#esp when you get a bad/good twin storyline

[lautakwah]

NSDHSDN i thought i was just too awkward to be answered but hiii this game is so neat. i wont lie i almost quit on the ice prison planet bc the way the narrative + camera treated the little girl in the red jacket was so. gross? and it feels like no one mentions it... but i cannot wait to meet miss sparkle if shes one of the characters that gets introduced. given everything i see people talking about irt the xianzhou characters though it feels like theres a lot i havent seen yet? is this lore in the books i was too tired to read yet or is there a lot more to do in there that i havent got to... i just beat the end boss for this storyline so i thought that was it (SORRY FOR COMIN TO UR INBOX WITH THIS OF ALL THINGS... i only know one other person who plays so i got excited. hope u have a gr8 day)

fkghkjgf nooo im just busy w work most days and also do sm fucking overtime it's insane tbh dfjghg anyway yes. Yeah. hsr is SO good but bad but also good etc but most of all i just think it's fun which is what matters dghkjfdg

sparkle isnt from the xianzhou luofu actually! she's a penacony character (new planet that just was introduced hehe) but i DO love the xianzhou characters most so far... high cloud quintet my beloved <333 (esp dan heng and jing yuan <3) AND. OF COURSE. MY GREAT LOVE. MY TWIN FLAME. YUKONG. furry bait milf with a homoerotic backstory whats not to love <3

ALSO yeah clara is so... i love her shes my little baby girl and i will kill ppl who look at her wrong but her ult animation is so :grimace: like. whymst. i liked the belobog arc overall but u WILL get so so so angry when u meet topaz lol just a warning before u get to her (it'll happen after the cocolia arc, which i assume you just beat & so far is maybe at the halfway point??). however. bronya and seele being baby lesbians are so important to me i just kinda forgot abt the rest jkfdhjkfghkjfg

anyway uhm. there's SO MUCH you havent explored yet i prommy and it's gonna be so good (i hope jdfghf) but uhm yea feel free to talk to me abt hsr anytime i need to talk abt it more but nobody i know plays it as obsessively as i do (day 1 player + logs in everyday to do dailies and grind relics etc KJDFHKJFD)

[transmutationisms]

no yeah i see where you're coming from, and i do specifically have thoughts about this in relation to how david lynch talks to/about madchen amick, esp in conjunction with the storyline where gordon and shelly kiss. i think the link here between these two angles is the way sexual violence in twin peaks is often metonymously used to stand for broader processes of cultural decline and familial breakdown: laura, diane, the teenage girls at one-eyed jack's. so there's this persistent sense that, like, the brutalisation of a woman's body by rape is symbolic of these larger processes of violence, which isn't inherently a bad narrative use of rape imo, but paired with how the camera does and doesn't frame violence and women's bodies, i would agree with you that it doesn't always land as any kind of critique. there's also an obvious contrast here to how josie was written in seasons 1 and 2, and then naido being found naked in the woods and ultimately turning out to be a white woman in disguise.

i think too that this ties into how characters' debasement throughout twin peaks is sometimes at the hands of others (laura, diane, ronette, audrey) and other times located more as something they've brought upon themselves in some way (leo, richard, chantal/hutch, and a lot of the characters who use drugs, which is a line of commentary i strenuously dislike). it's not that lynch is incapable of seeing men as victims of violence, but when i think about characters who are really portrayed as being at the mercy of others and subjected to violence, it tends to be women. in a way this is really summed up by the sequence in 'got a light' with the frog/locust hatching from the atomic bomb's explosion site and crawling into the mouth of the girl who found what she thought was a lucky penny: so, a reversal of fate, with good signifiers (the penny, the lincoln-impersonator woodsman) corrupted by the originary act of violence, all of this conveyed again via a girl's body/death.

anyway idk where i'm going with this really, i just think this series is ultimately frustrating to me bc there are elements that form the beginning of saying something interesting about rape and violence toward women's bodies as both symbolic of and resulting from these much larger processes of violence and exploitation. but then there are also elements like denise still being written transmisogynistically in 2017 (and gordon clearly being protective over her but also seeing her that way specifically because she's written as kind of reductively sexual!), or like, the way the entire show persistently still falls back on the family as this sort of originally pure and loving relationship that gets corrupted (by bob, by drugs, by snipers eating cheetos, &c). but anyway yeah i don't disagree with your main point about lynch's invocation of and relationship to beauty lol

ok sorry to twin peaks post but i do think the return is fundamentally motivated by an exploration of the 'loss' of an ideal american innocence lol. which was always implied in how bob was used in the first season-and-a-half but is expanded in the return in a way that's deeply dependent on belief in some moral pre-history of literally an imperialist nation. again, a tension inherent to a small-town cop drama-soap opera set in the pnw, but like, literally invoking truman bombing hiroshima and nagasaki was certainly a choice that was made. and i don't think lynch necessarily thinks the earlier innocent condition is one that america can ever go back to (except for norma maybe) but it is still the thing being counterposed to modern forces of familial breakdown, interpersonal violence, &c &c

[babymyleopard]

I just love when the actor play their own double! twins, mirror universe, time travel, you name it

[zeravmain]

Do you have a favourite YGO archetype in terms of design and or gameplay?

