#kids this is a message of hope

[thoughtofadumbteenprotagonist]

Me every time I finish a conversation with my dad

[emotional-piece-of-meat]

Since Cass canonically has big problems with verbal communication (writing specifically), I headcanon that she uses emojis instead of typing messages. Bruce and Damian understand her perfectly, other batfam members struggle, but still try their best to decipher it.

Damian actually likes this a lot, because it feels like their secret language inaccessible for his enemies (he has a lot of them, of course), so their dialogue looks like:

Cass:

🖤💜🧡🍨

💚?

Damian:

🧡🤮🙅🏾

💚🖤💜?

Cass:

🙄👉🏻👶🏾

💜🖤🧡💚🍨🧃🌳🕕

Damian:

😮‍💨👌🏾

🦇🚗🕕

And her chat with Bruce is just like:

🖤🤜🏻🥷🏻

👍

🖤🚶🏻‍♀️🍔

👍

🖤💜🍿🌆

👍

Steph records her a bunch of voice messages about nothing, that she is waiting for the bus or that she had gum stuck to her shoe, and constantly repeats that Cass doesn't need to listen to them and especially answer, but Cass still listens to every single one and diligently chooses a proper emoji.

Also, they all mostly record video messages, so it would be easier for her to understand, because she can read their body language too.

[mlnhos]

stray kids + pantone colors: felix happiest of birthdays to you my sun ♡ @yonglixx

[jinikaris]

FELIX · · ─ ON PUBLICTVDUMBASS: EP 9 ♡

[fawntastic]

For the sketchpage: the Awful Teens (Affectionate) learning Gideon can talk?

Gideon voice. Hey so I uh. I spoke in front of these teenagers and they said i was so sigma. Did they call me a fucking slur

[attyrocious]

hello i changed my handle to match my twt i hope it didnt purge every past post url lmao rip

[furiousgoldfish]

When you grow up with only abusers around you, it can be hard to find an environment in which you can learn morals, basic values and integrity that most children have access to, if they're surrounded with healthy, just, moral adults. Even as children, we often understand viscerally that we don't want to be like our parents, even if we think they love us or whatever, we firmly see that something is wrong, this person is doing damage, we don't want to turn out like this.

Our experiences in school (if we attend it) can give us a little insight into how a person is expected to behave in an everyday setting, but it is still an environment of constantly being controlled, having to do as we're told, only getting to socialize in little breaks and often struggling to socialize because you have not been offered a proper socialization. At young age you can only mimic what you saw in others, and for you this can mean extreme behaviour, erratic behaviour, isolation, complete apathy, switching from one extreme to the other. It can make you blacklisted in your group of peers, because nobody can understand you or predict your behaviour; you can get called a freak. Your new environment can label you problematic and make you feel like you don't belong there, either. And you don't even know what you've done wrong.

In times like this, we often turn to media to learn what's normal, what ethics we should follow, what values we should integrate in our lives, and this is something that can't cut us out, or call us 'not good enough'. It's a little refuge where we get the chance to learn without being punished for screwing up, or even anyone knowing you screwed up, because you're learning by observing characters who don't observe you.

I remember as a child vividly feeling enlightened, and almost consumed by media that promoted messages of friendship, found family, people sticking together, caring about each other, saving each other. Not only it felt incredibly real, but the morals and messages they promoted, got engraved deep into my heart. I wanted nothing else but to live a life like that, if only I found the right people, or found myself in the right situation. It felt profound, important, life-saving.

When people you're surrounded with are manipulative, self-serving, guilt and shame inflicting and utterly cruel individuals, the depth and emotion you get from media feels powerful. The fact that you can feel and yearn for something that is more pure than you have in your surroundings, that you can reach for higher and deeper and more honest human experience, it can set you apart from the abusers you're surrounded with. It can feel more real than reality, more right and true than what you have in your life.

And the thing is, morals and positive messages from children's media, or even other types of media, aren't made to be adapted by people in real life. They're made for this other, fantastical reality and they don't exactly work in the real world. But for us, they're a step that we take in order to wrench ourselves free from the horrifying and bleak picture we have in our everyday reality - nobody caring about anyone, people exploiting every little bit of free will, being told that your life doesn't matter - we need something fantastical and powerful to combat that shit. We need to believe there's something better out there, and we need a chance to learn how to conduct ourselves when the time is right, what values we should have, what behaviours we should learn.

