#omg this entire support is biased and corrupt

[revolutionsingingintherainnn]

fuck you f1 admin, you piss me off every day.

[hannyoontify]

your seventeen as different marching instruments is so accurate LMFAO as an ex marching kid myself i was giggling sm (i was front ensemble switched to battery) AND IM NGL JEONGHAN LOWK GIVES MAJOR FLUTE VIBES BUT SWITCHED TO PICCOLO BC ITS “LIGHTER” and mayb i’m biased but woozi could be that one packed member who looks like he wouldn’t play tenor drum but is the only one who has the back strength to hold one BECAUSE HAVE WE SEEN HIS MUSCLES GODDAMN either that or he plays drumset bc he gets to “sit down” and LOL i can see DK as a bass drummer LOL he’s so kind and innocent i feel battery has at least one innocent kid that they slowly corrupt (but honestly i could see him playing the mellophone too he’s lowk brass coded)

omg there's so much to unpack here

first and foremost i have the utmost respect for ppl who switch from front ensemble to battery bc like idk you gotta learn marching and basics and it's js gross lmao

OKAY SO I WAS GONNA SAY JEONGHAN WAS A CLARINET/FLUTE -> PICCOLO (he would be an absolute menace with that instrument) but idk smth was tugging at my heartstrings to say mallets but i totally get what you mean like he wants the least amount of work and what's better than marching the lightest instrument in the band? i'm a flute player and i throw my flute around on the field like it's nothing since it's so light and jeonghan would def hit people on the head with his flute/piccolo. HELLO HE WOULD HAVE IT AS HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ITEM IN HIS HAND ON THE FIELD THAT'S SO CUTE

omg woozi reminds me of our current drumset player. he's rlly good and wants to switch to battery but our director isn't letting him lmao but he's always hanging out with the battery kids and plays on their instruments. woozi would 100% choose drumset simply bc he gets to sit down but wait until he has to load his cart on the truck on show days 💔 (completely unrelated but last winter season one of our senior tenor players got socked in the balls in the middle of a rep bc his harness was broken and our group is too broke to get it properly fixed and he had to lie down on the floor for the rest of the rehearsal and why... do i see that happening to woozi as a tenor player)

see, i would agree abt DK being bass, but our entire battery is utterly, completely irresponsible and have absolutely no discipline and lowkey act like dicks (esp the basses–no offense to you op it's js the ppl at my school lol) so i js can't.. imagine dokyeom as a bass player. he's far too sweet and polite to be a battery member imo 🥲 although if he joined as a freshman, he could def be corrupted and "brainwashed" as my director likes to call it lmao. AND YES HE'S SO BRASS CODED. LIKE MELLO SUITS HIM SO WELL. pls i can imagine him playing french horn in the band room during concert season in a cute, academia outfit with glasses and everything i'm sobbing.

[tennyowithanunclespecial]

Okay, I just have to say it. One of my LEAST favorite headcanons is that Illya is just seconds away from defecting. It bothers me for a variety of reasons and I’ll ATTEMPT to detail a few in this post (this is very, VERY long omg this is why I usually post things on my phone because using the stupid iPhone pad limits the amount of words I have the patience to type):

1) A man who has dedicated his LIFE to upholding a system isn’t going to just throw it away willy-nilly because he spends a couple weeks abroad. A man who has spent his life trying to prove his loyalty through military and civic service isn’t going to just go “oh nevermind” and drop it. You had KGB sleeper agents who spent their entire lives in the US who never “gave in” and held onto their ideals. I’m not going to go into the history of Communism’s crimes (believe me, I know, just providing an alternate–if flawed–view), but many people in the 60′s (probably including Illya) believed that this was a time of “growing pains,” that this was only temporary, that a new worldwide utopia of peace and prosperity and equality was upon them. They rationalized that they had things like universal healthcare (ILLYA AND GABY WOULD BE USED TO FREE BIRTH CONTROL JSYK) and support for single mothers and the elderly, homelessness was almost unheard of, scientific advancement was keeping pace with the US, there was a sense of innocence and camaraderie that many people look back to with nostalgia, and at the time, many people thought of the government had their best interests at heart, kind of like a parent “keeping them safe” (and Illya probably would have thought of himself as being a part of this–like, lol, a “big brother” to his younger siblings).

