#so yeah maybe it's too complicated ;;;;;;

[ars0nism]

people on tik tok really need to understand that a parent-child relationship is often a lot more complicated than good parent/bad parent ESPECIALLY when the parent themselves has trauma they shouldve worked through before having a child

[bobbinalong]

my thoughts on jon's whole situation change every two days, honestly.

[danny-chase]

[Image ID: The first image is a closeup of Damian's masked eyes. Dick says "Happy Birthday." From off panel. The second image shows Damian holding with a black bar in it, engraved with the words "Versus the world". Damian holds it up in front of his face, looking at the bar. "Versus the world?" He asks, confused. Dick's masked face is in the next panel. Dick: "When I was leaving for college, Alfred told me that he knew I could take on the world." The next panel shows a young Dick Grayson happily swinging from a trapeze - the bar is behind his knees, his torso arced up on the end of a swing, he's smiling with his arms behind him. Dick: "It's made from a trapeze bar in my family's act. Alfred got it and painted it black for me." Dick stands explaining, an arm raised in the next panel. Dick: "It helped me remember that I came from 2 worlds. But I think you need this more than I do now. Alfred knew I struggled with my past, present, and future. And any time I needed reminding of who I was, I'd think of that gift..." Damian takes off his mask, his eyes glistening. Dick (off panel): "Damian?" End ID]

Robin (2021) #5

I love this so much, I'm going to break down why I appreciate this moment.

Damian in Batman and Robin (2011) proved his love/empathy was there by presenting Bruce with a meaningful gift - one of his mother's pearls - so for me this moment carries the same weight, Dick showing Damian he cares in a way Damian has used to show his love before.

All the Robins have some connection to Dick's history - Robin is family - this connection completes that. Tim and Jason both have scenes where they visit Dick's show, Steph as Batgirl took the same oath that Dick took (in the same spot, the wax from candlelight dripping in the same spot), and now we have Dick gifting a trapeze bar to Damian. The thing is - Dick had no control over the other additions, he chose Damian and this calls back to that decision. Not just to make Damian Robin, but to welcome him into his family.

Dick acknowledging Damian comes from two worlds is just 😭. So often in fandom and canon, Damian is seen as an irredeemable killing machine, brainwashed by the league - by his own family members. He has a past that he struggles with, and Dick acknowledges that without getting stuck on it, and puts equal weight on Damian's present and future, understanding that Damian's a human - someone with value - someone who's proved they're more than what they were born to be - someone who cares more than they're giving credit for.

Damian being willing to stop the chase for Dick. He's willing to show Dick that side of himself - show him he actually does care - show him not all is lost. He doesn't want to go home, but his willingness to be vulnerable in front of Dick is something they've earned over time and something Damian doesn't give out easily. This really cemented them as idk what to call their relationship other than Batman and Robin. Damian let Dick catch up - he was willing to risk being sent home (which he doesn't want to do yet) over being able to spend quality with him. Dick gives the gift, but Damian is the one who accepts it and allowed him to give it - is what I'm trying to get at here.

The gift itself. Dick giving Damian something that helped him as a child really resonates with me. I have younger siblings and this is exactly the way I wish I could be for them. It's established in canon Dick doesn't keep a lot of stuff with him (or leaves it all packed up) and generally the things he keeps has sentimental value - which for me this places additional weight on this scene - because he has less it's worth that much more. The gift originally coming from Alfred is a nice touch - even though Dick and Damian haven't talked (though he probably remembers going to the funeral as Ric) he already understands how much Alfred dying hurt Damian, and gave him something to remember him by. That - to me - speaks volumes. On the flip side - Dick giving this precious gift to Damian demonstrates the trust he has in Damian to take care of it. And Dick's trust isn't something freely given - Damian worked for that, he earned it.

"Versus the world" - Alfred believed Dick could take on the world, and similarly Dick believes Damian can too. Not for the worse, but for the better. Also sorry but the line "painted it black" makes me think of this song and well, isn't that fitting 😂 and i have no idea if it's a reference or not

Anyways i count this as a solid win for Dick and Damian fans (myself included), and I'm happy they both finally got to talk after everything that's happened.

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

I know this will be a bit of personal thing to ask and you are free to ignore this if you don't feel like answering, but im just genuinely curious what's your sexual orientation ?? And are you a part of the lgbtq+ community ?? Once again you don't have to answer if you don't want to

Ahhhh well uhhhh maybe???

[hecksupremechips]

Been watching Schitt’s Creek the past few days and I gotta say it is nice to see that David, who is a stereotypical gay guy, is explicitly pansexual and that Patrick, who’s more masculine, is gay

[mossy-aro]

for the ask game, Kageyama from Haikyuu being a loveless aro

hmmm yes i think i can kinda see this! i can see him having a complicated relationship w the word ‘love’ at least - i think i could see him as maybe a loveless aplatonic?

[astrxealis]

comin in ere just rq to say tldr (final. real.) fuuta !! i want him to be voted innocent/forgiven bcs i hope he can. make peace with himself. i think he's truly a good guy at heart even if that doesn't excuse all that he did (i think he's. some sort of victim too and he deserved better. by this i mean like w his friends?? some sort of pressure and all. also the fact all the blame got put onto him which sucks but also with context, if that context is right, is rather deserved ngl. also i'm worried if he gets voted guilty bcs something bad will def happen)

[vexx-the-egg]

Mark my words discourse is going to get so so bad once we reach the power arc

[sysig]

In lighter news, I found my Sims 2: Open for Business disc

[stonerz4sokka]

one of atla’s strong suits is how well written their characters are, specifically the main cast (& mai + ty lee). to genuinely value these characters requires one to understand their respective strengths, weaknesses, trauma, and the space they take up in the overarching narrative. while i think this fandom at large is terrible at understanding the characters they ‘love’, i think both aang and mai suffer the brunt end of this misunderstanding. not because they are inherently more complex or harder to understand, but because of the misogynistic and racist undertones in the countless garbage analyses of their characters, from both their ‘stans’ and their haters. for some reason, people see this lack of appreciation towards their characters and think that the best way to fill this void is to make up random shit about them or over-sexualize them. 

aang is very fun, but he’s also wise, idealistic, rebellious, and incredibly powerful. you don’t need to thirst after a 12 yr old to appreciate his existence in western media & how he’s one of the greatest heroes ever (side note: this video essay explains the psychology behind the hero, and it describes aang to a T). in the same light, mai is not goth or emo or WHATEVER. she’s a teenage girl whose been forced to stifle her wants and needs for the sake of her dad’s political career, and understanding how she’s trapped by her position in society is how you understand why she comes off as apathetic. she’s the bad boy with a heart of gold that y’all want zuzu to be!! she’s constantly sacrificing her boundaries and giving to the men in her life when they’ve been shown not to reciprocate that same love. and when she does assert her boundaries, she’s labelled ‘toxic’. she’s nice, too nice, & would do anything for those she loves. she’s also witty and her deadpan humor is my favorite!! she is not mean, (side note: if ur white n you’ve called a woc ‘mean’ as a compliment then .... reevaluate urself), you just don’t understand the inner turmoil & angst of a teenage girl. 

tl;dr: aang and mai as they exist in the text are incredibly lovable & complex  characters. you don’t need to makeup shit to appreciate them, just watch the show

[helloimkatey]

Meet Ellora Fleur, my submission for @klayde‘s BC with Ingrid! 

✨ info below the cut ✨

⁂ traits: dog lover | hot-headed | music lover | 

⁂ aspiration: master chef |

⁂ hobbies: playing guitar | cooking | yoga |

⁂ likes: green & purple | coffee | playing guitar for beautiful ladies;) | 

⁂ dislikes: being pranked | any fitness that is not yoga | winter |

⁂ sexual orientation: bisexual |

⁂ sun sign: GEMINI (lmaooo I’m sorry, but am I even a gemini if I don’t make my first sim also a gemini??)

⁂ bio: Ellora grew up in Britechester. Living in a college town, she partied hard before deciding to travel to experience new cuisine and music (and better parties). Ellora never once considered settling down or even being in a steady relationship before, but after some globetrotting... she’s changed her mind and is over casual flings and the party scene. While a few sims have caught her eye before, no one has ever captured her heart. Now, Ellora dreams of a quiet life practicing yoga, playing guitar, and cooking with her loved ones. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AH! My first time ever posting one of my sims on the interweb 🥴 Previews might look like shit because I taught myself how to use poses, teleport mod, attempted reshade but oof, and kindaaaa photoshop in less than a day soooo...​

[lew1s-moved]

suddenly remembered that time me and my friend were in a random bar in milan and a gay man started a convo with us because he was sitting at the table next to us and he heard us talking shit about the church and homophobes and just venting our anger. i'll never forget it because it was the day after a really dark moment for lgbt people in italy and it was just... so nice to know i wasn't going through it alone. that despite how awful it was, how scary, and how unfair it was that we had to go through it (and still have to suffer the consequences and who knows when things will change) at least we had each other.

[aquickstart]

thanks for the response! (i had the propaganda question) still haven't seen movie so will wait before digging for those spoilers but definitely curious about the writers/artists comments regarding the comic and arcs you mentioned! it's fascinating that the creators are able to pull off what seems like a very queer-coded relationship despite even in spite of extreme censorship which i think is very different from queerbaiting (again, not having seen/read the source material) but there's been a lot of recent discussion in fandom spaces about this with respect to chinese media as well so am very interested to learn about how creator intent faces off against state censorship and what people end up still picking up on after the fact :) thanks for your thoughts!!

of course!! i'm very eager to discuss anything Major Grom-related to the best of my abilities (and i leave room for doubt and correction because i am fairly new to the fandom, fyi). here's a brief summary of some relevant info; i won't be including creator names and links here so it's not searchable, and also because it's all in russian (again i can do it in dm's). AND i'm sure you can find it out on the Bubble Comics website!

re: canon text itself. according to official extras, one of the characters was initially supposed to be a generic bodyguard type, but the story required him to become a more important companion for the antagonist; to be very brief here, he ends up essentially what the antagonist values most in his life and is narratively mirrored to the protagonist's girlfriend in one of the story arcs. it all comes down to a very pointedly dramatic, tragic, and emotionally charged moment for Igor Grom with his gf, and Sergey Razumovsky with his bodyguard. you know. a very casual bro moment for the latter pair, obviously.

re: creator feedback. the main artist & co-writer of the series has a multitude of what you'd call fanart pieces of these two characters in, like, a romantic relationship. i can't quite say they're canon since they're not included in the actual printed versions, but nothing in the comics contradicts or discredits the possibility of these scenes existing in the canon universe throughout.

the main writer/producer/Bubble Comics owner used to be very much against any kind of non-canon shipping, but he's radically changed his opinion over the years, which he expressed just recently in one of the official Bubble Comics podcasts. him and chief editor/producer are both very open to fan content and encourage any type of fan interpretation, which, to me, doesn't come off as pandering to the audience as much as it does as genuine gratitude and understanding of how storytelling and fandom spaces work. kudos to them from me for that.

as a side note, i do have some uhh uncertain feelings about the chief editor recently being a bit too eager to support the queer ship in question. some people see it as sort of queerbaiting wherein he's playing into the hype, but to be honest he seems like a geeky guy himself who's just generally very comfortable with his own sexuality. do whatever you will with that. i think he's allowed, maybe would be cool to tone it down a bit, but also, maybe not. it's all within reason, i guess.

re: queerbaiting & censorship. here's the part i dread discussing the most because the very concept of queerbaiting is a bit blurred in fandom discussions. i personally believe it becomes even more complicated in places like russia; like you mentioned, i do think this specific case is something other than queerbaiting. like, how are you supposed to do queer rep in mainstream media if you can get prison time for doing it? i think it's very much the case of context and reception, and if you look at the core fanbase, it's got a lot of queer people and/or folks who support the opposition.

of course, it's important to examine the authors of the content and their possible motives: the aforementioned main writer/company owner is linked to pro-state publications through his relatives, so yes, his money does come from the state, technically, at least in part, or at least that is what some people believe and i have no way of proving either point. still, i personally differentiate that from Bubble Comics being state-sponsored (like, FondKino did not sponsor the Major Grom movie, and FondKino sponsors so much of mainstream russian cinema). some people don't, and i guess i get their point. i firmly believe i'd go insane if i filtered every creator i've ever been interested in through the lens of absolute moral purity especially in russia.

but i circle back to the fanbase aspect of it: at some point i think it's equally important to look at interpretation and reception of content as well as its creators. if queer people find themselves relating to the story and the characters, i think it's doing something right.

maybe not though. maybe we are all just being tricked into consuming pro-state propaganda because we are obviously all idiots and my donations to medusa and doxa and ovd-info are nonexistent and dissolve into the air <3

[smells-like-mettaton]

I fully agree with the "it's the players fault not charas" take for no mercy route. Makes it real hard to explain the reasoning for no mercy route in-universe in fics though

[bmpmp3]

JUST finished the main case in Jake Hunter Ghost of the Dusk and FIRST of all it took me 11 hours and 8 minutes to finish which i was Not Expecting as all the cases in Jake Hunter Memories of the Past took me anywhere between an hour and a half to four hours at the most SECOND Of all im obsessed with this song from the OST. soundtrack to when im taking a jazzercise class but the shadowy ghost figure only i can see that follows me in my every waking moment is manifesting itself in the dance studios mirrors

[ffriluftslivv]

me and my best friend liking the same guy from our class and our friend group and me deciding to let her have an opportunity with him because there's obviously smth between them and she deserves to be happy and still me telling her that im going to be just fine and it's okay to take my place:

actually me when she talks about him and how much they talked today (when ofc i wasn't at school because im sick) and how much they talk in general: