#the latter esp

[blackwaves]

bsd gaiden is good for so many reasons—it is everything that makes bsd good encapsulated in one lightnovel (it's filled with fascinating character dynamics ft. an equally fascinating plot)—but first and foremost to me always it has tsujimura, who is The most protagonist adult woman that bsd has through the sum total of its work. and she's really good <3

her relationship with her mother drives me insane periodically, and she's the single bsd female character who is part of one of the narratively significant partners/foils/etc that asagiri loves to write. she's the heart of and the narrator of gaiden and i adore her and think you can't talk about how bsd writes women without discussing her. anyway. stream bsd gaiden.

[choccy-milky]

herbology class 🌹🌿 (from chap 2 of my fic!)

[connabeth]

i know the pjo tv show is beyond help aside from the lovely main cast but it irritates me to no end when they add in useless side characters while deeply struggling to properly characterize their most important ones. alison my ass, chris rodriguez is RIGHT THERE. solely focus on that, if at all. given how short these episodes are and the resulting shallowness of some of most pivotal scenes, dishing out screen time like oprah to a bunch of nobody characters is not going to elevate the show in any way, shape, or form. deviating from the text-established percy-centric narrative and introducing additional plot points to some behind-the-scenes luke narrative when they miss the mark on the main storyline is just yet another distraction and waste of energy on everyone’s part

[figureskatingpenguin]

Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN): Adiemus | 2024 Grand Prix de France, FS

a glimpse at rion sumiyoshi's spritely program, which projects "the joy of plants receiving the blessing of rain!" 🌱

[brofightiscancelled]

the anan movie Q&As are really interesting to me, so i wanted to attempt my own translations! 🙇‍♂️

[spacerockband]

normal online shopping experience

[multiversal-pudding]

I still wonder…

Like. Seb’s document said he broke out while he was being transported

where was he being transported *to?*

Were they just changing where he was contained in the Blacksite? Doubtful given he was still given free enough reign to work on equipment during that time- he probably could’ve just moved himself, maybe with guards

Was he going to another site entirely? It’s implied Urbanshade has multiple sites even if Hadal is one of the main ones-

Were they going to sell him off? I mean- Urbanshade has a history of putting anomalies up for auction, both the Limited Time Imaginary Friend document and the Abstract Art files mention them selling off anomalies they don’t have a use for that aren’t something worth Neutralizing (or the other way around, too useless to sell), we know there’s other companies out there who’d probably have Use for a giant mutant- likely things that wouldn’t be good for him either like some kind of military use/Rich Weirdo Collector type stuff also

Did he even know? He waited 10 years to enact his plan- was it just the first chance he got, or did something happen?

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

the very real temptation to write something for tedduary based on the little plushes i commissioned from star.....

[muaka-safari]

May I ask, did you get around to writing that essay about ga-matoran in Metru Nui and their connection to the Great Temple? Not expecting anything! Just curious!

Oh, I think I wrote a bullet-pointed list on ga-matoran and their connection to the Great Temple, specifically looking at how it affects their concept of gender here, but I never wrote anything long-hand.

If a quick rundown is what you're looking for, follow that link. If you do enjoy long(ish), rambling essays from someone making far too extensive headcanons for fictional worlds, read on.

So. Ga-Metru. The metru of the ga, the metru specifically for the ga, that metru. Now, I could launch straight into the impact of Ga-Metru being Mata Nui-favoured... but this is my essay, so I'm gonna roll this a bit further back and delve into a possible reason of why Ga-Metru is favoured.

Because I have a personal headcanon that Ga-Metru's favoured status was very much a byproduct of the natural resources.

Look at it this way: You need to build a protodermis purification facility on Metru Nui. You've already built the forges and furnaces; now you need to be able to source the building material for these smithies. So you need somewhere with a lot of liquid protodermis readily at hand - somewhere, for example, like Ga-Metru.

And then, because you probably shouldn't put all your important masks in a place full of burny, melty fire, you store your kanohi mask here (instead of Ta-Metru) as the other major building in this budding metru.

So, ta-da, you now have your second major site in Metru Nui, and over time that becomes Ga-Metru, home to the Ga-Matoran. Second-eldest metru, not out of any holy significance, but because it provided an important resource.

Time passes, and your purification/storage facility becomes a place of spiritual importance. I mean, it makes sense. It's an old, vital building, storing items of power, and isn't the hot, noisy space of Ta-Metru, plus the act of purifying carries a kind of holiness to it.

So, the next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is home to the temple of your god, then - obviously - god must like this metru best.

Next, next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is the favoured metru, then those who live there must be Mata Nui's favoured matorans. Or, at least, they are spiritually closer to Mata Nui, living basically on the doorstep of your connection to him.

