#do you really think meghan disagrees?

[woolandcoffee]

Some folks on here really do spend 99% of their time walking the leftist line, but the second they see criticism of Harry or Meghan Windsor, they open wide to deep throat the boot.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I just watched a video by The Vintage Read Show on YouTube and I'm SO glad someone is seeing through Garry's acting. Almost everyone is saying they don't feel sorry but he looks miserable and say they see the glimpses of "old Harry". No. He plays it up for the cameras as a signal to the royal family.

After he collected the Pat Tillman award, he happily walked down the stage and was animatedly talking to someone but the minute he saw the camera, his face dropped and he put on a sad puppy face. The same event, he was happily rubbing his wife's knees and talking to her but we can't see that on most videos on mainstream media. In the Colombian trip, he was smiling very happily in videos taken by passerby but he looks miserable in the official photos they released. It's a tactic he's using to tug at heartstrings especially the royal family. See how his PR articles are getting more and more desperate after it's made known that William doesn't want him for his coronation? He wants back in no matter what so he's doing all that to make them feel sorry for him and is acting like he's her captive. For all we know, he'll go in then demand they bring her in or else he'll tell all his now well established royal reporters and PR contacts that they're really racist and are breaking his happy family.

He's more manipulative than her and I don't know why people think he's a poor little puppy that's trapped in her evil claws. He's worse than her.

I don’t think it’s all manipulation though.

Harry’s someone who loves attention and being fawned over for the prince he is, and when he isn’t getting attention, he’s glum and miserable. That’s not an act; that’s someone who doesn’t have a poker face.

And yes, videos and photographs tell different stories but who do you think is authorizing official photographs? I’ll give you a clue: it ain’t Harry. Because have you noticed, in most of the official photos - like the Sussexes’ Christmas 2019 card - Meghan is clear, front, and center while Harry is sidelined or has some kind of fuzzy filter on him.

But we can agree to disagree.

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 21st of September, 2024

This is speculation only

Cards drawn on the 21st of September, 2024

Question: Does King Charles want Harry back in the BRF, and if so why?

Note that I am focusing in King Charles because he has the final say.

This is a one card reading.

Continuing the exploration of the basics.

Card drawn: The Lovers.

This is a yes. It is as big as Yes as you can get. The Lovers is a card of relationships, unions, love, balance, harmony etc. It is also a card about inner values and choices.

As the answer to my question, this card tells me that yes, The King does want Harry back in the BRF. He wants to repair his relationship with his son (reconcile, if you prefer). He is making a choice and he is choosing Harry. He is doing this because he thinks it is the right thing to do, but also out of the affection he feels for his son, and/or his need to have his son in the family so he feels centred and balanced and at peace (this is in The King's astrology and I have written about it before). The King's natural inclinations, his sense of what is right, his need for harmonious relationships in his immediate family (Prince Andrew does not count), and his affection for his son are all supporting his choice to bring Harry back into the BRF (We have seen trail balloon articles about this for a year now, if not longer. They always sink like lead balloons, and then a few months later they pop up again. We have also seen a flurry of 'Bring Harry Back' articles lately. I don't think they are all coming from The King, but some of them are).

Second Card: The Ten of Pentacles

This card gives me the why. The Ten of Pentacles is a card that can represent the BRF, it is a card of family and financial security and legacy, what you leave behind when you go. The legacy aspect of this card is what is coming through in the energy. The King sees Harry as part of his legacy as well as part of his family. Harry is part of his plans for his reign and how he wants to leave the BRF when he passes on, and he would love to have Harry back so he can revamp those plans and put them into action again.

There is also an energy of heritage from this card, Like his son, The King thinks that Harry's place in the BRF is part of his heritage and he does not want to deny him that heritage.

Underlying Energy: Strength

The Strength card is the card of Leo, that usually means Meghan, and it has come to mean Meghan and Harry together, so this is a hint that they want to return as a married unit. However, that is not the main energy of this card.

The main energy of this card is twofold: Inner strength and the Lion of England. Both of these energies have been touched on above.

Inner strength refers to The King's conviction that taking Harry back into the BRF is the right thing to do. The King really does think that if he does this then he will be doing what is morally right (others may disagree).

The other energy is the Lion of England, and that ties back to the Ten of Pentacles. The King sees Harry as part of England, part of its strength as represented by the BRF, and he wants Harry back so he can take his rightful place as part of the family that represents the Lion of England again.

EDIT Please note that wanting is not doing. The King wants Harry back, but I need to ask what he is doing about it for confirmation or not of any action being taken.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Episode 2

They’re in NY. It’s November 2021. They are running away from paparazzi that…aren’t there? Meghan says there was a guy recording them in the basement but the footage is Kate and Diana. Lol, they are in the NJ Turnpike pretending they are being followed by paps. This is bizarre and hilarious.

More bitching about social media harassment, which is apparently a bunch of Twitter posts. 

Doria does a confessional. Why isn’t Doria pretending she didn’t know who Harry was? Didn’t she get the brief? How does the yoga teacher know about the royals but the Northwestern International Relations graduate does not? She knew right away too. It’s a weird disconnect and the show is full of them. Every two minutes they say something that makes you go “Whaaaaaat? Didn’t they just say….”

Relationship breaks. They “felt tremendous relief.” Of course they did. They leaked it. No mention of the Reitman’s collection or the fact that this was leaking during on of Charles’ big trips. No spooning bananas instagram pic either.

Tatcha CEO is credited as “friend.” Wellness podcaster “friend.” Former agent.  Lol, these people are business associates, not friends. First mention of Meghan’s fauxlantropist work, which baffles me as they should have led with that. “Childhood friend” of Harry’s that I never heard of shows up again. Harry really was ringing up everyone in the Eton yearbook trying to find some desperate classmate hungry for exposure. Montage of the press Sunshine Sachs and Nina Crowne set up for her—UN, Rwanda, etc…. They did nice work and they should have spent more time on this. But maybe not. Someone may start wondering what happened to her passion for Rwandan women’s political rights, hygiene, and menstrual pads. But if you pay for an expensive pr makeover you should use it.

According to Tom Bower she was paying SS $7500/mo and I’m amazed at what a good pr company can do with a four figure monthly stipend. The “classy” makeover lasted three months so they turned her into a humanitarian princess for less than $25k. Impressive.

Flower shop pap walk. Interesting choice since this wasn’t the first pap shot of Meghan and she seems to imply it was. The first pap shot was days earlier at her house and she had a security team with her. I wonder why she picked the flower shop shot which is actually a lot less intrusive (in appearance at least) than the real first pic. Maybe because she had security in the earlier picture? Meghan claims there were 8 or 9 paps at the flower shop but there’s only one video so that seems unlikely. Shop wasn’t anywhere near her house also. Rumor was Marcus took this shot. Maybe she was trying to send some money his way by using his pic.

Stock video of paps because she has no video of paps chasing her of course. Pics of official royal events. 

Back to Toronto. Lol, those are clearly security guards in her porch and not paps. Ditto with her landlord’s security cameras. I think there was a DM article when those went up and Legion Media’s pic still states that those cameras were mounted on what was Meghan’s garage and not on her neighbor’s house as the documentary implies. 

At least she doesn’t mention the fake break-in. Guess she knows that won’t fly anymore. But still, how can you show video from the cameras in front of the house and then claim the cameras in the back were from the neighbors? Obviously the house had cameras in the back too.

[Edited to add: She says Toronto police didn't protect her and the police strongly disagree.]

“My face was everywhere, my life was everywhere.” She blames the tabloids, but that wasn’t true. You were leaking stories to US Weekly and Lainey every other day, girl. It was part of your “classy” makeover. No mention of that weird video of Ivy Mulroney that was sent to the DM. Odd since you would think that would be a big intrusion, if it had been done by a pap.

“There were things that were said and things that were written that I had to go to her to ask.” That would be the cheating on Cory and Del Zotto, I guess.

Back to LA. My husband asks what she did to her nose. It does look weird in this shot.

Doria and Meghan tour LA and Meghan’s life was not that interesting. This should have been edited, heavily. I do love that she sold the same childhood pics her dad sold. Like father, like daughter. Dish soap commercial. My husband asks how much plastic surgery she has had because she looks nothing like her old self. Interesting that he’s only half-watching and his main impressions are drugs and plastic surgery.

Racism and media persecution. Wait, some of these pics are from before the relationship broke. They are from the paps she hired during her European vacation with Jess. 

Academic guy blames the UK tabloids for fanning the madness. No mention of Omid Scobie and USWeekly, who were the ones steadily pushing the romance narrative with stories about Charles meeting her at Birkhall and William meeting her at Kensington Palace, as well as their vacation plans.

