#the one uniting factor for my faves

[laiqualaurelote]

@eisoj5 tagged me for Five Favourite Characters from Five Fandoms!

tagging: @bropunzeling @justplainsalty @leupagus @nagia-pronounced-neijia @swallowtailed and anyone else who should like to do this!

[salarta]

Polaris, an Unsung Hero

Anyone who hasn't seen some of my more recent posts, to recap, I think Polaris' chances of good near future treatment out of Marvel are extremely slim verging on nil.

It was already bad enough that Marvel is going all in on unthinking 90s nostalgia, which was terrible for Lorna in how it restricted her to "Havok's supporting character girlfriend." Even worse, the X-Men comics have an element of 80s nostalgia as well, so current X-Factor added the "abducted damsel in distress for Havok to have manpain about it" angle too. Pair that with too many X-Men fans I've run into making excuses for poor treatment (one even explicitly saying Lorna "deserves" terrible characterization) but then getting upset when their own faves like Pyro get similar poor treatment, and it's worse. But the United States 2024 election results were the last straw for me. While I have serious doubts that fuckery isn't afoot, the Dems aren't even trying to stop fascism in any way, and in fact are trying to throw trans people under the bus as an excuse.

So what we're left with is the suggestion that a majority of voting Americans want racist, sexist, trans hating pedophiles running the country as long as they "get mine," an attitude echoed in X-Men fandom ("Polaris getting fucked over is fine as long as my fave is treated well"), and the people with the greatest ability to resist these problems instead eagerly jumping headlong into exacerbating them.

It's fucked. And it's left me feeling like Polaris doesn't have a shot at good work in the short term, cause how do you build awareness of what she deserves and get people to understand and respect it in this atmosphere?

At this point, you're wondering why I said all of the above when it seems far off from the title of my post. It's connected because it's had me thinking differently over the past few weeks.

I don't think I can "fight" for the character, because I don't see a path forward to do it. What I can do, though, is simply share my feelings and what I see.

And folks. I was reminded of something important last night.

Progress in this world isn't something that gets rewarded for the people and forms that initiate it. It gets punished. Daring to break the mold, daring to move the needle forward, daring to pave the way for others, that gets punished sharply.

That's what happened to Polaris.

I don't know how many people know this, but Marvel comics was rife with sexism, and still is but to a lesser degree. Sue Storm started out as only able to turn invisible, and treated very often in the sexist supporting character vein. Some depictions of the Fantastic Four even had Reed threatening to smack her around.

In the X-Men books, at the time Lorna was introduced, Jean Grey was placed in the common mold of female characters at the time. More regressive, more supporting character in nature. Both Jean and Wanda were often set out as the "token girl" for the respective men around them. It wasn't exactly a progressive spot to be in even as just the idea of a woman on a team at all could arguably have been progress (when you compare to how Wonder Woman was first added to the Justice Society as their... secretary).

Enter Polaris. Although her introductory issue had a tinge of the "for a dude" in how Iceman got to save her at one point, the majority of her first appearance - and of some (not all) depictions pre-Claremont - made her very progressive in her time.

When her powers and relation to Magneto were learned, the X-Men feared her. Before learning those things, they saw her as just another woman in need of help. But after, they saw her as a full-fledged threat who could really tear them apart if she so chose. By herself. Not even adding in the potential mutant army at her beck and call there. But then, she decided to resist the "evil blood" of her father (note: this was before Magneto was established as Jewish, when Magneto was a mustache-twirling white man villain and nothing more) and follow her own path.

We had two progressive acts in her first issue. She was established as a truly dangerous woman, and she decided to be her own woman rather than simply do something because that's what her father would want from her. Then some depictions between this and Claremont let her speak more feminism by chastising Havok and Iceman for fighting over her instead of caring about the mission at hand, or by Lorna saying she's "nobody's girl" when Jean started suggesting it.

This progress was punished.

Gradually, Lorna was reframed as "Havok's girl." As his almost property. As a character who isn't allowed to have her own thoughts and feelings, only caring about what Havok wants and what matters to him. Claremont exacerbated this with his tenure by not only reinforcing the idea, but turning Lorna into a punching bag for villains and even other X-Men like Storm. Got bad enough that Claremont even had Zaladane steal Lorna's powers and then add extremely generic powers (super strength, invulnerability) alongside basically a "hate sink" power where the concept was for literally everyone she ever meets to feel their most negative emotions and want to kill her (even if they kill themselves in the process) just cause she's there.

That's where Lorna's stuck. Any time she makes any tiny modicum of progress, she gets forced back into the role of damsel and punching bag, if not explicitly like Claremont then implicitly with jokes and insults aimed at her (see also: 2020s X-Factor having Lorna say she's a "big gun" and then immediately having possessed Siryn mind control her and outright call her stupid for being written as stupid).

Every time I think of all of this, it makes me sad and angry. Polaris deserves a fuckload better. Even if you pretend she wasn't made until Claremont or until the 90s, like so many at Marvel like to do, she still deserves better. She's been wronged and savaged and had so much of what she offers torn apart and handed off to other characters.

Did you know they recently "created" a new character to "follow in Magneto's footsteps" named Magnetrix? Using Lorna's own first codename from before she was given the Polaris one, to promote a brand new character meant to steal yet another thing from her, the notion of her as heir to Magneto's legacy. While she's stuck as a supporting character girlfriend on X-Factor that gets abducted for Havok's sake.

Yet in my recent thoughts, after all the apologism from X-Men fans, after the US 2024 election, I find myself looking at something else here instead of the horrific injustice that looks like it'll never get fixed in my lifetime (maybe not even in the lifetime of anyone alive today).

Even though Claremont set it, ironically, Polaris is a very appropriate code name for her. Because it represents the north star, a guiding light. It steers people in the right direction within the darkness.

If someone uses that star to get where they're going, the star is rarely given accolades when they show up as needed. People don't go "Let's hear it for the guiding star! Yeah!" They just revel in where they are.

That's Polaris and her influence in a nutshell.

Yes, the progress seen in Sue Storm, Jean Grey, Scarlet Witch, Storm, the bulk of it comes from good work focused on them. Just like the bulk of a ship getting to its proper destination comes from the good work of those people on that ship who moved it along. But that ship needed a guiding light for those efforts to matter. That ship needed someone or something to light the way.

Polaris lit the way for all of those female characters and more.

I know most fans of those characters will balk at the suggestion. They'll say it was all self-powered, that Lorna did nothing for any of them. Some of those fans will even say Lorna made it harder for their faves. And I can understand why they would be so defensive of their faves in that way, I really do.

But the truth is, you need someone else to go first. You need someone else to stand out, take the beatings, set the precedent.

None of these characters, including Polaris, would have gotten anywhere if not for Wonder Woman and any characters who inspired that character. Wonder Woman set a precedent herself by being a female superhero who actually got shit done, and being extremely progressive in her time (even despite the sexism of things like being assigned secretary of the Justice Society). Just being a female superhero was blazing a trail.

Polaris blazed a trail herself by introducing most feminist ideals with her coming onto the scene. She created an opening for Jean and Storm and all of them to be able to get more progressive characterization. Lorna took the beating so they could move forward.

That's what happened. That's what's still happening. To this day. She built up the value of Magneto having an heir with his same power set, and now not once but twice, Marvel's introduced two female characters meant to take Lorna's place in that role so they could send her back to sexist treatment land. The upcoming "Magnetrix" is just the newest. There was also a recent story set in the past with a different character whose name I can't remember doing the same thing, seemingly carrying Magneto's legacy.

When Claremont decided to make Lorna into a hate sink for her power set, as shitty as it was for him to do, the truth is he was just making the implicit into something more explicit.

No matter what good Lorna does, no matter what trails she blazes, she's never rewarded for it. All she ever gets is punished and put down. All she ever gets is people saying she deserves to be treated shitty. Or people saying she doesn't deserve to be Magneto's daughter. Or people insisting she can't be anything more than Havok's girlfriend on X-Factor, and that X-Factor is all she's good for.

But despite all of that?

She's in the end doing good for everyone. Even though Marvel and too many X-Men fans at large will never, ever respect her for it.

They'll happily take advantage of the openings she creates. They'll love how she makes it easier to make their own faves do the things she already did, but that they can take credit for it with a different (sometimes new) character. They'll never give her her due. They'll just take take take.

And I guess... that's her real legacy. And why she's an unsung hero.

She gets nothing for the beatdowns in and out of the fiction. She gets nothing from the repeated character assassinations, the taking away of everything she is to hand off to other, "more deserving" characters. Any time she makes progress, it's instantly lifted for others to reap the benefits.

She's never going to be who and what she should be, and should have been for decades.

So maybe the best approach is really just to bask in the afterglow of what she accomplishes in secret.

Without her, what progress we do have wouldn't exist. Jean Grey and Storm would not have solo books today. Or at least, it would've been a much harder uphill climb for them to get those solo books. So many paths and ideas within X-Men and wider Marvel comics that get celebrated for being progressive, simply would not be if she hadn't taken the bullets for daring to stand out.

This doesn't mean I'll start reading Jean Grey or Storm comics. I'm not really interested in either of them, and truthfully, the way my brain works, reading those comics would actually just leave me more upset that Polaris will never get anything even remotely close to the same thing. I don't like to engage in stuff that just upsets me in a bad way like that.

But from afar, I can still think of how much my favorite character has done in secret, with no accolades and respect to show for it.

[burntheupholstery]

bestie tell me about your fave Naruto ships and how they’ve changed over the years!!

emi!!! darling, i thought so long and hard about this, and i am now forced to conclude that my inability to be normal about Naruto ships is terminal, sorry. one day it will kill me.

i am incapable of being normal about these 2d people. nowadays i either put them in QPRs - QPR ftw! - or they're single, bereaved, and grieving.

long and rambly thoughts under the cut, but here's the tl;dr: my shippy focus used to be solely m|m, but then i learned about QPRs and now that's everything and everyone. there usually isn't sex involved (there used to be) because i personally amn't interested, but probably it happens off-screen. i think almost exclusively in KakaObiRin and the Sannin, and apart from those two units i mostly mix up characters with OCs - Konan/F!OC, Terumi/F!OC, etc., or explore grief and living through disaster by writing character studies.

of course, nobody is straight. :)))

i used to ship the cast monogamously! my preferences were KakaYama, JiraOro, and time-travel!NaruKaka. ...that last one still appeals to me. the tragedy of time! the despair of fate! the struggle against predestination! tall, blond, and haunted? hello. and then a while later i was into NaruGaa, NejiHina, and HashiTobi (yeah, as in the senju founders). to some extent i still ship the last one, because the connecting factor of all these ships was unconditional devotion through life's vicissitudes. but you can already see the hints of QPR and the patterns of being left behind.

and then i went to college and got depressed from the pandemic and i read a lot of Big Books about the tragedies and joys of the Human Condition (and i kept reading them, they're good, happy to share recs!) and i stopped being able to isolate these sad little ink figures to just one other point of connection. it's like that adage about leading a healthy life: your romantic partner can't be your everything - it's unfair both parties. friendships outside of romantic monogamy is good and healthy! and i applied that theory to fic and realized one partner cannot possibly soothe and contain all that fictional trauma. so. QPR it is.

i've never felt drawn to the canon version of KakaObi- to me, their magnetism comes from their entanglements with others and the world: Minato, Rin, their clan legacies or lackthereof, and war and love and hate and grief. Yamato was too flat for me to build on, so i kicked him and put Kakashi with Obito and Rin and now the plot bunnies never cease.

