#i just keep thinking abt. the writers made that choice. to have the kids get help from strangers

[its-leethee]

I am so accustomed to seeing the adults in children's media portrayed as antagonistic obstacles for the child protagonists to outwit and overcome. So, I really appreciate how in The Dragon Prince, Callum, Ezran, and Rayla are able to approach and rely upon the adults, strangers even, that they meet during their journey. The specific examples I want to talk about are both from 1x07: the doctor and the mercenary.

When Ezran and Callum meet the doctor, he is genuinely concerned for the boys, even though he can tell that they're not being completely upfront with him. He gives them his hospitality and listens without judgement or reproach while they tell him about the accident with the egg. When he realizes his expertise is inadequate, he keeps his promise not to tell on them, and points them towards hope.

Rayla's meeting with the mercenary is more tense; he is understandably skeptical of her intentions after she chases and corners him in an alley. But when he realizes her sincerity, he heeds her plea for help. His words ("but it'll burn you") and his body language (his hesitation, his worried facial expression) belie his empathy - at least, until he sees that she's an elf, and his prejudice overcomes him.

I also want to give a mention to Villads and Lujanne, who stepped up as mentors/guides for the trio, and offered their assistance, advice, and kindness without expectations of recompense.

In reality, most people are good and want to do right by others(1). The vast majority of the strangers and people you meet are not scheming, nefarious opportunists-in-waiting. If you approach with vulnerability and ask someone for help, they will honestly try to assist you.

I just find it such a refreshing, appropriately wholesome take. Grownups aren't out to get you, kids. As someone who was raised in the "stranger danger" era, I am glad to have tdp's more nuanced and honest version of reality to show and discuss with my own children.

[reineydraws]

Hey Reiney! i've been following your Renkaza comic for some time now and it's kind of gotten me into the ship. Would you happen to have any fic recs to get me started?

im so honoured my comic got u into the ship! (@sshcomic for those who don't know! 🫶) i love giving out fic recs omg thank u so much for asking!!!! i have 15 for ya haha.

i'll have specific recs under the cut, but first i wanna just say that anything by emilieee @e-milieeee ; dragonsandcryptids @lesbiansanemi ; and tippertupper are great places to start! they're amazing writers with a good body of work and i've definitely gone through a lot--if not all--of their renkaza stuff! please check them out!

word count is rounded to nearest thousand btw! :) smoke and mirrors + demon's choice are big inspirations for my comic, if ur coming from there!

i've also realized these can be pretty lengthy so if u want recs with shorter word counts just lmk and i'll comb through my bookmarks for <15k. but anyways!

Smoke and Mirrors by emilieee (272k)

canon happens in modern times au, where akaza ends up as kyo's apartment neighbour, tho kyo doesn't initially realize akaza's a demon. it's emotional! it's plotty! akaza mentions kokushibo made all the kizuki's fake id's and i still think that's hilarious! it's got one of my fave enemies to besties akaza & shinobu plots ever! please read this!!!

last sunrise by DragonsAndCryptids (182k)

akaza turns kyojuro by accident bc he bleeds too much into kyo's open wounds during the mugen train fight, and neither notice until it's too late. shinobu notices too and decides perhaps that this might be a prime research opportunity... uh-oh! the ethical quandries are good in this, and shinobu while flawed is very well-written. renkaza also end up with a soul bond. another emotional one but god is the journey amazing. tw for some torture scenes that could be graphic.

Small Fire of Winter Stars by phabulousphantom (66k)

modern au where akaza is a tattoo artist and kyo runs a teens program at the local community centre. it's one of my faves bc i just love stories about jaded people opening up and finding love and trust again, and this is exactly that. i also love the ensemble cast in it. the teenagers are adorable, especially inosuke who is a problem kid that finds something aspirational with akaza. thinking abt this fic is making me smile again!

Camp Kasugai by si1verbird77 (20k)

also modern au where renkaza are both counselors at a summer camp. kyo runs a percy jackson program, and he and akaza fall in love over the summer with the help of the deep trust that camp atmospheres usually end up fostering. kyo and sen, and akaza as well, also touch on the grief of losing parents, and the nature of camps as a place to grow into yourself and how time keeps moving. it's nice. i love this one a lot.

Inertia (series) by TipperTupper (23k)

akaza saves kyo from freezing to death, and kyo marvels at the compassion and humanity that akaza seems to hold in his muscle memory. ends up digging a little bit into akaza's trauma both as a human and as a demon controlled by muzan. sanemi gets a little mad about it in the third part and it's funny. overall vibe of the series is warm.

The Neverending Night by apodis (155k - incomplete)

when i say this fic rotates in my brain 24/7!!! akaza gets stuck in a time loop that resets every time kyo dies. it explores akaza's nature as someone who is willing to sacrifice everything for loved ones, and it's interesting bc at first kyo hates him, and then he starts to realize there's something wrong with akaza's memories bc of muzan, and he starts to really see how self-effacing akaza is. it's SO good, and the realizations both kyo and you as the reader have build and layer as the story progresses. akaza and kaname (kyo's crow) also build a friendship that is so important to me.

Demon's Choice by Celeste Gladnick (lairMorbidon) (69k - incomplete)

akaza defects early and joins tamayo, and so many more people are alive as a result. kyo in this one is interesting bc he's bigoted against demons thanks to his upbringing in a slayer family under abusive shinjuro, and refuses to see that akaza is anything other than dangerous, despite literally everyone else sticking up for him. extra fun bc he crushes on butterfly assistant hakuji without realizing that it's akaza in a human guise. akaza himself also has some deeply held trauma he doesnt quite realize he has.

what i wouldn't give by DragonsAndCryptids (59k)

senjuro becomes terminally ill and his end is fast-approaching. akaza, who's been bothering kyo on and off for two years since mugen train, hears about it and offers to help by turning sen into a demon. at first, kyo gives a hard no, but as his baby brother's illness progresses... well, anyone would get a little desperate, wouldn't they? love this bc one of my fave things abt renkaza is pushing kyo to his moral and ethical limit lol.

if you fly (say you won’t come back) by apodis (10k)

siren au! well, akaza's a siren, and kyo is the caretaker of a house that sees many different travelers. akaza's just the latest one. i love this one bc it's fantastical elements are wonderful, and it builds a very interesting world. as the reader, you have a lot of questions and it's an experience getting them answered. it's also prettily written. :)

Little Fighter Boy Comes Marching Home by VTheTrashKing (19k)

akaza gets de-aged by a demon's blood art, and kyo comes upon a little human boy with black hair and blue eyes, a chip on his shoulder and a very implicitly sad past, what with the criminal markings on his wrists and the way he insists he can take care of himself. another one of my fave renkaza things and kyo getting bowled over by hakuji's tragic story so i loved the way he puzzles it together in this one based on the little boy in front of him, and just finds one sad thing after another.

“Don’t die, Kyojuro” by Lenasaurous (24k)

akaza lets kyo live and often tells him not to die. kyo, who's life is often visited by death considering his occupation, begins to rely on akaza's immortality as a demon, and depend on his company as a constant--that is, until akaza passes out from not eating, and stays down for the count. uh-oh. (i also love this fic 'cuz there's this scene where akaza tries so hard to make kyo like him by giving him herbs and helpful plants, even tho kyo doesn't really want him around at that point, and it's so sweet and so sad. i wanna give him a hug!!!)

Memories behind broken glass by GammaRays (58k - incomplete)

this is the akaza whump fic of my dreams lol he gets captured and experimented on by shinobu (and it can be grisly so tw for that). kyo lured him into a trap to get him captured and ends up standing guard and starting to question his morals when it becomes clear that shinobu is being intentionally cruel. as the torture experiments go on, akaza also becomes so delirious that he begins to remember his human past. kyo loses it a little. it's good.

All the things a cup can hold by Liatheus (9k)

akaza takes shinjuro demon hunting lol. this is actually more of a shinjuro character study with side renkaza, but i love it specifically for a scene near the end where they all have tea, and ruka's empty place at the table feels obvious, and kyo and shinjuro are sort of crying about it. i also love that it explores the way shinjuro used to be a hashira, and how akaza investigates his strength in that sense. shinjuro's strength is an important aspect to kyojuro that doesn't often get delved into, and it makes sense to me that akaza sort of looks into it, as someone who loves kyo's strength.

Hello Again (the weight of memories welcome me home) by VTheTrashKing (15k)

this one's more artsy than anything but i love sci-fi as a genre so i'm reccing it lol i'm being self-indulgent. for whatever reason, throughout his life, akaza gets visited by various hashira. it's all very timey-wimey and the renkaza is more implied than anything, but there's this scene where akaza's being held trial at a hashira meeting, and then a future sanemi and future giyuu come out of nowhere to protect him and shock the living daylights out of their past selves, and it's so wild. i love it so much.

the milk incident by lattelesbean (4k)

this is just funny haha! short and fun read. modern soyama twins au where akaza's a café barista and accidentally puts his foot in his mouth in a very embarrassing way, bc he was too busy thirsting over kyo, his latest customer, to double-check what was about to come out of his mouth lol. i am still laughing.

[rahleeyah]

Hi queen I have some questions: why do you think the show made the decision to make elliot not know about Lewis? Did he choose not to ever look her up? Was he abroad at the time? Undercover? Did Kathy know? Do his kids know? Why didnt they tell him? How has he still not heard abt it from someone? What do you think the purpose is? What are your thoughts?? It’s always been so interesting to me that he clearly doesn’t know still and I wanna figure out why that is, why the writers chose to do that

i don't know why they made it, but i know why i would have done it, if i'd been in charge -

bc leaving the door open for liv telling him about lewis herself, and him not knowing, is fucking grade a top tier angst. that is delicious drama. that kind of dramatic irony - when we the audience know something vital that a character does not know - is so, so compelling to watch unfold. it's such a good opportunity for entertainment purposes that the logistics seem to matter less than leaving the door open for that confrontation. narratively, it is a fantastic choice.

however, if we're looking for like meta, in-canon explanations, i actually don't think it's that much of a stretch that he doesn't know. he "went walkabout" for some period of time before starting the private security - which i have always read as like. military contracting work - gigs, which did involve him travelling. i don't recall if he tells us specifically how long he was "walkabout", but lewis is 2 years after he left. idk what exactly he meant by walkabout - how does he go walkabout while kathy is at home with a toddler? did he literally go on a little eat pray love adventure after Jenna, leave behind not just the job and olivia but kathy, too? where was he? in a cabin in the woods? hiding out in jersey patching up his relationship with bernie? what the fuck, elliot - but probably it wasn't 2 full years. i think it's safe to say that by the time lewis happens, he's in the private security work. so it's safe to say a) he's no longer reachable at his old number and b) he might not have been in the country when it happened.

so then the question becomes well does anybody else know what happened?

