#just a couple a' metas being dudes

[void-of-unparalled-chaos]

Bun, I don't think you understand how fucking funny this panel is

The Battle Falcon Arc continues

Can u tell my love for masked character designs. Be it pull-overs or gas masks or helmets or the classic plague doctor mask, one can express so much with just two little squinty eyes.

Spreading more Duke and Danny friendship/romantic relationship/what-have-you in this cold cold world. Not enough Danny&Duke content out there so I'm breaking out the mixing bowl to bake some myself.

I just like these two hanging out together, they have such good chemistry :D

--------

p.s. the idea of Danny’s mask being a plague doc's mask comes from @void-of-unparalled-chaos

ppp.ssss. the inspo of this comic also comes from @transsunmoonwizzard ‘s tags on the original falcon post. big thanks to you both, hot choco for everyone <3

[aces-to-apples]

Frankly I think Alistair being mildly shitty to that mage in Ostagar seems pretty in-character for the guy he is before the massive, life-altering trauma that is the Ostagar massacre wherein he sees all of his Grey Warden comrades, his beloved mentor/father figure, and his beloathed half-brother/convenient-target-of-projection absolutely torn to shreds by literal Thedas boogeymen. IIRC Morrigan and Flemeth both comment on his wack behavior after Ostagar and then by the time we get to Lothering Alistair just fully surrenders any and all responsibility (and, frankly, agency) to the player's Warden for the foreseeable future. It can then take anywhere from a couple IRL hours to the entire second act of the game for him to retake almost any amount of it back. And depending on the player's choices in dialogue, and especially whether or not they choose to romance him, we may only see flashes of that guy we met at Ostagar before he potentially morphs into almost someone else entirely (hardened!King!Alistair). All that to say, I don't actually think it's a useful criticism of "characterization" to bring up Alistair's glibness as compared to his behavior in the majority of the game because from where I'm standing (looking directly at his snottiness about Cailan, his complaints about being assigned to the Tower of Ishal, his Templar-esque focusing on Morrigan and Flemeth being apostates, his generally pretty brusque manner with the Warden recruits) it seems fairly in-line with the rest of his behavior at Ostagar.

[dinosaurswant2rule]

The trouble with Galadriel and Sauron (what the show won't admit)

Before I get hate, I fully love these two as a couple, I ship them so hard as Sauron and Galadriel and Halbrand/Galadriel (although I would have loved it if Halbrand was just a "dude" with a tragic past not the source of evil incarnate)

Anyway my rant/analysis

I've read a lot of META analysis about TROP/Galadriel / her mistakes/not spotting Sauron for what he is etc / the mistakes blah blah blah

And while it's also fascinating, my big issue with the show and to a certain extent the analysis around her is that and I'm going to say this SUPER LOUD

SAURON IS RIGHT (in a way that doesn't for Celebrimbor or any of the other character he interacts with)

Yes Sauron absolutely manipulates Galadriel and she refuses to acknowledge a whole series of things.

But, for Galadriel, everything he says to her on the raft is absolutely true in a way that's not really true for anyone else.

Galadriel IS cast out by the elves for wanting more soldiers, for hunting an enemy that they think is gone even though she is TADA right as well. Sauron is not dead (Gil Galad grhhh) They don't listen to the commander whose hunted him for decades and led them across the battle field, they just say go away crazy cat lady - we'll just ship you off to Valinor.

And it just annoys me so much, that it's never really acknowledged EVER in the second series that she actually has a point

Sauron WAS NOT DEAD

That they put her directly in the path of someone when she is angry/damaged/still mourning a brother she lost a long time ago

And when they find out she is right, they have GALL to blame her for it utterly

Elrond AND Gil Galad both lay the blame entirely on her shoulders, no one ever really openly says, sorry Gal we put you in a super awkward position where you could have been open to Sauron's manipulation, that's on us and sorry for not believing you first time around.

Elrond - twat that he is (although I love him) sorta says sorry in between make out kisses at the last possible second, but it would have been nice for him to actually acknowledge it that Auntie Galadriel actually had a point.

He also has the nerve to say that she had the darkness calling to her/ that basically she was just an idiot falling for Sauron's tricks / is possibly corrupted herself

And Gil Galad never admits it either - still vaguely regarding her a sparkly flea he can't quite swat

And that she's somehow created another problem he's got to fix

While I totally admit that it's partly her fault, I just don't think the show is written as desperately fair to Galadriel and the second series suffers a lot from it.

After building her as the angry/damaged/virtually invincible soldier in the first series, the second series determinedly knocks her down a peg or two and the men folk take over (this is not helped by the fact that she no female relationships in the series) even though t hey are partly to blame for this mess.

I guess it frustrates me that the writing /the way the cast describe it - they tend to just go with the Galadriel made a horrible mistake and look at the consequences / she really did want what Sauron offered line

Anyway, back to Sauron, HE IS RIGHT, she is dumped by the elves and he is the only one who vaguely sees her as AN EQUAL, he actually finds her determination and obsession APPEALING rather than a turn off.

And it's seen as this monstrous thing, he's saying, but it's not really because he's being absolutely true

I SEE YOU AS AN EQUAL, AS MY MATCH (romantic or otherwise)

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

BECAUSE YOU'RE AMAZING

It's hardly a shock that Galadriel found this appealing because literally no man in her immediate world has ever really acknowledged in this way before and by the end of the series, he stills wants her!

