#it made me think a lot about Grand

[qs63]

Basque Grand might be the character who changes the most between FMA 03 and FMA manga. He appears so little on BH that I keep forgetting he's not supposed to be the unhinged villain we see in 03.

For context, in FMA 03 Grand is one of the masterminds of the Ishvalan War, he thinks little of people's lives (Amestrian or Ishvalan), he's the one that orders Roy to kill Winry's parents, and he's very critical of Marcoh leaving the military and tries to hunt him down.

Meanwhile, manga Grand is doing his best to protect lives, charging to the front to protect his subordinates, being pissed at the way they're using them as cannon fodder, and even trying to stop the war without further bloodshed. He takes a big personal risk by committing mutiny and killing his superior officer, all so that he can arrange for Supreme cleric Lowe to meet Bradley for peace negotiations.

Too bad Bradley stomped all over Lowe's and Grand's efforts.

Furthermore, he — not Mustang, not Armstrong — is the one to approach Ed after he gets his State Alchemist certificate and asks him: Did you know many State Alchemists quit after Ishval due to anguish? Which is short from him telling Ed to run because the title isn't worth the trauma.

He was obviously not happy with the Bradley administration, and seems to have fundamentally disagreed with the decisions taken during the war (enough to kill a superior officer to circumvent his orders). It's a shame we didn't see any of these scenes in BH.

His death at the hands of Scar was probably more detrimental than anything in the long run. It's extremely likely he would've sided with the "heroes" against the homunculi, considering his past decisions. They could have all benefitted from his abilities and experience during the Promised Day.

[thecruellestmonth]

Remembering stuff like Alfred having Bruce and cutting his hair and and dressing him. Which could mean anything but really reinforce the upstairs/downstairs servile relationship. The lack of modesty or shame a rich person has around their staff is something else. And it’s just a like. Almost a Caste system where Alfred is second class and can never BE on Bruce’s level as an equal let alone authority figure. And Alfred is happy with that! Because that’s the story and he is, after all, the butler

[laufire's cool post on Alfred & Bruce]

Yeah, Alfred is not Bruce's father. Bruce is the pater familias of his household like his father before him, and Alfred is his very cherished manservant. Alfred can be a caretaker and a confidant, he can even be parental (-ish), but he's not a parent. (Note to self: rant about the awkward and aggressively enforced line between "parental" and "parent" in Batman mythos.)

IMO one of the most compact arguments on Alfred's role is in Batman: Year One (IIRC the very comic that established Alfred as an old servant of the Wayne family, instead of his original story of being hired by Bruce). Grant Morrison was on some podcast (I think either Kevin Smith's podcast or "Hypertime to Podcast"?) talking about the significance of how Bruce's first act as Batman is to ring a bell to ask for Alfred to help him. We see Morrison emphasize this moment in The Return of Bruce Wayne, where The Bell is a relic on the same level as The Pearls and The Gun.

I can agree it's a defining moment. To some extent I'm willing to accept Morrison's suggestion that Bruce ringing the bell symbolizes the value of asking for help, teamwork, comradery, family, humility, etc—and most fans would be happy to sprint with that interpretation. But I can also juggle a separate interpretation that branches off and veers to the left...

You do not ring a bell to ask for help from your parent or friends or family—you ring a bell to summon a servant.

Bruce becoming Batman in Year One is the story of a prince reclaiming his kingdom. (The Return of Bruce Wayne is a renewal of that story.) Summoning the family manservant is the act of Bruce finally accepting his royal inheritance, after his foolish attempt to slum it with the rabble. A good king is kind and attentive to his subjects, and considers the opinions of his advisors—but they're never his equals or his superiors, no matter how much he cherishes them. They're his subordinates. Nobody is on Bruce's level as an equal, nobody can win a case against his authority, in Gotham. Bruce is the rightful heir of his kingdom. The king and queen are dead, long live the king.

—I know some vocal fans are very critical of Miller, but there's no disputing that Miller's Batman: Year One is the definitive Post-Crisis story of Bruce's invention of Batman, and pretty much every modern comic writer and fan recognizes it. It's likely no comic writer or story has had as much enduring influence on the Batman mythos since Miller wrote Year One and The Dark Knight Returns. Case in point: Alfred.

So yeah. Alfred isn't Bruce's dad. The Gotham TV series probably makes the strongest case for Alfred as Bruce's dad, and even then I personally think there is wiggle room to say eh they're family and they love each other but they're not quite parent & child. Everything else—Batman '66, BTAS, the Nolan movies, Lego Batman, Battinson—ultimately doesn't Alfred cast as Bruce's dad, for the best. Recent comics and the later Arkhamverse games try to force the father-son thing, but it's cheap and unearned.

[andromeda3116]

people actually went on about how game of thrones made it socially acceptable to be a fantasy nerd, as though the lord of the rings movies hadn't been released less than a decade earlier and left far greater cultural ripples and i am just

got may have made the adults feel better about liking fantasy, but lotr got into the kids' heads when they (we) were just young and impressionable enough to be absolutely transported and emotionally rewritten by don't you leave him, samwise gamgee and my brother, my captain, my king and and rohan will answer

lotr was rewriting entire generations' brain chemistry long before asoiaf and so obviously it's not fair to compare any post-lotr fantasy novel to it, and each book series was trying to do different things within their own spheres and so that also is not a fair comparison, but in terms of the cultural impact of the adaptations that came out within a decade of each other, saying that it was game of thrones that made fantasy mainstream is baffling

game of thrones could only run because the lord of the rings movies laid the path, and i will die on this hill

[mushroomsie224]

Thinking about them again and realising that I don't like the idea that Greylock was practically a bully to Cedric in their schooldays or that Cedric hated him. To each their own, but I think they're just two dorks with a bit of rivalry who get super competitive at times. They get along quite well together when they're not competing! Well, and when Greylock's not pranking him. He's just the annoying friend, I guess. I don't want Greylock to ever stop being annoying, and I want Cedric to be seriously concerned if he does stop.

As for why Cedric wouldn't consider him a friend: this is Season 2 Cedric. Literally his whole arc is about friendship.

[momentsofamberclarity]

If you're putting dni banners or bright dni wording on the bottom of all of your posts in 2024 believing this will actively stop people from interacting then we are on entirely different wavelengths and I'm automatically determining that you do not have critical thinking skills and blocking you regardless of your self-proclaimed stance on anything.

This is the internet. The internet is a free-for-all, always has been, always will be. People are going to interact with content regardless of their age, regardless of their stances vs your stances. In fact, the more you draw attention to not wanting attention the more troll attention you are actively inviting in.

It is up to you to curate your own online experience and use your block button when you are uncomfortable with people interacting with your content. And you are under no obligation to offer an explanation to anyone as to why you've blocked them.

[tea-cat-arts]

I think the neat thing about minimal world building surrounding Jin Guangyao's watch towers is that it puts us in the perspective of the common people. Like, we know they were effective, we know what his reputation was before the reveal, and we know his reputation after the reveal, and that's it. We don't know if they were built out of altruism or if he was trying to become the next Wen Rouhan and we never will know because we'll never be inside his head and he wasn't sect leader long enough for us to see any kind of long term plan working (assuming there even were any long term plans and "long term" means "takes longer than 10 years" in this case). The only thing we really know is that we'll never have a solid answer, and all we can really do about it is speculate and gossip

[imadhatt3r]

What if Clawdeen got into monster music once she joined monster high and Catty Noir became her favorite... What if she tried to make friends with Toralei and started to talk about Catty bc she knew that Toralei's into music and found out that Toralei also loves Catty and they talked about her all day... What if they started to talk about Catty more and more often and made merch to swap and planned to go on a concert together and all that plus other, additional things like Clawdeen helping Toralei with her mom made Toralei falll in love with Clawdeen... What if, once Catty joins the school, Toralei isn't nearly as excited as she would be before meeting Clawdeen because she's jealous that Clawdeen isn't paying as much attention to her anymore AND she's subconsciously worried that Clawdeen will start dating Catty and she won't have a chance to confess anymore... LIKE WHAT IF

[minweber]

Since everyone is posting Rooks, wanted to show off mine:

Yarina "Found In a Crypt, Raised In a Cave, Who'd Have Thought That Human Connection Is Something I Crave" Ingellvar, who is apparently the protagonist in a story about a sheltered introvert forced to interact with people, only to suddenly find out that this shit is actually pretty easy.