Then there's JiraOro, the unpleasant offshoot of my BL-obsessed days. the hurt!! the betrayal!! i realized with glee i can have all that and more if i hooked Tsunade into the mix - after all, Jiraiya isn't the most reliable moral crutch and compass in the world, and his lascivious ego needs to be taken down a peg or five, none of which Orochimaru is inclined to do. we also never got to see Orochi and Tsuna get along on screen, and i just know in my heart of hearts they are the world's most gossipy mad science best friends. together they keep each other grounded. together they can be their best and worse selves. apart, the fallout is spectacular. probably the sex is specular too, but i don't really care about that.

and that's it for the active ships i still rotate in my head, really. hashirama is a can of worms i regretted opening, because that man is stuffed so full of idealism he's gone sour. if anything, it's the people he left behind that i'm interested in now: mito, tobirama, his kids, tsunade. the isolation, the devastation, the rage at being left behind. the crushing weight of expectation, the looming spectre of war. heady stuff!!

finally we come to Obito. ah... Obito. what isn't wrong with you. what hasn't the world done to you. in his canon state he is non-functioning, inoperable. every time i pick him up i give him a good hard shake to get rid of all that canon taint, and then i plop him in interesting AUs where he confronts his problems head on. namely: Rin. i love Rin.

surprising everyone, i actually don't have a lot of complaints about the Ōotsutsuki as characters - i used to hate their existence, but the sci-fi fan in me reared its head insistently so now i have a bunch of plot bunnies about them. i don't ship them, tho. they seem almost too alien for human connections...

you'll notice i've conspicuously left out discussion of the Konoha 11. this is because while i love them with all my heart i've lost touch with their characterization... and Boruto's existence is just so disheartening that I prefer to play in my own sand-box.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ !!!

[cassynite]

4, 5, and 7 for the OC/writer ask game?

<333 thank you for the ask!

4. What kind of music do your OCs listen to?

Uuuh never really thought about this before! So answers are subject to change BUT if I had to guess: Sparrow is big on lyricism--she typically likes songs that tell a story, like Step it Out Mary or The Maid and the Selkie (that kind of vibe as well--folkloric, mainly). She wouldn't say she's a fan of tragic songs but if you compiled a list of songs she likes the most there would be a melancholic theme lol. Vonzi works solely on vibes when it comes to music taste and will like anything she can dance to, with lyricism as a secondary or nonexistent factor for her. Something with high energy, changes in rhythm and/or tone, and dramatic instrumentals are gonna do it for her.

5. What are some of your OCs biggest fears?

Sparrow's is a toss between losing her freedom again and being unable to escape, and opening up to someone only to have them leave. Vonzi's would be the loss of her family, full stop.

7. What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

Oh for Sparrow hands down my fave OC relationship is going to be with her brother Crow. Losing him fundamentally informs Sparrow's personality, but there's just a whole lot of stuff that Sparrow can't or won't process, partially due to age and partially due to trauma. He was basically tasked with raising her when he was a kid himself! There's a mix of obligation and adoration and resentment that bled into their interactions; she thought he hung the moon and adored him but also couldn't really comprehend that he was barely a decade older than her and treated him like her parent; he took care of her as best he could and thinks their parents are shit for leaving them in the first place but wishes that he was able to fully realize his own dreams without having to worry about her. Crow doesn't die when Sparrow's kidnapped, he's just injured and thinks she died, and he finds out she's alive when she becomes Commander years later. And he doesn't try to reconnect with her and never tells her because he thinks he failed her so fundamentally that since she no longer needs him she wouldn't want to see him! He grieved her but he was also in the most shameful parts of his mind relieved when she was gone and he can never live past that!! If they ever met again it would be due to coincidence or an outside force bringing them together, because Crow cannot approach his little sister after what he did to her.

For Vonzi, her relationship with her older sister Viritine is the most interesting to me. Viritine is harsh, exacting, and painfully particular--my notes on her are "can smell bullshit from a mile away" and "can occasionally pull a sense of humor out of the filing cabinet that is her brain." Meanwhile Vonzi's main character trait for her dynamic in the family is "is the bullshit" and her abilities cause no end to problems as the Voness family works to hide Vonzi's status as the chosen one of some mysterious deity. However! They are both united in the caring of their family; they are entrenched in the mindset that the only person a Voness can rely on is another Voness. They work together throughout their childhoods to care for their mother and their other sister. They argue and tussle and can't agree on anything, but to any outsider they are a unified front, both chosen by their mother to act as protectors for the family. When Vonzi "disappears" (read: goes back in time after her entire family is murdered and loses her sense of reality and her memory), Viritine takes it as a betrayal of the family and possibly never forgives her.

[dreamsatdusk]

Character ask: Fuery

Thank you!

1: sexuality head-canon

I hadn't given this much thought previously and I don't recall if there's any mention one way or the other about him dating/who it might be. I've heard Team Mustang featured more heavily in FMA 2003, but I only saw a few episodes of that one before it was taken down rom the streaming service I saw it on - I mention that as an influencing factor on all thee answers. But anyway, I could see Fuery dating men or women really. It feels more down to the right personality than anything.

2: otp

I do not as yet have one for him.

3: brotp

Difficult to decide between Fuery and Havoc, or Fuery and Black Hayate. Actually, they should all three go on an adventure together.

4: notp

No one in particular in mind here. Although something that popped into mind as a, you know, people will write fic about anything, so I wonder if there's Olivier/Fuery out there?

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

This has been a vague notion harboured since seeing the short bit with him in FMAB after Roy's team is split up and Fuery is shown running through...a trench I think? underfire. Clearly he survived harsh conditions during the time prior to the Promised Day, so I've thought he maybe picked up some skills from Riza and Havoc, for example, that started his comrades during that time that did not expect it from the small radio guy.

6: favorite line from this character

The scene where he introduces Hayate was cute.

7: one way in which I relate to this character

Tech nerds, unite!

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

Nothing that I can recall, though that may change as I get through the rest of the manga. Still working on it!

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Fuery is about the most cinnamon roll you can find in the Amestrian military I think!

[pandp-author]

A combination of several factors:

People taking things at face value. What is being said takes precedent over what is shown.

"My fave (felix in this case) is never wrong."

People project a little too much.

It is a well known fact that Felix is a fucking asshole. Felix is the type of character that has a harsh "exterior" but "deep down he cares". What sets Felix apart from other such character is that his horrendous personality is explicitly a direct result of trauma: losing his brother in the tragedy of Duscur. From minute one, Felix's response to most things is getting mad and lashing out, as shown by his reaction to his father saying something that had absolutely no malicious intent behind it, even if one could argue was flawed. From there, his relationship with his father deteriorated over time with Felix never getting over his anger (which doesn't necessarily mean getting over his views on chivalry) and shooting down all of Rodrigue's one sided attempts to reconnect.

Felix is someone who we spend a lot of time with, we see him interact with (read being a dick to) others, we use him in battle and off the bat he's a strong unit. How he treats Annette stands out because it's different from how he usually behaves, it shows he's capable of basic decency, and helps endear the audience to him. He's very vocal about his opinions about things and people, and people latch onto said opinions because they inform his character. It has the negative side effect of people taking his opinions as facts, which doesn't dwell for Rodrigue because we don't spend time with him, he doesn't really have the chance to explain himself, to defend himself and rebutt at least some of Felix's bullshit. Which results in the fandom not really appreciating the patient of a saint Rodrigue has for his son, whom he loves for dear life.

It's not just Rodrigue, though. The fandom in general has this blindspot for Felix's behavior, focusing on the fact that he actually really cares "deep down" and that "he's got a point" when he constantly disrespect everyone around him, specially Dimitri (even though in reality Felix is the person who gets Dimitri wrong the most)

It's not that his awful attitude is easy to ignore, but that it's easy to downplay by the player, because far from disrespecting Byleth like everybody else, she's seemingly the one person Felix respects (player pandering?) It's the opposite of Leonie, whom (in the context of this conversation) is a lot like Rodrigue. She said something offbeat to Byleth (the player) once and most people think she's just annoying, despite the fact that, in her other supports, Leonie is a nice girl. Like, Raphael levels of nice. She's an outstanding girl.

So people don't really have much of a reason to examinate Felix's behavior, in relation to Rodrigue or everyone else, and therefore don't have much a reason to believe that maybe his wrong. Maybe he doesn't have a point. Maybe his father is not as bad as he (and by extention, people) thinks. Felix himself doesn't seem to think so, according to his behavior during the war phase (though I'm certain people view this as Rodrigue having proven himself to Felix rather than Felix being wrong from the beginning)

Getting back to Byleth, the point of Felix not disrespecting her (and therefore not disrespecting the player) also applies to Jeralt. When we meet him and interact with him, we see him as this badass mercenary who craved a name for himself and trained you in the way of combat, so he's a cool dad who let's you do fun stuff like fighting. We don't really focus on the fact that he did a terrible fucking job at raising his daughter, completely isolating her from the world and ensuring she grew up emotionally stunted. We don't focus on the fact that he basically abandoned Byleth during his time with Leonie before abandoning her too. That he constantly put his own and only child in constant danger because of his "cool" mercenary lifestyle. That he's a drunkard. That he may not have been the best teacher around and that he may have treated Alois terribly. That maybe he didn't take proper care of his previous squire.

His death was tragic and all but that doesn't take away from everything else.

First impressions and surface level impressions take priority over everything else. Not looking into things deeper results into people having this false view on Jeralt and Rodrigue, a reversed one. And five years on, people still haven't changed their opinions.

no but so how did we let Rodrigue "I said something kinda offkey to my younger son in trying to process the brutal senseless murder of my older son" Achille Fraldarius be seen as the worse parent compared to Jeralt "I left my only child literally who knows where with literally who knows who for literally who knows how long to fuck around in this one village for literally no reason" Eisner in so much of the fandom. like how'd that happen

[kim-ruzek]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I read somewhere that you aren't a fan of Upstead. Can I ask why? Do you prefer Linstead over Upstead?

You are most definitely not wrong, I am indeed not a fan of upstead! And of course you can ask why.

First of all, the linstead over upstead question is technically a little complicated but the short answer is yes, because I have actually shipped Linstead and I've never shipped upstead (except once in season five sdfgbjk). And before I get into everything, I thought I should answer this briefly first then expand later.

The short answer for why I'm not a fan of upstead boils down to they bore me, they don't inspire any of those eee ship feels in me and, for me, the writing. But that doesn't really go into depth so I will for you now;

So when I first watched, they just never captivated me. For starters, Jay is pretty low on my list of faves (I could happily watch tons of episodes without him in it) and Hailey just never interested me. I watched a little out of order because I watch for burzek, so she did interest me when I finally watched her introduction but that spark never got carried on. I just don't think they ultilised her well. And I hate Eid, and his showrunning, so unfortunately I think I was just doomed to not really gel to her since it's too late now. Like one of the main reasons I have affection for Hailey is because of Tracy-- not (just) because of her acting, but because she's adorable and so I love Hailey because the affection displaces onto her.

So not having much liking for the characters in the ship doesn't exactly bode well for liking it! But this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The next factor is I don't actually think they built it up well? Like I know it was building, you can see that, because that's narratively where it was going, and I understand that, but yeah. It just didn't envoke any of those ship feels and I would've been perfectly fine to see them never getting together/ just being strong partners. Yet again, this is another problem with Eid's showrunning, because the unit and the writing, it just didn't have the same strong effects, AND he had no idea really what he wanted out of Hailey which meant she changed every season and Jay became different and it just didn't help me connect to them or care.

And the whole upzek mess kinda soured things too. Just because that's not really like how I like relationships being built up and honestly I think they should've done a few more tropes in this building tensions stage of their relationship.

Another thing (which does also go into some feelings I have about Linstead too but in a different way) is that I hate how everything revolves around them. Character development is only really about them and even then-- they didn't actually develop!! Which just annoys and bores me and I just wanted them off my screen.

BUT regardless of this, I still had the attitude of, going into season eight, I just want them to be happy so if they get together yay. I mean I still have this attitude but before I'd say I was neutral and now I'm not a fan.

I'll admit, I did actually want to ship them. I knew I'd never write fic or be about them the same I am about my other oc ships, but I did want to ship them. And the build up already failed at that, but I wanted the relationship to draw me in. But it's safe to say it did not. In fact all my previous problems was just even more amplified. Their relationship was botched and frankly, imo, not well done. And they're so isolated from the rest of them team, didn't tell anyone (and the reasons for why wasn't ever discussed! Like Linstead, burzek and even upzek had reasons!) which just added to the disconnect... Especially when they got engaged.

Just this, in my mind, is not great story telling -- especially with how the show markets itself. In another set up, it would, but not what had been previously established. And that just creates a disconnect.