(and in my opinion even after the roundhouse kick to the face)

(this might be one of the reasons her connection is so deep with him)

Celembrimbor on other hand, Sauron plays on his vanity/his desperation/his loneliness? as well as his basic good nature, but he doesn't really ever hit the nail on the head in terms of his situation (cause frankly Brimby is living a decent life)

Sorry this always bugs me when I watch it/read it

Just had to ran this out, much love to the TROP fandom and HALADRIEL and SAURONDIEL too, you're all amazing

Elsa out x

[mofsblog]

Uh oh, I got reminded TFGraves exist and I'm mentally ill and going to make it YOUR problem!! (Translation: I'm going to gosh about them)

They just mean so much to me? And they just feel soo?? Special?? And unique on a meta level as well? It's already one thing that they are a canonised mlm pairing because historically those ones tend to be more controversial because it tends to make cishet dudes (aka leagues main demographic) more uncomfortable because cant fetishise it (also yes they're not Technically "together" but idc its explicitly canon they have feelings for eachother). It's another that both are surprisingly developed and nuanced charaters (could go on for hours about how theyre both self destructive and have abandonment issues and repress their feelings in very different ways) that are morally ambiguous and have a complex and multifaceted relationship with eachother and yeah i know league lore is subject to retcons and having differet writers but idk. i think its impressive we got two nuanced developed queer male characters WITH A COMPLICATED AND DEVELOPED RELATIONSHIP WITH EACHOTHER in a game known for its bigotted player base. Another thing i fucking love about this ship is how the riot writers were like "what if we subverted some tropes and made the more flamboyant one implied pan and we made the traditionally masculine one, who highkey has toxic masculinity, gay". BUT ALSO HIS TOXIC MASCULINITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS QUEERNESS. like yes he cant express his feelings directly to save his life but the fact he's a gay man is completely not relevant to that and he's canonically had a bunch of ex boyfriends and is canonically a monsterfucker/hj. I'm not over how they took a pretty cishet masculine thing and made queer. Like the rough outlaw who hates talking about his feelings and is out for violent revenge on those who've wronged him..... except the guy who's "wronged" him is actually his best friend who he has mutual feelings for and also he fucks men. IDK THAT MAKES ME HAPPY. im insane.

moving on to other thing i like about them is that the sheer range this ship has??? Like yes there's gut wrenching fucked up dynamic that drives you crazy as you pyschoanalyse and unpack the layers of all of THAT. "that" being the fact a man thought he got abandoned by his best friend and got tortured and isolated in prison for 10 years and during those 10 years the only thing that kept him from killing himself was the sheer rage and want for vengence (towards someone he probably had repressed romantic feelings for) AND THEN WHEN HE GOT THE CHANCE TO KILL HIM, HE COULDNT BRING HIMSELF TO DO IT 💀 (im literally never going to be normal about that) and during those 10 years the other man actually got all of their mutual friends killed in an attempt to save him and the survivors guilt fucked him up so bad its implied he failed trying to drown himself so he changed his entire name and personhood instead to isolate himself from the soul crushing guilt of it. BUT DESPITE THAT ANGST, there's a surprising amount of domesticity and comfort with this ship??? No like you'd think these two would be friends to enemies to lovers BUT NO, theyre actually friends to enemies to friends to friends who are fucking pinning for eachother like crazy. Despite the angsty dynamic these two also have the best friends who have known eachother for ages and who everyone think is dating but both are oblivious or dont believe the other feels the same BUT THEY ALSO HAVE opposites attract bickering marriage couple who constantly tease and banter with eachother. like the range is crazy

No but I feel like something that makes me emotional about this is that they tried to kill eachother and badly hurt eachother unintentionally but like, instead of being homophobic about it and making them just hate eachother forever and never reconcicle (which like those ships are amazing and valid and also thats literally another league ship/hj), the writers made them make up???? AND LIKE? HEAL? KINDA? Like no they havent worked through everything and no neither of them like talking about their feelings but they're "partners" again and they have this really domestic understanding of eachother and theyre managing and theyre bantering like they used to and theyre literally so comfortable around eachother and look, graves isnt tormented by his time in prison as much anymore and hes just a genuinely goofy criminal dumbass who robs people and cracks jokes that irriate his partner AND IDK ITS SO DOMESTIC AND FUNNY? BUT IT DOESNT FEEL OUT OF CHARACTER. THESE TWO JUST ARE IN A GOOD PLACE DESPITE EVERYTHING AND IDK THAT MAKES ME HAPPY???? why did league of legends make compelling queer ship

[nearlysurvived]

1.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, chapter 13, 'Nicolas Flamel', page 236: " 'Nicolas Flamel,' she whispered dramatically, 'is the only known maker of the philosopher's stone!' [...] The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

2.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, chapter 5, 'Diagon Alley', page 70:" 'Course,' said Hagrid 'They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if there ever was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, asking fer advice.' "

3.

He recruits James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew shortly after they leave Hogwarts.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, quote by goodread:

"Do you see, Harry? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now? I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid, that I must avoid.”

“I don’t —”

“I cared about you too much,” said Dumbledore simply. “I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.

“Is there a defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have — and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined — not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands."

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/383116-do-you-see-harry-do-you-see-the-flaw-in

you know what. i bet dippet wasn't the only person dumbledore lobbied against giving riddle a job. and dumbledore is hugely influential and well connected. no wonder tom couldn't get anything other than a position at borgin and burkes.

[buddiekinard]

so i've seen plenty of buddietommy fic/meta where it's bucktommy bringing Eddie in, but not much with buddie bringing Tommy in. what's a way you could see that happening?

i think, there's a world where buddie is already canon in season 7. they meet tommy and both of them are instantly a bit starry-eyed over this hot pilot. eddie because they have all of these things in common, their military past and all the things they enjoy. buck because of the dumb fake mouth static and the cleft. and they talk about it and honestly, they're not even sure if he'd be interested.

it starts with eddie hanging out with him. just being friends and he doesn't have an ulterior motive but when they're hanging out he does you know - gauge things. or whatever. and then meanwhile buck still calls for the hanger tour. so they just, you know. make a friend. and tommy is like hm. not trying to get between this couple but their kid even likes him so it's fine and then eventually they all hang out together.

