#my original response to this was an essay about everything i like about that show

[free-my-boy-grumbot]

tommy. tommy rest assured i like good omens

mutuals i’m bored recommend me your current Interests and i might actually watch/read/whatever them. this is the recommendation window i’m always waiting for. do it

[acciocriativity]

... MEET CUTE? - A POLY!ATEEZ ONE SHOT

Ateez Masterlist

Pairing: Non-idol!Ateez x Non-idol!Ateez (established romantic relationship); Non-idol!Ateez x Non-idol fem!reader (platonic); Yunho x reader focused (platonic)

Genre: fluff, tiniest bit of angst

Warnings: implied mention of a homophobic father; one suggestive comment; a lot of loose ends that may or may not thighned up in future;

WC: 3, 4k

N/A: This concept has been on my mind for a few weeks now, so here it is! BTW, I really missed posting here. Hey, pretty people 👋

When you moved away from home to attend Seoul University, it felt like the world suddenly became bigger in front of your eyes. You remembered all of your mother’s warnings about how it would be harder now, more responsibilities and obligations would be coming your way, how it would be different from the relatively small high school you were used to. Of course, it was all true, and it was hard to adapt at first. However, you didn’t have the heart to tell her that college was nothing but a bigger high school if you met the right people. That was always the impression you had when the name “Jeong Yunho” was mentioned, or God forbid, if he ever walked by one of your friends.

One of the first lessons you learned was that an A-list celebrity wouldn’t have a chance against Yunho. You knew that for sure because someone made an online poll on the college forum for people to vote on it a while ago.

Some knew him by his excellence in hockey back in middle and high school, which still stands untouchable for his age. At least, that’s what you heard from one of your roommates.

“People dug it in the news?”. You were flabbergasted. You looked up from the open notebook on your small desk to your friend, who showed you the photo from an old news article back in 2007.

It was no surprise that prestige and recognition could get anyone far in life. It was much less surprising that people’s eyes shined at someone who had it all. But the lack of having better things to do was truly impressive. You knew you had 3 essays and a quiz coming up, so that effort would never cross your mind.

“I know, right? But don’t you think he was kind of cute then?”

It was a blurry picture of him on the ice, his face barely there. Still, the number 9 on his back clear as day.

“Yeah, kind of…”. Your voice trailed away as you read the small lines under the photo. “Don’t you wonder why he stopped?”

Others had the chance to cross paths with him in a way or another. That took up most of the surrounding rumors to this day. He was an angel, a true Disney Prince and no photo could ever make him justice, which you believed as much as the next person. You knew he was on the last year now, so the fangirling died down from the original fuss. It was worse then, you guessed.

Still, people were fascinated by him in a way that fascinated you. As far as you were concerned, he could drop everything and become a true movie star, a legendary hockey player for the national team or a worldwide famous model, yet here he is, a diligent student on a path to continue his father’ legacy someday and everyone loved and admired him for that. He truly had it all, but wouldn’t those same people take everything away from him if they could? But who are you to say anything, right? You only ever known him by name and a vague description of how much tall and handsome he was, what would you know.

If his father saw them, no, if he ever dreamed about both of them being anything more… his father would never step foot in a place like this. Those thoughts plagued his mind in moments like these, so it took him some effort to think rationally again. The cold sweat only made him more uncomfortable, waiting for his boyfriend in a simple chair in the so familiar corner of their favorite restaurant was never this nerve-wracking. The window showcased the snow slowly cascading outside. It was supposed to be a nice date, the first snow of the year and all of that, so why. was. he. still. alone?

No sign of an answer from Mingi, he checked his messages again to be sure.

There was no denying that Yunho was an impatient man. He never knew how to wait to get what he wanted, that also apply to have a nice alone time with his boyfriend.

The bell ringing from the entrance bell caught his attention and he fixed his hair on instinct, but it wasn’t Mingi.

There was a uncomfortable pressure slowly forming on Yunho’s chest as he tried yet another failed phone call. Mingi would never have stood him up like this, something must’ve happened. He debated calling Hongjoong, who was still working late shifts and Yunho knew how busy he’s been, nobody really called him at work unless it was a true emergency. So he called Seonghwa instead.

He did his best to seem as casual as he could. Mingi wasn’t picking up his calls, has he left the house yet? It seemed calm enough. Seonghwa told him about a massive traffic congestion on a main street close to their house, but he only seemed to breathe properly when the forgotten phone was found on the couch. Seonghwa tried to ask him if things were alright and he was quick to say yes. They exchanged ‘i love you’s and Seonghwa said something like ‘don’t get home too late’, which made Yunho laugh, because he was the one who told them to “have fun wink wink”. He hang up feeling a bit better.

Mingi was on his way, he only had to be a bit more patient.

His little bubble popped when Mister Kim left a warm drink on his table.

“I didn’t order this, Mister Kim”, Yunho said in a soft yet warning tone as he looked up at the old man smiling at him. “I said I was going to pay for everything today”.

He already drank two cups of coffee in a span of 15 minutes, which he insisted on paying overprice for. Mister Kim is too good for him own sake, and he was away too nice to Yunho and Mingi, both boys he took under his wing a long time ago.

“This one wasn’t me, I swear on the Lord’s name”, Mister Kim said quickly. “This one is from the nice lady who just left”, he whispered as he leaned in.

“Is it? And somehow she guessed my favorite order, hm?”

“Just enjoy it, wouldn’t you? Stubborn boy, tsc, consider it an act of kindness after a rough day”. Mister Kim left shortly after, just as stubborn.

Yunho was speechless for a moment, but couldn’t help his smile. Usually, he doesn’t accept drinks or anything really from “ladies”, knowing well the intentions and feelings behind it. Mister Kim really was too kind for his own good, wasn’t he? Yunho knew he suggested the drink, more than willing to make it for him. Was he really having such a rough day enough for a stranger and Mister Kim himself to notice? However, that was a thought for later, when he finished the warm green tea.

It was only after Mingi and him helped Mister Kim close the restaurant, that he noticed the small “cheer up, bro” written in a black marker on the cup with no pickup line and no phone number.

What a wake-up call right there.

Mingi almost broke his neck from laughing when he saw it. That’s when Yunho decided right then and there he liked that lady, whoever she was.

By the time you were back to that restaurant a week later, you only remembered the taste of the best moon cakes you’ve ever had in a while. You always crave some when you missed your mom’s desserts, but none ever got close to hers as those. Hopefully, there’s still some left to take home with you.

The place itself wasn’t modern by any means, it felt like a voyage back to your childhood the moment you first came in. You were desperate to escape the cold and the smell of fresh coffee and baked cake led you right to the front door that first night. Although old-fashioned to its core, every surface seemed pretty clean and organized. The soft music playing was a plus for you, so you slowly walked to the empty front counter.

This time was no different, except the distinct smell of strawberries and the fact that there was no client in sight. The nice old man was cleaning one of the tables while humming along, it seemed like that was his favorite song. Since he was in no rush to greet you, you slowly looked through the displayed options, happy to see 3 moon cakes left.

“Excuse me, sir?”. You looked at the man once again. He was now working on another table, but he stopped humming, so you took as a sign to keep going. “Perhaps is there a strawberry cake on the oven right now?”

“Do you like strawberries?”, he asked as he took off his gloves and looked in your direction. His tone was as soft as the first time. He really doesn’t look like he ever yells.

“Oh, yes, I do. It’s my all-time favorite flavor”. You couldn’t help the excited tone on your voice. Strawberry cake always meant something good happened, the only good luck charm you still believe in.

“Really?”, he chuckled. “It’s a shame not a lot of people think like you these days. It rarely sold in the past, so I only make it for special occasions”

You nodded, trying not to look so disappointed. “I understand. Would it be possible to place an order for it? I know it’d be an inconvenience and I don’t mind waiting as long as it’s needed to”.

This time he laughed wholeheartedly, so much so his eyes seemed to disappear. You were surprised to say the least at how delighted he was. “Of course, I could. Why don’t you come back later in the evening? I’ll have one ready to-go”

“Wait, really? Thank you so much, thank you”, you bowed down as many times as it felt right to, which he was quick to wave it off. “Before I leave, can I have those 3 moon cakes?”.

Your hopeful eyes amused him to no end. You were an expressive person, it reminded him of someone dear to him, and he could tell you seemed kind and genuine, the type of client he wanted in his restaurant around his boys.

“A diverse taste bud, I see”.

“It’s thanks to my mom”, you smiled and your eyes lighted up when you mentioned her.

You felt like it was your lucky day as you watched him pack your order.

You felt mortified as you hugged the neatly packed strawberry cake in your hands.

Slowly, you blinked as you processed the name you just heard from the tables on the left. There were three round tables together, around 8 boys in total. They were impossible not to notice as soon as you came in the late evening, because not only they were loud, they were all well-dressed and good looking. Maybe there are truly God’s favorites, it was your only thought about them before you moved over to the counter. But now you were sure you heard the name Yunho in the middle of their conversation and you brain stopped working for a second. That was not in your Christmas bingo card. If it was the Yunho you thought it was, then you were just being weird for no reason. It’s not like he was an actual celebrity. But if it wasn’t him, then it was even worse to you. Maybe you were too invested in those silly conversations you had with your friends.

“Miss Strawberry, are you alright?”, Mister Kim, you found out his name, stared at you with genuine concern.

You stood paralyzed in the front counter.

“Yes! Yes, I am”. Your voice reached a few octaves higher and you looked down as you felt some stares on you, your hair covering the left side of your face. “Can I have those, please?”. You didn’t even see what you pointed at on the display, you could only see your reflection. Why were you even hiding? There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you did nothing wrong.

“All of them?”

“Yes, all of it, please”, you said as you suddenly stood tall again.

The determination of your face was enough to tell him you were being serious and he had to try hard not to laugh at your expression.

“Yunho, can you come here for a moment?”, Mister Kim gestured for him to come fast as he moved to grab some to-go bags.

That was enough to direct everyone’s attention to you. Then, it downed on you how silent, except a few whispers, the small restaurant became. There was no music playing, which only now you were able to notice it. Those boys’ voices took so much space and created a new kind of ambiance to the point you didn’t notice the soft hum you became such a fan of. But now that it was all gone, you felt awkward and out of place. At the same time you knew nobody really cared about you, there was an immense pressure on your shoulders to act like they did.

“Can you bend down and help me bag all of the croissants?, Mister Kim asked.

Yunho, who was quick on his feet, started to work with a smile on his face. Even if he wasn’t asked to do so, he’d jump to help as soon as he saw it. The display was too low and Mister Kim’s back is not the same anymore.

“Are you taking the back pain pills the doctor told you to?”, Yunho’s tone was light, but he seemed genuine on his concern.

You heard some murmurs as an answer, but your focus was elsewhere.

