#omg this is such a loose theory

[nerissalmao]

The Sexualization of Octolings

Hey y’all! My friend Ray suggested this lil thread essay post whatever it’s called, and I figured it would make perfect sense to do. I’ve never really made an in-depth Splatoon post before, but I’m not afraid to try. Today’s topic is.. the sexualization of Octolings.

We all know Octolings. We all think they’re cute and fun and cool, but they’re just so.. you know.. sexy. That’s not a bad thing, but it seems like it’s their whole entire species which is literally sexualized and shown in midriff-baring, skimpy outfits. I mean, come on guys. When Callie, the most wholesome Inkling around, briefly joins the Octo Party, she’s suddenly turned into the hottest dominatrix-looking rigid icon ever (a number of my friends started to crush on her after that).

It’s definitely not just Callie. We all know Marina, guys. I don’t even have to show you images to prove what she looks like, her and her love for crop tops. And Marina, as we all know, is an ex-member of the Octarian army, like all Octolings.. like Agent 8, whose Octo Expansion outfit was on the sexy side with a crop top and high-heeled little booties. And who later in Side Order wears a form-fitting bodysuit that shows off their midriff and causes several Splatoon players to meme the fact that their backside seems to be lookin’ large to death. Why is it that Marina and Eight, who used to be in the army, have sexualized attire even now? And when Callie linked up with them, she too was wearing a shirt that in certain poses accentuates her chest, and pants so loose-fitting you can see her actual underwear.

Have you seen the enemy Octoling’s outfits? Yes, they’ve got on armor, but it’s stylized as crop tops and short shorts. Not to mention that most of the enemy Octolings present as or resemble females, and their armor has the age-old shoddy trope of having extra panels for their breasts. They’ve got little booties too and look more like a dancing glam squad or sexualized warrior cosplay than actual warriors, but this is just a design choice and doesn’t affect the way they fight. A pretty weird design choice for a game like Splatoon if you ask me.

I find this very bizarre and random. Because it seems that the entire Octoling enemy brigade has some level of sexiness to them, especially the females. Every single one. But wait on a second. There’s two Octolings we haven’t covered yet. Shiver, an Octoling, has an outfit no more racier than Frye, her Inkling co-star’s. And Acht’s outfit may have a questionable thigh slit, but that’s nowhere near the typical belly-button-bearing short shorts of the Octarian army. That seems to make my theory seem dumb, huh?

Not in the slightest. See, Acht was never in the Octarian army’s fighting unit with the rest of the girlies (they were in the army and wore the same uniform, but as they were never on the front lines they seemed to be able to wear it differently, tilting it so their midriff wasn’t easily seen and wearing a bracelet instead of those tight gloves). As for Shiver, she was born into a clan of Octolings long separated from the other Octarians. Agent 8 on the other hand was once an Octarian warrior, as was Marina (she was later promoted though, but even so along with other enemy Octoling warriors was there during Octavio’s fight with Agent 3), and Callie was turned into one briefly, or something like one, despite her being an Inkling. It seems all the sexualized Octolings were once on the front lines strutting their stuff while fighting. So why is this?

Well, here’s my theory added onto another random semi-theory that I am here to share with you all. You see, in Japanese, the enemy Octolings, preferably the ones you fight, are called “Octo-Amazons”, and the Amazons are legendary female warriors. So perhaps DJ Octavio knew what he was doing with this, and it’s a sort of empowerment move that perhaps the masculine Octolings work on maintenance jobs or something given we never see them, whereas most feminine Octolings are fighters with their female-ness put on blatant display, waggling their little hips as they jump in to do battle with the Inklings. And this practice is so well-known among Octolings that those formerly in the army still tend to gravitate towards more revealing clothes even when they are free. Just a penny for your thoughts, Splatoon community.

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Danny really said i might be a teen dad but im gonna be the best dad and then accidentally upstaged Bruce "proud father of seven" Wayne himself

DP x DC prompt #15

Bruce has to deal with his toughest mission yet, becoming the president of the Parent-Teacher Association, his biggest adversary, Danny Fenton, father of one Danielle Fenton.

[gars-weaponeer]

Today in: Clones that deserved better!

Issue #1

-SCORCH-

Scorch belonged to the clone commando Delta Squad from the beloved videogame "Republic Commando", which came before the Clone wars series aired.

Along with his companions: Sev, Fixer and Boss. Scorch was the demolition expert of the Squad and the one with the most heart and sense of humor, arguably the one with the most personality. You could easily compare him to Hardcase or Wrecker, having a similar archetype. He, along with Sev, became a fan favorite thanks to his charismatic writing.

If you have NOT played Republic commando, I totally recommend it. You can currently find it on steam or switch and it's a very fun game to play if you are a Clone wars fan.

Delta squad appears in the Clone wars series only for a short cameo and only Boss got a short speaking line. So it was more than obvious that RC fans would want to see more representation of the beloved characters.

Then we got the Bad Batch...

I don't know who this guy is... but this is not Scorch.

I do understand they needed a face for the commando leader of Tantiss and they did not want to miss the opportunity to gain some nostalgia points with a beloved Republic Commando character. (I could rant hours about how The Bad Batch did all commando clones dirty by reducing them to novelty storm troopers, but that's a rant for another day.) But did it HAVE to be Scorch? Considering the "personality" this TBB-Scorch has, I think Fixer or even Boss could have been an arguably better pick. But since Scorch was a fan favorite he was the one chosen, and he was also the one BUTCHERED for it.

TBB-Scorch has little to no personality and what little we manage to see it drastically different from the Scorch in the video game and that's very disheartening to see for a fan of the character.

Having a model with the painted armor is not enough to give fans the representation they deserve. Specially when it comes to a character with a recognizable personality.

It would be like having Fives suddenly be a cold and loyal trooper that will do anything Pon Krell did without questioning. Or have Wrecker suddenly be the background character that had no speaking lines and was only there to guard the door.

Or have Echo disappear for an amount of episodes when he could-- oh wait....

This "character" could easily be replaced by any other commando with a cool looking armor and it wouldn't change a thing other that fans pointing and saying "OMG I KNOW THAT GUY!"

(I'm not even sure his name is even mentioned... but take that with a grain of salt, I might be wrong. I need to re-watch the third season of The Bad Batch for the third time. )

Sure, we could argue that there is a reason to why Scorch is the way he is in TBB. Maybe he was brainwashed like the CX Clones or Maybe the trauma of loosing his companions, his brothers he was born and raised with since a pod and with whom he experienced a lot of things together, made him a cold, empty husk... but if that was the case, SHOW US THAT!

Scorch could have easily been a good counterpart to Crosshair. They are both Commandos (in a sense) and they both lost their brothers in traumatic ways (allegedly). But while Scorch gave up and became a mindless follower of the Empire, Cross woke up and refused to be brainwashed like the rest.

I know I'm being too harsh.

After all, it's somehow noticiable that TBB was left unfinished. My theory is that Disney decided to pull the plug and was "nice" enough to give the project one last season. But all the ideas and all the stories they clearly wanted to tell were not going to fit on one last season, so a lot of it was cut and rushed.

It is sad, and I would have loved to see what plans they originally had. Maybe they had more plans for the commandos, maybe Scorch had a bigger role or an explanation to his loyalty towards Hemlock and the empire.

