#not sure context saves it tbh

[florshedworf]

okay hear me out but father gregor wasn’t like. this chad father figure. like absolute props to him for actually looking after these children like dear god they needed supervision. however. at the same time also giving them dubious advice. like. trying to give certain foods a moral code (candy is a gateway to gluttony etc etc.) and making them feel like they needed to better themselves. and in conclusion WHAT THE FUCK ARE MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS RAUGGHHHH 💥💥⁉️‼️💥‼️💥⁉️💥💥

[the-best-bagel]

akio wants to be siegfried princesstutu so bad

[edwinisms]

op this is how you make a lich. what have you done

This may be too supernatural for an actually pretty down to earth show that is dbda (when it comes to magic, abilities and power scaling), but I'd have a blast seeing the plot point of Edwin's soul's capability to be used for obtaining magical power make a comeback

What would be even cooler is if it was Edwin himself who became interested in using that power

I can see him researching what devices can be used for it, do they have to always inflict pain on him to work and if yes, then how far is he willing to go in order to get it

He'd never use it for any malicious purposes or to just possess power for power's sake, he'd use it in extremely dire situations, when he really needs a certain spell to be amplified in order to rescue Charles from danger

Which brings me to the obvious angst potential of Edwin hiding the pain, lying about the source of the amazing power and then ofc Charles finding out and oh

(It'd introduce more magic and actual combat power for the boys - which is actually the opposite of what the show is about, I know, aside from a wild use of Crystal's vast abilities, they really make a good job at showing that the boys were just normal humans (and now ghosts) who predominantly use their wits and knowledge gathered throughout the many years of being on Earth, so I wouldn't even expect them to go this direction (if they actually mention Edwin's soul's power ever again), but it's just a very fun concept to me)

[galaxymagitech]

…Bruce. You brainwashed him. Your abused son placating you does not mean you made amends.

Also… “The worst of it now. Having to explain my actions.” Do you have any idea how you sound right now Bruce? Well? Do you?!?

As it turns out, Bruce doesn’t even end up explaining his actions. Instead, he shoots his son in the face.

Yeah, I’m not kidding. The man who has trauma about his family being shot proceeds to…shoot his family. And honestly, “I did it to shatter his helmet to make sure he’s not Clayface” is a really terrible excuse. Keep in mind that this occurs during an argument over Bruce saving the Joker yet again.

Anyway. Wanna play spot the difference?

Yeah, the stuff Bruce was saying in RHatO 25 was worse, but the context of Batman 159 is worse. And the fact that Bruce shot Jason in the face. Even with the helmet it’s a true wtf moment.

I don’t know why Jason went “evil” this time but tbh even if it’s not a trick or some secret plan (which it very well could be) I’m kinda with Jason here.

[melshifting]

HYPER-SPECIFIC HABITS/QUIRKS TO SCRIPT !! ꔫა

01 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You twist your ring—or whatever’s on your finger—clockwise when you’re excited and counter-clockwise when you’re nervous.

02 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You smile every time your phone battery hits exactly 69%. Doesn’t matter the context. That number’s got a chokehold on you.

03 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You have a special way of tying your shoelaces that makes people comment on it every time.

04 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You always turn the volume to an even number. Or a multiple of 5/any other number.

05 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You always fold your hoodie or jacket before sitting down at a café, so it becomes a soft little cushion on your chair.

06 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You instinctively lean into the person next to you when laughing, even if you haven’t known them long.

07 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You say “bye”/“hi” twice on the phone.; once regularly, and then again softer like a whisper.

08 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You lightly knock on wood or metal after saying something risky/cringy, even if you're just alone with your thoughts.

09 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You always eat the broken chips first, like you’re saving the perfect ones for a moment of glory.

10 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You give objects pep talks before using them: “don’t crash now,” “come on pen, one more sentence.” It’s pretty effective tbh.

11 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You always add exactly three shakes of sauce/spice/other to your food. Not two. Not four. Just three.

12 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You won’t drink from mugs that are too thin or have weird handles.

13 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You always check the fridge one last time before leaving, just to make sure it knows you’re coming back.

14 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ― You crack your knuckles in a very specific order—thumbs, then index, then the rest. Feels wrong if it’s out of sequence.

[venbetta]

Art dump from the God AU (working title idk) that my friends and I were doing,,,

Limbo did a God Freddy design as well, so I featured bits of their take on him to mine,,

Hes so prettyyyy.....

And then I designed Nightmare (who I never really draw). Hes the God of the Dead

Him and Freddy are an odd duo.

Another drawing...

Lore/Drawing ft. blood below the cut

So we were all just throwing ideas around and came up with some lore.

Glam Freddy is the God of mercy and rebirth. He's the son of Fredurian (Fnaf 1 Freddy), who's the King of the God's. Uh.. Freddy is like 10ft tall, his father is 14ft. Crazy I know.

Freddy is the most patient God you could ever stumble upon. He's the God that people go to seek spiritual rebirth and for expecting parents to pray for good fortune. He's merciful in many ways. @remicon was the one to tell us that daffodils represent rebirth, so those are the flowers you'll see around his sacred temples, and he wears them as accessories. They also pointed out that mercy killing is another aspect of Freddy that's taken into account...

