#i will die on the hill of like. the reason why everyone has such warped views of jason is because his rewrites have completely changed him
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yet again i say everyone who argues about what is and is not in character for jason needs to stop fighting each other and unite against our common enemy, scott fucking lobdell
#i'm looking back through outlaws for an edit#and like i have such. feelings. i have so many feelings.#this is the first comic i read! and there are parts of it i still genuinely enjoy and which tug at my emotions in certain ways!#but going back to it now after having read other things is so. like.#what the fuCK#WHAT THE FUCK !!!#it's funny to me. it's honestly hysterical. like i'm not mad about it to be clear i've been cackling over it for an hour#i think it's so. like. why did they do this. why did they give jason evil-sensing blades and a background with a magical monk society#why did they do roy so dirty. why did they do KORI so dirty.#i love the three of them as a relationship and a dynamic but so much of this comic is absolute nonsense kjvnxkbjngk#anyway. ANYWAY.#i will die on the hill of like. the reason why everyone has such warped views of jason is because his rewrites have completely changed him#like every single aspect of him#multiple times#and so it's really hard actually to get a grip on who he is! because like. do you want the bloodthirsty one who kept trying to kill tim.#or do you want the somewhat relatable (weakly written) young lost man looking for love and family wherever he can get it#or do you do what i do and treat them as two separate characters in two separate boxes in your mind closet#so that you don't have to consider the fact that everything about him is absolute jumbled fucking nonsense#this also goes for j/a/y/r/o/y. a ship i absolutely adore and love.#it's very like. ok which version of jason tho. which version of roy. it had better not be outlaws roy i will gut you--#i have so many feelings about this little trio. this post is brought to you by jason saying kori would never have to know life without him.#THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE PLATONIC. ALLEGEDLY. NORMAL BESTIE MOMENTS.#ugh. ugh ugh guhhhhgiuuhbngjkn ugh.#don't cancel me for enjoying some parts of outlaws ok. i have a complicated relationship it's not uncritical it's just that i love them.#text.tb
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Kawaragi Senju - Headcanons
I've been suffering from some bad Senju brainrot recently, and decided to make it everyone's problem, lmao. But I just love her sooo much, she's my favorite female TR character, she's such an adorable little baby, I can't help it, I want to adopt her!!! 😭
Anyways, here:
She was one of those kids that ripped the heads off of their dolls! She got a Barbie as a present for her 5th birthday, but instead of the intended way of playing with it, she "tested" how much it can bend and stretch, so the head popped off in the process. It didn't stop her tho, she continued to play with it, even headless. Until Wakasa fixed it for her with some flextape, but then it lost its charm so she took the head off again.
She's a BIG cuddle bug! She would cling on to her grandma for affection, or to Haruchiyo when they were little, even to Takeomi, although he would most often just turn her down. Haru was always fine with it, since they shared the cradle as babies, until he grew too big for it, so even as toddlers and older, they were kinda used to snuggling with each other. That changed as they were growing up and gaining separate senses of self, as well as he started accumulating resentment towards her because of Takeomi's favoritism.
When Waka & Benkei became her unofficial guardians, she was sooo happy that Waka didn't mind her snuggling up against him during their "family" movie nights, or that Benkei seemed to enjoy giving her piggyback and shoulder rides as much as she did!
Wakasa is her mother figure. Don't @ me, I will gladly die on that hill!
She collects cool rocks, and gets a bit too excited about them, and wants to show them to everybody! She will talk the ear off of anyone willing to listen.
She is very easily excitable, and can talk a bit too loud sometimes. (Another reason why Haru dislikes loud people.)
She's incredibly loyal, and mega protective of her friends and loved ones (that much is canon). But she also believes it's her duty to protect all girls and women, and if sees any girl in any kind of distress, she will step in to help. She's like a public service friend! However, she has trouble making actual friends, cause she's shy and socially awkward, believing that people will hate her, even though she doesn't give off that impression.
She hates conflict with a passion, and wants everyone to get along with each other (my poor traumatized baby 💔)! Her views can be a bit too naïve sometimes, but that's just because she has a heart of gold!
Her favorite pastime as a kid was climbing up the trees, to spite Takeomi and tease Haru because he couldn't do it/was too afraid.
She has the absolute best, most flawless, impeccable, mind-blowing fashion sense EVER, that puts to shame Koko, Inupi, Mitsuya, Ran, and Izana combined! But she doesn't bring out her best game until adulthood, when she realizes that fashion is not just a "typically feminine" hobby, that gender stereotypes are trash anyway, and flips off Takeomi for his warped, outdated ideas!
Speaking of which, she most definitely went through a gender identity crisis in adolescence, but she eventually grew out of it and found herself as she healed from her toxic upbringing.
#tokyo revengers#tokyo revengers headcanons#tokyo revengers manga#senju#senju kawaragi#kawaragi senju#senju akashi#akashi senju#brahman#tokrev brahman#tokrev battle of 3 deities#akashi siblings#haruchiyo#sanzu haruchiyo#akashi takeomi#imaushi wakasa#arashi keizou#waka and benkei
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For the fandom ships ask; Merlin, and Once upon a time?
Oooh thank you!!
Merlin
OTP: This is not going to be the popular choice but honestly,,, Merlin/Morgana. I think they had such a facinating dynamic and I would have loved to see the writers follow through with it, especially in the later series. Doomed from the start and intrinsically linked, everyone telling him it's a bad idea for different reasons, everyone telling her she couldn't possibly be with him........ yeah, that's the good shit
Favourite canon pairing: Arthur and Gwen were SO cute and I'm happy for them (and their third, Merlin)
Worst pairing ever: Gwen/Lancelot, specifically when he got back because obviously. He wasn't him, she was spelled, and worst of all, there was never any resolution. Still haunted by the fact that everyone expect Merlin (including Gwen herself) really thinks she just. Cheated on Arthur. Heartbreaking
Guilty pleasure pairing: Morgana and Gwen <3 They're so cute and also the HEARTBREAK,,, when Morgana comes back and Gwen pretends to still be her friend and,,,,,,,,, THEM. The guilty part comes from the fact that I know a lot of this ship comes form the "get the women out of the way for mlm ship" mentality, but that's obviously not why I like it soooooo
A pairing you want to see more: Honestly both Morgana/Gwen and Merlin/Morgana. I know everyone loves Arthur/Merlin and they ARE fuckin valid and cute, but I really feel more people should multi-ship because Merlin has SUCH good dynamics with other people, and despite people *saying* they ship Morgana/Gwen there is a suspicious lack of content for them
That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Honestly I feel like I haven't spent enough time in the fandom for this?? I can't think of any, but that might just be because, again, I am a shameless multi-shipper and polyam enjoyer
Favourite non-romantic pair: Gwen and Merlin! I know they had a lil fling early on, but they became such a solid platonic duo and also I think it'd be really funny when they just casually mention that one time they kissed. Everyone would be scandalous (Arthur especially. "What do you mean you kissed Merlin before me??")
Once Upon a Time
OTP: Swanqueen!!!!! Obviously. They were in LOVE and I will DIE on this hill
Favourite canon pairing: Okay okay okay I know this is controversial BUT. For the reasons of "I enjoy fucked up people and their fucked up dynamics" ........Rumple/Evil Queen
Worst pairing ever: Robin/Regina. I liked that she was happy and that's about the only good thing I have to say about it like,,, come on. I just. Why
Guilty pleasure pairing: Okay okay hear me out. Captain Hook/Evil Queen. I just feel like, in the enchanted forest,,,,,,,, some shit happened. And I also think it makes their dynamic funnier when they meet again in Storybrook (see the non-romantic pair)
A pairing you want to see more: Ruby/Belle! Ruby was obviously fruity af and I always thought they'd be a cute couple but there is. not much support there lmao
That pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no”: Honestly? Belle/Rumple. She deserved better! Girlie was NOT down with the atrocities and they were wayyyy too much a part of him. Every time he tried to twist himself in knots to be a Good Person (especially when he was the Dark One?? Like, we saw with Emma, it was such a strong compulsion warping their minds, he very much tried to resist it but he also. Literally couldn't. The fuckin saviour couldn't like why are you blaming him) and failed, she'd get so mad and leave and then,,,, the writers would throw them back together again. Like lads. Let them go. Please
Favourite non-romantic pair: Regina/Killian. I think their interactions were SO fucking funny and she hated him so much. The bullying. The nicknames. Him sitting there like a wet cat. His best scenes were when he was alone with her and wish we'd lent into that instead of pushing his ~relationship~ with Emma
Send me a fandom and I'll answer these questions!
#thanks for the ask!!!!#vaguely-functional-directions#fandom asks#ouat#bbc merlin#lotta controversial opinions in here methinks#i did not proofread this
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There is a reason why we have therapists and safe spaces and support groups, and there is a reason why using websites like tumblr, twitter, and tiktok as a supplement for those things is a bad thing.
One of the most dangerous habits I have developed as a person is the idea that I need to help people, like constantly. One of the most dangerous mindsets I have ever gotten into is the belief that I have to be the Diplomatic person in every situation and to make things good for every single person involved. The last time this had a major emotional effect on me was when a breakup happened in my friend group, by the end, it exhausted me. It almost burnt the bridge of Goodwill I had with every single person involved, and in a couple of cases absolutely ruined some relationships because of what happened. I developed that because of something that happened on here, certain types of blogs and conduct that encouraged, unhealthily, the need or Obsession to do good.
Can't help everybody. I can't save everybody. It's not that I shouldn't help or try to help people, but I cannot fix everything. And everyone around you is not obligated to pick up your pieces. That's not to say that people shouldn't care or want to help or feel empathy, I'm not Ayn Rand for God's sake, and the belief that you should not help anybody is a fucking blight on our society that should be purged from the earth as quickly as the Republican Party should die. That being said, there is a difference between not helping people, and understanding your limits and because of some of the stuff that happened on this website, I don't know my own and I'm still struggling to assert and understand my own.
It led me into some fun friendships and relationships, but it also created unhealthy patterns of anxiety and Amplified some already present depression that I do need to deal with and address, on top of a realization that I'm transgender that I have been running from for the past decade and a half.
This website is Infamous for a number of bleeding heart things, and the problem with the bleeding heart is eventually you run out of blood. The problem with fighting and dying on every single hill, trying to solve every single problem, and help every single person, is eventually you run out of the ability, will, or capacity to do so, and it might be the reasoning as to why we feel so helpless right now. I'm not saying Tumblr was so essential in a lot of people's lives that it's the singular reason as to why Generation Z feels some kind of apathy towards things, but I am saying though is that it kind of encouraged a strange culture to develop within several different generations of young people, leading to a number of them becoming very unhealthy and very deeply disregarding of themselves.
As different social media sites collapsed and interacted and eventually either came to here or moved from here, that ideology spread into the online space and saturated everything, eventually creating the modern internet culture which is highly obsessive, deeply nihilistic, extremely empathetic, and extremely exhausted. People feel heated passion, so they are deeply reactionary, but they are taught or are not allowed to believe in anything or anyone singularly, because that belief will disappoint them, and the only thing they are encouraged to focus on is doing good by an arbitrary metric that is not easily measured, which makes it impossible to achieve.
We all have dissonant understandings of what good is, and I cannot stress enough some of us have trauma that warps our understanding of it. I am much more harsh and crueler to myself than other people are to me because I do not understand or I struggle to understand that I have trauma and that I need to address it. It works how I see myself and how I see others, and that's a really bad thing that we kind of need to sit with.
More importantly, the culture that has come about has created a necessity or a belief that everyone should be correct and perfect in their presumptions or actions, leading to an online culture that is just disconnected from reality and genuinely makes people extremely Reckless with their own person and their own issues. This has led to the litigiousness of a lot of people surrounding who and what they consume, but not any actual pragmatic framework to push it through, this leads to a bunch of very bad misinformation spreading, with no method to verify or check it or vet it. We commonly know this as an issue with media literacy and supposed to cancel culture, which depending upon your class position, what you believe, and what you do, pretty much dictates how it functions or reacts to you.
Even some of the stuff I shared above might be too over the line, and I totally understand and apologize for that. I want people to know that it is okay to fuck up, and make mistakes, just make sure you learn from them. Make sure that instead of just saying I'm sorry or getting mad that people are mad at you, it's probably a good idea for everyone in this situation to give each other a bit more empathy and to stop expecting others to take on burdens that you yourself cannot take on easily. More importantly, we need the ability to celebrate our wins, because we don't get to enough. We don't get to see happy gay people enough, we don't get to see obsessive posts about TV shows anymore, we don't get to see people proud of their artwork anymore, and kind of most importantly we don't get to see the happy side of news and information anymore. People feel afraid to share that because they don't want to be hopeful, because they've been told, practically beaten into submission, that this stuff will fail you and the only solution is to be a doomer.
Our current plague of Doomerism is built on the foundation of people doing digital self-harm, genuinely seeking out things that make them mad or hurting them, and accelerating their behavior towards a bad direction. And it's not specifically limited to certain demographics as other types of self harm is, every single generation has somebody who digitally self harms because it's just that easy!
A more Boomer version of digital self-harm is obvious types of manipulative and destructive political ideologies and their figureheads, as well as living Lifestyles that are genuinely harmful to other people, whereas a more younger person would do something like doomscrolling, or looking up different things that make them mad and posting tirades or attacking people who make content I don't like that is otherwise not that reprehensible.
We can and should do better, we can and will do better, but it takes time, effort, energy, and a willingness to admit that we are in fact not well. And a lot of people do not want to do that. A lot of people would much rather continue the cycle of self-destruction because it is much more comforting to them and easy for them.
Allow yourself and other people to be happy, give yourself the space and Grace to love and to love unapologetically, don't make this so much harder for yourself, you don't need to. Be happy that you see a picture of a puppy, laugh at the anecdote about some family, even if you don't relate to it or never have one, do better, you need to, you owe it to yourself.
i really dont want to come off as an asshole and act like im not sympathetic but i think the idea that it is an appropriate thing to do to respond to posts about about positive experiences made by strangers with long and graphic vents about how your own life is nothing like that really has to end. i’m very sorry you’re going through that. but it’s just. really not appropriate.
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The hillbilly: Music and life in Appalachia
Day 1
When Tr’thl’ia first learned that the ship would be getting humans from a region on Earth that the humans called “Appalachia”, xe were confused. They had only ever met humans that came from cities near coasts, and had heard of what those humans referred to as “Hillbillies” in almost a derogatory tone. xe took it upon xemself to learn about what kind of humans would be joining xem. As xe read, xey started to understand why other humans had been critical of those from that area. Xe read about how that are hadn’t really been very populous due to the terrain, and also learned that because of the lack of infrastructure in that area, many humans that lived there did not get a lot of education due to many families being in poverty, mainly due to the only jobs in those areas being in the coal mines or other jobs that depended on coal. Xe read about events such as the Coal Wars, specifically about the Battle of Blair Mountain, which made xem shudder with sorrow for the lives that were lost. Xe also read about families such as the Hatfield's and McCoy's, which reinforced the stereotype of humans from there being violent and uneducated. Xe resigned xemself to dealing with constant fights and dealing with whomever started each one.
