#meta ramble

[existentialflirt]

random thought: what if every high-ranking demon (especially the fallen angels) in the GO universe has animal eyes? Crowley obv has vertical slit-pupiled eyes (like a snake). Beelzebub (IDK their rank) obv has the whole fly aesthetic...

if there was a demon/fallen angel w/wolf eyes, I'd RIOT (& try to hug them)--

So Hastur and Ligur did have, er animal features in a manner of speaking. Hastur has black eyes and a Frog like welded in his head and Ligur has an iguana. I think they're both Archdukes of Hell, certainly Hastur is. Beez is a Lord or something. Definitely high rank. I know their rank is noted in the book but i don't feel like looking it up. The larger point is that it was very strongly implied in the book that Crowley is actually pretty low rank. Season 2 kinda muddied things a bit, I feel, with the whole bit with that demon trying to get dirt on Crowley in exchange for getting a promotion into temptations which i'm guessing Crowley is in. Makes sense honestly. I have the head canon that he basically invented the model of how demons corrupted humans by tempting Eve into eating the apple. Also that he's been coasting on that monumental deed for millennia, because y'know. Instigating the fall of man, even if that hadn't been his intent, is kind of a big deal.

so uh, that doesn't really answer your question, because i really can't say if there was any real intent beyond some interesting aesthetic. My thought is that GO demons are exhibiting the corruption within on the outside. There's the question of why Crowley is exponentially more...uh, well, convenionally attractive than most other demons, both on Earth and down below. You could say, I suppose, because deep down he was never really that evil. Sauntered casually downward and all. Personally i think it's just a matter of him having half a brain and an imagination, with a dash of vanity. Not to mention the fact that he's been, for all intent and purposes, on Earth since the dawn of man and as far as i can tell, hasn't spend much time in Hell. Humans are fickle things, and you can't very well go about LOOKING the part and expect to have success. There is an interesting point in the book when he changes his shape into something truly horrific to scare a dude (it's never detailed, only that it was terrifying and apparently maggots were involved). When he changes back he bitches mildly about how much he hates doing that because he's afraid of getting stuck.

Uh so. tl;dr: Demons and angels aren't really bound by anything but their imaginations. Which is why both Crowley and Aziraphale stand apart from their kin. They're both inquisitive creatures that think for themselves to varying degrees. Now, i'm not sure if a demon would have wolf eyes. The pattern of imagery is that demons embody cold blooded creatures and insects. Things often considered creepy or repulsive. Most people would probably agree that wolves are far too noble, but i mean, i really have to stress that aside from Crowley and Beez, the animal features and/or affinity is largely a series thing and as I said i really don't think it's anything but some neat costume design. Sometimes a bloke just has a frog on his head and it doesn't bear any deeper meaning than that.

[musashi]

i want more nuance to be entered into the discussion of the green girl sorority and how differently cynthia plays elphaba in comparison to those who came before her because while a lot of people are rightfully like "why was elphaba not black from the beginning" and celebrating that she is now being played by a black woman, i think we need to be careful in just writing off all the elphabas of the past as Random White Girls when the role was championed (and often followed/succeeded) by a jewish woman

the pop culture archetype of the Wicked Witch has deep roots in antisemitism stretching faaaar far back. there is a level of reclamation happening in casting idina menzel, a jewish woman, to play the Misunderstood and Maligned young girl who is branded as exactly that. and stage!Elphaba is also written and acted with jewish stereotypes in mind--she is loud, aggressive, no-nonsense, blunt. she is quick to advocate for herself and shut down the discrimination she faces. all of this is very intentional! her personality is abrasive from years of abuse, and that makes propagandizing her easy. this is literally the thesis statement of the musical--it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed.

cynthia's performance of elphaba is fucking INSPIRED despite going in a completely different direction. she's much more reserved, analytical, one of her key character traits is how well she can read people (see her calling out Galinda as insecure/putting on airs in their first scene together, clocking that Fiyero is using his party guy persona as a shield for his own depression) elphaba's attempts to blend in and make herself smaller all fail simply because of her existence, if not that then because she feels empathy so strongly she often struggles to hold back from acting, protecting.

personality wise, though, cynthia's elphaba is very quiet and closed-off, not at all the bullet-to-the-face that she is in the stage show, and... she still gets propagandized and maligned. though this seems to contradict the other interpretation, it tells of the other end of the spectrum of propaganda, one that black women watching (and many, MANY other marginalized folks) are sure to identify with--it does not matter how "nice," how reserved, how small a black woman makes herself. a racist society will still scrutinize her every action for a way to parse ill intent from it, brand her as an angry black woman who is dangerous and wicked, and write off any humanity she has in the process.

these two very different interpretations tell of the lie of assimilation. the fact of the matter is, when you are marginalized, there is no way to sand down your edges enough to make the people oppressing you "accept" you. that is why wicked is a tragedy at its core. whether loud and aggressive or quiet and unimposing, there is nothing elphaba could have done to make the people of Oz see her as anything other than a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

so while i definitely appreciate that people are excited for black girl era elphaba, i would encourage us all to still show appreciation for what came before--that was not white girl era elphaba. that was jewish girl era elphaba. two houses, both alike in dignity, two stories both worth being told.

[biboomerangboi]

More reasons why Zuko being the Firelord is objectively the funniest thing on earth:

HES SEVENTEEN

He hasn’t been civilised in 4 years, his entire teenage experience consists of living on a boat and sleeping rough. The most stable bed he has was probably in Ba Sing Se he probably will just nap anywhere.

He has customer service experience which means he probably uses his customer service voice on his minsters.

Additionally he probably just wanders into to kitchen to get his own snacks and tea because he forgets what servants do.

He probably has no idea why he can’t just chase after an assassin he used to hunt the avatar for Agnis sake why is the captain of the guard demanding he stay in his room he’ll find the guy first (he’s probably right)

Katara probably has a free pass on Eco terrorism because what’s he going to do challenge her, she’ll beat his ass.

If he saw a minster doing something shady he will either invite lady Beifong to detect their BS or commit B&E and look for evidence himself.

He somehow found a baby dragon and raises it.

He will be far to willing to give Kyoshi island anything they want cause he feels bad and Suki scares him.

He randomly insisted on giving some earth kingdom village 100 ostrich horses.

The Avatar will just show up call him Hotman and demand the go on adventures and the Firelord will just dip because he’s been confined to long and has the Zoomies.

He takes far to much advice from Sokka and will genuinely believe if someone doesn’t get Sokkas plans they must be an idiot because Sokka is 16.

Sokka and Zuko also get into a lot of teenage rebellion phases by accident.

Toph just walks in breaks a wall of his palace and demands a field trip that always involves the Firelord having to explain himself to the cops.

He somehow knows every dangerous teen in the world and they all come for tea uninvited.

He has broken into both the NWT and Ba Sing Se.

He has a really well documented facial scar and official portraits but still disappears to be Lee the tea guy like no one knows.

HES SEVENTEEN.

[empressofthewind]

what's funny to me about Death Note is how casually the authors will drop the most insane lore you've ever heard and then just move on as if it never happened. like here's a girl whose parents were killed in front of her and who also would have been murdered by a crazed fan if he hadn't mysteriously dropped dead before her eyes. yes we WILL proceed to call her stupid and annoying for the rest of the series and never address how this affected her. btw did we ever mention that L is an orphan who has been working as a detective since he was 10? and that the orphanage where he grew up is now dedicated to raising child prodigies on the principle that their entire existence is worthless if they can't live up to L's standard? no? well he's dead now so here are his successors. yeah one of them joined the mafia at 17 and commits violent crimes because he believes it's the only way to prove that he's worth anything. yeah the other one had to take on the only case L couldn't solve entirely from scratch at age 13 with no prior detective experience. no the implications of this won't be addressed. also one of the new anti-Kira investigators has a vendetta against Kira because someone close to her was killed by him. will that ever be explored in canon, you ask? well you're not going to believe this-

[logorrhea5mip]

Tumblr reblog chains are in danger.

It seems that the staff is actually going to go forward with their decision to remove reblog chains, where reblogs will basically work like regular comments on other websites.

This doesn't just make the site completely unusable, it removes the soul of the community that has managed to build up here over the years, and that I'm so happy to have recently joined.

It makes impossible the creation of great posts where many people build up a single thing, until it is a gem of expressed human creativity.

There will be no more world heritage posts, no more messing around with your mutuals, no posts worth remembering.

There will be no more Tumblr, and the Tikblr or TumbTube or whatever monstrosity is born from its corpse will soon die, as is probably the best. And then there will never be another place like this on the internet, no place anymore to run to, no more fun, no more community.

I recommend a simple course of action. When these changes get imposed upon us, stop using Tumblr. Get your mutuals' discords, your favourite artists' websites, and leave. If the Tumblr we have once known returns, we well too. If not, better let it die quickly than suffer a long and painful decline.

I beg you to reblog this, for the more people see it, the higher chanses are for this to work.