It's not a perfect help, but it is often the only help we get. Sometimes we can end up a little wonky, with our priorities and dreams slightly unrealistic, because of the mix that we've been brought up in. But it isn't for no reason. We have to believe that there's a fantastic heaven for us somewhere, because we're currently in hell, and we need to know that surviving it is worth it. That there's a different reality waiting for us outside. Place where we belong to.

[tea-cat-arts]

Actually, I hope Jiaoqiu stays blind (at least for a couple years in our time) and just bullies the Xianzhou alliance into inventing disability aids and treating disabled people better

[tropicalcontinental]

"If i don't come back I love you all."

how about your lungs first?

[puppppppppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[familyagrestefanblog]

As glad as I am that at least the Sublime conflict is more than just Marinette regressing on all the character development (the show mostly gave mere lip service for her to have had of-screen in the first place)

But good God, as far as the leaks show, Marinette is being cuddled through every second of the upcoming episode. I have never seen a show THIS dedicated to make sure the main character experiences nothing but fluffed up consequences for her actions where everyone gives maximum effort to make sure she feels as little discomfort as possible

Which btw is effort Marinette rarely actually makes in return because the show is too busy having her prioritize her every whim and comfort and benefit too which everyone else eventually has to bow to to make her comfortable.

This honestly feels genuinely inappropriate for a kids show at this point and I hope the full context saves this. Cause if a parent handled their child's morally questionable behaviour which such child's- ego- centered morality, one would very quickly called it out as the bad parenting it is because it's spoiling the child rooted, making them believe nothing is more important than any feeling of discomfort they ever experience, no matter their actions, no matter the circumstances. If the world isn't cuddling the child for the pathetically low standard of having feefees then the world is "in the wrong and mean".

The show wants to get credit for covering compelx interpersonal conflicts, but refuses to send any other message since s4 besides that the world around you (as your life's Main character) is obligated to pamper and cuddle you for having any slither of complex emotions which apparently makes you "unique" since the world doesn't get the same consideration from YOU.

Marinette apparently genuinely can't have an interpersonal conflict anymore without getting wrapped up in fluffy clouds and be surrounded by picture perfect victims who do all the heavy lifting to resolve the issue which of course always leads to Marinette being framed as the poor little underdog who needs to be taken care of and showered in support, excuses, inaccurate pay offs for her initial motivation entirely rooted in the other person being told something else and Marinette not owing up to the WHOLE truth to instead go with what limited information works in her favor, or straight up free passes for her behaviour as long as she says "I'm sorry, I guess I am capable of doing morally bad/ questionable things 🥺 you will reward me now, right? Then I may be able to stop when you make sure i dont feel bad about it anymore ����"

Seriously, I hope the full context saves this cause jesus fucking christ Marinette, stop being wrapped up in cotton candy and then STILL cry about how bad you have it. Children shouldn't be taught that this is how taking accountability works because Marinette's victim complex is excessive by this point.

Marinette, you genuinely fucked up, stop acting like you're in emotional agony every second you ever have to face the realisation that you are capable of causing even the tiniest bad thing. The problems and harm you cause aren't about you, stop always throwing shocked pitty parties for yourself and woman the fuck up.

[bookshelfdreams]

do it. gimme the Izzy straight-coded meta 👀

I feel like I need to preface this by saying that Actually, Izzy Is Straightcoded would be the inflammatory clickbait title I'd give this if it were written to draw traffic & ad revenue to my shitty website. So don't take that term too seriously.

There has been a lot of ink spilled about Izzy thinking he's in a story where one can only be subtextually queer. Some even by yours truly, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. What would be the purpose of queercoding Izzy?

