#post-TJM

[tomfowlery]

when your so-called personal tormentor corners you and you have a single braincell

[mmollymercury]

I love seeing ppl still making hey arnold content😭 i love them so much💖

They still got such a long way,,,

(foreshadowing???????)

[mmollymercury]

Post-TJM shortaki superior dynamic: Arnold being super affectionate and Helga being too flustered to function

[nicole-ashwood]

Back in the saddle

So, due to a host of outright horrible events that I went through, I wound up discarding the previous Life Is Strange Fanfiction I was working on in order to better focus on my mental health. While I am still recovering from a series of severe mental breakdowns, I have healed to the point that I feel ready to start writing again.

The process is going to be molasses slow thanks to my still healing psyche, but I wanted to post the titles along with a brief bit about said stories, as a way of self motivation.

Links will be added once I start putting chapters up on AO3.

The Last Temptation of Jacob Marsh: A trans (MTF) Kate Marsh story, TJM starts with Kate entering Blackwell and being slightly overwhelmed by her new dorm mates. After a trip with Steph, Max, & Chloe to Powell's in Portland, she is given a rather ancient looking book that contains a supposed demon inside: Victoria. (ChaseMarsh)

My Worst Enemy: When Max suddenly shoots up from her chair and storms out during one of Jefferson's lectures, Jefferson sends his class helper Kate and current annoyance Victoria to figure out what the hell just happened, only for the two to walk in on Nathan holding Max at gunpoint. When Max moves to keep Victoria from being shot, something interferes with her powers and her, Victoria, Kate, and Chloe are all thrust into a world where Max is part Fox, Chloe is her lover, Victoria is the protectorate of Kate, and Kate is essentially a mix between Jesus and the Pope. (ChaseMarsh)

Midnight Butterflies: In 2073 a Militech extraction squad kidnaps Max, kills William, and maims Chloe. 5 years later, Chloe has become known as the 'Militech Reaper', an edgerunner pariah in Night City who is known for only taking jobs against Militech and always leaving a high body count in her wake. But when a seemingly unstoppable merc killer starts threatening to end the edgerunner way of life, Chloe is brought in by Rouge to end the so called 'Edgecutter' once and for all.(PriceField)

This: The reworked version of my first story 'Stages', expanded and refined to better suite my growing ideas with the ramifications of True Colors, the end of the LiS Max Comics, and how the world has started to change after the Wolf Brother's surrendered at the border.(PriceField, ChenRich, Others)

Blue Moon: After Chloe nearly loses him his job, David gets drunk and goes too far in his alcohol fueled rage. Pushed to her absolute breaking point, Chloe begs for someone or something to save her from her current hell. Problem is, something answers. (ChasePriceMarshField)

[heyftinally]

Am I the only Hey Arnold fan who dislikes Arnold x Helga? I always thought their relationship was toxic, even when watching the show as a kid.

I'm gonna be honest, anon, I disagree wholeheartedly, and I'm about to go off on a hyperfocus induced rant lol so if you aren't prepared for a dissertation, this is your warning.

Okay, despite using the word dissertation, this is not going to be structured I any way. Strap in, it's about to get needy. I will give you a timeline, though:

Pre-k

Pre-FTi part one (ep1-mid series before FTi movie)

Pre-FTi part two (mid series-FTi movie)

FTi movie

Post FTi movie

TJM

I very much see Shortaki as a beautiful example of enemies to lovers.

In the beginning, both are kind to each other. In pre-k Arnold helps Helga, but they also wave across the snack space. Yes, after Helga gets bullied she turns hostile, but I think it's important to remember that their friendship is ultimately started on kindness.

Pre-FTi(P1) is a lot of just establishing the character and Hillwood, but still we don't often see Arnold truly upset with Helga. For the most part, she's a nuisance at worst. In episodes like The Vacant Lot and Save The Tree, we see Helga help Arnold/her fellow classmates with things that matter to them. Yes, she tries to play it off, but in Save The Tree specifically she says she's helping Arnold "because [her] dad has been bugging [her] lately" - not too many nine year olds would climb up into a tree their parent wanted to demolish for business SOLELY because said parent had been "bugging" them. So despite her frequent annoyances to Arnold, he has clear evidence early on that she's kind deep down.