if we're talking design as in card art i could go over so many examples like aromages solfachord darklord dinorphia ghostrick rikka weather-painter subterror exorsister zoodiac zefra evil-twin nekroz and even some single one off archetypeless cards like apollousa underworld-goddess ip:masquerina some choice spirit monsters etc so many cards have very good designs to them due to the fact that them being static trading cards lets artists go off and i love the recent trend that we're actually getting the concept art for a good chunk of these monsters with the more recent archetypes like the albaz storyline and other set releases

theres genuinely so much thought put into the design philosophy and artwork of these cards and i really wish more people would take note but then again it is kinda hard too bc its only recently that konami is actually releasing the concept art for these esp when they aren't like anime famous cards

in terms of gameplay im waaay into pend magicians bc they're just so fun pendulum unironically revitalized the game back when they dropped in 2014 and ever since links released we got the Really Bad 1 turn combo spam into unbreakable board decks that most people associate with ygo today. that said much of casual play for it unironically is Not That, those types of combo spam vids you'll see are from pro players who get lucky hands (ygo is heavily balanced around drawing cards and having hand advantage, makes you wonder why they banned pot of greed when no one knows what it does) and more often than not cards that make decks too consistent (where a deck can create a board state you want no matter what hand you draw) with their plays are heavily nerfed with banlists and rulings (the reason zoodiacs were banned was bc their gimmick of xyz summoning into eachother made the deck too consistent so they banned the key cards that let it happen). that said i also heavily enjoy gimmick decks more than consistent decks, aromage-rikka is a favorite hombrew of mine bc plant support is kind of busted, i also like subterror bc theyre like the only good flip monster deck. i hate stall decks but more specifically stuff like exodia decks bc the match is just "opponent activates 20 cards to try and draw exodia and then nothing happens" and like its not fun for anyone, control decks are better bc they are slower paced dueling like stall but theres actual player interaction and not just "ill activate as many stall cards as possible". overall if theres anyone who'd actually be interested in playing ygo and properly learning the rulings and stuff i would recommend master duel since its a recent release entirely f2p and teaches you very easily all the rules and slowly gears you into playing the game

[beelspillowpet]

I saw ur obey me rants and loved them all. I esp love how u said it all with ur whole chest. My thing w Lilith is that she bothered MC about helping her crazy ass brothers when WHO’S GONNA HELP MC? “They need you!” What they need is a family therapist and a foot up they ass. Tf I’m gon do for ur heavily traumatized brothers? And why did EYE have to get traumatized in the process of helping they needy asses? During lesson 16 I just wanted MC to look at the brothers like “fuck off” when they started doting on them when they found out. Especially to belphie. (Sidenote: I saw somebody say that if u hate belphie ur a hypocrite bc all the brothers tried to kill you. Some ppl truly have brain rot from hell. And I actually like the little asshole, but not in an “uwu love u” way but in a “fuck u u little brat ❤️ ur brother is the only good thing about u. ur lucky I have horrible taste” way ). Happy birthday!!!

I honestly, believe it or not, never thought of that too much either. "What about MC?"

Who is going to help us through suddenly being ripped from our lives? No matter how good or bad it is, no matter how good it may become to just stay here where we may be pampered and spoiled by some or all of the guys, we were still kidnapped. There's also the factor of manipulation which they ALL HAVE by thrusting THEIR PROBLEMS unto you the player, and then praising you when you solve them, as basic of communication problems seems to be the root of all agony in that god damned house. That and functioning listening skills from.. ALL OF THEM.

While Belphie was and always will be the hottest topic from the game as far as controversy has it, his section was the best and worst of the "game" so far. And I and many others have poked holes in it so often that it may as well be broken in pieces on the ground.

I've grown to love Belphie, through my main story of the twins. And this is saying a LOT considering Belphie in Jinx and Jin's storyline is arguably the worst development of a character, morally, I have ever created. He makes Jinx relive her trauma- the root of why she was brought there in the first place- and undoes almost a years worth of progress, as well as all the incredible progress made in the mental hospital she had been sent to in the story.

He loves Jinx eventually. He adores her and calls her the best thing to happen to his family. They talk about the stars together, they talk about tattoos and piercings, she even goes with him to get his own and holds his hand through the process. She talks about her scars and how she'll never heal from the pain, but she's learned to be proud that she made it, and it inspires Belphie to think the same. She's taught him to be at peace, to meditate, to let go for a little bit. I've learned to love Belphie through my writing of his character and how to properly "redeem a murderer".

But to simply say "well they all did it" isn't true. Verbal threat and physical harm are two different things. Both are very damaging, absolutely. I can't speak for everyone in their experiences in life, nor do I aim to say that everyone should agree with me when I say that verbal threat isn't worse than physical harm, but in my very personal opinion, and from how I was raised, verbal threats can be taken serious, but not a call to action.

If Asmo threatened to eat my heart, I'd welcome him to try as I firmly plant my foot past the rings of his ass. I wish a mutherfucker would. I'm not all that physically capable, but canon be damned, I'll fuck a mfer up. It feels like people who make this excuse are grasping at straws to justify the lil shit. Just say he's a piece of shit and go bang him. I'D still bang him anyway-

(Thank you btw hun!!! <3)

[ladyvialana]

a few thoughts on FFXIV...

So, this game has basically taken over what spare time I have in my life and I have very few regrets (most of those regrets are early-game decisions that I can still work on, so in general no regrets). I was surprised to find myself enjoying the game as much as I did since I tend to prefer single player RPGs to MMORPGs, but it is Final Fantasy, so ...

Anyway, since this game has basically been living in my head for months now and I’m finally caught up to the main storyline (just waiting on the latest patch to download), I figured I would jot down a few fun thoughts and headcanons that I may or may not play with later in fic format.

