#ooh!!

[catliker49]

Don't Forget to Wave Up High!

This was Just a quick Test!! I am working on remaking the Advert from the Update!!! I have so much work to do! But I also must do my College work.. (I am so behind it is Unbelievable.. CURSE YOU WELCOME HOME AND YOUR PRETTY COLOURS!! - Not actually though! Muaha! (o:>)

I will Redo this at some point! But for now! I would like some sleep... night night all!! (Or good day!)

[gravity-falls-headcanons]

oh boy here we go. pre-portal ford was very bad at returning his mothers phone calls. bc of this, she would drop by unannounced. this leads to her surprising stan by showing up— ofc she realized it was stan immediately, but he tried to play as ford (n hide his hands) until she very gently took his face into her hands and said his name. she asked where ford, and that was it. it was the first time stan admitted out loud what had happened. he couldn’t lie to his ma, not about this. (she wasn’t mad— worried, yes, but not mad. she also was so happy to see her little boy again)

.

[lesbiancarat]

SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) 10th Mini Album 'FML'

Hidden Title Motion Poster

손오공 (Super)

☁ 2023.04.24 6PM (KST)

☁ 2023.04.24 5AM (ET)

[roadkillraat]

I would like to do some of these for my ocs i got :3 I'm still not home but this will be some good pratice before i finish that comic

Ohh, so I was looking at my storage and found these! I originally shared them on twitter before yeeting the platform. Anyway, feel free to use! Art memes for your oc :D

[skipppppy]

This has to be an AU already right? I’ve never seen it. I’m doing it. My city now

The angst potential alone haunts me. How long do you think he waited for Ford?? When did it start to sink in that nobody was coming to save him, that nobody would miss him? Would anybody even want him back? How long did it take for his anger, his heartbreak, his grief to turn into acceptance and a belief that this was divine retribution? How long did he work, how many jobs did he take, how much wealth did he accrue, how many brushes with death did he have until he believed he’d “earned” the right to go home and see his brother?? Many such questions. I need to go deeper

[egophiliac]

(this one's been getting stolen a lot, so please be aware that if you see this anywhere else (even with credit), it's been reposted against my wishes! please do not use my art in your videos/reupload to pinterest/etc., thanks!)

--

gargoyle Mal is everything I've ever dreamed of and more. his little raincoat! his umbrella! I hope he really does have big ol' stompy rainboots to splash around in puddles in. I hope they have little faces on them.

(Twst please give me Malleus having a rainy day adventure, this is everything I need right now)

[limitedseries]

Everyone's afraid of you, you know? But, like... I'm not.

[loadinghollows]

PULL AND PEEL 🍑

[secretsinthesilentdark]

@themeeplord

“Dead Clade Walking” - a term for animals that are alive but from a functionally extinct species.

concept art 4 a horror comic about the dinosaurs that survived the initial meteor impact and are now living in a sort of last of us/annihilation-esque world

[gcballet]

Star Wars as tweets/textposts

| SW | ->

[ellstersmash]

things i learned today:

solas could've avoided this whole mess and probably had enough free time to take lavellan on a nice little date if he just took up archdemon hunting instead of all the rituals and the other dastardly deeds

lucanis won't romance rook if they go to minrathous but will romance neve because despite saying he's cool, he's not cool

everyone's nice and no one has slaves or anything because *checks forearm* the blight

all your companions get along with you and each other because also the blight

even though he's like, really manipulative and uses people all the time, solas accumulated but then gave up an entire army's worth of spies and agents because he decided he wasn't ready for a management position

red lyrium isn't really around because—and you are not gonna believe this—the blight

solas just lies. all the time, outright, to everyone. so I guess he was actually only super careful to not ever actively lie in Inquisition as like a fun little challenge to himself

tying the veil to his life force (you know, the guy who couldn't even take down an archdemon on his own and actually just got his ass beat so is not in great shape in the best ending) fully repaired the veil! \o/ don't ask how you wouldn't understand it it's not a big—

everyone near minrathous is cured of the blight! but @ everyone else you may be entitled to compensation 🥀

the only ritual solas has ever gotten or will ever get right is cleansing the idol into the ritual dagger. good thing too bc it was way more dangerous than this one. other than that, wrong about everything ever

elven magic is like not that big a deal, dude

the griffons are, unfortunately, long-term fucked

the elves don't see the crossroads differently anymore because uh.. because....... war

spite does not get involved in rookanis sexytimes. so perhaps him spreading his wings was actually just in preparation to leave bc ew they're kissing gross

NO ONE cares about the goddamn spirits

[gayofthefae]

Max teaches El how to play then she does on her own, sometimes in ways Max is even surprised by and had no influence on - like not taking Mike back at the pool in 3x04. But Lucas is holding the controller for Mike. If he lets go, Mike is unable to play by himself.

