#compared to the planned time...

[machidielontheway]

pakidge ? ... é__è

[ilk-insolence]

Raph Is A Great Strategist

Numerous times in the show Raph has shown to have a preference for straightforwardly punching his problems away rather than think up a more complex solution. Like how his immediate fix to getting Mayhem out of the mirror in Mystic Library was to punch everything in the bathroom but the mirror. However, when Raph understands the situation requires more in depth strategy, he’s shown to be an incredibly capable tactician.

(long post ahead!)

In nearly all the plot heavy episodes like Shadow of Evil, Many Unhappy Returns, and the season finales, Raph gets moments where he’s highlighted for his strategic thinking. In Insane in the Mama Train, he’s the one who figures out which eyeball-button goes to the front car with the dark armor, because “‘it was the only button [the Foot Clan] didn’t want me to press!’” [21:05]. He’s also the one who came up with the scheme to defeat all the (known) combatants in the train, with Leo specifically attributing Raph as the deviser during their mind meld [19:46]. In Many Unhappy Returns, after spending a single night waylaying the Shredder, Raph formulated a plan using all the tricks the team learned, seamlessly transitioning the mystic collar Leo acquired into it [19:53], to defeating the Shredder. Additionally, he’s repeatedly called for a retreat during fights, like in Shadow of Evil, Shreddy or Not (Finale pt 2), and the movie, when he can tactically recognize that a battle couldn’t be won. Each time, the show/movie implied that that was the right call, for the family to lose the fight but win the war.

And it’s not just that Raph is good at strategy when he’s pushed to be more serious; the show characterizes him as passionate about creating plans, he enjoys doing it. Literally in the first episode, Mystic Mayhem, after the turtles’ initial plan failed of getting Splinter out of the living room to touch his Do-Not-Touch Cabinet, Raph immediately started devising a new plan that involved “ten chickens [and] a gallon of rubber cement” [9:35]. It was convoluted, sure, and they didn’t end up using it, but it was inventive and the opposite of reluctant. This is also shown in Bug Busters, where Raph planned out dousing Mikey in honey to attract the oozequitoes [2:52]; Snow Day, with the idea to freeze Ghost Bear like in Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4; and Raph’s Ride-Along (and also Bad Hair Day), where Mind Raph created multiple schemes to get the criminals arrested. The show wouldn’t have made Raph be so creative with his plans if they were trying to characterize him as someone who didn’t like strategizing.

So does why Raph do stupid shit sometimes where he doesn’t think things through at all? Well, even though Raph is good at strategy and enjoys doing it, it’s clear his immediate impulse is still “punch the problem in the face”. In fact, all the turtle boys contain the fascinating dichotomy of being incredibly smart in some areas, and the dumbest teenagers alive in others. Just look at Donnie. It’s also how Raph is a loving protective older brother, and the guy who shoved Leo into a wall so hard he disappeared in one frame for shits and giggles (The Mutant Menace x). None of this means that Raph is bad at strategy though.

tldr: Yeah, Raph has a lot of dumb and, frankly, insane moments in the show, but he’s still an incredible tactician who’s plans consistently saved his family and sometimes the world. He's a great strategist.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

chat if i may speak

[morganalefay]

MORGANA | Cloaks, Coats, & Covers ➛ first & last appearances

[lochallthedoors]

Video clips: Liam at Cardiff, Lock the Box, Oasis at iTunes, Liam at Rockfield

[elftwink]

to preface this post i am anti-advertising i think we should explode the entire industry but it's sooo funny when you people make posts like "and they don't even work!!" like. sorry to be the bearer of bad news but yes they do. that's why we have to put up with so many despite everyone hating them and thinking its annoying. because they actually work really well and make a shit load of money

[oceanwithouthermoon]

okok let me finally do my analysis on kusuke and makoto parallels like ive talked about a thousand times (obvious warning that im gonna talk about incest, and also that im gonna be talking about a gag manga in a serious light so if that upsets you just go away ✌️)... yippee, perverted older brothers with unhealthy dynamics with their powerful younger siblings analysis!!