maybe it starts with a night where they all have a bit to drink and wind up in bed and tommy is like oh fuck i am not just gonna be this married-whatever-not married but married couple's fun little thing because tommy wants to find LOVE he wants a RELATIONSHIP and they're clearly just into him because he's hot so after they sleep together he kind of backs off a little and eddie and buck are like wtaf because they thought it was good! they hung out with him and he met their son and why isn't he into them anymore and he's not even returning their calls.

so lets say this is also a world where chim's bachelor party/madney's wedding goes according to plan and chim is not tormented any more. so they invite him to chim's bachelor party and the party actually happens. so when tommy arrives it's actually kind of fun and there's karaoke and little mini burgers and the two of them are hanging off of him a little making him the center of their night and even chimney keeps giving the three of them looks.

when tommy ends up having to leave for work buck gives him That Look like please come to the wedding, we promise it'll be fun, and we told chim we were bringing you and eddie nods like yes *we* and tommy just nods and says he'll do his best but he's a little confused because it sounds like a date and not just a proposition for another threesome.

so the next day tommy doesnt make the wedding but he gets there just in time for the first dance and buck and eddie see him and rush up to him and group hug like oh god you made it and then he's like yeah, i did. so they chat a bit and at a point he's just like look, i don't really know what this is but i don't want to be some, like, sex toy thing you guys are using because you're having problems or something and buck and eddie look at each other and burst out laughing because they???? problems???? no and they're like tommy kinard we just LIKE you and we've been trying to DATE you for WEEKS and he's like oh. cos the thing is tommy isn't STUPID and he sees how it all could look like that but also he's not trying to make assumptions or get between a relationship like there, you know?

anyway they laugh fondly and pull him onto the dancefloor, both of them, and everyone else is like wtf when did buck and eddie get a boyfriend but everyone just shrugs it off and tommy gets his romcom with two really hot dudes.

that got away from me.

[eldritchwaffless]

A couple of months ago I came up with a campaign idea/concept, a sort of isekai/Meta Game (a game within a game sort of deal) mainly inspired by Solar Opposites C Plot "The Wall".

Essentially the plot of the game would be that a group of player joined a weird DND via like an online LFG, and once they joined and met at the location they all faint. They wake up in a medieval fantasy tavern as their characters, isekai style but every NPC is acting strange... Suddenly the roof gets grabbed by some giant hand, which turns out to belong to the GM who is a witch that shrunk the player and turned them into their characters so that they could play DND. All the NPC are also some random people that she shrunk and turned into characters and the whole map is like a huge series of interconnected terrariums that she as made. At first the game would be quite meta, with the players literally "Larping" while the "in game DM" throws the dices and narrates. I would personally allow metagaming in situations were the PCs are playing because they might know rules and such but they'd need to roll to make sure that the "in game DM" does not noticed that they're meta gaming. Each encounter could have some meta like

Bandits: Give me all your gold or I'll gut you like a chicken!

DM From above: Like a fish

Bandit: *sight* like a fish...

Other situations could be like;

DM: Suddenly a dragon appears! *drops gecko in the terrarium*

Players: *genuinely panicking*

DM: Guys chill. Guys. Guys! I won't let it actually attack you!

Gecko: *grabs some random NPC and shakes them around*

DM: Kiwi! Kiwi let go! LET GO!!

Eventually the game could become about the PCs trying to escape and find help and this becomes like a Borrowers style campaign!

Edit: I just thought of that, alot of the NPCs could have been players that she didn't like, like edgelords or "That Guy" or just people she didn't like. So you could have that random quest giver NPC trying to take the spotlight or the bartender being this overly edgy brooding dude, etc

[1000sunnygo]

Saw someone trying to claim that cora secretly resented his birth dad (too lazy to correctly spell the man’s name) and like nah dude. That’s the main reason he ran away. He still loved his dad and never blamed him. Because I think despite everything he saw his dad as good hearted and correct, just painfully naiive. I sometimes wonder if doflamingo ever truly hated their dad. Resents the hell out of him, hated his actions, blames him for his childhood miseries and stone cold in his murder. But their dad was never presented in a hatable way, at least from my reading.

Agreed, Homing wasn't presented in a hateable way. Oda designed him as an elegant-looking fellow in spite of being a regular Tenryubito and that says enough. The Donquixote couple were the only Celestial Dragons who couldn't be brainwashed into becoming egocentric psychopaths even though they were born and raised at Mariejeoise, they owe some respect.

The criticisms of Homing's personality comes from our own judgement of his character and not from canon narration, shoutout to @eroguron0nsense for this meta summarizing his flaws. Frankly speaking, I think Homing was doomed to die. Being killed by his own son just adds a layer of irony, it wasn't a dignifying way to go.

As for Rosi, he clearly held a high opinion of his father:

"How was such a monster born in the family of such kind hearted mother and father? I don't get it. He's not a human."

.

In fact, I doubt Rosi ever pondered about his father's naivety at all. There's no point in digging the faults of a humble father who died long ago, considering that a greater evil (still) existed in their bloodline who inflicted much bigger pain in his childhood. Rosi's most severe loss in his childhood was his parent's deaths, not the lavish life at Mariejeoise.

Point to note is that a six year old's cognitive development is still underway, a ten y/o on old on the other hand, has evolved a lot. Rosi wasn't be able to judge his parent's character the same way his brother could. I've wondered, if Rosi were around Doffy's age, would he be influenced by Doffy's ideas a lot more, like most younger siblings? Probably not, since Rosi's thought process is fundamentally different from Doffy's. He's hotheaded and impulsive, but he's not vengeful. Rosi enlisted as a marine to save civilians in spite of being poorly treated as a child, and knowing that they'd hate him if they knew about his bloodline. I can't imagine Law or Doffy doing the same. Rosi is a humanitarian who held a deep sense of justice (passed from Sengoku and kindhearted parents) - that neither of those two had.

