#rambling entirely too much

[dootznbootz]

Thinking about how Telemachus has heard "You are just like your father" by so many people for most of his life. How different yet refreshing it is to hear said father tell him warmly "You're so much like your mother".

[wtfforged]

made it to enies lobby with my friend:)

this is a redraw. heres the original screenshot!

[generalluxun]

If we're gonna go lit about it though, Princesses tended to actually do quite a bit in the old stories. They didn't slay the knight/kind/dragon often, but they were very much involved in the process. Healing/helping/even saving the knight to get him on the way to putting the sword into the evil of choice for the story. Tales of princesses very much deliniated gender roles, but rarely were women 'helpless' they just had talents in other places than slaying things.

One could try to argue that all of Adrien's sacrifices and building up of Ladybug/Marinette along the way count for this, except those instances are not in service of the direct conflict with *this* dragon- his father. Adrien is specifically prevented from helping in this conflict. (surrendering the ring does not count to my mind. No pat of that choice was *Adrien* vs just anyone) And so he is given a position lesser than that of even a princess.

HOWEVER

Perhaps it is a different story? There are many stories of an enchanted princess, under a curse or a geas. In these cases the Knight frees the princess from this magical influence. Adrien being a Sentimonster and Gabriel's hold over him fits this narrative, if you choose to use it. There's probably an even stronger support for this narrative... even though the writers do not seem to have intended it? It wasn't mentioned in the commentary at least. There is also a weakness in this narrative though: saving the princess in these scenarios involves lifting the curse. As of the end of the arc Adrien is still subject to his 'curse' (the ownership has simply temporarily changed) and is in fact still not aware of it. The Knight has kept the princess vulnerable.

So, in the end, they told this story... poorly. The pieces are all there, it's just, not delivered well. Bear with me, this post has a happy ending.

This is not unique to Miraculous Ladybug, we have media out there telling stories badly *all the time*, not even full on flops just... not well done. It's easier though to look at a movie and say 'wow, they kind of missed there!' because a movie wants at most, what, 2-3 hours of your time? Admitting it wasn't great doesn't hurt. ML has been a part of some people's lives for 7 years now, more even in a few cases! And considering the target demo was 6-10, that's 13-18 now. That's half of people's lives. Even if you're an older fan, it's still a big investment. It's VERY HARD to accept anything other than the best from that. It hurts! It makes people very defensive. It leads to bitter things said on the internet. 🤣Yet it is important to own when even the media we love and identify falls short. The other alternative is to internalize those shortcomings and risk not recognizing them in other situations in the future.

HOWEVER

Let me drop two extremely important things to remember, even when wrestling with this.

Does this mean ML is just garbage? NO! absolutely not! It's a sprawling narrative over 7 years, there are plenty of good moments, great moments, great characters, good stories, and if you a fan have cherished memories tied to any part of it that too is a treasure. It hurts when the end of an arc drops the ball (Ask any GoT fans) but it doesn't undo the good stuff. That's still there, and it shines even better if you can acknowledge missteps and keep them separate.

2. Does this mean it can't be good again? ALSO NO! Long running shows have slumps. They have arcs that misfire. Beloved franchises strike out now and then, and yet still come back strong. A game is not a season, and a season is not the entire history of the football club (sorry I'll stop with the sports metaphors) ZAG has made a point of diversifying interest in ML and I think that lends itself to strength over the long run. They had a feature film that was great and a special that hit plenty of awesome narrative notes in only 44 minutes! There will be another film in 2026, and who knows what S6 might bring? A fresh arc is a fresh chance to *nail* it this time.

Sorry this got long.

The strange thing about inverting the princess and the knight story though, usually the princess in such a story knows she's being rescued, and what from, and by whom. All the popular examples I can think of do usually have the 'princess' directly involved in the action, even if only as a spectator, but any example from the last 50 years usually has her doing something. Adrien being shoved off to the side and clueless to the end has nothing to do with them inverting the genders. The only major examples that halfway match are the princess-in-a-coma variant like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty where they have no idea what's going on until they're knocked out on the ground, but that's not what happened to Adrien.

