#i doubt anyone would read this but

[cringyfanfictions]

Before I had a Tumblr account there was this Greek mythology blog I really liked called @dontwannadothisanymore but now they're deactivated :/

This really sucks because I really wanna see their posts again (and there were two that I really really really need to see again). But if nobody reblogged then those posts are gone... forever. I have faith that people reblogged, though, I just need to find them.

If anyone has ANY post from them that they reblogged, please tell me!! Genuinely I will be so thankful.

Here are the two post I'm looking for:

One is an Athena Complex big 4 (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades) headcanons post. I think it was about them feeling/using their power for the first time. The only thing a recall concretely is Hades being oblivious af (and something to do with Cerberus). There was a panel of the character before each set of headcanons.

The other is a Hades & Poseidon & Zeus fic, and actually if I dig through my very numerous ChatGPT prompts I might find it (sorry, I think I fed the fic to AI because I loved the style so much, maybe I shouldn't have done that but if I do find it that way then I sure won't regret it) but I might not (it will also take a helluva long time 'cause I didn't name any of them) . Uhh it's kinda hard to explain the premise but what I remember is: Hades spits out bad coffee (on the stairs?) and goes to the kitchen (and sets the cup in the sink?) and lies down on the floor. I don't remember what Poseidon was doing but he also joins Hades on the floor. Zeus gets up to use the bathroom and calls out to his brothers if they're in there just in case, and Poseidon answers that they're in the kitchen on the floor and Zeus ends up joining them too. Yeah. At some point either Zeus or Poseidon narrowly avoids stepping on Hades's coffee-spit.

I loved *all* of their Greek mythology headcanons though, literally if you can find a single one please tell me.

I did a google search and found some of their not Greek mythology posts, and a couple of Gm headcanon posts which I will reblog (but on a seperate blog probably).

(I'm too scared to reach out to the bigger blogs they interacted with; some of them are restricted anyways.)

Yeah. Thank you (if you read this far lol).

And sorry for the tags...

[hootyhoowoo]

A little 15 min doodle but first post of the year has to be Bingqiu!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

if JGYs song of evil in poorly drawn MDZS is titled "evil penis music" then is Wangxian "good penis music"?

There exists penis music, which is neither good or bad, it simply is!

It is only through compounding it with 'evil' music that JGY creates his dastardly aural poison.

[tooies]

i think probably the reason i like the idea of like a girl secretly being a dragon but still trying to just have a life in society and be normal is because it's kinda a transfem narrative of the whole like everyone thinks you're a terrifying monster but you just want to be a girl. and the other reason is due to i'm otherkin

[luckylocus]

I know I know I haven't done anything in ages. Say thank you to @ihni for more Billy pain in video format! Shes a sweety that in the nicest way possible motivated me to give video edits another go. Song is Ghosts Spillways

[surreal-duck]

live drama adaptations part 2 (prev)

cast reveal and girls movie night 🔥

[lulu-the-bugaboo]

Seeing how neat Ace's handwriting is as a child (especially compared to Luffy lol) just makes me imagine how patient Sabo must have been with teaching him

He probably had to correct him several times, and when Ace eventually got frustrated and lost his patience, he would encourage him and compliment his progress

They make so soft

[boviform]

Okay, sorry but is anyone else going insane over the new longform on the latest Patreon livestream?? I absolutely love the dynamic of weird mortician and lonely assassin - literally 'me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic'. And the whole confrontation at the end!! I mean, can you imagine what could've been if Pyotr had agreed to give up his ways?? They could have been so happy! I want them to go on holiday around Europe and hold hands!!

[horsemeatluvr23]

the juppet !! i just realised he is jerma posing i swear that was unintentional...... i spent so long digging thru muppet concept art and looking at old puppet designs just to end up doing a rly simple drawing but. i love joehills!! i have only been watching them for like 4 years but their videos r so special to me :3

[doyoubuyallyourmurderweaponsathd]

The Significance of the Cult of Cybele (and Greek Mythology) to Yellowjackets

(tw for discussion of castration)

I'm not sure if anybody's made a similar post already but this was something I was thinking a lot about in the context of the mythological themes we've seen so far in the show and I'm really curious to see if anyone else has thought the same!!