Day 2
When John McKannon walked onboard the G.U.R.V(Galactic Union Research Vessel) Frailing with the others from the mountains, he was surprised to see Security Officer Tr’thl’ia standing there, waiting with what looked like dread and disdain.
“Hello, my name is-”
“I know who you are, Hillbilly.” Tr’thl’ia stated.” Just know this about my ship. I will not tolerate violence on this ship. If any of you or your friends cause trouble onboard, you will be shot out the airlock mid warp. do you understand?”
“Yes Xir,” John simply replied. What in the absolute fuck was xer problem?
Day 3
The day went, much to xis suprise, without physical incident. There was an incident around the second meal of the day that involved one of the hillbillies, Amos, and one of the other humans, Mike, from a place called “Florida”, in which Mike did some sort of odd whooping noise with their hand over their mouth and bounced around, which xe would later learn is a type of “racial” slur against those of First Nations descent. This caused Amos to start charging toward Mike before being stopped by John. Tr’thl’ia was confused by this, as the research that xe did before hand showed by all accounts that John shouldn’t have stopped Amos and instead should have even joined into the fight.
In the evening, or what could be considered evening on the ship, Tr’thl’ia was making xis rounds when xe heard a sound that xe had never heard before. It was rythmic, strumming sound along with beats that xe could not place, and it seemed to be coming from the rec area of the Hillbillies( they were given their own area as the captain was advised to by Tr’thl’ia). As xe drew closer xe could start to make out words:
My old mistress promised me When she died she’d set me free/ Lived so long her head went bald, I don’t believe she gon’ die at all!
more of the strumming and thudding sounds.
You take yours, and I’ll take mine, We’ll go fishing in the summer time!/ You get a line, and I’ll get a pole, and We’ll run down to the fishin’ hole!
Xe was at the threshold of the doorway to their rec room, and saw something that was suprising to xem. All of the hillbillies, save John and Amos were surrounding those two. John was strumming an object in their hands that looked like a disk with a stick on it, and Amos looked to be stomping. Xe let an audible gasp that drew the attention of everyone in the room.
“Are you alright?” John asked.
Yes, I w-was just investigating the source of the noise that I had heard. What were you doing with that object to get that sound?” Tr’thl’ia asked in amazement.
“This? this is a banjo, which is an instrument from Earth that was based on an instrument from Africa. And the noise that you heard is an old tune called ‘Hook and Line’. It’s a song that’s been played in our mountains for years.”John replied.
And those thuds that I heard?”
“That is a type of dance known as ‘Buck Dancing’. It is a dance that is similar to tap dancing , but where tap dancing is more involved with the front of the foot, buck dancing uses the whole of it to act almost as a set of drums for mountain bluegrass.” Amos answered.
“Ah, so is it a form of war chant, or ritual?” Asked tr’thl’ia.
“It is neither, it is a form of entertainment that is popular in the Appalachians due to it being very cheap, and it is good for social bonding.”
“So that explains why you are all around. But why did Mike make that odd sound towards you, and why did that upset you?”
Amos turned red at that question, looking like he was about to cry , and John cut in for him, speaking in a soft, but firm tone. “He did it because he is a racist piece of shit, that’s why. Amos is Native American. His people where some of the first in the region, and were deeply persecuted back in the day for both their culture and skin color. Many were made to leave the area in an event known as the Trail of Tears. But some of those people did not wish to go on the Trail of Tears, and instead retreated deep into the mountains, for safety. Even still, many people nowadays hold deep prejudices against his people, and others like them. That’s why many of his people hid in those mountains, and joined communities of those that hid there as well for various reasons.”
“I understand now why you had a reaction like that, but why don’t other humans like people from your area? You seem like people that are very accepting from what you have told me.” Tr’thl’ia questioned.
“Because they are not as accepting as they seem. They came from privileged homes, homes with food on the table, parents who were home all the time to be able to answer questions, to help them learned. They are jealous that they do not have the drive to be able to get out of tough situations, like we do. Many of those you see here among us are from families that are broken and poor, with one or both parents gone at any given time. Many of us had days where we wouldn’t eat, because we wanted our younger siblings to be able to have a meal. Hell, many of us are working here TO support our families back home, to fight to keep food on the table. We fight a lot, as you probably have read, because we have to, because we have no other choice but to fight over resources as simple as food. That fighting, brings us together, the struggle brings people in our communities together, as we have all shared that struggle at least once.” John picks up his water glass and takes a sip. “We all here had to work to get out of those hills, for if we didn’t nobody would help us get out. We would all be dead within twenty years.”
Tr’thl’ia listened to the words that John was saying, and really thought them over and began to feel a bit of remorse for the way xe had greeted them earlier.
“I’m sorry,” Tr’thl’ia said softly, “ for the way I greeted you when you came aboard. I was biased by what the other humans had said about your people, and what they would be like, without giving me context as to why you may have to be that way. I didn’t realize that you would have to struggle that much to get out of that area, I thought that you would have all of the resources that you need to do what ever you wanted to do for a job, and that it was your own fault for not leaving.”
John cracked a warm smile at that. “You have no need to apologize for that. Many people have that same reaction to us. What matters is that you have the balls to accept that you were in the wrong and have tried to make some sort of amends. Now, where were we?”
You take hook, I’ll take line, We’ll go fishin’ in the summer time!
(If you made it this far down the story, Thank you! This is my first post, so it is probably a bit rough, but I hope you enjoyed it. Name of the tune mentioned in the story is ‘Hook and Line’ and if you want a good example of both the song and Buck Dancing, check out Clifton Hicks - Hook and Line (dance accompaniment)! He is very talented and also has many videos on the history of the banjo and the afro-carribean roots of it. He also does lessons on older styles of playing such as Overhand(Frailing, clawhammer) and two finger picking. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy!)
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a post to explain my ramblings so you aren't all confused by my constant vagueposting:
Fundy, Ranboo, and Karl all have lore in which an unknown force is causing problems in both their memory and their perception of reality. Furthermore, there are other similar forces in the smp, like the cause of Puffy's crash, Quackity's reason for needing the revive book (yes he won the bet i will die on this hill) the egg, etc.
It's my belief that all of these forces are one in the same, and that it's all going to collide into a final battle for not only the smp, but for the sanity of many of it's members.
What do i think this force is? Well, i have a few thoughts.
Option 1) Dream
This seems like the most obvious answer. Dream is a character we don't know much about. We don't even know for sure that he's mortal. He also has tactics that line up with a lot of the server's 'forces' (seemingly friendly at first, but gaslights and has bad intentions)
But.
It just. Doesn't line up with what he's said and done during the prison arc. We see him beginning to experiment with the revival process. We see him begin to believe himself to be a god, the newfound power driving him to a new level of bonkers. This just.. doesn't seem like he behavior of someone who controls time, memory, and reality itself.
Sure, you could argue that he's just playing 5d chess and playing us all for fools, but that just feels.. cheap.
Option 2) Schlatt
(this whole post is /rp, i don't condone the actions of the cc)
Schlatt's an interesting one, because he's been a complete mystery since day one.
We know he showed up to hijack the election. We know he was an alcoholic and a smoker. We know he died of a heart attack. That's... pretty much it. It leaves a LOT unaccounted for. Where did he come from? Why did he chase power only to not use it for much? Most importantly, how did he get the revive book?
His death always seemed.. hollow. Empty. Wrong. Like there was meant to be more. And then we learned he knew revival. Does this mean he's plotting something? What other powers could he be hiding?
Plus, as MatPat once said, he's something of a karmic force of nature himself.
Option 3) DreamXD
I don't have much in canon evidence for this one, but it would be an interesting plot line!
Everyone coming together to fight God Himself would honestly be a fun arc
Plus, it would be interesting to see the contrast of Mr. god complex himself and Literally God
Option 4) Georgenotfound
Georgenotfound.
Option 5) Tommy
I don't think that this one will be canon, but there are some interesting things regarding Tommy's character vs the other plot relevant characters.
Tommy provides an interesting contrast with most of the other plot relevant characters, in that he's.. normal.
Not normal in the sense that he's not gone though anything, he's struggled as much, if not more, then the rest of the characters. But he doesn't have an altered or erased memory, he doesn't have a warped reality, he doesn't even have any interesting features.
He stands out because he's completely and utterly normal. Just some orphan who's along for the ride like everyone else. Yet, he's repeatedly singled out, he's repeatedly been the one to be immune to every force that's thrown his way. He isn't affected by the egg. Dream himself voiced his frustrations about not getting him to comply.
Is this because he truly does have an ability that we haven't seen yet? Is his normalcy the key to why he's immune to these forces? Is it truly just because he's too stubborn to listen to anything?
Or is it because he's the one truly in charge in the end, whether or not he realizes it? Is it because, near the end of s2, something in him finally snapped?
So yeah! that's my big boy theory! If you saw this week i posted it halfway done, no you didn't! 💛
#dream smp#tommyinnit#wilbur soot#tubbo#tubbolive#wilbursoot#dreamwastaken#ranboo live#ranboo#itsfundy#karl jacobs
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In response to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, my (former) idols
I really didn’t want to have to do this.
So in addition to…=gestures vaguely=…all of that, the last few months have been kind of sucky when it comes to learning some really unpleasant things about artists that I looked up to, admired, and was in fact inspired by. I’ve already spoken about the Speaking Out movement revealing a lot of ugly behavior from various wrestlers, some of which I was big fans of, and then later we got Chris Jericho being a full-on MAGA. Yeah, that all sucked. But those were just performers whose work I enjoyed watching. The one that really hurt were writers who I deeply admired, whose stories I love, and who I was heavily influenced by.
The first, of course, was finding out that JK Rowling, the author of perhaps the single biggest YA fantasy series of all time Harry Potter, is a TERF. This really sucked for a number of reasons. Firstly, I really like Harry Potter! I mean, I’m not a super fan or anything. I came into it when things were kind of dying down, like the whole book series had already been released and there were only a few movies left, but I still really enjoyed it, have all the books and movies and a fair amount of merchandise swag, including a nifty wand I got at Universal Studios. Shit, I got two replicas of the Sword of Griffyindor, thanks to them screwing up my order in my favor and sending me a duplicate! They’re on my wall right across from me as I type this!
But in addition to writing a book series I really liked, JK Rowling was supposed to be one the good guys. She’s been vocally progressive, often openly comes down on British right-wing nonsense, has supported various persecuted minorities, and is on record as being one of the few self-made billionaires to actually stop being a billionaire for a time because she donated so much money to charity. And while we mock it now, her revealing Dumbledore as gay was a huge deal at the time. Plus, she cultivated this reputation as Auntie Jo, that cool, supportive aunt we all wanted.
But for a while her stock has been dropping. Her preference for confirming “representation” via tweets instead of explicitly putting it in the text of her stories has raised the question of queer-baiting, especially with a whole-ass movie with a young Dumbledore and Grindelwald to make their relationship explicit but failing to do so. The whole Nagini thing from the latest Fantastic Beasts movie was pretty gross. And re-examination of various problematic elements from the original novels has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Now, none of these really looked to be intentionally malicious, of course. Just about everyone’s early work will have problematic elements; that’s just how people work. And the later stuff smacked more of ignorance than anything. But after all this time, it’s like, c’mon. You should know better by now.
But the biggie came when her transphobic views finally came to light. Now, this one had been brewing for a while, due to some questionable likes and statements on her twitter. But then she decided to just go public and published what essentially amounts to a TERF manifesto, one with a very “love the sinner, hate the sin” condescending attitude and had a real persecution complex air to it.
Now, I’m not going to go into detail about what the manifesto was about, what the circumstances surrounding it were, or how wrong it was. It’s already been raked over the coals, dissected, answered, and debunked in detail by people far more qualified than me, so odds are, you’re already well aware of its contents and the subsequent rebuttals. But the gist of it comes down to her basically believing that transwomen are actually cis men claiming to be trans so as to infiltrate and invade female-only spaces.
Yeah.
Okay, that’s gross, but…why? Why is someone so noted for being progressive and wanting to foster an inclusive environment making this the hill of exclusion that she wants to die on?
Well, that’s where things get tricky. She mentions that prior to Harry Potter, her first marriage was highly physically and sexually abusive, and when she escaped from that, she had no place to go, leading her to be homeless for a time.
Oh.
Well, that makes sense. Someone goes through a highly traumatic experience with a member of the opposite sex, has no support structure when she escapes it, is left to fend for herself, only to suddenly get rocketed into fame, fortune, and influence, which in turn leads to a Never Again mentality. She was hurt, no one was there to help her, and now she’s afraid of men invading women-only spaces to victimize others like she was victimized. So…literally transphobic. Literally a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist.
Guys, this is so fucked up. Like, how do you even approach something like this? She’s a victim in every sense of the word, so of course she’s going to have physiological damage and a warped view of things. I mean, if I found out that a close friend of mine went through the same thing and had the same prejudices, I would be nothing but sympathetic! I mean, I’d still do what I can to convince her to overcome those prejudices, but I’d still show sympathy and support for what she went through.
Abuse warps people. There’s a reason why so many abusers are abuse survivors themselves. It makes you terrified of being hurt again and often causes people to adopt toxic behaviors, beliefs, and reactions to protect themselves. I’ve already talked about it at length while discussing She-Ra and its own handling of the cycle of abuse, which included franks discussions of Catra’s horrible behavior, why she was the way she was, while never losing sympathy for her and rooting for her to overcome it. So if JK Rowling is an abuse survivor, is it really right to come down on her for having warped views because of that abuse?
But that’s the problem. See, she isn’t your troubled friend that you’re trying to help. She isn’t your cousin Leslie who’s a really sweet person but unfortunately adopted some bad ideals due to trauma suffered. She JK freakin’ ROWLING, one of the most famous, wealthy, and influential women in the world. She has a platform of millions, if not billions, which means her voice lends credibility to her bigoted beliefs. Alt-righters and other TERFs have already swooped upon this for giving validation to their awful beliefs, which puts trans people even more at risk. And as horrible as Rowling’s experiences might have been, the trans community is often the victim of far worse, and they don’t have a mountain of money and an army of defenders to protect them like she does. I’ve said it time and time again: just because you’re a victim, that doesn’t give you the right to victimize others! And bringing things back to Catra, as much as I loved her redemption in the final season, she was still a TERRIBLE PERSON for a huge chunk of the show, one that needed to be stood up to and stopped.
So yeah. That’s the messiness that is JK Rowling.
Now, let’s talk about the one that really hurts. Let’s talk about Joss Whedon.
I’ve made no secret of what a huge Whedon fan I am. Unlike Rowling, I was a HUUUUUGE superfan. Seeing Serenity for the first time in theaters was akin to a religious awakening to me as a storyteller, making it one of my top three movies of all time. Firefly is my favorite show ever. And I adored Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse as well. I love Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers. The very first fanfic I ever wrote was a Firefly fanfic that disappeared along with my old laptop. I know his style isn’t for everyone, but I cannot understate how much of a personal inspiration he is to me as a writer.
