#nor is he amused

[wolfsbanesparks]

Trick or treat!!!! 🍬🎃

Divine twitch chat where Marvel is arguing with the sky (Zeus) and Zeus keeps trying to strike him with lightning (it won’t hurt Billy so whatever)?

Happy Halloween 🎃

Love this!

Thunder rumbled in the sky, shaking the very earth beneath his feet. Lightning flashed nearby, not close enough to strike. Not yet.

"No," Marvel said sternly. "I'm not doing that. I don't care how mad you are, I will not sacrifice a bull to you."

Lighting crashed down again, making Marvel jump back to avoid being hit.

"Are you serious? Stop being so childish!"

More lightning he was just barely able to dodge. The message was clear.

"I can't just 'figure it out', I'm broke! Not to mention I don't want to kill a bull! And you can't make me!"

The next flash of lightning hit him directly in the chest instantly turning him into a fuming twelve year old.

"Oh really mature Zeus," he huffed at the sky, his face twisted into a scowl. "Where would I even get a bull anyway?"

[pineappical]

will and ted's excellent adventure (at six flags)

[jad3dbun26]

Not the Stylist shaving Arms Dealer's hair off (she messed up trying to trim his hair)

[motleyfam]

I get so many comments on my Tim series like “omg it’s so hilarious/unrealistic that he gets sick this often, take that boy to a doctor 🤣” and like, I get it, it seems like a lot if you read the series straight through. And part of it is simply because I enjoy writing hurt/comfort fics, so of course that’s what I’m going to gravitate towards. Gotta spark that joy, etc etc

….but like, you guys do realize that people who have medical issues tend to get more medical issues, right? It’s not like “oh he had three things wrong with him already so he’s hit his quota now and anything on top of that is absurd.” It’s more like… this is someone with overall subpar health from a history of chronic neglect, so yeah, he’s probably going to be more susceptible to illness than most people 🤷‍♀️

[itspileofgoodthings]

okay but once AGAIN: the Bennet sisters are not actually a united front, nor do they share a close bond. It’s shocking how divided and splintered they are (symptom of the house they grew up in.)

[good--merits-accumulated]

truly truly Neil Charlie Todd triumvirate is king please share any thoughts you have on them

OH BOY ANON YOU HAVE OPENED A CAN OF WORMS.

I. OPENING THESIS?

Basically, here’s my abstract for this whole thing:

(Les Misérables, trans. Isabel F. Hapgood)

And having put this down, I’ll ask you to overlook it, lol. Or treat it as a very loose guide! (If you haven’t any idea what the context of this refers to, here’s a quick rundown: a chief is a leader and someone who people rally behind. A guide is an enthusiast about all things and an advocate for progress, someone who checks the rampant idealism of the chief. The centre is warm, loyal, and acts almost as a mini-Sun for the chief and guide to orbit around, to stop them shooting off on their own wild trajectories.) In the interest of complete transparency, reading Les Mis at a young age had this irreparable effect on me where I now have to think of every triumvirate as a chief/guide/centre dynamic, but I don’t think this model applies 1:1 towards Neil/Charlie/Todd. Instead, I think of them a little as composites, interplaying with each other – Charlie as a guide who would much rather be a chief, Neil as a chief who works better as a guide, and Todd as a centre who’s never given the grace to grow into that role. Let’s go!

II. CHARLIE AS THE CHIEF-GUIDE

Charlie is like if rowdiness was a Guy. He’s big, he’s brash, he’s the instigator and he’s the captain and he’s the shameless one and he’s a side character! I have always found this very interesting whenever I watch DPS; despite Charlie’s main character-ness he is secondary, and doesn’t even get his own sideplot in the same way that Knox (for example) does. He’s a born leader who by virtue of the trappings of his story is relegated to supporting others, although you can so, so clearly see him fighting for space in the story. He gets pushed into being a guide almost by default; only the trait of enthusiasm really applies here. If Neil wasn’t there he’d be the leader of their group, no question. And the thing about Charlie is that he gets things done. He’s the one pushing the most for the re-creation of the Dead Poets Society after Neil, he’s caustic about things that are in his way (“Well, why don’t you stay home?”), people follow him! See Knox running after him, asking to be taught:

Charlie is the man of action – the telephone stunt is the biggest incident of that. And the way the boys gather around him afterwards as he regales them is chief-like; here he is acting as the chief, because this is around the same time that Neil’s chief role starts to slip away from him. But more of that later. 