the most obvious parallel is in their interactions with the others sibling. they literally have the same exact meeting, they both go from being fake nice to "my sibling is special and youre not worthy of them"

not included in pictures but also note that kusuo got rid of makoto by calling on kokomi and kokomi got rid of kusuke by calling on her fans

"the second hes distracted, LETS GO"

"we're the only ones who can match up to each other"

kusukes idea of kusuo being inhuman also influences the way this is treated i think- he tells kokomi that marrying a beautiful man will suit her best and that kusuo is above that kind of thing (aka actual romantic and aesthetic attraction), and it seems that being the only ones who can measure up to each other is probably the closest, in his eyes, that kusuo can get to love (confirmed in my opinion by the marriage/engagement symbolism a few pictures down⬇️). thats why he thinks theyre the only ones worthy of each other even if he doesnt see kusuo in the exact same way as makoto sees kokomi. if that makes any sense :p these are obviously already parallel on surface level, but id say theyre even more similar if you look deeply into it

"i know everything youre thinking" and "everyone else looks like monkeys to me"

associating their sibling with heaven/god

a certain fixation on their sibling's body... top two are specifically them trying to see their sibling naked without consent

? not sure how to describe this. implications of engagement/marriage? this use of an explicitly romantic symbol actually confuses me in kusukes case but thats not really relevant here...

theyre the reason their sibling cant relax or be themself even at home... also note that kusuo specifically says that kusuos masochism (which i guess in some contexts masochism can be non-sexual but in this situation, since kusuke is canonically a pervert and there are several implications and allusions to sexual pleasure, it obviously means he gets SEXUAL pleasure from pain/humiliation) is the main reason he doesnt like him. likewise, kokomi is bothered by makotos overprotective and overbearing nature, though unfortunately she doesnt seem to be aware of his sister complex and thinks hes just being an annoying big brother.

not necessarily something that can be captured in a picture but theres also the fact that they both have pretty perfect lives but are still obsessed with their sibling and only their sibling, its all they really care about and their entire lives depend on them.

makoto is extremely attractive, charming when hes trying to be, and is a famous actor... he clearly gets girls. but he doesnt want any of them because hes stuck in his obsession with kokomi, shes the only girl he wants and its ruined his perception of other girls. he believes hes the only one that can be right for kokomi and touch her, and that likewise kokomi is the only girl he can be with. her presence dictates his life, he skips work just to follow her around and prevent her from getting involved with other guys. we only see maybe a few sentences from him where he isnt talking about kokomi, even when hes on tv.

kusuke is an attractive and charming genius, easily pulls girls, cambridge graduate, and is the favorite child in his family. but none of that matters, it only sets him apart from other humans and gives him a skewed perspective of anyone who isnt kusuo. he believes kusuo is the only person he can get that sadomasochistic pleasure from, and kusuo is the reason he developed it in the first place and he specifically seeks him out and coerces him into it. he really only cares about his family, theyre the only people in the world that are worth anything in his eyes, and his only interactions with anyone else have been using them as tools to get to kusuo. his life goal is (or was, before the end of cat tank arc) defeating kusuo. he has cameras in his familys house that hes presumably constantly watching, implied by him being ALREADY watching before his parents even called him about kusuos limiter.

[elyachkins]

a little ryoharu study from episode six <3

[anjanahalo]

