#i do like thinking about him from a meta standpoint tho i think he's a very interesting case study of narration as a characterization tool

[brofightiscancelled]

So if choro hate real…. What’s the current actual ranking of the brothers.

my overall brother ranking is here.... i thought about this a little more deeply and i think if you break down the definition of "i like this character" between "i like rotating this character in my head" and "i get joy from seeing this character in fanart/amv/official illustrations/merch", the rankings are different

rotation ranking: oso > totty >>>> choro >> kara = jyushi = ichi

joy from seeing them ranking: jyushi >>>>>> ichi > oso = kara = totty >>>>>>>> choro

[gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil]

To the vague point about brand pairs, I think their persistence can be helpful from an acting standpoint. Some people benefit from having an acting partner who they have familiarity with, and a second go-around actually works in their favor. (I think the biggest examples might be Pond and Phuwin who got better together with NLMG (granted the scripting and direction was better than FUTS) and Earth and Mix, who despite having a popular show found their footing much later). On the other hand, the chance to mix things up is important because getting stuck with someone and stagnating is bad. Singto for example did better as he started working with a variety of people. Nanon and Ohm were so well established even at the time of BB (both technically as actors and popularity-wise on their own, especially Nanon) that they don't have much of a reason to tie themselves together apart from the fan response.

But I think the overall the chemistry discussion ends up being clouded by how much people like the show and the characters and the meta fog around it. People in general don't tend to love a characters pair and then think the chemistry between the actors is bad or vice versa (though there are exceptions, particularly in the reverse department). The conversation around Ohm and Nanon seems to be highly influenced by external factors and the social implosion that happened. That said Ohm and Nanon are a pair that I think actively worked on making the on-screen chemistry happen and are good enough at acting to be successful; even from the start, back when it aired, I don't think they had natural chemistry. Ohm in particular has a easy presence that allows him to be successful in the chemistry department with a variety of people and I think that played a big role here.

You can tell when people are being tense or trying too hard--Perth and Chimon are the worst examples of it recently since the gap is so stark between their general acting skills and their pair chemistry. Even people who did a pretty good job together like Neo and Mark can show that tension. Natural chemistry is exceedingly rare and there are only a handful of people that I believe have had it. I won't mention who I think it is though.

Your observation about familiarity makes some very interesting points and the examples you mentioned are quite apt too, down to Singto who I agree I've really liked a lot more when he finally got to spread his wings!

Of course it's also very true that chemistry isn't necessarily an objective standard to judge, as different acting and directing choices will resonate differently with different people. As for Ohm and Nanon, yeah they're great actors to begin with - especially Ohm IMO - so as a result, it would be easier for them to develop a believable on screen chemistry. I'll say, tho, while I really liked Bad Buddy, I'm not the biggest Nanon fan and I wasn't particularly heartbroken about them not acting in BL together anymore.

When it comes to PerthChimon, as I've said before, I do think there was already improvement at the end of their show VS the beginning but we'll see where that takes them if anywhere at all! NeoMark should be in everything forever, while also getting a billion other roles individually. That's doable, right?

Now now, Anon, you can’t Ieave we hanging like that! You mentioned it, now you gotta name names.

[giffingthingsss]

I like media that has a reason to exist. 

This is one reason I don’t like Undiscovered Country. The arc of Kirk’s emptiness after his captaincy is wrapped up nicely in Final Frontier. Undiscovered Country is a meta goodbye to the TOS crew and his random Klingon thing comes out of nowhere. In meta, it’s a transition piece. In-world, it’s unnecessarily tacked on to an already finished arc. Maybe I would feel differently if I watched it again, but I have no desire to. 

I find the TNG movies by and large a waste of time from ‘a story that needed to exist’ standpoint, but that’s what the fandom would buy, so what can you do?

Having said that, most of the TNG movies are...fine. I guess they show the social development of a Picard who’s started to let his hair down. Generations picks up TOS movie themes and has both men facing their regrets and finding a way out the other side. 

I don’t care at all about destroying the ENT D or anything like that. In movies they’re going to do this kind of thing because they’re going to build new sets for the movies, not just leave one set sitting around when they could use that space. Data finding Spot in the wreckage was probably the best thing to come out of these movies. 

I like the Cochrane stuff in First Contact. The Borg Queen stuff was ok. Dampened by me growing up with Voyager and liking it better there. The idea tho that the Borg would need to go to these lengths to assimilate humanity is kind of hilarious. Humans sure do think a lot of themselves. I also grow very weary of Picard’s borg trauma, but that’s me. It’s an entertaining film. 

I think Nemesis was the worst simply because I don’t care much about Picard, so showing him a mirror self, showing his personality in a situation that would cause him to turn evil, doesn’t really matter to me. I wish they had damaged Hardy’s face so I wasn’t distracted by the lack of resemblance. Melt half of it or something. 

Picard being so fundamentally disturbed by Shinzon and his death to the point that he was rendered immobile and Data had to sacrifice himself. Again, if I cared about Picard and understood all they were trying to say with this whole character study maybe that would be good, idk. What I do know is it’s a sad way for the last movie to end. Sad with Picard, I thought Data’s sacrifice was kinda cool. (also a bit of a cop out since they basically copied Data into B4, but whatever.)

Insurrection was nice. I wish this was the way Picard had gone out. I would watch Generations and this one again. I guess that makes me weird. Oh well. 

In my ideal world, Insurrection would have been it, and then my post-Voyager Avengers movie annihilating the Borg would have said goodbye to that era. ENT would have finished its run. If they needed to do some more movies they could have done them with that cast plugging in some more worldbuilding in the early Federation years. 

A nice complete story that could sit and wait in peace, giving the franchise time to breathe. 

[mishkakagehishka]

Have you ever heard the song Puppet Loosely Strung? Because the lyric "they just couldnt see that it was me needing you not you needing me" makes me think of shu and mika

Oh, I've never heard it, but👁👁 it does... it makes me think especially of the whole ex-valkyrie break-up, the aftermath of their live being sabotaged and how Shu took it, and how Mika actually helped him through it... but also just. They're so symbiotic. There's so many stories where you can say "Oh, Shu is the reason for Mika's development" but also so many where you can say "Oh, Mika is the reason for Shu's development" and just.

In the beginning, Shumika were making eachother worse, but they actually managed to build eachother up as time went by. Good for them

[snake-and-mouse]

Hey, I see that you really love kimchay as a ship and I was just wondering what makes them so great to you. I'll be honest, out of all the ships on KP, they interest me the least and I'd love to be more invested in them. What's their appeal to you? (maybe it'll convince me to get more into them)

Hmmmm okay so this one takes some thought, and buckle down because it's going to get loooong and rambley lmao. For one let's start by saying I do not honestly think they are the best ship in the show, I do not talk about them the most and come up with more meta about them because I like them more than kinnporsche or vegaspete. When it comes down to it, I think I engage with them more because I'm more interested in how they actually develop and more invested in how they end, as well as the message their story tells. Which, yes is a little confusing as a distinction to make lol.

With kinnporsche and vegaspete, I usually come away from each new episode with an overall feeling of being satisfied with how they are progressing that doesn't particularly inspire the kind of fandom brainrot I have for kimchay. And, this may sound a little heartless, but quite honestly from a writing point of view I would have no objections to kinnporsche or vegaspete having an unhappy ending. In fact there were a few times where blatantly said I think Kinn dying would be a satisfying end to his storyline. Like yes it would emotionally cripple me 😂 I would mourn like Vegas with his fucking hedgehogs if any one on the main couples died or even if they broke up. But from a writing standpoint, it would not be a bad choice and I would respect it, and I really do tend to try and watch these shows with the mindset of both a fan and an author.

Kimchay tho? I've said from the beginning that this is a particular kind of narrative that seems so purposefully set apart from the rest of the story, so well positioned as this almost mirror world to the rest of the plot, that I both never know where it's going and am also so sure that the only satisfying ending could be a happy one. Mostly because Porchay, like I love Kim but most of the reasons I am obsessed with this ship are because Porchay is a very specific archetype of character that drives me insane.

