#the way this behavior literally reflects what kind of person they are too

[newtmastime]

the exhaustion over being around someone judgemental is on a whole another level. i can keep up with physical activities to an extent but having to hear someone endlessly yap about something that doesn't concern them and judge literal strangers they've met on sidewalks for an assumption, drains the life out of me completely.

[wonderjanga]

Guys… Marvel Might Need Some Help

Captain Marvel talks to himself. It’s a well known fact. The normally cheery and friendly man is a little crazy, but aren’t we all? And you see, the thing is, they know he’s talking to himself because not only did they get Zatanna to check if he was talking to a ghost of some kind, but he’s personally confirmed it:

Marvel: “Oh uhm… I guess I’m talking to myself.”

Batman: “Talking to yourself…?” *blinks rapidly as if Billy can see that under his cowl* “Captain, do we need to schedule an appointment with Black Canary?”

Marvel: “What?! No! I’m perfectly fine! Everyone talks to themselves!”

That’s what Billy thinks anyways. See, Billy developed the habit of talking to himself because he was usually alone most of the time before he met Freddy and reunited with Mary. Talking out loud made himself feel less lonely. Freddy also talks to himself, but he keeps it mostly to mumbles, and as for Mary, she does the same thing as Billy. So, with the only two people he converses with on the daily as the standard, he’d say talking to yourself is normal.

By the way, Batman got a little more concerned at his reasoning, but couldn’t really deny it because he’s talked to himself before, after going 45 straight with no sleep on. He had been hallucinating talking to Tim. Speaking of Tim, the boy often mutters to himself when going over cases so… Bruce supposed he would let it go. He’d still have Dinah on speed dial though if Cap seemed to get worse.

Billy didn’t get worse, he just didn’t change his normal talking to himself.

Billy: *in Marvel form, talking to Marvel in the reflection of one of the Watchtower’s windows* “What a stupid idiot.”

Reflection!Marvel: “I know, right? Who does that?”

Billy: “I couldn’t tell yo…” *trails off and looks to the side to see Bruce staring at him* “…Hey Mr. Batman. You need something?”

Batman: “No.” *continued staring*

Billy: *has no choice but to stare back*

Batman: *walks away staring at Billy the entire time until he turns a corner*

Later, Bruce reviewed the footage. What he didn’t know was that people can’t see Marvel’s reflection talking back. Cameras couldn’t pick it up either. So sure enough, he saw Cap having a full blown conversation with a mirror. Strike one for Marvel.

Then, there was a time after a battle against the usual alien invaders where Marvel was genuinely just staring at either the ground or his shadow and talking.

Billy: *in Marvel form talking to Marvel (Thavma?) as a shadow* “That’s what I was saying. What if he doesn’t…”

Shadow!Marvel: “He’ll definitely let you. And if he doesn’t, you could always just break his kneecaps.”

Billy: “I’m not doing that.”

Shadow!Marvel: “I’m just saying. It’s just if that old man is that pressed about you getting some food, it seems a change is needed.”

Batman: *watching this entire interaction and not being able to hear Shadow Marvel*

Strike two for Marvel.

Then, there are the times Marvel will just blankly stare ahead in meetings, mumbling to himself.

Marvel: *mumbling under his breath* “Mercury, you’re being loud.”

Batman: *sitting next to him, slowly looks over*

Supes: *presenting and looks over to Marvel for a second before shaking off what he said*

Marvel: “No, I’m not smashing a window and letting everyone fly out. I’m not insane.”

That was strike three for Bruce. Which was himself too many strikes in his opinion. That one sentence also gained an extremely concerned look from Clark who literally paused his presentation to stare at Marvel with a dumbfounded expression for a moment.

After the meeting…

Batman: “Marvel, I’d like to talk with you.”

Marvel: “Oh uhm… Okay! What’s up, Mr. Batman?”

Batman: “What’s up is that I’ve spoken with Black Canary and we want to schedule an appointment between you and her.”

Marvel: “Mr. Batman, we’ve already talking about this. I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need therapy.”

Batman: “You might think you’re fine, but I’ve grown concerned over recent behaviors you’ve exhibited.” *hands him Canary’s business card* “At least consider it.”

Marvel: *looks at the card* “Uh… Will do.”

Batman: “Good.” *walks off*

Marvel: *as soon as Bruce is out of sight, chucks it into his pocket dimension to forget about it*

Nope, nope, nope. He’s not touching therapy with a ten foot pole. He’s heard that stuff costs like thousands of dollars! He does not have that kind of money. Not that he doubts the League would cover it. He also just doesn’t want his behavior to be psychoanalyzed. No thank you. He really doesn’t need to be told something is wrong with him when he is perfectly fine. Marvelous in fact!

[pippin-katz]

Jayden, George & Cameos

Alright, maybe this is me being presumptuous, but I feel like I need to say something. I’m going to offer my two cents about the cameo situation.

I did not buy a cameo when George did it, but upon asking someone who did, they costed £40. The price of the joint cameo is evidently £80.

Is that too high of a price?

If you thought £40 for George’s cameo was fine, then you have to say “no”.

George by himself was £40. If Jayden made his own by himself, it would probably also be £40. Therefore, if you add them together, you get £80.

People need to understand that while they might have fun with the cameos, they are still working. Recording videos like that is exhausting, and if you don’t think so, you’ve clearly never done it. I have recorded reaction videos and after thoughts and stories for years, and I still get exhausted if I have to do a multiple part story, or do it over and over until I’m satisfied.

Now, I know a lot of people are peeved more about the phrasing of these joint cameos as a “gift for the fans” when the price might be out of budget for a lot of people.

But if you are throwing a tantrum over it, you need to sit the fuck down, and check your damn privilege.

It is a gift.

They don’t have to do this. They literally don’t. They don’t have to interact with us. They don’t have to post anything. They owe you nothing.

Instead, they have taken the time out of their days, their schedules, whatever they might be busy with, or even if they’re relaxing, and they’ve decided to record video messages for you.

Not to mention, do you even understand what they are putting themselves in risk of emotionally or mentally?

The very first thing that came to a LOT of people’s minds when this was announced was: “I hope no one asks them to kiss because we’ll never get Payneland.”

If you didn’t think that, congratulations! You have apparently been fortunate enough not to encounter what real Internet behavior is like. Or maybe you’re new to a fandom space, and this is your first time! Great!

You might be thinking: “No one would actually do that; at least not in this fandom!”

But the truth of the matter is that there are many people who would and probably WILL do that.