And any hope I had to ship them was taken when they got married. For the reasons I've said and more, but mainly because that was not what I wanted out of cpd's first wedding. It was lacklustre, and just continued to add to the disconnect. I don't have a problem with them getting married because I wanted burzek to be the first or whatever -- it's literally because how it happened. Family is a whole vibe of the show, and they didn't even have an a la dawsey style wedding with everyone there informally? It's just not what the first wedding should be like and that just ruined things for me. Especially because it just stank of Eid hurrying everything up before he left so he could have his ship married and honestly it's just a great example of how much Eid ruined things. And now we have sigan, it's still ruined for me, because she's already showing markings of being better, but this has happened now and no matter how good she is this mars it for me.

And finally: the fans-- or rather the stans. Stans can very rarely make me no longer ship something I originally did, but they can make me never have any chance to ship it if I didn't before. And this happened here. And so honestly it killed any chance for me to be a fan. PLUS y'know, when you see posts you've made torn apart and completely mocked for how you write it kinda stains things (especially if then things you say are taken out of context and sent to others and then you're sent their responses as, idk, a gotcha even though they didn't get the context) and just makes you never want to interact with their fans.

Now to touch onto linstead:

So I initially got interested in the show because of Erin. I'm a huge fan of Sophia Bush so seeing her in this made me go oh? I ended up watching for Burzek, but she was my intial draw in. So I was kinda predisposed to like Linstead. And honestly the first episode? Jay going to fight those guys for Her Honour,,, it got me. Not like burzek, or stellaride but those eeee ship feelings? The ones upstead doesn't give me? They appeared.

And honestly until I watched more of the later seasons, and when upstead was made canon, I genuinely thought I'd be the kind of writer who for long fix it fics would just always just have linstead in the background even if it doesn't get any focus. I have a lot of affection for Erin, and for the lingess friendship.

BUT I will say that Linstead irritates me sooooo much when I rewatch. I hate hate hate the focus, I had so much stuff about it, and I hate how Kim is treated and just. I do get infuriated and I do think if Erin stayed I would've ended up hating her/disliking her.

In December I wanted to do a whole rewatch of the show and now, the final day of march, I STILL haven't because I told myself I can't skip anything and God I just really don't want to sit through everything. I'm a burzek girl.

So technically I don't prefer one over the other. There's things I like about linstead that I don't about upstead and there's things about upstead I prefer over linstead. But I also think if old burzek coincided with upstead, I would've liked it better and same with if new burzek coincided with linstead.

If upstead was done better I'd say I probably would prefer them but they haven't been sooo. But honestly I'm a fan of *Erin* and a big part of me doesn't think Jay deserves her so that's a factor why I can't say I prefer linstead.

But I probably am more affectionate for them than most, and some of my fic ideas did actually double as a fix-it for Linstead too. They don't so much anymore (mainly because it brings a lot of hate to your door and I'm not emotionally strong enough to cope with that when it comes to my writing) but I still do think it'd be nice to write it like I originally intended. And honestly I might be I'm very much a if burzek is set in 1-4, then linstead is the side ship and if it's 5+ it's upstead because I don't ship one more than the other so I just go with canon. Like Linstead splitting up doesn't kill me, but upstead never being together doesn't kill me either.

Although I've never not cried at season four's ending/the beginning of season five.

Anyway! I've rambled enough so I'll end it here!!!

Thank you for sending me this!!! ❤️

[cosmicangst]

what did you think of bustafellows? is it any good?

so far ive played limbo and crow’s routes and i’m currently on mozu’s. very excited for shu and very cautious for helvetica’s based from the minimal spoilers ive gleaned in the otomegames subreddit. i absolutely love teuta and i love the tone and worldbuilding. it gives a very grounded vibe and the romances feel less prone to the heightened emotions that mark a lot of otome. which i think was a complaint that some made but this factors more as a personal preference than it being a mark of the game’s quality.

in some ways i do enjoy that it’s very romance-lite and in others, i am left wanting so in that sense the romance isn’t really what makes the game for me. what does is the individual characters and the ensemble dynamics. which i think is actually better in terms of transformative potential. bc oftentimes i feel like i have to interpret characters out of a romance bc the romance is heavily prioritized over the individuals. it’s much easier to extrapolate a romance out of already formed characters. besides i love a good cafe enchante premise where they’re all boarding together and become a little family unit.

aside from the art style which isn’t my fave and some questionable male gaze-y cgs i am enjoying it a lot but i can’t speak much for the rest of it until i finish. my general impression so far is that i don’t think this is one that i would necessarily replay but it is one that i can imagine writing fanfic for if that makes sense

[deerest-me]

first of all: YES YES YES i LOVE that interpretation of the residue theorem!! i think it goes underappreciated that such a... CANCELLATION (?) of information happens. that you can continuously deform your contour you're integrating over ALL YOU WANT but the changes end up combining in such a way that all that's ``measured'' is instead the topology of the codomain of the function. so so so cool. holomorphic functions of a complex variable are so... different than real functions in so many ways.

so. just chiming in to say i love that viewpoint too fjdnfjsnfjdjdjdjf

okay my contribution is going to be VERY general, but:

despite being an analyst im going to talk about algebra for this. my analysis fave is the contraction mapping theorem. so nifty. and the standard proof is REALLY satisfying for some reason to me. not to mention that an instant application is Picard's theorem for ODEs. good stuff, really...

ANYWAYS,

i have a very deep love for when algebraic structures start to... OVERFLOW with structure. all these winding gears and machinery hiding under the hood lol.

so, naturally, my absolute favorite algebraic structure is HOPF ALGEBRAS! :D

hopf algebras are just, chock full of structure. it's an (unital) associative algebra, so it's a vector space with multiplication, so it's an abelian group additively.

(tensor categories of course take things a step further but... i do like working with actual elements, sorry ✊😔)

BUT, then you add that it's a (coassociative, counital) COalgebra, and get a whole new kind of operation, that moves you from the algebra to the tensor product of it with itself. it's like, a SPLITTING or factorization process. so nifty.

similar to einstein summation notation, there's what's known as sweedler notation for coalgebras, since you have so many tensor products floating around and keeping track of the full general expression would be impossible fjxhcjsjcjsjdjcj

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! it's a BIalgebra too! which means there is a compatibility property for multiplication and comultiplication! (specifically, the multiplication and unit has to be a coalgebra morphism. im being short on details here, sorry)

AS IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, the cherry on top that makes a bialgebra into a hopf algebra is the antipode!! which is a special function from the hopf algebra to itself that makes this weird twist-y relationship between multiplication, comultiplication, and the counit, and the antipode is also an algebra ANTI-morphism. sometimes it's invertible, in which case a joke in the research community is to call the inverse the ``pode''. so much, so much structure aaaaa

and you can build tensor products of hopf algebras, hopf modules, actions on other structures, SMASH PRODUCTS (those are a fave of mine), and more!!

and what's crazy, is that for all of this structure you require, there are some natural examples???

group rings! seriously. they have a natural Hopf algebra structure. (no LaTeX in tumblr and this is long enough, so wont write it down).

universal enveloping algebras! (this one kinda surprised me at first)

it's so wild. i love them so much. okay that's enough rambling, thank you OP for the invitation

Here is your invitation to talk about something in maths you really enjoy. It doesn't matter it's complexity, just reblog with as much or as little detail about one of your favourite things in maths!

[escmemesandstuff]

Pre-contest favourites: OGAE, INFE, and Eurojury polls compared

One of the things I like to do on the days leading to Eurovision is to observe and analyse the many polls and rankings showcasing the pre-contest favorites. While these rankings don’t serve as a 100% accurate prediction of the results, seeing that every year has its dark horses as well as flopping fan faves, they often do give a good idea of what entries have potential to succeed.

On the table below, I’ve complied the top26 results of three notable polls: the OGAE and INFE fanclub polls, and the Eurojury poll. Note that while the complete result of Eurojury consists of combined jury and online vote points, I’ve decided to only take into account the jury results, as I like to observe the differences between rankings by professional musicians vs. “ordinary” listeners. Also I haven’t separated the entries competing in different semifinals (or automatic finalists), which means that none of the three rankings will accurately represent a potential final result.

Now, as for my observations:

Curiously enough, all three polls have a different winner (although if we added the online vote to Eurojury, Sweden would also win that one). However, there is a clear trio of favourites: Sweden, Italy, and Spain. They make up the top three of both fan polls, albeit in varying order, and are all included in the jury’s top five.

Besides the trio mentioned above, these countries are also included in the top 10 of all three rankings: The Netherlands and United Kingdom. Despite their strong placings, these two don’t emerge as big shared favourites; Eurojury is the only one to have the UK in the top three, and despite having the fourth place in both fan polls, S10 hasn’t seemingly made as big of an impression to the juries.

Now if we compare the differences between the fan polls and the jury, things get interesting. While Albania made it to the top10 of OAGE and INFE, its placing in Eurojury is significancy lower. Could this be the year’s flopping girlie bop akin to Senhit, Albina, and Elena (and to a lesser extent, Destiny) last year? What’s more surprising is Poland ranking low in the jury score despite being a very solid pop ballad with stellar vocals. Then again, this wouldn’t be the first time when the jury pays dust to a well-sung male ballad from Poland – remember Michal?

Speaking of male ballads, those seem to be generally more favoured by the jury, as seen in Eurojury’s top ten. Australia, Belgium, and Switzerland enjoy there significantly higher placings than in either of the fan polls. The difference is remarkable especially in the case of the Swiss entry which doesn’t even appear as a “finalist” in the fanclub rankings. As I said in my review of the song, it has a lot of potential to succeed in the jury score, but the televote for it is a whole other story.

What about Ukraine, the current winner favourite according to bookmakers? Despite being the kind of ethnic song that usually won't fare well in the jury score (remember Shum?), it’s gotten a surprisingly high placing in the Eurojury rank. How much of it is influenced by the current situation, we can’t tell. But we can’t deny the influence of political or geographical factors even in jury scores (see: Greece and Cyprus exchanging 12 points at every chance they get).

Finland’s high Eurojury ranking is a bit of a surprise, seeing that rock songs typically attract more televotes than jury points (as we remember from both Måneskin and Blind Channel’s scorings last year). Overall rock songs haven’t gotten a very warm reception; Finland is the only one who appears in all three top26 rankings, San Marino only got in the “final” of the INFE poll, and Denmark and Bulgaria are nowhere to be seen.

Which semifinal is the stronger one? The OGAE and Eurojury “finals” actually include 10 entries from both semis, while INFE has 8 from the first and 12 from the second. Interestingly enough, all Big Five countries have made it to all three top26 rankings, which definitely isn’t something that happens every year! Even when we look at the top tens, neither semifinal seems to emerge significantly stronger than the other one. Which is definitely a contrast to last year with the bloodbath first semi... And this may also mean that we’ll lose less great entries to a strong semi competition!

I’ll update this table with the final results after the contest!

[goatsandgangsters]

Hi! I know you have probably answered this before, but I was wondering how you think meyer and lucky got together (in boardwalk empire)? I think about it a lot, and I just can never fully grasp what I feel about it, especially because this was in the 1920s

yeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeSSSS oh I’m so glad you asked, I’m gonna have so much fun! So YES I do have specific headcanons for how they got together, though I don’t know if I’ve ever actually laid them out explicitly? (also I’m saying “my” headcanons but I wanna acknowledge that they originate from Friend Conversations that happened a number of years ago, to the point where I don’t even know who originally said what but the idea of it is just lodged in my brain now. BUT ON THE FLIP SIDE, I don’t want to present this as This Is The Fanon We Agreed On, Everyone Has To Think This, because fandom should never operate that way. ANYWAY)

TL;DR: I think Meyer’s near-death experience in Emerald City was an instigating event for them to get together, because it shakes them enough to act on their feelings. Plus, it coincides nicely with Vince and Anatol becoming more comfortable around one another as actors in a way that lends itself to that reading. BUT I AM NOT THE EXPERT OR THE ARBITER ON THIS MATTER, and I think any interpretation is perfectly wonderful!

