#like i get people being like subtext!! but CMON...

[ralexsol]

btw all y'all beatles + dw fans LIED TO ME when you said rtd really canonized mclennon. they shared like one and half interactions in the whole damn thing and it was that single look at the piano?? bro from the screenshots i saw before i blocked spoiler tags, i was literally waiting for them to have like a soft conversation together about how they were scared about the monster and persevering and being like "you have to be careful... dont get hurt... i couldnt bear to live without you" or whatever shit the episode would be about. i literally thought it was gonna be doctor and ruby show up and mclennon is like already established and happening in the background. yall LIED TO ME!! and i dont even ship mclennon but i was excited to see what rtd was rly gonna do like 😭 honestly the most disappointing thing about the devil's chord

[storiesofsvu]

Thursday Funday!

IM SO FUCKING READY. Sometimes I do wish that rita appearances weren’t like.. advertised. I really do want an episode where I am fully not prepared and she just waltzes on screen with no warning. Like.. I’d die…

Okay, what a cold opening that was, creepy and obsessive and I like it.

“just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should.” Accurate.

I both like and hate the way AI is brought into shows now, like it’s being showcased as something that’s not great most of the time but it’s also just scary the shit they come up with that it does/can do and that stresses me out man. Its fucking terrible.

Jfc the height difference between shaw & the lieutenant LOL she so smol.

Why does olivia always look SO much better on the OTHER law and order shows except for her own.. like… cmon guys, do better

Okay the last time a captain used a rape kit dna to find a perp olivia SCREAMED in her face LOL.  But also yes this is a VERY big issue that will make victims not move forward or get kits done. But also WHY isn’t there a SEPARATE and PRIVATE database for rape kits to be a part of??!!

FUCK

(yes rita just showed up)

Oh she is BACK baby. Oh god… this is giving me theories and so many ideas of not only the gap in time that she’s been on the show (aka in court) and the drastic different physical appearance. Oh man. Oh fuck. This is gonna be my only thought all fucking weekend. Why must I go to work?!

Oh sweet jesus fuck. The delivery of the line “someone who has been *raped* before” from rita made me feel things deep in my soul (and they are things that only confirm/further my thoughts, woof) (not to mention further comments from olivia, oh god there is SO MUCH SUBTEXT HERE!) (gifs & my theories to come later this weekend!!)

We are SO BACK.

LIKE, the little quips, the head tilts, eyebrow raises, ugh YES. The acting/characterization is exactly how it should be and SPOT on.  First suit was meh, second suit was fucking fire (and pretty similar to one of the ones she wore in 25 acts). I don’t want this to be over. PLS let her come back more often.

Also this episode is honestly super good plot and writing and pacing wise so I’m here for it.

I honestly REALLY do enjoy that mothership is basically Nolan getting a strip torn off of him by women he works with every week LOL

Olivia PLEASE. If it was casey who’d gotten that guilty verdict you would’ve come in screaming. Nolan deserves it.

Rita’s suits are giving very presidential and I am here for it.

Tbh I really hoped the girl would get off but I was also very certain that wasn’t going to happen.

Why is it over already? I need more. I need so much more LOL.

Svu time…

Guys for a solid hour there I fully forgot Velasco existed. Like.. Joe who? I only know Ms Calhoun.

I’m like.. 99% sure he’s not gonna be in tonights ep LOL. Who ever would have thought of a day where I was more into OG than SVU lol

Not just a judge but a *federal* judge. Well fuck.

OP! there he is!

Yeah this is one of those super fucked up situations. I lowkey called it from the start when she said “why do you remember more about my childhood than I do?” esp when she’s the younger sister. Trauma= memory loss.

Not me sitting here going “man I really wish there was more cop/investigation in this episode” cause like, I am lowkey bored and wanted more Velasco and kate content. When 97% of the time I’m yelling “MORE COURTROOM” lolololol. This was Scanavino’s time to shine.

Bruno looking fine af though

God this shit is so fucked up.

Shoutout to peter for killin in this episode. Glad they finally gave him something to work with.

I WILL say that I do miss the courtroom sass, from ALL the lawyers. Like, a lot of people focus in on Barba being the sassy one but like, literally all the ada’s have the same if not more sass. Ms Alex “you can have a toothbrush” Cabot. Ms Casey “you’ve just got funky sperm” Novak. Do I even need to quote something from SONYA?? (ugh man I miss her, maybe I’ll watch some old svu after this…) And I’m not saying Carisi lacks this, cause he’s got it, especially in the older seasons when he was a cop. The writing is just lacking nowadays. Give them more personality PLEASE.

VERY heavy Olivia focus tonight, especially between both shows.

Still feels weird to have 4 hours of l&o cut down to only 2. Like.. what am I supposed to do now with the rest of my evening? It’s only 8? I’m just gonna sit  here in silence and fixate about rita for 9458504540549i4923 hours…

[lewis-winters]

what i love so much about the 'going my way' scene is dick knows what he's doing so he's being coy and short like he always does, and even before dick is done saying 'so don't tell me' lew is jumping out of his seat to blab immediately. he found out the plans and was like, welp time to find my boy best friend and just come out with it. lew is kind of guarded with other people, even if it is charming, and with dick he just like...can't help but to show his cards every time

oh, don't get me started on the "going my way" because I have a whole rant about that.

first of all: yes, you are correct. lewis cannot seem to control himself around dick. i've said it all before (i'm a broken record now), but it's almost like loving someone as earnest and honest as dick has the effect of pulling truth from nix, whether he wants to or not. it works on dick, too, because we never really see dick as vulnerable as he is with anybody else but nix. they both recognize each other, and because they both recognize each other, the truth just comes pouring out of them like water through a broken glass. i mean. god. it shows, even in the VERY FIRST SCENE WITH THEM, as I've talked about before. they are INCAPABLE of lying or hiding from each other!!!!

second: i will never shut up about this, but the fact that there were only two instances wherein "going my way" was uttered (the second in an echo of the first) when it would make much more sense if there were three instead? well. i am happy to report that THERE WAS AN ORIGINAL THIRD "GOING MY WAY?"!!!!!!! this was from the original script with a scene from D-day eve:

(pic c/o @lupoteodoro)

notice how just before nix is introduced into the scene, the camera flashes over a picture of dick and de-etta, a girl who is, essentially, dick's girlfriend at the time.

THE FUCKING SUBTEXT OF THAT????? oh, here is a photo of a girl i am sweet on (well I mean in real life dick never referred to her as his girlfriend but as a girl he was talking to but like. cmon now, boy. that is your girlfriend), unceremoniously shoved into my bag JUST AS my boy best friend (with whom i share everything, from the sarcastic side i never let anyone else see, to my most vulnerable moments) is introduced into frame???? asking me, in that same flirtatious manner, "going my way?" my answer to it being????? a fucking smile?????

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THAT????

[cornfields-td-nonsense]

Geoff and Duncan :P

Geoff and Duncan for the character ask game!

Sexuality Headcanon:

Geoff is as bi as the day is long. I haven't fully watched ridonculous race but I've seen how he is with Brody. cmon. "I love you, man"/"I'd marry you all over again" the subtext is just text

Duncan....... eh idk. he's straight most of the time when I think of him. though I could see him being closet gay.