General stuff:

- playing as a Xaela Au Ra is so much fun

- Dragoon kicks ass, as does Gunbreaker (my 2 mains)

- I am very much a melee/non-magical player but it has never been so evident as it has in this game and, as much as I want to try all of the roles, I fear I will suck so hard at Black Mage and any type of Healer (I will try them all, I’m just going to have to get used to positioning and spell speed restrictions)

- I really like the gathering and crafting side quests and jobs

- part of me still wants to get a house, but I already have an apartment and it’s fine? like I don’t think I need any more space, also it’s cheaper and much less hassle and I hardly spend any time there anyway, so whatever - unless houses allow you more inventory storage space, in which case I need a shitton more gil

- like all of the npcs are great? and there are some really fun character moments/storylines/developments with the scions that I really enjoy

- the way the lore/backstory with the ascians has unfolded is fantastic, they’re much more compelling as antagonists now than upon their initial introduction, like the stakes make sense as do their motives, and they’re sympathetic but you still can’t root for them even though you actually kind of agree with them, I genuinely did not expect to want to know more about them since they just seemed like such generic ‘dark/bad/destruction/chaos’ villains, but they’re great and I want to see how things turn out

Headcanons/NPC stuff:

- G’raha Tia is absolutely worth all the hype and I love him, why is there no romance option in this game???

- the older scions are such dorks and I love them so much (like, that scene where they get their new clothes and weapons back is amazing, they look like kids playing dress-up ... and when Urianger is trying to walk on water and Thancred has to jump in after him, more of those scenes please, I love them)

- the twins are babies and should always be protected (jk, they will totally kick your ass, but they’re still super precious and I would die for them) and I love how they tease each other but they’re super protective of each other, adorable

- Thancred/Urianger is absolutely a thing!!! mostly bc of shadowbringers banter, but it’s there and it’s fantastic and I was not expecting this ship to hit me like this

- Alphinaud gets crushes on nearly everyone he meets, like not super serious or anything, but he’ll just follow them around with heart-eyes and posturing like he’s trying to impress them and it’s absolutely darling and hilarious (he totally had crushes on Estinien and Ysale during Heavensward and kinda had one on WoL during ARR but that faded away into super friendship ... he’s absolutely still got a crush on Estinien though and everyone notices and teases him)

- Alisaie likes to pretend she’s above all of that sort of nonsense but she’s just way better at hiding it than her brother, and she probably is better at rationalising her crushes but she definitely has them (WoL and Lyse, especially) and maybe hers are a little more serious/she gets crushes on close friends that build up over time ... the last one was Tesleen though, so no one really teases her about that like they do Alphinaud and his crushes (also because she doesn’t act way over the top like he does when he’s trying to impress someone)

- I would not trust Y’shtola with small children, they need at least a basic ability to take care of themselves before she should be put in charge of them for any reason, like she shouldn’t even be left in charge of herself if there’s work to be done/mysteries to investigate (Runar was always feeding her for a reason, not just because his feelings for her were adorable)

- I absolutely would trust Urianger with small children, as would everyone else, I would also trust Thancred, though other people would be wary of his reputation (but they’re both such softies for children, total dads, I love them)

- Of the older scions, Thancred is the only one actually any good at cleaning regularly, mostly because he just doesn’t own any stuff and he gets super paranoid about germs and dust whenever Ryne so much as sneezes, so he goes on a cleaning binge (she’s fine, he’s just an overprotective dad), Urianger and Y’shtola get partway through then find a book they’ve been looking for and just stop in the middle of cleaning to read it (that’s if Y’shtola even does her own cleaning, she just enchants brooms to go her work but they’re just not detail-oriented enough to satisfy Thancred’s standards of cleanliness)

- (possibly controversial, I don’t know the fandom well enough) Ryne > Minfillia, also Ryne deserves the world and all of the friends ever and there needs to be a way that she can keep in regular contact with the scions (esp Thancred who cries the next time he sees her in person and doesn’t bother hiding it)

- Tataru Taru=secret ruler of the world??? (Maybe Lalafell just give off that vibe)

- I am still heartbroken about Hauchefaunt and likely forever will be

- The Xaela clans and the Steppe are the best, I will not be accepting any criticism of this opinion (aside from the fact that Au Ra women should have more bodily variety than ‘petite’ :/)

- I was not expecting Gauis to return and definitely not expecting him to return like that (or look like that, like damn, get it Estinien)

Stuff I may write fic about:

- than/uri fluff???

- scions just hanging out

- twins being adorable terrors and dragging poor naive g’raha along and long-suffering WoL having to bail them out

- these are basically (mostly) canon anyway? I just need more

TL:DR

FFXIV is fun and I like the story and the characters and even the villains (who are not as one-dimensional as they seem) and it’s basically like a single player RPG in MMO format. Also there is an option to play as a giant purple dragon-man riding a chocobo, so it is clearly one of the most superior games of recent times (that or I’m just a sucker for squeenix)

[jcmorgenstern]

I finally watched 3x19 and I'm sorry but this was the dealbreaker for me. I tried to be openminded about the show twinning Clary to Jonathan but this episode just highlighted why that was a shit decision and 3x20 looks so anticlimactic I want to cry. Magnus had no agency in his storyline. Maia's storyline revolved around her shitperson ex. The heavenly fire was embarrassingly stupid (but blacksmith Izzy was hot af). Dark Clary and Jonathan are fucking flops. I'm out, friend.

I’m so sorry you feel that way, nonnie. If it makes you feel any better, I think everyone kind of feels like they’re clutching at scraps. And like, I feel for the individual writers because tbh they’re all like…one-shot writers under a lot of stress and pressure and are doing their best, but…the season really didn’t come together for me either, mostly for the reasons you’ve said. I don’t know what kind of constraints todd and darren were under, so I understand it’s possible a lot of stuff was going on behind the scenes we didn’t know about, but I’m kind of disappointed with how they chose to organize the season.

