#honestly. at least they're accurate in this i respect that

[moonmoonthecrabking]

the absolute fucking whiplash in this screenshot

[brucewaynehater101]

Grandpa Janet's maiden name, father of David Cain, Mary Grayson, and Janet I honestly hc that Drake is actually her maiden name and Jack took her name instead of the other way around because Janet's family had more of a history and let Jack somewhat avoid the nouveau riche label, was indeed a supporter of trans rights and he got into many bar fights as a younger man when he stepped between a lady and a dude who wouldn't take no for an answer. Grandpa Drake was of the belief that "no" was a full and complete sentence and one of his pet peeves was people trying to badger others into changing the "no" to a "yes". Grandpa Drake studied pharmaceutical chemistry and took Drake Industries into the medical field.

He met the future Grandma Drake in one of the bar fights. She was a ballerina and had the skill and strength to break a man's neck with a kick if she wanted. Normally she just broke legs or noses instead. She was her ballet troupe's mom friend and designated driver. She was also the sort of person who learned things just for the sake of learning them and after marriage her occupation was essentially professional student.

Shortly after Janet and Jack married, Grandma and Grandpa were abducted by an alien, a past lover of Grandma who had also fallen for Grandpa and this was the alien's way of trying to rekindle their relationship with Grandma while also trying to start a relationship with Grandpa. Maybe they're still alive somewhere in space. Possibly Tim will run into them if he and YJ have more space shenanigans.

The Respectful Womanizer Grandpa Drake AU!

That post was a bit ago, so I don't feel like scowering my page to look for it.

I hc Jack took Janet's name as well, regardless if that's factually accurate.

What I remember for the AU and important parts:

Tim's grandfather, Janet's father, was a womanizer. He loved woman. He thus fathered David Cain and Mary Grayson (which makes Tim, Dick, and Cass biological cousins).

Despite loving women, he did not badger them. In fact, that's one of the easiest and instant ways to get on his shit list (trying to force, coerce, or wear someone down for sex). He also loves all women and has had many relations with any consenting individual who identified as such near his age range.

He did face some social backlash and shit cause of the time period, but he was a rich, white man. He also didn't give a fuck what the others said and loved getting into fights (he got smarter about how he picked fights and how he aired out his grievances [more manipulative and subtle if he could]).

Grandma Drake met Grandpa Drake during a bar fight. Obviously, gramps had to ask the gorgeous lady (who could beat the shit out of many grown men in a row) out to at least dinner. Grandma, who saw gramps beating the shit out of disgusting guys and calling out their behavior, agrees.

Grandma and Grandpa Drake have an open relationship, and they are happy with it. They discussed healthy boundaries and how it affected their marriage (which they both agreed to for the legal and social benefits. They loved each other, but they didn't need to get married for their own personal relationship). For plot's sake, let's say Mary and David were born before the grandparents got married. Grandma Drake knew of this and supported Gramps being whatever role of parent both bio parents agreed to.

Janet was born shortly after they got married and was raised on their cunning nature to fight for what they believe in. She saw her father use Drake Industries for good and wanted to discover more about the beauty of humans (including how different cultures treat social statuses/roles [like gender, romance, relationships, attraction, etc.] and how people are free to be themselves).

The part where the grandparents get kidnapped by an alien who's interested in both of them and thus they are alive when Tim runs into them in space? Pure crack and I love it

[to-thelakes]

I'm watching Moon Knight (again) to help me go to sleep and I've rewatched episode 1 so so many times on nights like tonight but I still absolutely adore all the little details.

Like, okay so when Steven wakes up in the Alps (I think that's where it is), Khonshu says "go to sleep, worm" and okay, first watch and without knowing the context of Jake existing, that makes sense. Khonshu doesn't like Steven which we learn more and more as the series goes on but then he says a few lines later "the idiot's in control" in that same scene in the Alps.

There is such a clear shift in attitude between 'go to sleep, worm' and 'The idiot's in control' and it's so obvious on a rewatch that Khonshu is talking to two different people with each line.

He's referring to Jake as 'worm' and he thinks that telling him to simply 'go back to sleep' would work because Jake is aware of the alters and their situation. Although from the brief glimpses we get of Jake, we know that he is an... interesting guy yet we can gather that he at least has some sort of alliance/respect/something going on with Khonshu. However, when he realises it's Steven, it's not hostility in the same way. It's more exasperated frustration. He's mad at Marc for letting Steven suddenly appear rather than being annoyed at Jake for making a random appearance. The way that the dialogue is written just exposes so much on a rewatch.

But going back to Jake/Khonshu even if they do have some respect, it's also pretty obvious that Khonshu does not want Jake around. I'd speculate that that's probably because if Marc loses time when he knows that he's not in London as Steven, that would create suspicion. Suspicion that Khonshu wouldn't want because that would put their avatar/God relationship at risk.

Though, I also suspect that Khonshu and Jake probably were working together but Marc never became aware because Jake worked at nights (maybe why Steven is so goddamn tired) or simply took over while Marc thought that Steven was in control.

I know that the Moon Knight portrayal is not the most accurate DiD portrayal but from my research, there's this whole idea of like different levels of awareness. Like the blackouts for Steven are because he initially has no awareness of the other alters. Then when Steven and Marc black-out, it's because neither of them are aware that there is a third alter aka Jake. Which means that Jake can do things for Khonshu while Marc believes that he is in London and neither Marc nor Steven would be aware.

I'm kind of just rambling about the show at this point but also, what I find really interesting every time I rewatch is the date thing. So, right, if Marc was the one that set-up the date why would he let Steven stand her up without saying anything to her? Marc isn't exactly the best guy when it comes to romance but he is incredibly protective over Steven because he wants to protect him from Khonshu. So, why in the world would he let the whole date rejection thing happen?

Because it wasn't Marc. It was Jake. Jake asked out Steven's colleague and that also makes sense why they went to a steak place. Jake doesn't give a f*ck about Steven's veganism while Marc absolutely would. Marc wants to protect Steven so he wouldn't make such a silly mistake.

But Jake would. Honestly, at this point, convinced that Jake just wanted to fuck with the Moonboys and Khonshu just played along.

I don't know.

I always find the dynamics of the Moonboys so interesting and I love how even when you rewatch it, there are new little discoveries that you can make. Like there was so much love, thought and attention put into this show?? It makes me SO SO happy.

This show honestly means the world to me and excuse the ramble/rant but I just love talking about my Moonboys and I never really get to speculate or discuss the show. I talk about it with my dad but being at uni means that I do not get to ramble at him as often. So, tumblr gets it instead.

But yeah, they're my (not very) astute observations about my beloved Moon Knight

[midnightmah07]

Boundaries.

As I talk more to people on this platform I feel a bit of a necessity to state some boundaries just to be safe

- please NEVER refer to me as the b word or anything offensive like that, I can handle aggressive humor with people I get closer with but I don't like when people call me these things even if it's playful.

- if you can avoid curse words please do so!! I personally don't like them because of my religion, so if you can avoid speaking curse words near me I'd appreciate it! This is not a hard rule as I won't mind if you curse a few times, but if you have a really dirty mouth please try to tone it down when talking to me.

- please use tone indicators when making jokes that you believe may be mistaken for something rude, especially if we're not that close.

- I don't like being tagged on stuff by people who I don't know/barely know. It feels like you're trying to force a friendship that we don't have, so I'd appreciate it if you don't do that. I actually don't mind being tagged tbh it's not something that bothers me, but I'd like it to be by my moots/friends or to at least be asked if I'm ok with it.

- I don't mind hearing ramblings, I love seeing how excited people talk about their passions, but please ask if I'm comfortable with you doing so beforehand and be careful with how often you do that.

