korcky0

[cowes]

thinking about morgana's perception of merlin.

he's kind of a weird guy. devoted to arthur. devoted to camelot. he poisoned her for it. engaged in a year-long cold war against her. but ALSO, he's not anti-magic. he's maybe even pro-magic, because he helped her in 2x03, helped mordred in 1x08, and willingly conspires against the throne that he is supposedly so devoted to whenever it suits him. so she kind of likes him, even if she can't respect him.

and then. she finds out that HE is the powerful, preeminent, terrifying magical being that is Emrys.

i mean, seriously, what do you do with that information.

[goldkirk]

I don’t know how to explain any more clearly that it doesn’t MATTER if it seems legitimate to you. You have got to fact check every single headline and post and claim on the left just like you need to do on the right.

The left is NOT immune to misinformation and rushed reporting. And the more emotionally polarizing or shocking the talking points, sound bytes, and headlines are, the worse it is and more frequently it happens.

Learn to verify through multiple independent sources. If you can’t do that, you can’t trust it.

If you have to wait extra hours for the real information to come through vetted channels—NOT just one individual somewhere everyone links to, and not just one single media source either, EVEN if it’s a major news network—thats just how it has to be. What news outside of genuine local disasters near you TRULY needs your outrage and post-sharing in the next hour specifically?

Misinformation works best by not seeming like misinformation and by fitting in with the rest of what you already expect to see. It doesn’t help anyone to not be able to recognize and avoid the stuff.

[gin-juice-tonic]

Had a nightmare in which a girl was killed, but I kept waking up and going back to sleep to try and rewrite things to save her, homura-style

I also kept failing at this task, homura-style

[heynhay]

please don't say you love me (x)

[brewing-mischief]

I feel like something the fandom forgets is that Katie/Pidge doesn't actually need glasses?

Like, she wears them as tribute to her brother, to remind her daily of her mission to find him

But like...even I forget that homegirl really was out there, every episode of the show, in the heat of galactic battle just...wearing fashion glasses.

And I have to assume that. Because she had to have replaced the prescription with clear glass right? So she doesn't destroy her eyesight?

We see her putting on her brother's extra pair. Her brother who before space wears them. To see. I mean, I don't know much but I feel like any space program wouldn't really allow you to wear glasses in space unless you needed them

Except uh....that's the other thing, because once Matt gets to space, he just ~decides~ he doesn't need glasses anymore???

And I get it. I do. I get that its a way to display age to the characters but at the same time I have to wonder. Like did the Galra give Matt eye surgery? Did Katie replace his lenses with clear glass for school?

Or were both these fools just wearing fashion glasses this entire time because it made them look smart?

[didsomeonesayventus]

FIRST YEAR... ENGAGE!

Happy birthday to The Fire Emblem Ever. I don't think I can quite put into words just how much joy this game has brought me and the friends it helped me make, just that I'm really happy I looked into it despite my lack of initial interest.

[the-way-astray]

i don’t want to name names but some people (alayda) deserve to be punted out of this fandom. we all need to collectively block these people (alayda) so that they can participate in fandom activities no longer

[harry-sussex]

This was, no joke, the best moment of my entire life. I have been waiting so long for this. I never thought it would happen.

I had originally planned to volunteer with the UK branch of my job today, but when I saw the announcement, I knew I had to do this instead. I decided to get dinner at the pub, Dog and Duck, last night to look inside and try it out - I got bangers and mash and some fish (sans chips) as an appetizer, and it was legitimately so good. I also tried the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord Beer – you can see William in the photos from today right behind the tap. My server’s name was Bernie, and you can see her in some photos with William and Kate today too – tiny woman, short gray hair cut into a bob.

I set earlier alarms this morning but due to the time difference / jet lag, I didn’t make it here until 10am. I popped into a Tesco Express on the way to grab some flowers at @avidroyalfan’s advice – yellow of course, the brightest bunch I could find.