Or Maybe he was just painted in to get Republic commando fans to watch The Bad Batch.

We might never know...

Overall...

It's kind of sad that was all the representation we got of these beloved characters.

I know their stories are in "Legends" and many Legends characters have been changed for the sake of canon.

But there is Changing, and then there is Butchering.

And I think Scorch, and the Delta Squad, deserved way better.

[nightcolorz]

spoilers for iwtv s2 ep2 but omg,,

I definitely believe the Alice is armand theory (or more specifically Daniel’s memories with alice have been crossed with his memories of armand) bcus dude Omg, first of all Louis mocking Daniel about his failure with Alice and it immediately cuts to Daniel getting sudden flashes of buried armand memories. the way Armand was looking at him, the longing sadness, the mediating, armand trying to stop louis from hurting daniel. Armand telling Daniel “alices” thoughts when she rejected him😭😭😭 not mockingly as Louis is doing but comfortingly?? Bittersweetly?? Full of grief?? “She wanted to say yes (to daniels marriage proposal) but she didn’t trust you, you didn’t give her a reason to.” Like daniel’s loosing of Alice when he proposes to her and she rejects him is definitely imo some sort of metaphor/equivalency for Daniel begging armand to turn him and armand rejecting him. Not even to mention how it’s all tied to Paris, her name is literally Alice 😭.Armand’s reasoning is so interesting to me, u didn’t give her a reason to trust you. Dude. Then louis telling Daniel they can tell him how Alice feels about him now and giving a little knowing look to armand 😭 Jesus. I’m wrecked

[maliciousalice]

@thresholdbb omg tumblr ate your ask but thankyou for asking!!!!

👕Character whose fashion you like.

Phoar! Startrek really isn't a show I associate with being fashionable. It's very camp isn't it? In theory a lot of the wardrobe is really cool and they wanted to gain that retro-future aesthetic. Did it work? I'm not sure. However it does make a statement. The Startrek aesthetic is really recognizable and that's important! I think that's where modern trek kind of looses the plot. It's not as careful about the unique visual design as a whole anymore and as a result it doesn't settle in our minds. Is it bad artistry? No but it's not as stringent. What I mean by that is older trek cared about nuance. For example every haircut was done the same way on men, or suits were tailored in a way to look sleek but practical (they weren't). Gaudy patterns were important to denote things like status. It looks ugly on the outside but when you're watching the show it envelops you and makes you feel welcomed into the universe.

I digress.

To answer this, the most fashionable character, hands down, is Quark! That mfer always looks good, and has the finest drip in the galaxy. Love that.

🥲 ST moment that makes you cry.

There are two moments that make me particularly sad. Kate's acting in the climax of Resistance is incredible. I read somewhere she had a special-wink-wink- relationship with the Director in the early seasons and she was being tested by this episode in some regard. I think it paid off. I treasure any time her captain-hood is removed, and the extreme vulnerability of Janeway is on display-MWAH MWAH poignant. This episode is beautifully intimate, particularly this scene. It's overall gorgeous and unique in how she whispers to him, as if there is nothing more important than to secure his peace of mind as he dies, and it's heart rending when it ends with her just crouching there, emotionally alone. I love how Janeway is forced into the father-daughter dynamic between her and Caylem, one that she would ordinarily resist (heh themes) because I think it inherently weakens her status. The back and forth throughout the episode of them taking care of each other's welfare is so it's terribly sad when it's torn down and we discover the truth behind Caylem's family. If you've dug around her character you know that her Admiral-Father has had impact on her life. She's haunted by him in both a figurative way by being a Captain, and literal sense later on in Coda. Much like Caylem, she looses her father in a violent manner that she has to carry around while she forges ahead. It also reflects well on Kate's relationship with her actual father, she recently revealed that she was never able to get him on her page, but in spite that she adore him with all her might. So a scene like this is really revealing-I believe she was able to draw upon those feelings and that's kinda neat to be so raw as an actor. SIGH.

This one just straight up made me cry fr because Prodigy s1 is a really mature, well done piece of (Startrek) media. Holo Janeway has an irony about it where in the end she is program designed to be a teacher, and she didn't expect to develop a strong bond with the crew. Her final moments are of displaying a huge amount of selflessness and courage to help the kids get out of trouble, similarly to how Janeway would approach dire circumstances. The music swelling and the ship activating is just OOOOF!!! I love how it parallels Dal's initiation of the first Protojump in a Moral Star. By that means It suggests how proud she is to get to do this for them. As a character she is really interesting to think about, in a way I can't entirely articulate. A lot of her moments are quite sad in general, she has to keep an active role so she isn't ignored, and help where help is needed, but at the same time she has constraints, one being that she manipulated by the antagonists. And In contrast to that, the kids do their best to help her feel like she is important and more than a command program to be used insincerely. She grew to love the Protostar crew, that's evident in her body language in this scene. She has a lot of depth overall. Equal to the real Janeway she deeply feels love, guilt and pain, but importantly she is transformed by the her time on the Protostar and while active, learns and grows with Dal, Rok-tak, Zero, Jankom and Gwyn. It's REALLY sweet that they care all care about each other.

I love her and I love JANEWAY!!!!

🥹 Favourite behind the scenes picture.

Ooooh I love all behind the scenes stuff. My brother in Christ It's super difficult to just name one thing and I'm very greedy!! I wish we had more BTS content for Voyager but sadly, it's a matter of grab what you can, however you can. Anyway, I have an inherent interest in seeing the cogs behind the wheel. I chose these samples because I think they're charming.

The continuity polaroid's are so fun and a lost technique, I like to think about assistants having to pull the actors aside and asking them to take those. How daunting! Kate's grin in the one where she is offset is SO cute. So she must have been in a good mood, super Cheeky!

Following that is a screenshot from a video of her having her makeup done. A rare catch. I like this because she often sooks about how much time hair and makeup was spent on her to become Captain Janeway. I get it's a huge time-sink, but love or hate it, the full irony is that her early season appearance is really iconic and in it's own right adds to Captain Janeway's sensibility. Silly goose Kate! Besides that, she looks hot checking herself out, haha.

Moreover, I love on-set editorial photos of actors in costume. While we did have heaps of them in the Starfleet uniform, I wish we had a larger collection with clearer releases, it would have given an opportunity to see in things of interest better detail. Particularly the lower half of unique costumes. For whatever reason special outfits weren't often established or framed for us to see the legs in the show, so a nice big photograph would have solved that. Also I love that these style of pictures capture an impression of an episode without giving it away.

Similarly, fly on the wall on-set photos are cool. They're way more intimate and candid than anything else and it makes me feel as though I am spying on the actors, but they're also a good way to document how things might have been on set.

The Timeless one is interesting too because it's of a deleted scene, we never see Chakotay look at a dead Janeway (how deliciously macabre!), but at some point in time it was in the script and they filmed it.

Hmm this bts picture of Janeway in the Cardigan is adorable! I believe it was worn by Kate for a Charity but look how cute she looks? Makes me wish we saw her mess around with things like that more because 7 Years is a long ass time to be in uniform everyday ( coming from someone who went to school in a Uniform and enjoyed it for the most part). Casual Fridays anyone?