- please do not flood my inbox. I don't mind people coming to my inbox frequently but if what you're sending me can be talked either in DMs, comments or reblogs, do not send me billions of asks. It makes me uncomfortable and honestly makes my blog a huge mess. If I come to my inbox and see like 10 asks from the same person I will not answer.

- on that note, I may add that you guys do not info dump about your OCs 24/7. I do like hearing about other people's OCs, but a lot of the times that's literally the only thing they're talking about. I'm not a dumpster, I'm a human being with my own interests. If you're just coming to my inbox to dump your OC's lore, and it starts feeling like a monologue and not a dialogue, I'm just not gonna answer until you start talking to me normally again. I'm sorry to sound a bit harsh, but it's tiering when people only talk to me to dump about their OCs.

- don't look down and badmouth my religion in any way, shape or form. Being a Christian is the most important part of me and it defines who I am as a person, so please be careful with what you say. Also, my views, beliefs and convictions are and will always be dictated by my religion, I will not attack you for believing something different from me but respect is a two way street, if you attack me for saying stuff accurate to my religion and faith, you're getting blocked.

- don't talk about political issues with me unless you're willing to be respectful. I've seen a lot of friendships being torn because of how different their political views were and I'd hate that to happen to me and my moots. In fact, if you can avoid this talk, please do so. If you must know my stance politically, I mostly align with conservative values.

- unless you were rude to me or attacked me, if you see I have you blocked/soft blocked, it's probably not personal. This is the internet so I will block/unfollow people who post stuff that make me uncomfortable/I don't think what they're saying is correct. Doesn't mean I don't think they're a good person, just means I don't want to interact with them. I have NOTHING against them if the day ever comes that I block/unfollow someone on Tumblr "at random"

- don't talk about anything nsfw/explicit with me. I might not be a minor but this type of talk still makes me very uncomfortable. If you send me something in my inbox that's nsfw/explicit I will delete it and pretend to not see it, however if you do it because you want to make me uncomfortable or if you do it more than once I will block you.

With that all said, feel free to talk to me whenever you want, just be mindful of these boundaries :))

[hollow-keys]

One of the things I'm- well, not disappointed by it's to be expected- annoyed by is X-Men '97's portrayal of Morph as a queer character. Morph is an AMAB nonbinary person who likes men (AMAB being important here because liking men will be interpreted as gay regardless of how Morph sees their gender). We were explicitly told before the show aired that they're nonbinary, but the only proof we get of that in series is two blink and you'll miss it, easily ignored and brushed off scenes where Cyclops and Rogue respectively refer to Morph with they/them in two episodes.

And to be honest, it feels like baiting when we get nothing else. It's Loki all over again where the creators say "you're gonna get representation!!!" in interviews that only more dedicated fans will see but resign actual canonical confirmation to something easily missed.

The justification for this is, of course, that the show is set in 1997, of course they aren't more explicit because of the social circumstances! But nonbinary people existed back then and there were people who were aware they were nonbinary and made communities to talk with each other. There were activists who were openly genderqueer. There's even at least one case I know of of a nonbinary character being in 90's comics. Though not positive representation, in Ghost Rider 2099 #10 [pub. 1994], Ghost Rider refers to a side character with ze/hir pronouns.

And it's not like Morph doesn't know they're queer. They're out! Why else would Rogue and Cyclops refer to them as they openly and in public? And how? If they're not more explicitly queer because "It's the 90's" then what's with the period atypical acceptance from their teammates?

Even if they went with the "Morph doesn't know" route, people who don't know they're nonbinary or have the words to describe themselves still have trans experiences like dysphoria and a feeling of wrongness about their gender which can be explored even if your character is an egg (not a literal egg ☠️, a trans person who hasn't realised they're trans).

For example: Morph primarily goes by their codename to the point where their civilian name isn't even mentioned. There could have been a scene where someone called them their male civvie name and they get uncomfortable and say they prefer Morph, their gender neutral hero name. And when asked why, they could just be confused and defensive because they wouldn't have the words to describe dysphoria.

They could even set up a realisation arc with Morph experiencing dysphoria, but not knowing what it is or why they feel that way, and then meeting nonbinary people next season when the X-Men are time travelling and going "Oh. That's me."

But we get none of that! We don't get out and proud, no/low transphobia representation or subtle, historically accurate representation of a closeted trans person in an even less accepting time. We get the historical inaccuracy of option A and the understatedness of option B for the most minimal attempt at rep possible, which boils down to just two headscratchingly anachronistic uses of they/them pronouns. Truly the worst of both worlds.

And on their feelings for Logan, that wasn't said before the show aired afaik and was just part of the narrative, so it wasn't baiting, but it was relegated to subtext that could also be interpreted as non-queer. So much so that it had to be confirmed by the writer on twitter when it should have been clear cut in the show.

Why didn't we get more content about that? If they can fit an entire love triangle around Rogue, Remy and Magneto, why couldn't we get more about Morph's feelings for Logan? Why didn't we get them pining for a friend who'll probably never return their affection, them worrying over how he'd react if he found out? That kinda thing. There was an entire plot point where characters were faced with their fears, would that not have been a good opportunity for Morph to be faced with theirs over being realised as queer?

Honestly there were shows and comics actually made in the 90's that were bolder with queer rep. I don't know the behind the scenes situation or how much the showrunners had to fight for this, but regardless of who made the decisions, it's still cowardly and frankly not enough in 2024.

[chirpsythismorning]

Noah saying, "I don't think Mike likes Will back" doesn’t equate to him not knowing about byler being endgame, and here's why.

Noah and a majority of the main cast have been given a rough idea of how the show will end, broadly in terms of the entire story, but also more specifically in terms of their personal character arcs.

Actors are out here acting. This is nothing new.

Any of the the main cast insisting they have no idea how the show ends at all, are lying. This is because their safest bet is playing dumb.

There's nothing safe about them revealing they know how the show ends, least of all to an audience that is dying for any spoiler they can get their hands on. It just puts them in a position to have to think very carefully about everything they say, which is something they already have to do regardless.

It's a lot easier to just say you don't know, because then you can give vague answers or even just flat out lie and get away with it, as opposed to saying you know and then having everyone take whatever you say as gospel since you admitted to knowing what's coming.

David is pretty much the only actor who goes around explicitly saying that he knows how the show ends, which is something he's been doing consistently since s2 premiered back in November of 2017.

Something David has also mentioned on a few occasions since then, is how much input the Duffer's let him put into his character. He's literally praised them for having a collaborative process, because it allows him to play Hopper more authentically.

And so yes, I do think it's safe to assume that the Duffer's extend this approach to their other cast-members as well, at least among the main cast-members. I do not at all think this is some exclusive treatment only David gets, because this seems like more just something the Duffer's do out of respect to the actors. How else can they expect them to portray their character accurately if they don't know what they're going through or what their motives are or what's right for them going forward?

We obviously won't know all the details about who knew what at what times or how long they've known certain things, until they themselves come out and reveal after the fact, if they even do it at all.

Still, I do think that when it comes to byler actually happening, it's going to be very satisfying for fans who saw it coming.

This is because we're dealing with something the Duffer's are predicting a good portion of the ga will be bitter about, with the main argument at the forefront being that Mike and Will came out of nowhere.

And so, how do you think they're going to combat that?

With the literal proof.

They have David, who has been used happily as their main scapegoat through the years, whose words are literal proof that things were planned for quite some time. We have him saying all the way back in 2017 that there are easter eggs in the first season which we won't understand until the end, how it's beautiful and surprising and it will explain why certain characters acted certain ways...

