#it's about the symbolism thanks for coming to my ted talk

[boneempress]

Pit girl wearing the heart necklace, Jackie giving the heart necklace to Shauna before the plane goes down, Shauna giving the heart necklace back to Jackie before she dies, Jackie not giving a fuck about Jeff but being broken by Shauna's betrayal anyways and concluding that love isn't real and dying for it, Lottie offering the bear heart up in thanks for its sacrifice, Lottie giving the necklace back to Shauna before they eat Jackie, Shauna giving everyone the okay to feast, Shauna consuming Jackie and living her life out in her stead and being haunted by her for the next 25 years, Tai and Van being their most authentic selves here in the woods in front of their friends who love them, Tai making masks for both of them as an act of love, "I <3 you", "I love you too", Van and Tai finding love and comfort in each other at the end of the world, Van seeing Taissa as a whole person and speaking to both halves of her, the Other Tai who was most connected to the wilderness seeking out Van after 25 years of dormancy, the Yellowjackets refusing to let Lottie die and laying down their lives for her because she has been the one leading them through the darkness, Shauna giving the heart necklace to Natalie because she loves her and does not want to kill her, Javi giving his life to Natalie and to all of them, Travis accepting that he must live for Javi's death to mean anything, Shauna pulling the wool over her eyes so she doesn't have to bear witness, Shauna presenting the meat to Travis first with the heart at the center, Travis eating the heart first as an act of love, Travis putting Natalie's hand over his heart to show his forgiveness and fealty, Travis and Natalie making a pact to live for Javi and for the trade that they made, Jeff seeing the brutal gruesome truth of what Shauna is capable of laid out before him and still understanding and laying down his life for hers, Misty laying her hands over Kristen's heart and still not being able to bring her back, Misty stopping the rest of them from eating her, Misty going to any lengths to protect her friends for the rest of their lives, Misty unthinkingly snorting drugs in Natalie's stead even though she knows she could've died for it, Misty being a 42 year old teenager desperate to be needed and loved, Tai being there for Shauna at the worst moments of her life, Shauna helping Tai sleep when they're 42 year old teenagers, Tai hallucinating her son being excited to see her again, Shauna stealing the van back for Mr Schwoozums, Akilah finding solace in loving something small and innocent even when it wasn't real, the girls throwing a baby shower for Shauna even while they're starving and going mad, the girls being broken by the stillbirth of the baby that they had poured all of their hopes into being able to LOVE and to care for. "Love is the only thing that matters!" "Do you BELIEVE in LOVE?" "I love you, Jackie." Coach Ben giving up on love before he even got on the plane. Lottie trying desperately to drink the poison and pull the queen card and finally make that promised sacrifice for her friends, and they won't let her. Natalie repaying Javi 25 years later by laying down her life for Lisa, who trusted her and helped her want to live again, in a split second without even thinking about it. The Queen of Hearts with her eyes scratched out, so she does not bear witness to the horrors.

Cannibalism as an act of communion, of canonization ("I love the saints - they're all so tragic"), devotion, grief, desperation, and LOVE. Cannibalism as sacrifice and as a choice to live - or to die - for one another.

[hastalavistabyebye]

I was wondering, why do we use deer iconography so often to depict cryptids and gods and monsters of the wilderness ?

Well first of, it's based on western imagination, culture and lore of course. This plays obviously a major part of it but why ? Why a deer ?

By the way, deer presence in folklore and everything is old, like very old, and common to lots of cultures. Its antlers renewal is associated with rebirth and life and death cycle. And globally deers are seen as a link with the supernatural. What I'm trying to theorise is why, and maybe why still today.

So let's start.

First, the wilderness pictured is the one of nature. The nature untouched, undomesticable by humans. The savage nature, the wild nature. And what is a wild nature in western biome ? The forest. It's the wild element of the western landscape. It's a huge part of folklore because its darkness and density is home of so many creatures and dangers. You can get lost in it, easily. You hold no power in the Forest, etc, etc. The forest is the best way to start a tale isn't it ? Anyway, that's the first point : magic and secrecy, everything cryptid and other fairies and land monsters, are linked to the Forest. 

And what do we find in a forest ? Well lots of things (and I'm only speaking about wildlife here, so not vegetation). Bears, wild boars, lots of different birds with a lot of variety, rabbits, wolfs and foxes... And of course deers.