And like Rowling, Joss was supposed to be one of the good guys! Buffy was monumental in pushing the needle when it came to female empowerment. Will and Tara were groundbreaking as a gay couple. He’s been outspoken for years about his feminist views and beliefs and was seen as one of the most prominent and influential feminist voices in Hollywood!
And then things started to go bad.
One day he was on top of the world, the mastermind behind the first two Avenger movies. And the next, it seemed like he was in freefall. It’s hard to really pinpoint exactly when the change took place. Some would say him being brought in as a last-minute substitute for Zack Snyder to take over on Justice League after Snyder had to leave due to family tragedy, and the subsequent awful critical reception to that film tarnishing his image, even if those were very unique circumstances that couldn’t really be blamed on him. Others might point to Age of Ultron’s less than stellar reception, as well as criticism of some questionable jokes and certain creative decisions regarding the character of Black Widow, which then led to a more critical examination of how Whedon continues to write female characters, as while his work might have been revolutionary in the 90’s, his failure to evolve with the times had meant that many of his portrayals are now woefully outdated and problematic, with his vision for a Batgirl movie getting hit with a lot of backlash as a result.
Again, I’m not going to go into too much detail, as this is all public knowledge and can be easily looked up, but overall it seemed that Whedon entered into a period where he was getting criticized more than he was celebrated, and his image of a guaranteed hit maker was now in doubt.
But all of this wasn’t the big problem. All creators go through rises and slumps, and everyone hits points where they get hit with a barrage of criticism; that’s just part of being a public creative figure, especially a progressive one. And had nothing happened after, it would have probably faded, got forgotten, and Whedon would have moved onto the next project with no fuss.
But as it turned out, it wasn’t just a minor slump in his career. Instead, it was the priming of the pump.
In 2016, Whedon divorced his wife of sixteen years, Kai Cole, and in an open letter, Kai Cole accused him of being a serial cheater, who would have affairs with a great many women, from co-workers, to actresses, to friends, to even his fans. And in addition to raising questions of him possibly abusing his position as showrunner to elicit sex from those working on his projects, there also is the ugly question of how could someone who speaks so highly of women then go and backstab the person who was supposed to be the most important woman in his life, as well as lying to her and denying her the autonomy of deciding whether or not she even wanted to continue to have a relationship with him?
Furthermore, Whedon himself has not explicitly denied these accusations, and comments made by him seem only to confirm them.
Now if you’ll recall, I reacted publicly to this news, and despite my admiration of Whedon’s work, I came down on Kai Cole’s side, and stated that while things like marriage issues and infidelity were no one’s business but that of the couple’s, it did raise a lot of uncomfortable questions about how Whedon treated the women in his life and he really needed to get his shit in order.
But hey, a messy private life and a guy falling into temptation isn’t that big of a deal, right? Plenty of creators also go through multiple marriages and have problems staying faithful and still continue making great art. We’re all human, it’s a stressful job, and this shit just happens, right? Sure, it’s gross and a shitty thing to do, but ain’t no business of ours, right?
In late 2020, actor Ray Fisher, who played the role of Cyborg in Justice League, openly accused Joss Whedon of fostering a hostile work environment, claiming that the director’s behavior was abusive and unprofessional, and that Whedon in turn was protected by DC executives.
DC and Warner Bros. came down against Fisher, claiming they had done an internal investigation that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing (yeah, sure they did), and soon Fisher was out as Cyborg, apparently for rocking the boat.
But then Charisma Carpenter, noted for her important role as Cordelia Chase in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, then spoke up, claiming to be inspired by Fisher in doing so. She described Whedon did indeed foster a hostile work environment on his projects, that his often acted in a toxic manner, from asking incredibly invasive and inappropriate questions regarding her pregnancy to insulting her on set. She said that she made excuses for him for years, but after undergoing a lot of therapy and reading what Ray Fisher had to say, she felt compelled to speak out.
And this just open the floodgates. Other actors and actresses also came forward, some with stories of their own, others to offer support. Even Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, confirmed Carpenter’s stories and said that she no longer wanted to be associated with Whedon. Michelle Trachtenberg, who played the character of Dawn, stated that she also experienced toxic treatment from Whedon despite her being a minor at the time, and says that the set had a rule that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with her again, which really raises some sickening questions of what happened the first time. Even male stars have spoken out, from words of support and apologies for not speaking up earlier from Anthony Stewart Head and David Boreanaz, to an earlier interview with James Marsters, in which he described being terrified of Whedon, mainly due to an instance when Whedon was frustrated with the popularity of Marsters’s character of Spike messing with his plans and physically and verbally taking it out on the actor. There have been many corroborating stories of Whedon being casually cruel on set, on seemingly taking delight in making his fellow show writers cry, and even the man himself admitting to enjoying fostering a hostile work environment during his director commentary of the Avengers. We’ve joked about Whedon’s supposed sadism for years, but that was in regards to how he treated the characters in his stories, not the people helping him make them!
So yeah. That’s the problem with Joss Whedon.
So, do I think that Joss Whedon is somehow some kind of sociopath who lied about his feminist principles and deliberately put on a progressive façade specifically to get into a position of power so he could torment people? No, of course not. I think he was sincere about his beliefs, and I do think he didn’t realize the wrongness of his behavior. But that’s kind of the problem. See, it’s one thing to have kind of a trollishness to your nature, a sort of sadistic side. No one can help that. But when someone with that quality gets put into a position of power in which they are protected by both the higher-ups and their legions of fans, they are allowed to mistreat and continue to mistreat people. And by never suffering any consequences, that sort of toxic behavior becomes internalized, becomes a habit, becomes their moda operandi. And when you’re constantly getting praised as a creative genius and a wonderful feminist voice, any self-criticism just gets wiped away, and you think yourself above reproach, leading to what Joss Whedon became and went on being.
And you know what scares me the most about this particular issue? It’s not that I am a fan of his stories. It’s that I can so easily see myself turning out the same way.
Look, I’ll be upfront about it: I’m kind of a sadist myself. You’ve seen it in my stories, you’ve seen me gloating after a particularly dark plot twist makes my readers freak out. That sort of stuff is fun to me. There’s a reason why I have a much easier time in the dark and violent scenes, because I’m channeling something ugly within me. We all have a dark side, and this is mine.
But UNLIKE Whedon, that doesn’t carry over to how I treat people in real life (unless Monopoly or Mario Party are involved, then it’s fair game). Maybe it’s because I wasn’t given the sort of power and praise he did so early, and I was always taught to be considerate of other people’s feelings, but if I ever find out that I hurt another person or went too fair, I feel TERRIBLE, and it just throws me off all day until I apologize. Even if I don’t notice right away that what I said or did wasn’t cool (autistic, remember?), when it’s pointed out to me and I have some time to think on it, yeah, the guilt is on and I make a point to apologize to whoever I’ve hurt. I’ve even made a point to apologize to members of my family for inconsiderate stuff I said years ago as a little punk kid because it wouldn’t stop bugging me.
So maybe Whedon got too big, too fast. Maybe putting people on these sorts of pedestals, especially progressive ones, is ultimately a bad thing.
So where does this leave us? How are we to treat JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, one who developed a lot of transphobia due to abuse suffered while the other became a toxic individual due to unchecked control and a lack of consequences? Can we still enjoy their stories despite them now being colored by their creators’ falls from grace? Can we separate the art from the artist, or do we have to do a clean split?
Honestly, I feel that has to come down to the individual. I can’t remove the influence Rowling and Whedon have had on me as a storyteller, and I still highly respect both of their talents despite taking major issue with their problems as people. And I’m not going go throw away all of my Harry Potter or Firefly stuff. Because that’s my stuff. It has value to me, it doesn’t represent the issues with their creators, and a lot of it was gifts from people who are dear to me. Though I do think it’ll be a long time before I return to either of their work, as I just don’t have the stomach for it now.
But I will be avoiding any projects they have in the future. I don’t want to put money in their pockets that might go on to support their toxic beliefs or behavior. And as for royalties for their past work that would also support the cast and crew of the Harry Potter films or those who worked on Whedon’s shows who do not deserve to lose money because we don’t want any of that money going to the creators? Er, that question is a little above my paygrade. I don’t know. You’ll have to all decide for yourselves. As for me, I still have a lot of thinking to do.
Regardless though, if I or anyone else is still able to enjoy their work, then it’s important to not divorce what these people said or did from the art they created, even if it makes enjoying that art less fun. It’s important to be critical about what we enjoy, to acknowledge the bad aspects along with the good, and open up discussion of those elements, because that’s what mature adults are supposed to do.
And as for JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, whose stories I love, whose talent I admire, and whose past good work I’ll happily acknowledge, I do hope they both experience some sort of realization and enter into a period of self-examination that leads to them getting help for their issues, for Rowling to get help in coming to terms with her trauma and realizing that she’s wrong about the trans community and a full apology, and for Whedon to also come to terms with his toxic behavior and how he treats people, for him to make no excuse for what he did and sincerely apologize to those he hurt and work on bettering himself, as well as them both examining some of the more problematic tropes still present in their works. Because despite everything, I do feel that they can still be a creative force of good, and it would be a shame if they let themselves self-destruct.
But if not, then if it comes down to choosing between Rowling and the protecting the trans community, if it comes down between choosing between letting Whedon continue to make shows and protecting actors and writers from his abusive behavior, then I know who I’m siding with, and it ain’t the two individuals this whole essay is about. No story, no matter how good, no matter how creative, is worth letting sacrificing vulnerable people in order for it to be made.
#jk rowling#joss whedon#harry potter#Buffy The Vampire Slayer#angel#firefly#justice league#ray fisher#charisma carpenter#kai cole#transphobia tw#abuse tw#toxicity tw#TERF tw#rant#TERFs don't interact I do not want to talk to you#same for abuse apologists
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tomjr replied to your post
“i’m in a ‘i am going to cause problems on purpose’ mood and it is...”
Do you have a post on why you like Lucius? As someone who, admittedly, isn't a massive fan, I'd love to read why! :)
okay.. i have to admit my reasons for loving lucius aren’t really as serious as my reasons for loving snape. his character hasn’t had any profound impact on me, i mostly just think he’s fun & has a lot of unexplored potential.
as a preface, i’m team ‘fictional preferences aren’t a reliable indicator of real-world morals.’ also this is probably going to be a bit of a mess. it got much longer than intended and turned into a more meta than anything else but anyway--
i’ve always been partial to villains (my fave hp character has been snape since i picked up the first book, and back then it was because he was such a bastard) so lucius being a bad guy doesn’t bother me. a lot of the criticisms of his character are variations of “but he’s a death eater!!!” which just makes me go …and? it’s like saying you can’t like bellatrix because she’s a voldy-fanatic or that you can’t like voldemort because he’s.. voldemort. i know people actually do say those things but to me it doesn’t make sense. a character being a de or in the order has no bearing on whether i like them or not.
i’m not going to argue against lucius being a bad guy, but i do think he’s kind of terrible at it, at least compared to his cohort. i don’t think he’s sadistic like other death eaters or as fanatic, either (which i think comes to light in his dh arc). to me, he’s the ‘order people around, then stand back and watch as they do your bidding’ kind of villain. i’d even argue that this line
“Lucius, my slippery friend,’ he whispered, halting before him. ‘I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe?” (GOF, ch. 33)
is a reference to it. he doesn’t delight or participate, he leads. i do think he’s killed and tortured (he probably got some kicks out of it, too) but i’ve always interpreted him as a character whose usefulness comes from his connections (and if we want to talk headcanons, i think he’s got a good strategic eye). we know the second war differs greatly from the first; from what little information we get about the first war, it seems that death eaters were making a much more controlled and effective effort that resulted in actual changes to wizarding society. (to digress a little, i think that’s what a lot of death eaters actually signed up for, not the killing/torture and harry potter business, otherwise voldemort’s numbers in the first war don’t really make sense.) but in that context, lucius is a valuable player to have because he’s got the connections, diplomacy, and resources to infiltrate places like the ministry and encourage the right parties to support voldemort’s plans. it might not exactly make him likable, but it’s something i like to think about.
the above quote touches on some other things that make me interested in him. while definitely a blood-supremacist, i’d argue that lucius��� loyalty to his family/to himself far outweighs his loyalty to voldemort. i’ll talk about the malfoys in a bit, but on the topic of choosing to become a death eater, i think he was swayed by what voldemort was selling—a society of only purebloods, where he’s promised glory. joining voldemort is perfectly aligned with his own goals, but when that’s no longer the case, he’s got no issue dropping voldy and claiming he was coerced; he doesn’t scream his loyalty like bella and willingly ruin his life (and his family’s life) to serve his lordship. as to why that makes me like him, i kind of just always like the self-preserving prick character. it’s a big part of why i love narcissa, too. (and why i think they’re perfectly matched, but more on that here).
also, what i mean when i say he’s fun is like… okay so lucius is the kind of person where if i met him irl, i’d spend every second in his presence thinking about how much i want to punch him in the face. he’s that rich, snooty asshole who knows he’s above the consequences us mere mortals have to worry about, but it makes him fun to write. he can do whatever he wants because he knows he can get away with it and i always have a good time when i write him in fic (even when I’m torturing him).
the other thing is that i think lucius’ character is a bit like snape’s in the sense that it’s been warped by fanon (jason’s portrayal is part of it too, though i do love it). my biggest pet peeve about the discussion around lucius is how most of it revolves around draco, and how the people who want to defend/woobify/redeem draco immediately jump to ‘lucius was an abusive father.’ i always sort of want to ask why they think that, but i know it’s not really worth the effort.
(there’s the argument that raising a child with extremist views, even with good intentions, constitutes abuse on its own. but imo that’s a different conversation & not really relevant bc people don’t tend to use that as an example of lucius being a bad father, they jump right to him being verbally/physically/emotionally abusive.)
anyway, my point is
“My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands. […] I think I’ll bully father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow. […] Father says it’s a crime if I’m not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree.” PS, ch. 5.
that book!lucius
“My Lord,” said a voice, desperate and cracked. He turned: there was Lucius Malfoy sitting in the darkest corner, ragged and still bearing the marks of the punishment he had received after the boy’s last escape. One of his eyes remained closed and puffy. “My Lord … please … my son …” DH, ch. 32.
doesn’t really
“Wouldn’t it be … forgive me … more prudent to call off this battle, enter the castle and seek him y – yourself?”