I mean…. I’m hardly saying it was ideal and no one has to tell ME about the wide-spread issues, but the 60′s were the period of openness and transparency and a revealing and rejection of the horrors of Stalinism. It was a new era, quality of life in the USSR was improving, and things were looking up in general. And this is the Russia that I think Illya would see. 

2) A man like Illya’s heart beats for his country, he would DIE to protect it (Americans in particular don’t understand because in regards to our country, many of us can just take it or leave it–and in recent times, it’s much more likely to express either indifference or hatred toward it–the level of devotion to their country that many Russians have is something that the average American just can’t understand). The Motherland is his first love to the point that choosing between it an Gaby might not end up in Gaby’s favor. I tend to avoid this scenario for this very reason but also because I think if she loves him she won’t ask him make this choice.

3) People assume that Russia has nothing for Illya, that he lives in some muddy, freezing hellhole without any friends (nothing suggests that he’s friendless–he’s moody and introverted but he’s also under a lot of stress in enemy territory working with someone who typifies everything he hates) or family (what happened to all his extended family? aunts? uncles? grandparents?), that all his bosses all regularly treat him like dirt (true, the KGB wasn’t exactly friendly, but uh, Illya is the KGB), and that Russia is just a shitty place to be in general and anyone in their right mind would want to leave ASAP. (See point #1)

4) Aside from Oleg threatening him, there’s nothing that suggests that Illya is dissatisfied with his career, one that seems to be going very, very well for him.

5) It’s super insulting to Russians to imply “well, clearly anyone with a brain would join US/NATO, the superior country.”

6) Illya is aware of the “glitz and glamour” of the West, and he has no problem tapping into it when the mission calls for it (Gaby’s suuuper expensive wardrobe–also interesting because yes, I know it was a nod to TV Illya being a fashion designer, but it suggests that the mission comes before ideology), but he himself doesn’t buy into it (see: his own clothing– and I will DIE ON THE HILL of Illya being a sensible but fashionable character, I mean, look at how many guys are sporting black turtlenecks and blazers now, eh? eh?).                                     

7) The whole POINT of U.N.C.L.E. is to join equals from all over the world, to join opposing viewpoints, to rise above politics. This whole thing doesn’t work (and proves U.N.C.L.E. to be dangerous and biased) if it favors one ideology over another. Imagine the beauty of a Christian agent and a Muslim agent working together to defeat terrorism and everyone wants one to convert to the other’s religion and you see the issue…

I like to think that them burning the disk is the final test–can they put their individual countries’ interests aside for the greater good? Again, we expect the American to make the right decision (because Americans are always good, right?) but I was grinning ear to ear when I saw that the Russian did too, which is why it bothers me when people explain it away as some kind of blooming romance between the two. Don't take this SUPER rare portrayal of a Russian being a morally decent human being (and the American is a self-obsessed thief? who shows signs of prejudice and ignorance of other cultures??? say whaaaaat…) in a Hollywood film away from us!!!

Anyway, just my uh two cents. I think that if Illya were ever to defect, it would be during the corruption of the late 80′s, and that’s ONLY if he feels that he could better serve his country from without rather than within. I think Illya is incorruptible and if the system ever failed him irreparably, THEN he’d try to find other options, but Russia would remain his love. 

[vardasvapors]

reply post number something

thelioninmybed replied to your post: reply post times whatever            

  to shut up about the Feanorians for a second (yes I CAN do that) I've seen so much crap tearing down Turgon and Idril to make Maeglin look blameless that it's really hard for me to enjoy him as a character (both in contrary defence of T+I (who...really SHOULDN'T need defending, jesus), and cause Blameless Maeglin is the blandest thing imaginable, who even cares)             

suhfsjkf yeah i don’t really just...why do people like blameless maeglin, like, what is the point...? also like, the ways he is made to be ‘blameless’ don’t....actually make him blameless. ‘omg his mom died! how dare he be held accountable for any of his actions!’ also, simultaneously, ‘how dare idril have a personal feeling of dislike for a male in her vicinity! holier-than-thou!’

ummmm

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

simaethae replied to your post: reply post times whatever

                   oh, right, i think i get what you mean. like how imo power-hungry arguably-colonialist galadriel is a legit and interesting take on her when she's fresh from the helcaraxe and burning with righteous purpose, but then some ppl accuse her of like, oppressing the sindar/silvan elves in this way that has nothing to do with whether it's textually supported or interesting and everything to do with bashing her to - somehow?? - make the feanorians look better by comparison??                

