#replies way too long

[heartorbit]

find another role, carry on the show

[anastacialy]

guys, i think the hermits are going to accidentally start a prank war again. because just like last time, a game of telephone has begun. first, false made iskall's build into ''false beans,'' her shop from the previous season. however, to give herself plausible deniability, she signs it with "love, Joel. x" due to his username, smallishbeans.

next, iskall sees this, and completely believes it. he thinks it was joel who pranked him, and as he says to pearl while showing off the sign, which he kept even after tearing the prank down, "joel gave me a kiss." in his most recent video, he pranks joel by sending him loads of anonymous messages in order to completely spam and fill his inbox, preventing him from getting any more mail, with notes such as "thinking about you. x"

of course, joel is going to have absolutely no context for this, because he didn't make the initial prank. so who is joel going to assume sent him all those messages while he was away on holiday? well, i have a guess.

etho.

[deoidesign]

[lycandrophile]

at this point i don’t even have any commentary to add to this. i’m just tired.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Get Souped!

[willthespy]

✮ “You came,” he said. “My sun and star.”

[mari-lair]

Terukaneaoi request because I love that ship specifically with all my heart

On it!

[pippin-pippout]

I just watched MelonTeee's video on Ace and Worth and man the internal debate I have with myself on whether I agree with the choice or not...

Her video explains the fandom's love for the character so well, as well as why the tragedy hit so hard. For me personally I have not been that affected by a character death in a LONG time.

And I understand it from a certain narrative perspective – mainly how Ace's past continues to feature in the story a decade later, and Whitebeard's line that someone would carry Ace's flame, because that clearly describing Luffy. He goes after the mera mera no mi and finishes what Ace started in Wano.

But there are two major narrative reasons given for Ace's death that I disagree with. And are largely why I think it shouldn't have happened, and also why the death has hit me so hard.

This is going to get long, but I would really love to hear everyone's thoughts on it if you choose to read!

To give Luffy the push he needed to be stronger: I am pretty confident this is Oda's stated reason (in addition to Oda wanting to prove he could kill characters which I guess he said at one point and which is bleh given the level of injury a character sustains seems to have nothing to do with whether they die or not lol it's just what the author wants to happen). Anyway. That push already happened on Sabaody when Luffy lost everyone to Duma. He was HELPLESS. More helpless than he was through most of marineford. And when Rayleigh convinces Luffy to do the 2 years training, Rayleigh only brings up their epic defeat on Sabaody. He does not bring up marineford or Ace's death as a reason Luffy needs to get stronger. Because Luffy did not need that reason. The only argument I can think of is that maybe once he landed on Amazon Lily, and he realized the strawhats were likely alive, the terror he felt on Sabaody abated slightly. And therefore maybe he needed a reminder of what "loss" truly is to re-motivate him. However, I don't think that is really fitting with his character or the story.

Ace's dream was fulfilled: Oda has talked about the reason he doesn't kill villains is because not having your dream fulfilled is a worse fate than death. I think part of the tragedy of Ace's death was that his dream wasn't fulfilled. Even for those who accept his last words - that he had only one regret which was not seeing Luffy accomplish his dream - the amount of time he got to live with that dream was literally the last moments of his life. But I don't think just because you die with no regrets, does not mean your dream is fulfilled. Especially when Ace never truly internalized what his dream was. His final choice to turn around showed HOW MUCH he still was that lonely, scared little kid he was at 10 despite his warm smile and his growing family. The most heartbreaking part of the flashback was not Sabo's death. It was watching Ace asking the question "do I deserve to exist?" and giving all his devotion to those who said yes. It was him making the exact same decision he would make 10 years later, to refuse to run, because he felt like if he ran he would lose everything and Luffy was standing behind him. Ace's final words do more than state he has no regrets. He also gives the answer to the question he'd asked Garp, and that Garp had said only his actions could decide. Ace died thanking Luffy and his family for loving him despite the "worthless" or "good for nothing" person he was. Ace was moved to tears to hear his family emphatically saying "YES. You do deserve to live! We want you to live!" But Ace never actually believed it. His last words were a reflection of gratitude for the love he was given that he didn't feel he deserved. And thus his final answer to the question "Do I deserve to exist?" was no.

That he was too "good" This is kind of the most upsetting one I've heard (thankfully not a lot) and also the one easiest to dismiss. Ace, being the actual son of the pirate king, being super powerful, growing in strength and reputation faster than Luffy (debatable), put him narratively in competition with Luffy. What I mean by that is it positions him as too much the golden character, the mary sue, the typical protagonist, when One Piece is about Luffy's story, not Ace's. I disagree with the premise of seeing Ace's character that way. But also even he was "that" character, it's pretty clear Ace's dream would have taken him to becoming Whitebeard's heir - whose dream it was to build a family - while Luffy is Gol D Roger's heir. So Ace's journey would have supported the main story of One Piece and also be narratively satisfying.

---

What Was Ace's Dream?

The dreams Ace stated out loud were more reflections of his actual, deeper dream. "I want to be the king of the pirates" - because he wanted to prove his existence and his worth to the world. Which switched to "I want to make whitebeard the king of the pirates" - because Whitebeard loved him despite his blood, and so even if that wasn't what Whitebeard wanted, it was how Ace understood he could repay Whitebeard.

Both of those stated dreams get back to this question he'd been asking his whole life - that of worth. Worth and Love, which, for Ace's character, are inseparable.

For Ace's dream to truly be fulfilled, it's not enough for him to accept he was loved – which he did on the scaffolds, crying from happiness – he had to believe he was worth that love. He had to love himself.

Ace died with that dream tragically unfulfilled.

---

The Purpose of One Piece

Of course the decision to kill Ace makes the story more realistic and of course it is heartbreaking, tragic, moving, and obviously inspires deeper discussion.

However, what rankled me from when I first learned about his death, which was way before I was even introduced to the character in Alabasta, was that he is the only character of the younger generation (outside of flashbacks) to die.

Honestly when I first heard Ace was one of the only characters to die, I was just worried it would make him seem weaker or stupider than every other character, which is a personal pet peeve of mine. Luckily for most fans, it didn't do that.

Instead, what wound up upsetting me was how it seemed to contradict the purpose of the story that is One Piece (at least what I think the purpose is). In doing so, it opposes the meaning that many fans find in this absurd, ridiculous, inspiring, heartfelt, heroic tale about a boy made of rubber.

One Piece is an escapist story about a boy named Luffy who inspires every good guy he meets to pursue and achieve their dream. It's also about Luffy beating up every bad guy who punishments are that they cannot fulfill their morally reprehensible dreams.

Because of Ace's premature death, he is the only good guy character in the main timeline who does not get to pursue his dream. And what's extra tragic is that he is also one of the most deserving of seeing his dream fulfilled.

[notachair]

Since atla is again having an extra surge of popularity, I'm shooting my shot:

[ID: (Rest of image description in alt). At the bottom of the image sits the text: "Zuko: Okay. Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punchline is "leaf me alone, I'm bushed."" ID end].

Did we ever find out what the setup for this joke was? I feel kinda haunted by it. If not- anyone wanna make their best or worst guesses?

edit: I now know what "I'm bushed" mean, but go ahead anyway 👍

haunted thoughts in tags ↓

[trashydez]

Phoenix and Franziska as siblings is an interesting dynamic I need to seeeee

GOD you do not know how much i think of these two as siblings, thank you for being my excuse to talk about them!!

i think if phoenix were frans brother instead of edgeworth, he’d be alot more doting of her- look at how he is with his daughter, afterall. he moves into the von karma household when hes like 9 and she’s 2 years old. she was a Baby. a Baby who can talk in full sentences for some reason, but a baby nonetheless.

and he is So doting and caring, raising her in contrast to how von karma was raising her. we see that despite how franziska von karma she is even as a child in the anime, she is sweet and worried about miles’ wellbeing, so ive no doubt itd extend to phoenix if he and miles swapped places.

except, obviously mvk has some issues with whimsy and joy because, well he’s von karma. so he likely doesnt approve and actively berates phoenix for caring for fran, saying its weakness and she’ll grow up to be useless and a dishonour blabla. it gets fran in trouble too though, so i think as time goes on phoenix would start to act less openly affectionate and more cold, but still caring, despite showing it in his own,, convoluted way. as time goes on too, i think the constant beratement from mvk, the pressure of the von karma name and other things i cant say here lest it be spoilers to my own au starts to wear at phoenix’s wellbeing, and it takes a toll on his relationship with franziska as fran tries in all her eight year old might to bring back the boy who’d always smile at her.

anyway i think unlike how miles and fran are like a prince and princess and mvk is the king, i think phoenix and fran would have a princess and her first knight kind of relationship, to put their dynamic simply

[nopony-ask-mclovin]

Not a pair.

[hiding-in-the-vault]

https://x.com/ShitpostRock/status/1804110011892707329?t=wsxwCKwaQALXVUDdGn8m7g&s=19

What c!Dream DIDN'T do (Roulette)

LMAO yeah

[padawansuggest]

Okay. So. I was on tiktok and I remembered that live wedding painters exist.

And that made me obviously think of other live things that could be painted. And I have a one track mind so I obviously landed on Jedi ceremonies.

Which made me straight up tear up if Quinlan had a live painting done of knighting Aayla in a somewhat longer than usual ceremony so they had enough time for the artist to do the background (maybe Room of a Thousand Fountains because I don’t think they should all happen in the council chambers) and Quinlan and their lineage all there and Obi and Ani (Ani is here for big sister Aayla, Quinlan just Happens To Be There ugh) and all that stuff.

And I think that Quinlan would be able to touch that painting years down the line and still feel like he’s in that moment even tho his baby girl is all grown up and flown the nest, she’s right there looking up at him as he knights her.

-tag this as post O66 and I’ll kick ur ass it’s not about that I’m here for fix it fics not that stain-

[thermodynamic-comedian]

i've learned to block people when they get on my nerves too much, but i really really also need to learn to not reply to people when they're clearly engaging with my post in bad faith.

[boszbichblitzo]

i 4got 2 pozt a pic wen mils n me wnet on this job a wile back but chek dis fit im cute as shit 💕

[charmwasjess]

Aww, I'm realizing I wrote Making It Up, my favorite little Syku oneshot this time last year for Valentines Day.

I should post something for it this year, but the two things I'm almost finished with could not be more different: sweet kid-seeker Sifo with baby Rael fluff, or uh, the "sex" "pollen".