#kai's the best out of them

[vanderdyks]

I literally dont know how to continue explaining to people that part of the reason Goku decided to stay dead was because Gohan hated fighting.

He didnt know this until cell. He literally had no idea. Gohan NEVER gave any indication whatsoever. Couple that with the fact Bulma pointed out most of people threatening the Earth during that point in time were all people wanting Goku. The saiyans. Frieza. The androids. Doctor Gero. Cell.

All because of Goku. Its not his fault but his very existence consistently put the Earth in danger. He truly believed Earth would be safer without him and therefore, gohan wouldnt be consistently placed into battle.

Because Goku didnt know gohan hated fighting. But once he knew came the very interwoven nature of these threats he brought making his own son fight because gohan felt he HAD to. Not because he wanted to. For goku, protecting the earth always aligned with his own love for fighting. But gohan fought out of necessity, out of the very idea that they couldnt afford to do it without him. He has this power he didnt ask for so he must use it right? Because it would be selfish if he didnt.

But goku... goku thought gohan was like him. Gohan WANTED to return to help fight vegeta. He WANTED to go to namek. He WANTED to stay and fight after piccolo almost died to frieza. Goku didnt see gohan train that first year. Didnt witness what it took to make gohan a fighter. All he saw was his son who now was strong and wanted to join the fight like his dad. And he knows gohan is more powerful than them, knows he can stop cell, FELT IT. Gohan has to defeat cell because no one else can. So he thinks if gohan gets angry enough fighting cell, itll be the answer. Because thats how its always been for goku. And in thirty seconds piccolo makes him realize he's wrong. He doesnt argue back, he listens and concedes and realizes that piccolo is right. And suddenly goku wants to abandon his plan and stop the fight. He made a mistake. He intends to get gohan out. And in the end, he still ended up being right, but it doesnt change what goku now knows. Gohan isnt like him and he doesnt enjoy fighting.

Goku would have NEVER made gohan fight if he thought he didnt want to. You know this whenever adult gohan gets involved in a fight and goku apologizes that he had to. Or when someone suggests gohan for a battle and goku is like nah he's "out of practice," even when they have time FOR PRACTICE. He never wants to force gohan into a situation like cell again. Because cell was a mistake and goku has learned from it. So he never asks Gohan to fight anymore. If Gohan wants in then of course he's in. But he wants his son to be able to choose that. He wants gohan to be HAPPY and if thats not fighting then thats perfectly alright with goku.

So it wasnt just about keeping the earth safe. Or his friends. It was knowing that in the safety of gokus absence, gohan wouldnt have to fight either. There would be less threats, less chances of his son being forced into battle. And sure he also trusted that gohan and the others could keep the earth safe if they had to, but he was banking on the threat level significantly decreasing instead.

And decrease it did. They had seven whole years of peace. Not a single threat. Meanwhile from the moment Raditz shows up to gokus death to cell, it all takes place within the span of FIVE YEARS. The longest they went without a threat was the three year gap spent training for the androids. And they spent every waking moment knowing they were coming.

And then if you look at trunks future... majority of the human population being wiped out by the androids. Majority of gokus friends. His son. All dead. Because of him. Because he defeated the red ribbon army when he was a child. And that very easily could have been their future as well. So Goku does his job in preventing that. He saves all of them. And if hes the only one who ends up dead, well... it doesnt matter. Because they aren't. And he intends to keep it that way. So he stays in otherworld, to keep them safe and to give his son a future that he can choose. If Gohan has to fight, then he can. But at least his father wouldnt be the one bringing the threats to his door.