I have to admit, I never liked the clary/jonathan bond from the get-go, (honestly i was morose for weeks and bitched about it so much my coworkers at the lab were like SHUT THE FUCK UPPPP about your stupid tv show) mostly because it tripped off so many consent issues for me. like, tbqh, if I wanted to see a man feel entitled to a woman literally all I have to do is go outside. so if they were going to do it, I expected some MAJOR rennovations but…they really didn’t, so far. I like what Kat and Luke brought to it but….the seb/jace bond was already on Thin Fucking Ice as far as “fundamental consent issues” go, but like in canon he doesn’t really have THAT much interest in Jace (esp sexually) so like….you can dance around it in fic. but the way they’ve chosen to romanticize jonathan’s obsession and entitlement to his…sister… is….really just not very enjoyable?

And like yall. you know I enjoy a good bit of sebclace/morgencest but like….not like this, where it kind of feels the writers kiiiiind of don’t give a shit about consent at all, or didn’t really make an attempt to work it through (or really even think about it lol). This is doubled when you look at the Maia/Jordan plotline where like….ok if this was a beautifully written slice of life character study (10 episodes per season, 1.5 hours each) I could see them delving into the realism of Maia kind of getting back with Jordan only to realize he’s bad news. but like. the show is not beautifully written, they don’t have the time or space to delve into a complex issue in a meaningful way, so really it just comes across as romanticizing a shitty/abusive ex. Which…again. Not ideal.

The club scenes were fun but honestly (and yall know how little I say this), it really nailed home how fucking good the first half of COLS really was in terms of,,,,intrigue and this fun romp through Europe with these dark undertones and honestly the show felt a bit cartoonish? Like take it from someone who writes a lot of bad fanfiction….it felt like bad fanfiction. bad fanfiction with HUGE and glaring consent issues lolololololololololol

and like I’ve talked about both these things with @neenwolf a lot and…what she said and I agree with wholly is that…even if they have maia curb stomp Jordan (they won’t, he’s going to die tragically so she can suffer more), they still made her ENTIRE storyline about ….dudes, specially her shitty ex so like….no? They marketed this as “maia gets the pack and becomes alpha and shows people who’s boss” but that….never happens at all and it’s. a little embittering. (Very. embittering). and like she’s got the Good Thoughts so Nina if you wanna add more pls do

Honestly tho…re:3x20. if there’s anything I’ve learned about this show is that they SUCK at cutting trailers so like…idk. I’m expecting a little more than the trailer, but at the end of the day…3a’s finale feel VERY flat for me so I’m expecting more of the same. We know Jonathan does a villainous face-heel turn so ……it’s gonna be junk, from my point of view, and like all the other threads I enjoy are kind of shit rn so like…..can we not???

And I’ve been thinking about Magnus more and….I think my big problem there was that he wasn’t really working through his issues or even grappling with what had happened to him, he was just….kind of used as a shipping prop. and I get why it happened–they wanted to replicate the success of 2x18, but didn’t realize this is…a very different scenario and that people actually cared about what’s happening with magnus (sleeping for 15 hours? coping with alcohol? breaking down in front of alec and feeling ashamed of it? feeling so unwhole without his magic he’s willing to die to get it back?) separate from just ~m@l3c drama~ like what the narrative requires there is not shippy montages but actual character work looking at Magnus’ struggles, and at Magnus himself. and so overall it just left me with this bitter feeling that a) magnus losing his magic, his only independent plot since 1902, was all just to further the ship and b) that anyone actually thinks we WANT m@l3c drama in the year of our lord 2019. (seriously can there be just ONE chill couple in this show for ONCE).

everything about heavenly fire IS embarrassingly stupid (how the sword starts flaming right when she picks it up?? ghslkfjhghghhghghhghgghgg) but yeah blacksmith izzy was….Very Good. (I’m so proud of my honorary Iron Sister!!!) I was kind of concerned she’s smelting with liquid metal with bare skin but a) i know jack shit about the finer details of forging and b) honestly that’s probably the least of izzy’s worries writing-wise so whatever.

anyway we can go on but rest assured nonnie it’s……..Not just you who’s like “wtf lol” it’s kind of all of us at this point.

[feministdisney]

Consent in Animated Shows & Movies

Since the issue of consent has been at the top of conversations lately, I thought it might be interesting to link this back to kids’ media. I think in some scenes (like the Gaston one below) it’s really easy to see how responses like “but she never said no, so it’s on her if something happens!!” are just not cutting it. This is not meant to be an exhaustive review, since there are hundreds of movies and shows to consider, so feel free to chime in. 

(note: since this is discussing movies, there may obviously be spoilers.)

May We? Asking is a Great Start:

Frozen’s kiss scene at the end was a good example of consent. He makes a verbal request to make sure it would be desired on her end, and I’d guess he would have stopped if she hadn’t said “no” but also looked disgusted by the request. Because: consent is a multi-step, dimensional, ongoing process, not a piece of paper swapped across desks in class that says “will you consent? please circle yes or no.” and then you never think about it again.

As far as other Disney movies go, I was fairly pleased that most of the kissing scenes I reviewed (with the obvious exceptions below) seemed to show the idea of enthusiastic consent. It would be great to see both verbal and non-verbal consent shown together more frequently so that people stop seeing it as some dramatic, silly thing that only takes place on comedy skits about over-the-top feminism, but rather, a great tool to have, especially if you don’t know a person that well and may misread one or the other. 

(if I missed any obvious bad moments in movies, though, let me know, since there’s a lot of them!)

Saying No Without Saying “No”:

The Gaston Proposal scene in Beauty in the Beast (Youtube link) is a great example of what consent DOESN’T look like, the sort of behaviors women do to “softly” say they’re not interested, and what qualifies as a coercive tactic. It’s worth stating that Beauty never says “no” to Gaston - she doesn’t even really say a variation of it. In fact, she says things that could be interpreted positively, on the surface; “Gaston; what a pleasant surprise.” 