The context for this is oc x canon based (tbh this whole AU was made so we could get freaky with the SB characters as Gods... okay?)

Ven is a nymph companion that Freddy befriends, and he discovers that she's one of the many nymphs that end up missing. He finds that an infamous cult was about to sacrifice her, and he ends up losing his wits and destroying everyone involved in the midst of saving her. It's very fucked, seeing as he's a God, whose known for his acts of mercy. However, he got pissed enough to kill people so... yeah (...kinda hot ngl).

He takes Ven, and that's kinda their whole thing at the moment.

We're having fun throwing our ocs in and mixing them around with the others.

So far, the other Gods we've come up with are:

Glam Chica, Goddess of the Sea

Monty, God of Wrath

Roxanne, Goddess of Egotism and the Hunt

Glam Bonnie, God of Music and Mischief

Nightmare, God of the Dead

Charlotte (the puppet), Goddess of Death

We're still workshopping stuff, but again, it's just all fun stuff... been having fun doodling stuff. We've loosely based it from Greek mythology. Not sure if they'll post their drawings/sketches but yeah :>

That's it

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Not quite a question, but tbh I'm really frustrated that there will probably never been any canonical confirmation of eruri. I'm convinced there was smth between these two characters. And it's sad many ppl refuse to acknowledge the unique bond Erwin and Levi had, and refusing to acknowledge the romantic potential it had too.

So I’ve had a lot of asks like this over the years, and to be honest I’m always a bit bemused by them. Because, honestly, within the context of the story, what would “canon confirmation of eruri” look like, over and above what we’ve already seen? SnK is not a romance by any stretch of the imagination, although love is at the very heart of the story. This is a hill I will die on. However the way that love is expressed between characters is subtle.  It’s not all flowers and hearts and seagulls bluebirds, it’s more devotion and loyalty and sacrifice. And even when that love is made absolutely unambiguously explicit, as in the case of Eren and Mikasa, there are still those who refuse to recognise it for what it is and write it off as being “one sided” or whatever.  It really makes me wonder about some people’s expectations and experience of what love really is. 

So in the case of Erwin and Levi, what would canon confirmation look like?  They aren’t a pair of giddy hormonal teenagers, or star crossed lovers, they’re two 30+ year old war-weary veterans, who have lived lives full of trauma, violence, and loss.  We were never going to see hearts* and flowers**, and marriage proposals. And have you seen the way Yams draws kissing?? Thank the gods we were saved that. 

Instead we have a believable adult relationship, based on mutual trust, respect and understanding, which has grown and matured over the years. The foundation of Erwin and Levi’s  relationship is unshakable loyalty and trust, and when push comes to shove, the willingness to do everything in their power to help and support each other, even if that means making the ultimate sacrifice and letting each other go.   If that’s not the very definition of love, I don’t know what is. I’ve written reams about this over the years, which you can find in my Eruri relationship tag if you’re interested. 

I’ve said this before, but romance is rarely the most important or interesting aspect of committed, adult relationships.  However, when it comes to Erwin and Levi we do actually see lots of small, simple romantic gestures; quiet moments together, sharing meals, and clothes, gifts of small luxuries, private jokes and playful ribbing. 

I reblogged a lovely post about “true love” by @stellaluna33 recently and I’m going to share it again here because I think it bears repeating. 

In the older songs, "true love" is not some mystical quality, some type of connection that is magically better than other Loves. No. A love that is "true" merely means that your Love is "true TO YOU." "True" as in faithful and loyal and trustworthy. A lover who will stand by you and with you no matter what comes. True the way a good sword is True. True the way a good knight is loyal. The contrast is "False Love," which is a lover who betrays you, who cannot be trusted. "True Love" isn't something you find, it's a vow and a choice that you make, every day, to BE TRUE.

If people can’t see Erwin and Levi’s relationship for what it is, then I'm not sure I can convince them otherwise. That's their opinion and they're quite entitled to it. I just hope they are able to broaden their understanding of love one day. 

* I may have lied about the hearts…

** And flowers…

[stackslip]

i mean to be fair to manga/brotherhood edward elric, he is a completely different character than his 03 counterpart. his function is first and foremost to be a fun, exciting shounen protagonist who vaguely breaks some of the trope's mold by being openly abrasive and selfish and physically weaker than many 90s/early 2000s shounen protags were. and he fulfills that role pretty well within the context of the story, he's genuinely very entertaining and fun and Relatable for a teen audience chafing against authority and adults looking down on you. so im never gonna say mangahood ed elric is like, a bad character when his concept is perfectly executed. im gonna be critical of say, several plot points about him (like the xerxes thing) or how he treats scar and ishbal (my problem here being less him and more that the narrative entirely validates his point of virw around the subject), but i cant deny that in reading fma he is a very endearing and fun protag to follow, and that's his primary function so.... yknow. that's fine.

in opposition, 03 ed elric is.... not meant to be nearly as relatable or fun, and the narrative is also a lot more critical of his actions, which i think is part of why to a lot of og fma fans he feels *off* and uncomfortable. he's not meant to be a funny audience stand-in or representative of teenagers saving the day despite abrasive shitty adults. if anything, his age and inexperience and trauma lead to him making mistakes, chasing the wrong leads, playing right into the hands of people much older and powerful and him lashing out or lying to himself to protect himself and alphonse. 03's slower pace and lack of budget also means that ed rarely gets to be a cool action hero and be super strong in battles. it's not nearly as triumphant or empowering, it's uncomfortable to see him be much more openly, humanly flawed, and to suffer and take away the wrong lessons from this suffering. it's also purposefully uncomfortable to see so many actions that mangahood treats glibly or shy away from ed's responsibility in awful things, being instead brought to the forefront in agonizing detail and for ed to be forced to confront them despite his pleas and denial and attempts to run from it!

because 03 ed isnt a shounen protagonist tbh. sure, he is an audience stand-in insofar that he, along the audience, is forced to confront a lot of uncomfortable truths about the system he's wilfully chosen to be part of. his flaws are relatable inasmuch that they're deeply human ones: wouldn't you too choose denial when confronted with the unwilling results of your actions? if you felt like you'd failed the one you loved most in the world, wouldn't you be a mass of guilt and trauma and passively suicidal about it? when confronted with your prejudices, would you really nod sagely and accept them or would you feel uncomfortable and struggle to accept that your framework has been flawed from the beginning?

but even so, he can be frustrating to the audience. his refusal to say out loud what the audience already knows re sloth and having created a homonculus. how his attempts at action get stopped or play right into others' wider manipulations. how he tries so hard to deny homonculi's humanity, his prejudices and racism towards ishbalans being a lot more blatant and clearly wrong. his admitted lack of regard for others if it means al is safe. he's not nearly as fun, here! he's a product of his environment, someone who could easily take the same path his father and dante embarked on, someone who could so easily become the "perfect" alchemist and quit having regard for human life altogether. his compassion is something he has to learn, his arrogance as a facade for his pain is one that crumbles progressively. he learns very slowly, sometimes makes one step back for every step forward. he has to learn to slow down and accept reality as it is, that there are many things that he cannot understand but that he has a responsibility to others and the world anyway, and this means listening. it means not cutting himself away from the world and viewing himself on a pedestal. it means taking a leap of faith, sometimes. swallowing your pride and accepting responsibility and that it is up to you to fix what you've started. you cant go back to an idealized state, because it never existed in the first place!

sure, it means this ed isnt as exciting or fun or cocky. he's insecure, he's traumatized, he's stubborn and brash in ways that aren't fun. but hot damn it he isnt so much more fascinating and nuanced than his original counterpart! a deeply tragic, layered, mature character. what a shame, how many people dont know about him or refuse to accept him because he isnt as funny or comforting as the manga

[amorremanet]

For Fandom confession ask game: I think jiang cheng loved Wei wuxian in a more than brotherly or platonic way but didn't have the emotional knowledge to recognize it and that's why it hurt him so bad when Wei wuxian defected from the jiang sect and later went off lan wangji because Wei wuxian was supposed to be his person and he left him behind

Y E A H

YEAH

And this isn't even me being amatonormative about it, because it doesn't even have to be romantic or sexual to be an intensity that is beyond what is typical of siblings or best friends or sworn confidantes. I posted once about how Jiang Cheng embodies Jo March's reaction to John Brooke asking to court Meg in Little Women:

“Of course not. It would be idiotic! I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it, and now it’s worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.“

IF ONLY HE COULD MARRY WEI WUXIAN HIMSELF AND KEEP HIM SAFE IN THE FAMILY!!

Of course, if you are interpreting this in a romantic/sexual context, there is SO MUCH to unpack there, especially re: his resentment towards Wangji, and it is outrageous to me that it's not one of the top Jiang Cheng ships.

[agent371]

This post is talking about the designs (and the designs only, I haven't read anything from the authors and dont even know who they are so this is design based only) released for the new Damian Wayne comic - The Boy Wonder. I will be heavily critical and btching about these, but please tell me your thoughts as well. After Damian, the others are under the cut. Please read because it's important.

Damian's design is actually really good and the best one, which is probably good since this is a comic about him. And I love how he's not whitewashed, which is something that happens way too much in comics.

Now, to Nightwing, his design is okay for a Nightwing design, but he just looks off in this style. I think if they tried to stylise him more, it could look a lot cooler. So I think he's just got wasted potential. Also, he's probably whitewashed as well to make damian more special as the "only" POC in the family (probly why Cass, Duke, Luke, and Luicus aren't here as well).

Babs is next, and this is the main reason I made this post. They abled her. DC authors stop abling disabled characters, please, for the love of me, I can't stand it. She can be disabled and still be relevant in the plot. I swear the only reason authors do this is because they don't know how to write disabled characters. If they need a Batgirl, use Steph or Cass because they are more than capable of doing it. I know they aren't as iconic as Babs, but move on DC. She's so much more interesting as Oracle.