So the headcanon I operate with is that they got together after the near-death experience in Emerald City. That originates from a Watsonian vs. Doylist perspective on Vince and Anatol’s acting. They’re not quiiiiite in sync with each other in the first few eps they share, which I’m sure in actuality is them finding their groove and their dynamic as actors. But from a Watsonian perspective, it’s really easy to read their earlier scenes as pining. Like in their first scene together in Home, they’re both constantly looking at each other, but never quite meeting each other’s eye. It’s like that thing where you have a crush on someone, so you keep looking at them, but oh god they saw me and you look quickly away. And they both keep doing it!

Some of their other early scenes—like with the D’Alessios while Charlie’s playing pool, or that weirdly staged scene earlier in Emerald City where Meyer’s sitting way farther away at the table—they may exchange looks, but there’s a fleetingness to it. But then you watch the scene at the end of season 1 where they’re talking to AR with the umbrellas AND THE PSYCHIC BOND HAS ARRIVED. They are having those telltale Full On Conversations with their glances! They are synced up. They’re a team, they’re a unit, they’ve hit that dynamic that they have for the rest of the show.

And in actuality, probably it was Vince and Anatol finding their footing with each other as actors. But if you read into that textually, they go from “staring at the other but constantly dodging eye contact, like they’re afraid to be caught looking” to “we’re having an entire conversation in one look” and you’ve gotta think: what changed?

Meyer’s near-death experience in Emerald City, conveniently enough, happens in the middle. And I think that works well as an instigating moment for them, because it’s BIG. Meyer almost died, in another state—in goddamn New Jersey!—and that’s enough to make anyone act on things they wouldn’t otherwise act on or reevaluate life and relationships.

In terms of their feelings for one another and when those developed and how, my usual interpretation is that… I mean Charlie was heart-eyes from the jump, but not in a romantic way, whereas Meyer was the first to develop full-on pining feelings feelings. Because obviously Charlie was not like “I have feelings feelings for this tiny child” when they first met, but he DID very much imprint on Meyer like a little baby duckling and was like HEY I LIKE THIS KID, WE’RE GONNA BE FRIENDS, CAN I FOLLOW YOU HOME whereas Meyer was like “um, what the fuck.” Classic “enthusiastic puppy befriends sulky cat” dynamic. But then when the FEELINGS FEELINGS come into it, I think of Meyer as having been harboring feelings for Charlie for a while. (also basically all of this is from @meyerlansky, because we successfully tag-teamed on headcanons by one of us wanting to hyperanalyze Meyer and the other wanting to hyperanalyze Charlie and then we just shared!) I mean, you know, Charlie’s good-looking and they’re friends and Charlie’s so casual about flinging his arm around Meyer’s shoulders or roughhousing with him and Meyer’s insides do a little flip that they shouldn’t be doing, but they’re getting older and Charlie’s starting to sleep around with girls and that stings and bothers him in a way that It Shouldn’t, but also It Is What It Is, there’s nothing he can do about it, they’re friends and they’re business partners and that should be enough and it’s all it’ll ever be so focus on the task at hand and ignore the flip in his stomach.

For Charlie, I’m not actually sure WHEN he realizes there are feelings for Meyer. I don’t have a solid, definitive default interpretation for that. But in early season 1, pre Meyer-getting-introduced, he’s definitely enamored and smitten with Gillian, and he’s similarly moonstruck towards AR. I think that can read as, “trying really hard to distract yourself so you don’t acknowledge that maybe you’re in love with your best friend.” Whether he’s doing that consciously or unconsciously, I could also go either way on that.

A lot of this interpretation is based around the simple fact that Charlie was introduced and established in the show before Meyer, so I wonder how my headcanons would have been different if they’d been introduced together from the start. But with how the show unfolds, the change as Anatol and Vince find their groove as actors, plus a near-death experience to make someone act on something they wouldn’t otherwise act on—it all lends itself nice and neatly to Emerald City being the get-together point.

(I know a number of people have worked that headcanon into their own fics and written post-Emerald City get-together, which I can rec you. Though again, by no means do I want this to come across as “this is what the fandom has decided, you have to think it too” because that’s never how fandom should operate. No one is the arbiter of When Did Charlie and Meyer First Kiss. I love get-togethers in general, so I will always be happy reading any get-together fic that happens at any point in time, with any instigating factor, in any way, because that’s just delightful!)

Here are some get-together and/or pining fics that I can recommend:

born once of flesh, then again of fire, i am reborn a third time (a post-Emerald City get-together)

Contact (another post-Emerald City get-together by @rubecso)

Making Accommodations (by @transdracosmalfoy, the post-Emerald City genre lives on!)

to see God in the skyline (by @lurusciutelumare a sprawling masterpiece of chapters intertwining Charlie and Meyer’s childhood and growing up. It takes a while to reach the get-together point, but the whole thing is well worth the read. The entire fic is set pre-Boardwalk Empire)

beg dead trees for money next (by @meyerlansky, a pre-Boardwalk fic of Meyer realizing he has feelings for Charlie which is one of my faves for a lot of reasons)

(also I’m sorry if I missed anyone’s get-together fic. I tried to wrack my brain but I’ve been in this fandom for, uh, a while and it’s hard to remember back sometimes. Feel free to add yours in if I did!)

Also re: getting together in the time period and how it being the 1920s shapes things, there would definitely be added concerns and dangers, though I don’t think it’s necessarily a black-and-white thing. I don’t think the wider attitudes of society towards queerness would have impacted them as much in comparison to the specific culture of lower Manhattan and the criminal spheres they operated in.

Because on the one hand, in the criminal world in which they were operating, it likely would have been dangerous for anyone to know that they’re queer. It probably would have hurt their business and their reputation among their peers and rivals, and—because of how masculinity and queerness interconnect and operate—would look like weakness to others. But in terms of “well can Charlie make a move, because it’s dangerous if Meyer doesn’t reciprocate or reacts badly” (or vice versa), it would reflect equally bad on both of them? Like, if Charlie made a move and Meyer was like “nah,” he can’t very well go gossiping to the whole Lower East Side about it, because it hurts his reputation too, it hurts his business, and they were also close enough as friends that even if there wasn’t reciprocation, neither one of them would do anything to damage the other’s reputation like that.

As far as how they feel about it on an internalized level, I definitely don’t think they… care from a legal and/or moral standpoint. I don’t think Charlie’s like “oh god I’m going to hell for liking men,” because by the time he and Meyer kiss, he has DEFINITELY KILLED PEOPLE. They already break a lot of laws all the time. So that wider societal stigma from a moralizing perspective probably doesn’t matter to them much, because wider society already thinks they’re an “undesirable criminal element,” they’re already “dangerous immigrants,” so what’s it matter if they also bang on top of doing crimes and killing people? Charlie and Meyer are already outside the Predominant Ethical Framework of Society by virtue of their class background and criminal enterprises (and class and queerness have huge intersections historically in terms of what the experience was like). Being in an urban area in the 1920s (especially New York), queer sexuality is something they would have known about; it probably wouldn’t have been any more shocking than any other “vice” they grew up around in that area.

If they do have any concerns or guilt about what they’re feeling for one another, for Charlie I think it all has to do with masculinity and with the machismo he’s grown up around. It’s also something he’s already touchy about, given the emasculation that happened being called Sal (which, at the time, was common nickname for Sally) and historically he has a history of experiencing sexual violence. So I can see him struggling with conflating that together—as well as worrying that his feelings for Meyer are unwanted and similar to what he experienced. Meyer, I would say, cares less about the performance of masculinity, but I do think he sees himself as an eventual family man in a way that Charlie does not. @meyerlansky also has more thoughts on Meyer + sexuality + being a-spec.

I’M SORRY FOR MY LONG TANGENTS!! I literally do not have the ability to be succinct.

IN SUMMARY, I think Meyer’s near-death experience in Emerald City was an instigating event for them to get together, because it shakes them enough to act on their feelings. Plus, it coincides nicely with Vince and Anatol becoming more comfortable around one another as actors in a way that lends itself to that reading. BUT I AM NOT THE EXPERT OR THE ARBITER ON THIS MATTER, and I think any interpretation is perfectly wonderful!

As for the time period and being the 1920s, it definitely has ramifications on how they conceive of themselves—particularly in relation to their ethnic and class identities—but that also the history of sexuality is very non-linear and I think queerness is less shocking and scandalous to them than it would have been to someone more upper-class who didn’t grow up in the Lower East Side, or to someone more rural, or to someone who was more “inside” the social framework of the time, as opposed to being forced outside of it already by class, ethnicity, and criminality.

Finally, and most importantly, they should KISS!!!!

[silentwalrus1]

“In cases such as these, mercy does not only endanger my son, Honored Princess,” Zhiqi Yao said - primarily to Mei, though not so subtly to Ed and Al with her, because they hadn’t been able to hide that they weren’t exactly thrilled with the results. “It risks everyone who protects him. If we do not make an example of those who attempt such bloody acts - if we do not make the risk greater than the potential reward - our people will know that we do not defend them. (1/2)

They will know that we are happy to throw away their lives and their loyal service for the sake of traitors and criminals.” She’d swept her fancy embroidered sleeves out, gesturing at the masked and hooded guards stationed around the room. “For it is our own beloved retainers who jump in the way of the blade, and take the blows meant for us, protecting us with their very lives. Deng Jun. Cao Lan Fan. Cao Xie. Cao Wei. Deng Zhang Min. (2/3)

Do we not owe them nothing less than the wholest commitment of our hearts, and the fullest extension of our power?” Mei had silently bowed. Ed and Al had bowed with her. They didn’t like it. They understood. (3/3) so i i wanted to choose something from the political discussion for the dvd commentary thing. it was hard not to just copy paste the whole thing in here but this was probably one of my fave parts.

————

AYYY THE YAO CLAN

aka: when Ling took the throne, it wasn’t some 15 year old kid, it was the entire Yao clan. HE isn’t emperor, his whole family is. (Well, okay, he’s emperor, but that’s the whole point - if some teenager gets on the throne WITHOUT very strong close backing, he’s gonna get murdered in the first five minutes by someone who does.) And we canonically know that the Yao clan are huge and powerful and have retainer clans of their own, just as we know that Ling - important enough strategically to have had assassins repeatedly sent after him from the cradle - was allowed to go to Amestris, alone, with only a teenager and an old man as bodyguards. To chase after a fairy tale.

This means whoever heads Yao considered Ling if not disposable then at least an acceptable loss. This means that Yao clan considers themselves in a good enough position that they don’t NEED Ling, their legal claim to the throne, to advance. And that tells me that the Yao clan are not a single politically united entity (which makes sense, if they’re so big) and that there are competing factions within the family. Ling goes looking for something to DEFINITIVELY seal his claim, with minimal resources, meaning that within the Yao he is not the shoo-in successor for the clan, let alone the imperial seat. Ling goes looking for outside leverage, on a VERY slim chance of success, with the bare minimum of support, which tells me, okay, probably at least some of those assassins were coming from inside the house, and he does not have a lot of supporters.

But he has some, and he was taught to fight, and fight well, and Fu and Lan Fan aren’t slouches, and they are VERY loyal to him - generationally loyal, which Ling wouldn’t have gotten on his own. Moreover, once Ling DID present himself as a viable candidate worthy of backing, he managed to take the throne and keep it.