I love this gif. It's from the first shoots of Caretaker and Kate looks so radiant! Her smile is is breathtaking! Whenever I see this gif I get a sense of delight. Poor thing had no idea what she was getting herself into, haha. Really though, check out the original Caretaker photos, they're super-cool. The history behind it is fascinating; I'd love to see more footage from that version of the pilot episode. Unfortunately, it's probably not preserved well, much like lots of Paramount's historical material.

On a similar trend, it's fun to see this set of pictures too. It's for the First Contact film / maybe the Universal studios ride, when she reprised her role as Vice AdmiralJaneway. Kate was genuinely delighted to do this cameo and it shows. As per her operandum she put her whole self into this small segment and that's so darling. It makes me wish we had more of this Janeway at that point in time. I love post Endgame chubby-Janeway. In a fictional sense it denotes that she is comfortable or stressed to be an Admiral (sadly it's the latter in real life) or whatever and I love that for her.

These kind of pictures are fun because it's been said that at times it was the most playful set to be on. There are tales that the cast were not that serious all the time. You get that impression here, and it's probably why the majority of them are still good friends to this day. They're like a family bros!!! Having worked in media I know that wrapping up after working on something for a long time is really rewarding and I bet they had a good time at parties.

Apropos previous, the opposite can be said. While they had fun, the hours were long and the scripts intensive. Kate was around for all of the episodes of Voyager in one way or another, and still managed to bring her A-game each time. She is truly admirable! Seeing her so exhausted is charming. She had a lot of weight to carry for the franchise and did an exemplary job performing her way through 7 years of weird and wonderful material. I wonder how often they fell asleep on set? I know I would. Get some rest queen!

Finally, I've been following Prodigy bts as best I can, and because of my career in animation I get pretty interested in Production art. I love seeing the fast metamorphosis of a visual style. It's really impressive how much attention they applied to the designs, maintaining the older stuff, while adapting a new frontier. One of the lead artists made some pretty neat observations to get Kate's appearance right. It's so cool that they documented that journey, because from my dabbling I know she has a very beautiful, distinct face that isn't easy to capture.

ANYWAY Thankyou for reading my fat thesis fellas. tl;dr i love this stinky Startrek Voyager and by extension the franchise.

[xingchens-eyeballs]

OKOK GUYS OH MY GODDDD I JUST WATCHED ALIEN STAGE ROUND 7 AND WHAT THE FUCK?? IM ACTAULLY CRYING RIGHT NOW I HAD TO GET UP AND LIKE SCREAM INTO A PILLOW I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE

this is gonna b a long one guys i need to rant about it sdfjhsdjkfhs

spoilers under cut :3

Firstly, IVAN??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??

ALSO YALL WERE RIGHT LUCA DID REMIND TILL OF IVAN OMG THATS ACTUALLY SO FOUL

he looks so good tho ngl id smash

AND MIZI?? PLEASE YOU WERE SO CLOSE

I CANT BELIEVE HE DIED?? AND MIZI MOTIVATED HIM TO SING AT THE END TOO OH MY GOD I AM NOT OKAY

HAVE YALL SEEN THAT ONE POST EITHER ON TIKTOK OR ON HERE I FORGOT WHO ITS BY BUT THEY WERE SAYING THAT TILL IS A VERY PASSIVE CHARACTER FOR SOMEONE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT REBELLION AND THEY ARE SO RIGHT TILL IS SO INFLUENCED BY THOSE AROUND HIM, LIKE LUKA AND ALSO THE IVAN PICTURES DID ACTUALLY MAKE HIM HALLUCINATE/REMEMBER IVAN AND THAT MADE HIM UNSTABLE LIKE HE DID TO MIZI BUT THEN MIZI SNAPPED HIM OUT OF IT BUT IT WAS TOO LATE 😭😭

but look at his adorable blushy face when he sees mizi 🥺

ALSO THE ROUND 6 KISS SCENE?

WHAT

AND THIS? ITS LUKA GUYS ITS LUKA MAKING TILL HALLUCINATE THAT HES IVAN, LUKAS JUST A FREAK WHY DOES HE DO THAT EVERY DAMN ROUND???

its kinda interesting though cuz seeing ivan makes till have the same reaction as he did when mizi saw sua in round 5 DOES THAT MEAN TILL FELL FOR HIM??? jkjk guys im not that delusional but i do think that luka just likes to take advantage of grief maybe the aliens like it or something and thats why luka chose to imitate ivan and not mizi, because till still has hope for mizi he didnt see her die in front of him like ivan

YALL WERE KINDA RIGHT THO WITH THE LUKA SWITCHES BETWEEN MIZI AND IVAN THEORIES, LUKA CHANNELS IVAN AND THEN MIZI SHOWS UP IN PERSON TO INFLUENCE THE ROUND

LETS TALK ABOUT THIS TOO CUZ WHAT??! THIS SHIT MAKES ME MENTALLY ILL

anyways i dont think alien stage is over though there will be another episode to tie together the loose ends trust we're gonna have hyuna v luka and then lukas gonna get a taste of his own medicine fr

LIKE LOOK AT THIS ENDING FRAME ON EVERYONES SOULS ITS HYULUKA ROUND 8 FORESHADOWING

[transmutationisms]

You’ve introduced me to so many topics in theory but there are days when I have no idea what you’re talking about and i twirl my hair and kick my feet while I’m lying on my bed and giggle like omg tell me more

hi megan <3 this is fair also sometimes i am truly talking out my ass and making zero effort to make a thought comprehensible to anyone else lol but i remember you've read some of the 'speculative materialists' so you would probably get a kick out of this:

basically i was mostly just drafting a paragraph explaining how the french 'idéologues' in the 1790s-1810s conceived of sense perception and access to external phenomena, and i used kant as a compare/contrast because he's an easy reference point on this topic/time period:

Idéologie itself was never a singular scientific method, but described a loose methodological family (often referred to by ‘Idéologues,’ such as Cabanis, as analysis) that aimed to uncover the deeper truths and universal laws that structured phenomenal observations. It was this quality that led the historian of medicine George Rosen to describe idéologie as a meeting point of empiricism and the “passive psychology” of Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714–1780). For Condillac and his followers, including Cabanis, all ideas of the human mind had their origin in sensations—that is, in the impressions made by external objects upon the sensory organs. Thus, an idea could always be broken down to its component sensations, which could be traced back to their external sources. There were no human ideas or mental faculties that did not ultimately take their source from sensory impressions; human understanding could be studied, corrected, and eventually refashioned by careful application of the ‘analytical’ method. Whereas Kant, whose first Critique was published in 1781, defended a distinction between a priori and a posteriori judgments, the Idéologues considered even an inherited tendency or instinct to be ultimately and strictly a product of sensation. If Kantian transcendental idealism dictated that human observation could never directly access the external phenomena in-themselves, idéologie instead embraced the naïve realist position that the external objects could truly be known and described—but only by precise analysis of their noumenal representations.

and then i was like well condillac died in 1780 and cabanis's most famous treatise was published in 1802 so basically the timing lines up really well for this comparison to kant, and what you would need to do is derive these different attitudes toward things-in-themselves from the political-economic contexts that they're embedded in & patterned on. which would be extremely easy to do on the french side because cabanis was 1) a politician and 2) explicitly openly concerned about the health of the workforce as a means of ensuring the continued production of french national wealth, such that my argument about him is essentially that we should be reading him as espousing proto eugenic positions and as verbalising much of the biopolitical remit of the revolutionary and postrevolutionary french state. like essentially, analogous to the way that c. darwin 'found' capitalist competition in nature, you would say something like, cabanis 'found' (naturalised) the need for management and alteration of the labourer's body & physiology in his medico-philosophical treatises.

anyway i would need to brush up on kant biography stuff but given his interest in physical anthropology and specifically his racial essentialism, it would be easy also to argue that his 'correlationist' thinking derived from how he patterned psychology on a teleological racial-hierarchical view of human biology. which is in turn ofc an economic and political argument. so what i would want to prove here is that both these positions, while seemingly disparate, are ultimately just different bourgeois ideologies & follow superstructurally from the material alienation of capitalist labour relations etc etc. i would do this more elegantly and thoroughly in an actual article but this is tumblr.dashboard :-)

[twigg96]

Twiiigg i have an idea, how would Dethklok + Charles react if someone walks in while they're having an intimate moment with their s/o?? Teehee 👁

OMG @gogomeaty 😏 I love this idea! Let's goooo!

Nathan - Despite his outward appearance Nathan is a very gentle lover. He would never take advantage of his partner in anyway. Public sex is not something he has ever thought of in his life and while it's not off the table for him it would need to be discussed in detail with boundaries clearly drawn. But in this instance that never happened. He and his partner were in the supposed privacy of his room. His large calloused hands sweetly caressed their supple thighs as he went to work on them. His mouth doing dirty things that had his partner pulling his hair and moaning so ever lewdly. Just as they were about to get to the good part... the door burst open, Murderface leading the whole band into the room despite the way Nathan scrambled to cover both him and most importantly his partner. "Hey, Nathan... do you think this milk went bad Pickles told me juscht to usche it but-" Murderface went silent staring at the two in shock. "Were you two... FUCKING?!" Pickles laughed elbowing the bassist in the ribs. "Dude, they totally were." Toki was disgusted and ran out of the room while Skwisgaar smirked and winked. "Can I join?" Nathan felt so overwhelmed and embarassed. His whole body felt hot and chest felt tight as he growled. "Get the fuck out NOW!"

Pickles - This man is the king of oral. He is not afraid of using his prowess on his partner whenever and wherever was the most convenient for the both of them. He loved having his partner's legs wrapped around his head squeezing his earrings and gauges into the sides of his head, his tongue ring bringing his partner to bliss over and over again. Pickles had no humility and would go down on his partner in the middle of the living room while they watched a movie. It was during one of these times that the rest of the band came home early from bar hopping and just so happened to see Pickles enoying his partner like they were the last meal he was ever going to get. The redhead didn't even stop. Just held his hand up in acknowledgement as the boys all stared in various forms of disgust and amazement and continued with his ministrations. Nathan was the only one with the good sense to leave on his own accord. But after the others realized that Pickles really wasn't going to stop for anything including them they left feeling violated and a little disturbed.

Murderface - William is a very loving and sweet lover. He takes his sex life very seriously and while he may "Brag" about it to his friends. Making wild and unbelievable statements about crazy sex acts he did with his partner, Murderface is incredibly respectful while in the bedroom and would never do anything that would make his partner uncomfortable. Public sex while in theory is hot, is something that gives him hives thinking about. So he personally likes to keep things secluded to the bedroom or somewhere more private if he can help it. If any of the band ever walked in on him mid-fuck he would loose his absolute marbles on them. Screaming profanities would only be the beginning. William would throw whatever sharp object he could reach first at whoever had interrupted them. And it would be up to his partner to keep him from gutting whoever was at the door with his favorite knife. He took his partner's modesty seriously and was an EXTREMELY jealous man after all. There would be no sexy times that night after whoever walked in left (screaming in terror). Instead William and his partner would need to talk. About what just happened. He would need to be assuaged that he was really the only one for them. Cuddles would be a must for him afterwards with his partner allowing him to run his fingers through their hair.

Toki - While he is very proud and prominent with his PDA Toki doesn't actually want to be caught in the act with his partner. Believe it or not he is a rather modest and shy lad when it comes to his sex life and doesn't so much as like to kiss and tell. So if he and his partner were to get freaky in a public place he would take extra procausions to make sure that no one would be able to walk in on them. He would order the gears to stand gaurd at the doors, close the shades so no paparazzi can get shots of his naked back, and even go as far as to place a pen or pencil on the doorframe so that he can hear if it opens during. However things happen. Sometimes he gets distracted and forgets to close the blinds the full way and pictures are taken. Sometimes his bandmates still barge in whether he wants them to or not. He always is a burning mess of embarassment when it happens. Screaming and throwing things is his go to especially if it's just a family member. But if it's the press... he shuts down. It's not until Charles goes out of his way to fix the situation that he starts to relax again.

Skwisgaar - This man lives for sex. Every bit of it, every position, every thrill. He loves on his partner like it's the last day either of them will ever live. However he has standards from past experiences. Public sex is off the table. He has an image to uphold. Quite literaly. He is the fastest guitarist in the world. He can't damage that simply because he's feeling saucy at the dinner table. He will always tease his partner. But never go farther than that in a public space. In the bedroom however... Oh Boy. He is all over them like icing on a cake. That comes back to bite him in the ass sometimes however whenever he forgets to lock his door and poor Toki comes strolling in asking when their next practice session is. Or the gears come in begging for him to go to Charles' office. Skwisgaar doesn't stop however. He has no shame in his own domain. He knows he is doing no wrong in there and refuses to stop until both he and his partner are completely satisfied.

Charles - Poor poor Charles is used to being walked in on by now. He loves his bois more than anything in the world but GOD DAMN does he wish that he locks on his doors were stronger sometimes. Charles is the most dignified man on the face of the earth. He wouldn't be caught dead trying to do anything naughty to his partner out in the open... HOWEVER he has gotten into the habit of being blatantly honest with his man sized sons by telling them when he's planning to get laid so he can maybe have some alone time with his partner. This has seemingly helped... at first. That is until Nathan and Pickles both realized they could use this information to their advantage and sabotoge Charles' sexy time to get whatever they want...

Magnus - He would straight up slice a bitch if they ever walked in of him and his partner fucking. Especially Dethklok lol

[queer-reader-07]

i feel like all the theories that exist for why aziraphale went to heaven that basically boil down to “he was out of character so here’s what the plot twist is” really cheapen the story and underestimate the depth of aziraphale’s character and his potential. and also underestimate neil’s talent as an author and writer.

neil doesn’t recycle plot twists. he doesn’t do cheap cop out plot twists. he doesn’t leave out loose threads. everything is so carefully thought out and intentional.

i would be genuinely so put off if he wrote a plot twist of “actually it’s not aziraphale it’s crowley” (body swap 2.0 can go die in a hole i hate it) or “omg woah aziraphale was drugged” (one of these days i will write a meta on why coffee theory can go die in a miles deep PIT OF DESPAIR because i hate it even more)

because neil is a better writer than that. neil can and will do better than that. you might think there’s loose ends hanging out but i don’t think there are.

i remember reading american gods and thinking to myself more than once “this scene feels kind of random why’d he include it?” only for it to be actually very important later on in the book. whatever you think is a loose thread right now is more likely something that connects to whatever neil’s got planned for s3.

and also. aziraphale is a more complex character than either of those theories allow him. i’m sorry but if you think that he needed to be DRUGGED to make the decision he did you have not been paying any attention. everything leading up to this point has shown us that aziraphale believes that heaven can be good if only someone (him) can change it. that smile we saw on his face at the very end of s2ep6? that was the smile of an angel who has plans. who knows he can’t go back now, and is ready to gut this place from the inside out.

and body swap 2.0 doesn’t even compute for me. because like 1) body swap happened it’s not gonna happen a second time. and 2) it logically and logistically makes absolutely no sense that at some point in those last few minutes they agreed to body swap and send crowley to heaven. that would completely defeat the entire point of the conflict that is the Final Fifteen, and it would just make it all the more confusing as to why crowley looks so angry at the end? because if it was body swap and that’s actually aziraphale, aziraphale wouldn’t look that mad?? and he’s not even around anyone else so he has no reason to pretend.

and like i get why on some level these theories are fun to play with. but i just can’t shake the feeling that all these theories are on some level rooted in people thinking aziraphale isn’t a complex character. aziraphale has so much nuance and depth to his character, why do you have to convince yourself he was drugged in order to make a nuanced decision?

