#or fully disagree with me lmao

[its-tortle]

— taylor swift albums as months of the year —

[catchascatchcn]

cannot believe we’re still doing “even if you dislike a character you cannot tell the actor to kill themselves” discourse in 2024. were you raised in the woods. were you raised by beasts in the woods

[hanzajesthanza]

it kind of bothers me that witcher fans don’t really unite under sapkowski’s name like other fans of fantasy authors do (e.g. “tolkien fans”).

in practically any other fandom of fantasy books, save for the particularly rancid authors known for their disappointing and shameful behavior or views (e.g. jk r*wling), it’s just regular business to say the author’s name. but sapkowski’s name is treated like a dirty word in the witcher fandom, for really no good reason…

it must be asked — what is stopping us from doing so?! why don’t we call ourselves sapkowski fans. it would be much easier than saying “i’m a fan of the witcher, but only the books, i don’t consider the various adaptations canon, etc. etc.” … “half a hundred words, when three are enough!!”

[eddiegettingshot]

oh

[boyapologist]

also I can't believe I didn't mention this on my previous post but our instructor was giving us some tips on our makeup and how we're wearing our uniform and stuff (this part is normal at my job don't worry) and she said I have an EXOTIC BEAUTY. exotic. I think this is the worst thing anyone has ever said to my face lol

[hymn-to-mercury]

✨🪐Astrology observations🪐✨

These observations are all based off my own personal experience and are mostly generic - don't take it to heart if you disagree <3

🪐 No one seems to fully understand how Aquarius Moons work, including Aquarius Moons themselves.

🪐 I love how heavy Mars influence shows up in people's physical appearance! I’ve always noticed that people with a lot of mars dominance in their chart have a big forehead and/or a widows peak, as well as rosy cheeks or a naturally reddish/pinkish undertone to their skin.

🪐 Undeveloped Virgo and Sagittarius placements absolutely do not give a fuck about your feelings. They can be extremely self centred I've noticed to almost a dangerous detriment.

🪐 A lot of people give Scorpio women the Mean Girl rep, but honestly I think that title should be lent to Virgo women too 😭 They tend to have this hangup about perfection, and I think when undeveloped it shows more as an aversion to anything 'weird' or against the status quo.

🪐 Cardinal Mars signs (that's Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) reallyyyyy can't hide their dislike for things 😅 people, food, celebrities, whatever. If they don't announce it verbally then you can at least tell by their face lmao.

(I once had to put on my ~emergency socks~ when I was wearing heels on a night out, and every time someone came up to me to tell me how nice my outfit looked I would say thanks and then just not stop yapping about how the socks were not originally apart of the outfit 😭 I couldn't let people think I approved of socks and sandals alksjdgfsjdh)

🪐 Scorpio placements can dish it but can't take it. Cancer placements will sneakily dish it under the guise of a joke and then start crying if you try to dish it back.

🪐 People with Leo Moon tend to 'perform' their activism a lot. That's not to say that they don't practice what they preach, but I think when they do speak up their image has something to do with it

🪐 If you were born under a Mercury Retrograde it might feel like you were destined to be misunderstood no matter how well articulated you are 🙃 I don't think it's a problem with yourself as much as it is with the people you encounter through your life though. Your biggest 'ops' might be people who are very particular and specific about word choice - think Gemini and Virgo Placements (if you are a Gemini/Virgo yourself, this may manifest for you as harbouring some self-hatred or significant self-consciousness).

🪐 Pisces want very badly to be carefree, but a lot of the time they severely struggle getting over their need for outside validation. Being carefree is also a trait they might find attractive in other people.

[mysinsforbts]

Sunghoon Boyfriend Headcanons

~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~

dom! sunghoon x sub! f. reader

+ 18

Warnings: smut/nsfw , hickeys, marking, biting, public sex, somnophillia, daddy/sir kink, roleplaying, morning sex, sexting, toys, lingerie, size kink, wall sex, shower sex, blowjob, dirty talking, teasing, dom! sunghoon (let me know if I forgot something)

~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~

(These are just random 3am thoughts! Feel free to disagree but DON'T come for me! Please enjoy~ )

~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~

SFW:

- He is the cool guy! Listen, he won't look at anyone else like he does at you. He loves his fans but the look he gives you.. it hits different

- The type of guy who is sly with flirting, especially in public. He flirts with you but makes it so smart that no one (besides his group members) will pick up on it

- It doesn't save you tho (lmao), makes you blush and your heart race regardless

- The cutest thing is, if you flirt back in private, he gets shy, won't show it tho

- He just sighs, bites his lip and turns away, seconds later having his 'pokerface' on again

- Sunghoon will compliment you everyday at least once, usually more than once

- He knows! I don't need to say more.. He knows! The way you look at him, the thoughts that cross your mind, the blush on your face, the fanfic you write (not calling myself out here), the photos you save.. everything!

- He knows but he keeps it to himself, beeing all smug about it and teasing you here and there

- The, "what eyes? ;) ", type of boyfriend (IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW-)

If you don't:

He always gives you these stares, gazes, looks that makes your hwart drop out of your chest, fully knowing what he does to you. So if you ask him, "Stop looking at me with those eyes", he will just smirk and be like, "what eyes?", while continueing to look at you like this .. little tease

- Many people say that he is not into pda in public. But I slightly disagree. He would be into some pda in public. He is just so cool and slick about it, either everyone thinks it's an accident or a joke

- Soo.. hand holding, slight touches on your shoulder, soft head pats, brushing against your waist would happen, he would let you know he loves you no matter where the both of you are

- Will want to show you off infront of his group members (you can fight me on this- pls don't!), but let me say that him and jake will have a "show-off" competion or something (lmao)

- Will kiss you infront of his group members, just gently kisses tho, he saves the rest for the night ;)

- Sunghoon actually loves to have you sit on his lap in private or infront of the other members, holds you with one hand by your waist while checking his phone

- Would take mirror selcas with you on his lap, just for the both you

- If you ever want a surten 'boyfriend-lockscreen' for your phone, just say the word and he will make your wish come true

- Would use nicknames like: princess, babe, honey, cutie

- The type to give you his jacket when it's cold outside or when it rains

- Would love to see you wearing his clothes, would never tell you that tho

- Has a smirk on his face when you walk around in his clothes and the other members see you

- Gives you princess treatment all the time

- Never makes you pay for anything, sometimes you feel bad for it and try to pay before he can (lmao)

- He is also such a caring boyfriend, makes sure you are all set on your periode

- Makes you hot chocolate to calm your nerves, feeds you sweets

- Makes sure you always have coffee in the morning when you wake up

- Sends you sweet texts through the day

- Like he could be having a show on that day and sends you a text 2 minutes before it that just says: "Love you, hope you enjoy the show~", or something like that

- You are always 100 % on his mind

- Coldly rejects any sort of confessions, besides the love from his fans

- Feels honored if you get jelaous, but would make sure that you don't feel the need to be jelaous

- Makes you feel you're the only one in his eyes, which you are

- He is very protective of you, never let's you walk alone in the dark, makes sure to at least calls you a cab

- Goes on ice skating dates with you

- You don't know how? No problem he will teach you

- Will try to impress you while skating

- So praise him will you?!

- Sunghoon will sometimes act out some k-drama scenes, just for the fun of it

- "Didn't you hear me?", sunghoon says while slowly closing in on you, pinning you against the wall behind you, "I said I can't forget the memorys of you from last night", his face so close to yours, whispering into your ear

- He has his moments okay??