In general, villains* aren't queercoded to show that men being attracted to other men is bad. It's often the outcome; but it's not why the trope exists. It exists because cishet people tend to be (and are encouraged to be) profoundly uncomfortable with gender nonconformity, and so, making a character gnc becomes a quick and easy way to make him appear twisted and untrustworthy. If he** can't even obey the fundamental rules of his own gender (rules that are inherent and unchangeable!) what other rules does he disobey?

Or: If a man is insufficiently masculine, he can't be trusted to have morals. The villain isn't gnc because that's an evil trait to have; rather, the gender nonconformity is a symptom of his evilness. Being evil is what enables him to embrace his feminine side, and embracing his feminine side is what others him and marks him as a villain.

This only really works when he's contrasted with a hero (or heroine) who is Doing Gender Correctly. The villain is foul to highlight how good the hero is. The Hero will be honest and straightforward, brave, physically powerful; the Queercoded Villain treacherous, cowardly, and physically weak. The hero is a Proper Man, a Good Person. The villain an Improper Man, and therefore, a Bad Person.

Of course ofmd fundamentally rejects this. The shorthand wouldn't work, because ofmd simply doesn't think effeminacy is creepy. It's uninterested in moralizing self-expression; it just lets people be how they are. There's a wide range of expressions of masculinity on this show, and none of it is inherently bad. People are allowed to be hypermasculine, flamboyant, and anything inbetween, can express their gender in whatever manner they want, and it's all fine - as long as they are authentic about it. Be however you are, but be yourself, and this is what Izzy fails at. The repression marks him as a villain. The strict adherence to what he thinks a Real Man Pirate ought to be like. He's very preoccupied with enforcing a traditional (and toxic) masculinity on himself and others. It's no coincidence the characters he antagonizes the most - Stede and Lucius - are also the most effeminate ones. And I know, I know anglophones have a much more casual relationship to twat and cunt, those don't nearly feel as uncomfortable for y'all as they do for me, so I don't want to assign too much significance here, but he is the only character who constantly uses this kind of language, and also the one who uses the most gender&sexuality based slurs (as far as I remember).

All of this while being clearly, obviously queer himself! I do not feel like I need to explain this; his flustered reaction when Lucius asks him if he's ever been sketched speaks for itself. The fact that he meets Stede and immediately slices his shirt off of him, speaks for itself. And so on.

Izzy isn't straightcoded in the sense that the story wants us to believe he's exclusively attracted to women. Much like a queercoded villain doesn't need to be shown to be attracted to men (and can even be shown to be attracted exclusively to women!) to still be queercoded. He's straightcoded in the sense that he's a stand-in for restrictive and toxic gender roles that society enforces on people. He buys into the idea that there's a way of Doing Gender Wrong, and this is presented as a tragic character flaw. Something he has to overcome to be able to do the thing that actually marks a hero in this show: express himself authentically.

Part of why I found his death so moving is because it enables him to set right the toxicity he spread. His rehabilitation arc was about himself; about finally allowing himself to be, accepting love, accepting community. His death was about taking responsibility. About fully recognizing the hurt he caused. Looking death in the face enables him to finally abandon the last shreds of that toxicity, to apologize and be granted forgiveness. In the end, he was not beyond saving, and the harm he has done will be healed.

*Izzy is introduced as an antagonist to both Stede and the central romance of this romcom. I'm not gonna debate this; if you disagree, fine, but you clearly have such a fundamentally wrong different view of the show that it's pointless for us to try and convince each other.

**of course Queercoded Female Villains exist s well, but they are a whole different can of worms and less relevant to this discussion

[celestialecho]

🌦️&💤

on childhood best friends.

via ill give you the sun by jandy nelson // via the art of ponyo by hayao miyazaki // jack johnson, we're going to be friends // a message from my childhood best friend // mitski, i guess // via a little life by hanya yanagihara // adventure time, island song (come along with me) // via unknown // abba, chiquitita

[seventeendeer]

just watched the barbie movie everyone was discoursing about last year and I can't help but feel like a lot of the problems in its execution could have been avoided if the kid character's arc had been about learning to embrace girly stuff as an act of rebellion against the adultification of teen girls while barbie went full butch transmasc