[raphaelesbian]

I've only read 2012 and rise so far but I just had to share. My boysssss omg they look so cute!!!

I loved this so much but also straight up. It felt like a little teaser trailer. And the end??

Like the Rise one also had a kind of "tee hee, 'hard pause' not 'the end,' we'll see you in a few years wink wink nudge nudge, look at all of this lore" but the story itself was very contained, no real loose ends just lots of potential

The 2012 story.... They see a gang, Mikey dance-battles the gang, they turn into KRAANG PRIME, who they fight and then it disappears into the sewers while everyone is like "damn that's not good." And then that LAST PAGE with "father, I fear the worst" and Kraang Prime clearly being alive and grabbing a rat....

Like forgive me for my conspiracy theorying rn hdjdjjdbd but like. Does that not feel like a prologue or smth. And I mean, the show is over, but is there any reason they couldn't make a short comic series? Idk, I'm just sayinggggg. Ciro Nieli I am connecting the dots.

EDIT: I REALIZED IT FEELS EXACTLY LIKE THE COLD OPEN OF A TMNT 2012 EPISODE. LIKE IMAGINE IT. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS, BEAT FOR BEAT.

[flickrrposts]

Black Hat is going to be Hypnotized by Heroes - Theory

Why?: It'd be cool.

Okay, seriously, this could be nothing more than fanfic potential, but in case there's some small chance that I'm right about this, here are a few points on where I'm coming from.

#1 - Tension

This show has reaffirmed time and time again, in the show, comics, livestreams, interviews, that Black Hat is:

A, Powerful,

and B, Terrifying.

I don't think I need to go through evidence of that being the case, if you're familiar with the show at all, you know this.

He's been side-lined throughout the entire show, and it would not only be cathartic to finally have him show off his powers, but it would also make him feel like a real threat in the story if he's positioned against Flug, Dem, and 505.

The tension would be raised to infinity. The show would practically feel like a horror movie because of how near-impossible it would be to defeat him.

#2 - Goldheart's Plan

According to Miss Heed at the end of s1e6, Goldheart wants to "end all villainy."

Black Hat controls all villainy.

P.E.A.C.E. has already caught on to how deep Black Hat's rabbit hole goes, via the agents creating the Podemos Bailar website. (omg, with Magician being one of the agents, then Black Hat's hat is the "rabbit hole", it's like a pun, you get it? You get that-)

Before the third Arenque Noticias video, Melissa Lead states, "If you ask my objective opinion, I'd say a controlled villain is better than a villain set loose."

As observed by @paper-gold-theories, characters with gold accessories tend to be associated with Goldheart or the Golden Rule in some way (Miss Heed, Porccini, the reporter in s1e4).

Melissa wears a golden necklace and ring, so it's very likely that her opinions either align with the Golden Rule, or Goldheart himself.

So if Goldheart's objective is to brainwash all villainy, then who better to target than the man at the top? (the man in the top-hat, haha, I'm on a roll)

#3 - Black Hat's Weaknesses

Alan has hinted that Black Hat is not invincible, and has actually described him as "lazy".

So the concept of Black Hat slipping up is not an impossibility for the show to explore.

#4 - Details

This is getting into TJLC levels of analysis, but I've noticed a couple things that could somehow be foreshadowing this:

In this poster:

Villains have a red outline, and heroes have blue:

(The fact that Flug and 505 have blue is an analysis for a whole other day)

But Black Hat has a gold-ish color on both sides:

This could be a stretch, but,,

In 2021, promo art was released for the show:

And Black Hat's monocle looks suspiciously pink.

Sure this could just be red shading that accidentally looks pink, but it isn't that hard to edit if the colors came out wrong, I did it just now:

The difference is night and day:

I don't think Black Hat has ever been associated with pink before outside of Demencia's fantasies. It would have been easy to choose any other colors too, like green, yellow, orange, or even blue.

The Black Hat being lit with pink for the first time is a coincidence in the very same promo that ALSO includes Miss Heed.

And as is obvious, ALL of the people Heed hypnotizes have glowing-pink eyes:

Even if this isn't foreshadowing to my specific fan-theory, I find a Black Hat - Heed connection extremely suspicious.

It's very well that in this scene, Flug DID perfect Heed's formula.

The heroes have the perfect hypnotizing formula. Or at least they still have some version now.

They have the means.

So TL;DR, Flug perfected Heed's hypnotizing formula, and so P.E.A.C.E./The Golden Rule/Goldheart is going to use it to control Black Hat when his guard's down.

(or somethin like that, idk)

[minniethemoocherda]

You Are The Weapon I Choose: Chapter 2

A/N: I've seen Deadpool & Wolverine now and OMG??!!!! And thanks again to @pkmndaisuki for being my beta reader! Xxxxxxx

Ao3

The ride back in the blackbird was one of the most awkward of Morph's life.

The girl -Laura- still hadn't woken up yet from whatever had been forced into her body.

Outside of that tank, Morph noticed how the definition of her young muscles were sunken against skin that wad almost as grey as there's. Her body had been trained but it must have also rarely been allowed to see the sun.

It was no wonder why Logan refused to let go of her. That infamous animalistic urge to protect on full alert. Even as Beast clearly wanted to check her over. 

"We can't help her if we can't touch her." Morph remined Logan, as the only one currently being allowed to talk to him without getting stabbed. They placed a hand on his shoulder, and despite being over thirty thousand feet in the air, through the blood strained yellow of his costume they could feel themselves grounding him back to reality.

Logan jerked a nod. Although he still refused to let go of the girl.

Cautious yet curious Beast did his best to examine Laura, detecting no obvious wounds recent or otherwise leading further evidence to the theory that everyone had already come to.

Then Beast jammed a needle into her arm and all hell broke loose.

If Beast wasn’t so used to getting the fuck out of dodge when a previously unconsciousness Wolverine starts swiping at him, he'd have gotten his arm slashed off.

Laura sprung free of Logan's grasp. She crouched on the blackbird floor, claws drawn and teeth bared in a snarl.

For a moment nobody moved.

Then Laura leapt for the controls.

Storm was flying the plane. Scott's powers were useless on it. Rogue couldn't get close enough to use her powers without getting stabbed first. And Beast didn't fancy getting swiped again.

