#he was always about freedom

[mochiajclayne]

I get it. Gear 5th is fun, whimsical, and the breathing epitome of freedom. He's ridiculous and fights with an infectious smile. But the thing is, Gear 5th visuals look so unsettling. Luffy's red eyes are glowing in the dark and trust me, you don't want a pair staring at you in the middle of the night. Moreover, Luffy doesn't blink in that form (what I observed, at least) so it's like a glowing pair of red eyes staring at you intently while smiling and occasionally laughs in between. It's powerful, too, and it's even an understatement--if you're not gutsy enough, the haki will knock you unconscious. It's strong to the point that it could change the topography where Luffy fights. It's so ridiculous to the point that the ultimate factor of maximizing Gear 5th lies on whimsy. And boy, was it eaten by the perfect person.

[casscainmainly]

God this panel kinda drives me crazy. From Batman & the Outsiders #17, Shiva asks Duke about his suit, whether it was his choice. And how does Duke respond? He... doesn't. He parrots what is clearly something Bruce said to him, but never clarifies whether it was 'his choice' at all. Because both him and Shiva know it wasn't. And he acknowledges that his suit, with all the Batty-ness (ears, symbol), was specifically designed to make him like Batman.

Then Shiva suggests dark red, which is what Duke wore in We Are Robin and has connotations to Robin as a whole. Duke's reaction - can we let it go? - can be read in many ways, but to me it suggests Shiva's words hit home. He does miss the Robin colours. Becoming the Signal wasn't his choice, but becoming Robin was.

(And throughout this run, Shiva says both Cass and Duke are being held back by Bruce. With Cass this is a clear allusion to being Orphan over Batgirl, so it's not farfetched to read this conversation as being about how Duke was denied Robin to become Signal).

Duke-as-Signal is a symbol of 'people like Batman', but Duke-as-Robin was a symbol of youth, of community, of diversity and of choice. He was a Robin formed without Batman. I know there's no going back, but having Bruce choose the name, the suit, and the time of day that Duke goes out makes the Signal such a fraught identity. I love the yellow, the suit, and the daytime aspect, but I just wish they were Duke's choices, not Bruce's.

[vaguely-concerned]

the fact that irving canonically survives through the end of asunder to be at wynne's funeral is so fucking funny to me. nothing but love and respect for MY unstoppable cockroach morally grey machiavellian mage dad!!! he's survived in his position through multiple attempted rites of annulment and blood mage plots popping up left right and center around him. the chantry keeps trying to stamp him out but his dodge game is simply out of this world, divine. civil wars, political machinations and minefields, chantry atrocities, this wily old motherfucker is dodging and weaving his way through it all, not-quite-no-hits-taken-running-it-but-honestly-close-enough-under-the-circumstances style. if solas does succeed in tearing down the veil I would fully believe that one of the like three people still alive at the end of it all would be a very weary 90 year old first enchanter irving going 'oh this shit again huh'. the maker has cursed him for his hubris and his paperwork is never finished (affectionate, it's fine he canonically loves paperwork)

[rosefires20]

My brainrot today is thinking about just how incredible for a character Eowyn is.

Genuinely. The series might not have many female characters but the ones we do get go so fucking hard.

To me, Eowyn is literally the definition of defining being a woman for oneself. She rejects the roles she is given despite acknlowdging the importance and its mostly because she knows part of the reason is that she is a woman.

The reason why she is obsessed with Aragorn isn't because she loves him but because she wants what he has. She wants the freedom and courage and bravery that Aragorn has at every turn. She literally has multiple conversations during the Two Towers about how what she fears most is a cage. All this girl wants is the freedom to be and not be forced into a role. The best thing is that she literally gets that.

The segment of Return of the King about Eowyn and Faramir is literally about her piecing together what she truly wants. She doesn't want Aragorn. She wants freedom and the ability to choose. Faramir does nothing but encourage that in her. Their love story is literally one of the healthiest love stories I've seen in a long time because at the heart of it, their love is a place to return home to for both parties. Both go off to lead and help their people for a considerable amount of time before returning to each other but that does not diminish their bond. Even Faramir, I believe, falls in love with her bravery and dedication to her loved ones. The reason she went to Pelenor Fields and Gondor with the troops of Rohan was because she had things she wanted to fight for. She wanted to fight for herself, her people, and her loved ones. She is the one who protects Theoden after he is killed so that his body gets the treatment it deserves. She encourages Merry and helps him go to the battle because she sees her struggle in Merry. They feel helpless standing around when there are things to be doing.

