#like yes that trope is a bad thing but

[glitchb0t]

with every update to dreamlight valley, my character becomes more and more of a villain and that's all i want out of a disney game honestly. like look at him. i love him 👏

[welcometogrouchland]

I love Steph's origin as told in the Secret Origins 80 page giant- I just overall think it strengthens her character by giving her a lot of pathos and adding to her heroism (which isn't something writers were focused on in her actual intro in detective comics #647 since she was just meant to act as a plot device back then) BUT there is one tiny detail in it i will begrudge, and that is the portrayal of her having a minor love at first sight moment for tim

Secret origins 80 page giant, ID in alt

(or well, technically this was their second meeting in that story (the brick was the first) so...love at second sight?)

Mostly because Stephanie showed no interest in her introduction and only showed romantic feelings towards Tim AFTER this moment here:

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Straight up the progression here goes:

The adventure in 'tec where they first meet -> Tim investigating the same crime scene as Steph -> she beats him up not knowing it's him at first, apologizes but says he shouldn't have scared her -> he remembers her/the moniker she goes by -> they talk about plot for a few pages -> Stephanie starts flirting

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Which...is so fascinating to me and says so much about Stephanie. She highlights the fact that Tim "remembered" her. Like. Steph. Girl. This is our bar? It's sweet but kind of speaks to how much Stephanie is ignored at home/how little and sporadically she's shown interacting with her peers (and rarely ever the same kids twice). Her idea of peak romance is just...being on someone's mind even when you're not there.

Kind of also adds layers to Steph's proclivity towards jealousy later on, a manifestation of her insecurity and loneliness (though don't get it twisted, she's not written this way bc Dixon and co think it's an interesting character flaw, they wrote it bc they think it's an inherent character flaw of (particularly young) women/girls, which is very apparent in how he approaches Ariana's character as well from what I've read)

Also the fact that Steph becomes so smitten for Tim almost immediately after this is (a few issues later she aggressively flirts with him during AN ACTIVE HOSTAGE SITUATION. WHERE SHE'S THE HOSTAGE) again is kind of a mixture of kind of funny and sad. One boy is nice to her once and she's fully ready to wife him. Girl you are deranged (affectionate) (concerned)

[sofoulandfairaday]

i can't decide which i like more:

the idea - very much canonical and in the author's original concept and view of magic - of the dark arts taking a toll on one's exterior and looks. tom riddle sacrificing his beauty willingly in the name of eternal life, black magic as something that innately corrupts. bellatrix escaping from azkaban with the barest vestiges of her ancient beauty. going from one of the most beautiful women in england to a shell of her former self and no amount of dark magic being able to fix it. and she just. doesn't care. goes from pretty, proud and vain in her youth, to the feverish, fanatical glow harry sees in the department if mysteries. finally she sheds the petal of the rose - look like the innocent flower, her master had once said - and only the thorns remain. the parallel with voldemort himself. the idea that they like each other better now, the only ones to like their respective new appearances better. bellatrix because she can taste the power radiating off him, because she knows how resentful he was of his old face. (oh, he's never said anything explicitly, he would rather be flayed alive than speak of his filthy muggle father to her, but she knew he didn't like himself, took no pride in his aesthetics, it was most unusual, really.) the dark lord because he's reminded of her sacrifice - she was the only one who didn't denounce him, who tried to find him - every time he looks at her. she gave up everything for him: her reputation, her family, her freedom, her health, her beauty, her youth.

or.

the horcruxes are an isolated case. not all prices to pay for power are physical. some dark magic sucks at your humanity, your emotional regulation, your empathy and gives back superficial little gifts. its roots are far from the deep anger, desperation to cling to life of an horcrux. these are ancient witches' remedies to be the most envied in the village. the idea that rotten cores hide behind the prettiest faces. and bellatrix was always vain, always took immense pride in her beauty, her black, pure features. when she escapes from azkaban she tries everything in her power to be herself once again. she still drips with obsession but gradually regains all of her beauty too. cruel people can still be beautiful. gorgeous people can still be inhuman. and yet there is something so human about a woman making her way through the ranks of a very militarised group and still caring so much about what she looks like, still having insecurities, being preoccupied with mundane things like age and decay - and hating it because he would hate it, he hates weakness, and still not being able to help herself. the dark lord was always a collector of shiny things, was he not?

[nattikay]

ahh I feel like I've made a bunch of rant-y posts this week, sorry about that y'all, but I've got one just one more to slap down real quick 😅

This video came up in my YouTube recommendations, and while it makes some interesting points, I fundamentally disagree with the assertion that "Avatar's story wasn't very good because it wasn't complex enough".

Here's the thing: The good/bad scale and the simple/complex scale are SEPARATE. A story does not need to be super complex to be good. A good story can be complex, certainly! But it doesn't need to be. A simple straightforward story can still be a good story. And so it is with Avatar, in my opinion.

Same with the character criticisms. Sometimes we just don't need to know every minute detail of a character's life for the character to work within their story, we just need to know the parts that are relevant. Selfridge, for example...do you really think we needed to have part of the runtime set aside to flesh out every little detail of what led him to become a greedy corporate middle manager? Would that tangent really have inherently enhanced the story being told here? Or would it just have taken time away from the intended focus, that being the wonder of Pandora and Jake's journey?

More complex does not automatically equal better. A good story is one that is told well: the audience can follow what happens, they resonate with the emotional beats, there are no gaping holes or inconsistencies in the plot or worldbuilding, characters grow and change in a believable way. And that can be done in complex stories AND in simple stories!! Just because your story doesn't have a gazillion wild plot twists and intricate 10-page biographies justifying every decision every named character makes doesn't mean it can't be well-executed enjoyable story!