So I was like, aight, given all these factors plus Ling’s dad is the emperor, what’s Ling’s mom like? What does the rest of his family look like? What made Ling look like a not very successful choice for the Yao to put forth as their inheritance candidate? Given all that, I was like okay, Ling’s mom is probably hedging her bets and doesn’t keep all her eggs in one basket, which means she probably has like eight other kids in the wings, including a son very close in age judged to look enough like Ling in certain lighting, along with several strategic husbands to help her juggle her position as the Imperial Consort and mother of the official 12th Prince of Xing. When the Emperor got sick and laid out his conditions for naming a successor, he essentially told everyone: I won’t name a successor, it’ll be an outright power struggle between you all, so you may as well get started. And under those conditions, Ling was NOT considered in the running at all, because he was allowed to fuck off to Amestris to go on a wild goose chase to hunt something everyone thought doesn’t exist, which means his mom probably kissed his forehead and told him good luck and then turned to Ling’s half brother Zhongce like “okay well he’s DEFINITELY gonna die. Looks like you’re up, kid”

But then Ling SUCCEEDS, and that gets him crowned, which means a lot of important powerful people backed him in a hurry. Which probably means Ling’s mom, as Imperial Consort who officially represents the Yao, probably saw their chance and did the political equivalent of HEY EVERYONE LOOK OVER HERE, THE RIGHTFUL KING HAS PULLED THE SWORD FROM THE STONE! Good job honey, well done, don’t hate your brother for keeping the seat warm for you, HUP HUP HUP EVERYBODY LET’S GO GO GO WE HAVE A PALACE TO TAKE

All that to say - the Yao clan knows power, and is familiar with what it takes to maintain your position at the top. And stuff like publicly executing your enemies isn’t just for the hell of it, it’s a deliberate strategy to maintain power in their political landscape. What Zhiqi says is absolutely true: if the Yao don’t demonstrate that they go above and beyond to protect their people, they immediately lose allies and paint a target on the vulnerable in their care, because those people WILL be used as leverage to destabilize them. And Zhiqi ain’t stupid: she can see she needs to placate two powerful allies in Ed and Al, and she knows exactly how to do it, by telling the truth and explicitly making it real by pointing out that people they know and care about (Lan Fan and her family etc) are in danger if the Yao don’t do enough to consolidate their position. That’s what being in charge means: you have final responsibility, for everything. The price of being at the top is having to maintain it, because if you fall, it’s not just gonna be your head on a pike, it’s gonna be everyone who helped you get there.

[rosszulorzott]

fave quotes and some commentary in Hungarian because I'm reading this for us

starting with a quote from Robinson, because it was through him I found the author

========== The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson)

Your Highlight on page 741 | Location 11357-11360 | Added on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 8:21:20 PM

So, what Zhu Isao used to say, what my old comrade Kung Jianguo used to say, was that each time a generation pulls itself together, and revolts against the established order of things in an attempt to make them more just, it is doomed to fail in some respects; but it succeeds in others; and in any case it gives something to posterity, even if it be only knowledge of how hard things are. Which makes it retroactively a kind of success. And so people go on.

---ez összecseng a kiemelt idézettel lejjebb és basszus ezért - már csak ezért is - muszáj csinálni

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 25 | Location 379-379 | Added on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 6:30:08 PM

One in four nonviolent campaigns since 1900 was a total failure.

---és 4-ből három valamit elért, csak mondom

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 66 | Location 1010-1013 | Added on Friday, March 24, 2023 5:50:25 PM

This may be especially true when a state is subsidized from the outside such that it can survive internal economic disruption.22 These so-called rentier states, which rely on external sources, including export sales in natural resources, tourism, and economic aid for a sizable portion of net income, have proven to be especially resistant to domestic pressure

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 75 | Location 1143-1144 | Added on Friday, March 24, 2023 8:41:59 PM

The Serbian resistance movement Otpor, for example, received millions of dollars from funding agencies linked to the United States and European governments prior to the toppling of the Milosevic regime.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 81 | Location 1233-1235 | Added on Sunday, March 26, 2023 4:42:48 PM

Nonviolent campaigns (Model 2[b]) have been most successful when they have produced security-force defections.38 In fact, such defections increase the likelihood of success by nearly 60 percent.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 85 | Location 1291-1293 | Added on Sunday, March 26, 2023 4:49:04 PM

The historic tendency of nonviolent movements to effectively compel regime loyalists to their side underscores the primacy of participation in generating the mechanisms that determine campaign victory or defeat.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 87 | Location 1332-1334 | Added on Sunday, March 26, 2023 4:55:34 PM

One recent study has found that contrary to what one might assume, factors such as regime type, level of economic development, literacy rate, or fractionalization of society along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines have not had a statistically significant impact on the ability of a civic movement to achieve success through civil resistance campaigns (Marchant et al. 2008).

---dis kud be us

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 103 | Location 1571-1572 | Added on Thursday, March 30, 2023 6:03:03 PM

There is no credible claim that violent resistance is necessary if nonviolent campaigns succeed in equal measure even under the most skeptical interpretation of the data.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 107 | Location 1626-1627 | Added on Thursday, March 30, 2023 9:14:04 PM

Whichever side (regime or opposition) is able to divide the opponent from its main pillars of support will ultimately succeed.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 182 | Location 2785-2785 | Added on Monday, April 3, 2023 8:04:09 PM

Marcos largely tolerated his reformist political opponents as long as they did not unify or mobilize mass support

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 182 | Location 2789-2790 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 6:34:59 PM

Although a portion of NDF activities included nonviolent protests, including a demonstration of four thousand students, workers, and slum dwellers in November 1975 to denounce Marcos’s presidential decree banning labor strikes,

---a következő pár idézetet a számok miatt hozom: a szakirodalom nem úgy nevezi a párezres demonstrációkat, hogy tüntikéznek, úgyse mennek vele semmire, majd kimegyek, ha többen lesznek, nem történik semmi ésatöbbi, hanem komolyan számol velük, látja a helyüket, hatásukat. nyugodtan rúgjatok fel bárkit, aki megpróbál ezzel elkedvetleníteni és az eseményeket hitelteleníteni (vagy győzzétek meg), a lényeg, hogy ez ne maradjon így

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 184 | Location 2807-2808 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 6:37:00 PM

More than five thousand people attended the vigil, which was the largest protest against martial law at the time.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 185 | Location 2830-2831 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 7:38:38 PM

On election night, upset voters banged on pots and pans, honked horns, and exploded firecrackers for three hours in response to reports of ballot theft

---kellett volna

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 189 | Location 2895-2895 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 7:45:44 PM

Between October 1983 and February 1985, over 165 rallies, marches, and other demonstrations took place

---ezeket a számokat hozzuk szerintem

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 190 | Location 2905-2906 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 7:47:15 PM

As is often the case in nondemocracies, the opposition remained divided about whether to participate in the elections:

---volt egy hosszabb fejtegetés, amit nem idézek, de magyarázta, hogy egy diktatúra választásán is van értelme részt venni, csak az nem mindegy, hogy utána mit csinálsz (nekem ez azt jelenti, hogy sohasem basztuk el véglegesen, viszont mindig újra egy rosszabb opcióra kanyarodunk rá)

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 193 | Location 2948-2949 | Added on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 7:52:01 PM

Although Marcos controlled the media, the Church-owned Radio Veritas and Veritas newspaper provided crucial coverage of the UNIDO campaign.

---sajtóka

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 210 | Location 3214-3215 | Added on Friday, April 7, 2023 3:15:16 PM

the students perceived the costs of participation in the violent insurgency less severe than nonparticipation.

---ez itt elég meghökkentő rész volt, és annyiban ránk is vonatkozik, hogy volt és lesz még olyan húzása a rezsimnek, ami miatt nem az első ösztönös reakciónk lesz a jobb

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 221 | Location 3384-3385 | Added on Friday, April 7, 2023 4:38:47 PM

As one Burmese leader of the 1988 uprising later recounted, the opposition had “no endgame” and was too divided to be able to seize on the opportunity afforded by the stolen elections

---this should not be us but this is us :/

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 233 | Location 3562-3563 | Added on Saturday, April 8, 2023 4:44:45 PM

While opposition movements are notorious for having divided elite leaderships, one of the most important roles a nonviolent mass movement can play is forcing the opposition leaders to unite, even if only temporarily.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 234 | Location 3581-3582 | Added on Saturday, April 8, 2023 5:03:01 PM

The role of the media (including the alternative media) in communicating opposition activities was critical to producing backfiring for the Philippines campaign.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 234 | Location 3583-3584 | Added on Saturday, April 8, 2023 5:03:13 PM

In Burma, the nonviolent campaign’s prospects of producing continual backfiring may have improved if media coverage had been more sustained

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 238 | Location 3637-3638 | Added on Saturday, April 8, 2023 5:54:29 PM

In fact, strikingly, the long-term effects of failed nonviolent campaigns are more favorable to democracy and civil peace than the long-term effects of successful violent campaigns.

---ezért!

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 240 | Location 3679-3680 | Added on Sunday, April 9, 2023 12:06:07 PM

democratic transitions are often driven by an interactive process involving elites and grassroots civic elements.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 247 | Location 3784-3785 | Added on Monday, April 10, 2023 8:26:59 PM

In the case of the Costa Rican Revolution, the victorious insurgents voluntarily held free and fair elections and even disbanded the state’s military upon coming to power. But in reality, such developments are rare.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 253 | Location 3880-3881 | Added on Monday, April 10, 2023 9:06:27 PM

🎈🎈🎈Holding all other variables constant, the average country with a failed nonviolent campaign has over a 35 percent chance of becoming a democracy five years after a conflict’s end.🎈🎈🎈

---ezért!

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Chenoweth, Erica;Maria J. Stephan)

Your Highlight on page 277 | Location 4246-4247 | Added on Monday, April 10, 2023 10:23:07 PM

About 40 percent of the campaigns in the data set boast over twenty-five thousand participants.

Reading Journal

I'm reading Why Civil Resistance Works, The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan because Kim Stanley Robinson has been mentioning this work, most memorably in the following quote: "If it works like Chenoweth's law says it does, then you only need about fifteen percent of a population to engage in civil disobedience, and the rest see it and support it, and the oligarchy falls. You get a new legal regime." I am plotting the downfall of this regime I'm living in and knowledge is power.

Here's a short TEDx Talk to give you a taste.

[spacetwiga]

leave c!phil out of bullshit 2k21 -- a not so tiny post by a new enthusiast

As someone who finds both common fanon and actual canon to be quite fun, I really think the general DSMP fandom would benefit greatly from a few things in general: the greatest, in my opinion, is learning to accept that popular fanon won’t usually be the canon you receive. Another, of course, is that POVs are golden, but with these two things being flimsy in being accepted, they are the major flaws that cause about 90% of the absolute messy takes that gain traction, oftentimes poisoning a canon character's ability to exist in the story.

My biggest beef regarding this comes from how y’all treat c!Phil, so here I am, being annoying on main side! 

TL;DR... Just because someone acted like like a guidance to others, doesn’t always mean that they'll want to be the father figure role for everyone that breathes. Similarly, pinning down a character on a single trope is wack, so don't be surprised if they grow away from it.

Baby’s first little dsmp rambling below!

(Warning: it's long as hell)

The Dream SMP plotline is not written out like most popular media. With so many moving parts in the form of daily streams and the wonderful tool of live improvisation, it makes perfect sense that such a giant cast would not always be on the same page. Adding onto that, it also makes more sense that a vast majority of the cast will be placed into supporting roles, as the story needs to have characters that serve as narrative anchors and others that function as the links in a chain, all weathering the storm that is the plot.

Screentime, of course, plays a major factor into canon exposure -- in terms of the Dream SMP, POV matters equally, if not more, too. 

It’s a pretty neat way of showing things, but in the end, the fanbase has a lovely (read: godawful /lh) way of analysing characters, particularly when it relates to how they interact with others from their fave character’s POV. The tendency to analyse things from a single character's POV is fine, but not when attempting to critique the greater whole of a conflict. Both sides, no matter how wrong they may seem to be, matter.

Adding onto the fact that everything is live, there are things that will spiral out of control, casual words being skewed and thus having the potential of a single line seemingly contradicting the entire ‘story’ that the fanbase has made. If it directly affects a fave's POV in particular, one is more likely to take offense, as bias immediately bars one from trying to see the other person's side of things.

POV is important. 

Which brings me to c!Phil, and how critics tend to ignore his perspective to prop up another character, or justify the tearing down of another.

Improvisation is both a blessing and a curse; the fanbase, however, loves to test out the latter. With it, the fanbase starts crafting tales to justify it...And so begins the mess that is c!Phil discourse.

Say it with me, folks: c!Phil is not supposed to be your fave’s fluffy father figure... unless you’re c!Wilbur!!!

😃☝🏾Dadza is good...👉🏾😎👉🏾 But fandom wants the excessive, idealized version.