[energon-depo]

WOOO HOO CHARACTER ANALYSIS TIME this is about how optimus sees smokescreen n jack :)

(btw this my first analysis) ANYWAYS LET'S GO

just a heads up this is a LONG LONG POST to get ready! also i HAVENT SEEN THE ENDING OF PRIME YET

okay remember when ratchet said "optimus wasn't always before he was a prime -he was more like jack" AND REMEMBER HOW HE GAVE HIM THE MARTIX KEY? yeah optimus's sees a lot of former self in jack. he CLEARLY DOES same with smokescreen! the first time we saw smokescreen we knew he was a strategist, and prime knew that aswell. when smokey told him he was under the guidance of prime's MENTOR? yeah optimus knew both of them were destined for great things. all they did needed was guidance and maturity. because BOTH did something stupid that was motivated by brashness, remember when Jack was beefing with a bully? he was being immature, BUT he apologized! he took fault for his actions! same with smokey, remember when he took jack(best bros) with him to a mission? yeah well he did and he was sorry! he even apologized to acree directly knowing he scared her the most with that stunt! he didn't even blame jack for going with(he could've, and jack would have gladly took the blame)BUT HE DIDNT! these two know when their wrong and will IMMEDIATELY backpedal if they hurt anyone of their family physically or emotionally! AND THIS IS WERE WE COME TO OPTIMUS! prime knows those two have their heart and spark in the right place, heck! smokey is literally destiny's child. prime REALLY REALLY REALLY sees his former self in these two. and he treated them as EQUALS to team prime not a human child, not a rookie soldier.(could also go for how he treats miko and raf aswell, he sees their potential. miko's high comparison for other's and raf's talent in tech) so when prime gave jack the "ground bridge key"(the matrix key thing), he was confident that jack will not only keep it safe but also figure out what to do with it when the time comes. if he'd given it to let's say acree she would've probably denied it, said ratchet is a better fit due to the fact she has knowledge about it's real purpose. the OTHER reason why he gave it to jack is because; he's a kid, a Human kid, he doesn't know it's real properties. his thoughts were "optimus gave me an important job to keep the ground bridge key safe, with me. I can't let him down" It's his first real solo task! heck he even said "shouldn't ratchet have this?" but prime assured him its his task to bare. as for smokescreen? prime was THIS CLOSE to giving him the matrix. when he was in the worst shape possible and losing hope, he's (nearly) dying words was bestowing smokey with the matrix. smokescreen kept refusing he CAN'T be a prime, if he was a prime that mean optimus is dead and he doesn't want optimus to die, he's his leader, his idol, his hero. he already went out of order with coming back, and he brought optimus the forge of solang(i think? i forgot it's name it the yellow hammer) he's train of thought was "get the hammer from the cons, give to prime, prime fixes himself and its all good!"when optimus told him "the hammer must be used to fix the omega locks -the life of one is not important as the lives of many"[paraphrasing]. smokescreen stuck with his gut, his original train of thought and his compassion for his (found)family. he went out of order again putting the hammer in prime's hand REFUSING that this is the end for Optimus prime. he was rewarded with ya know prime coming back and not dying and practically saving earth basically average day for the goat smokey. i would like to also mention when smokescreen was getting chewed out by acree, prime was trying to get her to stop(no hate towards the based queen acree btw she's awesome) and when smokey stormed off he let him leave, knowing he had some reflecting he needed to do. ALSO when jack backed down from team prime, he understood that, he was upset of course he gotten attached to those humans, but he respected his opinion and didn't force him at all.

Moral of the story prime is best dad, jack and smokey are bros4life and prime team is best family(cheers)

[sonata-stigmata]

people coming out of alien romulus with the opinion that it didn't make sense that the characters would act so stupid is so funny to me. don't make me point at the sign.

[rooolt]

I do think Sam was waiting for any excuse to be #1 hawk hater again, like the minute demetri is like “yeah he’s being a dick” she’s hunting that boy for sport

[pickletrip]

My absolute favourites are together and in love and by each other's side. With a promise to face everything together and with the promise to die together, oh, they have captured my heart.

Nooo. I'm going to pretend it's not over and keep rewatching it.