And Lainey Liu was boasting that the US mags were getting the scoops and not the UK tabloids because Harry was feeding the stories only to the US. So why blame the UK tabloids, Harry? You knew what you were doing. They could finesse this in 2016 when no one knew that Lainey was friends with Meghan and that Omid was their mouthpiece, but that is not the case anymore. Their unofficial biographer was leaking these stories in 2016. It was not the UK tabloids! 

And then there was Meghan herself, Instagramming all over the place.

Whole Foods pap walk. According to Tom Bower, Richard Kay was the guy who got the pic. Unbelievable. That actually surprised me. No wonder that detail was never released. No one would have believed that Diana's big confidante just randomly noticed Meghan walking into KP.

Kensington Palace statement. No mention of William supporting the statement. No mention of the Caribbean tour that got overshadowed by the romance.

 NAACP award really was in front of a green screen with an applause soundtrack.  LOLOLOLOL. It looks so sad, particularly when compared to the footage of the royal events. I think this is supposed to show that their life is better than before (They get awards! In front of green screens!) but it gives the exact opposite impression.

Harry with the hummingbird feeder also looks sad and pathetic. Archie could be in Africa petting elephants but he’s in Cali admiring hummingbirds instead.

Meghan’s personal assistant talks about how she would be recognized in the Toronto grocery stores. Lol, no. She wishes!

Security stuff, including complaints about paps around the Suits trailers which seems odd to me since those are pretty standard for television productions. Also, why are the Invictus Games pictures intrusive? Suits security guy says they were coordinating her security with the palace and “they would handle that stuff.” Interesting detail since she claims she wasn’t protected by the palace and Harry was “hearing this from miles away, completely helpless.” Apparently, she was protected and from day one. Did they watch this before they sent it to Netflix? Did they not notice that half the stuff they put in it contradicts the other half? 

Boring stuff…April 2017 already? They are booking flights to Pippa’s wedding and her Vanity Fair photoshoot through texts. LOL, she was doing a huge interview at the time, but she’s complaining about media intrusion. Make it make sense.

Pics with friends riding bikes. Old pic in her Toronto kitchen. Did they use this one twice? I would not have used it even once. Wait, was this what she was wearing when she met Will and Kate? LOLOLOLOL. “That formality carried over in real life.” I guess Kate was wearing shoes when she met Meghan. The nerve of that girl!

Andrew helped them ambush the Queen at Royal Lodge. That got leaked to Scobie at US Weekly too.

“How do you explain that you have to bow to your grandmother?” Uh, she was like….The Queen? What part of that is hard to understand?

She just compared meeting the Queen to Medieval Times. Wow. Big, exaggerated curtsy. She sounds and looks like an idiot. Fergie said she did great. Of course she did. She didn’t know how to curtsy? How does someone go through high school theater in the United States of Disney without knowing how to curtsy? [Edited: HRH Emilie found a clip of a curtsy scene she did for Suits because of course she did]

His family was impressed. LOL, I don’t think so. The actress thing was the biggest problem…wait, wasn’t her race the biggest problem? Can’t they keep their stories straight?

Interestingly the very first Blind Gossip blind was about how her profession was the problem and not her race. I suspected these blinds came from the Yorks and now I feel pretty good about that guess.

Meghan’s career. No blow-job or cocaine scene. No mention of her old blog. Interesting. I guess I can sort of understand that, but no mention of Trevor either? Are they going to pretend she was never married? No stories about being poor and crawling out of the back of her dad’s old truck either.

First biracial character? Eh, no. Meg was the glue for a lot of those cast relationships, but only one cast members participated in the documentary. Did no one do a consistency check on this show?

Screenshot of the Tig…with Cory front and center. That is hilarious because I don’t think they’ve mentioned him yet. Okay, now I’m sure Meghan didn’t watch this before it went live. She would have caught that and asked them to use a different shot.

“I didn’t want to find the great indie film that would win me an Oscar. I just wanted to volunteer.” She was literally releasing an indie film at this time. It was terrible. This documentary is like a lie-a-thon. Every other statement is a complete lie.

UN Speech. Is the crowd shot a stock picture (or archival picture, whichever is the right term)?  It feels edited in. Jump to September 2021 at the UN. Okay, so the whole point of that meeting was the documentary. We knew that.

Proposal. He couldn’t do it outside the UK? Everyone else has done so outside the UK. What are you talking about, Harry?

Also, no mention of her appearance at Invictus Games? How come none of their charities are getting shout-outs? No mention of the “Mad About Harry” Vanity Fair article or the backlash and you’d think that would be a big deal because she eventually called it racist, no? I guess they don’t want to admit that she was feeding the flames of press coverage.

Funny how they aren’t bitching about the UK tabloids harassing her after the moved to the UK. Could it be because the tabloids were not reporting on that…but Lainey and Hello! Canada (Where Jess started leaking after US Weekly got bought out by National Enquirer and Omid got fired) did.

She got the proposal on video. That’s is hilarious. He proposed with fake candles in their yard. How…tacky. Penguin onesies? Why would you want to tell the world that? I’d love some inside info as to how they pitched this to the director. “Sure the palace made sure our engagement sounded glamorous and romantic, but we are not about that. We want to tell them about the LED candles and penguin onesies. It will make us look cheap and tacky? Of course not, everyone will think we are fun and relatable.”

Cheesy Calvin Klein perfume ad engagement pictures with hideously expensive feather dress. We thought that was super tacky and we didn’t even know about the LED candles and penguin onesies. No mention of how much the dress cost or the backlash it caused. Lots of interviews about how excited people were. 

Engagement photocall was a lot more glamorous than anything they’ve done for this documentary. The royals really know how to manage occasions. Hard to believe these two are the same couple from the grainy proposal video. Goes to show how persuasive good pr can be. They almost looked regal.

Brexit? Boris Johnson? Really? Intrusion into the lives of the royal family was due to…Brexit and anti-immigration sentiment? I swear this documentary is like Mad Libs. They are just throwing stuff out at random. Paparazzi….penguin onesies….racism…..Brexit…. The Brexit referendum was in June 2016 and the engagement was in November 2017 so I’m not sure why they are even bringing it up. 

“They are just trying to destroy me.” The Brexit movement was trying to destroy her? 

It’s over. Wait, they didn’t mention her prior marriage at all??? Lolololol. Brexit is apparently more relevant to her story than her previous marriage. I guess that’s why she didn’t add her first wedding pics and the weed wedding favors to the list of press intrusions. The “phone hack” wasn’t mentioned either or the leaked topless pic. I guess she’s still pretending those weren’t pictures of her.

We seem to be at the engagement and there have been some other interesting omissions, namely Skippy’s wedding and Pippa’s wedding. Weird because you’d think Skippy’s wedding would be a perfect example of press intrusion too. I understand why they left out Pippa’s wedding though. Kinda awkward to admit Pippa invited you to her intimate, family wedding in the same episode where you call her sister “formal.” 

Plus Audi polo, the birthday trip in Africa, Vanity Fair, Invictus…they all got left out. This episode curated the timeline to make it look like Meghan did nothing to encourage coverage and press speculation, and that is far from the truth. Her family is also missing and they were stirring the pot all through this time period. They were talking to the press basically every month.

My husband lost interest at this point. He had no comments other than to say her nose looked fake and the pap chase was fake. The group chat discussed whether they truly thought they had a pap chasing them. Everyone thought that was fake because the camerawork was too perfect. They scoffed at the Medieval Times comment and the curtsy. Someone laughed at the Oscar comment. 

This was pretty boring. The fake pap chase was the best part.

BTW, Tumblr has a 10-link limit now? How annoying.