So why deers and deer-particularities specifically are so much used and appreciated ? There is so many other animals to use ! So here is what I think, and it's really is just an idea, a simple take on the matter :

Deers are beautiful creatures. They are majestic, mighty. They're also skittish and fast. Finding a deer is hard. This two points put them in two cases of common imagination. 

They are regal : it puts them in a "king of the Forest" sort of position. Especially since their antlers are associated with royalty. It's the symbol of a good hunter and who liked to hunt ? Kings. So yeah, they're heavily associated with royalty and power, must it be as a symbol or because of their appearance and grace.

They are hard to meet and good at hiding : it put them in the "supernatural" case, the fantastic aspect of the Forest. Here and not here. Watching you but impossible to see. As if they were at two places at once. Present but never where you look. 

So that's already two aspects in their favour for being associated to a godlike creature of the Forest.

But there is also something else. Because a bear or a wolf could have similarities in a way or the other. So deers have something else.

They are dangerous but not carnivorous. They are a prey, not a danger for the Forest. Not a danger for the Forest inhabitants. A danger for us. And where does this come from ? Easy : the deer's slab. You hear them from far away, they are noisy like all hell. And it is kind of terrifying. Plus they're also fighting. And it will be dangerous if you get too close because they will attack. Not to eat. Not because they're hurt or because of their instincts specifically. It practically feels like they are angry at you (because it does sound like they are angry at something or each other or well you know anything and everything really, deer's slabs are impressive as hell). And so they can be seen as forces you should not mess with. Forces that will only attack each other or invaders of their territory, protectors.

Mighty, very hard to find, protectors living in the Forest. Oh and very easily identified thanks to their unmistakable antlers.

It's in fact no wonder why deer iconography is so used to depict the Forest (and wilderness at large) dangers, secrets and power.

[regrettorisotto]

Everyone saying metatron did something to aziraphale or put something in his coffee but i really don't think thats the case. That's not the impression i got from watching that at all.

All i saw was an angel who - while yes, having seen a lot of shit and how wrong heaven has been so far - still believes that heaven as a concept is supposed to be fundamentally good.

And with the idea of him being in charge comes his hope of finally implementing everything good and right that heaven should've been all along. He can finally bring pure peace to the world he loves so much. To the world he knows crowley loves just as much.

For centuries those two have been trying to do whats right and now finally they have been given the opportunity to do that without going against all their laws and higher ups. AND they can do it together, side by side instead of in secret and in the shadows. They finally have the opportunity to not be on "opposing sides" anymore, not be scared of what heaven and hell might do to them if they're caught.

Plus aziraphale knows that crowley is good, that he's been wrongly cast out of heaven and how much he suffered and still does because of it. He just wants his person to be acknowledged for all the good he's done and get the recognition and peace he deserves because he truly believes he should've never been cast out.

So no, i don't think there was anything wrong with the coffee because i don't think aziraphale doing this was in any way out of character. Crowley has always been sure where he stands now, but aziraphale never has. He's always been insecure about this, always been clinging to the idea of good and bad sides and how heaven is good. And he'd always go back to heaven if presented with as good an offer as metatrons.

(And finally letting go of that is what his character development will be about in season 3)

[theminecraftbee]

today i am thinking about the entire mayor of hypixel skyblock incident with technoblade because i still like to imagine, since it happened during one of the big dsmp story gaps, that he was like "oh i'm going to head off for a bit phil don't worry about it" and phil's like "bye mate" and ranboo is like "i wonder what he's doing. probably intense training or something. he's so cool."

meanwhile techno is yelling at an entirely unruly crowd about anarchy and being made mayor while beating up like, it was a weird giant slime if i remember right? and he has a whole "bond of rivals" moment with squidkid, like, they have this whole "there's no one i could trust to have my back more... than you... my most favored enemy" thing going on in that video it's SO funny.

all of this with the world's most absurd numbers outputs because hypixel skyblock is an endgame mmo. just COMICAL levels of firepower. like, everyone is an end-of-series shonen character. this place is like the naruto world was after it had jumped the shark a bit and there was a moon goddess attacking. about like that.