In Monkey Business we get the reverse - Arnold, despite all of Helga's torment, shows genuine care and concern for Helga, even though he doesn't really believe in her faux diagnosis. If he truly disliked her, he could have simply not shown up.

Pre-FTi(P2) Arnold states on multiple occasions that he doesn't think Helga is a bad person, both to her and others. He considers her a friend, despite their rocky relationship. She's done enough over the years that he's seen proof that she's a kind person.

On top of that, Arnold is known for being wise beyond his years, in some cases even more so than the adults around him. Let's not forget in Benchwarmer when he realizes the reason the coach mistreats everyone else is out of misplaced love for his kid - it's not that far a stretch that Arnold would assume Helga *also* lashes out/mistreats others out of some kind of misplaced or maladaptive emotion. He's already shown the emotional maturity to understand such a concept, even if he doesn't have the vocabulary for it. Which would further explain why he sees Helga as a kind person despite her constant antagonizing.

Furthermore, in the episode School Play, Arnold clearly suspects something after Helga claims she didn't want to kiss him. At that point I don't think he was ready to admit to himself that it was a crush, but he noticeably smiles when he tells her "whatever you say" in response to her protests and excuses.

FTi is a hell of a movie in the best way, and could easily get it's own rant on several topics, but namely for this one I want to focus on the roof scene.

First of all, it's the first time Arnold gets truly upset with Helga, albeit without knowing it's her initially. Upon figuring out it is her, he's shocked and confused because Helga's kindness has never been so out of her way before. Things like Save The Tree more or less just required her to show up. Saving the neighborhood required her to put together an elaborate trail of information, an alias, and full on espionage far beyond the normal lengths available to a 9yo even in their universe. It's not that Helga's never been kind, before, it's that she put SO MUCH effort into something that was important to Arnold, who she supposedly hated, at clear and significant detriment to herself both present and future.

The love confession, unsurprisingly, takes Arnold completely off guard, because up until that point they had more or less been frenemies/a one sided friendship, but upon saving the neighborhood and things settling out, Arnold notably isn't *upset* with Helga about the whole thing. He's awkward and confused, but not angry about it.

Post-FTi we get stuff like, notably, April Fools Day, where Arnold appears to be starting to return Helga's feelings, at least in some way. Again, if he viewed her as someone toxic, he would likely try to stay away from her, not woo her even after being lied to.

TJM shows us (and Arnold) Helga's most selfless act to date - entering the video essay contest so that Arnold can go search for his long lost parents. Arnold already tried to enter - he knows how much work it took just to made their mediocre entry. For Helga to make a winning entry would have taken significantly more work, which Arnold recognizes. She put in an unparalleled amount of effort to do something that could (and did) change Arnold's life for the better forever. That's a huge gift to give even someone you care about, nevermind someone you "hate".

And throughout the movie Helga continues helping, even whilst going through her own personal emotional turmoil. Despite being broken hearted and resigned that Arnold will never return her feelings in the way she wants, she still helps him continuously. Because that's what you do when you love someone - it's not conditional.

Meanwhile Arnold is so focused on finding his parents and everything that it's not until the end that they're finally able to connect and express mutual feelings.

Basically, the way I see it is this:

Both of them have their issues - Helga is closed off and reactive, Arnold is idealistic and naive. But both of them are good, caring people who want to see the best in others, especially each other. Their communication isn't great, but they're kids. They communicate as best they're able, and to a degree we do see it improve over the course of the series.

And that whole-series progression is part of what I like. They're the definition of slow burn, and in that time we get to really see them grow and mature, and learn how to work with each other even when they butt heads. If they just jumped from Downtown As Fruits to TJM, I'd say it was toxic, too. But there's so much mutual growth and understanding that happens during the course of the show as a whole that I just can't agree with that. People change. And they mature and learn and get better.

The end of TJM shows Helga already slowly growing, despite her discomfort. Where previously she might have knocked Arnold aside for trying to hold her hand, she instead retreats into herself. It's not perfect, but it's growth. And change takes time. That little bit of growth tells me that Helga would keep working on her issues (especially if she continued seeing Dr. Bliss), and Arnold is willing to be understanding and supportive while she does it.