And add something, so we can show them what Tumblr is really for.

[bluerosefox]

Stellar Collisions

Back at it again with a DPxDC prompt.

It does have deaged Dani (Ellie)

Only this time its KonxDanny idea!~

Supernova, Kon's new hero name since Jon took over the Superboy name now, wasn't expecting to be called out to... especially in the sky... by another floating/flying person and-

WOW

They were cute as heck.

Glowing green eyes, and white hair, a bit shorter than him. He was floating in the air with a soft glow around himself as well.

And he was holding a white haired, very similar looking toddler in his arms, only the toddler had longer hair that was tied in pigtails. And the toddler was staring at Kon with large, almost sparkling eyes.

The young man, around Kon's age if he guessed, smiled and floated a bit closer, his face friendly and warm. When the young man stopped he kindly asked "Hey, would it be any trouble for you to autograph something for my daughter? She's a huge fan!"

[lost-romantique]

Stolas finally admitted it...

"GAH! WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT I AM! THIS WAS SO STUPID! I CANNOT BELIEVE I COULD BE THIS FUCKING STUPID! I RUINED EVERYTHING! MOVE!!! YOU SHITTY DESK!!!"

"And I did it for what? These stupid, foolish fantasies?!"

It means so much to me that Stolas was finally able to admit it, that what he saw and enjoyed when it came to his and Blitzø's transactional relationship was the pure escapist fantasy of it all. Yes, he still grew to have genuine feelings for Blitz, but he still couldn't help but wrap Blitz up in this fantasy of his. Knight in shining armour, rogue assassin, etc.

And a part of me thinks that's why Blitz, couldn't initially believe Stolas' feelings of romantic love for him. Aside from his extreme self-loathing, it's also because he was so used to Stolas wanting him to play a certain role on their full moon nights. Blitz was used to being a fantasy, so he couldn't imagine the actual reality of it.

And I think that's one of the reasons why Blitz is so goddamn fucking happy the entire episode, it's because aside from finally get his birb back, this is what Blitz ultimately wants in a relationship.

Blitzø's ideal relationship is genuine domestic bliss. He genuinely just loves the idea of waking up every morning to the man he loves, and being able to do simple mundane shit like making breakfast for them, fixing them up cups of coffee, and having casual conversation.

It's why he looks so happy and chipper doing the most mundane shit with Stolas. Blitz genuinely just finds joy in walking around the market with the man he loves, going grocery shopping, chatting at the Laundromat, and going shopping for clothes.

It's also why Blitz wants this so bad...

Because underneath all the self-loathing and his asshole persona, Blitz genuinely has the purest of dreams of settling down with Stolas and their two daughters surrounded by warmth, love, and laughter.

[miscellaneoussmp]

Despite its flaws, the qsmp had really good representation, especially for communities often under or misrepresented in popular media.

There were a decent amount of genderfluid/genderqueer/nonbinary characters, mostly through the Eggs/Federation Employees/Other NPCs, but there were players like Maxo and Mike who use mutliple sets of pronouns. Pepito had no pronouns in English but preferred masculine pronouns/terms in Spanish. Most people referred to Richas with masculine terms, yet Pac and Mike affectionately referred to Richas as their daughter multiple times. Leo and JuanaFlippa openly had name and pronoun changes to reflect their gender identities. There was even discussion of preferred names with Lullah, who, as far as canon goes, is a cis character. There were openly accepted instances of cross dressing, that weren't even made into a big deal. Famously Mariana and Foolish, both masculine characters, are referred to with feminine terms. Mariana is referred to as Charlie Slimecicle's wife, and Foolish is referred to as grandma by both Richas and Pepito.

There were multiple aspec characters and multiple instances of queerplatonic/ambiguous relationships. Jaiden was very openly aroace. Her and Roier said they were partners. Cellbit came out as ace because he was worried that Roier wouldn't find their relationships fulfilling without sex. Roier responded that sex didn't matter to him in their marriage. Pac and Mike, who canonically share a soul, never defined their relationship and went with whatever people called them even if that defining word was boyfriends, despite Mike being aroace. Also, Mike had a nontraditional relationship in his relationship with Mine. Their relationship being that of goddess and devotee. Maxo openly had sex with Pierre while being an ace character. Empanada was an openly ace child character, and that was very accepted. Not to mention all the characters who could be interpreted as some form as aspec.

Qsmp also showed off many different forms of families. Platonic co-parenting basically defined the qsmp as we know it. Single fatherhood defined both Bad and Fit as characters and showed them having healthy relationships with their children. The rocky relationships of Charlie Slimecicle and Mariana and Maxo and Pierre were treated as serious parts of their stories despite the silliness also present in their relationships.

