#main character appreciation

[aworldforastage]

The thing that gets to me about Xiahou Lian from Governor's Illness is that he tries so hard, at every single opportunity, but he never quite believes that he deserves or will actually get the happy ending he is working so hard for.

(spoilers ahead)

“你怎么就不明白呢？你和我们不一样啊，我们这些人，死了就死了，埋骨荒野也没什么。可你不同，你就算死也要躺进金漆玉裹的大棺材，吃供奉受祭拜，热热闹闹的，怎么能和我们一样，死在无名之地，做无名之鬼？” "Why can't you understand? You are not like us! People like us, dying is just dying. It doesn't matter if our remains get lost in the wild. But you are different, even if you die you are going to be lying in a gilded grand coffin, receiving offerings and prayers, like it's a bustling affair. How can you be like us, dying in nameless places to become nameless ghosts?" -- Chapter 132

One of the most common pledges of love in Chinese historical fiction, originated from the classic Romance of the Western Chamber, is 生同衾，死同穴: sharing one blanket in life, sharing one burial site in death.

But even with just two chapters left in the novel proper (65+ chapters since reconnecting with Shen Jue, 25+ chapters since "officially" establishing a relationship), Xiahou Lian still doesn't think they deserve to end up in the same burial site in death --he doesn't even think he deserves a proper burial site.

(It's whole other story about his rose-colored glasses for Shen Jue ...)

Xiahou Lian goes through all this, trying so hard to live a "normal life", to be everything for Shen Jue, but never truly believing that this happiness could be how his story is meant to end, and that just kills me TT_TT

[puppppppppy]

this place is so fruity

[bookalicent]

yeah so this was insane

[shepscapades]

[Pt 1] [Pt 2] [Pt 3] [Pt 4] [Pt 5] [Pt 6] [PART 7] [Don’t Let it Reach the Heart]

Nobody Anymore Nobody Anymore

[This comic is part of my dbhc au, following the chaos and panic that ensues after Doc and Xisuma try to get Etho back online at the start of s9 after a very rough s8 finale that leaves him a little. broken. It's set to the vibes of Joywave's Destruction. This part concludes this comic, but this moment doesn't end here: Don't Let it Reach the Heart will be the title of the fic that will follow the end of Destruction!]

[philtstone]

psych is all about contradictory truths and every character embodies that theme in a different way but i think gus may be my favorite one. of all the characters he’s the most obviously afraid — of death, of blood, of creatures and spooky things — but at the same time one of his defining traits is being an honest and candid yet very kind friend. to be real with your friends out of love for them without worrying about repercussions requires a lot of bravery and gus displays that emotional bravery more than every other character on the show. it makes him such a good and reliable friend and an excellent foil to shawn in a distinct but perfect way. in this essay i will

[zukkaoru]

[ID: a tweet edited to read:

tumblr the only place where well articulated sentences still get misinterpreted.

You can say "we should appreciate the female characters that already exist in canon" and somebody will say "oh so you’re saying I can’t like male characters that my neurodivergency has made me latch onto?"

No bitch. Dats a whole new sentence. Wtf is you talkin about.

/end ID]

piss on the poor website.

[breadandlottery]

🌈

[katabay]

THE JETSET LIFE IS GONNA KILL YOU, ERIC CARTER!

my laptop charger uhhhhhh. met its end in a very permanent, very fire hazardy kind of way last week. while waiting for a replacement I decided to try and get some work done at the library and was asking around for some urban fantasy (extra points for a mystery plot of some kind) recommendations to check out while I was there

the eric carter series was mentioned a couple of times, AND had the added bonus of having a necromancer for a main character. I love necromancers. someday I'm gonna play one in a game instead of immediately defaulting to vampires.

Fire Season, Stephen Blackmoore

[gaminegay]

Genuinely i wonder how common it is to hallucinate / perceive things oddly / have a notably altered perception of things

[epickiya722]

Folks, you're not going to like what I have to say. I just know it and I'm warning you of that. I said it once before, but leaks really do make some folks act out in ways that I can't understand. We ain't even got a full translation and already people are saying this ship is canon and that ship is canon... and whatever else. Jumping to conclusions when you don't even have all the facts.

Look, I'm not saying Hori is the best writer. I'm not saying Izuku and Ochako is a bad ship (it's not, there's worse... a lot worse).

But I do think some people are jumping ten steps ahead and I doubt that they are canon romantically. This isn't me being in denial because I could care less about the ship. It's not a ship that makes me sit up at night and cry and want to punch a wall and harass people. No ship for me does.

So far, from what I can gather from the very little information Izuku wants to see Ochako more because... THEY LITERALLY HAVEN'T SEEN EACH OTHER A LOT. In the last chapter, Izuku states that the class haven't been able to catch up and whatnot because over the years they got busy with their careers. The last time they probably had a proper conversation was in high school.

Izuku and Ochako wanting to meet up more doesn't automatically mean they're going to date. Let's not forget, Ochako is one of the first people to become a close friend of Izuku's in their first year. They clicked because they were so similar. They mirror each other even!

They're best friends if anything and wouldn't you want to see your best friend after not seeing them for a long time?

So far, it just feels that this epilogue is them accepting their own feelings about everything that has happened, like a self-reflection and self-acceptance type of deal.

Sometimes, you realize something about yourself when encountering someone who is like you. That's how Izuku and Ochako are to me.

It takes them identifying with the other to come to terms about themselves.

"But the blushing! The handholding!"

So blushing automatically means "I have romantic feelings for you", is what some of you are saying?

Just gonna forget all the times they and others have blushed out of embarrassment or happiness? That even some characters have the blush stickers to show their sweet innocent nature, like Ochako for most of the story?

Izuku blushed at Katsuki in the final chapter out of happiness, so it can't apply here, too? Why does blushing got to only be used in a romantic sense?

Seeing Izuku blushing looking at Ochako is funny when considering he's holding an (possibly) alcoholic beverage in that same shot. My guy is probably drunk. 😆 Jokes aside, jokes aside.

This is Ochako and Izuku, we're talking about here. They're the Queen and King of MHA characters who blush a lot, no matter what is going on.

And the handholding? In MHA? It happens a lot between characters! It's not like anything new or Izuku and Ochako are going to get cooties.

Look, I might make some people laugh or hate me for this one but when I saw this... I was reminded of this.

For those that don't know, that is from the Predator (1987). Yes, that Predator.

Two characters that have been friends for a long time and just happy to see each other.

We seen this kind of handshake like this before between characters of different and same genders. Either as a greet or as an agreement.

Izuku and Ochako are just agreeing to see each other more and that they should allow themselves to live happy lives. That doesn't mean they're going to start dating and having babies the following week.

"Bakugou is being treated like his wingman!"

Ah, stop right there. Katsuki encouraging Izuku to talk to Ochako isn't like that strange because between Izuku and Katsuki, Katsuki is the one to most likely reveal his emotions. He is more in touch with his emotions than Izuku who while emotional tends to keep everything in.

Katsuki isn't playing wingman. He's playing advisor and someone who has experience with emotions.

Seeing Izuku stumbling over his words and being all nervous trying to talk to Ochako is so in character for him. He has never been too good expressing his emotions.

I doubt Katsuki would be like "go tell her you want to marry her". He is more like "go talk to her, you're friends, remember? Been forever since you had a proper conversation."

It's the same case with Himiko pushing Ochako towards Izuku. She is encouraging her to be happy and not be stuck in the past. Not "go get married".

Happiness doesn't mean you must be in a romance.

Just me, again, but I feel like some people are really just jumping the gun here. If you really are thinking Izuku and Ochako being canon is bad for your ship, that's... I'm sorry, this will be mean of me to say, but that's ridiculous.

A ship being canon shouldn't stop you from enjoying the ships you do like. What ever happen to "ignore canon"? Oh, I guess that becomes irrelevant when you want to cause panic and bash and panic and bash and panic and bash.

Like a handhold like that shouldn't make you feel threatened by that ship.

Just continue shipping your ships! Take it from someone whose favorite ship is of two characters who haven't been seen interacting before.

Even still, with just leaks alone, it doesn't mean they are canon. I have my ships and there's moments in whatever the story makes me ship them but I also don't think every little behavior is meant to be romantic.

The thing I know I'm going to hate about this epilogue isn't even the chapter itself. It's the reactions.

I know some people are going to say this chapter is queerbait and use to it to even go as far as to bash Ochako given she is the woman and it's routine to hate on the woman. It ain't queerbait if Katsuki and Izuku wasn't going to be explicitly a couple themselves. Let's not forget it's Shonen Jump and even though the queer coding can be there, we can't have everything.