Potential DPxDC Prompt x3

In between their graduation from high school and the start of their college careers, Tucker and Danny collaborate on a small podcast where they mostly chitchatted about various topics from "Is a hotdog a sandwich?" to "Why the Justice League sucks." That last one upped their viewership, but most of that died off when the next three episodes were titled "The Best Eats in Nowhere, Illinois," where they trolled through Elmerton and Amity Park for the various chain and local restaurants, eating at and rating them with a very qualitative, subjective, and nonsensical scale, until they get to the Nasty Burger. The Nasty Burger gets an episode all to itself, describing the lore of how the "T" in the original "Tasty" fell off, the sign got tagged with an "N," and how, after it took years for the owners to fix the sign, they officially renamed the place "The Nasty Burger" because that's what everyone called it, even changing the menu and marketing that had stubbornly stuck to Tasty Burger all those years. (Tucker shows off his vintage Tasty Burger shirt as a flex of his loyalty). They order and eat every food item in one sitting (even the vegan ones), and rate Nasty Burger 20/10, the best local burger place you can find. After the drop off that came from reviewing places like "The Lucky Sombrero Irish Pub and Taquería," they didn't expect the clapback they got from the most unexpected place: Gotham, New Jersey. A small but very robust group of Gothamites were calling bullshit on the review, daring them to come to Gotham for their own local burger chain, The Batburger. Tucker and Danny sense a great challenge and a new episode idea, and Sam agrees to fund the trip when they declare the vegan options at the Batburger were far superior ("I funeded the separate grill myself at Nasty! Bet they cook their bean burgers in beef grease.") Of course, she's also coming along. So Tucker, Sam, and Danny hit the road with a teaser that they're taking up the challenge and coming to Gotham, and they'd be proving these uppity commentators WRONG. Meanwhile, The Batclan are a bit shocked to realize that their comments actually motivated the hosts of one of their favorite dumb podcasts, which appeared on their radar after the "JL sucks" episode, to visit Gotham. Wouldn't it be hilarious if they tracked them down and got to see their reactions in person?

[ghosthoard]

PART 9

parts 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Time’s armor was convoluted. 

He had perfected the art of getting it on on his own years ago, but he always appreciated a helping hand, usually Malon, but recently one of his boys, or his big brother would take the time to help him.

Right now though, Twilight was still sitting by Wild while the camp was dismantled around him and the others set about getting themselves ready. So, Time went through the motions of putting on his chainmail, his tasses, and his fauld alone first.

It had so many pieces and so many straps, heavy and unbendable. Armor such as this made the impression that there were no weaknesses to the wearer nor any openings, but there could never be a perfect armor set if it wanted to allow freedom to its bearer. He remembered learning the hard way that he needed to be aware of where he was vulnerable, where the armor was left open so that he could bend his knees, his arms, have maneuverability of his groin, his neck. 

It was a statement, it was formidable, and it was an old friend.

Every now and then, however, he missed when he was young and spry, when his fighting style relied on speed and being small without being weighed down by all this armor. But he also remembers when he was young and spry wishing he could deal more damage then he did with one strike, to be more of a force to be reckoned with to protect the Captain and Tune’s back. It was a wish he made every time he had donned the Fierce Deity mask.

If he wanted to do sweeping, debilitating damage in one swing of his Biggoron sword, then the armor was a necessity. 

In the process of donning the set, it was his chest piece and his pauldrons where things got more difficult. He used his teeth to hold straps while he maneuvered his arms around locking everything in place. 

But he must be out of practice, too spoiled by the helping hands around him, because the chest piece started to slip and he went to catch it knowing he wouldn’t be fast enough. 

The chest piece stopped falling in midair, and Time blinked.

“Let me help.”

The Captain had caught it, of course, that made more sense.  

Warriors was smiling when Time looked at him. 

“You’re wearing makeup,” shock spilled the words out of him. 

It wasn’t the type of makeup Warriors would put on when he was feeling especially happy, where it made him prettier doing something with charcoal to make his eyelashes more prominent or more playful with colors and patterns. It was the natural, utilitarian style he used during the war when he didn’t want his men or enemies hidden among friends to see him weakening, or when he covered up bruises and scratches and scars. 

Warriors’s eyes dulled slightly but the smile was one made for him and it was patient and loving. “Arms up.” 

Time didn’t listen. The Captain must be getting slow if he expected him to just accept the drop in conversation. He stared and waited. 

Wars sighed, muttering something like, “always been stubborn,” before forcing the chest piece against Time’s chest and instructing him to hold it while he grabbed the back piece. 

Time obediently held the armor in place while Wars set about tightening the straps and speaking, “I thought it wouldn’t be great for our remaining morale if I looked ugly.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Time said immediately. “You don’t have to pretend with us.”

“I know. But I guess old habits die hard. This makes me feel more secure.” Warriors patted him on his pauldron to punctuate his point. 

Before Time could organize his thoughts enough to respond, the Captain asked, “What were you thinking about before I came over?”

Twilight still hadn’t moved. 

Legend was right. They did look like two corpses. 