and then he's like. my work here is done. thanks for electing me mayor. i don't see this is contradictory to my anarchy at all btw it's like, a symbolic thing, on account of me beating up the old dictator mayor. and just dips again, presumably to be forever seen as a weird potato-themed legend around those parts.

i like to imagine he gets home and phil is like "hi mate" and techno's like "sorry i had things to handle at home" and ranboo is imagining like, WILD battles and what technoblade's home must even be like. and whatever he's imagining doesn't really compare to "technoblade's home is an end-game mmo no wonder he constantly assumes he's weak here he can only do earlygame levels of damage, forever".

and technoblade, being technoblade, says nothing about being mayor of hypixel now, until like, after the finale or something when squidkid just sort of swings by to ask how they're all doing after that nuke thing, huh. and everyone loses their shit.

and this is one of my favorite stupid technoblade headcanons thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[aficionadoenthusiast]

*me, with tears of frustration in my eyes* rick didn't include annabeth's crush on luke or luke's pseudo-crush on annabeth for no reason! it is not something that needs to be cut because it's 'gross'! it serves thematic purpose! it adds to characterization! guys! please!

annabeth is twelve, and luke is the guy she's looked up to since she was seven. she not only has that bond, but she has the admiration from him getting his own quest. she has a lot of hero worship going for him, and it's really not unreasonable that she would like him or even that she would think of him as more than a sibling. beyond that, it's a great example of how a person who has never received real, unconditional love can become unhealthily attached to someone who is not good for them just because they've been shown a modicum of respect. if you want to look at it from a percabeth perspective, it could even tie into how her character has to learn the difference between love and kindness from a place of love and respect (i.e. percy) vs love and kindness from a place of obligation and manipulation (i.e. luke as kronos' vessel)

on luke's side, especially with him calling her his little sister now (in the show) and him literally turning into kronos later, it's symbolism for how he's being pulled farther and farther onto the dark side. as kronos takes over his body, he sees her less and less as a sister and more and more of something else, something that would be considered dark and unhealthy by anyone not on the dark side (for good reason), until eventually she has to remind him of their years on the run when he considered her a sister: "Family, Luke. You promised."

you're supposed to be grossed out by it! that means the theme is working!

you're supposed to see a traumatized 12 year old with a crush on her 19 year old mentor and think, "hey, that's weird! i wonder if her not getting any love or attention until she met him plays a role in their relationship?" and eventually see a 24 year old get a villain-induced crush on a 16 year old and think, "hey, that's really weird! i wonder if his turn to the dark side and how that turn happened twisted his view of her?" and ultimately think, "i wonder what that says about the type of trauma that develops in kids who grew up thinking they were unloved, especially since the author specifically wrote the book for his son with disabilities, the author who used to be a teacher, a profession that regularly encounters kids that are actively being abused and neglected?"

anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk

edit: this post is not speculation! i'm not trying to say i don't think they're going to include annabeth's crush! i am perfectly aware that we are only two episodes in! this post is in response the people i keep seeing say they're glad because they think Luke's little sister comment means they're not going to include the "gross stuff from the books" (other's wording, not mine), and I was trying to explain why including it would be a positive. sorry, i really thought i made that clear

[dasketcherz]

thought i'd share my thought process for this fun lil piece / outfit in full display that i whipped out for beckory on valentines cuz i really had a lotta fun making it <3

OKAY first off, big thanks to @leaky-heart for helpin me gather some really cool outfit refs and for lending me resources where I can find a ref for bonnie's guitar in a 3d space. Thank you bestie, yar a life saver <3

Second, @/littleleaflings' jacket—goated af, will never stop gushin bout it aaaaAAA <3

Okay so looking at freddy & bonnie's designs—i am in love with how their dominant and accent colors are opposite of each other like a yin and yang situation. So i absolutely tried to incorporate that when rearranging the palette unto beckory's outfit

Fronnie's colors arent the only contrasting elements about them. Aside from their earrings, even their symbols are a pair—i love how freddy's is a lighting bolt but he is also associated with stars on the side cuz of his branding. While bonnie's is a star but he also has lightning bolts on the side (the purple accent in his fit) to match freddy

