#just watch m e

[canisalbus]

The little Courage the cowardly dog-esque paws on this drawing just sent me for some reason I'm so sorry I just had to quickly doodle a little Machete the cowardly dog XD

.

[expelliarmus]

[ryllen]

.+💚. Green .💚+.

[brofightiscancelled]

only other notable dub exclusive characterization i can think of off the top of my head is the implication that ichimatsu got far enough in his mental health journey to see a professional but only in the dub

[corestars]

GREEN HAIR MILO MY BELOVED!! OH HOW I MISSED YOU!!

[jicklet]

Megamind Rules! - S01E11 “Game Over”

[emblazons]

Thinking about how people who only (or primarily) understand Mike’s arc through a “hes queer and coming to accept it / struggling with heteronormativity/will get his happy ending when he gets with Will” lens are missing at least half of what defines his arc in the wider context / themes of the show.

Forewarning: long post (& also maybe an unpopular opinion)

Even as a queer person myself, I know that his arc isn’t solely about embracing his queerness (though it’s inherently interlinked). In Mike, you have a character who is being radically challenged by both external circumstances and his own decisions through a journey away from all kinds of forced conformity (social, familial, romantic & heteronormative) and into someone self actualized enough to live how they want…while also being strong enough to accept that they made mistakes along the way. Someone who is learning to be brave enough to say “this is who I am, what I enjoy, and what/who I love…and while it took me a lot of time to figure it out, now I can exist in the world embracing that even though it will take consistently resisting the tendency to accommodate people who think it’s unacceptable.”

Like. Even from a time before puberty (see: S3) Mike wants a life that stands apart from what’s expected of him in every area, not just in choosing a romantic relationship with another guy. He wants to continue to be a nerd and “child at heart” even though something else is repeatedly demanded of him by everyone from his parents to El in his romantic relationship. He wants to be a writer and someone who takes those nerdy interests into his adult life (cue aggressive gesturing toward the duffers themselves) and grates against all that’s been constructed for him even when he’s not (yet) brave enough to challenge it directly. Mike liking boys/loving Will is just “the final nail in the coffin” of his social and societal nonconformity—not the first (or the last) aspect of what makes him different from Hawkins or the life he was made to believe would suit him best.

Even the fact that Mike has a desire to be “normal” comes from an insecurity and fear that choosing what he truly wants will lead to him being outcasted and losing the people he cares for entirely—which is partially motivated by his queerness yes, but that also has a basis in his general interests and personality…which becomes especially obvious when you realize we are repeatedly shown that he is punished/has his wishes ignored in all areas he doesn’t conform, even long before we get into a plot where it’s clearer he likes boys.

We see it in how his parents have already started to demand he put boundaries on the time he spends playing his “childhood games” the very first scene of season one, how they demand social acceptable emotions from him when Will is missing, and how Karen & Ted want him to give up toys in S2 when he’s showing signs of depression (because they think the issue is him growing up, not that he’s struggling with loss or guilt for what happened to El).

We see it in how his own father comments about taking his CA trip away from him after calling Hellfire being a group for “dropouts” in S4 (implying that he is failing on an academic and social level that matters to wheelers—and that Nancy is good at).

We even see it in the way everyone from his bullies to his own girlfriend threaten and take things away from him when he doesn’t conform to social expectations...from Troy telling him to jump off the cliff to save Dustin in S1 (as punishment for the one time Mike stands up for himself in the gymnasium) to El jumping straight into breaking up with him and spying on him when he doesn’t do exactly what she wants him to in Season 3.

All of these moments are critical to understanding Mike as a person because they show us that, even without addressing his queerness, Mike’s desire to conform to socialized expectations involves but is not solely about him moving out of heteronormativity—it’s about him moving against everything that WASP, patriarchal, heteronormative and capitalistic and performative “wholesome American” values…and how he is learning to move past the fear of what will happen if he steps outside the lines in general, even though he already knows he hates those standards.

Mike’s “coming of age” arc is about finding the strength to choose the “path less traveled” in all areas of his life—even when it means (potentially) losing the support of the people he cares about. It’s about starting from a place of privilege and becoming okay with being outcasted from it in a way your insecurities never let you be before (which is inherently different than Will, who has always been shown to have some kind of support not just for his queerness but his artistic endeavors as well). Mike’s lack of support is why he starts from a place of deep insecurity, yes—but it’s also why him learning power of choosing to be himself, even if it means “losing” people when he’s honest about who (& what) he is will be universally powerful.

You don’t need to be queer to understand the power of what it means to know you will be okay even if people leave you. You don’t need to be queer to understand the power of stepping outside social expectations or your family’s way of raising you. You don’t even need to be queer to understand the weight of breaking up with someone you were only with to satisfy what you thought you should do, rather than be with who you want to.

The power of being strong enough to overcome your insecurities in order to “step out of line” and live and love as you want to is universal, and a stunningly brave choice no matter what or why you chose to do so. The fact that Will will be there waiting to love him in that honesty with himself is beautiful, yes—but it’s not the only lesson to be learned for Mike’s character.