On to the next episode.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I think it was a doll and also that there really are children and also that the Queen could have known by u/Equivalent-Date-4796

I think it was a doll, and also that there really are children and also that the Queen could have known I just saw the video again, where they introduced Archie. Instead of looking at M and H, as I did before, I saw zoomed in on the baby. Yeah, not a real baby. NO MOVEMENT OF EYES OR HANDS...even with eyes closed you can see some fluttering. Let's get real.Also, her hips swaying SO much! You gave birth two days ago! No! No, you did not. And hanging onto Harry with NO interest in this child just absent-mindedly touching.And to everyone saying the Queen would never have agreed to a photo with a doll if she had known, and that of course she HAD to have known, b/c in person it would be more obvious so the fact that the Queen took a photo means, by circular reasoning that it wasn't a doll? I disagree...the Queen absolutely could have taken a photo with a doll, and even known it was a doll. She is not testifying in court that she held the doll and that in her opinion, it was a real baby. All she is doing is taking a picture. What would the worst-case scenario have been (in the Queen's mind)...it gets discovered that it was a doll? Ok, so the Queen would plan to say that she saw the baby for a few minutes, assumed it was real and sleeping. That's it. Or, you know what else the Queen could have said (about the photo with the doll?)...NOTHING! Because that's what the BRF often does, they say nothing. And if it had been discovered that it was a doll and the Queen said nothing to defend herself, people would be saying exactly what they are saying now, "The Queen couldn't have known! Or she would have never taken the photo!"Finally, I do believe there are children...they took a kid on the South Africa tour...so where was that kid initially? Couldn't they just have used that kid for the presentation? Did they not "get" him until later? And if so, why not? Couldn't the surrogate's birth have been timed to Meghan's? They were lying about the delivery date anyway, couldn't they just keep doing that? post link: https://ift.tt/BmZTI3D author: Equivalent-Date-4796 submitted: May 27, 2024 at 07:25AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Andrew Doyle: This ideology has infantilism built into its core. And when it captures various institutions, they all become infantile. If you take, there was a conference called "Resisting Whiteness" at Edinburgh University where the organizers had said, that--

Meghan Murphy: You come, you show up, you peel your skin off, burn it.

Doyle: Well, I mean, they had a separate space, they had separate-- they separated people by skin color. But they also had a Q&A after the event where they said, white people weren't allowed to ask questions. But then that raises the question, what if you're half? What if you're mixed-race? Do you get to ask half a question? How do they even know, it's not always obvious. So, that's a childish thing to have. But that was done by adults in a university. In a top university.

So, yes, I think it's to do with the complete lack of the capacity for critical thinking, the first lesson of which is that there is always something to learn from your detractors, right. There is always a kernel of truth in everything that people say, and there's always merit to listening to what-- to having your ideas challenged.

These are people who are fixed to a script, which has been provided for them. Which is the same as any ideology. It's the same as any fundamentalist religion. ISIS fighters don't think critically, they have a script handed to them, a holy writ and it's been interpreted for them by the worst demagogues in that community.

And the same goes for any form of ideology. If you're a strict whatever. Marxist, or you're a strict-- you know, it can be anything.

Murphy: Feminist.

Doyle: Feminist too, it can be-- if you have a strict set of rules, it means you're not thinking for yourself. I like to be surprised by people's opinions, I don't like to be predictable. And I think that's a real loss when people can't say, "well, hang on, maybe I'm wrong about this. Let's talk to someone who disagrees. Maybe I can come out of this."

You know, if you take someone like Daryl Davis, who has deradicalized members of the KKK, can you imagine that? This guy sat down with them and talked them out of this, right. I couldn't do that; I don't have the ability to do something like that. But those people were people who were not thinking for themselves, thinking from a script. It's really, really rife.

And yes, I tie it to-- I suppose it's what children do, because children crave someone to tell them what to do, that's why they all need discipline.

[ Full episode: Andrew Doyle on the enduring appeal of authoritarianism ]

[dairy-farmer]

Sorry if you've already touched on this, but what are your thoughts about the discourse/discussion about Tim in the comics and Tim from the lens of A03/fan fiction?

For example, I hear a lot from old comic fans about how the series with Tim dating Bernard was doomed to fail bc 'the writer wrote him like her fanfiction version of Tim and not the real character'. There was a lot of discourse with canonical announcing Tim as queer, and that's kinda all these older comic book fans seem to keep coming back to. Idk, there just kinda seems to be an underlying feeling of misogyny towards the female writers and anti lgtbq vibes that it's hard to hear like a real arguement against the series.

I guess as a long time a03/Fandom person, I'm so used to just creating another little reality for the things I disagree or want to explore with a character, that it's strange to see people so upset that Canon doesn't flow the way the want.

it's no problem!! and i haven't really touched on the newer comics all that much mostly because i also don't particularly like them, not for any specific reason-they're decent enough but i don't really think they're 'tim'-but i do know what you're talking about. on twitter and tumblr i see a lot of different takes regarding tim and how he's written in this newer robin series.

for starters: i get what you're talking about where criticism of the comics might partly because of anti-lgbt attitude. especially since tim getting confirmed to be bisexual made A LOT of people mad (including ppl who arent homophobic but are mad that it wasn't THEIR favorite robin who got confirmed queer like dick, jason, or damian etc). comic bros and even casual comic fans who had never even heard of tim or even gave a shit about him were now furious. and while there might be ppl with genuine critiques- some of hatred of the way tim is written in the newer comics you really have to take it with a grain of salt because it very well could be comic bros hating because "robin isn't gay".

same with the writer, meghan fitzmartin. in general, women DO have an uphill battle when it comes to working in comics because it is very male dominated. and it's no secret that a lot of comic fans are opposed to women writing in comics. so misogyny, and even jealousy also plays a role with how much criticism is ACTUALLY warranted. but that doesn't mean a woman in comics isn't allowed to be criticized if they do a bad job or do a botched execution when their job is supposed to be making good, enjoyable, stories that do justice to the characters. i do think meghan may have some decentish ideas but whether she genuinely has the writing chops to deliver on those big ideas is well...iffy. but then again i genuinely don't keep tabs on comic writers or they're projects so maybe that will change.

when it comes to the critique of tim being written like a "fanfiction" version and not a "real" version of him i do see what they mean.

when I think of fanon tim I think of all the mischaracterizations that have been popularized. a coffee obsessed gremlin that doesn't sleep who is deeply insecure and agonizes over his place in the family, thinking he doesn't belong. people LIKE that tim is portrayed like that (in fanfiction) otherwise that characterization wouldn't be so pervasive in fics (there's also the possibility that a lot of ff writers DON'T know any better because many don't read comics but they do read fics and so they base their portrayals solely off what they read in fics resulting in this racoon eyed, coffee loving character who they believe to be an actual portrayal when it's really just someone's idea/exaggerated interpretation of tim).

i really don't see a lot of that in meghan's writing, the issues with tim's writing with her are different. if anything WFA is the one that really have the 'written as a ff character' vibe. but that series is also SUPPOSED to be deeply unserious as a fun slice of life universe where nothing goes wrong for anyone ever as a soothing balm for the oftentimes depressing stories in batman comics.

but in meghan's writing I also don't see a lot of what i consider to be core tim values. is she the best writer for tim? no i don't really think so. but there is a certain degree of understanding for his character. I see the comics and I can recognize that it's tim. so it's not offensively OC.

a lot of complaints seem to stem from his relationship with bernard being too much of a focus. people say how tim does too much thinking about him when...he was a lot worse in the 90s with steph. I remember getting so irritated when entire comics of robin would be narrated by steph or about her, i'd be like 'I want to read about ROBIN and his adventures, not steph, why is she even relevant?'. but tim's relationships to other people are a core part about him so you just have to take it.

the part that i think is justified in critique is in talking about whether her writing of bernard dowd is good. that is a much easier thing to answer. and its that its not good writing. in fact it's a pretty bad, inaccurate portrayal of him given how he was written when we first knew him. he's sort of been...sanded down? kind of remade into some new, almost unrecognizable character that fits into what she believes would be a nice, wholesome, gay partner for tim. which is an issue for me because we have seen and know what tim is like in relationships. tim had tension with, disagreed with, got annoyed with, fought and argued with his other partners like stephanie and ariana. but he also enjoyed himself and was happy with them. there was a balance there of good and bad because tim's unique situation of being robin made it so there had to be good and bad. with bernard it's all very passive and easy. they don't argue, they don't really fight, or have any struggles in their relationship when trying determine compatibility. avoiding tension in the relationship when tim has a track record of it makes it almost seem like she's afraid of the risk of portraying a gay relationship in anything less than a golden light. which is not good writing. BUT it is also very NEW. so maybe that will change (but there's a similar problem with jon kent and his bf so idk)? i personally believe kon would've been a more ideal partner with their shared history, chemistry, tension, the fact that fans have wanted it for decades, and the fact that it would've been such a good addition to the arc of self acceptance for kon's character. and many of the issues that tim being with bernard wouldn't be a thing because tim and kon famously don't see eye to eye 100 percent of the time and so their relationship would struggle and grow as they go from friends to romantic partners.

ultimately in my opinion to write a truly good tim drake you need to be able to accurately portray the thing that made him such a great robin: his heart of gold. tim cares about doing the right thing SO much. he cares about helping people. he's not some cold, unfeeling calculated computer who uses people as pawns and abandons his morals at the slightest inconvenience or seduction to the 'dark side'. and he's not some coffee drinking hacker man that is 20 steps ahead and smug about it.