- Loves it when you play along

- It's always so hilarious when you two act out a scene while the members are aound (lmao)

- "ahh they are at it again", "can't you get a room" , these comments would fly around a lot

- A lot of midnight dates, late night walks, star-gazing dates

- Sometimes you both would just sit in silence, looking into each others eyes for ages, not saying anything, just starring at each other

- The type to spoil you with gifts

- Sunghoon as the cool boyfriend, waiting for you, hearing music with his cool headphones

- When he is with you tho he will bring his other headphones so you two can listen to music together

- The type to have his headphones one, sitting on the coutch, you think he can't hear you, so you smile softly, with a slight blush on your face and a surten gaze in your eyes, "I love you so much..", before you turn around to leave. Meanwhile sunghoon having one part of his headphones behind his ears, hearing very well what you said. He smiles and turns around yelling back, "I love you to babe!", and starts to laugh at your suprised face

- He is a tease, would do that a lot and somehow you can never tell if he really is listening or not

- When you're crying or are upset he would put his headphones over your ears and plays your favorite comfort song, gently hugging you from behind, calming you down

- He might not be the best with words but his actions say everything

- His presence alone his calming to you

- In private he is actually a huge cuddler

- Will share his hoddies with you

- loves when you wear his clothes

- Loves to just hold you close, no matter how, while cooking, standing behind you hugging you, having you sit on his lap, spooing you while sleeping, just holding your hand while eating dinner or breakfast

- Buys your favorite sweets and snacks when you had a bad day to cheer you up

- If you don't kiss him before going to bed or leaving the house he will pout and just glare at the door or at you ( a huge baby lmao)

- The most hilarious is when you get to close to one of the other members. *cough* heesung *cough*

- He just stares at the other member so long till they get the message, like sunghoon can be really intimidating at times, especially when he gets jelaous

- Later on will walk up to and sing, "Honey, love me, love me, please tell me you love me. Where did that other guy come from? Don't you falter now. Love me, please honey tell me that you love me~", in a cheerfull voice. You were about to laugh, asking what's going on. But the moment your eyes met his, you could tell that his voice doesn't match with the look in his eyes. It's way more serious. Way darker

- Of course you understood right away and cuddled him, telling him not to be jelaous and that you only love him

- Now look at his big huge smile, grinning like a cute kitten

NSFW:

- A dom (no questions asked)

- never does anything without your consent

- loves to see you covered in his hickeys (if you would be up for it)

- has this undiscovered kink, it's called biting

- you would have to ask him for it, he would at least give it a try and will eventually figure out that he likes it

- the type to buy you often new lingerie

- sometimes makes you wear it all day just to take it of off you at night

- Is kinkier than he looks

- Makes you his little princess

- If he doesn't have a daddy kink, then a 'sir-kink'

- He can be both, soft & romantic with candles, dinner before it, roses everywhere, buying you flowers but also pushing you up against the next wall, ripping off your clothes while biting your neck, doing it rough & hard

- Not the risky type but doesn't say no to a bit of public sex

- If you would have the ice ring to just yourself he would take you there

- Sexting would be a thing if he is away on tour

- Buys you a bunch of toys for when he is away so you won't get bored

- Probably has a second phone for just sexting so that nothing can 'accidently' be uploaded somewhere

- Sunghoon is a very carefull, smart person so stuff like that would not happen to him

- Has a somnophillia kink, would only act on it after you gave him his consent

- If you gave him your consent, expect to be waking up into pure pleasure, in the middle of the night, in the morning, doesn't matter

- He has actually very little self control

- Has a lot of stamina, can go for more rounds, also he lasts very long

- Big dick energy for a reason, I refuse to believe that he is small! Man is huge!

- If you say stuff like how big he is, it will be such a turn on for him

- lowkey size kink

- aftercare king, cuddles, makes sure you're okay and comfortable

- brings you something to drink for you throat, "You screamed so much, better drink something," while smirking at you

- walks around shirtless on purpose just to tease you and see you blush

- while concerts when he does hip thrusts he always looks your way and winks at you

- loves when you hold eye contact while sucking him off

- makes you cum 2 times before cumming himself

- buys you the pill and takes over any costs regarding that, won't accept a no

- sometimes his mouth just let's dirty words or stuff slip, has a pokerface look on his face but says some nasty stuff.. idk he just doesn't care man (lmao-)

- leaves you to deal with the explaination to the other members

- if one of the members trys to tease him he will just stare blanky and give a honest answer

- "You two were soo loud last night. Dude is your bed okay? Like.. was it that good?", jake asked teasingly. Sunghoon just looked back st him and goes, "yes.. and?". Leaving you a blushing mess and not knowing what to answer

- he is smirking on the inside but keeps his cool on the outside

- shows off his strength by fucking you against the wall (have you seen those arms?!)

- you can't resist but wanting to shower with him, like wet hair sunghoon come on now..

- soo you would just beg him to let you join

- just beg and surely you gonna get what you want

- seeing you in just his hoddies turns him secretly on, just wear his jacket and he is obsessed with it

~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~💎~💙~

(That's it for now! Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it~)

[kanmom51]

Are you sure?

(that Tae is not third wheeling in Jeju, that is)

Lately I've been noticing that I love to start my posts with "So". And this one will be no different, lol.

So...

This dropped.

Notice, btw, how this one is called "Are you sure?! Announcement (from Jeju)"? Both 'announcements' filmed in Jeju, so why the difference then?

Maybe this:

Again, if they would have used the word "for USA" and "for Jeju" that would make sense as there being an announcement for each 'chapter' in their travel vlogs. But they clearly used the word "from" and that makes me stop and wonder why they did that, kind of make me think that maybe I wasn't too delusional with that post of mine.

People were all up in arms for Tae calling it "our" show only for it not to be the actual true translation.

Once again, thanks to @haedalkoo for setting things straight.💜

Others upset for this being exactly the same as the teaser clip we got from Jikook telling about their upcoming show.

And I beg to disagree with them on that.

This was them in the announcement 'from the USA":

JK is literally wearing the same outfit, JM changed and with glasses on. So I will risk and say, same day?

And yet, so so different.

It's not about them standing in the one and sitting in the other. Possibly a decision made to make them feel more comfortable in the situation seeing that it appeared to me they weren't so much.

But even when it's evident in the first announcement there is a script to follow you see their characters shine through, the playfulness between them, the dynamics, the chemistry, the electricity in the air.

While in the second announcement their demeanor is just totally different. STIFF.

Clearly running through the script. No extra them being them.

And that's how you have basically the two saying the same thing in both of these announcement only the first one ending up 1:23 minutes long while the second being 1:03 minutes long.

And do we talk about this?

JK and JM clearly closer to each other.

Is this JK's doing? Pulling JM just a little bit closer to him? Or Tae being put in the corner for "insisting" to join? Just joking. Or not. Lmao.

I know that there are those that are angry or frustrated about Tae joining, and although I do get you, seeing that we were basically sold the idea of this being just a Jikook show, then being showcased throughout Summer, Autumn and Winter. I too am struggling to understand why this wasn't part of the initial promotions. Why not tell us Tae is joining for the Jeju trip? Wouldn't have made Jikookers any less excited I would think. Why shoot those two announcements both from Jeju? That snippet we got with the two excited:

This is literally the two of them sitting on those chairs with Tae most likely by their side, Tae cut out.

So why?

I still don't get it. Not fully. I don't think it's about money or streaming. I actually am leaning towards thinking this was what the two of them wanted. In order to cement the fact that this is THEIR SHOW. Their idea. Their execution. Tae is a visitor, a guest, but it's THEIRS.

Anyway, Tae will be with them in Jeju. And it will be VERY interesting to see how this goes down. JK did not seem to be a happy camper in the teaser. Could be a mood. Could be in reaction to something that went down. We do know that he and Tae have that passive-aggressive energy to their interactions at times. JM's eyeroll in that moment was everything to me, lol.

We got these just now too:

and

You know I am always honest with you guys. And this is not going to be any different. At the end of the day, yes, I might have been disappointed that this isn't only theirs, that we weren't going to get to see them together, just the two of them in Jeju, a place we know they are so familiar with and that they both love so much. You know, without a buffer. But then, we are still getting Jikook. And I do believe that even with that buffer, or perhaps maybe because of said buffer, we might get some very interesting and insightful moments from this joint trip to Jeju. Eye opening to some (those that have had problems reading the room since forever).

[dunmeshistash]

What do you think about Shuro? And more specifically his relationship with Laios, and idk if you talk about ships but what are your thoughts on laishuro

I have this headcannon that Laios has some sort of unrequited crush on Shuro just because it's sorta funny

I ship pretty much everything. Like, as default I think everyone should kiss everyone 👍

If I'm honest I'm not much of a Shuro fan, he's a little boring to me and reactions to the chimera episode made me dislike him a bit lmao.

Ignoring the fandom I like him as a character and I LOVE his fight with Laios. Shuro's relationship to Laios is my favorite part of that character so laishuro pretty much saves him for me.