Mike starting out with everything the world (or, at least America) tells would make you happy, realizing he is not happy with those things and rejecting them knowing it might have consequences is what makes his arc powerful, because he is learning (exactly like his sister Nancy) to be brave enough to accept those consequences (which for him are getting dumped, and feeling like he’s being left behind by some of his friends) to follow his own heart.

Even though The Duffers aren’t writing this into a tragic ending (aka: he’s not going to die or be left alone, because the duffers writing is inherently designed ro champion the outcast), these are the things that have (and will) make him relatable even to an audience that doesn’t know queerness. Erasing the fact that his lesson is the bravery it takes to follow your heart solely to talk about him liking guys (even Will) is to undermine his humanity, and the lessons to be learned from him by even the most general an audience.

TL:DR - the heteronormative aspect of Mike’s character is not the sole or even inherent issue within Mike, though heteronormativity is inherently built into his struggle.

There are deep dives on how his arc is also about a war against toxic patriarchy, toxic masculinity, emphasis on capitalistic and academic accomplishments over artistic ones, and even conformist relationships (whether they’re queer or not) that should be explored for his character—and I for one like him too much not to move out of just “this boy is queer because xyz” and into “let’s talk about Mike in terms of the wider scope of his cultural context and upbringing.” 🤷🏽‍♀️😂

[deus-ex-mona]

scrolled a little too far back on mogetwt and found pure gold:

[bunny-extract]

bestie I had things to do today. now I'm just thinking of feeding those big mfs with the full intention of bulking them up. with my cooking/baking skills it would not take long. (Source: friends with strongman types and do this for them willingly)

GOD them coming to you after their workout still dripping in sweat and telling you how good the place smells. Sitting together at the table and demolishing the whole spread you put out, moaning around their forks and lavishing you with praise. Watching them sink back into their seats with clean plates and hands resting over distended stomachs, wide smiles on their sleepy faces.

It's flattering how much they love your cooking. The praise, the adoration, the way they get a little sheepish asking if there's enough for second. The answer is always yes, you take good care to make enough to feed your personal army, but desert comes before seconds. It's tradition, and the cheesecake you'd made is sitting pretty in the fridge just for them.

Second tradition is that they help you clean, which is all the motivation you need to keep up this labor of love (as if the love wasn't enough). And it's not that your kitchen is the size of a broom closet or anything, but with all of them crammed in that space you're better off sitting back and admiring them work. Washing the dishes, wiping the counters, sweeping the floor. They brush and bump against each other the whole time, the ensuing and inevitable shoving match usually leading them to your couch, where they once again make the place look like a doll house.

They spread out on it like oversized dogs, leaving just enough room for you to squeeze in between. Everyone shuffles around until you're perfectly surrounded, keeping at least one hand on you at all times. Rubbing your feet, massaging your hand, stroking over your back until the combination of the heat, your full stomach and the soothing touches puts you to sleep. The hum of their quiet talking mistaken for the TV nobody bothered to turn on.

[festive-unserious-fellow]

La Dee Da Da Day from the Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals and We're Bringin It from Z-O-M-B-I-E-S: the Re-Animated Series are the same song I think

[birb--birb]

wisdom, pride, regret they're all connected and its making me cry

[cringevalue]

eddie is a conspiracy theorist who regularly tries to convince steve that the moon landing was faked solely to get children's hopes up and make them want to become astronauts when they rgow up and eddie is just angrrynbecause his father woud not allow him to go to space camp when he was seven and he's taking it out on the rest fo hte world.

"dude, it was eral"

"thats what they WANT YOU to believe, stev ie. stevie stevie stevei"

"eddie why would they fake it just tp trick kids??"

"to fund the industry, duh"

"???"

"the ASTRONUGT INDUSTRY"

[xylophxn]

The inside of my brain is just the trail to oregon on repeat.

[eyesore-boi]

Stranger Things'd your In Space with Markiplier Trailer

[PLEASE TURN ON AUDIO TO HEAR WHAT I MEAN]

So uh

Yeah

I may or may not have done a thing

So y'see- I had some free time in my Digital Media class the other day, and on the computers on there they had Premiere Pro, a progam I'm starting to learn, but now pretty know just the bare basics of.

So, with that knowledge, I decided to, reasonably, inact on an idea I had for a w h i l e which included getting the trailer In Space with Markiplier and putting the trailer music for Stranger Things 4 (Separate Ways) over it after finding out how incredibly well they worked together.

And so here we are-

I know it's not perfect, again just started learning how to use PremierePro, and a few places had to really squeeze/stretch it out to fit with the music, but I think I'm pretty happy with the end result!

Part of me is really satisfied to finally have this idea of mine put out, and ey! Who knows? Maybe I'll try this again one day with other trailers and trailer songs...already starting to get a few ideas...

But anyhoo till then, if you excuse me I'll let some brainrot consume me again, and hopefully with this trailer edit, it'll get to you again t o o -

[etdraconis]

( probably an unpopular opinion BUT: how the fuck did Alina choose Mal when Nikolai Lantsov was right there proposing to her looking like t h a t damn )

[ninjacreature]

recently ive been rewatching voltron and i decided to go through the tag for keith’s mom and

oh my god it’s misako all over again is this just something that happens everywhere