I made it over to the area around the pub and there were barricades and policemen everywhere. There was also a black Range Rover parked at the far end of Frith Street – the street they mentioned in the press release yesterday. It thought it was mildly crowded when I got there, but it didn’t even begin to compare to the crowd that had gathered closer to their arrival.

I really had trouble picking where I was going to stand – I didn’t want to be behind anyone, I just wanted to be up against the barricade, but given that the crowd was so relatively sparse on Frith Street (as opposed to right across from the pub on Dean Street) when I got there, I wasn’t sure they were going to come my way. I was also praying that I’d be on Kate’s side of the road if they came by – you guys know I love William, but if I had a chance, this once in a lifetime chance, I needed Kate. I went with my gut, a little further down the road than where the crowd at the time had started to assemble, so I could be right against the barricades. From the moment I got to the barricade, I was literally shaking, and I am not exaggerating – you can see it in one of the videos.

I passed the time talking to some lovely people – some of whom planned to be there and some of whom happened to stroll by. I met a lovely woman, Cath, who took tons of photos without me even asking – she just saw how excited I was and took the photos to send to me. Another woman named Teri did the same – just out of the kindness of their own hearts. Those are most of the photos you guys are going to see – I took a bunch while Kate was walking around, but I didn’t want to put my own camera in her face if she was standing right in front of me.

I stood for more than four hours start to finish and I do not regret it in the slightest. I thought a lot about what I was going to say to her if I had the chance – I’ve thought about it so many times over the years, but what could I really say that would summarize more than 10 years of pure admiration and adoration in 30 seconds or less? What could I – an American in London all the way from New York – possibly say to the UK’s next queen to tell her how much she’s meant to me for all these years?

There was a policeman right in front of me – his name was Thompson – who was subtly dropping hints about what was going on. He couldn’t say much but he did hint at the time we could expect them to arrive – about 12:45pm. He ended up pretty close – he told me that he got randomly assigned to the event today and that he (and basically the entire police force) would also be at the coronation. He also confirmed that they would be walking down Frith Street, where I was, though he wouldn’t hint at which of them was going to be on my side of the street.

By the time they arrived, the crowd had literally quadrupled – maybe even more. People were on the rooftops and hanging out of windows. Very few of them had flowers. Businesses let people go on their steps to get a closer view. A helicopter was circling above for security. There were policemen and RPOs everywhere. I thought William and Kate were going to drive right up to the pub but instead they walked from the far end of the street – I suppose because they took the tube. Speaking of the tube, that’s the exact line I took this morning. That’s also where the (absolutely enormous) press pack was assembled.

I could tell when they arrived, even though I couldn’t see them right away, because the roar of the crowd and the sound of dozens of cameras clicking said everything I needed to know. As I was a bit further down the street, I didn’t get the greatest view, but it didn’t matter – you could see Kate from a mile away. That jacket was bright in and of itself but she literally glows. There’s just an inherent radiance about her that cannot be explained unless you see it in real life – she’s ethereal in photos, but they don’t even begin to do her justice. She’s radiant. Also, you can see that her hair is perfect no matter how far away you are. As they turned the corner to get to the pub, I was able to crane my neck a little bit to see them get closer to the door, and I saw The Hand with my own two eyes. William placed his hand on Kate’s lower back to guide her inside – we’ve seen photos millions of times, but seeing it with my own two eyes was unreal. Completely surreal.

They spent far less time inside the pub than I would’ve thought (unless time was flying because I knew they were coming), but again, you could hear them come out the door just by virtue of the roar of the crowd. Thompson the policeman then told me that Kate was coming to my side of the street. I thought I was shaking before – nope, not even remotely compared to how I was when I heard that she was coming my way. I saw William first across the street – he went through relatively quickly but I could somewhat hear him saying “nice to meet you” over and over, shaking hands, laughing, the usual. He’s huge – I always knew he was tall but he’s massive, tall and broad. You could tell from twenty feet away - he’s huge. At one point, I literally blurted out “he’s not wearing blue!” once I saw the brown coat. He was on the side of the road that had more people, and he moved along at a solid pace - it’s definitely true that Kate is a chatter, no wonder they gave her the side of the street with fewer people. She would’ve been outside for 3 hours if she was greeting the amount of people on William’s side. He’s honestly such a good sport – he was shaking hands, standing on his tip toes and craning over the barricades to greet as many people as possible. I could very clearly see the faces of the people looking directly at him – you can tell they absolutely love him. Such genuine smiles. The pure adoration and happiness in their eyes said everything one needs to know – those people absolutely love him like their own.