Not only that, but there's just no way people are going to be able to use the whole 'it came out of nowhere' argument (at least without looking like idiots), because we'll have the Duffer's themselves out here confirming shit like blue meets yellow in the west and other theories that were entirely intentional (as we predicted).

And because of this, I think I can guess roughly how things will go moving forward and it's honestly already panning out in some ways I expected.

Because while season 4 ends in a way that seems to be leading towards Mike and El ending up together from the perspective of the ga, there are numerous details in the subtext and just outright in the literal text that's trying to tell us this is not actually the case.

And so now the Duffers and everyone who knows are in this limbo of tricking their audience in plain sight, hoping to keep this act going for as long as they can, and that's obviously not easy to do.

What I think makes it most difficult is that they want to surprise fans, but they also want them to be satisfied and happy with the ending.

And that is why the whole Milkvan straight bait is indeed very near its end.

If they want ST to live on as a cult classic with rewatch value, they can't keep this straight bait going on into the last season.

They'll want Mike and El to definitively give off platonic elmike for s5, with byler being endgame and Willel being wonder twins.

This is why Mike and El's dynamic HAS to blatant in a way that will come across as platonic to the ga in s5. And the shift needs to be immediate, otherwise byler will not be satisfying.

I feel like a lot of bylers already predict this, which is why a lot of us assume that the milkvan breakup with happen (or be acknowledged as having already happened) as early as 5x01 or 5x02.

Honestly, I do think that Will's painting being plastered on merch recently was one of the big moments which is representative of a shift we're already seeing start to happen. We're going to continue to see milkvan be promoted as elmike, while byler is being promoted in a way that is, well byler.

What I think is most noteworthy in terms of how they're approaching this conflict going forward, is how the actors themselves have talked about it when asked.

For example, there was one Con specifically that I remember Noah attended right around when Vol 2 dropped, where he mentioned byler at least 3 times. Two times when asked and one other time unprompted.

And no one ever talks about this, but full serious you guys, it was dead silent at that con whenever he mentioned byler. There were maybe a few hoots and claps, with Noah literally looking kind of worried. It was obvious he noticed the silence the first time it got brought up, and so he felt the need to mention it a second time when asked about what he shipped and then AGAIN, with a note of defensiveness in his voice:

"Byler is just, at it's peak right now, okay, so definitely ship that--"

And while in the background, all you hear is maybe 2 bylers supporting him, otherwise, it's mostly crickets...

Let's try to remember that while Byler is a lot bigger now undoubtedly, unless you're active online, most of the ga does not see it coming. And so byler is by no means fan-service. If anything it's show-runner service.

This means Noah had literally no obligation that day to go all out with referring to byler in a positive hopeful light, nor does he still. And yet he did and he hasn't slowed down much since.

His approach makes sense. Because his character has been revealed in canon to be in love with the other, he can freely say he ships it and even take the opportunity to hype it up in an attempt to open peoples minds to it, who might not have considered it before. And he can also do this because in canon, Will assumes Mike doesn't love him back, so Noah can just co-opt Will & the ga's assumption that Mike doesn't feel the same, and get away with it, without anyone whose close-minded giving it a second glance as evidence.

If they wanted to avoid queer-bait and get people to not look at byler that way, they had the chance to. A majority of the ga didn't read byler romantically and so they could've just kept things casual by not bringing it up, nor humoring it at all.

The byler tag didn't even hit 30k followers until AFTER vol. 2 dropped! Most people were oblivious (including bylers).

Undoubtedly, Noah in particular around that time, was a big part of why people started to look deeper on their own and it's how a lot of people ended up here, now with 277k of us.

Like seriously, listen to me ya'll, Noah would NOT put himself in a position to broadcast his support for byler like this and the Duffers would probably be begging him not to, knowing he would be subject to a lot of criticism in doing so, if byler was not in fact where the story was going. Point blank, period.

His tweet "vol 2 got me shipping byler over everything' has to have been the most obvious stunt of all. He was not saying that to be quirky or to appease a few thousand people, he was saying it to wake up the hundreds of thousands that might be open to it, and who just need a push to see what's right in front of them.

Then we have Millie's approach. Her approach for a long time has been to say stuff that she thinks the audience wants to hear, that being anything pro-milkvan. And up until Vol 1, she was still mostly on board with referring to it in a super positive light.

She also insisted during s4's run that she has no clue how the show will end (lies, Millie is a good actress pls give her more credit), and this also explains why she's tended to feel somewhat comfortable lying about milkvan positively...

Though as Vol. 2 neared and ever since, a shift has started to happen, where in interviews Millie is getting a lot more into depth and real about El's personal arc. She mentioned right before Vol 2 dropped that El was insecure in her fight with Mike at the start of the season because she thought he only considered her a superhero and didn't see her as more than that.... Then more recently she has doubled down saying that she is her own superhero, having been shaped a little too much by the men in her life.

SHE IS OUT HERE SAYING WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING FOR MONTHS (SOME YEARS)! SHE KNOWS HER CHARACTER BETTER THAN ANYONE!

Honestly, even though I understand they are trying to trick people into thinking they're clueless and so I guess I'm happy for them that they've succeeded in that, I can't help but admit I feel a little disappointed upon hearing some bylers say that they are convinced Millie doesn't know, but that Finn does and even Noah does, but that she's entirely in the dark about it and that they're okay with this I guess?

First of all, why would anyone be okay with that? Why would we be okay with Millie not having insight into where her character is going. What, do you guys think they're just going to pull up on her at the last minute like, "yeah sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but this is where your character is going to end up. anyways back to byler!...."

I don't care, it would seriously be fucked up to keep her in the dark about this because El IS important to the story and Millie, just like everyone else, deserves that closure so that she can understand her character better and therefore perform to the best of her ability. She also deserves a say somewhat in where she feels her character should go, just like David has said the Duffer's afford them.

Now lastly, when it comes to Finn, I think most assume at least he is aware of byler, and I do agree he knows, so let's start there.

Again, we don't know when they found out and so for now I don't feel like going too far into guessing the exact point and so I won't. However, I do think that Finn also as of late has had an approach that manages to somehow be very different from both Noah and Millie's, and for reasons that also make a lot of sense.

Because Finn's character is assumed to not return Will's feelings, he has to be more careful than all of them. This is arguably why he goes to the least cons out of everyone (most recently everyone attended a con in person, with Millie present over zoom even, but no Finn or Noah... seems very intentional at this point).

Why I think they need to be more strict with Finn in particular is because he's in the exact opposite situation as Noah.

His character is assumed to not return Wll's feelings, and so he can't go very far with what he reveals. What we've got up to this point is actually quite revealing enough as it is, which is why that's all we're getting for now.

What I find interesting is that Finn's approach is quite similar to David's. I know Noah is known for spoiling things, but arguably Finn is just as bad, he's just a lot more sneaky about it. He has a harder time lying, which is why I think he actually looks uncomfortable when asked milkvan questions. Not necessarily because he doesn't ship it like lots of bylers assume, but because he's having to dance around and lie outright and he probably feels bad.

His most common approach though is that he likes to make jokes and say things that could be looked at from multiple perspectives, where it could be looked at now as milkvan evidence, while simultaneously being looked at from the future as byler evidence. Him saying 'I think everyone knows how Mike feels about Eleven' was him quite literally gaslighting the audience just like Mike did with El in s4:

'I care for you so much" "I say it" "You know how I feel about you--"

But do we? Do we really? Or does the audience THINK they know, and so Finn can get away with saying something cryptic and vague like that? When really, in the future, everyone will be laughing looking back because to Finn and all the cast, it was actually abundantly obvious Mike's feelings for El were platonic and his feelings for Will were romantic.