In universe Shuro is said to be quite the introvert even for people from his country. He's not the standard for someone from the eastern archipelago and it bothered me a bit when people used that to justify how he wasn't honest to Laios. I understand the idea that he comes from somewhere where reading social cues is not only expected but required but he's also someone who avoids confrontation and is quiet/shy in general.

Here's a bit from Maizuru's description from the adventurer's bible

"People tend to describe Shuro as "drab" and "shy" (...)" so specifically HE IS the exact type of person who would cause the biggest misunderstanding with Laios, just compare him to how his retainers or even his father and brothers act.

It took them saying they used ancient magic on Falin/seeing chimera Falin for him to finally snap, everything else he decided to just take it cause he thought it was better to take it than to confront Laios directly.

So besides the cultural differences you have to take into consideration this was pretty much the perfect storm brewing for that confrontation, and it's as much who Shuro is as a person and who Laios is as person that caused it.

I also disagree that the fight was a "they're both in the wrong" situation. Don't get me wrong, Laios was VERY culturally insensitive to Shuro and even more insensitive to his feelings, but there was nothing he could have done differently with the information that was available to him.

Specifically I see this comic being used to justify how Laios was to blame too, making Shuro into the victim

Like that's a major white guy move but he DIDN'T HEAR Shuro's name and Shuro never corrected him. I'd understand it if his reaction was "Your name is too complicated so I'll call you Shuro instead" that would be a major dick move, but Laios did not hear his name because Toshiro mumbled it, and for someone that forgot Kabru's name several times I imagine he made an effort to remember Shuro's.

Laios never met someone from the eastern archipelago before this, nobody ever explained to him he wasn't acting in an appropriate manner and most of all he thought they were friends. He trusted Shuro to set boundaries for him, he always respects boundaries that are set even when he doesn't fully understand them (Recalling the "I forgot about feelings.." when Chilchuck says it feels wrong to eat merman)

Instead of explaining ANYTHING to Laios, Shuro instead held it all in until it exploded all at once, he blamed Laios for not knowing something he couldn't know, and accused him of not being serious about saving his own sister.

Just imagine how this must have felt for Laios, everyone is always underestimating how serious he is, everyone accuses him of being stupid, clueless, and now this guy is telling him he isn't serious about saving the person he loves the most in the world and wants to protect always. To me this wasn't a "they're both in the wrong" situation, Shuro is far more in the wrong than Laios. But that's just how I see it.

That all being said, they understood each other finally and made peace after that fight.

And several times after this we see that Shuro really cares for Laios, and Laios still wants to be his friend. He even offered to save Laios if he fails (and he's sure he's gonna fail). So their relationship is dear to me, especially cause after this they finally have the foundation for a true mutual friendship <3

I think my dislike of Shuro comes from relating to him to be honest, it happens often that I see my own failures on a character and get angry at them for being angry at myself lmao. I also got a little annoyed cause I only saw people defending him, apparently those were made as a response to hate he had gotten? But since I never actually seen the hate it just felt annoying to see Shuro being white knighted.

Anyway I love the two of them together and I'm really happy they finally understood each other better. laishuro might be my favorite Laios ship, one sided crushes are great.

[nortimer]

I usually don't like talking about these kinds of things bc I often find I'm Not Great With Words, but bear with me I'm gonna try my best here. I've pondered this a lot since getting into Mouthwashing.

Tl;dr, I've observed a borderline aggressive need to be correct all the time about the themes of Mouthwashing or else you're immediately called an immoral and awful person. And I feel like it creates an atmosphere where people are scared to speculate in case they're perceived as evil. Or maybe that's just me personally being scared, idk. Either way, more under the cut (spoilers, obviously)

After first finishing Mouthwashing, there was a lot I didn't notice. Unfortunately, I'm an oblivious person. I didn't understand what the hibiscus meant. I had no clue what the whole scene with turning the wheels with Curly meant. I didn't even realize what Jimmy did to Anya, let alone what the conversation between Anya and Swansea was about or why Anya hid the gun.

It took scrolling through Tumblr, reading other people's analysis in order to fully understand the story. Even then, I went back and watched another playthrough once I had a better understanding.

But what I found in the fandom was a lot of hostility towards people who didn't understand the whole picture yet, or people who had the 'wrong' idea. I saw a disturbing amount of people who were saying things along the lines of "If you didn't understand the story this way, then you're just as bad as Jimmy/Curly" or "You're also an enabler, you're a bystander, etc."

I believe Mouthwashing's story having the themes it does is an effort to spread awareness about them, and I feel like that's a pretty universally agreed upon sentiment. But things like this, that are complex and have a lot of grey area, some people just aren't going to understand immediately, and that's why the game exists. To tell a story, and to teach. Hopefully in time, the messages, symbolism, etc will sink in and people will understand and be better. And some people aren't gonna get it immediately. Everyone has vastly different perspectives, so it might take some time or even some convincing for people to truly understand it. But personally I don't think screaming at people is the way to go lmao

(side note, obviously there's nuance to this situation. if someone's takeaway from mouthwashing was 'anya deserved it' or some other horrible bullshit then yeah that warrants being screamed at. also, if u disagree with me, i'd love to hear why!!)

[mmikmmik]

I kind of don't feel like getting the endings of Slay the Princess that don't involve Shifty and the Long Quiet having their final argument, followed by LQ agreeing to leave with her and their departure in their fully godly forms. I definitely don't want to kill her or starve her. And I guess I can see the appeal in the ending with the Princess and the Hero, but it doesn't feel like the right ending for me.

I think a big part of why I think of the Shfiting Mound as the "real" "love interest" is because I judged the Damsel a bit unfairly - she falls apart if pressed, but I don't think that means she's not real, you know? All of the Princesses are only one aspect of the Shifting Mound, but they have their own complete hearts nevertheless. But I didn't really get that when I was first playing the game and got her as my first princess, so I definitely thought of the Shifting Mound as "more real". But I think my near-immediate "oh I see! this is my beautiful wife who I love very much" would have occurred anyway. I just really like her! She's beautiful and patient and contemplative, and really successful imo as a truly divine character - an embodiment of a powerful idea/force of nature, who can express a form of kindness but can't really be "good" or "bad" in a human sense.

I also, throughout my first playthrough, felt strongly that the interactions I was having, and the resulting princesses, were like gifts to Shifty. I really liked having a little chat with her and hearing her evaluation of their hearts, and I chose dialogue options for the Long Quiet as though he wanted to bring her vessels and would, if he remembered her at the start of each Chapter 1, have actively chosen to help her complete herself. So leaving together as the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet, not as the Princess and the Hero, felt like what they were both working towards all along. And they only sort of argued about it because that back-and-forth, rough as it can get, is a natural part of how they relate to each other as gods who embody "opposite" concepts but love each other and want to be together (thesis, antithesis, synthesis...?). I wasn't even really arguing with Shifty, she just went into that spiel because I spent a really long time asking questions before we left. It was more of a passionate explanation than an attack. (And I let her keep going because it was awesome, not because I disagreed with it.)

Putting it like that, "bringing her vessels", it is rather cold, isn't it? I can see the case that the Princess and the Hero deserve more respect than that, that by leaving them behind Shifty and LQ are abandoning something worth having, something they could have explored together at that scale.

Anyway, what I want to say with this post is that like... Slay the Princess has, more than any other game I've ever played, given me the sense that the "true"/"best" ending is really up to the player. I feel like the story + central relationship changes really really dramatically if you don't perceive the Long Quiet as enchanted by the Shifting Mound and happy to be with her and learn more about her, and the dialogue options definitely give you a ton of room to play it either way. I feel that you can play the game so that the Shifty and LQ ending is the true ending, and you can play the game so that the Princess and Hero ending is the true ending.

It does make me more curious about the ending where... I haven't even looked into it enough to really know what happens, but you can kill the Shifting Mound, can't you? Or you can "starve" her by withholding vessels? My gut reaction to the Narrator is "lmao dumbass" - I don't think he understands what he's talking about, and I don't trust his evaluation that a world without the Shifting Mound would be worth living. Just the way his scenario immediately got fucked up makes it seem to me like he doesn't have a strong grasp on the metaphysics. You can't just pick out all the parts of a major universal concept like "change" that you like and throw out all the bits that you don't! But I also don't think this game, with its writing philosophy, would really have a "bad ending" in that kind of sense, you know? I seriously doubt there's an ending that would just be like "you fucked up". But I also feel like... the way the game is written, I kind of feel like I have the freedom as the person engaging with it to say... "this ending is bad, For The Game As I Played It". Does that make sense? I'm definitely touching on complicated questions of narrative theory that smarter people than me have definitely engaged with more substantively haha.