Yeah it's mostly inverting the more classic princess damseling sort of stories, like the ones from several decades ago, and it's true that in those cases the princesses usually still find out what happened eventually.

I'm still kinda hoping that Adrien ends up finding out stuff eventually.

[incarnadinedreams]

This isn't really new or anything but the more I reread random passages the more convinced I am that there's something very unique about the way Jiang Cheng reacts to Wen Ning and it's just so interesting!

I'm convinced it's more than just being angry. It's more than just hating him, or blaming him for Jin Zixuan's death or his sister's life. It's more than being a Wen, and it comes long before so many of those tragedies unfold anyway.

There's a sort of urgent, visceral reaction to Wen Ning's presence that just has this different feeling to it than how he reacts to any of the other characters. Even characters he has strong emotional responses to, it's never with the same panic or recklessness. It's not the same as the whole "vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy" situation he's got going on with Wei Wuxian (sexy as that might be).

When it's Wei Wuxian, it's all "...well, well. So you're back?" and "Haven't you got anything to say to me?" Even when he's not being very nice, even when he's throwing teacups and furious at Wei Wuxian, there's still an edge of calmness in the way he lashes out. He's fucking mad but he's had more than a decade to think about this and he's got things to say and he's trying so hard to get a reaction from Wei Wuxian that he just won't give him.

But he can't tolerate having Wen Ning anywhere near him. Much of the time he instantly lashes out, physically, in ways to create space between them. He's mean to Wen Ning, but he doesn't really have much to say to him; he just wants to get away from him.

It really stuck out to me how instinctive and instantaneous and emotional that reaction is when I was reading this passage from chapter 81 (ExR translation since I've got it on hand in digital text form), when Jin Ling returns Zidian and rushes back into the fray during the Second Siege:

When Jiang Cheng was unaware, he stuffed Zidian's ring back into his hand and sprinted toward the crowd, all the way up to the most dangerous area before the mouth of the cave. Jiang Cheng was about to chase after him when he managed to slice a few corpses, staggering. He felt that Sandu was no lighter than hundreds of pounds. Two female corpses threw themselves at him from both directions.

Jiang Cheng cursed. As he lifted his sword again, another pair of hands tore the two corpses into pieces, "Sect Leader..."

Jiang Cheng lost his temper as soon as he heard the voice. He kicked Wen Ning away and cursed, "Get the fuck away from me!"

Obviously that is not very nice and poor Wen Ning didn't deserve a kick for being legitimately helpful there, but the point is that not only does he lash out - the reaction happens even when he's clearly got higher priorities going on in a chaotic situation. Throughout that entire event he reacts in a somewhat more even-keeled way to almost everything except Wen Ning being in his vicinity.

And it's not just after Wen Ning's death, not just after he became Wei Wuxian's greatest weapon, not just after he was forced to kill Jin Zixuan - it's specifically a pattern established from the moment he woke up in the Supervisory Office without a core:

Before he could say anything, those sun robes reflected against Jiang Cheng's eyes. His pupils suddenly shrunk.

Jiang Cheng kicked Wen Ning, toppling over the bowl of medicine. The black liquid all spilled onto Wen Ning. Wei WuXian wanted to take the bowl of medicine. He pulled up Wen Ning as well, who had been shocked speechless. Jiang Cheng roared at him, "What's wrong with you?!"

At this point he doesn't even know how he was rescued, since he was unconscious for all of that, and thinks they're in a Wen trap and likely going to die (or worse). But there's so many echoes of that interaction again, and again, and again between them.

And combined with Wen Ning's remarks during the scene just before this, where he tells Wei Wuxian about the discipline whip injuries and how Jiang Cheng 'should have other injuries as well', the way the narrative is so deliberately ambiguous on what exactly occurred, it all makes me want to crawl up the walls and gnaw on the light fixtures wailing WHAT DID YOU SEE, WEN NING?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?

At a minimum, Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning was there at Lotus Pier prior to his capture by the Wen guards, because they'd both seen Wen Ning examining Jiang corpses on the training field before they fled for Meishan.

But everything after that is only implication and subtext and suppositions and speculation, not directly stated in the text. But based on his reaction, you can pry my headcanon from my cold dead hands that that Wen Ning probably witnessed all or much of what happened to Jiang Cheng after he was captured, and Jiang Cheng knows it.

