#even if one of them is awful

[percephilous]

art dump i fear

hi aster i AHTEHIM

trueforme nonsense

dont worry about august hes doing. great

[scriblesandbits]

So god created us in his image, right? And that’s cool and all but what if it turns out god, like, hates his own image??? What then????

[inkedinserendipity]

one of the reasons i think that the murderbot diaries’ emotional moments hit so hard is because of a scarcity effect that the author has set up really, really well.

because, like—murderbot, as a character, is an answer to the question how do you “show and not tell” emotional moments from the lens of a character who point-blank will not acknowledge any affection directed their way. or, instead of overtly stating that characters are friends (“tell”), how do you demonstrate it with text (“show”)? well, most authors go ham on characters smiling at each other, laughing, joking, expressing reciprocal loyalty.

murderbot does none of those things. murderbot probably never smiled before preservation, and definitely didn’t laugh. (this is only partially an exaggeration.) telling jokes? hell yeah, MB’s funny as fuck. to other people? hell no. that would require conversations and it’d rather die, thanks.

add that to the fact that murderbot treats any expressions of affection toward it—internal and external—like being bit by a snake.

so you have this character + writing style that bars most conventional ways of establishing relationships between characters. you also have this character who is basically incapable of feeling any sort of reciprocated, positive emotion toward itself. so what do you do?

you work around your character. murderbot will never pick up on affectionate body language. it hates hugs. every sentence it hears passes through about fifteen different filters of self-loathing. so you make your relationships clear, and when you hit, you hit hard.

you summarize snapshots of characters panicking about the main character getting hurt. you drop your character’s performance reliability (and their walls) and have them banter. you have your character walk in on the tail end of conversations that expose concern for it.

and then you do things so overt that even your shit-self-esteem character can’t talk its way out of. you have its friend tell it directly that it can’t lose it too. you have its friends accommodate it and understand it without it directly expressing a single need. you have its friends stand up for it in conversation when it is too tired to do so. and then, when you really want to hit, you have your character pretend to be physically compromised rather than have to feel one (1) positive emotion toward itself.

positive emotions toward itself can’t really pass through murderbot’s walls. so you have to establish relationships by beating your main character over the head with them. and it can’t be all the time—because that’s not how relationships and emotional recovery, yknow, works—but it can be sometimes, and it can be very powerful, and that is why i think murderbot diaries in particular is very, very effective.

[azfellandco]

It's about Crowley bearing witness to Aziraphale's desire, about the way that desire is animal and visceral and enormous and terrifying*. And about how Crowley sees that and wants it. Crowley offers the ox rib and watches Aziraphale eat because eating provides them no sustenance, it's purely for pleasure, sensual, selfish. And Crowley introduces Aziraphale to this, and thousands of years later still takes obvious pleasure in feeding Aziraphale, in watching him eat. In watching Aziraphale's pleasure.

And I think it's significant the things we see Crowley put into his body in s2, and why: six shots of espresso, as something bracing before seeing what it is that made Aziraphale call him in his "something's wrong" tone; whiskey, because he has to give Aziraphale some bad news; wine, because they "might as well get comfortable" during the storm coming down on Job, after Aziraphale learns that Crowley is actually pretty unhappy with Job's suffering; and poison, to dispose of it so Elspeth (or Wee Morag, I've fogotten which is which) doesn't die. Crowley doesn't take Aziraphale's "something that calms you down", only consumes things that not only don't bring him pleasure but are an attempt to prevent pain. Crowley, who introduced Aziraphale to this important physical, sensual, selfish pleasure, denies it to himself. He denies himself the eccles cakes, he denies himself partaking in food, and he denies himself Aziraphale.

And we see throughout the rest of the season other things he's denying himself: the comfort and safety of a home in the bookshop in favor of the mobility and ready-made escape of living in the Bentley, the surety of saying what he really means during the confession. He cannot bring himself to admit what he wants, that he wants. Gabriel and Beelzebub "going off together" is not what he wants. He wants Aziraphale, but he doesn't say that, because he's never, in the years and years and years we've seen this season, let himself want or be seen wanting. "Going off together" is as close as he can get to speaking it. "A group of the two of us" is as close as he can get. So he has to watch as Aziraphale leaves and takes his pleasure in the world with him.