So yeah, that's my shortaki defense rant. I love these two beyond any other ship, and nothing can change that.

[thegoodenchantress22]

Day Seven - Vow / Heartbeat / Waterfall

Alright, I couldn't help myself. I had to do the two of them getting married in San Lorenzo. I chose to interpret the Green Eyes amulets as not only gratitude for saving their people, but also a symbol and acknowledgement of the wearers being soulmates. Whatever status of companionship. Joining them in heartbeat and seeing eye-to-eye.

Initially, though, I feel like they got wedded traditionally in a Hillwood church (like they both dreamed) with friends and family. But they also decided they wanted to be wed by the green eyes as well, since I head-canon Arnold would have spent his high-school and/or college days with his parents in San Lorenzo.

The three have grown up since TJM, of course, so I feel like it would mean the world if the princess-now-probably-queen wedded the two in person to a recluse audience after the traditional one. Kind of like a blessed send-off for the Volcano Boy and the Golden Corazon Girl. (And maybe a chicken wedding gift? For a future son?)

I actually made a small reference of this in the previous post! Look closer at the pictures on Helga's corkboard right near Olga's marriage picture and you'll see something similar to this pose, but in the Jungle Movie outfits. This picture is clearly more thought out than the little reference I made then, but I thought it'd be a cute little callback~ I really loved making this special moment between the two.

I really hope you liked this, I do have something planned for Day Eight, but I have thoroughly enjoyed every single moment this week! Thank you to everyone who has liked my stuff enough to engage with it. I am so elated that this week this year has been so successful and it's all thanks to you guys~ Last day tomorrow! See you then!

[kybee-the-bee-cat]

I was planning to post this much sooner, but I keep forgetting to lol. I made this before the solo Helga picture, and since I didn't wanna seem like I was slacking off on that and keep true to my word, I decided I wanted to share this after finishing and posting the other picture too. More Shortaki, 'cause I just felt like it. Good thing it was Valentines' Day a while ago. I just wanna draw these two more 'cause that's how much I love 'em, but because I want to get to other characters too, I'll try keeping them few and far between for now.  I dunno what Helga did to make Arnold ambush her with a hug like that, but it must've been something. But uh . . . You better hope that’s not concrete below them or something.  Also just to explain Helga's long sleeves there, I was trying to make a different design for her like I saw others do, but I couldn't think of anything. I was better of just not doing that honestly. Could've even just drawn her TJM version like I did with Arnold, but whatever. I never know how to end things off so just have a good day (and if you celebrated Valentines' Day, I hope you had a good one)!

[troutfur]

Revised plan for The Joyful Mysteries: since I was going to divide it into chapters anyway, instead of posting all five at once the first two are going up hopefully today with the third going up tomorrow if I can manage to actually write it. From there the last two are coming sometime between the end of the year and Candlemas if I can help it. Hopefully earlier because I want to keep up my tradition of a birthday upload but I don't want it to be a TJM chapter.

[4x4community]

Amarok TJM suspension - advice please

Forum: General 4x4 Discussion Posted By: Kaboef Post Time: 2023/03/21 at 07:59 AM http://dlvr.it/SlDBjc

[naoko-matsumoto-matchmaker]

TJM’s new blog post is on the website! ⁡ For more information, please contact Naoko @naoko_matsumoto_matchmaker https://TJM.bz ⁡ #matchmakingJapan #matchmaking #matchmakingTOKYO #japanesedatingsite #matchmakernyc #japanesewomen #datingjapan #japanesematchmaker #naokomatsumoto (Tokyo Japan) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClSBOpmPLse/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[meli-productions]

Corazon de Oro

Day Four Prompt: Locket

Also on AO3:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/25583053/chapters/62128462#workskin

It was only a metaphorical heart and she knew that it was stupid to miss the weight against her chest when she had an almost identical weight around her hand, but - it was a difficult thing to explain to her psyche.

Missing that cold heart against her own heavy heart usually meant that she was up to shenanigans leading to getting it back into her hands before people found out about her secrets. No more monologuing to the face of her beloved in the quiet corners of the city, behind walls or dumpsters or trees and instead turning her monologuing towards the newest pink books in her series of journals. 

