#i really hope this makes sense lmao

[aramais]

ok if I can be a little bit of a hater for a second I am not enthused that prime defenders is gonna be spending maybe another 5-10 episodes in this training arc doing island side quests. I was already struggling to stay engaged and this just feels even more sidetracked + even though there is some interesting character development — namely from vyncent — I don’t know if the ‘lessons’ they’re learning from this training feel earned or natural. I don’t want it to sound like I hate this arc because I have been enjoying a good few parts of it, but I’ve been having less fun with it because of how much more stilted it feels. hopefully the other islands prove more interesting I guess because I’m gonna be a little disappointed if they flow similarly to master cole’s

[maxipad33]

in brazil we went hunting

it was hard finding time to draw while i was in korea but i finally finished this beast on the plane! max verstappen brazil 2024 you are so special to me

also feel free to use as a wallpaper!

alt versions under the cut

[cosmosnout]

Girliesss

[crazymecjc]

half baked thought bc I’m actually chewing drywall abt this trailer rn but I’m really interested to see if and how bachelor route leans into film as the vessel for performance rather than theatre- I think it’s a fascinating narrative shift that really articulates the difference between the haruspex and bachelor routes. “any choice is right as long as it’s willed” really reflects the ever changing and in-the-moment presence of live theatre whereas with “there is only one truth,” the film has been made. the events have already come to pass. they are preserved in time ad infinitum. which also adds to the tragedy of daniil dankovsky i think :)) idk i just think its Neat and i am so so incredibly excited about this game cannot wait to see the sillies again :))

[phanyu]

ive talked about this before in the context of their gaming channel anecdotes but i can't stress how fascinated i am with watching the way dan and phil streamline their funny responses to the most commonly asked questions in the preshows. like they truly are professionals in a job that only exists on the planet for the two of them. the niche skillset theyve developed is just so fascinating. like in terms of this specific example, the way they so easily and naturally slip into what feels like an off-the-cuff banter that makes you feel like youre part of this intimate moment but really is as much theatre as the real show. and i mean this in a positive way, dan and phil are like EXPERT-LEVEL good at divvying up elements between their public and private lives while being people whose cult has grown specifically around their life and lore it blows my mind a bit. the line theyre able to maintain even in this era of like extreme calculated "openness" between their life meant for them and what they give to us to curate that parasocial experience of phannieism is so masterful. anyway it's so interesting i love having these preshows to compare to each other and track answers over.

[en-chi-la-da]

my full piece that i did for the @neondownpourzine !! a zine made celebrating the one-year anniversary for master detective archives: rain code!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

this is the first zine that i got to participate in! (as i said many times already lol) super grateful that i got a chance to make something for this project, i had a lot of fun creating this piece!! everybody else's works are SUPER amazing, please give the zine a peek for yourselves and maybe even rain code as well??? thank you very much!! 💖

[valyrfia]

hi i came here from thearchercore where they said that you think there seem to be friendship cliques forming around the paddock as of late like carlando vs. lestappen. i've seen these divides between fans but what makes you think there's also that divide between drivers?

I wouldn't call them friendship cliques. More....workplace alliances regarding the way F1 is going and the way F1 should go.

(Full disclaimer. This is a theory of grid dynamics that's been brewing for a little while in my head and I've only really bounced it off people in dms so far, so feel free to critique or refine it.)

Now, why would these two camps clash? Apart from interpersonal reasons (power struggles at any of the teams for example, I think any of the drivers listed racing or PR would resent being labelled as the team's n2 driver), F1 itself as a sport is at a crossroads. We're seeing the obvious effect of DTS in popularising the sport and making these athletes world-famous. In the past, only the world champions really became world-renowned. Now, most drivers are massive social media stars, or even proper A-list celebrities in their own right (Daniel at the Met Gala, for example). This one one hand is brilliant for the sport, because it brings more attention and eyes, and F1 becomes far more popular than it ever has been in the past. Liberty media especially is fond of this, as it brings in more profit for them.

However, in a lot of ways quintessential aspects of racing are lost via appealing to the masses. We see this in the removal of traditional purpose-built tracks in the calendar to make way for street races, in team line ups prioritising the PR-friendliness of a driver much more than before. The question of can the individual personalities of these drivers be sold is now a much bigger factor when considering a line up now than it was even ten years ago.

Since the question of racing vs. PR is raging in F1 in general right now, I think there's natural battle lines being drawn up in the paddock at the moment, that seem to fall along drivers which prioritise racing results over PR, and drivers that rely on PR/sponsors to boost their image without the racing results to necessarily back it up. Let's call them the racing clique vs. the PR clique for simplification.