-- birb 2k21

Family dynamics are generally loved for their potential for comfort, particularly those of a found family nature. Fandom in general tends to lean into them wholeheartedly, with most major bases having at least one prominent group present; SBI, of course, is no different. From fanart to popular fanfiction, it's arguably the biggest group dynamic alongside the Dream Team, and for that, a precedence was set. 

c!Phil, if he ever joined, would fix everything! All of the ‘kids’ would turn to their new mentor and everything would turn out fine! This all knowing, morally just character will chuckle at their antics and wacky hijinks will follow! Fun times, right? /s

The hope for it, however, has long since been shattered, and frankly, good for him!

To go a little ooc, cc!Phil has stated multiple times that, while he was friendly with a lot of the cast as c!Phil, his only paternal link (at least biologically) lies with c!Wilbur. Simple, right? It should be -- there are multiple clips of him saying this -- but fans choose to ignore it in their critiques, generally citing favouritism or downright neglect for the character’s flaws. From 'favoring' Techno (who, in canon, holds the highest link in friendship outside of c!Wilbur's familal link) to 'neglecting' to visit Tommy (who he barely knew, and also assumed, like many others, that he was fine), these critiques weigh heavily on the scale that judges Phil’s so called father figure trope. 

The story, however, has only leaned into (and persisted with) that for c!Wilbur alone, and adding onto it, there is an established acknowledgement from both ccs. That confirmation should hold the most weight, especially since both Phil and Wilbur seem alright with it. Even so, that familial has yet to be explored much for both characters, particularly regarding c!Phil, who has his debut (at least narratively) in a scene that feels opposite to the classic fatherly role.

c!Wilbur denounced accepting that helping hand to fall entirely into his explosive end, setting a precedence unlike most fatherly types arriving to save their kid. Usually, fandom narrative would love a close save, father and son uniting to heal and build up what was broken, but c!Phil’s entrance inks his story in failure. Angsty, right? We love angst!

And yet, as the story ticks on, the bad takes pile up.

Why? Well, I’l used to think that it is a “funny haha” type thing; a way to grieve for a character that was lost, as Alivebur was genuinely a great character. However, with the plot slowly progressing c!Phil’s story to evolve away from the ‘mentor the kids’ trope , I should have seen a storm on the horizon.

It should have been seen from the moment he stabbed c!Wilbur in the chest, but optimism is one hell of a smokescreen.

Built up fanon, however, is probably the greatest fog to ever exist.

There are lines before the button room confrontation that paint a picture of Wilbur seeking out the approval of his father (who seemed distant, at least from his POV), as well as hints to the SBI dynamic, but with the countless dismissals/retcons from CCs involved, as well as little to no consistent canon acknowledgement of this team dad role...Why base an entire hate piece of c!Phil just because popular fanon isn’t real? 

Why, for the sake of building up a well rounded character, would one place the title of a communal parental figure on a grieving father who has little attachment to the community involved, especially when most of them are too busy delving into their own issues?

Furthermore, why go for Mr. Philza Minecraft: Angel of Death, CEO of KEKW, Functioning Immortal????

It’s madness, luv, and frankly, antis cannot let c!Phil process any of his grief (or flesh out his character) without his contributions being fatherly. His role has been idealized to the point where he is not a character on his own, but an accessory to the happiness of other characters. That is not how the world works, and in a conflict riddled server like the dsmp, arguing that it should be like that is counterproductive.

c!Phil had his own shit to deal with, and as he slowly uncovers how fucked up the server actually was, he merely adapts to it. He learns to play the game by his own rules, and people become mad that he’s succeeding in his own way. It's as simple as that, particularly when referencing his initial exposure to the world he now inhabits.

c!Phil is a man who used to hear of his son’s success from the letters he received, words spinning tales of won revolutions and newfound friendships. To a father, those letters are more than enough to assume that all is well, and with it, he had no reason to check on his son, who was already old enough to be carving his path alone. For him to arrive and see just how broken his son actually was, and then, in front of faces he only vaguely knows, kill said son... There's a lot to take in.

He shouldn't have had to care about L'Manberg in those moments, not when he had his son in his arms, dead by his own goddamn weapon; his son who, to his knowledge, was doing pretty well up until he caught wind of his plot. Yet, he does.

He gives them the benefIt of the doubt, even ignoring the one person he has shown to have deep history with (c!Techno) to assist the nation in defeating the withers and rebuilding what was lost.

c!Phil stays in a nation that has seemingly brought his son right into his demise, holding in that grief to help people who he assumes have the chance to rebuild, to reform. For a moment, he trusts that the system can turn into something positive, offering to hunker down and do what he can to help. That’s the start of a fatherly type role for most -- with many expectations rising from fans to ‘fix’ all these traumatized characters.

In another plot, perhaps critics could have gotten the tropes they want from c!Phil, but to blame the character for reacting negatively to a world he barely knew, right after seeing it ruin his son and target a friend...Maybe the need for a "father figure" only stems from making their faves happy.

Characters that don't directly support your fave are not inherently awful characters. Critique based on that alone is...flimsy, really, but honestly, you can use to to show how they process things.

Which brings me to the events leading up to Doomsday, and with it, the steady rise of c!Phil’s defining traits.

Say it with me, folks: c!Phil is one of the most loyal members on the server, but loyalty doesn’t mean he's blindly following along!

😃☝🏾Butcher Army take this L👉🏾😎👉🏾 Found it in the L’Mancrater

-- birb 2k21

The butcher army arc, while nestled among the mainline story of Tommy’s exile (which I will not even mention, because those dadza takes about visiting may deserve a post on their own), allows for c!Phil to see into the minds of those who had once been with (or even against) his son’s plans. Sure, he may be witnessing them after the eve of their newfound traumas, but this is an important observation to make when comparing how easy it was to denounce his affiliation to them and side with c!Technoblade.

Unlike the new Administration, slowly dipping deeper and deeper into their own form of power hunger, c!Technoblade’s base desires had never wavered. His trust in others, however, had, still nursing the sting of a betrayal, but with no conflict in sight. He is reforming, finding comfort in his solitude, and still maintaining contact with those he trusts.

Techno's Compass, for one, is a major example of their mutual trust. Despite being on opposing territories, they are civil enough to trust each other, just like old friends.

Thus, when you take two old friends who are more than used to conflict -- one grieving and one betrayed, but both seeking neutrality -- it shouldn’t have surprised the antis that c!Phil would place c!Techno’s whereabouts (and life, mind you) over some government he barely knew. 

And yet, above all else, c!Phil starts off as a neutral party for everyone's sake, forgoing potential conquest for peace.

To c!Phil and c!Techno, it’s like fighting back to back, knowing that one can always trust the other to fend off those just waiting to take advantage of your blindspot, while also quelling the need to imagine your partner turning around and doing the same. That sort of friendship is forged through many, many hardships.

They betray what little trust he had built in them. That’s on them.

c!Phil is aware how untrusting c!Techno is, and while c!Techno feels safe enough to give his all for c!Phil, he never exploits it to get ahead, which is something L'Manbergians felt okay with doing.

They take a book out of the playbook used on c!Techno, for c!Techno.

They went after yet another person who was close to him, using their power and influence to hold an execution under the guise of seeking justice. If c!Wilbur, at least pre-corruption arc, sent letters to his father, one would at least expect some of his old ideals of freedom and fairness to leak through into his friends, right? To see those c!Phil assumed would hold similar ideals immediately skew towards a darker, brutal side, particularly in threatening others to get what they wanted...Well, shit hit the fan.

c!Phil does not have that strong relationship with any former L’Manbergians, and despite there being potential for such, it didn't work out that way; instead, however, those characters manage to mistake his kindness for weakness. They take his preferred neutrality as a way to exploit him, to gain in such a way that he lost agency...

No more Mister Nice Dadza, and honestly, he’s justified in that notion.

They’ve lost his trust, time too short to have gained that strong link like c!Techno’s or c!Wilbur’s, and with it, came the inevitable association with Doomsday.

c!Phil knew c!Techno’s intentions from the beginning -- which had only wavered into dormancy because he had grown tired of fighting, understanding that the cycle he wishes to break is not worth his efforts -- so the agreement in participating is effortless. 

c!Dream was there too, of course, but in their mutual quest for eradication, it’s made canon that c!Techno and c!Phil hid away most of their arsenal, despite seeming overprepared. They have no loyalty to c!Dream; they’re smart enough to play along, however. He was a means to an end.

There’s no lies present in their relationship; c!Phil needed someone who didn’t try and pull wool over his eyes, and c!Techno let him see.

c!Techno needed someone who wouldn't stab him in the back, and c!Phil stayed true as his hidden sword.

Which is why, as the two joined forces, ideals aligning and power synergized, they didn’t think twice about nuking the nation to bedrock. Mutually agreeing that the system needs to die, they did what they could, and they succeeded.

How cool of them, tbh LMAO.

New L’Manberg tugged too hard at the sleeping tiger’s tail; they shouldn’t have expected it to roll over.

Their openness to each other was known.

There was no need for underhanded plays, for hidden betrayals, for undisclosed words.

Their loyalties were strong.

They were in sync.

In conclusion (maybe, maybe not...this shit is long holy heck)

😃☝🏾 I may hate this analysis in 30 minutes👉🏾😎👉🏾 Or I may make a part 2. Fuck it!

-- birb 2k21

And that’s what makes c!Phil an interesting character: He tends to be critiqued in reference to chatacters who have very well wronged him, have no affiliation to him or get associated to him through popular fanon. There's a lot to cover that I haven't (from Ghostbur to the whole Tommy 'dilemna') but overall I'm digging what I have now and if I ever get more energy, I'll continue!

c!Phil enthusiasts, I hope I did you proud LMAO. It's my first forray into this side of tumblr 👉🏾👈🏾 I'm a lurker.

c!Phil antis, you can either act respectful or go argue with a wall. I got experience dealing with antis on Tumblr; I am immune to BS.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Signing off!

- BIRB.

[avocadomin]

final kingdom rankings

i decided to do the dumb thing that took too long and ranked all of the kingdom stages based on my personal opinion and ranked my top 7 over all (unit stages included). once again this is an opinion and i’m more then happy to discuss other opinions on the stages, but don’t use this post to bash me or others if it differs from your own. this will include notes on both the performance and the music itself.

with that said i’ll keep it under the cut as this will probably be a long post (spoiler: it is </3):

quick note: i watched all the stages by group and each stage in chronological order as i was taking notes. there may be some repeats of things or i bring up something that’s in a lower ranking stage if a higher ranking stage was one of the more recent ones (hope that makes sense). also if you don’t want to read everything there’s a top 5 ranking and my own final group ranking at the bottom.

skz:

stage 3 - i’ll be your man: seungmin and jisung vocals!!! i’m still not too familiar with the original btob song so i’m not sure how skz’s version varies from it, but their version i think fits their team really well. chan took a little bit of a back burner this stage, but we really got to hear the vocal side of skz shine through this song esp in their lower register which i think it stronger then their upper one lmao. jisung is really the only one (that i think) can belt some of those high notes so consistently. on the actual performance side of things there was an interesting use of sets and props, but not over done. there were some really ineresting dance breaks esp at the end of the song. the story of the stage was also i think one of skz’s strongest (and no guns <3). i really hope skz does a song like this in the future cause they can obviously pull it off.

stage 2 - side effects / god’s menu: really loved how we got to see a different side of skz on this stage with their acting! i don’t think they had another stage that was quite like this one. also loved the mixing again with both side effects and god’s menu with how they used felix as the transition between the two songs, and the FAT synths during the ‘my head hurts’ right before going into god’s menu. while this is a strong stage musically, acting and energy wise. i feel like there was too much of a reliance on props and a lot of work was done by the dancers which was visually amazing!! but skz is a strong dance group too and i wish it wasn’t as flashy as it was.

final stage - wolfgang: this stage and their 2nd stage are honestly tied but i think wolfgang is slightly lower cause i prefer the mixing for the 2nd stage. really dissapointed there was no epic organ player that was killed at the end </3 but that aside i would say wolfganf is a just a really strong skz song that’s a little more in the 3racha style. i really liked how they tied in some of the points from their intro stages with the green mouth light things and some of the samples used in the track! the reason it’s middle of the pack (haha get it cause their wolves.....i’ll stop) for me is similar to the side effects stage as it relies a lot on their dancers and props. it was a really nice ending performance to end their time on kingdom. (also one of their most messiest stages, but it was probably the one with the least amount of time for practice with everything lmao)

intro stage - miroh: really great intro stage for the skz cause we really got a taste of what was to come with kingdom (sadly no jinnie). the mixing was insane and one of my faves i think for skz (esp minho’s part <3). it had the same height of energy as the original tack, just much darker, and there was decent balance between vocals, dance, and rapping. it also showed their great work as a team with the small stunts in the choreo.