“Do not pretend, Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son.” DH, ch. 32.
support the fanon
“[…] Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.” DH, ch. 36.
there’s a bunch of other little moments that give us an insight into the malfoy family dynamic (like the fact that lucius actually listens to draco’s rambling; eg. “… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful potter with his scar and his broomstick —” / “you have told me this at least a dozen times already.” – or his reaction to buckbeak; “father’s not very happy about my injury- […] he’s complained to the school governors. and to the ministry of magic.” - or the fact that draco constantly defends him). i don’t think it’s enough to suggest that the malfoys were a happy-go-lucky family, but everything put together paints a picture, and it’s not one of a cold, abusive household. i won’t bother pulling apart the ~lucius abused narcissa~ fanon, because i do that a bit on my narcissa post and it essentially boils down the same thing.
basically i think lucius is unfairly lumped into the category of death eaters who are incapable of anything ‘good.’ like, yes, he’s terrible, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t or can’t love his family. to say so directly contradicts a lot of his canon material (looking @ you, cursed child). but anyway, my interpretation of the malfoy family dynamic is a large part of why i love lucius as a whole (bad guy who loves one (1) thing is a good trope and that is a hill i will die on) and i think the way his loyalty to the cause™ battles with his loyalty to narcissa and draco creates some interesting scenarios to consider. overall i think there’s a lot of unexplored potential with him.
i’m ending it here bc i can feel my attention span starting to slip, but tl;dr
also one last obligatory reason: he’s sexy (and i’m saying this as a lesbian)
#tomjr#lucius#meta#mine#lucius malfoy#a thousand words later...#i've missed stuff but i'm tired now so
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i loved you yesterday || a wandavision fic
AO3 link
~
Vision came into consciousness- awoke- into this world loving her.
Loving Wanda- his wife, even if he can’t remember when they got married, or what they were wearing, how the proposal went.
He’s not even sure who proposed, or what their vows were, or how they made the decision to move to Westview, New Jersey.
(It’s supposed to be on purpose, isn’t it? They are an unusual couple- that was never in question. It feels right, acting out this role with her. They were meant to be together, meant to be here, and even more so recently, he wants to focus on the future.)
But when he’s looked at her, he’s thought that none of it matters. He’s there with her, and now with their children- and though he can’t remember how that happened either, he loves them too.
He still loves them, of course. Even with their rapid aging, he’s getting to know them, and learns more with each passing day.
(And what is loving someone if not truly knowing them, especially for someone who is incapable of forgetting anything?)
Wanda... she is a different story.
With her, he is at a disadvantage, in the way that anyone is- she has always been able to read him. It’s one of his favorite things about her, that she can understand people with such ease. And with him especially, when few people even try (and for obvious reasons at the moment, he can’t let them) ... it’s no surprise that he stays close to the only one he knows who really can.
But he cannot, as much as he’d like to (with her consent) read her mind, or gain access to her emotions. Their connection has become one-sided, at best.
Which is what frustrates him so, when they aren’t on the same page… and, given what he’s recently discovered, that happens to be much of the time- the disagreements bubbling right below the surface, cracks in their foundation as though the ground beneath their home will split open and take their new life with it once the two of them reach a breaking point. Something may erupt between them, and soon- he only hopes that their children won’t be among the casualties.
It never used to be a disadvantage for the two of them. They were always so in-sync, of the same mind, and no matter what happened before Westview, he believes that such was the case back then, too. And he wants to trust Wanda, when she says that she doesn’t know what’s happening, that even with her incredible powers she’s not truly in control of all of this.
He isn’t sure of what his original programming was, who created him and gave life to his systems. But he is certain- he cannot be selfish, and lose himself in his new role as a father, or put so much faith in his wife that he ignores those who are suffering around him. He has to, as unnatural as it feels, ignore the statistics telling him that Wanda is most likely telling the truth, at least until everyone else is safe.
(How long has it been, really? How long has Norm, for example, been here, connection severed from his family? Is his name truly Norm? What of Agnes, or Herb, or anyone else he’s interacted with in this town?
What of Geraldine, and her seeming disappearance from this world altogether?)
He knows that Norm was not specific, when he mentioned a “she” who was in his head. That, coupled with Wanda’s denial, could point to someone else being in true control- but then again, didn’t he seem to trust that only Vision himself could stop whoever this was? Hasn’t Wanda told him (he assumed colloquially, but…) that she had everything under control, and merely asked if she couldn’t when he told her she couldn’t control him like the others? Hadn’t she said that they didn’t need to leave, when he brought up the possibility? Wasn’t she about to dismiss his fears, make another choice for him that he didn’t ask for or have a say in, before they were interrupted?
Isn’t she the one who this “anomaly” is named for, from the perspective of those on the outside?
It’s easy enough to excuse himself, from the Halloween festivities. Especially with the re-introduction of Pietro- he and Wanda take the children, and he sets off alone, in the costume Wanda chose for him. He sees less and less movement as he goes- repetitive motion, stilted speech, those affected acting as though they are caught in a time loop, unable to be set free. And eventually, they don’t move at all.
He could release them- but it would just be worse, inciting even more panic, until he can figure all of this out, and reach those who sent the email to his office.
(S.W.O.R.D.
Doctor Darcy Lewis.
Words he should know; concepts he should be aware of… but it’s the idea of Maximoff’s Anomaly that makes him forge forward)
Vision sheds his costume (he didn’t want to wear it anyway, he feels as though he is wearing a costume every moment outside of his house regardless), and floats above the town wearing his true face, gazing down upon it all. The wind is… well, there is no point in describing it if it’s hardly there to begin with. There are lights, and sounds, but they seem to be clustered in one part of the town, and both are scattered around beyond it, only appearing sporadically once they reach the outskirts, eventually dying out.
There’s one road, that seems to encircle the town- and a car stopped right before it, that he stops to focus on. Vision lands quietly, not bothering to put his costume back on, before seeing that Agnes is the car’s sole occupant, dressed in a witch costume, her hair streaked with silver.
He talks to her. She seems to be more capable of speech than the others- perhaps because, in Wanda’s eyes, she is a major character, regardless of how far away she is. But she doesn’t look at him, and seems like she doesn’t know him… until he touches her head, using the same action he unknowingly performed to unlock Norm’s true personality.
She calls him one of the Avengers.
(noun: a person who takes revenge for an offense, a person who takes revenge on behalf of someone else.)
(He’s not sure what he did before to receive such a distinction, but from the context, he takes the name to be associated with heroism, and helping people. There are others like him- are they looking for him? Do they wait for him outside the boundary?
Was Wanda an Avenger too? Was that how they fell in love?)
She knows him- Agnes, if that is her real name, takes his hands and asks him if he’s there to help them.
Of course I am. Of course I will- I was already planning on it.
And I hope Wanda will, too.
She wonders why he doesn’t know… and then tells him he’s dead.
He wants to argue- but she sounds so insistent, and keeps repeating the word, perhaps so it will sink into him and stay there, among his essential systems. So he takes it, takes her telling him that Wanda won’t let anyone think about leaving, takes her laughter, until he puts her back under, his hand shaking ever so slightly.
She doesn’t notice. She doesn’t act like she’s looking at anyone out of the ordinary, as she wishes him a happy Halloween, and turns around- goes back to a place without dead Avengers or nearly immobile neighbors.
Then it’s him alone, at the corner of Rolling Hill Drive and Ellis Avenue, the stop sign below the street distinctions looking more like a warning than ever.
But still he walks forward, across the street, into what appears to be a field before him- until the air flickers before him, glowing brighter blue as he approaches. It seems to be a tightly-knit grid, or like static, red and green and blue, continuing to warp and flicker as he gets closer.
The part of the boundary before him seems to look like a door- or perhaps that is an illusion, what he wants to see, to convince him that this is the right decision.
(he doesn't need convincing)
But nonetheless, he places one hand against it, then the other…
And when he emerges, he’s aware of a red glow behind him. He takes one step, two, three- the boundary seems to hold onto his cape, he can’t quite pull it out all the way- and with each step there is more pain.
It hurts.
It hurts.
It hurts-
Focus. What do you see?
Cars. People. Lights.
Military?
They are all looking at me.
They are pointing their guns in my direction.
Someone is speaking.
“He really does want out, doesn’t he?”
It feels like he is straining against a magnet, one more powerful than he can imagine, as he falls to his knees- a part of him flies off, and he doesn’t care about retrieving it. He’s not even sure what part is gone. He suspects it doesn't matter.
A woman’s voice.
“Stop! He’s coming apart!”
None of them, besides her, are moving either, as he grits what humans would consider teeth, and tries his hardest not to scream, mind too overcome by hurt to think.
Another voice, but this time in his head.
Don’t worry, Dad. It’s all right.
Billy, he thinks, holds onto the memories of his sons as he continues to lose himself. He may die here, trying to talk to the outside, letting himself fall apart so nobody else can, but for them, for everyone else…
They’re worth it.
The woman on the outside is handcuffed to a truck.
“Help him!”
That’s right. But I don’t need it as much.
“Help!” he manages, hoping they can hear him- hoping they care. “The people need help!”
He’s reaching out to them, wants them to understand that he comes in peace.
(if they know him, and understand he's an Avenger, they will. But then again, they may not be so receptive to a message from a ghost.)
But his hand is coming apart, more of him is falling away. Soon, unless Billy or Wanda get to him in time, there won’t be anything left to save.
He can’t stand anymore. He lies on the ground, feeling as though his body is burning, thinking of his children.
Hold on, Vis.
Wanda.
But she’s not beside him- instead, he feels the barrier around him, encroaching on the world he has found himself in.
Then, suddenly, he’s back inside Westview.
He’s intact, and whole- Wanda has healed him.
But, he notes as he finds himself surrounded by a circus, she has also brought in new inhabitants- and he’s not sure how this will affect her, or how much longer she can keep Westview under her sway.
(How long will she be able to keep him, or their children?)
He doesn’t know if his message will get out. Doesn’t know if he wants to remember what happened to him on the outside as an Avenger, or how he died.
~
He doesn’t want to go home that night.
#papa don't look#wandavision spoilers#fanfics#wandavision#the vision#vision#wandavision episode 6#*publishes a fic 8 hours before a new episode* livin' on the edge#anyway this is my first ever marvel fic#i hope it's okay
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Gale Reviews: Sonic the Hedgehog (the Movie)
(Thank you @knightsweeties for the art)
Sonic runs onto the big screen, after a horrible design and awful original trailer, the Studio went back and redesigned the blue blur and delayed the movie.
Was the hedgehog’s makeover worth the wait?
Was this a Sonic Boom! or a Sonic Bury it Underground.
This Review Will have spoilers so
Read at your own peril
-The movie starts of with the climax of the movie, with a freeze frame and Sonic catching us up.
-Little Sonic is adorable and I would die for him.
-Longclaw’s design seemed a bit out of place for the movie, but she was a good character and glad she was created for the film.
-WERE THOSE ECHIDNA ASSASSINS!? DAMN!!!
- The rings act like warps, thats pretty cool.
-(10 years later) Green Hills, I see that reference
- Sonic loves his small town, he loves his friends that don't know are his friends.
-Okay, this movie does a good job showing how loneliness affected Sonic. As well as the reason why he makes so many Pop culture references. He has a mental dynamic with everyone in town.
-Tom, the cop aka ‘Donut lord’ is kind of a fun character that wants to be a street cop in San Francisco.
-Is that Sanic!? The old guy drew Sanic!
-His wife Maddie is supportive, and a vet. She also was also pretty.
- The seen with the cakes made me chuckle.
-Sonic wanted to play baseball and get a high five. I feel for him.
-The government agrees Robotnik is an asshole, but he is useful. That is fair.
-Jim Carrey literally played the role of the egotistical Eggman/Robotnik. I can believe this is close to the Eggman from Sonic X. Wacky but deadly. This is what I imagine as Eggman before Eggman.
- Ben Schwartz voice and acting just work for sonic. Sure he sounds Like every character he acts, but it works for Sonic’s attitude. So its fine.
-Tom traqed sonic resulting in the Rings ending up on the roof
-The entire scene where Eggman gets punched is wonderful,
-I like Agent Stone, I feel like Eggman doesn't appreciate him enough. He tries.
-The Stop at the bar was fun.
-Quick silver sonic scene. (not as good as the Quick silver ones, but it was still fun to see)
- Sonic and Tom bonding.
- Maddie has a sister the disapproves of Tom, shocker. The niece Jojo is adorable.
-Sonic’s reasoning for being pissed at Tom is fair. I am glad they didn't make it a whole misunderstanding separates them route. kudos
- Sonic verses robotnik tank version one
-Sonic verses mini tank
-Tom verses unicycle bot
-The TINY BOT was the most effective.
-Maddie NOT panicking and talking to Tom about this whole thing. Damn, I respect the hell out of her for being able to deal with this. RESPECT
-Jojo giving sonic his trademark sneakers is adorable.
-Sonic and the pupper.
-WHY DID THEY LET SONIC DRIVE!?
- Why did they get allowed UP THAT TOWER?! Also, the scene with the duffel bag.
-The heartfelt Goodbyes interrupted by Ro-butt-nik.
-First time calling him Eggman.
-Sonic pushed Tom and Maddie off a building... didn't see that coming but damn.
-Quick silver scene two but then Eggman reveals he can move faster thanks to the power of the quills.
-Epic chase ensues
-Egypt, franc, china and then back to green hill. It was pretty dope. Also the locals and designs are all pretty good.
-Green Hill is a ride or Die place.
-Power of friendship and sonic getting stronger as he gets emotionally stronger
-Sonic sending Robotnik to the mushroom planet.
-Sonic gets his high five.
-The government’s reward is the most realistic thing in this movie.
-Sonic lives in the attic now. Thats kind of cute.
-NOW EGGMAN LOOKS LIKE EGGMAN. Very clever.
-And the credits look like the classic sonic 1. That is so.
-Midcredit scene: OMG OMG OMG OMG YES! HE APPEARED! PLEASE LET THERE BE A SEQUAL! I need SONIC 2!!!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
Overall the movie is good. It isn't spectacular, it isn't bad. It is good. It is something that people who do or don't know sonic can watch and enjoy. Its great for kids. The sonic fans will get a lot of fan service out of it.
The movie is set up to seem like a lot of the movies that try to do the animated partner and human. But it knows where to keep the focus. It has good heart, and the comedy can make you chuckle.
The redesign SAVED this movie, I can't see the emotional scenes working with the old design.
I do think it is a bit too safe. It plays it too by the numbers, I think it could have gone a bit further with the comedy and the action but it did do what it needed to do.
I honestly feel bad for any movie trying to compete with this one.
I will probably be seeing it again.
I give the movie an 8/10
If I wasn't a sonic fan. probably 7/10.
#Sonic the hedgehog#watch the movie#sonic the hedghog movie#sonic the hedgehog spoilers#gale reviews
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opinion on the term bl?
uhhhhhh…very complicated. I might have written a whole rant post before on the topic on this blog on an empty stomach so it was most likely not very nuanced (I think it was about people saying that The Untamed didn’t count as BL).
buckle in, this got suuuper long
tbh i first came into contact with the term in the early 2000s and since the internet didn’t play any role at my age then, the only context I had were magazines (here in Europe) and manga publications.
I knew that BL was a whole genre in Manga and that it featured gay romance and that fans / content creators would refer to themselves at fujoshi. Now, at that time I was only figuring out that I was bi, didn’t know any Japanese and didn’t have any friends with cultural ties to Japan.
So based on the magazines I read, I started to believe that “Fujoshi” literally meant “Rotten Girl” because of the taboo of same-sex relationships and the tantalizing sense of the forbidden that comes with it.
While I read some BL manga (couldn’t tell you the titles anymore), I never referred to myself as a Fujoshi or being into BL because both terms seemed to apply only to Japanese people and the sense of “the forbidden” in regards to same-sex relationships didn’t fit to my reality (having been to a same-sex marriage with my family at age 8 etc) and also felt demeaning to me.