tim worries about people, he's upset at injustice, feels guilt at not being able to save people, is judgy, sometimes a brat, sarcastic, gets angry at people for throwing their lives away, gets very invested in things that catch his interest, is too curious for his own good, nosy. he lies through his teeth and then bats his eyes in sweet as pie innocence. will think VERY rude thoughts about people but will bite his tongue because he's a nice boy👼 but sometimes things slip out. he is somehow simultaneously able to be the 🥺 and 😈 emoji at the same time. his odds of making bad decisions increase by 100 fold if in the company of other stupid teenagers.

now i write tim as a very exaggerated version of that core self. that's what a lot of ff authors do. they choose a handful of traits they like best about him and spin entire fics about it. i don't think writing tim as a fanfiction version of himself is a bad thing because some fanfic is genuinely better than the source material and that comes from being very good at understanding the character. the tim of today can't be written the same way he was in his golden age, the 90s, because a lot of his struggles and hurdles that he dealt with in those comics are over. they're done. tim can't be 30 years old and still wondering if he's doing a shit job as robin. tim IS a good robin and he should be able to acknowledge that (funnily enough one of his clear acknowledgements of that is often wiped away by fics- that being the titans tower scene where jason asks if tim thinks he's the better robin and tim, without hesitation, says yes) a lot of older fans are clinging to problems that tim has already resolved. he's not thirteen and insecure about his abilities. he's not on his first relationship with someone (but he is in his first relationship with a boy). he's not still learning how to navigate his relationship with batman and the rest of the family or struggling to come to terms with his civilian and caped life. do some of those things still trouble him on occasion? yes but they're not the main focus anymore.

tim has to have new problems, new challenges, new growth.

i had some hope for new tim comics.

would i like to have seen more tim centric material or at least good stories. and often times in the new tim comics tim was exactly the same at the end of the issue as he was at the beginning. tim struggling with his identity is something that made an appearance in 90s comics a lot but I think for the newer ones that it would've been better received/more interesting if it were...written better?

idk. i don't know a single comic fan that loved every detail of their fav's comics. was it the best run? no. but it was okay enough i guess. it was lukewarm, not standing ovation worthy but also nobody should be throwing tomatoes at the performers either, it just earned a polite clap of acknowledgement which i don't think is a very bad thing but still i hope we get something better!

[girldragongizzard]

Chapter 17: Queen of Fire and Starlight

If I don’t want to be caught and eaten, I won’t be.

That, I think, is one of Wentin’s rules.

In all my nightmares that I remember being like this one, the only times I was ever caught and eaten were the ones where I gave up. And when I didn’t I was able to draw the dream on and on until I did, regardless of how my body felt.

Obviously, another rule is that I can’t get any further away from it than just out of reach. And it seems like it can jump a little higher every time, which means I have to strive ever more hard to get up and away from it.

Either I’ve fallen asleep and I’m dreaming while twitching on the ground, or Wentin’s very presence has shifted reality to behave just like one of its nightmares. At this point I’m convinced it’s the former, because my mind won’t accept the latter. It makes no sense.

And these were the dreams where I first figured out that I wasn’t human, because I had wings and a tail, and I breathed fire at it, futilely, every night I had one. Over and over.

So, I know I can at least do that. In this dream, I shouldn’t have the limit of needing to wait for my fire sacks to refill.

And I try that.

“Good!” shouts Wentin. “That was delicious! Do it again!”

It’s not bothered by my fire at all. It snaps at and eats the flames. No matter how many times I let loose.

The thing is, there were versions of this dream where I didn’t give up, and I awoke before I was caught. And those endings started happening just before the dreams stopped recurring.

There were a few things that I did that allowed me to get away, but I don’t know if I can remember them. It’s been so long.

There’s one maneuver that comes to me. But I don’t do it.

One time, I dove right for the monster’s mouth and as it opened wide and made to swallow me, I let out all of my fire. So much of my fire that there was an explosion, and I woke up. And I have no idea how it would have really ended.

I’m impervious to my own fire, and apparently so is Wentin. It seems like a bad idea.

“Oh, come on, Meghan,” it chatters. “You’re thinking too much! Thinking isn’t doing, and it will distract you and I’ll get you! And then you’ll be nothing but delicious! So delicious!”

I kind of want to be, because I hate this. I’ve always hated this, and being delicious would be a way to bring an end to it. It’s always worked before.

“Stop being so disagreeable, Meghan,” it whines. “My stomach won’t take it. Flee! Agree to flee! And make me really chase you!”

The fucking seagulls are watching, too. Just like my friends, and like my family did in every dream. They’re like the Muppets’ audience, jumping and chattering with every pratfall, but staying in place to catch some more.

I see Ptarmigan turn to say something to Chapman who just watches dumbly and nods.

I want to hate them both, this is so absurd and insulting.

Why am I always so abandoned and alone? Left to fight for myself?

I do one of my old tricks where I beat my wings so fast and hard I reverse direction and Wentin shoots out in front of me, teeth snapping, and lands on the ground in a twisting slide, left side facing me with little clouds of torn grass and clods of dirt flying in the air where its lion-like feet skid.

That shouldn’t have worked if this was real. I can’t do that in real life. I’ve tried it while experimenting with flight. Physics and biology won’t let me.

Confirmation that this is a dream, if my endless fire wasn’t already.

I bathe my enemy in my own light and then twist and shoot away, swimming through the air toward the acid tanks again.

Weaving through them is a dance of ease and grace, and then I circle around and alight atop one of them.

I’m certain Wentin can’t get me there. Not right away. And it gives me a moment of rest and feeling superior, which is a nice change of pace.

I look down in time to see it slam, full bodied, against the side of the tank, its teeth snapping shut just six inches from my tail, which I pull closer to my body.

Moving ever so slightly away from it makes the other side of my body feel vulnerable, and I watch it slide down and land on its feet, grinning. Then it circles the tank to that side of me, and I turn to face it, inching away.

It leaps.

Clang! Its foreclaws briefly wrap around the top lip of the tank and its mouth comes far too close to my face as I lean back the other way away from it.

One more jump and I’m done, so I leap over to the next tank, knowing that will refresh everything at least a little.

There are rules, after all.

“You’re learning, Meghan,” It drones ominously. “I’ve told you everything you need to know, and you’re learning from it. But you haven’t put it all together. You’re ignoring some of my words and it’s so disappointing!”

What words?

Its lies? Its taunting?

“Everything I’ve told you is true, Meghan! Accept it! One day, I will eat you!”

It never did eat me, did it? In every dream where I gave up and I fell, it grabbed my leg and I woke up. I still didn’t let it eat me.

And I remember when I figured that out. And eventually, I skipped the giving up and just started waking up.

Sometimes it felt like I would just rise up into the sky and out of my dream that way, flying into orbit and into wakefulness and my bed. The ultimate act of control over a lucid dream, the withdrawal of consent to experience it.

So, I decide to try it.

I want to end this, so I’m going to give it a shot.

As Wentin makes its next attack, I leap up and out, away from the acid tank and over the field and with my will, pull myself up and out of the dream.

But instead, as Wentin lets out a victorious guffaw, reality crashes in around, through, and below me and comes billowing up in the form of the thermal that should have already been there. And in just a couple long slow flaps of my wings I’m soaring well above Wentin’s reach as I should have been able to do before.

And I’m not exhausted. And Wentin simply stands under me, looking up. And it opens its mouth.

“And that, Meghan, is what it’s like to truly, fully be a dragon,” it says. “You aren’t beholden by physics. You never were. You are a story. And you are governed by the laws of your narrative.”

Chapman puts hir hands to either side of hir mouth and shouts up at me, “I think it’s right about that! More or less!”

Ptarmigan nudges hir with an elbow, watching me as she was through this whole ordeal.

I’m feeling pretty fucking angry right now. Indignant as hell. To be put through all of this without asking me if I had the time, energy, or will to do it. Without asking me if I was OK with it. It’s not OK, and I want it known, but I don’t have the words to express it.

So I take a breath into my fire sack and let out a huge gout of flame that catches on the updraft and accelerates it, lifting me even higher for a moment.

And as the flames disperse, my napalm atomizing and flaring in the air, I remember that I already breathed several gouts of flame this afternoon.

If those were as real as this one felt, as this moment feels right now, I shouldn’t be able to do that.

“I said it was all real, Meghan,” Wentin calls up to me, its voice more relaxed than usual, if smug. “Like you, I am a dream, a myth, a monster made physical. And everything I do now is so very real, with immediate consequences. Just like you.”

Ptarmigan cocks a finger gun and fires it in my direction, mouthing a sound effect for it.

—

Can I talk for real now that I’ve broken my own personal myth? Is that a law of biology and physics that I’m not beholden to anymore?