Same for his response when asked if El and Mike would be together and happy in season 5. He dances around it, doesn't deny it, but also doesn't confirm it. Instead of just being like yes they will (which is what we're being led to assume is inevitable at the end of s4, and so he has no reason to dance around it), he starts by deflecting, talking broadly in terms of the stories overall ending, only to say he hopes they find happiness... Again his answer fits with the ga's assumptions now, but it also fits with the surprise of byler in the end as well.

Also important to note that Finn and Noah are the ones to repost about the show most out of everyone from the main cast. A LOT. In fact, they were the only main cast-members (besides Brett LOL) out of everyone to repost about the episode title name for 5x01 being released on ST day...

And it's because THIS is their character's big revelation going into the final season and they had a say in it going this direction. Even if it's what the Duffer's wanted all along, they still gave them and everyone to an extent, a say in things. And now that it's all slowly happening, they are front and center standing by that decision, because they insisted they could do it and wanted to.

I can't say for certain that things will just be smooth sailing from here on out though, by no means is everything just going to shift completely.

There is still undoubtedly this element of the Duffer's and everyone wanting to have the pleasure of tricking the audience. In an industry where everything that happens is usually expected and predictable and therefore rarely exciting, and with an audience that is always figuring stuff out before their supposed to through leaks and stuff, byler is something they have finally been able to successfully trick most of the audience to think will never happen. And that is fucking impressive when considering the heaps of evidence.

And yet still, they don't want to be yet another show that is considered to have a bad ending.

So, going forward, I think things will continue the way that they are, but we'll slowly see them be more comfortable in this element of acknowledging endgame in a way that will be easy to look back on positively when everything is all said and done.

Because if byler is endgame, IF they want people to look back and go oh Oh OH during all those moments where they misread things, but now they can see the other side of it, there needs to be more of an approach that gives Byler equal playing field and allows the ga to actually start to appreciate it and even want it and root for it. Which means buh bye predictability and heteronormativity and hello surprises and gayness (but also be open ended about it so the homophobes will stay tuned until the last second).

[itsgonnagetinspiringsoon]

ok so i know i've literally never posted abt sanders sides before on this blog (i haven't been keeping up for a few years) but i've been tumbling down a waterslide lined with my old hyperfixations for the last few hours and ended up creating D&D au character designs for the core four sides using heroforge. images and descriptions under the cut if you're interested ❤ bonus points if you can guess what classes they are (this is EXTREMELY self-indulgent so pls forgive the ranting abt them, they're very important to me ok)

First up we have Roman! my beloved. one of my first questions when starting his design was how can i make him look as cunty as possible? the answer: heeled boots and winged eyeliner (It's a little tricky to see but he's got gold metallic eyeliner). I ADORE Roman's colour pallet so i kept it as close to accurate as i could, making white the base colour and accentuating it with the gold armor and the dramatic red shoulder cape as my stand-in for his sash. he's wielding a katana OF COURSE how could he not be. he's slaying ⚔ 🐉 and slaying 💅💋

moving on:

Patton. my baby, my honey, my ragtime gal. i decided to make his hair a little longer than roman's bc i thought it made him look softer and more approachable. it was UNBELIEVABLY hard to find something that sort of replaced his cardigan without looking too chunky but i did like this kind of loose tattered mantle, so i went with that. kept the sky blue shirt and gray cardigan/shawl, but gave him more greyish blue pants so they didn't blend into the shirt too much. glasses are round instead of square bc again i thought they made him look friendlier than the square ones. freckles bc i personally think freckles are very cute and patton is very cute so he got freckles. no shoes he's travelling the realms like the gods intended. the dad vibes are strong i want him to give me a hug 🥺

next up:

logan is quite possibly my favourite side so i really wanted to get his design right. the MOST important thing was giving him his iconic necktie, which ended up being pretty much the same color as his canon design. i couldn't give the tie specifically a pattern, so i made his vest stripy like his tie is in the show and i think it looks really good. his glasses are the more classic nerd ones which is perfect for him and i gave him black eyeliner bc i thought it made him look more serious. i added the coat for more of a d&d look (it doesn't make sense to traverse planes wearing a vest and tie) i think it gives him an extra bit of style that i love.

and last but not least:

the Anxious BoiTM himself (i've only had him for five minutes seven years but if anything happened to him etc etc). virgil's was one of the easiest designs aesthetically and hardest mechanically (you'll never guess what class he is guys i took some BIG swings). I knew i wanted him in black and purple (obviously) and i knew i wanted to give him the iconic purple hair dye and eyeshadow. i almost said screw the genre and put him in a zippered hoodie but i do think that a cloak and cowl would suit him very well (good for hiding in) and i found a combo that looked equally cosy and spooky. a bow is good for attacking long range and keeping out of danger (appropriate for anxiety, i thought) and the mask looks intimidating but actually helps him with sensory overload (with the cowl and mask on he's basically in a mini sensory deprivation bubble). an eyebrow ring bc he's edgy idk why honestly i thought it looked cool.

So that's basically it! As i said before if you can guess their respective classes i'll give you a cookie (🍪). since i can't draw, heroforge is usually my go-to for character creation and i have to recommend it (i think i talk abt this site a lot but 🤷‍♀️) it's so helpful for non-artist types like myself.

I hope you enjoyed! please leave comments if you liked they feed me (if you didn't like it, please just move on and don't let me know, i'm doing this for fun and i don't want any negativity please ❤) @thatsthat24 hope you like 🥰

[theygotlost]

ok. here is my attempt to make a coherent post about the watch bbc.

my main reaction, over and over again watching the first episode, is: CHOICES WERE MADE. truly inscrutable choices for which I cannot possibly understand the rationale or thought process. If I was adapting discworld for the screen, it would ever in a million years occur to me to make these choices. some of these choices include, in no particular order:

cut-me-own-throat dibbler is a white woman with dreadlocs who uses a wheelchair. I can NOT make this up.

vetinari is also a woman. .....I have nothing else to say about this.

instead of a dragon sanctuary, sybil runs some kind of femdom petplay sex dungeon for bedraggled old men. including vimes. and this is how they meet. she traps him in her sex dungeon.

she's also skinny and average height. I repeat: sybil ramkin is SHORTER THAN VIMES.

the actor playing vimes does have a very vimey look about him I won't lie, I even like his little fauxhawk hair situation, but his performance is completely baffling. he's always making an over-the-top jim carrey face but doesn't sell it nearly as well as jim carrey so it's just awkward and not funny.

vimes' accent is also completely unplaceable. I swear it's different in every single scene. sometimes american, sometimes irish, sometimes an american doing a bad impression of an irish accent or vice versa. watching @fealtyfaggot (irish)'s face in real time as he tried to calculate this man's accent was entertaining to say the least.

honestly, every actor sounds like the director instructed them to do an irish accent except they're all bad at irish accents so they all sound weird in their own unique way.

goodboy bindle featherstone is a normal-sized, horrible cgi lizard and sybil uses him like a handheld flamethrower.

the series is attempting (and FAILING) to adapt the events of guards! guards! and night watch simultaneously. carcer is killmongerfied into a black man (not raceblind casting as ciarán pointed out to me, they specifically put out a casting call for a black actor) who is justifiably angry at the police system. and he's carcer. so he's still the main antagonist and a crazed serial killer. he's the bad guy.

john keel was also black and vimes is white, so while it doesn't actually happen in the first episode it seems apparent that CARCER will end up being the one to impersonate keel?!