After learning Japanese and living in Japan I didn’t really question my aversion to the terms, since I did have access to the internet now but didn’t think of fact-checking everything I had “learned” pre-internet (I think it is important to note here that the magazines weren’t the highest in quality in terms of journalistic prowess nor scientific in any way. They were just short entertaining articles, aimed at teenagers like me, trying to profit from the still ongoing wave of japanese pop culture in the west) and my only experience with both bl content and real life fujoshi wasn’t that positive:
My feelings on BL and fujoshi culture were heavily influenced by
- the wave of very sad and traumatizing gay movies in Japan that most of the time ended in double suicides of the main characters
- rape storylines getting romanticized in manga
- pretty heavily stereotyped gay characters in main stream tv series that were only there for comedic relief
- the Fujoshi I knew back then being weirded out by the thought of same-sex relationships between women and basing their thought on gay men solely on the content they consumed
- not finding the hailed “subversion of traditional gender roles” or discussion thereof in the BL my friends consumed.
- my gay friends in japan having very frustrating encounters with fujoshi who started to treat them like an open air circus and not making them feel supported in real life
- people around me making judgments based on attractiveness on whether gay people should get supported, while the hint of a celebrity being gay was weaponized against them
now, this pretty much sums up, why I tended to have negative thoughts on the subject and felt more sympathetic to the push from some people in the queer community in japan to please retire terms like “uke” and “seme” when talking about real people.
since then, i didn’t intervene when other female friends in japan would use the term for themselves, because it still was a term coined in japan and those people were actually supportive of queer people so i didn’t see how me being preachy about it just because of my experience and not calling myself a fujoshi or fan of bl would be of any help and/or called for.
jump to 2018/2019 and i started to read more papers about it on a whim because i started to watch Crossing The Line and for the first time in a long while I was in a fandom again where people called the genre “BL” and themselves fujoshi/fudanshi.
I came to know that what I assumed the origin story of the term “Fujoshi” to be had been misreported (shocker) by the magazines back in my youth and that apparently the term was also widely used in Thailand, Taiwan and Mainland China. especially the knowledge that apparently TERFs were behind a pushback of the term made me reevaluate my opinion.
Since I have really no insight into Chinese or Thai culture it is not on me to judge whether it is appropriate for people there to use BL as a genre signifier etc and from all I have read, in some cases it is really about finding a way of creating and distributing queer content in a place that is not lgbtqi+ friendly or use it as means of finding expressions for one’s own sexuality etc.
Obv. there are genre conventions I will get annoyed about and criticize (all female characters are evil etc) but those things are also not BL exclusive so there’s not much sense in condemning a whole genre that at least tries to push some conventions.
With the Internet and a global push for more lgbtqi+ rights there is now definitely a strong symbiotic relationship between queer content and real life social changes. so being harder on queer content (in general) because it isn’t perfect doesn’t make anything better for queer people.
nowadays there has been some wonderful content in japan with a push for real life legal changes as well, taiwan has the marriage for all and thailand is also pushing for a civil union for everyone.
especially in the case of mainland china with strict censorship rules i will congratulate anyone who tries to sneak some ambiguity in. it saddens me that the rules are as strict and that there are even more hardships for lgbtqi+ people in real life but i would never say that not creating any content that could be interpreted as queer should be favoured over trying to do something, regardless of how lacking the result might seem.
The reason why I ranted about BL as a genre term recently was mostly directed at western fans with no cultural ties to any of the aforementioned cultures, but i definitely didn’t stress that enough in my previous post.
Since I still don’t call myself a fujoshi or being into the BL genre I am suspicious of western fans calling themselves as such. because i project my own experience and knowledge on them and there are people out there who definitely emphasize the cheeky “rotten” side of themselves while not knowing (like past me) where the term comes from and that it does’t have to do with any “forbidden fruit”. i assume a certain laziness when straight people will try and convince me that they are allies to me, because they consume BL series, but will still call me “the man” in the relationship etc.
There can definitely be a need for a similar outlet that allows people to write about gender roles, sexualities etc in a similar way but very often the argument of “it is female empowerment to be into BL” is just warping the origin story of the term into an excuse for homophobic statements. I see the term get applied to western shows as well (when there isn’t a need for using a Japanese term, especially not when there’s a missing understanding of its origin) and actual mlm shows in asia being dismissed just because it doesn’t fit the BL genre conventions (point and example: people in the west discounting The Untamed as mlm content because they weren’t explicit about it; What Did You Eat Yesterday getting dismissed because of similar reasons and the diversion from presumed age and beauty standards of BL as a genre). That way western fans made BL feel quite restrictive and not interchangeable with mlm anymore, which just confounds me.
in the end it also comes down to scope: someone writing fanfiction, producing small indie series cannot really be harmful even when they content might seem so. so regardless of what the genre entails it is important to put everything in perspective and whether this is the hill someone wants to die on, instead of leaving space for artistic expression, cultural differences and celebrating the steps into a more loving world for all.
tl;dr: I feel many emotions; there’s always space to learn more and I am grateful to everyone who made posts about the racism in criticizing the terms “Fujoshi” / “BL”; I don’t use the term myself, but only feel wary when westerners use it; personally I prefer to use mlm or wlw as content describers but I am also not 100% satisfied with that as well
ask me my opinion on ______
#ctlyuejie writes#ask game#ctlyuejie rants#long post#lovely mutuals are lovely#this is mostly to sort my own thoughts#thank you for the ask and sorry for the word vomit
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iwwv anon and PHEW OK. I def did not expect that essay and now I feel bad cause I KNOW my thots r not gonna be articulate or right. nonetheless! i think Oliver does qualify as an unreliable narrator cause hes. very oblivious but not like... Richard papen (who is a whole ass clown don't get me started on tsh) but not like addy from dare me(I will support till the day I die that dare me is da like I WILL die on this hill) who sees what she wants to see. 1/?
i think he just... thinks that his friends r diff ppl than they actually r? that doesnt rly make sense but yea. what I mean is that everything the characters do is coated in that empathetic view Oliver has which is usually wrong? so we don't get an objective look into the characters. meredith is my girl like I love the hot popular girl trope deconstruction but at the end of the book she's not at a great place like she's w someone that doesn't love her like she needs to be loved... 2/
I guess the most probable ending is that James never meets Oliver again and that everyone is kinda stuck on what happened but that's soo sad and I really don't want to think abt it. ngl iwwv wasn't like my fave book ever and I really don't understand why people are so obsessed with dark academia sometimes but what i rly liked abt the book is that despite how fucked up everyone is and how toxic they r to each other they do at heart care abt one another...3/
like I rly liked that esp cause at that point the only other da book (other than dare me!) that I had read was tsh and godd every character is so fuckinh annoying and they all hate each other. i was super confused by it till I saw someone saying that it's satire and I felt my mind explode. I feel like this is so long but I didnt rly properly answer all you wrote sorry! I think its a pretty good book tho it has some crazy quotes like hold awn Im gonna look at the highlighted stuff on my copy.. 4/
Were you in love with him?” “Yes,” [...]Yes, I was.” It’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I’m in love with him still. LIKEEE PHEWW OK OK OK. WE OUT HERE. that line literally made me go crazy. I'm so sorry for any spelling mistakes or like general mistakes I made here English isn't my first language, it's 1am and I wrote this in the notes app w/o looking it over. so like.. NOT a professional review lemme tell you. 5/5
Ahh im so sorry I did not see this before I yeeted for a month!!!
Oooh okay first of all dare me as a DA… I’ve only watched the show but like yeah I see the Elements for sure.
Also yeah I can understand what you mean abt Oliver being an unreliable narrator now… Ig my view of unreliable was more like they are purposefully twisting the truth or omitting facts or just literally don’t know shit but I get how personal bias can make the narrator unreliable. I do think the assertion that Oliver thinks his friends are different than they actually are makes sense. He sees James in a very positive light and though I like James a lot and think he is better than, like, Richard, he definitely has darker moments and manipulates Oliver at times (again I’d like to think it’s not the most nefarious thing in the world but like him just being shitty bc he’s in a dark place and he one, wants to do anything he can so Oliver doesn’t figure out he fought Richard so Oliver still thinks of him the same way/bc he knows Oliver would do something stupid like get himself arrested for James; and two, is very jealous that Oliver is with Meredith after Richard dies and has sort of a somewhat positive outcome from Richard’s death versus James being riddled with guilt and anger). And yeah, the probable ending is they never meet but I refuse to acknowledge that so LGNRG. Also that line makes me go CRAZZZZZZZZZZY!!! There are so many great lines, both using Shakespeare and on their own and its like okay give me a moment im going bonkers…
Personally, I haven’t read that many dark academia novels yet (bc for some reason i can barely finish a book rn sigh) but the concept interests me. I think what’s compelling is the setting/atmosphere of like ~mysterious college vibes~, and the idea of a sort of niche, obsessive bond and pursuit of knowledge with a tight knit group of friends (and the like inherent homoeroticism in every single DA elrngenrg). Like Dead Poet’s Society (the film I haven’t read the book) isn’t Dark in the same way most other dark academia is by like, obsession and death and manipulation (though of course there are dark elements with Neil’s storyline), but I think the other building blocks of academia are present there in a more wholesome way and you can see why people are drawn to that idea. As for the more Dark aspects I think it’s interesting to analyze things like group psyche, obsession, manipulation, etc, like what went wrong for everything to take such a dark turn???
But, like everything else, it really has to be done well or else its just like okay….… I’ve tried to read TSH twice and I may try again but from the 100+ ish pages I read I totally get what you mean. IWWV is so interesting to me bc the characters are all very compelling and multifaceted and I like that they are a close friendship, we come in after 4 years of them spending all the time together and to me that is apparent. Like you said, we can see fissures and problems especially as the novel continues but there is care there between them. That also makes the decision to let Richard die much more interesting and sinister imo, as well as how all of them interact with each other after he dies, and how the roles of the group change without their “leader” so to speak. Also, maybe it’s just bc I like Shakespeare, but I think the academia part of IWWV is so much more accessible compared to TSH. Like I don’t know every Shakespeare play or anything so I didn’t understand every nuance or was like immediately like oh this is from Cymbeline or whatever the fuck, but you could understand the gist of things and it made sense that they spoke in Shakespeare lines bc that’s all they’ve been doing for four years and also theatre kids are Like That. Their pretention also provided any Layers to the story, like the parallels between the characters they play and their own arcs, how some of the lines echoed their own thots, foreshadowed, or they were able to say things through Shakespeare (I’m thinking of like, Oliver realized he loved James during Romeo and Juliet, the foreshadowing that James was going to ruin Richard’s life and that he dislikes Meredith/Richard when he quotes Mercutio at the start “A plague o’ both your houses”, the exchange Oliver and James had onstage and had that kiss during King Lear before Oliver was arrested,etc.) (Also I think the structure of some of the dialogue being formatted like a play really helped make it feel more realistic and immersive). Versus TSH which is just so pedantic and dense and hard to follow at times im like I get they are smart but what??? And maybe that’s part of the satire aspect (or maybe im dumb) but like donna I read TGF I know you are pretentious and info dump abt random obscure shit anyways so erglknerg. Like to me there was a Point to all of the academic Shakespeare stuff in IWWV and it was the soul of the book, and M.L. Rio made it very interesting—like the way that the directors reimagined the plays and had Julius Caesar be like a modern political play, the cool mirror shit in King Lear, the Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet performances where they did them at events and interacted with their environments (which were one of my favorite parts of the books bc I just think that concept is so interesting), etc. For TSH the shit they did literally just felt like “okay look at them they’re smart see you can’t even keep up!” like okay… I felt lost a lot and only like snapped into reality whenever Henry (?) was like oh… murder….. and even then I was like idk what this dude is saying but like he’s being darksided LMAO. And I also agree that it’s just like… Richard being thrown in the middle of this group could lend itself to some cool ideas but its hard to believe that he fits into the friendship group and hes just like hell yeah I love Greek so much and lets go kill this guy other than like okay ur gay and stupid and just want to impress Henry or whatever his name was (which he was but I digress). It’s just not as impactful to me as this close friend group falling apart. Ik TSH fans might be angry if they see this (and of course I haven’t finished the book so my perception may be warped but I also kno many ppl felt that way u did) bc I’ve seen ppl say IWWV is just like TSH but “lackluster” or whatever and while I can see some parallels (mostly b/w Richard and Henry and Alexander and Francis), I really think M.L. Rio expanded upon common DA tropes and the interesting parts of TSH but made it her own and interesting and oh yeah there are actually multiple compelling female characters and LGBT characters (and no incest)!!!
#if we were villians#books#also literally dont apologize for any mistakes or going bonkers like i have no problem n i understood what u meant anyways LMAO#anon#ask
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Name ten favourite characters from ten different things (books, tv, film, etc.) then tag ten people
This was extremely difficult to do. The first two were easy, since they are my ride or die, but choosing 10 different characters? From ten different things? I don’t know if I even like 10 different things, but I found some loopholes, lol.
tagged by @bpdanakins <3
1. Lara Croft - Tomb Raider
Lara Croft has been one of my idols since I was a small child. My mom had bought Tomb Raider: Starring Lara Croft and Tomb Raider: Adventures of Lara Croft for my sister on the PlayStation. I remember watching my sister play it, and then sometimes I was allowed to play it. I continued the Tomb Raider legacy throughout the years.
Lara Croft is just. Amazing. I love every version of her. Classic Lara deflected the life her parents had wanted her to have, and paid the price for it. Did that stop her? No, it did not! She was able to make her own mark in the world. LAU!Lara wanted to find out what happened to her mother, and honestly I love Keeley Hawes as Lara. She was witty and funny, and Legend is one of my favorite TR games. And Reboot!Lara? I love her. I honestly don’t care what people say, Reboot!Lara is great! Her first game is also fun to play. Each version of Lara Croft offers something different, and I love it. While many of Lara’s core values are in each incarnation (adventurous, ambitious, brave, etc.), each brings a new perspective which I enjoy!
Fun fact: my irl best friend and Lara share the same zodiac sign!
2. Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) - Marvel
I LOVE WANDA MAXIMOFF WITH ALL MY HEART!!! She’s a huge comfort character for me. She’s one of the most powerful mutants (yes, I am ignoring the retcon), and she’s complex. Wanda first appeared in X-Men #4 alongside her brother, Pietro, as members of Magneto’s Brotherhood. Eventually, the twins become heroes and join the Avengers.
Wanda’s mutation is magic; probability, to put it at best. She can warp reality. While she is strong, she is also human. Many remember her best as having a mental breakdown and creates House of M (influenced by her beloved brother). After this, she goes off the radar for a few years before her reincarnated sons find her.
I love Wanda because she has heart, courage, and cares for others. She’s intuitive and sensitive and, in many ways, reminds me of myself. I genuinely love Wanda with all my heart. She remains to be my number one favorite superhero. I wish more people knew her--the real her. The MCU does not do her (or her brother) justice. At all. (At least AOU kind of got their “reluctant villains to heroes” origin story well enough?)
Also: fuck you Marvel for retconning Magneto as the Maximoffs’ father. It’s been 5 years but I still elect to ignore that.
