly argue that Marinette's actions were wrong just like you can also argue that Gabriel's actions were totally fine, but I don't view the world that way. Switch Marinette's motivation from jealousy and a little righteous fury to pure righteous fury and almost nothing changes. She'd still need to confront Lila, the words would just be a little different.

It's not like this confrontation stops Lila, either. Chameleon gives us this:

Lila: (in flashback) Not only did Ladybug save my life, we've become very close friends. Marinette: She lies with every breath. Nino: Wait. You eavesdropped on Lila and Adrien? That's not cool. Alya: A good reporter always verifies her sources. Can you prove she doesn't actually know Ladybug?

Quick mini rant before I give the next Chameleon quote: this isn't how verifying your sources works, Alya! You should be verifying that Lila does know Ladybug, not the other way around! Right now, Marinette and Lila have equal authority on the topic as far as you know and there is no evidence to support either claim, so you should be looking for proof that Lila isn't lying! Proof isn't a first come, first serve problem even though a lot of people fall into that trap. This is especially true since Lila goes on to make claims like this:

Lila: Of course Ladybug saved my life. She never misses an opportunity to rescue her best friends. Max: Didn't your tinnitus give you vertigo when you went up the Eiffel Tower? Lila: Oh no. Ladybug knows me so well that she brought me an earplug to stick in my right ear.

So Lila keeps right on lying about her relationship with Ladybug, presenting them as close friends, making it even harder for me to get on the "Marinette was in the wrong for privately confronting Lila" train. If anything, Marinette was too tame! She needed to go full scorched earth and have Alya post a public retraction that included a message about the dangers of claiming to be personal friends with someone you don't actually know.

If the show went that route and had Ladybug give an equally furious smack-down and Alya posted it without a second thought, THEN I'd probably be on team "Marinette needed to tone herself down because she went too far" because that isn't a heat-of-the-moment reaction. It's something Marinette would have time to think through. But Volpina didn't go there. Instead, we just get Marinette reacting live to someone using her name to flirt with her crush. Remember, this is the setup to Marinette transforming and jumping in to stop Lila:

Lila: Not only did Ladybug save my life, we've become very close friends because we have something very special in common- it's what I wanted to tell you about. I'm the descendant of a vixen superheroine myself, Volpina. Adrien: Volpina? Marinette: Volpina? Adrien: Wait a minute! I think I read about her in my book. Lila:(stopping him from grabbing the book) Of course she's in your book. She's one of the most important superheroes. More powerful and more celebrated than Ladybug. Between you and me Ladybug doesn't even make the top ten. My grandma gave me this necklace. [Marinette runs off to transform] Adrien: (holding Lila's necklace) Are you telling me this is a Miraculous?! (Ladybug lands in front of them)

This wasn't a planned confrontation. It was Marinette reacting live to some pretty massive lies. If Ladybug had been swinging by and just overhead this, then the scene once again wouldn't change much. That's why blaming Marinette for confronting Lila in the "wrong way" feels so victim blame-y to me. "How dare Ladybug not be perfectly poised at all times and react with grace when someone lies about being her close friend and teammate!" is not a take I'm ever going to agree with. And if you want to use the middle schooler defense? Then it applies to Marinette, too. She and Lila are the same age. Why the different standards just because Marinette has fame that she never asked for or sought out?

I've never been much of a fan of holding celebrities to an "always on" standard where their every interaction needs to be done with poise and grace even if the interaction happens out in the wild and not at a planned even where the celebrity can be mentally prepared for dealing with fans. That's extra true for accidental celebrities like Ladybug. Marinette didn't take up the earrings for fame and they certainly haven't brought her fortune, plus she has no PR training. Expecting her to be a PR master who knows how to handle her accidental fame is, once again, a little too victim blame-y for my tastes. Ladybug is here to save the world, not sign autographs. You can hold her to politician standards when you start paying her for risking her life on the daily.

There's a version of Lila where I would have a different take. A version where the lie really is minor and Marinette really did "overreact", but even there my lesson wouldn't be "Marinette was totally in the wrong" because I genuinely think that sends the wrong message to kids and kids are the show's target audience. Think about what you're actually saying here, "Because Marinette is famous, she needs to accept that people will lie about her and just ignore them even if people believe the lie."