i think the kids are out; yes, what happened to liv was on the news but like. how likely is it that the kids, who are somewhere between like 18-25, are watching the nightly news? how likely is it that they're reading actual newspapers? how likely is it that any news other than big national headlines (which this wouldn't necessarily be, how often do stories about cops getting hurt become national headlines?) is getting to them when they're that age? not to be like "kids don't keep up with the news" but the scale of this news story and the speed with which stories get replaced in the news cycle and the fact that at this point there's no more physical paper on the doorstep makes me think it's entirely likely the kids don't know. especially if any of them went out of state.

which leaves kathy.

knowing what we know about kathy's relationship to eo on account of the letter, i don't think it's out of the question that kathy found out about it, and didn't bring it up. not bc she's keeping it from him, not even bc she thinks he doesn't know, but bc i do think, only two years after elliot left the job, when he's only just settling into his civilian life and then only barely, the last thing i think kathy wants to do is speak olivia's name. it doesn't have to be vindictive on her part; it could just be straight up self preservation. she doesn't want to know if he knows; she doesn't want to be the one to tell him if he doesn't, and if he does she doesn't want to see him grieving for someone else.

and i love the idea that he purposefully doesn't look her up. bc he can't. bc seeing her face, seeing her live her life without him, would break him. bc he knows if he sees her face, even on a computer screen, the ache he feels for her will threaten the new life he's built for his family. he can't do that to kathy, and he can't do it to himself.

aand i also think it's not unlikely that no one's talked to him about. for one thing, they probably all think he knows, and for another, it's been ten years. it's not a wound anyone close to liv wants to reopen, and it's not something that people who aren't close to her are likely to be talking about much.

honestly i would have more questions if he did know (bc wtf, how could he know and not show up for her????) and i would be really disappointed bc i wanna see liv tell him for herself and i want to watch his anguish at learning this news in real time.

[wishecho]

stan from it(?) the one i keep thinking is in reference to stan marsh everytime you rb something about him

seeing this ask made me embarrassed at first but ty tricky i am going to regurgitate so much now > : 3

favorite thing about them

stan is a silly guy he makes obscure jokes none of the others get and also he was absolutely at several points in time willing to let more kids in derry die and he was so real for that.

least favorite thing about them

he is just very kind of confusing he is Very hard to pin down seeing as at least in the book he doesn't get a pov for, reasons that absolutely make sense narratively but the most background we get about him is told from the probably unreliable sources that are the losers which is fun but also AGH. he is a bit of an enigma idk its hard to explain. his ass is NOT elaborating !

favorite line

book quote here but "Sure, come on down tomorrow,' Stan said. 'We're going to break Eddie's other arm.'"

brOTP

stanlon that one deleted scene AUGH they are just so. stan was so happy to hear from him again !!! and first thing after meeting him in the book stan asks mike if he wants to shoot off fireworks he got with them they r sweet.

OTP

i am a stozier fan first and foremost solely bc the dynamic is funny to me there is something Wrong with them.

nOTP

stenbrough SORRY i think they should stay stenBROS at best. BUT that one image with the “I-I-I” “JKLMNOP” is them. i can’t find the original but yeah that’s them.

random headcanon

he is a peanuts comic fan. some of his hobbies he picked up can be traced back to snoopy. snoopy is the source.

unpopular opinion

the letter at the end of the it chapter 2 movie was altogether just a dumb thing (bad choice on the writers end generally) im sorry. that being said the fact there was a misspelling made it kind of very funny. mf canonically now used the wrong loose. this will just turn into a rant abt it chapter 2 if i say more i will restrict myself.

song i associate with them

serious answer hey hey, my my by neil young due to him being the first loser in the book to have it used in regards to him but secondarily the silly answer is man or muppet from the muppets movie. it fits bro

favorite picture of them

^ seconds after telling his friend he hated him

[did-we-imagine]

OMG I just watched the DoBS pt 2 of S3 in ATLA.

I'm very late and have skipped stuff whuch I should go back to...

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK THERE IS SO MUCH STUFF I HAVEN'T SEEN MUCH META ABOUT ?!

My boy Sokka ??? Literally the best strategist ? Hakoda being the bravest dad ever ? I can't even ? Sokka is so so so smart and underrated. I can't even. The way he guessed Ozai had a bunker. His impeccable team work and complimenting Toph. The way he knew where Azula was going though she did get him. Ofc, Toph being the best earthbender. The way that little powerhouse found the effing bunker. She folded that hugeass metal door. Aang being Aang, the last hope of the world y'know. And Azula. Azula is absolutely fabulous. Then there is the parallel between her manipulating Sokka with Suki and Ozai manipulating Zuko to stay with Ursa...That was very interesting. Some other tumblr user had put a screencap of them and mentioned some parallel but I hadn't caught on since I hadn't seen the episode. I think it was smokey-liveblogs ? Feel free to correct me OP or anyone else who knows. I apologize if I am mistaken.

One thing I really liked was that the guys were free to express their feelings. Sokka's tears broke my heart. Poor baby, it feels as if the trauma from losing his mom, and Yue caught up to him...He probs wouldn't have survived losing Suki. Let's not talk abt Zuko, I have a very soft spot for sad abused kids.

Also, Azula's portrayal is probably one of the reasons some of us (me included, yea don't come for my head pls) keep on forgetting she's 14. The voice acting, the makeup, the smoothness...My girl coulda been some very influencial general or minister instead of Zuko's sister/ 2nd queen consort instead of Ozai's daughter and I wouldn't have questioned her abilities as a military strategist/politician. (And pls don't misunderstand, I am not pro Ozula or whatever, what I mean to say is that this little girl is so skilled she could have been a major adult villain and no questions would be asked lmao. Even now, many ppl think she is the older sister.) It's also very creepy...What kind of upbringing made Azula this manipulative ? While I have no doubts that Azula is very cunning and intelligent, I do not think that this level of manipulative prowess is normal for a small 14 yo, she literally caught the other smartest character in the show aka Sokka and grabbed him by the feels, and he does not strike me as a hothead (Zuko)/ Softie (Aang). The parallel is meant to show where she got it from (aka dear old genocidal phoenix papa).

I have already spoken about my own opinion on the Zuko/Ozai showdown. While most people find it -rightfully- cathartic, I personally feel it was not the smartest choice nor the most pragmatic. Aside from my own preferences, the writers could have avoided putting themselves in a tight spot with Zuko being able to kill Ozai and choosing not to "because destiny duh" then trying to convince Aang to do it, which many people -rightfully again- claim is non-sensical at best, hypocritical at worst, since Zuko is chill with calling for his death, though some think that seeing his demise as a necessary evil is not the same as killing him because he's still his father... I think that the confrontation would have been more interesting at the end of the series with a defeated Ozai instead. I would have loved it if Zuko decided to leave a letter and disappear to save Iroh/do stuff. Not only would it have avoided these writing "complications", but also it would have told us more about Zuko & Ozai's relationship indirectly. Would he care to open and read ? How much time would it take him to realize that Zuko peaced out of the palace lol ? What would have Zuko done had he left with Iroh or would they have gone separate ways ( Z with the Gaang/I with the white lotus)? Imagine my dude decided to join the invasion asap lol ? I am not sure as I am very new to this whole writing meta or whatever what this is considered to be, but I think that the main reason for this scene is probably to show the badassery of lightning redirection and "Iroh's teachings" finally getting through Zuko by having the very special technique he created saving his life from Ozai's abuse and generally horrible ways (imperialism, racism, genocide, child abuse, and so on...). It could have been replaced with something even more badass in my humble opinion : maybe him stopping combustion man with it and saving the Gaang's lives, Iroh's whole every nation/element matters coming full circle with him genuinely realizing the severity of his mistakes and protecting people of different nations from his country's march of genocide, the lightning being more than the symbol of the abuse he's been through, but all of FN's sins against its citizens and the other nations. I find this idea interesting in that it would have made Zuko's conflict and learning fit more into the grand scheme of things instead of an individual scale (he redirected lightning twice, once to save himself, and once to save Katara in canon, which is sometimes interpreted as a romantic gesture rather than a purely selfless one).

I didn't want to tackle the emotional impact of their confrontation because I feel it has been very largely touched upon by other very talented meta writers. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Again, going back to Toph and Sokka...Their wisdom is amazing. They may be children, but they are wise beyond their years. They stopped Aang from going to his own death. No, you weren't ready yet, sweetie pie. I love how they didn't lose faith despite their defeat. You can't save the world if you aren't very, very tenacious.I would have shipped Sokka x Toph if it weren't for the age gap and Suki's existence. 🙈

And...The water fam standing amidst of the bombings/chucking projectiles and planning...I wonder how this show was actually aimed at kids...Not easy to watch. I love how it absolutely captured the raw, vile brutality of war.

PS: Hakoda digging Katara's waterbending skills gave me life too, especially after seeing that episode where Pakku refused to teach her because she was a girl. And also, God I love healing, especially as a real life biological/medical science enthusiast. 🙈💖 *squeals* + Hakoda/Bato/the other adults being selfless and letting the kids escape as opposed to Ozai leaving Azula to fend off intruders...I'll never laud enough Hakoda's shielding his kids from the war.

PS 2: english is my 3rd language so I apologize for any strange sentence structures/incoherencies.

[spacedlexi]

What are your thoughts on Clem getting a new girlfriend in the graphic novel?

dont talk to me about the comic it doesnt exist

but to honestly answer your question: it pisses me off. for a few reasons:

violet is SUCH a perfectly written match for clem that i cant see either of them with anyone else. i didnt think the writers would Ever be able to write a good love interest for clem esp after s3 but im not kidding when i say violet and her are a perfectly written match. violet is very similar to s3 clem with her trust and abandonment issues, the angry loner who cares but pretends not to to protect themselves from the grief of loss/pain of being left behind, and so they put up walls and push people away. theyre both natural leaders who never wanted that position. loyal. fiercely protective. where javi helped clem learn to trust people again in s3, clem helps violet learn to trust people again in s4. clementine can see herself in violet (the "i know where youre coming from" line), and they help each other. which leads into my second problem with the new comic romance

violet has SEVERE trust and abandonment issues (even more than the other kids who all by default pretty much have trust and abandonment issues), which is obvious even without letting her get taken by the raiders (and is only made that much worse if you do). i cant imagine what it will do to her emotionally to wake up and realize clem is GONE without even SAYING GOODBYE. thats gonna hurt her so bad regardless if you romanced her or not. like clem is their leader now and shes just...leaving?? without telling anyone?? EVEN AJ???? HER ADOPTIVE CHILD??? fuck this stupid ass comic it is SO OUT OF CHARACTER for clem for like a million reasons. like skybound/tillie are saying theyre excited to focus on clems sexuality (which :/) but like to do it theyre really damaging representation that was already THERE and GOOD.

