#return of a great dream

[dearmyloveleys]

I just wonder why they settled on the English title of fangs of fortune it’s like a YA novel title like, yay we’re going on a quirky happy adventure to slay some demons and make friends. Which they do, but BUT. Also where are my fangs and where is my fortune

[demaparbat-hp]

YOOOO DEMA YOU LIKE ARCANE???!! omg who's your favorite character??? and favorite moment(s) from s1??? (and fav ship too 👀 👀) will you draw for Arcane in the future???? (peak show with peak art =perfection, just saying)

Anon, you have the. Best. Timing. Ever. I literally just finished an Arcane artstyle study with Katara of the Undercity as a subject!

My favorite Arcane character is and forever shall be Ekko (best boy). Other faves are Viktor (chronic illness baby) and Jinx (trauma gremlin).

As for the S1 scene... Besides the finale and that breathtaking Guns for Hire sequence? The Ekko/Jinx fight from ep 7. It broke me. (And turned me into a Timebomb shipper. Which was arguably worse.)

[tenthsfreezeout]

— Bruce Springsteen, From My Home To Yours, Vol. 31: “California Sun”, November 2023.

[rexonalapis]

it is very telling that average genshin players cannot comprehend seeing an actual mature, qualified leader that is actually good at taking her job seriously after meeting archons who either is still childish, clowning whimsically, or straight up incompetent.

[sleeplessvalley]

I finally got rtdldx and it's consumed me even more than the base game did. have an egg

[orcelito]

i've seen ppl talking about Meryl & how little we know about her family, but the geo-plant arc of trigun chapters 10-12 gives us some really useful pieces of info, i think

first, we see her thinking of herself as Cold Blooded, just like the dude that wanted Badwick to kill his own parents

[ID: Meryl stands with her gun drawn and a troubled expression on her face as she thinks to herself, "Exactly as you described him... the cold-blooded type..." In the next panel, she closes her eyes and wonders, "Am I really... any different?" End ID]

at the start of this arc, Milly wrote one of her massive letters to her family, while Meryl mentioned not knowing what she would write to hers. then we see Milly get PISSED at Badwick after she learns he threatened his parents at gunpoint, which leads to this page:

[ID: Meryl, held back by Milly, tells her, "Milly... I envy you... My father would have wanted me to get justifiably angry at a person who points a gun at his parents. That is an important thing." She flashes back to the moment in the chapter before where Milly is attempting to punch the son, Badwick. Milly calls in concern, "Ma'am?" Meryl continues, "But I... I just stood there and took it all in without even budging. I am such a cold person. I chose this path of blood and tears without thinking about the rest of my life. All I can see is what is right in front of me." The page shows the face of the father, dressed in basic battle gear, who is watching silently. Now in tears, Meryl laments, "Why could I not see... that when I closed myself off to him, something was wrong? I..." In the last panel, Milly stares down at Meryl in surprise as Meryl slaps her own cheeks and exclaims, "No... Nevermind!" End ID]

this entire situation is obviously striking something in Meryl's heart. some kind of insecurity she has about her distant relationship with her own parents. she shakes herself out of it, determined to not fall into a funk, and then jumps into defense of the land.

after the battle's over & the father's fallen to his ass, we see these pages:

[ID: In the first page, the father, off screen, tells Meryl and Milly, "There are no words to express how thankful I am for your help." Meryl replies with a smile, "Ah. There's no need." The father goes on to tell her, "Ms. Meryl... I know it was rude of me, but I overheard your conversation earlier. Having raised that rebellious son, I don't know if I have the right thing to say, but... All people are different, but the bonds between parents and children are inseparable. It is a great burden, but also the most precious thing in the world..." In the second page, the father concludes, "... Choose your own path, and walk it with confidence. All of life... is connected. You must live your own life, and your parents will love through you." As he speaks, we see Meryl listening to him with a surprised expression. End ID]

this entire arc feels like a metaphor for Meryl's own situation. after these pages, we see Badwick turning in the deed, then finding out that his parents were entrusting the property to him after all. he's the problem son, someone who separated himself from his parents due to his disagreements with them (likely stemming from his dead younger brother). yet at the end of the day, his parents still love him and entrusted their life's work to him.

Meryl sees all this go down, hears these words, and it touches something in her heart. so we see her go from talking about writing to her family like this in chapter 10:

[ID: A single panel of Meryl with her eyes closed and a peaceful expression on her face. She tells Milly, "That would be the normal thing to do... especially when I've been away from home for so long. But I don't know what to write beyond 'it's dry'..." End ID]

to this bit at the end of chapter 12:

[ID: Meryl approaches a mailbox with luggage in hand. She slips a letter inside, then sighs with a smile. Milly yells, "Maa'aam! What are you doing?! We're already late!" To which Meryl replies, "Ok! Ok! Ok! I'm coming!" End ID]

the experience was enough for her to accept that she might not be the closest with her parents (or just father? considering she only ever mentions a father in this all), but it's still worth reaching out even if she doesn't have much to say.

this arc is the most we see about Meryl's backstory in the manga, but I think we can draw a few things from it. we have a definite mention of a father, but no others. no mention of siblings or any other family members. she's distant from her father, too busy following her heart & goals, but she doesn't have a bad relationship with him. just Distant. she feels disconnected from him, even Cold, for her focus on her work & the practicalities in front of her. but even with that disconnect, she still cares enough about him to feel guilty when she realizes she's been doing this.

and then considering later, when we see the flashback of a man giving her the gun... i'd assumed that was possibly a senior at her work (probably tristamp giving me that perception, from Roberto), but keeping all the rest of this in mind... it really could have been her father.

i went looking to try to find that part. did not find that one exactly, but i DID find this one from trimax chapter 34:

[ID: A nearly bald man with a kind face and what appear to be shooting ear muffs around his neck tells Meryl, "Consider guns delicate. Women, most of all, should make use of them. One shot will level the playing field between you and a big, strong man." End ID]

if this is indeed her father, it would explain why she knows how to shoot like she does. perhaps her father taught her as she was growing up out of the wish to help her protect herself. maybe they weren't incredibly close, but he still clearly cared about her & wanted what was best for her and her safety. the kind of father that's content to let her do whatever her heart wishes, since her happiness is his happiness.

and then chapter 12 ends with this page:

[ID: A black framed page with a single panel at the center. The panel shows Meryl from behind, running with her luggage in hand. The text boxes to the sides state, "All of life is connected by a river... And the beginning of the river... is now." End ID]

she continues on her own path, not looking back, but she is still connected to the ones in her heart... including her father.

(Manga panels referenced from @trigun-manga-overhaul !)

[dweemeister]

Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I.

Born to a turbulent family on a Mississippi farm, James Earl Jones passed away today. He was ninety-three years old. Abandoned by his parents as a child and raised by a racist grandmother (although he later reconciled with his actor father and performed alongside him as an adult), the trauma of his childhood developed into a stutter that followed him through his primary school years – sometimes, his stutter was so debilitating, he could not speak at all. In high school, Jones found in an English teacher someone who found in him a talent for written expression, and encouraged him to write and recite poetry in class. He overcame his stutter by graduation, although the effects of it carried over for the remainder of his life.

Jones' most accomplished roles may have been on the Broadway stage, where he won three Tonys (twice winning Best Actor in a Play for originating the lead roles in 1969's The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler and 1987's Fences by August Wilson) and was considered one of the best Shakespearean actors of his time.

But his contributions to cinema left an impact on audiences, too. Jones received an Honorary Academy Award alongside makeup artist Dick Smith (1972's The Godfather, 1984's Amadeus) in 2011. From the end of Hollywood's Golden Age to the dawn of the summer Hollywood blockbuster in the 1970s to the present, Jones' presence – and his basso profundo voice – could scarcely be ignored. Though he could not sing like Paul Robeson nor had the looks of Sidney Poitier, his presence and command put him in league of both of his acting predecessors.

Ten of the films James Earl Jones appeared in, whether in-person or voice acting, follow (left-right, descending):

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) – directed by Stanley Kubrick; also starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens

The Great White Hope (1970) – directed by Martin Ritt; also starring Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook Beah Richards, and Moses Gunn

Star Wars saga (1977-2019; A New Hope pictured) – multiple directors, as the voice of Darth Vader, also starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Frank Oz

Claudine (1974) – directed by John Berry; also starring Diahann Carroll, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Tamu Blackwell

Conan the Barbarian (1982) – directed by John Milius; also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman, Ben Davidson, Cassandra Gaviola, Gerry Lopez, Mako, Valerie Quennessen, William Smith, and Max von Sydow

Coming to America series (1988 and 2021; original pictured) – multiple directors; also starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, and KiKi Layne

The Hunt for Red October (1990) – directed by John McTiernan; also starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, and Sam Neill

The Sandlot (1993) – directed by David Mickey Evans; also staring Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Adams, Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski, Victor DiMattia, Denis Leary, and Karen Allen

The Lion King (1994) – directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, as the voice of Mufasa; also starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, Ernie Sabella, Nathan Lane, and Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, and Madge Sinclair

Field of Dreams (1989) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson; also starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster

[astranauticus]

stultifera navis rerun AKA thinking about Iberia hours again because a lot of the Iberians have such fascinating relationships with the concept of home but specifically Thorns and Lumen are eating at my brain. like where do you call home when the place that is your home Just Fucking Hates You? Elysium's rewinding breeze specifically makes a point to hammers home how differently Iberia treats its Liberi and its Aegir

(which is especially interesting since this comes right after a conversation where Purestream commented on how despite Leizi being a high ranking government official, there are still some experiences that are universal for all Yanese people - because the experience of what Iberia itself is like isnt universal for all Iberians)

But all that being said, Thorns also straight up states that Aegir is not his home, and yeah, how could it be? How could a place you've never been to, never truly known, ever be your home? How could it ever feel like a home?

so where do you go when the place that you are from hates your people and the place your people are from is completely unfamiliar and alien to you? Thorns' answer at the end of the conversation with Aya is: my home is where i chose it to be. my home is where there are people I care about and people who care about me

in the complete opposite direction, Lumen's oprec asks: why do you still stay in a place that wants you gone? because the people of Gran Faro like Jordi well enough but when push comes to shove, they will want the only Aegir in town gone

and yet, when Rald the messenger offers him a chance to leave Jordi turns him down and when he's forced to escape Gran Faro after the people there literally try to send him to his death (or worse) at the hands of the Inquisitors he keeps trying to go back because like everyone in stultifera navis, Jordi is clinging to his own dreams of a golden age

but the shape of that dream is unique to every character and for Jordi, his dreams are deeply, inseparably bound to the Eye of Iberia, the legacy his parents left behind

and it's this dream of becoming someone great, of bringing about that golden age that his parents devoted their lives to help create that ties Jordi to this nothing town because despite everything, despite the mistrust of the townsfolk and the hostility of the Inquisition and the danger from the ocean, he simply cannot leave it behind

(or, because i personally dislike the official translation,)

"I just see this place as my home"

so yeah. not sure what overall point i was trying to make here i'm just. deeply in love with these stories about chosing what is and isn't your home, of saying you will not call a place your home because it has given you no reason to or saying you consider a place your home even though it has given you every reason not to. deeply unwell about them <3

[thegreatyin]

@thunder-threnodies morgan can definitely try!!!

the scoundrel REALLY doesn't take well to dream intrusions. they don't take well to any amount of messing with their mind, but. well. dreams are perhaps the thing that irritates them most of all. any amount of scoundrel dream diving would have to be quick, delicate, and most definitely behind their back- and they will notice regardless, and they will hold a grudge for the rest of their stupidly long batty life about it.

as for the actual contents of those dreams, well...

when they first achieved their ambition, the scoundrel used to dream of flower fields and starry skies. as time has gone on, this dream has. Distorted, somewhat.

the flowers have become wilder. the grass has become twisted and tangled amidst thorns and thickets. the stars have started blinking in and out of existence. ice has started creeping up along the edges of her mind, like a memory she just. can't quite get rid of.

(there's a certain city in the distance. he always tries not to look at it. he always fails.)

it's oddly peaceful, once you get past the frost and the foliage. the scoundrel usually sits at the valley's heart, surrounded by a web of dahlias and daisies. her exact dreams vary wildly, but no matter what, he always plays them out at the center, like the entire dreamscape is just a stage for that night's particular performance. there's always a chance to step away and go further into the field, if he wills it. he never seems to realize it's an option in the first place.

when her mind is kind, and quiet, she does have normal nights. simple time spent with her paramours. joyous days as a beast, hanging upside down and snacking on fruit and bugs to her heart's content. simply existing as she wills it.

but. well. most of her plays aren't that. most of her plays can only be best described as nightmares. her entire dreamscape is essentially one big fancy backdrop to that.

most often the play is a memory. a small mistake she made, a social interaction she floundered. sometimes it's a surgical appointment with her coworkers. sometimes it's an argument with someone he's never gotten over. sometimes it's performing open heart surgery on someone wearing her own face. sometimes it's a monkey and a single bronze fruit, never eaten.

sometimes it's a corpse pinning him against the ground and screaming, wailing, begging for the answer as to why he's done what he's done.

other times her dream-performance is more... esoteric. flocks of bats he can't quite recognize. a mirror he can't quite look through. a star commanding him to put a leash around his neck, which he obeys with utmost gratitude.

he tends to prefer those nights. they hit less closer to home.

for all of his power in parabola, he gets lost in his own dreams... Very Very Very Easily. it's probably part of why he's so protective over them. being seen completely enveloped in a torment nexus your own mind made up isn't exactly stellar for one's image. having her dreams exposed and sifted through is Deeply Unpleasant to the scoundrel. it means she's vulnerable. open. human.

and her mind can't imagine anything more terrifying than that.

[clfixationstation]

I have so much thoughts but I'm too shy to elaborate on them lol

But I read your tags about cabin em/a and yeah, it's also how I feel, like wdym you both are running away in the middle of enemy territory, without telling anyone, letting the supposedly third member of your family alone in an ongoing war, as the last titan on paradis side. "But there are Jean, Sasha and Connie" who are their own trio, "but he also have Annie" who is in the cristal, "but he is an grown man" barely an adult, actually.

That's also why I can't fully enjoy the last ending, why are that many people so sure Armin is alone in hell? Why people think Eren is in haven but Armin isn't?

Anyway my own interpretation of the cabin world is more like, although is a way for em to find closure, is not supposed to be a perfect world, nor fully a perfect alternative choice, so Mikasa can be in peace with the decisions she already made.

Also, you read fanfics? I like how "To Each Their Cage" by 72HoursMassacre explore this concept, but read the tags first.

Sorry for the long rant 😅

Hiii! Thanks for messaging :) And I'm sorry for taking so long to get to this (this is from what, April?! shame on me)

Yeah, I'm (obviously) very much in agreement about cabin em/a. I feel like people really downplay Armin's relationships with Eren and Mikasa in order to allow themselves to feel good about the cabin em timeline.

Like yes, Sasha, Connie, and Jean are still there, but Armin isn't nearly as close them as he is with Eren and Mikasa. And (as you said) they're an established friendship trio that Armin is not part of. Annie would understand Armin, but in the cabin timeline, Eren never undoes the hardening, so Annie is never freed.

People also really try to insist that Armin is a "grown man" and therefore would not be so "wimpy" to be hurt by em leaving. First of all, 19 is barely an adult, and second, such emotions are not relegated to a specific age range. I think that a 40 year old could feel just as hurt by his best friends running away and leaving him to face a war without them as a 19 year old. I suspect there's an undercurrent of misogyny there, where people think being emotional (specifically sad) is a "feminine trait" and therefore "weak", "childish", "bad". When it's clearly just a human trait lol. to think Armin "couldn't be sad" or that "being sad is wimpy" is ridiculous

I have also seen people argue that Armin "got over" his insecurities about the possibility of Eren and Mikasa deciding he's a burden and leaving him after confronting the Garrison during the Trost arc in season 1 - which is absolutely absurd. Such a deep-rooted insecurity is not going to vanish in an instant, and it has clearly colored Armin's actions and mentality throughout the whole story. Heck, I'd say that Eren leaving Armin pre-s4 deeply exacerbated Armin's insecurities, which held him back a lot in s4 because he no longer had any trust in his abilities.