AND carcer was best friends with vimes and they had some kind of ~history~ together where there was some kind of dramatic betrayal and vimes attempted suicide(?). what

I guess dwarves are.... not short? cheery is normal human height.

carrot's tragic backstory where he was thrown down a mineshaft as a baby (I laughed out loud when he said this) and his adoptive dwarf parents sent him to join the watch cause they hate him and are trying to get rid of him.

just...... why the cyberpunk angle? discworld isn't the most traditional, historically accurate medieval fantasy out there and it's not supposed to be, but.... WHY CYBERPUNK?

I almost forgot: colon and nobby are completely absent.

my only question after watching this is WHY. WHY WHY WHY WHY. why is this a discworld adaptation? why did they decide to adapt discworld in this way? there is absolutely no respect or appreciation for the source material or understanding of what makes it good. whoever came up with this does not seem to like discworld very much at all. every single second of these 42 minutes was a slap in the face.

If this was just its own show, not related to discworld in any way, it would still be pretty bad. But I could still see it having a cult following you know? there would for sure be a niche tumblr fandom for it. the best thing I can say about this show is that it would have been good if literally everthing about it was different.

[wildernezz]

fine, I'll bite. Analyze me

okay i was not expecting this for a lot of reasons but i'm intrigued now so i'll bite back.

i usually do these analyzations on my other blog actually, @analyzing-people-like-hell, and i usually ask for a few characters just to make sure i'm going on the right track, but i think i can work with just skimming through your posts.

i doubt it's all that accurate because of the lack of information, but it's somethin', so hopefully it's at least entertaining to some extent:

toxic yaoi called they want their lawlight back.

you definitely kin either L or Light. i'm leaning towards L more just because of what you seem like, but i feel like you'd at least semi-relate to Light to some extent, and both can give a lot of insight. for one, you're definitely not a people person. the thought of engaging with most of the frivolous activities you see people do not only bores you, but it might even disgust you as well. or maybe you just lack the social skills to deal with people so you tend to avoid them all together. either way, it does make people keen on viewing you as more of an asshole type. you probably are a bit of an asshole, but your nature ensures that you get the job done, so it's not like anybody can complain.

i don't know what your parents did but i can just smell the parental issues from you. for whatever reason, you find them inadequate and maybe even failures of guardians. it's hard to pinpoint why you'd feel that way, but my guesses are that they were probably just negligent in general. they probably didn't treat you with respect, or just didn't treat you with any care in general. i can imagine they get needlessly pissy with you a lot and blame/push their problems onto you. who knows, either way they don't seem very nice, and they're maybe even a lot worse than what i'm assuming.

despite not being much of a people person, you seem pretty emotionally-intelligent. you spend so much time with yourself that it's easy for you to control your emotions and stay pretty level-headed in situations that would normally fracture others. it gives you an advantage when getting to know people. you understand yourself enough to keep yourself safe, but it also helps you understand where other people might be coming from. there was also this one reblog i found when skimming through your posts: "when you want to be heartless but you know that's not how you are" that does make me question a lot of my initial guesses. maybe you just want to appear like somebody who couldn't care less about what people think, but deep down you still do. you want to give the world the same kind of pain it dealt you, but you just can't. despite all the rage festering inside you, you can't seem to stop caring. (which honestly fucking relatable i can't blame you there man.)

also you're definitely emo. and somewhere on the gay agenda. there's definitely something you regret from 2020 specifically. idk what, but it's probably there.

that's all i can really think of right now. my bad if this is completely off, but it's the best i could come up with. i'd def be willing to try again given a list of characters if you wanted. i'm gonna go work on my spanish presentation now. adiós, you emo disaster. thank you for giving me more procrastination time.

[jupiterswasphouse]

WASP REVIEW - ZINGER (DONKEY KONG SERIES)

[Image IDs: Two renders of the Zinger from DK: Jungle Climber and the original Donkey Kong Country respectively /End IDs.]

and were back to the wasps based entirely on eusocial species! This time, the basic Zingers (although having a few different recolored iterations) look the most like some black and yellow species of paper wasp or yellowjackets. Given Rareware's home of operations and the homeland of designer Steve Mayles, being England, I feel like it's fairly safe to assume that they're based on one of three species of wasp: the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), the European wasp/German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica), or the European paper wasp (Polistes dominula)!

[Image Sources: Wildlife Insight, and Wikimedia Commons, Sharp Photography | Image IDs: Two photos of yellow and black wasp species, the former being the common wasp, a type of yellowjacket, on a grey wood surface, and the latter being the European paper wasp on a stone or concrete surface /End IDs.]

They're not entirely accurate; the markings aren't too precise, they only have two wings as opposed to the four on a real wasp (Although the DK: Jungle Climber iteration changes their shape to at least imply a second pair), and obviously real wasps don't have a trail of spines/stingers running down their metasoma nor a pair of signature Rareware cartoon eyes. However, the original model especially is surprisingly accurate for being based on an animal that the designer himself said he was scared by! I especially appreciate the original's fairly accurate legs and addition of setae!

It's in the games themselves where we run into more inaccuracies to these particular species, however. In the original DKC, the queen of the Zingers is named Queen B. and is fought on the boss stage titled 'Bumble B. Rumble', clearly being a direct reference to real world bees, which are several familial branches away in the wasp subclade Aculeata from the previously listed Vespids. This is honestly, while a little frustrating, not a big deal. But, when we get into the second game in the DKC line, we discover their hives.

The Zinger hives throw a major spanner in the works. The wasps mentioned make paper nests, with the yellowjackets nests having a round, closed structure, some yellowjackets building inside of trees or in dirt burrows, and the paper wasps having an open, umbrella-like structure both including cells built in hexagonal shapes, built to contain their larvae and often having silk caps covering them. Meanwhile, the Zingers have nests that match the hexagonal cells, caps, and larvae of these wasps, but are clearly made of yellow wax and contain honey, like that of honey bees.

[Image Sources: Carolina Honey Bees, and Wikimedia Commons, Dicklyon | Image IDs: Two photos showing the nests of the western honey bee and the european paper wasp, followed by a screenshot of one of the Zinger's hives /End IDs.]

Honey bees will also cap their honey and larvae with wax, and while a few notable species of Vespid wasps do, in fact, produce honey, the european paper wasps and yellowjackets are not a part of that particular set of species! Oddly, some of the cells appear to contain notably smaller adults as opposed to other cells that contain larvae. To add further confusion, one of these hive levels is titled 'Hornet Hole', hornets being another completely different genus within Vespidae (Vespa).

On top of all that, at the end of the area that contains the hive levels, Krazy Kremland, you fight another Zinger boss, this time named King Zing. As you may know, no wasps have a 'King', solely having a Queen, with hives having both Kings and Queens among eusocial insects being moreso found in termites, belonging to a completely different order (Blattodea).

Outside of their nesting behavior and hierarchy, their behavior is generally unremarkable for platformer enemies, with amped up aggression from that of a real world wasp (although admittedly not nearly as aggressive as a real world wasp would be if you were a monkey with a baseball cap and an unquenchable thirst for bananas invading their nest, as you play in DKC2) to give the player an obstacle to overcome in these levels. It is, at least, implied that these wasps would collect nectar from flowers to turn into the honey found in their nest.

Plus, as I wondered in my review of Fallout: New Vegas' Cazadores, I have to question what exactly a wasp of such a size hunts to bring back to its young! Hopefully Donkey or Diddy Kong wouldn't find themselves on the menu!

All in all, these wasps get a few things right, but are quite the mixed bag of confused species with a couple outright inaccuracies not found in Hymenoptera in general thrown in there. Though I can commend the effort by the designer!

-

Overall: 4.5/10

-

Leave your wasp review suggestion in the replies, tags, or askbox!

Make sure to tune in next week when we cover the Circuit Bees and Mask Hornets from Lethal Company!