[dewwshi]

The people demand more Minlach. ( please more we are desperate and your art of them is so good 🥺🥺🥺)

🫡

my beautiful yuri... sooo critical to me that minthara 1. fell first 2. fell harder. something abt the idea of this self-avowed villain being utterly and inexplicably smitten with the sweetest nicest golden retriever girl in the world

[woolying]

COUNTDOWN TO TETRO PINK FINAL FRIDAY !!!!! im a tad bit late technically but hopefully the double feature makes up for it

I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM SOO DEARLY my beloved hiroaki tsuno ohhhh my goodness ill miss them greatly

[liketolaugh-writes]

I know I focus a lot on Danny's complicated relationship with his parents, but there's really not enough on how messy his relationship with his friends can be.

Because in some ways, they are the best friends. They're amazing. There is no amount of crazy, no amount of terrifying, no amount of danger that can make them abandon him. They are ride or die to the end.

But they are also such teenagers.

And that's fine! They're allowed to be! It doesn't make them bad people or even bad friends. But God, these two are Danny's only support system, and emotionally speaking, they can be... kind of unreliable.

Because both of them? Are constantly trampling on Danny's feelings. Which Danny has a lot of, all the time, because his life is awful, and Sam and Tucker... don't really seem to respect that. (Again, perfectly understandable! They're teenagers and they've become used to this as their new normal.)

Every time Danny breaks down from the stress (WHICH HAPPENS A LOT) Sam and Tucker bitch about it, and his behavior, and how rude he's being. Whenever he's in a bad mood, he's a buzzkill, he's belligerent. When he's doing something just for himself, he's abandoning them, he's irresponsible. A lot of times, during intensely traumatic events, they openly blame him for what's happening.

(In fact, Sam and Tucker are a big part of why I hold 'struggles to assert himself' as a cornerstone of Danny's character.)

And they're kids, it's not their job to be Danny's therapists or his emotional sponge, and they should absolutely not be his sole source of support... but it's also so, so bad for him. Have I mentioned that Danny's life is a nightmare of abuse conditioning? Because it is.

And this is of course not the only or even the most important aspect of their friendship! But it's such a recurring theme (both with them and in Danny's life in general) that I'd love to address it at some point.

[lastoneout]

Ngl the fact that the guidelines for shinigami eyes say that theyfab is not an anti-trans slur and thus not enough to mark someone as anti-trans and equates transmedicalist as being just as harmful as "tenderqueer" despite it claiming to support nonbinary people is uh. Yeah starting to kinda think this extension has overall been a net negative for the trans and queer communities and was always going to end up like this.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[turtleblogatlast]

No but like every time I think about Splinter and what he had to go through just to keep the boys alive, my heart hurts for him so badly. Is he perfect? No not at all, but none of them are and by god does he love his sons.

The fact that all of them are alive, and grew to thrive despite the circumstances surrounding them is a testament of how much Splinter loves his boys. He raised four babies following the most traumatic time of his life, all alone with nothing but the sewers to house them (to hide them.) I feel like he’s not given the credit he deserves for all he’s done.

And I get that it’s easy to hold up his flaws and faults when it comes to parenting, I myself like looking into them because flawed characters are super interesting and said flaws make them more realistic and engaging, but he tries, and again, so many others would have given up on the boys or failed along the way but Splinter didn’t.

He’s their father, for all his faults he did his damndest to make sure they survived.

[verysmallcyborg]

a wahoo in these trying times

[locria-writes]

can u believe i did all this in a week?

very bad no good terrible thing

actually not that bad looking pretty peachy by my standards

yes they're both nsfw first one is spicier second one is just like yikes you guys do not know how to fuck like at all

[meanderingstream]

The Gaothmai flesh dreadnoughts are so horrific and I love it. Abomination-type creatures, but which are also troop carriers containing sorcerers and soldiers and other flesh-craft creatures inside them, who can come out to attack you from the orifice in the middle of the tentacles extending from the dreadnought’s otherwise featureless face.

Like just a sublimely terrifying exploration of what horrors can we extrapolate from the existence of flesh-craft sorcerers and their participation in a forever-war fueled arms-race with wizards. Troop carriers made of conjured flesh the size of skyscrapers whose only facial features are the uncountable 50-foot tentacles surrounding an orifice from whence more flesh abominations emerge.

[moeblob]

I love Chris so much you guys.