Batman, I'm not a fan of his big blocky design. I just don't like it. He also looks really irrelevant and giving this is a comic about Robin (his son!) I think he should be relevant or look like he isn't a background character who just grunts, like for the design it looks like he doesn't talk. Don't like it.

Jason now, I actually love his Red Hood costume it looks sick, and the R on the chest *chefs kiss*. But his robin outfit is too gritty, and from that, I can tell he's going to be mischaracterised as the "angry Robin," so Hood looks cool, but that's all it is, his looks.

Tim. There is so much to say, omg. Where is his hero outfit! Everyone else got them. Why didn't he? You can actually see RR in the preview, so why wasn't that design put here? Why is it just Tim? And why does kid Tim look homless you know he grew up rich, before and after his adoption sure he has a style but his cloths wouldn't be friad he'd still look sleek and scruff not on the verge of his cloths falling off his back. For this, I can tell he'll also be mischaracterised as just like Jason since this is a Damian comic they are doing to do him so dirty. :( Sad day for a 90's Tim Drake fan (like every day, tbh save my guy). His RR design also has a shitty mask, but other than that, it seems fine, I like the wings/cape for it that looks pretty cool.

Alfred is a stereotypical old man. He's got no individuality what so ever and will proble be in one panel, say something sarcastic, and never show up again.

Ra's is okay. That's all.

Talia doesn't even look like herself . If you showed me her design with no context, I would not know who she is.

Carrie. Why is she here? Like honestly, why? There are better characters to include in a comic like this, like Steph or Cass or Duke or Helana. They would all be better chooses than Carrie. I'm not the biggest Damian fan, but ofter, Damian fans have been wanting him and Huntress as in a comic for a bit. I do like her design, but I just don't get why she's here. (I'm not including her image because of the limit bit is on my previous repost)

[nenunaiad]

A Fear Even Greater: BSD Ch. 121 vs. BEAST Ch. 4

I was reading the new chapter today and I couldn't help but notice some similarities to BEAST that I wanted to share. I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this nor do I usually do this kind of analysis post but I thought it was interesting and I'd like to share so please bear with me!

BSD CH. 121 SPOILER WARNING

I've highlighted the segments from each work that I think are thematically relevant to each other in the same colours because my brain works that way, but if yours doesn't don't worry - I will explain:

In YELLOW we have Atsushi's instinct to flee in the face of the enemy. I touch on this a bit more later on but BEAST!Atsushi is further along this thought process than canon!Atsushi. B!Atsushi seems mostly afraid of pain and violence while canon!Atsushi is more despondent. He's lost hope and had his spirit broken from watching his surrogate family die in front of him (understandably, poor baby)

In GREEN we have Dazai acknowledging/calling out Atsushi's cowardice. BEAST!Dazai is mostly describing how Atsushi used to be while canon!Dazai is snapping Atsushi out of his current doom-spiral.

He does this in most of his other hallucination appearances, not dissimilar to his interaction with Atsushi in Ch. 25.

In PURPLE we have the core of this whole rambling post (*´▽`*) There really isn't any contrast in these two, both B!Dazai and canon!Dazai are saying the same thing here.

Which brings us to CYAN where we see how the purple bits deviate slightly with context. It's a minor difference but B!Dazai lists the things that Atsushi used to fear (pain, violence, etc.) but canon!Dazai lists the qualities that Atsushi feels he's lacking (courage and hope). B!Atsushi is already able to use this "technique" (for lack of a better term) in combat, likely because he was exposed to terrifying situations earlier and more frequently than canon!Atsushi and has had more time to adapt to them (again, poor baby [╥﹏╥])

Now in RED we skip ahead a bit in the BEAST chapter to Dazai giving Atsushi his next directive. B!Dazai uses Atsushi to enact his plan and (eventually) bring Atsushi and Akutagawa together while canon!Dazai urges Atsushi to compartmentalize and focus on saving the people that he's still able to save.

Canon!Dazai's request is reminiscent of Oda's final words to him which - knowing Asagiri - could very well be intentional even if this is obviously not the "real Dazai" but rather the manifestation of some part of Atsushi's inner thoughts or Byakko (personally my money's on the tiger theory but we'll see). The Oda/Dazai/Atsushi/Akutagawa parallels will never stop and I'm here for it tbh.

[Dark Era excerpt from this translation from @nkhrchy]