When Kate turned the corner from the pub towards where I was standing, I swear to god my heart jumped right into my throat and my stomach dropped. God, she’s beautiful. Like I knew this, it isn’t news, the entire world is perfectly aware that she’s one of the most beautiful women on the face of the earth…. but she still managed to stun me anyway. She’s radiant. Absolutely gorgeous.

Somewhere along the way, as she moved down the line of people in my direction, it occurred to me that I was legitimately going to meet, or at the very least greet, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, after all this time, after so many years… I am not exaggerating when I say I was physically shaking. You can see it on my face in the photos even as she approached, before she came near me – I wasn’t panicking, I was just in awe. I’ve always known she was real of course, but she’s… actually real? Do you know what I mean?

She was moving so slowly compared to William – I swear he was already 75% of the way through his side of the crowd by the time Kate got to me. That’s when I really noticed that she is just so chatty – I didn’t notice her just greeting someone and then moving on quickly. She was so engaged. Every single person I could see was like entranced by her very presence - she’s literally such a vision. It’s not just me, it’s not just us – people are completely fascinated by her.

And then.

She came closer and closer – as I was on her left, I could see the ring. It’s huge – like, it’s big on camera, but the thing is enormous. I could not believe for the life of me that she was right there. I made sure to stick the flowers out enough and stand up straight and believe me when I say I didn’t have to remind myself to smile or make eye contact – I could literally feel myself beaming (right before she got to me):

When she came over, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Before I knew it, Kate was reaching to shake my hand and saying “nice to meet you” and I literally still cannot believe it. I handed over the flowers and I said to her:

“It’s nice to meet you, I just wanted to tell you that I have admired you for so long and that I also studied Italian Renaissance art history just like you did.”

When I said that I admired her, she said “oh, thank you!” as I continued to ramble about the art. She was still holding the flowers. I cannot believe that there are so many pictures of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales holding bright yellow flowers that I got for her while smiling ear to ear – she handed them off before she moved onto the next person, so she is definitely smiling at me in those photos.

She then asked me if I liked studying art, and I said of course – she responded “me too!” After that, she asked me if I used it in my career, and I said no (which I don’t) but my master’s was a passion project. She then asked where I flew from (the accent, I guess) and I told her that I came from New York. She said that it was such a long way to come and that she was surprised at how many people have traveled so far for the big weekend. She touched my arm so sweetly for like the quickest second; she then said that it was going to be such a big event and that she was looking forward to joining the celebrations and that it was going to be good for everyone.

The last thing I said to her was “also, I ate in the pub last night because I heard you were coming!” and she responded with “oh that’s great, how was the food?” It was legitimately fantastic – I told her so – and she said that they would have to come back and try it when there were fewer people around.

It was then time for her to get moving so I just said “it was so nice to meet you” again and she said “nice to meet you, have a nice day!” Right before she moved on and as she was saying goodbye, she handed off the flowers and went on her way.

The whole thing lasted maybe two minutes, but I will remember it for the rest of my life. Her eyes are so green and she’s just so stunning up close and I just cannot believe she was that close to me and that we were able to talk and she is everything I have ever dreamed she would be and more. Just so sweet and gorgeous and engaged in what we were talking about – she didn’t just say “hi” and “bye,” you know? She listened to what I said and responded back without generalities… everything I ever dreamed of and more. I thought I couldn’t love her more – I do now. She has made my entire day and my entire life and I will literally never forget the vision of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, Catherine Elizabeth, someone I have adored for more than a decade, standing in front of me.

I am so happy I could cry. I was stunned after - literally could not believe what just happened to me. Take a look at the video below - you can see part of our conversation and then just the pure shock at the end. My hands were literally shaking.