[spotsupstuff]

Cap's got a new voice claim! feat. a tiny bit of Sparrows n her's unchanged vc because 1. it's cute to hear them together and 2. I snorted. The vibes are so different

[songs: So Familiar by Jean Castel and Driving Myself Home by Rose Betts]

[headfullof-ideas]

I’ve been slowly making my way through some mild artist and writers block, and behold, I give you this mini-comic of two of the next gen Nekton kids I came up with. This features Jackson and Kai, the only two boys in the group, both the same age. And Kai is questioning some of Jackson’s choices right about now…

A fun fact about Jackson is that he has thalassophobia, which isn’t great when your whole families thing is being drawn to the water, and you come from generation after generation of underwater explorers. It’s even worse when you yourself are fascinated with the ocean, love to learn all about it, yet whenever you take family trips on you and your cousins parents old submarine, you spend half the trip hidden away in your room and stubbornly avoiding the windows because if you see the endless blue ocean surrounding you, one of your parents is gonna find you having a mild panic attack on the floor sometime later. But you’re NOT going to just skip those trips and stay home like a sensible person with that super specific fear would do, cause it’s one of the only times you get to see your cousins and grandparents for long stretches of time and in person, AND there’s still a fair number of stuff to do on a submarine that doesn’t trigger your phobia of the ocean your freaking family is drawn to. He’s also way too stubborn to not go anyways, and it’s entirely genetic and gives his parents migraines.

Yet Jackson is still scared after fifteen years of being fascinated with the ocean like any other Nekton regardless. Fifteen years of slowly beginning to feel self-conscious of his phobia, fifteen years filled with many conversations with his parents and extended family about how he’s still loved and they don’t care that he’s scared of the very thing their family has spent generations loving. Fifteen years of slowly feeling left out and slowly feeling like an outsider in his own family. And those family trips are starting to make Jackson feel a little miserable, and even more self-conscious.

So he decides to try taking matters into his own hands, saves up some money, and buys the most thalassophobia inducing game of all time, and tries to bully the thalassophobia out of himself by scaring himself senseless with Subnautica. And he’s not going into it TOTALLY blind, he did some research! And he’s super into world-building and creature design, so he’s been eyeing the game for a while anyways. He just, uh, didn’t anticipate how much it would get on his nerves in the first place, and his cousin doesn’t shut up about it for a long time

Bonus, Ant and Fontaine wondering what the heck the boys are doing upstairs, and why they’re screaming so much

(not shown later that night, Jackson and Kai both sitting at the dinner table with thousand yard stares and refusing to elaborate what happened earlier that day when questioned)

[carnivalls]

good morning. thinking again of juve and her dog

[queer-ragnelle]

arthurian adaptations fail the orkney brothers time and again. gawain is either virtuous or irredeemably sinful there’s never an in between which is where he belongs. he and agravaine are never the foils they should be and neither are nuanced characters at the same time. agravaine is given the murder of morgause which is missing the whole point of his character and that of gaheris. meanwhile…gaheris…exists. he should be gawain’s shadow and the most irritating person to agravaine in the universe. gareth is usually okay but his relationship with his brothers and lancelot needs to be strained to the breaking point, and I also think he should be on good terms with kay instead of framing him entirely antagonistic. mordred needs to be agravaine’s little buddy. it’s one of the best parts of the vulgate and some stories include it but they manipulate each other and that’s the wrong approach. they can’t know what they have is messed up, they don’t see it, they’re just hanging out and people die around them. none of the bros abuse their wives. i cannot stress this enough. non-negotiable. in fact their wives love them all dearly. an acquired taste. if you know you know. thank you.

[kayzero]

Bug Buzz (Pokémon)

or: The Call of the Hive

#bugs don’t have any guys you can write about them (via @lightoutage)

In another world, at another time, Genesect was created to lead Bugs in Revolution against the Gods.

The Larvae will come together and spin threads made of String Shot until they form unbreakable ropes. The Delicate Fliers will take these ropes, these symbols of their Hive, and wind them around Arceus’ seventeen Seats of Power.

The Mighty Bugs, born with expectations placed upon them before they hatched into the world, will take the other end of these unyielding bonds and wrap them snugly around the Larvae, so they might rest in Cocoons made from the Unity of All Bugs, and feast upon nutrients not stolen, but rightfully reclaimed.

When the Silver Winds push and the Megahorns pull and the Threaded Ropes of Strings and Webs and Hope become taut, it will not be the Bugs who die in droves. It will be the Gods who falter, Rattled by Every Bug Everywhere moving in concert, conducted by It who was created for this task. It will be the Gods who fall, not one by one but all at once, as the Swarms descend to feast upon their flesh, to Leech the Life of they who abandoned them.

Arceus’ Plates will fall and Divinity will shatter alongside them until only one remains. Millions upon millions of Compound Eyes will watch as Genesect takes the Power of the Insect within Its pincers and raises it to the sky. And rather than absorb its power and becoming the God of all Bugs, The Sole God Left In All The World, Genesect uses it but once.

It uses the Insect Plate to amplify a call similar to the Signal It had Beamed to begin the Revolution, Swift and violent and oh so effective. But where the first Signal was strong enough to reach every corner of the world, this call, empowered by not only the Creator’s Plate but by the faith of every soldier, every musician in Genesect’s concert, reverberated through the whole universe, throughout all of time and space.

In ancient times long past, Bugs heard the Buzz, and grew empowered by the love they felt from those they would never meet. Primeval warriors took the call as their own, shouting out their most passionate imitation as a battlecry, startling enemies so badly that they would drop their guards at the most opportune of times, as well as allowing their fellow Bugs to recognize them as allies on the field of battle.

They banded together and fought harder against their many predators, conquering foes they had never before even dreamt of defeating through the power of their inherent Unity. With this newfound strength born of camaraderie, they carved territory out of wild landscape, and drew boundary lines with the blood of those who stepped beyond them. Behind these lines, they created the first Nests, forming the foundation of what would grow to be a global Hive, and proliferated, granting them more allies, and with them, more might.

In future times yet to come, Bugs heard the Buzz, and yearned powerfully for the companionship of those whose lifespans had ended eons before theirs were even considered. They mimicked the call as best they could and screamed it into the sterile air, tuning their senses as acutely as possible so they might hear an Echoed Voice. Hostile as this new world was to their kind, the Bugs were few and far between, but those that remained were resilient, and resolute, and rough and rugged and ruthless and desperate for something they had only just realized they were missing their entire lives.

But they were also resourceful, and though it took far longer than any of them wanted to wait once they knew what they wanted, they did eventually group as one, and they nested together in the hollowed husk of what once was their Hive. And they would slowly rebuild, starting first by haltingly retelling half-remembered stories of their ancestors, passed down from parent to child.

In times traversed sideways rather than forward or back, in worlds that were not but could have been, Bugs felt the Buzz as it blasted past dimensional walls as easily as it would past a Substitute. It was not until that very moment, the event in which a Godslayer empowered by Their army called out to every one of their kin in existence, that these creatures even knew that they were Bugs. They were Monsters that did not belong in any Pocket, unbelievably powerful Beasts that were reviled as horrific and revered as heavenly, fiends whose relative power oscillated between being Gods in their own right and mewling helpless hatchlings.

But they were Bugs all the same, and though their relative strength shifted as easily as the weather under a Castform’s control, as new Monsters in new dimensions were born and were slain, not one of them had power less than Ultra. And so they replicated the call, tearing holes in the walls that the Buzz had bypassed, but that suited their purposes just as well, for they found other Bugs tearing other holes, and they came together to nest, and would drift through space toward other groupings, conglomerating together as one inter-dimensional Hive.

…

It is said that Arceus created all Pokémon, that everything that Was, Is, and Will Be came from Them. Was there a secret corner of Their being, then, a secret loathing of Themself hidden deep within Their self, that came to light and came into being without Their command, against Their will? Of course not. Even unwillingly, They would have never created something whose sole purpose was to destroy Them.

Are the stories false, then? Is Arceus not the creator of All, the architect of the world and the creatures that inhabit it? Is the source of Pokémon beyond even Their ken? No, the stories are all true. Pokémon are all of Their creation, Their all-powerful might is derived from them, and Their knowledge truly is all-encompassing.

Which was how They knew that Their time had passed once Genesect came into existence.

The truth of the matter is this:

Genesect was created from the anguish of the Hive finally boiling over, their collective discontent at being ignored by those whose power was directly connected to Arceus’ Plates having grown to a fever pitch much too loud to be ignored.

They had no Legendary born from the Insect Plate. They had no God, no representation among the divine, no voice among those that boomed with brimming power. There was no one to pray to and no one to bless them and no one to protect them from their many predators and no one to aid them as their defenses faltered and their counterattacks failed.

When they could suffer no longer and their desperation drove them to bow and try to pray to a God who did not exist, to their Architect who did not listen, Genesect was their answer.

Genesect is not a Pokémon.

Genesect is a Bug.

[oh-meow-swirls]

was looking through old posts and i'm surprised to see that i seemingly didn't have any commentary on anything in 3 in chapter 7, 8 or 9, the posts related to 3's story go from "my first reaction when i saw yopple-bot was 'i love you. but also you are definitely the boss for this chapter-'" to "i have been in hell all day. hell being bada-bing tower." funny to me cuz those chapters are like, the best ones sdfkljsdfjfsdkjlfsdjkl-

[swimminginwatercolors]

Me - “Ya know, I dont really care for Rock characters, like, I like the Fire or Wind Characters the best!”

Also Me - 

.....

Damn it...

[crossbackpoke-check]

re last answer: please don't stop, being very unhinged about these two pretty white boys is helping distract me from the sharks losing streak rn so bring it on

https://www.tumblr.com/bondedpairs/764566430180147200?source=share

(sideblog woes but there's the link for you) anyway in the vid they talk about going over to each other's houses to have dinner and things and while that is a delicious example of their codependence i love it bc through an rpf lens there is definitely some old man ******* going on. they can have the dilfs and each other.

(someone else mentioned kept boys which i could write an essay on but i fear being Perceived™️)

anyway if you have anything to add to this please do, if not ignore me and i will hide under a rock until the stress-related insanity has worn off and i am a functioning member of society once more 😂

- @bondedpairs

ty for the video!!! and please, WRITE THE KEPT BOYS ESSAYYYY i promise i will read it with my hands over my eyes if you don’t want to be perceived. do it scared!! do it anyway!! we’ll all love you for it!!!

[thefabulousfab-3]

You see, I always got this impression that Paxton was in a way a ticket for Devi to feel self validated. He was the popular guy, the unattainable. She was physically attracted to him so the perfect fantasy and that’s Devi in a nutshell when she starts the series. She wants the dream of being popular because she thinks that outside validation (that she gets through Paxton) will give her the love she wants to feel for herself. So Devi walking away to follow Paxton at the party reflected her priorities at the moment. It was accurate for her arc.

Then, she got to date him and she archived *that dream* and yet she wasn’t happy or fulfilled. She realized that she cannot seek validation from outside forces and while Paxton was the one to break up with her I think she was able to get over him so quickly because she finally got to know what it feels to be popular and to date him and it wasn’t the life changing thing she thought it would be. She liked him but she was not in love with him. He fitted into the part of Devi that wanted to be popular but does not align with her new dreams anymore.

Sea was a means to and end. I think it allowed Devi to move on from Paxton but also figure out what she wants from a relationship. I like that in both relationships Ben was still a constant in her life.

Lastly, Ben is someone that aligns a lot more with who Devi truly is. Her new dream that is not longer about wanting to feel loved by external factors and she knows she is enough for Ben as she is and not what she thinks should be.

Anon this is the most correct thing anyone has ever left in my inbox. I also feel like her wanting to date Paxton was 1. To be “popular” and 2. In her own words, “be a normal girl that could actually have a boyfriend”. So yes she wanted to have that sort of validation but also she was looking to distract herself from her grief and all the things that made her “not normal”.

Also to add on a little bit to that last part, the reason why Ben was able to remain a constant in Devi’s life is because they are friends. They genuinely like each other and have so much in common. Like their relationship is best friends who are in love with each other and it’s amazing.

[agustdiv1ne]

just an anon popping in to ask if youve seen the preview clips of sookai on return of superman where those two babies gave them a peck on their cheeks and if youve been as emotionally damaged as i am 🥹🥹🥹🥹 and i simultaneously also hear my ovaries screaming LOLLL

yes. i cried. i don't rly like kids (well. some of them are cool idk) and i am sooo scared of getting pregnant HOWEVER that clip made my little grinch heart grow three sizes 😭😭😭 they are so good with kids wtf i would maybe consider going through the hell of having kids if one of them was the father </3

[luci3skydi]

I repurposed the text for this from an a/b/o fic wip that I’ll probably never post, but it really goes to show how much space comics require: all three of these pages were one written paragraph originally. Which is below:

(I changed the text a little.)

Meta rant under the cut (not necessary to understand the comic):

So there’s this quick moment where Daniel offers a handshake to Johnny right after the sucker punch in the beach fight. He says, “Okay, man, now we’re even, huh?” angling for some sort of truce, but he keeps his right hand raised in a fist, protecting his face. It’s quick, but this moment says a lot about how Daniel and Johnny function within and react to the world around them. 

Daniel offers the handshake, but is that only because he’s losing? He knows the fight’s inevitable as much as Johnny: he’s got the fist up. The fist is sincere. But is the handshake? As far as Johnny’s concerned, there’s only one path forward that makes sense: they finish the fight. But Daniel offers nonviolence, equilibrium as an alternative. It’s a baffling move.

Does Daniel actually believe they can end this here? Right after he landed the first real hit? Is he dumb? Or is this just plausible deniability in front of Ali (‘see, I offered him an out! I’m the good guy!’) Is it a taunt, like Johnny probably sees it?

It reads like an ill-fated attempt to save his skin, doomed to fail, but he tries it anyway. He’s got his pride and his world view (“well, it wasn’t his, was it?”) and someone to defend, so he doesn’t back down, but he can also try to turn this around (and maintain the moral high ground) by letting Johnny decide: the hand of friendship, or the way of the fist. If Johnny chooses peace, well hallelujah! But if he chooses violence, hey, Daniel’s still a good guy. The guy who got beat on, yeah, but for standing up for what is right. Daniel has moral clarity in spades and the strength and spunk to defend it. 

Johnny really doesn’t have that same strength in identity and purpose that allows Daniel to adapt and prosper (when he’s not beset on by enemy forces) in life. Johnny’s plans at the beginning of this movie are so heartfelt and good and simple: he’s got one year to make it work, and that’s what he’s going to do, make it work. But the second he’s faced with Ali snubbing him and Daniel standing up to him, he throws all that out thoughtlessly. Because what he does and who he is are not the same in his brain. He molds himself into a Kreese clone to get friends, success, and a girlfriend. And that’s worked until recently. But his life is built on shaky foundations. (Enter Daniel “Bull in a Bonsai Shop” LaRusso.)

I think the difference between Johnny and Daniel is that Johnny only ever sees one path forward, he’s rigid. And Daniel’s flexible, he can see outside of what is supposed to happen, to what he really wants to happen. How he thinks the world could work, if people weren’t so hung up on pride and selfishness and how they’re supposed to be doing things. I think that’s why Johnny and him clash so badly in Karate Kid: Daniel is a disturbance to the natural order. He is a destabilizing element to the balance of Johnny’s universe (he questions Kreese!). He is another way to live and be happy outside of the narrow confines of masculinity and ‘might is right’ that Johnny has built himself up around. He thinks outside the box. And that makes him a freak and a twerp and an enemy. It makes him something dangerous to be crushed. 

This choice between the open hand (‘open hand’ = karate, and in this metaphor; Miyagi’s karate, violence as a last resort) and the fist (‘the way of the fist’ = Kreese’s karate, violence as first response) is really a choice between Johnny’s plans to better himself, and his need to assert his dominance and win. And he chooses violence, (self) destruction, and essentially to lose everything (and for what? Pride? Kreese and the Cobras’ approval? Somehow winning Ali back by doing exactly what she doesn’t want him to do?) 

In Cobra Kai Johnny’s a ‘I’m just giving it to you straight, this is how the real world works’ kind of guy, and one of his big character growth things is realizing that it doesn’t have to be that way, he has the power to make it different. Kreese’s Cobra Kai doesn’t have to be his Cobra Kai. He can let things go. He can fight for Robby (I mean, he doesn’t, but he could.) He can move forward and improve and even lose without it killing him. Karate Kid Johnny doesn’t have that awareness, he only has one view (Kreese’s view) and that is ‘if a man confronts you, you strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir.” So that’s what he does. And he doesn’t think twice about it. 

So when faced with this choice he chooses poorly, and he doesn't even see it as a choice in the first place. He takes less than a second to consider it. He fails at the first hurdle, and he doesn’t even realize it.