Gender Headcanon:

Geoff can be a trans guy purely bc his colour palette is the trans flag. im a simple man with simple tastes.

Duncan gives nb vibes but also he's like canonically transphobic so 🤷 (im joking, mostly)

A ship I have with said character:

Brigeody. Geoff has two hands.

I don't really ship Duncan with anyone but if I had to pick someone it'd be DJ. Duncan would probably make him worse but I think there's a world where DJ can make him better

A BROTP I have with said character:

Gweoff. Their friendship was SO GOOD in that one episode and I'm genuinely sad they dropped it.

I'm the only person in the world who thinks this but I wrote an entire oneshot where Sierra and Duncan are friends and it unironically made me love their hypothetical friendship. (The Ex-Fangirl and the Ex-Con on ao3 if you're curious) I also really loved him and Gwen as friends but I'll save that for another slot

A NOTP I have with said character:

I don't really have a NOTP with Geoff. all his ships range from "Yeah!" to "ehhh whatever" in my opinion. so. yay

Gwuncan. Yeah you knew it was coming. Like. I don't understand, they were so good as friends and there was a whole thing in Action about people assuming they were a thing and Gwen especially hating it, and then suddenly come World Tour they're into each other??? what??? they were so much better as friends Why Couldn't They Have Stayed Friends. and they didn't even get time to act like a couple and then in AS all they do is argue, obsess over Courtney, and then break up so what was even the point. uuuuuuuurhggrgh I know there's people who love this ship. that's totally fine obvs. it's just a ship at the end of the day. but it really grinds my gears.

ANYWAY RANT OVER

Random headcanon:

Geoff owns loads of sunglasses. like so many sunglasses. every time he goes on holiday somewhere, or anywhere with a gift shop, he ALWAYS buys sunglasses. it's an actual problem lol

Duncan makes most/all of his own clothes and accessories. All-Stars floated the idea of him and Zoey sort of being friends, so let's go with that. they can bond over doing DIY together.

General Opinion:

Geoff's pretty cool. Not my favourite, but pretty cool. I liked how they made him more than just the chill party dude, and showed this mean streak of his during TDA. I love a good corruption arc. and Her Real Name Isn't Blaineley was top tier. overall he's pretty good

Duncan is... ehhh. My opinion on him fluctuates. Every time I think I hate him I remember the DJ's bunny incident, or him and Beth in the finals, and every time I start to like him I remember all of TDWT. I guess it boils down to: he definitely has his moments, but most often I'm indifferent to him or he annoys me, and sometimes stuff he does and says really gets under my skin. I do really like how he is in fanon most of the time, because normally I'm a sucker for the "tough guy with a soft side" trope, and TDA was easily the season I liked him most.

[asherlockstudy]

im sorry but if they are as straight as they call themselves they are getting a little too comfortable with the word "fruity". they are off that generation to know better that the word isnt just a fun thing to call gay people even though gen z has a little too much fun with the "ironic homophobia" shit that i dont care for lol. (at least they have the excuse of being born in a different era) i dont care how liberal they are or how many gay milennial/gen z they have around them i still think they can be a little more respectfull about using some words that doesnt belong to them. i know they arent using it in a bad way but cmon rhett still uses it in a way that implies its something thats beneath him. or something to giggle about.. if you look into that closely it doesnt feel so innocent to me. it wasnt that long time ago that i remember watching a commercial kings type of video of them tallking with a worker and when he called link straight up "sissy" -in the context of how he isnt good for hard work while rhett is manly enough- rhett laughed like it was the best joke he ever heard of. for a long time that humour was their little go to time to time, an easy cheap laugh, and it was at the expense of link (and at the extent of feminine/gay man in subtext) its like now they have the liberal card we are supposed to feel totaly different about the implication of calling something fruity being funny. i understand context matters but still. its cringy to me

Can’t say I disagree. Regardless if they are straight or not and regardless of all the work they have been doing in therapy and the influence by all people around them and all the lgbt GMM merch, I still feel there are hints of homophobia inside them. And to be fair, they have received so much toxic schooling throughout their lives that I find it kind of expected since they do try to expel it but they just haven’t achieved it fully yet.

[straightbaittournament]

MAY THE BEST BAIT WIN! propaganda under the cut:

grace blackthorn and christopher lightwood:

Okay so basically in Shadowhunters there was this family tree, and on it it stated that Christopher and Grace got married and had a kid. And in the book series they were just good friends. Cassandra Clare (the author) has said it’s inaccurate. But like cmon you said they were going to get married 😭😭

kwan and win:

This is a Thai teen drama that focuses on many teens going through hardships and it's very dramatic and very fun I love it so much THESE TWO. They circled around each other for two whole seasons and the tension was there!! He was a bad boy, she was a good girl, every time they spoke there was something in the air. They were both arguably the leads of an ensemble cast and it really felt like they were being set up to get together but then it just... never happens. This show has been out for 10 years and I'm still mad about it. THE WASTED POTENTIAL OF IT ALL

neo, mew, and shin:

Before the show aired there was all this speculation over who Neo (a boy) was going to choose, Mew (a girl) or Shin (a boy). A lot of people suspected that Neo and Mew would get together and even though the trailers seemed to imply that there was something between Neo and Shin, that it wouldn't end well for them. Turns out the show went a completely different direction and ended up with polyamory with all three dating each other. This song from the show released before the show came out and there's a lot of comments from people before the show came out trying to figure out who's going to end up together (with some people saying that they hope it'll be poly but are sure that it probably won't be) https://youtu.be/5w-nDbr2fxY And here's the famous kiss scene (there's no subs in this clip but the general vibe is that they're telling Shin (the shorter guy) that even the two of them have feelings for each other, they care about him too) https://youtu.be/Gr4fTrXqL8k https://64.media.tumblr.com/80a1b4441645c65825f221a42d2e88ed/36e07bb804d7de75-59/s540x810/bd1bb49d299d904c8ffe9a26b970caf9567eaae3.pnj

fitzroy angursell and pali avramapul:

I’m pretty sure even the author thought they were straight and endgame when she started writing them. Although initially Pali is portrayed as the love of Fitzroy’s life so that you think you’re going to have to put up with this straight relationship, she’s later canonically confirmed aroace with a lot of subtext around two other women, while it becomes clear in later books that Fitzroy has a growing interest in another man. Tfw you are sure they’re going to kiss by the end of the book and then it turns out that previous marriage proposals were plausibly about friendship in the first place

naoko takahashi and shouta oohara:

this “show” is a 2 episode hentai so I can understand if this doesn’t get in the brackets lol (I would not recommend watching this hentai for the sex scenes, I just remember reading about Oohara getting cucked for a girl and thinking that I had to see this) So, it starts off with Takahashi being in love with Oohara and they do have ghost sex in the first part of the episode 1 but what happens is that even though they have the opportunity to be together as ghosts, Takahashi pretty much IMMEDIATELY forgets about Oohara because she becomes completely infatuated with this ghost girl named Sakurako to the point where even when Oohara turns into a tiny penis in episode 2 but Takahashi doesn’t give a fuck

the joker and harley quinn:

They were a thing. She left his toxic ass for a cool plant lady. Good for her.

good luck! now go vote!