[mal3vol3nt]

Hi. You’re probably tired of seeing me dump stuff like this. (I’ll try to make this the last time). But I have to vent to someone. Because I see this one guy, claim to not hate Aang, only to villainize him to a ridiculous extent, acting like he’s unempathetic, forcing Katara to tend to his emotional needs and this user completely downplays Aang’s genocidal trauma. Not to be rude, but how much of a heartless prick do you have to be to invalidate genocide and the trauma it can cause. These fake fans should honestly keep their mouths shut about this show, they clearly don’t understand it.

the southern raiders episode needs to be freed from the zutara fandom i swear. i’m fully convinced they never actually watched that episode cause it literally ends with katara saying she still didn’t forgive yon rha and aang accepting that. he literally says “im proud of you”. it was never her anger at the man that aang disagreed with, it was the action she planned on doing—murder—that he wanted to talk her down from. not for yon rha’s sake, but for her’s. so even though she didn’t forgive him, aang respected that and was able to recognize the strength and validity in her decision. i’m so tired of repeating this rebuttal to this stupid as fuck argument

aang doesn’t force her to do anything in the entire series. katara has her own agency and free will to do as she pleases and not a single character has ever taken that away from her, and the one time where her freedom was threatened (by pakku), she fought for it and ensured she got her way. when yall say aang takes her agency away from her, you’re also ignoring the core traits of katara: her fierceness, her determination, her ability to recognize what’s right for herself, and her sense of justice

she never blindly follows or takes direction from anyone. when aang tried telling her and sokka to stay put while he made the trip to see roku in the fire nation, katara (and sokka) put her foot down and refused to listen. she demanded that they go with him, and he accepted them making that choice for themselves. when sokka tried convincing her to leave after she met up with haru and they had the chance to escape from the fire nation ship, she refused and said she wasn’t abandoning the rest of the earthbenders. her decision was respected by both aang and sokka. in fact, there are so many instances of her making her own decisions regardless of what anyone else says that it would be impossible for me to list them all. she never succumbs to what aang or anyone else wants, and she always makes her genuine thoughts on an important decision known. katara does not need anyone to tell her what to do nor does she allow anyone to tell her what to do. this is the same girl who single handedly changed the “no girls allowed” rule in the northern water tribe after having been told “you can’t do that”. yall think she would let aang walk all over her??? please put some respect on her name

now this may be a controversial take but i don’t care it’s the truth: comparing sokka and katara losing their mom to aang losing his entire culture and people is actually insane and insensitive but not for the reason zutaras think. its because absolutely nothing any other character went through can compare to what aang did, and to diminish his tragedy by saying katara’s trauma surrounding her mom’s death is somehow worse is actual insanity and i need yall to go to prison LMAO

katara did not witness her mom get murdered. that only happened in natla and i refuse to acknowledge that. she ran out of the tent to go tell her dad that a fire nation soldier was with their mom and when she came back, the man was gone and kya was dead. still insanely traumatic, but she was not literally standing there watching as kya burned to death

that’s literally what happened with aang. from his perspective, he had just seen gyatso only a few hours ago. gyatso was alive literally moments ago in his mind and then he was greeted with his decayed skeleton among the bodies of unwelcome fire nation soldiers. just like katara experienced insane whiplash from that heartbreaking change, to see someone alive only to come back to them gone, aang went through roughly the same thing

the only difference is aang didn’t just lose gyatso, he lost all his friends and mentors as well. and he didn’t just lose all his friends and mentors, he lost every single person who looked like him. and he didn’t just lose every single person who looked like him, he lost everyone he had grown close to and seen from the other nations. and he didn’t just lose everyone he had grown close to and seen from the other nations, he lost the animals native to the airbending temples. and he didn’t just lose the animals native to the airbending temples, he lost the native plants as well. and he didn’t just lose the native plants, he lost the structural beauty and integrity of the air temples. and he didn’t just lose the structural beauty and integrity of the air temples, he lost the ability to practice his cultural customs with others. and he didn’t just lose the ability to practice his cultural customs with others, he lost the ability to bend his native element with others. and he didn’t just lose the ability to bend his native element with others, he lost the time to mourn for all that he lost

i’m sorry to those of you who wanna believe your favs have suffered more than anyone else in the series, but none of their tragedies compare to aang’s. and i don’t believe in downplaying what the others went through to support a fandom narrative, but this is literally just me acknowledging the severity of aang’s story. to suggest any one else has gone through more is to be ignorant and nothing anyone can say will ever convince me otherwise

only reason yall think zuko or katara or sokka or toph or azula or whoever the fuck else is more tragic than aang is because all of their traumas are more relatable to the everyday person whereas aang’s is something that most people can’t even comprehend

[ladytauria]

@ragnarokhound asked: 🎃👻 Trick or treat!! 🍫🍬🍭

hehe hi fenris!!

you may have seen me answer this & then found it deleted—i accidentally clicked post while clearing away a notification. the joys of mobile Tumblr, lmao.

anyway!

for you... i am going to talk about my selkieljason wip! (as a warning, this is basically a summary of every detail i have for this fic so… if you don’t want spoilers for a hypothetical story that may never end up fully written, don’t click!)

it's a #+1 fic—i havent decided if it's going to be 3, 4, or 5 haha. the summary is:

X times Tim could have stolen Jason's coat but didn't, and 1 time Jason wrapped him in it.

It's an urban fantasy AU where non-humans are known about but either a) not common or b) still don't really show their faces much. There are a lot of stereotypes & untrue beliefs about the various non-humans, as well as conflicting myths & such. Most of them prefer not to deal with having to educate humans and either live among them secretly or have their own separate communities—or both.

Jason is a selkie, of course; Gotham has a small selkie community but they prefer to stay relatively secretive. Still, there’s a common phrase you hear among the folk of Gotham:

“You want an obedient spouse? Catch yourself a selkie wife.”

As such, Jason keeps his true nature tucked tight to his chest. He also can’t bear to be parted with his coat. It NEEDS to be within his sight at all times—nowhere else is safe enough. Luckily for him, the magic of a selkie’s pelt allows it to change forms as he wants/needs it to. It’s been a red hoodie, a school blazer, a yellow cape, and most recently, a brown leather jacket.

The bats are all aware that Jason is a selkie. Jason trusted Bruce enough to tell him after about six months to a year of living with him, and that knowledge spread to Alfred and Dick and later to Tim and Damian. (In this AU, the Robin uniform in Bruce’s case has no cape.)

I am picturing this happening while Tim and Jason are tentatively something. They start out as fwb with feelings. Both of them knowing the other has feelings but less sure of their own, if they can really be the person the other wants or needs.

There is also still definitely some friction between them. Since it’s Jason’s POV a lot of that friction is focused on whether or not Tim can live with the way he handles his cases as well as his distance from the other bats. But there’s also likely some concerns about whether or not Jason can live with Tim’s quirks, haha.

Anyway. Outside of their relationship they also work together a lot, because they genuinely do work very well as a team. They compensate for each other’s weaknesses and boost each other’s strengths—and these days, there’s a mutual respect, now that Tim is better at understanding Jason.

But they still have issues there, too.

Each of the five incidents involve them fighting or disagreeing. I also want to show them steadily taking steps in their relationship, as well; growing from fwb to more of a couple haha. But each of therese incidents/cicrcumstances involve Tim handling Jason’s coat while he’s vulnerable.

Each time, Jason wakes up fearing that Tim will have taken his coat and hidden it. Tim may not want a selkie groom—he can think of a lot of bad things about Tim, but never that he would coerce Jason into any kind of relationship—but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want Jason’s obedience. His cooperation.

Each time, though, Jason’s coat is either safe in his sight or touching him.

The last incident is definitely the worst and the one Jason thinks that Tim will break up with him over, even if he doesn’t take the coat, but instead—

Instead he doesn’t.

It cements Jason’s trust in Tim. That he can trust him not to take advantage of what he is no matter how bad their fights get or how angry Tim is with him. And he wants to show Tim that. That he knows it, that he loves him, so—

He does it the only way he knows how:

He wraps Tim in his coat and kisses him.