And to sprinkle a bit of beckory flair, i put stripe lines across their pants (if you look back on my ref sheet for the squad, the three amigos all have stripes somewhere in their fits, i purposely designed that to be their thing) just to also unify the patterns from their top

i gave tony a scarf to match greg's bow tie accessory. Its a combo homage to bonnie's headband and bunny ears in a way (cuz the ribbons on its ends look like droopy rabbit ears) i gave them gloves to compensate being unable to add punk bracelets on em cuz it would be too much for the overall look (same logic applies to the star shades, its to match with the top hat)

Also this was such a pure coincidence but i also realized beckory wears their fazwatches in the same placement as fronnie wears their earrings on. That actually makes me very happy, i think its a really cool coincidence

And as yall can see, Greg's jacket initially had stars on his sleeves (like it does in the ref), but i decided against putting it in the final cuz im startin to think it might look cluttered and hard to read from afar and tbh, I really liked how the translucent sleeves turned out... I didnt want the star pattern to cover it up lol

And thats pretty much it, thank you coming to my ted talk!! <3

if youre interested to see more of my art process compilation like this you can check over on my ko-fi page, you can support me by buying me a latte cuz I am planning to post more exclusive stuff like this over there in the future so I hope yall look forward to that! I deeply appreciate yall and thank you so much in advance!!

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

me, waking up drenched in sweat, violently sitting up in bed and letting out a gasp: IT'S A METAPHOR FOR BEING A YOUTUBER

idk if someone already thought of this and this is also probably the most obvious reading of it but here i go anyway: i was just walking a dog and listening to potato prints and when phil said "you've come a long way daniel" i was like "huh phil is in the teaching position in all of these just like he was for youtube" like phil just gives editing pro tips the whole time and it all parallels their story as a youtube duo.

and obviously the entertainment industry is rife (not proper usage of that word but it Feels Right so fuck you) with satanic symbolism/imagery/iconography/motifs. being an entertainer is "selling your soul to the devil" etc etc and we know dan hates being a youtuber and does feel that way. you gotta upload twice a day every day in order to be the number one art channel on youtube dot com after all. you gotta make those crafts for satan. bo burnham has a ton of lyrics/songs that i'm thinking about rn like "you used to do comedy when you felt like being funny but now you're contractually obligated so dance you fucking monkeeeey DANCE MONKEY DAAAANCE" and in "repeat stuff" which is a commentary of how mainstream pop love songs and pop stars have to be really superficial and unoriginal because they need to appeal to everyone and at one point he sucks satan off lmao and is like AHFRUEHQFWIIO I AM A VESSEL IDUSHISKA 666 KAJSDFI ILLUMINATI UIGDFSAHIO FREEMASONS. highly recommend looking at the lyrics to that song if you're into that kind of thing.

also the (very rightful) dig at phannies for the "don't cry craft" spamming like "we love all of our crafty audience that spread the message of this channel on all the other videos on the internet! everywhere! everybody enjoyed that!" is how creators who want to keep status have to address their audiences no matter how annoying or harmful they're being. thinking of the ajr line "stay out of politics, stay on the fence / stay out of all of it to keep half your fans" because like,, yeah if a creator ever expresses an opinion that declares their feelings on one side of an issue then they will lose support (smosh is a perfect example of a bunch of people never ever ever expressing an opinion if it could be considered controversial among their audience, like refusing to address the genocide happening right now and just taking their zionist member who the fans are mad at out of some videos to be like "shhhhh nothing to see here we don't know what you're talking about"), ESPECIALLY if that issue is the behaviour of their audience.

obviously the first dapc video was not made with any intended meaning, they just woke up and were like "let's be weird and freak people out" and they did that, and then adding in symbolism and making it all mean something developed with time. but i'm gonna pretend that it has always had consistent meaning because i'm neurodivergent and love overanalysing silly little media.

i am so jhfbvdahfkiufadkhlj right now so if anyone has more theories or things to add lmk and thank you for coming to my ted talk

[notquite-docbirdy]

Little things from the 1993 Falsettos that I love

Literally anything Chip Zein does

Bitching at the bed

The almost kisses are torture

Mavin introducing Jason to Whizzer

They're so fucking dramatic

These karate moves

More drama

I love that at the end of this one of them goes "MWAH!"

"It's queer Mr. Marvin..oops" and when Marvin says "What gives with you today?" (and basically all of Marvin at the psychiatrist)

Pinch

The way Michael Rupert sings "That's what pretty boys should do!"

