#literally just my perspective

[shiraishi--kanade]

Actually I don't want lasik. I wouldn't want it even if it was free. I wouldn't want it even if they paid me to have it. I love my vision loss and I love the way I look differently at the world. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I just wish glasses were cheap & affordable & actually fit prescription when I want to be able to get around safely. That's all.

[shouts-into-the-void]

I feel like the aftg fandom has just swung hard from one mischaracterization of Neil to another.

Yes, Neil is not an innocent little soft-boy like a lot of fans made him out to be pre-TSC, but he isn't some cold, calculated badass either.

He took out a hit on Grayson over Thai food. He doodles fox paws in his notebooks and hates vegetables. He insults FBI agents' parking jobs and he spent a bus ride staring over the back of his seat making heart eyes at his boyfriend. He manipulated the agents while eating takeout in the interrogation room. He canonically internally panics and overthinks the entire time he's attempting to manipulate anyone. He uses people's family trauma to manipulate them. He misses his mom.

Neil Abram Josten is a multifaceted character

[thimblings]

"i am alive, i am awake i am aware of what light tastes like."

[yuviur]

Summer vacation, 4am.

Tons of easter eggs in this one! Click the image to find them (and for better quality ofc)

Close ups and process shots under the cut, description in alt text

[biowho]

How cruel it is to be called Rook when they're little more than a pawn

[cozymochi]

can i get a uhh 5. swimwear for Idia? only if you feel like it. thank you for your amazing art ily ❤️

this took me two dang days and it still looks bad, but i pressed on cuz YOU 🫵 have friend privileges. And even then!! I still gave up 🤡 Normally, i’d dodge “swimwear” cuz some people get weird about it and try using it to get around my set boundaries :))) But this is Idia. There’s nothing to see anyway.

the meme 2024 edition (followers only)

[fumifooms]

I don’t like minimizing the importance and gravity of Laios and Toshiro’s fight into just being a childish squabble, even if to a degree it is framed that way, because to both of them it has a lot of personal significance and emotional weight and runs very deep to their characters… The fight isn’t nothing it’s a LOT, they made up but it’s not something easy to express and to get over for either of them which makes it all the more meaningful! I’m on both sides but there very much are sides, there’s no "they’re both having a ball, Toshiro and Laios hand in hand yay" side to the fight, that comes after

The fight with Toshiro WAS very scary to Laios, almost existentially so, but it’s moreso the "I thought I’d made a friend!!" bit and my god. My god actually

Like it’s not "just" about oh his friend liking him less than he thought, THAT IS SO MUCH. It’s a bond he thought he had being a lie it’s all the time and moments spent together either being a lie from his perspective or marred now looking back. It’s not only being upset at Toshiro for lying but upset at himself that he’s so easy to fool, it’s being upset that there’s something so wrong with you that you can’t even tell if your "close buddy" even actually likes you or not, it’s like. Holding my head. He can’t trust his own vision of events that happened do you see. There’s always this film of distrust that it could be a lie that should be there when he interacts with people there’s always this sense of cloak and dagger to expect backstabs out of nowhere because you CAN’T see it coming you CAN’T you CAN’T there’s something about you which makes it impossible so you CAN’T-

He’s so scared of not being able to read people. He knows it’s a weak spot he has, he’s always known. All of these bits are centered around social expectations and betrayals, the assumption that he doesn’t belong either in society or with other humans.

And Laios’ level of awareness is actually sort of complex to analyze, but it’s there, there’s how out of him and Falin he was the one sensitive to the ~aura of hatred~ he felt from the townspeople, there’s of course his nightmares whispering to him about the mocking looks, and how yeah actually he realizes that his gold stripper coworker was taking advantage of him. There’s of course the Winged Lion speech about his trauma and how he fundamentally mistrusts/dislikes humans to some deep seated degree, this distrust that he still keeps under control always. There’s how pre-canon he often wanted to suggest eating monsters but never worked up the courage to bring it up with the others. There’s how he gets across as stoic when he isn’t being enthusiastic…… We don’t know how aware and wary he is exactly in the moment but we do know he has some anxiety around social stuff, and looking back he does notice and aughh augh, the sense you have to hide yourself to not get hurt and be on your guard and shit and.