[star--anon]

Rewatched Maze Runner

Warning! The following below contains giant paragraphs of rambly, out-of-order thoughts on some random movie. Viewer discretion is a word.

If everyone could go ahead and remember that, apparently, the stage directions for the introduction of the Runners is, "A group of kids sitting far away from the crowd, not really joining in, like war veterans that never assimilated back into society"

I've always had the vague sense that Thomas and Newt were such a popular duo that, in later movies, Minho was somewhat overlooked in order to make room for the two. I can't tell if it's just the movie's reinventing of Minho's character (let's be real: book-Minho and movie-Minho are two different people), but I think the overlooking of Minho happened since Day One, honestly. Like, during the scene where Thomas, Newt, and Minho talk to Jeff (doctor guy) about Teresa? And Newt gets all the sassy lines and Minho stays quiet?

He would not fucking say that.

(don't get me wrong I love Newt; I just wish Minho got to shine more. He's so loud and confident and sassy in the books. Not only did we lose that, I also feel like we didn't get anyone to replace that. Newt's a bit more broken than Minho is, so as sassy as he was, he couldn't be book Minho levels of sassy. So we just kind of completely lost that cocky attitude entirely. Also, cmon man, I deserve this. I never get to see Asians be the sassy ones in movies. We're always the nerds.)

Also if we got more sassy Minho it'd make the scene where Thomas and him follow the Griever core beeping thingie to the Griever Hole so much funnier. Minho looks so lost and confused during that scene lmao

It's worth mentioning that Gally's respected enough to be the one to cross off Gladers' names from the walls after they die. Like, it cannot be a coincidence that the two times we're shown where someone gets their names crossed, it's Gally.

"He built half of this place himself." Yeah, man. Gally is a respectable character in the Glade. There's a lot of subtext in the movies, but I feel like that's totally glossed over by the fandom. Then again, I wouldn't know. I don't hang out in the Gally tag to be honest. Too much xReader smut there.

Just a reminder that there's a deleted scene before the scene where Gally pushes Newt to punish Thomas for breaking the rules. Minho bursts into the room and goes, "What the hell, Gally? You think you can call a Keeper meeting without us?" And after Gally tries to get Thomas to leave the room, he immediately snaps, "He stays." And that should've been left in the movie. ONCE AGAIN THEY CUT OUT MINHO BEING COOL AND CONFIDENT. WE WERE DONE A DISSERVICE

"Gally-" (placatingly) "Nah, Fry." Damn I want more Frypan. This one scene, where Frypan then proceeds to chase after Gally, has so much behind it. I want more Frypan dammit

When Minho and Thomas are exploring section 7 and discover the Griever Hole? Before going in, Minho turns and asks, "You sure about this?"

He would not fucking say that.

Just for the record, Gally is scared. I feel like that's not talked about a lot. He's not... Okay, well, I mean, he is a plot device that is mad at Thomas because the plot requires it. BUT HE IS ALSO a terrified kid! "For three years, we've coexisted with these things. Now you've killed one of them. Who knows what that means for us?" HE'S TERRIFIED HE'S SCARED THOSE ARE THE WORDS OF A SCARED KID WHO DOESN'T WANT TO DIE!! JUSTICE FOR GALLY AHHHHHH !!!

Having a VFX guy to be the director was a genius move. The scene where the walls in section 7 start closing in on Thomas and Minho is genuinely beautiful and exhilarating

When Alby wakes up and the Main Gang (my term for the group of main characters) burst into the room, and Minho immediately asks Teresa, "Has he said anything?" AHHHHH T^T He cares, he really does. Beneath all that attitude, he cares.

Damn Wes Ball was such a good fucking pick to direct this movie. And anyone who worked on the VFX deserves so much love. And money. Mostly money. but love too! Anyway, the night scene where the Grievers come in and kill a bunch of kids is fucking beautiful. I think I got too used to Marvel, where all the shitty CGI is covered up via super fast cuts that make it difficult to keep up with the action. It's so nice to take a breath of fresh air for once.

Wish we got to see more of the Gladers fighting back against the Grievers, though. Two people throw a spear and that's it? C'mon.

"Chuck, don't let go!" "No shit!"

Ooooooooh, when Alby goes insane and rabidly hacks away at the Griever tail holding Chuck? Dammit I love him too.

I think it's because I'm aromantic but I hate it when an artificial romance just completely overshadows any genuine friendships made. I always hated that the first half of the book is Thomas forming tentative relationships with the Gladers, and then Teresa comes along and Thomas totally prioritizes her over everyone else. I like movie Thomresa a lot more.

When Minho whips his machete out after Thomas gives his bloody inspiring speech? *kicks feet and giggles*

It's worth mentioning that Minho always runs behind the group of kids? I've noticed this in Scorch Trials, too. Minho always runs behind everyone, even though... y'know. He's faster than them all. It's kinda cute; he's making sure nobody falls behind.

Okay, but genuinely, though? I have my gripes with the books and movies' writing, but the movies' diversion on Chuck's death is genuinely good. Twice, he almost died (Griever got him, he almost fell down in the Griever hole). It's like they want to nail home that he has plot armor so when he actually dies on the third time, it totally comes out of left field. I feel like if I hadn't read the books and just watched the movies, that would've absolutely stunned me.

I usually don't bother myself with complaints about movies because I fully believe that some movies have symbolism and social commentary and character arcs and some movies are just to stimulate happy chemicals in your brain for 2 hours, and both types of movies have value. However, I will say that the "detail mistake" that Minho knows the password to the Griever Hole starts with 7 is kinda unfounded. They're literally in section 7. If you're being asked the pattern of the maze while in section 7, you'd probably start with section 7.

Everyone say thank you to Jeff for sacrificing himself so we could go on to Scorch Trials and see sassy Minho at his sassiest (still a tamer version of book Minho though). Also say thank you to Jeff for having the most gruesome death. Obviously no blood was shown, but him screaming as the Grievers basically trample him was pretty damn shocking. From heroic self-sacrifice to merciless death. Whiplash.

Big ol' sign that says EXIT Frypan: "Seriously?"

Chuck nervously, hopefully asking, "Is it over?" AHHHHHHHHHH TT-TT

Just saying, I'm sure the first time Chuck gave Thomas his little totem, it was because Chuck believed Thomas could get them out. The second time, though? When he's literally bleeding out in his arms? Where Chuck realizes he's never gonna see his parents AND Chuck realizes Thomas is as close as he's ever gonna get? AHHHHHH

[wine-mom-wheeler]

Besties I will never stop getting you all to believe in byler fr iM wItH yOu tiLl tHe eNd oF tHe liNe.