[raggedyhive]

For moonknight representation i didn't like how Oscar Isaac implied that he portrayed only Steven as autistic, when the entire system would be autistic even if certain members can mask better

Ah, yeah, I remember seeing that initially and getting the ick. I understand it's one of those things people are often misinformed about (and--while not specifically autism--it's a sentiment I see rather often on Tumblr even among people trying to represent the community: disabilities or developmental disorders are rarely--if ever--only going to affect a single alter in a system).

I can respect his attempt for a degree--making sure Steven was a fully realized identity rather than just an "alternative" to Marc--and while it would be fantastic and brilliant were Steven Grant just Steven Grant, but it did fail to recognize that... yeah. It's... not just Steven. He's a part of the whole, and either that whole person/system is on the spectrum, or they aren't. So while the interview and this take respected Steven as a character and respected his development, the statement given failed to do that in tandem with respecting the reality of dissociative disorders as well. The fictional development unfortunately superseded the real-world facts there.

I will say that I agree with the masking statement as well, of course. I know it's largely moot to what Oscar Isaac said (or, rather, what he didn't say), but many people in the fandom, at least, have embraced and do understand that having one alter on the spectrum means they all are, even if their experiences with it can and will differ. It's one thing I have come to especially appreciate from the fandom, honestly.

That aside, I do wish Oscar Isaac and the other creators had been a bit more aware of this reality. I do think that if he was educated about this, he'd likely roll with it, but perhaps that's just me being hopeful. Off-the-cuff remarks in interviews are harder to master, and while I understand they did a lot of work to educated themselves about DID and try to provide accurate representation, it still is frustrating to be left wondering if they'll ever realize that this was a mistake, that it is a misrepresentation. While the larger consumer base of Moon Knight will never see that interview or even hear about it to any degree, and perhaps will draw the same conclusions as much of the fandom of "they're all on the spectrum" instead of "just Steven," it still is frustrating to feel like we need to wave our hands and be like, "Ah, hello, actually! It's important to know that isn't how this works!!"

It was a pretty isolated statement. I'd be curious to have it dug into and expanded upon, because--if I'm honest--even in that initial interview, Oscar Isaac was very vague. It's good representation theoretically. But you can't just dismissively handwave something like autism and fail to research just because the focus is supposed to be on DID. I guess. Kind of.

I have complicated feelings about it, and sometimes am in disagreement with myself on the feelings of this, but I think that's mostly because there was never a moral prerogative in the intention here, and it was dismissive and a well-intentioned simple insight into character development. It's hard to be angry when you get the feeling that if the statement occurred in a back-and-forth and you brought up the, "Um, actually," to him, he'd receive it well.

[kawarikisaki]

He also seems to trust and respect Akako beyond the crush thing and judging by Sun Halo I think he’s mostly gotten over it. Wether he still likes her(that way) or not is up in the air.

Perhaps this one is going to be a hot take, but I'm not actually convinced that he was ever crushing on Akako.

He thought she was pretty for sure. He blushes the first time he takes notice of her, but if blush was all that was needed to make a crush then Kid makes Hakuba's face much redder than Akako does, just saying.

The first time was see them interact is in A Gift from Akako, but the extent of the interaction is really just that; Akako approaches when Kaito and Hakuba are talking, Hakuba blushes a little 'oh we had a girl like that in our class too?' and then Akako pulls Kaito away. When Akako later impersonates Kaito as Kid she does get a big reaction out of him, but honestly there's not really much there.

I don't think it's enough to claim he has a crush on her, especially when any other time they're together going forward they seem to just be friends- weird friends but friends nonetheless. And even if I were to concede that he had a crush on her we can't be sure that was his real feelings and not the effects of her magic. So that doesn't really mean much.

What does mean something is that like I already brought up their next interactions are weird but friendly.

When Midnight Crow rolls around they're at the point where they can banter a little. The interaction we see is brief, and Kaito is also a part of it, but we see both Akako and Hakuba approach Kaito for the same reason but take different paths to get there. Hakuba saying in more flowery words 'I have white in my name so I don't want to see white lose to black', while Akako says 'this black one may be strong, but I want to see the underdog struggle and win.' Both are expressing that in this instance at least they're rooting for Kaito, they don't want him to lose to anyone unless it's one of them, and they don't really hide this from each other- they do however hide it from Aoko, clamming up when she joins the conversation.

And they do something similar again in Sun Halo, with Akako telling Kaito 'hey I read your fortune, it's not good, maybe postpone what you have planed for tonight, but if you do I'm cheering for you' and Hakuba saying 'oh cool, you've gotten a motorcycle license I'll keep that in mind for later but just so you know that's not allowed at school so maybe don't break the law in your civilian persona.' Though notably this time they do it in front of Aoko, though do still take steps to make sure that Aoko doesn't hear a single accusation of Kaito being Kid.

So what does this mean? Akako and Kaito are both aware that the other is an ally.

And we actually see that come into play later in Sun Halo when Akako calls Hakuba and essentially entrusts him with one of her greatest secrets, admitting to having summoned Lucifer to obtain information on where Kid was. And while Hakuba probably doesn't believe that's really her source he does end up trusting her enough to take the clue she got him and is able to follow it to it's conclusion, and when asked how he did it he doesn't tell anyone, but he does inwardly thank Akako for the hint. Just that shows so much respect and trust between these two. It's lovely, magical even, that Akako trusts Hakuba with her secret and Hakuba earns that trust by not outing her but respects her enough to take it as true whether he believes the source or not.

Also the fact that he has her number in his phone and answered even though he was busy. This doesn't seem like something that happens very often, seeing as Hakuba seems a bit surprised by it, but even so it speaks to the idea that these two have interacted outside of what we've seen. So yes, Trust, Respect, Friendship, bonding over their shared rival/friend..... that makes it sound like a Shonen battle manga, but I definitely think it's accurate.

[least-carpet]

If you still want to do the shipping meme: chengning? (or any other jiang cheng related ship, I love him)

Chengning, my beloved!! I'm also going to stick Wangxian in here, since @add1ctedt0you asked me about it in a comment.

Chengning: Ship It

Currently my main Jiang Cheng ship, which sucks because they're a rarepair. Although apparently Yu Bin also ships it? So us five whole chengning shippers are in good company.

What made you ship it?

Honestly, I kind of incepted myself into it.

They're narrative foils. Both younger brothers with somewhat opposing temperaments from the outside, since Jiang Cheng is sharp-tongued, blunt, and pragmatic, while Wen Ning is timid, shy, and somewhat idealistic. They both orbit Wei Wuxian, who, although he loves them and is deeply protective of them, doesn't seem to particularly respect either of them. I also think that they're more similar than they seem to be on the surface, since Wen Ning's secret resentment is so strong that it makes him an especially strong fierce corpse after he dies.

I'm really interested in Wen Ning's decision to rescue Jiang Cheng in order to... bring him to Wei Wuxian? He drugged a bunch of his sect members and smuggled a whole enemy sect heir out because Wei Wuxian was nice to him once? It's heroic but, like, baffling, especially since he doesn't defect from the Wen afterwards. (There are a lot of reasons for him not to want to defect from his family's sect, but then why betray the sect at all? It's not like his cousins have any intention to stop torturing, slaughtering, etc. Why save this one guy?) It also weirdly is a rescue that doesn't seem to have a lot to do with Jiang Cheng himself. I'm not sure what to make of it. Compels me, though.

