#so many implications .. so much characterization .. what does it all mean

[soullessjack]

there are a lot of underrated parts in ouroboros in terms of jacks overall characterization but one that really sticks out to me is how noah tries to pin jack as either the chicken that sacrifices what she loves for the greater good or the snake that kills out of obligation to his nature and jacks response to it is “fuck you im both of them actually”

[codenamethebird]

God I have so much to say about Melinoe's characterization, and the fasinating implications about her future arc/the overarching plot of hades 2. I want to make a larger think piece with pictures but for the moment I'm just going to focus on this one specific thread.

In the wake of the Prometheus reveal, she has a slew of convos about his motivations for siding with Chronos, and the gods basically all go: this is his vengeance for us punishing him a tad cruelly. And Nemesis is like, yeah the gods 100% deserve it. But Meli's responds that he must have more motivation than just vengeance, it can't just be that. But when Prometheus explicitly goes, 'I'm doing this because the gods are horrible to humanity and I love humans,' she basically goes, no he must be lying. That motivation is both too pure, but also humans kind of suck why would you care about them?

Mel's humanity hot takes deserve it's own essay (Ms I think Humans should have never gotten fire and are better when they are dead), and I just want to focus on the former for now. She can not comprehend that Prometheus is fighting the gods for noble reasons. It just does not make sense to her. Mel's world is so black and white. She doesn't understand the nuance of the situation, and the thought that the gods might be actually in the wrong doesn't even get close to crossing her mind.

It's a fascinating (and horrifying) result of her upbringing. Of the constant state of war and the very convenient big bad that is Chronos, the evil monster who stole her family. If she accepts that his side isn't completely evil, that they might even be right in some (even many) respects, she would have to grapple with her whole life. Everything she believes would be thrown into question, the literal thing she was training her whole life for.

She can't have Prometheus fighting for a noble cause, because he fights for Chronos whose the Bad Guy tm. But he also can't be fighting for something as simple as vengeance, because that would also mean she would need to really think about what he's angry about. If the punishment was truly so unnecessary cruel.

When talking to Odysseus about Prometheus, when Ody's saying how much he respected him for stealing the fire despite knowing the consequences, Mel says that it was the price to be paid for breaking Olympus's decree. To her, Olympus's rules are sacred and ultimately good. Unquestionably. Prometheus broke the rules with intent, so to her, why would he be so angry at the consequences? Especially if he knew because of his power they were going to happen.

So he must have another reason, some secret machiavellian plan that drives him. Except as I already said, it brings her right back to him doing it for humanity, which she also can't accept. Because that would be admiting that the gods did something wrong to humans. She twists herself into knots to justify her worldview, and it's fascinating! She's so messy I adore her.

Please Supergiant please the final surface boss has to be a human pleeeaaasse (preferably a living one). Or at least have one (or more) show up in some other capacity. Mel needs to come face to face with the other side and have it utterly destroy her worldview.

And/or have (Pan)Dora betray her for Prometheus, that would also be very fun haha.

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

I love reading Eurylochus analysis but I don’t see people mentioning the beginning of Puppeteer all that often.

Eurylochus starts that song by immediately trying to tell Odysseus about what he did. Immediately. I know we like to characterize Eurylochus as cowardly (mostly because that’s how Jorge describes him and how he’s described in the Odyssey), but I think it says a lot that Eurylochus didn’t try to hide or pretend as if this hadn’t been his fault. He didn’t wait for Odysseus to confront him about it or try to avoid taking responsibility. It’s rather brave imo that he tried to say something and only didn’t because his captain ordered him not to.

I think a lot about the timeline of EPIC and how entering the lair of Scylla likely wasn’t that long after Puppeteer. Odysseus says they’ve been away from home for “about twelve years or so” and then there’s the obvious discrepancy of Odysseus telling Circe the same thing— explained away by it being a simple mistake on Jorge’s end. If we go by the likelihood that it hadn’t yet been twelve years when they met Circe and that Ody was lying, there’s a rough two-ish year period before Eurylochus actually tells the truth.

To some, this might be indicative of his cowardice, a show that he wouldn’t actually tell the truth and would prefer to hide away his greatest mistake for as long as he can manage.

I disagree. I think this could indicate a couple other things, though; namely that this is proof Eurylochus changed his perspective and decided to listen to Odysseus. Mutiny could only happen because Eurylochus realized his mistake in not believing Odysseus not just once, with the windbag, but twice when Odysseus went to save their men on Circe’s island. Three strikes, you’re out and Eurylochus is not that kind of man— side note: it isn’t hypocritical to change your viewpoint and then criticize someone for adopting your old one btw, it’s just how people function.

Different Beast does imply this a bit, but I think the fact that Eurylochus waited so long to tell Odysseus about the windbag is much more blatant. After all, Odysseus told him to wait, and he did. To me, it seems like Eurylochus read between the lines of Ody’s order (go make sure the island is secure, there’s only so much left we can endure) and took it to mean “wait to tell me when things have settled and we aren’t on the brink of dying”.

Which leads to the second implication, why did Eurylochus choose this moment? Obviously, he didn’t know the nature of Scylla or the danger that they were in, but what about this moment in particular left Eurylochus feeling secure enough to tell Odysseus? Well, the obvious answer is the ruthlessness Odysseus showed in Different Beast showing that they’ve reached that point of power and being able to defend themselves even from monsters that have slain so many sailors.

But another option could be the idea that Scylla was their “last stop” before going home. It’s a bit unclear if this remains true in EPIC, but in the Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis are right next to each other and the trick is that you have to pick your poison— do you want to die to the whirlpool monster or the six-headed one? What is clear in EPIC is that Ithaca is just past Charybdis, meaning that Scylla, in theory, could’ve been their final stop before reaching Ithaca had Mutiny not happened. There is a very real possibility that they might not have gone to the first island they found if Odysseus hadn’t been knocked unconscious. They still might have just because they were hungry, but it can be difficult to tell which is fate and which is the result of man’s actions.

Either way, I think that a lot of people tend to gloss over the fact that it’s very apparent Eurylochus was going to tell Odysseus what happened as soon as he could and only didn’t because Odysseus told him to wait. It’s a very interesting aspect of his character to me and I think it reveals a lot in terms of his character motivations and how it contrasts to Odysseus’ perception of him throughout the show.

[desiree-uk]

A vegetarian foody naming alternative mod by Spork!

Spork mod notes:

Ever since Showtime, The Sims 3 has allowed any Sim, regardless of their own traits, to learn and prepare the vegetarian versions of most of the meat dishes in the game. This is, of course, very useful for the friends and loved ones of vegetarian Sims, who have ever since been able to cook for their buddies and fully include them in parties and family meals! However, it also calls to the forefront how much of an afterthought the vegetarian meals must have been when they were added to the game -- every Sim now has recipe menu full of very similar pairs of meals, featuring oxymoronic options like "vegetarian fish". (You might assume, as is probably the intention, that that means "a vegetarian imitation of fish", but that characterizes these recipes as specialized substitutions -- the implication that you're having it because you're not having real fish -- which makes it somewhat odd that every meat-eating sim knows so many of them.) Now, I'm pretty sure there are ways to hide the extra meals (with NRaas, maybe?), but I didn't want that, because I do appreciate giving my Sims the option to cook vegetarian dishes where applicable, and to have more variety in their lives in general. I thought it would be a significant improvement if only the names of the vegetarian dishes were changed to make them more interesting and relevant. So! I learned how to make a string table mod so I could do that!

