#does he succeed?

[s-tardis]

In light of the above photo, I would like to submit the following to the fandom:

If we get Crowley dressing up as an angel… that means that somewhere out there is Aziraphale dressing up as a demon. I believe it will be the most unhinged outfit to ever exist and I am DYING to see it.

[aethersea]

I do think Blazing Saddles handled its one depiction of native americans very poorly, and the full extent of its representation of chinese workers on the railroad is they were literally just there. not even one single speaking line. unclear if this is worse or better than the redface.

it's fucking phenomenal at lampooning antiblack racism though. extremely blatant, extremely funny satire, which is constantly and loudly saying "racism is the philosophy of the terminally stupid at best and morally depraved at worst, and we should all be pointing and laughing at them 24/7"

plus the main character is a heroic black man who has to navigate a whole lot of bullshit but is constantly smirking at the extraordinarily stupid racists and inviting the audience into the joke. the one heroic white character is a guy who was suicidally depressed until he met the protagonist and they just instantly became buds, and he's firmly in a supporting role the whole time and happy to be there. the protagonist saves the day with the help of his black friends from the railroad, and uses the position of power he was given to uplift not only those friends, but all the railroad workers of other minorities too, in an explicit show of solidarity.

anyone saying "Blazing Saddles is racist" had better be talking about its treatment of non-black minorities. it had better not be such superficial takes as "oh but they say the n-word all the time" or "they have nazis and the kkk in there!" because goddamn if that's the full extent of your critique I very seriously suggest you read up on media analysis. there is too much going over your head, you need to learn to recognize satire.

[ravenpureforever]

On one hand, Young Justice is kind of neglected by the actual superheroes that should be looking out for them in a lot of crucial ways and very much failed by the adults around them

But on the other hand Red Tornado straight up hosts a parent-teacher conference where their respective legal guardians all show up, barring Batman who’s in traffic so Nightwing fills in instead because Robin’s dad does not know he’s a vigilante which is objectively hilarious

[larissa-the-scribe]

I'll try to avoid Dracula-posting too much over here, but I would like to point out that, while Jonathan Harker is often teased for obliviously wandering into the jaws of death, he understood that the Vibes were Off enough to preemptively wish Mina goodbye on day 2. And this is before, well, tomorrow.

Like, he has zero context for supernatural stuff being a thing, of course he wouldn't give up a business trip over what he currently considers to be superstition. He also doesn't know yet that the superstition is about his client being Definitely Not a Vampire. But he is worried, and I would argue that this all sets him up to survive Castle Dracula--because he's going into it already feeling that, generally, things are Weird, so he's quicker to pick up on and observe odd things.

[thepenguisalive7]

When I don’t remember you

[wyvernsrus]

I really wanted to do a baby Cody for Cody Day and who better to show their nephew how to bite than the Alpha disaster twins! Stec might not have been prepared to almost lose two fingers today.

[lithiumseven]

I think my favorite part of the second Night at the Museum is when Octavius sees that Jed and the others need help and decides the best course of action is to go get Obama

[willyhoos]

the mikes.. the michaels, even...

[banefort]

larys torturing aegon 'for his own good' in a sadistic phantom thread-like way to exercise complete dominance over his health and recovery, but also as a means to perversely unpick his stitches and remake him in his own image. much to think about

[thisisnotthenerd]

thinking about riz gukgak and how he feels so alone and yet how his words, his works, are the first thought for his friends when they don’t know what to do

thinking about how love is work, how love is the act of giving and giving and giving until you have nothing left and yet he cannot ever prioritize himself

thinking about how he takes every nickname, every gift, every moment of care with an eagerness that far outstrips the gift in its giving

thinking about how his every stress comes from a moment of devotion and care for his friends, from unraveling the mysteries that permeate their lives

thinking about how he could call them to action with a single warning because they trust in him so much

thinking about how he justifies what he gives to his friends even as his mother asks him to consider himself for once

thinking about riz ‘the ball’ gukgak

[vestaldestroyer]

okay, Gerhard is utterly and hopelessly in love with Dali. got it.

[tcfactory]

Silly idea of the day: Shen Qingqiu grills the System for answers about how to avoid the whole Abyss scenario and save his little cabbage favorite disciple until the System very reluctantly offers up the option to transfer the protagonist halo - and all the trials that come with it - to someone else if he pays literally all his points. It's a risky endeavor, but he doesn't see any other way to save Binghe from his suffering/blackening, so he decides to take the risk. After some deliberation he decides to transfer the protagonist halo to Mobei-jun. Based on his memories of PIDW, Mobei-jun isn't the type to be interested in world domination and Shen Qingqiu figures if any kind of wild plot is going to happen to the ice demon, it will be limited to the demon world + maybe Huan Hua Palace and that's it.