like way to just rip away really nice wlw representation just so you dont have to worry about determinant choices. (violentine is my favorite wlw rep in media theyre just......so nice. so cute but like so natural?? they are so in love and the writing just feels like it really came from the heart like the writers really cared abt their relationship even if it WAS a little rushed but like s4 was rushed in general) every scene they have together just makes me 😳😭😭🥺💕💕💕 no matter how many times i see it

another reason it pisses me off is that like everything else about this comic feels like a cheap rip off of s4!!! like theyre just sweeping s4 under the rug (which imo is the best season) just to rehash it again but BADLY. apparently theres gonna be "evil twins" now theyre REALLY going all in on the s4 rip off

ALSO i just love violet!!! shes a GREAT character. shes funny and mean but meaner than she intends to be. thinks shes not great with people but is a great leader. cares so much even though she pretends not to because shes afraid of being hurt. so she puts up walls to keep people away and it ties into her coming off harsher than she means to, but also longs for connection. also shes better with people than she gives herself credit for esp her interactions with aj so cute. LESBIAN!! got a bit of a gnc thing goin on i love it. her little rainbow pin and untied boots with different colored laces. her voice gideon i love your voice So Much 😳💕

s4 was the perfect end for clementine, and the writers of the last season INTENDED for that to be her ENDING. thats where she spends the rest of her days, surrounded by her found family who love her, safe at the school. shes DONE RUNNING she literally hung up her hat like shes DONE. she NEVER wanted to be on the road shes always longed for a place to be safe with aj and she has it she would never leave.

so yeah this comic is not canon in my eyes and apparently for a lot of other people as well. im just trying to pretend it doesnt exist i wish people would tag it because i want to block it. im glad not many people are even gonna be aware of its existence i wish i was one of them. let me eternal sunshine this shit away please erase it from my mind.

they didnt even draw clems peg on the right side :///// theyre making her grow her hair out :/// fuck off

[sashannarcy]

hi op what are your thoughts on uhhhh *spins wheel* sasha's season 2b arc (hope that's not too broad a subject)

edit: putting this under a cut bc it got LONG but. enjoy (???)

okay I gotta start by saying I didn't expect the depth of it at ALL; I knew Sash was featured prominently in the ending episodes of s2 based off of what my friend informed me, but like. I was not expecting 4.5 episodes to be almost ENTIRELY centered on their character arc and design (the .5 being the first half of True Colors).

that being said, I think Sash's 2b arc is PHENOMENAL bc of the way the nuance in it is written so incredibly well. this character is about to perform the most antagonistic move that they've pulled in the whole series so far, which is the act of betraying both Anne and Marcy in order to support Grime and get them home safe, if they so choose to go home (as an aside, I think at this point Sash has probably decided that she likes it more in Amphibia than back home, and there's one line that I'll get to that seems to be VERYYYY indicative of that. and if this is the case, it makes sense to me why Sasha would want to help Grime at all and why they don't really seem quite eager to follow Anne and Marcy back home. but! important to note that they still give those two the choice to go back if they wish, because at the end of the day Sash loves them and wouldn't try to force them to stay). and yet we see!! this back and forth!! this FIGHT that's happening in their mind, the way there's a flash of guilt they express at the very end of The Third Temple directly after confirming to Grime that things are still going according to plan, their convo w Anne at the end of The Dinner, the entire plot arc of BotB, and ofc the Sashanne duel in True Colors. I want to make an analysis post for each of these episodes because they're so fucking PACKED w shit to analyze, but I'll try my best to touch on all points here.

obviously we first learn of Sasha's plans to betray Anne and Marcy in The Third Temple. but what's important is that throughout the entire episode, there's several points where Sash switches back and forth between manipulation and honesty. I can talk abt this w confidence just based off of the whole. *gestures vaguely at myself.* but Sasha's initial apology in this episode was sheer manipulation, I think we all know that. however, when Sasha has to do their final test in the temple, those few lines they exchange w Anne in the moments before they raise themself up off the floor and launch themself into battle... those were genuine. they know they've been a shitty friend, and they're willing to accept that. so you have this game, almost, where Sash keeps flipping between putting on a mask to ensure they can keep up their facade until Grime secures the city and genuinely acknowledging their behavior and knowing that what they are doing is not going to sit well w Anne and Marcy.

so with that, The Third Temple sets the premise for the rest of the episodes of the season as far as Sasha's character arc. The Dinner is such a good fucking episode to follow with, because it hammers in the fact that Sasha has not changed. what it ALSO hammers in is she is still acting in her own self-interest - to put it in her words, she wants to get the friendship back under control. they still lash out, they still have a short fuse, they're still heavily opinionated and rough around the edges and prickly because this is an environment where they feel threatened. they're finally reuniting with the two people that mean the absolute most to them, only to realize they've been left out of the narrative. also not for nothing, but their trauma in Reunion got joked about in this episode which led to them blowing up over it, and like. I'm giving that one a pass bc man. anyway. at the end of the episode they say they like who they are, but it's said with a frown, which I think is fucking GENIUS. because there's an actual meaning to this line - they don't ACTUALLY like who they are. we have plenty of evidence that they don't like themself. what they MEAN is that they don't want to change, because that would mean giving up a security that they need in order to keep themself together. AND THIS IS DEMONSTRATED CRYSTAL CLEAR IN BOTB. they literally PURPOSEFULLY detach themself from Anne and Marcy bc they know they want control but they ALSO know that their behavior is just going to hurt the other two, so instead of compromising, they just go hey I'm gonna do my thing and you guys can do yours. and we'll both get what we want. and if that's not evidence that this character is fucking GRAPPLING with how to grow and change as a person, idk what is

and then. sigh. we get to True Colors. ofc Sash goes through on their betrayal - they're loyal to a fucking T once you dig beneath the surface, and they wouldn't just not follow through for Grime. what is absolutely KEY here is the fact that they are still leaving room for their friends' best interests, as in they're not trapping them in Amphibia but rather explaining how they're gonna help Grime take over, implying they'll go back home once they're done, but if Anne and Marcy wanna go back now, that's cool. if she didn't give a fuck abt their wellbeing, she'd just keep them there w her. but she doesn't. and then Anne starts retaliating, and. well. we ALL know Sasha does NOT do well with criticism of any kind. so they just go okay I'll send you back now then (and this is STILL an action motivated by what they think is best for Anne). BUT THE LINE. OHHHH THE SUPER IMPORTANT LINE THAT MADE MY HEAD SNAP UP AND MADE ME PHYSICALLY GO "YIKES" OUT LOUD. is Sasha saying "say hi to your parents for me." it's like a goddamn full-on sucker punch packed into one sentence - seven words, and all of a sudden we know for sure this kid does not have a good home life. I could go into elaboration on Sasha and the way she views familial ties throughout the show, but I won't bc that's gonna take this already super long answer and make it even worse. regardless, Sasha has once again flipped the switch and is indulging in their worst behaviors, which is full on controlling and holding power to act on what THEY think is best in the moment. and the moment Anne snaps, the moment Anne yells about Sasha being a horrible person, literally EVERYTHING shifts and the reaction from Sasha is VISCERAL. and what I mean by that is. it's not just the look in their eyes at those words. it's not just the sudden and complete loss of meaning, of self, of motivation after they've lost Anne's support. it's not just the way they stare at their own reflection in a sword that represents the color of the person they're trying their hardest to protect. it's the way that for the rest of the goddamn episode, they spend it trying to do the one thing they fear the most: giving up control. I'm gonna elaborate on this whole aspect in a different ask bc I was asked abt it, but the way Sasha acts towards Anne after the fallout, especially at the beginning of the duel and during the confrontation w Andrias, is fucking monumental. they struggle so much with how to change their own behavior, yet the very moment they lose the support of the people they've been trying so hard to love and care for in their roundabout way, they can change the way they act. because who the fuck is Sasha Waybright without Anne Boonchuy and Marcy Wu? in her mind, no one. she doesn't have any idea of who she is outside of this, so ofc she can act differently when she's thrown out in the cold. after all, it doesn't take much to warp an identity that doesn't exist.

tldr; god. how do I sum this up. Sash's 2b arc is smth that's incredibly intricate and complex from the way they constantly flip between desperately needing control and feeling guilty that this is the way they need to live. and True Colors is able to finally demonstrate to us the final piece in how they operate - without their friends, they lose sense of who they are, and their personality comes undone. in 4.5 episodes the writers managed to give us 1000 aspects to their character that we hadn't gotten to explore, and we can see that Sasha was never meant to be the villain. so. final review is that's some good shit👍

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Hmm I don’t think the writers try to make him look bad, they just don’t put any effort into making him look good. I think they just assumed that s1 would give him enough character momentum to have the audience keep caring abt him without having to use up previous screen time to further compellingly develop his character that could be used trying to, say, redeem Steve or build up a new character, if that makes sense.

Obvs we don’t know much abt what happens with the Byers this season, but there are rumors from presumably legit sources that say Jonathan gets some good brother moments with the kids this season, and his new BFF is gonna be a fan-fav so that helps too. I think clearly El is gonna get the brunt of the emotional work on the Cali team, since she’s the one going thru the kidnapping and everything, so it’s hard to say whether Jon’s guilt/fear/turmoil will be given attention specifically, or whether it’ll just focus on Mike or the group’s reaction in general, but there will be emotional work for Charlie to do. Just depends on whether it’s called attention to. But I mean Millie and Charlie are the best actors in that group (no offense to the others) so I’d be v surprised if they didn’t capitalize on that.

Okay but in not putting any effort into writing him after s1 that’s how he’s looked bad—like fans and the general audience have dismissed him as boring and useless and it’s bc the writers literally have him stand there and not do or say anything a lot of s2 and s3. He was active, sassy, angry, sweet, determined, i.e. layered in s1, and you understood his context and POV more. And then underwriting him has made people turn agst the character or just find him forgettable and it’s sad bc he’s right there as a well written character in s1 so why flatten him out? They also did weird choices that made him look almost incompetent at points, like just small exs, having Dustin push him out of the way in s2 or that he thinks it’s fireworks not a monster in s3. Like they literally make him kinda clueless and that’s just not who he is in s1.

But anyway s4 def gives a good opportunity to write him better what with a new place, seeing him with a friend, and that he is sorta in charge while everything is going down in Cali and with El. I hope we get good fam scenes, it will be diff seeing him w a friend and doing things like smoking weed for sure lol, and I hope they give Charlie some challenging acting. After the last two seasons tho it’s just unclear if they will; that’s why it’s basically been you see his actual acting in his other projects.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket SE02, ep10, part 2

The change in all:

-Kyo & momiji’s serious talk was a nice shift in their dynamic. Both treated each other with equal seriousness, frankness & honestly. Kyo isn’t as annoyed with momiji as before becuz kyo doesn’t see him as a noisy child anymore. Kyo realized how mature momiji’s outlook abt tohru’s nature was during his talk with Akito & now treats him with the respect of a peer, not a child.