3. Phoebe Halliwell - Charmed
Growing up, Charmed was one of my favorite TV shows. To sum it up, it’s about a group of sisters who discover that they’re witches. Specifically, they’re the Charmed Ones and they protect the innocent. For awhile, I’ve said that Piper is my favorite sister but after my last rewatch, I say that Phoebe is my favorite.
At the beginning of the series, Phoebe was the youngest and the rebel of the family. Before the pilot, Phoebe was living in New York but we see her move back in. We also see that she has a strained relationship with her eldest sister, Prue, due to her scummy fiancé. Phoebe is also the reason why their magic was unlocked. (As children, their powers were bounded in order to keep them safe.)
Over time, we see Phoebe mature more. However, there are a few things that never changes with Phoebe. She’s kind and caring for others, always wanting to help them no matter what. (She shares this trait with the youngest sister, Paige.) She is deeply connected with her emotions (which causes her to gain the power of empathy in season 6). Phoebe has also had rough luck with love (see: Cole the demon, etc.) but no matter how much she gets hurt, Phoebe still has hope. She still has love in her heart. No matter how much she gets knocked down, she finds a way of getting back up, and I admire her a lot for it.
4. Catelyn Stark - A Song of Ice and Fire
Family. Duty. Honor. This is House Tully’s family motto, which is deeply embedded into Catelyn. Catelyn was married to Ned Stark during Robert’s Rebellion, after her former betrothed was murdered in King’s Landing (who, ironically, was Ned’s older brother). Their wedding night resulted in the birth of their firstborn: Robb Stark, heir to Winterfell and King in the North.
Catelyn Stark is the mother of the wolves, and her love for her family is no doubt a core of her character. However, Catelyn is clever and if you mess with her, you will certainly gain her wrath. Her eldest values her for her wisdom, and will turn to her for help. She will do anything for her family, such as freeing Jaime Lannister to get her girls back, or offering herself to save her eldest during the horrific events of the Red Wedding.
Catelyn is murdered, along with majority of the Stark party, at the Red Wedding. However, she is resurrected and becomes Lady Stoneheart. Stoneheart is out for vengeance, because she believes all of her children are gone; taken by the enemy. Stoneheart murders Frey or Lannister alike--whoever is associated with them. She holds no mercy.
There is so much more to Catelyn that I could go on, but I will stop here. (Besides, I need to reread the books again!) I will say this: fuck you, D&D.
5. Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) - Marvel
MAGNETO TIME? MAGNETO TIME.
Erik Lehnsherr was a young boy when World War II happened and because he was Jewish, he was sent to Auschwitz. His family did not survive, but Erik did. Depending on what you follow on, Erik either A) escaped with Magda (who is the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s mother) and started a life with her or B) he hunted down the men who worked for Sebastian Shaw (movie universe).
Anyway, Erik had been a mutant since around the time he was sent to the camps and after the horror and trauma he’s faced, Erik decided that mutants would never be accepted by “their less evolved kin”. So, he became Magneto, a protector for mutants and enemy for humans.
Magneto is only one side of the coin, however. Charles Xavier is a longtime frenemy of sorts, both having different perspectives in life. Xavier believes in coexistence, but Magneto believes otherwise. He had seen what humanity is capable of, and he never wants that to happen again. If he must be a villain, than so be it.
Magneto is beautifully complex. He has done some questionable things (I’m thinking of the comics for this one), but he has also done great things for his people. “Never again,” he says. He fights to keep it that way. Magneto is sympathetic at best, and I certainly understand where he comes from. Tell me this: if you were Magneto, what would you have done?
Also: while Michael Fassbender is not Jewish in any way, he did one hell of a job portraying this amazing character.
6. Kira Yukimura - Teen Wolf
I wasn’t planning on adding Teen Wolf to the list, but here I am.
Kira was introduced to us in season 3b, written as a “new love interest” for Scott McCall. I remember a lot of fans of a certain ship were pissed, but whatever. I’m not here to talk about romance.
So, in 3b Kira was a new student, with her dad as the new history teacher at Beacon Hills High School. She’s of both Korean and Japanese descent, and she ends up playing an important role in the story arc. We find out that she’s a Kitsune, thanks to her mother who explains how a Kitsune and a werewolf must come together to defeat the Nogitsune, who happens to be possessing the loveable Stiles Stilinski.
After this, Kira becomes a part of the McCall Pack and Scott’s girlfriend. In my opinion, they’re cute together but many people hate them together. Oh well. Kira also becomes a badass in her own right, as her abilities evolve. However, in season 5, the creators put her on the shelf, as she trains with Skinwalkers and is never seen again. I am so fucking MAD about that.
Like many characters on this list, Kira has heart and courage. She’s a bit of an introvert but she is loyal, and cares for her pack. She’s cute and a bit goofy. She is skilled and deadly. Kira is one of the coolest characters Teen Wolf had, and the way they treated her was disappointed. (Even though after her death, Allison was always mentioned/connected in some way. I like Allison, don’t get me wrong but all I can say is: interesting...)
Fun fact: Arden Cho, the actress, is the VA for Sam Nishimura in Tomb Raider (2013)!
7. Lois Wilkerson - Malcolm in the Middle
The mother of four boys, the matriarch of the Wilkerson household is not one to push around.
Lois has had a rather rough life. Her parents were not the best, and everyone tries to push her down. However, Lois fights back and is not afraid to stand up for what is right. Francis, her oldest, describes her as an absolute menace and while her sons and husband fear her, they also admire her for her strength and courage. Lois is tough as nails, but she can also break, too. However, her family--the family she and Hal created, no one else--is there for her. Lois is incredibly strong willed no matter what, and I love her so much.
8. Theon Greyjoy - A Song of Ice and Fire
No words can describe on how much I love this fashionable war criminal.
Before the start of the series, Theon is a hostage/ward of Lord Stark, as a result of his father’s failed rebellion. Theon was a reminder that if Balon Greyjoy pulled something again, his last (male) heir would get the chopping block. Pretty brutal for a young child, right?
Now, at the start of the series, Theon is nineteen and is seemingly best friends with Robb Stark, the heir to Winterfell and the North. He shows loyalty to Robb and the Starks, claiming that Lord Stark was like a father to him. He’s also skilled with archery and, like I mentioned earlier, fashion.
Then A Clash of Kings occur, and we began to see how Theon Greyjoy is.
Robb Stark has been proclaimed as King of the North, and sends Theon to the Iron Islands in hopes to gain allies with Balon Greyjoy. However, this does not occur. Old Greyjoy says “fuck that and if you’re [Theon] aren’t with us, then you‘re against us.” We see Theon conflicted, but we also see how strained his relationship with his father is. In the end, Theon joins the Greyjoys, and promptly sacks Winterfell. However, that is not the end. Theon is tricked by Ramsay Bolton and this vile man takes Winterfell. I believe while he took the women and children captive, the men were killed...save for Theon, of course.
Theon is held captive by Ramsay Bolton, and is tortured quite brutally. Theon goes through a lot in this time. His appearance had changed drastically: black hair turned white and brittle, he becomes skin and bones, and loses a few fingers and toes. Theon is no longer Theon. He became Reek. The new Reek.
Then, Jeyne Poole (or Sansa; I hate you D&D) arrives, under the guise that she is Arya Stark and she is to wed Ramsay Bolton. Jeyne begged Theon to help her, but he is in no position of power. He is a completely broken man. Time flies by. Jeyne is in absolute misery but with the help of Mance and some spearwives, Theon is able to escape Winterfell with Jeyne during a winter storm. Currently, in the books, Theon is set to be executed by Stannis Baratheon, who is currently holding him captive.
Theon Greyjoy may be a fuckup, but to me he is such an amazing character. He holds much conflict, from being a hostage/ward to Prince to prisoner. Theon Greyjoy may have done a lot of shit, but he is also a survivor. Everything he has been put through, he somehow lives to see another day. Despite holding negative feelings to Lord Stark and everyone around, claiming he owed no one anything (fair enough), he loved Robb. When Theon had found out he was murdered at the Red Wedding, you know what he thought?
I should have been with him. Where was I? I should have died with him.
Theon is far from perfect, but that is what makes him great. He has come so far, and I hope his journey does not end any time soon.
9. Suki - Avatar: The Last Airbender
Zuko may have the best redemption arc (or does he? See above.), but Suki holds a special place in my heart.
We first meet Suki season one, on Kyoshi Island. She is the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and effectively puts Sokka in his place. However, when Sokka requests a few lessons, Suki is happy to help...as long as he followed the guidelines.
Suki is a certified badass. Although a non-bender, Suki has incredible skill and event went against Azula. However, Suki and the others surrendered (so that Appa would not be captured), leading to her imprisonment at Boiling Rock. Eventually, Sokka and Zuko free her (with the help of Mai). After this, Suki joined the Gaang in ceasing the 100 Year War.
Suki is strong but like many other characters in this list, she has heart. She is an effective leader and fighter, offering her help whenever she can. Too bad she was never mentioned in The Legend of Korra. Suki is underrated and she deserves more love and respect.
10. Max Mayfield - Stranger Things
We first meet Max in season 2 as the new girl in Hawkins. She seems like your average girl but she quickly gets tied into the party after Lucas begs her to show her what has happened with him and the rest of the party. However, there’s a lot more to Max.
Max moved to Hawkins with her mother, stepfather, and stepbrother. It’s easy to see that Max and Billy, her stepbrother, do not get along. Billy is outright mean to her, lashing out at practically every chance he gets. Max fights back, however...especially when he threatens her friends.
In season 3, we finally get to see Max and El bond. (Thank God we didn’t have to put up with the “jealousy” tidbit. I would have--) El believes that Mike is lying and Max is like, “Well yeah. Come on let’s go to the mall!” and the girls have a blast together. I was so happy to see the two bond and have fun. I was so happy that El was spending time with someone other than Mike. I was so happy the girls were having fun by themselves. Honestly, the best part of season 3 was them becoming friends.
I love Max because she is confident and is not afraid to speak her mind. She’s funny and in many ways, we are alike. (Especially with our attitudes on boys and relationships.) However, Max is also vulnerable. We see this with her stepbrother, especially in season 3 I think. Their relationship was drastically different in season 3 and while many didn’t like it (myself included)...I also thought about Max. She’s a young girl and no matter how much bad blood was in between them, it will be traumatizing to see a transformation like this to someone you know quite well. It would be scary.
Anyway, I love Max.
Honorable mentions: Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), Ororo Munroe (Storm), Jean Grey (Phoenix), Anna Marie (Rogue), Sam Nishimura, Malia Tate, all of House Martell, Dustin Henderson...
Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Tell me, do I have a certain type of character that I’m attracted to? Also, I’m not sure who has all done this, so if you haven’t it: who are your top 10 favorite characters? Let me know!
#mads makes a text post#about#bpdanakins#tomb raider#marvel#charmed#asoiaf#game of thrones#teen wolf#Malcolm in the middle#atla#stranger things#lara croft#wanda maximoff#phoebe halliwell#Catelyn stark#erik lehnsherr#kira yukimura#lois wilkerson#theon greyjoy#suki#max mayfield
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Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #32
We pick up from where we left off, our heroes head down the hill and meet Elucia Vhane who has for her own part dealt with Ivar's people. It's getting a bit late but our heroes decide to go see if they could find Gracia, the woman they tied up and left in a bush. While making their way there Uffe and Gorm debrief about the whole Ivar situation. Uffe seems to think that there must be some reason he was able to resist Ivar (Saef's resistance is a given, since he's a psyker). The only thing he could come up with is the fact that Gorm was getting kind of emotional about Ivar. So that is a bad thing, Uffe has decided, emotions. It was a problem with Rolf and Harald as well. Gorm says emotions are kind of important, seeing that it helps the Space Marines remind themselves that they're doing it for the people, but Gorm does admit he maybe got a bit blindsided by his anger. But what was that about Rolf and Harald? Uffe is a bit surprised Gorm appears not to know that Rolf and Harald were in love, though apparently did nothing about it except occasionally bonk heads like married couples do (with noses touching). Gorm says that sometimes happens accidentally, but concedes that Uffe has a certain smarts about those kind of things Gorm does not. They decide it best they keep an eye out on each other's emotions. Gorm apologizes for the impromptu haircut, though comments that he likes the current look better. No one really liked the haircut in the pack but Uffe was too mysterious and strong (and scary) for anyone to comment on it. After a bit of good-natured ribbing Gorm butts his head against Uffe's, who returns the gesture.
Behind them Saef and Gimlet are also chatting, Gimlet thanks Saef for getting them out of Ivar’s grap. Saef says that it’s no biggie, although this was supposed to be the non-psyker brother, so be prepared for some major trouble on the way when they actually meet the psyker one. Saef also tells Gimlet that he dropped his phone while Uffe was running away with him tugged under one arm, so they need to locate that. Might be difficult as it was on silent due to the stealthy nature of their mission. Gimlet comments on the head-bonk between the brothers, but if Saef catches any drifts from the comment, he says nothing.
Gorm turns to everyone and asks if Gimlet is okay with the whole Vivek thing. Gimlet reiterates the point that he doesn’t know why he’d shoot Vivek. Gorm comments that Gimlet has not been the most trustworthy person. But Gorm has decided to forgive Gimlet. Gimlet snaps back about not being sure if he’d forgive Gorm in turn, as Gorm just straight-up assaulted him, instead of using his words. Gorm says Gimlet could have shot him, but then concedes that probably not. Gorm apologizes to Gimlet, and says Gimlet can get a free punch in (that’s how it’s done among the Wolves it seems). Gimlet passes on the offer for the moment. Uffe also apologizes for thinking bad thoughts about Gimlet, and Gimlet says there’s no need. But he gets a free punch Uffe card as well.
Gorm points out that Uffe hasn’t punched him for the hair yet. So Saef holds Gorm down while Uffe does so, with enough force to make Saef and Gorm stumble a bit. Gimlet asks if Uffe needs a shave, since he has shaving tools. Gorm asks why does he have shaving tools with him anyways, as he never shaves. Gimlet says he shaved his beard off when he was kicked off Inquisition to make it harder for people to find him. They don’t get much use currently. Uffe asks Gorm his opinion on his facial hair, and Gorm says it frames his chin “nicely”. Uffe says no shave is needed. Gimlet asks if anyone else needs a shave, just to be polite. Saef asks if Gimlet means to shave him bald, as he doesn’t sport any facial hair, and Gimlet says no, no Saef is handsome just as he is. Uffe mutters that he doesn’t feel too handsome at the moment. Gimlet says he (Gimlet) probably should stop talking, and Uffe agrees, before he needs to apologize for bad thoughts again.
They finally get to the place where they left Gracia, only to find the bush empty and some drag marks leading off. Saef is starting to get too sleepy to go on, having been stabbed only recently, but Gorm is insistent that since Saef wanted to see what happened to Gracia, they should see this one trough. So Uffe carries Saef so he can nap, which Saef is not too pleased about. Gorm comments to Gimlet that they should keep an eye out on Saef’s phone use, since he’s throwing a tantrum about it (not really). Gimlet says as an adult Saef can deal wtih his phone use. Gorm says that adults can have addictions too, pointing out that Gimlet appears to be quite fond of the drink. Gimlet says he doesn’t drink to get drunk, just to help him sleep. Gorm then notices that his own mead is gone (all drunk by him and Ivar) and howls desperately at the moon.