stage 4 - god’s menu x d4: don’t get me wrong, this stage is really neat with the deadpool stuff, but it’s also a stage that won’t really age that well? it was more on the gimmicky side of kingdom stages and i’m not sure why they had a large chunk of the choreo with guns???? that’s not needed that you. going into the good things...binnie popped off!! he really stuck out to me this stage rap wise. also the drop for the first d4 chorus was very unexpected but also really satisfying? kinda reminds me of the drop in the chorus for 1team’s ‘make this’ (go check it out if you don’t know the song). over all a really fun stage and their energy was really good, but just wish it wasn’t quite and gimmicky as it was </3

ateez: man i miss mingi....comeback soon king

final stage - the real: ok this stage is also really really close to their wonderland stage but is just SLIGHTLY ahead it. this stage was probably one of the most fun ones to watch out of ateez’s kingdom performances because they seemed so loose? like they were really just feeling themselves on this stage and it just looked like they were really enjoying themselves out there like this is what they were born to do. i also love this song and it’s one of my fave recent releases from ateez again (i’m not too big of a fan of their fever series sorry </3). the energy, rap, vocals, choreo was just all there. i’m just really glad we were able to see one of these stages again where we go to see the group really just let loose and half so much fun performing before the end of kingdom.

stage 2 - from the wonderland: look...i KNOW there’s a tentacle, but i’m going to look past that. it might be the favoritism towards wonderland as it is one of my top ateez titles, but i think it they did do a really good job mashing it together with symphony no. 9. there was a decent balance between using props/reliance on dancers and the group actually dancing. jongho slayed that high note at the end, and it was actually placed well in the song where it didn’t seem out of place. and them the OUTRO just represents one of the main reason’s i love ateez with their amazing energy. high energy song, high energy choreo...just the perfect ending to get you hyped. also one last note....seonghwa looked so hot when he was walking through the line of dancers with that rifle (he just looked good this whole stage <3).

stage 3 - the awakening of summer: a very different style from the original and i’d say even a different style for ateez but it still works?? the beginning was a lil cheesy and not sure how the whisper talking/rapping through most of the song works for me, but the INSTRUMENTAL pls play it at my funeral...that synth line <3 i really liked the little choreo with the rope that san did and the overall choreo was also really strong. the outro was a little let down on the energy of it. it may be cause there was some slight timing issues with the vocals and backing track or they were just missing SOMETHING for it, but jongho slayed that belted note once again where i’m not too mad at it lmao.

stage 4 - answer: in the first half i really thought this was going to be one of my fave stages for ateez as the added strings were a nice touch and i loved how they made some references to their past songs and overall concept story line. overall musically in the first part it was decently balanced with a few ode to joy and answer. once it got to the part where it was the opera singers i was????? if they stopped there i think it could have still worked, but the ending there was just so much going on but it was also missing so much as well?? i didn’t understand jongho’s one belted note at the end. this was the only stage where i really felt it didn’t fit. they either needed to not add it at all or have him have one other note after it with maybe a break between the two notes to make it feel more complete. overall...a decent stage, but it really just didn’t have that ateez polish on it.

intro stage - wave: ok tbh i....kinda hated this stage? NOTHING on ateez or wave, just the song did not translate to the style they ended up choosing for it. i think say my name would have been a really strong intro song in the final style chose esp since it didn’t come up in their later stages. the choreo was really strong, but honestly the mixing just seemed like they forced two pieces together that didn’t fit.

the boyz: ok i just want to write a quick note as a general opinion i have across all their stages. tbz is a really solid group overall esp with dancing, but i feel like for kingdom they played it safe in a lot of ways and we didn’t see much variation of wow factors from their stages. they were good!! just (usually) fairly predictable like they set the bar high and then just never raised it again </3

stage 4 - monster: this ranks so high partially cause i love exo’s monster sm but besides that point </3 the vocal line seemed to be pretty much a copy paste from the original (not a bad thing at all) but once again the instrumental my beloved <3 i think because the vocal line was pretty much the same as exo’s made it a really nice balance between the original and tbz version. i wasn’t too sure about the giant snake towards the end, but it actually wasn’t too bad as it was more of just the use of an entrance, then just a bg prop after that. as with all of their stages, the choreo was really solid, but it was the arrangement of the song that really put this performance on the top.

final stage - kingdom come:  dance wise i think this is my favorite out of all their stages. they had neat transitions from their pre recorded parts of the stage and the live part of the stages. really liked the part where the hand off screen was controlling the chroeo. then the dance break/outro!! not sure what it was, but i think it just really highlighted their strengths in dancing as a group. the song itself didn’t stand out at all and i think that’s why it ranks lower then their monster stage. it sounds a lot like checkmate to me (possible blended with salty???) so it’s a solid track, but it just doesn’t sound that different from their past ‘finale sounding’ tracks. it was a nice stage to end on for them as it was really solid, and it capped of their time with the kingdom series well.

stage 2 - no air: tbh the orginal song for no air doesn’t do much but i LOVE this mix of it. it might be the slowdown of the chorus that really does it for me, but it’s one of my fave mixes for their stage. really solid choreo and i liked the paired dancing with the other dancers in the first chorus. i think tbz i one of the the better groups when it comes to non-power dancing....not sure how to word it, but they’re very graceful and i love when they show it off and the dancing in front of the white fabric was a really nice touch. they also pulled off their stunts really well!! that’s another things they’re pretty reliable in, but it’s something they don’t overuse which is nice. a very strong stage overall for them.

stage 3 - the red wedding: someone is going to murder me for this, but i’m not the biggest fan of o solo mio </3 tbz did a really good job with the song! music wise for me is just that the rap sections i think didn’t flow too well in their rendition of the song. i don’t remember how they fit in the original but it didn’t fit that well in this stage ;_; i thought the rest was really good! their use of props wasn’t overdone and added some interest to the choreo that was already really strong. also really enjoyed the sections in the birdcage with the female dancer. another really solid performance by them.

intro stage - the stealer: LOVED the choreo and formations for this performance. they’re a really strong dance group and i’m glad we got to see how good their dancing is with no props or anything. the song it’s self wasn’t too special, it was a solid mix but it seemed like something we’ve seen before? i think it reminded be of one of their stages from rtk, but i don’t remember which one ;_;

sf9:

stage 4 - move: CONGRATS TO SF9 FOR BEING THE ONLY GROUP THAT HAS TAEYANG. i could watch that man dance all day damn. the only thing i didn’t really like/understand was the very end where they were standing in the rain??? it would have been neat if they had one final dance break in the rain box or a solo dance or SOMETHING...it just didn’t need to be there otherwise </3 but everything else was SO GOOD. the concept of the stage was strong, the mixing was fit the group really well, and with move being such a difficult dance, the members did a really good job with it. the props/sets used i think added to it, and there was a good balance between those and the group actually dancing. glad to know taemin covers in the kingdom series did the original songs justice <3

final stage - believer: taeyang once again <3 overall the track sounds like a really solid b-side, but their performance really brought it up to a nice finale song. loved their references to their past stages with the props and formations with the dances, it wasn’t too much and didn’t distract from the rest of it. the use of reflections was also really well done!! that prop was super cool and loved how they played around with it. overall a really nice way to end kingdom for them, and i think dance and staging wise, it was one of my faves to come from them.

stage 3 - the scene: congrats sf9 for being the only group that has hwiyoung <3 tbh this stage would probably be my number one of they didn’t have the guns during the choreo </3 it just...brought it down so much for me (and the blurred out knife???). i think the mixing was pretty solid as it was close to tbz version, but made it fit sf9 really well. the fight scenes were super well done and i feel like did add something to the stage. then overall the dancing was really sharp this time around!! a super good stage....just take out the dancing guns.

stage 2 - jealous: this was one of the few stages outside the introductions that didn’t have a super heavy reliance on props, they didn’t rank well, and then we never saw a stage like it again </3 i loved this stage!! it didn’t change drastically music wise, but i really liked the kind of rock style? remix of now or never and it fit well with the concept of the stage. the formations!!! in this performance were some of my fave and loved the bits of choreo we saw when the members were dancing with the female dancers. there were some parts with the members weren’t quite in sync with each other, but overall it was really solid and sad we didn’t get to see a stage like this one again ;_;

intro stage - good guy: if sf9 just did suit concepts in the future i would not be mad <3 but overall a solid intro stage! there wasn’t much difference music wise except in the dance break in the beginning from the original song. choreo was pretty crisp and overall done well. there were no ‘wow’ factors in this stage, but a very solid one overall. 

ikon:

final stage - at ease: tbh i wasn’t too sure about the song in previews, but it’s grown a lot on me as this past week went on. it’s a great hype song and has the energy of ikon that i really love. the drop the in the chorus is really satisfying and it was just as satisfying visually in the performance as well. they used their dancers really well and the members also did really well with the chorus choreo. it was just overall a really satisfying stage for ikon and it was the only stage in my opinion they ramped up their more laid back energy and worked so well.

stage 2 - to the world: this is one of the stages that really does age pretty well. i wasn’t a huge fan of it mainly bc of the ending and it’s still not my fave but it didn’t take away as much from the stage as i remember. i LOVE both love scenario and killing me. the love scenerio portion of the stage i think it still one of my fave ikon moments. the acting was solid and i liked their story with it. in some ways i wish at least killing me was a little more hard hitting and less a copy and paste for the most part from their original. love scenario was an amazing opening but killing me needed something to make a solid ending song as it caused the energy of the stage to kinda fall off or not really raise at all. overall i do really like this stage, it just needs more of something for the ending.

intro - rhythm ta: i think this was my 2nd fave intro stage right being skz’s. i love the formation in the beginning and the vocal fry on the ‘ikon is back’ was a nice touch. it also just seemed like the most loose intro stage? like this wasn’t their first rodeo and just felt really comfortable on this stage. overall loved the energy of the stage, and there was solid mixing of the song and good choreo.

stage 3 - inception: this isn’t hate on bobby or anything but his rap parts really bought this performance down for me </3 it might have just been an off day or smth but...yeah. otherwise i really liked the stage!! the mixing was really intresting and they really made inception into their own ikon style. the sets used was also probably my fave overall? it was really really neat with the changing sets to match the song title. also the ending was super cool with the dancers in that final formation where they kinda slowed down. a really cool stage overall.

stage 4 - classy savage: family watching yg tv time <3 i think there was a really nice balance of both the original bp song and ikon’s style. tbh it seems opposite of what i said with the boyz..the insturmental seemed pretty close to blackpink’s, but the vocal/rap was very much the ikon style. the reason this one is so low for me is because it seemed like two separate stages with lisa? it was really neat that she was added, but it would have been so cool if he joined in with them for the final outro or something. she even had the same lyrics to the blackpink song as ikon’s changed so it just made it that much more separate. if lisa either joined in more with ikon or she wasn’t added at all i think this would have ranked a lot higher on my list </3

btob: another quick note....i think on the performance end btob is the opposite of tbz. they don’t do much with choreo but they’re such an enjoyable group to watch and their VOCALS are always so stable so i probably won’t have many notes on their dancing lmao

stage 4 - blue moon: concept and comedy kings <3 idk they were really feeling themselves but it looked like they were having so much fun on stage and it made me have a smile on my face the entire time. the concept of the movie worked so well with the style of the jazzy tune. i’m not too familiar with the original bside so i’m not sure how much it differs or if it does at all. there’s really nothing i would change from this stage...it’s just so enjoyable to watch from the concept, vocals, and peniel playing that piano terribly <3

stage 3 - back door: really close to their blue moon stage for me. i really feel like they got the hang of the kingdom stages at this point. i loved their remix of back door. they took a rap heavy song and turned it in to a vocal heavy one so well?? truly made it their own. the weird drop(?) after they say back door just works so well for me and the inclusion of the electric guitar is so NEAT. there wasn’t much as far as dancing except for the small bit at the end and in one of the ‘dressing rooms’ but it really worked for the concept of the stage. idk it’s just a really fun stage to watch and a really good hype energy at the end.