Once the shock wore off, I did in fact cry. They say never to meet your heroes – why not? How could you go wrong meeting someone you have idolized when that someone is Kate?

[appropriatelystupid]

AU where Lena has a long lost twin sister, the memory of whom she suppressed along with her magic

imagining that it went like this:

their mother drowned while trying to save morgan, who was caught by a rip current and ended up too far from lena to be found together

when lionel came to collect lena, morgan was still missing and presumed lost with her mother (she was actually just a few towns over but was too traumatized to say anything about a sister until it's too late)

[badgopher]

oh hey, i know that top commenter

[thebetterbrogane]

round 4(?) of quotes

”The cowboy hat stays ON during sex!”

“Mr. Rizzlectric, send this gyatt to the skibidi dimension and have him OHIO’D!”

“I love you with all of my fart.” heart-hands

“Tell him to stop doing backflips on my brother’s truffula tree!”

“I love men who, if I fucked them, would sound like horses on cobblestone.”

“Someone should break into his house and burn all of his jorts.”

“Your ‘package’ ‘came’ in the ‘male’? Yeah, during pride month, I bet.”

“I like it in the ass.”

“What the cock?”

[goldkirk]

i haven't been this not okay in over a year and i do not miss it and i do not want it

[cavennmalore]

tagging @myfairkatiecat because it is only fair after you requested this word vomit lol

The thing about Keefe not being a good person is a little complicated. Full disclaimer, I don’t really believe in the whole good/bad person dichotomy, and definitely not for KIDS. Nevertheless, I don’t disagree with the people who say that Keefe isn’t the awesome person Sophie’s (biased) opinion makes him out to be. Not for the manipulative reasons -- which, Keefe is a teenage boy and I don't know about anyone else but that is like THE demographic for being a little messy in relationships lmao -- but for a lot of his planning. Joining the Neverseen without telling anyone what his plan was? Proposing himself as Mercadir without giving anyone a chance to refute him? Lying at the end of Legacy and showing up to the confrontation even though it was explicitly agreed he'd stay back? Basically, everything he did in Lodestar? Not great.

It's not Certified Good Guy Behavior. But that's his role. Keefe was literally designed to occupy this grey, questionable space, both in the narrative and outside of it. He's Sophie's character foil. Lady Gisela's plan revolves around pushing Keefe to become a worse and worse person; that involves raising him in a way that cultivates bad behavior and forcing him into increasingly extreme situations that are designed to make Keefe "ready" when the time comes. That is a huge part of the plots of Nightfall and Legacy.

Admittedly, I don't think Shannon has made him evil/grey enough, which I know isn't a popular take. There was real potential to make Keefe a wild card in Lodestar and make it so that the question isn't what stupid scheme is he planning? but to what extent have Lady Gisela's machinations worked? It's an interesting plotline to me. It's why I'm so excited for Unraveled; it's a chance to see this push-pull in action without Keefe's "north star" (AKA Sophie) guiding his decisions.

But a lot of people don't feel this way. A ton of the complaints I see around the book have to do with Keefe getting too much page time, the plotline taking up too much space in the story, etc. Which is fair! If you don't like Keefe, I'm sure a lot of this is grueling. However, a point I see connected to this line of thought is a wish for the books to return to a more ensemble vibe. That there should be more Dex, more Biana, more Stina, more Tam, etc. the way that it used to be.

That version of the books, though? It only really exists in the first book. Keefe is a prominent character in Exile and a huge driver of its plot. It's only in Book One where he only exists on the margins and isn't super involved. The ensemble cast has grown exponentially since then, to the point where there are frankly too many characters to keep track of in a scene without straight-up listing them all (which did happen but I'm forgetting which book). The decreased page time of supporting characters isn't solely because Keefe is eating the narrative, but because there are way too many characters for everyone to get a subplot; rather than have pre-existing characters solve issues, Shannon tends to just pull new ones in, and then leave them to hang out for the following books. If the series was for a more adult audience, I would say that it was time to start killing people off (like the popular critique of The Boys) but because this is a kids series, they're going to just hang around and not do much.