Which brings us to MAGENTA (Could I have done these in chromatic order? Yes. Did I only realize that after typing it all out? Absolutely.) In both cases at this point Atsushi comes to a realization and I think the difference in what that realization is really drives home how well BEAST uses alternate universe to emphasize characterization in canon. Some of this is based on my assumptions about the final page of Ch. 121 and is therefore at risk of being jossed next month BUT I think that what canon!Atsushi is realizing in the final panel ("who you really are") is that this Dazai apparition comes from The Tiger. If it isn't Byakko explicitly I think it's fair to say that it's coming from somewhere within Atsushi himself. So, that being said, let me explain a little bit: B!Atsushi's only recourse is to take refuge in Dazai's plans/orders. His "greater fear" stems from an instance when he deviated from those orders and as a result he feels safest behind the bulwark of going along with Dazai's will. Not the healthiest coping mechanism, but it makes sense considering what B!Atsushi has experienced up to that point. Canon!Atsushi, however, is (I assume) realizing that the safety and reassurance - however harsh it may seem - of the Dazai in his head has actually been coming from himself the entire time. I think it's safe to say that whether it's his subconscious or Byakko, this apparition takes the shape of Dazai because that's who Atsushi trusts during times of crisis; that's the voice he's desperately wishing he could hear. Ultimately canon!Atsushi is in a much better place (despite... everything lol) because he's able to recognize his own internal strength instead of clinging to the safety he sees in Dazai. B!Atsushi does eventually start this process after Dazai fires him and Kyouka (and then steps off the roof of HQ RIP) but he has to take the time first to heal from the anxiety his violent upbringing inflicted on him (quite understandably - let's all say it together: poor babey T_T) There's more I could say about canon!Akutagawa undergoing a similar process re:Dazai but this post is too long! So I won't ♡

OKAY! My brain has never been satisfied with using one word when I could use ten so if you made it to the end thank you and I'm sorry ♡ I am not a writer and doing this reminded me why!! So I will definitely stick to drawing pictures (I'm almost finished one I swear! I'm like a plant, I wither into nothing in the winter months)

[amaltheas-garden]

tbh i don't think rhaenyra's phrase regarding haelena was said in a malicious way. as rider of the one of largest dragons alive rhaenyra probably supposed that if healena was to fight she would have already entered the conflict physically, probably with aemond at rook rest instead of aegon. i mean tb didn't know that aegon wasn't supposed to be here, so in their mind is more logical for healena to be with aemond instead of the king himself (also bc sunfyre is smaller than dreamfire) and because of her absence rhaenyra assumed that she will not fight with her dragon. i think rhaenyra's affirmations was linked to riding in battle and not in general

I think if we only take show context into account, then that's a reasonable interpretation of that line. Helaena is never shown riding and seems more timid than the other Targs. However, we also have to examine why that line is in the show. It's mostly there to reinforce for the audience the idea that Helaena is not someone who would willingly ride to battle on dragonback, and seems to have a disdain for dragon riding overall as we're never shown her connection to Dreamfyre, similar to how Aegon and Sunfyre's relationship was so heavily downplayed. But in the source material, we're told Helaena claimed Rhaena the Black Bride's dragon Dreamfyre at 11 (or possibly younger), in the section dedicated to Aemond's claiming of Vhagar, which details how dangerous it is, even for a Targaryen, to claim a dragon. Which brings me back to the main point of the line, why would a girl who at 11 years old claimed an adult dragon be unwilling to fly Dreamfyre, even if it meant saving her entire family. Well, F&B already answered that: Blood and Cheese. Arguably the most important outcome of that event was that it completely traumatized Helaena to the point she could no longer ride her dragon. But hotd is very intent on A. downplaying anything bad that happened to the Green characters and B. whitewashing any event that could make Rhaenyra look bad. Rhae's husband is the reason her half-sister went mad with grief and can no longer ride her dragon/be a player against Rhaenyra. Hotd instead went the route of b&c having no effect on Helaena, and the reasoning for her not riding Dreamfyre being because she... doesn't want to? Rhaenyra similarly was broken by the grief of her sons and allowed Jace/Corlys/Daemon to run most of the war effort in her absence, and rode Syrax a grand total of one time in the entire Dance, in the short trip from Dragonstone to King's Landing after Alicent surrendered the city. Yet this season is full of Rhae and Syrax scenes for no other purpose than the showrunners wanting the audience to know who the "real" dragon queen is (they literally invented mini side quests just to have an excuse to put more Rhae/Syrax scenes in). They made Helaena not want to ride into battle solely because they did not want to address the immense psychological harm Rhae's faction inflicted on her innocent sister, and downplay the greens' connection to dragons as it makes them seem just as Targaryen as their rivals, and the showrunners are not interested in a story without clear good and bad guys. The book makes it quite clear the only reason Helaena isn't on Dreamfyre is because of b&c:

"... only two mature dragons remained to defend King's Landing... and Dreamfyre's rider, Queen Helaena, spent her days in darkness, weeping, and surely could not be counted as a threat"

"... and Dreamfyre's rider, Queen Helaena, was a broken woman; the city had as well been dragonless"

"... and Dreamfyre, beloved of Queen Helaena"

"Helaena Targaryen was a broken creature who posed no threat to Her Grace"

(& from GRRM's Not A Blog) "... Helaena’s greatest joy in life is to take to the skies on the back of her dragon Dreamfyre"

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Who knows now the counsels of Morgoth? Who can measure the reach of his thought, who had been Melkor, mighty among the Ainur of the Great Song, and sat now, a dark lord upon a dark throne in the North, weighing in his malice all the tidings that came to him, and perceiving more of the deeds and purposes of his enemies than even the wisest of them feared, save only Melian the Queen? To her often the thought of Morgoth reached out, and there was foiled.

