#take away from the material

[tooth-with-eyes]

Sometimes I genuinely forget that Alucard, Trevor and Sypha are in fact not a canon throuple and it is so crazy LIKE HOW ARE THEY NOT

[sonknuxadow]

its so frustrating how a lot of scu fans cant handle other sonic fans not having the exact same taste in sonic media that they do. like i feel like you can say something negative about literally any other sonic media on here and people generally wouldnt care that much but the second you say anything less than positive about the movies people start getting all weird about it and trying to argue with you ive had it happen to me and seen it happen to others as well .... like the sonic franchise is very big and has many different media types and writing styles not everyone is going to uncritically love everything. get over it ? im not trying to be mean but idk what else to tell you

[spineless-lobster]

The painful irony of the fact that telemachus would hate the way everyone in fandom sees him

[edgypaladin]

harnessing lin ling energy at work

[quatregats]

Also, while I won't claim to be expert at this myself, I think a similar thing to the knightcore post happens with a lot of Age of Sail stuff, like people will be like "well I don't actually support the Navy" but then refuse to engage with the fact that this is an imperial war machine and their characters are deeply embedded within it, or if they do engage with it do so in a very cagey kind of way - but like I think that thinking through those implications and the fact that at some point these characters agreed to carry out that violence, and thinking about what that might do to a person, and also thinking about the fact that many of us are also deeply embedded within modern imperial war machines in some way or another is really interesting and important

[redibinch]

Captain Laserhawk Actor au

Dolph orginally went into modeling as a kid and ended up being lead in his first acting job

Rayman was previously on a huge show several years ago, tries not to look annoyed when constantly gets brought up in interviews

Bullfrog is also a stunt coordinator

Rayman and Bullfrog are cgi (voiced by human versions of themselves respectively) and other Hybrids are prosthetic costumes.

Sarah actually really hated all the fake blood, and grimaced having to hold Dolph. He chased her down for a hug.

Dolph, Sarah and Jade frequently kick and throw the pre-production placeholder puppets

Stunt choreographer/coordinator Bullfrog was encouraging Dolph to straddle and man-handle Alex more during the rooftop scene but that was cut :/

Rayman and Dolph dated prior to being cast, after months of rumors and headlines of a nasty rivalry, they announced they're engagement a year after the show aired

Interviewers ask other cast members about Rayman and the cast give up and slowly devolve into PR nightmare trolling

Dolph and Bullfrog were seen going home together after the wrap party

Rayman and Bullfrog went to the premiere dressed up as their respective characters as a surprise.

Dolph: It's like they came to life, this is terrifying.

[anghraine]

Speaking of "The City on the Edge of Forever," I've been thinking about how my femslash Spirk AU winds out through the canon TOS episodes, interacts with gender expectations of the show, etc, and am mentally organizing episodes by how drastically affected they'd be.

I'm also thinking of S'paak hiding her ears beneath a beanie in 1930 :P

[orchidhearted]

the drakes and parenting, adaptation, and when a modern lens analyzes older media!

hi guys! this post originally comes from a thread i wrote on twt :)

disclaimer: this is all PERSONAL interpretation and analysis! interpretation will vary from person to person and i will happily discuss different viewpoints! and if i got any information wrong/misled pls let me know :)

on with the show!

we know tim was a boarding school kid. it can be inferred(‼️) that when they argued, they traveled (as noted in detective comics no.618) and they hit a rocky patch in their marriage. my idea is that it began around the time tim figured out identities—so around 9. we don’t know what happened to make them hit that rocky patch, but it still Happened.

now: i don’t think the drakes were fully absent or physically abusive (as how fanon depicts them). we know they were very involved with DI and archaeology & tim was at boarding school, so i can def see most of their communication done via phones (in a “modern” setting). this doesn’t take away the harm they brought tim (the adults consistently in his life during the school year were caretakers, nannies, and teachers rather than his parents).

when the three WERE together, it’s not a stretch to say jack was short-tempered. i think it worsened post-coma (see: the issue where he rips a tv from the wall). tim was most likely raised with a “seen not heard” attitude, much like the children of his time period (and into the early 2000s!). additionally, tim even says that they tried to spend as much time with him as possible when they were in town.

it doesn’t diminish the fact that jack and janet loved tim. jack struggled to be a parent—which IS a product of gender roles: men having little to do with child-rearing—but any chance he had of learning was ruined by his actions, then death (and, more subtly, tim’s role as robin). his “i’ll do it later” attitude directly contributed to the rift between father and son.