When you don’t know what to look out for and when to look out for it, the general ‘common sense’ of not always trusting people or noticing when someone’s messing with you becomes hypervigilance in social settings

"Man they really know what you hate huh." Being socially unaware literally plagues him, he knows, he knows it so well.

It’s so quick that it’s almost hard to digest how literal and blatant Laios summoning his monster to crush all the people who’ve hurt him is. His literal go-to coping mechanism for comfort in his literal monster-induced emotionally intense nightmares, saving him by taking away the upsetting element (the humans)

"Monsters are his coping fantasy, where they can whisk him away from humanity, all the hurt it’s caused him and its arbitrary rules" with the subtlety of a brick. Monsters are his comfort safe zone "because they kill humans" yes but no it’s because he pits them as the guardians against humans who to him are in the role of the agressors. To him they represent freedom from the shackles of what it means to be part of humanity, a fundamentally social species

[babyblankyerror]

Stanley has began a ritual. It began out of no where, when he wanted to be close to his brother, wanted a bit of attention but he wasn't sure how or what sort of attention...

It happened after a shower, hair still wet and growing into what he knew was becoming a mullet;

"Can you brush my hair?" He asked, surprised himself. The hair wasn't so long he couldn't do it himself but he still asked for the small favour.

Stanford looked just as surprised as him and so the routine began. Every now and then he'd ask for his hair brushed after a shower but he began to notice how Ford slumped when his hair was already brushed and so it became an everyday thing before they knew it.

"Can you serve me the food?" It was Stanley's turn to be surprised as his brother asked for the little favour. He is a grown ass man, not injured at all and thus not needing aid but still Stanley agreed without a second thought. That, too, became their routine.

[kj-beastboy]

design by Vec @ OnionPowder_ on twt

I feel like... there's smth about it. it's not all that good, bc the pose is a bit awkward, perspective is a nice attempt but a little off and I drew quickly without thinking, later couldn't fix it/was too lazy/had no time, but the colors, the shading... idk, I'm oddly a fan of it so I'm throwing it here.

see it as practice/warmup. I'll never get to smth better if I don't let myself fail a bunch of times first. don't be afraid of failing.

[teethkid67]

PAYDAY

aka a valentine for the lovely @itsnotmystic / @corvids-calling - fanart for stars fic of the same name, which you can read here !!! i really enjoyed this concept and wanted to do some art for it :3 hope you like it because i REALLY loved your work & i hope this shows that !!! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY !!!!

this is also a loose love-letter to the wonderful @arginnit 's crazy background-drawing-ability and style/skill at portraying environments . wadds your stuff is insane and i love it

happy @mcyt-valentines exchange !!!!

[sashimew-the-cat]

The Folly of an Unnecessary, Unwanted, Unfortunate Obligation

(Click for better quality, close ups under the cut)

[weatheringandweary]

Ranking demigods objectively based on power and skill level is near impossible because Rick rarely allows anyone to stand on equal ground with Percy, but I believe in my heart of hearts that Meg makes the top five - if not higher.

She has almost seven or eight years worth of experience with duel swordsmanship, is capable of summoning karpoi instinctively, has a near perfect control over all plant life to the point of achieving teleportation (granted, she risks exhaustion through overexertion but she doesn’t seem to almost die like Nico does - bless him), has the Meliai at her disposal spanning majority of the state of California, and she’s only 12?? That’s insane??

Meg is literally a badass, why are we only focused on the Seven let alone children of the Big Three?