Teach a man to fish or something

But Mike doesn't understand the game itself, he is completely confused by it, so he can only succeed with continuous step by step instructions.

This is one of those things I thought from my first watch, even thinking he was straight. Mike does not see El as herself in season 3. He sees her as "girlfriend". This is never made more clear than when Mike and Lucas describe El and Max with as the generalized terms "girls". Mike is mimicking a boyfriend to a girlfriend on TV or in people around him, not understanding the actual experience he's supposed to be having or the intention behind those milestones. I thought it was just the writing, but the "I love you" always felt like a checkpoint. It's the "next thing".

Mike and El seem to me like the straight couple who get married because they've "been together long enough" and there are no milestones left. They're checking boxes. Mike has been told that when you date someone, you spend time with her, but he doesn't know what's next - as shown in Destination Unknown on his playlist - until she dumps him. Now he has a new objective: get her back, but that's vague and he has been unsuccessful even after they're on good terms again so he doesn't know what to do next. Until he lets the ily slip - right! That's a milestone! We'll go with that one.

But in successfully achieving it, only then is he able to realize he doesn't actually want it. He thought he would because he'd never hit a milestone before and that's what you're supposed to do, so he thought that it would bring him joy so he was excited by it, but he realized when it hit him that this was a game to him. And it wasn't supposed to be. "Normal" people actually feel it. In typical relationships, you do what makes you feel better or because you want the other person's happiness.

"We could always call them" "We can do that?"

He's checking the rule book. With Will, he just wants to follow him to apologize because he doesn't like Will being upset. With El, he doesn't like her being upset, but that's vastly overshadowed by the knowledge that boyfriends who like their girlfriends get them back when they're dumped. He's following a script in only one scenario, and he still is. That love confession was cliché. That's exactly why.

People say it's an epic love story because it's mimicking one. But its mimicry is too purposeful to be real. He does and says all the things you do and say when you love someone. But only because he was told that's what people who love someone do and say.

Whenever someone goes off-script, he fumbles.

Calls line.

Returns to old lines to see if they work here, if they can get him back on track in the script.

But he can't improvise. Because to improvise, you have to understand the character's motives.

He doesn't know what he's supposed to want or why these lines are said. It's shown in how his speech mimics Will's. He tells a story about himself and El like Will did describing their time apart because he only understood that in a love confession, you tell a story. He didn't understand why, how it fit, or what it had to represent.

He cannot improvise because he doesn't understand his character's motives. El handed him a script and he didn't feel comfortable using it, that's why he was so confused how to proceed. But in the end, he just opted for using it.

He has yet to speak from the heart. He has yet to say anything to her purely from his inclinations and desires. Because he doesn't trust them. He doesn't trust them to be right. He's never trusted them to appear straight.

But lovers say those lines. Friends shoulder punch each other. He doesn't know in what context or why, but he'll do his best.

Something that always bothered me about Stranger Things 3 and 4 and romance.

It's so...

It's too...

It's like—AH! I got it: It's a game!

In ST3, romance is a game—

—a game Mike knows he's losing. He has

• lifelines

• saving throws, and

• even HP in this game.

The game has in-game consequences, like upsetting Hopper, disappointing the entire party, and El dumping him (game over, try again?). Romance: Mileven edition is still just a game—for Mike, a game of testing limits. He can try again later. But it's also a stageplay: the only reason he was winning in the first place was because he has a really good coach watching and helping him—someone who's already on round six or seven of this game and Act II of this play:

Lucas, who is playing Romance: Lumax edition quite successfully with Max, even if he's gotten Game Over a few times. However, he always has to tell Mike the answers, which is completely out-of-character for Mike, but he keeps winning with Lucas’s help—as long as El doesn't realize she's playing.

(I just realized this "romantic" shot is super dark, and we can barely see their faces)

Still, once Mike starts being, well, "a total asshole," El starts playing, too. Romance for her is a treasure hunt. She's

• making allies

• finding treasures and solving puzzles, and

• earning EXP

She has a better coach: Max. She doesn't quite understand El's choices in this game, but teaches her that it is a game, and she offers amazing advice that makes her a better player.