Wen Ning's hero-worship of Wei Wuxian means that the one person he'll actually be mean to is Jiang Cheng. While normally "he's only mean to this one guy, so they're in love" is not really my thing, this interests me because Wen Ning is otherwise not a very honest person when it comes to his feelings. He is the King of Repression. It is literally the source of his fierce corpse powers. So, while I also don't think the scene where he yells at Jiang Cheng about the core transfer is a great display of honesty either (I think he says a lot of shit that he knows isn't accurate but will hurt Jiang Cheng's feelings), he's at least showing him his real feelings.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

I like it because I think it forces Wen Ning out of his holding pattern. I want to see Wen Ning grapple with what Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian did to him, which he aggressively does not want to think about, but which Jiang Cheng's situation ensures he can't escape.

I also think, if they were able to get past the anger and resentment, that they'd be cute together. They're both capable of tremendous love and devotion, and wouldn't it be nice for that to be directed at someone who can reciprocate wholeheartedly (rather than at Wei Wuxian who like... definitely loves them... but is also a lot more willing to walk away than either of them are, generally, in life).

Also I think it would really freak Wei Wuxian out, which is very funny to me.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Making Wen Ning the "nice one" and Jiang Cheng the "mean one" is missing the point, which is that this is an angryboy4angryboy relationship. One of them is just better at hiding it.

Wangxian: Don't Ship It

I'm sure this comes as no surprise at all!

Why don’t you ship it?

I'm not particularly interested in it, and that's partly because I only like Lan Wangji when the person writing him is aware of his flaws. Number one thing guaranteed to get my back up is when a writer is like, behold my character, who is a perfect gentleman, and then the character walks by and kicks a puppy (or bullies a teenager to get back at the teenager's guardian). Stop buying into his hype! He's a spoiled second son who has never had to be nice to anyone he didn't like!

What would have made you like it?

I like it sometimes! I'm just a little picky about it. I want everyone to be reasonably flawed and Jiang Cheng to be treated with some complexity. (I get that sometimes you just want a convenient bad guy, but if that convenient bad guy is Jiang Cheng, I am simply not your desired audience! And that happens semi-often with wangxian fic because it's the fandom juggernaut pairing. I gotta sift aggressively.)

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

There's a lot of great lesbian wangxian. I may also just like Lan Wangji a lot more when she's a woman. (This is because I love when women are assholes.)

[seriousbrat]

Okay just for fun I've been looking through my fics on ao3 to see how many pass the Bechdel Test.

YES im aware this isn't a perfect metric and that what really matters is the quality of the female characters, ALSO i'm aware that the test isn't intended for writing and it's difficult to pass when something's written from the perspective of a male character. Although I just think it's worth considering how much of my writing is centred on men in general, for my own interest haha.

To be absolutely clear I'm just doing this because it's fun/interesting/worth thinking about for myself, I will continue to write whatever the fuck I want, as should everyone else.

You don't have to look at the titles, I think the percentages are more interesting:

Fics that pass unequivocally**: The Darkest Days parts 1,2,3,4 / Lippy Kids / Paradise Circus / Something Like Love / Blazing / Burning / When You Come Back / Sea Legs / Of Isabela /

That's 12 out of 29 total, or 41%. (i'm rounding the percentages.)

Purple are the ones that fail the 'anti-bechdel test' (no two men ever even speak to each other lol) because there are barely any or are no male characters at all. Though in the case of Lippy Kids that's just because I turned most of the male characters into girls so it depends how you see that one. Manless fics are 8 out of 29, 28%

**There are two male-pov fics that might pass technically because female characters briefly discuss things with each other that aren't men. These are Playing With Fire and Things I've Never Done. I'm not sure whether to include these because it's so brief and men are at least loosely involved in the conversations. If I include these it's a more respectable 14 out of 29, or 48%, but I'm inclined not to include them.

Now I'm going to break it down differently:

Fics written exclusively from the POV of a man: Playing With Fire / She's in Parties / Pretty Girls Make Graves / The Silence of Another / Gold on the Ceiling / Housewarming / Curiousity / how to fall in love (for dorian pavus) / After Words / Hungry-eyed and Weather-stained / Youth is Wasted On the Young / Things I've Never Done / four funerals and a wedding / the waves and I found the riptide

That's an embarrassing amount rip... the red indicates fics where there are no speaking female roles at all. One thing I will say is that most of the above, particularly the red, are older fics, so it seems like I've gotten better about this over time.

Male-pov fics are 14 out of 29, or 48%.

For fics that have no speaking female roles, aka womanless fics, it's 5 out of 29 or 17%. There are two fics here (how to fall in love, Youth..) that have no speaking lines at all since they're just prose, but I'm not going to subtract these because they don't include any female characters doing anything else either lol.

Fics written exclusively from female POV: Lippy Kids / Paradise Circus / Something Like Love / Sea Legs / Blazing / Burning / Rematch / When You Come Back / Of Isabela / Lifeline / Will You Come With Me?

Okay originally I was going to list all fics that simply include a female pov and highlight the exclusively female POV fics, then I realised that the only fic I have with multiple povs is the Darkest Days series so that wasn't helpful. Anyway:

Female POV fics are 11 out of 29, or 38%. So, I don't love the fact that there's a whole 10% more male pov fics, honestly. (the remaining 14% are the 4 multi-pov parts of TDD) For the sake of my own ego I might try and change this in future lol.

It might be more accurate to base it on word count, because some of my longest fics include female povs, while a lot of the older male-pov ones are fairly short. But that's way too much effort and I won't do that.

To somewhat defend myself to myself, I think that at least a few of the male-pov fics are heavily about women, for example Pretty Girls Make Graves is Snape's perspective about Lily, or She's In Parties is a btvs fic from Spike's pov but is centred around his relationship with Drusilla. The aforementioned Things I've Never Done is a btvs fic from Xander's pov (an odd choice for me haha) but is really more about his observations on his female friends. Still ultimately man-centric but better than nothing I guess. This might be why there are a few more manless fics than womanless fics but who knows.

Anyway, interesting! I had fun doing this.

[bloggingboutburgers]

Do you have any advice for someone traveling to Europe from the US for the first time?

Hi!! I'm so so sorry for replying so late TwT This week's been messy!! I hope I'm not too late TwT

Seeing as I'm the European one in my long-distance relationship with my queerplatonic partner, and THEY've had to come to Europe from the US for the first time to visit me, I took the liberty of asking THEM for some advice, which I feel would be more accurate^^ They've given a lot of input, so everything's under the cut! (Many thanks to them <3)

Okay I'm just going to be transparent here. If you're traveling to Europe by yourself, then be mindful of any testing or documentation needed for that travel. ( Good starting point is here [https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/schengen.html]) It's always good to make sure you have them at the ready since the international airport of where you live, will most likely check that when confirming your check in. Currently from my understanding, people from the United States will need the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) in order to come in to the EU. ( website over here [https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en]) That starts January of 2024. However, once you have it, it's good for three years. They're not accepting applicants at the moment but it's important to have that at the ready if you are planning to visit in the next following year and onwards. Aight, so that's the whole technical aspect of it. Here's like genuinely wish someone told me when I traveled by myself to Europe.