The anonymous nature of the Internet has enable millions, and I mean millions, of people to act on and voice their most disgusting and disturbing thoughts. The content or person does not always reflect on the people who digest or interact with it. There are monsters everywhere; they are in every space whether you encounter them or not.

By being online all of us open ourselves up to the risk of people attacking us or exposing us to things we do not enjoy or want. For people of any level of fame, it’s multiplied tenfold.

George and Jayden can turn off direct messages, block people, mute tags, and whatnot, so they can avoid most attempts to reach them. By offering these cameos, they are giving a direct route for people to type whatever the hell they want into their message, and whether they like it or not, they’ll probably be reading it.

This is an open invitation for those awful people to request anything, to say anything, to ask anything, even if they report it and don’t respond, they’ll likely see it.

Invasive questions about their sexualities, their relationships, their personal lives. Disgusting thirst messages. Disturbing requests asking for specific things to act as a replacement or substitute for what we would’ve liked to see in the show.

Anything and everything you can think of is possibly something they will encounter, and they’re willing to take that risk to give you something special. To talk directly to you, even if it’s only for a minute.

It’s become increasingly clear, to me at least, that Jayden is a sensitive soul. Not in a “can’t take a joke” way, or in any condescending way. He’s just kind. He’s kind in a way that is taken advantage of in online spaces. He’s also young. A lot of this is still new to him.

He apologizes like it’s his fault if his stream chat gets some bad people in it. He was talking about how he wanted to continue playing Detroit: Become Human really badly, but felt like we would be upset if he didn’t stream his entire play-through. He asked for a list of names of people who support him on Twitch, their usernames and actual names, because he wanted to keep track of them.

Jayden was really excited about the joint cameos. He looked so thrilled to talk about it, and was looking forward to hanging out with George, and doing this for fans.

When fans turned around and yelled about prices, it probably crushed him! Instead of reciprocated excitement, he got bitterness and hate. And for something that he might not even have control over, mind you.

It feels like he can never do enough to make fans happy.

It’s not his fault the show was canceled, but he probably feels just as bad about it as we all do! It’s disappointing! It’s upsetting! And he wanted to do it! But he can’t, and that has to feel frustrating as someone passionate about what they do.

It’s not his fault some fans are toxic or judgmental of every interaction he has with his community. It’s not his fault that people spread hate.

But it probably feels like he can at least put a stop to it by not continuing to do any of it. If he just stops streaming, no toxic chats. If he stops talking to fans, no people complaining about favoritism.

I don’t blame him for wanting to walk away entirely.

To wrap this up, if you have anything disrespectful to say about the boys or this situation, do us all a favor and keep your damn mouth shut.

I expected better from this fandom than behaving like entitled children. We’ve gained thousands of signatures, rallied together to buy a billboard for this show, but we can’t maintain a supportive space for the actors? How do you expect us to succeed in saving this show if we can’t even do that?

To make a long story short (too late), fans, do fucking better.

[honeytonedhottie]

what i learned during my reflection period⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🧖🏽‍♀️🎀

as you may or may not have noticed, i've been hiatus for most of the month now. and i disappeared because of personal reasons, and one of those reasons being that i felt i needed to reflect. here are some things that i've learned and realized during my reflection time.

this is quite personal to me, but i wanted to kind of have a heart to heart with you guys and im sure that someone is probably struggling with what i mention in this post so i hope this is comforting...💬🎀

WHY I FELT STUCK IN MY LOA JOURNEY ;

i was literally doing the most and it felt like such a chore at the time. i would force myself to affirm in ways that felt unnatural, i was letting myself get bullied by the 3D, even though i KNOW i dont have to do a thing. i was putting way too much effort in the wrong way.

WHAT'D I DO ABOUT IT ;

i took a step back and RELAXED. i did what felt natural again and enjoyed manifesting again and because of that i've had success story after success story...💬🎀

DOING A SELF AUDIT ;

i wanted to take a second and expose toxic behaviors and patterns that i noticed i exhibit and that have started to affect not only my physical but my mental in a very very negative way.

i'd been struggling with regulating my emotions and managing them so i was a walking ball of stress 💀. a beautiful ball of stress but stress nonetheless. i just felt so stuck.

WHAT'D I DO ABOUT IT ;

i went through the motions and after having a total meltdown and doing a bit of journalling i released everything, giving myself a completely clean slate once more.

i did a bit of a refresh and did miscellaneous things to make myself feel like im starting again. things like self concept work, changing the theme of my phone, taking an everything shower + bubble bath, having a pinterest makeover and getting a trim on my hair.

i forced myself to drink more water, and go for long walks not only to get some sunlight but to get my heart pumping and push myself out of the depressive rot that i had been in for months internally, but had pushed itself out as soon as summer started.

THE DEATH OF A SITUATIONSHIP ;

i got really attached to this boy 😭 but he was such a piece of work. like he did that hot and cold shit, but i rly rly liked him so i ignored the obvious red flags. but i got to a point where i just felt used and embarrassed. upon further reflection i think i didn't wanna let him go because he was so fine 💀, like 6'5 muscular kind of fine.

no matter how handsome a guy is if he has an ugly personality or if he just treats u badly then hes not fine at all...💬🎀

WHAT'D I DO ABOUT IT ;

i went no contact. thats like the easiest way to get over someone i think lol. i went no contact and i just manifested better things for myself. like being asked out by a bunch of guys and wingstop to comfort myself 🧋

also i focused on what i got out of the whole thing. i got the redirection that i wanted, PLUS i was filled with inspiration for my song writing.

SONG RECOMMENDATIONS ;

i want war (BUT I NEED PEACE) - kali uchis

eternal sunshine - jhene aiko

let you go - clara la san

needy - ariana grande

AT THE END OF THE DAY ;

i wanted to include this section as a reminder that everyone goes through shit. things happen. its okay to be affected by it and its okay to be sad. the most important thing is to not dwell on it too long. remember that you are not a victim and remember how amazing you are BECAUSE YOU ARE. you are amazing and no matter what happens, regardless of anything your gonna be okay and your gonna be in a much better place, it starts with putting one foot in front of the other...💬🎀 (love honey)

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

Say things about Kuma

boy, will i say things about kuma.

i was reflecting yesterday on how we don’t see kuma’s eyes, i don’t think, at any point before bonney’s flashback. even in his appearances at thriller bark and sabaody, when he still retained his consciousness, we only see his blank glasses, which creates an impression of him as inhuman, detached, menacing, and emotionless.

kuma is a completely different character, visually speaking, when we can see his eyes.

