#the ultimate found family!!

[bixels]

Now that Ghibli's new movie is coming out soon, I've been thinking about anime films and wanna talk about my favorite animated movie ever, Tokyo Godfathers.

TG is a 2003 tragicomedy by Satoshi Kon, following three unhoused people––an alcoholic, a runaway girl, an a trans woman––who find a baby in a dumpster and set off across Tokyo to reunite her with her parents.

If you like the sound of that, go watch it because the rest of this post is spoilers and I have FEELINGS about this movie.

URGHH, the fact that only two moments of true kindness, generosity, and care given to the three protagonists without any expectation of reciprocity are given by a Latin-American immigrant couple and a drag club full of queens and trans women. The fact that, despite her loud and dramatic personality, Hana is the glue that holds the team together and the heart of the whole movie. The fact that this movie pulls no punches at showing the violence and inhumanity committed by "civilized Japanese society" against the unhoused. The fact that Miyuki craves to be loved by her parents and ends up seeing Hana as her true mother. The fact that Miyuki starts off accidentally using transphobic language against Hana, but slowly begins calling her "Miss Hana" out of respect. The fact that, according to Kon, Hana's role in the story is as a mythological trickster god and "disturb the morality and order of society, but also play a role in revitalizing culture." The fact that Hana so desperately wants to be part of a true family, yet is willing to sacrifice her found family so they can be with their own, and is rewarded for her good deeds in the end by becoming a godmother. The fact that, throughout the movie, wind and light have been used to signify the presence of god's hand/influence (this movie's about nondenominational faith––faith in yourself, faith in others, faith in a higher power. Lots of religious are referenced, such as Buddhism/Hinduism, Christianity, and Shintoism), and in the climax of the film, as Hana jumps off a building to save a baby that isn't hers, a gust of wind and a shower of light save her from death. The fact that god saves a trans woman's life because she proved herself a mother, and that shit makes me CRY.

[kazswift]

platonic relationships in media are actually so much more important to me than romantic ones. not sorry

[spaceistheplaceart]

once again thinking about @void-dude's static ford. ough.

check this out

[donelywell]

December 14 2023

As a robot, OMEGA never needs to sleep. That just gives him more time to make amazing Lego builds (he's still trying to figure out how to make them explode) Also Headcanon: Rouge is a gamer, she loves first person shooters like Doom >:)

[invisible-pink-toast]

love jepp's character in sweet tooth. like his backstory is how he went from being a star football player, to the "hybrid catcher", to a bitter lonely wanderer but then from the start of the series his character arc is basically:

[sadiecoocoo]

You guys should watch Ultimate Spider-Man. They give Peter so many boyfriends. Also it deserves more recognition and fan content that I don’t wanna make rn and literally cannot make since I don’t have access to my computer rn

[brethilach]

gollum is a little freak but I genuinely get so upset thinking about him because we know that was still a lil freaky even before he and deagól found the ring but he very well would've had the opportunity to have a good live and BE good if they hadn't. and no matter what happened afterward, he couldn't go back home. even if he confessed to his crime he very likely would've still been kicked out of his community, or at the very least socially shunned to the point where he might as well just leave anyway. the ring would've consumed him no matter what, and for no fault of his own (or at the least, no faults that would ever warrant some cosmic punishment amounting to what the ring Did to him). by the time Bilbo found him he was far, FAR past the normal lifespan of a Hobbit. After the Ring was destroyed Bilbo began deteriorating at 130, and he had only beaten the current record for the longest Hobbit lifespan by a single year. Gollum was at LEAST 3x older than that. Very likely more. No matter what happened—even if Sam was a little kinder, Faramir was a little gentler, or Frodo was able to fully reach "Smeagól" in the way he so desperately wanted to, even if he helped destroy the Ring himself, or he didn't fall into the fire—Gollum would've died with the Ring. Even if the Quest FAILED and Gollum successfully claimed the Ring like he wanted, he STILL would've died (because Sauron would have never let him hold on to that thing for hundreds of years again, if his body could've even handled that). There is no reality where Smeagól would have a happy ending, whether he was "redeemed" or not. Yet all of it was such a fundemental factor in the success of the Quest (and even Bilbo's success during the Quest of Erebor). Definition of Doomed by the narrative

[wonder-worker]