Would any person really watch this scene and believe she’s “leading him on” or that she’s “into it” though? That her not immediately running upstairs should be taken as a sign that she wants to be in the room with him? Every time he proposes something, she attempts to de-escalate the situation with her joking comments and by taking a few steps away from him. Gaston, meanwhile, continues to follow her around the room (even though she’s obviously moving away from him) and when he doesn’t get the response he wants, instead of leaving, he continues to escalate his body language and get closer to her until he’s got her pinned against the door.

Trust Can Be Used to Manipulate; This is Not Enthusiastic Consent:

Several people referred me to Steven Universe Season 2 Ep 11 and I could see why - it really does hit on the concept of consent and manipulating people into giving a “yes.” Pearl tricks Garnet into being Sardonyx with her (they combine powers... I haven’t watched much of this show so sorry if I get the terminology wrong haha). I think the show does a good job of conveying how Garnet feels and had lines like “I just wanted to share a few more victories with you.” (to justify the trickery)

“Those weren’t victories!”  

“We’re so much weaker than you...fusing with you is our one chance to feel stronger!” (justification given by Amethyst for trickery)

The point is clear that even if your goal is something that would normally feel good for both parties, manipulating people in order to get it does not result in a nice, “shared” moment. Whether you intentionally get someone drunk to lower their guard and make them more likely to say “yes” when they’re originally saying “no,” and/or ignore multiple verbal/non-verbal cues that they’re not ready or interested in moving forward because you think more pushing will eventually result in a yes, you are responsible for creating a situation where consent has not been enthusiastically given.

And since Pearl and Garnet have an ongoing friendship, the point is also clear: in this type of situation, you are using someone’s trust in you as a tool to manipulate them.

The Best Plots Don’t Ignore Consent:

People often get very upset over the idea that the scene presented in Sleeping Beauty is completely non-consensual. They forget this is a fictional storyline, in which “he HAS to kiss her to save her” is not an excuse, if that requirement itself has been made up.

From a prior consent-related note I have posted, about Sleeping Beauty:

Sleeping Beauty only works as a positive romance because we know how it’s supposed to end. Handsome nice prince rescues the lovely sleeping princess. He kisses her to wake her even though this is an action she can’t consent to.

This doesn’t mean the prince is a bad person- it means consent wasn’t considered important enough when they made this movie, that it would alter that scene more from the original.

Consent wasn’t considered a “big deal” because we KNOW she likes him from that one scene where she did, and we presume she wouldn’t disagree with him (which is often used to excuse actual crimes, rather than happy-ending story plots)… because kissing is romantic and that trumps making sure a movie’s plot is fully consensual.

Worth noting, the actual story of Sleeping Beauty (though it exists in several forms and variants, as many fairytales do) is really disturbing:

The version of Sleeping Beauty with its chaste, true-love kiss that most of us remember from Disney or the Brothers Grimm derives from a 17th-century Italian tale called Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattista Basile, based on folk legends dating from the 14th century. In these early versions, the sleeping princess is raped and impregnated by a passing king – but it all ends well because after she wakes and recovers from the initial shock of finding she has twins, he returns and marries her.

Via The Guardian. You might find this article enlightening

Snow White experiences a similar tale.

The Loss of Consent - Betrayal:

Maleficent goes back into examining consent with the loss of Maleficent’s wings. Stefan drugs her and rips her wings off her body. While this scene is brutal, it is successful in conveying, through metaphor, what sexual assault can be like as an experience. Her pain isn’t just the literal pain of having this done; it’s the betrayal of a friend that causes much of the long-lasting sorrow that follows her through the rest of the film.

To quote my review linked above:

Later in the movie, Maleficent brings Phillip to Aurora for the sake of kissing her, because none of them watched Frozen and realized it could be Maleficent. His lines are pretty much everything anyone’s pointed out about that film from a critical feminist perspective.

“It wouldn’t feel right,” he says as the fairies urge him, chanting KISS HER! in unison.

“But I’ve only met her once,” he hesitates again. And finally, another pause, “What was that about the curse?” (dialogue should be pretty close but might have errors since I accidentally wrote it on top of other notes I took)

Finally, he does kiss her, but I think his hesitation was important for what it established about the questionable nature of the scene. His hesitation, and the way the scene is set up, makes the kiss and the premise behind it seem questionable to us – a call-to-awareness that is missing from the first film.

And it’s also important to note that, in this retelling, his kiss isn’t rewarded with her waking up. (Note: though Maleficent also kisses her, it’s on the forehead, which I think has a somewhat different connotation esp. when the prince had previously expressed a desire to get to know her better, and Maleficent’s kiss is performed without expectation).

But anyway, please let me know your thoughts! This is not meant to be the end-all, just a jumping point.

[sab-teraa]

dunno if you saw ep 26. but my heart! for ozannnn. (spoilers) omg i didnt think chag could be so psychotic and evil. which was my mistake... like, take his 'daughter' from him? like, why is she so obsessed that she would go so far to take him hostage as her 'husband'. i get what you were saying before about him not being able to divorce till now. esra owns him and his heart. was kinda pissed at esra for blowing up at him. i think her lying about atlas is much worse than his impulsive marriage to chag. also, what is up with esra's marriage to chy? like, how does that even work? for 5 yearssss dont mind the new brother. hes cute. but omg the scene with zumrut. my heart just shredded uppppp. when she and ozan were crying. omg i died. this show does the angst and emotion really well. esp ozan <3

Hey hey my friend <3 a very happy new year to you! Wishing you a year filled with love, good health and prosperity 💕

IKR! I’m so heartbroken for him 💔 his entire storyline is so flippen tragic and it upsets me so much 🥲

///

She is so insane 😐😐 it’s honestly so heartbreaking to watch Ozan be separated from Ela like this and him have zero control over what happens 😭 this entire plot is pretty realistic 😩 99% of the time, no matter how bad of a mother someone is, they are often given custody of the child purely based of the fact that their are the mother/a woman. Courts often make decisions based on stereotypes rather than what’s the best interest of the child 🥺💔 so I’m glad ami is somewhat highlighting this point (no matter how crappy the execution is).