I don’t really enjoy pitting characters against each other because it’s kind of pointless when these characters aren’t able to be used to their fullest potential narratively and more so done to put your blorbo on a pedestal (not judging, it’s admittedly fun on occasion but I don’t think it’s entirely constructive), but I dunno.

Meg is woefully underrated imo

[binkyfishy]

Intervallo spoilers//

And slipped them onto her bare feet, one by one.

[zylphiacrowley]

A Heart to Heart

<previous - next>

[hers-underwraps]

They are all literally just a little Desert family

(Because they're both from deserts (Australia and the Artic)

Look guys, they're all one big family and you can't convince me otherwise

Let me explain

First you've got the father-daughter relationship between Natquik and Dashi. They go on so many missions together and Natquik adores Dashi so much. He's even got a photo of her hanging up on the wall in his den!

She's always out there doing supply runs in risky weather, doing Artic research and they even set out on a lil mission with just the two of them to check out seismic activity! It really helps affirm the father-son relationship with Natquik and Barnacles. Look at how happy they are when dropping him off.

They're just like "Bye Dad!"

The way Dashi and Natquik always talk to each other out of genuine interest/concern as well! For example when Natquik's calling about the fox situation and Dashi says "What the Captain meant to say is how are you enjoying your vacation" or when Natquik calls them to check that dashi got home safely and had some hot coco. They are just the cutest!

Second, you've got the Koshi and Barnacles big brother-little sister relationship. These two are such a wholesome duo because I feel like these two are just on the same frequency. Also the fact that Koshi is always stealing Barnacles's mannerism (e.g. pose/catchphrase) very much reminds me of younger sibling behaviour.

The way Koshi is able to talk to Barnacles like they are equals and call him out on stuff makes their dynamic a lot more fluid.

Barnacles is definitely able to take off his "children serious" filter and can be a little bit more like himself around her. For example, in the raven's episode where he says "A conspiracy, you mean they're plotting against us?!?!" and Koshi says "Nah, you know that's what you call a group of raven's."

Also when they do their little bluff with the raven's it's so funny because two aren't naturally the best actors (ngl Barnacles's acting is abysmal have you seen the bald ibis episode).

These two have definitely got something wrong with them but they are also so obsessed with learning and understanding other behaviour and I think they have an unspoken bond over that which I think is really neat.

Third, we've also got this rarepair Tracker and Koshi duo! They lowkey give me “omg it’s my favourite cousin” vibes because they instantly click really well. These two get an entire episode together (the billabong mystery) and they are such a good combo. Between their shared excess knowledge and wits they work well together.

Koshi invited Tracker to go and study Australian birds (also I love that she knew that he loved birds) and they both end up causing a bit of chaos. Koshi also helps Tracker by showing him the ropes of Australia is great to see.

The "Home Run" moment for me in terms of their dynamic was when Koshi gave Tracker her mystery sister's notebook to write their adventure in. This book means a lot to Koshi, she takes it everywhere and she usually uses it to write about her adventures with Dashi. So for her to give it over to Tracker meant that they’d formed a pretty strong bond.

Tracker taking the time and care to write their adventure in her notepad shows that he really likes Koshi as well. These two are the duo I never knew I needed.

Fourth, speaking of Tracker admittedly, he and Dashi haven't had a great deal of interactions, most of them being computer calls. Their relationship is definitely one that's formed around mutual friends. If I were going to put a label on it I'd say they're giving off that "third cousin that I see once every few years but also happens to know everything about me" vibe.

Their most notable interaction was their first call in the deep freeze special. Tracker definitely takes a liking to Dashi (as to what type of liking that is based on his tone...) but generally, they seem to have positive interactions in the calls they do share.

Tracker said it was “really nice to meet you” and honestly it would be really nice if these two get an episode together in the next season of Above and Beyond.

Fifth, obviously we've got the Dashi and Barnacles power duo here. Their bond is probably the foundation of this little desert family. Ironically I also don’t want to put a label on it because theirs so many ways to go about interpreting it (I could go into a deeper dive for them but that’s for another post…).