So Jean thrust Laura back towards Logan. He grabbed her around the middle. Her claws shredded through Logan's skin faster than he could heal. The blackbird's black floor was soon stained red as Laura screamed and thrashed at the group of strangers that taken her from the only concept of a home she had ever known.

Morph didn't want to cause Laura any more pain then she had already been through. But not everyone had a healing ability that would allow them to survive a crash. So they shifted into Luke Cage, their skin now impenetrable to her claws as they helped Logan to keep her from stabbing the plane's metal.

In the end Jean had to blast her brain to knock the girl out and Morph couldn't even be mad at her for it.

The blood sample Beast had nearly gotten them all killed over, revealed what they had all expected. That Laura was Logan's kid. Albeit as a clone as opposed to the traditional method.

Which raised a whole new bunch of questions on who these people were and what else they had done.

But that didn't matter right now.

The priority was Laura.

Who had made another escape attempt when they had arrived back at the mansion in the early hours of the morning. Thankfully a telepathic conversation with the professor had appeared to convince her that they weren't going to treat her however those previous people had.

Morph, along with the others had come to the collective conclusion to give Laura and Logan space for the rest of the day.

Morph heard the numerous crashes and yells from all areas of the mansion for the rest of the day but the place hadn't burnt down yet so they assumed the pair of them were doing alright.

It had also given them more time to come to terms with the fact that Logan had a kid now because holy shit Logan had a kid now!

Which given the fact that the guy was over a hundred years old the possibility of him having a kid wasn't exactly zero. But if Logan had ever previously impregnated someone, he didn't remember it. And Morph and Logan had only been dating for few weeks so the discussion of having kids hadn't exactly come up yet but Morph doubted Logan planned on doing so on purpose anytime soon.

Not that Morph had ever really given thought about having kids themselves. They did like kids and had been surprisingly popular with them when the X-Men has first made themselves known to the public. Theoretically they could have one with Logan the old fashioned way, but that would require having to consciously shift themselves a womb for nine months which would be a lot more difficult than Mystique giving herself a dick for a couple of rounds of sessions of love making with Destiny to create Nightcrawler. Not that they particularly wanted to force the pain of existing in this fucked up world onto a new life in the first place. They would rather bring joy and comfort to the unfortunately staggering number of children already out there who needed it. But no one in this day and age was ever going to a let a gay, non-binary, mutant adopt.

So the idea of them having children had always felt more like a fantasy, a break of happiness for them to daydream about as opposed to something that was actually possible.

Then again, they used to think the same when daydreaming about Logan so maybe it wasn't a complete impossibility after all.

They had gotten so lost in their thoughts all day that they hadn't realised how late it had gotten until they glanced at the newest alarm clock in Logan's room to discover that it was midnight.

Morph assumed that Logan must still be trying to settle Laura down for bed. Which given her earlier behaviour wasn't a total shock.

Looking for an excuse to check in on the pair, Morph grabbed the spare set of bedsheets from their room. Well technically they weren't exactly spare, but they hadn't exactly been used much since Morph had been spending most of their nights in Logan's room. Something that Morph could still scarcely believe, even though they had been in a relationship with the man for a while now.

Morph was startled out of their thoughts by the door of Laura new bedroom before they could even knock.

Logan stood on the other side of the doorway, purple shadows under his blue eyes and Laura dangling off his arm from where she was currently biting into his bicep.

"Everything alright?" Morph asked, unable to stop themselves from staring at the sight.

Logan groaned, grabbing Laura by the scruff of her neck from his other arm. He yanked her free, seemingly not caring when she took a chunk of his biceps with her.

"I said no biting!" Logan ordered, holding her by the scruff of the neck and pointing the finger of his free hand at her. She then tried to bite said finger.

"Alright that's it!" Logan growled marching over to the bed and dumping her on it. Laura growled back, crouching up against the pillows by the wall, claws drawn.

"Now go to sleep!" Logan demanded, exhaustion seeping into his voice. For once he actually sounded his over a hundred years of age.

Laura shook her head. Morph noticed that she was still wearing the medical gown that they'd found her in and that the old nightdress Jubilee had kindly donated was on the floor in shreds. Along with basically every other thing in the room. 

Well she was definitely Logan's kid, Morph couldn't help but think. Not that there was any doubt.

Morph shared a quick look with Logan. Whilst neither had telepathy, they had always been able to communicate without words.

Logan stiffened, his eyes darting to the still protruded edges of Laura's claws, even though they both knew that they couldn't hurt them. After a moment, he nodded.

With permission granted, Morph placed the sheets besides the remains of the nightdress before they slowly perched on the end of the bed. Laura quickly shifted her focus to them, for the first time properly taking in their presence.

It was strange to see the blue of Logan's eyes in one so young, especially when they held the same amount of trauma. And Laura may not have been Morph's kid but in that moment they knew that they would do anything if it meant that she would never have to feel that pain again.

"Not a fan of sleeping either huh?" Morph smiled. Laura made no outwards response that she had heard them. Regardless Morph kept on talking. "You know your Daddy rescued me too."

By the inquisitive tilt of her head, it was evident that she did not, which wasn't that surprising considering the fact that before the past twenty-four hours she didn't know that life existed outside of that hellhole of a compound. But Morph couldn't think about that without getting extremely pissed so they moved on.

"He promised that the bad man who had captured me would never take me again. And he was true to his word. Because your Daddy is the most over protective worry-wort I know." Logan snorted. They ignored him. "However, he can't stop any bad thing from ever happening. Sometimes, my nightmares hurt me too. But he can stop the bad man from hurting me. And I promise that he won't let the bad people hurt you again."

Morph felt a strong hand grasp their shoulder. They glanced up to see that over protective resolve on Logan's face and couldn't help but smile.

Out of the corner of their eye, they saw Laura take a curious look back and forth between them.

A minute later, she finally put her claws away. Although she made no move to actually get into bed.

Luckily, Morph had one idea left.

"One time, I was so scared of going to sleep, that your Daddy stayed up all night to protect me." They could still remember that night. The feeling of Logan's arm around them. Hands that had taken so many lives used to hold them close. They had never felt safer. "Nobody here will let anyone hurt you. But if you like, me and your Daddy can keep watch outside your door, just to sure?"

Morph watched as Laura thought their offer over. They released the breath they hadn't realised they'd been holding when she eventually nodded her head.

Laura didn't get under the covers but she did lie her head down on the pillow. Morph decided to take that as a win.

"Goodnight." Morph said as they collected the pile of sheets. They elbowed Logan who grunted out a 'Goodnight' too. "We'll be right outside if you need us."

Laura nodded and finally closed her eyes.

Morph took one long last look before they closed the door behind them.

As soon as it was shut, Logan collapsed against the door. Morph rolled their eyes. And Logan called them a drama-queen.

Still they arranged the bedsheets into a nest on the floor before sliding down the wall to sit next to him.

It was wild to think how much had changed since the last time the two of them had slept like this.

Time-travel. Resurrections. Not to mention the fact that they were actually dating.

And now there was Laura.

It was still the early days of their relationship with Logan. And Morph knew that the two of them would need a have a serious talk about the extent of their involvement in Laura's life sooner rather than later. But if Logan was willing, then Morph would be honoured to be a part of it.

"You're good with her." Logan said eventually. There wasn't any jealously in his tone, just resigned statement of relief, as though he never expected anything different.