hm i think i tend to see lots of characterization of melkor as a destroyer first and foremost who's good for nothing other than raw power and breaking things left and right, but that's really a severe disservice to him imo. in the silm here it is stated point-blank that he can be good at reading his enemies. he's good at predicting the ways that they think, and he's good at using that to his advantage. and it's not just a case of show-don't-tell either, because he has pulled off manipulation and deception spectacularly before. before the darkening, he's able to fool most of the valar into trusting the sincerity of his repentance, enough so that he's clearly given, if not free roam, something pretty close to it, in valinor. he successfully makes feanor distrust the valar and does it so well that even after feanor realizes how malicious he really is, he's still believing and repeating the lies melkor told him in the past. and it's not just feanor either -- melkor spreads his propaganda against the valar to other elves, and he does it with enough tact and finesse that nobody traces it back to him until it's much too late. i do think that his subtlety and people skills degenerated quite a bit over time throughout the first age, but he still knows very well how to read people. on top of the excerpt from above, wherein he is stated to be thoroughly aware of his enemies' actions and motivations, this passage comes to mind:

But Morgoth thought that his triumph was fulfilled, recking little of the sons of Fëanor, and of their oath, which had harmed him never and turned always to his mightiest aid; and in his black thought he laughed, regretting not the one Silmaril that he had lost, for by it as he deemed the last shred of the people of the Eldar should vanish from Middle-earth and trouble it no more. If he knew of the dwelling by the waters of Sirion, he gave no sign, biding his time, and waiting upon the working of oath and lie.

he knows the sons of feanor will attack sirion. he knows they will once again cave to their oath and commit more violence against other elves, despite having come to beleriand as his enemies. this is right after the fall of gondolin -- almost thirty years before the third kinslaying occurs -- and he's already aware of what the sons of feanor will choose to do when even they themselves likely aren't sure. it's an impressive display of astuteness and insight and i don't think it gets discussed in the specific context of what it means for melkor's character. yes, he is deeply arrogant, self-centered, and spiteful, and that blindsides him a lot of the time. (look no further than the lay of leithian, where he massively underestimates luthien.) but he can also be extremely shrewd when he wants to be.

also! i like the fact that he is explicitly noted to have laughed at the notion of the feanorians attacking other elves. they've already caused the fall of doriath, and now he's correctly predicted that they'll sack sirion in the future. melkor has a sense of humor, people! a very dark sense of humor that probably always comes at others' expense, but it is a sense of humor. and it's a good one at that, because the feanorians' actions are deeply ironic. i can't blame him for giggling tbh, i would too.

another thing i find significant is that melkor does not regret losing the silmaril to luthien because he knows it will ultimately lead to another kinslaying. he of course miscalculates in thinking that that will spell the irreversible end for the eldar in beleriand, and he couldn't have known that earendil would actually try to sail to aman to plead for the valar's help, nor could he have known that elwing would bring the silmaril to vingilot and enable the success of earendil's voyage. but in my experience at least, melkor is perceived and portrayed as somewhat silmaril-obsessed, and he's really... not? he's capable of being outright fine about losing one since its loss contributes to his overall aims. imo, he's actually quite rational about the whole thing. he cares more about the usefulness of the situation -- and the black humor in it -- than he cares about the silmaril. and compared to what i've seen him get credit for, he has several instances across the silm where he's pretty smart.

p.s. the last sentence on that first passage is funny as hell to me. "often the thought of morgoth reached out" to melian, "and there was foiled." melkor stretching telepathically out across beleriand like "psst hey melian--" only to be stonewalled every time with

[riewritten]

in my head nothing absolutely bad happens in monster anime and they’re actually triplets in a family sitcom somewhere

more headcanons under the cut ���️

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

༘⋆ FOR CONTEXT

no child experiments. no kinderheim 511. their birth sequence would be Johan first, Anna second, and Nina the youngest. it doesn't actually materialize that much in their dynamics (given they're triplets) except that these two oldest are oooooover overprotective of nina. mama vera was forced to labor the three of them prematurely out of stress upon receiving the news of her husband's death. her brother-in-law, klaus poppe, who had helped vera with the kids after the hubby's death, tried to pursue her not long after. and not only that, klaus also tried to lure anna into this silly lil experiment about children which he claimed was for 'work' at the red rose mansion all the while their mother was out. vera almost killed the man when baby johan exposed him while crying. this event led vera to cut ties with the poppe family and valiantly raised her triplets on her own. vera wasn't able to squeeze any info out of anna (on what poppe had done to her specifically while she was out). worried that she might be traumatized, vera got her into therapy. in the end, only johan and anna knew of it, and whatever happened sure left wounds deep inside anna's heart.

SO, that said!