So for those of you who don't know, Cybele (or Agdistis) was a Phrygian goddess that was later adopted by the Greeks and Romans and associated with the worship of the harvest, the earth, disorder in the vein of Dionysian worship, and particularly the mountains, especially in the context of a more "wild" land compared to civilization. She's often pictured with lions as well.

(Statue of Cybele, from Wikipedia)

What makes Cybele particularly interesting as a goddess figure is that she originally had both male and female genitals, which was a no-no for the other gods, so they cut off Cybele's male genitalia which grew a tree and through that tree Cybele fathered a male child named Attis. Attis was then raised by... a goat. Already a little interesting with the amount of goat imagery we've had, right?

(Akilah with her baby goat)

Attis is also commonly depicted with a shepherd's crook and youthful beauty, emphasizing innocence. As Attis grew, Cybele took him as a secret lover (standard mythology ick), but then the king (commonly depicted as King Midas, although the Midas inclusion was a later thing, but I think he's a relevant figure to this analysis) learned of their relationship and decided to give Attis his daughter's hand in marriage as a way out. However, this ends up making Cybele crazy jealous, so she crashes the wedding and makes everyone go mad. This madness leads both Attis and King Midas to castrate themselves and die as a result. Since Cybele became distraught over the death of Attis, she reached a deal with Zeus to keep Attis in a kind of zombified immortal state as her eunuch.

Now to get into more of the parallels! The castration of Attis occurred under a pine tree, and depictions of Attis are often with pine trees or pinecones.

(relief of Attis collecting pinecones)

We've seen this imagery in Yellowjackets before during Doomcoming, when Lottie places the pinecone in Travis's mouth. I've also thought that this action is really interesting in the larger context of Travis's character, because we see early in the season him being derogatory to Nat and saying she's only good for sucking dick, and later we find out that that was mostly projection from the true meaning of the Flex nickname. Now we have Lottie as the one inserting the phallic object, a subversion of gender roles.

(Lottie places the pinecone in Travis's mouth)

I believe that we mainly see the parallels here as Cybele/Lottie and Attis/Travis. The introduction of Akilah as a shepherd figure and another prophet this season kind of split the Attis role up between Travis and Akilah, but I believe that Travis fits the role better than her with what we've seen so far. The Yellowjackets interpretation of their relationship seems to be less explicitly romantic but following the themes of motherhood and familial bond more closely, as we see largely in season 2 when Lottie comforts Travis and Travis hallucinates Lottie in a nurturing role.

(Lottie calming Travis down)

There are still some vestiges of their relationship being more romantic or sexual in nature though, since Travis has the... reaction to Lottie comforting him and hallucinates Lottie while having sex with Nat. Within the theme of castration, we don't see one literally happening, but this appears to be what is metaphorically happening to Travis, or at least a sort of transition in his perception of his gender. After Doomcoming occurs, Travis doesn't bother with trying to be masculine anymore, instead blending in with the girls. I view Travis's character in the second season and onward as the beginning of a shift further into the cult of Lottie, which gets me into my next point: Ben and Nat's roles in this analysis.

(Ben and Nat during Doomcoming)

A lot of people view Ben and Nat's relationship as a kind of father and daughter one, which I think makes a lot of sense in this context. Nat was originally a firm non-believer in the wilderness worship and serves as Travis's connection to pragmatism and the real world, very different from the spiritual connection he builds with Lottie. Ben blesses their relationship in a way when he gives Travis The Talk in season one, and this is really the only time we see their characters actually talk. Travis saving Ben in the latest episode seems to have extra importance, as in the Attis myths, King Midas is the one to die while Attis becomes saved and venerated. There is a LOT of contradictory stuff in myths about King Midas, but I think the thing most relevant to Ben is the humiliation of Midas with donkey ears, similar to the humiliation he faces after his leg is cut off. The severing of his Achilles tendon in the latest episode can also be viewed as a metaphorical castration. Nat clearly has a much stronger role in this story than the daughter of Midas, but that pragmatism she displays is a good analogy for the safe and respectable marriage that Attis would have had, as we see in the more normal relationship Nat has with Travis compared to Travis and Lottie in season three.