Furthermore, I think these battlelines are drawn between teammates more often than not. So for example, I'd say Oscar tends to fall into the racing clique, Lando the PR clique (because let's be frank, his level of hype in British media especially WITHOUT a grand prix win is a little ridiculous). Likewise, if we consider our once and future RBR teammate pair, Max is the racing, Daniel the PR.

Ferrari is a little trickier because Charles is a PR mastermind and plays the PR game well in order to manipulate public perception about him. However, I will say that above all Charles has a fair estimation of his own abilities, an incredible racing IQ, and a sharp hunger to win that shines through despite the scrupulous Ferrari PR training (lest we forget the origin of the Il Predestinato name). For this reason, I think I place him in the racing camp. Considering the way that the Sainz camp uses leaks, well-timed sympathy posts, and Carlando to boost the public perception of Carlos's racing ability, I would place Carlos in the PR camp.

There are also other natural flash tensions between these people, but from Lando and Daniel distancing themselves from Max post his Vegas derogatory comments (@tsarinablogs has written some good thinkpieces on this), to the Ferrari civil war (as currently being chronicled by @thearchercore, along with some pretty good evidence as to McLaren trying to copy Ferrari's contract renewal hype, which further puts Lando and Charles into conflict). I don't think the happy go lucky Landoscar dynamic will survive McLaren being a competitive car, especially if Oscar wins a grand prix before Oscar.

There are faultlines and flashpoints forming in the paddock, and I think that especially with the incoming silly season, this question of PR vs. racing when picking drivers will be thrown into haut relief and that'll serve to only heighten the natural and/or pre-existing tensions between these two different groups of people.

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Requirements to be in the coven of Agatha Harkness, most infamous witch in the world:

gay

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

[dariusaurs]

i think dinostar is such an interesting ship right now even if i've kind of turned away from it after this season. the problem is that it's complicated, and fandoms historically don't like nuanced situations or takes. i don't think it's fair to say darius is putting brooklynn on a pedestal, since from his perspective, she hasn't done anything wrong, and kenji has been framed as this unfair partner to her. it does feel like his feelings are very immature and more of an infatuation right now ("if he loved you half as much.."/"unless?"), especially when you compare them to kenji's own feelings for brooklynn - his girlfriend who he's loved for 6 years - but that isn't a horrible thing, it's just different. i do completely understand if people dislike the ship right now, and even criticize darius' way of handling the accidental confession, but i just think people have been way too harsh on all three of them without being willing to see that all of their perspectives are different

[honeycrispjamz]

No one ever brings up how absolutely… fucked this scene is when you take some things into consideration.

When this scene takes place, it has only been a few days—maybe a week—since the plane crashed and Ben’s leg was injured. In that short amount of time, Misty has made it her responsibility to tend to not just Ben’s overall physical well-being but his mental well-being as well. At this point in the show, someone might assume she took on this kind of pseudo-motherly role because she believes Ben might have feelings for her too, or because she has her own sadistic fantasies she wants to play out in the safety of the wilderness.

However, in the pilot, we aren’t given any hints that they had a good or healthy relationship before the crash for Misty to misinterpret to begin with. In fact, we’ve seen numerous times (even before the crash) that Misty is tiring to Ben, and her attempts to connect with him only result in him being cruel/pessimistic towards her. He isn’t close with her like he is with Natalie or Travis, and they lack the usual close relationship found at the basis of most ‘forbidden romances’ (aka sexual abuse) between mentors and students.

It is more likely that, at this point, Misty is taking care of him out of the kindness of her heart, with a bit of it definitely fueled by her own personal desire to be needed. But I don’t think she really thinks he likes her back at this point, nor do I think she is unaware that he kind of despises her. I think it’s more of a one-sided crush than anything, something she knows won’t happen but still entertains.

So what happens? What changes?

This happens. I think Misty has learned, either through observation or her own lived experience, that people will never give her what she needs. So, she takes whatever she gets instead. Because what else can she do? When Ben hits her and screams at her, she takes that rejection and pain and morphs it into something she needs: attention. It doesn’t matter if he’s yelling at her or being violent towards her, as long as it’s directed at her. You can see it in her face after she’s hit, how she swallows down her anger/hurt and instead chooses to soothe him, because it’s what she was taught to do. Do whatever it takes to get what you want, right?

And, worse, it works. He melts right into her, lets her calm him down, and the tension in the air is... gross. If you look at the other girls, you can see just how messed up this all feels to them too. They look scared, even, like they are watching a train wreck they can’t stop.

