#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.

[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

[papa-m0thman]

my brain has finally found a new source of serotonin via my gender swap gta 5 au and i just love it so much. im not super great at writing or the intricacies of what an au like this would entail, and some things might be a little ooc/too original, but i have a few ideas so far:

- michelle/michael is a lesbian with comphet. in her youth, she slept with a lot of men in an attempt to convince herself she was straight, including while dating andrew/amanda. in fact, she isn't entirely sure that travis/tracey and jackie/jimmy are her husband's.

- michelle and andrew are both still having their affairs, with andrew cheating because michelle cheated first. the first time michelle cheated in los santos, it was with a mechanic, since i've decided to mostly leave the strippers/prostitutes female. andrew caught them and started cheating. however, after the mechanic incident, i could see michelle picking up a prostitute that was offering despite the pair being the same gender. she'd still claim she's straight, but become a regular of this prostitute into the start of the game.

- michelle was a very skilled cheerleader. it was less temperament issues and injuries that led her to quit, and more than there weren't any cheerleading scholarships or careers awaiting her, so she just moved on with her life.

- dennis/denise isn't a "new age feminist" but an "alpha male" type who expects francine/franklin to be the caretaker of the house, instead of running around "trying to be a gangster." he doesn't want her to move out, but also wants her to get a proper job since he doesn't consider her his responsibility, often talking about not even being sure francine is his niece, since i also swapped the parents around. dennis is francine's paternal uncle. her mother dropped her off with her dad shortly after her birth, and her dad passed away from an overdose.

- michelle never picks up hitchhikers, not wanting to risk becoming a victim. francine only helps when they're in immediate danger, like antonio/antonia and thiago/tatiana. on the other hand, trina/trevor picks up any and everyone because they'll never be a greater threat than her.

- in terms of fashion, michelle is probably the most feminine. comphet lesbian who leans pretty hard into gender roles now that she's settled down in los santos. if she were honest with herself, she'd realize she's much more comfortable in androgynous/masculine attire. trina will wear any and anything if it's in the clearance bin. instead of ill-fitting dresses, she runs around in giant ill-fitting suits, but still often wakes up in random places in nothing but her underwear and some boots. francine is the opposite of michelle, leaning hard into masculine attire to maintain an image, when she'd be just as comfortable in more feminine attire. no matter what, she definitely prefers more baggy clothing, saving dresses for easter and christmas

- the gangs are still primarily male, save for the named characters like stretch and slim.

- francine will walk around with ancient natural twists or month old box braids, only redoing them if someone comments on it. at this point, she might just get dreads.

- diane/devin and genevieve/steve are practically the same, except there's a lot more "us girls have to stick together" from diane. it makes sense to me.

earlier today, i had so many thoughts on how a gender swap would work in the gta v universe, but i waited right before bed to try and get them all out. now, i must suffer the consequences :(

might start writing it out, though it's probably just going to be a play-by-play of the game, straight up plagiarism interspersed with a hundred pages of inner monologues because i love an inner monologue. maybe i'll focus on the dynamic between michelle/andrew, francine's feelings about being a gangster, trina's whole deal. idk. it's just something that's been making me really happy, even if these notes are all pretty basic and disjointed.

[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

[frenchtwistresistance]

Match Game Syndicated Episode 262

Fannie, in a warbly, tear-streaked voice, to Pretty Girl Betty Kennedy:

I was just sitting here thinking: When I was young and pretty, I used to sit in that seat. I used to wear red dresses, get attention. Now I’m pushed down here. Pretty soon I’ll be in the audience.

Me, playing along at home: Girl, quit lying 😂. Number one, when you were in the Pretty Girl seat (for like three weeks before you were promoted to Weird Girl), never did you ever wear anything remotely sexy. Number two, thirty seconds ago the cameraman decided to shoot you just sitting there doing nothing so America could appreciate your perfect jawline and cheekbones. Number three, you are absolutely Match Game’s Mae West and not only do you very well know it but also nobody’s trying to make you forget it. 😂

[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

[dragonboythighs]

the point of everything is to care

[loverboybrightsideghost]

there's a commercial on the local radio station for like at&t or something but it's in collaboration with the wicked movie, so it's a dad basically being like "my whole family is obsessed with wicked, our wifi can barely handle it!" idk it's just. i'm not entirely sure what it is i feel but i just remember how i was obsessed with so many musicals (including wicked) when i was in middle school and it was considered REALLY uncool. like i was a little weirdo for it, and i was always singing and always people were like "ugh shut up already." one time i tried to show my friend "for good" when i graduated eighth grade and her boyfriend (my former friend turned fucking bully asshole) told me "no, don't corrupt her with that!" by showing it to her. which is its own thing but. i don't know it feels weird to hear on the radio someone proudly say their family is obsessed with a musical, even if it is a fake family. it's like ha. in my time i got fucking bullied for that. there is also something strange i feel regarding that specifically as it is an advertisement, which means 1) the point is to advertise the movie (and the wifi) and 2) it's socially acceptable to some level to be obsessed with something that is being hyped up like some big cultural moment.