Still. It had grown to be a part of her and she missed it terribly.

Arnold was watching his…friend with the intensity of a San Lorenzo summer, following the track of Helga’s hand as it distractedly reached up for the top of her dress, clenching around the fabric there as if expecting to find something and then not finding it. Her eyes widened and he could almost see the panic setting in her body before it realized something and relaxed.

At her side, he saw Phoebe give her a soft look, not pitying exactly but sympathetic, as if she knew more than she let on - and it irritated him slightly to know that someone knew his - friend better than him.

“Helga,” he said, upset when the sound of his voice brought her back with a startled jump. “Are you alright? You look a little - did you lose something?”

Her breath hitched for a moment, face shifting into the wide-eyed trapped look he’d grown accustomed to seeing when she was caught doing something against her nature. Then she took a good luck at him and, as if remembering the status of their relationship, she eased back with a wobbly smirk.

“Aw, Football Head,” she said, the tease bringing more of her back to the surface. “Are you worried about me? I’m fine you know just - just getting used to some things.”

Arnold fought against two instincts - one to roll his eyes at the taunt and the other to keep pressing - but he decided to give her a warm smile. “I’ll always worry about you, Helga. But you know you can tell me if something’s bothering you, right?”

And all of the worry melted away as he saw the rosiness spreading across the bridge of her nose, his stomach giving a little swoop as she turned her blushing face away.

“Quit your flirting, Football Head and - don’t you have work to do?”

With a smile that had moved from warm to dazed, Arnold hummed an agreement and turned back to his work, barely making out the ‘mmm mmm mmm, you’re too far gone on her’ from Gerald.

It dawned on him that night at dinner. As Stella swooped down next to him and placed the bowl of mashed potatoes, smacking Oscar’s hand away before pressing a kiss to the crown of Arnold’s head, realization sparked with the press of his mother’s love.

“A heart of gold,” he said under his breath and catching the attention of the woman who was barely out of earshot.

Stella frowned, “Honey, are you - is it - what was that about a heart of gold?”

Arnold blushed and looked down at the plate in front of him, preferable over the worried look in his mother’s green eyes, “It’s just - I realized we lost something important in San Lorenzo and I didn’t really notice because it wasn’t mine to notice. And now - well, now I’m noticing and I feel bad.”

She looked like she wanted to squeeze something with him, but the announcement from Miles that food was served interrupted her train of thought and Arnold hoped she’d forget about it altogether.

No such luck.

Stella herded him onto the couch after dinner and pinned him with a look that invited no argument from him, so he took a seat and waited for her to say her piece.

When she settled next to him, she sighed and said, “Arnold, I need you to understand that losing the Corazon was not your fault, okay? You chose to live and that’s more important to us - even to the Green-Eyes - than the Corazon.”

“Oh,” said Arnold, frowning. “No, Mom, that's not…I mean, yeah it was really sad that we lost the Corazon but I was thinking about a different golden heart. I think that Helga’s locket was ruined after being used to set off the medicine. And I think that she’s - missing it.”

She blinked a few times, processing what he had said, then a wobbly smile spread on her face and her lips parted with a coo, “Oh, my sweet boy. I should’ve known you were talking about your girlfriend.”

“Mom, she’s not my - that. We’re just, y’know, friends now,” Arnold said, blush highlighting his freckles. “I just feel guilty. That locket meant a lot to her.”

Stella nodded, a sly tilt of her lips as she sat there thinking, then her eyes lit up, “I think I have something to help you.”

Arnold felt awkward.

No.

He felt like he was burning from the inside out with embarrassment, then chilled by the cold sweat worry that he’d be laughed out of Hillwood. He hadn’t been sure whether this was something he should’ve been dressed up for, or should he have brought flowers, or maybe warned Helga that he was coming - 

“Um, Arnold, you doing okay?” asked Helga, eyes scanning the area, “Something wrong? Any of those meatheads after you? Or - ” something seemed to add-up as she stopped, taking in his nervous demeanor and her mouth opened in a little ‘o’, “Oh. I get it. You’re gonna let me down. That’s why you’re so nervous.”