I've compared him to Lan Sizhui from mdzs before, and it's pretty accurate, the child born into a dark environment who is both innocent and sheltered and yet intrinsically shaped by the tragic events of his life, his happy demeanor only one side of a coin, the other being a heartbreaking sadness and an untapped strength that the narrative is pushing him to finally use. Porchay is a cringey adorable inexperienced teenager, yes. But he is only just that if you only give him the briefest of passing thoughts.

Enter Kim, and as many wattpad y/n jokes as I've made, what Porchay has with Kim is in my opinion anything but a celebrity crush. Well, obviously it starts as that, but even then. Porchay gets his first interaction with Kim because he is someone who sees the details, the little things. He's not just another fanboy, he's studied Wik's music and videos like he's tried to get down to the marrow of how he ticks. And they have him say from the very first tutoring session, he's not just here for Wik, he's here for every side of Kim that he's willing to show. And he toes this perfect line between saying what he wants and never breaking Kim's boundaries and the growing comfort he gets around the teen. And you can see Kim completely falls for it. He's got practiced aloofness down to a fucking art, and yet we see it crack and show genuine amusement and fondness over and over again.

And with the later episodes we can see how big of a deal that is, because literally the only other time we see Kim lose his control is when he's angry. In my opinion, giving into positive emotions is a much bigger tell than giving into anger. Kim not being able to resist kissing Porchay says way more than him being willing to shoot someone for him, and this is also a message the narrative itself tells us.

Take kinnporsche for example. For them, the moments that mattered were the ones they gave into being soft, being tender, being open with each other. Stolen kisses, wandering hands, harsh words becoming private whispers. These were the moments that were ultimately rewarded. Kinnporsche is a show that says violence and pain can be your life but you can still find meaning in allowing in love and kindness. And it's why I really really believe kimchay can't have an unhappy ending, because this is not a show that punishes people for being like Porchay, it's a show that says the choices he's made are how you find hope.

So. Because I have to stop talking at some point. Kimchay. A story about a young man who was raised by his brother to be a kind, honest, loving person, who always reaches for what he wants and pushes the man he is falling in love with to open up and give into tenderness and honesty, while Kim fights every step and tries to remain the cold cruel person the world made him into. That is the story I am obsessed with, and why I love these two.

[caffernnn]

Final stroke spoilers: ⚠️‼️

I just saw a post on Twitter about the Haru and Rin scene and how they didn’t feel that it was that ooc of Haru. I thought I was the only one who felt that it was kind of justified on Haru’s end. Because both Rin and Ikuya put Haru and their friends through so much when they were lost and wanted to swim with Haru again. And I get that professional swimming is entirely different than what they’re used to, but it really sucks that as soon as the competition got a little hard they decided to just drop free and only swim their preferred styles. That’s got to be a slap in the face to Haru, because what was all of that other stuff about? Like Rin wanted for YEARS for Haru to swim on the world stage and after the first race is like “you’re on your own.” He honestly deserves it to be honest even if Haru would’ve never said anything to protect their friendship he was clearly thinking or thought these thoughts. For a show where Haru is the mc we rarely get to see how he feels about things. I wish we can see the movie soon, cause I really wanna see how that whole sequence takes place.

⚠️ Talking about Free! Final Stroke spoilers below the cut ⚠️

It’s wild to me (it probably shouldn’t be surprising; idk) how even going off of just spoilers, there is a clear divide in the reactions people are having to Haru’s actions in the movie, especially in reference to the sudden shift leading up to the fight with Rin. I can see why people are surprised by it on a base level because so much of his successes in DttF, paired with the camaraderie everyone seems to have for a majority of the movie, leads you to believe Haru has emotionally matured and stabilized since high school, which is true! He’s more open to change and examining his emotions, especially as he starts to grapple with a high-stakes long-term goal for what feels like the first time. With that said, all of this can be true at the same time Haru is going through a steady breakdown that can/will likely lead to burnout. So many people who’ve been put through rigorous academic programs or career training or anything else equally as intensive can attest to the frustration of feeling like every few steps forward (gaining experiential knowledge, making connections, learning more about your identity in reference to x goal, etc) are followed by a step back (exhaustion, plateaus, expectations you can’t meet, mistakes spilling out when you can’t keep repressing the negatives in the name of “productivity”). Haru was able to make it this far because he has grown and started to heal some of the cracks in his support group, but the sheer amount of pressure makes it easier for him to break, and old wounds that never fully healed have time to fester.

I probably sound like a broken record in these movie-related posts when talking about Haru getting obsessed with becoming stronger and not knowing what to do with that fairly new and overwhelming drive. I can’t be mad at Haru completely for his choices here (can’t wait to be called a Haru apologist when the movie comes out in more places jfjdjd) because he partially fell victim to circumstance. This is one of the first times Haru takes the expectations of him being a “hero” or “prodigy” into consideration, and now he’s trying to navigate the expectations of success that come with those titles while not being sure 1) what exactly they are beyond winning, and 2) not being sure if they’re actually attainable for him. Along with that, he’s putting faith in Ryuuji’s instruction and guidance because he needs someone with any sort of credibility or experience with the pro circuit to show him how to get to the top. Even though from an outside standpoint it’s easier to discredit and reject Ryuuji’s assertion that everyone at the top has to give something up to get there, there are a number of reasons Haru reconsiders the notion with everything he’s seeing. He’s seeing his newest rivals reach crazy success and strength through isolation, and Ryuuji is dangling a golden opportunity in front of his face by going to Haru in the moments where he’s most vulnerable and saying “yes, that strength you crave is possible for you, but only if you pay this specific price for it.” Nobody should bear the weight of “saving” Haru from his circumstances (especially not his friends on their own journeys… Ryuuji and other mentors watching this trainwreck can eat my shorts tho), but dealing with this ultimatum while his core support group is pushing forward through their own challenges and/or busy in another country, I can’t be too surprised when he starts to overextend himself and burst at the seams.

As far as the blow-up with Rin, I won’t say it’s fully justified, but it’s understandable. The way Haru has had to make peace with his hardships with Ikuya and Rin has largely been by atoning for his own involvement in those rifts and trying to turn over a new leaf without expecting much in return. He took the opportunities of swimming with both of them again to replace any apologies on their parts and largely made peace with it. As much as it’s going to hurt to watch, I’m interested to see this fight play out because it sounds like it addresses a problem we bring up a lot in meta analyses posts: there needs to be more explicit conversations and apologies between characters, or the closure feels flimsy and temporary at best. This fight isn’t about closure (it’s about a lot of things both involving and excluding Rin, but I ranted about that in the other spoiler post) but it’s acknowledgement after all of this time that there’s still a need for it. Having Rin back in his life as a rival and friend has held the caveat in the back of his mind that Rin will leave his side again if Haru’s friendship/rivalry stops serving all of his interests. Haru’s ultimate fear of being abandoned by people, of people using him without understanding him and then throwing him aside for someone/something else, is drastically coming back to the surface in all of his stress. Rin and Ikuya choosing to continue their pro careers with strokes that better suit their strengths isn’t abandonment, just like Makoto choosing a university in Tokyo wasn’t, but Haru is so lost in his own stress and despair that he can’t see these choices as anything but personal attacks in the moment. These choices don’t have to do with Haru and we’re never meant to hurt him (which he comes to realize by the end of each fight), but the unresolved issues mixed with his fears make him explode.

It’s not a black and white situation where only one side is in the right, and I hope whatever resolution comes in the second movie acknowledges that. Rin didn’t deserve Haru’s taunting and wrath in that moment, but I do want him to reflect on the whole mess and recognize that Haru’s in a desperate place not unlike the one he was in when he first went to Australia and seemingly cut everyone off. I want them both to consider that avoiding airing out those insecurities because it’d be uncomfortable or embarrassing ultimately led them back here, unsure how to talk about changes and concerns without first having one of them explode or hit rock bottom. They can be friends outside of swimming, I’d want them to be friends outside of swimming, but I think Haru isn’t blind to how much of their connection is reliant on intrigue in the water, and a part of him is scared that Rin won’t have a reason to stick around if they aren’t rivaling each other in the same stroke anymore.