After a quick glance anyone could tell that Yunho was as tall and handsome as the Jeong Yunho. But what does that even proves? Yunho was a good name to give a child? You were intrigued, the possibility was there after all. The normal man in front of you could be the Jeong Yunho, which if true, would leave you a little bit upset. You heard Yunho was nice, of course he was, but not ‘helping a grandma cross the street’ kind of nice like this. If that was true, people would have to put more credit on the man’s name, he’d be truly just fucking perfect.

Unbeknownst to you, Yunho’s glance on your direction was as quick, but he didn’t remember seen you there before nor he ever heard of a “Miss Strawberry”. Nonetheless, he was happy the restaurant was getting new costumers.

“Making him work on his birthday, you’re mean Mister Kim”, someone said from one of the tables, the light teasing tone made it clear they knew each other for a long time now.

Although those words weren’t meant for you, still, it was you fault he was helping out on his birthday. Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to stop him now that he started it. Yunho worked in a efficient and smooth manner, like that was his day job to do so.

“It’s alright”, Yunho said, but nobody seemed to notice but you, it felt like it was for you after all.

“Should I call you instead, Wooyoung?”, Mister Kim said in a serious tone and the boy was quick to apologize and stuff his mouth with the same strawberry cake you had.

After that, the room slowly filled up again with small conversations here and there while Yunho whispered to Mister Kim and once in a while, met your eyes with a gentle smile on his face. The light exchanges were interesting, but you tried not to pay much attention on the words, because you felt like you were intruding on something you were not supposed to, like coming to a friend’s house while they were having family dinner.

The bags of croissants soon took up the whole space on the counter. At the end, there were 9 bags waiting to go home with you and would’ve be impossible for you to carry everything on your own with the cake bag.

“Mister Kim, don’t you happen to have a giant bag, do you?”

He wasn’t sure he had one big enough, still, he went to look for something and this time, he did asked for Wooyoung’s help.

“I can help, Mister Kim”, Yunho said.

“You can help making some company to the nice lady and maybe thank her as well for the tea”, he said as he walked to the back, leaving you just as speechless as the man in front of you.

Yunho saw how surprised you seemed as you realized it was him all along and couldn’t help but chuckle. Now he didn’t feel as bad for not noticing you that day, you didn’t stop to do so yourself.

“You seem caught off guard”, he said as he giggled to himself. Your expression went from shock to embarrassment, he could read you like an open book, which was a nice change of pace. Now that he had a good look, he understood what a deer caught in red lights actually meant, you truly looked like one.

“I’m so sorry, you were in a dark corner and I just thought you seemed a bit upset, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything like that at all and…”

You were rambling, you didn’t know how to stop yourself this time. Your face was hot, you could feel it and the fact that he was actually giggling wasn’t helping your case at all.

Maybe you wouldn’t have stopped talking if you haven’t heard a “hey” that grabbed your attention.

“Are you the green tea lady from last week?”, one of the boys asked you. The first thing you noticed was that he was kind of tall for something sitting down and had a pretty smile.

“Yeah, I am. Didn’t know I got a nickname though”, you managed to say after you took a few seconds to breathe again.

“Would you like to come sit with us?”, the same boy asked again. He had that chill guy kind of voice, that anything he said was cool, laid back and pretty simple.

Now you were truly jealous, that’s how you wanted to when you grew up. You tend to forget there’s people like that, on the other extreme of you.

“Hum, I don’t want to intrude in your gathering, I was on my way home”.

“If that’s the only reason, then let me tell you you’re not intruding. You can take my word for it since it’s my birthday party”, Yunho said and you felt he was sincere with the invite.

Whether he was Jeong Yunho or not, you decided then you liked him.

BONUS SCENE

“Are you all sure it’s alright? No one is going to feel left out if I only take Mingi out?”, Yunho asked once again his six boyfriends.

This was a serious matter to him as he fears he prioritizes Mingi a little much sometimes, even when he tries so hard to give equal love and attention to them all. It’s a constant fighting battle for him, when it doesn’t need to be. This much was said countless times before, yet here he is feeling guilt for nothing.

Jongho felt like they were in a movie or something, because there was no plausible reason for them to be whispering to each other in the small kitchen while Mingi was showering, especially not over this.

“Yes, we are sure. Don’t we all know how he is?”, Jongho asked as he looked around the table and he saw San nodding along. It was a no-brainer for him. Mingi was just… Mingi, there was no other explanation needed.

“He’s going to love the idea, that’s all that matters”, Yeosang said in agreement.

“Isn’t he the sweetest, hum hum? Caring about our feelings and all that”, Wooyoung teased as he pinched Yunho cheeks and anything he could get away with that moment. “You loooveee us so much, don’t you?”, he hugged Yunho for the nth time this morning.

Yunho stared him down, a failed attempt to seem intimidating. He was way too soft with Wooyoung, that’s why he’s such a brat.

“That’s right, unfortunately I do”.

“What the fuck do you mean unfortu- OW! Meanie, we never said slapping as a punishment”, Wooyoung caressed the reddening spot Jongho slapped on.

Jongho only shrugged.

“We should get going, Mingi is going to be suspicious of us like this”, Hongjoong said as he lightly pushed Jongho out of the kitchen.

“Th’is unfair”, Wooyoung whined on Yunho’s chest, who could only giggle at the scene.

[cherries-in-wine]

𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔 ‧₊ ☁️⋅♡ ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

People call Vladimir Nabokov a disgusting creep for writing from the perspective of a pedophile when in reality if you read the book, Humbert Humbert is not likeable in the slightest. He's an unreliable narrator that's so stuck in his own delusions that he can't see how miserable dolores is because of him. Nabokov is an incredible writer and lolita is really well written- it's dreamy and poetic because that's what Humbert Humbert wants you to see but occasionally the mask slips and the horrifying reality of the situation peaks through, it's your responsibility as the reader to read in between the lines to see the story for what it is- not a romance. It's a great satire in the sense that it's pathetic to see Humbert Humbert think he's oh so charming and these "nymphets" are oh so in love with him. Dolores' trauma is obvious to any competent reader, I don't know how people are so charmed by Humbert Humbert that they can't see how dolores' defiance which he refers to as "teenage rebellion" or "tantrums" is a very apparent cry for help. Lolita is a Gothic horror, a cautionary tale. It's a genius work of art and what's most horrific about it lies in the aftermath of its release, how it's so normalised to sexualise little girls that blatant pedophilia is interpreted as a tragic love story. Nabokov himself referred to dolores as his "poor little girl". He had a lot of empathy for her and it is so heartbreaking to see her being portrayed as this temptress when in reality she is a 12 year old tomboy who likes comics and playing in the dirt. Catherine Demongeot (image on the left) is what Nabokov imagined lolita to look like while on the right is how lolita is perceived by the media. The images speak for themselves.

When I first read the virgin suicides I thought it was a great work of satire. I adore the Lisbon girls with all my heart, I see a part of myself in all of them by varying degrees. The boys who claimed they loved these girls, only saw them as some fantasy. Even in death they never truly respected any of them. How when they found Cecelia's diary, instead of trying to make sense of why she killed herself, they selfishly searched for their own names. I loved the irony of the boys claiming that they loved these girls when they didn't know anything about them. It showed how shallow and surface level their “love” was. I thought the author, Jeffery Eugenides really understood me because as a girl it feels as though you’re only loved if you’re sexualised and how much sympathy you deserve is dependent on how attractive you are, as if that’s the only value you have to offer. But in reality he didn't mean any of the things the boys did to be interpreted as satire. According to him, peaking through windows, stealing used tampons, joking about groping dead girls, these grown men still picturing those little girls years later while they had sex with their wives etc was supposed to show that teenage boys are not disgusting horny dogs, but romantic softies (if anything this made me think teenage boys are much more repulsive than i thought). According to Eugenides the book is satire, but in the sense that you never know what was going through a person's head when they committed suicide and you can't make sense of it no matter how hard you try. Everything about how the boys viewed the girls was not satire and was to be taken at face value. This really broke my heart, an author who I thought really did get me and understood me, ended up making me feel watched instead of seen. I guess this is where "death of the author" comes into play. La mort de l'auteur is a 1967 essay by Roland Barthes that basically argues that instead of only viewing a work of art through the artist's eyes and keeping only their intent in mind, the viewer can interpret the art through their own eyes regardless of what the artist originally intended. I want to, I really do but I can't help but feel that intention matters and no matter how hard I try to separate the art from the artist I simply cannot.

It's so fascinating to me how Lolita which is supposed to be from the perspective of an unreliable narrator was taken at face value and the virgin suicides which was to be taken at face value was perceived as satire.

The same irony can also be seen in the movies. The director of Lolita didn't get her at all, even he thought she was some kind of a seductress instead of a child that was raped and abused repeatedly by a man that was supposed to be a father figure while the virgin suicides movie was so much better than the book, Sofia Coppola, the director, understood the Lisbon girls so well and she did them justice.

[generouskittentidalwave]

Watching the She-ra reboot after 5-6 years

Hey remember that show in 2018 that came out on Netflix during Tumblr's Twitter era and stirred up enough toxicity to turn you into Dave the Skeleton in the highschool science classroom?

Well BUCKLE IN for a RIDE cause I recently watched that show for the first time after avoiding it for YEARS, after seeing the fans and the haters be so devoted to either the fans praising it like a godsent deity or haters devoting their whole life to finding something wrong with every aspect of the show that it makes you wonder if they realized that they've become the Catra that they sought to destroy, I decided to avoid even touching the show and went about my life in other fandoms.

Well years have passed and like a Hallmark movie time abruptly went on and the drama soon faded, the tides have settled, the war has ended, and neither side remains the same. The fans have grown up, matured and enjoy the show as it is and the haters have lost all that sweet sustenance back in 2019 and have went the ways of the DoDo. With everything finally settled, I joined in on the rush of new fans recently that started rewatching the series and wanted to display my thoughts as well as a first time watcher ^^

I went in well aware of all the criticisms in mind, and having seen the original She-ra, and I just gotta say that my worrisome thoughts on watching it was completely washed away from the start of the show. I was worried of Adora being that one marysue character that is from the bad guys side but is actually a good a guy with the personality of white bread and with flaws of just being "a little bit QuiRkY" but she completely shooed away those fears. She is a well balanced character with a unique and well done backstory, her character breaking away from the steriotypical chosen ones and her having flaws that don't take away her being a good person but instead have their own charm and relatability that makes her very fun and down to earth. She is so golden retriever coded and I love it. What I like most though is that she wasn't "random main character comes in to lead everyone to victory out of nowhere" , instead of making her the unsaid leader, they made her the main character who is the muscle of the group and part of the heart and has to learn overtime and understand their ways instead of making her the leader. It makes way for her to pave and earn her way as being the main character instead of it being given by default by making her the leader and I love that break away. And that break away also helps to counter the fears I heard about the white savior trope by making Adora the way she was and making Glimmer and Glimmer's mom the queen the actual leaders of the rebellion that they helped start.