A lot of the nostalgia for this old version of KOTLC presents itself in fandom discussions of Dex. Full transparency: I didn't really like Dex that much in the early books when I did my reread. I found him unbearably rude to Fitz and Biana. His crush on Sophie felt invasive at times as if she was catering to a boy that was projecting his feelings and making her accommodate him. It's very similar stuff to the current criticism of Keefe! But I have yet to see any discussions around Dex that don't characterize him as kind, goofy, or sweet. Maybe there is some discussion of him being snarky or sarcastic. The most criticism I've seen of him is about how he treated Stina in his introduction, which was taken largely in isolation.

But that sweet, goofy version of Dex that people talk about missing? He doesn't exist. Sure, Dex mellowed out a ton in the later books, but he didn't become a whole new character. And I don't believe that he disappeared from the books in the way that some people claim. He just... doesn't have a subplot anymore. His crush on Sophie was resolved. It was a sticking point in his and Sophie's friendship which made him part of her character arc, and that arc is done. If that went on for any longer, it would be a drag on the pace of the series. Like I said before, the presence of so many side characters, each with their own needs and motivations, makes it difficult to introduce him into new stuff. It's why he gets so much more page time in Unlocked. With the presence of so many other characters, Shannon tends to handwave a lot of the background group dynamics. Dex ended up becoming close to Keefe and was able to shine there, away from Sophie's perspective and their finished arc.

All of this is to say, it's not wrong to dislike Keefe or like Dex. But I think a lot of the conversations surrounding these guys can get muddled in nostalgia and what people think the books should be rather than what they are. I'm (severely) guilty of it too. It's part of a broader trend in fandoms as "fandom" as a concept becomes more popular. That is a whole other post, though, and frankly, this one is long enough lol

[hi-there-buddies]

Voltron vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

How one team feels like close friends, while the other feels like family

I’m sure anyone who has watched Voltron past season 3 understands that there is a severe lack of meaningful interactions between the paladins as the show goes on. The Voltron paladins often call themselves a family, even all the way back in season 1, but there is something that’s so obviously wrong with that wording. Team Voltron isn’t a family, not because they aren’t blood related, but because they don’t feel like one.

This oddity always confused me. I mean, the Voltron paladins sort of act like a family sometimes, but other times they act like they’re just barely acquaintances.

And it didn’t hit me why the paladins calling themselves “family” felt so weird to me, until I began rewatching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Now, for the people who haven’t watch TMNT, the characters have surprisingly similar dynamics with Voltron. Rise of the TMNT actually has an INCREDIBLE amount of similarities with Voltron, but that’s actually not the only TMNT show I’m gonna be talking about.

Now, the main difference between Voltron and TMNT in my mind, is that the Voltron team feels like close friends, while the TMNT team feels like genuine family. There are 2 main reasons for why Voltron just utterly fails at trying to create a familial relationship between the paladins (not including Allura) and I’m gonna try my best to explain them:

1. The paladins didn’t all know each other before the show starts. Now this usually wouldn’t be a big deal when trying to establish something like found family, but what really destroys the whole “family” idea, is that you have Lance, Hunk, and Pidge, who know each other as friends, and Keith and Shiro, who are very very close. So already, the show is giving two characters a HUGE head start over the others, and this automatically makes these characters stand out from the “family” the show is trying to push. In turn, this makes Lance, Hunk, and Pidge less important in the eyes of the audience. To remedy this, the writers tried to give each of these characters families that they cared about/wanted to get back to, so they’d all have the sort of “head start” Keith and Shiro had, but it just doesn’t work. Mostly because Keith and Shiro are both paladins and therefore both apart of the Voltron “family”. What I’m trying to say is that the show automatically makes the audience view Keith and Shiro as “the important ones who are much closer”, which makes incorporating them into a found family just not work.