The big thing is that Charlie never gets to really assume that role of chief, because Neil is always there. I talked earlier about how he pushes for the re-creation of the Society; well, Neil is the one who finds Keating’s old annual and reads it aloud to them. Charlie is the one cutting down the guys’ concerns about sneaking out after school: Neil is the one who suggests it – more than suggests it! Almost commands it, in a way that leaves little room for debate:

(Note that in this section, it’s Charlie who does the arguing for Neil, who doesn’t speak except to lay down the law and then ask who’s coming. Real king and knight energy.) 

Charlie never quite manages to edge into centre stage. You can sort of see how there might be resentment there – perhaps there would have been if they had gone on uninterrupted. But then of course Neil dies, and Charlie assumes the chief role by default, but it’s no longer glorious or something he can covet. But he does it anyway; he wakes up Todd, he breaks the news to him, very, very gently, he wipes Todd’s mouth with snow when he vomits and tells the others to leave him alone. But by this point, Charlie going into the chief role he’s so good at isn’t enough to stop the splintering of their group or his own expulsion.  

III. NEIL AS THE GUIDE-CHIEF

Part of Neil’s tragedy is that he would be good at the things his father wants him to do! He’s a wonderful all-rounder, he's the perfect all-American specimen, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have been a great doctor – except he wouldn’t, because the enthusiasm and the motivation would have been lacking entirely. (As someone who just did a shit ton of medical school interviews, yeah, they would have sniffed this guy out really fast. Or maybe they wouldn't… not sure how stringent they were in the ‘50s.) He would have been technically great. But being able to do something doesn’t mean you should; these are the things that Mr. Perry conflates and which Neil is never able to verbalise to him, except in a way in which he thinks he’ll understand:

In this scene, when he talks to him post-performance it’s not “I enjoyed it”, but a very simple, “I was really good”. And despite this concession of terms he says it when his father can't hear, because he knows he would never relent, oh God.

Actually, a lot of what I wanted to say about Neil has already been said in Charlie’s section. (The summary is basically that you must imagine me offstage with a megaphone as the movie plays, yelling, “YOU TWO NEED TO SWITCH PLACES, FUCKOS”.) Neil is a good leader, but that doesn’t mean he likes being one, or that he should be one! He has a few characteristics of a guide – he’s enthusiastic about everything, he has this boundless kind of delight in the things he loves (not idealism; that’s slightly different). But this is honestly where the model falls apart. I don’t think that Neil would make a great guide either, logic not being his forte; the irony is that the role of the triumvirate he most fits IS the chief, it’s just that that’s what kills him. The responsibility that comes with being someone who “speaks and people listen” isn’t good for him – this dichotomy of having “control” over the friendship group/no control over his personal life is terrible. He does get to lose the chief role, but it’s not in a way that is good for him; instead this manifests in a loss of control that happens very very quickly, which just makes him reach for ways in which he can control his own life. And besides, stepping outside of a leadership role with a great deal of responsibility and losing control over the course of your own life are two very different things. I just think that he should get to go offstage for a little bit and rest, with zero expectations on him ever. (Also there’s something here about how he gets to play Puck – a side character who has major effects on the story but doesn’t have to actually put his skin in the game. This is what I think Neil should get to do In Real Life.)  

IV. TODD AS THE PROTO-CENTRE 

One thing about Todd is that in my mind, I always imagine him as much redder than he actually is in the movie. I don’t mean I imagine him to blush more often – I mean ruddier, more flushed. Going back to the Les Mis quote – in my mind he does “possess all the qualities of a centre, roundness and radiance”! Todd is a catalyst like Keating in a way that Keating isn’t; this is never explicit at all but he has always felt to me like someone who inspires others by their presence. He’s such a wonderful, calming, grounding influence. Even when he talks to Neil and they have that non-argument he tempers Neil and reminds him what’s at stake without looking down on him. And when he realises how serious he is, he goes with it and supports him to the best of his ability – he says “Oh, Neil, Neil, you’re crazy” but it’s fond, he’s overjoyed for him. And you can see similar behaviour perhaps to a lesser extent with Charlie in the way particularly he calls him Nuwanda after his request, which is taken as ridiculous by other characters: 