No.

I open my mouth and a squawk comes out, followed by Caleb’s voice saying, “shit.”

“You promised to learn that in your own voice, Meg,” Chapman says. “You’ve learned so many other words, maybe it’s time.”

We’re on the ground again, in the middle of the field, and it turns out that a crowd of people had collected to watch the dragon chase, all stopping at the perimeter of the park. It had lasted long enough that word had spread to the Farmers Market, and parents brought their children down to watch.

No one was getting hurt, so apparently they figured that it was a friendly sparring match.

Or so it seems.

We haven’t talked to any of them yet. And I’m nervously glancing at them as we confer. They’re still keeping their respectful distance.

“What kind of a dragon are you, Meghan?” Wentin asks. “The key to your survival lies in that question. What kind of a story do you fit in, and what do you do in that story?”

Chapman has quickly lost herself in thought, brows furrowed, fingers steepled in front of hir face, but sie has the agency to ask, “Will the other dragons learn this too?”

“If Wentin’s right,” Ptarmigan says. “I’m thinking some will learn it faster and easier than she did. And most won’t ever learn it at all. A rare few will have to go through a trial like this. Some of them less friendly, I imagine.”

“You think I’m friendly?” Wentin asks, sounding insulted.

“I didn’t say that,” Ptarmigan replies.

Joel is still nearby, sitting and listening attentively, soaking up everything we’re saying.

My tablet is pretty close, and I can basically just reach over with my claw and draw it to the front of me, and I knuckle in a couple words as everyone waits, “Now what?”

“I think you practice,” Chapman said. “Explore what you can do, and push yourself.”

“It like lucid dream?” I ask.

“No,” Ptarmigan says.

“It’s remembering what you are,” Wentin hums, almost a drone. “Come to my Arboretum for real practice, any time you dare, Meghan. Any time you dare.”

I squint at it. Which, for me, is as close to a smile as I can get. But this one’s mixed with suspicion.

“I nap first,” I say.

“Good call,” Chapman says. “Give your subconscious some time to process all of this.”

I type a couple more words and then point in my crooked claw way at Wentin as I hit talk, “Stay away.”

“As you wish, My Queen.”

Fucking why?

I am not anyone’s queen.

—

I have dreams, and I know they’re not nightmares. But they kind of vaguely feel like them. And I can’t remember them at all.

I awake to the moon shining on me, and I pull out my tablet to look up what phase it is.

Waning Gibbous.

It was a full moon two days ago, actually, on Talk Like a Pirate day. On the day I was awarded my name!

Oh, huh. I did something important on a kind of astronomically cool day after all. I just didn’t notice.

Maybe if I add the moon phases to my lock screen, I can keep better track of them.

It feels like a reasonably good idea to do.

I check the time again.

It’s only 9:30.

Normally, Rhoda and I would be starting our evening tea by now, but I haven’t heard from her since she walked away yesterday. I don’t want to push, but I miss our routine, and I want to make sure she’s OK.

I should message her.

But something is making me feel extra anxious about messages on my tablet.

I’ve had a lot of them in the past couple of weeks, all set up to happen by me, of course. I set up my Discord server for dragons and my group SMS chat for my humans, and I’ve been constantly inundated and dealing with it badly. But for Chapman, Ptarmigan, and Rhoda, I’ve always been able to make an exception and check their messages and send them responses and queries.

Not tonight.

Tonight, my brain is done with that.

I’ve been here before, too. Right at the beginning of my worst flareup of disabilities, when I lost any chance at a career right out of college. Between jobs and school, it had been too much, and messages of any sort on any device became impossible.

It’s been a long, slow recovery, and I thought that becoming my true self would help with that, since it helped with my fatigue by obliterating it.

But, no.

I’ve overexerted myself again.

But I feel the need to check in with Rhoda. I feel like letting her go a third day without at least one word from me is not a great idea.

Maybe I’m starting to get superstitious, or maybe I’m feeling like I finally come from something, and things like the moon and the number three are somehow related to that origin. Not so much because they’re neo-pagan ideas, but because those things are so often baked into the kinds of stories I apparently come from.

But, it also seems like a reasonable amount of time. Not too soon to check in. Not too late.

So, I go over to the waterproofed duffel bag full of clothes that Chapman doesn’t want anymore, put one claw on it and unzip it with my mouth to get it ready. Then I gingerly reach into my purse and feel around until I sense the chain of my pendant against my index pad, and I tighten my claw and pull it out. My forefoot, or claw, or hand used to fit in that purse just fine. My four digits were not much bigger than human fingers. I’m still a fairly small dragon. Maybe the smallest adult dragon in town. But this time it was a tight fit, and I can feel the stretch of my hide as another shed is obviously due.

It’s not too hard for me to slip my left claws into the loop of chain and pull it wider so that I can snake my head down to insert my nose into it.

It’s a wide loop, long enough that when I’m in my human disguise, the pendant hangs down to the bottom of my sternum. This makes it easy to lift off when I’m done with it, too, and to hide it under most clothing.

I understand that if I unclasp it, it will leave me permanently disguised as a human. At least until I clasp it around my neck and then lift it off again, reversing the Artistry. The spell. It’s a spell. Ptarmigan and Chapman like to say it’s Art, but it’s magic and it’s an enchantment, and it’s a spell.

At least, when I’m using it it is.

But, I pause just before activating it with my nose.

Because, below that waning gibbous moon, I have a thought.

What if I can do other things I do in my dreams? What if I try one of those things now?

I’ve always been able to switch between human guise and true dracoform when needed. Though, before it was my old self, my AMAB body that I always hated more than anything. And though, since my dracomorphosis I haven’t had such a dream, it’s still a thing I consider part of my identity. My list of lucid dream superpowers, as I used to think of them.

I’ve even set aside a small bibliography of stories in which dragons could naturally shapeshift, disguising themselves as different animals, but mostly humans. It’s a thing.

One of the things that struck me about wearing the pendant and taking it off was that it felt familiar. It felt a lot like shapeshifting in my dreams.

So, maybe it’s like a muscle I just have to flex.

And maybe I’ll find out what kind of human I look like now.

Though, it’s possible and likely that none of Chapman’s clothes will fit me. But on the other hand, in my dreams clothes have never been a problem. They’re part of the transformation. Unless it’s a naked school nightmare, and this isn’t that.

And in my mouth, I want to see if I can do this. I can always use the pendant afterward to open the access hatch and climb down the ladder. To make my way through the halls to Rhoda’s door without much question if I run into staff.

I carefully lay the pendant on top of the open duffel bag and then step back and look up at the moon.

This should be easy and smooth, if I can do it.

I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and just do what I do in my dreams.

I stand up, pull my tail and wings into my back, my horns into my head, and I shift, a lightweight gown falling around me and brushing against my ankles.

And I open my eyes and look at my hands, and things don’t feel quite so wrong.

It’s not exactly right. I know this is a disguise. It’s like wrapping myself in my wings and knowing that people see a kumquat or something instead of a dragon. My full movement is restricted and I’m ready to unfold at any moment. Like my breath is held, even when it’s actually not.

But I don’t feel wrong.

As they say in fairytales, I’m sure, my dress is the color of moon and starlight. It’s pretty astounding and not at all inconspicuous.

I reach up and grab my hair and pull it forward. It appears to be the same color as I was born with. A dirty blonde. 

Eh. It’s authentic.

I wonder what my eyes are like, but I figure I’ll get a better selfie once I’m in the building and standing in the light of the hallway.

The bodice of this dress fits me absolutely perfectly, and human ranged movement is extraordinarily easy and comfortable. But, of course, the dress is part of me.

I bend over to retrieve the pendant and zip up the bag, and I feel a tug on my hair at the top of my head, like I’m wearing something metal that’s pinned into it.

Oh, no. What has my subconscious mind done to me?

I put my left hand up and place it on the spikey bejeweled tiara that seems to be sitting there and close my eyes in embarrassment.

And I sigh, and I feel my cheeks get warm with a rush of blood.

So, this disguise reacts appropriately to emotions and thoughts.

That’s probably a good thing, actually.

It’s not all that hard to lift the hatch, which Chapman has enchanted to unlock at my touch, and then to climb down into the building. I temporarily gird my dress to do it, of course, pulling it up around my pelvis and loosely tying it. I’ve maybe watched videos about how to do that too many times.

It takes a quick tug to let it loose at the bottom, though. I made sure of that. No need to have something secure enough for fighting.

And then, adjusting the way my purse hangs – it is flame orange, I think – I glide down the hallway on bare feet to the elevator to get to Rhoda’s floor.

—

I knock five times, just like how I make the noise with my syrinx in the morning, and then simply wait.

If she doesn’t answer, I’ll let Chapman know, and we’ll decide what to do about it together. Probably check in tomorrow. Or have Chapman do a basic scan, just to make sure Rhoda’s still alive and healthy. Keep her privacy as best we can while knowing she’s OK, and not harassing her.

We’ll figure it out.

Maybe she’ll just come down to the coffee shop on Monday Morning, and we’ll talk about it then.

I hear creaking on the other side of the door, and the tiny speck of light in the eyehole changes intensity for a moment.

“Meghan,” I hear through the door. Then she opens it and starts talking before I can see her, “I’m so tired, but you can come in so long as it’s not that damn disguise. I ain’t got time for that.”

“Okay,” I say. Then blink.

The door opens faster and Rhoda looks me up and down, then says, “Well that’s different!”

I try to put a whole sentence through my mouth, but I don’t have a larynx and I don’t have the brain for it, and there’s only one word I’ve learned that comes out this time, “Hello.”

It must have looked a little funny, my lips mouthing words I can’t say, and the one word coming out instead, out of sync.

I decide not to bother with that again. In fairytales, there’s almost always a tell, anyway. I am a dragon, not a human, after all.

“You still have your eyes,” Rhoda says, leaning forward to look me closely in my face. 

We can see eye to eye.

I can see she’s been crying, and probably crying hard. She’s still as put together as ever, besides that. But it looks like two days of constant crying.

She sighs through her nose and tightens her lips.

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

Hihi! So I’ve been a Dark Larry for over 8 years now. I never dove deep into any other subject because simply they own my heart.

I have tried to post about the topic I want to discuss In subreddits, but they keep denying It because I think they don’t want it to scare Larries off, but that’s not my intention at all. I just simply want it to be debunked because it’s been messing with me. I think you’re the best person to go to, considering you’re a demon larrie.

so, what I want to ask about Is Zarry. Most of their interactions seemed pretty platonic, and the matching tattoos seem pretty mundane considering Larry tattoos are „pair” but I do have a few questions I am hoping you can clear my mind of. Firstly, the exact matching black heart tattoos Harry and Zayn share. (I am aware Louis also has one, but it’s slightly different. Zayn and Harry’s are identical)

so why would Harry constantly kiss on stage (there are times It was literally kissed, not just a sneeze or cough) the tattoo he matches with Zayn. I mean, Larries use this as proof all of the time because Louis drew it or something during xfactor days? but why would Zayn have the exact one?

the biggest one for me is their lyric communication?? What…is…this… it literally has my mind boggled. I don’t want to take up your whole page, but here’s some examples.

Please don’t take this as me trying to mess anything up. But nobody else will answer and clear my mind about these…I really don’t want to stop believing. If you want to Dm me instead, please do… thank you

Hey lovely, thank you for your message and thank you for being kind.

Hmmm, that's a tough cookie, because I never had/have any doubt about how in love Harry was/is with Louis and vice versa to even think about Harry having anything more than platonic feelings for Zayn. And to me it sounds like you don't want to "stop believing" in Harry and Louis' bond, as well, even though things "mess with you".

I want to make it a point that it's ultimately always completely up to you what you believe. It's not my place to tell anyone how to feel.

To me, Harry seems like he makes deep bonds with the people he loves, which with the only exception of Louis, means non-romantic love.

I don't doubt that Harry loved Zayn very much and considered him to be family in a way, which could explain why they might have matching heart tattoos. From personal experience I know tattoos can have more than one meaning and mixed meanings with varying weight. Maybe Harry connects that heart tattoo to not just Louis, but also Zayn? Zayn and Louis also had a deep platonic bond. Maybe the answer is somewhere in between. :) With the lyrics, I personally don't think Harry's and Zayn's lyrics are connected, but everyone is free to disagree with me. :)

I base this simply on the thought that it doesn't make sense to me why Harry would write a line like "I'm forever only yours" with someone other than Louis in mind. If he even was the one to write those lines, because he co-wrote Someday with Meghan Trainor and even though there is an unreleased version of Meghan and him singing that song once, it was her song idea first and then also given to Michael Bublé, who released it in 2016.

With A Little Bit Of Your Heart, Harry "co-wrote the track with Johan Carlsson from Carolina Liar, who he worked on a few songs with throughout his career, including One Direction’s Stockholm Syndrome". (x) They wrote that song in 2014, at the latest, then it was given to Ariana Grande, who released it in August 2014. Zayn only left the band in March 2015. Again, I do not think those lines -if Harry wrote those- are about Zayn.

As with Golden, well, while I 100% think Louis is Harry's "sunshine" and "sunflower" :"> , I haven't caught up enough on Harry's last two solo records to form a specific opinion on the song itself. The lyrics I googled (to me) sound like 'being in a relationship can be scary because what if it ends? But that he's doing it anyway, because "Loving you's the antidote"'. So honestly, the song doesn't speak Zayn to me at all. I also googled to see he wrote it with Mitch, Thomas Edward Percy Hull and Tyler Sam Johnson and from personal experience I can only say that simple themes like "golden/light/bright" are used quite often. Whether Zayn's Golden might be about Harry, I have no idea, I haven't listened to any of Zayn's solo albums, yet. I wish you all the best ✌���� x

[youremyheaven]

Hey! I did wanna chime in about Bella as well (I’m certainly biased because 1. i’m kinda simple and 2. She definitely one of my favorite models out of the unearned successes of this day and age). I think she is most likely a victim of her mother’s abuse and manipulation above anything. I could also be manipulated by her but she was definitely psychologically and mentally abused by her mother and is still attached to her to this day seeking her “love”. I don’t think Bella is like an ariana grande or meghan markle; as someone else said lunar natives can be total victims of manipulation and Bella seems to be mire in that boat imo, especially when she is also a Venusian. I personally can just read it on her face she is being fully sincere; and her mother is genuinely a sick, evil person forcing her daughters to be tools to live vicariously through as models.

Yolanda is not a loving mother at all and favors Gigi because she looks more like herself, Bella has been open about her mother’s mistreatment of her and it is genuinely the root of her problems and troubles. I think that maybe you might not have known what a horrible person yolanda is but she doesn’t deserve either of her children; it’s common knowledge in the U.S. that Bella is a victim of her fucking monstrous, selfish, narcissistic mother and Gigi was simply lucky because she was her mother’s favorite. I don’t doubt that you’re correct on the fake illness but Bella Hadid is not like the others, although I could be wrong as well, but nothing about her is malignant except for her potential deception. Moon natives that are manipulative in the way you’ve described before have a personal gain and are just cold in the face from my observation. They are not that good of actors because they are so selfish and unempathetic (ariana has a babyface and an evil ass spirit and meghan markle is the devil crying about how she keeps creating her own hell) and Bella is the exact opposite. I don’t disagree that Bella needs to have more boundaries (she posts herself crying and sick and in all these painful situations) but I don’t think it’s a manipulation tactic, she is an unequivocal victim of child abuse and undoubtedly current abuse. The only manipulation she might be consciously doing js just trying to get the sympathy and care she has never gotten from a narcissistic mother—AND victims of narcissists pick up the tactics of their abusers if they never get free of those kinds if people. I don’t doubt your theory at all though, the documents are pretty damning but it’s not out of the evil of bella’s heart—she’s one of the only celebrities in the U.S. who has always been unequivocally pro-palestine as a palestinian herself and her character has been nothing but genuine save for the standard model lies about what actually is eaten and “I just had a good workout routine”, Bella has abused herself from the abuse she has suffered from those around her and if you’re still skeptical you can look it up online. It’s actually very sad and depressing.

Yolanda Hadid is a horrible woman. The vitriol should undoubtedly be directed to yolanda, just look up some vids and you’ll see 🤬. I hate that bitch as much as I hate some world leaders. She deserves the worst for what she did/does to her daughters and Gigi luckily did not suffer as much as Bella did, and Bella will keep looking so sad and sick as long as she still values her mother’s “love”. I don’t doubt she’s lying but she doesn’t deserve any hate at all really. She’s a victim not a villain. I notice a lot of moon women have toxic and manipulative mothers, actually. My best friend and my own mother have had horrible relationships with mothers than had no boundaries and wanted complete control of their children. I just wanted to send in the ask because I feel the gun should be rightly loaded and shot but it’s pointed at the wrong target. Yolanda the Mercurial is the problem here, not Lunar Bella.

I am pretty sure I mentioned in my post that I think Bella fully believes that she has whatever she has and I also mentioned in the same post that Moon dominants are easily susceptible to manipulation as they are manipulative. I also criticised Yolanda?? And I also mentioned that Bella & Yolanda probably use their shared Lyme disease as some kind of bonding activity bc it's probably the only time Bella feels like Yolanda cares about her or whatever (which is very sad) so I don't know what you're pointing out that I haven't already mentioned in my post???

I completely understand Bella being a victim of a horribly abusive mother but I also definitely think Bella also loves to be seen as sick and suffering, which given the long history of Yolanda perhaps validating and encouraging that type of behaviour, could make sense.

I have mentioned several times in many asks that I answered about it that I like Bella and just wish she could get actual help so no I don't think she's evil???

Edit: I'm rethinking things and perhaps I've been too harsh on Bella and underestimated the impact of psychological abuse 😮‍💨🥲

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I slightly disagree with the Netflix angle. I think that the cooking show came together quite quickly and they likely didn’t begin shooting until after ARO launched. I suspect Meghan used the press of that to bring into support like you mentioned to gain approval from Netflix. Now I think the polo show was likely something Netflix approved in the aftermath of their docuseries, it’s just that Harry has really wish washy about moving forward with it. I mean Harry far more than Meghan has been increasingly vocal about wanting to come back in for a half in half out. his reputation has taken a huge hit and nothing they’ve really done since the book and docuseries has come out has helped them out in a big successful way.

the news about Netflix came fast and furious with more details being leaked every day. Which tells me they’re repeating exactly what they did before the docuseries, trying to gauge interest. ultimately I think the polo series will have more BTS about their family then anything else, because that’s what Netflix want the most. And one will certainly premiere around TTC.

Maybe. Netflix and the Sussexes' PR have both said that Harry will only briefly appear in the polo doc and it won't be about him. Time will tell.

Trooping (two months away) is too soon for either one of these to premiere. The only way they can meet a Trooping premiere date is if something is already in the can and neither one of them have anything in the can.

If Meghan's cooking show was in the can or close to being done, they'd have released promo stills for the announcement. They didn't, so they don't have anything, probably just cutting floor footage from the ARO infomercial. And for Harry, the report is that Netflix cameras were at the event yesterday, so he doesn't have anything either.

Going by the Sussexes' typical PR timeline, these shows are probably being targeted for a September/October release. The Sussexes traditionally do a huge PR campaign that time of year to compete with the BRF's "back to work after summer holidays" press coverage.

(Plus that's also when Kate may be back to work so that's probably Meghan's ideal release window.)

[celticcrossanon]

I don't know... the anon and you bring a good point about Charles listening to Camilla... but I'm not so sure he would listen to Camilla when it comes to the subject of Harry. Charles seems so dug into his obsessive desire to have Harry back that it doesn't seem like Charles at this point will listen to anyone who disagrees with him in bringing Harry (and Meghan) back from California. I hope I'm wrong on this, though.

Hi Nonny,

I think King Charles would listen to Queen Camilla on this subject, in the sense that he would hear her out. Whether he would let her opinions influence him is another issue, and I don't know. As you said, he does seem to be fixated on having Harry back in the BRF, but on the other hand Queen Camilla does have a lot of influence over him. The question is whether her influence is enough to moderate his desire to have Harry back with him, assuming that she is trying to moderate it in the first place (for all we know she is cheering him on). I think that without a direct witness to their conversations, it is impossible to tell at this point. I am going to hope for the best and brace myself for the worst, which is all anyone can do, really.

[jechristine]

This is a good read! Thank you for sharing @queersdragon

Some excerpts that I liked:

[Meghan] and Harry aren’t radical figures and they don’t want to de-mainstream themselves in any way.

It’s just a shame that a podcast [Archetypes] marketed on its openness feels so hesitant. There are moments in interviews where you can feel a really great conversation starting before Meghan backs away.

These two go together, and I agree with both assessments. I think there’s a combination of Royal “nonpartisan” brainrot and of the Sussexes both being people-pleasers, at the end of the day, disinclined to rock the boat too much.

The thing is, I don’t think it’s really possible in 2023, especially in America, to discuss issues like gender and race and the environment—really anything—and not be received as partisan, even if in a healthier democracy those issues should not be particularly partisan. I think that’s just the nature of our public discourse atm. If Meghan and Harry want to have broader cultural impact through their words, they’re going to need to actually say some controversial words. The right-wingers are already a bunch of haters, so I don’t think they have much to lose.

I think Meghan is a very positive, optimistic person, and she’s pretty conciliatory, but I’ve also heard her be a bit more bold than she was on her podcast. I know she’s not going to turn into Angela Davis, but I’d love to see her exercise her activist muscles a bit more.

And then there was this conclusion:

If I were a Sussex, I would focus my efforts on behind-the-scenes deals, producing and the like, with a side-order of public speaking. Stick to your strengths and take the time to explore this new world you inhabit. Work with agents and creatives to figure out your niche. Most of us would die for these opportunities but they require a lot of labour to be at their fullest potential. Being famous doesn’t necessarily equip you to be good at being a celebrity, and I think the Sussexes still have a ways to go in figuring out who they truly are separate from the obligations and safety net of the crown.

I don’t disagree with this exactly, but I think it misses a few crucial facts. 1) No one wants to pay the Sussexes for behind-the-scenes producing when it’s them that sells. Spotify wanted H &M on the mic, and look what Netflix got them to do. 2) Yes they should take a minute to regroup and clarify their goals, but there is some urgency to getting work because they must cover the cost of their own security. They may have more time to sort out their shit than the average person trying to make ends meet, but they have a ~$2 million security bill every year that is non-negotiable.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I disagree with Sarah Vine's opinions on Harold in her latest DM piece: SARAH VINE: Happy 40th Harry. But has all the pain been for nothing? by u/Von_und_zu_

I disagree with Sarah Vine's opinions on Harold in her latest DM piece: SARAH VINE: Happy 40th Harry. But has all the pain been for nothing? Understandably, Harry is a wounded soul. [Nope. He has exceeded the Diana card limit in my opinion. He is not the only child ever to lose a parent.] But being in great pain [I think he is just a great jerk] does not confer the right to inflict the same on others – nor by doing so is your own suffering necessarily alleviated. [Harold's "suffering" is largely self inflicted. Choosing a bully for a wife. Choosing drugs as therapy. Being a self-absorbed spiteful bully himself. Etc.] Part of being a grown-up is realising this, and trying to end the cycle of unhappiness rather than perpetuate it. [Harold lives in a Never Neverland in his own mind. He never wants to grow up and take responsbility for anything.]Harry, though, has done the opposite. He has visited a terrible revenge on his father and the Queen, and turned on William and Kate for no obvious reason other than, perhaps, their decision to side with the King. [Um, hello. He is jealous of his brother and his wife. More sausages and all.]No wonder ­neither William nor Charles want to see him. In particular, Harry’s behaviour has been utterly toxic in light of the King and the Princess of Wales being treated for cancer. If he really is the kind, thoughtful soul his supporters claim, in his heart he must know this to be true. [Does he have a heart? I am uncertain.]And yet, while I despair of his methods and actions, part of me understands why he wanted to leave. [I do not think he intended to actually leave. He thought they would cave and beg him to come back on the terms he and his wife wanted because he and his wife are such hot stuff.] And though many sought to blame Meghan, I don’t believe it was ever really about her. It was about Harry and his damaged relationship with his family – and his desire to break his own generational curse. [Spare me the genetic pain. He is malevolent.] For that, I can’t help but grudgingly respect him. [R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That is not what it means to me.]It takes huge courage and determination to go against people’s expectations – and in Harry’s case, the nation’s. That he has done so is testament to his strength of character. [He has no strength or character in my opinion.] That he did it so viciously and so vindictively, though, is not.Should he be contemplating an ‘official’ return to the UK? [Shudder. No one wants him back.] I don’t think so. That would be a step backwards and mean all that pain was for nothing. [It would also mean he was wrong and he will never admit that to himself or anyone else. And what about his family's pain? ] He needs to find his own way forward. [Go to rehab Harold.] His decision not to update his autobiography, Spare, was a step in the right direction. [But was it a decision or a consequence of destroying all his materials?] But he’s got a long way to go to prove he has a new role to play without exploiting past capital. [He is still dining out on his family. He has nothing else to sell or offer.]Harry, I wish you the happiest of birthdays. May it mark the start of a new and more positive chapter in your life – and for all the royals. [Harold has his own chapter of joy?! How mindful! How demure!] Sarah - clue in! Harold is a loser! https://ift.tt/b4SZDmj post link: https://ift.tt/RktwY9f author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: September 15, 2024 at 05:13AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

❤️ Christine Daaé

Honestly I would have added more but I had to stop at some point lmao

Rebecca Caine: She has a voice that can actually rival Carlotta's, and her Christine was every inch the romanesque, passionate heroine and you could totally see why the Phantom and Raoul were both in love with her. And she is PISSED in the Final Lair, and it's glorious.