Thinking about Elizabeth Woodville as a gothic heroine is making me go insane. She entered the story by overturning existing social structures, provoking both ire and fascination. She married into a dynasty doomed to eat itself alive. She was repeatedly associated with the supernatural, both in terms of love and death. Her life was shaped entirely by uncanny repetitions - two marriages, two widowhoods, two depositions, two flights to sanctuary, two ultimate reclamations, all paralleling and ricocheting off each other. Her plight after 1483 exposed the true rot at the heart of the monarchy - the trappings of royalty pulled away to reveal nothing, a never-ending cycle of betrayal and war, the price of power being the (literal) blood of children. She lived past the end of her family name, she lived past the end of her myth. She ended her life in a deeply anomalous position, half-in and half-out of royal society. She was both a haunting tragedy and the ultimate survivor who was finally free.

[utilitycaster]

There's this weird phenomenon where the people who are really, really invested in Campaign 3 being The Best try to argue that it's the most closely bonded party. when in fact the absolute strongest material with Bells Hells thus far is them realizing with a shock that they've spent almost three months alternating between "my way or the highway" and smoothing things over to the point that they almost shatter along with Ashton and realize that they absolutely cannot go on a time-sensitive, mission-critical journey to save the world without stopping to take a team-bonding vacation.

And to be clear, this rips, but it feels as though while Campaign 1 and Campaign 2 fans might disagree on their favorite campaigns, they do like their campaigns for what they actually are and simply have different preferences with regards to what kind of story they like. This particular flavor of Campaign 3 fans, and there's a decent number of them, only care about winning on the most kindergarten-ass "all you need is love 🥺" axis (also, shades of the bean-counting/points approach to media analysis) but as a result they put forward an idea of the campaign that's simply not the reality and it's like, do you like Campaign 3? Or do you like the fanfiction version of it you wrote in your head based on the first 10 episodes and into which you have slowly dissolved your brain? There's plenty of valid reasons to enjoy or even prefer the campaign, but it's easily the most dysfunctional party and that's fine!

[musclesandhammering]

I need there to be an emotional scene in Secret Wars or Thor 5 or whatever when, after Loki’s out of the tree and the war is won etc, Thor expects Loki to stay in New Asgard with him, but Loki declines and says he’s returning to the TVA.

Something along the lines of “I’m not your Loki, your Loki is dead. This was his home, not mine. I’m sorry he never got to see it. But I have my own home, and they’re waiting for me by that time door. So..”

I just think it would annihilate me :)

[blackbatcass]

I really really wanna know more about Donna Troyyy, so far I love her so much but I don't wanna be the type of person who claims they love a character then can't name 5 things about them. I wanna do her justice and really understand her character and purpose. I also don't wanna read something that completely mischaracterizes her because I'm aware that there's a LOT of that these days. I was hoping you could give me some recommendations to read after my tests?

Thank you so much if you do, and have a wonderful day! <3

I think I can help with that! Luckily donna's characterization is pretty solid & consistent in any comic up to around 2006. i would be wary of more modern interpretations of her but for most of her older appearances you don't really have to worry about bad writing.

The number 1 rec for donna is always New Teen Titans, that's where pretty much the majority of her appearances and character development take place in the 80s and 90s. The whole series is very long though so if you want more specific recommendations that focus on her I would definitely read ntt vol 1 #38, vol 2 #7-9, #18-21, #47, and #50-55. Issues 18-21 especially are probably my number one rec for donna if you're interested in seeing her flaws and struggles; those four issues took place when the titans were kind of falling apart, donna had to step up and call the shots, and it's a really neat insight into her character that i don't think gets quite as much attention as arcs like her origin stories. You'll probably honestly get a good feel for her if you pick any couple of arcs from NTT and read them through.

Wonder Woman (1987) #126-136 is a very important arc that reiterates donna's borderline horror dimension-bending origin weirdness. Titans '99 is a must-read for her, and jumping off that the Return of Donna Troy miniseries is like... Thee donna comic of all time so i would definitely recommend that. In between ntt and titans 99 she was in things like green lantern and darkstars but honestly the biggest things for her character you have to know from that time are that she and terry got divorced, she was dating kyle rayner, terry tried to take custody away from her, and terry & robbie died in a car accident.