"Well I do have experience in wrangling Wolverines." Morph teased, nudging him.

For once Logan didn't respond to their joke. He stewed in silence, those bright blue eyes refused to meet their empty grey ones.

Morph cupped his cheek, slowing turning his chin as they stroked their thumb through his soft sideburns. Logan finally looked them in the eye and Morph had never that shade of blue look so vulnerable.

"Hey," Morph whispered. "You've only been a parent for twenty-fours hours. Nobody is expecting you to be the perfect parent right away. For some people it takes eighteen years to learn. And some never do. Take my Dad for example. But you're trying, which is a hell of lot more than some people."

"I just I... I never thought I'd have ... this." Logan stammered, gesturing vaguely towards Morph and the door.

Morph knew what he meant. After the death of their mother and the rejection of their father, they never thought they'd have anything resembling a family again. Then they joined the X-Men, became best friends with then started dating Logan, and found Laura. And now they were finally letting themselves believe that they might have one again.

"Well you're stuck with us now so you're going to have to start getting used to it." Morph told him. It was smaller than expected but they finally got that smirk of a smile on Logan's face that they had been aiming for. "I'll take first watch. You get some sleep."

For once Logan was too tired to argue for stubbornness' sake and rested his head against their shoulder.

Within moments Morph heard the soft rumbling of snores. They smiled. Who would have thought that all it would take to tire out the great Wolverine was one little girl.

Well, a little girl with knives for knuckles and more trauma than anyone that small should ever have to contain.

But they had seen Logan comfort Jubilee, holding her close as she dealt with the horrors of the foster system. Or watched as he let some of the random kids they'd saved use his body as a climbing frame. And experienced first hand how he would go to the ends of the Earth to protect the people he cared about.

Morph knew that Logan would be an amazing father. They just hoped that one day soon, he would see that too.

[darkbluekies]

Jerry asks #2

Previous one

Concept: I've put multiple asks into one post to avoid too much loose posts on my account! This way, you have more to read too<3

Warnings: nsfw mentions, drugs, murder

Rahhh i love ur OC Jerry smmm, i wanna squish her like a stress ball and inhale her into my nose 😔😔Im conclusion, i can't wait to see more of Jerry and your writing in general!!! &lt;;33

youwannadowhatnow???? (thank you so much ily)

Bro i am SO in lesbians with jerry its not even funny

Very good >:)

how would Jerry react to reader killing someone out of self defense?(p.s. im lowkey in love with Jerry)

She will be proud over you. All that self defense she taught you actually worked. She's so pleased to know that you can take care of yourself when she's away. She'll comfort you, knowing that this most likely will take a toll on your brain.

"It's okay, baby, it's okay I promise, you did nothing wrong! You did so well. You could even have been harsher if you ask me, but you're so nice, aren't you? The nicest little baby? Come here."

As soon as Jerry puts a colouring book in front of me bam my attention is gone I am drawing I am gone I am happy

Perfect, just like she wants :>

"Giving you a coloring book to keep you occupied" Jerre what the actual f... do you think i'm a child ?! *is absolutely doing the coloring with an offended look*

Lmao coloring books really are fun, i love them so much

She'll come over every ten minutes to check up on you and see how far you've come.

"No need to glare at me when you're obviously having fun, you child." She peeks at the drawing. "That looks good, baby doll. If you finish the entire page before I'm done here I might let you sleep on my arm tonight."

Does Jerry get softer over time? She’s stand offish but we get those moments of softness, when she settles down with her darling and they both trust each other will she be soft or still only fleeting moments?

She doesn't get softer in theory, but you learn how to take her behavior and analyze it. Her cockiness is a part of her personality. it's not disappearing anytime soon. However, if you match her energy she will be much more comfortable. You might even be on the same level with her instead of being her property.

Example:

"I ought to give that son of a bitch a real pounding", Jerry mutters with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You should wipe the floor with his hair", you reply. "Use it like a real good mop."

She scoffs out a laugh. "I should, shouldn't I?"

"If you don't, I will."

You're about to leave, but she grabs your shoulder, forcing you back.

"Not a fucking chance, Y/N", she says. "He would grab your hair and swing you over his head like a damn propeller. I'm not letting him hurt you, you're too important to me. You can help me, but you're not doing anything by yourself, do you understand that?"

"In that case he'll hurt you too."

"I'll be fine." She taps your nods at the man. "If you take his glass, I'll put in the sleeping pills. Let's go, baby. I'm right behind you."

on my hands and knees begging for more information on jerry’s mommy kink

Well ... haha ... Jerry loves to be in control and know that she's the leader of the relationship. Having you call her that makes her feel important to you. Plus it feeds her gigantic ego.

She's the type to want you to call her that among others, just so people know. It makes her feel even cockier.

Of course she mocks you about it when you become shy about it, why wouldn't she do that? The more embarrassed you are, the happier she gets.

BLUE OMG I LOVE JERRY SO MUCH SHES LITERALLY RHE STANDART ‼️‼️

AGREED<33333

jerry stole my heart<3 -💤anon

She will steal more than that, she will steal your entire life

[wildissylupus]

Ok one, I hate that I was right that Cassidy didn't loose his arm in that explosion. He left for a second and then the attack happened. THEN THE SAME THING HAPPENED DAYS LATER IN ROME-

And the fact that he didn't attend her funeral-

Honestly at this point I think that if Reyes had said from the get go that they were killing Antonio Cassidy would have been the one to kill him cause holy shit-

HE STAYED BY HER SIDE WHEN SHE DIED OMG-

The speech Liao gives in Echo's origin, were those her last words? Was she saying all of that to Cassidy?!

"So... this is it. Did... Did I make the world a better place? They had every reason to doubt me. And only Overwatch believed. You are my life's work. You will be everything I dreamed. All I wanted, all I needed... was to help the world."

She and Echo were alone so her addressing Echo would make sense, WERE THESE HER LAST WORDS.

God the idea of Cassidy listening to this and assuring Mina that she did good, that she did make the world a better place breaks my heart.

AND ECHO WAS ACTIVE WHEN LIAO DIED-

God they really saw my posts about Mina's death being really tragic and went "aight bet", then proceeded to make it worse.

This also confirms my theory as to why Cassidy was so uncharacteristically blood thirsty in the Retribution comic....

My theories were confirmed....but at what cost...

[myfairkatiecat]

as an actual person getting a degree in criticism of english literature, i'd like to say that you are completely entitled to your opinion and i am entirely thrilled to see discussion of literary theory in the kotlc fandom!!!! it's fantastic and i wish everyone engaged with the work like you are!!!

that being said, I do have some questions? problems? smth idk. for you. This is not an attack or anything like that, pure academic camaraderie and engagement. Literary theory shifts entirely based on who, how, and why people engage with it.

You stated in one post that when an author writes their story one way, you as the reader can't really argue against that at all, as you are choosing to engage with the work. For instance, if you hate Sokeefe and it turns you off from reading the series, you can't say that the author was wrong without basing it in some real criticism. My response to this would be, what would that criticism look like? Do you have a good argument for why Sokeefe wouldn't be a good route for the author to take? I am an AVID Sokeefe shipper, and I can think of at least three. But I digress. My main thought here is that an author, at least in my opinion, can be completely wrong in their execution of anything. Just because something is written in a story doesn't necessarily mean that's how it has to be, or how it would best be written!