And because it worked, because he only shows her kindness after being violent with her, the idea that she has to let people hurt her in order to feel wanted is reinforced. This can be seen later in her relationship with Natalie, how she lets the girl tear into her over and over and over only to brush it off like nothing happened. Because she believes Natalie needs her more than Misty needs to feel accepted. Same with Ben, Misty truly thinks he deserves her kindness/patience more than she deserves his.

[biblically-accurate-dca]

vanweek day 2 - knife

does anyone else remember the knife game or have i finally gotten too old

[maroonpalt]

these are too beautiful not to share with the world... My hands hath grown too powerful in creating

Him.

I will update when I have made more. because I will make more

[the-snowfall]

design for a techno lanyard keychain i was working on

[squuote]

something that feels particularly notable is how much the game itself pushes the player to continue, whether or not that aligns with the narrator’s desires. That there is no real consequence by not playing an ending except for denying yourself of seeing the outcome of that choice. Which in itself is the very nature of continuing to push the wheel. Choices lead to actions that lead to player interaction. And even in scenarios like the zending, where the narrator desperately does not want us to move forward, the game provides a way for us to do so anyway. The way that the game will always provide a choice no matter the moral ramifications. But whether or not you choose to take that option will always be the choice you bear.

[sokkas-therapist]

Ok so I decided I am going to post that “atla live action hot take” I mentioned

Click below the cut if you’re interested in hearing my take on the whole “taking away sokka’s sexism” thing

1) nobody is glorifying sokka’s sexism by saying it should be kept in the show. It’s quite literally the opposite. The original series did a great job using his sexism as a lesson; any time sokka made a sexist remark in the first 4 episodes it was made abundantly clear that he was wrong, and as soon as Sokka was proven wrong he admitted that he was misguided, apologized, quite literally bowed down on his knees to ask for forgiveness, and even asked to learn from the kiyoshi warriors, and excepted wearing their traditional uniforms, further surrendering his flawed perspective of societal gender roles. A wonderfully executed example of writers using their characters to teach viewers a lesson: which was, in this case, that sexism is wrong. Sokka’s sexism was not left unresolved, so why take away a valuable lesson in the show??

2) if you take away a character’s flaws…then they don’t have development. A character can’t learn and grow from their mistakes if they never make mistakes.

If a charecter starts off perfect and unflawed then they are surface level and lack depth or the ability for an arc.

And no, this is not saying that Sokka didn’t have many other admirable qualities like his intelligence and adaptability etc.. He 100% had those qualities. But one of the coolest things about the original atla series was their ability to flesh out side charecters and give them depth. A charecter who is simply smart then becomes smarter, or adaptable then becomes even more adaptable, lacks depth and internal conflict.

Sokka’s sexism was the starting point for his internal conflict. Sokka wasn’t just sexist to be sexist, or because the entire southern water tribe was misogynistic (and we know for a fact they weren’t, because if they were misogynistic, then Katara wouldn’t have been shocked when the North denied her waterbending training). He was misogynistic because being seen/accepted as a “man” and a strong warrior was all Sokka wanted after his father left him behind. In reality, we know his father was only trying to protect his son from the horrors of war. But to a young and impressionable child, Sokka internalized this as him not being “man” enough, so he dedicated himself to becoming the person he thought would make his father proud. He was always reaching for this unattainable standard he set for himself, which lead to him having a skewed and toxic view of masculinity that he took out on the women around him. He associated being a worthy warrior with being a traditionally masculine man, and leaned way too far into fulfilling the gender roles men and women are told to play in society in hopes of gaining his father’s approval. We see him do this by suppressing his feelings of inferiority as a nonbender, along with all the aspects of himself that he thought could be seen as “weak” or “feminine” (ex: his love for shopping and poetry and art that we see develop up until the literal end of the series).

So clearly, the vast majority of sokka’s charecter development that deals with internal conflict stems from the toxic view of masculinity and gender roles that he adopted after being left behind by his father, which caused him to outwardly lash out toward katara and Suki with misogynist comments. So taking away the sexism we see in the first few episodes eliminates important context that makes sokka’s character development throughout the entire series significant, not just an “iffy unnecessarily bigoted message”, because it was quite literally used to show that sexism was wrong.

I wasn’t going to say anything about this at first but seeing so many people display a fundamental lack of understanding for the premise of character development and the usage of charecter flaws to promote positive messages in media set me off. Just…WTF????

(Also I know I wrote a summarized version of this in the tags for another post but I wanted to expand upon it more and make this a separate post)