The System checks in with Shang Qinghua about what kind of story he would have written for Mobei-jun if he had the choice (SQH is vary of the System and answers 'found family and slowburn romance, maybe with a touch of a coming of age plot' because there's no way the System can make something horrible from that, right?) and accepts Mobei-jun as an alternative.

The protagonist halo is transferred with the click of a button; Luo Binghe loses that special spark that designated him for greatness, but at the same time, he is free of the weight of his fate as well. He's destined to live a life as ordinary as a half-demon cultivator's ever gets.

However, Shen Qingqiu is not required for the new story and keeping a 'troublesome' transmigrator around is too risky for the System, so it decides to swap Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu back. There is a high chance of Shen Jiu dying of qi deviation when he's shoved unceremoniously back into his body (his soul has been fragmented and damaged when the System replaced him with Shen Yuan) which would be the best outcome, as far as the System is concerned, because it would be a natural-looking death that nobody would bother to investigate. It's pure luck that Liu Qingge is lurking around, looking for a chance to thank Shen Qingqiu for saving his life in the caves, and can step in and stabilize Shen Jiu.

At the same time Mobei-jun, in the first hour of being the new protagonist, stumbles into a patch of very specific magic weeds and passes out.

Shen Jiu now knows of the System and has some vague awareness of the person who, as far as he can tell from the incoherent hints the System gave him, was kidnapped against their will and showed into his body and fate for the sake of raising some prophecised emperor of the three realms to power, a plan that was foiled by Shen Jiu's return. He doesn't know why this person acted so strange while in Shen Qingqiu's role (coddling those brats, especially that brat?! What was the stranger thinking??), but the System's remarks make something clear: the stranger knows something about the prophecy and did his best to avoid it, much to the System's displeasure.

So clearly the best course of action is to get them back and question them, somehow. But first Shen Qingqiu is going to Yue Qingyuan and shakes him until he confesses why he left Shen Jiu behind, because if he has to deal with a demon (?) or being that can erase him from existence at a whim, then he wants to know the reason. He's facing almost certain death here, it's the least he's owed!!

While Shen Qingqiu is grilling his soon-to-be-beloved-again brother and trying to come up with a way to keep being a decent teacher despite himself, just in case, on Qian Cao a young, amnesiac rogue cultivator wakes up. He was found in the borderlands, almost ripped to shreds by a herd of man-eating boars. He doesn't remember his name or his past or even his cultivation, but Mu Qingfang estimates him to be in his twenties. He has a very well-developed fire root and a sunny complexion, but he is haunted by dreams of ice, so they decide to call him Beilun (悖论 - paradox) for the time being. When Beilun recovers he asks to stay in the sect so he can learn proper cultivation again and after some rigorous testing - a balanced nature between physical and spiritual cultivation, not much of a head for arts, but excellent instincts for politics, trade and strategy - Yue Qingyuan snatches him up as a personal, soon-to-be head disciple (also maybe brand new adopted little brother, because Yue Qi can't help himself). Shen Qingqiu is initially unhappy about having to share Yue Qingyuan's brotherly affection with someone new, but soon warms up to Beilun himself when he realizes how ruthless the young man can be. Second big brother acquired!

Time passes. Shang Qinghua privately mourns for Mobei-jun when word gets back to Cang Qiong that the Northern prince has been missing so long that they wrote him off. His mourning is tinted by guilt, because he keeps getting distracted by the handsome new Qiong Ding head disciple. Yue Beilun is tall and suntanned and scarred, even years later still not fully recovered from whatever befall him on the edge of the demon realm, but every time he smiles at Shang Qinghua it feels like the world comes to a standstill.

So for one there's the glacially slow falling in love between Shang Qinghua and definitely-not-Mobei-jun. There's the forming adopted family with the two disasters in charge + still-absolutely-not-Mobei-jun. There are Shen Qingqiu's persistent attempts at being a good teacher and a better martial brother (with inconsistent degrees of success, but Liu Qingge is discovering a lot of new things about himself as the primary audience of Shen Qingqiu's self-improvement). There's the long search for ways to get Shen Yuan back from the System, which leads to a whole, wacky side-adventure when they learn the truth about Tianlang-jun and set him free while they are there to get the mushrooms.