Tbh, I don’t think she’s obsessed with Ozan/loves Ozan! As esra mentioned, if she was so in love with him … she would have done something about the cheating or even felt a specific way about it. The only time we see C somewhat get bothered is when Esra is in the picture, so like E said, I think that C obsession is with Esra and the need to beat E and be better than E 🙊

As I’ve mentioned, C was only nice to E at the start bc she saw E as inferior … a poor and uneducated intern, who needed to be saved (v similar to how the twins see ozan too, minus the uneducated part) 🤷🏽‍♀️ she is unable fathom that someone like Ozan would be in love with ‘someone’ like E 🥴 and expects ozan to be in love with her (C) bc she’s beautiful, rich, well traveled/ educated etc. … like ozan currently is. As such, C never saw E as competition. Plus, the twins are so used to always getting their way and winning … and the introduction of E is probs the first time C didn’t get what she wanted (well that and Mert ditching her at the alter lmao).

///

YESSSSSS! I agree with you a trillion percent. Esra is annoying me so much. I literally cannot stand the character 🥴🥴 and it’s really ruining the experience of the show for me lol.

She has had zero character development. Plus, I feel as tho she really undermines Ozan 🙃 and she never takes accountability for her role in everything that has happened. I’m so so mad at her for allowing Atlas to think of Ci as his father … like it’s one thing to hide a child (dont condone it) but it’s a whole other horrible thing to forcefully replace a able + willing parent 😐😐 it’s sick.

///

With regards to e marriage to Ci, a lot of people mention that he took advantage of her being in a vulnerable situation etc. and ‘tricked’ her into marrying him 🤔 idk how I feel about this take, but all I know that her marrying him + the whole atlas dad thing is RIDICULOUS 🙃🙃

It seems like they’ve been living together for five years and acting as a married couple in front of atlas (well kinda) and the public 🤔 and once they are alone they purely “friends”.

I really hate how they’ve written E 😐 she is so so so so submissive to Ci! He makes every decisions concerning her and atlas … it’s insane to me … especially given how she always fought ozan with regards to stuff like this. It’s like I’ve said, they’ve written Ci to be her weak spot 🤷🏽‍♀️ she literally listens to everything he says.

////

YES! I love the new brother! He is such a fun villain 😍🤩

Omg yes yes yes! That scene was so well executed! It brought tears to my eyes 🥺

Yup yup I agree with you! ilhan is such a wonderful actor! I hope we get to see ozan experience some type of happiness soon 🥺

[oranges8hands]

but the problems...

4.4 The Flash Spoilers:

ok this episode was pretty funny BUT: * the only thing they never really discussed when they were BFF's was Barry being in love with Iris; I liked them doing stuff together (and I like the continuation of Iris as Boss, esp because it touched a little more on the investigative side of her skills this MotW) but how the hell did she not hear this story five years ago? [also the conflation between forensic scientist and cop was strong this episode.] * Caitlin standing next to Iris - yanno, the person she tried to kill and never apologized to - being friendly and having cute asides with and getting the "yeah, but you started as a good person" from Barry - just, way to continue to completely gloss over her actual actions against Iris members of the show while still letting her take the moral high road of offering second chances. [also its been said Killer Frost isn't someone else but even if she was a. she's hiding that she's flickering into Killer Frost and b. she’s also apparently hiding something worrisome of her actions doing the summer of finding herself, so she’s still lying during this “second chance” she has going on] * Barry says "Good people don't destroy lives and call it noble" and didn't get struck by lightning again, this time from sheer hypocrisy. I mean later on there’s the conversation with Joe and Barry, but the idea underlining that is less “we are bad people for doing these things” and more “maybe he was a good guy when he did those things.”  * why is this show doubling-down on the G-- name, stop it! (”it is mysterious. and it is moody” ffs. this is anti-Romani and Hollywood has been told this repeatedly.) * the whole thing was pretty funny (esp super helpful complimenting Harry) but overprotective!dad-going-after-boyfriend shtick is pretty patronizing (and technically deadly!), and we already have Joe and Harrison doing that enough. there's other kinds of dads??

* he’s almost fifty and having a baby... I know 50 is the new 40 and I know some late aged parents in RL but this is honestly such a random story line (esp with all the twin mentions.) I honestly thought when Barry talked about him glowing in the beginning this was just Cecile getting help in screwing with him (maybe for speaking for her re forgiveness and Caitlin *cough*.) I also... this is a personal dislike of the trope but when they have people who had kids in marriage 1 get married again and they end up having kids again [cause tv will never get over the (inappropriate) baby storyline], it tends to feel like the second marriage/family doesn’t count to them/audience/tv show unless they have kids. and we see Joe kind of shell-shocked and stuff, but are they going to have a conversation about what it means to raise a child when they’ve already put their other kids through college? I really can’t tell if they’re actually doing the baby storyline (with probably disappearing baby once its born) or its gonna be a miscarriage storyline, but either way... 

* so how’s Wally doing??????