By this point, matoran have certainly been granted sentience, and with that comes all the messy irrationality of thinking for yourself. What a lot of religions like to do is recognise those singled out, spiritually, with a title. Father. Reverend. Back in the medieval era, catholic priests were called "Sir" the same way a knight was.

Regardless, the point is: you need a name or a title to recognise that Ga-Matoran are different. And (headcanon going strong here) because Matoran weren't programmed with a sense of gender, they only really have "he/him" for daily use, with "brother" as a title of respect.

So language does what it always does in these circumstances - it adapts. Except, well, the Matoran may not have a concept of gender, but the Great Beings who created them did. So, somewhere in that pesky programming and superfluous data, there's a not-memory of "sister" being an equivalent title to "brother" - they don't understand how it relates to gender, they just know it feels right. And with "sister" comes the pronouns "she/her" so suddenly you have a whole metru with their own special pronouns and titles.

And, ta-da! Matorans have now accidentally ungendered gendered pronouns.

I also think it adds an interesting sense of irony for any (head)canons that Ga-Matorans consider themselves above or better than other Matorans (because then their importance is built on a coincidence, rather than actual Mata Nui favour) but that's for another day - or for other people to take a crack at, if they'd like. (I know I've certainly seen some interesting posts about Ga-Matoran self-importance!)

I personally was just fascinated by the fact that the "female" Matoran are the "holy" Matoran, despite gender being nonexistant, and examining one possible reason for Ga-Metru gaining its favoured reputation. (What can I say? I love clawing my way into the cracks of existing world-building.) Feel free to agree, disagree, whatever, but these are my personal headcanons and I hope people enjoyed reading about them!

[aesterblaster]

Noa for sure knows about Kaiser's mother. I feel like he has never asked so he still thinks Kaiser's just some spoiled kid who lived with servants all his life. I kind of want to see Kaiser tell him somehow that his childhood was just as fucked up as Noa's where he had to play soccer to get out of jail.

I wonder if Noa saw his crimminal record and just thought mommy bailed him out after he got mad and hit a cop. Rghhhhh

[julesnichols]

I think it would do us all good to remember of course that Shaw saw the photo of Root in the library, declared finding her her hobby, declared that next time she saw her she'd shoot her and "not in the knee" implying she meant something more lethal, and then shot Root in the shoulder instead

[1pcii]

ok so i cant work on my wip rn because... in bed so im gonna wax poetic about it instead.

ive always been kinda confused with where alabasta is supposed to be set, in a way its kinda like disneys aladdin in that is just sorta mixes togeather a bunch of swana/se cultures/imagery to create a vauge idea of a 'desert country'. but considering Nefertari is an egyptian name (Nefertari Meritmut being the main example, an egyptian queen and first wife of Ramesses). im going to personally go with that idea.

with that out the way the main thing i wanna talk about... mehndi! (or henna). i personally think it would be so much cooler if the 'X' code was done in it. because the whole resolution to it is that while the X may fade, their friendship dosnt. Mehndi is an art that works of this principal, similar to rangoli. bridal henna for example is super intiquite and significant for the bride(/groom if ur progressive like that) on the mehndi celebration and shadi itself, and yet it fades away. But the specialness of the occcasion doesnt.

theres also the fact that it takes wayy longer to fade, so the drawn out process of that would be more impactful. ironicaly enough, for nami/sanji the most as they wash more often (namivivi angsttt). luffy and zoro being last.

because of all this im really obsessed with the idea of mehdi being a namivivi love languge. its such a wonderful artform to share with another person and in a romantic context tthe artistry and body worship aspects you could add are just. soo good.

also they look sick af in it

[damnbtway]

honey sends guy a pic: i think he responds 1 of 2 ways (or, usually, both) every time without fail

1) AWOOOOOOOOOOGA

2) in the pizza place straight up jorking it

[grecoromanyaoi]

b4 ppl lose their shit over the self diagnosis comment - im not against ppl getting diagnosed by like family or friends or in general ppl who arent mental health professionals, or at least not "formally" diagnosed for whatever reason. HOWEVER i think theres a reason "formal" diagnosis entails an outside evaluation of behavior/tendencies and talking to the ppl in ur life, esp ppl who watched u grow up, if possible. theres "self diagnosis" thats someone asking their friends or family to read up on what they think they have n ask them for their opinion, n then theres "self diagnosis" that someone does off of tiktok/tumblr/etc. lol.

[munchboxart]

Yay I finally managed to make my 2023 art summary! First half of the year was a little disappointing looking back (in terms of both amount and quality). I think I managed to make more personal work this year, thankfully, which is what I wanted last year

[alienssstufff]

I wish there was a tumblr feature that allow u to sort asks or find them this would be so much easier u_u