Love the best friends squad, I love Glimmer's growth and her bond with Adora, I like how she went downhill and built herself back up again as a person as it was very realistic with her being so young and having to replace her mom as queen. Bow is my spirit animal, period, but I really want to know more about his huge family. I imagine that because they are all historians they must go to the academy or similar academies that Bow was meant to go to and I can see why they wouldn't question him not being there as 12 siblings is A LOT to keep track of. Swiftwind is great but he shall always be known as Horsie and the queen's sacrifice hurts everytime I see it, I love how she owned up to her own flaws. Shadowweaver messed up being a mother figure 3 times, she needs parenting classes fr, 'nough said. I love all the princesses but Mermista is my personal favorite. Also why is aunt cast named Castaspella, I can't even say it without dying of laughter 💀🖐️

Now I know some of you are sitting at your computer with 5 monsters in hand and sweat anxiously dripping from your forehead as you dramatically hover over the keys just WAITING to write a five page essay response if I even dare to utter the name Catra and her relationship with Adora. So, I'ma give you my opinion.

Honestly, their romance was the end goal since the beginning and the story made that clear and honestly I like Catra's growth as a character from her knowing she has anger issues and actively working on it to better herself, helping to save others and helping to save Adora in the end. Her realizing that pushing others away to protect herself only harms her and everyone around her in the end and her realistically taking it slow and steady to better herself as a person for herself and for Adora is something a really like. Yes their relationship was hella toxic, especially in the middle (but I do like how Adora recognized that and punched Catra when they were in the portal). The build up was great, the middle ground of her doubling down was great, and I think her growth at the end was great and that the two are happy and not in a toxic relationship with eachother anymore at the end. I think what truly makes it odd is although the redemption was great the time constraints made it so they couldn't flesh it out to help answer and address the past actions that were caused by her, they did so great with her slowly becoming better and better, and so it wouldn't have come off as bad as it did if they had just a bit more time to address everything with that instead of being forced to dive right into it which definitely left a- well- less than good impression to it's audience. But they tried their best with what they could do and honestly for a show as surprisingly dark as this I'm just glad they aren't in a toxic relationship anymore and are happy in the end and that Catra got redeemed. It definitely wasn't trying to romanize abuse, however it came off as such due to constraints and them rushing the ending which gave plenty of ammo to people who already hated the show to have a reason to hate it more. In my opinion if you don't like it that's valid, if you do like it that's valid, me personally I'm not a romance person so I couldn't care enough either way.

Now to address some things I know some people are waiting for, but in speed run fashion. Mara's She-ra design was the fault of the designers not agreeing on what they wanted her to look like, I was expecting her to have brown flowing hair not blonde, I get the stripping of individuality message they tried to go with, it just needed better designers and better execution but that's as deep as it goes. It's not that they are racist, they are more along the lines of "you need a more organized team cause her design changes every five seconds like wtf" kind of situation. I'm glad they didn't automatically forgive Hordak or accept him but I'm glad he was changed enough to not be a killer that's mass murdering people anymore and as long no one is dying by his hands anymore and people don't automatically forgive him then that's fine by me, whatever keeps others from dying a horrible unnecessary death.

Overall, in conclusion, love the show, great depth, great characters, love the humor and amazing magical girl transformations, awesome rep, stronk princess punching things, would most definitely recommend, especially now with all the wave of chaos it's initial release sucked in now evaporated. (Seriously there are full tags and blogs deticated to hating a show about glowing princesses fighting aliens, it's okay to not like a show but come on people there is more to life than that 💀) Enjoy it, have fun, and I hope you have a great day/night! ^^

[adamsc0rpse]

not to barge in or anything but. leckie/chuckler/runner/hoosier is consuming my brain. and you’re the only person who i could think of who would understand.

like in the beginning of episode one. they’re on the troop ship laughing and shouting and being rowdy as hell and they’re all debating over why they’re fighting and runner just quiets everyone down and asks leckie—almost in a teasing, joking way—why they’re fighting and he just casually quotes a POEM and they all get quiet and solemn and look at him like he hung the moon. are you kidding me. they fucking love him. he loves them. are you KIDDING ME.

i’m normal about them. do you have any thoughts about them i’d love to hear them

THE FACT THAT I'M FOR SOME REASON THE PERSON YOU THOUGHT OF ? I'M HONORED..😭🙏 I wanna start off by addressing the scene you mentioned and how Leckie quotes a POEM 😭🙏 because me and my bf were rewatching the show not to long ago and realize when everyone erupts after the awkward silence Runner goes "Leckie, you've gotta STOP this." And I think it's SO funny. I could write ESSAYS about them. I have playlists and everything (they're private, don't try finding them). I could go on and on about how terribly sad they are, especially in the original draft scripts for the show. I think a specific relationship that's not talked about enough at ALL is Leckie and Chuckler. You see a lot for Chuckler/Runner & Hoosier/Leckie, but never anymore than that ? Of course, they're a polycule in my eyes, but Leckie and Chuckler were so close. (especially in helmet for my pillow, but this isn't about that !!) Ex: Chuckler's "buddy :-((" and covering Leckie up when he had enuresis rather than making fun of him and the part in one of the draft scripts where Leckie says he's writing a love poem for him 😭 I love how Chuckler's like the caring one of the group when it comes to literally anything. Getting one of them a drink, taking care of Runner when he's sick, etc. The way they all just seem to get each other and the way they feel comfortable enough with each other to lay together and make sure one another is okay is so sweet to me. Then there's also the tragedy of Leckie being there for Runner and Hoosier getting shot, unable, and hopeless to help them while also having NO idea where the hell Chuckler is ! The fact that just before Hoosier got shot, he tried to tell Leckie that they needed to move, and in response, Leckie yelled at him. The scene with Runner and Leckie on the boat in episode 6 has always meant so much to me because it's just such a sad and vulnerable part. Leckie rushing to tell him that he tried to come back and Runner immediately going "I know." And taking him topside ☹️ There's also a part that I feel like going very unnoticed. In one of the episodes, after a shootout, you see Chuckler put his and Runners helmets together. I've never seen anyone talk about it, but I like to point it out. The scene where Runner pats Hoosier, telling him to rest up and the rest of them going out together, getting ice cream, etc. The INSANE scene of Hoosier cutting Leckies foot 😭💀🙏 and just the stupid ways they joke with each other 😭 ALL of it I could go on about, genuinely. I know that this is stupidly jumbled, but I'm just typing what I happen to think about in the moment 😭 I love Leckies team and their relationship with each other ☹️ I wish I could go even more in depth, but I am blanking right now. 💀🙏

[ryttu3k]

Having some Thoughts about Astarion and his perceived intelligence, or lack thereof (it was largely in the tags of this post, which I absolutely recommend reading, but it was getting overly long).

Astarion is perceived as… not very bright. Like it's kind of a running joke in fandom at this point, and it's been bugging me for a bit, so…

INT 13 isn't actually low

INT 13 is actually a fair bit above average! Of the main six Origin characters, only Gale has a higher INT score at 17, which is what you'd expect from a wizard and Actual Nerd (complimentary). Wyll has INT 13 as well, Lae'zel and Shadowheart have the average score of INT 10, and Karlach has INT 8. Of the secondary companions, Halsin and Minthara also have INT 10, and Minsc and - interestingly - Jaheira both have INT 8.

So, far from being one of the dumbest companions, stats-wise, he's actually one of the most intelligent.

Poor planning skills aren't a reflection of intelligence

Yes, Astarion is notoriously terrible at coming up with long-term plans. You know what he also hasn't been able to do for two hundred years? Come up with long-term plans.

He spent about forty years living a normal life, then five times that duration as a slave, being punished for any show of thinking for himself. He tried to make a plan that went against his master's orders, and he spent a year buried alive for it. His only purpose was "to seduce anything with a pulse"; thinking outside of that wasn't just discouraged, it was punished. He's out of practice!

Also, there are a lot of incredibly intelligent people who can't make plans for Assorted Reasons, even without two hundred years of being a puppet to someone else's will. Dyspraxia, ADHD, all sorts of things.

The whole smooth brain thing

This one does bug me, but I also suspect it was a nod to fandom perception. The epilogue has Bing-Bong in it, there were at least parts written well after the game release, and the subsequent fandom response. It's entirely possible, if not likely, that parts of the writing were influenced by fandom perception.

He had low INT in early access

Yes, and they changed it, and he no longer does. Wyll was essentially rewritten between EA and now. Karlach wasn't even a main character in EA. The Dream Visitor was extremely different in EA! Astarion was below average intelligence in EA, and now he's above average ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Neil Newbon says Astarion is intelligent

"I see him as being very intelligent — very erudite — and highly manipulative when he wants to be."

From this interview. I figure he'd know better than anyone save Stephen Rooney, y'know?

The trauma

I mean we can't understate the trauma. The trauma would do a number on your cognitive abilities (and your everything else lbr). And on top of two centuries of going through The Horrors, Cazador repeatedly belittled and infantilised him, hard not to internalise that when Cazador had complete control over his entire existence.

This isn't really meant to be an essay or aimed at anyone in particular and also quite possibly my 'burnt-out gifted kid who valued their intelligence above everything else' is showing but that may be more a Gale thing! Just that the whole 'lmao Astarion is so dumb' trope was bugging me for this, that, and the other reason, so. A post.

[tendebill]

drew the ow strike team as paladins of voltron, because i am normal about them :]

(2 other versions and a fucking essay below the cut!)

ok so im gonna give my reasoning for each of them

Reinhardt - the easierst to pick, the Yellow Lion is the most tank-like (besides the Black Lion, but thats cuz Black is the head + torso), also i think the legs of voltron are supposed to be the "pillars" that allow the team to work well, without them the whole thing crumbles (literally). from what i recall from the actual show, the Yellow Paladin is protective and loyal. Rein was the easiest to match up tbh (plus even the color fits lol)

Torbjörn - not my favourite choice, but tbh i dont think any other lion fits him? besides maybe Yellow, but Rein was too perfect so i couldnt give Torb that one. anyway, the Green Lion is the left hand. i consider the legs to be the "pillars" holding up the team, whereas the arms are the actual damage-dealers/the ones that act on what the leader commands. and as Torb is a dps, that fits just fine. hes not quite a leader, so being the left hand instead of the right is good. plus the Green Lion is inquisitive and curious, and since Torb is a genius, that fits just fine too. i thought he would look weird with green, since i associate him with red-orange-yellow the most, but he looks kinda nice

Ana - i was originally gonna make her blue from the get-go, but i thought it'd be silly to make the remaining three switch lions a bunch, so i can get an excuse to draw Gabe and Jack in multiple suits lmao. but Ana starts out as red, the right hand of Voltron, described as the most temperamental and aggressive. it requires a paladin that can keep up with it and works on instinct most of the time. i feel like Ana would have to BECOME the motherly figure for her team, instead of being one from the start. with that i think she would have been a more "lone wolf" type at first, only later on becoming more mindful of her teammates and how much they need her, which would lead to her becoming the paladin of the Blue Lion - a pillar that keeps the team going along with Rein, a vital part, but no longer in a leadership position. i've seen the Blue Lion described as a "free spirit" too, which i think is also perfect for her :3

Jack - for him i had three options, all of which fit him well: blue, red and black. and instead of picking one, i decided he was going to have three different lions :))) for shits and giggles. so he starts out as blue, a free spirit, very versitile (from what i gathered, the Blue Lion doesn't have a specific "thing" it specilizes in, but instead does a little bit of everything, kinda like Jack). i imagine Jack was the middle-man, an integral part of team-building. he would have been the one to push everyone to work together and follow Gabe's lead, but he was content being on the sidelines most of the time. eventually he takes up more responsibility, sees that he's vital for the team and that he can do more working side by side with Gabe, and so he becomes the paladin of the Red Lion, Gabe's right hand man. then he of course slowly grows to be the actual leader, as Gabe's approach changes and he slowly abandons his original role, passing the command over to Jack. and so Jack's last lion is the Black Lion. also i feel like all three lions fit Jack's color scheme pretty well, so that's another win for me hah

Gabe - since he was the original Strike Commander, i thought it only natural that he would be the first to pilot the Black Lion. the pilot needs to be decisive, stay cool in the face of danger and be someone whose men will follow him into battle with no hesitation - all traits that i see Gabriel would have had to have during the first Omnic Crisis. like i mentioned before, Jack eventually becomes his second in command, and then slowly their roles start to shift. Gabe is no longer content in making decisions for the whole team, he probably also becomes more violent and reckless, relying on Jack to keep him in check. he loses his connection with the Black Lion and becomes the paladin of the Red Lion, Jack's right hand man. the traits of Red fit him well too - aggressive, relies on instinct, temperamental, plus i imagine Gabe is the type to want to get things done as quickly as possible, no matter the risk, to save more people faster. plus, again, the colors match up yaaaay!

fun fact: i never finished watching voltron ^^

also i am truthing anahardt and reaper76 as we speak

[athena-rocks]

I hate Percy Jackson.

I hate the plot that is, and many MANY parts of it. Now that’s not to say the actors are bad or anything, in fact I think they’re incredible. I haven’t watched the show or read the books but from the clips I’ve seen those actors are amazing and deserve respect and praise. But I am going to go over everything I have against the show in this mini essay of mine.

Like the show and want to counter my points? Feel free to! Leave a comment, reblog with your response, send an ask, all is welcome! I may think very strongly on my points but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to hear others out, but please welcome my response as well (also anon is on so if you have thoughts but don’t really feel confident sharing them on your account you can send by anon instead, still gonna get answered and no judgement passed :) )

NOW! ONTO MY RAMBLINGS!

First of all, Athena. As someone whose name is literally ‘athena-rocks’ I’m sure you can guess that I feel very passionately about this and have a lot to say.

The first thing I want to bring up is the whole child thing. Athena is a virgin goddess why does she have a child? From what I understand Annabeth is born from her mind, as in thought. Which is immensely stupid. The only account of asexual reproduction I can think of is Hera and the birth of Hephaestus, but even then she had a pregnancy and he was born, he didn’t just show up?? The only being I can think of that just pop up is Chaos, who is seen as both a God and a thing, it is, it’s primordial, so are Athena’s children in this also primordial? No they’re demigods.

Also the idea that Athena just abandons her children? No! There’s literally a myth that directly opposes it! Erichthonius!

Erichthonius is the first king of Athens, before Athens got super amazing and awesome and totally cool and really popular and thus got the totally cool founding myth of Athena vs Poseidon. He was born after Hephaestus tried to assault Athena, he’s autochthonous meaning born of the earth. Some of Hephaestus’s… seed, got onto Athena’s thigh, she wiped it off and threw it to the earth as she ran away and Erichthonius is born.

Now Athena has no obligation to this child, it’s not hers in any form, it came from the man who tried to assault her, yet she still chooses to look after and raise the child! There! She has no reason to do this but does, so why she would abandon the children that she does have an obligation to?

And by all accounts I can find Erichthonius had a good childhood, he’s half snake creature thing and when the daughters of Cecrops (who Athena had given Erichthonius to with him in a basket and told them not to open it while she did something) saw him and were horrified Athena either drove them mad so they killed themselves or dropped a mountain she was carrying in rage. So she cares about him.

Now, the Medusa thing.

Medusa was a monster, the original Greek myth she was always a monster. I understand the appeal of a woman who can defend herself from any man who would dare harm her by just glaring at them, but can’t she just have always been that? Can’t she have just always been a powerful monster who can always protect herself? I’m mostly upset at the Medusa thing in this context because I’ve seen people shipping her with Athena, which is weird as Athena is not only a virgin goddess but a mythological figure who was and in some sense still is worshipped to this day.

There are myths that also actively oppose this, when Cassandra was raped Athena was so furious she drive lesser Ajax mad so he killed himself and for 1000 years they had to send maidens to become Athena’s priestesses to appease her. But Medusa being raped by Poseidon, someone who she’s been known to have beef with? No. Fuck her.

AND ARES!!

Ares who killed someone for harassing his daughter, A BAD FATHER?? A CRUEL MAN??? Anger issues? Sure! I can accept that! But bad father? No.

I think the PJO series just hates the idea of war God’s being good parents and it shows.

I’ll end here, but if anyone would like to add on to this post or argue against me please feel free to. Just don’t be an asshole, I’m fine to discuss peacefully I’m not fine with just being flat out attacked.

Thank you for reading!

[emohimiko]

Katsuki and Izuku character analysis

this is very unformatted and ugly and apart of a larger essay i wrote a while back but i really wanted to share my thoughts on bkdk

this is also largely?? speculation (as i’ve been told by some) but i believe it has a fair bit of canon backing it up

Ok now Katsuki on the other hand had to step into Deku and get closer to grow. He never hated Deku, he was envious of how naturally heroic Deku was. Katsuki hated himself, never Deku, and he felt weak because he was weak, mentally.

Deku just happened to be the physical representation of that weakness because while he was physically weak, Deku was stronger mentally than Katsuki will ever be. That’s why he called Deku useless, it was him projecting. That’s why he was so shaken at Deku vs Kacchan 1, because Deku was overcoming their physical disparity and Katsuki was still left in the dust feeling weak, which is why Deku vs Katsuki 2 happened after All Might fell. He felt his weakness was responsible for the end of All Might and hated himself even more for that, and in turn he fought Deku even more. But at Deku vs Katsuki 2 he learned to embrace that weakness and deal with it WITH Deku, because Deku was the original source of where that initial weakness feeling came from, it only makes sense for him to be the “cure” for it too. Katsuki also doesn’t understand his own emotions or knows how to deal with them, so that’s why he masks it all with anger because he sees anything else as weakness because Deku was constantly expressing everything but anger and he saw Deku as weak (physically) so he associated most emotions with weakness. Thats also why it’s so important his first action of pure heroism with no ulterior motives was for Deku, jumping in front of OFA/Shigaraki’s creepy finger thingies to prevent Deku from being stabbed. Doing this was him getting over that weakness (also why people say Katsuki grew softer while Izuku grew angrier). Him nearly dying for Deku was the ultimate show of character growth because it proved he could get over himself, his mental weakness, and his feelings surrounding Deku to throw himself away to save him. It’s also why Katsuki’s “death” is PEAK KATSUKI. He 100% went into that battle knowing it was most likely a suicide mission you CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE, he was completely focused on stalling for Deku because he finally realized he could accept Deku’s help and he didn’t have to do everything by himself. That’s also why he was so upset when he learned Deku lost OFA, because since he was a baby Deku has been the one thing consistent in his life, every major milestone Deku was there watching From The Sidelines (hehe), whether he liked it or not. Deku is his constant, and he kind of has trouble functioning without him. In short he really needs therapy.

also Katsuki never stopped being friends bc of Deku’s lack of a quirk, he stopped being friends because even though Deku was powerless he was still everything Katsuki wasn’t, a true genuine hero, and he took his help as mocking because that was the one thing he could never beat Deku in, or understand about him. That’s also why Katsuki has wet dreams about that god forsaken river scene because it literally changed his life

also he hated Deku at the river scene bc blah blah weakness he hates weakness blah blah Deku was the personification of Katsuki’s own weakness blah blah gay shit inferiority complexes

He LITERALLY needed to get closer to Deku to flourish because Deku is his weakness

And overcoming his “hatred” for Deku was him overcoming his self loathing and inferiority complex

Katsuki is also Deku’s weakness. Deku also really needs Katsuki. For most of his life Katsuki was the dream he could never have, complete power, confidence, and amazing. That is genuinely the only reason he sat watching From The Sidelines (im so funny i know) for so long, despite all the bullying and hurt Katsuki caused him. That’s also why it was really important for him to prove to Katsuki that he could for once hold his own against him in Deku vs Katsuki 1, it was like him coming out and saying “you have to acknowledge me now.” It’s also why Katsuki being taken by the LOV was just literally the worst for Deku, because Katsuki is also Deku’s constant. He’s been watching him for forever, and been in every major milestone in HIS life. Removing Katsuki from the equation is like having carpet pulled from under his feet, breaking all his bones in the fall, and being told to walk again. That’s also why he repeatedly looses control when it comes to Katsuki. First when Monoma insulted him, it was also like insulting Deku because that was someone he looked towards and followed and rooted for, and it was an insult to everything Katsuki stood for and because Deku is the ultimate hero he just couldn’t sit by and stand for that. When he lost control again at Katsuki’s death it was Deku seeing (again) everything he rooted for, strength and victory personified, literally dead. He also relies on Katsuki in the same way Katsuki relies on him, and having that taken away from him was like removing all his bones. Deku is the heart, the lungs, the brain, and Katsuki is the muscle, the bones, the cartilage. They help each other function

Katsuki is Deku’s drive to win, and Deku is Katsuki’s drive to save

Deku’s first true act of heroism was Katsuki

Katsuki’s first true act of heroism was Deku

please be gentle with me this is the first time i’m posting my thoughts like this

[rise-my-angel]

You are sooooo right about shippers not engaging with Jon as his own character. It’s especially weird for me (despite enjoying Jonerys in theory) to see Jonerys shippers doing this because like. They haven’t met. None of them are show!Jonerys fans for obvious reasons so it’s just the book versions of these characters and they have not met. Literally it’s all speculation about their dynamic. Despite being open to the ship under specific circumstances I don’t think it’s undeniably foreshadowed at all. Everything that gets called foreshadowing is tenuous. You can’t generally definitively call something foreshadowing until the events being purportedly foreshadowed actually come to pass, unless it’s truly really screaming in your face obvious but if it’s that obvious I’m not sure if it’s that good from a writing perspective. I think foreshadowing should only really be clear in retrospect. Shippers also are so selective in what they’ll acknowledge just do they can hold onto these moments. Like jonsas and the Slynt beheading. You’re so right that it is a JON moment. And shippers refuse to acknowledge that George say he was originally going to have Slynt HUNG, not beheaded, until someone pointed out that Jon would want to do it the northern way. Of everyone I think Jonrya shippers do the best at acknowledging Jon as his own character and I think it’s because there’s so much in the actually text demonstrating how much Jon and Arya care about each other. It’s not speculation unlike with Jonsa and Jonerys. It’s just that they read this and think it’s romance instead of sibling love. I can’t say I blame them because of the original outline, but it’s also a ship that is really really not for me because they were raised as siblings.