[lemonadehtwooh]

For my AU, Holmes isn't addicted to drugs (for reasons I will elaborate on in the tags if anyone demands an explanation) HOWEVER instead, to make up for this, he's addicted to caffeine

This has lead me to imagining him absolutely slamming a heavy energy drink and turning to Da Vinci to sprout his usual nonsense. Da Vinci isn't even phased (all artists has been in a moment in their lives that they've done the same lmao)

[queen-scribbles]

This right here is what pisses me off the most about qt costing now. This is a Sith Warrior, sitting in Marka Ragnos’ tomb and unable to fast travel back to the Academy bc I didn’t have enough money. There is NOTHING  in her inventory. I already sold everything she didn’t currently have equipped. 

Normally when I start a new toon I send them seed money, but since this one’s just a throwaway for the weekly I didn’t bother. Wound up fast traveling to the field research area and taking a speeder, which does work, BUT it’s still annoying bc you used to be able to just go all the way back. Yes, it’s a convenience thing. I get that. They don’t have to include it, you don’t have to use it. But they did include it, and it’s a convenience that’s been free for years, and some newbie who has no higher level toons to send an allowance credits to starter ones is gonna be unable to take advantage of that convenience bc BW decided to add an arbitrary and frankly overpriced cost to it. How is Jo Schmo who just started the game contributing to inflation, BioWare? What negative impact are they having on the economy when they’ve only been playing for two hours and haven’t even left the starter planet? How does this help fix the economy? Anyone selling items for fuck you money through the trade channel isn’t even going to feel less than 800 credits, but it’s more than starter toons HAVE after SELLING EVERYTHING IN THEIR INVENTORY.

In my opinion, if they absolutely insist on keeping the charge for qt in the game, it needs to either a) not kick in til at least either Coruscant/Dromund Kaas(and even then, most places on Coruscant are 5k from the Senate tower. It’s ridiculous, so I’d argue Balmorra/Taris) or b) get cut waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down for starter/home worlds. I don’t care if that means higher level players aren’t paying a lot for travel when they come back to Coruscant/DK. As another example, It cost 8 times as much to quick travel from Kalikori Village to the Jedi temple vs taking the speeder.

[m00ngbin]

I think the movie that has impacted me the most was Don't Look Up and I think everyone should watch it but not if they have problems with existential dread

[1roentgen]

.

[tillxthexearthxstartsxtoxcrumble]

BTW they played The Phoenix and Save Rock and Roll and I will NEVER be getting over that

[doctormage]

ik pretty much 95% of media being made rn sucks and even less is actually original content but personally i would like to see more lgbt+ characters who come out in the most underwhelming way possible. not in a “being gay isn’t my personality 🙄” way but a “oh. thought this was kind of obvious abt me” way. i have spent the vast majority of my time knowing i was Part Of The Community just terrified of the “inevitable” coming out i would have to do. oh god i gotta tell everyone i know and make a whole post about it on all social media platforms. almost entirely bc of how the coming out experience is portrayed (the majority of the time) (in what i have seen)

obv I’m not saying that’s BAD but like. my sexuality and gender are actually no one’s business but mine! lmao. i don’t HAVE to make a grand entrance, i don’t even have to tell anyone outright. and as a matter of fact i think i am just going to continue accidentally telling people in casual conversation and making vague references like it’s common knowledge until the rest of them figure it out. i am not writing a paragraph caption on anything. if my mom sees my pride outfit this year and asks i won’t lie but i am most certainly not going out of my way to make myself uncomfortable bc i feel like i owe people something that i absolutely do not <3

[spatio-rift]

mar i dont know how to search but does seirin have a hype song the way rakuzan does

i actually dont know much about the ost because im not a big anime fan i enjoy the songs but i have no idea what theyre about or when theyre used LOL im sure seirin have at least several but theres this one

im glad the only song with seirin in the name is hype and fits for this ask LOL

[dragonboythighs]

the point of everything is to care