All of this can make for a great chance of resolution in the second movie, if done well. There’s opportunity for Haru to realize that the trajectory of dreams can change, and just like Rin changing his stroke or Makoto changing his training emphasis, you can honor the parts of the dream that first inspired you while finding a path that honors the person you’ve become. There’s opportunity for Haru to break from the dangerous echo chamber he’s currently in telling him he has to do this all alone in a few ways. Maybe he’ll have a moment where he’s like “I gave up everything and still couldn’t get stronger, so now I need to get back to finding what gives me strength personally.” Maybe he’ll have a moment where he’s like “if my only option is a path paved in loneliness, I need to find a new dream.” There are so many directions the story can go in at this point, and I’m excited to see what happens next (and maybe write about the paths they don’t choose lol).

[phoebe-delia]

Hello phoebe! For the meta ask if you're still doing it: 1, 4, 22 please? 💞

@colormehazelnut, Hazel! Thank you so much for this ask. Yes, I'm still doing the meta asks for as long as people send them in 😂. So thank you for filling my ask box with joy!

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

I have several WIPs going on, a couple of which are the prompts you sent in! (Thanks for those btw I'm so excited to write them for you!) Of course, I'm keeping those a secret for now, along with the other song prompts I've been lucky enough to get from people, so I'll instead say that I'm working on what I *hope* will eventually be my first longer fic. I struggle to write fics longer than 7k, so for this one I'm shooting for at least 10k. We'll see. But I've done a couple WIP snippet posts, combined here for those interested. This one will be post-war. My plan is for it to deal with mental health and finding yourself and learning what it means to be free. It's already one of the more relatable things I've written so far, and I'm excited to push a little out of my songfic comfort zone!

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Okay, I thought very long and hard about this, and I'm actually surprising myself a little bit with my selection because I often sorta forget about this fic. But it was for the microfic prompt "peculiar" and I was inspired by the lyrics from the song "evermore" by the one and only Taylor Swift. I'm proud of this one because I'd kept trying to think of other ideas for the prompt because I was like "not everything can be based on Taylor lyrics, Phoebe!" But I had no other ideas and finally I just decided to listen to the song on repeat. I sat in the chairs in an academic building while I waited between my classes and just wrote this. When I was done I was like "Welp, here we are!" 😂 CW: depression; the fic does have a happy/hopeful ending tho! You can read the rest here.

Draco couldn’t cry, so he let the sky do it for him. He shivered, soaking it up like the grass crushed under the shirt clinging to him like a second skin. He closed his eyes, imagining that the drops sliding down his face were the tears he couldn’t muster, the catharsis he hadn’t earned.

He spread out his arms and legs, weaving his fingers through the blades of grass. He wondered if he, too, could sink into the earth and intertwine himself with the roots; perhaps they, fibrous and thin yet enduring, could wrap around his veins and grow to his heart to raise the weight from his chest.

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

More often than I'd like to admit 😂. This ends one of two ways: resisting the urge to edit or delete the work, or with feelings of pride in my work.

I'm trying to have a healthier relationship with my stats page. It's strange, sometimes, because there are fics I've written that have gotten more "attention" than the fics I like the best. I can try to reblog/promote a fic over and over that I'm so proud of, but I'll still get likes or comments or reblogs on something I spent 10 minutes on.

I'm trying to realize that the number of likes or kudos or reblogs or comments something has doesn't have to be proportional to my pride in it. My favorite fics of mine aren't always my most "popular" fics, and that's okay. There are fics, like the one I mentioned in question 4, that have been well-received that I'm also proud of from a personal writing standpoint. And then there's also a 7k Gen fic on my AO3 that has 15 kudos that used to drive me crazy because it felt like I'd put all this work into it when "no one" had read it.

I wanted to "fix" it. I wanted to add a Drarry chapter at the end, just to give it more views. I wanted to rewrite the whole thing. I wanted to add more to it in the hopes that someone else would see it.

And then I realized that to do so would be a disservice to the work I put into it initially. I realized that adding something to a story just to make it more "popular" or to get it more attention isn't a good enough reason. I wrote a Gen fic. I wrote a fic that doesn't have Draco in it at all. I wrote a fic where there's no romantic relationship; where Harry and Ginny are friends. And that's okay. I'm still proud of it, of what I accomplished. It was the first fic I'd ever done for a fest, and it was based on something really special to me. And that's enough.

This isn't meant to be a not-so-subtle request to go read it, by the way, 😂. I've been meaning to write a post like this for a while because I know I'm not the only one who's struggled with this. And I just want anyone reading this to know that your creativity has value in and of itself. I'm not going to tell you not to write for others, or not to seek validation. We're all here because we like the way our brains get dopamine from reblogs and comments and kudos on our fics, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But my goal for myself is to notice when I'm getting too wrapped up in the hunt for validation and take a step back and let the fact that I'm using my brain to create be satisfactory. I want to have enough respect for my work as it is that I don't add more to it only because I've let my stats page tell me it's not good enough.

My stats page can judge me when it's written 7k. But until the frankly terrifying AU where AO3 becomes sentient and starts to write fics, I think I'll try to quit letting it affect my self-worth.

Ask me a writing meta question from this list! I’ve already done 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 17, 20, 22, and 23!

[nekoprankster218]

Spoilers for the last two episodes of RWBY Vol. 8 below; TL;DR at the end

I was binging the last four episodes of Vol 8 when this moment came up in the penultimate episode, and it just took me by surprise in the moment. I was still processing it even as Ironwood made his first attack. I was not expecting this move from CRWBY (actually wasn’t expecting a lot of those this season, but especially these last few episodes), and now that everything is done, I really wanted to just make sense of it. It was really quick and small, but I feel like analyzing it based on everything we know speaks volumes.

Just in case you never came across this info (I had to explain it to my dad since he only watches the show and interacts with nothing else), it was confirmed during I believe a panel with the writers that Ironwood’s semblance is a thing called “Mettle.” It essentially keeps him focused on a task, no matter what needs to be done in order to accomplish it, even if the choices that have to be made are morally or emotionally tough. There’s been some upset from the community about this semblance and the way it was introduced, as well as other bits about it; and even though I’m also disappointed in execution, this doesn’t mean it’s not existent in the show.

So, this very quick detail coming right before he goes against Winter. What interests me more isn’t the fact he shed a tear over her betrayal, but everything else about him since he first woke up in the cell. There’s just been something about his movements and voice (mainly the movements tho) that’s been bugging me; and it wasn’t until the tear fell that I realized what it was. They’re cold and stiff - they’re robotic. Kinda fitting, given this follows when the one robot of the show has just been turned into a real, fleshy human.

And this tear is the only “human” thing about it. His face is dead, his eyes are dull, and even his expression clashes with the teardrop. And as I was watching things play out, I couldn’t help but think of the little phrase: “the eyes are the window to the soul.” Well, given how I just said his eyes are dull, maybe the more fitting term would be eye mechanisms, but I think where I’m going with this is kinda clear.

This is the last trace of James Ironwood leaking through, in my opinion. The one who sacrificed his arm to protect Amity - to protect the one hope the entire planet had for communications. The one we listen to in “Hero.” The one who opened his arms and plans up to a bunch of kids when years ago he was willing to betray a colleague in order to have full control of Vytal security. The one who trusted, and expressed himself, and let himself be weak and exhausted in front of others (see: his talks with Qrow and Oscar), and gave physical affection (see: hug with Qrow); the one we saw in Vol 7 right before Cinder and Salem showed up.

Mettle is locked onto the goal of protecting Atlas - it’s been said so time and time again that he’ll do whatever it takes. But I feel like the betrayal from Winter, while not being strong enough to break Mettle’s hold of his body, might’ve at least gotten through to his mind/soul that things have gone too far. A fitting parallel comes again from Penny with the virus controlling her body - although in her case, with a little help from Jaune, her soul was able to overpower the virus and take back control of her body. With Ironwood, though, his fate is the opposite. He’s lost that battle, with the only thing he can do against his semblance is weep briefly.