Which brings us to the only proper scene I have written for this fic:

Jason runs his thumb over his coat, the leather of its disguise buttery soft, and watches Tim. He’s utterly at ease on Jason’s couch, scrolling through his phone, one arm dangling off the armrest. Jason swallows, stomach twisting with nerves. He takes a breath—in through the nose, out through the mouth. Then, he strides forward, clenching his coat a bit tighter.

He kneels in front of Tim, capturing his attention. His phone falls to the side as Tim’s brows furrow. Before he can ask what Jason is doing, Jason unfurls his coat, wrapping it around Tim’s shoulders.

His eyes grow wide. “Ja— wh—“

Jason can feel the heat on his face. Knows he has to be pink, at the very least. But he doesn’t stop, tugging Tim forward and into the briefest, chastest kiss before resting their foreheads together.

“Caught you,” he murmurs.

The smile he receives is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

[dr-spectre]

Rating all of Callie's Outfits!!!

I'm bored so i decided to go through most of Callie's different looks, including most from concept art and promotional material, and rate them all on a scale of 1-10.

1 = trash

2 = very bad

3 = bad

4 = below average

5 = mixed

6 = decent

7 = good

8 = great

9 = amazing

10 = perfect

Now I'm not an expert on character design or fashion so i may not have the most insightful and """"objective"""" takes or whatever, but I'm just going off how i feel about the looks. This is very subjective and if you disagree then that's perfectly fine. I also won't be including EVERY SINGLE outfit in every piece of concept art, some of it are just variants of pre existing outfits (Haicalive Kyoto Mix golden outfit, concept art of her squid sisters outfit but with a different pattern) and some are just concepts for the Squid Sisters in general and not "Callie outfits." (Splatoon 1 has a lot of these and uh... they are quite interesting... recommend looking at it on Inkipedia. Very.... interesting indeed.)

Anyways, let's get into it. (Images from Inkipedia)

Splatoon 1 - Squid Sisters Outfit

Rating: 10/10

I think there's a clear reason as to why this outfit is so damn iconic. It's simple yet effective, it stands apart from Marie's outfit while still maintaining the theme of a "j-pop idol." It has a very strong silhouette, eye catching magentas that are complemented by the blue reflective parts on the outfit, and those pumpkin pants fit Callie's personality so insanely well. She looks absolutely adorable and stunning in that outfit.

Splatoon 1 - Young Callie

Rating: 10/10

Do i even need to say anything? LOOK AT HER! SHES SO CUTEEEEE!!!!!! UGHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!!!!! IM GONNA FUCKING EXPLODE FROM THE SHEER AMOUNT OF CUTENESS I'M SEEING!!! LOOK AT HER LITTLE KIMONO! AHHHHHH!!!!!

Splatoon 1 - Red Fox Splatfest

Rating 8/10

It's Callie wearing a Christmas hat and a nice red dress. What's not to love?

Splatoon 1 - Fancy Dress

Rating: 9/10

I literally cannot think of a single flaw or dislike about this dress. Maybe the dress is a bit simple? But that's me REALLY pushing it. It's still so fucking beautiful. SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL! I NEEEEDDD a 3D model of this ASAP!

Splatoon 1 - Concept Art 1

Rating: 7/10

I mean, it's pretty good but it's not outstanding you know? Love the heels, the fabric at the back of her waist on the first image, the batwing like skirt on the second one. It definitely has a unique vibe to it I'll give it that. There's a decent amount of good things here, however i don't know how to feel about THAT short of a skirt on Callie. She was 17 at the beginning of Splatoon 1 and some of the dance moves she does involve moving her legs a lot so.... it would have... you know.... issues.... yeahhhh.... I would love to see this outfit get adapted but with some tweaks like maybe a slightly longer skirt, maybe higher heels and leggings that go up more her legs? Maybe her arm wraps on the left image could get rid of the dots and keep the squid head pattern? It's a pretty good outfit and has a unique feel to it, but it needs some tweaks.

Splatoon 1 - Concept Art 2

Rating 6/10

The roller skates are actually such an amazing idea for Callie and work well for her, they need to appear on a 3d model, I WANNA SEE CALLIE SKATING AROUND! COME ON! Anyways, this outfit is kinda... okay. The black and pink variant looks the best out of the three in my opinion but idk man, it's kind of just a regular cheerleading outfit. The roller skates give this like 6 points alone lmao.

Splatoon 1 - Concept Art 3

Rating: 8/10

This outfit with a few minor tweaks could easily become a 10/10 to be honest. If they either went fully black and white, or changed the white lines on the dress and shoulders to magenta it would look outstanding! Love the flashy sneakers too, it gives the impression that Callie can be both elegant and energetic, which, she is. Also if she had a more fancy piece of headgear that matched the fancy looking dress it would help as well.

Splatoon 2 - Hypno / Octo Callie

Rating: 8/10

I'm gonna be honest with y'all, i used to not like this outfit for Callie. People saw this outfit and said it was fire and amazing, however when i saw it, i saw all the misconceptions, all the misinformation, ruining such an interesting arc, boiling it down to "Callie was kidnapped, overpowered and then brainwashed with evil brain warping shades, being used by the Octarians as some slave and being branded with a tattoo." This outfit made me feel icky and really uncomfortable. Seeing a character i love being boiled down to some abused helpless victim when it's far from what truly happened.

However, after giving another look at it, after taking in all the information and the amount of time i spent trying to piece together her arc and all the events that actually took place beforehand. I gotta say, this outfit is growing a place in my heart. The colors are so strong in this and i can't exactly put my finger as to why. Turning the 3 cut pattern on it's side and putting it on her chest makes her look more "mature" i would say as well. And of course, the shades, they are iconic for a reason. The way the outfit sort of flows from top to bottom is really well done. But I think it kinda needs a few tweaks to make it flow better though, maybe cover up her arms with that leathery material on her chest, make that sparkly material on her legs flow up onto her midriff instead of having an exposed tummy would be kinda sick in my opinion.

It's honestly a damn great interpretation of an "Evil Callie." In the artbook they said that they wanted to make Callie more mature looking and i think they did a good job at it, but it needs some things added to it to help it flow better in my opinion. Also... Don't know how to feel about her underwear just poking out of her hips.... Like damn girl PULL UP DEM SHORTS!

Splatoon 2 - Tentakeel Outpost / Agent 1 Outfit

Rating 7/10

This outfit is just really cute and comfy looking, which makes sense because it's meant to be Callie in a more causal getup and it looks really adorable and warm. It has had a variant in Splatoon 1 where she has pink leggings and a sleeveless design but it has the same rating from me to be honest. The little star on the beanie too is awesome too, it's just such a nice little thing they added and it complements her lovely golden eyes.... so cute.... uh... moving on...

Splatoon 2 - Concept Art 1

Rating: 6/10

This one is kinda tricky for me to rate because i see what they were going for but... I think it needs some tweaks and a few changes. I think it would be cool to see the glowing pinkish red leggings go all over her body like a skin tight suit up to her shoulders and it would look pretty damn sick i feel. I love the long gloves, the heels, the color scheme is very interesting as well. Overall, it's decent but i think it needs some improvements.

Splatoon 2 - Concept Art 2

Rating: 8/10

I can totally imagine Callie chilling out in the beach bases in Octo Canyon with this on. I like how the boots and the bikini match her hair too in color. The fuzzy pink coat is so damn sick too, i love it.

Splatoon 2 - Concept Art 3

Rating: 2/10

No... Just straight up, no. You're already giving some people weird and icky implications with the final Hypno Callie design, but this just.... no man.... HOWEVER! The swirly eyes? Good addition, a little generic for a character under hypnosis but i wish they kept the swirly eyes. It would have furthered pushed the idea that Callie is not herself and has descended into villainy and given into the darkness in her head. But at least we got mods! (Look at frequent.squidsisters on instagram to see what i'm talking about. You won't regret it.)

Splatoon 2 - Concept Art 4

Rating: 6/10 (sorry for the low quality image i couldn't find a good image of this outfit anywhere)

Just like concept art 1, it's alright, it doesn't help that there isn't a clear enough image of this outfit but, i do love the transparent fabric on her dress? skirt? idk. But it looks nice. Still though the outfit looks a little plain for someone like Callie however it's got a nice color palette.

Splatoon 2 - 1st Anniversary

Rating: 10/10

I don't care what you say, i am the number 1 defender of this outfit, the fucking goofy socks, the blues and reds on her leggings and... bra? Leotard? Is she wearing a leotard under that? (I don't know anything on women's clothing I'm so sorry please don't hurt me....) Her pink lipstick, the necklace, IT'S SO DAMN GOOD! I NEED MORE OF THIS OUTFIT! NOW! I WANT A 3D MODEL TOO! GIVE IT TO ME! NOW!

Also this is the first time Callie has had one of her tentacles in front of her face which comes back later in the next game....

Splatoon 2 - Smash Bros. Splatfest

Rating: 7/10

She do be rocking dem shoes tho i gotta admit. It's good. i don't have much to say. The Smash Bros. earrings fucking rule as well, that's worth 6 points alone.

Splatoon 2 - Squidmas 2019

Rating: 5/10

Eh. It's okay, not really the most "Squidmas" thing you can wear but. The artwork is cute at least. The gang just chilling out, taking a picture, very cute.

Splatoon 2 - Splatoween 2020

Rating: 10/10

The fact that we never got a 3D model of this outfit is a fucking crime in it of itself. The headwear, the web like design on her neck and head, the lipstick, the fingertips, the gothic dress.... those... red eyes.....

She looks so damn hot, I'm sorry but this look is doing things to me that my lawyers are advising me NOT to elaborate on....

Splatoon 2 - Final Fest

Rating 7/10

I decided to break my rule on not covering variants because i really wanted to talk about this look, the gold colors used on this outfit are so damn good and i really cannot describe exactly why, Pearl's crown is such a lovely addition too, i fucking adore it. I can't give this anything higher than a 7 because its just a recolour and a crown and thats it... I really do wish they gave Callie a more unique "chaotic" look to her iconic outfit to match the theme better, but oh well. There's always next time.... which we will get to...

Splatoon 3 - Alterna Outfit

Rating: 10/10

When i tell you that this is my favorite Callie look, ever, do NOT take that lightly.

This outfit, in my personal opinion, is perfection. It combines all the different aspects of Callie's previous major designs into one perfect package. It takes the general shape and silhouette of Splatoon 1 Callie and mixes it with Hypno Callie's leathery and mature appearance, giving us an outfit that shows Callie's class and excitable nature. It's a mature and refined outfit, much like how Callie is in Splatoon 3.

I mean it's hard to fuck up an outfit that's mainly in black and white and thankfully they didn't. The ONLY thing i can somewhat see criticism for is the color choice, but thankfully, we got mods to give her the magenta back and it looks beautiful. I LOVE the silver aspects of the outfit too like the soles of the boots, the silver bandolier across her shoulder and the silver choker. And i like an outfit that has a choker... It does things to me... UM! ANYWAYS! YEAH PERFECT OUTFIT! UH! TOTALLY HAVEN'T TAKEN 100s OF PHOTOS OF HER... YEP! MHM.......

Splatoon 1-3 Pokemon Red Outfit

Rating: 6/10

I decided to put this here because this outfit appears in both Splatoon 1 in Splatfest art as well as in one of the Sunken Scrolls in Splatoon 3. It's a pretty cute outfit, i don't have any strong feelings towards it, it looks nice.

Splatoon 3 - Splatoween

Rating: 9/10

I prefer the other Splatoween outfit that appears in Splatoon 2's artwork but, this is still fucking awesome. She looks like a cute little pumpkin! SHES SO CUTE! The fucking red eyes too oh my GODDDDD!!!! The stitching face paint too!?! Oh man. My ONLY criticism is that the headpiece is too plain. If it was a Jack-o'-lantern or skull or something, it would easily get a 10/10 for sure. But overall, Callie looks like a cute little pumpkin and i wanna eat her up!..............

....not... not in that way tho get your mind out of the gutter-

Splatoon 3 - FrostyFest

Rating: 8/10

A damn great outfit for Callie that makes her look all nice and snuggly. She reminds me a lot of coffee for some reason and just by looking at her I'm craving for a nice cup of coffee. Also the best part of this outfit is that HER NOSE IS RED BECAUSE SHE'S COLD AWWW!! SOMEONE GIVE HER A HOT CHOCOLATE! NOW!

Splatoon 3 - Springfest

Rating: 9/10

This is the most girlypop Callie has ever been. The striped leggings, the eggshell head piece is fucking cute. I don't have any real complaints with this to be honest, maybe its a bit TOO colorful because of the different colored reflections on her body but, that's me REALLY pushing it there. This is such a cute outfit for her. The little face paint too omg....

Splatoon 3 - Summer Nights

Rating: 10/10

You guys know that one image of the monkey staring at the mid section of a woman and it says "neuron activation"? That's literally me. They gave Callie a new outfit that not only looks fantastic with such a great set of colors, shoes, head piece and zippers. But it's also designed to where it makes an outline on the underside of her belly.... nintendo... WHY YOU GOTTA DO THIS TO ME!?!?! I try to be all family friendly and level headed and shit but OH MY GOD! You're activating the primal urges in my body, you're making me go fucking feral with this design. YOU CAN'T JUST DO THIS TO ME! YOU'RE CHEATING! You can't just highlight her fucking fupa with that short dress!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! WHY NINTENDO WHYYY!!!! God I'm not ready for the dances moves where she starts spinning around and bending over- UH....

....Anyways, yeah good outfit, love it. The hair? Idk how to feel yet. That's like the one area that isn't turning me on- I MEAN! THE ONE AREA THAT I MAY OR MAY NOT LIKE! AHAHAHA!!!!!!.....

I'm moving on before my made up lawyers yell at me-

Splatoon 3 - News Anchor Outfit

Rating: 10/10

I mean guys. Come on. What do you want me to say about this outfit? It's Callie in a suit. DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY IT'S SO GOOD?!?! WHY DO YOU THINK EVERY SINGLE SPLATOON ARTIST ON THE PLANET MADE ART OF THIS!??! The only thing that i wanna talk about is, what's below Callie's waist? Is it a pencil skirt or pants? This is important information for me. I'm on teams pants because it makes sense for Callie's energetic personality, all the dresses she's worn have either been real short or loose. I don't think she would wear a real tight skirt that restricts her legs but who knows. NINTENDO YOU BETTER ANSWER THIS OR I SWEAR TO GOD-

Splatoon 3 - Concept Art 1

Rating: 7/10

We don't have a lot to go off when it comes to this concept art as it's pretty undetailed and sketchy looking, but looking at what they were trying to go for and giving Callie a post-apocalyptic look, it looks pretty good. Love the puffy sleeves, the gas mask is pretty awesome and the sort of sporty shorts? tights? Fit Callie as well. Don't have much to say other than that.

Splatoon 3 - Concept Art 2

Rating: 8/10

Now this? This is great. The ragged cape, the pants, the boots, the shirt, the fucking shades! This is an awesome look for her and it makes you wonder what kind of story mode were they originally going for. What kind of plans did they have for ROTM? Was it going to be set in the crater instead of Alterna? Hmm...

I would love to see someone give detail to this and make it a full piece of art to bring out it's full potential.

Splatoon 3 - Grand Festival Outfit.

Rating: 9/10

This outfit to me, is ALMOST perfect. She looks like a pretty princess with that cute dress on. I LOVEEEE her spike headdress, the shoes and the pearlescent hair color. However, i do wish there was just more color on the outfit in general, i get why they decided to go with this look because they wanted to have a color scheme that would unify all of the idols together. But, do wish there was some hints of magenta to break up the dull beige, or her iconic 3 squid stripe design she has on her Squid Sisters outfit, oh well!

So that is it for my ratings of MOST of Callie's different looks that she has had over the past 9 years. Callie is such a fashionable character and has rarely had any BAD outfits aside from one that was in concept art anyways.

Hoped you enjoyed my ratings and ramblings (and mildly horny incriminating talkings...) about this squid lady that i love so... so much... maybe a bit too much.... i need help...