the depth of kuma’s kindness and selflessness as revealed to us in his flashback is staggering. it contextualizes a lot of the care we see borne for him earlier in the story by characters like ivankov (at marineford) and bonney and sabo (at reverie)- he’s revealed to us, finally, as a deeply gentle and sweet person who was deeply loved by those around him. once we see what he was really like as a person, we understand absolutely why his loved ones care for him so deeply.

we realize, in egghead, that despite him recieving focus at several points before this, our view of him has been limited to what the strawhats, and the rest of the world, saw, and we have been barred up until this point from any real deeper understanding of his identity and personality. we never got to see his eyes. we got no indication of what he might be thinking or feeling. and this is the violence done to him; the eradication of his person.

it’s clear that kuma is defined by selflessness in the same way that luffy is defined by his selfishness. we see that for his entire life, starting from when he volunteered to be the decoy for iva’s god valley escape plan, that he has constantly endangered and sacrificed himself for the sake of others. kuma is a heroic character, one of the most straightforward we’ve seen in one piece. and this is, ultimately, tragic.

kuma is selfless to the point of self-destruction. he is a gentle and kind and heroic person- and he is that way because of an immensely traumatic childhood that led him to view his own life as having no value except to the extent that he can use it to help others. it’s both understandable and commendable, but it’s also very sad. it’s very clear that, because of his strength, he does not see himself as someone who can expect to be, or who deserves to be, saved by others.

kuma, like a true revolutionary, is unwilling to accept that there is anything he cannot change, but he also only knows how to deal with problems by throwing himself into the line of fire; he will always give of himself and never ask anything of anyone else. notably, this exact pattern of behavior, putting one’s own life constantly on the line but being unwilling to draw anyone else into it, is the same thing luffy lectured vivi for back in alabasta, because it’s ultimately not a healthy or realistic course of action, and will inevitably get one killed.

and we see this, because kuma’s ultimate act of selflessness is him quietly consenting to be literally taken apart, the obliteration of his self. could there have been another way to save bonney? a way to circumvent or fight against saturn’s insane demands? maybe. but kuma sees no value in his life except in the giving of it for others, and so he accepts the deal without a fight because he has always been too willing to throw himself away.

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 47-52 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

Time to recap the first proper wolgraha miniarc. See what you might’ve missed, or simply enjoy the extra content in form of my rambling.

47 stands out as a bit disconnected, floaty, introspective episode fully focusing on Exarch’s pov. I’ve scattered some breadcrumbs for him throughout the entire comic, time to pick those up. He may be an oblivious fool in certain moments, but I believe he wouldn’t keep insisting on staying deaf and blind when evidence’s shoved in his face. So, this moment of recollection and rethinking marks the start of the canon divergence, all of his future actions are colored by this.

Vivi has a dire effect on some people even without trying to manipulate them.

The composition forms a star here :3c

This panel should make their likeness even more obvious, they’re mirror reflections, albeit deliciously twisted ones. Also, the V sign is literally something that Vivi. Just. Does.

Exarch's heard from Vivi himself that they might be the same, Urianger literally tells him to go to a mirror and ponder, but when he does, and tries to look a bit more like he imagines Vivi, he can't stand what he sees in the mirror. They still aren't the same in his heart of hearts, even if reality itself tries to prove otherwise.

Hidden Angst Time! I can only hope that most readers are familiar with the flashback bubbles by now, and that this panel reads as it should: Feo Ul embraces Exarch while pointing out that they’re also being ostracized by their kind. Though the ultimate fae wisdom lies in accepting something the way it is, and just not caring too much.

More under the cut~ 

*rewinds all the way back to episode 1* hehe

“Does a hero have to be happy about his job” is one of my personal fav lines so far, I think it hits hard, pointing not only at Vivi, but at Exarch as well, and the visual supports it. I think this encapsulates Exarch’s ideology.

Exarch’s GASP could be interpreted as saying GASP out loud, which only makes it funnier.

Vivi carefully plans his entrance in order to make the atmosphere less formal. Approaching normally just wouldn’t do it. Also he just feels relaxed and safe to be silly. Remember how lowkey he was since his arrival to the First? His behavior all but contradicted what I said and showed about him in the ARR arc and outside of the comic.

Well, that’s in the past now. He’s finished assessing the situation and concluded that it’s okay to be more himself.

Feo Ul's upset that Exarch used his “radar” to detect Vivi’s ambush while they’d just used a similar ability to make sure that no emet-selchs are around.

If you catch a flirty vibe from Vivi in this episode, you're correct.

Vivi when he's remotely interested in a man:

My flavor of lampshading the obvious exposition dump. Oh Exarch, you asked for this, no take-backsies.

Another few hard-hitting questions from Exarch. It's easy to gloss over these, but if you slow down and think, it's decent angst material. Has anyone ever been concerned about Vivi's feelings, or was it more convenient to look away, even if intently, even if both sides knew they're better off not talking about that, for there's indeed no wol replacement. What good does acknowledging the situation if you can’t change it.

This's Vivi's memory, thus he appears small against the looming forms of the world leaders. Rigid, formal, impersonal. Raha's memories of the Ironworks seem to have a different vibe, despite all the parallels of the duty imposed by the world on one special guy. Also yeah I do wanna make my own version of the 8UC timeline and characters someday, for now these are just random characters that I consider as placeholders. And the dunmeshi cameo x’D

Yes, he mocks the people that he's saved. He's VERY frustrated with his job.

I offer you a fun game: spot all the mannerisms that make Vivi and Emet so alike. I genuinely never thought about this until this year, while this scene's pretty damn old, i.e. Vivi's always been like this, it precedes my Emet brainrot.

I swear that this line also was there before my Emet brainrot, but now it makes for a hilarious kind of foreshadowing.

You could already tell how "fit" he is for solving trolley problems.

This’s his “oops I talked too much shit” face.

The way Exarch just quietly TURNS and LOOKS at Vivi cracks me up. Don't undermine the tone with random jokes, dammit. But is this random? I’ve already analyzed this moment somewhere but for the sake of keeping important things in one place: they wrestle for control here. Exarch winds up for something serious, while Vivi wants to steer the convo towards more casual. It does somewhat lower the tension, though Exarch doesn’t relinquish his lead in the convo.

This doesn’t save him from becoming Frank forever from here on.

This miniarc’s rich with raw, hard-hitting words, so I’ll bring this up again.

We’re finally getting the explanation and context for a lot of previous episodes:

And the following episodes only help driving this point home. Vivi already sees the First as a viable escape from the Source with all of its shitty people and endless problems.