[wearethegladiators]

hello

it’s me

i was wondering if after this time YOU STILL WANTED TO CRY :) :)

ive been having a lot of feelings about aron paddy evans for the last few days and i needed to shARE IT

cause see

i’m watching breaking bad rn

and i’m soooo in love with jesse pinkman like shit this kid needs to be protected at all costs!! gtfo walt

ANYWAY i came to the conclusion that

aaron paul as jesse pinkman is the perfect aron evans, esp. in incendio!2 context???

like he’s a bit too old but honestly?? whatever??

i was even thinking about making him and lily actual twins cause i always thought they would be two years apart at most + super super close so that wouldn’t be a drastic change

i mean it’s just gonna make things sadder when he dies mdr

maybe he’s not dead yet btw? like maybe he has magic in a way

i always thought the evans family was connected to the magic world in a way or another, like mamie evans was some druidess or something

so maybe he’d have inherited some of this hybrid “muggle-magic” and would be able to survive a bit longer?

i don’t know I’M SAD

precious angel

headcanon in which aron was the one wearing the flower crowns and not lily (at least before the war mdr)

also jesse pinkman’s love for kids is so very aron, i’m now pretty sure he would have adopted an orphan kid and lily would now be taking care of him/her (sAD)

but honestly jesse went from being a hippie dropout to such a broken/tragic character

that fits perfectly aron’s storyline

except maybe that aron is a bit more of a nerd (esp. regarding science), but for the rest?? the extra sensitivity, the anger, the guilt, the goofiness, the sweetness?? SO ACCURATE.

i’m actually super excited for this part of the storyline, like the whole lily/aron conflict?? heartbreaking, and yet they would do everything for each other #blakesiblingsvibes

also aron being a muggle and a (relatively important) member of the rebellion?? good shit

i like it. i like him

he’d be trying so hard to stay soft and not kill anyone - he’s never been a fighter. lily always had fire in her, she was always an activist and a warrior at heart. aron just wants everyone to be happy and safe and alive

aron blaming lily so bad for her darker/more pragmatic turn

i’m also thinking about developing a bond between him and wynona, interestingly enough

also i really want an actual relationship between nathan and him!! he’d probably look up to nathan and rely on him whenever he has panic/sadness attacks, cause he’s trying so hard to be independent from lily. also he’d definitely consider him as family, esp. with the whole lily drama (i have a couple of scenes in mind in which aron says something like “i’m fighting to get back to my family” -- you get it)

anyway. i really want an aron. he’s probably gonna die at some point but at least? for some time? or am i trying too hard because denIAL?

also aron as street medic with muggle techniques cause he can’t fight?? so. much. possibilities.

and ofc as a drug addict!!! like i mean that’s the most jesse thing about him. and being depressed. and edgy. my cutie pie.

hm. what else did i want to rant about?

sacha as harry styles is 100% approved. i actually considered him for aron too so that’s a solid choice hihi

sacha/lily is also 100% approved. like sacha would remind her so much of aron before the war :’( like an emotional transfer sort of thing? he may be able to make her step down when tension escalates/force her into retaking a more humanist perspective? at least more aron? does that make sense? siblings by substitution because they both lost a brother/have a fucked-up sibling?

i’m so hyped by these muggleborn camps!!!! singing around the fire and shit, having badasses flags and going onto protests????? so so cool. i’m buying it. bonds would be so strong in this context?? (you guessed it i’m also entirely here for sacha and lily meeting in one of those camps)

lily as a commander of death is sad. but exciting. she always had a weirdass relationship with death anyway. banshee much?

the whole “city” thing, potentially a rebel neighborhood in london??? mais c’est des si des belles idées j’ai des larmes dans les yeux wola

DRAGONS. i like it. sad wynona can’t ride anymore but SO. BADASS. she’d pretend to find it “trop naze” btw. la vieille aigrieee

i appreciate this dynamic of “lily always getting captured”/”nathan never getting caught”. like this is so very them?

i see them as still ride or die ofc, but also some tension, maybe being catalyzed by the “aron issue” (oui because he’s lowkey depressed/suicidal too). esp. if they still hold on to images of each other before the war. disagreements on how to lead or lily’s method. still so much love tho. i love them. my babies. OFF TO DESTROY PEOPLE.

I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT NATHAN’S LEG??? wtf. i swear i didn’t do it on purpose oh my goooood

are all our characters suffering from chronic pain at this point or what mdr

also wolf!nathan is such an aesthetic

also going back to one of your previous posts i WANT a wedding. YAS.

this universe looks so cool even if everyone is broken lmao, i love them i love you elo i love it ptn

[dyemelikeasunset]

Naf, what are your favorite animes/mangas? Also, happy new year!! :)

Happy new year!! 

So I had an old list of my favorite anime/manga but it’s a bit outdated so I’m gonna make a new one. Yeah!

(this is a long as fuck post, apologies!)

Comics/Manga:

Otoyomegatari (eng: Bride’s Story): so I know this series is already pretty renowned but IT’S JUST SO GORGEOUS. The detail and research that goes into this series is so! frickin’! good!! The characters are subtle but full of personality, the humor is delivered in a very human way, the pacing is slow and gentle but full of interest, the story telling is refined. And the cultures are not demonized?? While there are “outsider” perspectives everyone works realistically within the confines of their societies and it’s really respectful. The age gap of the main couple (the groom is 12 and the bride is 20) has so much potential to be squicky but it’s healthy and not framed in any gross way. I love the way the series jumps to different areas and explores small arcs outside the main storyline, all staying within the theme of cultural marriages. Among these side stories, there is one with a majority dark-skinned cast, and the main characters are these carefree and fun-loving twin girls who are so much fun to read about! There’s also another story with a healthy polyamorous story that is, again, actually very accurate!! (Some people could argue it’s “platonic” but the way it’s executed really, really drips with romance lmao.) Highly suggest this series!!