-ˋˏ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ANNA

would be sooooo villanelle-coded (minus the psychopathy of course). like she is the Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss but at the same time she could also be the Female Rage™️. i am absolutely whipped at the thought that she'd have a complicated relationship with johan despite being inseparable during childhood because she's astute enough to know the real him, without filter whatsoever, and she could notice things the naive nina couldn't. no, johan didn't have to be a murderer in this universe for anna to hate him, he just got The Attitude that anna despises. it's jus the typical sibling fight though no worries. it's like there's this modern family-esque interview segments of them talking shit about each other every episode (little do they know, if a war ever breaks, they would absolutely sacrifice themselves to save each other — of course after ensuring their youngest sister's safety first and foremost).

in @suusoh 's head which i claim to be the same as mine because susu is rie and rie is susu, anna is as queer as she could be. and, in my silly lil daydreams, she actually labeled herself queer for clout bc she wanna rebel against societal standards only for it to end up the truest thing she had ever said about herself years later. on top of that, she actually envies her twin brother for having a dick like oh my god girl what the hell is wrong with you. ironically, she tends to be an absolute man-hater sometimes (depends on her mood). she could be a little impulsive, too, especially when she reached the rebellious age. boyfriends here, girlfriends there, and out of curiosity she even tried polygamy that's absolutely not her thing but she did anyway to annoy her conservative christian stepfather.

there's this only moment anna had accepted johan's attitude, remorsefully so, and thats when some girl tried to maul nina at uni (thank god she's good at judo) after mistaking her as anna ㅜㅜ this stranger apparently had her boyfriend stolen by anna during one of her impulsive moments (jesus christ). nina assured them it was all good after anna cried. but johan was absolutely pissed, and anna had a hard time forgiving herself for putting her loveliest babiest angel of a sister in danger bc of her shenanigans.

-ˋˏ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ JOHAN

who is he, indeed, if red rose mansion wasn't that traumatic and kinderheim 511 never existed ? it's also hard to imagine for me, tbh, it's just that i think he'd be a chill lil guy who lives in his own head. nina has a hard time managing countless of confessions from different people in the campus—you see, anna is too wild to approach, johan is too absent-minded to care, and nina is the most amicable of them three. when nina opens her locker she'd expect a bunch of love letters addressed to three people: anna, johan, and then herself. majority of them is addressed to johan, tho.

if anna takes pride in her beauty and charisma while nina takes pride in her congeniality and physical prowess, johan keeps up with his brains. he is constantly the school's top one. he gets sent to other campuses for academic competitions. and back in highschool, a faculty even offered vera to have him accelerated due to his intelligence. johan denied the opportunity because he likes the fact that he's on the same grade level as his twin sisters. they have this sort of bonding where they do homeworks together as soon as they reach home. how would he do that if he's accelerated to a higher grade level? who would help nina manage anna's wild tendencies at school? who would help anna keep up with her acads if nina's too busy with her extracurricular activities?

vera is quite concerned johan is having a hard time connecting with people, but little does she know, her lil boy just doesn't want to. socializing is a chore the same way studying is. unless he has an ulterior motive, he chooses to stay at the corner with his books (boo. bummer. a nerd.)

-ˋˏ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ NINA

is their cute lil baby! she's everyone's favorite. i think her personality in canon monster (before her 20th bday) is pretty much the same in this one, except that it's more chaotic in her house because she has two sibs trying to kill each other here and there. if not for her extracurricular activities and side jobs (which johan and anna tirelessly demanded her to quit so she could have a rest, only to no avail because nina is the angel who wants to help), i think her academic excellence would be in par with johan's. she also has a lot of friends—that's the reason why johan and anna are protective of her. she could indeed defend herself physically, but she's too kind and naive for her own good it annoys the two. if someone makes her cry, they doubt nina would even put them in their place physically or emotionally because she is just that kind—that's when johan and anna enters behind her back. they could be sneaky little vengeful devils if need be for nina. maybe they got it from uncle klaus.

-ˋˏ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ☆ ༘⋆

cutting this before it gets longer lol. thank u for reading! i hope you enjoyed this as much as i did lmao. i had sooo much fan imagining and drawing them this way 🤭

[glitter-stained]

I'm writing a Jason Vs Dick fic for a secret santa exchange...

The prompt has the fic set during the Battle for the cowl arc - Jason is the villain. He's delusional (the dyeing his hair thing never really happened - he dyed his black hair red) and seriously messed up. It is a pretty dark fic.

Basically Jason knows on some level how badly messed up he is. He wants Dick to be his Robin, because he believes that it was Robin Dick who saved Bruce from darkness. He wants Dick (who is already juggling too much responsibility) to do the same for him... Be the light to his darkness...

Saw your posts about the BTFC arc in particular and mentally ill villains in general.

Any suggestions on how to handle the BtFC Jason?

...don’t ?

No, wait, listen. I know I said “write what you want as long as it’s self-aware”, it’s just you’ve chosen to write an absolute nightmare of a minefield to be self-aware about. I believe it’s possible to write Btfc fanfics that aren’t psychophobic, I just think it must be incredibly hard; Btfc is my second least favourite comic because all of it is soaked and drenched in psychophobia and I wish with all of my heart for dc to continue ignoring it and hopefully bury it under layers and layers of retcon until it’s less significant to Jason’s modern characterization than Waldo the clown (no hate on Waldo, he was much better than anything about Btfc though). So, I can give you advice for sure, I’m just concerned it will not be enough, because I wouldn’t trust myself to write a non-psychophobic Btfc fic, but you sure can try!