"This's why I... enjoy my time away from the Source": even at this seemingly high level of trust between them Vivi won't openly tell Exarch about his plans to stay here, a variable he doesn't want to become a risk.

Yes, he does an entirely calculated and strategic flop. A literal thirst trap.

Meme provided by my discord server:

Vivi casts provoke, it's..... not effective

^ This’s one of my personal fav exarchs I’ve ever drawn DADDY PLS

A panel that everyone loved to bits :>

I pair angst with other flavors to make it fun and non-repetitive. It's not "boohoo I can never kiss my hero, the world will end if I do, I'm so aggravated with myself", it's the hooded Exarch (duty) being mad at the unhooded Exarch (human), and delivering the same notion in a fun exchange. You can't help but laugh at the comical chibi violence, at the same time you acknowledge that it's a pretty fucked up act of suppressing one's innate human desires.

It's not a date, they just sit and talk <- the water in which Exarch is being slowly boiled.

I rarely talk about the visuals, but here I intended to make it look like a magical moment frozen in time. It's immersive, whimsical, full of color and movement. Despite the perceived warmth, the composition splits them apart, they're alone together. It’s still Raha’s pov, Vivi doesn’t seem to have any fond memories of the Source at all, we only hear about the past from his current jaded self.

An in-universe acknowledgment of the ARR arc lasting only 11 episodes x’D Though it’s all by design, it was meaningful only to Raha, while being a forgettable blip in time for Vivi.

Episode 52 opens with.... *drumroll*

NIP SLIP

I lovingly rendered that nip and I’ll make you look at it.

Ibuprofen meme would be the first thing that comes to mind, but consider the better/worse caption: "come to daddy". In all seriousness though, it’s a cool panel that I wanted to appreciate again. This IS Vivi’s pov.

The grimy beaten up Vivi creates questions that are answered in episode 53, which is yet to be released publicly at the moment of writing this. Some episodes, like 52-53 and 42-43, come in pairs that only make sense together due to the non-linear storytelling.

Yes this’s Aymeric, no I won’t say anything else :’> One thing that’s worth noting is the face Vivi makes here. And the distant, emotionless tone with which he recalls the moment of his own near-death.

Lemme spell it out even more plainly: Vivi romanticizes the moment he almost died. Exarch just happened to be present in that moment, and Vivi latched on to him as someone who would grant him escape, freedom, peace.

“A kindly wizard from fairytales”. I regret to inform you that we have two delusional fucks on our hands. Both see each other as some kinda dreamt up, idealized, mythical figures.

This miniarc isn’t over yet, but I’m wrapping up the recap here. Thanks for reading till the end~

[scribescrawls]

Thinking about headcanon established relationship Skystar in Transformers One setting where before Sentinel’s betrayal, they’ve already completed the conjunx ritus many cycles ago and have been together for a while, though they often have to spend time apart more often now because Starscream chose to join the High Guard switching from scientist to warrior when the war with the Quintessons got more serious. Over the cycles Starscream climbs his way up the ranks and becomes leader of the High Guard, while Skyfire works in his lab. They still do the equivalent of video calling when they can and see each other when Starscream has leave to visit home. And despite the war, they’re just so happy together.

And then one day everything changes. We the audience know that Sentinel betrayed the Primes and that the High Guard managed to survive. But the official story Sentinel tells is that everyone died. And I think about it from Skyfire’s point of view his entire world just falls apart that day. Skyfire thinking Starscream died and mourns for 50 cycles. The planet’s flow of energon disappearing seems to reflect how he feels in his spark as if all the life has drained away from it. What if he races in the Iacon 5000 every cycle because it’s a fast paced, often dangerous race and it’s the exact kind of thing Starscream would love and he does it cause it makes him feel closer to Starscream as a way to cope. But no matter how fast he flies he can never outrun his grief.

Meanwhile imagine Starscream holds back from contacting Skyfire because no matter how badly he wants to talk to his conjunx, it is too much of a risk that Sentinel could find out and kill Skyfire if he thinks the other is a loose end that needs to be silenced. We know Alpha Trion called for the High Guard with the distress beacon, but we also know that distress call ended up in the trash meaning it likely never made it to them. But we also know that Starscream did see/is aware of Sentinel being a traitor so it’s likely they made it to the cave so word must of reached them eventually that the Primes called for backup, but they probably arrived too late to save anyone. And I just think about the potential tragedy if Starscream had considered the Primes as people he cared about. Like he’s probably fought side by side with them, talked with them, exchanged jokes, looked up to them, and his duty was also to protect them. And he probably feels like he failed them. Like he just watched his leaders/comrades be betrayed and killed in front of him and now he and his troops are all alone. And he’s probably scared and has no one else to turn to for help or guidance. Like the High Guard likely looked to the Primes for orders and guidance for large matters, but now it’s just them left. The Matrix is gone, energon stops flowing so there’s a lack of food, the High Guard are being hunted down on top of it, and they’ve just watched the strongest amongst them be slaughtered. And Starscream is the only leader they have left and there’s the added weight that if they die the truth of Sentinel’s actions die with them. And as the leader of the High Guard many of the others are probably looking to him to know what to do in this situation now and he doesn’t know, but that won’t help anything so he probably pretends that he knows what he is doing and focuses on the immediate things he can control/address like finding food and shelter.

Like sure he did not manage to take out Sentinel on his own, but he kept everyone alive for 50 cycles on the surface where the landscape is dangerous and both the Quintessons and Sentinel are hunting them down. I personally headcanon that though the High Guard has always been militaristic in its behavior the more extreme ‘might makes right’ probably developed over the cycles as a way to maintain order and keep everyone from cannibalizing each other (metaphorically speaking or maybe even a little literal as there was likely a food shortage often). Like he was probably dealing with a large group of people who were both traumatized and constantly hangry for a long time. There were probably those who challenged Starscream’s decisions or those who grew desperate to return to Iacon or other cities to talk to loved ones as the cycles added up over the years and as a way to stop people from foolishly running off and getting killed that could lead others to the rest of them and get everyone else killed he probably resorted to the ‘strength of one bot over another’ thing. Anyway I don’t blame Starscream for not leading a head on attack against Sentinel throughout the years considering the circumstances, if I had to deal with the weight of all that I probably would have broken not even halfway through. Were the High Guard probably slowly losing it with each cycle? Probably. But they did survive for a long time and that’s impressive in its own right. I like to think that Starscream would constantly tell himself that one day when Sentinel was dead he’d get to reunite with Skyfire and it was one of the things he clung onto to not fall into despair.