Boku no Hero Academia (eng:My Hero Academy): I’ve completely fallen into the BnHA pit. I didn’t expect to like this series THIS MUCH but it is really, reeaaalllyyy damn good. I’ve never read a shounen series that had so much thought and good editing put into it. Like, it has incredible reread value! There’re a lot of small jokes (like single-panel but still very effective! jokes), unbelievable attention to detail, and it’s very obvious the characters were all worked out before the story was kicked off. The pacing is great, the momentum never feels sacrificed, yet there are still good chunks for breathing and emotional development. The characters are all very well-written even if they’re not “likeable,” you always have someone to root for, and the superpowers are refreshingly executed. The action is fucking FANTASTIC, and the story itself is intriguing with a lot of emotional impact without becoming hamfisted. There are still some issues with it, especially with the small amount of female characters and some unneeded romance undertones, but overall those criticisms do stay as “undertones” and probably weren’t done intentionally. A lot of the potential “fanservice scenes” are usually subverted in a hilarious way

Gakuen Babysitters (eng: School Babysitters): OOH BOY. This one’s a story about a high school with a daycare attached to it (mainly for the teachers’ kids). The main character is a high school student with a toddler-age younger brother, they’re new to this school and have to meet all the other kids… who are fucking adorable. All the toddlers at the daycare are really fleshed out, they all have set personalities and aren’t unrealistically angelic and some are bratty and most are CUTE AF, and they all have their moments to shine. Sometimes the characters border on caricatures or one-note jokes, but it works well for comedy and is generally kept fresh. There’re also some typical romance-y things but they’re totally glazed over in favor of the toddler-plots and YES A STORY WHERE KIDS AREN’T USED AS A PLOT DEVICE TO MAKE SOMEONE MORE ROMANTICALLY APPEALING AND seriously this series is SO CUTE you all should read it.

Bokura no Hentai (eng: Our Transformations): the “hentai” here is “transformations” not porn lmao. Anyway this series is about three kids who meet through an online “cross-dressing” community. The main character is actually a trans girl!! The other two mains are both cis, one gay one straight. The straight boy does say homo/transphobic things at the beginning but properly apologizes for his actions later. The series also deals with death in the family, mental illness and recovery, gender (obviously) as well as gender expectations and even addresses hypersexuality as a result of trauma. That being said, there is a heavy warning on this series for noncon situations and molestation. However it’s thankfully not treated in a romantic or rose-tinted way in the least. Some of the character growth is a little sudden (esp straight cis boy, I felt his turnaround was too fast and drastic) and some of the endgame couples (or implied couples) have some meh undertones, but overall a good story.The series is finished now and ended on a pretty good note, but the epilogue is incredibly sad. I suggest maybe not reading the very last chapter if you’re in a bad place mentally right now.

Kase-san: If you’re looking for feel-good wlw media, Kase-san is the shit. It’s sooo sugary and sweet, but still has good character growth and story development. It generally deals with real-world teenager stuff, but the couple is very healthy and progresses at a realistic but still romantic pace. Warnings for intense butterflies lmao this series is seriously so gentle and high-school romance-y in the best way. The biggest surprise is how the main girl grew on me so much? Like I have a huge pet peeve for cookie-cutter protagonists, but Yamada has so much personality and strengths! Even though the story is told from her perspective and generally follows her pining after the titular love interest, Kase, there are enough glimpses into Kase’s personality and motivations too (which helps to balance things out), and just Yamada herself is very vibrant and sweet! This series puts me in such a good mood

Tamen Di Gushi (eng: Their Story): Another good wlw series! I know this series is already pretty popular on Tumblr, but if anyone was still on the fence about it, I really think you should give it a shot. The romance is sweet and adorable but what really gets me is the HUMOR. The gags in this series are fucking out of this world, I can’t explain it well but the timing, expressions, and circumstances are SO FUNNY and the artist pulls it off so well!! I always look forward to the updates just because they’re so funny

Anime:

Idolm@ster: ugh don’t even talk to me about this one it’s a total guilty pleasure but all the characters and even the sides are GREAT (I love the faceless president lmao). It’s a story about a start-up idol agency, and how all the adults are working to help each of the girls become famous. It was originally a video game (with some questionable content) but the anime is REALLY GOOD and very endearing and each of the girls has a moment to shine and grow. The songs are cute and the dances and performances are so rewarding to see esp after all the characters go through, and UGH It’s all so adorable, esp 2nd season. I love this show.[A NOTE: don’t watch the movie. Just don’t. It’s awful. Bad production value, unnecessary drama, A USELESS SIDEPLOT ABOUT A GIRL LOSING WEIGHT it’s awful don’t do it.]

Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls: New cast of idols, new agency, very different pacing. The beginning 7 episodes are a little hard to get through, but after that first trudge, the quality skyrockets. I actually think there were some things I enjoyed more about CG than the original im@s– there’s a bigger focus on the actual work they do (like their idol theming), company politics, and a MUCH BETTER VILLAIN introduced in the second season. This series doesn’t focus as much on each individual character, but the ones that do get development really hit home strong.

Escaflowne: one of the first animes I ever watched when they were dubbing it in fox kids. I rewatched the subbed anime when I got older and I gotta say it’s really lasts the test of time. Aside from the geek factors (high fantasy!! tarot cards!! dragons! MAGIC MECHS!!) the story and characters are really great. The main character, Hitomi, is just such a strong baby who’s never outshined by the other characters. She goes through a lot and still is allowed to feel vulnerability, it never quite feels like she has to “prove” herself worthy of being a hero just “because she’s a girl” etc, she’s allowed to be strong and courageous while also weak and in need of help, very multi-layered! And that’s only the main girl HAHA don’t even get me started on the other characters.Some of the later story can be a little weird? There’s some weird real-world references and one of the characters has an interesting(?) gender issue. I don’t personally know how I feel about it but it’s worth having a mild precaution to anyone thinking of going into this series.