Anyways I see a lot of people saying that Will is being used to prop up a straight relationship,,, that may be what it seems but cmon y’all. We ship byler which up until s4 was completely unnoticed by the GA. We were 5k ppl strong but now we’ve grown AND WE MUST NOT FORGET OUR HUMBLE BEGINNINGS. Will has Mike at gunpoint to say ily to El. I feel like there’s a lot there in subtext. Something something Will being the one to push Mike something something Mike’s love for Will something something pushing him to say ily to El something something it’s the 80s and internalized homophobia is a bitch. Maybe I’m crazy but who cares 😝 Not to mention the Robin and Will parallel. And I’m pretty sure Robin ends up with Vickie. ALSO MIKE CALLED EL A SUPERHERO AND SHE SEEMED SO PISSED 💀💀💀 THAT DID NOT HELP AT ALL EIPWEJPWKEPWKE. Also Hopper or Joyce (I can’t remember lmao) saying “I thought I lost you” or something. Plz you guys don’t lose hope. But also don’t get ur hopes up bc I def do not trust the duffer’s writing abilities after this vol 😭

[propshophannah]

umm i think ppl are over reacting,, az was not being toxic or possesive, he's been pining for elain for 3 years and he now knows she feels the same way for him,, and to the ppl that said that him being turned on was creepy,, wait till we see elains pov bc im pretty sure she was thinking the same. pls it's okay to not like scenes and characters and ships but cmon,, some eluciens are butchering him

Hi Nonnie! I heard that the fandom was getting crazy so I’ve been avoiding looking at posts and stuff. If Az came off creepy it wasn’t because he was turned on. LMFAO. Elain was turned on, too. SHE ALSO INITIATED THE ENTIRE SCENE! We don’t even need her POV to tell us what she wanted either—Maas straight up tells us this in that scene. LOL to everyone who skipped that part and those lines. I mean… it wasn’t even subtext. It was literally written on the page. (I’m writing an analysis of that scene, stay tuned!)

If he came off creepy, it was because he articulated a sense in entitlement—which given the situation wasn’t entirely out of line! Sorry, it just wasn’t. 

And here’s why: We’ve all had moments where we are so fucking mad—and everything around us seemed to be going in everyone else’s favor BUT ours—so we got angry. And vengeful. And we got a little lost in those feelings, some of us drowned in them, and we did things and said things and we came off like a fucking asshole. FACTS.

If some people think that’s never happened to them, then they’re either lying to themselves or not paying attention to themselves. It’s as simple as that, Nonnie. 

We all do dumb, potentially toxic things when we’re mad or upset. That’s the law of the land and not one single person in the fandom, or the world, is above that. Not. One. 

And LETS. BE. REAL. Elain is NOT above reproach for the role she *actively* plays in this cluster fuck. She is just as guilty of stringing Lucien and Az along in that she hasn’t made a decision on whether to accept or reject the mating bond. Or in just saying “Look, Lucy, babe, I don’t like this. It’s stressing me out. Please leave me alone for the next 2.5 years or until I say ‘when’ before you come around again. Thanks!” She doesn’t even need to say it to Lucien. THAT’S THE KICKER. She could tell Feyre. Tell one of the Shadows to tell Feyre or Rhys or Mor and Nesta OR ANYONE with the power to say “Hey, we can’t invite Lucy to Solstice because Elain doesn’t want it.” This is a situation where getting other people to play the bad guy for you, is 100% socially acceptable. 

Hell, LUCIEN could be the one to initiate this. To pick up on what Elain IS NOT THROWING OUT and say, “Hey, Rhys, babe. Thanks for the Solstice invite, but I don’t think Elain appreciates my presence, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. How about I send you her gift from me, then I, like, check in every now and then and you can find a way to let her know I’m in town and if you invite me to dinner, I’ll take that as a sign that she’s okay with me being there for dinner and nothing more. No expectations.” It’s not hard. 

(We could argue that Lucien continuing to come around IS JUST AS WEIRD/CREEPY. READ THE ROOM DUDE.)

Now I WILL say that there is an argument to be made that Elain *may* not grasp the gravity of a mating bond because she was born in a different culture. That’s totally fair. BUT she’s had plenty of time to learn what that means having spent so much time around Feyre and Rhys and the others. 

So the idea that Azriel is the only one who deserves to be vilified is nonsensical. 

ALSO, and this is something I will be including in the analysis I’m working on and will hopefully finish tomorrow (I’m going to break that Az POV down so that everyone and their third cousin, twice removed, can understand), is that AZRIEL’S WHOLE SHTICK IS WAITING.  He looooves to wait. Fucking LOVES it. It’s his whole job y’all. It’s weird, and related to his daddy issues when you apply it to females, but it’s his life. He LITERALLY tells us this in ACOSF. Remember at the end when Cassian is complaining about how he HATES spying because he has no patience? 

Az is like “It seems you’ve forgotten how much of spying is waiting for the right moment. People don’t engage in their evil deeds when it’s convenient to you.” 

Cassian explains why he stopped spying because it “...bored him to death. I don’t know how you put up with this all the time.” 

Az says, “It suits me.”

 BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

MF BOOOOOM.

Az likes to play the long game. Not saying it’s healthy, but that suits him. He’s good at waiting. He HAD TO BE. HE WAS LOCKED AWAY FOR YEARS AND HAD TO WAIT FOR THE CHANCE TO SEE HIS MOTHER. And the sun. And his hateful brothers. He doesn’t know any better/how else to be. And there is a lot of trauma and conflicting feelings tangled in this. 

It’s only creepy when you fail to grasp the nuance. But if you stand too close to a painting, you can’t see the whole thing. Back up, people. Back up.

Az has spent his whole life waiting. It’s how he learned to be. And now that his brothers are all happily mated he’s looking back on all his waiting—on his entire life—and he’s having a crisis. Or a crisis is looming. What has his waiting gotten him? Why has his patience not been rewarded? Why not him?

You combine that thinking with anger and you’ve got a recipe for momentary entitlement. For rage so thick and consuming that you want to punch a wall and work yourself to death because at least when you’re working you can compartmentalize and not deal with the reality that YOUR ENTIRE LIFE MODEL hasn’t worked for you. That you got left behind somewhere and it was your fault.

Az is headed for a mid-life crisis or an emotional breakdown—or some big horrific moment where he realizes he can’t keep doing what he’s been doing, that his entire world is built on a foundation that’s crumbling. And if you’ve never ever had that happen to you, then I’m jealous. And I’m happy for you. Because it’s terrifying. Bloody awful fucking terrifying.

[twinvictim]

his stone tablet is "the oppressor". his monsters are all presented as lacking in identity and being heavily sexualized, don't get me wrong I don't think he's evil or anything, the whole game is like, about him overcoming this, but textually he very much is presented as someone who has a lot of anger towards women? I'm just confused because James without that component of fault seems like... a pretty flat interpretation of him. he'd just be generic guy sad about dead wife

The stone tablets are just puzzle peices thst could mean literally anything

The monsters are sexualized bc they hurt and scare James with their sexuality not bc he sees women as lesser people. (Imo) I dont think a James who hates women would be compassionate towards a rape victim. Or protect Maria who he doesn't even like. Or care so much about a wife who did reasonably hurt him quite alot.