“I was thinking about how much my fighting style has changed over the years,” he was saying, “How speed was a familiar weapon but something I can no longer wield. How I’m now weighed down by this armor.”

“I’m relieved that you wear it now,” the Captain said with a fond, wistfulness in his voice. “Do you know how stressed I was seeing you on the battlefield without any sort of armor? I’ve thought about scooping you up and dumping you into a full set so often I had dreams about it. But I knew you’d be a little brat about it if I ever brought the idea up.” 

A little bit of childish indignance made him frown. “Tune didn’t wear any either back then.”

“Yeah, well. He at least was mature enough to ask for leather armor as the years passed and he grew bigger.”

Time remembered that. Remembered being jealous when the Captain gifted Tune specially crafted leather armor he had bought just for him and then took the time to spar with the sailor for a couple of days to get used to fighting in it. So jealous in fact that when he was asked if he wanted his own, instead of the truth, he told them it looked dumb and that he was good enough to fight without it unlike some people.  

A funny look had twisted Tune’s face. Back then, Time thought he was laughing at him, but now he knew exactly why. How silly it would be to see a man you had looked up to acting as spoiled and childish as he had been. 

“You were our armor, shield, and sword back then,” Time told the Captain as he now looked over at where Wind was speaking with Sky. “I was never afraid when you were around. Maybe more afraid of what would happen to you.”

“And that was never your burden,” the Captain went to stand in front of him, finished with the armor. The weight was comforting and secure. Time looked at how the foundation was caked on below the Captain’s eyes. “I’m a hero. And so are the rest. You can’t take responsibility for us and our pains,” a knowing look, “or our deaths.”

Time met his gaze daringly. “You didn’t fail us.”

“It was a miracle, and not by my hand that you two outlived the war,” the Captain said sternly, the grain of the powder lessening the lines of his frown. “Don’t hold yourself up against me in comparison.”

“Twilight almost died, Wild has died under my leadership, under my protection. If I had died—”

The Captain closed his eyes and turned away as if the thought physically pained him.

Time continued to land the blow, “—you would have blamed yourself.” 

His brother’s voice was fragile and quiet when he said, “Would you have wanted me to? Would you have agreed if I did?”

“You would believe it no matter what I thought,” he said ruthlessly. “You blame yourself even now for Wild.”

Time saw exactly when the Captain’s walls came up. The makeup looked at home on this expression. “This isn’t about me.”

Hypocrite. Time wanted to shout. You would have me blameless while you wore the same blame on your face! When it was my burden, my son, a curse I set upon my own flesh and blood for being so inadequate my descendants had to make up for it! Even when I am with them I can’t protect them! This was anger, this was grief, this was …uncalled for.

Time rubbed a hand down his face, taking a steadying breath. This was a moment where he needed to step back and get some space. He started to walk away. The Captain didn’t deserve this, his big brother only meant to comfort him and here Time was attacking him like a child. He just needed a moment.

“You decided not to use the ocarina.” 

The words stopped him in his tracks.

The ocarina used to be an easy fix. Goddess knows how many times he’s played the song when he was a child. 

The moment he saw Wild’s body, it had been a burning presence in his pouch. Always there.

It was a possibility that had taken over Time as he sat there for hours beside Wild and Twilight. Not really in his body, not really out of it. He had listened to Twilight’s whining, his howling. The answering silence of Wild’s body. How many more times must he sit helplessly by a loved one?

“If I used it,” Time said carefully, “I don’t know if it’ll rewind for all of us, or split the timeline again. I could disappear from this time, leaving you all behind.”

He would never know. If he used the ocarina, he would never know if the timeline split or if he rewound time for all of them. He’d die never knowing for sure. He would’ve died ignorant of split timelines—of the timeline he abandoned —in the first place if it weren’t for this goddess-given mission. But regardless, there’d be a life where Wild was alive. He could make sure of it. What use was the title the Hero of Time if he couldn’t even make this right?

“I think,” the Captain replied from behind him, just as carefully, “I would rather grieve with you, than to try to undo something without knowing a hundred percent if it’ll work.”