I actually sent you an ask months ago and forgot to check your response. I finally found it. I discussed how much upbringing influences how we know who our relatives are and that that’s why Jonerys doesn’t make me uncomfortable the way Jonrya and Jonsa do. I’m an evolutionary biologist so I fully understand why incest is avoided. However, I didn’t know how much we actually CAN detect our blood relatives without being raised to know who they are. I fully believed it was entirely upbringing, because upbringing is sufficient to establish someone as “relative” in our brains (ie adopted siblings recognize each other as siblings and are repulsed by the idea of mating despite not sharing blood). But I came to the false conclusion that because it was sufficient it’s the only mechanism. I did some looking into it and you’re right! There’s evidence that we can subconsciously smell our relatives based on MHC complexes—however this isn’t 100% reliable because sometimes our relatives will have differing MHC complexes and nonrelatives will have very similar ones just based on recombination and the gene pool of the population, but that’s why the upbringing factor exists as a supplement to innate biological factor. I appreciated being prompted to learn more!

However I’m not sure George would take this into consideration. Within the universe of the books, I think it’s perfectly feasible that they wouldn’t biologically recognize each other as relatives because there are many cases of non first degree incest (first degree being siblings and parents) being carried out without any disgust. However real life is obviously different I do not blame anyone at all for being opposed to a ship based on real life principles. There are lots of ships I oppose that would be fine in-universe based on my own real life principles.

Anyway I’ve said a lot here and sorry for all the words. I just really enjoy discussion and it’s hard to have any nuanced conversations in the fandom because of the issues we’ve mentioned here and I’m eager to find someone so willing to engage with people who have different opinions

You wrote me an essay, so I wrote you a novel in return. I am sorry in advance but I love rational and calm, respectful discussions and debate and you thus far have been a great sport for my word vomit.

This isn't directed at you personally, but more of a blanket statement in saying, it is just very odd and funny that in this specific fandom, I find myself having to be more knowledgeable about the harmful physical, genetic, and psychological impacts of incest, to explain why I am against it, then those who are for it. It is just very funny how much defending I do about not supporting incest ships, compared to any other fandom where any incest shippers live in the dark because they know it's weird and gross.

That being said, I'm addressing Jonrya first. Because, I have gone on record to say I personally think shipping that is very gross.

Show or Book, that is a dynamic where any romantic implications being attached to it are very uncomfortable. Arya is so deeply ingrained in his head as his baby sister that adding any romance to that makes Jon look incredibly predatory. Arya is still a very young child in the single digits in the books, and Jon is very clearly at the start of the show a man in his 20's.

I do not think claiming anything of the outline is any reasonable argument. It was in an outline which was scrapped for a reason. As a writer, I wouldn't want any of my initial outline ideas to be used as proof of canon. It isn't canon one way or the other and I do not accept it as fair use of evidence for a ship. Jons canon thoughts about her are textbook loving older brother. It feels predatory to make Jons thoughts of a very young, child Arya to be that of romantic. It makes him appear as if his closeness and kindness were all tinted in a different intent towards a child.

Arya in every adaptation, is too young. I will never support any evidence of that ship because it is the exact kind of predatory dynamic which Jonrya fans denounce in other ships involving older man/younger woman characters. I hate this idea of taking Jons point of view and deciding his affection is not brotherly, only when discussing his sisters. It takes away the validity of Jons character being a good big brother, because now his good brotherly nature only towards his sisters is rooted in predatory behaviour whether they realize it or not. This goes for Jonrya and Jonsa both.

Moving on, you did hit the nail on the head about the “proof” about Jon and Dany. Foreshadowing is not a common tool used whenever grrm writes anything. Foreshadowing is a very specific tool he uses to elaborate more on motifs and themes and over arching plots, rather then for every minute character dynamic. Jon and Dany have literally no evidence that a ship will exist. They are not even on the same continent and they are constantly shown to be at extreme moral opposites to one another.

There is no scrap of proof a relationship or even base attraction will ever exist. That is all pure fan theory with no in text evidence. Same with Jon and Sansa. Jon doesn't not think about Sansa because he loves her the most. That is not Jon Snow, we know that. He thinks constantly about the people he loves, and there is no evidence backing up he doesn't think of her often for love that is not also pure fan theory with no empirical evidence. Sansa had rarely ever thought about Jon and when she has more times then not, it was associated in a negative light. Her points of view about her bullying of Arya showcase that, as she insults and wishes to denounce Arya as someone she should care about in ways that connect her to Jon. Wishing Arya was a bastard like him because she doesn't want to call her a trueborn sister. Repeatedly noting Arya looks just like Jon and then exploring the times Sansa constantly thinks Arya is ugly. The only time she has any growth about this is when she is being talked down to when posing as Petyr Baelish's bastard daughter, and she doesn't like being treated that way, but it is not explored that Sansa has literally treated Jon worse then this her whole life. She has not yet even realized she engaged in the exact same kind of classist treatment that Catelyn treated him with.

So much of what Jonerys, Jonsa, and Jonrya shippers do, is look at Jon and discuss it in a way that supposedly symbolizes their ship. They do NOT analyze their female fave and associate how deeply it all ties to their ship. Jons story is always secretly about the ship, but the other female part of the ship is their own story who will only be about Jon when they get together. Jon is not the character they like, it is the girl. Jon is the love interest, the accessory to their story. Not a unique half all of his own.

As for the incest, because these people all function biologically the same as we do, other then when magic is inferred, it is reasonable to assume real life science is included. Grrm does not need to tell me about invisible pheromones or scent markers for me to apply that to the characters. It is indirectly supported by the sheer fact that most characters within the world of asoiaf do not engage in incest and do not support it. Meaning, 99% of the average population of asoiaf are not attracted to their family members what so ever. Meaning it is reasonable to assume the same biological factors are at play here.

But the thing about certain incest dynamics not being carried out with disgust doesn't really apply with Jon ships here. Jons three biggest ships are his little sisters, and his aunt. Two family relations that both physically and psychologically are the most harmful to engage in. The dynamics of incest shown to be the most psychologically harmful is sibling to sibling incest, parent to child incest, and aunt/uncle to nephew/neice incest. Those are such close familial ties with SO many shared biological markers that it is not reasonable at all to think not knowing each other at first would make that biological connection less important. I only met my aunt in my mid 20's and from that moment on she has been as much my aunt in my head as my mother is my mother. Once that knowlede of family is made, it will not be severed. If Jon is not inclinced already towards incest, he will never engage in it with that knowledge.

Dany is his aunt. Dany also, has very inbed genetics to a shocking degree, meaning the biological markers she shares with Jon would be so strong she basically would wreak of red flags. And learning they have such a close biological connection would instantly sever any possible ability in Jon to view her in any romantic or physical attraction sense. He was not raised like her. Jon does not now think incest is normal, and thus he never will.

Also, learning Dany is his aunt would make any physical or romantic dynamics extremely traumatizing for him. The second Jon learns the truth of his birth, Jon will realize that he is related to Dany in the exact way Jon spent his whole life thinking he was related to the woman who was his mother. Jon learning his aunt was actually his mother, would destroy any capability of a relationship with Dany.

That would utterly change every single way he views any character in a motherly or aunt manner. It would destroy that potential in an instant because now Dany is to Jon, what Jon previously thought his mother was to him. It would be traumatizing should a relationship already exist and it would sever any chance of a relationship forming if it hadn't existed already.

The reason the Targaryeans did the most incest and are almost extinct, is because their engaging in incest was not sustainable and it was harmful.

Shown by characters like Egg, who literally grew up his whole life trying to escape the incestual nature of his family. One of his brothers made threats about cutting off his manhood in terms of making a wife for himself. That is not a family who engages in incest beceause they think it is normal. This is a family raised to view their incest in terms of furthering a bloodline because they see themselves as superior to those they rule over. They do not think it is fine, they do it because they raise each other to think it is necessary to further their superior bloodline. And they paid the price. Targaryean women the more inbred they were struggled to give birth, struggled to carry pregnancies to term and often died on the birthing bed with alarming freqency for how short their dynasty lasted.

It is not sustainable and it is harmful. The main plot beat of the story was literally how so many people viewed the incestual relationship of a brother and sister to be an abomination, that wars were started to dethrone them and the population and faith turned against them for it. This is not a world where people think incest is fine, unless it is a learned behaviour their whole life.

People can ship it, it's fine. But despite how much he writes it, grrm time and time again has shown that those in asoiaf who engage in incest, pay a deep, harmful price for it. He writes it a lot, but writing a lot of it does not mean he thinks it is behavior which should be supported for his charcters. Otherwise those who engage in such close incest, would not constantly be punished for doing so.

I have to apply real world logic to being anti incest, because my excuse of “I think it's gross” has been deemed as hateful and unfair. So you can imagine it is frustrating to see my favourite character is primiarly shipped with either women with VERY close biological or familial ties to him, or his rapist.

So, yeah I love talking about Jon but so much of it is me defending why I have never been convinced of any pro incest arguments. It is a goofy situation to be in.

Those who followed me for my pedro pascal content are dying on the inside, I decided I loved Jon Snow and suddenly my blog keeps becoming a haven of debates around the morality of incest.

It is silly silly silly.

[danvillecheese]

why do u think act ur age is fucked

[cracks knuckles] alright. essay time. you asked for it.