Of course this New Plot can't happen without some drama. Beilun is accompanying the masters to the Immortal Alliance conference when the Endless Abyss opens up. Luo Binghe almost succumbs to a sever qi deviation when his seal breaks and Beilun rushes in to fight off the monsters attacking the disciples and falls into the Abyss - which is just the thing needed to break the curse on him...

So Cang Qiong is in mourning over the loss of Yue Beilun who many of them assumed will be the next sect leader based on Yue Qingyuan's strong attachment. Luo Binghe is confined to Qian Cao, half under treatment and half under house arrest on account of being half-demon until they can figure out what to do with him. At least the System has relinquished Shen Yuan, now that the mushroom body is grown enough, and after learning how young he is, he becomes the new replacement little brother of the sect leader and the (ex) scum villain, which is weird and confusing, but not in a bad way.

Meanwhile in the demon realm Mobei-jun makes his return (as far as people know he was training all these years in the Endless Abyss and he is monstrously stronger for it), takes over as Northern King and starts solidifying his power base with Tianlang-jun's help (rumors have it that he was the one who broke the Junshang out of his prison, a feat everyone thought impossible). After all, only a fool goes courting when their court is in disarray and now that he remembers all the things Qinghua has done for him, he has eyes for nobody else.

All the while the Old Palace Master watches the shifts in the demon realm and plots a new war against the demons. With such a cold and ruthless rising Northern King looming on the horizon, not to mention the vengeful Tianlang-jun, it shouldn't be difficult to whip the cultivators up into preparing for conflict...

[sforzesco]

CAESAR AUGUSTUS AND MARCUS LICINIUS CRASSUS

this is about the spolia opima that crassus was robbed of lmao. like, yeah okay octavian could've asked him not to claim it, but nevertheless. a kind of theft happened there.

Fact and Fiction: Crassus, Augustus, and the Spolia Opima, Catherine McPherson

[blueskyscribe]

MORE DREADWING TALK!

Dreadwing isn't a character I particularly resonate with for his own sake (like his personality doesn't do it for me), but he was so great for what he revealed about other characters.

So, Dreadwing is a foil to Starscream. Starscream is sneaky; Dreadwing is forthright. Starscream will do anything to survive; Dreadwing is all about honor. Starscream will sacrifice any other person / relationship to get ahead; Dreadwing puts his life on the line to try to avenge his brother.

And finally, Starscream is good at his job, Dreadwing isn't.

This is one of the most interesting things about Dreadwing. He's buff, he's serious, he's honorable, but once you start looking at his track record . . . hoo boy.

Mission to get rid of Airachnid: Dreadwing loses control of Breakdown, allowing him to be goaded and lured away by Airachnid, who kills him and traipses away.

Antarctic mission: Dreadwing returns emptyhanded while a rogue Starscream escapes with the Apex Armor.

Omega Key mission: Dreadwing gets knocked out by his own bomb; Starscream clocks Smokescreen from behind and steals the Omega Key.

So let's fast forward to the episode "Regeneration". Dreadwing has just learned that Starscream turned DW's twin into a zombie with dark energon. Megatron tells Dreadwing to get along with Starscream because the 'Cons can only succeed if they're united.

Dreadwing is like "okay" and immediately goes to the med bay to kill Starscream. While Starscream is cowering and pleading, Megatron storms in and orders Dreadwing to stand down. Dreadwing refuses but right before he can kill Starscream, Megatron shoots a hole straight through him.

So, Megatron would have preferred to keep both Starscream and Dreadwing on his team . . . and IMO he did initially prefer Dreadwing's vibe to Starscream's. After all, why wouldn't an ex-gladiator prefer the hulking warrior who has the strength and confidence to directly confront his foes, over the lanky, conniving guy who has to plot in the shadows and backstab to accomplish his goals?

But when he only had a second to decide between the two, Megatron shot the big buff guy who kept failing missions and was actively disobeying him, and saved the skinny sneaky guy who--even hobbled by the loss of his t-cog--had succeeded in obtaining four important relics and who could (somewhat) be controlled.

Dreadwing might have been a better person than Starscream, but Starscream was a better Decepticon. And making Megatron realize that was the most significant thing Dreadwing ever did on the show.

[incorrect-tit-tour-predictions]

phil loses his voice and so dan dubs him for two entire shows

ok this would actually be so funny though because I'm just imagining it like one of those trends where Phil is trying to act out what he wants to say but Dan is going ham with it and saying the most insulting/endearing things known to man

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.