Arnold spluttered, “What?”

Helga pulled her arms tight across her chest, scowl fighting to crawl onto her face but fighting with the wobbiliness of her lip, “I’m a big girl, Arnold. Rejection isn't something stranger to me. C’mon Football Head, lay it on me.”

“No,” said Arnold. “That’s not what - why would you think - I- ”

“Just - get it over with, Arnold.”

“I have a present for you,” he blurted out, not able to handle the look on Helga’s face and he shoved the small, square box into her hands. 

Helga’s eyes dropped to the little white box, fingers playing with the soft pink ribbon on top, and then she glanced back up to him, confused, “You - you got me a present?”

Face heating up again, Arnold gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I realized what you’ve been looking for - what’s missing and I figured that you might want a replacement.” 

Realization softened Helga’s features and she pulled on the ribbon to open the box. A little gasp parted her lips as she looked inside, and she looked up at him with an almost dumbstruck expression.

“This is -”

“My mom gave it to me,” Arnold said, still blushing. “She said it was the least we could do for everything you’ve done for us and - well, something happened to yours. 

Helga pulled out the thin chain that held the dainty gold locket and brought it up to her line of vision, “Why? You didn’t need to do that.”

“You lost that helping me find my parents. The least I could do is make sure that you still had something to count on. I - there’s not a picture in it though - I figured that you’d want to do that yourself.”

Helga smiled, a sweet curve that made her seem like a different person altogether and it pulled on Arnold’s stomach and almost distracted him from her next words.

“You’re a softie, Football Head…but thanks,” she said, pulling the chain around her neck and letting the heart-shaped locket rest on her chest. “I guess I don’t have to hide it all that much now, right?”

“R-right.”

She laughed, “Alright, enough of this softie mess, let’s go get some ice-cream.”

The weight was different on her chest. Not as clunky, not as heavy as the hand in hers, but delicate like the bond between them. It didn’t hold a picture of her beloved, nor an inscription, or even a lock of his hair, but it meant so much more.

There would be no monologuing to it; she didn’t need to anymore. And now, the warmth of a golden heart against her beating one would be a beacon of hope for the future - and that her psyche could live with. That is something she could live with.

[c0nnverse]

i'm sad and i want hey arnold season 6 to be real in 50 minutes

[arnold-loves-helga]

so do you ever just randomly think to yourself “holy shit the jungle movie actually happened in real life” and then feel all those feelings all over again because w o w

[shortmania]

I know people really like the idea of Gertie actually being sane for the most part and just messing with people -- Craig included -- but I’ve gotta be honest. That... bugs me. A lot. And I think I prefer her to actually have dementia.

Strike that. I do prefer it. I really prefer it.

This has been bugging me for a long time. I never said anything about it for a lot of reasons, but now that Craig’s just outright stated it in interview and made it impossible to wave away as a mere headcanon, I feel like I kind of have to. Maybe I’m just being sensitive, but the idea that anyone would fake that level of instability for the hell of it is....

I’m trying to be delicate about this because I do understand the mindset Craig has and the logic behind it and I want to be respectful of his creation, but it hurts. It’s actually painful to think about. It doesn’t make me mad. It makes me upset. And maybe I really am the only one, but I’d like to explain why anyway. Beyond the intensely personal reasons, because frankly, fuck those.

Explanation under the cut.

I don’t wanna be that caustic tumblr asshole who says something really trite like “mental illness isn’t a joke” and completely bypasses the reality of what’s going on with the situation -- the reality being that both Gertie and Phil are meant to be living parodies of elderly stereotypes, and Craig of course only has the best intentions -- but I’ve got to be honest with myself. The joke, when played to this extent, isn’t very funny to me, so it’s hard for me to shrug off as just another headcanon-y thing I was wrong about and move on.