Avatar's story is not a bad one. It's simple, sure, predicable even—and if that's a turn-off for you, hey, that's totally fair—but it's executed very well. No, we don't know how Quaritch became head of RDA security, we don't know how Norm came to be part of the Avatar program, we don't know what inspired Grace to become a botanist...because we simply do not need to. Those details just aren't all that relevant to the core story being told. Could they make for interesting trivia? Sure. But is it needed to understand the heart of the movie? The message? The story? Not really, no. In fact, depending on how it's implemented, adding extraneous details like that could actively bog the story down.

Simple movies can be good. Simple movies can be bad.

Complex movies can be good. Complex movies can be bad.

"It's too simple" is, therefore, a rather silly criticism. Totally valid as a personal opinion! But kinda meaningless as an analytical criticism.

[seaweedstarshine]

RIP Krakoa 🌹 I can’t lie I’ve been kinda behind since midway through Fall of X I’m gonna catch up before my first SDCC this summer but I hear Vulcan didn’t see much action anyway. Anyway my hand slipped and I found myself looking into the eyes of my canonically psychotic son the best Summers brother who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life, (he’s done lotsa wrong things but I love him more for it)

[seventh-district]

i’ve just finished season one of TMA, and being someone who’s okay with spoilers is fun because it means i can peruse the wiki and scroll through the tag and i get to become privy to all sorts of weird, wonderful, halfway-out-of-context information that i get to look forward to understanding in the future

like. what do you mean Leitner’s in the tunnels?

what do you mean Jon eats the extinguished sun??

what do you mean it’s spelled Gerard Keay???

[13eyond13]

actually stunned by how gay The Beatles has been all this time and I just never knew

[eddiemunsonsmum]

Just saw this comment on a story posted a month ago.

*cries in Eddie Munson Solo Series no one wanted to read, interact with or request for*

No shade to the person that commented this on their own fic if you recognize it. It's not their fault. I'm not mad at them. More crying in the tags.

[fisheito]

i swear i've played a game like that

[saturnsorbits]

Okay, so I know we all hate him, but Mahito is a legitimately brilliant villain...

[hecksupremechips]

Really into the episode of Ouran where this girl confesses her love to Mori but he doesn’t feel the same because he’s into Honey and the girl’s reaction is just like YIPPEE I LOVE YAOI THATS SO COOL FOR YOU YAY 🥰

[followerofmercy]

I get insecure about the strangest things. I've been sitting around mildly anxious that I'm bad at media analysis because I don't read enough/watch enough/expose myself to enough new stories and I especially don't get into enough Adult Media

Because I really don't. I watch maybe one show, one movie and play one new game a year, and read between 0 and 10 books/short stories

and then my roommate floored me by saying "No yeah Arcane is a difficult show to understand. It is Really Adult. So was Gideon. It's a really difficult book for most people to get, even the first one" and now I feel a little silly asldfj. Yay good grade in story analysis and being able to engage with a story without just Projecting on it

[phoenixcatch7]

If there's one thing I like more than time travel it's crossover reincarnation, so.

Botk link reincarnated as Damian Wayne.

An incredible weapon master of all types, but especially prodigious with a sword - he was beating knights at the age of 4 and with his memories as intact as they get for him I can see that goalpost moving even further (probably with traps and tricks, a 3yo doesn't exactly have great bodily control).

He's an excellent survivalist, agile, strong, durable, cunning and creative. He can move like a feather in the breeze, strike from behind with ease. His first kill, an animal, did not stir him as it did the other children. With his poise, grace, skills, obedience, he ought to be ra'as' finest assassin in the making, a jewel in the crown of the league.

Except he never speaks a word. Half his targets escape unscathed. He skates by true punishment on the merit of his skills and achievements in other missions. Testing has shown it is not a physical deformity that prevents his speech, but not even talia has been able to coaxe a word from him past his second birthday.

It is a defect ra'as is growing more and more frustrated by, as each attempt to fix these two final flaws ends in resounding failure. Less extreme solutions are running dry.

Talia fears those solutions. Her child does too, she knows. For them, there is a possible solution, more extreme than anything ra'as would tolerate.

She sends him out of the league. To his father.

To Gotham.

[wandapinkay]

"Criticizing problematic aspects of a show is a healthy way to express media literacy and they should be brought up to attention no matter what" and "we shouldn't just consider the bad things a show has and should enjoy media while still being aware of such bad things" are statements that can and should coexist.

[cinderflower]

How're you posting rgu fanart and incest porn on the same blog. What level are you on.

I'm on a level incomprehensible to the mortal mind

[simcardiac-arrested]

OHHHHH MY GOD COMING OFF ANON BECAUSE !??!?!? SCPSL MENTIOn!!?!??!? you are the ONLY person i've EVER seen that mentioned that game in being similar to lethal company ohhhh my god oh my god i used to be so crazy autism over that game Okay. okay. oh my godddd I LOVE(D) SCPSL SO MUCH and it makes me so so so happy to see a game like it get so popular!!! i love lethal company!!! and i love the creatures and the randomly generated facilities and the PROXIMITY chat and the lore (sigurd adn desmond<3) and i love that ALL MY FRIENDS CAN AND DO PLAY ITTT ^__^ its like 14 year old me got blessed by the autism fairy joy and beauty to the world

i don’t know how to say this in a way that wont make me sound like i shouldnt be allowed in public spaces so i’ll just go ahead and say it. I have 200 hours in scpsl