Sorry for the rambling, I just think that the qsmp is praised for its representation of queer relationships without mentioning its other forms of representation.

[teeny-tiny-revenge]

Really so much respect for David Jenkins. He really went "historical accuracy"? "Realism"? "Laws of physics"? Nope, we don't need those here, everything in this story is Vibes. Dinghies can travel huge distances if necessary, except sometimes not, injuries heal immediately or slowly fester, whichever the plot demands for comedy or drama respectively, a character spends several days dead/in a coma/in purgatory and then just comes back to life when his beloved shows up. Nothing is too over the top for this story, cringe doesn't exist, we'll dial all those feelings up to eleven, and we're gonna play everything with 100% earnestness, and we're gonna have a merman and it's going to be so fucking romantic. And he's right about all of it! Really the best way to do fiction.

[existentialflirt]

I will say, I will probably take Tara's development in...interesting directions. Like, I'm sure I'll have a verse where she's alive or whatever, but i also don't want to make her all about Willow, because I'm sorry, she got fucked. Most of her personality was "Willow's girlfriend". "Under Your Spell" is just such a fucked up song on two or three levels. I think her shining moment was in "Restless". I am deeply, deeply obsessed how she was a consistent character across their dreams and seemed to be lucid, especially in Buffy's dream. It's so spooky, and I really like the idea of being the innately powerful witch who's just very quiet about or not even fully realize it.

[huginsmemory]

Been thinking about how Bill legitimately had a horrifying reason (the literal progressive disintegration of the nightmare realm that erases whatever it disintegrates from existence completely) to move himself and his crew into a new dimension. Like that's terrifying. And yet he never utilizes this to his favour. He could have been honest about this with Ford, and you KNOW as long as Bill didn't mention plans of overtaking the earth, Ford would've made the portal for him, both out of Ford's own interest and because Ford when faced with these big moral questions will pull through. But this is a card Bill NEVER plays because although he needs to leave the dimension, he cannot lose face. He can't put aside his pride and admit to the humility that he needs to flee from his dimension, that he's not actually all powerful. And so instead he pretends to be a muse and when Ford figures out something else is going on, instead of being open and humble and saying that his dimension is unravelling, Bill focuses on that he's going to over take earth, that he's actually been a monster all along, surprise Ford!

And part of it is definitely because Bill's built himself up on power and violence and to grovel and earnestly ask for help, to admit that he cannot stop the unraveling of his dimension completely invalidates that; showing vulnerability? Can't do that, even under the guise of lying to get his way. And part of it makes you wonder if it's also a form of self-sabotage, because underneath his deep denial Bill is guilty over what he occurred; he sees himself as a monster and so he'll be that monster, and having people recognize that feels good in the same way that pressing a bruise feels good. But it makes you wonder what would've happened if Bill even just was open about his dimension unravelling and had lied about overtaking the earth.

It's also interesting because although Bill has SOME charisma and can manipulate people decently well (as evidenced by his cult, and pandering to people's desires with Ford, Mabel and Blendin), he refuses to be vulnerable, refuses to not be true to his off-putting self, even when if he was just vulnerable of pretended to not be himself, to put aside the (false) pride he has in himself he would've gotten a portal by now. and part of me wonders if it's because it's this false pride that built on insecurity and denial on who he is he cannot drop that mask.

Further thoughts on this!

[biboomerangboi]

Hua Cheng essentially cockblocking himself for possibly all of eternity will literally never not be the funniest thing MXTX ever wrote.

Xie Lian was pretty much completely in love with him the second he saw those lanterns (and completely oblivious about it) and then we get the wonderful first kiss underwater moment and Xie Lian is basically drawing hearts around Hua Cheng every time he sees him. While like quietly dying cause he literally has no idea what to do with it. Like at this point he doesn’t even really understand that he is head over heels totally gone for this man.

Until Hua Cheng is like I have a beloved I just haven’t won them over yet. Which he thinks is perfectly reasonable because his self esteem is the worst and he doesn’t understand how he could have won Xie Lian over yet. (He’s only on step 22 of his Marrying Dianxia 3000 step Master Plan ((that he debates throwing out on a regular basis because he doesn’t deserve to even dream about wanting Xie Lian)). So course he’s like yeah I have this wonderful noble beautiful beloved I just haven’t won them over yet wink wink nudge nudge.

But Xie Lian is like oh of course obviously I don’t deserve nice things and fuck I actually wanted him so badly I’m actually in love with him and now I will resign myself to never being happy for his sake. (Their combined self esteem is truly a so low it’s a hole in the ground which is hilarious because they think the other person is to good for them and unattainable forever because they literally have the same neurosis.) So he starts boxing up his feelings forever constantly wanting Hua Cheng and feeling guilty about it and literally dying inside because he wants Hua Cheng like he’s never wanted anyone.

Like essentially books 3 and 5 only happen because Hua Cheng has now cursed them both by saying he has a beloved because Xie Lian believes he isn’t wanted and therefore any nice thing Hua Cheng does is just him being nice and not Hua Cheng pulling out steps 23-34 of his plan thinking he still hasn’t won Xie Lian over. (He has he so has but he shot himself in the foot so badly it’s painful to read).

Like thank the Gods Hua Cheng is so unhinged and created the cave of 10000 Gods cause Xie Lian would literally be at his own wedding to Hua Cheng still convinced he wanted someone else and this was in fact a thing they were doing to solve a case together otherwise.

Like he needed something that unhinged to put 2 and 2 together otherwise he never would have caught on he’s Hua Cheng’s beloved. Meanwhile Hua cheng is like 🥺 he’s going to think I’m a weirdo now and I’m only on step 50 of the plan 🥺 like the two of them wouldn’t have been fucking nasty 2 books ago if he just kept his mouth shut and didn’t cockblock himself so violently.

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[queerofthedagger]

the point is that arthur starts out as very potentially similar to uther even though there is already kindness in his heart, and then develops to grow further and further away from him, while morgana starts out as very potentially different from uther even though there is already ruthlessness in her heart, and then develops to grow more and more like him. in this essay i will --

[lesbianjackies]

“callie shipman” “callie taylor” “callie taylor-shipman” well no actually because the tragedy of callie sadecki is that she is not a taylor, and she is not a shipman, and she will never be either. she will always live in the shadow of a girl she never met and a baby she never knew, she will always be a reminder to her mother of the things she lost and the mistakes she made and the life she’ll never get to have.

her name is callie sadecki. because no matter how hard she tries, she will never be anything more to shauna than the unwanted child of a man she never loved.

[happypotato48]

This Is A Gay Asian Rant About BL Comments Made By Some Queer Westerners I See Sometimes.

So you know of those gays (usually white) that made dumb tiktok dancing to list of countries that legalized same sex marriage and list of countries that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ poeple as a way to say something racist. yeah i kinda got the same vibes from some comments regard how asian BL is homophobic just cause they don't live up to queer western standard. look, i'm not saying that some BLs and their creators don't deserve criticism regard how they capitalized/exploited queerness for an easy cash grab.

But people need to understand that Asian countries despite recent progress are still very much culturally conservatives. so when people says that thai bl is homophobic and all the characters looks like bunch of straight guys, which is true for some olders thai BLs i'm not gonna denied that. but after all this time and newer BLs generally being very queer and most of creators being out queer themself and poeple still making these comments, i'm annoyed.

And don't get me start on the actors. you don't know them! why are you making assumption and calling them queerbaiter just cause they acts in bl. like maybe they're straight, maybe they're not but what they're definitely doing is making queer content for you know, queer people here. so when you made halfass comments about their sexuality what do you think that made other queer people who still in the closet feels. and when you add the nationality to that, "these thai bl pair are this and that, this korean actor is so ungrateful for his bl past", etc. when our societies are still very much still in progress regard LGBTQIA+ acceptance. it make us living here feels fucking awful like somehow we're lesser queer than people in the west just cause we don't have citibank at pride or some shit.

And the shittiest in my humbled opinion are comments regard censored chinese bls. people do know like, that the creators making these bls are risking their livelihoods for this. that these shows getting make at all are miracles. yes it sucked that they're censored but they're still very much queer shows making by queer people who want to express thier queerness despite the chinese government being the chinese government. when people dimissing these shows as not belonging in queer media, you're also dimissing their creators and audiences as not belonging in the community.

Look what i want to say is that we're trying our best over here, and maybe our best are not up to your liking. the ways we talk and express our queerness maybe still can be perceived as problematic by western queer standard. but these media are our house and you're the guests. for people aren't shitty we appreciated that you're here engaging and loving our media, this is your home too and you're welcome in it. i can speak for myself that i very much love being here on tumblr and interacting with people from all over the world who love BL. but for people who are being shitty sometimes about asian bl.

YOU'RE THE GUESTS, BEHAVE!