I’ve done a similar response to this before here and mentioned something else about it here but I’ll go over it again since those posts are both from a while ago. also bear in mind I haven’t seen aya recently bc I don’t like it. okay let’s get into it

[also im gonna preface this saying maybe i sound very pessimistic but im ranting and its just gonna sound like im complaining because i am. i mean no real malice by the way. im simply a person with a blog.]

first off. they don’t use the show don’t tell as well as they could. in the what might have been montage, sure, they showed potential scenarios and how phineas felt (very briefly) when isa stopped visiting his backyard but it just feels so rushed. I get that they only had like 11 minutes to show it but idk there has to be another way to write it. or just not have it at all idk its just from a writing point of view the whole episode feels rushed and out of place from everything else continuity-wise. why not use little easter eggs planted in the show beforehand? operation crumbcake? pharmacists? meapless in seattle? god theres so many episodes with evidence that phineas liked her back even if he didnt know. just. continuity!!!!

second. why did their friends not try something sooner. it’s not like they didn’t know. like phineas seems to be okay with saying “i wish! i am so in the friend zone there” in front of his friends (that quote alone makes me lose my shit but that’s a whole other point) so clearly they knew about phineas. and isabella also wasn’t quiet about it (source: pnf s1-4). they had like four years of high school to do something and they planned it the day isa left for college? nah its just the least realistic thing ever for me. also them being 18 is like yeah okay maybe the slow burn was worth it and theyre way more grown up (i love a good slowburn) but ohhhhhh my god SURELY their friends were getting sick of them dancing around each other. just me?

third. and I’m sorry to ash simpson but oh my god I hate the character designs like They Would Not Fucking Look Like That. it almost feels like it completely disregards their arcs during the original summer. like yeah child chub disappears over ur teen years but sometimes it stays a little longer! make phineas less twiggy!! make isa look more like her mother! (am i about to redesign them again? whoops)

four. and i know this is no fault of dan and swampy but the show was about to end anyways and yet the entire friend group was paired off into hetero ships?? get fucking real. none of those kids are straight. realistically, i know it was a different time and gay marriage wasnt even legal in the us yet so it wasnt all that common to have queer romance on screen let alone on disney channel but like i said, the show was about to end. what were the disney channel execs gonna do? cancel it? lmao

five. "I am so in the friend zone there." "we are guys. we do not talk about our feelings." WHAT!!! i cant believe this shit is real. these lines of dialogue are canon. what the hell. what kind of message does that even send to younger, impressionable viewers? if ur a 10 year old boy watching that (ok fine maybe that isnt gonna stick with you forever but listen) and you go 'oh its okay to just bottle everything up and not tell my friends about my feelings about anything ever' that is insane! thats not how things should go!! like i get the whole "im so in the friend zone" and yes, this also has to do with the era but like if they wanted to be a more progressive cartoon that kids look up to and enjoy maybe they just. shouldn't have put that whole conversation in.

i barely have any problems with the b plot. in fact id watch the episode just for the kazoo solo. because that plot lines up with the continuity. i can totally see heinz having bowling night with perry and carl and monogram every week! i can totally see perry and monogram retired! and carl running owca and getting payed for it! that all checks out! that one makes sense and works with the canon! if they got that plot so right how did they get the a plot so wrong?

i can answer this question: fanservice. its an awful word, i know. act your age is a fanservicey episode which is why i think it crashed and burned. mml season 2 is rooted in the same issue: doof is very present and takes away from the original plot of the show. like, the one he wasnt even in until the last episode of s1. slightly getting off topic but it is the crux of the issue. fanservice doesnt make for good storytelling. even if it brings in the big bucks. at its core, telling the story the way it should be told is the best one. even if it pisses people off. a good portion of the viewers will still appreciate whatever ending the creators come up with. and no, im not saying phinbella shouldn't have become canon, in fact i really like the ship and all their dynamics, i just think they went about it the wrong way.

as someone who's written and published fic about them getting together in different universes (granted, they were from when i was younger so its mildly terrible. take them with a grain of salt) there are a lot of other ways to tell that story canonically. honestly, i think the best way of doing it was to keep it ambiguous. dont tell that story. let the viewers pick their own ending for phineas and isabella. maybe they dont get together after all. who knows!

thanks for the ask! hope you had fun getting lectured <3

[odiesdayoff]

Parent-Teacher Conference

pair: Burt Fabelman x fem!reader

summary: As Sammy’s teacher, you request a meeting with his parents. Maybe you get a bit too close to his recently-divorced father...

warnings: inappropriate relationship & age gap (all legal no worries); drunk kisses

im sorry steven spielberg for writing about your fictional father. ur fault for casting paul dano.

originally supposed to have smut but then i put off writing this for months.

this is not very proofread, i needed this out of my google doc

You were always glad to hear the final bell of the school day. All the students in your last-period class spilled out of the room and you were left with a silent room for the first time throughout the day. As much as you loved teaching and all of the students you had, there was something special about not having them around.

Just as your bag was packed and you nearly started to put your jacket on, you heard a knock coming from the doorway. A man stood in a brown suit with a white button-up shirt underneath. His hair was neat and only a strand fell in front of his face, right in front of his circular glasses. He looked familiar and you guessed that he was a parent of one of your students, which was highly unusual.

“You’re Miss L/n, right?” You nodded and his confused expression turned into one of satisfaction, “I’m Sam’s father. I believe you sent a note home wanting to talk?”

You waved him inside and gestured for him to pull up one of the student chairs to your desk, “I have to say, it’s unusual that I see a father come in for a meeting like this. Nice to show involvement in your child’s life.” He grinned in response, awkwardly sitting in the chair that was a little bit too small for him.

He folded his hands and rested them on the desk, “Well, my- she’s very busy right now.” You caught his smile falter for a moment before he returned to his cheery disposition.

“I’m glad you’re here. I just wanted to talk about Sam’s performance in class. For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed him becoming a bit distant during class. His performance on assignments hasn’t changed, he’s still quite the exceptional student,” You tried to search your desk for his latest essay, a creative writing piece that you were absolutely blown away with. It seemed to be under the pile of useless announcements and other things the administration had given you during the day.

You finally pulled the essay out and handed it to him, “He's about to start filling out college applications and I think that it would look better if he was in a higher-level class. I only teach A-track classes, but I spoke with the honors English teacher and she would be more than willing to accept him mid-year. It’s up to you to decide if that’s a good idea for him.”

He let out a sigh and a bit of a laugh, “I thought this would be a disciplinary meeting, so this is fantastic to hear.”

“Don’t worry, sir, he’s a wonderful kid. I just think he’d be happier with more stimulation, especially with all of those films he’s making,” You never actually saw one, but you certainly heard all about it from the students and faculty, “I usually let parents discuss this at home before making a decision, unless you’re on the same page as Mrs. Fabelman.”

He scratched the back of his head, “My wife, she’s, well, not really my wife anymore. Sam was the one that discovered everything first, actually. You see, she’s actually in love with my best friend and now my girls are in another state with them, and Sam’s with me.” The silence in the room was a bit deafening. You had no idea how to respond, “That’s primarily why I was so concerned with this meeting. He’s dealing with that whole situation and I just want him to be happy, you know?”

Hesitantly, you nodded. 

“Oh dear, what am I doing? You don’t want to hear any of this,” He wiped his face with his hand and stood up from the chair, making a screeching noise against the floor. 

You followed his movement, standing as well, “It’s okay! I was gonna leave after this, would you say yes if I offered to buy you a drink?”

~~

It wasn’t California’s nicest bar, but it gave a sort of homey feeling that you--and by association, Mr. Fabelman--needed right now. Not many people were here, given the fact that it was barely five in the afternoon. 

Sitting next to each other in a booth, he spoke about his life while you listened and nursed a long island iced tea. Other than a few antics from his wife--or ex-wife?--and children, it seemed highly normal, and if you were being a bit rude, mediocre. You could tell by the more personal he got about his life story, the more the alcohol was in the driver’s seat.

Once he asked about you, it seemed to have snapped you out of your listening mode. You took a sip of your drink, “There’s not much to say about my life, really. I had a pretty normal childhood, went to college, and now I’m working.”

He raised a brow, “What about romances? Surely, you’re married or at least dating someone!”

You could feel the heat rise to your cheeks before you shook your head, “It’s not really a priority for me. The last time I seriously dated someone was in college, but obviously, that didn’t work out.” 

“It’s hard to believe someone as beautiful as you is still single,” He stared into your eyes, almost in a daze, or perhaps, he was mesmerized by you. The alcohol was definitely in his system, but there was enough in yours as well to find it a bit endearing. He was a good-looking guy with a few family issues, not too much of a red flag. The age was a concern, though.

He kept his blank stare for a moment, then leaned in and pressed his lips against yours. You weren’t sure how to react, looking back at him with doe eyes once he pulled away. He shuttered, maybe out of embarrassment, and quickly began to stutter through an apology, “I don’t know what came over me, I-”

Without much thinking on your end, you grabbed his tie and pulled him in for a second kiss. You could taste the faded chapstick on his lips even once you separated. 

It was a sort of post-kiss clarity that suddenly hit you and the situation you were in finally was realized. Your eyes widened and your hand went to your forehead, pushing some of your hair from your face, “Oh my god. This is so unprofessional”

You quickly grabbed your bag and jacket before rushing out, despite Burt’s protests. You couldn’t believe it, kissing a student’s father deliberately. If anything gets out, your job is gone.

~~

“Once again talking about our short stories, I want to remind you all that there is a twenty-page limit and it is due on Friday. Write about anything you want,” You leaned against your desk while the students rolled their eyes and groaned over the big project of the semester. This was usually the case for anything you assigned, despite how fun you might've thought it was.

Before anyone could complain any more about the assignment, the bell rang. In mere seconds, your full room of students was empty. You sat on your desk and pushed some ungraded tests aside. That was a job for you tomorrow, or maybe tonight if you were bored. It’s not like you had much going on in your life.

A few birds flew past the window and for a moment, you longed to be one of them. Your concentration on them broke with a knock at the doorframe and the familiar Sam Fabelman standing next to the light switch. 

You gestured for him to come in and watched as he anxiously walked into the classroom and sat at the frontmost desk, “I’m moving classes on Monday. It’s official.” He had a faint smile, but it didn’t look necessarily happy. He was a boy that had naturally sad eyes, much like his father. They were much more noticeable now.

“You’re an exceptional student. As much as I love having you in class, you’re just too advanced for it. It’ll look great on your resume for schools.” You tried to reason with him. He sighed, fiddling with his fingers in his lap.

He looked down, “Can I still have lunch here?”

With a soft smile, you nodded and checked your watch, “Aren’t you going to miss the bus?”

He flinched for a moment, then realized the time as well. He sprang from his seat and rushed out of the classroom, waving a quick goodbye before disappearing completely. 

He was a good kid. You couldn’t help but admit that you were a bit sad not to have such a kind soul in your classroom every day. It certainly beat the cookie-cutter California kids that drowned the population of the school. 

You didn’t want to get attached to any students, knowing that they would leave after ten months and be replaced like clockwork. Hopefully, when he eventually gets famous for his little movies, he would remember you. Or thank you, if you wanted to be a bit delusional.

More papers were stacked in front of you, finally meticulously graded. The weekend was upon you. No more students and your clock was going to run out in just a few minutes. No longer contractually obligated to be in the building. Like Cinderella, but instead of midnight, it was 4 pm.

You locked your classroom door behind you and fixed your bag on your shoulder. As you turned, there he was, standing right in front of you. You jumped back and held your chest. 

Burt Fabelman in the flesh.

“Oh! Hello, Mr. Fabelman.” You caught your breath and regained your normal stance.

He smiled at the sight of you. “I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay with Sammy and his class transition,” He paused, “And between us.”