[the-fourchette]

"Because you weakened me"

I tend to over analyse too much but aren't those two scenes a parallel ?

1/ Mel's position

In both frames Mel is positioned to the left of her interlocutors (Ambessa and Jayce). In both pictures, she's the vulnerable one, she's barely listened to and her words have "no weight" (but the contexts are important!)

2/ Context

In the first situation, Mel advocates for the mercy of the young heir of a conquered nation (I guess)

As a result, Ambessa banished Mel because of her softness. Her mother needed her to be far away from her so she could accomplish her bigger missions. She literally said that she couldn't look at her in her eyes because Mel weakens her resolve to do what's necessary for her family (i.e conquering lands through wars but also protecting her family, and more precisely protecting Mel from the Black rose).

In the second situation, she explains to Jayce that her whole life had been a lie and she can't control it because of her family and powers.

Jayce listens and coldly leaves Mel to fulfill his greater mission : saving the world from his "misdeeds". He gives her a dull but meaningful pep talk. And, he, too as a hard time looking at her in the eyes. Jayce knows Mel and he knows that she needs to feel approved and validated, he genuinely loves her and believes in her strenght and intelligence. I think that's why, besides her revelation, he specifically chose those last words to encourage her (i.e "You are not a passenger").

I don't know if I am reaching but it seems like in a teeny tiny moment, they want to hug but both refrain from it. Almost as if they are restraining themselves to have physical contact. Mel has to cross her hands. Their posture is unnatural and awkward, the perfect opposite of how they usually behave around each other.

Jayce usually let himself be soft and vulnerable with Mel, she's his confidant, but this time he couldn't afford to do that for the greater good. There is a deep sorrow in his eyes when he manages to look at her (is he also ashamed because he weaponized hextech when she fought not to ?). He knows he couldn't count on her help and comfort this time. He couldn't cave in and melt into her arms (or lap). He can't be "weak". Maybe, Jayce knew she would weaken his firm resolve.... So that's why, like Ambessa, he has a hard time looking at her.

3/ "There is no force in this world that can control you"

He's also resignated and defeated because he knows that he's definitely a passenger. (And he doesn't want that for her, I suppose...). He's in pain and he knows that he's risking death (or he's already dying because of his hexcorized arm).

Feels like this line is almost a jab to Mage Viktor who, in hindsight, dictated/manipulated his whole life.... He says he's confused about a lot lately, that's the sentence of someone who discovers that his whole life was a "lie". But he also feels responsible for all the bad decisions he made and he's determined to fix it. Little does he know how much Mel and him have in common : kidnapped and tortured in alternative/future worlds, and controlled and coveted by people who needs them for what they could bring to them (Mage Viktor and the Black Rose).

Anyway, Jayce never told Mel what happened to him so the poor woman must feel so unworth and unloved, again. In reality, Jayce was protecting her and the city from an apocalypse and her mom was protecting her from the black rose.

She seems quite done but unfazed after Jayce's speech, seems like a familiar feeling to her. She's used to be cast away at this point, right ? As an empath, I'm pretty sure she's devastated but she can't be "weak" too (that's why she was exiled after all). She also knows that they are going to war, so no time for self pity.

This scene is so frustrating because I can understand why Jayce is so cold and distant, he's pained, he knows he's risking death. But at the same, he feels so OOC (which is not that stupid because it's not everyday that he had to face an apocalypse...)

I don't know, I'm just trying to make sense of this scene. But maybe I'm just reaching and it's not that deep (because season 2 is a parallel fest, so much parallels just for the sake of "parallelling"....)

[hex800020]

I love thinking about how, back when Jason was still Robin and living at the manor, every now and then—just sometimes—he’d sneak into Bruce’s room after a nightmare looking for quiet comfort. I don’t think he did it often, but he did do it. And then, after he came back—after crawling out of his grave—he still sought that same silent comfort. Like, maybe just some head pats and sleeping in sheets that smelled like his dad… or, well, being next to his dad, right? But obviously, that wasn’t possible. And when the League (Talia) found him, he tried to shake the habit ’cause “Bruce isn’t coming. He’s always late.” Or something like that.

When he got back to Gotham, he still carried that mindset…

And then came the ✨batarang accident✨—I think it shattered him. Had him quietly sobbing for days, nightmares and all that fun trauma stuff.

Torturing myself with Jason “angst” Todd is honestly my favorite hobby.