While that isn't exactly a wrong take, it's still really messed up. It's not okay for people to use Marinette's name like that just because she's famous. The reason she needs to learn to let it go is because that's what's best for her mental health, not because her fame makes her lesser than others when it comes to things like personal privacy. The lies are not magically okay just because she's well known.

Remember, Marinette is a fictional character, but the kids watching this show are very real and they're way more likely to be Lilas than Marinettes. And the kids that do relate to Marinette in this episode? They'll be kids who have dealt with the rumor mill spreading lies about them or their friends without the celebrity complication. The show should not be telling either set of kids that Marinette is the one in the wrong here. That is the wrong moral and why I hate this episode so much. I might feel differently if the intended audience was teens and if this plot was allowed to be more complex, but none of that is true. The show is aimed at kids ages 5 to 12 and every episode is supposed to teach its own moral with Volpina's moral being "Marinette was explicitly and totally in the wrong here."

This is the age of internet personalities where there are more easily-accessible celebrities than ever and where many of them do not have the wealth needed to protect themselves from fans nor the PR training to know how to handle extreme fans if there even is PR training for that! That means that it's honestly really important for kids to learn to view these individuals as people who it's wrong to lie about and who deserve the same respect as non-famous people. Treating celebrities as public commodities is how we get things like the Kit Connor scandal where an 18-year-old actor felt forced to publicly come out because the internet wouldn't shut up about his sexuality. Oh, and since you brought up one direction, I'll also note that the band members have publicly stated that online shipping discourse has negatively impacted their relationships. So, yeah, I'm never going to agree that kids should be told that it's okay to lie about celebrities or treat them as fictional characters to play with and that the celebrities are the ones who are wrong if they get upset about that behavior. That shit is toxic.

If we go the "minor" lie route, then my version of this episode would be a very sad one where Marinette learns that people are going to ignore her boundaries and lie about her and there's nothing she can do about it. A lesson in mental health training that will hopefully help kids who are dealing with bullies, but that does not present Marinette as totally in the wrong. It just teaches her when to pick a fight and when to let it go, which is a very important skill to learn even outside of lies about your own person. There will be many times when you hear people say something that you vehemently disagree with and it's important to learn when to pick a fight and when to just let it go, knowing that no good will come from speaking up even if you're 100% in the right. It's a very sad, but also very necessary skill.

I think Adrien has a place in that story. A place where he still tells Ladybug to let it go, but it should NOT have been played the way it was in canon where he acted like Ladybug was totally out of line. He needed to be way more compassionate and understanding of her very justified anger. I've written Adrien giving advice on this topic before and it's always presented as, "people are going to be assholes and you have to learn to ignore them for your own well being," not as, "you are wrong to be upset about strangers telling lies about you. You agreed to deal with this when you decided to be a hero" because what kind of asinine lesson is that?

You could also keep Adrien's canon reaction and have the lesson be him learning that it's okay to have boundaries. That his fame doesn't negate his bodily autonomy and right to be treated with dignity. That people chasing him down, invading his personal space, and otherwise preventing him from living a normal life is wrong. I love it when fanfics take this approach to Adrien's part in the Lila conflict. It's very cathartic to see his friends supporting him and protecting him from Lila.

I really have tried to see Volpina from the "Marinette was totally in the wrong" perspective because I've come across it several times, but I just can't wrap my head around it. If you've got a counter argument, then feel free to try to change my mind because I've given you my full thoughts here, but know that I'm probably not budging on this one. You'd have to make some pretty dramatic changes to canon for me to feel like this take has a point. I think the only way that I'd be on Lila's side is if it was very clear that no one believed Lila and Marinette still had the same reaction that we see in canon as that does feel like going too far. But everyone believed Lila so that's not a solid argument and I'm just never going to agree that people have to be cool with others lying about them just because they're famous. I honestly despise celebrity culture so much and hate that people are basically forced to deal with that bullshit if they want to be successful in certain artistic fields.