(we barely know Anything about janet. misogyny plays a part in both her fanon portrayal and her lack of canon portrayal. btw. also she literally died before tim even became robin he was still in training he LITERALLY thinks her death was what allowed him to become robin ITS CALLED RITE OF PASSAGE FOR A REASON. can we please stop lumping her in with tim-as-robin fics oh my fucking god yall annoy me with that. at least get the damn TIMELINE right PLEASE—)

coughs. anyways.

we can infer that janet was more…lenient(?? soft? cannot think of the right word) than jack—her concern in the circus flashback in ALPOD (“i’m a mother, i worry”), tim’s own feelings about her, another note about gender roles and motherly expectations (as a white woman in her class). moments before dying, she expresses regret about not spending enough time with tim.

now, i don’t want to be all “it’s jack’s fault!!” because they’re both layered people, But jack, as the man, has power over janet. they’re archaeologists, drake industries belongs to jack. they fund their excursions with DI. (jack later struggles with DI, post waking up from the coma, but i don’t think that’s entirely a reflection of his business capabilities pre-coma and more a reflection of the damage done by janet’s death+his injuries (he was in a coma for 6 months. cmon guys.)+his trauma.) all that to say: the drakes are a very stereotypical upper (middle?) class white family during the 90s. the all american family(tm). so, because jack had a lot of control over janet, i don’t think it’s hard to see that he made the decision to travel while they were fighting. i don’t think janet hardcore disagreed with him, there was some level of agreement, but it wasn’t an act of “yes let’s abandon our 5 yr old son to travel the world!!” like how much of fanon depicts 😭 i think it’s more of a “if you think it will help us!” AND a need to keep the fighting private and away from tim (most likely for tim’s sake!)

they also knew that tim was safe. they didn’t expect him to sneak out of his boarding school to take photos of batman nearly killing criminals (and himself), then track down nightwing in blüdhaven of all places, THEN fight two-face in a flimsy leotard with nothing but the spirit of robin and some martial arts experience.

another disclaimer: this is not to say they had a good parent/bad parent dichotomy. i am not propping janet up as better than jack. she is equally as complex. she is equally imperfect. it’s an interesting dichotomy that a Lot of fanon fails to consider. i don’t think the drakes were mediocre, i don’t think they were horrible, i don’t think they were great. for the 90s, they were just…normal parents. average. a little absent, but most of tim’s needs were met (not emotional, though). he was a latchkey kid. or, for a more interesting metaphor: he was a houseplant kid. set in the corner by a window to get some sun, water occasionally, and Leave It Alone. let it thrive on its own.

in “a lonely place of dying,” tim mentions his boarding school is on break, and that’s why he’s in gotham/blüdhaven. which…made me think. what school would allow a 13 yr old student to go home alone? i have two answers (assumptions): tim snuck out and (again) cultural norms. it was more common for 13+ yr olds (well…11+ more like) to be w/o adult supervision (the “do you know where your children are” psa ran until the late 90s!), AND tim has been shown to be extremely sneaky. how do you think he got the gig! this blasé attitude was under the condition that the parents knew where the kid was (for the most part). tim is sneaky and also a lying liar who lies, so i think it’s entirely possible that he flubbed the truth to his school. no modern day cellphones, babey!

tim’s perspective is also skewed and unreliable. we see his parents through His eyes. we see him go through all stages of being a teenager and Growing. his perspective is not Reality. but it is an interesting viewpoint to see how his parents’ attitude affected him! parental issues galore❤️ very interesting to see how that bleeds into his relationship w bruce but that’s for another post!