Let's also not forget the fact that she was around Grima Wormtounge just as much as the King was. She was exposed to the same poison and awful words that eroded the king. It's even implied that her care for him is part of the reason why Theoden was savable when Gandalf showed up. She had the same power and bravery as everyone else even if she didn't see it in herself.

Then at the end of the day, SHE decides where she wants to go and what path she wants to walk. She walked the path of a warrior. The path of a princess/ruler. The path of a caretaker. But in the end she decides which elements truly mean something to her outside of gender definitions. That is what makes her character so incredible to me. In this she literally kills one of the biggest enemies in that battle with such a badass line.

[drakkonyan]

The future never forgets the events that shaped it The past awaits for better times to come

[p4nishers]

thinking about the relationship between mightily oats' "the worthwhile [words] don't burn" and constable dorfl's "the words in the heart cannot be taken"

[bearimba]

Silver doesn't need another father. He's already got one of those, technically, but the man turned out to be a weak, cowardly bastard who couldn't face his own problems let alone raise a child. The way he sees it, there's no need to set himself for more disappointment. He's got a roof over his head and food to eat, and that's far more than he could ever depend on in the last... however many years he'd been living on the streets. Lance and Clair are annoying as hell, but while he's training in the Dragon Den, he doesn't exactly have much room to complain. Not out loud, anyways.

Lance doesn't particularly want to be a dad either. He's already got too much responsibility on his plate as Champion, and this kid clearly needs so much more emotional support than he feels like he can provide. Simply convincing him to move into his guest room was enough of a struggle, and it only really worked because Lance had promised Silver he could "earn" his keep. What the hell is up with that, anyways? He's not sure what Silver's past looks like, and he's not about to go prying, but the bare minimum he can do is make sure he doesn't have to rough it out in the woods anymore. At least Clair seems to be having fun training him...

Clair is more than ready to be an aunt. The other two refuse to admit to caring for each other, but unlike them, she's not afraid of something as stupid as her emotions. The brat's slowly but surely been mellowing out during his training, and her idiot cousin has actually been taking care of himself for once in order to be a "good example." Silver has even caught on to calling Lance "old man" like she does, on account of those ugly-ass reading glasses the all-mighty Champion has to wear, and she couldn't be prouder. Best part is, she doesn't have to spend a dime except to treat the kid every so often! That's a win in her book if ever there was one.

[docktowndame]

“He ordered me to kill them. So I did. I killed them all.”

[twinstxrs]

thinking about kageyama’s “it’s the setter’s job to break the wall in front of the spiker” in reference to how kenma sponsoring hinata while he’s in brazil and onwards is effectively doing that on a financial level. once a setter always a setter.

[alicentalicent]

Trying to understand Otto a little more, and this scene is a good exercise. We have a Viserys who is frustrated because Rhaenyra is being a broody teen and he doesn't get why... (maybe because you married her homoromantic best friend idk). He doesn't know how to manage the marriage proposals, which is traditionally the wife's duty, and obviously Otto jumps in to help him.

My first thought about the expression Otto makes was him thinking: “I couldn’t relate LESS” but to be serious for a minute, I think he’s probably thinking “Well, aren’t you in a position to decide what happiness looks like for Rhaenyra, in the long term?”

I do think Otto believes that about Alicent, that the choices he is making for her and the things he's commanding her to do will lead to her happiness. The ambitious mind of a Hightower, Lord Hand, obviously prioritizes having his blood in the royal line, for him that equals happiness. So her feelings and wants and ideas of happiness don't really matter, cause "father knows best". And I think this is actually a good representation of shitty parenting, thinking that your child can be molded into a specific ideal of what the future should look like, in a lot of cases even getting into heights you couldn't reach yourself, and thus fulfill your dreams. Yes, Otto we know you wanted to marry Viserys, get in line Daemon also wanted to.

No, but really, in the next moment, he says that Aegon should marry Rhaenyra and in that way reconcile his desires with Viserys', thinking of their children and grandchildren as no more than pieces on the board. Full circle moment when Alicent literally points out this to Otto in 1x09, beautiful.