-kyo stopped his hate towards yuki. he now can openly acknowledge to others that yuki was protecting tohru. his frankness is in tune with his  character. Kyo expressed that he’s selfish in loving tohru. but that’s sth he’ll hide, not becuz he isn’t honest, but becuz he already perceived that this will only bring her harm & it’s useless anyway, since he’ll be locked up.

-Yuki deliberately teasing kyo to sit with them is another shift. Normally, he’d ignore kyo’s existence or insult him with a comment sharp as a kick inflecting pain. But here he went out of his way to bring kyo into the group. Yuki, too, is acknowledging that kyo was protecting tohru by lying to Akito abt loving tohru. he also can see the closeness between kyo/tohru. However, instead of being honest abt his thoughts to someone else like kyo did, Yuki, in tune with his character, uses indirect ways to express that.

This new shift in dynamic expresses a time where both are taking a step forward but don’t know how to deal with each other as they’re not healed. Personally, I don’t think they’ll ever be” best friends forever living life close to each other, yay!” anime theme. I honestly see such theme as childish & unrealistic. But I think they’ll grow to respect each other & have a more natural/normal/realistic dynamic.

-Tohru is yet to show much change/growth. but she decided to indulge into the sohma’s lives, shutting down her needs or her own life. I can’t help but feel disappointed that the show treats tohru just like tohru treats herself. Ignoring the real tohru & focusing on her role on other character’s lives. She is needed in everybody’s growth, so the show gives her enough spotlight to match this goal. It’s been a season & a half with minimum focus on her issues. There’s still time left. But the show/writer’s direction to push everything regarding her inner struggle until the end & after showing everybody’s story/struggle/growth is starting to slightly piss me off. they can focus all they want on the other characters, they are truly interesting & entertaining, but every now & then cast some light on her issues even if she herself refuses to acknowledge them. I’m hoping the second half of this season deliver on that!! at least give her an internal voice!

Tohru & Momiji’s bond:

If kyoko would’ve had a second child, it’d be someone like momiji, mischievous yet kind. Tohru treated him with such familial affection. often joining him in his games, worrying abt him in school, putting him in bed. All her big sister love is shining through her every move.

-Momiji is as socially intelligent as tohru, if not more, cuz he is in tune with his emotions & doesn’t lock things down or neglect himself & indulge in other’s pain burying his own. I have spoken in depth abt the similarities & differences between him & tohru in my (SE01, EP14) review. I don’t see anything changing in their dynamics so far. He is still happy, loving, supportive & mature. He is a precious kid & I love him dearly.

I’m kinda confused abt some of the writer’s decisions when it comes to him. I know he uses German accent to connect to his mom, but what’s up with this overly childlike/toddler-like behavior especially the voice. They also give him clothes with toddler/baby like elements, like these puffy shorts. Momiji is 16 not 6. his design reminds me of typical anime child boy trope.. I know it’s meant as a comedic aspect but I wish they tone it down a bit. Not writing him as haru or sth, but making him get closer to his age, dropping the excessive baby imitation. What’s confusing me is that momiji has dropped this behavior & voice when he’s serious, why make him keep it then? or more accurately why overdo it?

Although the American VA’s voice isn’t as high pitched as the Japanese, but you could still feel they’re maintaining a baby-like element. Oh well, that’s my only complaint abt momiji. not his character but the show/writer’s choices abt how he’s presented.

side notes:

Momiji’s “meow” was weird! XD but precious.

The way momiji & Kisa slept in tohru’s bed, made me think that if tohru had siblings, she wouldn’t have been so lonely clinging to others yet feeling like a burden. she’ll have somebody! a family to be with.

We still know nothing abt Akito. A can of worms awaits... Open it!

[mastcrplanncr-a]

issue #23 made me really heccin’ emo over eggman and sonic. i was prepared for it, but also ?? not prepared??? holy frick im just gonna ramble under the cut.

first of all, i’m just gonna’ idly ramble about some things i noticed.

Eggman, literally 11 issues ago:

he makes these off remarks and then changes his mind whenever it’s convenient for him smh. that or hes a freaking liar and. WELL THAT’S PRETTY TRUE HONESTLY.

i’ma be honest fam starline is a freaking mood rn. it’s ?? so dumb?? LIKE EGGMAN WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING FAILSAFE UR SOLUTION WAS “not touching the robots hurr durr” PL EASE.

In retrospect, though, this is an interesting parallel to Forces because he’d apparently learned from his mistakes. TBF, and it has been brought up elsewhere on tumblr, this is a man recovering from amnesia. He must’ve just not gotten to that part. OR HE’S JUST. DUMB AND ARROGANT. Like, yeah, sure, there’s no vaccine - lol the heroes can’t fix anything & it also means you’re valuable because you’re the one person who can. BUT COME ON EGGMAN.

my friend actually predicted this holy shit. i was rambling abt a discussion we had in the egg cult, where we were talking about the possibility of sonic infecting eggman to blackmail him into getting the cure because he’s reached the point?? hes so done with eggman’s shit??? all his friends are in danger and hes backed into a wall what else is he to do than do the one thing he doesn’t want to: use eggman’s tactics against him?

and my friend was like:

LIKE. IT IS A HUGE RISK, and Sonic went FOR IT. I’M SCREAMING TBH.

THIS CONFRONTATION WAS SO FUCKING RAW YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I thought I was ready for it but I really, REALLY wasn’t. I love the little details of Starline bein’ like: “oh fuck” - usually he’s pretty cocky around Sonic but uh. HE’S INFECTED NOW. And the zero remark - idk if that’s intentional on the writer’s part but ZERO TO HERO anyone?

anyway toxi broke down crying at this point. you have no idea how much i was sobbing over my blue son just. pouring out his heart to his nemesis. that’s top tier tearjerking material.  also starline passive aggressively readjusting his outfit lmfao. BITCH IM FABULOUS. but man the usage of ‘ BE’ and ‘LIKE’ - Sonic knows who Eggman is; he’d never ask him to be something he’s not. but it’s also a reiteration of sonic’s want to see good in him; being LIKE tinker is a statement in that he wanted eggman to be who he was, but NOT to go back. to do good for the world. have it be his own decision, because deep deep down:

isn’t that what he really wants?

Also, although there are those sickly sweet descriptions, the usage of ellipses in this narrative really fucks me up because you can practially hear the gradual realization in eggman’s voice. his mockery starts out so !!! but it just eventually gets straight to the point, as a list. as a routine. because he was used to it. and because, some part of him misses it. notice the usage of ‘need’ and ‘use’. they needed him, and yet he used the people that appreciated him sm like puppets.

some nice guilt there, huh, doc?

ALSO I SPENT LIKE, HOURS TRYING TO FIND THIS EXACT DIALOGUE, but Eggman has a conversation in Dark Brotherhood with Sonic and makes this remark:

LIKE??? this isn’t new to his character, actually? Ignoring the ken penders thing bc smh. Going by this game he’s actually kind of okay with that set up. And he just works so well with the others too??? this isn’t even taking into account the other games he’s teamed up with them. I’m sorry but my head just goes back to this line so many times; it’s one of the ones that stick with me, along with ‘complicated guy’ from lost world. HE COULD!! legitimately do good. and he actually doesn’t find it too bad??? IM EMO MAN...

and IMAGINE making super cool things that people genuinely like... eggman has a HUGE ego, that much is very apparent; he’s super big on appreciation as comes with. and with tinker? he had that - he felt appreciated and loved. people LIKED what he made, and he didn’t have to bend over backwards to have that. his work felt included and he didn’t have to take that appreciation by force like he did with his lackeys (which half the time was fake anyway) .

first and foremost - WE SEE THAT OPEN YOUR HEART REFERENCE, IDW. also sonic’s frustration here, in comparison to the lil smile the panel before - he’s just!! “WHY CANT YOU WAKE THE FRICK UP OLD MAN”. the justification here seems a tad bit like DENIAL to me. and the justification seems... kind of odd from him? since when does EGGMAN justify anything he does? He does what he wants and when he wants, because he’s the E.G.G.M.A.N. he doesn’t care what anyone thinks... right?

it’s because - especially with the usage of better - he didn’t like where that train of thought was going. for once, he’s justifying himself - because the alternative is admitting sonic is right. that he did like that life. that he’d want to go back. throw it in a hierachy and it’s all so simple, right?

also the inclusion of open your heart lyrics here. the incident with chaos was just as catastrophic. and these lyrics in context of the previous panel, highlights how sonic and eggman both seek unity and peace but in their own ways; eggman’s is just evil. it seems a little bit of a diversion to me - to antagonise sonic and make him forget about it. what better way to do that than to relate to him? ‘own styles that we won’t change’ highlights a stubbornness in ways, too, especially with the current context of eggman denying his old life. ALSO IT IS LITERALLY TELLING EGGMAN TO OPEN HIS HEART.

and ngl this seems like idle banter to hide the fact he genuinely felt remorse for his actions for a second. because lbr he has a habit of being all talk when a plan goes wrong or suffering inside,

which starline does quite pointedly explain.

As I was saying above, Sonic has no choice in what to do now - he’s reaching his limit. OR ELSE. hes pondering doing the thing he doesnt want to do. and honestly, ‘you can’t stop me. no one can,’ is so hardhitting not just because of its looming threat, but because of how much it solidifies for sonic that he can’t take the chance anymore. if anyone is going to change eggman, it has to be himself.

also can i just cry over how much sonic trusts tails. im getting sa2 flashbacks.

also man i’d like to point out the specific use of ‘lock you away forever’. it coooould be a reference to sonic’s time imprisoned during the events of sonic forces. bitterness?

NOT SAYING I CALLED IT, BUT I CALLED IT. it still hurts though. and wow, it really is horrifying when eggman fears his own heccin’ creation, huh?

i live for sonic being passive aggressive with eggman. give me more please.

im immensely concerned the direction starline is going, honestly. but it does say a lot about eggman; how he’ll keep trying the same things expecting different results, but failing and never seeing that. because he’s EGGMAN; every plan is brilliant by default!

i love how sonic just !!! SHOT... THE MOMENT HE WAS REMINDED WHAT WAS AT STAKE. son i love you so much you’re doing great sweetie

also, man, can we talk about eggman avoiding his blatant faults, and shoving his failures onto someone else? because this little scene here - eggman ur literally the one who crashed the thing. it had absolutely nothing to do with sonic. i feel as though this is symbolism of his self-destructive nature, honestly. hes always gotta make things harder for himself. (also starline’s face is killing me)

Eggman does what he has to, but technology won’t work every time you kick it. he thinks he can get everything through force but we have several instances in idw where force did NOT work out; you’re not gonna get far, egghead.