bruce’s perspective is much the same—he cares about tim and, because he, y’know, just lost HIS son, his point of view is warped by What Bruce Would Do. of course bruce is more critical of the drakes (and especially of jack), jason’s death Haunts him. he’s a parent who lost his child of course he’s going to judge other parents based on their child. yes, he’s a detective and yes, he will recognize when something is Not Quite Right with a family, BUT bruce’s own biases also come into play.

finally: how i personally characterize the drakes is more of an adaptation (especially in a modern setting). recognizing their disconnect from tim while also acknowledging that their purpose was to be “normal” compared to dick and jason’s upbringings. the drakes had their faults and they definitely gave tim issues, but tim places them on a pedestal after their deaths. they loved him and he loved them, but it doesn’t erase the damage caused by them both in life and death. to use the famous phrase: it’s Complicated.

please stop being misogynistic towards janet. use her death to haunt tim. loving someone you barely remember but you Should. him canonically looking like her should be enough for the angst fuel!!!

[deiaiko]

#27.3 Forming a team

Grace was glad that everything so far had gone as planned. The administrator had changed the winning condition of this second test.

Agni had run him through different scenarios in case this time didn't go as it had before, and it seemed like half of them were not needed anymore.

However, it was not over yet. He needed to get past this next negotiation first, then see where it would lead him.

Though he should've held back even more on the floral piercing butterfly technique earlier. Not that he remembered how high his score was before, but one million seven hundred thousand had stuck up like a sore thumb over everyone's average point. He could only hope that this wouldn't stir up unnecessary trouble in the future.

"Then, Mr. Grace. Choose seven regulars." Love sounded uninterested, like most administrators did when dealing with regulars on the test. But Grace knew better.

Love was hiding his resentment. Not perfect, but it was good enough to be unnoticeable by everyone else. Grace still remembered the reason why he hated FUG, although only after Agni presented him with some available info regarding Love's past to refresh his memory.

The floral butterfly technique, which was known to be used by FUG's slayers, was what would make Grace's identity known once he performed it. Now he knew that it was why Love was willing to change the test.

Looking around, Grace had carefully weighed his options beforehand. He knew he could take the easy way by simply picking his former Sweet and Sour team members. However, he had been observing them the whole time, and he figured that if he were to do that, they wouldn't be the team that he wished them to be.

He noticed how Prince was uncomfortably touchy and bossy toward Ehwa, and even looked down on Horyang. A complete opposite of what he remembered them to be. How Miseng and Goseng still hold grudges against Akraptor, which was actually reasonable up to this point. That would be a problem if he were to choose them now.

Grace had also totally forgotten about Nia's relationship to Wangnan. He didn't even know what exactly had happened to him before. He only remembered that Nia didn't make it through the test, and something about Wangnan being angry at Lurker…had been about Nia, right? He should probably look into it later.

"Mr. Grace?" Mr. Love's voice dragged him back to the present.

Ah, right. He was asked to pick. But before he could even say a word, a familiar voice shouted from the audience.

"Number ten twenty-three! Regular Wangnan Ja! Let me introduce myself to you!" 

Grace wore the mask solely just to hide his wide grin. That's right, this was how it had gone before.

Wangnan inhaled and let out a louder voice that echoed in the room. "Number ten twenty-three! Regular Wangnan Ja! I've got more than just power! The era of the ten great families will end with me!!" He declared with fists raised high.

How bold, for someone that was ranked fifteen out of twenty-seven. In front of Ehwa too, who was from the Yeon family. But that was his charm, wasn't it?

"You won't regret it! I'm Wangnan! I can dance! I can sing! I'm the real entertainer of this era!"

The dance and singing that he briefly displayed were awful, but Grace could agree that he was quite entertaining.

"The more you get to know me, the cuter you'll find me!" Wangnan beamed. "My name is…as I said…Waaangnan!"

Grace bit his lip, fighting to keep his laughter contained when Wangnan posed right in front of him. He needed to let this play out first.

Wangnan suddenly bowed down on his knees, "Please choose me! I'll do anything for you if you choose me!" Wangnan begged. "I'll bark if you want! And I'll lick your shoe! Please, choose me!"

Grace frowned. He did not remember this. Or, at least, he didn't remember if Wangnan had ever told him why he was so desperate to pass this test. Desperate enough to be willing to put his head so low.

Prince was the only one in the room that sneered. It seemed like everyone else had a taste of helplessness at some point in their life.

It was sad, when he thought about it that way.

Akraptor walked up to the stage and kneeled beside Wangnan. "Please choose me." He looked up to Grace with teary eyes and wiped it with his palm. "My daughter…is waiting for me. She must've grown a lot. I want to see how much she has grown."

"He's lying! Don't trust him, Grace! That's so unrealistic." Wangnan was already up on his feet and accusing Akraptor. "He's absolutely lying to you! First of all, can you believe there's a girl out there that looks like him?!" 

Grace let his eyes droop, as a memory of a silver haired girl resurfaced in his mind. It was only a brief moment, so he wasn't quite sure if she was related to Akraptor at all, but she did resemble him in some ways that Grace couldn't help but remember.

"Why… Why do you say I'm lying?!"

"Look at yourself in the mirror!"

Horyang came up to the stage and kneeled down, surprising the other two. "Choose me. I've got to find someone."

Cassano Beniamino, Grace filled in the unspoken name. The guy that took Horyang's devil and joined side with Rachel. Akraptor and Prince were killed in their attempt to get the stolen devil back so they could wake Horyang up. He definitely did not want that to happen this time around.

Miseng suddenly ran up to the stage and tackled Grace while crying. "Waaaah! Please take me with you! I miss my mom and dad!"

"That's not fair! Don't cry!" Wangnan scolded Miseng. "Get off my master!"

Grace didn't have the heart to pry her off from his waist, so he just started patting lightly on her backpack, to not let his hand just hang awkwardly on his sides.

"Stop it. You all." Ehwa joined them, walking up to him with the confidence of someone from the great family. "Mr. Grace, I suggest you take me as your teammate."

"What?!" Wangnan yelled.

"Everybody has their own sad stories, but I think we should choose based on strengths."

"Why are you acting as if you're already his teammate?!"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm from the Yeon family, and I'm a fisherman. Who else is he going to choose?"

"Don't overestimate yourself! You kill your own teammates!"

"Wh-what?!"

"Hmph, you don't remember me? I failed the last test because of you!" Wangnan said it in a way that made him feel like he was bragging.

"Ugh– are you…"

"Oh, you burned so many people so you wouldn't remember me." Wangnan smirked and turned back to him, "Lord Grace! You shouldn't choose her! She barbecues everyone, even her own teammates!"

"Wait! That's–"

"So! Other than killing your teammates, what's your power?! Tell me!"

"Argh."

"Hahaha, you've got no words to say."

"You…"

"Now please leave before you kill the rest of us!"

Oh, Grace remembered where this was going. So before Ehwa could say anything else, Grace slid his mask down and declared with the most serious face he could muster at that time.

"Quiet. That's enough." Grace tried to put on his most disinterested gaze to each one of them that was at the stage.

He was met with silence. Good.

"Let me make this clear." Grace manipulated the shinsu in the room to be slightly heavier, just enough to make him more intimidating. "I'm Geu Biol Grace. A FUG slayer candidate. I live to kill Jahad and bring changes to this tower."

Grace could feel Love's eyes bore into him. It unconsciously made his muscles tense, ready to block any attack.

Not letting his guard down, Grace turned his gaze on the audience, especially aimed at Wangnan and Ehwa. "If you're not ready for the consequences of being in my team, then I suggest you go home while you have the chance."

"I-I'm ready." Wangnan gave an immediate answer, though Grace could see cold sweat forming on his forehead.

Everyone else had given some thought to his statement, especially Ehwa who looked very troubled. But he wasn't that patient to wait for everyone to give their answers. It didn't matter anyway, because…

"If you still choose to stay here for a chance to team up with me, then you need to prove that you can work as a team.

But seeing how poorly you're getting along with each other, I could easily foresee that you'll only hold me back."

No one on the stage could deny it.

"In that case…" Grace pretended to think. "Let me just take the next test by myself, administrator."

Silence. He could see the shock painted on everyone's faces.

"Rules are rules, Mr. Grace." Love said sternly. "The next exam is for teams only. You must choose seven others."

"Then how about we play a game? Something for us to settle whether I can take the next test by myself or with a team. And for them to form a team that will take the next test with me if I lose."

Love mulled on it for a bit. "That doesn't sound too bad… I will accept your challenge."

Grace gave him a slight bow. "Thank you for your consideration."

Love looked surprised at that, but he moved on just as quickly. "As the administrator, I will be the one to pick what kind of games we'll be playing."

"Understandable." Grace patted himself on the back for getting through this negotiation.

"Alright. Then, take a break while I prepare for the game." Love gestured with his hand and a gate to the right of the room opened. "Anyone who wishes to participate in the game, go to the dorms through that gate." 

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[rompepelotas]

if this was my therapist i would end up worse than him

[asgardian--angels]

things I wish I could relive for the first time again:

that magical window where you finish a new piece of media, having watched/read it all by yourself with no fandom contact whatsoever, and you are just so happy about it, and full of interesting theories and takeaways, and just in love with it as a gorgeous piece of art.

because I swear to god as soon as you join the fandom for anything, you're bombarded with how you're supposed to view characters and their arcs, how you're supposed to morally and ethically judge the plot and the ways it apparently failed to present the right message, and if you don't you'll either be shunned for not sharing the popular headcanons or you'll be harassed for not criticizing the source material enough.

like how is it that the fans of a piece of media are also the ones being the most negative about it? If I like a show or a movie or a book, well, I liked it. That's kind of the point. I'm actually not here to tear it apart and talk about how it didn't live up to standards other people had! I enjoyed it for what it was, and forcing myself to find negative things to say about it doesn't actually bring me more enjoyment of it or reap any benefit to me. Fandom's a double-edged sword; you want to join a community to share your love for a piece of art, and the price you pay for a modicum of joy is a mountain of negativity. that's one main reason that I never engage with fandom until I'm completely done with a show, because if I was plugged into all of that commentary and discourse during the process, I'd be completely colored by how I'm expected to interpret everything this piece of art is presenting to me without being able to even form my own opinions.

[ajastu]

fav kind of vg critical post is one that pretends so hard to be Academic Analysis Tm but then u read it n it reads like they havent even played the damn game. like. make an effort

[novembermorgon]

my fave part about the last ask is they said BOTH were given to Lyanna by the author which implies that they are saying she has explicit and solitary ownership of both the crown (she does, but sort of irrelevant as Rhaegar is holding the crown, not giving it to Elia) AND Rhaegar. Which. Drawing Elia with Rhaegar is not offensive because she is literally his wife and was canonically at the same place as him relatively frequently. As given by the author… not really a fan theory. And anyone viewing this as a shipping piece is a bit goofy.

i feel like the crown IS relevant to elia as well considering all this shit kind of started going downhill when he crowned lyanna with it. she was there, she was shamed by rhaegar riding past her at the tourney of harrenhal, it can definitely be used as a symbol of rhaegar and elia's marriage starting to deteriorate. it wasn't meant as a shipping piece and i don't think it should be controversial even if i had drawn rhaegar crowning elia queen of love and beauty outright because i've never been and will never be nasty about lyanna especially not over a silly ship war or in defense of a blonde man

[bayetea]

we need to start writing drew tanaka like an azealia banks expy. minus the racism and whatever other fuckass shit she says. Drew tanaka is not your enemy

[queen-mabs-revenge]

I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't talk about the Luddites if you actually refuse to engage with their historical struggle and the reasons for it and instead just perpetuate the bourgeois propaganda about them and somehow act that's the materialist take. get fucking serious please.

[hazware]

people who only see characters in media as shipping fodder really tells you a lot about them as a person