What This Mod Does This mod replaces the names of most of the vegetarian alternative dishes in the game to make them describe what each meal actually might be (based on research I did into common vegetarian substitutes for and variants of the original recipes), rather than what it's an imitation of. This makes them more distinct from the meat versions, which also gives an implicit reason why a meat-eating Sim might want to learn and prepare most of these dishes whether or not there are any vegetarians around. It also changes the name of one canon meat dish, Spaghetti, to Spaghetti and Meatballs, in order to make it more clearly a meat dish and distinguish it better from the vegetarian version. The changes I made are as follows:

Vegetarian Fish and Chips -> Batter-Fried Tofu Fillets and Chips

Veggi Rolls -> Mushroom and Avocado Rolls

Spaghetti -> Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce -> Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

Cheese Tofu Steak -> Cheesy Mushroom Melt

Vegetarian Grilled Salmon -> Grilled Eggplant Fillets

Tri-Tip Tofu Steak -> Grilled Portobello Mushrooms in Steak Sauce (I wanted "anchovy-free Worcestershire sauce" but it was too long already -- so imagine whatever type of steak sauce you prefer)

Vegetarian Dim Sum -> Vegetable Dumplings and Tofu Puffs

Stuffed Tursoykey -> Seitan Holiday Roast

Vegetarian Lobster Thermador [sic] -> Heart of Palm in Thermidor Sauce

Vegetarian Chili -> Four-Bean Chili

Tofu Dog -> Veggie Dogs (This admittedly goes against my general goal of making the recipes more descriptive, but this was by far the most common name for any example I could find of the type of food in question, whereas I couldn't find "tofu dog" in any context. Besides, it makes sense for such a processed food to be a little more vague about the ingredients.)

I left "Veggie Burger" and "Firecracker Tofu" alone, as veggie burgers are already common and well-known, and "firecracker tofu" is already evocative and descriptive.

My mod also corrects a couple of proofreading errors in the original vegetarian recipes. I fixed the spelling of "Thermidor" in "Heart of Palm in Thermidor Sauce", and made "Veggie Dogs" plural to match "Hot Dogs".

You'll see these changes in every context I could find where the game displayed the original names, including the names of the dishes themselves, the titles of the recipe books, and miscellaneous strings such as the dialogue you get when a vegetarian Sim refuses a challenge to a hot dog eating contest.

What This Mod Does Not Do This is not an ingredients mod -- the vast majority of the vegetarian substitute recipes use tofu as their primary or only ingredient, and I found that it was a tall order to make the recipes descriptive, distinct, and realistic if I limited myself to the same ingredient for everything. With that in mind, I allowed myself to choose names that don't necessarily match the in-game recipe. The result, though, is that a Sim will need to use tofu in order to make a cheesy mushroom sandwich or a grilled eggplant dish, even though that might not make too much sense. This isn't a problem for me, as I usually just pay for each meal at the fridge, so ingredients don't come into play much, but I can see how it might be annoying or confusing if your play style features ingredients more heavily, so it's something to note! (Something I've thought about, and could still do if anyone is interested, is make a little add-on package to rename "tofu" to something like "vegetable protein" to make it more broadly applicable, although I don't know whether most people would consider this better or worse.)

This mod also does not change the meshes or textures of any of the dishes, so they will also still look like the equivalent meat dish. I tried to describe each dish in a way consistent with its appearance, but there are limitations to this. There's no reason for your fancy heart of palm recipe to be in a fake lobster shell unless it is pretending to be lobster -- so some of these will still visually read as obvious imitations of the equivalent meat dish. I can only hope that I've presented them as interesting, meaningful imitations that will still appeal to your Sims in their own right!

Issues, Interactions and Other Mods This mod renames recipes from the base game, Showtime, and Supernatural, but it shouldn't be necessary to have either or both of the expansions -- the recipes from packs you're missing just won't show up in the game, so you won't see the renames.

Some of the recipe names in this mod are a little longer than the official ones in the game, which can cause some minor overlapping when a dish is spoiled, as seen below. In my testing, this never caused text to be fully covered or to become illegible, but I can't guarantee that to still be the case if you're using UI mods that change fonts or other formatting.

This mod replaces the English-language strings for the names of the dishes I changed and their recipe skill books, the dialogue for a vegetarian Sim refusing a hot dog eating contest, the level-up text for a vegetarian sim reaching level four in cooking, and the description of the wish for a pregnant sim to eat spaghetti and ice cream, and may conflict with any other mods that replace these strings. I'm not aware of any, but an example would be if you have a mod to correct the spelling of "Vegetarian Lobster Thermador" (which you won't need anymore, since "thermidor" is spelled correctly in my mod.)

(When I was making this mod, I also noticed strings in the game files that appeared to be for vegetarian versions of the World Adventures meat recipes. I updated them just in case they might appear in the game somewhere, but throughout my testing I was unable to find anywhere where these strings appeared in the game. I left the replacements in the mod anyway, in case they might be associated with content some other mod might unlock in the future or some similar edge case.)

Thank you for your interest and I hope you enjoy the mod!

Download from Mod The Sims!

[erme-maererme]

🔥 Morrigan?

i wouldn’t say i have any truly unpopular opinions about her, but maybe an angle that i don’t see discussed much? morrigan’s relation to gender is certainly talked about (eg her characterization vs design), but not in this way exactly

morrigan’s struggle has to do with her unfamiliarity with emotional intimacy, people caring about her, lack of social skills, she tells the warden how she returned to flemeth after leaving her the first time and sworn to never leave again—so how bad it must’ve gone? but she also tells that story about her “batting her eyelashes” at some guard to avoid suspicion of apostasy, which isn’t really a skill one gains instinctively, and this knowledge of how your gendersexuality is perceived, what meanings are assigned to it by others. and considering that before the warden morrigan’s contact with the outside world was largely from a distance, it leaves flemeth as her main frame of reference and source of information about society with all the implications

again, for a person who grew this isolated, morrigan can be surprisingly successful at recognizing these particular scripts and her position in them, she is aware of how others stereotype her and is willing to lean into these assumptions for her own ends. she rises from hedge mage to court sorcerer/advisor to the empress, this isn’t nothing, and if we consider all the codex entries as to how the court has accepted her at all, it’s very much that they see this exotic allure in her. morrigan’s position relies on it, regardless of how she feels about it, she still adapts to this image, because she cannot disrupt it in a meaningful way without discarding her goals.

but this line of thought wasn’t actually inspired by morrigan’s adventures in orlais. recounting my first impression from the dark ritual (it was on the friendship route), warden does get the option to thank her, but i wish i had the chance to question morrigan more on how she feels about it beyond seeing value in restoring the old god soul. i feel like it is often overlooked in favour of mage betrayal jokes and complaints about awkward cutscenes, but i’m just thinking about morrigan psyching herself up to approach the warden, considering the best strategy for it. i wonder if the voice in her head sounds like flemeth

i also imagine that flemeth’s plan for the ritual contained some suggestions for morrigan to seduce a warden in case they refused to save themselves, it just does seem like something she would advise?

to be clear, it’s not about consent, all parties are willing obviously. what’s important here is sex as a means to an end, practical not pleasurable, and since it’s one of many instances of morrigan using her sexuality for a purpose that is not experiencing sexuality, it definitely impacts her view on it. and unless romanced, there’s nothing really breaking this pattern for her

so morrigan’s learning to trust in a relationship isn’t only about believing another’s feelings of love and letting herself express them in return, but also about overcoming this disconnect from her sexuality and not needing to manage/embody these expectations

[leveebreak-s]

Thoughts on Big Log

Big Log, to me, is an interesting entry in the Robert Plant cannon. It’s a very classic Robert rambling song. He talks a lot in his work about his nomadic impulses. In Becoming Led Zeppelin he described ��Ramble On” as “the story of [his] life.” See also: “I gotta roll, can’t stand still, got a flaming heart, can’t get my fill” ; later, “Farewell my wanderer's home.” If I’m totally honest I don’t love it, musically. It feels very 80s cheesy. Journey-esque. But LYRICALLY??? Extremely compelling. The exact sort of song that, if I were trying to explain to someone who Robert is and why he and Jimmy keep falling apart and coming back together, I would point to as evidence.