I've also posted before how I think there's an at least nonzero chance that Jiang Cheng was never directly told that Wen Ning wasn't actually there with Wen Chao when they saw him early on, but came later to try to help (because when Wen Ning gives Wei Wuxian that information Jiang Cheng isn't conscious, and nobody tells Jiang Cheng anything. I don't think that headcanon changes much either way, but there is a slight difference, at least emotionally, between 'I helped you while I was there to slaughter your clan and destroy your life' and 'I came when I heard my crazy cousin was slaughtering your clan and tried to help you' and I think it's a juicy thing to add to the pile of misunderstandings they each have of the other's motivations and actions).

Which, if I go with these two ideas together, really drives home what a bespoke and specific nightmare the way the Golden Core reveal played out - not only the substance of the reveal, but the fact it was Wen Ning who revealed it.

He was already furious that they were even there at Lotus Pier, particularly Wen Ning. But the way it all happens it feels like it's not just echoes of the amplified emotions of the confrontation with Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian in the Ancestral Hall, it's not just Wen Ning being a Wen, or even Jin Zixuan's death, the way the narration calls out. It feels like there are deeper layers to it.

I also feel a bit stupid for not noticing before this probably extremely obvious to literally everyone else who isn't a dumbass like me parallel of Wen Ning getting a gruesome scorching whip mark across his chest at Lotus Pier in the course of saving Wei Wuxian (more or less, sort of - we know as readers Jiang Cheng was intentionally trying not to hurt them with Zidian, but I don't think Wen Ning knew that when he jumped in).

Jiang Cheng looked to find that the uninvited guest was Wen Ning. Immediately, he raged, "Who let you inside Lotus Pier?! How dare you!"

He could manage to tolerate others, but definitely not Wen Ning, the Wen-dog who put his hand through Jin ZiXuan's heart and ended both his sister's happiness and her life. Just a look, and he felt the urge to kill him right there. How dare he step foot on the earth of Lotus Pier—he really was looking for his death!

Because of the two lives and many other reasons, Wen Ning had always felt guilty, and so he'd always been somewhat scared of Jiang Cheng, consciously avoiding him all the time. Right now, however, he blocked Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi as he faced him, taking the hard lash. A gruesome scorch climbed across his chest, but still he didn't flinch.

I don't know that it actually means anything but it's making me FEEL THINGS incoherently at this specific moment, so. Also I find it legitimately sad that Wen Ning has to live with guilt over things that happened when he was controlled by someone else, though the scene before the Ancestral Hall when Jin Ling starts crying on the boat is probably a better example of that. Anyway.

It's just there's so, so many layers to how uniquely horrible it is for Jiang Cheng that he not only finds out about the Golden Core transfer this way, but also that Wen Ning, specifically, directly witnessed this life-shatteringly huge deception and sacrifice too - while Jiang Cheng was unconscious, no less.

And, well, we know how everything got capped off in that scene...

Obviously the shock of the information was going to get a huge reaction no matter what, no matter who or how he found out. Even without the Wen Ning element, it already hits every one of his deepest weaknesses and insecurities and fears.

But to come from the guy who'd witnessed his family being slaughtered, who'd witnessed who-knows-what humiliations heaped on him (who also happens to be the same fucking guy that Wei Wuxian thought it was worth leaving Yunmeng Jiang for, breaking his promise for...), the guy he blames for his sister's tragic fate (whether that blame is misplaced or not), the guy he exhibits a panic response towards even decades later, and goddamn.

There are just so many layers to this perfect little nightmare reveal on so many different levels aren't there?

There's just SO much meaty stuff for these two to dig into post-canon and all we get is an extra with a 'oh yeah sometimes Jiang Cheng yells on night hunts and Wen Ning is there' about it?!

I should probably just shut up and go read some Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning focused fics or something (whether romantic or platonic that's probably an area I really haven't explored enough vs. the amount of sheer interesting hints and material the novel gives to work with! If by some miracle anyone made it to the end of this beast feel free to drop any recs that explore them, especially that 'what did Wen Ning see?!' aspect of the whole situation because that is the current little brain worm haunting me right now).