Yeah. I don’t think I’ve seen that Galadriel one in the context of the first-age Feanorians specifically, more in the context of like, various other characters to show how much better THEY are, because Galadriel is the fandom’s multipurpose punching bag (though ofc I’ve seen it pushed by, you know, the usual suspects - the Feanorian-obsessed mass-headcanon-generators, and usually in a way that winds being super-patronizing to the Silvans too lol, concern-trolling is so cringey). Anyway right it’s like, is this about making her character and/or the story better and more interesting, or does it simply contradict and ruin the entire meaning, both personal and symbolic, of certain extremely important scenes from Lord of the Rings in order to make sure none of her statements or opinions in any other context have any weight either

    and yeah i was also think of that *gogol/crocordile exchange and like, i accept it is tempting for me to make the king's men more sympathetic than the text necessarily justifies, bc there's so much... potential for sympathy there, you know? i'm here for voicing your objections to the condition of the world by building a fleet to go fight the gods! it's just in practice, ar-pharazon is such an deeply shitty protag, like, once you get to the last few generations miriel and palantir and inzilbeth are              

  so much more interesting and sympathetic as *people*                

Right like....Ar Pharazon doesn’t really have much in the text going for him so if he was to be made sympathetic the only real way is to, like, add additional stuff TO him? Like, how did he become that way, and how much did his fucked-up family dynamics have to do with it. But that has nothing to do with Elendil so whyyyyyy...argh.

Also I do admit that like, probably the King’s Men could’ve even been like, maybe intended to be more sympathetic...like Arwen says when Aragorn is dying in appendix a, ‘as wicked fools I scorned them, but now at last i pity them, for if this is indeed the gift of men it is bitter to recieve’ etc. But if that was intended it,....doesn’t really come across, especially in conjunction with the Numenoreans’ mid-era history from the Unfinished Tales and stuff, where it’s much more obvious that their morality of lack thereof does not solely revolve around an axis of rebellion/obedience, for one because neither they nor their mortality is even under the valar’s jurisdiction or knowledge (which the valar as much as tell them directly) and their general shittiness long predates their conflict with the valar. So if sympathy was intended it could well be simply an inadequacy of craft and not intent, but either way the question again comes ‘what does this have to do with the other characters’

kareenvorbarra replied to your post: reply post times whatever

  yeah i wanna clarify, this stuff was not just "the kings men are potentially interesting" - i have put more effort into characterizing and thinking about the family/motivation of pharazon than any other silm villain, he's a shitty person but i find him interesting. but there was a point when when elendil was getting a lot of hate, the faithful in general were getting a lot of hate, and it was clearly just to make the early king's men look better

  and a lot of downplaying the persecution of the faithful in numenor, often by using unreliable narrator-type arguments ("elendil wrote the akallabeth so it's biased against the king's men" etc.)                

You know, it always cracks me up in an ugly way when people try to play the unreliable narrator card by going “the victims of this wrongdoing or persecution are unreliable narrators because they are biased against their persecutors” the implication being that the persecutors and the persecutors’ defenders are the neutral and unbiased ones who can Explain How It Really Is by talking over the victims’ voices. Like gee, I’ve never heard THAT one in real life....(which reminds me, if you DID want to whale on Finrod, why not stick to the stuff about the petty-dwarves without trying to steamroller the edain’s totally different experience? oh right, who cares about the edain’s or the dwarves’ experiences.)

Anyway wow yeah the mean-spirited agenda-driven “unreliable narrator” arguments made to advance a particular claim are so...difhjkssdkhvs. I mean, I...actually do think Elendil was a slightly unreliable narrator? but not like, in an untruthful/twisting way. imo there’s a big difference between “the substantive content and meaning of the stuff he wrote is wrong” and “some of his interpretations and conclusions are debatable given that other canon information contains information that complicates his narrative” (like the way Elendil seems to hone in so hard on the concept of heresy as the source of Numenor’s corruption, when imo it seems much more like a symptom of their view of themselves and the rest of the world, re: various timeline entries about their colonialism, Erendis’s observations that far predate the immortality stuff, etc). Like, in meta, it’s one thing to interpret the text as written by someone who is not-omniscient but writing sincerely, in good faith, vs interpreting the text as written by someone who’s a completely untrustworthy source or is knowingly lying, which renders fandom kinda impossible. IMO this sort of thing only works as a fanfic premise, and only if the author knows what they’re doing.