Anyways. I too interpret the cabin as a way for em to find closure, moreso for Mikasa than Eren.

I think another part of it is that in the AoT universe, the concepts of heaven and hell may not align with our real-world understandings (which differ from religion to religion anyway). There does seem to be some sort of afterlife, or a way that souls are preserved (?), at least for the Eldians through Paths. I've seen people float around the idea that the place Mikasa and Eren are in the last ending is not heaven, but the Eldian afterlife, or perhaps the AoT universe afterlife, and that there is no hell in AoT. I somewhat like this theory because it would mean that Armin isn't burning in hell alone LOL

My theories: 1) Mikasa is in heaven, and her version of heaven must include Eren. Eren is split between heaven for Mikasa and hell for his and Armin's sins. 2) There is no heaven or hell in AoT, and Eren, Mikasa, and all the characters go to "AoT afterlife" or nowhere at all. 3) There is no "Aot afterlife" or Eldian afterlife after the titan curse is broken. The ED is simply Mikasa's dream as she passes away.

All in all, it's very frustrating to see people insist that Eren and Mikasa are in heaven whilst Armin is alone in hell. While Armin's crimes against humanity are vast, Eren's are far, far worse. If Armin were to go to hell (even with all the work he did to rebuild humanity), Eren would definitely be there too. The additional ending with Eren and Mikasa in "heaven" seems to contradict the messaging the finale had up until that point. Mikasa does deserve heaven, a peaceful existence, a good ending - but Eren ending up in heaven too really leaves a bad taste in my mouth :/ If Eren is in heaven, is the story minimizing, perhaps even justifying, his actions?

Also, what is the point of the entire conversation where Armin and Eren promise to be together in hell forever is that is not the case?

Honestly, I would take less of an issue if Armin joined them at the end of the ED, to demonstrate they all made it to the AoT version of afterlife. It's a shame too, because the ED is gorgeous

Oh and as to the fic, I definitely read it at some point a while back! 72HoursMassacre's fics are usually pretty good explorations, so I probably liked that one too :)

[nowshesdoingitallthetime]

EVERYONE FUCKING FOCUS ITS HAPPENING

(Update: Matty im breaking whatever was used to cut your hair and I swear if you don’t let your fucking hair grow out we’re fighting at whatever parking lot is available AND I WILL BE BRINGING THE PINK CUNTY SCOOTER)

[aeolianblues]

I'm not an extrovert. At all. In everyday life, I'm a yapper, sure, but I need someone to first assure me I am okay to yap, so I don't start conversations, even when I really want to join in sometimes! It's just the social anxiety acting up. God knows where from and why I lose a lot of my inhibitions when it comes to talking to people about music. I don't know where the confidence has suddenly sprung from. I've made a crazy amount of friends in musical circles, either just talking to people about common music or (since it is after all in music circles) talking to bands about their own music. I let out a sigh of relief any time an interaction goes well, because in truth it's going against my every instinct. I wish I could do that in everyday life

[tetzoro]

GOOD MORNING FRIENDZ ! and happy thursday ^_^ it’s a beautiful day to spread some love ! i hope you all have a magnificent day ! <3

[savage-rhi]

Fuchgenta??

[petrichoraline]

i just dreamt of snuggling with ming and it was the best cuddle session ever so I will not be hearing ANY slander against this man whose show i've never seen

[the-kipsabian]

the world has been feeding me so much garbage recently

and then all of a sudden everything clicks back into place and it feels almost too good to be true

anyways i have a tattoo appointment next week LMAO