[16:37]Bruh, I underestimated how long the flights are. Absolutely get a airline that provides food regularly because you'll definitely be needing it or bring some food with you. The hunger factor gets to you! Also water, please do get that! During those flights, I've had window seats and they've been serving me well! Like honestly if the section is going for the restroom, you follow the herd, just to make it easier. Also, gauge if ya can chat with your seat neighbors! They've been pretty cool from my experience! (My first ever flight to Europe, there was a couple with a service dog with them! They kindly allowed me to pet the dear but sadly had to move to a better seating for them. Which I respected! Though as a result I had a whole lane for myself! Boi the leg space was a god send! Gosh! Yeah! The leg space in economy is cramped! In all transparency, I'm petite! I fit fine but for my fellow average and up companions...yeah it's a bit uncomfortable. Just be sure to do stretches before and after the flight!) Let's see...I've brought my own head phones which was solid for the movies provided at the flight and if you want some music while you read! I finished vol 1-3 of "The Adventure Zone: Balance" when I first visited with some nice tunes! Then I read some long fanfics from AO3, which were super solid. Nonetheless, whichever is most comfiest for you to spend hours doing for entertainment with slight constant movement is more power to you! It's okay to give yourself options too! Hmmm...once you land, at least where I landed, there was small letterings in English that assist in directing your way through the airport. Though more often than not, there's veterans that just know their way and usually the crowd is heading the same way. So know where your going but usually if you follow the herd of peeps heading to customs, ya know ya have arrived. Gosh, okay, I'll stop right there! Thank you for reading my Ted talk!

That's for my partner's advice! And as for a bit of mine:

Definitely don't forget about the ETIAS document if that'll apply to you. It's a fairly quick process but it's crucial.

Don't expect a great level of English proficiency everywhere in Europe. It can vary from country to country. Typically countries that speak latin languages (like France, Italy or Spain) tend to be less fluent in English and you'll have more trouble Englishing your way there. Of course, that's all evolving with time, but yeah.

...Overall honestly that's the European in me talking but don't expect too much from Europe Europe is kinda mid /j /hj

[itsclydebitches]

I'm honestly curious as to what Salem was referring to in the first volume when she said, "there will be no victory in strength" - alluding to all the times Ozpin has failed to defeat her. Interestingly, Salem never directly strongarms her followers into working for her - violence only comes in when they disobey her (Cinder) or she has her followers do it for her. Meanwhile every conflict the heroes face is solved with violence with the exception of heel-turned antagonists who are either narratively disposed of (Ilia + Raven), added to the cast-bloat of 20+ onscreen characters (Emerald + Aceops) or killed off (Hazel), thus not having to reconcile with new dynamics that aren't "everyone is best friends, all the time".

In some respects it feels like a reversal of the standard moral we would expect from a tale like RWBY. (Though, as I always want to stress, not an intentional reversal.) Meaning, most shonen-esque, fairy tale-esque, young protagonists fight some evil force-esque stories present the message that it's not their literal power that saves the day, but rather the Power of Friendship/Love/Purity/Whatever. Or, more accurately, one leads into another. By embracing the emotion that the story wants to uphold as significant, they receive their power up as a cosmic reward (like going Super Saiyan over the love of a friend), or are otherwise rewarded with the solution to their difficulty (like the Guardians of the Galaxy crew splitting the power of the infinity stone). The in-world universe looks at the hero who has Behaved In The Morally Correct Way--which often includes overtly rejecting power--and says, "Here, have a lot of power anyway as a treat. You've proven that you deserve it." Something, something the best leaders don't want to be leaders (insert Ruby's Beacon arc here) and similarly, the people to have a ton of power are those who don't inherently want to be powerful because now there's little chance that they'll misuse it. And for a hot second RWBY went in that direction with a "simple soul" who doesn't want to be the "bees knees" but does want to "help people."

Problem is--as you say--Ruby and the group just solve all of their conflicts with violence. Not in a Power of Friendship/Love way, but ordinary, prodigy, punch-them-until-they-stop-moving violence. Particularly in the later volumes. Ruby doesn't defeat Cordovin with a power-up because a teammate was injured in the fight and she now wants to protect them, they just shoot at her until a massive grimm shows up to finish the job. They don't defeat the Ace Ops with the Power of Teamwork, they all split into separate rooms and we're told they're simply more talented than these professionals, period. Blake doesn't find the strength to defend herself by thinking about Ruby, she begs Ruby to wake and do the work for her. Jaune doesn't save Penny by unlocking some upgraded semblance at a crucial moment out of a love for her, he slits her throat. The group doesn't defeat Cinder in Volume 8 at all. There's no strategy anymore, or success tied to Love--and I do use the word "anymore" deliberately. Because for a long time RWBY's saving grace (no matter its other flaws) were the Silver Eyes: a straightforward ability Powered By Love that was at the heart of our hero's development. Ruby sees Pyrrha die and it activates. She sees Blake in great danger and it activates. Even in Volume 6 when it was getting very flimsy with memories of decorating the dorm and what-not, at least it still revolved around the concept of a found family, even if it was retconning the idea of mortal peril being a trigger. It still mostly worked.

Now though, Ruby simply decides that the fight is over and disintegrates the Hound--no emotion necessary--and she doesn't react at all when her sister is murdered. We lost the one aspect of the show that still revolved around the Power of Friendship/Love.

Which finally brings us back to Salem's opening speech. "There will be no victory in strength." AKA, the standard moral. You can't defeat me by training, learning fancy techniques, or even being a prodigy. At least, you can't wield those things on their own. All the straight-forward power in the world isn't going to bring me down. Her immortality should be a metaphor for that message, wherein the cast learns the thematic lesson of upholding the Power and Love by figuring out how to circumvent the practical problem of an enemy that can't die. This setup works. It's tried and true and tested!!

But than, as said, RWBY swerved hard. Now they're saying that strength is enough. Strength is the ultimate weapon. How do you deal with a traumatized ally? You punch him and demand that he return for more violence. How do you convince an abused brother to help you? Threaten him with your sword. How do you beat the best team in Atlas, possibly the world? By just being more powerful than them, duh.

How do you defeat Salem?

By fighting her. That's the closest the group gets to offering Ironwood a "solution" to their problem: we'll stay here and fight her. How is that going to work given the whole immortality thing? They don't know. They don't care. There's absolutely no discussion about the issue, yet the protagonists continue to push the message that the best--the only--solution is to stand your ground, sharpen your weapons, and find a way to punch the problem into submission. Oh, RWBY still appears very Power of Friendship-y with all the speeches about how they have to work together, but post Volume 4-ish the writing hasn't followed up on that message.

RWBY said, "There will be no victory in strength" and then halfway through its run went, "Never mind, strength is awesome. Why would we write a story about strategy, creativity, and the importance of strong bonds when our heroes can just be More Powerful than the enemy? It's so much simpler to write a story where they're inherently as talented as the plot needs and they've all read the script, so they know they'll win in the end--that's their reasoning and justification. So much better than writing that complicated metaphor."

You know, I'm thinking now about Ironwood's final moments as he reached for his gun and then dropped his hand. Besides the fact that it reads as more sympathetically tragic to me than, I suspect, the pathetic angle RT was going for, within this framework it really reflects his whole philosophy. In a "normal" Power of Love story, there might be something to the idea that he isn't trying hard enough; that unlike our protagonists who Persevere, Ironwood demonstrates a pronounced weakness in giving up. But since the story has established quite clearly that conventional violence will not win this fight--AKA, a gun--it reads more like a tragic wisdom. In his final moments he's not giving up because he can't fight anymore (I mean, whatever else we might say about the guy, he's incredibly determined and resilient), but because he understands that the only course now available to him is useless. From the moment Oscar told him the truth, Ironwood has been working within the realities of their situation. It led him to doing horrific things in the name of finding a lesser evil, but it's narratively significant that he (and Ozpin) is one of the only characters who truly accepts the problem of Salem's immortality and doesn't bow out of the fight (like Raven). He understands that picking up a gun and shooting this being is the height of stupidity. It's a waste of time, of energy, of focus. It might be comforting to pretend that their weapons are still a viable option, but he's not going to spend his last slice of life chasing a delusion. It won't work.

Meanwhile, or protagonists are still ignoring this problem 99% of the time and the other 1% they're going, "Hmm... but what if we tried brute strength 🤔?"