[honeycreammilkshake]

Soooooo I've read your post about your ships AND I started shipping Togachako even though I've never seen My Hero Academia LMAO

Anyways, any thoughts about the last episode? i had 0 context about anything but Ochako saying "the cutest girl in the whole world" made my cry😭

my first ask about togachako! thank you so much, anon <3

i am not going to lie. i almost screamed out loud while watching this. i had read the manga ending previously but seeing it on screen really almost wrecked me.

love stories are fun... until the love story is one of you dies saving the life of the only one who fully understood you and loved you for who you really were.

i think the biggest reason why togachako is my favorite bnha ship is because of the parallels between ochaco and toga, especially in how they perceive and express their love.

toga had previously assumed that the only person who could truly love her would have to be pretty much the same as her. this came from her own experience with her parents and everyone around her, who saw her only as a monster and tried to repress her inner feelings and thoughts, which made her all the more bloodthirsty after such a long time of being literally and metaphorically starved.

she was treated as an unredeemable demon that couldn't be loved by anyone "normal."

this belief of hers that love can only come from someone like herself also correlates with her quirk, as she often tries to drink the blood of and "become one" with those she likes or wants to be closer to, similar to how she drained her first crush of all his blood as both a kind of love confession and as the emergence of her true self.

throughout the series you can see this kind of behavior of hers to try and relate to other people in order to rationalize her feelings for them. when she first fought with ochaco and tsuyu, for example, she told ochaco that they had the same scent, that they both admired deku, and that they were both trying to emulate the person of their affections. and during their fight in season 6, toga says to ochaco "i want to be like you. you're cute too, ochaco. i like you a lot."

the way toga is always comparing herself to ochaco, drawing similarities between them and openly admitting to wanting to be more like her, is the only kind of love confession she can make because she feels that someone who isn't like her couldn't possibly like her.

compare this to how ochaco sees and interprets love.

ochaco's parents loved and supported her even though they weren't very wealthy themselves, which inspired her to become a hero so she could help people like them. she was also inspired by deku, and her admiration of him led to her wanting to emulate him, something toga picked up on and related to.

it's clear that toga wants to find something to relate to in ochaco, and even though ochaco is quite different from toga, there are still many parallels between them, too.

for example, they both hid parts of themselves from other people, ochaco by denying she had feelings for deku and toga by being forced to conceal her true self all her childhood. toga wanted to connect with ochaco over this, but ochaco refused to identify with ochaco at all.

another thing i want to bring up is the symbolism of toga's smile.

when she's confronted by chitose, she's forced to reflect on how society has shunned and tried to reconfirm her, but instead of feeling miserable about it, toga instead says she is happy because she finally has a clear goal in mind: to get closer to someone she loves.

she then uses the blood she has left to turn into ochaco, which chitose believes is only so toga can die while looking cute, but toga realizes in that moment that she wants to be close to someone like how toga is close to deku.

she wants to be just like ochaco.

in short, drinking ochaco's blood returned toga's will to live, as she was able to find what she wanted in life and even uncover a new side to her powers she didn't realize she had before. she even says that living as someone like ochaco, a cute high school girl that others enjoy the company of and that life treats "easier" is the goal she wants to achieve.

by briefly experiencing what life was like for ochaco, someone who could be close to the person she loved and even get them to trust her (something toga was denied over and over in her childhood), toga realizes that she wants to be more like ochaco. in fact, she might even love ochaco.

and the way this scene was animated is just amazing.

i love the way half of ochaco's face and half of toga's face are merged together, while she gives her widest unhinged grin.

as toga said, she smiles when she's happy, and being close to someone she loves creates that feeling in her. that's what she wants in life: to love and be loved for who she truly is, to feel that deep closeness with someone. and reflecting back on her relationship with both deku and ochaco made her want to live her life, despite the pain she'd experienced before, so that she could live as she wanted to, love someone who loved her for herself. someone who accepted her normality.

and although ochaco initially rejected toga's attempts to connect with her, making toga feel like ochaco would be just another hero who would kill toga without regret, it makes it even more interesting and beautiful when ochaco reconsiders and chooses to reach out and connect with toga, despite everything.

ochaco is someone who wants to save people, who knows what pure love feels like and knows how to give it in turn. she was at first disturbed by toga's strong feelings and her teeth-bearing smiles, because to her those forms of expression went against her ideas about what love is and how people show it. but now ochaco admires toga's smile. she's even jealous of it, and at how toga so easily expresses her emotions and her love.

they were both jealous of each other. toga was jealous of ochaco for being able to have normal relationships that allowed her to get close to people, to be trusted by them, to feel cute and wanted. and ochaco was jealous of toga for being able to be so upfront and even headstrong about her feelings, to express her true self with such rawness and honesty.

and despite how toga was willing to kill ochaco, the other girl never uses her powers to harm toga.

though they both know zero gravity can be lethal and toga even used it to kill chitose and her army, ochaco is still unwilling to use it to harm her and is tender to toga throughout their entire confrontation.

this goes against everything toga feared and maybe even believed ochaco would do to her. ochaco is not willing to kill toga like the heroes killed jin, and though she won't forgive every terrible thing that toga has done, she is still willing to hear what toga has to say and to even comfort toga through it.

it's such an important detail to me that ochaco literally keeps toga tethered throughout this entire conversation. she's showing toga that it's not a matter of pity or ego that she's doing this, but she truly wants to hear toga's side of the story.

and despite how toga keeps trying to harm her, ochaco never flinches away and never stops listening.

if the manga was way too emotional already, the animated version of their last battle almost broke me, especially during this scene.

i can't get over how ochaco doesn't look away from toga the entire time. the fact that it's so important for her to let toga know she finds her smile beautiful means so much, both because of how toga wants to be found cute by someone and because toga smiles when she's happy, so ochaco is saying she values toga's happiness and that expression of her true self.

toga's smile is wide, unhinged, maybe even a little monstrous to anyone else. but to ochaco, it's wonderful. because toga is happy, free to express herself without holding back or donning anyone else's appearance to do so. her natural face, her natural personality, who she really is... that's what ochaco finds cute.

and it's so telling that when ochaco thinks about how she loves both deku and ochaco, her smile is more worried than happy. yet when ochaco confirms that toga is cute, the cutest girl in the whole world, toga's smile is pure and so wide.

ochaco made her happy, even at the very end. toga couldn't even imagine a world without ochaco in it being one worth living in, so she decided to give up her life to save ochaco's own. because ochaco's love is what gave toga happiness, and she knows that a world without happiness, without that person who makes her smile, would never feel the same.

they will forever be one of the most tragic love stories of all times, but also the cutest and sweetest... if only they'd had more time.