[lunarharp]

thingies

[carefulfears]

hey babes :) i'd love to hear your input if you're so inclined: to this day i chew on the question how and who mulder would be after the show's finale. what would be his natural progression, a way to grow and be content? fatherhood sure, but would he ever be just that - not a seeker, finder, investigator ...? it's "all he's ever known" and scully's "put it in a book" in iwtb rings hollow to me, like a reduction; folding that complicated person into a tiny box, neat like that abhorrent house of hers in the revival. do either of them really know what's best for the other? duchovny said they'll always be out there searching, it's their purpose. many fans would disagree, would see them domesticated, give them their happy ending; how would that look for either of them? and how for them together? any thoughts? :)

hey baby. i was scrolling my jackson tag looking for revival posts i've written in the past that may help me collect my thoughts on this, and found an old tag that just said "they have to be monster hunting or baby raising they can't just hang out," which seems so fitting lol. and i do love this about them...that they always want to be searching, or building, and how it turns into creating. it turns into desire, even for things that don't make sense.

mulder is always motivated by something very clear, something defined in the very beginning, "nothing else matters to me." and scully is always clearly defined by faith in it, "i didn't believe you, but i followed you." and one of the difficulties of this model is that it can't stay forever. it's like duchovny joking that he thought signing on for the pilot would be easy, that logistically the show would never last, because you can't search forever. you can't hide forever. eventually, there have to be answers. there have to be findings, there have to be conclusions.

and i think that's where they run into that trouble you're describing circa2008 ("this is who i am. it's who i have always been. it's who i was before i met you. it's what i do. it's everything i know." / "so write it down. put it in a book.") and the way that it's almost...cruel. "put it in a book" is a little mean. "it's who i was before i met you." is a little threatening. i don't think scully has ever looked so purely exhausted as she does throughout this film, and she ends up staying in the end.

and it's scary because they're not searching, they're not creating. they're not allowed to. when he starts up again, obsessively looking for the missing fbi agents, she tries to knock him back by invoking his sister. how she's dead and he can't find her and she has been through "too many years" watching him try. (a little mean, a little scary, a little threatening).

he can't find his sister, that investigation is long over, and he's not allowed to look for their son. which he describes in that movie to her as "an emptiness." my latest frustration around here is this indignance that scully would never leave, she's too "ride or die," she's a doctor, she's loyal. it feels extremely unkind to expect her to suffocate in a haunted house, a situation that we have no idea the lengths of except for the few days we saw, because she's dutiful. because she's starbuck.

and he can't put it in a book. fans want the same exact thing that they argue over in that scene. they want the "happy ending" and domesticity that you reference, and they explain by saying he could write. he could teach. he could stay home with the baby. you ask if mulder and scully know what's best for each other, and i think when they do it scares them. they don't want to say it out loud. other times, they don't know what to do with each other any more than i know what to put on them, by writing this. they know that they want to be searching. building. creating. but they don't always have something to look for, and it's hard to build from a haunted house with empty rooms.

there's this moment in the last finale that always rings incredibly sad to me, when mulder is racing around looking for jackson, and scully is anxious back at the house on the phone, saying "find him." and mulder says "i'm gonna find him. i am tired of looking at him on video."

and he sounds pissed off, like a dad with a teenager in trouble (running away with lottery money?? lol), but it's that last line that just guts me. it really makes you remember that we saw this kid as a baby throughout season 9, scully spent the first year of his life with him, she even got to talk to him at the gas station. mulder got infant photos. emails. security footage.

and in founder's mutation when scully asks if mulder thinks about him, he says "i feel like i've had to put that behind me." scully says that she hates herself.

there's this one moment of show-stopping relief in the finale when mulder makes it to jackson. and he says "i know it must seem strange to you. but i've been looking for you forever."

he was supposed to stop, supposed to put it all behind him, but that's not how mulder works. and even in the end, they haven't quite made it. they have what amount to maybe shaky beginnings.

i don't know what it looks like in the "after," if they are able to go home and build something, the way i'd like them to. the duchovny quote you reference is "there is no such thing as that story ever ending. those characters are forever searching. that's what they do. even if we're not watching them, they're out there."

and i think that's hopeful. i think that's nature. i think that's light in dark places, like chris carter says.