#i'm gushing

[salemssimblr]

Just wanted to say your edgewave posts are amazing!

Omg thank you so much!!!!

It truly warms my hear to know people love A+tM as much as I do, and to know my hard work is paying off. <3 This project took weeks and was such a labor of love.

Thank you!!!! 😘🥰

[celestial1980slady]

I’m such trash for these two, unabashedly. Please enjoy my efforts in getting these shots - thnx. <3

(creds: Me) I’m like a mother taking prom photos or somethin’

[sundaifm]

omg why has no one told me about the Christmas Guardian in Creating a Champion?!?!

[whirling-in-rags]

I wanna write an ode to this, because your artstyle is so poignant and versatile, it's crazy. That pinup Harry has my heart and soul (awooga) but so many of these are extremely poignant. That B&W Kim/Dolores is burned onto my retinas forever, thank you so much

test of the new image limit 🤔

[bat-snake]

After making this post, I noticed that there's another moment where Aaravos soothes Leola's dissociation/hand flapping.

It's before the Trial even starts! It was very blink and miss. I even had to watch at half speed her just to see everything he does. The first several times I watched this scene, I wondered why he had to walk around the disk to see her, and then I realized it was because she was dissociating already! She doesn't respond to his arrival, even though she's aware - she's just frozen. (Shout to his very visible shock and worry)

And just like I mentioned in the first post, he gets down to her level and touches her shoulder.

and in this case, runs his hand own her arm, and gently squeezes her hand once with two fingers, and when he knows she's alert, he puts his hand on her shoulder again. (I love his expression in these frames too)

He has this down to an art. He has done this enough that it works even in this one exceptionally frightening situation for her.

Something very, very interesting is that Aaravos doesn't speak to her in this moment (they don't even talk until the execution), because he knows his daughter well enough that not going to be able to answer him in this moment.

[naswoop]

The regicidal monochromatic time loop games are holding hands

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The Best Friend Showdown

Season four had many, many flaws. One of the big ones was the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict where Ladybug starts relying on Alya more and more, basically using her to replace Master Fu. We get a sense that Chat Noir feels inferior to Rena Rouge because of this change, but it’s never directly addressed. The most we get is this conversation from Hack-San:

Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings. Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. 

Which is actually a really weird bit of dialogue because - as far as I can tell - nothing in the episode revealed that Scarabella knew Ladybug's identity. She hands out miraculous all the time and no one knows who she really is. Why would this time be different? Ladybug could just show up in costume, explain what's up, and then hand off the earrings while using yet another miraculous.

Anyway, the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict is “resolved” by Rena Rouge being outed again (and I guess that matters this time), leading her to give up her miraculous so that Gabriel can’t steal it away, which of course leads Gabriel to steal it away and fully disempower Ladybug’s larger team, leaving Chat Noir her only teammate.

How satisfying! This is such good, character-driven story telling!

It’s not. This is plot contrivances to the max with no meaningful character beats, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to do one of my favorite things: gush about a relevant Kim Possible episode! Today’s topic is episode 12 of season one: Pain King vs. Cleopatra, the episode that introduces Kim’s female BFF, Monique!

This was a bit of a shocker for me because I didn’t realize that Kim and Monique weren’t pre-series friends. Turns out that, much like Alya, Monique is a new girl, which isn’t a bad call. This was a nice way to delay Monique’s introduction for a few episodes so that the writers could focus on establishing Kim’s relationship with other key members of the cast like her partner, Ron. Spacing out your intros is the way to go whenever you can pull it off as it’s a kindness to your audience that keeps them from feeling overwhelmed, making it more likely that they’ll remember your cast.

The other, more important similarity between Alya and Monique is that, when Kim’s hero partner and life-long friend finds out about Monique, he is less than thrilled:

Kim: I barely got to see them. Right after I hooked up with Monique, the museum was robbed by some glowing-headed animal guy. Ron: Oh, that's nice. Ron: Wait a minute, who's Monique? Kim New friend, really great. Anyway, the thief stole an enchanted ancient talisman. Ron: Whoa, whoa, back up! How can I not know about a new friend? Kim: I met her at Club Banana, then again at the museum before I chased the glowing robber. Ron: So what's she like? Kim: The robber? Ron: The friend, Kim, the "new friend".

Throughout the episode, Kim and Monique continue to bond without Ron, leaving Ron feeling left out:

Ron: Seein' a pattern here, Rufus: Kim does her thing, I do my thing, and pretty soon - we're doing different things.

Which leads him to get a little territorial:

Kim Ron! What are you doing here? Ron: Can I dine with my best friend and her new friend? Kim: Uuh, Ron, Monique, and vice versa. Ron: Bearclaw? Monique: No, thanks, I'm vegetarian. Ron: Uhm, I'm pretty sure it's imitation bear? Kim: She's joking, Ron. Ron: Good one, hahaha, ha, good one. So, did Kim tell you that I'm her sidekick? Cause that role is definitely taken by me. Monique: Riiiight. Well, in... you know I better get to class. Later, Kim. Um, n-nice meeting you, Ron. Ron: Likewise, I'm sure! Kim: What is your problem? You're acting really weird. Ron: Well, let's see. You went to the museum with Monique, not me. Monique was with you this morning, not me. Hmm, pattern? Kim: Yeah. You. Weird. Ron: No, we're drifting apart because you're excluding me. Kim: I am not excluding you. It's just that you and Monique are... different.

Noticing some similarities to Miraculous here?

So how does Kim Possible resolve this conflict?