[sprinkleofquirk]

I’ve got some minor beef with whoever wrote the fun fact for my Wild Republic anteater because this is a Giant Anteater… the only species of anteater that has a NON-PREHENSILE TAIL and look what they put 😭

No 👏no 👏no 👏no 👏😭

Giant anteaters have full, bristly, bushy tails. They are marvelous and adorable and very, very useful (camouflage, making shade, balance when on two feet, etc.) but they do not perform the same functions as the prehensile tail of other anteater species.

It CANNOT grasp things with its tail like silky anteaters or tamanduas can. It is NOT helpful when climbing; in fact, it is a deficit. Such as why they are much more terrestrial than their counterparts despite their ability to climb (they usually save this ability for traversing tall anthills, for example)

And the facts they passed up to put this one instead!!

Why not mention how their tongues are 2 feet long and can flick out of its mouth 150 times per minute??

Or how they swallow around 35,000 ants and termites whole each day because of their lack of teeth and fused jaw??

And even with that number of insects consumed per day, they never destroy a nest!! They always leave enough to repopulate so they can come back and eat from there again!!

Not to mention their strong foreclaws (which are up to four inches long) can tear open a termite mound that’s as solid as concrete! Their claws are so large they walk on their front knuckles!

Of course there’s more, but I’m going to stop here for the sake of looking semi-sane… but seriously, they are SO COOL

[carry-on-every-neverland-magic]

hbo Ellie is so much more childlike in the best endearing way like how her face lights up at escalators and dancing with Riley or Joel testing her grip on a gun. Bella has captured something so special and in a way so much more heartbreaking because when the shift comes when something bad happens and Ellie is screaming or panicked or afraid or has to fight, it hits so much harder how young she is and how much of normal life she has never seen nor experienced. The closest was the mall and even that was ripped away.

Joel too is softer and shows more vulnerability and emotion, something Pedro does SO well and though two Ellies and Joels can and do exist, hbo is really tugging at every emotion and diving so deep with them in the show, its beautiful and painful and is only gonna make the future journeys of them hurt even more because in some ways they feel even more deeply connected. 

[mikashisus]

no but just think about how much of an influence mondstadt has had on our journey thru genshin.

we started out there (probably for a reason that will be explained in future lore) and we met the god of freedom who also had a HUGE influence on our journey thus far.

and like, it makes me wonder what would’ve happened if we started out in any of the other nations. would the traveler have had the same mindset and/or morals they do now? would they have the same views on venti? or mondstadt?

i wonder what would’ve happened if the traveler didn’t go to mondstadt until much later. venti’s influence would be different, the traveler’s views on him would be different, as well as their whole mindset…

and most importantly, they’d probably be more aware of venti’s lies and deception. if mondstadt’s quest came out after sumeru, the traveler would’ve known first and foremost that venti is most likely the most powerful archon.

and they might’ve been wayyy more wary around him bc they wouldn’t have had his influence of “im the weakest so i have little to no power, therefore u shouldnt assume im dangerous”.

they might’ve believed that venti is a threat bc of his power instead.

there’s so many “what if”s. rlly makes u realize how much of an impact mondstadt has had on the game and its playerbase.

also the thought of the anemo archon being faceless and a whole mysterious entity with lore scattered EVERYWHERE until his release is extremely funny to me

like just imagine if venti’s character was entirely faceless and the only things we knew about him were him as an archon from lore crumbs scattered throughout the game and npcs in different regions. and then his eventual reveal that would bring a lot of hype

also i feel like his kit would be more cracked if he was released later in the game. but that’s just me

[spac3-em0]

hi guys I watched most of the X-Men movies and wolverine is trans he told me himself

[kagoutiss]

oot zelda doodle i liked :’-)))

[flumpermergen]

Listen… comparing hoyoverse characters can be a bit annoying but sometimes it’s just too un-fucking-canny to NOT point out

[emp-t-man]

am i too new to tumblr to push my “eiffel sees the daughter he never and will never have in hera and will always be her familial figure to me” agenda or are we ready for that conversation

[somegrumpynerd]

If you don't mind me asking, how did Nightmare learn to be a good "boss" (dad) in the first place? Did he have subordinates before the Bad Sanses? Did someone teach/adopt him after he was corrupted and he's going off their example?