Otto shows his love by carefully laying a path before Alicent, with what he believes to be happiness at the end. Is it love, though? For him, it is. We have to ask Alicent, though. That love probably feels like feeding a little bird in a cage , asking her to happily sing the tune of her heart, and complaining when the bird wallows in her misery.

[kinokoshoujoart]

the coolest kids in forgotten valley!!☆

(…it seems there may have been a stretch of time where rock and lumina were the only kids in forgotten valley…🥲)

poseref

[caitlynmeow]

Lmao I really love how canonically Alcina said this to her daughters:

@ Bela: “I expect results.”

@ Cassandra: “you’re my daughter, act like it.”

And then there is Daniela and Alcina is just “have fun!”

[marcobodtlives]

Mikasa and Annie on a Girls Trip™️ but it’s just them kicking people in the shin and shoulder throwing full-grown men.

(Reiner and Jean on Boys Trip™️ but it’s literally just them getting into a slap fight in the forest then sobbing over their murdered boyfriends)

[osamucide]

genuinely i ask as a non-american why would anybody vote for trump? are they ignorant about the consequences or???? i saw a statistic the other day showing the majority of states with high percentages of educated people being blue and i kinda get it

genuinely i ask the same question as an american

more educated voters have always leaned left on average. gotta wonder why /j

[ruvviks]

PLEASE DO NOT TAG AS YOUR OWN OC.

Rafael is driven by his independence and his anger, fighting for what he believes in and deems right to free his people and return peace to Medici. But his tendency to push people away blurs the lines between selflessness and self-destruction, and his desperation for control greatly overshadows the true lack thereof— and it has turned his spark into an all-consuming forest fire, with no way to douse the flames. And everything burned, as promised. OC WEB WEAVE SERIES: RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ.

richard kadrey, aloha from hell // by eyedeeuhs // firestarter; torre florim // by gundula blumi // savannah brown, from 'closer baby closer' // leach; bones uk // ocean vuong, from 'to my father / to my future son' // by ysociety // maybe, i; des rocs // victoria chang, to love anyone // 'smoke and fire 1' by jennifer walton // burn; vorsa // vita sackville-west, from 'solitude' // by spelio // arsonist's lullabye; hozier // shira erlichman, from 'how to become a forest fire'

[kacievvbbbb]

As someone that loves ATLA and is recently getting back into the fandom and has also been spending alot of time in the One Piece fandom as off late

Luffy and Aang have a very similar energy that I enjoy. They are just both so precious oh my god 😭. They are so different but they have very similar narrative functions in how they inspire the people around them to embrace silliness and childlike joy.

But also I love the way they move their powers are fun and they love using them. They are constantly using it's ungrained in the way they move Aang loves airbending he's never not jumping around with it and Luffy loves being rubber

Which makes their differences all the more exciting and seeing how that same scale of personality

they both deal with inherited will Aang more literally and directly that Luffy (as of yet) and they interact with that differently. Aang's inherited will is a weight on his shoulders a burden he has to bear while Luffy's is a pleasant surprise to those around, and the source of his desire for freedom. And this comes through in how they interact with the ultimate version of their powers the literal embodiment of these inherited wills. The avatar state and gear 5

The avatar state for Aang represents a destiny he is still to young to bear, it is unpredictable, overwhelming, uncontrollable, it is something to be feared and worried about, it represents a loss of control for him and he struggles to reconcile that kind of destructive power with himself and his values. It scares him, and That’s why it remains lost to him for much of the series till he makes it his own.

Meanwhile for Luffy Gear 5 represents freedom, he is literally being freed from the constraints of reality. It is the culmination of everything he’s ever been. It’s everything we love about luffy turned up to a 100. Gear 5 is silly, goofy, cartoonish, unserious, fun loving, filled with laughter, insanely power and lowkey a little scary. Even tho Luffy is technically transforming into another person (or god) but god it is still him it is everything that has ever embodied him. And Luffy loves to be in it he has so much because as he said it’s him at his freest.

Aang and Luffy have very different character philosophies, priorities and move through the world differently. Aang is very much concern about the people in the general sense while Luffy is very much focused on helping his friends which then spirals to helping the general population, it just so happens that he is very good at making friends

But at their core they are just both fun loving little boys refusing to let their tragedies define them as they and their rag tag group of walking disasters rove the world like criminals, freeing the people from oppression.