With that I mind, I honestly do hope he’s died amidst the rubble. Aside from the horror of him possibly shifting from “protect” to “revenge” now that Atlas is gone - even if the destruction frees him from Mettle, death at that point really is the best option from both a narrative and a meta standpoint. Mettle is something that has yet to be even acknowledged in-universe; if CRWBY tries to redeem Ironwood at this point, trying to use it now as a explanation will probably seem to those who don’t know about it yet as a lazy excuse to wave his actions away. Honestly, yeah, even knowing about it now still makes it seem like a lazy explanation/motivation. Sure, it’d be nice if maybe the Shade professor mentioned it to the kids so it’s finally addressed in-universe like it should’ve been much, much earlier, but damage has already been done. Ironwood’s a tragedy, but but very hard to realistically redeem at this point. The public’s already seen him try to blow up a whole city of people for a petty reason - even if it came out it was all because of a semblance, that might just make them distrust him for new reasons, much less forgive him.

Also, note: this isn’t me waving away everything fucked up he’s done since the end of Vol 7. As much as I wish CRWBY did things differently with his character, that’s not the story we got. This is just me making an observation of a detail and trying to make a theory about it - not an excuse of actions or an argument for redemption. I’ve seen at least one other interpretation of the tear that have gone down different paths, and they weren’t as a nice as I was, and honestly given how quick and vague this was anyone could be right at this point. However, for me, I kind of want to go off based one of the lessons we learned from this season, the one which Yang verbalized in “Risks.” I want to be optimistic about this moment. I want to have hope that deep down, there was a person, and one that hopefully had his soul freed from the narrow-minded shell that’s been marching around this whole season. That’s my interpretation for Vol 8!Ironwood.

TL;DR: Given how off his movements and expression have felt, the way the tear clashes to me seems like the writers saying, “Mettle has taken complete control over Ironwood’s body, and all he can do now is shed a tear as he can’t stop his body from fighting Winter and dooming everyone.” It reads much like Penny’s battle with the virus; although in his case, he lost, and hopefully he’s also dead so he and everyone else can finally be at peace over this whole mess.

Holy shit. One day into the hiatus and I just did a full write up over a split-second tear. God, this is gonna be hell.

[invertedfate]

Random Ask Dump - Anniversary Edition (50+ REALLY OLD ASKS!)

Going through OLD AND CRUSTY ASKS to try and chip away at the inbox. HERE WE GOOOO...

That’s an interesting idea, and I could run it by Cake, but I think it would honestly be a LOT to track from a programming perspective. Especially ‘cause killing Sans is gonna result in a “bad ending,” so to speak.

An attempt was made by Undyne to have all three hang out at the same time. Papyrus was SUPER EAGER. ...but one thing led to another and there were many messy explosions of chemicals and lots of smoke. Alphys had to step in before things got out of hand. It was all very daunting for her. Pap and Undyne are VERY LOUD, VERY AMBITIOUS PEOPLE.

I actually have some ideas of some side comics I may do at some point! :o It’s just that right now there’s a lot going on.

I need to poke Carni about that at some point. He’s just been very busy with other projects!

Clearly he’s standing on the “out to lunch” sign.

I wanna say that it’s very possible in theory. :o It probably affects them differently since monsters’ emotional state affects their magic and their physical state.

I do like little easter eggs like that, though I’m not sure where I’d fit it in atm just ‘cause I already showed Pap’s room, haha.

I made the chase theme for Mad Dummy as well as Mad Mew Mew’s battle theme. @pinewsun​ made the battle theme for Mad Dummy, and @thomasthepencil​ made the Season Dude battle theme and MD’s overworld theme. :o

That’s a really fascinating conundrum! You’re absolutely right- if IF was a standalone game, then from a writing standpoint, having more subtle implications would make sense! The reason I chose a different approach for IF is because it’s set after Flowey’s already known to be evil and I like to give different POVs rather than stick to just Frisk’s.

That’s an interesting thing, actually- both fights lean heavily on the fourth wall. Both are treated as climaxes for their given routes. It’s funny because Asriel’s fight is a lot more straightforward and less meta by comparison.

I agree! The thing with Papyrus is that he’s extremely powerful- he just doesn’t want to kill. But it’s a deliberate choice not to kill- he’s able to force his attacks to do next to no damage. He’s also pretty darn crafty, as he made the Gauntlet himself. It really is just a case of Undyne’s personal biases and concern for him.

That was a deliberate choice. :O Papyrus is very influential toward Frisk. He is best skeleboi.

Papybot loves you, anon! He just wants to feed you WHOLESOME SPAGHETTI!!!

It is possible to whistle through teeth. ...alternatively, magic. As for the music, Undertale implies that the music is heard! Maybe it’s just... a thing that exists in this world. Or it’s just meant to be a silly meta joke. I try to keep it somewhat ambiguous other than occasional nods to it. Chara’s pants are lighter because I just... felt like it, I guess? Haha. I wanted their feet and pants to stand out more from each other, so they have khaki pants. As for the Undyne fight being animated, well, this ask is old by now, but Sparks was the one who was down for it.

Well, the teaser’s been out for a long time now, but that’s the idea! It’s also why this has been in production for so long. The Determinator has some really over the top attacks (that weren’t even shown in the teaser), and Sparks animated in Photoshop. That’s how hardcore he is.

Shhhhh. Don’t give me ideas. I’m already slacking on Tem Village. :P

Sometimes I do have slumps and burnouts (see Antipode’s lengthy hiatus), but breaks lead to me being refreshed and coming back with even more enthusiasm than before!

Oh, there are a lot of these throughout the comic. For instance...

Flowey appears in a few background shots in the Ruins!

When Sans says “or maybe...” he looks at the empty flower pot. This was one of the earliest bits of foreshadowing about who created Flowey, and nobody noticed it at the time!

The MTT vending machines initially look like this but have helpful items.

And then they look like this, with an angry face and pose- Mad Dummy has possessed them!

As of Part 38, it’s been revealed that he did first meet Asgore as “Santa.” As for whether or not he knows the truth, time will tell. :o

Oh, these are excellent suggestions for calls! I’ll try to keep these in mind.

So, I believe Glyde uses the Mysterious Door motif. Jerry uses the motif in its battle theme- I believe it’s a mix of original motif and Wrong Number song?

Sans is a master of power napping. He probably gets a decent amount of sleep, though.

There are a lot of ways to interpret Pap’s lack of sleep! In IF, he can get by without it, but he also has a lot of reasons to avoid sleeping. Some reasons include productivity but also due to a looooot of heavy baggage. More on that later.

I think sleep can definitely make monsters healthier. Rest = better mental health as well as physical health, and with how important mental and emotional help is for monsters, that’s very important!

They just really like socks. Socks are warm. Socks are slinky. And googly eyes are the best. So they took on the form of a really eccentric sock puppet and sock collector. Scandalous.

It also has Alphys’ motif, as the two are the leaders of the royal guard!

I would say the lack of Asgore as an influence has left Undyne slightly less grounded? Like, she had Toriel and Gerson in her life, but her relationship with Toriel is... definitely not quite as close? Like, Toriel by that point kept people at an arm’s length due to losing multiple children (including one from old age). So, while they were on friendly terms until the aftermath of the DT experiments and the tapes’ release, it was more like mutual respect and a sorta professional relationship with Undyne admiring Toriel and wanting to spare her from more heartache.

That is a really interesting idea. While that didn’t happen, I do need to maybe revisit the grumpy dog at some point or another. He’s still a lil’ salty.

I think in terms of layout it won’t change much, but there will be new/different content for sure. :O

Mad Dummy’s base design is mostly original, but she has a wig + headband from DIO from Jojo Part 3! Fun fact: While MTT has Kamina shades, Papyrus’ goggles are loosely based on Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann in terms of color. :O

So basically, when Asriel defeated Frisk, he had the power over the timeline to reset it as he pleased- in theory. However, that power was overwhelming for him, and due his lack of understanding OF said power and one last ditch attempt at resisting from Chara, things went wrong.

There is a track that takes some inspiration from Rage Awakened. It’s not released, and it’s not exact, but it won’t be released for a WHILE. Like until the part comes out.

I think it’s just the fact that tacos are so random. Like, my biggest beef in that regard was that OG Underswap had a lot of arbitrary replacements for things in UT and not all of them made sense. Like, if Sans was to make a foreign food, ramen would’ve made more sense due to Alphys being weeb trash, haha.

Okay, so the rough timeline iiiis... Falling: - Cyan - Green - Orange - Blue - Purple - Yellow Dying: - Cyan - Orange - Blue - Purple - Yellow - Green

You know, it’s funny because this ask is super old, but that’s basically sorta what happened. :O It became a beach-themed resort.

Never forget MTT fangirl Temmie’s pool escapades.

I think Forgespring for me because I had to make the tileset myself (it took a few months, I think?), but Aquarius was definitely in the works for a while. But once I had the tileset from Fours, the rooms were very easy to design!

That woulda been pretty rad! Maybe I can find another spot for it one day, haha.

I think for Dohj, I’d have to check with Fours, but I’m certainly not opposed at some point? Right now, the following chars can take questions: - Frisk - Papyrus - Sans - Undyne - Alphys - Napstablook - Mettaton - Asgore - Chara - Flowey

Cyan appears in Part 45! :O No answer about orange for now, tho.

I do have vague ideas for Tem village. I just haven’t had time to go back and do it.

Stay tuned and you may find out! :O

Hmmmm... I had a lot of fun with MTT SPIRAL and the Determinator, tbh. They were both very time consuming, but I love how they came out! Also, buff Jerry.

Turnabout Storm. :)

It’s a really awesome fan crossover that works way better than it should. :P

None taken! We know that with headcanons, everyone is gonna have their own interpretations. These are just the voices we liked for Fireglobe Production, but everyone has their right to their favored interpretations!

Yeah, Knight Knight is one of the coolest CORE mercs in the original game. It was fun to repurpose them for Inverted Fate as royal guards. :o It made room for unique encounters in the CORE in the form of them robots- as Undyne would rather use machines than other monsters to do her work.

Personally, I see it as an Asriel motif, but I also acknowledge that at one point it WAS gonna be an Asgore motif. Toby has a habit of just using whatever music works for a scene (see sans. at the snail farm.)

I do have a few ideas, though I won’t say for what yet. :o

He’s likely made blueprints for that train. :P

It probably would just have different flavor text/progression!

So basically, I treat the starting motif for BAaTH/Power of NEO is just a “true hero” motif.

MTT is definitely major in IF! As for whether or not he’ll have a hangout, time will tell. There’s definitely more to resolve with him, though.

I’m gonna remake at least a few of the older tracks, including Regret. My goal is just to bring the OST to a similar standard of quality.

So, animated parts coming up: Part 47, Part 49, Part 50. There may be some other parts, but we’re gonna wanna scale things back for a little bit for the sake of all our sanities.

I go with both. ;)

Honestly, probably fairly similar to the bully fight in the Ruins- which is why I ultimately decided not to do one. Both fill similar archetypes, though I think if I did do a battle, I woulda still had Flowey interrupt at the end and scare them off.

It’s a very emotional scene. Far more tragic than her geno death, IMO.

Well, the main goal in that regard is the remasters (Part 9 is in progress). Otherwise, I do think these hiatuses are good for working ahead. I’ve still gotta do more work, though, because my buffer this time around is a lot smaller from the trial-hiatus buffer. Alas!

Honestly, the website is the best thing to happen to IF. It’s allowed us to do so much with the comic’s presentation that would be impossible with imgur. NORIX IS THE BEST...

[ragnarssons]

Okay I’m gonna need y’all to have a little faith in my man Bellamy Blake. > First, while the memory of that sentence might be true (is true, according to the script), it’s still one sentence from Bellamy, extracted after hours and hours of him literally wanting to erase the Primes from the surface of their own planet. That moment occured right after Bellamy tried to kill Russell (umm something Josephine didn’t care to mention to Clarke?) > We also know that Bellamy’s decision is driven as much by Clarke than by Monty. Both, in his mind, at that moment, friends he’s lost and both friends who asked him to do better and to be the better person. We have scenes making it canon; again 4x13 for Bellarke and 5x13 for Monty/Bellarke- and now only Bellamy. Bellamy was in his mind at that moment, the last one able to carry Monty’s legacy, and Clarke during all these episodes where they were “coming together” with the Primes, made it especially clear that she wanted to do things differently and that she wanted to turn a new leaf. > We also have to take into consideration all the people Bellamy also had to take into consideration- these conversations he had with Murphy aren’t there just to paint Murphy as a “selfless benevolent potential new leader”. Bellamy is the leader and will remain the leader- Murphy had a point tho, as selfish his motivation was. And guess who is among these people? Madi and Jordan. Literally Monty’s son and Clarke’s daughter. Bellamy HAD to do better, if not for himself, then for his friends’ children and to offer them a better future than what they’ve known, and what pushed Clarke and himself to take horrible decisions (not to mention, how it “killed” Octavia, in a moral standpoint). That’s the triangle of relation Monty, Bellamy and Clarke have: all three of them are parental figures. And who knows better than to wish for a better future for someone you consider as your kid, than Bellamy Blake, huh? He was the OG dad! That’s also why, for example, Jake let himself be floated without creating a whole mess inside the Ark. What would be good for his people and his own family, if the people on the Ark had turned against their government and a whole war would have blown out in the middle of a spaceship that was, at the time, seen as humanity’s last hope? (funny how Jake appears precisely on that episode, ya kno!) > From Clarke’s perspective, it can be interpretated that Bellamy accepted Clarke’s death to accept a deal. Which was NOT what happened. Bellamy accepted a deal DESPITE Clarke’s death. These aren’t the same thing, actually, they’re almost the opposite. He didn’t “give up” on Clarke to make a deal with the Primes. He had NOTHING to give up on since she was dead in his mind. But Clarke doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know what they learnt about the chips and the hosts, the videos and whatever Josephine and/or Russell told them. > Also, that’s me, uh, but I thought Clarke to be totally irationnal to expect Bellamy to want to fuck the Primes after all of this. But to me, it totally works with what she’s seen in her own mindspace: especially the scene with Blodreina. Clarke is so sure that she’s worthless to Bellamy and that he never forgave her, that of course, seeing an image, as brief and misleading it can be, of him “abandoning her” fucking HURTS. Basically, Josephine miraculously managed to show Clarke an image of someone “treating her” as she thinks people treat her. All that by capturing a 10 seconds scene after hours and hours and hours of Bellamy wanting to kill everyone on Sanctum because of what they did to Clarke. It’s manipulation 101 but at that moment, inside her own mindspace, after everything she’s been through, Clarke was too broken to see it. She had faced too much doubt and self-hatred to see how obvious of a manipulation it was. > I’d like also to point out that Bellamy is RIGHT when he says “it what she would have done”- literally, Clarke already DID something similar. Actually, she did what I talked about earlier ^^^^ Remember on s2? And she did it with the man she was in love with, literally, at the point. She accepted the idea of “giving up” on saving Finn, to secure an alliance with Lxa and the Grounders. Bellamy SAW it, Bellamy LIVED it. > And what do we know of that moment? Clarke sacrificed her own “soul”, and mind and peace and happiness (potential, with Finn) to do so. That’s also what Bellamy did. The thing is, Josephine talked to Clarke as if her people had chosen to LIVE with her death. But Bellamy said “now we SURVIVE”. There is a gifset going around showing Clarke’s reaction to Finn’s death and Bellamy’s reaction to Clarke’s death and him making the deal. BOTH of them are showing to survive after what had happened, because it was the thing to do. Not because they wanted it, but in order to make the other’s memory WORTH something (Clarke “if this fails, he died for nothing” and Bellamy’s “we do what Clarke would have wanted”). Thing is, contrary to what Josephine said, Clarke’s people - Bellamy especially - won’t live “happily ever after”. And that was SHOWN on episode 6. There is a meta also somewhere, that I think I reblogged about how the theme of the season is survival vs living. To me, that’s exactly it, and it was especially showed with Josephine’s flashbacks. Her “opposition” with Isaac was relying on that especially: how he wanted to live, and how the Primes are just SURVIVING. I mean... did Josephine marry? Did she have kids? Was she ever happy? Well no! She even lost the dude she was in love with! Their “thirst” of survival made her lose the man she was in love with, and created a whole war among these people! And Bellamy was NOT thinking about living without Clarke. He was thinking about the SURVIVAL of their people. He was making the sacrifice himself, to assure that Clarke’s death wouldn’t be in vain. He sacrificed his own want for revenge, to insure that their people would live; people that Clarke loved, people for whom Clarke “sacrificed” herself on 4x13 or several other times. But as “Monty” himself point out on this episode too, SURVIVING is not what he meant! He didn’t mean to survive despite other people’s crimes, he meant living, and that means, evolving, learning, trying, loving, etc. > Also let’s all remember that the moment, the moment Bellamy saw a whisper of life in Clarke, the deal was OFF. He doesn’t care about the compound anymore, proof being the fact that Russell’s explanations about it were muted from Bellamy’s perspective. He doesn’t care about surviving if he has a chance at LIVING. And damn isn’t it a very very strongly platonic new Bellarke theme huh? So... LIVING for Bellamy is only if Clarke is alive? In-te-rest-ing. He’s ready to throw it all away, be like “fuck sacrifice” just to get Clarke back! And that’s!!!! SO PLATONIC LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!!!

[bthump]

sobadpink replied to your post

“When do you think berserk will end? In 5 years? 10? 50? 100?”

Yeah I definitely think we just got to the beginning of the last third of the story... hopefully not the halfway point

lol imagine if we’re only halfway through now... tho ngl that would be nice for my impossible “Casca levels up and becomes a secondary antagonist making Griffith, Guts, and Casca three enemies with their own intwined but opposing goals” hope. 

It’s actually pretty crazy for how many people HATE Griffith like he’s the most evil villain ever when all he’s done was for the “greater good” for the rest of humanity (and monsters too I guess.) Though the only absolutely evil thing he did was rape Casca, which was actually completely pointless and horrible.  The story would’ve been better if it never happened tbh

this is one reason I have such a problem, from like, a story construction standpoint (never mind the pile of other problems I have with it), with the Eclipse rape. It’s sooooooo irrelevant to the rest of Griffith’s narrative. Obviously I understand why it makes people hate him, regardless of the magical fantasy logistics of transforming into an evil demon first, or how badly written it is, or its significance (or lackthereof) to his narrative as a whole, yk, whatever, it’s reasonable to have a strong negative emotional response to it regardless.

But it has nothing to do with his dream, with NeoGriffith’s entire narrative, it was not necessary to create Falconia, it amounts to nothing more than a v shallow show of evil that does nothing to complicate the moral quandaries of Griffith’s dream/Falconia because it was entirely unnecessary and gratuitous. It doesn’t even tell us anything about NeoGriffith as an individual running a utopia because he transformed again and we don’t know how similar or different he is to Femto lol. Miura completely downplays it to the point where I kinda suspect he knows he completely hamstrung his attempt to write an interesting morally grey villain as soon as it left the gate, and now it’s like he’s doing a weird juggling act where the Eclipse rape is Guts’ whole motivation but also it simultaneously has zero bearing on the framing of NeoGriffith’s story.

Like I’ve mentioned this before but how fucking weird and awkward is it that we as readers have no idea whether Rickert even knows about the Eclipse rape, when the whole narrative point of his digression to Falconia was his choice to judge and reject NeoGriffith. Rickert delivers his judgement - essentially as an audience stand-in - and the Eclipse rape doesn’t factor into it at all. That’s the definition of gratuitous lol. And that’s just one example of Miura turning it into this awkward elephant in the room.

(I have a more meta-y take on this here too for anyone interested)

[tiredoftonkies-blog]

That's an excellent question. If Zemo needed to break Bucky's mind and make him the Soldier again to confirm he killed the Starks by asking for Mission Report Dec 16 1991, how can Tony stans blame Steve, who'd been looking for Bucky for the past two years till that point, for not knowing? So, did STEVE have the Red Book, crack Bucky's programming, confirm he killed the Starks and hide that from Tony to protect himself? When? (TBH tonies wrote ~meta~ about ~Rogers~ probably doing just that).

dsfsdfsf i’m sure there’s a fanfic about it somewhere in the ~not steve friendly~ tag

but yeah, i mean, steve definitely didn’t know it was bucky. he did have the implication from zola that hydra had something to do with tony’s parents’ death... but apparently there wasn’t really any hard evidence of that except for the hydra base in siberia with its convenient recording lol

that’s part of why it’s so weird to me that people absolutely despise him over it. i think it makes total sense for steve to have put it into the “i’ll deal with it later” box in his mind since: 1.) it happened 20+ years ago, 2.) until siberia there was no apparent evidence besides a villain’s word, 3.) avengers are already actively working to eliminate hydra, and 4.) difficult from an emotional standpoint to face the potential that the winter soldier could have been involved in these particular deaths

i don’t necessarily think steve was ~right~ in the way he went about things, since it certainly ended up hurting tony, but i completely understand steve’s compartmentalization. just given how anxiety-inducing and difficult it can be to tell people bad news, to me it really seems like an impossible situation to be in (how do you tell someone “hey so uh according to a nazi-turned-computer, the bad guys we’re still having trouble eliminating might have killed your parents? idk tho”) and i don’t know that i would have handled it any better

[nyxelestia]

I dunno if you've discussed this before, but I was curious to hear your opinion. Do you think the Hale family was 100% matriarchal? not only was Talia in charge but she didn't seem to take her husband's surname (evidenced by the fact that Peter was also Hale and so far only Hales are the ones capable of fully shifting) and when Deaton was talking about Laura he said that Talia had been grooming her into the next alpha, she never considered Derek for the position (it could be an age thing tho)

This turned very long, anon, so most of it is under a cut.

TL;DR - There isn't any canonical support for matriarchal werewolves, but there isn't any canonical opposition to it, either, and canon does support a feminine leadership style among werewolves over a masculine one. Meanwhile, leaning towards matrilineal or matriarchal structure among werewolves (or supernaturals in general) would explain a lot of the inconsistencies about supernaturals in folklore and mythology.

There are two parts to this: what actually happens on-screen, and my own headcanons (which is not limited to the Hale family alone).

So are the Hales matriarchal?

On-screen, in canon - we don't really know. Definitely, for the last two generations, the werewolves in charge happened to be women. Talia seems to have kept her maiden name upon marriage, but based on age and location, this isn't necessarily that unusual. (I'm slightly biased when it comes to surnames, as my parents gave me a different last name altogether when I was born to stick it to the patriarchy.)

Talia and Laura both happened to be the oldest siblings, so definitely, werewolves are not patriarchal - there's no pressure for the oldest son to be the alpha, but there does some to be a preference or pressure for the oldest child, or maybe for the child most capable of leadership regardless of their gender or age.

That said, "matriarchal" and "patriarchal" don't actually mean much in isolation - isolation, in this case, meaning one family, even a large one. Those are terms to describe communities and cultures, and in that sense, we need to look at werewolves at large - where we don't see evidence either way. There's never any concrete indication of preference for one gender over another, and absence of patriarchy is not automatically matriarchy.

Additionally, when the alphas in the 3A flashbacks are discussing what to do about the Hunters, Talia suggests going because "Hunters are matriarchal" - which could suggest that werewolves are not.

Could.

Because now we go into headcanon territory, at which point we start busting out the mythology.

Absence of patriarchy is not a canonical confirmation of matriarchy, but it is a great foundation for a headcanon of matriarchy. Something we see time and again in Teen Wolf is that the traditional myths are not reliable - they are thousand-year-old telephone games, distortions of reality with little more than a few grains of truth to their story.

From the historical standpoint, a lot of Bronze Age mythologies are very matrilineal in nature. While they weren't matriarchal by virtue of lacking any -archal structure, a matrilineal structure in a pre-accumulation society often leads to an effective matriarchy.

Somewhat interestingly, the werewolves do operate a lot on Bronze Age ethics. Very brutal by our modern standards, but pretty reasonable for Bronze Age standards.

(Bronze Age, I use not just in reference to the strict time period, but rather/also as a catch-all term to indicate cultures and societies prior to agricultural urbanization.)

History has a long, well, history of downplaying, distorting, or outright erasing the presence and contributions of women and other marginalized communities. You can read more about them here and here.

There's one which stands out, though:

“Ancient moon priestesses were called virgins. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belonging to a man - a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, force, skill; and was later applied to men: virle. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence. And all great culture heroes of the past, mythic or historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Genghis Khan, Jesus - they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, of the Original One, their worldly power deriving from her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramaic, it meant ‘maiden’ or ‘young woman’, with no connotations to sexual chastity. But later Christian translators could not conceive of the ‘Virgin Mary’ as a woman of independent sexuality, needless to say; they distorted the meaning into sexually pure, chaste, never touched.”

This poses a very interesting question on the nature of the "Virgins" the Darach needed for her sacrifices, and I actually posit that pursuing Judeo-Christian virgins for a Pagan ritual may've tripped her up a bit or weakened her power, but that's a digression for another day.

More relevantly, it does shed some light onto this old Tumblr post:

The "grumpy grandma" version of that story/comic is very much a matriarchal take on the werewolf lore.

Now, how does this relate back to Teen Wolf?

After all, we see both men and women in charge, the main character is a man, and we don't really get to see how packs other than Scott's work that much.

First let's take a stab at what it means to lead "maternally" or with feminine traits, vs what it means to lead "paternally" or with masculine traits. Then let's try applying it to the characters we've seen thus far.

Now, what does the difference between masculinity and femininity really entail? Well, this post actually encapsulates the femininity aspect quite well - both in the actual meta itself, and in the mass of bullshit that accompany the 4th reblog/2nd gif.

Those traits were proscribed to a character who rarely or never expressed them purely because he was the physically weakest character, and this speaks a lot to our misconceptions of masculinity and femininity as leadership models. "Strong = manly" and therefore "weak = womanly", amirite or amirite? /s

While they were projected onto the wrong person - arguably one of the "manliest" characters on the show despite also being the materially weakest - the traits themselves were summarized pretty eloquently: "feminine qualities tend to be nurturing, patience, loving, empathy".

Almost all of the protagonists demonstrate these to some degree at various points throughout the show - but the one who we see demonstrating it the most is actually a man, Scott.

Scott's going into a career of nurturing, his defeat of various antagonists often boils down to having a little more patience than them, and of course he is a very loving and empathic individual throughout the show. This is the guy whose response to someone holding a gun on him and talking about how they want to shoot him is "I get that". This is a guy who puts the safety and security of his loved ones over his pride without a second thought, not even hesitating to offer to beg for their lives if that's what the villain wanted.

Now let's compare that to someone over on the opposite extreme - Peter, as an alpha in the very first season. He doesn't strive to protect, and in fact quite the opposite - he's willing to kill his own niece for that leadership role, that power. He tries to lead through fear, not respect.

Derek sits in the middle, in that he starts out leading in a masculine way, but then transitions over time towards the feminine - very much in correlation to his relationship to Scott.

Now, let's take a look at the other alphas - when they are trying to lead with violence, with fear, or just pursuing power, they are shown in a negative light (in and out of universe), and demonstrated to be toxic leaders. This means Peter, Season 2 Derek, and the alpha pack.

However, the alphas who are portrayed in a positive light (both in and out of universe), who are respected, and who are seen as a role model of what kind of alpha to be, are Scott, Talia, Satomi, and when they aren't being subject to the violence of the alpha pack, even Deucalion (and up to a certain extent, Ennis). Scott, Talia, and Satomi are far more patient and "quiet" leaders, treating violence as a last resort instead of a first course of action. They preferred diplomacy over domination. Deucalion was described as a visionary during a time when he tried to reach out to the tremendously violent Argents with peace. And Ennis' pre-alpha-pack defining characteristic (second to Biting Paige at Derek's request) is his referral to himself and his pack as the family of a lost packmember - aka, grief borne out of love.

Another term I want to consider is what I used above - matrilineal, rather than matriarchal. Matrilineal basically just means that family is traced through mothers, not through fathers (which is predominantly how they are traced today in most cultures across the world). It's slow and more "sustainable" than "expansionary" - but, compared to paternal lineage, it's reliabe. It's very easy to mix up or lose track of who a baby's father was, but there's no mistaking who its mother is. Part of the source of matrilineal and potential matriarchal traditions and social clout/power is the ability to give and trace life. Basically, the capacity to create more people, while obviously dependent on both sexes, has largely been associated with feminity and the female sex/side of reproduction.

And what is one of the biggest differences between alphas and other werewolves? The ability to create more werewolves.

(Incidentally, while Talia most likely just had a husband whose name she didn't take, it's entirely possible that the reason why we never hear about Laura, Derek, and Cora's father is because they didn't have one. If they are a matrilineal family/culture, then paternity doesn't matter, only maternity, so it's entirely possible that their biological fathers are two or three different men (which would explain why they don't really look alike) that don't play a huge part in those kids lives. I don't consider it likely - after all, werewolves are hardly isolated away from the rest of the world - but it is possible, and it would be an example of what it means for a family or culture to be matrilineal.)

Anyway!

While there isn't really much in the way of canonical support of a matriarchal structure for the Hales/werewolves in general, there isn't much canonical opposition to it, either. Combined with all the other evidence, I headcanon that werewolves and the supernatural in general are matriarchal, or at least lean towards matriachal/maternal leadership - Hunters are just an institutionalization of it with their propensity for female leaders.

Additionally, this can also explain a lot of the inconsistencies in mythology and folklore, and in supernatural "history" in general. Most of what we know beforehand - our baseline knowledge that Teen Wolf then often subverts - is information filtered through centuries of imperialism and patriarchy. The history surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, alone, is a horrific insight into how women's history and health gets warped and wiped away under patriarchy - and men have to live with us. Humans don't have to live with supernaturals day in and day out.

So I further like to headcanon that the supernatural leaning towards matrilineal or matriarchal social structure is part of why there's been so much inconsistency in the myths and folklore about them. Whenver human men would try to record knowledge, they would do through the lens of patriarchy, in which this supernatural social system effectively becomes invisible, by virtue of being incomprehensible.

TL;DR - The Hales - or werewolves in general - being matriarchal isn't supported by canon, but it's not opposed by canon, either, and it should would explain a LOT about the supernatural world of Teen Wolf.

[ravel-puzzlewell]

I never saw you meta about ASOIAF, I'd love to hear your thoughts on who's gonna be on the Iron Throne in the end, for example

Ok, I’m not ASOIAF lore nerd, I don’t remember prophecies or quotes, I’m only speaking from narrative and thematic cohesiveness standpoint, BUT, if GRRM knows even a little bit of what he’s doing, there’s not gonna be the Iron Throne at the end of the series. It’s the ultimate villain! When people play the game of thrones, nobody wins, lots of resources wasted and the world is left unprepared for the snow zombies invasion. It’s a big point of the books that westeros tears itself apart in political struggle and ignores the real threat instead of working together to stop it.

I grant you, I think Dany is gonna be the leader of what’s left of human forces standing against the zombies, the spearhead of the attack, but she’s not gonna be the queen in the end. I’m pretty sure the kingdom will fall apart and Dany, the messianic figure that she is, is gonna die to save the world.

In fact, I’m pretty sure other two of “three heads of a dragon”, - i.e. Jon and Tyrion, - are goners too. I’m very fond of Jon and I’d love to see him getting a cohesive thematic arc where he becomes a zombie himself, but he manages to overcome Evil Zombie Slavers’ thrall and fights for the humans. Making a choice to put his own pain and vengeance aside to do what’s important, to protect others is what Jon consistently chooses to do - since the moment he turned around and stayed in the watch instead of avenging Starks. It’d be so beautiful, you guys, - he was othered from the childhood, he’s loyal, but he never fully belongs to Starks, or the Watch, or wildlings, everyone keeps othering him, and finally he doesn’t even belong to humanity anymore, but he’d still choose to fight for it. Not for glory, not even for duty, but for humanity. It’s all just my narrative wishes tho, don’t quote me on them. He’s gonna ride that white dragon tho, you can quote me on THAT. I’m also there’s for Dany\Jon, but as, like, a moment of tragic love in between the hopeless nightmare of a war, not the domestic happy ending.

Tyrion, I think, is gonna be the dragon rider too and he’s gonna have a moment when he has an opportunity to enact his revenge on Cersei and take the house Lannister for himself, but instead he’s gonna sacrifice himself to save the world, and it’s gonna be his redemption, a transcendence of vicious cycle of Lannister narrative of revenge and eye-for-eye.

these are just my opinions tho, I don’t claim I’m right, I don’t want to go on debates over details, this is not a hill I want to die on

[shenanigumi]

You've mentioned before that harada's route moves too fast while saito's moves too slow. If you could change their routes to be your ideal of "the perfect harada route" and "the perfect saito route" what would you change? I like how you view ships and how your writings remain in character even in the most abstract settings so i'd like to see your take on their "perfect" routes :)

Oh, wow… thanks!! I’m so happy at least some people like reading all my crazy-long ramblings, because goodness knows I have a lot to say. Get ready for a second essay in one day, everyone!!

See, with Harada and Saito, I may criticize the pacing, but at the same time, canon is canon. And that’s not me being consciously “BUT CANON THO” obstinate; that’s me having operated within the bounds of canon for so long that being granted the freedom to step outside of that box and say what I ‘want’ is a little difficult. So maybe it’d help for me to explain the problems I have. All of the following issues are minor and subjective and going under another read-more:

I’ll start with Saito’s route (link is to a past essay contrasting SaiChi with OkiChi), because I’m almost positive that’s been fixed with Shinkai. You’ll understand why later.

Honestly, the only thing missing for me in Saito’s route was some solid exterior indication that Chizuru’s decision at the end wasn’t all for nothing. My main problem with the plot (and, to a slightly lesser extent, with Chizuru on that route) is that there are very few overt instances of SaiChi before its canon confirmation. We as players are all madly in love with Saito and have the foreknowledge required to know that he feels the same way, because we’re playing his route so of course he’ll end up with Chizuru—but Chizuru as a character does not.

In fact, I seem to recall her mentioning in the narrative that she doesn’t know how Saito feels about her, even as she expresses the wish to risk her life and stay behind with him. That’s the part that bothers me. Even though it makes sense from a narrative standpoint, if you take into account what they do and do not know about each other, their becoming a couple reads as very sudden. Furthermore, their timing severely shortens the window of development as a ‘couple’ (I use that term loosely, since most ships aren’t confirmed until close to the end of the route) that most other pairings get almost as soon as the route splits.

Technically speaking, I run into a lot of the same difficulties on Hijikata’s route. However, because his route is also longer and covers more territory, I can forgive the lack of emphasis on romance. That is, because HijiChi isn’t as prominent a part of Hijikata’s route as SaiChi is supposed to be on Saito’s, I can forgive the comparative lack of fulfillment. (Does that make sense?) I understand that it would be insanely OOC for Saito to say anything beforehand, but I don’t mean that he should confess any earlier than he did. I mean more that I’d have appreciated a little more of a spotlight on his interactions and dynamic with Chizuru, since it’s supposed to be so central to their plot.

But that’s where Stories of the Shinsengumi comes in! Because Shinkai has integrated some of Saito’s Memories of Love with his main route, I consider that sufficient evidence to lead up to their becoming a couple, because Saito’s route is actually just fine by me as long as you include all the side content. Together, it makes a more complete route, and gives skeptics like me enough visible chemistry to believe that Chizuru has reason to think there’s a point in staying behind. Pretty easy solution, to be honest.

Now, as for Harada’s route… hoo boy. Believe me, I’m not saying I don’t enjoy That Scene. I do, for a lot of reasons. But a lot of the reason I do enjoy That Scene so much is in a really meta sense, because no other guy gets one. It’s that imbalance that bugs me. I honestly think I did a much better job explaining that point in my previous essay (which contrasts HaraChi with HeiChi), so I’ll just put that up front before summarizing and paraphrasing my thoughts concisely here:

In a way, my issue with HaraChi is the polar opposite of my issue with SaiChi. Saito is in denial until almost the end, when suddenly everything comes together and SaiChi is confirmed. Harada comes on strong and fast, yet it still takes until a chapter or two after the route split for HaraChi to be a thing. I know it’s impossible that Harada say anything to Chizuru before the split for obvious reasons (although Shinkai at least introduces the opportunity, even though I don’t think they’ll use it), but the volume of overt advances he makes in Chizuru’s direction is a little… overwhelming, especially in comparison to everyone else’s routes. That is, in order for sex to take place that early in the route compared to all others, everything else should logically also take place earlier.

What they’re doing is cramming a longer-term, more mature relationship into the same timeframe as a lot of other less-fully-developed relationships, and it makes me the slightest bit uneasy as a result. If we measure backward, equating everyone else’s Stories epilogues to That Scene, which is being charitable since sex still isn’t directly mentioned at all: it takes everyone else an average of a full year (and Saito more than two, of course) to get really serious about their relationship with Chizuru, e.g. asking for her hand in marriage. By that standard, since HaraChi is consummated in April 1868, their mutual confession and first kiss should have happened mid-1867, which happens long before the split.

And yes, I know different people have different dynamics and paces, and I know Harada and Chizuru are both consenting adults, so they can do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. I know that. It’s just that when you think about it, and how quickly they move compared to every other route, it just feels kinda… unhealthy… to move that fast, especially if this Chizuru is the same person as all the other shy and conservative Chizurus. Besides, as I mentioned in the linked essay, Harada seems to have a habit of substituting gestures of physical affection for important verbal communication, and that’s a definite turn-off to me personally.

Maybe it’s a function of being a-spec, but I have to stop looking at the bigger picture in order for That Scene to feel natural. As a single moment out of context, it makes my pulse race just like anyone else’s… but in the grander scheme, it feels a little more dubious. The thing is, I don’t have a conclusive “this is what should have been done differently” idea. I guess I’ll just say that either Harada needs to back it off, slow it down, and spread it out—or everyone else needs to move it in, speed it up, and lock it down. Neither of them are plausible, but if we want things to be balanced, that’d be the best way to go about doing it.

Anyway, hope that clarified things!! actual essay for my independent study~

[masterofdeath]

do you think it's believable for harry and ginny to stay together and have three children, right after the war, despite his ptsd among other problems. i love reading your metas and headcanons about harry, honestly !!

thank you so much, my friend! that genuinely means a lot to me because i am sorry most of the time people have to suffer through this rambling. 

ANYWAY. 

genuinely i think one of the biggest obstacles to overcome for ginny and harry is that, as a result of his childhood, harry is a little developmentally stunted in certain areas of his life. he willfully hides things from people he otherwise trusts, lashes out at inappropriate times due to the fact that he never really deals with trauma, just in general has the tendency to withdraw. ginny and harry are a good match (in my opinion) due the fact that she seems to have the best handle on times where harry lacks the ability to communicate more clearly. she allows harry the space to work through his emotions but sets very clear boundaries with him when he reacts in a way that isn’t conscious of her feelings and in general disregards other people. with those tools already set in place i think their relationship most certainly has the ability to last over their lifetime. 

i go back and forth as to whether they would resume a relationship immediately after the war. harry watching ginny on the marauders map and thinking about ginny the way he does throughout dh is so romantic it makes me want to scream but i’m not sure either of them would be in the place to pick up in the immediate aftermath. maybe they go through a period of being together but not really because life is a lot messier in the rebuild. this is something i would need to develop and think about more. what i do think is that they would eventually get back together, eventually get married. just not on the timeline set in the epilogue. it wouldn’t so much be a story about them being the thing that heals the other but i think ginny and harry very much have the understanding they are willing to wait while the other sorts themselves out. 

the children i think would also come - that’s a beautiful arc for harry just from a literary standpoint. the thing that springs up time and time again for him is a want to have a family. i want him to become the father figure he craved, to have a family that is very much his own. to think he would end up without one makes me a little too sad to comprehend.  i think he would be a good father and an example of the breaking in the cycle of abuse. neither would be equipped to say, raise teddy like some fanon suggests and there would be a need for them both to accomplish things and heal from trauma before starting a family but there is a lot about their individual personalities that says to me they would eventually want / be successful as parents.

definitely not with those fucking names tho