Romance: Lumax edition was (in ST3) a similar game with similar in-game consequences, like breaking up, but Max and Lucas both want to keep playing... until they can't anymore, and for good reason. When the party falls apart in ST3:8, Max loses her stepbrother, her stepfather walks out, her mother is busting her ass working two jobs, and they have to move after just getting settled a few months ago. Between this and Lucas struggling with his own social identity (becoming a jock or remaining a nerd) and comprehending his own trauma, and as Lucas and Max became more serious about each other and themselves, this is the first time Lumax splits for real, even if they remain on good terms. The game is over—in fact, this isn’t a game nor an act anymore—but the love and friendship remain strong.

By ST4, Mike, however, is still playing. And so is El.

They continue to play as long as someone is watching. However, unlike Lucas and Max, Mike and El have almost always been playing against each other in ST3, and now in ST4, they are both playing and acting, as convincingly as they can, to maintain... a lie. That they're happy, that they are happy with and without each other and without the party; that they will always be there for each other and understand each other; that the distance and time apart hasn't made them think about not playing anymore. After all, what's the point in winning if no one sees? But they don't want to keep playing—it's exhausting.

And they convince someone of the act:

D&D? That's a game, but love? No, Mike is so serious about the people he loves. Mike and Will have built their party from the ground up. Their friendship is irreplicable. It doesn't require acting, strategy or outside influence to maintain. It doesn't even require gifts. And, most importantly, no one watches them "win" at friendship. It only requires them being genuine. When one of them is no longer being genuine, there are real-world consequences—it puts their friendship and everything it built in jeopardy.

It was never a game, and Mike knows this because he can't lose Will. And he realizes too late (by their rain fight) that not only is Will not interested in whatever show Mike is putting on, but that he never had to play this game to begin with. Mike could have somehow spent the rest of his life with Will sitting in the basement playing games for the rest of their lives, if he realized soon enough that this was an option.

So, when Mike and El "ignore" Will, Will thinks it's because they're deeply in love, and they're genuinely happy and very much without him. It even confuses Will when Mike makes it crystal clear he isn't happy. When Mike tells Will that he and El had "a fight that you can't come back from," he fails to tell Will that he's losing and perhaps... he doesn't want to keep playing the romance game if it's game over. This is because he's been acting this out for so long, and it causes him to unwittingly mix love and romance with two different relationships. Will deduces, Okay, there's a problem with Mike's relationship and he wants to fix it. I love him and I should help. Will was of no help last time (not understanding the game) and nearly walked out on their friendship, and Will doesn't want to do that again. He provides a real-world solution. Mike tries again to tell Will the truth, that it's an act he doesn't want to maintain, and again Will, thinking Mike wouldn't lie about something as serious and genuine as love keeps giving genuine advice. It's almost funny rewatching it.

Finally, Mike just straight up tells him the truth. He's dating El because it's "simple dumb luck" and he doesn't know what he'll do once "she doesn't need [him] anymore." Still, it's only half-true. He doesn't elaborate that he's spent so much time throwing his relationship with El in everyone's faces just to look normal as the reason he's pushed so many people away.

Will, realizing being genuine isn't working... finally starts playing the game.

He lies to Mike about El's feelings for him

and is rewarded for it.

(I need metric data on how many times this van scene was replayed)

Will's in-game objective is to help Mike become a better player, and Mike finally has the peace of mind from Will that he'll be okay if he just stops playing entirely. It flipped.

So by the time Mike realizes he actually traded love for romance, where does that leave them? Oh.

Here.

(I forgot where I was going with this, sorry)

Will applies game logic to real life—which never works without consequences—thinking it's the only way they can survive and we have Mike's "confession." Mike has lied to everyone and now can't stop playing. He's told Will last summer that Will needs to at least pretend to play, and now he can't go back on this. He can't go home, or explain himself, or repair all the damage.

Lying is his life now.

The way they showcase both love and romance in this show just hurts my soul 😅

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

Went to rummage sale and found Big Pot. Also found a working 1970s food processor for $4!

[jq37]

You gotta hand it to Fig. All of the Bad Kids were given foils this season and they got to decide how much they wanted to engage with that part of the plot. Gorgug only interacted with Mary Ann in passing despite them both being on the Owlbears. Fabian noped out of chatting up Ivy once she crossed a line with Mazey. Riz was so busy that he truly had no time to engage with Kipperlilly even though she's obsessed with him. Kristen interacted a bit with Buddy but spent way more time verbally sparring with Kipperlilly. And Adaine was somewhat interested in Oisin but never overtly acted on it.

But Fig?

She's in Ruben's WALLS. She's in his DREAMS. She's faking her alter emo's death. She's got the Fantasy FBI after her. She's SO SO tiny. No one is doing it like Fig's doing it.