[httpskuzuu]

Moral

I'M BACK

Yandere!Chuuya x Reader

English is not my mother tongue, sorry for the mistakes

summary: Chuuya is not a good person, and neither are you.

tw: angst¿, mention of murders, toxic relationship, low self-esteem, reader is not the best person

Day 4.

Night began to fall, and you saw yourself reflected in the windows of your favorite convenience store. To say you looked dead would be too kind. Your hair was in disarray, as if you had never combed it before, not to mention your dark circles and vacant eyes. If you were mistaken for a homeless person, you would understand.

This time with Chuuya was…. Well, difficult. Now you feel like a bit of an idiot for letting yourself be fooled, you should have been more careful. You're not oblivious to the bad people in the world, you just didn't think Chuuya would be one of them.

You were dating a mafia executive! And you didn't even know it. You only found out recently, when you saw those blood stains on the shirt you were going to wash. You wished it had all been a misunderstanding, that you were exaggerating and it had all remained an anecdote to laugh about in the future. You wished you hadn't trusted this bastard so much, but now look at you, half a year of your life down the drain. No home, no job, no money.

And you still miss him. God, you feel pathetic. You shouldn't have moved in with him soon after you started your relationship, nor should you have quit your job because he could support you. You try not to be hard on yourself either because, come on, the man “of your dreams” had offered you a life of luxury for literally nothing, you didn't even have to do housework because he was willing to do it so you could live like royalty.

Oh god, how you miss him.

You get out of the store before you get kicked out of there and go back to your friend's house, who you were stealing practically all the money from.

Day 7.

After your long day of looking for a job in all the existing stores, and having no luck in any of them, you arrive at your friend's house to find several policemen at the door. You fear the worst, and it is the worst.

Your friend is dead, or rather murdered. You are told that the scene appears to be the work of the Port Mafia and your blood runs cold.

After half an hour, the police call you because the Armed Detective Agency wants to talk to you, but you're already in a bar, and you don't want to talk to anyone. You hang up directly, even though it could get you in trouble.

Do you feel sad for your friend? Not really. You didn't have much of a relationship, he was a good person who had to get involved in your misfortune. Do you feel guilty? Hell yes, of course.

You know about Chuuya's questionable attitudes, you noticed them from the first moment. You weren't blind. As soon as someone flirted or even hinted a modicum of interest in you with your boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend, you remind yourself) present, you never heard from that person again. You always ignored him, what's more, you were flattered because, if he was that possessive of you, that meant he really loved you, right?

And who else would love you the way you are.

It was a bad idea to leave Chuuya, it was a horrible idea. You should have foreseen this situation, you didn't know specifically that it killed people around you, but that doesn't exclude you from your responsibility. Innocent people died for getting close to you.

If you had talked to Chuuya from the first day you noticed his behavior, maybe things would have been different.

You have another drink to take your mind off that part of you, hidden in the darkest corners of your head, that keeps feeling flattered by him. You'd like to say that thought is small and because of the alcohol, but you'd be lying to yourself.

Chuuya, the man you've loved the most, has killed for you. Sounds like the characteristic that any teenager with hormones going through the roof would wish for when thinking of my ideal boyfriend or girlfriend. Someone who will kill and die for you.

Chuuya would do it, without thinking about it.

No one has loved you like the redhead did. No one has treated you like royalty, nor cared as much about you, nor treated you with as much delicacy and love as he has.

Do you really care about the innocent lives he takes, or are you just faking concern to make yourself feel better?

Day 10.

It's foggy and cold. Perfect weather for the occasion.

You're on your way to Chuuya's house, all dressed in black. You have just left your friend's funeral. You still can't understand why his family invited you.

Your feet are heavy, and you feel that at any moment you will vomit up the nothingness in your stomach. The subject of barely having enough to eat because you spend most of your money at the motel where you are staying is not pleasant. You feel weaker and thinner, you remind yourself to weigh yourself on the scale in the bathroom at Chuuya when you arrive.

You miss the comforts your boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, for now) offered you. You put morals aside, you were never the best person anyway. The people who pointed you out as someone who is selfish and only cares about himself were right, they were so right.

You should have realized your nature earlier, instead of trying to focus on grief and guilt.

Sooner than you thought, you were planted in front of your man's door. You didn't want your hand to shake so much when you ring the doorbell, but it does.

Not even 10 seconds pass before you finally see Chuuya. As perfect as ever, with that captivating gaze that managed to distract you from any subject in just seconds. You regret not dressing up more for him.

He also has slight dark circles under his beautiful eyes. You feel relieved to know that you weren't the only one suffering from the breakup.

“Y/N?! How come you're here, I-” He interrupts himself with his own words, and you can't help but smile at the scene.

His hands want to touch you, to hug you and know that you're real, but he seems to regret it before he even touches you. Oh, if only he knew that you have the same desire to feel his hands again.

Chuuya gives a sigh and nervously averts her gaze, then returns it, her expression more serious and determined.

“Look, I'm really sorry for everything. I should have been honest with you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, and you don't know how much I missed you, and-” You wonder if he's practiced his speech. Before he can continue, you pounce against his body to kiss him with your mouth open.

Chuuya doesn't take long to keep up with you, to trap you in his arms. It's clear to him, he won't let you go again, no matter what he has to do to stop you.

Oh, how you had missed him.

I thought about it ending up in something nsfw, but my asexual ass was afraid of success.

[cynthiav06]

This might be a genuine Controversial opinion of mine. Really because I Always see The Black Percy fanart or POC Percy and I love them, even though i still love the book version...it had me thinking...

But I highly think that if Percy were Black or Any minority I Doubt he would Take Annabeth's Bs or let her treat him the way she does

What do you think?

I have mixed opinions on this. I think it's a bit controversial but not for the reasons you are going for. Bear with me.

I think all this diversity propaganda has warped our perspectives on characters and their roles. Rick is shit at diversity roles cause he is trying explicitly to write them as diversity characters. I mean yes coming from a certain race, culture or ethnic group does play a large part of who you are but most authors make that the entire point or personality of their character.

In a world like Percy Jackson, where far greater things are at stake, I don't think a character's race or ethnic group should be prioritized so much. In fact, their motivations, how they choose to cope with their trauma and insecurities, how they love, how they fight is what makes a character.