There are way more detailed and comprehensive rec lists you can find in my donna tag if you're interested- I left out arcs like total chaos which are narratively very important for her but i don't think are quite as good a showcase for her as a character- but I think if you just want to get a feel for her character these are a good place to start. if you want like a primer on some of her major character traits i can definitely provide that lol:

donna is an incredibly emotionally intelligent and kind person who is a very good listener and always ready to help, which is why she's pretty much the #1 trusted person every single titan goes to when they need to vent. unfortunately being the appointed Fixer of All Problems Mom Friend when you're like barely an adult gets pretty overwhelming and is a very unfair weight to put a person; you can see this start to grate on her in titans 99 especially. something I like about donna is how open and honest she is with people about her struggles. most characters in the superhero genre would rather die than admit they need help and will never ever talk about their problems without being forced to, but donna isn't like that. if you ask her what's wrong she's going to be honest and tell you what's bothering her. she struggles a LOT with trying to appear 'perfect' in everyone else's eyes, and is really motivated by seeming to have it all together even when she doesn't. this is fueled a lot by her not being born an amazon and not knowing where she came from; the fact that for a lot of ntt she doesn't know her own history really gets under her skin. donna's identity issues are a HUGE part of her character especially later on as retcons and reboots get folded into her story. her past doesn't make sense. she has like nine competing backstories. she's one of the only people to remember the world pre-crisis on infinite earths and has literally been been forced out of existence and remade through pure memories, not to mention all the times dark angel forced her to live different lives until she reached rock bottom as a punishment for diana lol. in one origin she literally is not a real person and was just a mirror twin of diana. the main tagline associated with her is 'who is donna troy?' lol. which i think is fascinating and a very fucked up existence.

Anyway! I can talk about my girl all day. I hope this was at least a little bit helpful!

[pyrotechnicallyabee]

dr ratio's name being Veritas made me lose my shit when i learnt it. his name is literally a concept. its the fucking ancient roman value of honesty. his full fucking name (if translated into english) is basically 'True Reckoning/Calculation'.

Edit: Revised possible translation: 'Truthful Reckoning'. I initially played more into the calculation side rather than the judgemental side due to his academic accolades but he's also very judgemental in canon.

[mybraindumpsterfire]

Fantasy High headcanon/scenario:

Adaine always looks longingly at stuffed animals or little trinkets at stores her and the Hot Mess Express Fam™️ visit but she still has that feeling of never asking for them due to how she was raised and her wants constantly being ignored by her parents. Before the Hot Mess leave though, Jawbone gently puts an arm around Adaine and guides her back to whatever she was looking at and tells her to get what she wants. He’s here for her and supports her in whatever she does and if she wants a stupidly large stuffed mushroom, goddamnit she’s getting that fucking mushroom. Adaine cuddles it all night and sleeps with it for weeks. Jawbone now takes Adaine plush shopping whenever they go out and she sees something she wants and Adaine finally feels comfortable to be the person she never got to be with her bio parents.

[tending-the-hearth]

MORE TURTLE ANGST AU BECAUSE TURT ANGST

because i am very very obsessed with versions of the turtles meeting each other i couldn't stop thinking about the utter angst that would ensue but also the softness and slow found family vibes

specifically the 2012 turtles meeting versions of themselves where tang shen doesn't exist, where splinter's entire world is the turtles + april

the 2012 turtles meeting, say, the rise!tmnt, the bayverse!tmnt, or the mutant mayhem!tmnt?? versions of the turtles whose splinters never had a serious love interest prior to their creation, whose love and attention was always solely focused on them?

i'm thinking about bayverse!splinter, who sacrificed himself for his boys without a second thought, who finds out about another version of himself who has all but pushed the turtles away, the precious turtles who are the light of splinter's life

mm!splinter, who literally was desperate to keep his beloved sons protected from possible dangers, who faced his greatest fear in order to help his boys, seeing how broken, how tired they are.

rise!splinter, who, despite how it seems, can and will put his boys above everything else, who cannot even fathom the idea of not wanting his sons around, of falling back into his life before the boys, seeing these versions of his sons be so easily abandoned

just... the 2012!turtles meeting different versions of themselves, and meeting different versions of splinter, and being so fully prepared to recieve that same cold shoulder, only to be gathered into warm embraces, and have gentle, fatherly reassurances whispered to them.

and they're rightfully hesitant, they're unsure, because having your father immediately turn to his original family without a second thought leaves some lasting trauma and pain, but they can't resist falling into the different splinters' arms, pouring their hearts out as they cry and listen to advice that only splinter can give.

and somehow, idk maybe the donnies make dimensional transport watches bc that's definitely a thing that would happen, so visiting the different dimensions, and hanging out with the different versions of themselves + splinter becomes a weekly thing. and slowly, the 2012!tmnt bring the other versions to their own world, introduce them to xever, and chris, and april, and casey, and the mutanimals, and it slowly spirals into all of them getting together and hanging out.

and the 2012 boys slowly start to realize that they do have a family. it may not be the one they thought they had, but it's even better, and full of people who truly love them.

