#real world symbolism

[firelily-mermaid-jedi]

2 things always bug me about the whole " abolish Fire Nation monarchy and establish democracy" argument. One, I have yet to see the Earth Kingdom brought up. And they have TWO different kings. If FN monarchy needs to be abolished, shouldn't they also?

And two, um, I know you don't want hear this but, democracy isn't a perfect form of government either. At least if you're going by the common Western version of it. You're just trading one bad system for a minor bad system.

This is FICTION. If the Earth Kingdom can be believed to be a good monarchy, there is no reason to believe that Zuko can't eventually get it there. Or make up a different style of government. It's make believe after all.

No but I do find it extremely performative when certain parts of the fandom are like "this part of atla and this nonwhite culture is symbolic for the bad parts of white American imperialism but this other nonwhite culture represents the good parts."

I'm talking about the people who say with their whole chest that Aang should use his power as Avatar to abolish the fire nation monarchy or destroy them as a political entity and culture, without recognizing that Aang is as much a creation of white American authors as Zuko is. And what's more, Aang is the hero. His power and authority is never questioned the way Zuko is forced to question his.

Even if we use the fire nation as a 1:1 representation of Japan - which doesn't work in any case because it's a fantasy show that pulls from so many different cultural influences - even if we did pretend the fire nation was Japan, though, like I guess we all forgot the atrocities America committed in Japan in the name of world peace.

"Aang should use his Avatar powers to destroy the Fire Nation" sounds a lot like "let's nuke them" at a certain point.

"Aang should abolish the Fire Nation monarchy and establish a democracy" sounds a lot like what America did in the Middle East.

The thing about imperialism is that it never comes in announcing itself as the bad guy, it always presents itself in terms of the greater good. This is something that atla itself actually addresses but the fandom apparently forgot.

[lucabyte]

A belief in Nominative Determinsim

[vuelode-irbis]

StarClan's tool

ID: a digital drawing that features Leafpool (Warrior Cats). She's seen from the above, her face is covered in leaves put in by StarClan cats' paws. Her eyes aren't visible, but her muzzle and ears are. At her paws, there are blue, starry pawprints of StarClan paws, simbolizing a path already traced by these cats. The path ends in a holly leaf, a sycamore maple leaf, already turned yellow, and a jay's feather, simbolising the kits she was bound to give birth to. End ID.

[potatobugz]

i was hacked by a very unhappy man!

[sirenspells]

Mari jumpscare

More experimenting with characters' hair. Also gave her a beauty mark for fun :3 (her headspace counterpart not having one is intentional)

[pharawee]

"I want that guy, Air, to disappear from this world!"

—7 DAYS BEFORE VALENTINE · Episode 1

[beatcroc]

hey mecha, do you think you could beat metal sonic in a 1v1

[dandelionjack]

i hope ruby gets a well-that’s-alright-then-style notdeath. on the one hand it will make haters mad because oh no not another companion with an impermanent end (and i like to see haters mad) on the other it would require creativity to depict this in a new way + i love all the implications i love the dark fairytale quality of these companion exits i love my un-undead schrodinger’s women

with the way the legend of ruby sunday is titled… legends aren’t usually told about living people. legends are stories of the bygone past, of an age long since over, fictionalised and overgrown with folklore like barnacles sticking to an abandoned shell. there is such a thing as a living legend, but they’re exceedingly rare. the unmistakeable raven’s call in the 73 yards teaser, the trailer’s cut to fifteen crying alone after promising to cherry he’d protect her daughter… the foreshadowing is clear as day…

and yet. there’s one massive HOWEVER. ruby appears in s15: millie’s been spotted on set filming it. which leads me to believe — the doctor isn’t one to take the time travel route and revisit companions that in his future are genuinely dead. that would hurt too much, it would cause unnecessary trauma and could break the timeline. that must mean ruby stays alive in some way. ish. she’s alive and a legend and a mystery. girl-ballad girl-song girl-paradox

here she is, fading out.

p.s.: thesis statement on moffatgirls from the tags i left on somebody else’s post about charley pollard.. well it belongs here since it’s basically the semiotic hurricane swirling around ruby at the moment :)

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

[codenamesazanka]

Shigaraki/Tenko wanting to destroy the false sense of peace All Might and Heroes created

.⬇️.

Shigaraki/Tenko wanting to destroy everything that lead to the existence of that house, which he conceptualizes as the embodiment of rejection and injustice in the world. Be a Hero for the Villains.

.⬇️.

AFO basically literally created that house

.⬇️.

Shigaraki/Tenko helps defeat AFO

.⬇️.

Deku telling him 'you already destroyed it' is... apparently Shigaraki/Tenko having finally gotten rid of the true cause of (his) rejection and injustice? main antagonist's big problem that represents an overarching major issue of the story/in-universe society... solved? (main antagonist's big problem that represents an overarching major issue of the story/in-universe society not actually being the problem he thought it was but now also solved?)

.⬇️.

No longer a need for there to be a Hero for the Villains, Shigaraki/Tenko dies.

.⬇️.

Heroes not to be blamed in the first place. also fuck everyone else and all other 'actual' outcasts I guess.

[kinselu]

you go girl! own that drowning in your own corpse look!

[vellichorom]

" As they made it to the end they practically skidded along the floor and came to a halt in the Zen room, only to freeze up. 

Thierry, who they hadn’t seen in a while, was sitting there, looking at the lights before he turned to look at [YN] with wide eyes.

The colors of the room were strangely different. Instead of its normal bright yellow, blue, orange, and green, The room was casted in pink hues and the patterns in the room were clusters of pink hearts. 

They stared at each other.

Thierry was silent, as though struggling to find the words to speak. The lights in the room seemed to oddly reflect in his eyes. Like he had actually absorbed the colors. Beautiful swirling colors.... "

///

lowkey brainrotting over @ihazmunchies91's The Narrative Parable, A FANDOM NARRATOR X READER - WHICH YOU CAN START READING RIGHT HERE! something i'm so very lucky to not only enjoy, but to really be apart of!

-- HERE'S TO CHAPTER 7 & ONWARD! ( where hopefully someday i can catch up on all the fanart i want to make here )

[obsessive-dumpling]

I have been waiting with bated breath but the end is nigh so it's time to get our final predictions in folks.

.

.

.

And I don't know.... I've had SO many predictions throughout this entire series and here we are, at end game, and I have no clue. Because Horikoshi is so talented at turning things where I least expect. Don't believe me?

Did you see "Kacchan of the Bakugos" live on world wide television happening?

Did you see "cutest girl in the world" happening?

Did you see "spend the rest of our lives together" happening?

(Spoiler Alert: There are so. many. more!)

Like we anticipated a lot of things as a fandom but then he would also smack us in the face with scenes straight out of our favorite fanfics. And why? Why did he do that? Why did he REUSE the line from School Briefs about Katsuki's relationship with girls in the final chapters of the manga? He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to do any of this!

Those were choices. Choices he actively made. Choices Shonen Jump let be published. Choices Bones is now animating. And it's because of those choices and that follow through that I'm so unsure now.

This all feels too pointed... Too intentional for there to not be a final bkdk scene/ending. So why the hesitation in predicting a bkdk ending?

Because. This ending isn't about the fandom. This ending isn't about "who's ship wins". And if you think that's all that's on the line here, then I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, cause you missed it. You missed the point of this series and what bkdk as a canon couple would actually mean in the real world 2024.

MHA is one of the top animes in the world. Check the numbers. Not Japan. Not American. The world! Do you understand what it would mean to have a canon gay couple as leads in a mainstream Shonen anime? How many people that would reach?

Representation in media matters. Representation in MAINSTREAM media MATTERS. God, I could do a whole seminar on this topic but the point HERE being: a canon gay superhero couple in a top Shonen anime would have a massive effect on a global scale. And how many need to see that? How many people could that help? How many people could it change?

And though Horikoshi has shown a heavy leaning towards a bkdk end game, that doesn't mean he has to, or even can, follow through on it. Unfortunately, it's not up to JUST him. Shonen Jump could tank it. Bones could tank it! Do you get it yet? It's going to take A LOT for this to happen. And frankly my heart is having a hard time with it...

Because we've seen creators fight this fight before. The Legend of Korra. SheRa. Both always intended to have queer leads. But had to fight TOOTH AND NAIL with everything they had just to get a final closing scene.

We've also seen queer baiters. So many have pointed out the similarities to how Naruto felt. And because of the nature of the series' mangaka, we will never know what the truth is on that matter.

We've felt shunted by the system. We've felt laughed at for having hope to see a love like ours up on that screen.

But now we have hope again. And there /is/ a chance. There is a really real chance right now- that we could actually get it...

And that makes my chest tight.

[blujayonthewing]

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Broooo eridan hates the water because aquarius isn't actually a water sign it just gets confused for one (the symbol is a pitcher holding water, but the concept is the pitcher itself)

things in a story can be for multiple reasons at a time

[thessaralka]

you know what's always frustrated me about dragon age tho

the religions

they're built on shaky (or zero) foundations.

all major real world religions have SOME kind of powerful reason that people choose to believe in them - they're all deeply rooted in occult metaphysics, NDEs and cosmic mystical events, secret esoteric knowledge, human history, myth, generations upon generations of human blood and ritual and ceremony.

andrastianism is basically catholicism but we don't know why people believe in the maker. we just know that they do.

people believe in jesus christ as the son of god because there is powerful evidence of him existing, powerful spiritual truths there, powerful legends prophesying his existence, and powerful history (it's of course deeper than that but this isn't a post about christianity).

it's understandable why people believe in anrdraste as a goddess-figure, as she has a powerful legend.

people believe in "god/ the universe/ source/ brahman/ allah/ 'the force'" (different names for the same concept) because spirituality is an inherent part of existence, it is a foundational truth of our reality that can only be experienced individually and not (yet, quite) proven by science (unless you get into quantum mechanics and einstein's theories and so on). it requires faith, and faith only comes from experiencing "knowing" directly. it cannot be taught, and it cannot be measured.

we know next to nothing about why people would ever be convinced by the maker enough to believe in him/ it as a god.

the elder scrolls does religious lore REALLY well. the aedra and the daedra have a creation myth that goes back to the two primal forces in the universe (anu and padomay - which are basically masculine and feminine primal forces, the yin/ yang of daosim - this ties into real world religions and makes the world of ES feel very real, because we can relate to it).

as far as i know, the only creation myth we get apart from the maker's "he was displeased by his creation and turned his back on it" is from the alamarri/ avaar with korth the mountain-father who created the mountains and provides game (a god worthy of being worshipped, to offer such foundations).

like, what does the maker even do? yeah he "created the golden city" (ehhhh??? not really thoooo????) and got mad at the tevinter magisters (that was just them poking at solas's fade prison too much tho)... and created the veil (that was solas tho). so nothing the maker has done has actually happened, it's the byrpoduct of something the evanuris did. mostly solas.

thedas (particularly with the dalish worship of the evanuris) feels like a post-apocalyptic world that lost its religion and its reasons for believing in religion a long time ago, because they've been continuously decimated by blights/ war/ slavery/ loss/ degradation.

and perhaps that is the truth of it. their faith is bleak, and rootless, because the world of thedas is a post-apocalyptic world that is bleak, and rootless (thanks to solas and the evanuris who created the blight, and sundered the titans from their dreams).

the most honest religions in thedas are, in my opinion, the dwarven religion (which is not a religion at all, and instead a worship of skill and excellence), and the avaar religion, which is based in their communication with the spirit world - which makes sense! because spirits are the energy of an idea or feeling, and that energy is tangibly spiritual and powerful. andrastianism is cool too, except for the part about it being founded on andraste being the bride of the maker, so we're back at square one.

what the fuck do these people even believe in?