Patti Cohenour: AN ACTUAL ANGEL. Graceful, kind, compassionate, airy, without ever coming off as a deer in the headlights, and with a golden voice to boot and a Think of Me cadenza of her own.

Julie Hanson: Look, I don't like Susan Kay's take on Christine for a variety of reasons. Julie Hanson took one look, removed everything about Kay!Christine that was annoying, gave her a nice little spine of her own while keeping the childlike quality which all culminates in a haunting finale where you can tell she'll be traumatized for life, and it takes the tragedy to another level.

Rachel Barrell: She felt very Victorian to me? Could be the looks since she has a very "Victorian" face, if that makes any sense. And if anything, I know people will disagree with me but I remember my first impression of Christine reading the Leroux novel was pretty much like how she portrayed her in the musical - yeah, Leroux!Christine was scared shitless, both at the situation and what she could end up doing or being forced to do, but she also had a backbone of steel, she had anger about the whole situation and wasn't afraid to show it, and she didn't take any shit from anyone. Rachel embodied that perfectly.

Kristi Holden: A dreamy but nervous Christine, who's still able to overcome her fear of the Phantom to give him the scrap of love he needed so badly in order for the good to overcome the bad, and who was somehow even better in the World Tour than in Las Vegas (and she was already quite good there).

Anna O'Byrne: Her voice can be a little all over the place, but she basically took the tormented side of Christine and upped it to eleven. And she's absolutely gorgeous to boot.

Samantha Hill: Not the strongest vocal-wise, but she basically thought every single gesture up to the last without ever over-acting, all the while being an adorable little ball of charm.

Elizabeth Welch: If I had to sum up her Christine, all the odds are against her, and she decides to be even kinder as a result. I wouldn't say her Christine is in love with the Phantom (granted, I haven't seen her with Jeremy Stolle yet and Hugh Panaro doesn't really lend to a more romantic take on the story), but it makes her kindness for Panaro's little asshole of a Phantom (affectionate) all the more poignant.

Valerie Link: Her Christine is an adorable puppy person who likes everyone and can be genuinely shocked and hurt when people are, say, mean to her (which makes Nicky Wuchinger pushing around people who are rude to her all the more satisfying, because, really, HOW DARE YOU)

Lauri Brons: Imagine if Anne Shirley was in Phantom of the Opera. That's it, that's Lauri Brons's Christine.

Lisa-Anne Wood: Another nervous Christine, who gets frightened pretty easily, is the shy side, but push her around, and she will let you know how much she DOES NOT LIKE IT, which gives for a nice little character arc.

Mary Michael Patterson: Subdued but with lovely facial expressions, she plays a Christine that seems humble, calm and shy at first but who has a backbone of steel if you poke her too much.

Tamara Kotova: Gorgeous voice, lovely facial expressions - she's basically the Russian Rebecca Caine in some regards, because you could totally see why the Phantom and Raoul would be as besotted as they are with her.

Emmi Christensson: She improved SO MUCH from the West End to Stockholm, intelligent and mature but with a nice arc of her own.

Meghan Picerno: I personally liked her better on Broadway than in the World Tour, where I was kind of meh about her, but her take-no-shit Christine worked pretty well with Ben Crawford's crazy ball Phantom (who I'll admit can be a bit of an acquired taste) and John Riddle's serious but loving Raoul. Plus, opera voice!

Sybille Glosted: I made no secret of how great the Copenhagen revival cast was, and she was no exception. Beautiful voice, detailed, thought-out performance that just tells a narrative with gestures, responded to her fellow actors instead of just going through the motions.

Holly-Anne Hull: So many interesting details I've never seen with Christine before, plus, she's adorable.

Kanisha Marie Feliciano: Beautiful, beautiful voice, and such lovely facial expressions that give her a bit of a cinematic quality - I could easily see her transfer well from stage to screen.

Send me ❤️ and a role in a musical and I’ll give you my favorite performers in the role.

[tsuki-sennin]

Episode 40 of HiroPre! A play wedding, how precious~! Now don't worry, despite initial worries about Toei making it weird, this is all above board and wholesome. Very wild of them to make this the episode there's a delay for though, but I guess life's just funny like that.

Spoilers, I guess...

-I see Sora likes BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs.

-Sagely studies~!

-Oh ye gods, weddings.

-Ohhhh, worldbuilding!

-An all night party following an announcement of engagement. Don't even need to dress up.

-Quite a fun time, actually, I wish weddings in our world were that easy. And it might just be you two up there next, Mashiron~!

-...I have to wonder how polygamy works up there.

-Y'know, now I've got much more PreCure knowledge accrued, I've noticed that the casts have gotten smaller over the years.

-It's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you! It certainly makes sense, as the teams get bigger you'll have less time to devote to big supporting casts, but this has a side effect of us feeling isolated to our heroes.

-We still have plenty of weirdos to go around in Hirogaru Sky, but having more of them stick around more often would be fun. How's Berryberie doing?

-Just sayin', we would've really benefited from a Masukomi, Kaoru, or even a Yuriko.

-Ah, the cake. All the motivation you need.

-Kinda like Booster in Mario RPG.

-Royal wedding, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

-I'm sorry Elle, I don't care how much cake we eat or how shiny your cardboard crown is, nothing can make me give a crap about a royal wedding. In my junior year of high school, people were really going wild for Harry and Meghan, and I had no idea who these people were so I just kinda had to sit there in the corner.

-I see Ageha disagrees.

-Tsubasa-kun, your bowtie is somehow a brighter red than your jacket's orange.

Ageha: You're doing great, boy~! Just think of the doves flying out~! Tsubasa: No talking during the ceremony!

-Best of friends!

-Ageeeeee~!

-That was nice, wasn't it?

-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand there's the rub~!

-I have to hand it to Murase, Tsubasa sounds genuinely terrified here.

-I don't think Yoyo can officiate anything, so

-You should marry Mashiro twice over, Sora.

-I suppose it's not too surprising Elle could develop a crush on Tsubasa, considering he's like... the only boy she knows. Still though, I get why some people were put off by this.

-Frankly, I'm really surprised Toei haven't been doing a Dipper and Wendy ship tease thing with Tsubasa and Ageha. Thank god they haven't, by the way, that was always the worst part of Gravity Falls.

-I guess Toei knew that would be a little much, especially with the (quite understandable mind you) backlash Nozomi and Coco's relationship gets nowadays.

-Nightmare time.

-King Bitchin' Mustache can add Shotgun Papa to his list of titles.

-Even his own parents!

-He has been left comatose.

-That looks like quite a heavy book, I'm impressed she can carry it.

-"Nooooooooooooo?"

-It's always the simplest sentences coming from a kid that kill you, huh?

-Ladies and gentlemen, the bird boy is dead!

-Ageha appears.

-In the pursuit of great knowledge, one has neglected their friendship. A tale as tragic and old as time.

-That uh

-Might've been a good thing to let him in on earlier, Ageha.

-Skearhead appears.

-A wedding beast.

-Majesty leads our charge today.

-Skearhead's not even talking today!

-Oh, nevermind.

-Aaaaand she's caught!

-That Wing, ever gallant a knight and pal.

-Oh cool, team attack. Paralleling the cake cutting.

-Knighthood is much more fun than marriage.

-Friends and family forever!

-I'm... perplexed! I was expecting 24 minutes of mid cringe comedy, and got a fun and sweet exploration of these two characters' friendship instead on top of well executed cringe comedy. What a ripoff.

-I guess if I had to bitch about anything, I think having them talk as Wing and Majesty more would've been a fun way to tie the battle into their conflict.

-Speaking of which, the battle was pretty dang weak, they... absolutely could've done more with that. And why pick a church bell, Skearhead? Like, diegetically. In-universe. Watsonian argument. I usually don't mind this kinda thing, but like... a bell and a holly wreath are very specific imagery to just conjure up out of nowhere, but I think it'd make a lot more sense if Skearhead weren't just... seemingly slapped into the script because they needed a monster fight that episode.

-Like, Skearhead happens to see Elle and Tsubasa's play wedding and considers playing mind games by preying on Tsubasa's worries about the whole thing, or hell, even just wreaking havoc at someone else's wedding to draw out Pretty Cure would've been good enough for me.

-Anyways, forget all that, we're celebrating a harvest next time!

-Hi, this is Mashipan. I'm out looking at the fall colors. Please leave me a message, and I'll call you right back.

-Monda jumpscare.

-Business as usual, we see!

-See you next tiiiime, maybe!