Maybe it would’ve been easier at one point. Craziness is funny as an objective idea. It’s wacky and off the wall and in direct opposition to what’s considered socially acceptable and that’s what makes it fun. And to that extent, I get it. I used to like faking craziness when I was a kid, too. My friends and I would “overdose” on smarties and walk into walls and make dumb faces and fake amnesia, and from an adult’s perspective it sounds dark, but we were just kids. And HEY ARNOLD!, for all its fundamental maturity, is a kids show. I guess I always just saw Gertie’s behavior through that lens--of us only ever being shown what was appropriate for children. What children would be able to understand and enjoy without having to worry about any of the deeper implications. Much the same way Miriam mumbling to herself, stumbling around and hugging her blender was played for laughs.

But then you get older, and things like that stop being funny because you’ve known someone with dementia. You’ve known someone with schizophrenia. You’ve known people with alzheimers. You’ve seen people actually knock into walls, and actually overdose, and make dumb faces that they don’t know they’re making and not remember things they promised at one time they would always remember. You’ve known alcoholics. And it isn’t particularly funny, and you couldn’t fully get that as a kid because you were a kid.

But you’re an adult now, and when you’re an adult, you see things differently.

Gertie is an adult, so. I guess the long and short of this is: if Gertie is capable of faking dementia because she thinks it’s funny and she likes acting ridiculous 24/7, enough to willingly sacrifice her loved one’s emotional well-beings -- including her orphaned grandson’s -- then I hate her. I think she’s a horrible person and she shouldn’t have children, let alone grandchildren.

I guess it really is as simple as that. I get why it’s supposed to be funny, and I get how it might be fun as a concept, but it’s not funny or fun to me. It’s really just not, and I can’t get past that.

Gertie is delusional. Gertie dresses up in elaborate costumes and takes time to fashion her hair into complicated updos and talks nonsense and frequently looks confused. Gertie has moments of lucidity where she does understand that something important is happening, but these moments are brief and she is unable to hold full conversations so she leaves those up to Phil in spite of his incompetence. Gertie has never had a single conversation with Arnold that lasted longer than a few minutes and remained grounded in reality. Gertie is an intelligent and imaginative woman, so her delusions have intelligent and imaginative foundations, but at the end of the day, they are still delusions.

Gertie interrupted dinner during The Family Man with an announcement that she was Marie Queen of Scotts, thus destroying any chance Mr. Hyunh had of getting a promotion. Gertie regularly ruins holidays and events by insisting they are an entirely different holiday, forcing everyone to go along with her plans in spite of their unhappiness. Gertie has lost all sense of self-preservation. Gertie has stolen the Packard before and driven with Arnold in the car despite not having a license. Gertie got thrown in jail and thought it was a game. Gertie makes Phil angry, annoyed, exasperated and sometimes just plain distressed on a regular basis with her loud proclamations, melodramatic rambles and grandiose antics. Gertie sleeps in a separate bed from Phil. Phil flirts with and propositions other women because his wife hasn’t been his wife in years and he’s given up on her ever being fully herself again.

It is messed up and I’m sure it must bother some people to think of it this way, but it never bothered me. I could laugh at Gertie in spite of her mental illness, for two reasons: 1) frankly, watching her isn’t unlike watching Eugene fall down a manhole or get hit by a bus, and 2) because that’s a way of dealing with the trauma of life. You laugh at it. You laugh, because it lessens its weight and lets you breathe. You laugh, because you can’t do a damn thing to change it. That’s just the way things are sometimes, and it can be sad, but once you’ve accepted it and learned how to smile in its face despite having this understanding, it becomes much easier to live. I think this is an important lesson. Arnold recognizes his grandma’s illness, and it frustrates him sometimes, but he can still smile and laugh with her and love her. Eugene probably falls down a hundred manholes a week and breaks at least one bone every day, but has anyone ever seen him stop smiling for longer than a few seconds? These facts, fictional as they are, are precious to me, and though I do regret calling Craig out like this, I won’t apologize.

...Okay, honestly, Eugene has some emotional problems, but my point stands

This is the way I see it and this is the way I will continue to see it in spite of this interview and any passing comments made in TJM. I don’t like going against canon or Craig, but this is one point I can’t budge on. Because I guess I am a bit of a tumblr asshole in spite of myself, and I don’t want to hate Gertie. 

That’s about the size of it.

[urbanenemy]

TEARDROPS - Seeing Double 7" (1979/UK)

[kyojuuros]

And in that moment, we were all Helga: