#such a punchable face

[clonenumber4]

Who is this guy? He pisses me off for reason, i wanna drop a comically large piano on his head!

[nabexis]

So like. Did anyone else notice that Jayce doesn't immediately shoot Viktor? He only powers his hammer on AFTER Viktor has opened his eyes. Below is Jayce's reaction to seeing Viktor (his Viktor, from his universe, not the future version of him) for the first time after walking into the dome. For the first time in months. That's like. A look of wonder. Almost reverence.

Assuming the Jinx/Rictus/Vander fight is cut to real-time after Jayce has gone into the dome, he's staring at Viktor for like. 5 minutes.

My interpretation here, of Jayce's expression just before Viktor finally opens his eyes to see Jayce in the room with him, he's committing Viktor to memory, before he has to kill him.

Edit: I almost missed it but like. HE IS SMILING For like 2 frames it's an outright smile. He leans in towards him, too. I cannot handle this.

[waytootiredstudent]

Why the CDU/CSU can go fuck itself

Time for another one of these. a quick(ish) summary for all the non-german speakers about why we're freaking out and the state of our democracy.

Spoiler. its not...good. Not catastrophic (yet). But the alarm bells are very, very loud.

Tl;dr: The CDU, party currently prognosed to win the election, has basically worked together with the afd to get a migrationbill to pass that is very strict. The afd are the nazi party that is getting backed by Musk. This might forshadow a cooperation between AFD and CDU. That would put the far right in power. The current response from the general public are demonstrations against that. Like. there are a LOT of protests currently.

Alright grab a drink and lets go.

First, groundwork: Who are parties and who is the guy we currently all want to punch in the face?

on top: Careful, risk of confusion. on the left: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. Real. On the right: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. comic figure.

This guy here is Friedrich Merz. no, not the guy on the right. the guy on the left. I know. Easy mistake to make.

He's an asshole. He's also the current boss of the CDU and their chancellor candidate. He's very likely to win according to recent polls.

The CDU has a complicated history, but to simplify it: They were in charge for sixteen years before the now broken apart Traffic-light goverment and are responsible for a lot of shit that we're currently dealing with. Like crumbling infrastructure for example. They were more interested, as a party, to preserve the status quo at all costs, than to invest anything. You could argue that a lot of the enviromental issues we are facing and the reason why Germany is currently pretty stagnant, can be traced back to the one and a half decade the CDU was in charge. They are conservative, not a fan of migration and like to throw around 'tradtional values'.

They are, generally speaking, or better were, center right. More on that later.

The other party that is going to be a major pain in the ass to outright fucking dangerous, is the AFD, short for 'Alternative for Germany'.

this is Alice Weidel, she's the current chancellor candidate for the afd. here is her wikipedia article and lets just say her 'controversies' part is longer than her 'political positions' part.

Those are the, to put it bluntly, Nazis. They are dangerous but also a fucking mess. Like, to just list a few of their hits: They've been getting money from dictators (different ones btw, not just one), infigthing is a sport to them, they try to glorify the nazi-regime, the german intelligence agency is watching them because they are officially considered radical right-wing and a threat to democracy, there is a petition to ban the afd and that is a high bar to cross, the demonize immigrants, hate queer people, you know, the usual. Also of course political correctness has gone too far and climate change isn't real and we need to leave the EU. Elon Musk, you know the rich guy who did the Nazi-salute, also has been appearing and is actively supporting them. Just in case we were unclear before on where they all stand.

(btw the whole 'elon is supporting them' thing is pretty scary bc you could argue the reason that the afd is able to win so many votes is bc, frankly, they're good at social media. Do i need to elaborate why that is a dangerous combination.)

to put them into perspective: The afd is too right for the other alt-right parties in the EU parlament. There is a coalition in the EU Parlament for the right, made up of all the right wing parties from other nations and the afd is too right for them. So. yeeeeaaah.

that should do it as background information.

Now. back to current events. where both of these parties are getting more and more support.

For a short history of why we currently have a non-functioning goverment, i made a post about that. Be aware that it was made as a product of its time and doesn't have all the information. For example back then we didn't know that FDP had actively engineered that break up and wanted it to happen for a while. Yes. They wanted to topple the goverment they were in. on purpose. It's been a fun time over here in Germany as well.

anyways, lets get to the meat of things. Since we don't have a functional goverment currently, Merz has introduced a harsh migration bill. This has been in the wake of an attack with two murders, where the current suspect is a migrant. while this is a tragedy, its getting brutally misused by all out rightwing parties to scream about how we need stricter migration laws and that migrants are a danger. Which to be so fucking clear about this, is such bullshit. It's been proven so many times how that is bullshit. I'm gonna be real and not even bother. They're just the newest scapegoats everything can be blamed on.

But because nobody has a majority, all attempts at governing so far have been pretty stalled.

(our goverment currently)

Quick information from the past:

in 2018 the CDU basically stated they wouldn't, in any sort of way, cooperate with the AFD, declaring basically a Brandmauer (fire wall). This basically means that yes, the afd had been given seats in the parlament, but nobody would give them any power whatsoever.

This has been the position of the cdu. It is why people still considered them center-right.

Merz has repeatedly said he didn't care who voted with him. now with a slight majority, 348 to 344, the cdu has won, with the support of the afd. Many see this as the fall of the Brandmauer. It's not good. Merz has more and more talking points that sound exactly like the afd and that is SCARY. There is still a vivid memory alive here about why having a far-right goverment is dangerous. There is a reason why there are currently a lot of massive protests all over the country loudly proclaiming that 'never again is now'.

This also puts for many the cdu from 'center right' to 'right'. There are calls from inside the cdu to 'stop demonizing the afd'. This is scary. This could mean that we get not just a conservative goverment in a few weeks, but a rightwing one. One who is comfortable cooperating with radical right wingers if it suits their needs. To cooperate with a party that even our own intelligence agencies consider a threat to our democrazy.

So. that is why your german mutuals sit there like

Now. To another part. What exactly is that migration bill merz had wanted to pass so desperateldy?

Well first of all it calls for a national emergency, using the beforementioned murder as reasoning, for the danger of immigration. It calls for closing and controls at the borders permanently, not temporary as is curently the case. They want for people without valid ID to be refused entry, even when they are searching safety. People that are already in Germany but need to leave should be thrown in jail until they actually leave.

Which. just to be clear about this. this what the bill they had, that had the support of the afd, says. This is not a wish list. This what they want to be law.

But to be also clear, lots of this is against our current law, against Basic EU law and principle and also a pretty big violation of our constituation.

Which is what makes this situation so fatal. This bill is going to be fought. In court, in politics, with demonstrations on the streets. this bill is controversial. Merz knew that. he knew that a lot of this wouldn't pass. This is a publicly stunt. This is testing the waters. How much will the public allow? how far can he push? Is cooperation with the afd possible for him? How does everyone react?

It was never about immigration or that bill. All the people this is going to impact, all the lives that are going to be lost because of this shit they are pulling - this is to them all just collateral. Its testing how much is possible, tolerated even. The chances of this bill making it law is slim. It needs to pass again in a different body of the goverment with a two thirds majority and that is nowhere in sight.

Also, lets take a look at who voted what:

it was about four votes. So my german friends who also read this - look at this and be aware of who voted what. Who abstained to vote and gave up the four votes it would have taken to stop this. who accepted that to get what they want they would need to get the support of the afd, no matter how much Merz now claims that he still doesn't cooperate with the afd and that there were no talks between them. Look at the numbers. Look how and with who they voted.

To be frank, i am pretty pissed off. I don't think much about wallowing in self-pity and despair. i am pissed off about what is happening. i am pissed off that these people don't have a spine, i am pissed off at the FDP for enabling this in the first place, i am pissed off that we have Nazis in out goverment, i am pissed off that we have people who are willing to cooperate with them. I am pissed off that i need to settle for damage control instead of being able to see something finally move forward.

Now here we come to the less depressing part of this whole thing. And i want you to pay attention to it.

People are protesting. loudly. And in the thousands. There have been ten to a hundred thousands of people all over the country in the last week, protesting against the rise of faschism and the far right. Its all over the country, in different cities. Where the afd appears to talk, so do the protesters. There are 35 afd people to 1300 protesters. People loudly say 'never again is now'. And they show up to back that claim up.

This shit is vile, yes, but it's not going to be unopposed.

I know this all reads as depressing as fuck but do not give into the temptation of falling into despair. This is far from over. Yes those are the alarm bells and they are ringing loudly. But there is still things that can be done. Don't let the afd lure you into thinking this all pointless anyways. It's not. This is all not good, yes, but no reason to fall into blind panic. The bill isn't law yet. Merz is facing massive backlash for his little stunt. This is not a hopeless situation. It's just a shitty one.

[north-noire]

William and Henry working at Fredbear's together (they don't have any blueprints yet, god help them both)

Inspired/redrew from this tweet

[hymnoeides]

hi ant！I've known abt you recently but I've been attracted deeply both by your gorgeous art and adorable characteristics.You are so cute lovely and I really like you！btw thanks for generously sharing your wonderful artwork for us( you are so prolific！🥹🥹)

Then I am bit curious abt how will you design Antinous？I want to hear your thoughts regarding him like.thank you so much for answering！wish you gooooood day！🥰😝

Aaaa thank you so much!! 🥺 I’m so honored you like my works and such ueueue….

I think the image of Antinous I have in my head is… I always imagine him as a little way more snobbish rude noble rich kid alongside the violent villain HAHSHW so he’s a bit more pampered looking to me.. idk if I managed to capture that well,, quick scribble w a new brush！🤲

[tavvoc]

[atanxdoesstuff]

this was originally just a sketch but it was too dark to get proper lighting for a postable picture so i transferred it to digital and then did some really basic shading and a bunch of background elements :)

a bit of hoodie for the soul

[pommedepersephone]

"Little hellions" had me rolling.

Ya'll need to see this

[limonnitsa]

this is so them help

[mikurulucky]

And the award for fiction's most punchable face goes to...

🏆Jimmy, from Mouthwashing!🏆

What an asshole! 🎉

[tealvenetianmask]

I have some thoughts on why we hate Cash fucking Buckzo so much.

I mean, I see other bad dads from HB get mentioned, but none with the frequency and absolute ire that Cash gets. And I feel it. Every time I'm rewatching and I see his extremely punchable face, I get angry again.

I think the reason we feel more burning hatred for Cash than for, let's say, Crimson, who's objectively done more horrific things, is because Cash reminds us of people in our own lives. Crimson is . . . a shockingly terrible person . . . but he hasn't hurt us personally. Cash (*cough* the parents who have some of his traits) has hurt A LOT of us directly. Let me explain.

Cash is every parents who:

Made their kids feel disappointing/worthless/worth five bucks and a condom

Made kids compete for their love and approval

Set up a golden child and scapegoat system

Taught us that our worth comes from achieving things

Exposed kids to adult concerns and dangers WAY too early

Made children feel responsible for the troubles faced by the family ("don't you want to be able to help me and your mama out?")

Threatened their kids

Did stupid things (fireworks in a tent???) and blamed their kids for their own mistakes- presumably

Generally used kids for their own needs instead of meeting the kids' needs.

Most people (luckily) didn't grow up with parents who did ALL of these things, but some did. And a whole lot of us experienced at least some of them growing up. I didn't even mention the heavily implied alcoholism- and that impacts a lot of children too.

So yes, I hate this guy partially because I'm very much a Blitz kinnie, but ALSO with just a couple of minutes of screentime, he managed to trigger a whole lot of people's childhood trauma.

Anyway, it looks like we're in for more (flashbacks at least), so buckle up!

[better-call-mau1]

Rebels Rewatch: "Iron Squadron"

Unexpected Sato backstory??? And other fun things!

Oh hey, the rare Star Wars planet that is not one single biome!

My son looking cutely contemplative. :)

Hera's the first to mention that Sato has "connections" here, and my brain automatically assumed family even before the reveal.

This freighter the kids are using is a YT-2400, which apparently was kind of a big deal to Legends fans because of some dude named Dash Rendar. This is not my area of lore expertise so I won't comment on that, but I will observe that if fanbros had an expectation of seeing that guy in this episode then it makes more sense why they got pissy when it was revealed the crew was upstart plucky kids instead.

Still, adult Star Wars fans really have got to stop mindlessly hating on teen/kid characters.

"They're attacking the Empire head on!" I mean, y'all have a Corellian freighter too and you do that all the time. I guess the YT-2400 looks way more civilian grade to them, no obvious modifications.

Why is Kanan in the turret, guys? Yeah yeah I know he has the Force to help him "see" but this is just... silly.

Hera still operating under the impression that it's a civilian ship. I mean technically it is but also you're in the Rebellion Hera, we literally just had an Imperial ace talk about how y'all use whatever ship that flies a few episodes ago lol.

You know the trick with the cargo crates is actually pretty clever. The YT-2400 obviously has very little actual armament aside from the one top gun, very easy to lull your enemy into thinking you're harmless.

Lol Zeb accurately calling that Iron Squadron is "a ship-full of Ezras".

I haven't commented on it before but sometimes Ezra just sits like such a typical teenager, using the furniture in all the wrong ways.

Big fan of the slightly vulnerable note in Sato's voice here.

Lol Ezra and Sabine's faces here.

"If you like a junk pile." "Be nice." A+ adorable banter moment, love it.

There goes Chopper antagonizing other droids again.

Mart is surly and grumpy and looks like a shaggy kitten and I love him. <3

Gooti trying to diffuse the tension in the room by offering waffles. Relatable.

Mart honestly sounds just a bit like Dark Side Drunk Ezra, the undernotes of anger in his voice, insisting that they have things under control and don't need help. Honestly it was kind of an amazing and interesting idea to put Ezra alongside a bunch of (slightly) younger kids a few rungs back on the character development ladder to contrast how much more mature he's gotten.

Mart confusing different Imperial ships for a Star Destroyer is also a great running gag. Sabine gets so annoyed lol.

Lothal still looking relatively pretty.

I would really like to praise Lars Mikkelson for making me creeped out by the most innocuous of scenes with Thrawn, all the man has to do is comment on Iron Squadron being interesting and mildly insult Konstantine and my skin crawls, ggughhhh.

Thrawn setting up lesser officers for failure again.

Relating to deliberately casting Ezra as the more mature one, it even extends to how they keep posing him this episode. He's not more than a year or two older than the Iron Squadron kids and yet he feels so much older in his bearing and manner of speaking.

The shoulder nudge and the way Sabine goes, "Hmm?" makes me think they're improving this on the fly.

I've joked before about this looking like a cute family photo but it's still true.

Spaceparents be skeptical lol.

Chopper just whacking the panel with hammer. XD

"This might be just a planet to you, but it's our home!" Hoo boy, that's the heart of it isn't it? Ezra has been through this exact thing. So he understands the instinct to dig in and fight back. But like Mon Mothma would later remind him in Season Four, you can't save every planet right away. Sometimes you have to retreat and regroup, and come back stronger later.

Sometimes you have to leave home.

It doesn't mean you don't fight. It just means you don't let your fear of loss make you stupid.

Once again leaning on that message of "How we choose to fight."

This is purely in the realm of headcanon but Mart's obsession with suicidally charging a Star Destroyer makes me think that might be how his father died, or something similar to it at least.

Gooti and Jonner sharing a look like, "Uhhhhhh maybe they have a point about our ship being way too small to take on the Empire alone."

Yeah, no, I'm sticking with my idea that Mart has just a little bit of a death wish and wants to go out taking revenge against the Empire that killed his father.

Precious little rage bean. <3

Sabine reminding Ezra not to get in trouble with Hera for disobeying orders again.

It's okay Sabine, he's learned that lesson lol.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The sheer floof to Mart's hair. I can't believe how much volume it feels like has, just from the way it shifts around his head.

"I am all the family he has left." :((((

STILL SO MAD THAT WE NEVER GOT MART'S REACTION TO SATO'S SACRIFICE AT THE BATTLE OF ATOLLON.

Right, continuing with the Mart-is-literally-Ezra-from-a-couple-seasons-prior parallels, Mart's disbelief and delight at the Ghost coming back for him.

And Konstantine makes a really stupid decision in the effort to... idk, give himself more glory? He literally has enough ships and firepower to blow both freighters to bits and he insists on this showy mine trap move.

This is why Thrawn sent you by yourself, pal, he wanted to see if you'd croak.

Lol the Ghost took a potshot at the light cruiser as it was passing.

Chopper continuing in the grand habit of bullying other droids.

Ahhhhhhh Sato came! He was too far away to be able to get there on time and he came anyway!

HIS FACE.

Yeah uh, Konstantine? You should have known the mine plan would never have worked as soon as you lost signal contact with it. Also it's really stupid to let them get the ship that close to your cruiser before you try to detonate it.

Mart's little "...Oh." expression. <3 A+ running gag payoff, no complaints.

HNNNNNGGHHHHH YOU CAN'T JUST IMPLY THAT THRAWN AND SATO HAVE SOME KIND OF CONNECTION AND THEN NOT FOLLOW UP ON THAT. At least let us get some Sato backstory out of it, c'mon.

Thrawn calling Konstantine just to rub the embarrassment in.

THIS IS WHY HE DISOBEYED YOUR ORDERS AT ATOLLON DUDE. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON'T HUMILIATE YOUR UNDERLINGS BY DELIBERATELY SENDING THEM INTO SITUATIONS YOU KNOW THEY'LL BUNGLE.

Aw frick.

Don't think about the Kanan-Ezra parallels, don't think about the Kanan-Ezra parallels, don't think about the Kanan-Ezra parallels--

They're adorable.

And we couldn't let the episode close without getting one last gag in by way of Chopper rolling up to R3 and smacking him for no damn reason lololol.

I unironically love this episode and these kids. <3 Fandom was way too mean about this episode, why do y'all hate fun?

There are a few things introduced in this episode that really should have been picked back up and followed through on and yeah, a couple moments are a smidge cringe. But the humor is overall solid and sue me Mart Mattin is precious and I love the depth his existence adds to Sato. AND I WANTED SO MUCH MORE I DON'T CARE THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES THEM I NEEDED MORE IRON SQUADRON.

*ahem* I'm normal about this episode. Soooo normal.

[cykepedia]

collection of prowl getting sucker punched

[jade-of-mourning]

they were all kinda squishy at the start

[nonbinary-arsonists]

my favorite poly ships :3 crazy how the ship containing the most humans is the one that looks like it has none.

(click for better quality!)

[deadpresidents]

Why does everyone hate Elon Musk all of a sudden? He went from one of the most admired people on the planet to suddenly people not liking him. Do they just not like the man's politics?

Just to be clear, are you asking me why people don't like the richest person in the world, who bought one of the world's most popular social messaging mediums so that he could amplify his own ego and let loose the hate speech and conspiracy theories to completely turn it into a far-right echo chamber? On the day after he gave what most of the world felt clearly looked like a fascist salute (twice) while onstage at the Inaugural ceremonies of the President/Christian nationalist personality cult leader that he helped -- by using his obscene wealth and ability to wildly spread disinformation to vulnerable/ignorant people -- propel back into the White House and whose ass his lips are now glued to in order to further the financial and cultural aims of himself and his fellow oligarchs? Is that really what you are asking me this week?

I mean....even without considering...you know...everything else, he's always just kind of seemed like a douchebag.