MHM, and just who does that sound like, Eggman? honestly the mirrors between these two are seriously destroying me. although sonic is in a horrible position, so is eggman; he likes to think he’s won the war, but hes surpassed his own expectations, and that’s going to backfire on him eventually. hes stubborn to admit he has NO REIGN over this and they’re all doomed, so he’s pinning his failures / loss on Sonic.

is that the amnesia kicking ya in the shin, eggman? or sonic’s reality check? either way, the doc hates emotions. dammit man why you gotta make him emo

future eggman is going to kick past eggman in the kneecaps. it’s times like this ur reminded how much of a kid he is. eugh but that’s work i want my victory and senseless destruction now. honestly if the doc is after success, he is certainly not getting it this way and I AM FEARING FOR EVERYONE’S LIVES. he’ll probably have to work with what’s left of the resistance like the back end of most games at some point.

I’m getting a little burnt out but i can’t forget my son and how much he hurts me.

first of all that third panel terrifies me. the fact it GOT that far does me great concern. the RED EYES? that’s pushing it fam i dont like that. the expressions are also just freaking destroying me; they’ve been PERFECT this issue. and the fact sonic is at his weakest when he feels like he’s failed everyone hurts me deeply. he has SO much on his shoulders and its getting too overwhelming for him.

also man... the whole thing with eggman... just stuff me man. but it hurts all the more because it’s so glaringly clear that there is?? some good in eggman??? he just. doesn’t want to admit it. and unfortunately these aren’t good circumstances to debate on that.

ANYWAY, THAT ISSUE WAS AGONY AND IM STILL REELING AND HAVENT EVEN. TALKED ALL THAT MUCH ABOUT SONIC HERE (on account of this being eggman’s blog) but idk if i’ll write anything on that.

gonna go cry about an egg now brb

[fortyflightower]

artist ask babey!!😌🤙 the smiths, charli xcx, LANA DEL REY. i could do more. we shall see

CAITLYN YOU MADE THIS SO HARD FOR ME.... thank u but also i hate you 😤 sorry this is so long i just have a lot of thoughts and i don’t know how to shut up. i told you this was going to be a novel and here it is. writers doing nanowrimo wish they were me.

THE SMITHS.... one time i mentioned that i listened to them to one of my art teachers & he asked me what my favorite songs by them were & i completely blanked. it still haunts me to this day but i’m stronger now and i will not make that mistake again

1. back to the old house

this song has everything. the depression. the softness the yearning. ALSO these lyrics...

and you never knew / how much I really liked you / because I never even told you

2. the headmaster ritual

this is the song i listen to when i’m depressed, angry, and considering dropping out of school.

i want to go home / i don't want to stay / give up education / as a bad mistake

belligerent ghouls / run manchester schools / spineless bastards all

this line makes me think of my vid prod teacher 😊😤

3. still ill

had to stop myself from copy pasting all of the lyrics from this one. i also have it on my adam playlist SO.

england is mine, it owes me a living / but ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye

what can i say... i just like the rage and entitlement of this

but we cannot cling to the old dreams anymore / no, we cannot cling to those dreams

no thoughts head empty. i think i like it because it reminds me of that line from ribs by lorde.

does the body rule the mind / or does the mind rule the body? / i dunno

this is so adam core. will not explain any further

4. this charming man

BASIC I KNOW but it was the first song i ever listened to by them (i found it on a gansey playlist on 8tracks back in middle school😔🤟) don’t have any favorite lyrics from this one but the opening is ICONIC.

5. well i wonder

this one.... is SO emo but that’s okay... also the way he sings these lyrics... TOO MUCH 4 me

gasping - dying - but somehow still alive / this is the final stand of all I am / please keep me in mind

honorable mentions are there is a light that never goes out, the boy with the thorn in his side, never had no one ever, cemetery gates, and I WANT THE ONE I CANT HAVE because i’m THAT indecisive

miss Charli XCX... i’m going to be real i don’t listen to her much but when i do i am DOWN TO CLOWN.

1. vroom vroom

i have a playlist called “music to get into a car crash to” and this is the only song on it.

lavender lamborghini, roll up in a blue bikini /bitches on the beaches, lookin' super cute and freaky

Ugh the vibes of this 😩 wish my friends and i could pull this look off

bitches know they can't catch me / (vroom vroom) cute, sexy and my ride's sporty

used this for as a caption for that one tdt drawing i did & i have no regrets. this really embodies the vibes of any scene where ronan & kavinsky are racing.

beep beep, so let's ride

i just think the sound effects are funny

bubblegum-pink ferrari, yeah, I'm so bossy

these are the vibes i would like to embody but never will. also i think barbie & elle woods gave me a primal respect and desire for a pink car.

2. dreamer

nothing to say abt this one except that all i can think abt when i listen to it is that one maggie steifvater copying charli xcx meme. also it’s an absolute banger and one of the songs i blast when i’m going unhinged but in a sexy thot type of way

3. boom clap

this song changed my life when i first heard it on the tfios soundtrack. not that deep but does music have to be? no.

first kiss just like a drug /under your influence / you take me over you're the magic in my veins/ this must be love

boom clap / the sound of my heart / the beat goes on and on and on and on and

HER MIND WHEN SHE WROTE THIS... pop music peaked with this song

LANA. i like listening 2 her music in the winter because the summer depression vibes cancel out seasonal depression like pemdas. she was litchrally my spotify artist of the decade which is so baffling because i don’t feel like i listen to her that much. ALSO every few months i get sucked into a hole of watching concert vids on instagram & it ruins my life.

1. salvatore

the vocals in this... she truly has the range.

I adore you, can't you see, you're meant for me?

catch me if you can / working on my tan / salvatore / dying by the hand / of a foreign man / happily / calling out my name / in the summer rain / ciao amore /salvatore can wait / now it's time to eat / soft ice cream

all of her ooohing and aaahing is great but THIS PART is so sexy. also i almost made a post comparing “dying by the hand of a foreign man happily” & “the choice was death or hurting adam which wasn’t much of a choice at all” but i figured it was too much

2. video games

basic but it’s a classic. also the radical face cover re-ignited my love for this song.

i say you the bestest / lean in for a big kiss put his favorite perfume on / go play your video game

there’s a video of her singing this live where she’s on a swing and she waves her hand when she says “go play your video game” and i think about it every single day

he holds me in his big arms / drunk and i am seeing stars / this is all i think of

this part makes me want to be held 😪

it's you, it's you, it's all for you / everything i do / i tell you all the time / heaven is a place on earth with you

honestly so romantic. what else can i say

3. off to the races

this is my favorite to see live videos of.. the little dance she does to it has me feeling some type of way 🥺😪 one of the classics. lana slapping the roof of this song like “this baby can fit to much daddy kink, drugs, and sex in it”

swimming pool / glimmering darling /white bikini off with my red nail polish

my old man is, a tough man / but he got a soul as sweet as blood red jam / and he shows me, he knows me, every inch of my tar black soul

the imagery of this... UGH

4. california

THIS ENTIRE SONG IS TOO GOOD. i don’t even know what to say abt it except that lana really went off with nfr

you don't ever have to be stronger than you really are / when you're lying in my arms, baby / you don't ever have to go faster than your fastest pace

you're scared to win, scared to lose / i've heard the war was over if you really choose

5. old money

this one makes me cry the hardest out of all her songs because it’s so sad and desperate

blue hydrangea, cold cash divine / cashmere, cologne and white sunshine / red racing cars, sunset and vine / the kids were young and pretty

once again the imagery in her songs is UNPARALLELED.

the power of youth is on my mind

this makes me think abt that lorde quote abt how teenagers sparkle or whatever

and if you call i'll run, run, run / if you change your mind, i’ll come, come, come

bonus: music to watch boys to

SORRY i needed to put this one on here. this one should be near the top but i completely forgot abt it until it came on shuffle play & i don’t feel like renumbering the entire list. this one truly is a ronan song i don’t make the rules (the music to watch boys to is the murder squash song). once again it’s the imagery of it all that gets to me.

i like you a lot / putting on my music while I'm watching the boys / so I do what you want

live to love you / and i love to love you / and I live to love you, boy

nothing gold can stay / like love or lemonade / or sun or summer days / it's all a game to me anyway

diet mountain dew didn’t make it onto this list but i have 2 pairs of heart shaped sunglasses because of it so it has a special place in my heart... lanas impact

other honerable mentions are the greatest, fuck it i love you, venice bitch, dark paradise, BURNING DESIRE and cherry because it’s the only good song on lust for life

[watermelinoe]

i'm making my own post abt this to not derail this other person's but uhhh were we really supposed to sympathize with billy from stranger things or henry from it? bc i keep seeing that billy got a "redemption" arc this season and :/ like yes i've seen people on here claim billy deserved better n shit but i am not entirely convinced that's what the writers intended, and that was like.... definitely not the intention with henry lol

showing a character growing up with abuse is not inherently showing you a justification for their actions. and neither does showing a character doing a good deed. think abt count olaf from asoua - at the very end, he does this one selfless act before he dies. did that redeem him? no. oh, but his dad died. did that excuse him? lmao of course not, bc look at the orphans, who went through so much, and still tried to be good people the whole time.

compare that with a book series that was obviously trying to redeem its abusive, awful character: harry potter. how do we know we're supposed to forgive him? bc the main character names his fuckin kid after him and calls him the bravest man he knew. meanwhile, max never makes excuses for billy - and she's the only one who cries when he dies. idk why henry is brought up at all, yes his dad was abusive, he's obviously still a monster? he "dies" trying to murder mike ffs, the narrative was clearly not justifying him

so then what is the point of these "sympathetic" moments? we show characters with these abusive backgrounds to show that it's a cycle - one that you have to actively break. we know these types of people didn't come from a vacuum, and we know that they aren't one-dimensional monsters. but there's always a contrast between them and our heroes that shows where the villains went wrong. henry and bev both had abusive fathers, but bev was a good person. billy and will were both possessed, but will is saved bc he has people who love him, while billy has alienated everyone around him bc he's a piece of shit. his last act wasn't to save el - she doesn't appeal to his "kindness," but his sense of identity. he was saving himself.

so what does that last good act accomplish? when you see those moments where a bad person does something good, especially just before they die, you understand what could have been, if they'd made different choices. what's integral to preventing that moment from trying to justify that villain is how the characters react, which is why harry potter missed the mark so badly with snape. so if next season memorializes billy n shit i'll take this all back. but i don't see the point in showing characters that are pure evil for no reason, bc that doesn't reflect reality and it's not a compelling narrative. if we can't acknowledge that villains are human, we're gonna get confused when real people aren't pure good or pure evil.

[robininthelabyrinth]

"New writer ask meme: based on my body of work, what’s something you’d like to see me try to write?" like. you wrote a story within a /menu/ so you can take this as a prompt or just respond but. if you can make a menu compelling, what about something else. like a professor binn's history lecture, swapping in for the teacher and subject of your choice, but something where the students have fallen asleep five minutes in but there's a compelling story under the surface. idk if it's possible, (cont)

re: the hist lecture thnx for letting me know tumblr didn’t send it! can’t remember xactly what was in each ½ of the ask but short version: if any1 can make a dry lecture (note: not just any lecture, but a boring one), abt history or other, compelling, it’d be u. just as people say that x celeb reading the phone book could be cool, I feel the same could be true for u, which brings me to thing I’d like to see u write 2: a phone book story. idk how the flip it would work but it’d be interesting

————————————————————————————————

I think that my Makers of History fic might fulfill your first craving - it’s not boring, but it’s written in the style of a history textbook :) 

That being said, your SECOND prompt irresistibly caught my eye.

