#it all feels so ..... shallow.

[dykedvonte]

I think depictions of Anya being cruel to Curly or drawing out his suffering are artful and chilling but completely miss the point of the story and her character.

I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to have that "I told you so" moment with him but not in something callous or cold. Even if that is how it happened, she'd immediately feel guilty cause at that point she's not tormenting her tormenter or even the person truly at fault. She's doing something cathartic, similar to how Jimmy likely hits Curly to release rage he can't against the rest of the crew. She'd see herself as no different when she'd come back from the moment and see Curly cowering at her. She wants someone to take responsibility but how does being cruel to the defenseless help? Why would she want the power Jimmy has over her over Curly?

The idea of her extending someone else's pain is just so against the struggles she already faces and how she can't even bring herself to cause someone pain even to help them. Her very desire is to release herself from her own suffering and I doubt she'd even fine some sort of guilty release in being cruel to another.

[sakuraluck]

when i said i wanted to understand whatever’s going on in ivan’s head, i didn’t mean like this 😭😭

[ghostlycleric]

I’m pretty sure Mike and El are the only couple in the show that don’t have shared interests.

Lucas and Max: Arcade games

Dustin and Suzie: Science/Technology

Jonathan and Nancy: Documenting life (Through Photography/Journalism)

Joyce and Hopper: Investigation (Hop was a cop, Joyce is Joyce) +caring for their kids

Mike and El are never given any interest that they both have and do together. Their relationship isn’t even given much volume beyond their trauma bonding. They actually went out of their way to have El dismissing Mike’s interests and only have El gain her own when she’s away from Mike.

With every other couple we have scenes of their shared interests adding to their relationship. Scenes that prove that their dynamic is rooted in a real, not-purely-physical connection.

There is one other couple who didn’t have shared interests… (*cough* Steve and Nancy *cough* who are broken up *cough*).

Mike and Will by default have a lot of shared interests. They’d be the only best friends to lovers in the show (which is actually crazy in a show with so many couples and friendships). DnD, despite being the root of the party itself, is specifically tied to these two in an interesting way. They’ve used dnd a few times as text above a more romantic subtext, which I feel like deserves its own post.

(I feel like it’s worth noting that technically they have Art (writing and painting), but Mike’s interest in writing has never been specifically confirmed in the show, so I’m not counting that.)

I’d be really interested in seeing canon byler having an isolated interest in season 5 that goes beyond subtext. Even if it’s still dnd, just isolated.

[faaun]

last night i got home kind of tipsy and very much in tears and my mother told me the force you exert to keep someone in your life is proportional to the force with which they will leave your life. if you have to fight tooth and claw to keep them, their leaving will be just as hard, just as harsh, and just as definite.

[thebestpartofwakingup]

When you realize a seemingly obvious candidate for cartoon nostalgia time skip fan art from your childhood is completely untapped online...

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

[heartinhyacinth]

I care.

But do I care like Xie Lian cares for the common people—care as an action, a verb?

I love.

But do I love like Hua Cheng loves Xie Lian—love as an action, a verb?

Xie Lian teaches me kindness and compassion. He reminds me to be considerate, selfless, and merciful. In tough situations, especially those concerning people I don’t love, I ask myself what he would do and if this is how he would handle it. If the answer is no, never…I try to do better.

Hua Cheng teaches me love. He reminds me to be present, patient, respectful, and gentle. In tough situations with those I love, such as moments of impatience or frustration, I ask myself what he would do and if this is how he would treat Xie Lian. If the answer is no, never…I try to do better.

[waitineedaname]

when thinking about scar and mei's dynamic, I love thinking about why he becomes so attached to her. it's not just a parental instinct, it's specifically identifying with her struggles. the chang clan is small and has little political power compared to the more dominant clans in xing, and it's a struggle just to survive. even though it's not exactly the same, there's this feeling of solidarity between scar and mei because they're both disenfranchised within their respective countries. the sympathy mei describes when she found xiao-mei is what scar feels towards mei, seeing something of themselves in the other and taking pity on them

and there's this other element to him helping her find xiao-mei, and I might be misremembering, but I'm fairly certain it's the first deviation from his revenge based quest. so far, every time we've seen him, he's either been attacking state alchemists, going somewhere to find a state alchemist, or recovering from his injuries. he is very driven when it comes to his goals, but he sees this little girl crying because she is all alone in a foreign country on a desperate quest to save her people and she's just lost the only family she has with her, and he decides to help her. he didn't have to do that, he could have just ignored her or insisted on moving on, but he is not heartless or cruel, he is a compassionate person underneath all the pain, so he goes out of his way to help this little girl find her panda

no wonder mei is constantly reiterating to other people that scar is a good person

[bunnihearted]

being too weird and unlikable and off putting and always being shunned and turned into an outcast everywhere i go and not having felt the connection and healing friendship has on you for so many years has really done a number on me

[pleasedontcareaboutme]

It's missing my father hours rn so imma just dump a bunch of pictures here and cry

( sorry i don't know the source of anything I just had them on my phone)

(also dont read the tags i just need to let it out lol)

[appendectomy]

I jest about loumand failmarriage but I do actually really appreciate that amc iwtv gave them some genuinely sweet and romantic scenes that make you understand why they were drawn to eachother. lesser shows wouldve treated this pairing as an obstacle to loustat and made it shallow and demonised armand especially bc of this, not giving him or louis an ounce of compelling history to make sure the audience never strays from the loustat 'endgame'. instead, the iwtv writers treated both parties in that relationship with nuance and used it as an opportunity to expand upon their characters which I really really appreciate. they let you find substance and interest in all the relationships in the show, not just the ones that are intended to be the 'final' pairings.

[dykedvonte]

The second fic idea is a what-if scenerio where Jimmy dies in the crash due to and altercation with Curly and how Curly would navigate being Captain once he has to notice the little things and how he and Anya's relationship develop as he adopts an identical view point to hers rather than just keeping the peace.

And maybe i will write it but only time will tell tbh but it's stuck in my brain dome for the time being.

[agueforts]

tlovm s3 finish got the entire dash on the first four stages of grief

[jewishsuperfam]

my annoyances with todays eps of tlovm s3 under the cut

i just. like. i wish tlovm would let vex and vax have actual conversations with each other like they did in campaign. i wish they'd let percy and vex bond over more things that they have in common instead of jumping straight into the friends with benefits thing. i wish keyleth was allowed to be silly and chaotic and participate in chaos shenanigans with everyone else. i wish they hadn't cut the keyleth/percy friendship. i wish the twins could be as openly affectionate as they were in the campaign.

but really i just. i wish vax had had even one real conversation with vex about her relationship with percy this season before the bath scene. bc so far we got: vax and percy fighting last season + vax blaming percy (but not really any conversations between vex+vax or vex+percy about it), and then vax and percy bumping into each other on their walk of shame, and then the hot tub scene. that's it.

like. i think vax was misguided in a lot of his conversations with vex about percy in the original campaign, but i also think that was In Character for him, and taking those out and having this be entirely be between him and percy and have him not express his doubts or worries to vex at all??? or even to have him encourage vex when she's hesitating, a la the "i'm not sure he even thinks of me that way" "i'm the dummy, why are you being such a dummy?" scene????

like. liam apparently was a writer on ep 6. i don't understand why it was so important that they work in the bathtub scene but not that they have vex and vax have even one real conversation about their feelings and relationships

[simcardiac-arrested]

do artists still hate it when people call their art cute or am i wrong to fear being crucified whenever i dare call someone’s drawing cute in the tags

[onlineviolence]

stress relief