In contrast to Rick, Leigh Bardugo writes tons of diverse characters who are just that, characters in her eyes. It's not because she needs to meet some quota or write diversity for the sake of it. She writes as it comes to her, and I think anyone would appreciate that far more.

Now, coming to your point, I don't think Percy being a minority or person of color would have changed him much. Because the points that you are trying to make should already be valid for Percy as he is.

He had an abusive stepfather who not only physically and mentally abused him but also always harassed him for money. Percy has grown up in that environment, he knows abuse well.

Percy can't stand bullies or people who impose their will, which is a fundamental part of his character which we are actually introduced to very. early on

Not to mention, Percy grew up in the streets of NYC all on his own, also moving from one boarding school to another. He is seasoned player when it comes to cops or law enforcement.

Plus I headcanon that all demigods have issues with any kind of normal organization or law enforcement cause what explanation are they supposed to give for their actions when the person across from them can't fathom it, see it or let alone imagine it. So they are all kind of in similar situations despite whatever culture or ethnic group they are from.

Percy's actions are also a reflection of his self-esteem. That's the thing driving his behavior. Percy wouldn't stand for this from a stranger, but Annabeth is his best friend. The first person he got close to in Camp. She represents his demigod life in a way. To him, the fact that someone like her wants to date him seems unbelievable. He goes in that relationship or any relationship feeling inferior. Then he begins dating her, and he desperately wants to meet her expectations cause Percy Jackson can't take her walking out on him, not because he disappointed her. Cause what sort of shit boyfriend is he if he can't even stand and accept Annabeth as she is. So he takes it as it is. He takes her demands, her violent way of expressing her emotions and her need to be in control. She wants to go to University and study, she wants to be involved in the demigod business, wants to be the heart of it and Percy isn't about to leave her to be on her own. He is Percy, he would go to the ends of earth and beyond for people he loves and cares for. So he goes along with that too.

The question shouldn't be what it would take Percy to be done with Annabeth's bullshit or what would finally make him snap. That shouldn't be the focus.

The focus should be at what point will Annabeth realize that she is stifling Percy, leashing him. (Before you snap, percabeth stans hear me out, not my words. Literally a bloody conversation from Mark of Athena, in which Piper word to word says and agrees with Annabeth that someone needs to leash him and Annabeth can do it.)

And I love how the fandom just glossed over it. What the hell??? Are you people blind? How is that a healthy relationship??

Annabeth should realize how badly she is hurting Percy or how badly she has misunderstood him. How awful her actions have been and how her actions are enabling his lack of self esteem. (For confused people who think Annabeth can do no wrong, please check other posts. There's nothing wrong with admitting that your favorite character is flawed and can make mistakes. )

And then if she truly loves him they should separate, go their ways, still be friends but not romantic partners. Or they should go on a long break in which Annabeth needs to sort out her behavioral issues, come back to Percy, apologize to him earnestly, then to Rachel and even Reyna. And then if Percy (after he too understands the problems in their relationship and how disastrous his lack of self esteem and self deprecation is) is willing to give her a chance or even willing to be in any romantic relationship then and only then should they get back together.

It might not be the answer you were hoping for anon but I had to give my honest thoughts on this. Feel free to comment your own opinions on this as well.

[penultimate-step]

Love, Lies, and Romance: The 3 Ships of Oshi no Ko and 3 Thematic Resolutions

Oshi no Ko is a series deeply concerned with what it means to love and be loved. Ai's wish to love is what starts off the series; her love for her children, and their love for her in return, form the emotional fulcrum upon which the whole manga turns.

Romantic love, too, is a type of love. Aqua's three possible romantic relationships each represent three different interpretations of how to love, and how those relationships are treated is a reflection of how the series views those kinds of love.

For organization's sake, I'll go down the list in order of what I judge as least to most likely to occur in the manga itself.

Ruby - Love is Lies

I've already written a longer meta about this, but to summarize the relevant parts: Ruby, as depicted in chapters 77 to 142, doesn't understand Aqua, nor Gorou. She instead loves him for the image she's constructed of him in her head, for the way he makes her feel - but this has very little to do with the man himself. Her view on Aqua is, in my opinion, a direct parallel to Aqua's view of Ai - she puts him on a pedestal, idolizes him, but that same impetus is what has her mentally keeping a distance from his real self. You can see this all the way back in chapter 77. When she thinks of him, she first thinks of how he made her feel:

Now, this isn't on it's own a red flag, but it is contrasted directly afterward: when asked to predict his own actions and feelings, she's hilariously off:

I think many readers kind of wrote this off as a joke at the time, but this kind of thing lines up perfectly with her behavior in the movie arc. Not only is she inventing a backstory for him (does Gorou ever show romantic interest at all? Why would she assume he was in trouble with girls?) but more importantly she interprets his kind rejection as a tease, and his care to a friend and patient as romantic intent.

A version of the story in which Ruby is Aqua's love interest would literally validate Ai's famous quote, that lies are love - that the person doesn't matter, only how they make them feel does. And that is directly contrasted by, uh. The whole rest of the manga. But to pick a specific scene, see C9:

The kind of love where one person projects on another, the manga has shown us again and again, the kind of love that is lies, results in this. It cannot end happily, for anybody. If Ruby and Aqua end up dating for real, my next bet is that the story ends in tragedy, because that's the only end for that kind of love in Oshi no Ko.

Akane - Love is Lying

To Akane, love is an act - a lie. But hear me out, this is markedly different from Ruby's position. Akane, I think, is actually the closest of the main characters to Ai's mindset. She doesn't feel that she understands love, but she wants it, so she actively cultivates an image of herself that can show love. We know this well, of course, given her actions at the end of LoveNow. She creates a persona of love in chapter 28, much like Ai describes in 4.

And believes that regardless of the artificiality of it, she can keep up the act forever: to earn love through the act is to earn it in reality.

So you may be asking: what is the difference between what Akane is doing, and what Ruby is doing? Well, the difference is in the intention. It is not the lies that are the important part, but the lying - neither Akane nor Ai felt they knew how to love, but their desire to love, their care for others, that was all real love. The performance they put on for others was not an impersonal pedestal, but an active effort done for another's sake. It may be lying, but it is an act of love nonetheless.