@queen-with-the-quill @madcatgurl

[mysteroads]

Balm for the Pain to Come

So, MHA Chapter 427 is apparently going to feature Midoriya talking to Spinner, and it's gonna hurt. Therefore, to combat that pain, I offer this fic excerpt, where Tomura picks Spinner up. After all, how could it be Heaven without his Player 2? 😏

(warning: the following excerpt contains friendship, a heart-to-heart, swearing, cute dogs, and is designed to tug on heart strings and cause laughter. author is not liable for any spit-takes, snort-laughs, or the desire to pet dogs and read fanfiction.)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Following one of the tugging quest lines, Tomura found himself again in a hospital, this one even more chaotic. For a moment, he just looked around, confused. Why would he be in a hospital? Touching his chest, he reached for those invisible hooks, and felt a gentle tug in response. So his quest objective was definitely here, but what hospital would be treating a villain, especially one of Tomura's League, after the war? And this was definitely after, a look at the date on a computer screen confirmed that. He’d lost track of the days there at the end, but by his best estimate, it had been at least two days since AFO’s defeat.

Two days. Yet he’d just brought Toga to their new home less than an hour ago.  And he was pretty sure they’d jumped ahead by a week at least for Toga’s final visit to Uravity. 

Being a time fish had the potential to get very confusing. 

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he deliberately chose to not think about paradoxes and instead focused on what he was doing. He followed the quest indicator at a jog, Mon panting happily alongside him. Like before, he ignored the presence of other ghosts, focusing only on that tug until he came to the MICU floor, which was really full. More than full. Overflowing. No wonder the hospital staff looked like they had been fighting high-ends and mixing energy drinks with coffee. Even with all those people, though, he spotted his target in seconds and was sprinting to their side.

“Spinner! Spinner, holy shit— Spinner, I’m here!” Dead or not, he almost ran into the bed, skidding on the slick floor. “Fuck fuck fuck, man, what the hell happened?!” Spinner looked so sick. No, not sick, drained. Drained and beat to shit, his bright green scales turned an almost gray color where bruises didn’t show through. Tomura strangled his tears, instead reaching out and putting his hand over his friend’s. To his shock, Spinner opened his eyes. 

“T-Tomura?” he whispered, barely audible over the whoosh of oxygen.

Tomura’s hand tightened over his. “Yeah. It’s me, Spin.”

Tears started dripping down Spinner’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Tomura. I… I tried. I wanted to-to be helpful…”

��H-Helpful?” Tomura used the heel of his other hand to wipe away an errant tear. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Wanted… Wanted to stand up strong like you. Worthy… worthy to follow you. But I was too weak.”

Tomura saw it all in an instant and a groan escaped him, despite his effort to hold it in. He bowed his head, trying to shove his emotions back into their place. “Goddammit. All For One. He gave you quirks, didn’t he? That piece of shit. I was right there and I didn’t stop him!” He looked up again, meeting Spinner’s eyes, and said with all the ferocity he could muster, “You are worthy! You’ve always been worthy, Spinner! You were my friend! You have no idea how much having a friend meant to me. I never had someone to play and talk games with before you! You were the first person I could actually relate to, someone who understood what it was like to be trapped in a dark room, alone except for characters on a screen and random voices on a headset— people miles away that you were too scared to actually reach out to in case they found out what you really were! I never cared about your quirk or what you could offer me that way. You were my friend, Spinner, and that was enough!”

Spinner was sobbing for real now, and with a huge effort, he sat up and pulled Tomura into a hug. It felt real and solid, which was weird, but Tomura didn’t question it. He was getting more hugs after death than he’d gotten in his whole life, and he was starting to actually like them.

He had just started to relax when the machines around them went nuts. Tomura jerked back, panicking as people in scrubs converged on the bed. He didn’t understand what was going on until he looked past Spinner’s shoulder and saw… Spinner, still lying on the bed. 

Tomura looked between the Spinner he still had a hold on, who was a bright, healthy green, and the one on the bed, who did not look healthy at all.

“OH FUCK!” 