It’s not a phone book, but I hope you still enjoy!

Fic:  Central City Classifieds: December 2017 Edition (direct link to Ao3)

Fandom: Flash, Arrow, Legends of TomorrowPairing: Leonard Snart/Mick Rory, suggestions of unfulfilled Mick Rory/Caitlin Snow

Summary: Central City Picture News is a respectable news organization, with serious journalism, editorials, opinion columns, sports coverage, arts review, and international news.

So why does everyone keep reading the classifieds?

(Answer: because they’re hilarious.)

———————————————————————————————–

CENTRAL CITY CLASSIFIEDS - December 2017

New Business Opening:Super Tailoring: For All Your Superhero or Supervillain NeedsAsk for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Supersuit Construction Corp.Super-suits for Superheroes, Supervillains, and More!Theme-appropriate nicknames included!Ask for C. RamonOur Motto: “We make proper supersuits here – our competitors should just go back to their stupid earth where the bad guys need suspenders to hold their outfits together.”–New Business Opening:Super-RepairsWe Fix Mistakes In Science Done By Supersuit Construction Corp.Ask for Harry W.–Announcement:All creditors to whom Harrison Wells owed money, please come to STAR Labs for a pleasant surprise. Ask for C. Ramon; he’ll direct you to the right place.–New Business Opening:TherapyVery Reasonable Prices – Sliding Scale AvailableFree to Superheroes and SupervillainsPLEASE YOU SHOULD ALL GO GET THERAPY RIGHT NOWAsk for ~Leo~

–Announcement:39 Surprisingly High-End Possibly-From-The-Future Toasters for Sale. No returns.Ask for B. Allen.–For sale, goods:One Cold Gun, barely used. Must go to good home. Must agree to take angst, hallucinations, budding drinking problem, and mourning of 30 years of partnership and marriage with you.–New Business Announcement:John Constantine – Exorcist, Demonologist and Master of the Dark ArtsIn Town for a Limited Time Only!–Wanted:Better security system capable of removing unwanted stowaways from advanced-future time ship. Call and ask for Sara.–Wanted:Any security system. At all. Please. Villains just walk in all the time.Call STAR Labs.–New Business Opening:Legendary Security ServicesBe Protected By the Legends of Tomorrow(no warranties apply, please ensure you have appropriate insurance before hiring)–Job Opening:Legendary Security ServicesSeeking Security Consultant – Superhero Experience WelcomeMust have Zambezi Totem To ApplyAsk for A. Jiwe and Z. Tomaz.All Time Periods Welcome.–Wanted:Any OTHER security system.Call STAR Labs.–New Business Opening:Colorful Light Show & Anger Management TherapyProcess Your Emotions, See Beautiful ColorsAsk for R. G. Biv.–Job Opening:Individual with meta powers wanted for long-term scheme against the Flash.Applications can be left by the statue of the Thinker in Central City Art Museum.–Announcement:Are you fucking kidding me?? Does that actually work?? – B. Allen.–Job Opening:New Mentor Figure. Must Not Be Evil.Harrison Wells doppleganger preferred.No individuals named Eobard need apply.Stringent interview process being implemented.Applications can be sent to STAR Labs. Honestly, just walk in, there’s no security system.–New Business Opening:Outdoor Wedding ServicesPlanning Your Outdoor Wedding? Worried About the Weather?Don’t Be!Call M. Mardon To Ensure Your Perfect Day!(Also available to ruin your exes’ wedding, but it costs extra.)–New Business Opening:Welcome to The FLASH Museum!Learn all about your favorite local Supehero in intimate, behind-the-scenes detail!Call: the H.R. Wells Estate.–Cease and Desist Order Lawsuit Filed Against the Flash Museum. C/O the Flash, STAR Labs.–While I’m at it, Cease and Desist Order Filed Against Local “Team Flashers” Club. It’s not funny! C/O the Flash, STAR Labs.–Wanted:Someone capable of making puppets in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.Preferably soft and capable of resisting impact; designed to be used in therapy sessions.Ask for ~Leo~–For sale, goods:Slutty clothing, barely used. Very reasonable price, just need to get rid of it.Ask for Snow at Star Labs.–For sale, goods:All clothing in my closet. Basically free. Need to get rid of it in revenge.Ask for Frost at Star Labs.–For sale, services:All the ice you could possibly want, no need for ice machine.Ask for Frost at Star Labs. Say that Snow sent you.–For sale, services:Under-the-table medical care. Reasonable prices.Feel free to report to the local medical licensing board afterwards if dissatisfied.Ask for Snow at Star Labs. Say that Frost sent you.–Announcement:Local man with flamethrower seeking attractive girl with ice powers for NSA good time while he is in the present location/time. Willing to annoy additional personality for free.–Announcement:Nice try. No.– Snow and Frost–Business Announcement:Therapy – now offering relationship and family counsellingAlso lessons in pre-planning, emotional openness, and honest communicationAsk for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Ever wanted to swim with the sharks, but afraid or unwilling to pay for travel? Never fear!Swimming Lessons with King SharkReasonable prices.Call ARGUS for additional details.–Wanted:Secret room for plotting and/or emotional processing of grief. No spying devices allowed.If you have any locations, call John Constantine, Leo Snart, or Mick Rory.Payment available only in Earth-X cash, since the other two are broke.–Announcement:Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are pleased to announce that they will be wed in a ceremony on the Star City Central Green at the end of this week.–Announcement:Another one?! Didn’t you two get married ALREADY?A Totally Not Bitter Central City Picture News Journalist–Announcement:Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are pleased to announce that they will be renewing their vows at the end of this week, this time before a rabbi and their friends.–Announcement:You didn’t have a rabbi the FIRST time?Noah Kutler & Donna Smoak–Announcement:What the hell are you two doing filing a joint newspaper announcement???Felicity Smoak–Announcement:Answer us about the rabbi question.Noah Kutler & Donna Smoak–Announcement:They would’ve been able to use the rabbi we used at my wedding, but they got him killed.Frost–Announcement:That was MY wedding, not yours!Snow–Announcement:Best wishes to Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen on their upcoming vow renewal.We’re sorry for accidentally setting your entire extended family on you.Team Flash–Announcement:Did you REALLY re-gift us the espresso machine we gave you??Oliver Queen–Announcement:It was on your registry in exactly the same way it was on ours.Iris West.–Wanted:Someone willing to obtain a list of ingredients, some very esoteric, without asking too many questions as to why. Speed of the essence – need to get all the ingredients before the next full moon.Call John Constantine, Leo Snart, or Mick Rory.–Wanted:An army willing to destroy the world and worship at the feet of GRODD.No need to apply. Just think the name of GRODD and we will come for you.–For Sale:Telepathy-Resistant Emergency Evacuation Devices, available to help you resist Grodd’s mind control long enough to escape. The newest fashion statement. Also, basically free.Available at STAR Labs.–Job Opening:Qualified therapists with an advanced understanding of ethics, client confidentiality, and self-defense. As many as possible. At once. This is so much worse than I could have possibly believed.Ask for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Freaky Supervillain Carnival(Totally NOT a set up trap for the Flash)Come see the Dangerous MIRROR MAZE! The magnificent, nauseating WHIRLYGIG!Job opening available for a clown, preferably with teeth, to keep away certain unwanted old acquaintances.Call S. Scudder and R. Dillon.–Wanted:Surveillance method capable of keeping an eye on three grown men with the capabilities of John Constantine, Leo Snart, and Mick Rory (included for comparison).Something’s up, and Gideon’s not sharing.Must be compatible with 25th century technology.–For sale, goods:Exploding dreidels, for a ridiculously deadly Hannukah prank!Totally not the CCPD trying to trap the Trickster again.Entirely by coincidence, please call the CCPD if you’re interested.–Wanted:Young black men who for a variety of flimsy reasons are no longer currently engaged in active super-heroing except in awesome but sadly brief cameos.We’re making our own club over in Keystone.Call c/o W. West and J. Jackson.–Wanted:Bounty Hunter capable of tracking and eliminating that pesky C. Ramon for having made a crude comment at my precious and perfect daughter.Call Josh (Breacher) on Earth-19–Wanted:Bodyguard capable of protecting me from a crazy overprotective asshole dad who can’t accept the fact that we’re ALREADY SLEEPING TOGETHER.Female bodyguard capable of extreme badassery preferred.Call C. Ramon on Earth-1–Announcement:I, Josh, hereby apologize to my adult daughter for having sought to control her sexuality in such an inappropriate manner. She is free to date whomever she wishes and progress in her relationship at her own chosen speed.Please call off your Amazons.–Business Name Change:Legendary Security Services will now be known as Legendary Amazon Security.Because we’re just that awesome.A. Jiwe, Z. Tomaz, K. Saunders–Police Announcement:Will anyone with any knowledge of what caused that giant blue-green explosion in STAR Labs please call the CCPD immediately? Ask to speak with Detective West.–Retraction:Cold gun no longer available for sale following explosive retrieval process.Bill for all property damage may be directed c/o John Constantine.–Announcement:We are sad to announce that John Constantine has passed away.Please send any bills for property damage care of Zatana.–Announcement:John Constantine is not actually dead. He’s just hiding away on the Waverider again.Personal note: John, if I get one more bill, I’m coming for your balls.Zatanna–Retraction:The reports of John Constantine’s death are greatly exaggerated.We apologize for the inconvenience.He is, however, unavailable to accept any bills.–New Business Opening:Magic Tricks by Abra KadabraMention Harry Potter One More Time And I Will Break My Parole And Kill You All–Invitation:The Epic Len and Leo Welcome Back/Going Away PartyAll Welcome – Bring Presents(Puns preferred)–For sale, goods:One freaky supervillain carnival set up, barely used. Very reasonable price.Have to leave town ASAP because there are now TWO Snarts and that’s two too many.Call S. Scudder and R. Dillon.–Wanted:Seeds for Golden Delicious Apples, Golden Berries, and Golden Corn.Please send to Gotham City, c/o Lisa Snart.–Announcement:Lisa, why are you in Gotham? And what’s with all the plants???With love,Your Concerned Friends and Family