Well, the plot of this episode resolves around Kim Possible’s version of professional wrestling, the GWA. There’s a competition going on that Kim has no interest in watching (mood), but when Kim mentions the GWA to Monique:

Monique: Why didn't you bring [Ron] along? Kim: Unless someone put a waiter in a headlock, this is definitely not Ron's scene. Besides, he had a date with "Steel Toe". Monique: He scored tickets to Mayhem in Middleton? The GWA rocks! Kim: What?

It turns out that Monique and Ron have a shared interest! Multiple shared interests, in fact! Interests that Kim does not share:

Monique: You know, I still can't believe you met Pain King and Steel Toe. Ron: I can't believe you're into wrestling. Kim: I can't believe I know either one of you.

By the end of the episode, the conflict is resolved not with Kim having to pick a BFF or with Monique somehow being demoted, but by showing that this didn’t need to be a conflict at all. Kim can have multiple close friends that she shares different interests with without any of those friends being lesser. Those friends can, in turn, have their own friendships that don’t always involve her.

It’s a genuinely lovely resolution that makes me love this little friend group because it now has added complexity. Monique and Ron are friends in their own right! Kim is not the center of the universe in spite of her main character status!

I also love that Kim isn’t vilified for having other friends or portrayed as constantly leaving Ron out of things that he'd want to do in favor of Monique. Ron genuinely would not enjoy most of the things that the girls love to do together. At the same time, Ron’s feeling aren’t treated as totally irrational either and Kim even admits to ditching him. It’s a genuine, complex conflict that is super common when someone enters a new relationship be it platonic or romantic.

Obviously Kim Possible’s version of this conflict feels far less complex than Miraculous’ because Kim Possible understood that Ron should be Kim’s one-and-only partner, so his position was really never threatened. Monique does not want to be an action hero and is never given the sort narrative weight that elevates her to Ron’s level or higher, but that doesn't matter. The basic lesson here is still relevant and super important for the intended audience of both of these shows.

There did not need to be a Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict that never got properly resolved. Miraculous could have made these two friends and no, Scarabella doesn't count because Chat Noir has no idea that Scarabella is Rena Rouge/Furtive. Their relationship ended at the end of Hack-San. He didn't even know that Rena Furtive was a thing until she was in the process of being benched and that's the problem.

Kim Possible is not a team show, Miraculous is, and yet Kim Possible has better team dynamics than Miraculous. Monique could have joined Kim's team at the end of Pain King vs. Cleopatra and it would have felt natural because both Kim and Ron had welcomed Monique and formed a genuine bond with her. This is a true friend group that Miraculous can only dream of even though they've been adding new superheroes since season two.

We're going into a season with a full, massive team and yet that team has no established dynamics on the hero side. It's not a functional team! None of these characters have meaningful relationships with each other as heroes save for Alya and Nino since they know each other’s secret identities. The only relationships Miraculous cares about are the various romances and everyone's relationship to Marinette and everyone suffers for it.

The show would not have been harmed by Rena Rouge, Chat Noir, and Ladybug being a team. It was the thing I kept think after watching the Kim Possible episode. Since the team is the end game, why aren't we seeing them? It would have been so nice to have Hack-San end with Ladybug introducing Chat Noir to Rena Furtive instead of a nonsense discussion about an issue the episode didn't even address.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Marvel Meow (2021), Nao Fuji | Professor X and Magneto

Bonus:

[keii]

no sense of personal space

[legionofpotatoes]

Wanted to share this on my own too - so incredibly honored and proud to have made this cover for Mezzo, a new story from @swaps55. A fitting reveal for N7 Day, and one of my favorite things I've done to date!

The fic, by the way, rocks.

[boimann]

actually fat men's tits are the greatest thing in the universe

[leucoratia]

My favourite loser scientist (we are legally married)

Handplates!Gaster by @zarla-s (thank you so much for this AU it has given me life for the past 6 years)

[goat-among-cycads]

Happy 5th birthday, Epithet Erased!

[eluminium]

if i knew anything about editing i would edit that one bit in the imp and skizz podcast where impulse says "my giving love languages are acts of service and gift giving" and then after that put in a compilation of all the times lately when Impulse has manifested into Skizz's streams to give him something he mentioned needing. and all the times he busts in to teach Skizz something he's missing. and when he literally ran errands for Skizz unprompted.

I'm so not normal about them

[multicolour-ink]

Ok but I NEED TO TALK ABOUT MY TWO FAVOURITE FRAMES FROM THE BROS HUG

After the first hug, Mario immediately goes to gently cup and pull Luigi's face towards him. He needs to take in that his brother is right here. He needs to make sure that he's not hurt.

And stars help Bowser if Luigi was!

THE FOREHEAD TOUCH

Oh stars the forehead touch. So much meaning in this one moment ❤💚

Now, forehead touches can have various meanings in many cultures; but in general, touching ones forehead to another person's is a way to get across love, soothe anxiety, and can be seen as a protective gesture.

And that's exactly what's happening here. The Bros are grounding themselves in the moment. And look at the way their eyes meet! In various cultures as well, the eyes are believed to be windows to the soul. The Bros are not just communicating through their physical affection - they are healing each other's hearts.

And given what they have been through, they need it 💗

In this one moment, the Bros can forget about the terror and danger around them.

In this one moment, they are able to focus on the one thing that matters the most to them.

- - -

Also a side note: Luigi doesn't say a word during this exchange (not counting after, when he makes the bear comment 😁). And some will probably think "Oh man that sucks!", but honestly it says a lot about these characters. Luigi chooses to remain silent, because he knows that if he attempted to speak in that moment, he would burst into tears and be unable to stop💧

[madamestephanie]

Melted, destroyed 🫠😩💦

I'm already on my knees, I can't get any further on the ground 😫

Yes, my love... 🖤

Found on Pinterest