These two have genuinely been in the trenches together. They were quite literally parenting the original squad in the original series and they now share major leadership roles in above and beyond. They’re got each others backs, they’re keeping everyone (including each other) alive and managed.

They express so much genuine concern for each other and are usually there as when the other is in strife. Barnacles is literally having a full on mini meltdown when Dashi first flying to Natquik, clearly they mean something to each other. Whether it’s a “trauma bond so strong we founded a family” or “Bestied so hard our families combined” situation these two are like this 🤞.

There are also other examples I could talk about like Koshi and the cubs hanging out and getting along nicely or characters that aren't probably going to get a chance to interact like Koshi and Natiquik since Natquik never leaves the Artic and I highly doubt Koshi has a reason to go there but my point still stands. These two "families" of characters have had several interactions and entire episodes dedicated to them to the point where it could almost be interpreted as a deliberate choice. Nearly all above-and-beyond episodes with Professor Natquik feature Dashi. Tracker and Koshi got an entire episode dedicated to them despite having limited interactions before. There are also several episodes that feature a 2 artic + 1 aus trio or 1 aus + 1 artic in them.

The nail on this coffin for me personally for the desert families was definitely the "Artic Blizzard" episode with "Billabong Mystery" further solidifying it.

For example, take this scene where Dashi's first priority is making sure that the cubs are ok once the wolves are scared away instead of running to see if Barnacles is ok. She understands that the cubs are vulnerable and highly protected members of the "Artic family" hence genuinely worries about them despite them not being her own "Blood" family, which is what most of them are more naturally inclined to do.

She's worried about their safety throughout the whole thing and has to entirely place her trust entirely in Natquik and Tracker as most other options are not viable due to the nature of the Artic.

(Also off topic, Dashi driving into the wolves honking at them and shouting on the speaker to get away from the polar bears was so in the character of her I genuinely giggled)

Thinking about this from a practical perspective, some octonauts/agents would be far better suited to handle missions in the Arctic, yet Dashi is chosen by the writers reoccurring in these adventures which I think is a great way to allude and represent the struggles of family. The trusting in them to show a new culture, to get you to safety, the fear surrounding unfamiliarity and anxieties surrounding acceptance when you are completely out of your depths is illustrated through the forming the "desert family"

This idea is then continued in the Billabong mystery episode where it's Tracker having to trust Koshi in an alien environment. Furthermore, the episode is told through a flashback, which gives Tracker the power of having the dominant narrative voice. His recalling of the events, despite being filled with mishaps and miscommunication leading to problems is generally positive. This episode can give insights into the importance of forming strong and positive connections with others when learning to adjust to the many complications and quirks that come with families. By being able to create a sense of belonging for others within the preexisting family structure in an organic way (e.g. by using commonalities and demonstrating both the highs and lows), the idea of the "desert family" being an intentional choice.

Also, I love how the stronger bonds with the "desert family" structure are upheld throughout the group interactions. They had all three of them lined up and proud of the cubs during the badge ceremony. They could've left them out and made it a personal thing with just the cubs and barnacles but they instead chose to celebrate family achievements with the whole (which we love to see). Furthermore, looking at the snowball fight, for example, they all instinctively split up into teams (Dashi+Natquik) vs (Tracker+Barnacles) vs (The Cubs) which I think is just stinking adorable and has also been repeatedly shown as a strong duo with "familiarly connotations" in previously episodes.

So that's why I think these guys are a "Desert family" and I think that this should be appreciated more.

I have a method to the madness. No this is not some delirious delusion, but I think an intentional choice in order to educate others on complex topics in accessible ways and further develop the characters.

Now, all thats left to do is hope for an episode of all of them together!

Peace out!

<3

[beatcroc]

what kind of frivolity would you engage in, mecha?

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