I genuinely think millions of writers have begun writing things simply because they saw a poorly executed story.

Writing, for me, at least, always seems to be utterly entwined with itself. Story, wording, execution, pacing, it's all combined into the whole it becomes. This is why Twilight is so bad, why KOTLC has isn't classics material, and why, say, Jane Eyre is! It's all combined together into a beautiful flashing collective, and it is when you get excellence across the board that a work of fiction really shines.

However, I don't think one can take the author as the prime example of perfectly executing their own story.

I would write so much of KOTLC completely differently if it were my writing, and I would argue that all of that would make it worlds better, even if some of my choices are primarily based on personal taste, not supported criticism, because I think that I know how to write just as well, if not better than the author does.

It is based in this very same idea, that even if I were operating solely out of personal taste that I could do it better, that I find myself disagreeing with your claim.

I genuinely believe an author can make terrible decisions with their story, and be wrong about how it's carried out, even if it's in the material and published.

Do you have any thoughts on this? Sorry, I know this is kind of long.

Anyways! Thank you so much for bringing up theoretical stuff!!!! I literally LOVE to see it!!!! :D Have a great day!!!

I love this stuff too OMG im going to college next year and I’m majoring in English

Anyway yes!! Most of what you said is actually about the execution of the story, which I totally agree can be objectively better or worse! I like to put all those things like style, pacing, and execution in the family of “writing” and things like plot and scenes and what is actually happening in the universe as “content.”

I think the “writing,” as I loosely defined it above, can be thoroughly criticized at any point, and ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE! That’s how readers and writers alike learn and grow from other media and nurture their own talent! I can definitely think of some things about Shannon’s writing in kotlc that I would have executed differently, but with kotlc, I mostly try to ignore it since it’s………kotlc 😭 but no you’re absolutely right!

I bristle a little bit at criticism of “content” as I defined it above. I know it’s wrapped up in the writing, but I think things that are actually happening in the universe—such as decisions characters make or big events that affect the plot and characters—are things that are totally up to the author, and therefore can’t be objectively wrong. For example, Sophie deciding to date Keefe is something happening in the universe. Therefore, it can’t be the “wrong” thing, because it’s Shannon’s universe in the first place.

Now, there could be other pathways the story could have taken. The story might be more enjoyable to some people if other pathways were taken. But Shannon isn’t… “incorrect” about her own characters, which is a take I’ve seen implied (and even outright stated somewhere, I’ll have to find that again) since she created them and what she decides to have them do is a part of the story she’s deciding to tell. From an objective standpoint, we can discuss her writing methods and the execution of the story she is telling, but at the end of the day, if someone’s problem isn’t with the execution but with the story itself, their criticism ceases to really be helpful. That’s basically like saying, “I like Harry Potter, but J. K. Rowling really messed up when she made Voldemort a half-blood.” (Which might be a bad example because it was actually a genius narrative choice.) In that statement, you aren’t criticizing Rowling of her execution of the story, you’re criticizing the very story she decided to tell, which is her right as an author.

I think an author can make choices that don’t move their story in a direction that would lend it more literary merit or have more of an impact. But if those decisions are related to the “content” rather than the “writing” (according to the groups I defined above) then I don’t think anyone can objectively say the decision is wrong. That’s the other thing—the use of the word “objective” in situations it has no business being in.

In short, writers can execute things well or poorly, and they can make narrative decisions that don’t lead the work down a road that gives it more meaning, but when coming up with the actual plot of a story, authors can’t be wrong about what should happen in a story that is of their own design! If they think that their character would do X, Y and Z, then they’re right, because they created the character. Even if we, the readers, haven’t been exposed to a single thing about that character that would make them make those decisions, the author is still right about their own character. Now, in that scenario, the writing can be criticized, because a character who would do X, Y and Z should probably show signs of it earlier in the work so that it doesn’t give the readers whiplash and better develops the character, but the author can’t be wrong in their own universe by virtue of having created the universe.

Thanks for stopping by!! I love chatting about this stuff, feel free to reblog and keep it going

[crystal-crax]

A RANT

THE NEON LEON

(II) Why he needs to fail at being a leader

Inspired by Skulltrot's Leo analysis on Youtube (WATCH IT, IT'S SO GOOD, I LOVE IT)

What? Crystal! You're contradicting yourself-

Shhhh! This is poetry, listen to me

One of the reasons i've seen people complain about rise leo, is his overall "confidence".

They find him annoying or reduce him to "the funny guy", the one that messes everything up in the movie and deus ex machina's his way to the power of friendship.

But honestly, i think this is so far from the truth; Leo is integral to the concept and culmination of the rise turtles, he cements the message this version of the turtles has been trying to explain from the beginning.

You can't do everything alone; trust those who love you, and love those who you trust.

But honestly, i think a lot of people forget that we've all probably felt like him before.

Leo is quite a complicated character to understand easily (mostly bc the rise series got horribly cut down and omg i'm still hurting), because an important part of his character is he will literally never be honest about what he's feeling. The only thing he talks about? How he knows (bc he doesn't just think it, he's so sure about it) nobody trusts him or thinks he's capable of holding his own weight.

He comes off as uninterested and goofy because he so desesperately clings to that portrayal of himself because he needs to trick both others and his own mind that he's fine.

He doesn't think he's enough, he believes the team would be perfectly fine without him. He thinks he needs to prove he can do something so he can be valuable to the team.

And i think it's amazing

"Rise of the TMNT", the title already gives away the purpose of their different personalities and coping mechanisms on this version of the story. We're not meant to see an structured team of properly trained ninjas, we're here for the ride, we are walking alongside them as the team gets in line and learn how to be heroes.

Sure the other versions of the turtles had their own character arcs, you don't need to see something from the instant beginning to know the characters are growing, but rise has always felt more of a love letter to the turtle family itself. A complete exploration of an alternate universe where the mad dogz got to somewhat live as teenagers before earning the mantle as protectors of the world (and new york lol).

We're familiar with Leonardo's story in evey tmnt version, he's the leader. He's in charge of protecting the city and his family.

But the problem is always there, he fears he won't be enough, that he will fail to be the leader the world asks him to be. This is also something we see in rise leo but it's more...fresh? It feels naturally younger.

Were you never nagged about not taking things seriously when you were younger? Were you never yelled at for messing things up? Didn't you ever feel as if you had to prove to others that you were more they perceived you to be?

As someone that battles their own inferiority complex, leo feels...so easy to relate to.

He didn't ask for the responsability, and he kind of doesn't want it, but he learns to bear it properly.

He fails to be the good leader they expect him to be (i also have the theory he self-sabotages himself a lot?) but he learns to be more than what they expect.

To quote myself from my last post (yes i loved typing that) "a leader is not the one that orders, but the one that motivates and supports you". He learns how being a leader is not imposing or bearing every problem and responsability alone, but to motivate your team and guide them to never loose hope.

He uses everything he already knows about himself and his team to be better and guide them to a new version of the ninja turtle gang, one where family and trust is far more important than anything else (and it feels good to know we won't have the typical raph vs leo fight for leadership in the future- i mean there was a fight BUT IT WASN'T ABOUT THAT)

Someone stop me i might just start a tmnt rant loop of my own making and i'm enjoying it😭