And even after Neil’s death he does so, refusing to go back to normal:

But the reason I’ve put “proto-” for a prefix is because these are all singular occasions. The thing is that I think Todd could be that brilliant, grounding, assured man, a lighthouse of a man, almost. But he isn’t – he clearly isn’t – at the beginning of the movie he is shy and diffident and the non-argument I mentioned early does go a little sour, because while he speaks from a place of concern and love, his anxiety manifests in the conversation and makes him a little less tactful than he might have been otherwise. If things had gone on better than they went, and if Todd had been allowed to grow and develop more and without worry, he really, really would have blossomed into this kind of centre, this very steady man who would have reminded Neil of the consequences of his actions and made Charlie care about the consequences of his. But he doesn’t get to do that – by the time he grows and becomes more confident it’s too late, the worst has already happened. 

V. SUMMARY

I’m so sorry, anon, this is a prodigious answer to what was a very simple ask, but you hit on the subject I have Very Strong Feelings About. Not to toot my own fanfic horn, but there’s an excerpt from the fair folk AU which I think sums this up pretty well:

TL;DR: Charlie gets pushed into a secondary position which doesn’t suit him; Neil gets pushed into a leadership position which suits him, but he hates; Todd is willing to step into that secondary position as a behind-the-scenes supporter, but never actually gets that opportunity. Hence the tragedy. Hence the taking of lives. Hence how many fucking tears I have shed over this movie, Jesus. 

(I had a lot of fun writing this – thank you for giving me a reason to!)

[sygiandepths]

Thinking about the guy who was begging me for objectified early access links, called me the r slur then proceeded to beg for it still

[minecraftian1213]

he cloak too big for he gotdamn padawan

[andersdotters]

Zhongli and pda don't belong in the same sentence.

[oxidaisy]

Only my finest pieces for the staffroom wall

[wyverwithy]

i'm so fuckign ill thinking abt eli and raph interacting nobdoy touch me,,

[gofancyninjaworld]

Any heros you’d like to see more of?

How much time you got? Well, let me make it short, but top of a very long list is the new old man of Class S, Atomic Samurai. Don't remind him of his age, he'll be cross.

Sadly, his friends being cut in half (if they were lucky) did not solve their problems, and with the burdens of both grief and being the de facto face of the Swordmaster's Guild, I want to see how he's coping. And Bang's also left; he'll feel that loss keenly.

After Atomic and his disciples, see Class A? I WANT TO MEET ALL OF THEM. Also, I want more of the ones we've already met. It's so cruel that they're kept away from us.

[nonbinary-octopus]

listening to an audiobook of a book I'd loved as a kid, and... it's way more racist than I remembered. In a couple different ways... stuff I hadn't noticed before, the way the author (who is the reader) does the voices, and... it's a different edition, which I first noticed by the fact that a few measurements were in centimeters rather than inches, and a character’s name is different. But as I continued, there's a bunch of sentences scattered through the book which just weren't there in the version I've read before. (and one line which I was used to that this edition lacks.) And a lot of these additional sentences... make the book more racist.

I have to wonder, was this the work of a localizer? In addition to changing the measurements to be more easily understood by an american reader, did they purposely trim off or modify racist lines?

I'm not sure I'm going to finish listening, honestly

[longagoitwastuesday]

The Toshiro Mifune version of Cyrano de Bergerac was such a pleasant surprise. I loved how they did Cyrano's friendship with Christian, and how they enhanced Roxane's love for poetry and the fact that she writes back and replies during the balcony scene

[formashimataichi]

sorry i know i post like never here anymore (law school. have not picked up a manga in a gazillion years bc my brain is fried) but it’s still so fascinating to like assess the landscape of chyfr fans in the aftermath of the series and realize you don’t fit in anywhere like omg

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I was reading King Tut's Tumb from Batman Confidencial and I was fully expecting Eddie to blame the museum security for being so weak or dumb that they basically let he steal things and therefore forced the museum to have to refuse exibitions for fear that Riddler specifically would steal them but NO baby girl went beyond!

His excuse was "I may have robbed the museum two or three times maybe more but there was that ONE case last autumm that was TOTALLY NOT ME, I was super framed there. So like is it even my fault really?"