Looking over where Gracia had been Gimlet finds a long blue hair. They start following the trail away from the sawmill. Meanwhile Saef has a little dream, but I shan’t report it here, because it’s a secret. Pretty soon our heroes come to the remains of Gracia. It looks like a good ol’ xenos torture party has happened. Gimlet is convinced that this is the Harlequins’ doing, but Gorm says it isn’t. Like sure, we’d all like to think all eldar are bad, but there are definitely some eldar who are worse, and this is the handiwork of the worst, drukhari. Gimlet says they should probably stop, as the trail stops as well, but Gorm vehemently disagrees. Their prey must be close. Gimlet brings up finding Saef’s phone, and Gorm tells him to get his priorities straight. It is concluded that Elucia Vhane’s tech-priest could find it more easily (Gorm comments about how important that must make him feel).
With no tracks to follow, our heroes resort to vibing to find where the dark eldar went. Gorm just feels bad, but Gimlet feels something relatively close by. Saef is woken up to ask if they should continue on, and he says fine. Saef also vibes and feels massive quantities of warp energy. Our heroes somewhat reluctantly follow it (Saef finally gets off Uffe when Uffe accidentally hits Saef’s head on a tree branch). They come upon a cave filled with strange crystal like substance with faces of people, eldar and human, going inside in a torrent.
Unsure what to do about this, Elucia Vhane and her people are called to the scene. Elucia Vhane’s tech-priest, Larssen van der Grauss has indeed found Saef’s phone and while he was at it upgraded its battery and camera, made it able to translate into binary and back and installed a toaster in it. Elucia Vhane takes one look at the crystal and comments that this appears to be the place that she talked with Saef about, where Ahram caused an explosion. She could blow it up? Saef doesn’t think it would work, so next up is calling the Harlequins via Vivek. Both Gorm and Gimlet hear Vivek’s cell phone ringing inside the cave, which is odd to be sure.
While waiting for the Harlequins to get there, Elucia Vhane’s medic Sanistasia Minst looks over all our heroes insanely well. Gorm courts Sanistasia to join Cayenne’s ship. Sanistasia seems down since she is quite worried about the whole Nurgle’s plague possibility. Provided the pay is good, her gf (a swordy woman by the name of Knosso Prond) can come too and she gets the head medic position. Gorm says of course, but Gimlet is a bit doubtful as it would mean replacing Tabasco. Gorm comments that it’s obvious how Tabasco got his position (nepotism), and Gimlet likes that even less.
Good thing the Harlequins and Vivek arrive before another fight breaks out between the two. Athair takes one look at the crystal wall and declares it to be an infinity circuit, a feature of eldar craftworlds where souls of the eldar reside (definitely not a drukhari thing, also definitely should not be here). The material it is made from is called wraithbone, it’s concentrated warp energy, and is formed by singing. Luckily Athair can do that, it’ll take him the evening. He asks if there’s any requests and then gets to singing.
Our heroes retreat back to Elucia Vhane’s shuttle to stay the night. Vivek asks if Gimlet wants to stay back and talk a bit, so they do. Vivek comments on the accidental shooting, mentioning that since Saef saw it too, he can believe that it was an accident. He then says he has no idea which one of them is more unlucky. Vivek asks Gimlet how the whole, uh, mind-controlled by a chaos-corrupted Wolf thing went, and Gimlet admits he wasn’t a fan. So Vivek gives him a hug. Vivek says he can empathize referencing being taken over by the Smith in Elysium, it’s not great but one just got to remember to hold onto being human.
The duo decides to go inside for some drinks, though Vivek warns he might get weepy, if he drinks enough. Gimlet asks Vivek if Gorm and Uffe are fucking, which is clearly not the question Vivek was expecting. Vivek listens to Gimlet’s recounting of the noises in the night and makes a non-committal noise saying he doubts that’s the case, but who are they to judge if it is.
Gimlet also mentions Uffe initiating conversation with him back on Elucia’s ship. Vivek says he would have liked it better to be there than being grilled by Elucia’s people. Gimlet asks about that and Vivek shrugs noncommittally. Gimlet tells Vivek about what he talked with Athair about how the seer-business works. Upon hearing people can attempt to fulfill the requirements themselves, Vivek suddenly goes quiet, muttering a quiet curse to himself. He tells Gimlet he might know a way to make him the coveted “man who is three men”, and that is Kuru, still with Gorm. Since Vivek already has bits of Eden in him, he’s already two men by a loose definition of men. Problem is Vivek really really doesn’t want to do that, but the thought of having more than 1,000 people die because he wouldn’t kinda feels worse. Gimlet is sympathetic, he doesn’t pressure Vivek, but it’s pretty clear he thinks it worth a try.
They talk some other stuff too, Vivek mentions his criminal past and not regretting any of it, Gimlet mentions being responsible for some Inquisitor deaths and kind of feeling weird about it (owing his life to Inquisitor Tanner). Gimlet apologizes for the way he behaved when he first met Vivek, letting his prior knowledge of Vivek cloud his judgement. Vivek waves it off. Gimlet asks Vivek about Kuru’s body parts winding up on various places. Vivek finds this worrisome, as this was not part of their plan, and Kuru’s body was left on the Tomb World anyway. Gimlet asks if the woman who survived the Tomb World would maybe be involved, but Vivek tells that the woman, Agda, is in as much debt to Eden as Vivek is and has a lot to lose, so probably not. Vivek has no clue who would want Kuru’s body and for what purpose but he doesn’t like it. Gimlet also warns Vivek about the Harlequins, mentioning hearing Vivek’s phone ring inside the cavern.
It’s starting to get late, so the two decide to part. Gimlet brings up the possibility of talking with Uffe about the whole Uffe-Gorm-banging-debacle. Vivek says go for it. Gimlet is afraid Uffe will kill him, and Vivek says that’s unlikely to happen, Uffe’s scary but quite reasonable.
So Gimlet approaches Uffe and tells him that he heard some noises in the night coming from Gorm’s and Uffe’s room. Gimlet can see a brief flash of panic in Uffe’s eyes that disappears as soon as Gimlet presses on about the possibility of Gorm and Uffe doing the horizontal tango. Uffe goes “what”. Gimlet says hey it’s fine, just keep it down. Uffe denies that such thing was happening saying that Wolves sometimes train at night. Gimlet doesn’t quite believe it. Uffe is empathetic about the fact that he and Gorm were not… copulating. Gimlet asks if Uffe would let him know if it (whatever it is) ever happens again, so Gimlet can go bunk with Saef and co. Uffe suggests him getting some ear plugs as there’s always a chance for night training. Gimlet thanks for the talk and attempts to leave but Uffe stops him and asks if he told anyone else. Gimlet says he told Gorm, who also avoided the subject masterfully. Uffe presses, and Gimlet admits talking with Vivek about the fact. Uffe says he needs to talk with Vivek. Gimlet goes to Vivek first, telling him about the night training, and noticing that Vivek also appears to know what’s up, but doesn’t tell. Gimlet goes to bed as Uffe joins Vivek at the cafeteria.
#nemo roleplays#long post#wag rp#wag rp writeup#campaign tag: dont do chaos kids#very nice long convos with gimlet technically after session had ended#always down for that
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Good Stuff ~ Stray Thoughts: Steven Universe’s Movie
It’s high time I finally looked at this film. 100%, Monkey Style. Let’s roll...
Ah, a curtain raise. Fancy Schmancy.
Chance the Rapper! Good seeing him have a hand in the music, cause I doubt it’ll sound any different.
I wish the tale was more than just about Steven
Lucky she got planet earth, I guess.
*Holds onto the laugh* She latched onto Greg’s seed. HEHEEE KEK!
That’s one way of putting it
You know, I would’ve preferred he was 18 instead of 16. It makes sense that he’s still a teen, but that is me
I guess this film wouldn’t have gone the way it did if Steven didn’t dox himself like that.
“Saving.“ That reminds me. What of the Cluster? “They’ll never mention it.“ I know. *sigh*
I’m so glad this time skip makes me ask more than accept, trying to make me compelled for season 6 to know what happened in between that time. You’re not slick here, movie.
“The White Power Hour will be right back“
Am I the only one finding this scene with the Diamonds creepy?
“Come on, Steven. You’re all that stands between me and doing the racism.“
Connie! Glad you look spry and well in your 65% of screen time.
Cheek peck! Lovely!!!
Shoot, they could make a whole episode about him being a guest at the space camp. I mean I’m saying this cuz I doubt they are.
Ah, the “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” song.
Zach is quite the singer when he can sing more naturally
Come on Pearl, don’t make me believe Rose was a character
Oh the chest is open. Neat. Wish I cared.
Unconsenting head warp
1st Born Amethyst is adorable.
*sigh* Wonderful. It’s a shame I’m gonna forget this song.
Ah, the best character in the series has arrived
Real Talk tho: How did our antagonist get to Earth with that craft so quickly? Like, let’s say it took 10 real minutes at best between Steven giving his Homeworld speech to resting on that hill. She just had that injector, roaring to go, and knew exactly where Steven might’ve been all in that short amount of time? “You know logic is not this show’s strong suit.” Let me dream, damn it!
Again, none of this would’ve happened if Steven didn’t out himself
Ruining other people’s happiness. I love her already.
Why did Steven getting his face kicked feel satisfying?
“Pink Diamond“ Ah, the secret word.
While “Other Friends” is such a bop, one of the only good songs so far, I knew this movie would have it’s musicals take place every.... less than five minutes.
Wait. The villain has stretchy powers, so there's an in-Universe reason to be off-model all the time? Oooooh, they’re fucked.
It was at that moment the villain knew, he fucked up.
Again, Steven getting kicked feels so satisfying.
Reaper? Awwwww ye!
I’m telling you. She let him slice her.
What? How can he not control his powers while he’s aware of- ugh.
Surprised he didn’t revert back to no neck Steven
Ok, that quick censor joke got a laugh outta me.
Two for two laughs, Greg is on a roll
How would gems know what seashells are?
Three minutes apart. Not bad.
Whaaat was that zoom?
Ah, the “For the Newbies/clueless” song
We’re doing the amnesia plot, Pearl, keep up a bit.
I’m somehow giddy and uncomfortable at Spinel’s presence.
Beautiful song. Sad I won’t remember this one.
Wonderful lip sync there.
Oh no, chekov’s scythe.
Heheheheheheh, Spinel’s dead eye stare
Ah Lapis, if only the show treated you better
That’s some morbid logic. I can dig it.
Seriously, if you are aware of your powers, then why can’t yo- ugh.
Ye, get the Diamonds. They could punt the injector out, everything could go as planned. Only problem would be having to listen to them.
I doubt Garnet would know what to do, honestly.
Spinel’s VA must’ve had a blast with the role
About five minutes apart. Doing better.
Song is better too. Not memorable, but it’s a fist pump worthy tune.
Dang it, Spinel, you’re precious!
I’m with Steven, I’m getting Cupcakes vibes with that pizza slicer
Ye, just let her pick up that weapon. It’ll conveniently advance the plot.
Oh a lovely constitutional for those two.
Rise of the Shield Hero!
Four minutes apart. Slightly better.
Weakest song by far, but the visuals were amazing.
Subtle moment here. I’ll express later.
Is Onion teleporting?
So sad Ronaldo.
Okay, that was a wholesome moment. “That’s why Amethyst and Steven ARE the best.“ You know it. *fist bump*
Ye, I think it’s best to get out of there?!
I doubt it’s gonna kill everything on Earth
Oh wait, what about the Clu- “It’s not gonna be mentioned.” The Cluster deserves better, man.
I honestly would’ve loved to see Steven lift that entire thing
Great, you made it worse.
But forget the end of the world. We got music to make.
A little over five minutes. Pretty good.
Why am I getting Pat Benatar vibes from this tune?
'Disobedient’ is bad btw
The look Steven and Greg gave before rocking out? I felt that. Now....
There comes a time in all forms of media consumption where you are so utterly bewildered by an event taking place that there are so many things wrong with it that you don’t have words and you simply laugh.....
When I saw this sequence for the first time I wish I recorded it. I burst out laughing, struggling to compose myself, and I was fundamentally blown away at what in the world I was seeing. And the kicker? I wasn’t even entirely sure of why.....
It’s like so many issues cascade on your brain at once, you are overwhelmed and you couldn’t possibly pass it out in the amount of time you have left before something utterly ridiculous happens on top of what you just saw....
So that is why posts like this exist, to collect and come up with a sensible way to exhibit one’s feelings about the sequence because.... what. the. fuck. Let’s roll back.
Chad Gem? Chad motherfucking gem.
Got a pompadour, super-sized mullet, potentially 8-pack, and a clean shave which surprised me the most. They just... *MWAH* pulled no punches with Multiverse’s design.
The powers however confuse me. Can he just fly now and make anyone fly?
I get where people were coming from with their discomfort, but honestly this is the funniest thing in this entire movie. Nothing about this feels right and that just makes it hilarious.
I’m just gonna say it.... *DEEP BREATH IN* RULE 34 MUST HAD A FIE- *snap* Sorry, low hanging fruit.
Did Pearl just literally sploosh?
It’s Always Sunny honestly did this better.
Opal, you’re back for a minute! I forgot she could talk.
We All Float.
Damn Steven, you look like shit.
Steve-o, you’re not helping her situation. Comfort her, fool.
Oof, this is gonna be a painful number isn’t it?
Such a dear jester
A nice detail is that Spinel’s voice feels slowly exhausted and empty the more she shares of her memories. It makes that scene where she snapped at Steven make a lot more sense.
I also like that it isn’t clear if Steven sees what she’s envisioning but can understand what she might’ve remembered.
*taps the mic* Pink is a CUNT. That will be all.
'Drift Away’ was.. beautiful. Ugh, not gonna remember it though, which sucks.
That brings up a question. Was there never a message saying that Pink was “shattered”? Like you’d think news like that would’ve reached any and everywhere, Spinel especially. That certainly would’ve changed a few things.
Okay, ‘Found‘ was a great AND memorable song. That’s two out of.... ten. Not bad.
Greg is honestly the best in this movie.
Uh, Steven? You’re just leaving her there.
“Just Forget.“ How to make someone on edge feel worse in two words or less.
Welp, there’s Chekov’s scythe.
Pretty convenient he kept that around to further the plot.
I would say Spinel’s gone off the deep end, but.... uh, ugh I can’t help but side with her? I really just wanna give her a hug before the end of the world happens.
Garnet, are you gonna do anything? Were you this stagnant?
Ah, it’s the “Marketed like Let it Go” song.
I love that we got chill music in the midst of the apocalypse. It’s a good way to die.
Guess they saved the animation budget for the violence? Lovely.
Wait, that’s it? All that fluid and it doesn’t even look like it’ll destroy the world? Just Beach City? That kinda... kills the tension.