I love Breaking Down in the revival but something about this staging just gets me

Honestly same Mendel

This little heel kick

Whatever the fuckl this is

More fantastic staging

Marvin throwing a tantrum

Stop I love them

I don't know what this choreography is but I love it

Get it Jason

"What was the name of that BITCH?"

"I wanna see the BALD SPOT!"

Cordelia braiding Charlotte's hair in Everything Will be Alright

The way Heather MacRae sings "Do you know how great my life is."

Boop

Marvin's little victory lap

"You people are so white."

"Look at your couch it's homo-baroque."

I wish this was in the revival

:,)

Marvin whispering "Stop, stop" during this scene always gets me

This little I love you gesture breaks my heart

He's so fucking over this

Guy's we're in a hospital keep it down, jesus

Marvin's soft "Oh, fuck." at the end of Something Bad is Happening (reprise)

When Whizzer leaves the stage for the final time he doesn't exit through the door and I don't know the symbolism in that just makes me sob

I probably overall prefer the pacing and staging of the revival, but the obc is so so fucking good. Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[edelgards]

i had a train of thought about saint seiros and catholic canonization and ended up yapping about how rhea's sainthood isn't a symbol of her divinity but is an allegory of her humanity instead.

sainthood in the catholic church is the recognition of people who performed miracles, did acts of goodwill, etc. in the name of god. these individuals are then canonized by the church who acknowledge their good deeds and are now considered as holy people, the closest we—original sin bearers, according to them—get to divinity i guess and a lot of canonized saints were people who weren't the best nor the ones you'd expect to be saint.

in fe3h, of course we know the church was not exactly what we thought it was and such rules might or might not be in the seiros doctrines. seiros is a self declared saint lol yes, it was a ruse but it made me think and compare that situation to catholic canonizations.

rhea was born a divine being, a child of the goddess. she doesn't need to be elevated to sainthood, she IS divine. you don't need to sanctify what is pure from the very beginning. that's like calling an angel a saint or something and implying that a divine entity had been a sinner/impure and is only holy because of canonization which i think, from a religious fanatic pov, is an insult. anyways seiros, however, is called a saint... which i'd like to think implies the opposite of the catholic church's meaning of sainthood.

rhea/seiros' sainthood is a symbol of her humanity.

of her being flawed, her imperfections. everything that happened after zanado was her, a divine being, becoming human. her vengeance, righteous fury, her grief and most of all, her kindness despite all that's happened are what makes her human.

honestly don't know where i'm going with this but i guess you could look at the tragedy being her rebirth? from "holy" to human. her humanity began the second she lost her mother. it spiraled her grief and drove her to vengeance—her war with nemesis and his 10 elites. and then, there's her church. what started out as damage control and a self-preservation driven lie turned into something genuine that allowed her to learn to love the people that killed her own.

her continued service to the people (albeit morally questionable at times i have to admit) is, to me, her continued acceptance of her humanity–whether conscious, not, or figuratively. as opposed to indech and macuil yeeting out of human affairs the moment the war was over, a refusal of their "humanity" and choosing "divinity" instead.

ok, that's all. my point is rhea's humanity is what makes her holy. her ability to be kind after all that she went through is what makes her a saint and that makes me insane sometimes because can you imagine losing your people and you're the only one that knows, surrounded by the mirror image of the people that took your own?? anyways, talking to empty chairs: thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[xewanu]

HELLO FELLOW SPLATLANDIAN, LITTLE "COLOR THEORY" LESSON HERE

In today's episode ? The symbolism of the green//pink theme in Splatoon

Okay so it all goes back to the great turf war. It seems to have been the first ever color picked, representing octolings vs inklings. We all obviously know that inklings won, pretty unfairly, and octos were pretty much forced to step back. Ever since, the green//pink and inkling//octo themes have been omnipresent in the Splatoon universe.

In Splat 1 comes Callie and Marie. They are not opposed as octo vs inkling, yet pick a side in a Splatfest (Octopus vs Squid, won by Callie, on the 10th of October 2015, Squid side), and end up opposing to each other, as Callie vs Marie. The outcome is clear, Marie wins, Callie is sad about it, and joins her pink theme by joining the octo troups (I'd REALLY like to know how the pink//green theme would've been handled if she won). So yeah, the Squid Sisters give us a continuity that Splatoon 2 MASSIVELY used LOL.

So let's continue with Off The Hook, shall we ?

First of all, can I point out the fact the colors are not the exact same bright pink and green we knew this far ? Yes ? Alright thanks. MARINA RAN AWAY !!! SO SHE'S GREEN !!! You have no idea how I love the entirety of these colors symbolism, reader. But yep, Marina is obviously green because she rejects her past, as seen in the Octo Expansion logs. Also, her color ressembles very slightly sanitization. A mutation. You following me this far ? I find Pearl being pink actually adorable, her color isn't THIS muted. It fits Marina, and also implies hey, no octoling racism here. Zamn this making me tearful.

Continuation to the green//pink linked to squid//octopus is this. I REALLY love the possible yin yang reference with the shirts btw. We think inklings are so good and perfect, but maybe there's evil within them, to the opposite of octolings, who are actually not as mean as depicted by Craig. I'll also point out the inkling in the poster is smiling, fist clenched, confidently, as the octoling is a bit less self assured, looking concentrated. The need to win for their nation, teehee okay sorry I'm reaching :3

Oh you knew it was coming you DEFINITELY knew. Yup. Agent 24. To me they sign the end of this stupid "inkling vs octoling" war. 3 first saves 8, 8 then saves 3 and Craig (And Inkopolis but yeah LMAO.) To me it really means "This is where we end the fight", 3 sees the potential in 8, and doesn't see them as an enemy nor a threat, but a partner (NOT ROMANTICALLY SPECIFICALLY, you ship who you want, but they do seem like they respect each other). Splatoon 3 doesn't return with pink//green, or inkling//octoling. We can play an octoling, who fights octolings, to protect octolings. Our ink is just yellow, we fight non octo bosses. We fight along Octavio. The band is red, yellow and blue, the primary colors. Harmony, although their principal song's called Anarchy Rainbow. All colors mixed together :'0

Okay, thanks for coming to my ted talk BYYYE.

[bizarrebazaar13]

thinking about the clay highwayman. thinking about hearts and parallels and cycles.

the fact that the King’s means of control over the clay men comes from his diamond heart is significant on its own. it is something he did not want, that was given to him violently and painfully and without a choice. something he resents, and still clearly does cause him pain.

but the King also gives the clay men these diamond hearts, and they also don’t get a choice in the matter. they also owe him the debt of their lives, just as the King owes the Manager.

when the Highwayman wants to create a clay man free of the King’s influence, he brings a diamond heart of his own, not from the King. another lover is created who owes their existence to their partner and a diamond heart they were given.

the King finds out about this and is furious. does he see himself in the Highwayman’s creation? does he remember how it feels to owe the heart inside your chest to someone else who thought they could save you, but never asked if you wanted to be saved?

does the King see May in the Highwayman? does he want to teach him the lesson his own lover never learned?

perhaps he sees it as mercy to unmake the Highwayman’s lover. a misguided, but understandable idea. if he was given the choice, would he have died on the altar that day?

but there is a unique cruelty in the fact that the Highwayman himself is the one to do it. that the King makes him do it. that he makes the Highwayman rip the heart out of his lover’s chest and cast it away.

maybe it is not misplaced mercy. maybe it is misplace revenge.

but then, the King is just as guilty of this crime, of creating people who owe him their very hearts without ever haven chosen this life. fragments of his heart are in the chest of every clay man.

in mask of the rose, Moss says that whatever the King wishes to occur, occurs. the King sends him on a doomed quest out of anger.

the King is not a kind ruler. whatever circumstances led him to this, he holds that same power that he hates May for. and he does not hold back from using it against his own clay men.

and of course, there is the fact that the Highwayman replaces his heart, from the King, with the heart of his destroyed lover. the heart then ceases to be a symbol of a debt, and becomes instead one of devotion and mourning.

I feel insane thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[heckyeahponyscans]

Lauren Faust originally imagined all her G1 childhood faves in a My Little Pony reboot. So why was Applejack the only one who made it in? We don't know for sure, but here is my theory.

IMO Hasbro went into the MLP reboot wanting each main character to be a different color of the rainbow, similar to TMNT or Power Rangers. (Which is a big improvement over Core 7 G3 when THREE out of seven characters were pink.)

