#the show was also a lot

[justbookscatsandtea]

I got the feeling that people hate the arc in the mortal world where Yan Dan pushes Tang Zhou away after regaining her memories. But I have to say that I actually really liked that part ... I mean it was heartbreaking and I was somewhat frustrated but I also feel like it was necessary and beneficial for them in the long run.

After first regaining her memories, she was understandably upset because Ying Yuan did everything in his power to make her hate him so that she may have a future. She doesn't know that and her feelings of betrayal are valid (I do not blame Ying Yuan for his actions either. He had an abundance of horrible and worse options and tried to make the best choices. It might have been better if he and Yan Dan communicated more but I feel he was the only one who really grasped the enormity of the situation - that there was no way Yan Dan would have survived if he so much as hinted at caring for her - the emperor was on his case already). Anyway she feels betrayed and doesn't want to be with a man who could never love her (as he made her think) and could definitely never choose her. So pushing him away was her wish to save herself from future heartbreak. It also gave her time to come to terms with her feelings and to find out what really happened back then (like with the butterfly of hate but actually love).

Then comes the iteration where Tang Zhou does the unthinkable: he decides to choose her over his sect, over his martial arts, over everything that held importance in his life. I think that it did help her heal and see that duty is not more important to him than love. (Funnily enough I have the Barbie and the Pauper quote stucknin my head because of this show: duty is doing the things your heart might well regret. It just fits them so beautifully because honestly the duty of the Sovereign Lord alnost broke them both)

But then comes the most important part for her I believe - what she did not even manage to do in the heavenly realm as isolated as she was from the world up there: she understood what Ying Yuan meant to the world. That all her friends, her family, the people she loved needed Tang Zhou to become the Sovereign Lord again. He can choose his duty over her because the sect will be FINE. Sure they needed some help establishing themselves but ultimately they did not need Tang Zhou to lead them. The stakes were pretty much non-existent. This is not true for the world where a conspiracy 11 000 years in the making has already seen ENTIRE REALMS DESTROYED. He IS the powerhouse of the heavenly realm, the only one who can make things right. That is also the compromise they make at the end after all. AFTER fulfilling his duty and saving the world, he will leave for the mortal realm and they can be together. When the world is save to live in once again. And she needed to get to the point where she sacrificed the second part of her heart not only for love. The first half was mainly out of her love for him. Sure she thought that the heavenly realm might need him but the reasons where far more personal. Now she also knows that he NEEDS to be up there and make things right. In the end he sacrificed himself for duty and love for he had already hurt her with the demonic powers he cannot control and she choses to share his destiny which enabled them later on to be reborn together.

Another minor point is that she basically turned the Uno reverse card on him: now she will push him away for his own good. I think a part of her doesn't want him to choose between the world and herself again because it is at the end a cruel choice that will tear him apart no matter what. And she loves him too much to do that hence the compromise later on.

[bellwethers]

Tough.

[hoofpeet]

Doing a full pivot in 2025 into dedicating this blog to Between the Lions fanart

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

Suddenly, bell bottoms aren't so bad

Bonus sketch, because I had to vv

"Stop checking out my assistant, Stanley."

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

I remember discussing Tintin casting choices with a friend from Germany and remarked how it was odd he often has an English accent in adaptations rather than a Belgian one, and my friend just replied "that's because Tintin gives incredibly strong English boy energy (derogatory)"

Here in the UK there's a lot of weird classism tied into accents. Today accent diversity and representation in broadcasting is actively pursued but in Tintin's time there certainly was a preferred accent to have.

imagine this exchange happens between pages 28-29 in The Crab with the Golden Claws

[akanemnon]

Chara knows something that we don't, methinks...

BONUS COMIC

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[ink-the-artist]

[ditzybat]

tim: nah man, i stay away from drugs, last time i touched that stuff i killed someone

jason: you… killed someone?

tim: i mean, she was resuscitated after and definitely set it up so i would kill her (i think), but you know it’s the principle of the matter right?

jason: that’s an original experience i fear

[rowanisawriter]

you know. when i first picked up ace attorney i thought perhaps the thing between edgeworth and phoenix was being exaggerated but there is no subtext in this game. they really are like this. there’s no reading into anything they literally are just like this

[sparrowlucero]

dr who is (apparently) redesigning this turtle from the classic series to be just a green human elf lady instead and twitter is eating it up because "no one would take the show seriously otherwise" and "the audience isn't able to empathize with something that doesn't look human". another fascinating data point in the psychology of doctor who fans.

[starrysharks]

friendship is magic

closeups:

[hinamie]

"I'll show you every day that choosing to live was worth it"

some of my favourite scenes from @hijinks-n-lowjinks' fic things i would miss from the other side . this fic tore my heart out fr but like in a good way and i wanted to pay it homage the only way i know how <3

[softichill]

My favorite thing in object shows is when characters who are friends stack on each other. Tbh if I was a stable surface my friends could comfortably sit on I would also carry them everywhere

[voylitscope]

Did you know that between 1939 and 1941 the NYC Tax Administration and the Works Progress Administration collaborated to take photographs of nearly every building in all 5 boroughs of New York City? And that you can see these photos today thanks to NYC Municipal archiving? This is, obviously, amazing for hundreds of reasons. For the purposes of this post, it's fantastic because this is a very real address:

And when I put that address into the photo locator map, I get this:

Going from there, we can walk around the surrounding blocks via photographs. And if we assume that Steve and Bucky's pre-war apartment was fairly close to the Barnes', then these photos from 1939 to 1941 are a historically accurate trip to their neighborhood.

So, let's explore some pre-war Brooklyn. For your fic inspiration needs, your feelings, the general Stucky vibes, or just because:

160 State Street, bigger and without the map.

(If you ever feel like making the details of a fic incredibly historically accurate, there are so many real businesses to choose from in these photos.)

Like I said, there are pictures of nearly every building. This is just a small collection of the images I grabbed from the immediate blocks around 160 State. You can walk around the neighborhood in more detail, or anywhere else in 1939-1941 New York you want on the map I used.  

[paintedcrows]

In my heart, Dipper grows up to be the most cringe fail "influencer" alive

[idolomantises]

Man is it just me or are a lot of TV shows nowadays are written to have big emotional episodes in scenes with very little build up.