And why was everyone just standing there? Jesus, this feels messy.
It’s the final bout!
Tch, Get Dekt, Steven.
Shield hero’s back!
Spinel I love ya, and I don’t blame ya, but singing’s all they’ve done this entire movie.
Dead.
I got Mob Psycho vibes from that nuke. Don’t know why.
That reminds me. WHERE THE FUCK WAS THE MILITARY?! “Cause and Effect is not a stro-” Shut up!
Then stay with him, Spinel. Travel the world, be more than a single one’s friend and... oh, the Diamonds are here.
That’s a fate worse than death, dictators moving in with you.
It’s only been one night, White.... Seriously, this all happened in a day. It feels weird.
I’m with Yellow. That is sickeningly funny.
Seriously, their song is creepy. I don’t trust them like that.
I got a problem with Spinel’s ending deep down. Then again, if she can be happy... then I’m happy that she’s happy. That’s something, I guess.
Okay, I’m tired of the singing.
But when I think about it, I feel bad for Steven. All he just wanted was some time to himself where he didn’t have to deal with any bullshit. Had to teach whole dictators and remodel a whole empire. Yeah, he’s gonna change as he grows, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having “me time” so to speak. Can’t the kid have a chance to not have to worry about anything, actually live a life? No? Jerks?
Well that was a bit of fun. While the musicals and most of the characters felt like an afterthought, save for Greg, Spinel, and Steven, there were a few moments that honestly made the watch worth it, intentionally or not. I really have no interest in seeing this again, but I’m satisfied with the events that transpired and I’m glad the crew got to make this film. “What about the moral of the story?”
Eh, it’s Steven Universe, morals are whatever.
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PRINCESS BRIDE AU
BC I CAN also i just rewatched it and it’s one of my fav movies so
LOGICALITY/PRINXIETY BUCKLE IT UP
please. please. y’all already know roman is buttercup. upcoming royal??? yeah it’s roman, obvi
westley is virgil. 1. bc he was socially awkward to the point of throwing himself down a hill as a way to communicate to his former love that he’s actually alive, 2. westley’s snark is iconic
logan is inigo. bc he studied for years and years under the greatest swordsmen. like, canonically. boy is inigo.
patton is fezzik. partially bc i like the idea of gentle giant patton and partially bc of the way he nursed everyone back to health (inigo from drunk stuff, westley from death) and also like he’s so soft and gentle and the end where he gets two white horses???? it’s patton y’all
deceit is humperdinck. on a related note, please let deceit’s canon name be on the level of ridiculousness of humperdinck @ thomas and co i’m begging
vizzini is uhhh. uh. hm. you know what. full absurdity here it’s the dragon witch (you know how the dragon witch was like a throwaway character except i’m basically shoehorning her into every fic i have?)
(the magician and his wife who resurrect westley are now joan and talyn, i don’t make the rules, except i do)
also tw mentions of suicide, and also torture
ACTUAL PLOT UNDER CUT
so! roman as the slightly bratty upcoming lord of the land or whatever on the farm, and virgil as the farmboy
virgil is a Useless Gay and as such whenever roman asks him to do anything he just “as you wish” and tries hard not to be too obvious about staring at him and covers up his affection with snark
roman, who is an Equally Useless Gay, just kinda. keeps giving virgil these useless commands (”farmboy! ....um. hand me those reigns!” “...the ones... you’re holding?” “THE OTHER REIGNS” “....as you wish”)
eventually roman does a “farmboy. fetch me that pitcher.” and virgil does and whispers “as you wish” and roman grabs him by his lapels and brings him in for a kiss
virgil however fully recognizes that he has to up his social class in order to be with roman so he goes sailing before they can marry but the dread pirate anx attacks
roman is devastated, ofc, and makes the “i’ll never love again” vow
let’s do the time warp again!
five years later!
roman’s accepted a proposal from deceit, bc 1. he’s the prince and 2. if he’s gonna be miserable may as well be miserable in a high social standing, right
plus he always kinda dreamed of being a prince as a kid, didn’t he? maybe this way he can enact some change
it is hard to remember such things when he is trotted out in the public square like a prize goat, but he clings to it regardless
except!
he goes out riding (one of the only things he still loved) before the wedding and gets knocked out by the dragon witch and co.
logan and his husband fiancé boyfriend (?) patton have mostly accepted this job bc they need money, and keep accepting the job bc... well, money
logan swears they’ll get out of it and he’ll find the six-fingered man, and patton doesn’t like the unscrupulousness of it but. well. they have to eat somehow
and he debates with the dragon witch about and he goes “you were not hired for brains!” “but i was,” logan says coolly, sharpening his sword. “and if you speak to him like that again, you’ll see precisely the other reason you hired me.”
yeah they don’t like it
anyways logan starts the fast/alas harm/charm rhyme game with patton to cheer him up. and then they keep it up bc it annoys the dragon witch
roman wakes up and logan notices someone following him (spoiler it’s virgil) and the dragon witch threatens roman. everyone on the boat hates the dragon witch, basically
but roman jumps into the shrieking eel-infested waters, swimming to the boat, bc as miserable as he is he doesn’t wanna be murdered for a war
patton ends up smacking the eel on the nose and bringing roman into the boat, huddling over him protectively and asking if he’s okay
roman gives him a why would you care look, and patton gives him some extra food as sympathy
the CLIFFS of INSANITY!!
and patton climbs them all up, shortly followed by the Mysterious Masked Man
“INCONCEIVABLE!!” and the dragon witch cuts the rope, and the masked man managed to cling to the rocks
the dragon witch makes to leave logan behind and patton looks anxious and logan smiles and shakes his head and says “i’ll be fine” “just... be careful, okay? people in masks can’t be trusted” and they kiss and the dragon witch urges patton and roman on
basically as soon as the dragon witch is out of earshot logan calls down to him
“slow going?” “look, i don’t mean to be rude, but this isn’t as easy as it looks. i’d appreciate if you didn’t distract me.” “sorry.” “thank you”
five seconds later... “i don’t suppose you could speed things up?” “look, if you’re in such a hurry, you could throw down some rope or something?” “well i’m not sure if you’d accept. i mostly want you to speed up so i can fight you. potentially to the death.” “...that does put a damper on our relationship.”
ten seconds later... “look, okay, i’ll throw down the rope, and step back from it.” “why do you want to help me so bad?” “well, that sword you’re carrying.” and then he goes on a tirade of how that exact blade and how beat up it is etc. is evidence of a good swordsman and it’s been a g e s since logan’s had a good duel
“...all right, fine. anyone told you, you talk too much?” “i could rescind that rope offer--” “on seCOND THOUGHT”
so virgil reaches the top and logan offers him a breather until they duel, and logan lays out his backstory in all kinds of matter-of-fact language
he tells the story of the six-fingered man after virgil catches him looking closely at his hands, and explains that he went from studying sword-making to sword-fighting after the death of his father, along with the twin scars on his face
he also explains the whole “we’re working with the witch to pay the bills” kind of thing and also patton
“you seem a decent fellow. i hate to kill you.” “you seem a decent fellow. i hate to die.”
do yourself a favor watch the swordfight again it’s glorious (that link also includes the inigo/westley convo)
logan, a nerd, lists off the routines. virgil, also a nerd, offers counterpoints
it’s the debate, basically. it’s their debate but with swords
“who are you?” “no one of consequence.” “i must know.” “get used to disappointment.”
logan gets his sword knocked out of his hand, and very matter-of-factly says “kill me quickly. and tell patton--tell patton--”
“i’m not going to kill you, for goodness sake’s. i’ve never had an equal like this. however, i can’t have you following me, either.” and whacks logan over the head
meanwhile, they see virgil coming up over the hill, and the dragon witch takes roman and leaves patton (who is worrying VERY MUCH as if he got past logan then--)
virgil comes up over the hill to a rock thrown at him and smashed very near his head. he whirls around, bringing up the sword, and patton emerges from behind the rock, another rock uplifted.
“what did you do with logan?!”
“he’s alive, just unconscious.”
“oh thank god,” and he lowers the rock, beaming. “this business is so dangerous the only reason we stick with it is because we’re broke” “well, understandable. i did the same for five years.”
“...so, uh, what now?” “i just kinda figured. well. i don’t want that nice prince to die. if you’re trying to save him, you can knock me out. i’ll kneel to make it easier for you, if you like.” “well that’s very kind of you”
ft. battle of iocaine powder, with a blindfolded roman, and virgil smirking as the dragon witch rattles off the varieties of reasoning (”you fell victim to one of the classic blunders!”) and eventually swaps glasses and dies anyways
virgil crosses over and unties the blindfold
“who are you?” “no one to trifle with. and that’s all you need to know.” “to think--yours was poisoned!” “no. i’ve spent the past five years building up an immunity to iocaine powder.”
eventually virgil lets roman stop to catch his breath and roman promises ransom, adding that deceit is a fantastic tracker
“you admit to me you do not love your fiancé” “he knows i do not love him” “are not capable of it, you mean” and roman draws himself up to his full height
“i have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream--”
virgil snarls and pulls roman along, keeping going before they get caught by deceit
eventually roman snaps that he knows he’s the dread pirate anx, admit it! and virgil does, and roman snarls that he can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces, etc etc etc
virgil, kind of testing him, asks about the love that he apparently killed. who is “poor and perfect, with the most beautiful eyes” and they bicker more and more, virgil saying “i remember this farm boy, i think.” and talking a game about how he died well and said “please. please, i need to live.” because he had true love
they bicker more and more and roman screams “i DIED that day!” and they see deceit’s horses, and roman snarls “you can die too for all i care before shoving him down the hill
“AAAAAS..... YOUUUUUUU... WIIIIIIIIISH”
and roman immediately throws himself down the hill after him
deceit realizes they’re heading to the fire swamp
roman and virgil have their sappy reunion “you’re alive! if you want, i can fly!” and the “death cannot stop true love. only delay it for a while”
and then... fire swamp
roman gets a bit singed by the fire, and virgil explains how he took the dread pirate anx is actually multiple people; ryan, cummerbund, etc etc, while carrying roman through the forest. and then he sets him down and basically immediately roman gets sucked into lightning sand, and then the rous’
they make it out of the fire swamp and straight into deceit’s calvalcade, ft. six-fingered man
“you mean you wish to surrender to me? very well, i accept”
but also roman sees them trying to kill virgil and basically surrenders so they promise not to hurt him
“i thought you were dead once. it almost destroyed me. i can’t do it again.” and deceit whisks him onto his horse before he can say a proper goodbye to virgil
virgil gets knockt out and taken to the pit of despair
(fun fact: the henchperson in the pit of despair in the movie terrified me so much as a kid, oh my god)
anyways they clean his wounds and basically prep him for the Death Machine
roman, meanwhile, is moping quietly around the castle, as deceit basically covers for it with his father’s failing health. roman has stress dreams and nightmares about the wedding, before he marches to deceit’s office and declares that he will be dead by the morning after their wedding
deceit simpers that he could never cause roman grief, and they’ll alert virgil’s ship, etc., all that, and casts some shade, but roman stays strong. eventually they make a deal that if virgil wants roman, sure, but if not, please consider deceit as an alternative to death.
deceit reveals that he hired the dragon witch, as they walk to the pit of despair, and the six-fingered man starts virgil up on the Torture
after that, logan and patton (since reunited) are having a merry old time knocking people out in the thieves’ forest and avoiding arrest, when patton at last reveals the discovery of the six-fingered man
CHANGE OF PLANS, logan declares, and basically drags patton into this plan. he also needs, well, another swordsman, so he may as well go looking for...
virgil! who is Suffering, highkey, when deceit struts into the room. roman has since figured out his letters to virgil haven’t been sent, and he is. Angry About It, which makes deceit Angry at him and roman has basically been locked away until the wedding
back to virgil! as deceit is ranting about the true love, which is a once in a century ordeal, and so deceit snarls “then no man in a century will suffer as greatly as you will” and cranks the machine up to fifty
and uh. he ded y’all
not before screaming loud enough for basically the whole country to hear, including logan and patton!
who move towards the screaming, and are basically like “well, we’re in the middle of a forest, now what” until they stumble along the henchperson, who gets Knocked soundly along the head until he reveals the pit
they cart out virgil’s body to joan and talyn, and logan basically tells them that it would greatly displease deceit and so they have their whole thing (and TO BLAAAVE, which means to bluff! and rewatch the whole situation because it’s so funny and also like. oh my god. joan and talyn as miracle max and valerie)
so they get him the little chocolate covered miracle pill and haul virgil out
“bye bye, boys! have fun storming the castle!”
they feed him the miracle pill, but, uh, virgil’s physicality is....... incredibly limited
“let me explain! no, there’s too much. roman’s marrying deceit’s in less than half an hour. so we gotta break into the castle. and i have to kill count rogen.”
“great. the only trouble is i can’t move and there are sixty guards on that door”
basically they come up with the whole, like, demon entrance plan, which is hilarious, and come upon the head guard
“give us the gate key.” “i have no gate key.” “i see. patton, tear his arms off.” “oh you mean this gate key!”
wedding is happening, which.
“mawwaige..... mawwage is what bwings us togezzer... today.”
oh my god. oh my god it’s the precursor to the hewwo meme
anyways they keep talking “wuvvvvv.... TWU wuv!” and deceit snaps they speed up for it and they get the shortest vows ever
deceit gets roman taken to the honeymoon suite by his parents and he goes racing out to face virgil, logan, and patton, who is carrying virgil
in comes the six-fingered man, and six guards, who logan slays with ease
“hello. my name is logan sanders. you killed my father. prepare to die.”
dude fuckin sprints outta there, and logan follows
meanwhile, patton continues calmly carrying virgil until logan starts shouting for him to break down a door
patton gently installs virgil into the arms of a knight thing and stops logan from basically knocking his head against the door, before punching it down for him, and going back to get virgil
roman’s being escorted by the queen, who he gently kisses on the cheek
“what was that for?”
“you’ve always been so kind to me. and i’ll be killing myself once we reach the honeymoon suite.”
“....won’t that be nice. HE KISSED ME!”
logan has his Badass Fight and gets jabbed pretty bad in the stomach, but not before enacting his awesome revenge
roman dully enters the suite, and preps to stab himself in the chest, until he hears a voice from the bed
“there are very few perfect chests in the world. it’d be a pity to damage yours.”
“VIRGIL! OH, VIRGIL!”
and he rushes to kiss and hug him, and basically virgil reveals he can’t move all that much right now and is in a fair bit of pain
“won’t you forgive me?” “what did you do?” “i got married” “well, did you say i do?” “well... no.” “then you didn’t get married. don’t you agree, highness?”
and roman whirls around to see deceit
and virgil gives the badass to the pain speech
god it’s so. yes.
and virgil manages to stumble to his feet and hold out his sword, snarling “drop. your. sword.”
it’s scary enough that deceit basically immediately forfeits, and roman ties him up, beaming
logan stumbles into the room, holding his stomach “where’s patton?!” “i thought he was with you!”
and they hear patton calling from the window, beaming and holding the reigns to four white horses
and they uh... happily ever after, running away together, to Be Gay and Do Crime
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