Even with so many secrets shared among their family, not everyone knew about the ocarina, Time wasn’t the type to flaunt the instrument around after all. Wind, Sky, and Wild were there when they talked about the possibility of a split timeline. One less person who knew his secret.  And he had confided in the Captain after the revelation.

Twilight didn’t know.

After that life-altering conversation, before Twilight almost died, Wild had sought him out. The young man had plopped down next to him on the ground, looking at him with those unnerving, blue eyes of his that seemed to see things in Time that even he didn’t know about. 

“I was thinking,” Wild had said, “I was so ready to go back in time when I thought you had the power to. It was a dream come true for a moment, I could go back, fix everything and things would be right again.” 

Something wistful and wise settled around Wild like peace. “But if it meant that I would have to leave you all behind, leave this timeline behind, I don’t think I could do it. After meeting all of you and hearing about all the other adventures you’ve gone on, I can’t expect that my job is done. I abandoned them once before,” Time still remembered Wild’s small smile, “what if they still need me?”

Back at the inn, back in that room where Twilight lay dying, Four had told Time the confrontation he had with Wild outside of Twilight’s sickbed like the guilt of it was killing him. Time remembered being ready for Wild to storm in and demand he use the ocarina should Twilight die. But when, instead of a grief driven little brother, an insightful and inspirational hero came to them, Time realized he was using Wild as an excuse. It wasn’t Wild who would’ve used the ocarina, but him that was tempted in the first place. He was anticipating it, hoping for Wild to give him a reason to. 

“But there’s a chance,” Time continued, turning around to look at his big brother as the man walked over to close the gap he’d made, “if I decide not to take that chance, how could I bear to face him?”

If Twilight knew about the ocarina, would he be the one to demand Time use it? 

Time had never been good at moving on. 

As always, the Captain seemed to know exactly what ailed him, “Twilight wouldn’t risk losing you too. It’d kill him to ask you to use that ocarina as much as it’d kill him if you actually did. And, goddess dammit, Sprite,” a small crack in the Captain’s voice, “I can’t bear to lose you again. And maybe that’s selfish. I would give anything to have Wild back, but—” 

Time reached out as his brother bit his bottom lip and looked away, trying to pull it together. He held onto his Warriors’s wrist and saw how he could completely wrap around it now. He hadn’t been able to before. 

“But not you,” Warriors finished quietly, like the words were poison, like he was disgusted with himself. “I’m asking you to stay.”

“I want to stay,” he had cried through angry, scared tears, clinging to the Captain’s scarf and glaring up at his big brother, the portal that was to take him home a sickly cold presence behind him. “You can’t make me leave. You still need me and you know it.”

“Anyway” Wild’s small smile had stretched into a mischievous grin, “what would you all do without me and my food if I up and vanished? Wouldn’t last a day, I bet.”

His silence must have gone on for too long, because the Captain took a step back from him, pulling out of his grip.

Warriors had schooled his expression back, smoothed the cracks out on his porcelain face. He was looking past Time’s shoulder. “You should talk to him. Then you’ll know that he loves you just as much as Wild and you can forget about this misplaced guilt.”

Warriors was the one to walk away this time. Time didn’t stop him.

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@naxamiss @theyellowfriend @st0rmyskies @chaos-advocate @mothielad @jenniferchaulam @originsofevil @links-in-time @homewardwander @gothroughthelookingglass @seaotter-17 @alicewritingstories @silvrash-797 @niffty24

wanted to get one last part out before the end of the year!!! thanks as always for all the comments, reblogs, and likes! see you guys in 2025!

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

(ln8 spoilers) jinshi thinking except for my godly looks i am just average and then his smartass goes and kills around five birds with just one brand. someone whose status is so high that even his name can't be said by anyone except the emperor jinshi branded himself with the crest of the empress vowing loyalty to her assuring her he doesn't wants to take the place of her son. one-upping his "bro" with this who refuses to let him leave the line of succession wouldn't let him become a commoner doesn't wants to let him become a servant to the royal family. only slaves get branded and if this ever got out there will be chaos in the court. gyokuyou tho considers jinshi like a brother and he did swear loyalty to her but if she ever tried to cross his family her clan's brand on his body would be enough to prove her as an adultress which would be bad for her and her clan.