Also, I also know that some fans of IzuOcha are going to use this chapter to justify their "authority" of "best ships" and harass people like "my ship is better than yours" and be only concerned about Ochako being a housewife.

I don't think Horikoshi is the greatest human and MHA is a flawless story but some of you are no better to these characters and the story.

[neon-ufo]

It's true the world is ugly But everything could change, someday

Song for April: Someday by Cub

~~~ Last month's wobbly little animation made me want to try actually animating again! I also wanted to do something with an old game vibe for the background, so I used photos to get that effect. <:

[unrealisticallyyours]

obligatory TW rewatch scott appreciation post bc he's so interesting and fun as a character

i genuinely adore how the writers gave scott such a loving personality? like his first instinct when he meets allison is to give her a pen because he heard that she needed one. he tags along with stiles ep 1 because stiles wanted to see the body (why would an asthmatic with school in the morning want to go traipsing out into the wilderness to see a dead body??). throughout the series he takes in strays (lol) even if they've ACTIVELY TRIED TO KILL HIM in the past. and the part that i love the most is how the writers gave him room to be a bad person, too. they gave him moments where he was a bad friend, a bad boyfriend. but they didn't make those moments ones that outshone his real personality. they were treated like moments he grew from and made him into an even kinder person.

scott doesn't get the love he deserves imo he's such a well written character and someone i strive to emulate

[beesbiteandwillowrites]

Prompt:

soulmate au but instead of immediately feeling like they found the person they're supposed to be with, they take one look at each other and just fucking despise each other

[graegrape]

it is very unfortunate that the people who are loudest about mouthwashing online seem to be the people who only care about the fanon version of the game

[idolomantises]

Have/do you watch atla? If so, who's your favorite character?

I love ATLA. Katara remains a strong favorite but after rewatching it in March, i think Aang is almost tied with her.

[uniiiquehecrt]

Voice actors are NOT the same as actors.

It takes a specific kind of skill-set and training to be able to warp and meld the voice. It takes a certain kind of talent and dedication to hone that talent into the ability to meld the voice and invoke emotion with one's voice alone. Actors are used to using their voice secondarily to their body language and their facial expressions. It's all mirrored back on camera. They do have nuance. But it's a different kind of nuance and a different kind of training to produce that nuance.

Voice actors might get their likeness transposed on their character's design, and maybe their mannerisms might seep into the character's animation. But when it's all said and done: their presence is in their voice. They are bringing a character to life, showing that emotion in their voice, trying to keep a specific accent, drawl, pitch, tone in that voice and keep it consistent for their recording sessions.

The voice actor is like a classically trained musician who can play first chair in a competitive, world-renown orchestra. The actor (who fills the voice actor's role) is like a moot who played violin in beginner and intermediate high school orchestra and thinks they can get into Juilliard with that 2-4 years of experience.

This doesn't mean that the HS orchestra moot can't play. They can even be really good at it. Maybe they won competitions and sat first chair. But they are not in the same league as the person who's been training their whole lives and lives and breathes to hone their craft using the instrument and all of the training they've ever acquired to perfect it. They are not meant for the same roles. They are not in the same caliber. You do not hire the HS equivalent when you want to play complex music in a competitive orchestra.

Actors are not the same as voice actors.

And furthermore, actors - especially big name actors - taking the roles of animated characters for big budget films or TV pilots makes no sense anyways when - at least in the case of TV pilots - there's not a point to hiring a big budget actors anyways. That money could be used elsewhere (like paying your animators), and the talent that is brought onto the screen for X character could then be hired on to voice said character no recasting required.

I wouldn't say voice acting as a profession is in danger exactly, but it's certainly being disrespected and overlooked for celebrity clout, and this has ALWAYS been an issue. Shoot, even Robin Williams knew that much - which is why he tried so hard not to be used as a marketing chess piece for Aladdin and got royally pissed off when it happened anyways. People shouldn't go to any movie (but especially not animated films) because "oh famous actor is in it". People should go because it's a good movie and the voice acting is good.

People who honest to god think that voice actors are replaceable because "oh well anyone can voice act" or "I like xyz celebrity so naturally it'll be good" ... Honestly I just wish you'd reassess your priorities because you're missing the point and are part of the problem.

Voice Actors ≠ Actors.