This wasn’t exactly what you wanted to deal with at the moment or deal with unprepared, but such is life. You looked at him with a soft smile, “Of course it is. Look, we’re not bound to a parent-teacher relationship now, so we can just call it water under the bridge.”

You nodded and began to continue your walk to your car, hoping that he wouldn’t follow. You weren’t exactly so lucky in that department.

He was hastily following you, now stuttering over his words and making whatever he might be trying to say incomprehensible. You could hear his footsteps over everything else. He caught up, “Would it be unprofessional to ask you out, for real this time, considering that we technically have no relationship with each other inside the school?”

You knew that this was coming and every cell in your body was screaming at you to decline his offer. You knew what that might entail if one nosy parent or student caught wind of your escapades and eventually traced your relationship with him to the parent-teacher meeting. However, he was attractive. And you would be lying if you said that you didn’t think about kissing him again or doing more.

“I…Yeah. I’d love to go out with you.”

[mittensmorgul]

Hello spn georg! I have a question requiring your deep knowledge. As much as I swooned over Carlos's holy water hair commercial, I was confused because I thought damage by holy water was just a demon thing in the spn universe. It burns vampires too?

Hello! I have to start this off by sobbing, because I had written out a VERY long and detailed response to this, lost track of time, had to run an errand with a split second notice, and left this open and unsaved. And then returned home to find my laptop had rebooted itself and ate the entire post. So. I have to recreate an hour's work that was VERY THOROUGH, and therefore this will never feel like a good enough answer to me... hopefully it'll suffice for you :'D

(honestly this is what i get for writing directly in tumblr. you'd think i would've learned this lesson by now, but nope... i'm back writing this response in tumblr too lololol... hopefully it goes better this time >.>)

I mentioned at the top of my original post that I had another anon venting about folks review-bombing the Winchesters ratings on imdb and other ratings sites, and agree with the anon that these are awful people with nothing better to do with their time, because THE SHOW HAS BEEN TELLING US FROM THE BEGINNING THAT IT WILL EXPLAIN WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IF WE JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY'RE READY TO REVEAL THAT IN THE NARRATIVE. They've been telling us they are dropping CLUES as to what the "trick" of this story is-- like how Dean is exploring the past, how directly this affects the canon of the original show, and what is actually happening-- and I see all of these head-scratchers like holy water suddenly affecting vampires as exactly those sorts of clues. Let me explain.

What did established canon have to say about vampires and holy water? NOTHING! ZIP! ZERO! Established canon has never mentioned holy water in conjunction with vampires in any context-- either as being effective at repelling or slowing them down, or as being useless against them. For all we know, Sam and Dean could've had another weapon in their anti-vamp arsenal all these years, and just never thought to give it a try. They had dead man's blood and beheading as their go to weapons, maybe they felt they didn't need anything else? Either way, they never even TRIED it.

So established canon never DISPROVED holy water as an effective vamp repellent. Introducing it in such a gloriously fabulous way now doesn't break anything.

Oh, and we've often learned that unexpected things are effective weapons against various monsters over the years... i mean, wood chippers trump everything, right? LOL!

And can we just pause for a moment to discuss that? Because this is the sort of thing fandom has been clamoring for more of in canon for years. There have been many posts over the years that are basically lists of Awesome Hunting Tools that canon never even considered, like filling hula hoops with salt to play demon ring toss with, stuff like that. Because that hair flip? Have I mentioned how much I love Carlos? Okay, now I have. I honestly don't care if it broke canon even a little if it gave us that scene :'D

BUT! Even if holy water always could've been an effective weapon against vampires in original canon, it's easy to handwave with "Sam and Dean couldn't have learned it from John because John was too busy being dead inside (LOL sorry not sorry) while Carlos was busy being amazing with that little trick outside." Maybe John just never even knew holy water would do anything.

And if none of that is enough to handwave it for you, I'll jump back to the top of this essay and vehemently point at what should be incredibly obvious based on everything we know about how this show is being constructed. WE ARE *SUPPOSED* TO NOTICE THE INCONSISTENCIES. THEY ARE THE CLUES AS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING.

There are SO MANY wtf head scratch moments for me in The Winchesters. So many things are are just ~ever so slightly off~ based on everything we know. And that's not even mentioning the Big Obvious WTF of John supposedly knowing all about hunting, the MoL, monsters-- all of it, that doesn't line up at all with what we have SEEN of John and Mary's life in original SPN canon.

I mean... Samuel has hair now? LOL!

There is SOMETHING going on that will hopefully provide an AHA! SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON! moment for us. There is a twist, a turn, a peek behind the big curtain that will show us what's been going on. WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT WILL HAPPEN IN EPISODE 13!

So saying at episode 9 that it's all crap and invalid because it doesn't line up with established facts is just... such a boring stance to me. Like, enjoy the mystery! Piece together the clues!

For my other anon again, I can see how it would be fun for folks who have no idea about original canon, who don't even know they're even looking at clues because they haven't memorized every last detail about original canon, you know? But for those of us who know enough to pause and scratch our heads over this stuff, golly isn't it fun wondering how it all fits together? Because I'm having fun with it. :D

But hopefully that at least covers your question about holy water and vampires.

even if I'd typed up a much better reply before tumblr ate it...

[lieutenant-amuel]

My humble takes on Gabe’s development.

So, my friend and I talked about Gabe some time ago, namely his development, since it being subtle has always been one of the hottest takes in the fandom. She pushed me to share some of my thoughts, and I couldn’t resist, sure thing, so catch a little analysis that is actually not little.

***

I’d like to start with his relationship with Elena, since this is the aspect where his development is the most noticeable and I already brought it up in some of my previous posts, like my thoughts on Gabe’s relationship with Elena and Naomi and I also made a gifset displaying their growth. But this time I strictly focus on Gabe.

In early season 1, we can see Gabe acting like “a tough macho” but the thing I want to point out is that he acts like that around Elena only (we can see him being formal with Francisco and Esteban in the early episodes and strategizing how to stop the lava in All Heated Up) because he wants to impress her (I’ll elaborate it below). However, it comes to nothing almost completely after Olaball where he opens up about his insecurities to her.

The take I’m truly stuck with is that Gabe is deeply concerned about his origins. It doesn’t make him think he’s worthless or useless, though, but he still strives to impress people (especially Elena, because she’s the crown princess and he’s just a baker boy) around him and prove that he’s capable of doing everything that other guards can.

Once he lets Elena see his true self, he doesn’t need to impress her anymore. She sees him as her friend (which she directly tells him) and it allows him to see her as someone beyond a crown princess as well.

Their relationship is super dynamic, and it does affect Gabe as a person.

Early season 1 - he’s cocky, overconfident, and overprotective because he sees Elena and himself in the princess and her guard pattern. He’s a knight, she’s a princess, therefore, he has to protect her.

Mid-late season 1/early season 2 (aka post-Olaball/pre-Shapeshifters) - he’s Elena’s friend. It makes him more flexible and cooperative, although his protectiveness doesn’t leave him which means this is simply one of his personality traits that gets more or less intense depending on the situation. Another interesting thing is that his guard self around Elena gets nearly erased. He’s not bothered by being bold towards her in The Princess Knight, he joins her in the friendship activities like going to the beach (unsuccessfully), playing olaball, and even calls himself her best friend.

Season 2 - Gabe gets promoted to captain. He gains a higher rank and more responsibilities which affects the way he sees Elena. He’s back to his guard mode but from a different perspective this time. He’s not a knight in the shining armor who needs to protect and impress a princess anymore - he’s an officer who holds a huge responsibility. He becomes more overbearing even when he’s out of duty since we see how he basically gives orders to his friends and sees their search for Shuriki as a military mission (The Scepter of Night). I think he chills out a bit in the second half of season 2, but it’s hard to say anything about it, specifically about his relationship with Elena, since he goes on a mission and barely interacts with her. But it also speaks about how much his new position changes him, he embraces it and understands what he has on his shoulders now (although I wouldn’t mind seeing how he gets used to being a captain but it’s a topic for another essay).

Season 3 - their relationship is balanced out, as is Gabe. Season 3 really is the best at showing how much Gabe and Elena grew at understanding each other, and Captain Mateo is the display of it. Gabe does get hurt by the Grand Council’s decision but he still agrees on it after he has a conversation with Elena. He understands that her decision has nothing to do with how she views him as her friend (and at this point we can imagine a late season 1 Gabe being much more offended by her decision) - this is how the crown princess is supposed to act. They both get more professional and learn to see the border between friendship and duty without erasing one of these components. It’s balanced out. Gabe understands when he should let Elena take a lead and doesn’t stand on her way, while he’s able to see when she actually needs his help, too.

Elena forms Gabe as a person, as does the relation between them (a princess and a guard), and in my opinion, this is really one of the core aspects of his development. Gabe wouldn’t be the person we know without Elena.

***

Back to Gabe’s inner self and origins. As I already mentioned, the reason he could be considered “cocky” in early season 1 is his wish to impress people around him. We see these insecurities pop up in The Curse of El Guapo when he interacts with other guards in the barracks (“if I make captain, it’ll be because I earned it”; “I don’t need a fancy sword to win the competition”), and an interesting thing is that he steps back each time Rico talks about Gabe’s family which is why I think he does care about his origins a lot and it hurts him when it’s used in a derogatory manner.

But in this episode it’s shown from a bit different perspective than from what we see in Olaball (where he tries to make his father proud), because Gabe has no reason to doubt his worth as a guard here. He’s friends with a crown princess, his dad accepted his choice, he’s among the guards who are chosen as the next captain. But all his achievements get erased only because he was born in a humble family (and because of Rico’a envy, to be honest), and this time his problems basically get solved by the same solution again: he talks to Elena.

Gabe’s conflicts come from his desire to be respected, and it got developed because of his relationship with Roberto, aka his father, aka one of the most important people in his life. Gabe couldn’t gain his approval, and it made him strive for other people’s respect or even admiration so he could feel satisfied. And it overlaps with his insecurities about his origins plus his disability to talk about his feelings with other people (although we don’t know what caused it, perhaps it’s Roberto’s influence again).

I think this is a pretty neat detail, since this is not as obvious as his relationship with Elena, yet I still wouldn’t say it comes from nowhere. We get to see Gabe as a round character in Olaball, and this episode does explain why he acts the way he acts in the first episodes plus it gets a bit deeper in The Curse of El Guapo.

***

Gabe’s development in season 3 is one of the things I talked quite a lot in the past, when the show was still going, but I’d still like to highlight it a little here as well.

Season 1 is mostly about Gabe’s growth as a person. We meet him in his roughest and by the end of this season, we have a clearer and deeper picture of him. Season 2 is about his guard self. He gets promoted to captain, and we see him growing in this area. And season 3 is about his relationship with magic. This is how I would characterize his role in each season.