and jinshi did this in front of these two people and maomao so now she is the only one who can see him naked and the emperor cannot order him to marry anyone which was something that was definitely gonna happen had he not done what he did. as a bonus he gets to spend more time with maomao after a long time and he did all this while saying the exact words: empress gyokuyou, your enemy i shall never be in front of maomao reassuring her because she once muttered i don't want to be an enemy to empress gyokuyou and he had heard her but before he could tell her that he had no intention of doing that either he couldn't because of the lishu incident. one of the major reasons maomao hadn't accepted her own feelings for jinshi one of the obstacles he promised to remove for her. even though he doesn't even know that maomao's concerns about her becoming gyokuyou's enemy had to do with his birth secret his true status. that no matter what he is the rightful successor. something jinshi himself isn't even aware of and yet without knowing that he did this to deal with it all in a single way most preferable to him: masochism

[cherrywhite]

I know Faulkner's ever increasing body count is a running joke as if it's something he's purposefully racking up but Rane's murder is such a stark contrast compared to every other one that's come before. And that difference marks such a monumental shift in Faulkner's character.

Like, he runs from the hotelier immediately after sainting him (I know his whole I'm going to make you a saint mirrors what he tells Rane this episode, but he still ultimately runs), he can't bring himself to use the Withermark at Marcel's Crossing, and Mason and Thurrocks' deaths were done in a fit of rage, the horror evident by the time he comes to his senses. Even Daggler's was caused by the Angel Faulkner summoned, not something Faulkner committed to up close. And I imagine however Charlie drowned, well. There's a lot of ambiguity in how it could have gone down, something we'll never really know the scope of, purely because Faulkner is such an unreliable narrator.

Then there's this.

I would argue that Rane's death is much more violent than the ones that came before purely for the fact that Faulkner seems to revel in their suffering as he does it. He needlessly pulls them back up to get a breath of air before plunging them back in the water. He strikes them with his staff so hard that it breaks. And he does this all while laughing and mocking at them. He's needlessly cruel to the point of terrifying. This part was so well done and it really shows just how far Faulkner has gone.

I'm so hesitant to say there's no way back from this simply because of how TSV writes its characters but my knee-jerk reaction as I was listening to this the first time is that there isn't. This was him, fully aware, crossing over the threshold.

[kg2hub]

@poisonblossoms12 EXPLODES U WITH ALMY!!!!! merry christmas bestie, i was ur secret santa >:3

hope you enjoy this!!!! lmk if you want me to adjust the background or anything in case it's too bright :'0

also aged them up for this bc i found such a great pose ref and i couldn't figure out how to get the proportions right for like. kg age hgfdfgfsdf so i hope that's okay!!

[fromtheseventhhell]

Arya watched them die and did nothing. What good did it do you to be brave? One of the women picked for questioning had tried to be brave, but she had died screaming like all the rest. There were no brave people on that march, only scared and hungry ones. (Arya VI, ACOK)

--

The night she was caught, the Lannister men had been nameless strangers with faces as alike as their nasal helms, but she'd come to know them all. You had to know who was lazy and who was cruel, who was smart and who was stupid. You had to learn that even though the one they called Shitmouth had the foulest tongue she'd ever heard, he'd give you an extra piece of bread if you asked, while jolly old Chiswyck and soft-spoken Raff would just give you the back of their hand. (Arya VI, ACOK)

Arya: *restrains herself from acting out when captured by the Mountain and his men because she knows fighting back/being brave wouldn't accomplish anything*

Arya: *takes note of the temperments of several Lannister guards so that she can learn how to navigate around their behavior*

Fandom: Arya is a feral idiot with no self-control uwu 🤗

[nayruwu]

"i can't believe the great kureto's cause of death is ragequitting out of life", says the mf that ragequit out of life eight years prior and then proceeded to forget about it when his best friend spawned him back in.

[afro-elf]

can a therapist explain why my mom saying she loves me and doesn't mind having me around during this extremely prolonged and fruitless job search because she loves me and just wants to make sure my needs are met makes me SOMEHOW feel worse about being an unemployable little shit?