[duncanor]

I don't disagree with you. Again, I'm not saying Orange did a bad job. That's probably on me for phrasing it badly. Stampede is different ( tho, I stand by it being sanitized compared to Trimax). I don't think it was without reason either. (and I suspect it was also due to technical limitations. I remember them sayin' they tried other designs for Vash but it was too difficult to animate. Which is fair 👍)

I think the change can lead to good things too. I complained earlier about the plants going from angel to flower imagery. But that can be interesting plotwise if they take a more ecological path with the story. (which was only hinted at in Trimax unfortunately). I also said Orange did put a lot of thoughts in their designs (and everything else tbh), I don't claim other wise.

Just like ya, I'm expressing a personal opinion, badly phrased perhaps, but I just think if we gained some things symbolism-wise with these changes we also did lose some things along the way. We did lose the queerer, dirtier aspect of it. It would be a lie to say otherwise.

I'm not saying Trimax is better in every way or that Stampede is not just as carefully crafted. It dares to do something fresh and different and I respect that, but I also think the new coat of paint is a bit blander than the original. Ir doesn't gut you like maximum did. It's far from empty, nor is it meaningless but it's not better. Which it does not have to be, but I personally am not as fond of it.

I'm still a firm believer Orange made a mistake by changing the sci-fi esthetic of trimax. They lost so much man. Like the raw mix between flesh and metal. The Biopunk disturbance of it all. It mattered.

And It's still there don't get me wrong (you could not fully remove it if you tried) but it's not as.. disturbing, as deviant ? Even though, it's supposed to be! It's the core of the story isn't it?

Living beings used as machines and treated even worst!

[crazylittlejester]

I'd absolutely love to hear what you have to say about Time 🙃 /gen

And, I hope you are feeling well. I think you said you were dizzy? I hope that gets better 🫶

I’m feeling much better, thank you!! I hope you’re going good as well :)

Sorry this took me a whole day to type out, but I finished!! I got it!!

I have a lot more thoughts, I had to cut a lot for the sake of making it readable and not obnoxiously long so I really hope I still get my points across well 😭 , but here we go:

An Abridged Version of My Thoughts on Time (I’m Insane I’m Sorry):

Okay so I’m starting off this whole thing by saying that 100% of this is my opinion and the research I did was done specifically to back my stance (which does not make it canonical fact. You can do research to back any point. You can do research to argue against my point, even). This doesn’t make my perspective or interpretation of a character the correct one by any means, and this definitely leans towards how I personally characterize and view him and is biased in that way because I’m the one who wrote it. All of you are entitled to your own opinions, you don’t have to agree with or listen to a single thing I say. In fact if you do disagree I encourage you to reblog and share your OWN thoughts so I can read YOUR perspective! I like seeing opinions people have and I love to see how differently all of us can view the same character /gen. I just that ask if you do do this, that you be kind and respectful to myself and others :)

This entire yap, analysis, whatever you wanna call it, is my perspective on Time and my thoughts behind why I believe he acts the way he does. At some point in all this I’m specifically going to focus on how he’s acting at the end of the Dawn arc and in the more recent updates. However in order to talk about that I wanna go to the beginning and talk about his past, the environment he grew up in, his relationships with others, and how I believe that has shaped the way he functions as an adult. My apologies now for being insane, unfortunately I have no life and also a lot of thoughts, and full access to a college library full of case studies- My professors would be so proud… Hope y’all enjoy lmao

Loneliness and Isolation:

One of the first things I noticed when I started playing OOT was this divide between Link and the Kokiri. Despite the fact that none of them know he’s actually a hylian, the bullying and teasing and the way they treat him for not having a fairy feels as though they’re making him to be different from them. Even Saria and the Great Deku Tree speak to/about him in ways that make it seem that, even though they care about him, they do see him as different from the others. (Granted, Saria’s treatment of Link is likely fully an unintentional thing. She doesn’t mean to be cruel when she makes her comment about how after Link got his fairy he could be a real Kokiri because she is a child and probably didn’t think about how that would come off to a kid who’s been arguably treated as less than for not having a fairy this entire time. She’s probably aware of how upset he’s been, but they’re children and I doubt she realized her attempt at comfort potentially made Time feel worse. The Great Deku Tree, on the other hand, referring to him as ‘the boy without a fairy’ immediately makes it clear to us as the player that Link is different from the Kokiri. He knows Link is hylian, which is something the player, Link, and the Kokiri do not know at this point)

Not having a fairy like the others certainly separates Time from the Kokiri because having a fairy companion appears to be a huge deal, something everyone has in common except for him. While it isn’t really on the same scale, I imagine this feeling of not having something your friends do could be, to an extent, comparable to how it would feel if all your peers had cell phones or social media access and you did not. (BAD EXAMPLE I KNOW BUT HEAR ME OUT.) The ability to consume media at such a fast pace and share jokes and trends with peers has become something to bond over, and being outside of that ‘world’ would leave someone to feel like they’re missing out on something they couldn’t possibly understand unless they get it for themselves. When your friends all have phones and you don’t, you have to sit there awkwardly when they all pull them out to text people or look things up, even if you’re doing something that doesn’t even require being on your phone, like going to the mall or hanging out. Sure they might show you a meme or two, but you can’t show them your memes, or share things and exist in the online world the way they do. Time could see and interact with the others’ fairies but he didn’t have that for himself, and I imagine it was probably hard for him to bond with the Kokiri because of it. Even if they were just playing a game or messing around and he wasn’t even being teased for not having a fairy of his own, those other fairies were right there as a constant reminder that Time didn’t have his own companion because he was, for a reason he couldn’t understand, different

Having played Skyward Sword and the beginning of Twilight Princess and seeing how both of those Links are treated by the people around them in comparison to how the Kokiri interact with Time, it feels safe to say there’s a good possibility he felt out of place and a little isolated by his own community. The way he was seemingly blamed for the death of the Great Deku Tree after finding out the life altering information that he is different probably did nothing but cause further divide between himself and the Kokiri in his mind, if not completely sever the connection he had between himself and that community

Do I think the Kokiri completely excluded him and intentionally tried to isolate him? No, I do not. However it’s clear that Saria was his best friend and the others weren’t always the nicest to him. It’s not too far a stretch to say he probably felt very lonely at times in his childhood, more so than the average kid

The theme of isolation and loneliness continues when the timeline shenanigans happen at the end of OOT and Time is now the only one who knows what happened to him. He has absolutely nothing to show for what he physically just went through and he can tell people about it all he wants but they’ll never understand because for them it simply never happened. Once again Time is isolated from this community he finds himself a part of because he’s different from them in a way they cannot relate to, driving a wedge between him and the rest of society. And Malon and Zelda are not people who would intentionally drive him further from feeling like he can belong, but they will forever be different from him in a way none of them now have the power to control. He formed relationships with them and with other people that were then erased. He knows a version of them that doesn’t exist anymore (in the timeline he continued to live in), and he’s alone in that. There IS no fix to that problem

Attachment Styles and Development

Relationships are crucial to child development and the connections formed when we’re young impact the way we create and view our relationships in adulthood. Peer relationships are just as important as parental ones because they play a different role. While your friends are the ones who have more of an impact on things like your music tastes, interests, and sense of identity/role within your group of peers, it’s your parents/caregivers who teach you right from wrong (often religion plays a part in that as well though not always), are responsible for feeding you and helping you learn new skills as a young child. Having a secure attachment and good relationship to caregivers when you’re young really impacts how you seek comfort as an adult and how you form relationships with others. Children whose parents or caregivers responded to their distress in unpredictable ways (by offering comfort sometimes and being unable to other at times, for an example) are less likely to seek out those figures for comfort or be soothed by them when the comfort is offered. I have no idea exactly how old Time was when he was placed with the Kokiri or what his mother was like, but I feel it’s fair to say the Great Deku Tree was probably the closest thing to a parental figure/caregiver (while he was living with the Kokiri) that he has any memory of. And I also feel it’s fair to say that as the stationary tree guardian of a bunch of immortal children, it was pretty impossible for him to support all of those kids’ emotional needs

Making this assumption based solely on Navi’s role in the story and what she does for us as players of the game: I feel like the fairy companions might almost be more of a parental/caregiver like figure to the Kokiri children than the Great Deku Tree is, simply because they’re able to be around them more. Navi helps Time (and the player) find things, gives clues, and helps the player with the game controls, so inside the actual game I think it’d be fair to say she (and other fairies) have more of a hands on role in guiding these children than the Great Deku Tree. And again, Time didn’t have that, not until his adventure started. He didn’t have a fairy companion while his friends and peers did, he was on his own. He wasn’t getting that potential comfort from a reliable caregiver the others were, which I believe can be partly responsible for how determined he is to solve his own issues. (Of course personality also has a play in things like this, and as we all know the hero’s spirit is incredibly fucking stubborn.) He was taught through the failures of the ‘adult’ figures in his life that the only one who’d be there to really comfort him was him

Identity and Relationships

Apart from feeling alone and not having the same types of companionship his peers did, I firmly believe Time seriously struggled with identity issues as well. Being told he wasn’t enough for the Master Sword yet, just to then be suddenly physically several years older and expected to operate as an adult despite having less than a decade of life experience, back to being shoved into the body of a child after living through horrors and accumulating scars that are now just gone doesn’t real make for the most confident, mentally stable of people. The message he most likely took from that was “You’re not enough as you are.”