Frantically, he tried to shove the bright green Spinner back down into the other one. This was made difficult by Spinner himself, who fought his efforts and refused to let go of him. 

“Dammit, Spinner! Get back into your stupid body!”

“No!” Spinner’s claws dug into his shoulders and he yelped, calling his friend a very non-politically correct word, much to Spinner’s outrage. “Augh! You racist bastard!”

“I can call slurs with the worst of them,” Tomura hissed, “and I’ll do it if you don’t stop dying right now!”

“I was a gamer bro too, jerk! I’ve heard it all!” Spinner hissed right back. “And I’ve coded like five times already! The only reason I stayed was because I wanted to see you again!”

“Well, you’ve seen me! Sorry I’m dead, but you can Stop! Dying! Now!” He punctuated each word with a new attempt to shove Spinner back down.

Spinner gritted his teeth, which was a lot more impressive looking than when Tomura did it, and kept his grip on Tomura. “You don’t get it! I thought I wanted to be a leader, wanted to be strong like you. Thought that would make me a somebody. But realized too late that supporting you was what made me happy, Shig! That I loved being your friend, being with the League, and watching you all become something amazing! And that I was okay not being someone important, because helping you stand tall made me feel like the greatest person in the whole world! Where you go, I go, because I’m your Player Two!!!”

Tomura stopped trying to push Spinner away, and the lack of resistance overbalanced the heteromorph so much he fell completely out of the bed.

Trying vainly to wipe away tears before they fell, Tomura choked out, “You bastard. That's fucking emotional manipulation. You know I can't do without my Player Two.”  

Smiling in triumph, Spinner stood up and Tomura let himself be pulled into another hug, this time though, he leaned into it, letting Spinner hold him up. It hurt, but at the same time it felt really good to rely on someone else’s strength for a change. It had been a long time since he’d done that. Before Deika for sure. There was still one more thing to address though. Resting his head against Spinner’s shoulder, Tomura whispered, “I’m sorry. You believed in me and I let you down.”

“Nah,” Spinner said dismissively. “You’re my friend, Tomura. As long as you’re happy, then so am I. But… did you at least kill All For One?”

Tomura let out a weak laugh. “Took all my HP, and Deku helped, but yeah. I KOed the fucker.”

Satisfaction dripped from Spinner’s voice. “Then it was worth it. And things will get better for people like me after this, I think, so double worth it. I’m satisfied.” There was a pause, then in a totally different voice, cried, “Holy cow! What a cute dog!”

Tomura choked, then started to laugh for real. “Holy cow? You say that in front of my possibly guardian angel dog? Seriously?”

“Shut up!” Spinner said, blushing through his scales and giving Tomura a shove.  

Still laughing, he waved to his dog in invitation. “Her name is Mon. Mon-chan. You can pet her all you like later.” 

Spinner immediately crouched to pet Mon, who was delighted by the attention. “Why not now?” he demanded, making Mon’s back leg thump as he scratched a hard to reach spot.

“Because the others are waiting, and I still have some quests to complete.”

Spinner looked up, eyes suddenly serious. “Dabi.”

Tomura’s throat tightened. He’d hoped that he would be wrong about Dabi, but Spinner’s immediate conclusion pretty much confirmed his worst fears. “Yeah. Him and Mister.”

“I thought Compress was in prison! Safe!” All of the excitement from petting Mon was gone, Spinner’s face tight with anxiety.

Pulling him to his feet, Tomura led Spinner to a familiar door. “As far as I know, that’s where he still is. I’m just checking on him.” He just hoped that his visit wouldn’t conclude the way Spinner’s had.

~*~

Taking Spinner home was, thankfully, uneventful. Tomura was interested to see that a floor to ceiling bookshelf had been added in his absence, absolutely packed with games and books, and that another controller in Spinner’s signature green and purple had appeared on the entertainment system. Magne was mixing drinks and Toga and Twice both had bowls of popcorn, all of which went all over the place as they lunged to pull Spinner into a group hug.

Chuckling, Tomura left his friends to their reunion, still feeling a little raw from finding Spinner. It hurt that he hadn’t been able to give Spinner the same support Spinner had obviously given him, but he’d just have to make it up to him. Theoretically, he would have the rest of forever to do that.

To Read More, follow this link! Thanks for reading!

[paper-lilypie]

i realize my love for the “guy who becomes a father/child that sees them as their parent” dynamic stems from my love for Treasure Planet and honestly that’s very sexy of me