Having a bit of thought experiment, if Law as a child were in Doffy's position, I can see him resenting his father - not for losing the family status but for endangering his family's life (and the death of his mother). But I don't think he would've been manipulated by bad adults into killing his father. I see Rosi's driving force his morality (returned to his brother to stop him to save the civilians), Doffy's is self importance (would throw away anyone for his own cause), and Law's is love (extreme protectiveness of those he loves). No matter what, Law wouldn't be risking the safety (and sanity) of his younger sister.

Back on track... does Doffy truly hate his father?

Yes, he does.. in a complex way. Doffy still considers Homing's actions to be the source of his miseries. But I believe "family" means something profound to Doffy. Regardless of what happened or how much he hates him, Homing is HIS father, and that by default means he's a human of a higher value.

Doffy made this particular way of execution, to shoot with his flintlock, somewhat ritualistic and specific for those he deems as his family. As he said in chapter 769, he sees it as a form of redemption.

"But, I shall forgive you! The same way I forgave my real father and brother: with death!!"

He doesn't want to hate them, so he 'punishes' them and forgives them, which in his self centered mind is a form of entitlement.

The answer got a lot bigger than I expected shdhd thanks for reading my rambling though o7

[x-for-a-y]

re: my last post (again) here are my thoughts on what kind of reasonable lasting or short-term effects being goners would have on the doatk cast in a post-canon revival setting:

jake: i already headcanon him as being disabled, something akin to chronic fatigue or insomnia or POTS. so getting all the wires out... either his preexisting conditions make recovery harder or the lasting effects themselves are mainly just exacerbating his old issues. but regardless. rollator jake real guptill: the main thing he'd have to deal with is just being fucking Out Of It. getting used to having direct, normal control over his body again. like in the long-term he'll be alright it's just going to be a rough first few days being back in his body edmund: this would be easier to determine if he were less ambiguously human from the get-go so. fuck it. heightened allergen sensitivity acquired star warriors: kirby bounces back fine, he just needs a few days to relax some, and his friends like bandana dee notice he's more tired & give him some help & kindness. meta knight also probably could use some time off but he's not going to give himself any, & his crew certainly can't get him to, so eventually dedede's the one who buckles down and makes sure all his buddies are feeling well again demo: she's fine. i don't have anything else to say hamood: now on one hand that's a fucked up transformation. on the other hand that's a lot more to clearly get reset back to normal. & on the other hand he's, what, 5? i think he does end up with slightly out-of-whack proportions from all this- his wings in particular turn out on the side of too large -but it'd probably take another 8 years for stuff like corrective surgery or just physical therapy & shit to be considered at: unfortunately i never watched this show so while the long-term effects are pretty up in the air i don't think the short-term effects are any worse than what can be covered in, like, a couple episode's time. like maybe jake needs a good pep talk or two from people to feel comfortable in his body again & finn has to learn to not run away from his issues. something like that kebian + will: will goes home and vents a little about the experience to his partner(s? i don't watch all his stuff). kebin, meanwhile, only turns to a bit of introspection out of competitiveness for what ian does, and thinks to himself that maybe the wall is a little fucked up then goes no further; ian takes up yoga/other mindfulness-focused athletics in order to feel more at home in his body. korone: probably spends the first few days aching like a motherfucker, the sort of full-body soreness you only get from like climbing a mountain or a way-too-intense workout. once it stops hurting to breathe she probably goes back to gaming just to keep her mind off stuff & maybe picks up streaming again not long after but it's at least a couple weeks before she's at base physical performance again. morty: dude i don't know. i think it makes the most sense for him to fuck off & resume a lifestyle of peaceful hedonism & self-care. no way he's going to start being introspective about stuff until he's like. 40. i don't watch the show dreem himself i have nothing to say about but, going with the assumption that the puppet, me, & you are all versions of the same person: physically i can just say they deal with generally reduced stamina, mentally meanwhile. for their own health & safety they log the fuck off most places and try to enjoy the music they like without getting bogged down in the awkwardly online social kinds of things and then. i don't know, some kingdom hearts shit happens to it- it spends time offline & otherwise with friends trying to figure out its own emotions -and it regrows a heart/soul. mozart: he got hit with the hypermobility beam! oh shit! knee braces wrist braces a brace for the spine, you name it he uses it. bonus roommate: two dimensional in the adam ruins everything animated insert way. yeah it's fucked up. yeah he'll never fully be, like, a regular human.

[andromeda3116]

dude yesterday was a fucking trip

so there's this guy at work on the other side (a branch of the lab that i don't directly work with), hardcore trumper, total control freak self-righteous asshole kind of person who brags about how many guns he has, like a real piece of work

and he bought, on black friday, a pair of meta smart glasses, and, supposedly, wore them to work

now, i heard about this tuesday, and my instant thought was "oh my GOD the hipaa violations there" because we see so much phi, like, constantly, like everything that we see is phi

and the person who was telling me about this was like "i don't think they're going to do anything about his behavior"

but i was like "okay but hipaa. like. HIPAA."

so i sent an email to a couple of the people over there saying, basically, hey, i heard about this, i think they're not really looking at this from a hipaa perspective, because like it's more than just a violation of your privacy, it's a violation of patient privacy, here's a link to the policy i think he's violated, i believe it should be reported to institutional compliance (who is above hr) and action needs to be taken but since i didn't directly see it, i'm not going to jump the gun on this unless you ask me to

and somehow

somehow

he saw the email

best guess is that one of two people i sent it to walked away from the computer with her email up, he saw his name in the subject line, and he read it, and assumed that i had reported him to hr

and he fucking exploded

the next morning he sent this rambling, raging email to both me and the girl who told me about this, calling her a pathological liar and sarcastically saying shit about how i think i'm the purveyor of truth and how if i think i'm such a great patient advocate then i should report all these other incidents (of human error, which even in his email admitted to being fixed before they could affect patient care) by all these other people, that could have cost the hospital millions of dollars (incidents, i should note, that he did nothing about) and basically all-around just being completely unhinged and, frankly, scary

and he fucking cc-ed our manager, his boss, and the medical director

he was so convinced that he was in the right, that he fucking cc-ed his own management with his ranting

the manager replied with something to the effect of "i understand that you're upset but this is not the way we talk to coworkers" and quietly cc-ed an hr representative on the email

the manager and the medical director both came up independently to ask if i was okay, the manager assured me that, yes, i did everything exactly right, and that hr was absolutely going to address it, and he commented that it was kind of good that this came out this way

because i mean. nobody caught him with the glasses. all the complaints about him are hearsay. he can wriggle out of anything... except this over the top rant at someone who was following red-letter company policy, which hr has now seen in all its fucking glory, in his own written words

so yeah. we got to watch someone absolutely implode and (hopefully) destroy their career all in real time

(i showed the email to a friend who is also in the field, who said that she was about to text her boss - who knows all the hiring managers in the area, it's a small field- to blacklist this guy. i sent her the email so that she can show her boss exactly what he said, and explain the situation in-depth. so yeah. fucking nuked his career.)

...but of course that leads to the tertiary concern, that this dude has guns. like, multiple guns. i told the medical director that me and the other girl in the email were legitimately afraid because of that and how he'd talked about them, and he said jesus in a tone of, like, oh this is gonna need the police to escort this dude out and get a fucking restraining order holy shit

haven't heard anything today, but uh. that's what's going on in my world right now.

[trutrustories]

STUDY IN LOKI ROMANCE

Part 3: 1893

Since we're only a few days away from the last episode, I decided to COUNT DOWN everything we´ve got so far ( that can be interpreted very easily as romantic ) and discuss what the actual fuck is going on with second season. Because even though I shipped lokius practically from S1E2, I absolutely did NOT expect this kind of development. (Not that I´m complaining)

Warning: This is gonna be LONG post, lots of screenshots, lots of SPOILERS, lot of "oh-my-god-they-so-cute" language, and little bit of meta.

I originally thought that this post would be everything at once, but since I have just too many screenshots this time around, I´ll have to split it. so every post will be one episode. Color coding means:

IIIIIIIIII = anything, that coud potentialy be just acting choice.

IIIIIIIIII = everything else (tzn.: whatever was written, and/or carefully prepared by filmmakers. )

side note: I already wrote, about how amazing it is, that Mobius is unable to fight but fights anyway and how beautifuly, and ridiculously brave he is HERE. But this is about Loki/Mobius interactions, so I´ll try my best not to talk about THAT. (Even when I´m really happy, that s2 continues with this formula and Mobius is still his completely defenseless while aggressively brave self. I love him, btw.)

EPISODE 1 HERE EPISODE 2 HERE

Episode 3, here we go:

22) matching suits part 2 anyone, who work on those costumes: I want to kiss you all!

23) Another exhibition of touches:

the challange name is: "how close we can get, before we sink into each other"

24) "And they lived happily ever after..." They had some lokius fan in the editing room, I´m telling ya! This retro movie style transition... THAT is my roman empire...

like seriously? what is the purpose of this? I can´t wrap my head around it. someone just thought that it is really crucial to end this scene with two of them in a circle. OK.

but WHY?

It was LITTERALY used only once! (I´m sorry, but as someone, who works as an editor, this just driving me crazy 🤒🫠)

25) Loki and Mobius enjoying popcorn:

I have several things to say here:

ever heard about when one person is "forced" to have fun for the first time, and to try new things by the other person, and he´s protesting and is all about work and serious matters, but secretly loves it and is visibly relaxed and happy? - Because I´m sure this is some bloody romantic comedy trope, that everyone have seen about hundred times!

"Oh look, you have a piece of food on the chin, let me just…"

I know I already said this somewhere, but, this is the moment, where in my language suddenly (completely randomly) switched from formal way of speaking to each other to intimate way of speaking to each other. (I´m Czech, btw, and I have no idea, what happened in that recording studio but it had to be interesting)

26) Also... Bickering like married couple (part 3)

27) "You know sometimes I forget, that you are one of them... Blows my mind!"

Mobius being Loki´s fan.

Also yeas. Loki is one of them. God. And Mobius is a small, normal dude. JUST A HUMAN. Analyst, even! And they´re eating popcorn together.... also Loki will do whatever Mobius wishes

28) another "let´s be as close as we physically can" challange

Loki can´t keep only eye on him. he needs hands, because reasons

29) Mobius supporting Loki in using magic...

... or I should say Loki using Magic, whenever Mobius wishes, because...

"Will you handle this please?" "Gently!"

And on top of that... not him, explaining, what just happened, to the public, by: "The amazing Loki, everyone! He´ll be here all week! 🥳🥳🥳"

who the heck asked, Mobius? stop showing off with your magical boyfriend

30) Victor/Ravonna - the most transparent mirror ever:

THIS scene? Are you kidding? Ravonna running towards Victor: "Mr Timley! are you okay? And Mobius running practicly at the same time towards Loki with: You allright?" and both helping their man up on their feet?! IN SYNC! this is too much.

WTF

31) THE BIKE THIS. this is the most GREENLY green point, I can think of. Someone had to have this vision. This idea. And put it in to screenplay. Someone had to find the bike. Someone was shooting this. Camera is moving around them. And they were all like GREAT idea, let´s have them riding tandem bike while chasing Ravonna and Timely, that makes complete sense! (even when we have Loki chasing Brad USING MAGIC one episode back) anyway... ever heard about "let´s do this crazy stupid thing - absolutely not - and then they do the thing" trope?

32) Loki going with Mobius, not even thinking about it anymore.

And to think, that I was expecting something like S01E03 (Lamentis episode)! Once again, I wasn´t prepared for amount of Lokius content I was actually served. What a surprise! 🤯

[fincalinde]

for your ask meme: wei wuxian?? 👀

Since I've got some new followers over the past couple of days (who knew what branching out from Xiyao would do for my reputation!), I'll once again add the disclaimer that I write MDZS meta and not CQL meta. I'm aware that in CQL, WWX is characterised somewhat differently. I have thoughts on that too, but I'm not immersed enough in CQL to commit to sharing them publicly.

Since WWX is the main character and appears in almost every scene, I won't attempt to write a thesis statement on him. (You cannot afford my hourly rate.) Instead I've decided to focus on an aspect of WWX that I feel is often overlooked or sanitised. That is to say:

WWX is extremely annoying.

He's not just irritating, or overly exuberant, or a touch too arrogant. He is infuriatingly obnoxious.

Obviously WWX is also brave and often well-meaning. He loves deeply, even if he consistently lets down the people who care about him. He's strong-willed enough to abide by his own sense of morality in the face of overwhelming disapproval and danger, and arrogant enough to make unilateral decisions when it would be better for all concerned if he took a step back. He's bad at big picture thinking and rarely considers the full ramifications of his actions, but he's also incredibly adept at getting out of scrapes, and he has an admirable if also somewhat depressing ability to shrug off pain and suffering that is the result of his difficult days on the streets and his mistreatment by YZY. 

And he's obnoxious.

I do think it often gets forgotten, because Wangxian is intended to be a love story and it's much more tempting to write sweeping romance and charming banter than hark back to all the canonical moments in which characters, including LWJ, genuinely want to throttle him to death.

He never shuts up! He's constantly laughing far too loudly and for too long. He's the sort of person who thinks it's funny to pull the rug out from under someone in a conversation so they end up discomfited and embarrassed. I fully understand that a large part of his hectoring LWJ is a precursor to his later romantic interest and is in line with his flirtation style, but the fact remains that he goads LWJ beyond the point of endurance on multiple occasions. LWJ just happens to be a weird dude who's really into it.

A good example of what I mean is when Wangxian encounter each other at Phoenix Mountain. WWX asks LWJ if he's ever kissed someone, then proceeds to speculate that LWJ has never been kissed and will never be kissed. LWJ doesn't seem to mind this at first, and only becomes angered when WWX lies about having been kissed before himself (oh LWJ), but it's important to remember that WWX has no idea that LWJ has any interest in him whatsoever. From WWX's perspective, he's just having fun belittling someone else over a topic that for most young people is a sensitive one. I don't want to oversell this moment and claim that it's bullying, actually, but I do want to use it to highlight that WWX is not always a considerate person and this type of behaviour is teeth-achingly thoughtless and cringeworthy.

I could go on, but if you pick any given scene including WWX you're likely to see dialogue in which he's being actively annoying to other characters, intentionally or otherwise. This isn't an attack on him, just an observation that in order to write him in a canon consistent manner he should be not just witty and chatty in a way where other characters simply roll their eyes and keep going. He should genuinely actually aggravate them and it should have consequences within the scene. Characters such as JC and WQ care about WWX but also find him infuriating, and that's with good reason—never mind the juniors, whom WWX takes pleasure in messing with. There are many characters who feel great respect and affection for WWX, and every single one of them also regularly feels deep frustration and irritation towards him too. There should be some meat on the bones of any back and forth between them.

[aleksanderscult]

Part 1 of Aleksander Morozova being a jealous bitch

Here's a long ass meta (I awaited for this moment for so long) where I'll post and comment each scene where the Darkling gets jealous. 'Cause let's be real, we love to see it.

Cut below since it's too long (he seriously gets jealous even five minutes in every scene he appears🤦)

(Part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and the bonus content btw🖤)

Let's dive in!

"A grim smile playing on his lips."

Yeah it's grim 'cause he forces himself to smile in order to hide the pain and hurt from just seeing the girl he unintentionally fell in love with have a romantic scene with a deserter tracker, but still be doesn't succeed in putting a good i-dont-give-a-fuck show so now we have this failed effort.

Next!

Translation: "Are you so loyal to her? Willing to do anything for her? LIKE I WAS??"

The low-key spite and snide that comes out here is *CHEF'S KISS*.

Aside from the jealousy matter, the Darkling here tries to manipulate Mal by using fear. With the threat of death. He's testing to see his bravery, courage and how far he's willing to go for Alina. Clever.

THE PETTINESS HERE DJDJSKJSJS

Okay he obviously wants to lower their confidence, strength and break apart the bond that Mal and Alina had re-created the past few days. Again clever.

BUT!

No one can tell me that he also wasn't bitter and vengeful. He was like: "Aww they have rekindled their romance! How sweet! Now watch me destroy it🥰🥰"

"That was a very touching scene we witnessed".

Translation: "I'm disgusted. I'm in pain."

Actually, this is how I imagine the Darkling being when Mal and Alina kissed 😭:

Also, his (famous) sexual innuendos. He knew that Alina would never say to Mal what truly happened between them. So he's "spitting" it on Mal's face with such pleasure and satisfaction (like "she willingly gave herself to ME, boy. Did she tell you that? No. I don't think so"). And even though they obviously didn't have sex he implies it 'cause he's petty like that.

You know. For being famous for his acting skills, he really lets his mask slip easily lots of times.

Aside from anger, he must have felt hurt. This is the first time that Alina recoils from his touch and it bothers him.

The Darkling here being like:

He's acting like they were a couple and had a break up LMAO. The way he doesn't even look at her. Such a dramatic bitch.😔

The Darkling: "Lord, give me patience not to obliterate a bitch (Mal)".

His patience runs out. The fact that the first thing Alina asks him about is Mal makes him want to lash out. He be like: "I'll be so glad when I'll feed his ass to the volcra."

The moment he instructs her what to do, he demands answers about her thoughts for Mal. He's genuinely curious about what she sees in him. And how can she have hopes about being with him, an otkazat'sya, a mortal man that is beneath her? When the only person, according to him, that would understand her and accept her completely is himself (Dude we get it, you're superior 😭).

Also, he's trying to save her from a future disappointment. He has walked this path before and doesn't want Alina to do the same. He has seen this play and didn't like the ending.