He was a hero who saved a kingdom, then forgotten when everything was set back, and then abandoned by the one person (fairy) who went through it all with him after it was all done. If he’d felt alone or isolated in his youth before all that happened, I can’t imagine how overwhelming all those emotions were after all that. He needed Navi because she’s the only one who can really validate what he went through, she was the only one who could have understood him. She was a guardian and a friend and he couldn’t figure out why she left him, which must’ve just been absolutely devastating.

He was still just a kid, with no one to talk to about these issues. (Though he sort of works through some of them on his own through helping others in Majora’s Mask. Granted that left him with new issues even if it may have helped him work through a few old ones. I think there are quite a lot of similarities between Link and Skull Kid, but that’s a yap for another day.) I can imagine that both his identity and what he was supposed to do with himself were things he questioned constantly, and building relationships with people was probably very difficult for him when he hadn’t fully worked out himself. And he didn’t really have someone to comfort him or help him figure all that out

At a certain point, I think the feeling of being alone became almost a comfort to him. It was the most reliable thing he had, he could handle things on his own and that was something he knew for fact. He learned how to deal with his emotions and issues (maybe not in the healthiest of ways in his youth), and instead of being so suffocating, the isolation became something he could CONTROL. With all the instability throughout his childhood, the fact that he could reliably be on his own without dealing with the unpredictability of others was probably a relief. He didn’t have to worry about people leaving or getting hurt because he couldn’t protect them, but that didn’t really replace the feeling of loneliness so much as sloppily cover it up

Malon and the ranch are things that have been able to give him something he hadn’t had in years, which was stability and companionship. He’s been alone and isolated or dealing with loss his entire life, but she’s able to provide him with something steady, something safe to come back to. That’s been absolutely huge for him in regards to the healing process, because not only is it said in LU that she believes him completely, she’s literally his biggest supporter. And having a sturdy location and person to come back to at the end of whatever little trips he probably continued to go off to gave him comfort while still allowing him to keep that feeling of control over himself and his life. Sure not everything is perfect all the time and relationships are things that you have to put time, effort, and patience into, but he’s allowed to have his support and his much needed feeling of control over his life at the same time while living in that scenario. She loves him, she loves him very much and I have no doubt they worked together to get him to the place of comfort he’s at now. The panels from any of the ‘Malon’ posts are really the most relaxed we’ve seen Time for long stretches of time, it’s clear he’s been able to make a safe space for himself there

And now here’s the part where I actually talk about the recent comic update(s)!!!!!!!! (Yippee!!!)

Time is a very quiet, stoic character in LU especially when compared to the others, which are qualities that pull a lot from the hero’s shade. He’s the unofficial official leader, and he’s at a point in his life where he’s been able to work on himself and form healthy relationships (not perfect ones, but healthy ones built on communication which is clearly a struggle for him still but I cannot afford to get into that this post because that’s way too much. If y’all want a yap about that, ask me later). He puts a lot of stress and pressure onto himself, because he feels as though he’s responsible for these younger heroes, even though some of them have far more experience than he does

But in addition to this, he’s absolutely terrified of caring about people, and he’s not used to working with other people in this area of his life. Because no one sticks around, and if they do, what’s stopping the timeline from resetting somehow and taking their memory of him away? He no longer has the stability and comfort that comes with being alone because he’s forced to work with other people, other heroes who are equal to him in that regard, and people are unpredictable. And with unpredictability comes loss of control

Anger is an easier emotion for a child to process, and express themself through. This is why depression in children often manifests itself as anger. Children dealing with depression have a harder time managing and controlling their anger and can come off as snappier, inattentive, and reckless (obviously this is not the same case for every single child). While he certainly isn’t a child anymore in LU, I think Time is still someone who when overwhelmed is quick to anger, but this does not mean that he’s not kind. He’s incredibly kind and caring, and you can tell he loves everyone around him so deeply even though he’s probably a bit angry at himself for letting them all worm their way into his heart because he’s going to have to let them go some day. But still, some of that snappiness comes through even in his adult years and he’s a lot harsher with the others than I believe he intends to be. He’s not genuinely angry at them, he’s mad at the situation they’re in right now because he’s no longer responsible for just himself. He doesn’t have control anymore, and he’s probably back to feeling like a scared child who might be about to lose everyone again and he hates that

Twilight got hurt and he blames himself for it. He’s in an unfamiliar situation with people he cares a lot about who are all just as reckless and determined as he is, and he has absolutely no idea what to do with himself because in his mind if he lets something happen to one of these boys, that’s on him and he should’ve done better

Ough (A Continuation of ‘Isolation’)

In a way Time exists on a different level of the timeline. He retained memories of things that no longer exist, and he’s witnessed the rewritting of time over and over again. The timeline he was born in may no longer be the one he exists in, though it certainly branched from that original one. He has knowledge and memories of relationships that are real to only him in the timeline where he lives, and I would argue that because of this, he lives outside of society

Now this genuinely has nothing to do with anything I just wanna yap about something because The Voices, and it’s gonna be a fucking reach but if you’ve stayed this long you must find something appealing about my incoherent rambling so allow me to draw a genuinely insane comparison between Time and his existence in society and ‘The Lady of Shallot’, written in 1832 by a poet by the name of Alfred Tennyson. If you have no idea what this is, it’s incredibly short and easy to find with a quick google search, and I encourage you to read it. But for those of you who didn’t sign up for a poetry assignment today I’ll summarize

The Lady of Shallot is cursed to stay in a tower away from the rest of society and she’s unable to look upon Camelot with her own eyes, because something bad will happen if she does though she has no idea what. Day after day she creates these tapestries of what she sees of the society behind her through a mirror. She’s unable to look at it with her own eyes so what she creates is unable to perfectly reflect what it is the world has to offer. And she’s absolutely sick of it, she sees happy people wandering down below, knights riding through, she sees through her mirror what life is like for those within society and she wants to join them. She sees a beautiful man one day (Lancelot) and decides the curse is worth it, just for a chance to leave her tower, so she turns around and sees Camelot with her own eyes. She leaves her tower and goes to join society but by the time she gets there she’s dead

Now one of the meanings hidden within this is how artists are almost outside of society and that is how they are able to so accurately depict it, and that joining society and being ‘normal’ would make them unable to keep their unique perspective that isolation provides. But I’m going to be crazy here and draw parallels to a video game character because I CAN

Time exists outside of society and is isolated from every community he tries to be a part of because the differences between him and the Kokiri/normal hylian are so significant he feels like he doesn’t belong there. Despite having built his sense of identity back up, he still, to an extent, feels like an outsider. The things he’s been through separate him from being able to just be a normal guy, and he craves so badly to be part of a community he’s almost convinced himself he CANNOT join. The chain (and Malon, but mainly the other heroes) help him have something to connect to, because while they may not have the exact same experience they understand him more than anyone else ever could. He then tries to join society, something happens, and he dies a warrior full of regrets

Is it a reach? Yeah. But I like the poem and I can’t stop thinking about the parallels (that I’ve probably completely fucking made up at this point) every time I think too long about Time and it makes me claw at the dry wall and scream. I’m so normal…

Anyways, *weak cough* thanks for reading, if you did. It means a lot that you’ve supported my insanity. I hope this is coherent-

Thanks Emmie for reading through this for me 😭, and special shoutout to every single one of you who sent me asks yesterday to remind me to write this I love you all sm actually:

@trash-aged-like-fine-wine @rebornofstars @blueskybehindtheclouds @captainn-hook @ghosttoasts