So let's look at the initial G1 crew:

Sparkler - blue Twilight - pink Surprise - white Firefly - pink Applejack - orange Posey - yellow

Already we can see some pink is doubled up. But just wait.

Pinkie Pie was THE face of G3 My Little Pony and Rainbow Dash was nearly as popular. Hasbro made big versions of these ponies, they made small versions of them, they made plush baby versions, and they were immortalized on birthday cards, balloons, ornaments, and other merch. I was so disappointed when I heard Pinkie Pie would be in G4 because I was tired of seeing her, ha ha.

But Hasbro was not tired of selling merchandise of their most popular ponies, so I'm sure one of their first notes was "We absolutely need Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in the new lineup."

Their personality changes wouldn't matter to Hasbro. What mattered was their marketability as toys / designs.

So Firefly, Twilight, and Sparkler were now out of the lineup, due to also being pink and blue.

Now we have:

Rainbow Dash - blue Pinkie Pie - pink Surprise - white ??? Applejack - orange Posey - yellow

But, uh oh! Pinkie Pie and Surprise both have balloon symbols. So Surprise also must die leave.

IMO the names being trademarked / easily defendable was important to Hasbro, and they already had hundreds of G3 names / designs at their disposal. And also they needed a purple pony for this lineup.

So Twilight Twinkle (later renamed Twilight Sparkle) joined the crew and became a unicorn.

Rainbow Dash - blue Pinkie Pie - pink ??? Twilight Twinkle / Sparkle - purple Applejack - orange Posey - yellow

G1 Glory's colors (white with purple hair) then replaced blue Sparkler. But wait!! Both Glory and Twilight Sparkle-Twinkle have stars on their rumps! So Rarity retained Sparkler's symbol of diamonds.

I don't know why they didn't use one of the G1 names, except perhaps that "Rarity the Unicorn" was already a Hasbro trademark, having been a G3 character.

Rainbow Dash - blue Pinkie Pie - pink Rarity - white Twilight Sparkle - purple Applejack - orange Posey - yellow

So why was Posey changed to Fluttershy? In my opinion she was switched up quite late because the original plot of Dragonshy had her as an earth pony, which is why she was struggling to get up the mountain. (That's why they had to add the bit about Fluttershy's wings locking up from fear.)

In addition to wanting a variety of colors, I think Hasbro wanted two of each main pony species. Originally Pinkie Pie was slated to be a pegasus, but then she was switched to an earth pony. So Yellow Pony was shunted into a pegasus slot instead.

Basically, I think Posey got replaced with Fluttershy because it was thought that butterfly symbols were more befitting for a pegasus. Plus girls love animals and if they needed plots revolving around growing plants, they already had Applejack on deck.

So in the end Applejack was the only G1 pony who remained in G4, not because Hasbro had any special hold on her, but because she had a pretty unique name and she wasn't a repeated color.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[captn-lovelace]

sometimes i forget not everyone knows the theory that lightbringer is and always has been a dragon, and that the azor ahai story is the story of someone bringing about dragons to bring balance to fire/ice. and thus dany is azor ahai reborn and drogon is lightbringer

-there’s an asshai story about the birth of the first dragons that says the moon was a dragon’s egg. the moon touched the sun and the moon cracked open to release the dragons

-the azor ahai story goes that he tries 3 time to forge lightbringer, the third requiring the willing sacrifice of his wife ended up cracking the moon and forging the flaming sword

-dany tries 3 times to hatch her dragon eggs, the 3rd requiring her willing sacrifice (walking into the flames)

-dany and drogo are frequently referred to as the moon and the sun, respectively, and dany (the moon) steps into the pyre with drogo (the sun) and the eggs crack and the dragons are released

-drogon’s egg hatches last, and the book says it sounded like the world cracked open, dragons return for the first time in living memory

so we’ve got the original azor ahai cracking the moon, the moon in established folklore has been viewed as a dragon’s egg, drogon’s egg cracks like the planet is breaking. hence, the asshai myth is another culture’s take on the azor ahai/dragon origin story. and dany hatching drogon IS dany forging lightbringer.

there’s a lot more but this is all i’ve got, thanks for coming to my ted talk

(oh and check out @ hallowed.harpy on tik tok i heard the bit about the sun/moon symbolism from her)