Looking over at TMNT, they don’t have this problem, and that’s mainly because ALL of the turtles have a strong bond with their mentor figure, Splinter, and they all are close to each other. Every TMNT show goes out of its way to show this. Sure, Splinter may talk to Leo more, or Raph may get mad at Mikey more than the others, but it’s very clear that they all care for one another the same amount. I mean, you don’t see TMNT fans thinking that Leo cared about Splinter more than Raph or Mikey or Donnie. No, they all care, and the audience is able to understand this even with limited screen time between Splinter and the turtles, because the TMNT shows set a precedent that the TMNT and Splinter not only knew, but already loved each other before the show began. Now, I’m not saying that the Voltron team should’ve know each other and already have been close with one another before the show started. Found family is often with people who have just met. The problem arose when they had Keith and Shiro be much closer to each other before the show started, than to the other paladins. You can’t do that when you’re making found family. You have to have them all know each other before hand, or not. Because if you do what Voltron did, then you just end up with a relationship that feels like a dad favoring one child over the others. This obviously leaves a bad taste in many people’s mouths, so people decide to ignore it and focus more on a “friend” dynamic, as someone liking one friend more than the others is much more palatable to watch than a father liking one child over the other.

2. Voltron just doesn’t SHOW the paladins being a family. The Voltron writers fell into a pretty deep “tell, don’t show” hole when they started to refer to the paladins as family. They tell and tell and tell you that the paladins are family, but there isn’t any displays of it; subtle or otherwise. It just makes the audience clock out on the whole “family” idea. Like, characters bickering with each other once in a blue moon isn’t them “acting like a family”.

Looking back to TMNT, it is very clearly shown from the first few episode of every iteration that these characters are family. Again, this doesn’t need to be the case, as found family tropes usually take a while to establish the main family, but you’d expect Voltron to start doing it by season 3. Now, what do I mean by “very clearly shown”? Well, first of all, characters argue, but not the mean spirited arguing that Voltron characters participate in, in the guise of ‘teasing’. No, they just genuinely banter with each other. They also care about each other in small ways. I mean, look up any “Leo being a mom” compilation on YouTube and you’ll know what I mean. Often you’ll see the turtles making food for each other, or messing around with skateboards in the lair together. When characters talk, it’s like they know each other better than the audience knows them. They mess with each other, but when things go south, they help each other out and, most importantly, APOLOGIZE/MAKE UP FOR IT (This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine when it comes to Voltron). An example of this is in the TMNT 2012 episode where Mikey becomes friends with Chris Bradford. Raph, Leo, and Donnie (mostly Raph) kinda make fun of him for it, but when Bradford nearly kills Mikey, they are all there to make sure he’s safe. Raph even talks to Mikey directly at the end, letting him know he’s a great guy, who Bradford didn’t deserve to even be friends with.

The utter lack of “show” in Voltron makes characters look like absolute jerks when the writers try to make them bicker the way the turtles (aka siblings) do. For example, that one scene when Lance is upset that Allura and Lotor are hanging out together. Pidge and Hunk make fun of him for it, and it feels so wrong. And it’s because they didn’t earn that teasing. It also feels wrong because even siblings wouldn’t go that far. I mean, compare this to TMNT 2012, in which even Raph eases up on Donnie about having a crush on April, after he teased him. Like, ya, some teasing may happen, but it, firstly, has to feel like it’s actual sibling banter, and, secondly, has to have the ones teasing make up for it later. Pidge and Hunk don’t do this. They leave Lance absolutely destitute, and they couldn’t care less. I honestly don’t think any of the paladins apologize to Lance for all the times they shit on him, except for Shiro. This approach in turn makes the paladins feel like friends that are kind of jerks, rather than family that occasionally goes too far.

These 2 main points come together to create a relationship between the paladins that feels like good friends at best, and bitter acquaintances at worst.

Anyway, I just needed to get this off my chest and put it into words. Because it has been BUGGING me. Let me know if you agree, or have any points you’d like to add! I’m sure there are other reasons the paladins don’t feel like family

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Favorite Pacey/Joey Moments Per Episode: 6x24 …Must Come to an End (Part 2)

[caffeinatedbisexual]

When Morgana gets angry and more Irish >>