...

Did he have Killers before this one and he learned from experience?

Y'know what's funny? Ages ago I was planning a (now abandoned) kinda comic series of Nightmare recording events after taking in a mortal for the first time (Killer). It was mostly supposed to be showing how he slowly grew to care for them and softened to them and the world over time (and also how the room behind him would get brighter and more colourful and filled with books and trinkets to show the positive change they were having on him).

And I did think early on about having a plot twist where it turned out he lost his first Killer and that was what made him start taking more care of them when he got another. But honestly that just makes me too sad lol I do think it's a cool idea for his character but I can't do it very well

I like to think, for my Nightmare at least, it was just a lot of doing it wrong for a long time until he learned better. When he first got Killer he was not a good boss, he was still pretty cold and uncaring and didn't really know anything that mortals needed. (In a way Killer was a bad one for him to start with because he wasn't really in the business of taking care of himself so he didn't say anything, he would just kinda collapse when the sleep or food meter got too low and Nightmare would drag him home.)

Horror was the first one in the team that would actually say if they didn't have something, like food or soap or blankets, and by that point Nightmare was pretty receptive to it. Every one of them has taught him things about what they all need but he's still learning and trying his best to make sure they're taken care of.

[claitea]

i know i shouldnt dwell on stupid opinions like this but a while ago i saw someone complain that Applin was a boring concept bc its just a worm in an apple and i was FLOORED. this iirc was in response to smth about gen 1 designs being boring as well

its not just a worm its a Wyrm its a pun. that is a concept. maybe you don't like it personally but to say its objectively bad is certainly Something. not every pokemon has to be based on a myth or something else fantastical to be a good concept. you Need "boring" pokemon for the dex to feel complete, if Everything is Cool then nothing is actually cool

"gamefreak is running out of ideas" yeah there's a billion fish pokemon but they're all actually very different to each other, lanturn is an anglerfish and lumineon is a butterfly fish. say what you will abt gamefreak rn its probably warranted but imo the one thing they still do right 100% of the time is unique concepts for each pokemon. the execution can be debated but the fundamentals are always there

[the-girl-from-another-place]

phantom of the opera really has me writing m/f ... i don't like the person i've become

[icewindandboringhorror]

Some fantasy traveler inventory details (like what they would carry in their bags), based on two of the recent costumes I did.. love finding random little scraps and items and putting them together lol

[satari-raine]

I'm still not used to fully talking on here but I just have to talk for a minute about Sleep Token and Wembley.

They did fantastic. After touring so much this year, doing back-to-back shows, dealing with a band member having to take a leave of absence for most of their final tour, incorporating new changes to their routine and style, and with Vessel having hurt his voice during such a huge show, they did fantastic.

I watched along with Discord. Mostly lurked. And everything I saw from the effects on stage, the fun antics, the performances, the playing - guitars, bass, drums, the dancers, the choir - they did fantastic. And Vessel. I said it in chat that he doesn't need to hurt himself or his voice to earn the love of those who listen to his music, but he kept going. He sang, and pushed through when he had every right in the world to put a stop to the show and focus on his health. He kept on going while also giving to the crowd the chance to carry him through, and seeing everyone - from those on stage with him to the crowd to people in chat and what I saw on here - still loving him, loving them?

They did fucking fantastic, and I dare anyone tell me otherwise. As a community, we should be celebrating them despite any differences of opinion - being kinder and supportive of one another is literally everything they've shown with III's situation and in general. It's what so many of us showed back to them with the hand salutes for III and the marked ? on our hands during specific songs. Their new outfits have fan-made decals to them, for fuck's sake. They are absolutely, without a doubt, genuine about making everyone feel loved.

Look, I'm just a stranger on the internet at the end of the day but this band has come to mean so much to me since I found them, to the point where they've honestly kept me going some days - them and the wonderful people I've met through them - and I just need them to know that they did fantastic, their music still brings people together despite hiccups along the way, and regardless of any of those hiccups, they are so loved. Loved beyond belief.

The night didn't just belong to all of us at Wembley, but to them, too.