Where is the anger? I dont see it? I see resentment at his wife, not bc shes a woman but bc she hurt him and he hurt her bc their relationship was unhealthy. Not bc he hates women. And if all you can find interesting about James is "misogyny" then I feel like you haven't delved into the very present subtext of him being mentally ill. What about someone who hates women is intersting? What about a mentally ill character is flat and boring? I know it popular to call him mysogenistic but like...cmon

[supertransural]

Beyond the Mat, sort of meta?

Ok so for some personal context, I’ve been rewatching all of Supernatural and i have the firm intention to keep the show on repeat on my computer/tv until i’ve fully binged it 15 times (never fear, I am already perfectly aware of how bad a decision this is). I wrote this post with a frantic need to get all the thoughts out, but it happened to be 3am at the time, and I realized I had to make gifs and upload them which was obviously too much work for a sleep deprived brain. I put it off until the next day, but ended up procrastinating and now it's been sitting in my drafts for 3 months and I thought hey this is a good time to finish it up (it could be argued that i'm polishing up this thing at 5am and this doesn't seem to be an issue for my will to get this done this time around, although I am heavily caffeinated so maybe that has something to do with it, go figure).

Anyways that’s besides the point. At the time I had just gotten to 11x15, Beyond the Mat. I’ve seen people write a lot about how parallels between Sam and Dean’s love lives/interests are part of the subtext about Dean’s bisexuality. I’ve also read people's works about how Gunner is pretty obviously one of Dean’s youth celebrity crushes. But (and I might just be a bit blind or haven’t looked hard enough) I haven’t seen a lot about the parallel between Sam/Rio and Dean/Gunner.

So let's get down to business, shall we?

The scene I will be focusing on starts out with Dean utterly star struck, sort of mumbling awkwardly his reasoning for coming up to Gunner (x) (x). Interestingly enough, Sam does the exact same thing with Rio (x) (x), while Dean is in the other corner clasping Gunner's hand for way too long and way too tight, and giving him the “i’ve loved you ever since i met you” look (x) (x).

Now since Sam’s crush is strictly heterosexual and we all know Sam’s interest in women, he outright says it to Rio (this is, after all, the CW) (x) (x). Dean on the other hand doesn’t verbalize it in so many words (the CW), but cmon... That fluster when Gunner winks at him later on?? (x) (let's not forget the little leg pat (x) that is probably still etched in Dean's memory amongst the 20 best things that ever happened to him, behind the previously-mentioned-wink and the Cartwright Twins) Or his reaction to Gunner patting his arm, "ok ok don't panic, it's not like your childhood crush just touched you oh wait". And Literally His Unwavering Smile The Whole Way Through. Jacting choices, people, Jacting choices (x).

Sam saves himself by steering the conversation towards a type of "where are they now?" interview, and Rio follows his not-so-subtle attempt, with a heavily implied tint of nostalgia for the good old days (x). Dean pulls a very similar stunt, mentioning something about his and Gunner's past (x) (x). Rio and Gunner's faces in those clips resemble each other quite a great deal: the emotion is the same, regret.

I really love that parallel because it’s really just “in your face”. You see Dean getting all flustered, at that point you could still say “hey i love [insert celebrity] and i don’t have a crush on them, but i’d probably still react that way around them”. (First of all, if I were you, I'd go on a journey of soul searching because hello, it’s ok to have crushes on celebrities you wish you didn’t, we’ve all been 12 and we’ve all seen Twilight and we’re all ashamed, and second of all, would you really and I mean really react that same way?) But then, enters Sam and his old crush, from the same field, basically the same time period, the same place and roughly the same "community". And it’s an unapologetic crush, not just a “hhhahaha i loved your uh.... your work.... as a uh kid haha.....”. Nonono. He says it, he tells her that he “used” (i’m not sure it’s completely gone, just like Dean) to have a crush on her. And then boom, parallel.

The way the two interact with both “celebrities” isn’t that different, if anything, Sam is less awkward around Rio than Dean is with Gunner. I’m betting the reason why is that since Sam’s crush is a woman, he has 1: talked about it openly before with his family (a poster of your crush on your wall is a good way to do that) and 2: talked to other crushes like her before. Dean, for obvious reasons, has not. Not a man, maybe some girlfriends, but he was never open (specifically not to John) about a potential crush he had on the big wrestler man in the ring, because he’s supposed to be this manly manly ladies man. He’s much more awkward because he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to talk to his crushes that might have been men, so the entire ordeal is wayyy more foreign to him. And he was also just a fan, so the whole “oh my god oh my god” of the crush is added to the already existing “oh my god oh my god” of his inner (and outer let's not kid ourselves) fanboy self.

Dean’s reaction is incidentally very similar to the one he has in the Fat Spa in 9x13, The Purge, with the character called Larry, Maritza’s husband. Dean’s awkward, goes too far, slightly flustered, and he’s pretty clearly not thrown off because of Maritza in that interview room, his gaze is mostly going from Sam to Larry then back to Sam. He lightly brushes over Maritza but barely looks at her (x) (x).

I’d also like to point out that when Gunner enters the stage, there’s a hint at a bi flag created by the light show, blink and you'll miss it (x). But then again that could just be the fact that those lights look pretty together and I'm completely insane. I’m not going to push that one too far, but since Gunner winks at Dean after that, which as I said before, makes Dean look adorably happy and flustered..... Take that as you will.

There's a thousand other scenes relevant to Dean being very blatantly bi-coded in Beyond the Mat (seriously, it's almost as obvious as the siren episode) but I really just wanted to focus on the parallel this time. I might go even more in depth on that episode (or do it bit by bit) if I ever find the will to make more gifs and string intelligible words together to create coherent sentences, and give off the impression of a sane mind. Might even throw in some The Purge meta for fun. Yes my definition of fun is quite warped.

[unlockthelore]

how things are

Part 9 of Know-It-All a.k.a the modern AU snippet series that no one asked for. To find other parts of the series, follow the know-it-all tag.

aoi_a#0230 — direct message with elemonate#0820

elemonate wyd

aoi_a you know what im doing yamabuki

elemonate ouch cold not even gonna call me lemon or L??

elemonate cmon don’t leave me on read

elemonate not gonna tell me what that was about back there

elemonate saying you weren’t sure about being nene or amane’s friend?

aoi_a I don’t want to get mixed up in anyone’s relationship drama

elemonate ah yeah, must be hard when you can’t figure out your own

aoi_a excuse me?

elemonate pretty hard to misread text

elemonate might wanna clean those glasses of yours, honors boy

aoi_a if you have something you want to tell me could you come out and say it? reading you beat around the bush is painful

elemonate a ray of sunshine this one is

aoi_a did you just quote yoda??

elemonate you should know me by now aoi

elemonate we did date after all

elemonate and maybe this little thing with nene and amane can open your eyes to why we’re not still dating

elemonate food for thought

aoi_a what is that supposed to mean

aoi_a yamabuki

aoi_a i know that you’re reading these

Akane’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, the unsent message of ‘please talk to me’ backspaced immediately until the insertion point could go no further no matter how hard he tapped the delete key. Pressing the side-button, the screen went dark and he dropped his hand to his side, letting his phone slip out of his grasp and hit the bed with a soft thump.

His breaths were slow and even, the fingers of his other hand curled against the lower half of his stomach, brushing against his navel. An involuntary shudder ricocheting up and down his spine as he shifted against the blankets, heated and sticking to his skin.

His eyes ached from being up for so long and his mouth felt dry. The urge to go get a drink of water was tempered by the thought that his screen would light up. Hopefully with a message from him. An explanation for what he meant. But he doubted it. Yamabuki was infuriating like that. Cryptic. Always cool-headed and detached. But he was so contrite when it pertained to their relationship. His words, sharper and cold, never failed to pierce him deeply.

No matter how much time had passed.

Akane sighed, pressing his hands to his eyes until circles danced in the darkness of his eyelids.

He thought that time was all that he needed. Time was all that they needed. But wounds were messy things, and they didn’t always heal right. If he only had fifteen minutes to undo the stupid mistakes that he made in the past, he would’ve. But within that small fifteen minute time frame of talking to him, he felt like they were further than when they started.

Turning on his side, he pressed his cheek to his pillow and sighed.

Why we’re not still dating.

It was obvious at least to him. Everything went wrong that day with the confession tree. Perhaps he grew tired waiting. Or he just wanted to vent his frustration. Yamabuki didn’t care, tapping away on his cellphone, responding flippantly. And then they were dating.

And now —

Now they weren’t.

He curled his fingers in his shirt, grimacing. It wasn’t as if it hurt so much as that it was confusing. His chest ached but his head was hurting even more. Yamabuki didn’t say much when their relationship ended. Everyone took it as a strange turn of events and things went back to normal. So how did they change?

What was he missing?

Akane’s eyes drifted shut and Yamabuki’s smile was visible even in the darkness. Chills crept up his spine as the smile grew weary, quickly aging before his eyes until it was replaced with a thin-lipped ghost.

Maybe we should break up.

What did he say to him at that time?

Did he refuse?

Did he agree?

It was hard to remember when the memories aged.

And while he didn’t believe he had much in common with Amane, perhaps that’s where their paths crossed. That day, they both hurt someone that they cared about.

A muffled vibration and light filtered from behinds eyelids caught Akane’s attention and his eyes widened. Snatching his phone up, he shot upright and opened up the app.

kannoaoi#0320 — direct message with aoi_a#0230

kannoaoi psst

kannoaoi man with a thousand faces

kannoaoi want to talk for a little bit?

His eyes softened and he sighed. It was only Aoi.

Shaking off that thought, he sat upright. Aoi was texting him this late at night and he should’ve been happy about it. It wasn’t as if she went out of her way to text a lot of people and even the group chat was a rare occurrence. What was he supposed to say?

Glancing at his curtains, they were only pulled back slightly allowing a sliver of moonlight to outline his pillow. She was right there. The girl next door, her window adjacent to his own.

It was romantic at least in a sense.

Like a cliche from a movie.

And yet, for some reason, he almost felt afraid of facing her like this.

aoi_a shouldn’t you be in bed, ao-chan?

kannoaoi long night, exceptions are made

kannoaoi window?

Ordinarily, he would have leapt at the idea of being able to talk to her during the night. It would have been one of his dreams come true. But he didn’t want to. He’d rather lay there and just say that he was heading off to bed. Regardless of whether she could see him or not.

But his fingers stilled, backspacing the message he typed and replacing it with another that his autocorrect finished without him even having to prompt it.

aoi_a it’s always open for you

kannoaoi hmm

kannoaoi four points

Aoi’s window was already open as he opened his own. Her hair, normally done up with two loops framing her face, was hanging loose over her shoulders. She propped her elbow up, resting her chin in hand, curled fingers barely covering the concerned smile she wore.

“You look tired, Akane…”

He huffed, gesturing up toward the night sky. “It is late.”

“Not what I meant,” she said softly, and despite the gentleness of her voice, the words were firm. “And you know it.”

Akane felt his resolve cracking bit by bit and he averted his gaze, staring back into the darkness of his bedroom with downcast eyes. They said nothing for a long while, allowing the distant rumbling cars and whispering winds to fill the silence. Aoi shifted slightly, crossing her arms and resting her chin on them, staring at him appraisingly.

“Did you and Yamabuki-kun have a fight?”

“Makes you think we fought?”

“Mm,” she hummed, rolling her eyes upward. “Subtext…”

Too damn perceptive. Akane sighed, shaking his head. “He just said something ridiculous and I can’t figure it out.” Frustration drained from him and he slumped against the window sill, rubbing his fingers through his hair. “He’s always playing these games and I just…”

Yamabuki’s smile, weathered and greyed, sent dull shocks through his chest and disrupted his train of thought. He would’ve loved to see that smile without the chill following but they weren’t there yet.

“I don’t wanna play anymore,” he muttered defeatedly, tucking his face in the crook of his arm.

He almost wished that Yamabuki would just tell him what it is that he was missing. What did he not know? What were they doing? Where did they go wrong? But a part of him wondered why it is that he cares so much. If Yamabuki wanted to play, that didn’t mean he had to play along. He wasn’t going to be dragged around as if he were the one in the wrong.

Yet that voice.

That same traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind.

How did he know he wasn’t in the wrong?

“Why did you start dating Yamabuki-kun?” Aoi asked suddenly, startling him out of his thoughts. “Do you remember?”

Lifting his head, he stared at her and she stared back. Her smile, soft and concerned, was gone now replaced with a look that was unreadable as it was alarming. Because he didn’t. No answer came to mind. All he could remember was that day.

The tree.

His confession.

Yamabuki’s nonchalance.

Then later on, they were dating. And it was strange but it was nice and —

Aoi’s unreadable expression shifted and Akane felt a chill running down his spine as she regarded him with a thin-lipped smile. “I don’t think Yamabuki-kun is playing games, he’s giving you clues because you’re missing the point.”

[neatpoems]

trust with/out fear

its a line lifted from jojo rabbit (and maybe the original book? idk) and it has been driving me up the walls metaphorically (i am not particularly athletic)

it is, of course, very very stupid on some level fear is normal and you can’t (really really shouldn’t) stop yourself from feeling things feelings should only ever be managed, at most

but, to reference that game of thrones bit about bravery not in spite of fear but because of it or something like that

with that in mind i think the spirit of the initial quote comes through more but its like idk, should I?

there are serious practical limitations to consider and i don’t just mean not being suicidally naive

should you trust in spite of fear if you’re not sure you could take being let down like i get the principle but i’m not keeping it together THAT well and pushing yourself beyond your limits should be enjoyed cautiously some limits are harder than others

should you trust in spite of fear if you’re not the (only) one paying the price like, there’s a limit to how much you should ask from people and i’m pretty sure i’ve pushed that limit already by a bit

and if you trust without fear what the fuck does that mean trust is not in itself particularly actionable do i throw myself at her mercy, lay my heart in her hands do i do nothing trusting itll work out somehow, probably, its not just in my hands (thats how you miss flights, trust me.)

maybe the implicit subtext of trusting without fear is doing that which scares you most but like, cmon i personally think i have good reasons

and honestly, i think i’ve applied the mantra in the past granted, i was mostly gutted what i found out that wasn’t an issue of trust and, well

maybe it’s not that i’m afraid to trust it’s that trust can really only go so far (and i might just be afraid to figure out how short that is)

[idkwhoiamanymorebutwtf]

Peridot: Why she’s not around often, and why there’s still hope.

K, so I love Peridot. I love her so much. More than life itself. Why is she just..never around? Back in season 4, during the whole zoo arc, she had a lot of use? Like, she could have avoided any issues getting there for starters, being a technician. And she’s more accustomed to how homeworld works than the others? When Aquamarine and Topaz were kidnapping people, she wasn’t there to help rescue the humans, or when Steven got back. And the fact that she was the one who provided Homeworld with a list of names? That’s good fodder for her character! She got Steven kidnapped! Cmon, she’s gotta have some sort of reaction! But no. Nothing until Raising The Barn. Lapis left and that opened the door for more development when it came to Peridot. But what did we get? One episode of her being sad and then nothing until Made Of Honor. And like??? Where was she when we found out about Rose being Pink Diamond anyway? I mean, she was living under the same roof as the gems! Then there’s the fact that she had such a minor role in Reunited? And only got her star because the whole cast was due for a makeover, which just completely took any sort of focus away from her star! Which we were all waiting for her to get for three years! What did she do in the movie? It was a good opportunity to get more of her. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were incapacitated at the time. Steven didn’t have his powers. Peridot could have finally had a chance to be a part of saving the world! She should have been! She knew about the injector Spinel used, and the writers could have at least tried to act like she was doing something! But instead she. Bismuth, and Lapis all stood and stared at the injector for what, forty something hours?!? I swear, that scene where Steven says, “I have no more friends to help me-”, completely forgetting about Peri and the other’s until they’re shoved in his face, was leaked audio of the writers forgetting my girl exists.

Now, I have a lot of hope for Peri in season six, because the writers- weather they did it on purpose or not- set her up for a lot of character growth. Some people see the way she was written as lazy too. Her being so happy-go-lucky, joky, and fun? It’s been seen as poor writing by many people. But I see something behind it. Because her character has become forced. And i’m certain the crew noticed it. Who didn’t? I still love her, but that’s just because i’m literally obsessed with her. But in all my obsessions and dozens of rewatches of every episode she’s in...i’ve noticed something that changed the way I see her personality. 

Peridot has a very self destructive personality. It’s not shown there at the surface, but throughout the whole show, there have always been notes of it. Back when she was a homeworld gem, despite  what her initial ego may suggest, I am under the impression that Peridot was pretty low ranking. She places herself above Pearl’s, but not much else? I’ll assume they’re more valued than Ruby’s, because Ruby’s seem to be considered pretty expendable. But like? She places Quartz Soldiers higher than herself, and while some of them, namely Jasper, are respected, we’ve seen from the way the Amethyst’s at the zoo are treated that they aren’t typically very high class. And her original devout loyalty to homeworld means she’d probably already have practically no self esteem with her lower ranking and homeworld’s obsession with conformity? Plus Peridot didn’t have any powers and that can’t help at all. And yeah, when shd joined the Crystal Gems she had to denounce the whole system, but her entire life before that point, her inferiority was a f a c t to her. Joining the Crystal Gems must hay have helped her views on life and her morals, but I’m not sure she became any healthier as a person? Like, yeah the Crystal Gems taught her basic values and morals. But they didn’t teach them to her in a way that made sure she understood, they just kinda got mad at her when she messed up and let her figure it out herself. I’m not saying the Crystal Gems did anything wrong. But like..she really learned that it was fine for people to inflict arbitrary rules onto her without justifying it and then get mad when she breaks their silent rules. Like when Amethyst supported her making fun of all the other Crystal Gems and then got mad when Peridot made fun of her. Obviously we all know making fun of people to their face is wrong. But she didn’t. And the way she learned was too vague because she just learned that if you upset someone it’s always your fault and that you don’t need to understand, just to blindly apologize so things are okay again. And in the episode Too Far, Peridot tries so hard to make Amethyst laugh. To please Amethyst. It’s why she ended up insulting Amethyst in the first place! Her need to please starts showing itself very clearly at that point. Now, the Crystal gems only ever taught her how to be a good person. But that changed. Enter Lapis Lazuli. A deeply traumatized gem. A gem who was irritable and emotionally volatile. And Peridot, who was taught by homeworld that she didn’t matter, and by the Crystal Gems that other people did matter, and had a right to be angry at her whenever they pleased for reasons she didn’t understand, was absolutely vulnerable to how Lapis acted. Now, she clearly doesn’t go out of her way to please people she doesn’t know. But she did know Lapis. She had an overwhelming desire for Lapis to like her as well. And so we leave a gem whose bound to be very sensitive and have countless triggers (and is prone to angry or emotional outbursts)...alone with a gem whose all set up not to stand up for herself and that when someone’s upset at you, do anything you can to make it right, and it’s absolutely your fault. Immediately after being left with Lapis, though, her personality hadn’t changed into the wacky funtime dorito a lot of my fellow fans (and the critics too), like to criticize. And that’s because it wasn’t until Too Short To Ride that the final piece of her self sacrificing, horribly self-destructive personality came into place. If you don’t recall, there was a scene where Peridot was upset. At first Amethyst just..comforted her. But, well, when Peridot didn’t immediately feel better and fake joy for Amethyst...her tablet was nearly thrown into the sea. This was treated as completely fine and normal. And Peridot, i’m sure, suffered for it. Because there came the idea that things worked out better if she was who people wanted her to be. Peridot changed after that. Amethyst had punished her for being sad. And Lapis must have taken it poorly if Peridot ever got angry. Those things combined with the rest of her character arc? Of course she started trying to lighten the mood whenever she could. Of course she dedicated herself to being happy and silly and making sure everyone else was alright. And this is deeply written into her subtext, most notably in Raising The Barn. Now, at first I thought that episode was meant to highlight that Lapis was a very bad ‘friend’ (or gf, however you wanna read it), to Peri. But well...the show never treated it like that. They never treated lines like “i’ve been bending over backwards for her” or “I can’t tell her how I feel” or “There are things I should tell you, but I know they’ll upset you, so I don’t say those things”, and of course “We don’t matter. Lapis needs us”/”We don’t have a choice in this.” like they were about Lapis being toxic- even emotionally abusive to an extent, which is how I initially read it. Lapis never learned a lesson. No one said Lapis did anything wrong. Of course, I do still think Lapis was wrong there (she made the choice that they were leaving without consulting Peridot. She got angry at Peridot for lying to her when she had no right to. Etc), but now I realize that it wasn’t just Lapis being awful and having no consequences.That episode was there to shove this aspect of Peridot’s personality in our faces. And most of us missed it completely. Of course, it makes sense, seeing as many things Rebecca and the other writers weave into the show are only there in hindsight. It took me twenty views and multiple rants about how the way that episode showed their relationship was pointless, to realize just what the point is. And what’s more? In the climax of the episode, Lapis leaves. Peridot is emotionally open with Lapis, the thing she’d been afraid to do, the thing that goes against her self destructive way of thinking...and Lapis leaves. That is why I am 100% sure Peridot is still stuck in her self destructive behaviors with no one noticing and no real support system to help her deal with it. 

So yes, the writers set her character up perfectly for the future. Weather they meant to or not. We’ll only see if it was bad writing or a perfect setup once the show is over. And well...I hold out hope that this was purposeful. Because if there’s one thing I know about Rebecca Sugar, it’s that she’s a genius at story and character writing. There’s no way she didn’t mean for this to happen. Or at least, that she hasn’t seen the open door and decided to take that opportunity. I have a lot of respect for Rebecca, and I want everyone to know she will most likely do our Peri justice.

I would love to have any thoughts? Weather they’re agreeing with me, adding to my thoughts, or criticizing what I said. I would love any discussion on this topic because it’s been bouncing around my head for a long while now.

[star-of-the-oceann]

Let people love ❤️

I'm so pissed of lately I can't even begin to describe it.

First ever pride is about to take place in my country in a couple of days. Bear in mind I live in a very shitty and very confusing country - bunch of religions, bunch of presidents, a fuckton of political parties and almost all of them are radical.

The only things I have been seeing lately are news reports from all over the place describing what some political or religious party said about the Pride and why that's wrong - always with subtext about how they don't agree nor disagree with what's being said.

A certain religious community just published a notice which says that marriage is something created by God to be just between a man and a woman, homosexuality is a major sin and anyone who comes close to the homosexuals is a sinner BUT violence of any sort is forbidden in that religion.

One day after another some political party just publishes a notice saying that they can't and never will support Pride events. Straight people need Pride too, they say. Police shouldn't secure the perimeter, they say. If they want to feel secure why don't they hire provate security, they say. Why would tax payers pay for something so wrong and disgusting, they say. BUT violence of any sort is forbidden.

What do they imagine a Pride looks like? Bunch of ladies with their tits out and bunch of dudes waving their dicks around? Cmon people aren't we past that? We are all people. How would you like of someone discriminated you and your rights just because you have green eyes? Or curly hair? Or because you love a certain band or a show? Or for whichever idiotic reason you can think of?

I've thought about this a lot. My parents are homophobes and I started thinking how come I never became homophobic even though I live in this environment. Same sex relationships really, truly never bothered me. I really, truly never considered it a sin.

It was love. And is there anything more pure than love? Anything more beautiful? If you say you love life, how can you hate on love? It is one of those things I can't wrap my head around. Why do you even care about who someone shares their life with? Why does it bother you so much? Are you just that unsatisfied with your life that other people's happiness bothers you? That's sick if you ask me.

You are bothered with them holding hands? Stop holding hands with your wife when you're out.

You are bothered with them being able to marry each other? Now you too can't get married.

You are bothered with them being able to adopt a child? Tell me something: is it better for that child to be raised in a loving home with two parents, than to be a part of the system and an orphanage?

I can't and never will understand homophobes. I can't believe you can be stupid enough to hate love. Let people love.

[ziyal]

Yugioh!

my all-time ultimate fave character: it’s Kaiba come on you all know it’s Kaiba (runner ups are Atem & Ishizu)

a character I didn’t used to like, but now do: I think it was right around my... 2013ish reread when I started to REALLY love the Ishtars, but especially Rishid, who is super underrated imo

a character I used to like, but now don’t: i don’t have a real answer for this so I’ll just tell you all that when I was like 13 my favorite ygo was Yami Bakura because... like... edgy middle school phase. (I don’t dislike him now by any means I just think this is funny)

a character I’m indifferent about: I just... don’t understand Otogi and why he sticks around and gets to be Part of the Gang. what’s he.... for. why introduce another non-duelist character to stand around and say things occasionally and have brief grasps at character development but not actually do anything significant. I actually have come around on him a bit recently and think he has interesting potential but it goes nowhere

a character who deserved better: BAKURA. which one? take your fucking pick! there’s two or possibly three of them depending on how you slice it and zero have a satisfying character arc! wouldn’t it be nice if Ryou Bakura got to have some actual conclusion to his character and we knew what was going on with him or what he thought about his situation at any point after Duelist Kingdom, wouldn’t it be nice if the Thief King got any sort of actual resolution to his revenge plot and completely legitimate grievances against the throne, wouldn’t it be nice if we actually understood what the fuck was going on with Yami Bakura and how much of him was Zorc vs how much he was an independent entity because GOD is it confusing, any of this would be good

also most every female character (with the exception of I’d say Ishizu) but especially Kisara, who is conceptually very cool but in practice literally has NO personality and does nothing but show up, act shy and retiring, manifest her Ka, and get fridged to further Set’s character development. sigh.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into: i just! don’t understand! puppyshipping!!! i’m really sorry, i’ve never got where it came from -- I like both characters a lot and i think that the narrative parallels between them are interesting but their dynamic to me is so GENUINELY just pure anger and dislike and disrespect (from kaiba’s side) that I’m baffled by all the people who seem to take it as “belligerent sexual tension.” i think part of this is a manga/anime divide because i’ve heard that their dynamic is a bit more ... playful in the anime? but even then I’m still not fully on board. SORRY.

I also love Yugi & Atem’s relationship to no end and I absolutely 100% Get It, like boy I can SEE the subtext folks are picking up on for SURE, but I have never been fully on board with actual romantic Puzzleshipping. I think they should be super close and love each other forever but not Kiss. my hot take on this is “i think yugi is just too normal to want to get with someone who used to live in his body”

a ship I’ve never been able to get over: cmon, you guys know it’s prideshipping. that’s my BRAND. shoutout to dark side of dimensions for giving their relationship some actual closure and promise and some REAL HEAVY subtext. it’s been a year and honestly? i finished that movie like “wow can’t believe prideshipping is BASICALLY one-sided canon” and I hold to that opinion

a cute, low-key ship: I hadn’t thought about it a ton before but Wishshipping has really grown on me a lot recently

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it: I don’t have a ton of Yugioh ships. is Trustshipping unpopular? Ishizu’s the only person I can ship Kaiba with other than Atem, because clearly the true Kaiba pairing dynamic is “Kaiba being constantly thrown off and frustrated by everything they do, but in a sexy way”

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened: Yugioh has a grand total of like, 1.5 actual ships, so I have no applicable answer to this question. ...oh! in the anime, from what little I’ve seen, the way Honda & Otogi are made to fight over Shizuka is really uncomfortable and bad

my favorite storyline/moment: nostalgia DEMANDS I say Death-T is my favorite arc but realistically I think my actual favorite is the Battle City finals. there’s just so much great stuff there

a storyline that never should have been written: can’t come up with one. there’s definitely issues with individual plot points but there’s no one major storyline I can point to and say that the series would be better off without it.

my first thoughts on the show: I was 10 years old, fuck if I know. it came on after Pokemon and then I found the manga and was hooked

my thoughts now: I love it, a forever fandom. I realize I bagged on some aspects of the plot a lot earlier in some of these answers but, um, Yugioh Is Good and I do genuinely think it deserves a little more credit and to be taken a bit more seriously than it most commonly is in pop culture. listen: there’s more to it than card games but also fuck you the card games are good