So! This is part 1 of my long meta since I can't put more than 10 pictures in a post *shakes fist at Tumblr*. But don't worry. I'll continue this delightful meta in the next few days.😊😊

[ladykailitha]

I would like to rant about something. It's been awhile since I've done that and it's been kinda bubbling under the surface for a long time.

Again: you can headcanon whatever the fuck you want, this just my "takes me out of a story" thing.

There have been a couple posts that I've seen going around lambasting people for using other names for Eddie then Edward (Edwin, Edison, Edmond etc) when it's on his missing poster as Edward Munson.

Only there is a couple things wrong with that.

One: Not everyone goes through every frame of the show and are actual causal viewers! I know, shocking! (heavy sarcasm here, folks) I personally had seen the missing poster gifed and screenshotted a billion times and never caught that they had his first and last name until someone pointed it out.

Two: it lists Eddie's age at 17. So how well can trust it, really? I know I've seen several takes from production getting the age wrong, to Wayne making him younger so people care, to Kas theory, to even Eddie being one of the kids that went missing before Will and his age is listed as what it would have been in 1983 (which could go either supernatural or Wayne just used the old missing poster from then).

So until there is something ELSE in the show that shows his name AS Edward, you can call him whatever you want, because canon just tells us that his name is Eddie.

So why am I bringing this up?

Because the people going around shouting this bit of information tend to also people who will use one or the other or even both of the next headcanons in their meta/fanfics.

1- Eddie CAN'T swim. This one always takes me out of the story when I see it because we have TWO on screen events that show him swimming. The first is the one most people forget. When Jason and his friends chase Eddie out onto the lake and he falls in. If he couldn't swim, dude would have DIED. But he makes it to Skull Rock. The second time is jumping after Steve. Trust as someone who can't swim, there is no way he would go jumping in after Steve if he couldn't. He would go back to shore and let the kids know what was going on.

So I tend to back out of a fic when I see it, because if you're off about that aspect of his character, I'm not sure I want to read further because what else might they get wrong about him.

2- This one is a doozy for me because it really makes me mad. When they say Wayne is Eddie's mom's brother.

"While all the other dads were teaching their kids to fish or to play ball...my old man was teaching me how to hotwire. Now I swore to myself I wouldn't wind up like he did, but now I'm wanted for murder and soon grand theft auto so...uh, yeah really living up to that Munson name."

Right, I had to transcribe the whole phrase because IMDb only had the hotwiring part. Because it's that last part that is so important to my point. Now I don't know if there are other ways to interpret that line, but if Wayne's last name is Munson and Eddie talks about living up to the Munson name...wouldn't the logic follow that Eddie's dad (named Allen Munson in the Stranger Things: First Shadow play and that's how I'll refer to him from now on to make it easier to type) is also a Munson? So if Wayne, Allen, and Eddie all share the same name wouldn't that make Wayne and Allen brothers?

Now, I think I know where this logic that Wayne is related to Eddie's mom and not his dad, is because how could sweet, hardworking Wayne be related to criminal, most likely in jail Al? Because I don't know who needs to hear this: but even growing up poor in a family that isn't known for its honest living (not that I think all the Munsons are like Al, by the way) one can still chose not to follow in those footsteps. Hell, Wayne could have even straightened up FOR Eddie.

Hell we know more about Eddie's dad then we do his mom. The only thing we know is that she isn't around to take care of Eddie. Dead, in jail, or just doesn't give a damn, she's not in Eddie's life.

So yeah, it upsets me because to me it smacks a little classist. Good guy Wayne can't be related to criminal Al *clutches pearls!* He absolutely is.

/end rant

[waitmyturtles]

Alright, I was a little late in watching Be My Favorite, episode 9, but I’m all caught up and here’s the late meta: @lurkingshan, I know you hipped to me that the episode was sad, and it was, definitely, but also -- I found to be uplifting, and not just because of that RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS dialogue between Kawi and Pisaeng at the end of the episode (could Gawin BE ANY BETTER in this show?! GODDAMN).

But first, a couple quick notes. I didn’t have time to pay my respects through the reblogs earlier yesterday, so: yes to the fat-coding discussion re: Kwan (agree with you, @lurkingshan and @jjsanguine) -- amazing dialogue at the link, and my theory on Not x Kwan is that Not is meant to represent TOTAL heteronormativity, which isn’t a stretch for him, obviously. (When characters are written to be so DESPICABLE, it gets me thinking that the character is actually written really fucking well.)

In this instance, if we are to compare Kawi to Not: Kawi, through his reflections on the future and the past, is slowly working on changing himself (more on this in a moment re: the uplifting bit). He’s learning through his mistakes that he’s either made and/or knows he COULD have made.

Not, I think, represents society’s disinclination to either change, and/or to change AND accept the change of others. I write about behavioral change a lot, because it’s really fucking hard to do, AND people who try to change in their micro- or macro-communities often have a tremendously hard time being accepted... kinda like coming out of a closet, as Kawi and Pisaeng’s relationship is revealed against their will, and Kawi immediately clocks that it’s Not who’s behind it. As well, referring back to the fat-coded discussion re: Kwan -- I get the sense that Not would “never see Kwan that way,” because the fat-coding around Kwan would signal that Not is “lowering his standards” about women, which could affect his reputation with his guy friends. His behavior, I think, is loathsome precisely because it’s rooted in such perfectly delineated heteronormativity -- from spotting Kawi and Pisaeng *not* kissing, to assuming they kissed, to narc-ing to Pear about it, to telling his dudes the next day in class with people around, to knowing that Kawi overheard it. He’s just -- playing the perfect biased het dude, to a tee. Not is playing his own role in society as he believes it should function.

Which is why I, along with hopefully everyone in the fandom (lol) loved that Pear rejected him. And I’d call that moment an uplifting one for Pear. We know, in a different scenario, that Pear leaving Kawi COULD HAVE MEANT that she ended up with Not.