The core issue about Btfc (and any villainous characterization of Jason) is that, at the difference of other characters like the Joker, there’s a strange kind of coherence to it. For all we talk about Jason sometimes acting OOC, he’s reliably showing symptoms of BPD, like, to me, it’s pretty blatant. The difference between UTH and BiB or Btfc isn’t that he has BPD in one and not the other, it’s that BiB and Btfc are much more brutally psychophobic renditions of BPD than UTH (though UTH isn’t fully clean either). In other words, Btfc is a violent caricature of Borderline Personality Disorder. I’m not sure if this is on purpose, because on the one hand, it’s so consistent I feel like someone at dc told the writers “Jason has bpd” and they all ran with their caricatural representation of the disorder, or (because I don’t wanna underestimate dc’s ignorance regarding mental disorders) if they just read about him, thought “hey, he kinda fits into that subtype of stereotypical mental illness I have in mind” and projected their stereotypes about BPD about him without even knowing those are BPD stereotypes. The end result is the same: bpd on a spectrum from “almost well written” to “nastiest rep I’ve ever read”.

Now in Btfc (just as in UTH or BiB tbh) I’d say Jason is splitting, having an episode in which his BPD symptoms are flaring up completely. This can absolutely include brief psychotic episodes, and tbh the part you mentioned about dyeing his hair I can totally get behind. And because you’re writing Jason in the middle of a particularly intense episode, you can’t make the economy of considering the question of moral responsibility. If Jason is committing morally reprehensible actions as a consequence of the disordered patterns in the context of the episode, whether we’re talking about splitting or delusion or disordered thought patterns, you have to consider the question of responsibility, and on a spectrum. You also have to identify who is deciding those actions are morally reprehensible (is it Dick? The law? You, the author? The anticipated reader? All of them?) and whether you expect this judge is passed on the action, the person, or, who knows, even the disorder itself. And of course consider the implications of that fact. (For example, it’s completely possible for Dick, in the context he’s grown and developed in, and considering the insane stress he’s under, to be psychophobic as fuck; and obviously, writing a character doing something doesn’t mean that you support it, but if Jason is the villain and Dick is a hero and Dick is being psychophobic you should pay attention to whether the narrative is implying that Dick is right to be psychophobic about it.)

[emilydorp]

So in 'Good Day' what are the things that refers to TOP? I was not able to analyse anything that might suggest anything towards Top. Except that, GD is more approachable towards TOP 'officially' in public(apart from his instagram likes) with that scene where they made sure to blur Seungrat's face but not TOP's. I firmly believe this was done intentionally.

In the ZIP Daesung's episodes, they made it sure to blur both of their faces. But here, if they were careful enough to blur S's face, they could have blurred T's face too, but they didn't. And that says a lot.

Well, yep, that's a great thing that you saw! And you're 100% right there anon, it was done on purpose. But let me take you through the incredible world of GTOP delusion :)) I shall be honest tho, Good Day was something I wanted to tackle/analyze at the very end of my over analysis and saving of GTOP evidence, wayyy later, so there's a lot I can't include ToT

a) (Like the caption implies, there are MANY T.O.P references... *SOB* WHY DIDN'T I MAKE MORE TIME FOR GOOD DAY ANALYSIS? ESPECIALLY CUZ GD LIKED THIS REEL TOT. GD this show better be a goldmine of GTOP content lmaooooo /nsrs).

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A post shared by T.O.P Brazil (@tttopbrazil)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

(Screenshots not mineeeeee since I literally don't have twitter :''))))

g) GD copied TOP's recreation/parody of the movie "Whiplash" and he even liked a reel pointing this out, but I can't find it, so trust :')) (Cuz they keep showing that one Whiplash challenge thing GD did instead when I try to find it ughhh ToT). I'll edit once I find? Or send me such a reel if y'all find it? :)))

EDIT: Another one of you sweeties in the comments helped me and I now have the linkkkk :D

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A post shared by https.xxibgdrgn (@https.xxibgdrgn)

h)

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A post shared by @vip__onlyfor

He is on the verge of CRYING because that dude used the WORD top. Not even talking about the person, just using the word in a completely different context. And like, he kept this part in.. and then liked this reel implying that his tears are over the fact that the word 'top' was said in front of him..

i)

Delulu ones (hahahahahaa......damn sorry for having fun, sheesh). Imho, these gestures below are like 'Drama', directed at Seunghyun and at the media/fans, especially the song "Telepathy", because he has stated multiple times that true love to him is telepathy and therefore that is also the way he wants to communicate with his fans and his lover. But yeah, it's just low key delulu me tbh :').

Edit: adding my Paris delulu theory for @deliciouskamepi, this picture is THE highlight of our theory (since I already over analyzed the Paris tryst theory already)

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A post shared by señorittta 💕 (@chel_seunghyun)

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A post shared by Daisy for GD (@daisyforgd)

That's all I have for now, since I haven't watched 'Good Day' properly ngl hahaha :))