final stage - show and prove: TALK ABOUT A FINALE STAGE. i love this song on it’s own and it’s probably my top song or in the top 2 for the original kingdom songs. this stage is another one that’s so close with their blue moon and back door stage, but i think it ranks a little lower then the other two as there was choreo from the members (or at least not a lot at all). but even with that this stage didn’t feel any less grand then the other finale performances because they killed the vocal parts so much and the song itself is such a GOOD ending song. oh man i would rate this higher if dancing or concept also was involved ;_;

intro stage - beautiful and painful: (i think that’s what it’s called?): vocal kings <3 they really said we’re the best vocalists on this show with this intro and you know? they’re correct. i wasn’t too sure on this stage when i first watched it since it was so different compared to the other groups, but watching it again now it’s a really strong intro stage. btob is a really strong vocal group and they established that really early on and only gave us a taste of what they were really able to do. a great intro stage overall. 

stage 2 - missing you: overall the stage is really beautiful with the lighting and the trees, but similar to ikon’s stage with lisa it seemed really disjointed. the vocal sections were really strong on their own and the dance break section this was really cool on it’s own, but it didn’t mesh together super well :/ a decent stage for sure, i just wish they kept the style of the dance break or just kept it the style of the vocal stage. i think they might have just added that dance section in there as the other groups had such dance heavy performances and theirs didn’t, but again it just kinda took something away from it </3

unit stages: i’m not going to write notes on the unit stages cause i’ve already written so much on the group stages lmao but if you want to more about/wonder why one ranked lower then another than pls ask! i’m just too done with this post to write it now. i will say 2-4 are really close in ranking. love poem took the whole thing for me and i wasn’t a huge fan of wither rap unit stage </3

love poem

wolf

king and queen- both performances teams are really close in ranking after a rewatch

spark

colors

full dash

top 7 stages overall: cause i couldn’t choose 5 </3

love poem (i think it’s cause minnie brainrot but we’re not going to talk about it thank u)

i’ll be your man

blue moon

the real

from wonderland

side effects / god’s menu

move

final group rankings:

stray kids (call it favoritism, but they deserved it)

ateez

btob (if kingdom was only vocal/music they would have won in my opinion)

sf9

the boyz

ikon

[halfpint55]

A Defence of Kataang with regards to how they are portrayed in TLoK (it’s long but there’s headcanons at the end)

Note: This is not about shipping wars. This is a safe zone. This is not about Zutara vs Kataang. This is me defending Kataang and the characters themselves...from the writers. 

I initially wrote this as a response to a post that got me heated. My reblog just made it too long so here it is as its own post. 

Now this post ripped apart Kataang as a couple but more than that said some stuff about Aang himself that hurt my heart. I didn’t really want to pick on this post but its condemning of Kataang was based almost entirely in what we know of them as parents in TLoK and honestly it’s that lil nugget of canon that I take issue with. It has bothered me from the get go because it doesn’t make sense from a writing and story perspective, and it’s been pissing me off since I watched it.

TL;DR nice and early bc this post is gonna be a long one:

This particular condemnation of Kataang rests almost entirely on the SHITTY way they were portrayed as parents by the writers of LoK, and in all honesty, on this particular topic, canon should be ignored.

Overall Kataang parenting is of my biggest gripes with LoK because in terms of writing it’s totally incongruous - it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t align, and it makes zero sense for what we know of those characters, and I don’t know if I can ever forgive the showrunners for allowing it to be written it into canon.

I will also preface this by saying I like LoK - love it. I had a scroll through the comments and reblogs on this post, and a lot of the hate towards this portrayal of Kataang ended up being blamed on the “terrible writing of LoK” which is not where I stand at all. That being said I am so angry at the writers for this one.

The other portion of the concurring comments that were very hateful towards Kataang came from Zutara shippers and honestly for me, although I do ship Kataang, this not a just a Kataang issue. I’m of the belief that Zutara would’ve just as easily been written to have similar issues due to very similar dynamics - Zutara also would have been two powerful benders from very different cultures, and with Zuko/Aang (whoever you ship w her) having a massively important global leadership role that is embedded in who they are, and therefore impossible to ignore as a factor in their relationship.

Now let me be clear, my desire to reject canon on this front is by no means me wanting to believe the best of my faves, and not wanting to hear a word against Aang. It’s not even necessarily a defence of Kataang bc I ship it that hard (I mean I do but I can set that aside for the sake of argument if that’s what you need from me here). 

The first, and main issue people have with Aang/Kataang in Korra, is the first point of the original post:

So why in hell would [Katara] be okay with Aang ignoring TWO of their children’s complete existence once he found out they had an airbending son?

And I agree with the post on this front; Katara would not have allowed her children to each be treated differently by their father. I had the same initial thought when watching LoK, and it’s the reason I hate and want to ignore the canon of LoK so badly. 

As much as it hurts to think of, we have to accept that Aang wouldn’t have been able to stop his preferential treatment for Tenzin from bleeding through into his parenting just out of a desperate desire to save his culture (which is absolutely understandable - doesn’t make it okay, but it’s understandable; Aang suffered an incredible loss, a massive cultural trauma which he alone carries the burden of). So of course he wasn’t able to hide how excited he was, and forgot to be mindful of his attitude and behaviour towards Kya and Bumi. So this aspect of canon Kataang? Yeah, I’m with it. So far so good. EXCEPT the most unrealistic element of canon is now that Katara would let him. I simply do not believe for a second that Katara would’ve allowed Aang to be the kind of parent LoK painted him to be.

However, I do not think it would’ve been a point of contention between the two of them! Katara would pull him aside, Katara would gently (but firmly) point out what Aang mightn’t be able to see for himself - he’s focusing too hard on Tenzin.

And Aang would listen.

All throughout A;tLA the two of them often help the other sort through their stuff. Aang has a great track record of being receptive to Katara’s advice and help (calming him down when discovering Monk Gyatso’s body, The Desert when he Appa is stolen, Serpent’s Pass when he’s bottling his feelings about Appa being missing). He’s also just so receptive to others’ ideas - he just goes with it and trusts in his friends (think of his trust in Katara’s plan to rescue Haru, his trust in staying behind with Sokka in the library to get the eclipse info). Aang’s humility is one of the most incredible things about him and it’s at the core of who he is. He would absolutely be able to hear Katara telling him he’s focusing too hard on one child - he would be open, and he’d listen.

So to me now canon just does not make sense at all. it does not align with their established character traits. And yes, people change as they get older and grow into adulthood but honestly, the elements of their respective personalities that we’re talking about here are pretty core elements of who these two people are.

Katara has always been fiercely protective of those she loves, strongwilled, stubborn, and ready to (vocally or physically) fight for what she believes is right and that wouldn’t disappear as she gets older. She wouldn’t let Aang’s preferrential treatment slide.

Aang has always been, and chose to be despite his loss, an optimistic, kind, believe in the best of humanity kind of person. He’s open to all points of view, he’s a good listener, he always tries his absolute best to find solutions that are good for everyone. And again his humility, his willingness to love, is who he is.  He believes all humans (including fkn OZAI) and all life are sacred, he believes in the absolute right to life. The kid is a vegetarian for crying out loud.

Now the parts of the take in the post that hurt my heart to read about what OP thinks of Aang:

“Aang never made an attempt to establish anything resembling a real familial unit with Katara, basically just stayed around until she popped out an Airbender [...] she was treated like some trophy wife to give birth to airbenders and that’s it!”

I wasn’t going to address this in this post until I read the comments in the notes, because people seem to agree. They share the sentiment that Katara was reduced to “just a love interest” by the two ending up together.

However I do very much take issue w the notion that Aang “basically just stayed around until she popped out an Airbender” (and honestly that entire paragraph - we don’t actually know that Aang didn’t make an effort to establish a family unit). As much as the LoK writers fucked up in their portrayal of Kataang as parents, this is a much harsher judgement of Aang’s character as a husband and father than anything implied by Aang and Katara’s children. I just don’t buy that Aang would view Katara (or anyone he married, even if you don’t ship Kataang) as a trophy wife, whose only role is to have airbender children. He never has viewed her that way - he has always looked at her like she’s the sun, and the most important person to him after she pulled him out of the iceburg. He loves her the most of anyone on the planet. It does not align with his character, his values or beliefs that he’d think of her (or any partner) that way. He is so besotted with Katara for who she is it HURT me to read that part of your take. Aang simply would never. Look at how he looks at her! 

What’s more is the unwavering respect and deference he shows Katara as his waterbending master - he recognises and loves her as the whole, complete, three dimensional, TALENTED POWERFUL INCREDIBLE WOMAN that she is. She is NEVER “just” a love interest for Aang. (But ALSO, do we respect Suki any less for being Sokka’s obvious love interest??? No. suki is written to be so badass that Sokka is HER love interest and I think Katara has equally badass energy but I digress).

Moving on!

OP made an excellent point that there would’ve been culturally different values between the two but I don’t think it would’ve been family that was the clashing point. Yes the airbenders value spirituality and enlightenment. But they lived together in massive communities! They supported and raised one another. Their community and culture was strong, and they were bonded in their spirituality! They value love, as well as enlightenment, peace, and the lives of all.

Now, again the points they made about the cultural divides within the Kataang family unit are valid, but also again I dislike how they chose to portray this in LoK. It would definitely be a struggle they faced as a couple. However I think they really missed an opportunity here with where they took it. Because they do at one point in the comics have Katara bring up the fact that their family will be a blend of two cultures, and she brings it up because Aang is trying so hard to bring balance back to the world by means of seperation.

They’ve known from the get go of being a couple that they’re going to have to navigate being a culturally blended family unit.

So I find it so shitty that they wrote it so that Kya got to learn the waterbending culture, Tenzin got Air and bumi got…nothing? It’s dangerously close to the way Disney does the “the girls are carbon copies of mum, and the boys are carbon copies of dad” thing (think Lady and the Tramp). It’s lazy. Especially when we had that “separation is an illusion” episode, AND things like Zuko learning different nation’s styles and applying them to his firebending, and Sokka learning an element of strategy or fighting from every nation. 

So give us Kya using Airbending moves with her waterbending (maybe she invents the water scooter)! Give us Tenzin doing more grounded moves that Aunty Toph (or Lin, while they were together) taught him from earthbending.

There are much more creative ways to illustrate the bumps and troubles Kataang might have run into in trying to navigate incorporating equal parts of their cultures in their children and family unit. Even just smaller scale issues like food and meals - how do they figure out how to do mealstimes with Aang’s vegetarianism with Katara’s culturally significant Water Tribe meat dishes? And then even taking into account how picky little kids can be!

Give me a scene where they literally just ate moon pies for a week because toddler Kya would scream if you put anything else down in front of her.

Maybe Bumi demanded sea prunes over and over but Katara and Bumi are the only ones who like them, and Bumi bonds with his mother this way - they go on little one-on-one outings to water tribe restaurants in Republic City, searching for the most authentic sea prunes!

Kya maybe likes the water tribe fashions the most because it helps her connect with her namesake BUT Kya also has a playful sense of humour - not unlike Monk Gyatso - Aang sees how much she loved moon pies and teaches her to throw them with waterbending.

We know Tenzin was a calm, quiet, and possibly shy child. Maybe he loved to hole himself away learning crafts. Give me Tenzin learning to tattoo, Tenzin learning to carve (and carving his first glider - it crashes of course), but also Tenzin learning to carve water tribe adornments and necklaces. Katara tries at first but when she gets busy Sokka comes in and teaches Tenzin to break all the carving rules Katara has laid down (”it doesn’t need to be perfect my little pupil - let the creativity flow!”)

Tenzin may not be able to waterbend but that doesn’t mean he can’t learn other means of healing. As the littlest he spent a lot of time watching Katara work - she teaches him to tie splints, dress wounds, and yes deliver babies.

If you made it here I love you so much for reading. I love sharing my thoughts so HIGH FIVE YOU MADE IT, ur now my friend - the friendship is non-refundable sorry 😌😌