(Lottie offering the bear's heart to the wilderness)

But how does the group's wilderness worship factor into this? The cult of Cybele's forms of worship also have significant parallels to what we've seen the girls do so far in the show. Particularly significant is the Hilaria, a Roman festival taking place the two weeks after the Ides of March. During Hilaria, worshippers of Cybele are actually primarily reenacting the story of Attis. The Hilaria begins with a fast of sorts, which can easily be compared to the starvation we see the girls go through. A pine tree is cut down as a symbol of the castration of Attis under the pine tree and lamented, and we see both the pinecone and Lottie sacrificing the bear's heart to the tree. Blood sacrifices of the devotees were also given in worship of Attis, which included self-castration in his image, although due to Roman laws on castration, animal sacrifices were made in its place. We see the girls shedding blood for the wilderness time and time again, whether of animals, Shauna's nosebleed onto the symbol, or Travis giving blood for Shauna's baby.

Unrelated to Cybele but relevant to the Doomcoming plot is the tragedy of Iphigenia. In this story, Agamemnon, in preparation for war against Troy, kills a stag that was sacred to Artemis. As punishment, he is made to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, in order to appease her. Iphigenia doesn't know she's to be sacrificed, and travels to Aulis with her mother Clytemnestra believing that she is there to marry Achilles. Different versions of the tragedy show Iphigenia's knowledge and acceptance of her fate in different ways, but in one version (the play Iphigenia in Tauris), Iphigenia is rescued by Artemis and becomes her priestess. Later on Orestes, the younger brother of Iphigenia, is caught by Iphigenia, but she doesn't recognize him and it is her duty to sacrifice any trespassers. To compare this to Yellowjackets, the human sacrifice in place of the stag is the role, also unwillingly, forced upon Travis (terminal case of eldest daughter syndrome). Jackie "took something that didn't belong to her" and unwittingly started the first hunt. Nat's salvation of Travis means that he no longer has a sacrificial (or even gendered) purpose to the girls, which in turn leaves the opening for Lottie to comfort him and eventually use him for her own plans, turning him into her own priestess. The sacrifice of Orestes/Javi also has interesting parallels, but ultimately Yellowjackets has the more tragic ending. (poor Javi :()

(Sacrifice of Iphigenia from a fresco at Pompeii, also check out the similarity between Clytemnestra's pose here...)

(...and Nat's pose here)

One last comparison that a lot of people have already pointed out: the Pentheus story. Pentheus, the new king of Thebes, banned the worship of Dionysus due to his distaste for it. Similarly to the jealousy of Cybele, the wrath of Dionysus caused the women of Thebes to become frenzied, viewing Pentheus as an animal and ripping him apart. The animal comparison is moreso what happens to Travis during Doomcoming, but the role of Pentheus is more similar to Ben's relationship with the Yellowjackets. Travis completely participates in all of the activities that cement the Yellowjackets as a hive (the seance, the Jackie feast, the offerings, the blessing of the sacrifice) while Ben is perpetually an outsider. We even see Ben spying on the girls as Nat is crowned queen, and he appears disgusted with her for finally giving into their formed society. That spying is what leads to his eventual capture, and while he's still alive, his fate remains to be seen.

(fresco of Pentheus being torn apart)

Now that I've gone over these comparisons, I think the biggest question is where the plot will go from here. In order to temporarily escape from Lottie, Travis shifts attention to Akilah, but swiftly realizes he's fucked up when Akilah starts actually having visions similar to the ones that Travis is having. He seems to genuinely like Akilah as well, so he begins to take responsibility for her and protect her to the extent that he can while still doing what Lottie says. Since we still don't know what Akilah's fate is, it's possible that either Lottie or Travis through the direction of Lottie are going to end up harming or killing Akilah through these rituals.

If that is the case, we've seen before that the wilderness loves a sacrifice, so I think this would shift them to a higher position within the community. Them saving Ben (but then mutilating him further through a group decision) keeps him alive longer, but as we proved in the trial, no matter how much love Ben has for the girls, he will always be an outsider. We may still see Ben killed soon as a sacrifice to appease whatever may be angered. Nat is also at a pivotal point in her amount of power. She has so far been a good leader, but the trial also proved that she doesn't have any real power over the girls, and she was uncomfortable with the antler crown. A still of a later episode shows all of the Yellowjackets pissed at Nat for something, so this may be where she's deposed.

I can only see sacrifice becoming even more important to the girls as the show progresses, so depending on their actions, the one who gives the most to the group is likely to become the next Antler Queen. Personally, I think a very dramatic choice would be for Travis to wear the crown, instead of the (mostly) level-headed Tai or the power-hungry Shauna. Shauna and Travis have so far been narrative foils, both of them having lost the most to the wilderness and having the biggest shifts in personality, both of them eschewing gender roles in how they're supposed to process grief and traumatic events. Shauna is volatile and not liked by the rest of the girls, setting up some sort of doomed Macbeth situation with her and Melissa, so I don't see that approach going well for her. However, what better way to endear yourself to the group than to continually sacrifice, to always do what's asked of you, to show grace in every situation and mourn appropriately and quietly? Being reborn free of manhood and worshiped as did Cybele's Attis, Travis could easily find a new role in their society as the puppet queen of Lottie, letting the wilderness speak through him as a sort of demigod, the sacrificial stag that appeases and protects them from harm.

(Akilah and Travis, about to enter the caves) (I love it when found family siblings recreate Plato's allegory of the cave like yes girl the world of the cave is superior to the world outside!!)

[wyverningx]

people on The Internet Dot Com keep being absolute idiots about thea muldani so here is your reminder that she's a ravens success story — she grew up in an environment where she was asked to give her all and engage in incredibly unhealthy practices, but the result of such sacrifice was that she was rewarded for it with US court and a pro team. she was part of a cult and "left" in the sense of gaining physical distance, but all of her experiences reaffirmed that the toxic ravens environment was the most effective way to a successful exy career. it is fucked up that she believes others should go through the same thing in order to be "worthy" or "good enough," but i simply do not understand why so many people look at her and think that she should be crucified for being a representation of a finished, successful raven. especially not if she's unable to recognize abuse in others, which tbqh is something that is very common in cult-like settings. you don't want to look something-that-could-very-well-be-abuse-happening-to-others in the eye, because if they're being abused, then you could potentially be being abused, too, and what do you do with that? do you have any idea how hard it is to come to terms with that reality, especially when you are told day in and day out that this is the only way to get to the top? that this is how you make it in the sport? that someone who is being harmed by the coach or the team captain absolutely deserved it? that people who can't hack it are weak, but you're not weak, you're one of the best, you'll do whatever it takes?

is it extremely shitty that she blames jean for his own sexual assault? absolutely, yes. but she doesn't have the whole picture, and it's clear that jean intentionally deceives her (with the comment about him being fragile/clumsy, etc.) and lets her believe he had more agency in his sexual experiences than he truly did because it's a coping mechanism that also serves the purpose of letting her fill in blanks so he does not have to explicitly tell a lie. besides, if there is any singular raven that both kevin and jean view fondly, wouldn't they want her to believe whatever it took so that she didn't ask too many questions? wouldn't they both want her far removed from the reality of the moriyamas and human trafficking, because her uncovering the truth would put her entire life at risk?

people can have friends that are imperfect or do not understand them completely or that fuck things up sometimes. i get that jean's experiences put people on-guard when it comes to how he interacts with other characters, but god damn. she was his mentor. she taught him everything he knows about being a backliner. she made horrible and judgmental assumptions about his experiences. all of those things can be true at the same time. does she not deserve the opportunity to change upon receiving new information? does she not deserve the ability to take a step back, as ravens are dropping like flies and all eyes are on evermore and the perfect court, to consider that maybe she was a victim in all of this, too? that plenty of people are capable of making it to the top without calling another human being the master and turning a blind eye to the king beating his own men? that maybe kevin and jean and all of them were terribly wronged? why is she the only person in this series who's not allowed to grow as a person by developing a more nuanced understanding of rape and sexual assault and learning how to be a better friend to someone who had no choice?

also someone tried to "gotcha" me by saying thea and jean aren't friends because she uhhhh (checks notes) calls him a teasing nickname and says "i'm going to break your ribs" as though threatening your friends (especially ones you play a contact, violent sport with) is the worst possible offense ever in the same book series that people regularly ACTUALLY fistfight each other and pull knives on one another. i'd argue that these are actually huge indicators that they do like each other, because she's probably one of the only people in the world who he can express himself around and even say things like "i'm not from paris" exasperatedly. you know, like you do when people you care about tease or poke fun at you. those are actually probably some of the most normal interactions jean has pre-TSC, especially as she is not needlessly cruel to him like literally everyone else in the nest is. and not only is thea one of the only people who has any sort of comraderie with him and who makes the effort to see him after his injuries because she cares, but she also makes it past wymack and kevin and renee and neil guard-dogging him. does that seriously mean nothing? do you think renee fucking walker (who was ready to brawl on-sight at evermore) would have let someone like zane waltz into abby's house if kevin said a single negative word about him?

i have seen some incredibly wonderful and nuanced takes about most characters in AFTG, but at the same time, the way thea is treated and criticized in a more severe way than literal murderers in the series for her possibly-willful ignorance is utterly crazy to me.

idk. just some food for thought

[my-fancy-hat]

My last remaining hope for asa's recent characterization about her sudden unthoughtfulness (from a character who trait is overthinking) and extreme adaptation to the point of comformity has to do with famine's influence. Ever since she started working for the church asa has become indifferent and apathetic toward kiga actions as well the consequences of hers. Only last chapter asa reacted against yoru but that quickly brushed aside without further conflicts between them like an expected breaking point in their trust for each other. Who would accept on keep on living inside the same mind as her assaulter? who not only hurt you but the person you love?

In moments of huge revelations asa doesn't bother to think much about them: a initial reaction and she still keeps on working for the church/kiga, and well she doesn't reflect on her romantic conflicted feelings for denji/CSM. The guy who dumped you and, due to it, pushed you to suicide, is the same who save you and you been dedicating your life to...

One may say this is the result of character development due falling devil arc, but "progression" shouldn't feel this negative, plain and out of screen. Maybe it has to do with a trauma response but that option requires more work and time to elaborate on it. Either asa is just sadly getting eclipsed by denji to give him the maximun attention writting-wise, or she's been influenced by something else in the story. Like nobana said, after all she went through it's not normal to be this normal. Suddently, asa has become a fami-like person.

She has become less a human and more an animal who just accept anything coming to her. Losing her roof, personal belongings (important things like her mom memories) and her right arm, that just happened. Devils(!) aren't capable of feeling pain or sadness, quoting Barem. Isn't that just... tragically boring on purpouse? A case of devilhood where for denji is bloodlust and for asa is apathy at cruelty?

Maybe Asa has already starved and kiga molded her into her doll without no one noticing, and next on the list is Denji.

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

A co jakbym wzięła i przetłumaczyła całą nowelę. Co wtedy.

[theodora14pines]

For my part of art trade with @devisopod and the theme we agreed to work being "winter", I decided to go with my feelings and some beloved characters.

With Yamcha on my brain all the time and thinking of Gravity Falls, I decided to bring in some warmth by combining the two and giving Yamcha the Mabel experience, kindness and love. And of course that her hot chocolate is something beyond normal and with some kind of punch.

Now all I can think about is how those two would interact and how Mabel would have a crush on Yamcha because he's handsome and sensitive, but also give him dating advice and a makeover, and him not having the heart to say no to her.

At least everyone is warm in this, despite the cold and snow.

[purplink8]

Hate to burst anyone's bubble but I don't think L would've revealed his face to Light if the latter wasn't Kira. The Kira case was the only case in which L shows his identity to anyone besides Watari because it's the first time he (and his authority) has been challenged like this (with the majority of the Japanese task force leaving since they can't trust L coz of the FBI incident).

If Light weren't Kira and went on to become an NPA officer like his father, he might work with L on some cases together but that doesn't mean L would've revealed his identity to him, however intelligent this particular NPA officer may be.

Like I ship Lawlight very much and I'm not (in this post, that is) referring to anyone exploring the idea of non-Kira!Light with L in their AUs as bad (I like those AUs too), but let's remember that it wouldn't be plausible if we're going by canon. Even if Ohba said somewhere that they'd work together if Light weren't Kira, I'm sure he didn't mean working together as in face-to-face.

[geosaurus]

Get Your Life Together AU