Instead, in what’s being presented to us as the active and live world of Kawi’s current truth, Pisaeng had the opportunity to confirm to Pear the HONEST truth about his relationship with Kawi. In the Kawi-is-a-rock-star alt-reality -- Kawi was holding back from Pear, keeping his feelings away from her, and putting himself first. She wasn’t presented with truth from others, and thus led herself to believe that being with Not, in marriage, was going to be the right decision for her and the baby they had conceived of. 

In the current, we’re-still-in-university reality, her friends -- Pisaeng and Kawi -- are honest with her. They both cannot give her the heterosexual love that she desires from a man. Not appears. And she rejects him. 

This is such a complicated and, to me, lovely “reality” to contemplate, and links tremendously with what Pisaeng was saying to Kawi at the end of the show. Reflecting back on the earlier episodes: Kawi could not save his dad. Kwan might be heartbroken. And Pear is heartbroken, twice -- maybe even three times, from her mom, from Pisaeng, and from Kawi. 

Kawi demonstrates through his changing behavior that drinking ain’t gonna solve these problems. Even Pisaeng confirms that, too. 

The show, instead, is inching a bit closer, not to absolute truth, as I dissected when I first binged through episode 7, but instead to a kind of truth that is as best as you can make it, while working on making your life better. 

@sparklyeyedhimbo​ noted that Nietzsche came thru again in this episode (THANK YOU, friend @chickenstrangers, for hipping me to the link!). The quote behind Kawi and Pisaeng is from “Thus Spake Zarathustra”: “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”

As Pisaeng said, and I paraphrase: if you want to be happy, you gotta do the work. If you want OTHERS to be happy.... you gotta do the work of making YOURSELF HAPPY, *FIRST.*

And I find that message UTTERLY uplifting, and I think Pear took some of that with her when she walked away from Pisaeng and Kawi to stand up for herself with Not, and to not compromise on her values to potentially be him. I thought that was badass. Pear has a life of change ahead of her.

One final note. Pisaeng’s talk with Kawi at the end of the episode happened to touch me as a mom, even though the monologue was rooted in an uplifting and romantic perspective. It struck me that part of what Pisaeng was saying was -- if we’re happy, people will see that we’re happy, and that might HELP PEOPLE find THEIR OWN happiness.

It reminded me a lot of behavior modeling, which is a wonderful modality for parents/caretakers to practice when raising kids. It’s essentially, like -- we adults will behave exactly the way we WANT our kids to LEARN to behave, and we can show them honest ways of communicating if we communicate well ourselves. If you want your kids to be critical thinkers, for instance -- demonstrate conversations of critical thinking IN FRONT OF YOUR KIDS, and maybe even involve them in those conversations. 

I really believe that being happy isn’t something that any one person, or a coupling, should be judged for. Look at fucking Not -- judgement all over the place. Again: I think he represents heteronormative society, a part of which pooh-poohs deep love happiness for the sake of negativity and criticism. 

Instead, I love that Be My Favorite takes the responsibility of having Pisaeng and Kawi model for us, IN THEIR OWN WORDS AND BEHAVIORS, the very hard work of CHANGING, for yourself, maybe even for the people you love, and showing the people you love, and your community around you, that that change is very much worth making, to find better and more HONEST happiness in your life. THAT’S how Kawi can impact others, in the end.

(Let us hope, oh LET US HOPE, this show continues to be as good as this episode!)

[kindlingkeen]

You gave me permission to pester and so now I’ll be that stray cat that won’t stop showing up at your door w random junk (in this case, questions & things)

So! Meta abilities / powers / whatever you wanna call em. 👏

I know none of what Jason’s got going on is meta stuff, all his magic and things are earned through different means (Lazarus, All-Cast, etc) but I have seen people sometimes scrap the whole superboy prime/lazarus pit thing and instead make it that Jason has some sort of immortality type ability.

I love it, immortality is inherently tragic for so many people ESPECIALLY the one that’s actually forced to live on. And something about Jason being the one fated to die first (voted) yet unable to actually really do so hurts. Plus powers in general is neat.

But! That is not the only meta ability I’ve seen people give Jason. I’ve seen some where he can travel through shadows, where he can influence the terrain of Gotham, understand animals, unnatural tracking abilities, acid spit, doesn’t breathe, ghost rider type stuff, smth that links him to others, etc.

I love me some flashy abilities but I’m always partial to the subtle ones that don’t look like bunch but are badass when used right.

So w that in mind, if you could give him any meta abilities or powers, what would you choose? what do you think would be the most fun? The ones that could have the best impact on plot n why, etc. doesn’t have to tie into current canon at all ofc, go wild. I’m very curious on what you come up w because there is, quite literally, infinite possibilities. :)

Hey, friend!

Okay, I let this one percolate for a couple of days, and I have to admit, I’m a little stuck. I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about Jason as a meta. One of the things I love about Jay is that he’s just a normal dude (aside from the soul swords thing, but actually that gets at some of my issues with rhato). Like, beat him with a crowbar, blow him up, slice his throat open with a batarang, have his dad beat him senseless, send his buddies through a wormhole, kill off his best friend—it doesn’t fucking matter, Jason doesn’t stay down, he keeps getting back up. He doesn’t have a stable support system, he’s not a billionaire, he isn’t friends with half the superheroes on the planet, he doesn’t have an assassin cult waiting in the wings—he’s just a guy from Gotham who doesn’t know how to quit, even if it quite literally kills him. To me, the meta thing takes away from that. It softens the tenacity and grit that makes Jason’s story so visceral and compelling.

This is not meant to take away from your (or anyone’s) enjoyment of Jason with meta powers. It’s just not for me, I guess.

A meta-adjacent idea that I do really go for, though, is the idea of a sentient Gotham with a deep connection to Jason. She speaks to him, she breathes life back into him to, she calls him home. She’s not going to relinquish her claim on her chosen avatar until she’s good and ready. Now that sends shivers down my spine.