Magic has always been foreign to Gabe which can be easily explained by the atmosphere of his childhood/adolescence when magic was forbidden. He doesn’t trust it at first and then simply doesn’t take it seriously, occasionally teasing Mateo. But what’s the most important: he can’t confront it which erases his skills in magical battles. He’s the first one (and basically the only one) who gets defeated in The Scepter of Night, he can’t fight Fiero in Song of the Sirenas, he becomes a magical snow storm victim in Snow Place Like Home, he ruins his own plan in Naomi Knows Best, and finally, he lets Delgados and Esteban escape.

Gabe never realized any of his failures until Doña Paloma directly pointed it out. It brings us back to the previous points I made in this post: Gabe wants to be respected. It is important for him to be respected by other people. But in Captain Mateo this wish is crashed down, he’s neglected, and it explains his rage at the Grand Council’s decision.

In Crash Course, Gabe gets a chance to make up for his mistake and it happens through learning magic. We all know how “stick to the plan” Gabe is, but despite this feature of his, I do find the way he acts in this episode valid. We basically see him at his lowest here, since Gabe is not good at talking about his feelings and he had to keep everything he told Mateo about to himself since Captain Mateo which is quite a long period of time. He doubted his worth as a captain and had to prove he deserved it via something he was terrible at.

Gabe learns magic because he understand that this is his main weakness and it prevents him from being the one he wants to be. But in Coronation Day, we see him combining his swordsmanship skills, something that determines who he really is, and magic, something that he had to grow on to complement his strengths.

His relationship with magic is also connected with his relationship with Mateo. He doesn’t trust magic, therefore doesn’t trust Mateo, a wizard, and it explains why Gabe treats him like that in Spellbound. He becomes friends with Mateo which makes his attitude towards magic either more playful and teasing-like or even admired. Generally, the way Gabe sees magic is usually linked to his mood around Mateo at the moment. Mateo broke the rudder? Ewww, magic is bad. Mateo shielded him and Naomi from Shuriki’s attack? Ooo, nice spell!

To conclude this part, I just want to say that through learning how to cooperate with Mateo and understand his strengths, Gabe also learnt the necessity to know magic. And the other way around. Through learning magic, Gabe learnt to appreciate Mateo and be patient with the differences between them.

***

Why did I even write this post? Yes, my friend inspired me to, as I already mentioned. But also, as somebody who has been a silent observer of the fandom for a very long time, I really often saw the takes I disagreed with but never debated with. I never considered Gabe’s development subtle (although at this point I just don’t know what development even is, perhaps) because I can clearly see how different season 1 and season 3 Gabes are.

One of the reasons Gabe became my favourite character is how much he grew on me. I didn’t like him in season 1 at all, but something turned upside down inside of me in season 2 and now he’s possibly my favourite fictional character of all time. It wouldn’t happen if he didn’t change.

Anyway, it got a bit personal at the end, so I’ll finish here! Thanks everyone for reading and feel free to share your thoughts!

[gumy-shark]

okayh okay HI you said you wanted to know about the freedom/passion dichotomy thing? ive got the graph and i am going to do my best to explain this to you despite me barely having a grasp of it on myself. THIS IS VERY LONG IM SORRY.

so the first thing you need to know is this just started as a way to split my ocs and help me make character arcs and motivations, and it became a little bit of a habit to categorize my favorite characters this way as well. its is in no means a perfect dichotomy, and im constantly looking for ways to refine it, but for now the best way ive found to illustrate it is this:

basically its which think they represent most... or what they value the most? idk its kind of a case-by-case basis and is dictated by Vibe. like I said THIS IS VERY FLAWED so bare with me pls

when i first started watching lmk i sorted all of the characters i knew into either category. this was within the first four/five days are watching so some of it might be.. off? but i think its still worth something as my first impression of the characters, and it'll probably help illustrate what i mean

Wukong -> Freedom Macaque -> Passion Wukong and Macaque have this thing where one has too much freedom and is learning to temper that with passion (wukong) and the other has too MUCH emotion and is trying everything he can to gain true freedom (macaque) (this is true even when he isn't under LBD's control but is esp prevalent then). they each value the opposite thing they stand for and are trying to be more like the other, without even realizing it. MK -> Freedom Dont get me wrong! He very much has passion! He holds a lot of emotion in that body! but a lot of that passion is the passion for freedom. he just wants to be able to be himself and hang out with his friends, he doesn't do well with all this responsibility :C Mei -> Passion Does this need defending? High sense of duty (mainly towards her ancestors and her friends), and so incredibly passionate. and impulsive. She spits fire when angry! Nothing more to be said honestly. Red Son -> Passion Is a really good parallel to Mei, has too much passion to fit in his body. [In the original notes, I noted that he was 'scared of true freedom, but doesn't know that yet. I'm pretty sure this references his relationship to his parents? Smth smth he's too scared of making them angry so he doesn't explore who he is outside of his relation and loyalty to them?] Pigsy -> Passion this man doesn't need freedom when he as his passion for food. what does he need to be free from? he has everything he wants HEART EMOJI! Tang -> ...Its complicated The thing with tang is that he kind of gets like a character arc with like. Responsibility and his care for his friends? He goes from low passion/high freedom to low freedom/high passion over the course of the show. please note that i am insane about him and if i really wanted i could write a whole essay about him. Sandy -> ??? ONCE AGAIN ITS WEIRD. I WISH THE SHOW FOCUSED MORE ON HIS CHARACTER AND BACKSTORY BC I CANT GET A READ ON HIM.

okay thats the main cast, and HERES THE ALIGNMENT CHART ACCORDING TO THAT. WITH OTHERS AS WELL.

theres not a lot of people without any value of freedom and passion at the same time so the grey area is pretty empty LMAO.

ANYWAYS. I BROUGHT THIS UP TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE OF THE CHARACTERS WITH EYE SCARS TRIFECTA!!! Basically i see them all of how i described macaque earlier. He's trapped in a situation that he doesn't want to be in, whether it be LBD's control or his situation wiht wukong or his own creepy and standoffish persona/his trust issues making it hard to make real connections with others.

(in contrast wukong loves doing his own thing and just Hanging Out and never stopping his own momentum, but he also has trouble caring about... a lot of things actually. he's just soo easygoing! responsibility harshes his vibe!)

But anyways, macaque's problems are very similar to quackity and tempest's, i feel. Quackity constantly feels trapped by physical threats like techno or dream, and also his own circumstances and trauma (a lot of it from schlatt and manburg). a lot of his actions are him trying to reclaim the freedom he used to feel when he was younger. tempest felt she couldn't be truly herself without her horn, but in trying to get it she got herself in a really bad situation where any wrong move could get her killed.

The passion part comes in play in different ways for them all. Quackity tried not to care about people for a while, but still can never stop being extremely loyal and protective of his friends. Tempest had lots of rage inside her and was so intensely driven to get to her goal. And Macaque canNOT stop obsessing over wukong honestly. All three of them are very passionate, and all three of them are constantly trying to gain more freedom.

This is a super long ask, but thank you for inviting me to ramble about this lmao. I think everyone represents freedom or passion in their own way, and this dichotomy really only matters for characters BUT I THINK ITS FUN. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK!!!!!

i had a whole Thing written out and i was so proud of it and then my phone decided to delete it before i could post and not save as draft. but yeah im putting this chart in the microwave and then eating it and then putting it in the fridge so i can keep it overnight and microwave and eat it again. this is so fucking Good. in their attempts for freedom macaque cquack and tempest all disown the people they were when they Were free, bc they want to be unbound entirely, but they Feel too deeply for that to ever be a possibility for them. so they do the next best thing and try to pass those "lessons" they've learned on to others OUGH it makes me sick!!!

[cutebutalsostabby]

Voice Referendum P2

Some very weird anon just sent me a very weird anonymous essay about my post on the Voice referendum (link). I'm not going to give the essay itself any airtime, but I am happy to share some extra info for education purposes.

Terminology

The term "settler" refers to anyone non-Indigenous, regardless of ethnic background. Sometimes it is useful to be more specific, e.g. white, Asian, African and so on, but the Voice was a proposal created for the sake of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aka Indigenous, First Nations or Blak), therefore settler is a useful term to describe the non-Indigenous population - who were, unfortunately, invited to have an opinion on this matter.

The above is not to say that whiteness is totally irrelevant here: while I couldn't find any data on how different racial demographics voted, the survey conducted by Octopus Group and Accent Research (link) shows a telling correlation between those that voted No in the referendum and those that believed (falsely) that white people face more discrimination than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

I also note ABC's analysis (link) that those living in inner city locations were more likely to vote yes than those in rural areas. There are a few ways you could interpret that; one of them is that inner city areas tend to be more multicultural.

Do White People Experience More Discrimination than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People?

No.

Given the above graph, it's not hard to interpret how the anon that messaged me about "shitting on white people" voted, but it's really not hard to fact check this claim: even beyond the catastrophic breaches of human rights during the original invasion of so-called Australia - from murder to disease to destruction of land and property to forced evacuation to the death of several Indigenous languages - the effects of genocide continue today. Indigenous people are about 15 times more likely to be in prison and have a roughly 10-year lower life-expectancy than non-Indigenous people (source). Even before the Voice "debate" arrived, The Guardian reported that discrimination against Indigenous Australians had risen rapidly in 2021 (link). It only really takes a few minutes of independent research for any claims that the Voice would provide "special privilege" to fall apart.

I'm Queer and Have Racial Opinions, Hear Me Roar

Queer settlers are still settlers. Queer white people are still white. Specifically in regards to this part of the message I received:

im a queer woman in a relationship that is not heteronormative and i agree with almost everything the left wing says. i just think

I don't think this lovely lady did think so I'mma cut her off right there. Thanks for your very exciting opinion :) please dispose of it responsibly.

...So Now What?

Well, the vote has already happened, and unfortunately it was a No. Honestly, I'm a bit confused about receiving this ask now? Ah well.

As I said in my last post, I don't think settlers should have been voting on this in the first place, but since we were, I believe it was our duty to vote Yes. All past opinion polls showed that as the majority Indigenous opinion. I do respect that some Indigenous people voted No themselves, whether due to Jacinta Price's perspective on the "Voice of Division" or Lidia Thorpe's as representative for the Blak Sovereign Movement. Indigenous people are not a monolith, nor should they be expected to behave that way. In the case of settlers voting No however: I don't believe there is a good excuse for this. I think it was a racist result. I'm not overly surprised, but I am disappointed. Even so, the Voice was never going to be the end of it.

A few years ago, I made a commitment that at least 1% of my income would go towards paying the rent to Indigenous people (further info here). I've kept this commitment and would encourage others with an income to do the same. I've also written to my local MP to remind him of the unactioned recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as well as the Bringing them Home Report.

I'd really encourage all settlers, in Australia or elsewhere, to find some way to get involved. Let's make use of our privilege and make the world a better and more equal place for all.

Thanks for reading.