[cledubs]

i really don’t understand how some fantasy high enjoyers don’t see the very obvious metaphor for aromantic denial within baron from the baronies in sophomore year. baron is a nightmare creature that came into existence because riz lied about having a partner so his friends wouldn’t bother him about it? he made up baron when his friends were all talking about the people they wanted to kiss? how is that not aromantic to some people. maybe it’s more obvious to me because i HAVE been in denial about being aro and made up crushes for myself and tried to pretend i had them. just because i felt it was a thing i needed to do, that it was a thing that EVERYONE had to have a crush and that it was normal. how do you see the confrontation between baron and riz as anything other than accepting aromanticism. this thing, his nightmares personified, says to him “the years will go by, and everyone will find someone that matters more to them than you.” as an aro person yeah that’s gotta be up there with the top ten nightmares.

how do you look at this interaction and NOT see an aromantic boy.

(for further elaboration, yes i am aware that aromantic people CAN want to kiss others and hell yeah power to you, i’m just saying that it’s a common thing to not care about kissing/not want to do it)

and another thing with with the fhigh fandom is that like, some people will go through every loophole they can to try and pair up riz anyways. aromantic people CAN be in relationship, of course, but why would people take this specific boy, who has repeatedly expressed distaste in being in a relationship, and ship him with other people. especially since fabian and riz is a common ship. is it because they’re best friends? is it because people value romance over friendship? oh they’re such close friends they must have a thing! it’s so stupid. why is it, that when a character is asexual (riz, being confirmed asexual), people respect that. they don’t often go “oh yeah i know they’re asexual but asexual people can have sex! or want to have sex! it’s a spectrum!”. (that is true, btw, ace people can have sex and all that. but it’s different when allosexual people do it to try and just make up excuses to not treat asexual characters like they’re asexual.) why do i mostly see it done with aromantic people? one of this boy’s biggest fear is people pairing up and leaving him behind. how do you see that as a boy who WANTS to be in a relationship? do you think he WANTS to pair up as well?

just because it’s not been outwardly confirmed and directly said “riz gukgak is aromantic” doesn’t mean that it’s not true, y’know? there’s subtext, there’s symbolism, there’s metaphors, there’s DIRECT REFERENCES TO RIZ NOT LIKING ROMANCE! i don’t really know how people can see him as alloromantic

anyways thank you for coming to my ted talk, this is sam (confirmed aroace) signing off or something

(also some of my non-aro, romance enjoying friends have confirmed that the aro implications are very obvious so clearly it’s not just an aro brain thing to understand)

[mercutio-the-velaryon]

and another thing! people would understand Tashi Duncan as a character far easier if she was a man. I say this because she generally acts the way men are conditioned too, she's stoic and invulnerable, she's the head of the table, she holds the power in her relationships with Art and Patrick (yes Patrick challenges her but he never has the upperhand in my opinion). That is to say, that she isn't motivated by or in love with tennis its more so a medium of expressing herself, she's terrible at communicating, when she speaks about tennis, she's speaking symbolically/metaphorically and a lot of people take that at surface value "oh she's just in love with tennis" but thats not what she means, she says she wants to see some good fucking tennis and way before that she says tennis is like a relationship its a double entendre.

Personally, I think the triad all love each other, but regardless, I think saying Tashi Duncan just loves tennis is reductive af and also an insult to her character and the careful construction of the characters dynamics.

side note: irrelevant character analysis but I kind of think Tashi expresses her love through acts of service, I think it comes from a deep buried desire to be useful and I think thats part of the reason she doesn't want Art to stop playing because if he does she loses the only way she knows how to show her love bla blah blah.

anywayyy very scattered thoughts thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[villain-byteniwoha]

Take away the ratiorine brainrot and I'll still think that Ratio's "betrayal" was pointless unless it's within the context of Ratio knowing that Aventurine needed him to do that. Genuinely. Like what the fuck did Sunday offer him? Some knowledge on the Stellaron when, at this point, Ratio's already worked with the Trailblazer. And for Ratio to fold that quickly over knowledge that's already within his grasp? It does not make any fucking sense unless he knew that Aventurine was betting on him taking the deal.

Had he harbored any genuine ill will, then Aventurine's turning point from Nihility, away from Acheron, would not have been symbolically and literally about Ratio. Because why would he find his answer in a traitor? He didn't, because Ratio did not fucking betray him.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.