Let’s do a Jimbert reading of Big Log because I think it would be fun :)

(disclaimer: this analyis is not me trying to prove the existence of Jimbert. I’ve done that elsewhere, as have others before me, but that’s not what i’m doing now. I’m just reading Big Log through a Jimbert lens because I think that doing so yields interesting results. This is one of many possible interpretations of the song. Suspend your disbelief! Consider the Jimbert with me!)

My love is in league with the freeway

Its passion will rise as the cities fly by

Awesome. Here’s how I understand this: it’s the thesis of the song, and it’s: “distance makes the heart grow fonder.” When he says “my love” I think he is literally referring to HIS experience of being in love, and not “My Love” as in “my beloved,” given that he refers to it as “it.” Its passion will rise as the cities fly by: the farther I go, the bigger and more intense my love gets. It’s in league with the freeway, the freeway and the love serve one another. It is because of my tendency to ramble on that I am able to love so deeply and widely. To me this also implies that Robert believes in the possibility to return to a lover he’s already had. If, as you venture further away, your love grows, then you do not spend the time away from your beloved getting over them; you spend it missing them, thinking of them, growing into a better version of yourself, that you might love them more richly when you see them again. Therefore, it’s implied that to Robert, love is not a linear journey which always follows the same normative script of “meet, date, break up, move on.” It is a fluid thing which defies such a simplistic and uniform characterization.

What does this mean for Jimbert? It means that, yes, what Robert needs to do right now is go his own way, both creatively and romantically, but he has not closed the door on Jimmy forever. His mind is open to the idea that distance might make their hearts grow fonder. It is better to have time away with the possibility that they might return to each other one day than to stick around and let everything fester and get worse than it already is.

And the tail lights dissolve in the coming of night

I don’t look back, I look forward.

And the questions and thousands take flight

I don’t want to talk to the reporters about Zeppelin anymore, enough of the questions about John and about you and about black magic and curses and reunions. The people who only want me to be what I was, the Golden God, when I’m not him anymore - I leave them behind. On the freeway, on the road, they fade away, and I’m free of that burden.

My love is a-miles in awaiting

The eyes that just stare and the glance at the clock

Oh. OOOOOOH.

Okay. Now we’re cooking. 

If you know me you know that I love any excuse to talk about Tea for One. Musically, it’s like a top 20 Zeppelin song for me (if that sounds like faint praise, you underestimate how much I love Led Zeppelin). Lyrically it’s maybe my number one favourite ever. I can, and have, talk for a LOOOONG time about the implications, and LO AND BEHOLD, here they are. 

Because staring at the clock, waiting for the hand to move is what Tea for One is all about, baby!!!!!!!! While Robert’s healing from his life-threatening injury, he’s writing Presence with Jimmy, and he’s fucking fed up, dude. This song is open to interpretation, and I know that not everyone interprets it the way I do (fishie). But listen. Listen. Ultimately what that song is about is being fed up with one’s circumstances. IN MY OPINION, it was about being fed up with the band. It was about stagnation. It’s time to ramble on! I gotta roll, can’t stand still! If we’re doing a Jimbert reading, and we are, then invoking Tea for One here means invoking Zeppelin. In a Jimbert reading, “eyes that just stare and glance at the clock” can be understood as a reference to the tension and frustration that characterized the last few years of Robert’s experience in Led Zeppelin. Which brings us to the next lines:

And the secret that burns, and the pain that grows dark

And it's you once again

SECRET, YOU SAY???

So what’s being said is that the secret of his relationship with Jimmy is a contributing factor to the pain of those years and to Robert’s moving on. 

Now, of course, Robert didn’t break up Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin broke up as a result of John Bonham’s death, when they decided, supposedly by consensus, that they could not continue without him.

Yet, we know from what we know of the band’s history that, by this time, Robert basically had control over Led Zeppelin’s future, in the sense that Jimmy would have done just about anything to keep it going. They met with a few drummers, in the time between Bonzo’s death and their official announcement that they would not continue in his absence. Every attempt at a reunion that would occur in the next several decades would be Jimmy’s doing, and every failure to launch would be owed to Robert’s refusal to rehash what they’d already done. Jimmy wanted to go on, Robert didn’t. While officially the decision to disband was made by consensus, it’s fair to say that, if Robert had wanted to continue, they might have made a different choice - this characterization of events is backed up in pretty much any biography or history of the band that you’ll find.

SO. The secret that burns. The pain that grows dark. They loved one another in hiding. Robert grew restless, Jimmy was addicted and unable to contribute artistically to the group, and now Bonzo was dead. The whole thing’s gone sour.

And it’s you once again. 

Okay…

What do we make of this?

If we connect it to the line that precedes it, it’s Robert basically blaming Jimmy for everything that happened. It’s the same energy as - say it with me gang - Tea for One. “To sing a song for you, I recall you used to say, ‘this one’s for we two,’ which in the end is you anyway.” This is your vision, your creation, your ego, your vanity, and so all this is the consequence of your actions. It’s not my dream, dad, it’s your dream! He’s OVER it!

On the other hand, if we connect this line to the broader context of the song, the lyric is more literal. “It’s you once again” means “I’ll be back one day.”

Did Robert have the foresight to know this for a fact? Obviously not, and at this time - 1983 - he’s deliberately distancing himself from Zeppelin and Jimmy. All I’m saying is that this interpretation of the line would suggest that he’s open to the idea that he and Jimmy will return to each other one day. “Maybe some day in time, as we move down the line, what we seek we shall find.” 

Leading me on (leading me on)

Leading me down the road

Driving me on (driving me on)

Driving me down the road

LOVE is what MAKES him the rambler, nomad, traveler, vagabond he is. Lust for life. The will to experience all that this world has to offer, to meet new people, to keep learning, to experience new ways of being and knowing: that’s love, baby! 

My love is exceedingly vivid

When I’m in love, I know it. When I’m in love, you’ll know it. It’s straightforward. I see what I want, and I go after it, simple as that. If I want you, I’ll make it known. 

Red-eyed and fevered with the hum of the miles

Okay, I know this isn’t ACTUALLY what he meant, but in my mind I like to think that this was a sneaky reference to the scene in “The Song Remains the Same” when Jimmy’s eyes are all red. Hehehe. That’s my love!

Distance and longing, my thoughts do provide

Should I rest for a while at the side?

Like I said, distance makes the heart grow fonder! Should I rest for a while at the side? Am I moving too fast? Maybe I’ll stop and explore a new love, for a minute. Or maybe I’ll just take a breather and get to know myself for a minute (incidentally, this album came out the year Robert and Maureen divorced. Not that being married had ever stopped Robert from exploring new love with other people. But that’s none of my business.)

Okay but wait a minute. Because now we get to the part where Robert addresses somebody else!! And since we ALREADY AGREED that we’re doing a Jimbert reading, we’re going to assume, in the space of this long ass post, that he is addressing James Patrick Page.

Your love is cradled in knowing

MMMMMMMMM. Yes. I don’t know about y’all, but I read this as an invocation of the sorcerer and apprentice aspect of their relationship. I read this as: “the love you gave me was bolstered by all that you had to teach me: the pride you felt in being able to teach me, and the care and protection I felt under your guidance.” It could also be: “you are someone who requires a measure of certainty in order to feel secure in your relationships; this is something I, a wandering free spirit, cannot offer you.” It could also be: “the more deeply we know each other, the more deeply we love one another.” It could also be a combination of these things and more! It’s a beautiful lyric that says so much with so little!

Eyes in the mirror still expecting they'll come

Hmmm. I’m not sure about this one. Maybe, “you look at yourself and tell yourself that Zeppelin can live on, that people will still come to see it, and you’re in denial that it’s not what it used to be?” That’s the best I can do with this one, but I’m not rock solid here so I welcome your alternative interpretations.

Sensing too well when the journey is done

There is no turning back, no

There is no turning back

On the run

It’s over and I think you KNOW that, Jimmy!!!!!! We can’t go back to how it used to be!! 

ANYWAY that’s my thoughts on Big Log. If you read this whole thing I love you and we’re friends now <3 AND if you're a nerd for this sort of thing, PLEASE read Fishie's Jimbert meta on Ao3 because this whole thing is basically just me copying her homework.

[pipnchips202]

while i eat up practically every valgrace fic i see, down bad jason grace for leo valdez is always one of my absolute favorites; so, here are 5 valgrace fics where jason is the pining one :)) (for the most part)

1. hopeless case by restinreeses

rating: teen and up

warnings: none

“Nico,” Jason wheezes as he slams the door to the Hades cabin open. “Nico, I think I’m in love with my best friend.”

“No, really?” Nico drawls, barely looking up from his book.

Or: in which nico is jason’s wingman this time around.

AHHHHH!!!!!! this is REALLY good; i love the characterization and the many implications of jason having helped nico get with will prior to the events of the fic. also, platonic jasico will ALWAYS get me.

2. EP: things leo does; by jason grace by jacksonpercy (robertmontauk)

rating: not rated

warnings: none

God, he loves Leo’s laugh. It’s more like a giggle than anything - all high-pitched and bubbly; his mouth stretches into the widest smile Jason’s ever seen, and his tongue sticks out of his tongue just a little bit, and holy fuck Jason’s in love with Leo.

Shit.

[leo does things sometimes, and jason notices.]

i was very much obsessed with this fic at some point (still kind of am, actually). it’s basically a 5 + 1 of jason just pining for leo and i LOVE it. small warning though, there is a mention of kinks in the second chapter, if that’s weird for you. it’s really just an offhand comment and doesn’t get brought up again, so do with that what you will. they are teenagers after all, and as a teenager myself, i can confirm i’ve thought of similar stuff several times! but, anyway, this fic is really good.

3. staring at me (with your lips and tongue) by ethannku

rating: teen and up

warnings: none

“You really believe all that?” Leo asks, and if Jason were more aware of the world, he might’ve registered the hopeful breathiness in his voice. But as it is, he’s far too focused on the hand on his chest. He nods anyway, once he realizes Leo’s asked him a question.

Leo huffs and leans closer while simultaneously pulling Jason closer.

For a moment, they just look at each other, their noses inches apart. Leo’s breath comes in soft puffs on his face. There’s a hint of a smile on Leo’s face, but the corners waver as if he’s having second thoughts. Jason registers Leo’s eyelashes flickering, and his blood sings when he realizes he’s looking at Jason’s mouth.

Or; Jason is down bad, and Leo might be too.

this one’s really good, too. lot of kissing. a few suggestive references/jokes but no suggestive actions, just kissing. also has many piper moments mixed in :)

4. Crooked Glasses by thebigqueer

rating: teen and up

warnings: graphic depictions of violence

leo & jason confess their feelings for each other in an arcane-themed alternate universe.

~~

Leo has always been flirty. When he casually smirks at Jason and tells him how handsome he looks; when he bites his lip suggestively and tells Jason that no, he doesn’t mind if he changes his shirt in front of him; when Jason asks what’s for dinner and Leo responds, “Not sure, but I know you’re the desert,” Jason doesn’t make much of it. Sure, an occasional blush and an attempt at jokingly flirting back, but Jason knows he doesn’t mean it. Besides, he isn’t special. If Jason had to count the amount of people Leo had made out with just in the past year, it might take both his hands.

But lately it’s been different. There’s a softness in Leo’s eyes when he catches sight of Jason, a more soulful smirk when he offers that they sleep in the same bed, a hopefulness when he asks Jason if he wants to come with him on his next haul.

i’m gonna be honest: although i plan to someday, i’ve never seen arcane. and this is an arcane au. however, even though i know absolutely nothing about arcane, i did understand this, i think. i’m putting it here because a) it’s well written, b) it does in fact feature pining jason grace, and c) i have very limited options when it comes to valgrace fics anyway, so i don’t have much of a choice. yes, there is action and a mild fight with sherman yang and connor stoll, but it’s not that graphic in my opinion, but that’s just me; what’s more graphic is actually the gratuitous descriptions of leo’s gorgeousness from jason’s pov (understandably so). anyway, this is a good fic; if you’re not familiar with arcane, you can probably still read it, because i enjoyed it quite a lot!

5. hold me, thrill me, kiss me by restinreeses

rating: teen and up

warnings: none

“You love me,” Leo declares, his smirk widening with every passing second. “You, the great Jason Grace, love me.”

He fumbles for his words, but they melt in his mouth as Leo's hands snaked up the small of his back – those delicate fingers tracing patterns into his skin that burnt worse than his SPQR tattoo.

“I wouldn’t call myself great,” he mutters at last. Leo leans in, raising one thick eyebrow.

“I dunno,” he says, “I’d say you’re pretty great.” His lips brush over Jason's, once, twice. “You know. For loving me.”

...

In which Jason falls and Leo catches him.

okay, so i was debating whether or not to put this one because jason is still dating piper during this fic. she doesn’t make an appearance, she’s only mentioned, but jason and leo kissing is referred to by the both of them as an affair, which might make some uncomfortable. however, this has absolutely gorgeous writing. is jason still in love with piper during this fic, though? no. a bit complicated. however, it is, once again, pining jason as promised. they kiss a lot in this one, too.

enjoy!

— piper <33

[ragnarlothcat]

I know I’m a chronic overthinker but I’ve been in the same fandom for three years or so now and I was reflecting that writing seemed so much easier when I first started out. Just looking at my output since 2021 shows a clear trend: I’ve been writing much less and it’s been taking me way longer.

I figured that I’d gotten a little burned out and that three years is a long time to focus solely on the same two guys making out and that there’s a limit to the number of situations I can put them in before I start to get bored. But I don’t think that’s quite my problem because even now, a million years later, I have ideas for dozens of fics and AUs that would be interesting to explore or funny to write.

No, it’s that I’ve let the larger fandom overwhelm me and it’s left me constantly second-guessing my writing. And I don’t mean that I’ve gotten nasty comments or asks, because I haven’t! All the other fans have been consistently wonderful and fun people with really valuable insights. And it’s not that I’ve been obsessing over stats or comments or worrying about going against popular headcanons. I mean, I’m just as excited as anyone else to see an AO3 email in my inbox but I’m also perfectly happy posting niche fics for an audience of me and my three weirdest friends.

It’s more that after so long engaging with other fans and other fics and the general meta, I’ve ended up writing too self-consciously. I’ve read so many interpretations of canon events, analyses of characterization and comparisons between fiction and real-world politics over the years, and I’ve enjoyed them because I genuinely care about these stories and these characters! I like seeing what everyone else thinks and then considering their points of view, no matter how bewildering they might seem at first.

But now it feels like I’m writing almost defensively, like I have to justify every choice I’m making based on this enormous and contradictory body of information. Three years ago I’d have written a scene in a few thousand words and moved on to the next plot point with my momentum intact. Now I’m constantly wringing my hands over things like physical details (I guess he’s not exactly a redhead) or broader social implications (is this trope misogynistic?) or finicky logistics (these locations are too far apart for this scene to make sense) or controversial character nuance (does writing this guy as a kind, doting husband make me an abuse apologist???) and the result is that I’m paralyzed with indecision and a ridiculous need to support everything I write with a lot of context that isn’t especially fun to write or, I suspect, especially fun to read.

I’m aware that this problem is entirely in my own head and that no one has asked me for any of this. And it’s not that all those questions aren’t interesting and important things to contemplate. But I miss the days of sitting down at my laptop and going “wouldn’t it be funny if these dorks played a video game together?” and then writing exactly that.

I don’t know. Were my fics better three years ago? I kind of doubt it. I’ve looked back at some of them and if nothing else I now have a better grasp of what tense I’m supposed to be using. But I definitely had more fun writing those older stories, which maybe feels more important.

[lauren-no-why]

@selfchiller your poor account but I love that this workaround always works!

I'll direct you to the birds one I just did (it's birds of prey, not all birds, but I do have to get work done eventually today and to be honest these are still basically my top 5 birds anyway).

So! Top 5 LH tracks! Oh man. Well, you all know my biases by now.

Ancient Names (both parts, because they go together, but part 1 if I'm forced to separate them). This is the song I credit with me actually being part of the fandom here. I had heard all of Strange Trails before I heard Vide Noir, and I liked Strange Trails well enough, but the implications of dark ancient horror mysteries in this song along with the rock (it just sounds so damn good, Miguel's bassline holy shit) is what made me stick around and start asking questions about what exactly was going on in this music. I don't think there's anything else like it but if anyone else knows of cosmic horror jams like this one please let me know.

Until The Night Turns. I have so many thoughts about this song I wrote a whole fic about them. For whatever reason it's super rare to find other people who count this song among their top favorites, but I love it so much. Again, great little rock tune, but it does SO MUCH to give us worldbuilding and characterization. Poor Johnnie tripping so hard he sees his own end coming and wants to just party while he's still alive anyway? I mean, come on. That's so good.

Way Out There. What? It's not a Phantom Riders track?? No I love that this and Yawning Grave are included as Traditional rather than being given an artist - that alone tells us so much about this world, that these are the sorts of old tunes that are so well-loved they've been passed down long enough for the original writers to have been forgotten. And this song in particular appeals to me for my love of the mysteries and the unknown, and the desire to explore as much as I can while I have the time. Plus, it has Miguel on theremin and that automatically makes it a top tier tune.

Vide Noir. I am SUCH a sucker for a dark tragedy, that's consistently a thing I love in fiction, and this song for sure exemplifies it. Presumably this is written in honor of Johnnie, and I just can't fathom what Dale goes through when learning not just that he died but how it happened and then writing a song like this in response. It's utterly heartbreaking and gorgeous. The AFWP version is extra trippy and haunting at the same time. This one is the real tragedy to me that closes out the album - I love you too, Emerald Star, I love you a lot, but Buck's failure is not quite as sad to me as the memorial to a kid lost too soon to murder via overdose.

Lonesome Dreams. Spectacular title track and another one that seems like it gets overlooked a lot. Huron is such an interesting character to me, and his realization here that he has been to the land of the dead before and will return again is so fascinating to me. This is where I realized that this album has something more going on in it than it appears to have on the surface - this isn't just the story of some explorer in the midwest setting off for adventure, but rather that there's some kind of haunting personal cycle he's going through where life and death may both be temporary states and that he possibly can retain memories from one cycle to the next.

[girl4music]

Most of the time the main conflict between Xena and Gabrielle was “do I save a village of innocent people that I don’t personally know and die for them?” OR “do I save the person that makes love worth dying for?” and there’s always such complication surrounding all that.

It’s never an easy choice to make and it shouldn’t be.

That’s what’s compelling about Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship dynamic beyond the fact they’re in love.

“The mission VS the love” is how I’d put it because that’s often the conflict in most heroic love stories.

It just hits much harder and impacts deeper in Xena because both the people in the love story are their own respective warriors and heroes for themselves as well as for each other. Neither are the “damsels” but both need to be rescued by the other sometimes. It’s done so well and they did so many things with this specific conflict and that’s something I really love about the depth of what is revealed in the episode ‘Between The Lines’.

The characters being soulmates. It’s not just a romantic thing; it informs everything about them going forward because now they have to be on levelled/equal footing because - evidently - they can’t be without each other.

It’s something they really struggle with accepting because of the implications of protecting each other. So it’s a conflict and a contention between them because it’s “the greater good” VS “the love of my life”.

In any cheesy poorly written romantic/love story that would be just an easy choice. There’d be no thought to it. No complication. No struggle. No challenge. But not with Xena. No, they make that choice incredibly HARD because they flat out REFUSE to undermine either the characters individually and their arcs or their love story.

What does it mean to be soulmates or one soul in two bodies? A hell of a lot more than what you think it does.

It’s a profound dynamic because it’s taken SERIOUSLY in that there’s ups and downs to it all the fucking time.

It’s an EPIC COMPELLING GREEK WLW JOURNEY.

‘Between The Lines’ takes their relationship dynamic from “I’m in love with her and I have to do everything I can to protect her” to “It’s my destiny to be with her romantically and my responsibility to keep her safe”.

The stakes are so much higher for them as individual characters and for their love story after the India arc…

And when the stakes are higher, the choices are harder and the consequences are greater. That’s what Xena is.

So instead of just throwing a romantic arc into the main narratives of the show, the plot of each episode itself naturally, automatically and logically wraps around it because the individual characterization influences it.

They don’t separate them. They don’t have to. It works.

It more than works. It makes the show so much better! More compelling, more valuable and more entertaining.

And they do all this EPIC storytelling between 2 women in love because they’re both also warriors and heroes and they don’t let up on how difficult that fact really is.

If this was just something they did between two female best friends that have absolutely no romantic/sexual involvement between them whatsoever - none of that storytelling would hit or would work as well as it does.

So they don’t make it easy for them, but at the same time, they don’t make it impossible to achieve either.

[thalfbloodloser]

You bring insanity to a boringly sane fandom. I would like to hear your latest thought on ivorycest... Whatever nugget you may be nursing. If that is alright

✦ aw, thank you! you're so sweet 🐌🧡 it's very much alright - no one in here ever sends me fun stuff anymore. your ask was a breath of fresh air, anon! truth be told, i haven't been thinking about ivorycest all that much, but get ready for a HUGE text-block jumpscare because you just gave me the perfect excuse to write about them ➜

✦ sometimes it pains me to see so many folks avoiding ivorycest like the plague, because, like ranfren itself, it's so unapologetically insane that you can't really hate it. even if you try. if you have a dash of sense of humor, you'll see it's hilariously canon compliant!

i've seen lots of people argue that "anything romantic/sexual between randal and luther would be inherently out of character", which i'll admit is a reasonable concern, but it's just not true. the issue is characterization: people keep projecting human-based tropes and behavior on cryptids, and that's where the knee-jerk "eugh" reaction comes from. because yeah, randal and luther aren't going to declare their Forbidden Love for each other and then passionately kiss under the moonlit sky, nor are they going to feel guilty about their attraction and part ways with a tearful "we can't! this is wrong!". it would be completely unnatural behavior for them. all that? made for humans. and pretty basic humans, at that. for ivorycest to work, both in and out of canon, you gotta fully embrace the weirdness, see beyond humanity and forget all old expectations you might've gotten from any other couple of siblings!

from my point of view, it doesn't even feel like it fits with the rest of the "-cest"s. and not because of the possibility that randal and luther aren't even biologically related (i seriously doubt they're even from the same species) - we all know that adoptive siblings aren't any less siblings just because they don't share DNA. plus, pseudo-incest is still a thing - but because they're so, so far from human nature and from other brother/brother ships that it's almost laughable, and sometimes genuinely puzzling, to apply ANY human labels to them at all. for example, would you call luther a cannibal because he eats people? no. because it'd be like calling a human cannibal for eating cows, and that makes no sense. words mean things.

to us, at least.

coincidentally, that's half of my point.

the ivorys adress each other as "brother", sure, but you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that they fully understand what that means or that they care about it enough to follow the moral/ethical guidelines attached to such terms. you simply cannot. most times it feels less like they see each other as family and more like they're just...roleplaying.

but if you decide to call someone "daddy", just when does that make them your father?

randal, who could (but perhaps shouldn't) be considered the most resourceful of the two, uses "brother" as both title and honorific - like one uses "sir" or "ma'am" - but doesn't seem to be overtly attached to the familial aspect of it. again, he's not a human, and, as far as we know, our siblinghood doesn't come naturally to him - much like pain, guilt, conscience and a whole load of bodily functions that he also seems to lack. luther, on the other same hand, understands the caretaking implications of being the "older brother", but that's pretty much where his brotherly-ness begins and ends. if anything, he's incorrectly using the sibling label while playing parent; just without any trauma and/or responsibility attached to it. there's also the fact that he's the most powerful entity in the household and randal - no matter how many pianos he "possesses" or how many times he shoves himself in the space between the wall and the fridge - cannot possibly overpower him, also adds to this parent/kid dynamic; hence granting luther the (almost-meaningless) title of "master" and the authority over their dysfunctional home. that still doesn't mean randal perceives him as anything but a housemate, or playdate, for he doesn't really seem to keep up the role of mischievous little brother unless he's bored (often, not always).

so they use the word, but it lacks permanent meaning. in that sense, classic incest tropes - no matter if brocon or dadson flavored - don't really work. there's power imbalance, sure, but the familial bonds needed to reinforce that imbalance simply do not exist. randal is babied because he likes to be. he likes being taken care of and likes having rules to break. it's a character he plays. luther "takes care" of him because he himself likes doing it. he likes being a parent and likes having a reason to lecture & discipline. it's a character he plays. they don't actually need this dynamic to thrive, and it wasn't imposed on them by parents/caretakers or any set of misfortunes that we know of. they just deliberately chose to partake on it.

consequently, i don't think they feel what humans perceive as familial love (healthy or unhealthy) for each other. they're simply two powerful entities - whom we can assume have been at least friends for a long time - playing make-believe. creatures who have little to no regard for humanity as a species, and are only interested in their own antics. of course they do eventually commend certain humans for their achievements, and seem to find all sorts of comfort in our art/creations/traditions, but outside of that? they see humans as fragile beings as intelectually insignificant to them as most animals are to us. randal forcibly keeps one as a pet. not far from "master" luther, who keeps two.

again, the ivorys are clearly intelligent, specially regarding their own survival. they're not behind being purposefully dense when it comes to anything human that is even slightly inconvenient to them (huh? eating the delivery man's arm when we order pizza is bad? haha, i would never have guessed!). they have the means and understanding necessary to behave (and perhaps look) 100% human, they just...choose not to. they can bend reality itself to their whims, turn themselves and others into inconceivable creatures, all while feigning absolute normalcy at the chaotic world around them (werewoofs, carpet cats with human faces, alive walls and furniture...), and you think they'd draw the line at willingly distorting something as frivolous as family hierarchy?

tch. please.

with that said, by the rules of their own game, if they were to partake in any...non-platonic activities, it would only be considered incestuous because they decided it would be - by creating the dynamic and environment in the first place. and they would simply not fucking care if it is upsetting, distasteful or imoral by human standards. and that's the ship's whole flavor - that's why i love it so much! precisely because there's no such thing as the "oh, no! i accidentally fell in love with my sibling! woe is me!" (which i also love) with the ivorys. there's also not a "normal" way to ship them, even if you're adamant about them not being related or not seeing each other as family, because they're two fucking weirdos.

their whole relationship is so tastefully bonkers that i genuinely wouldn't be fazed if they spawned another creature to be their "littlest" sibling. honestly, who could stop them? and who's to say that, in their cryptic way, they're not a married couple? or buddies into weird roleplay? ultimately, it is undeniable that they - in at least one sense of the word - love each other enough to enable each other; and to indulge on each other's silly/straight-up-criminal fantasies.

to me, there's no (human) romance, nor seduction, involved. randal knows he'll get nothing by jumping on his brother's lap and performing the most disgustingly horny hentai rip-off scenario ever. much like he'll get nothing in exchange for sweet words, flowers and chocolate. it's part of the game. he knows he'll receive only a "<3" (♥︎) - which him and luther seem to be able to pronounce out loud - or a hummed, blank-faced lecture about needing either a nap or to drink more water. if luther is having a bad day, he might even receive some sort of punishment. and those are the reactions randal wants, the normalcy (if you can call it that) he counts on. if he wanted a different response, something genuinely human, he'd have forcibly gauged it off sebastian, nyon or even nyen. likewise, luther knows better than to come too close or to grab randal by the waist, lest he get bitten or not-so-playfully snipped with scissors.

but there's intimacy. so much intimacy. on waking up to the other's figure looming over them, on physically crawling under each other's skin, on wrapping hands and claws around each other's organs and muscles and bones, on faux eyes staring into faux eyes, on a eerie smile pressed against unmoving lips, on the suspension of disbelief, on the lingering smell of copper, on the flashing lights and sappy endearments and and-

and, i suppose, on the sex too. i don't think i can picture them having human sex - really, who am i to guess what these creatures are packing in their pants? for all we know, they might as well be ken-doll smooth down there - but if they were to ever consummate their relationship sexually, i feel like it would probably be as uncomfortable, off-putting, disturbing and offensive to the eyes as everything else they do. genuinely revolting from any possible point of view - unless you're a true monsterfucker. a ritual so gross that, for us, it resembles nothing but a cacophony of unthinkable horrors molding together wetly, but that, to them, feels nothing but heavenly from beginning to end. as close to divinity as such wretched demons/creatures are ever going to get.

anyways. enough, my apologies-

the conclusion is that...me shipping these two isn't even about wishing they'd get together, because, in their fucked up way, they already are. it isn't about spiting other fans either. it's about having fun coming up with increasingly nonsensical scenarios hoping to come close to their freak ✦

[wordsandrobots]

So this is very tangentially related to the discussion about 00’s many flaws that happened about a week ago, but one of my biggest gripes with the show when I watched it was just how little the characters’ backstories matter to the overall plot. I kept expecting the show to do something with the backstories it had given the characters! I wanted to see how their pasts shaped their choices and how those choices shaped the narrative overall, but that was sorely lacking in the show.

I like the premise of what was presented for the characters’ pasts, but it just has so little bearing on who they are as people that it truly barely even registers. I like Setsuna a lot, but I’m still disappointed that his backstory has so little influence on his actions in the show. Lockon being Irish felt like the most prominent part of any characterization, and that is still incredibly brief. Like, I think we get an implication he was involved in the IRA, him in Ireland in one of the endings, him looking displeased when he hears that Ireland is surrendering, and his family’s graves have a Celtic cross, and that’s about it?

00 is one of those shows that I know is Not Very Good but I love it anyways. However, given how 00 handled what it did touch on, I can’t say it would have handled those backstories being more prevalent well.

I've come to think it's something of a litmus test for Gundam fandom as to whether a viewer realises that, in the original show, the newtype stuff is the point. And I don't just mean that's where Gundam 79 ends up, I mean everything that show does builds towards the idea of human connection transcending the material. The repeated emphasis on how well the White Base crew coheres, how their individual agendas and desires gradually align with each other's survival in the middle of the war they've been forced into - the final battle where Amuro gets everyone to safety via the power of his mind is the pay-off for all of it.

The exploration of the suffering caused by human conflict is present, of course, but it's inextricably bound up in a metaphor for the emergence of each new generation that basically boils down to 'astronauts are psychic'.

There's something similar going on with 00 only unfortunately this time around the thing everything is tied to is 'what if a benevolent super-genius decided to reshape human history via quantum computing and giant robots?'

The details are peripheral to Celestial Being's struggles with the rightness or wrongness of Aeolia Schenberg's plan. That's why it galls me so much that they had the nerve to invoke real-world conflicts as part of their dumb cartoon plot. They so clearly don't care about why those conflicts exist or the trauma that results. No, the important thing is to have a 'debate' about whether we can fight our way to a better future, provided we do psychohistory about it.

This extends to the character backstories. They don't matter. They're a sketch of whatever sounds about right for it to be believable these people would join Celestial Being. Even at a psychological level, there's very little engagement with what that would mean. Frankly, it's plain old-fashioned stereotyping. Of course the kid from Middleeastistan and the Irish sharp-shooter are going to be onboard with terrorism in a good cause!

Bleagh.

Like, hell, this show came out *years* after the Good Friday Agreement. For them to casually say the Troubles kept going into 2307 and that that was only solved because a bunch of teenagers in brightly-coloured robots rampaged around the world blowing up armies is profoundly insulting on just about every level I can think of.

And it doesn't matter. Narratively, it's not a significant plot point. It's just a symbol that Celestial Being is having an impact and then we move on to establishment resistance and the rest of the build up to the Innovator/Innovade reveal. It's 'ooo let's put in real-world things to show how significant this is' bullshit.

Sorry, I fully stand by your right to enjoy 00. It's got a lot of stuff that is plainly enjoyable. But the glib way it tries to position itself as extending from our actual world and history puts my teeth on edge. It has absolutely zero interest in conflict resolution as it exists in reality and, as previously discussed, takes a profoundly eugenical - not to mention deeply patriarchal! - view of how progress should look.

That the character's backstories count about as much as their colour-schemes in terms of how the plot unfolds is entirely on brand.

[bvckbiter]

hello kai!! your recent post about ethan's backstory is sooo interesting ✨ can i ask about your thoughts on al's backstory too? 👀

trans ethan thoughts post in question

ive previously posted headcanons about al and ethabaster being trans here and here (ft. @m4gp13 hello bread, the two of us posting about t4t ethabaster is rlly just forks found in kitchen lmao)! but i’ll elaborate more from a meta/characterization standpoint, particularly this part from the first post:

there’s something so pleasing to me about sorcery being a (typically) female-associated craft but al deciding he’s going to do it his way, for his own ends.

something i find very fun about al in his short story is his bullheadedness in doing things his own way despite the circumstances, and i was thinking about how mythologically, most if not all of the prominent magic users are female and there’s almost this cultural connotation as magic being an underhanded, unnatural tool used for deception and abuse, doubly so when wielded by women. circe transmogrifies odysseus’ men into animals and medea kills her way into jason’s bed; it’s worth noting that they’re connected to hecate, too, both in the myths and rick’s iterations. adding insult to injury, lamia as his sister also happens to be the entire reason why demigods’ lives suck so much in the rrverse.

in a way that legacy of magic clashes with al’s entire perception of himself as a hero (“heroes never die, right?”) and his moral code in general. so i thought it would be interesting if he has to grapple with that and, in classic al fashion, he goes “no 💚” and entirely upends those notions as he comes into his own magic and his identity, with gender being one of its facets. he makes himself more of a warrior mage, creating combat spells and incantations, in contrast with his sisters’ more cunning brands of sorcery.

this is not to say that he’s more heroic or right for it, lest we go down the “feminine = bad” path; a lot of al’s appeal as a character for those who are fans of him is the fact that he’s so very stubborn about being wrong… he did work for a megalomaniac titan lord after all lol 😭 so this also does play into him being a bit of an egotist and a massive “mother’s favorite, mama’s boy, hecate’s messiah” complex. also i do hc that he loves leaning into femme/androgynous stuff and that he’s considerably more flamboyant than ethan LMAO so it’s really just him constructing masculinity on his own terms.

from a more plot-centered perspective, i think it’d also be fun if in creating/recreating himself and his magic so well, it leads into him dabbling in magics recklessly in the name of progress ala jayce and viktor in arcane; smth smth necessity is the mother of invention, but what cost are you really willing to pay for progress, how much can you afford to upset the preexisting order when it means it will cost other people’s lives, especially considering that son of magic ends with al and claymore going off to do “research.” what the research entails isn’t really specified, but for me, theres no way that al doesn’t try to look into undoing lamia’s curse, which… has CRAZY implications for the rrverse. (sighhhh i wish i had the consistent energy and time to actually write fics because i really do have so many thoughts about this)

also trans al has given rise to so many jokes and my favorite is the one about hecate’s kids actually being all rocks, and all the rocks are afab. assigned female at boulder

tldr al’s gender identity and expression is another fun manifestation/tool to explore his character, from how he wields his powers to his mindset about morality etc. ❤️

[skaruresonic]

This is all I'm going to say on the matter before I wander too deep into my feelings.

If you like the film, more power to you. Never said you couldn't enjoy it.

At the same time, I don't think it's unreasonable to question the changes Paramount made, because there are many of them, most of which strike me as hollow or needless.

From what I can tell, they ship-of-Theseus-ed the entire game. Which makes me wonder why they couldn't have made an original plot instead, if they were going to replace nearly every element with something that was in-name-only.

Obviously the US military is not gonna fund a film that paints them as corrupt the way SA2 does; I'm not so naive as to think otherwise. However, the film supplies more plot holes and problematic implications of its own, even more so than if they'd mostly left the original story alone.

My general thoughts are rooted in disappointment that not even the smallest elements of the original game are considered worth preservation, since that seems to be the implication underpinning products like this.

It's well-known that SA2 is lauded for its vibes but not much else. So my issue is less "they changed it, so now it sucks" and more "Didn't they think the original's themes were worth anything?"

I keep thinking about what the response would be if other games received similar treatment. If we got, for instance, an SatSR film adaptation which removed the implication that Shahra and the Erazor Djinn were an item.

Sure, you could argue their background isn't strictly necessary to our understanding of their dynamic, but it can't also entirely be denied that some thematic relevance would be lost or made slightly poorer for its absence. That context was placed within the game for a reason. If it's going to be absent in an adaptation, it needs to be replaced with something of equal importance.

If Sonic finished Erazor off by stabbing him in the ass with a quill? ...Yeah.

Although I was never the films' target audience to begin with - I took umbrage with 1 and 2 because of their general lack of faithfulness to the games as well - it is frustrating to see a game that I do hold so dearly be shortchanged yet again.

If the changes were as trivial as Maria's hair color, fair enough. But I mean, the plot and the characterization and the setting and the themes? If you systematically dismantle every piece of the ship, at which point does it cease to be the same ship?

I'll admit the fandom's memeification of SA2 over the years has worn my patience too thin to let me be as charitable as I could be towards the film... which was already in pretty scarce supply as it was.

But from where I'm standing, it really fucking sucks because it seems like they didn't even try. Like this is just another instance in a long list of the game getting stripped down to its vibes.

These are just my thoughts. It's not my intention to make anyone walk on eggshells.

[probablyaparadox]

Oh gosh here we go again- the peak of my hyper fixation on something where I finally post a theory... SO CROCODILE- (Y'all love this guy on tumblr-)I'm going to be very truthful, this started out as a head cannon which I found evidence for in this theory to bring my idea's to completion, and really ties up my thought process together.

What are the key takeaways? 1. Crocodile specifically Avoids having a ring on ring finger, and this could be because he has a spouse 2. Him having lost them in some way, and Iva knowing about them. But why Iva? And why do I say them? Y'all already know- I'm saying Crocodile is gay, and has a husband, well somewhere out there. This makes logistic sense because well, why Iva becomes answered, but we also have a subtle hint in crocodiles overall design. Firstly

Crocodiles Outfit is surprisingly evocative of the victorian dress. Mostly thanks to the vest and cravat look. Additionally, the victorian era began in 1837, very close to when Cigars became popular. I bring this up partially because I think it's cool, and partially because it allows for some implications to come across, as one piece's world spans socially over several decades in terms of atmosphere and acceptance. Mostly that the victorian era was a time where being LGBTQ+ was still considered taboo. So while most of new kama is living in the times of 1970's to modern day, he is very much living in the victorian era. One revolves around being loud and proud, and the other very much around subtleties. What subtleties does he have? Well. For starters, It's a very- Choice colour with the purple vest there. (this is mostly a joke, although purple is associated with signalling, it's usually a different manner as far as I'm aware.) What I actually want to talk about is the earring. Most characters in one piece Wear double earrings if they are wearing them (I.E. Law, bart, Nami, Blackbeard etc.) For those of you unaware, Earring signalling goes like this. Right is gay, left is straight. I could only find three characters wearing a single earring. 1. Zoro on his left. 2. Benn Beckman on his right (Good for him!/hj) and 3. Crocodile on his right. So with this ramble aside. I think his interactions with Iva and the gays TM make much more sense. He's down with the gays because well. He is. They literally give him an entirely new outfit, just like they do for the rest of the LGBTQ+ people they bring in. And why IVA SPECIFICALLY would know that he is married, as per Iva knowing and being all gay peoples parent (/hj). In all seriousness I think it would make sense in this context that he asked Iva to help with his wedding or something of the like, since he (and presumably his husband) likely didn't have many connections to people who could do wedding stuff non-judgementally I.E. a cake or getting someone to do the vows. It's very wholesome, but it's something that I could see as Crocodile wanting to be kept secret, as he's been characterized as someone very secretive. This part is pure speculation/almost definitely false; but. I could definitely see some sort of "held hostage" situation. As Crocodile said "If you want to protect something, do it right." This could be someone who is protecting something, but also someone who lost it. I mean, they've forced the other warlords into similar corners, with the protection of Amazon Lily, or the release of Arlong (and likewise the safe return of all the escaped slaves from the Sun pirates who just wanted to go home.) It makes the "wanting to have a power that can match the WG or any nation in force" goal of his have a much more interesting reason than "KING OF THE PIRATES." We got enough folks aiming for that already, and I feel like if you beat an early antagonist that badly and just keep using him, you gotta have some kind of pay off that doesn't involve him getting beat again.

[mhsdatgo]

do you like Aemond ?

Henlo anon <3

Depends which Aemond we're talking about 😭😭😭 Book!Aemond had me clutching my pearls like how can someone be so infuriatingly bad at the job he was nearly at his bro's throat for is so over me like I wanted to curbstomp him so bad. No you don't get it I was tweaking every time that bitch boy's name popped up.

Show!Aemond?? Much better. He's interesting and intriguing, there is so much to his character that despite being left unexplored can be filled in if you're creative enough. His dynamic with every character is worth analysing, he steals the spot in almost every scene he's in (if this was the showrunners' goal then I'd say they succeeded) he's one of the characters I'm the least disappointed in.

I DO feel like he's about to fall into the unnecessary shock value hole like many characters before him and it feels like a slap to the face to be honest 😭 I've got quite mixed feelings about shock value as a whole like there are some instances where I praise it but you'll never see me doing so with shock value in HOTD specifically. It is all linked to sexual traumas somehow and either don't make sense or look more like rage (and problematic fans) bait than shock value.

For example since we're talking about Aemond, we could talk about how he seems to have developed this morbid Oedipus complex (a child's unconscious attraction towards the mother) towards Alicent. Literally the only thing that's missing is the hostility towards the father who is cold in his grave by this point and he's not even worth bringing up. It (supposedly) manifests through Aemond's feeling of entitlement to Alicent's forgiveness, which he doesn't get and thus takes to calling her BY NAME and a fool. Apparently guilt is something Aemond feels only when he's sure Alicent is willing to forgive him, love him and cherish him no matter what he's done. This is a version of Aemond that is so out of touch with reality that he cannot for the life of him comprehend when he's gone too far. (or better, HE DOES, he's absolutely sure the answer to his "I messed up" will always be "I forgive you and I'll move on". When that doesn't happen and Alicent is indeed chilly because he indeed went too far, his guilt turns to bitterness.)

Do we even know what brought him to develop such a mentality?? Is it because, in his eyes, Alicent has always been the one to defend him from whoever? Because we as viewers know for a fact that is NOT TRUE. Like I'm sorry I'm saying this as an Alicent lover but I heard her say the following phrase with my own ears:

"You may cuff him about as you wish at home, but in the world, we must defend our own."

There are A LOT of implications here. The main one being that image is the most important thing to her and should something like Aegon becoming the ringleader of a pack that is SET on treating Aemond like shit come out, it would soil the family's image. Doesn't mean this cannot continue as long as it isn't known. One could argue that it's not like Alicent could know how much of a toll the bullying was taking on Aemond but the way the whole instance of him going to his mother was treated tells me it wasn't the first time, and that therefore, she pretty much knew.

Moreover, that's her child covered in dirt and ash crying about how he was humiliated before the whole Dragonpit, there are no subtleties, there is no way to be mistaken. But that's beyond the point.

What kind of sick fuck came up with this jealousy? Entitlement? How to call it? That Aemond feels towards Alicent and what good/efficient does it do to either of their characters. That's the question, and the answer is NONE THAT'S RIGHT. Doesn't make sense, and was added in because they just wanted more sick fuckery in the show. (because Dyana's rape and future arc isn't enough)

Moving on to the other greatest problem I have with Aemond's characterization: THE INFAMOUS BROTHEL SCENE. COMING UP ON YOUR SCREENS IN A FEW HOURS. ASKERS: NONE.

OOOOUFFFHHHHHHH I've got so many problems with this scene. First of all, what kind of coping mechanism is that? I'm fully convinced this scene is made for nothing else other than fanservice because the implications are nasty. He likes older women, that's fine, valid, relatable and all, but WHY make it the consequence of yet another sexual trauma?

If the streets are right the woman that is cradling him as he lies in her lap naked is the brothel madam that is seen in ep. 8 "The Green Council" (Michelle Bonnard)

Which may or may not be woman he was brought to by his brother at the age 13 to be sexually assaulted by. Look, having Aegon bring his 13 year old brother to engage in sex he's clearly not an enthusiastic party in was already a bad choice, it felt like another bad quality given to Aegon the showrunners didn't know what to do with. But their ADAMANCE on making some kind of subplot out of this because you added it, why the fuck would you forget it? Feels so forced and makes me feel the topic should've stayed that way, unexplored.

Now his relationship with Alys is going to feel like a trauma response too! And that's if they don't go with the "Alys bewitched Aemond and brought him to his death" storyline. (Honestly would be better at this point)

When Aemond and Madam first meet on screen (supposedly for the first time since that nightmare of a birthday) Aemond is clearly CLEARLY uneasy. So fucking uneasy. And it's in the script too:

[creds: @darksvster]

It's something neither her or him have forgotten, and clearly a weak point for Aemond (understandably so.) Yet apparently, in season 2, we'll see him in the arms of the same woman AGAIN! CUDDLED UP LIKE A BABY EVEN!!!

I'm projectile vomiting so hard the recoil throws me out the window and rolling on the road below. There are problems here. A LOT of problems. Who decided it would be good? WHO?

So basically yep. Aemond's characterization appeared solid up until this new season, it seems. There's much more to cover up and I'm ready to RANT about everything I will be seeing on screen but things are looking grim. I just hope I won't have to watch Aemond come back to the woman that traumatized him for more than five minutes at best.

Thanks for the ask anon <3