[defiestars]

some quick verse + tlj thoughts related info  * *  very uhHHH likely to change as i go / as i remember things more clearly if / when i subject myself to tlj again

i.  recovery   //    in the empire strikes back novelisation luke was in his bacta tank for 12 hours and then slept for another 16 hours for fatal hypothermia.  assuming bacta technology has advanced and become more sophisticated,  particularly because it’s now been synthesised into a suit,  i’d estimate finn’s recovery to have been in the 30-36 hour mark.  (   also, he’s force-sensitive but that’s A Whole Other Topic  !  )   

if we assume:  day 1 post-tfa:  rey staying long enough to get her hot new Grey Jedi Look together  +  organise the gps bracelet plan with leia.  the resistance receiving alerts that the first order fleet is approaching and beginning evacuation plans.  day 2 post-tfa:  finn wakes up,  half a day earlier than he did in tlj,  just in time to offer information on the weak points of the star destroyers and the dreadnought, including helping devise the plan to eliminate the dreadnought’s surface cannons and clear the way for the resistance bombers. 

ii.  allegiance   //   FINN OWES !! THE RESISTANCE !! NOTHING !!!!!!  HE DOESN’T OWE ANYBODY SHIT !!!!!!!  this boy has risked his life and livelihood time and again from the moment he chose not to kill for the first order for complete strangers,  for a movement he had no prior connections with.  even if leaving and becoming a  ‘’’’’’’ traitor ‘’’’’’ to the resistance had been right for his character and a valid development in his character arc,  he does not deserve to be called a deserter for wanting nothing to do with the first order ever again.  like........... does anybody fucking realise that alongside the very possible defeat of the resistance, finn being captured by the first order again probably means he wouldn’t be killed, but  reconditioned  ???????  the first order has had deserters, too !!   they also get tasered !  in the Head, specifically their Brain, where they’re basically restored to factory settings.  not to mention the sheer amount of bravery and courage and heroism it takes for him to turn around and face the organization that destroyed his childhood, enslaved him, and has systematically abused him every day of his life.

with all of that said,,,,,  it makes 0 sense for finn to decide, in the middle of the resistance evacuation, to suddenly up and leave with a shitty ass excuse about needing to be far away for when rey comes back.  like ??????  rey's path is already so deeply and inexorably tied to the rube goldberg machine that is the jedi, the resistance, and the skywalkers,  and finn knows this.  even if he wasn’t fundamentally a person with a moral compass that couldn’t be broken even by two decades of indoctrination into a fascist space nazi regime,  finn does The Things He Does because they’re the right thing to do.  his character arc is not and has never been defined by rey.  i don’t know what dinosaur sloth titty juice rian johnson’s been drinking but repeating parts of finn’s earlier character development to the point of regression is not !!! good !!!! writing !!!!!!!

given that he’s spent 36ish hours in a recovery coma,  finn hasn’t had so much as a Second to process,  or decide,  where he stands in the resistance.  like rey,  he too is looking for someone to show him his place in all this.  unlike rey,  he has no mentor figure, no introspective screentime alone,  no inner dialogue or space to explore who he is now in the post-first order part of his life.  but,  for the time being and given the time-sensitivity of the resistance evacuation,  he is absolutely on the side of the rebels.  these are the people who saved him and protected him,  who gave him the jacket off their backs and something to fight for.  not only does deserting make 0 logical or tactical sense in the middle of an evacuation,  it’s just outright selfish ??  and self-serving ???  none of which finn is, thank you @ryan johnson.

iii.  rebellion   //   so there’s been a lot of differing opinions on finn and rose’s storyline and after agonizing a lot of this i’ve come to the almost final decision that it’s Not As Bad as ppl want it to be.  like a lot of mischaracterisation fuck-ups in tlj,  it mainly comes down to  how this storyline was treated in the grand scheme of tlj and how significant it was to the overarching plot.  canto bight only seems irrelevant because ryan johnson is a terrible fucking writer who thrives off sidelining his characters of color.  thematically, it served it as a damning critique of the powerful ruling class and political economic elites that are actively profitting from the injustice and oppression of war.  rose showing those kids the resistance emblem in her ring is one of the most iconic moments in the film;  inspiring a whole generation of children to rise up against their oppressors is  everything the resistance symbolizes and fights for.  

throwing in an unnecessary oc spitting some half-assed  ‘ everything isn’t always good or bad, sometimes there’s just grey areas ’  message in a parallel of the jedi story and ultimately having the undercover mission serve No Purpose Whatsoever was a shitty move.  in keeping with the fandom interpretation that tlj is a story about failure,  this would’ve been okay  only  if  the detour onto the star destroyer hadn’t been for absolutely nothing.  because there Needed to be fucking somETHINg,  instead of just benicio del toro rihanna.gif winking with the parting words that  ‘ hey sometimes people are just assholes ’.  star wars isn’t a story... about... people being fundamentally shitty..... it’s a story about good vs. bad and the enduring struggle for Balance between them;  People Are Both.  it doesn’t matter what you are but what you  do  and the choice you have to do good or bad.  to counteract the shittiness of dj fucking off,  leaving two poc to be forced onto their knees by a white fascist villain,  and a black character to be slapped upside the face by said white fascist villain we needed Something.  WHERE WAS OUR STORMTROOPER UPRISING, hMMMmm MMm MMMM mMM MM ????????????

bb-8 showing up as deus ex sight gag was funny for 2.5 seconds but now i'm just.... like crait.... a whole Salt Planet.  we could have had, it All ?  i don’t even specifically know where this part of my tlj-divergent verse goes because it actually requires other non-canon characters to exist but.... hey if any ex-stormtrooper oc’s wanna hmu.... u kno where i’m at.  basically,  i picture a handful of stormtroopers defecting,  escaping with rose and finn,  becoming part of  the rebellion that is reborn. 

iv.  battle of crait   //   this... fuc king scene..... god.  let’s just get the wampa out of the way.  rose’s  ‘ that’s how we’re gonna win.  not fighting what we hate, saving what we love ’  was totally narratively undeserved.  this is not a criticism of the character but of ryan, again, the man who was paid millions of dollars to write this garbage.  in under 18 hours,,,, rose has decided that she has gotten over her lifelong hatred for the first order,  her very recent and fresh grief over losing her sister who died Fighting The First Order,  and oH,  she LOVES FINN ?  WHAT.  cool.  coolcoolcool.

in my canon, i’m going to go with the idea that rose did not kiss finn.  but they have a fantastic dynamic,  and rose crashing into him, saving him and saying something similar to what she said but more along the lines of not wanting to lose another person she cares about to the first order would have been much... better....  i view this ship as primarily platonic, at least far as tlj goes.  finnrey and finnpoe barely had any screentime / development so ryan johnson is flat-out playing no-homo games if he thinks he’s going to sail a ship based on 18 hours of knowing each other.  but i’m totally open to seeing where it goes with proper development, etc. in rp,  so if there are any rose’s that would like to plot with me and discuss finnrose stuff please !!!  i’m begging you !!!!  

if ya made it to the end,  thank you,  ur the real mvp,  u are now obligated to message me to plot or yell at me abt ur own tlj salt / headcanons / character analysis. 

[lovethediseasedkillerpuppy]

Dean’s 2 talks with Mary:

Lemme freak out over this scene before I dissect it line by line. I replayed this stuff a good 10x bc I was so damn elated that Dean stuck up for himself & Mary sure as hell needed to hear these things. Jensen did a phenomenal job. I loved every second of it.

Mary: Just hear me out, please.

Dean: wow, just wow.

Mary: Dean, what the BMOL are doing, what we're doing, it's a better way. Look, I'm not blind to who they are or what they've done but…

Uh yeah actually ya are blind to what they've done bc you don't know all the people they've killed & ignorance isn't an excuse. You got in bed with these guys, you should have looked into 'em. You don't want to know bc it'll mess with what you want. 

Sam: When? When did you start working with them?

Mary: Before the lake house. It wasn't Wally. They brought me that case.

Try a lot before the lake house. Y'all were pretty damn cozy by then.

Dean: You were running an errand for the brits, you kept it from us. Cas almost died.

Sam: A hunter got killed.

Mary: You think I don't know? I'm the one who burned his body. I'm the one who told his wife. I watch him die every night.

Dean: Good.

Actually Dean, you ALL almost died. That prince of Hell was abt to take you all out bc of your mom's sticky fingers. Cas was just the one who got seriously hurt. What happened to your explaining, Mary? This shit sounds like defensive justifying your actions, making it abt you & trying to garner sympathy. As Dean said, good. Any guilt you're having is well earned.

*scene intermission *

Mary: I'm doing this for you. I'm playing 3 decades of catch up here.

But what does the former have to do with the latter? Again you're straying from this promised “explanation” & trying to manipulate the convo to gain pity for yourself. And I’ll leave Dean to deal w the 2nd part of that bullshit.

Dean: And we're not? How do you think this has been for us? We're your sons. And you've been gone, our whole lives. You've been gone. You said that you needed time. No, you said you need space. So we gave you ur space, but you didn't need just space, no you needed space from us.

DEAN FUCKING WINCHESTER KEEPING IT REAL

Mary: That's not true. Dean I'm trying...

Ok so ur just gonna totally ignore his question, cool. Dean isn’t gonna push the issue it seems but I still wanna know. How do you think it was for them? Have you even thought abt it? Do you give a shit?

Dean: How about for once you just try and be a mom!

And BOOOOOM there it is!!! Your benefit of the doubt adjustment time was waaaay long enough, mother Mary. Abt damn time someone said it. All the bonus points that it was Dean who got to.

Mary: I am your mother but I am not just a mom & you are not a child.

It's interesting to me here how Mary differs from what Dean said. Dean told her to try being “A” mom, implication being act like a mom/do motherly things. But Mary says I am “YOUR” mother, implication that she birthed them. There's a fuck ton world of difference b/t being a mom (as Dean requests) & being a mother (that Mary answers back with) Birthing children makes you what Mary is defending herself to be. Actually being there for them & loving them is what makes you a mom, what Dean is, perfectly reasonably, asking for.

Now onto the 2nd part which is several levels of ridiculous. Who the hell said anything abt her being JUST a mom? Stop putting words into his mouth. And telling him he isn't a child...now THAT sounds very childish. But again, stop putting words in his mouth. Also how fucking dare you, bitch. You have your beloved John's journal & you KNOW Dean didn't even get that chance when he WAS a child.

Dean: I never was.

THERE IT IS. Thatta boy. Call her on her shit. You’re still being too easy on her, but ur a better person than me so...

Dean: So b/t us & them…

Mary: It's not like that...

Dean: Yeah Mary, it is. And you made your choice. So there's the door.

Oh how much I LOVED him calling her Mary. Being called mom shouldn't be smth just expected no matter what. Bitch hasn't earned that. Gah, ik how much it must have hurt him to do but seeing Dean kick her ass out was satisfying as fuck.

Onto talk 2...

Dean: It's not your job to make my lunch...kiss me at night. We're adults. You're gonna make your own choices even if I don't like 'em. Even if I really really don't like 'em. So that's just smth I'm gonna have to get used to.

Alright, there's a lot to be said abt this. I've seen a lot of anger over “Dean apologizing again” I understand why it's being looked at that way. Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed off abt this dialogue too but I'll get to that. To me, this wasn't an apology in the strict sense of the word. It wasn't him saying he was sorry, it was him laying things out there, making it completely clear what he meant before abt the mom thing. (since apparently she is that dense so he needs to spell it out for her) 

Now the reason it infuriates me & why imo it's being dubbed an apology is this; as per fucking every single time it is DEAN who has to be the bigger person. As always it's DEAN who is having to smooth things over. As always it's DEAN putting it out there that he's willing to accept & love someone unconditionally. Don't get me wrong, these are things that make up the big beautiful heart this boy has & I never want him to lose that, but as someone who loves him it PISSES ME OFF. Dean won't be petty so allow me. Why does it always have to be Dean? Why does he always have to swallow the shit? Why does he never get to just freely express his thoughts & feelings w/o needing to back track/suck it up later? Why is it always Dean who has to see & understand everyone else's point of view but nobody bothers to do the same for him? Can't we have that for Dean even ONCE? Of all the times this shit has happened you would think the ONE damn time it could've happened would be from his mother, but no, he can't even have that. So while I don't see it as an 'apology' I'm still just as damn enraged over him even having to give this little speech at all. MARY was in the wrong. MARY should have been the one to patch things up...and not to mention bc who expected Dean to get an I’m sorry but Ima do it anyway; WHERE IS MARY’S I’M SORRY??? HUH? And we’ve had enough damn examples of Dean ‘I will love everyone unconditionally’ Winchester. It’s beyond over damn due that we get some examples of him getting unconditional love back ffs. On the plus side at least Dean still stood his ground that he didn’t like her choice. He won’t do it, but we can give a huge I TOLD YOU SO later when this goes to shit.

Onto a different side of this rant. The fact that what Dean said is just utter nonsense. WHERE did this shit even start? Sam has said similar. I've seen some fandom say similar. The show is obviously trying to push it but WHY. It isn't black & white, all or nothing like the writers are trying to portray it. Oh either Mary is cold, distant, abandons them or she stays home, bakes them cookies & wipes their snot. Where the hell does that reasoning come from? Who even thinks it's reasonable to think that's what Dean would want? It's one of the more asinine things these writers have done & that's on a list of a LOT of competition. They're ridiculous. They're going so far 'this' way to try to show how oh so not sexist they are by having this bad ass career woman, kids be damned, & we are inclusive of the ladies but all it's doing in reality is making Mary look like a cold hearted selfish bitch. Of course she isn't just a mom. Nobody's expecting that. But she isn't even being a mom AT ALL. She's awful & the fact that the show is trying to have the narrative be in HER favor & making her sons just deal w it & see it her way & making THEM seem like the unreasonable ones (mostly Dean) is srsly sending a terrible message to the younger viewers.

Children plz, listen up, you do NOT have to love & accept your parents just bc they're your parents. If they hurt you you have every right to express that & call them out on it. If they disregard your feelings & continue to hurt you, you have every right to show them the door. Parents do NOT have the right to treat you like shit with the justification “I'm your mom/dad so I can treat you however I want & ur supposed to allow it” Blood does NOT make you family. That's complete truth. You DO need to earn that by being there for & loving someone. “They're family, they're supposed to make you miserable” IS WRONG. If 'family' truly makes you miserable it's called a toxic relationship & you need to srsly think abt whether it's worth it to keep the r/s going. If you hope it's salvageable & want to change it then go for it & try but if not then there is nothing wrong with cutting ties with blood family members. As heart breaking as it is, the truth is some of us are born to parents that are lives are better WITHOUT. Allowing them to continue to abuse you, be it mentally or physically, by brushing it off with “they're my mom/dad” can & will cause lasting damage./psych rant.

[ntshastark]

(this is a post abt my opinion re: the whole iron fist race controversy. please don’t read the beginning and think i’m defending the show, i simply say the good stuff first and the bad stuff last - also it’s 3am so this is a mess

ETA: i edited it a bit after waking up and added some stuff - it’s still a mess tho)

ok so when the danny casting was announced i was one of the few people who didn’t get mad at marvel, mostly bc i didn’t raise my expectations for an asian danny like most of the fandom. and, as i said on this post, i didn’t think marvel casting an actor whose skin color matched the character’s was a reason to be mad at them, especially to the point of boycotting the show. and i still think that, bc if you can overlook danny being white when buying/reading his comics, i don’t see why you couldn’t when watching his show. and who knows, maybe they’d manage to pull off not being racist despite the whole ‘white savior’ thing. i mean, the great wall did it. like, i didn’t really have much hope on it bc daredevil exists, but i was willing to give it a chance. and then the reviews started coming out saying it actually was a racist mess so i was like, yeah, ok, now ppl have all the reason to boycott it.

(parenthesis to explain why i joined the doctor strange boycott but not the iron fist one: i boycotted doctor strange bc of the ancient one whitewashing and the whole tibet thing, not the white saviorism. yes, it’s an annoying trope but if you threat and develop the poc characters well - which ds didn’t - i don’t personally think it’s that serious of an issue individually - as in: the problem is not really the trope itself, but how often it happens. it’s like the sexy lamp thing, it’s annoying, but imagine if we were gonna organize boycotts to every movie that does it. i even was gonna watch iron fist on an illegal site but my college started so i only had the - also very busy - weekend to finish it and illegal sites didn’t have subtitles yet - my first language isn’t english

also: a boycott is different than simply not watching. boycotting is collective, it’s organizing and it usually ends up with the ppl who participated getting mad at those who didn’t)

tbh after watching the show i don’t get why the bad reviews. as my friend put it, it was “not incredible, not exceptional, but good. the kind of show that we’re always wasting time watching but if it’s marvel/netflix everyone goes WOOOAAHH”. imo it was a lot like daredevil, just less gritty. and less racist.

now, keep in mind that i’m a white brazilian, so, while i’m affected by lack of/bad representation on international media, my understanding of what is racist to asian ppl doesn’t exactly come from first-hand experience. but like. the thing with daredevil (especially season 2) is that all asian characters were villains (plus elektra who’s on a grey line here) and had no personality. they were just walking fighting stereotypes. barely even talking. but iron fist had 1. the monks and colleen among the good guys. and, granted, the monks don’t really show up but colleen was amazing. i loved her, loved her characterization (disclaimer: i’ve read only like 4 comics with colleen in them), loved her friendship with claire, loved her relationship with her students, loved her storyline, especially loved how she was the one to defeat bakuto instead of danny, i’d be fucking pissed if that didn’t happen like that. (also a parenthesis to talk abt how the only undeniably good characters on the show besides danny were all women, 2/3 of them being woc - 2/2 if you’re not pretending, as i am, that that ooc barbara kean-esque mess of joy’s last scene never happened) 2. the villains were incredible. madame gao was still a stereotype, but at least she was explored more - and her men weren’t all asian, and were actually military-ish, so no “army of ninjas” mess again. and the one-episode ones were incredible (i’m talking abt the ones from the challenge - ...except the russian dudes tbh - and lewis tan’s character jfc - more on this later). like, even if they had little screentime, they were all unique and fun and i’d totally watch a show about them.

ok, so i’ve said the good stuff (and some bad ones, but always with a “but” after them). now onto the bs:

honestly, the biggest problem with this show is the main actor. i hate saying bad stuff about actors but finn jones was just not the right choice. and, yes, partly bc he’s not asian.

as i said on the beginning of the post, i was more than willing to give white danny a chance. after all, comics!danny is white and is a beloved character nonetheless (even if i’ve read basically nothing with him yet). but, god, it was torture to watch that show and see all the occasions where asian!danny would have not only fit perfectly but made it better and been able to say/do stuff that people need to hear/see, not to mention certain uncomfortable-to-watch moments, especially between him and colleen, that would’ve been fixed by that. like, honestly, i can number so much stuff on this show that would’ve been improved with that - even by a creative standpoint like holy shit i’m not even a writer and i’m itching to rewrite that whole show with asian-american!danny, it’s not only begging to be done by the story itself but it’s also such a fun challenge, it’s such a fucking huge missing opportunity, it’s so frustrating.

and like, the whole “he’s gotta be an outsider” thing (which has been refuted many times already anyway) isn’t even valid bc davos is played by sacha dhawan, who is british of indian descent. and, granted, india is in asia, but it’s so different from east asia that ppl usually forget it’s in the same continent (i guarantee you that the ppl using that outsider argument do). so it basically confirmed that danny being an outsider was never about race, but about not being born in k’un lun.

but anyway, as i said, it’s partly bc he’s not asian, but there’s definitely more.

i’ve already seen ppl commenting on how weak the fighting scenes are, especially to a show that’s supposed to be about that, and i agree (even if there’s some pretty neat acrobatics here and then). while that’s definitely not the actor’s fault, i can’t help but wonder how much better they probably would’ve been with an actor who’s a martial artist himself and could do his own stunts. i mean, this character is supposed to be the 2nd best martial artist in the marvel universe. so much of him is about the fighting, having someone who can actually do that stuff would’ve made the filming a lot less restricted bc they wouldn’t have to worry about not showing his face while doing more complicated stuff (which reminds me: the stunt double’s face is clearly visible when danny attacks those two first guards in the last episode).

but my biggest issue with finn jones’ danny is the way he looks. first of all, he’s a skinny kid with floppy hair. he looks exactly like what we in brazil call “estudante de humanas da federal” (aka a history/geography/philosophy/sociology/etc major from a public university. just google “estudante de humanas”, you’ll understand what i’m talking about - it’s not a pejorative term, just not exactly the ideal look for the character). basically, he’s a punk bitch. he looks ridiculous. when he’s doing (what assume is) tai chi it’s fucking laughable. the whole way he moves is just wrong, and the way he looks just accentuates that, which is why they should’ve hired a skilled fighter to play the part - or at least someone who looks like one. i repeat: fighting is such a huge part of danny’s character, it makes no sense to hire a skinny dude who looks like couldn’t even kick my ass. he just doesn’t sell it, it looks like i’m watching a comedy. like my friend said, “the dude spent 15 years training and his arm is thinner than mine”

i mean come on

like, look at lewis tan (yesss we finally got here) during his fight on ep 8. zhou cheng’s movements /mocking danny/ /while drunk/ are SO much more fluid and natural, it was fucking torture to watch that and see what we could’ve had like jfc LOOK AT THIS

THAT’S WHAT THE IRON FIST FIGHTING SHOULD LOOK LIKE I’M SO MAD MEET ME ON THE FUCKING PITCH @ MARVEL

ETA (25/03/17):

[link]

not to mention his body. like, hotness aside, that’s what an actual martial artist’s body looks like. y’know, with actual muscles. and i’m not above mentioning how show!danny has a beard bc finn jones looks 15 without it.

and honestly his acting is good but nothing stellar. i could swallow this pill if i had a cup of “ok but at least the guy is a fucking terrific actor” to help, but he’s just... nice.