If Aqua/Akane was the endgame ship of Oshi no Ko, it would be a simultaneous validation and rejection of Ai's worldview. Yes, if you care enough, lying can be love, if you are willing to forge that connection. But, in this paradigm, Ai's mistake was lying one-sidedly, to a faceless crowd. The crowd cannot return your love, not in a way other than idolization, and we discussed how that turns out in Ruby's entry. Akane's relationship, on the other hand, is much less one-sided and unhealthy, because she lies for Aqua's sake alone, and doesn't hide that she's doing it. As such, her performance can be recognized and appreciated as such, and he can reach back and return her love.

As such, while the lying is a performance, their relationship isn't a lie. The two of them start to see each other's real selves. The dynamic of two people who don't really understand love or how to love, performing a relationship together until they can learn how to do it together, is a sweet one. I could actually totally see this as the main relationship of Oshi no Ko.

But the actions of the characters make clear what the issue is in this kind of love. The seeds of this breakdown are set in chapter 72, which is ironically one of the ones that sets the dynamic up - even as they are trying to create an equal relationship, Akane decides to lie to him for his own good. After all, their relationship has already been established on the basis of lies. To lie for someone else's sake is inherently a one sided choice, and while in chapter 28 we can see it as a cute start to a relationship, it comes back around in a much more harmful way here:

which pays off in their grand breakup in chapter 98. Akane is willing to one-sidedly make the choice to kill Hikaru for Aqua's sake. Aqua, in return, refuses to let her make that choice, tracking her position, then stopping her and cutting her off for her own safety. While Akane is the one who calls him out for this, neither of them are treating the other as someone with agency, and both are making choices for the other. As such, in Oshi no Ko, lying cannot be love - you cannot impose your love on another.

Kana - Love is Sincerity

Kana, differently than Ruby and Akane, is defined in her moments of honesty and sincerity. She is an actress, yes, but even her acting is a kind that emphasizes her true self. There's too many pages to post here, but chapters 60-63 talk all about this directly - her modern acting is about hiding herself in order to aid others, but her best acting is when she ignores everybody else and acts to her heart's desire.

This same sincerity is what forms the basis of the Aqua/Kana ship. Unlike the two above ships, which are on some level founded on artifice, many of the moments between Kana and Aqua are focused on moments where they are each acting as their truest selves. Chapters where they interact, like 30 and 117, show that they both have an easy rapport, acting thoughtlessly and honestly. Chapter 40 points this out directly: Kana has the ability to draw Aqua out of his depressed and overthinking mindset, letting him be his unrestrained self.

This is similar to Ai's own actions in chapter 4. Though she normally puts on a facade and acts out love for the cameras and crowds, the one moment that she is truly recognized as smiling is the moment she accidentally lets slip, and shows true love for her children:

As such, Aqua/Kana serves as a complete repudiation of Ai's mindset. She was wrong that one can lie to love. The only way to love is to be honest, the only time she was able to honestly express love was the moment she died, when she was able to tell her children she loved them. If you aren't sure how to love, you must reach out honestly and you will find it. No act or performance can be love, no matter how well meant.

If this is the ship the manga ends on, which it could be, the message would be that love is in baring oneself to others. Hiding from others with lies, even when well intentioned, like Aqua does to Kana before chapter 107, is a mistake, and to love truly you need to face up to your own feelings and see the other person directly.

Finale

So, what does this all mean? It means that the romantic love demonstrated in the three ships are unavoidably intertwined with the story's ideas about love as a whole. However, his isn't necessarily a foolproof prediction of what the author plans to do next, or what ship the story endorses. Though obviously I think some of these are much more supported by the series than others, until we reach the end it is still possible that things will change, and it could go with any of these, or none of them. This is merely the lens in which I interpret the romantic interactions in the text.

In fact, it's entirely possible that the series ends with no romantic resolution at all, rejecting all three above views on love. After all, while the romantic relationships are undeniably important to the narrative, the love that started this whole story was Ai's familial love for her children - thus, I wouldn't be surprised if platonic love between family and friends will be the most important in resolving it. In any case, the question of how to love is a key part of the series, and will have to be resolved by the story's end.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Sorry to bother you i really want to hear your mipha/miphlink thoughts as a mipha fan x)

Favourite mipha/miphlink headcanon? OR favourite thing to see in a mipha/miphlink fic? :> feel free to ignore this if you don't have any answers lol

Not bothering me at all! :)

Let’s see, idk if I have a favorite so here are some headcanons I have for Mipha:

She’s an enneagram type 2 with a 1 wing. In English, that means she’s a caregiver with a strong sense of justice and doing the right thing, making her a compassionate and kindhearted protector. But she can go too far with this, basing her own worth on her ability to care for others, pushing her own needs aside. She wants to help everyone, and what good is she if she can’t?

Mipha has been crown princess of the Zora and admired by her people for the majority of her life. She’s very aware that she’s constantly being watched, and between that self awareness and being a caregiver to others, hardly anyone knows what she’s actually like when she’s at ease (the Bazz Brigade is the exception)

Mipha’s shyness around Link has nothing to do with not knowing how to act when under his scrutiny—they’ve been friends since they were kids. Instead it’s based upon a fear of altering or destroying their relationship if he doesn’t harbor the same affections for her. (And a smidge of awkwardness because why is she feeling this way around him)

Mipha’s always wanted to be a mother. Nurturing is a natural part of her personality. As she and Link actually develop a romantic relationship, she struggles with reconciling the fact that she probably will never have kids of her own, but she and Link talk about adopting (at the time they don’t know they can actually have kids together)

Mipha is very curious about the world, but her adventurous side is dependent entirely upon who she is with. When with someone more timid than her, she pushes them to explore with her and open up to everything. When with someone far more reckless, she’s usually the voice of caution. The exception to this rule is Link: she knows him well enough, knows his capabilities, and loves going on adventures with him.

Her favorite color is blue, particularly the shade that appears when the luminous stones reflect in Link’s eyes

While Mipha is more than willing to fight, she thinks she’s the weakest of the champions. Logically, that means she’s the most likely to die. The best way she can cope with this is to prepare those around her for her death in the subtlest way possible so as not to alarm anyone. She doesn’t really expect to survive the Calamity, but she’s trying to find peace with that. She just hopes she’s wrong, but she has to prepare herself mentally.

This thought process leads to her being conflicted about admitting her feelings to Link. If she dies, she doesn’t want to break his heart if he says yes (which she doesn’t dare to hope). If he says no she’ll feel all the lonelier during her final months. But if neither is the case, she… perhaps it’s selfish, she supposes, but she wants to be loved, and she wants him to know how she feels. Eventually this last part wins out. (At least in the botw timeline - I feel like Link probably would admit his feelings first in AoC after Mipha is almost killed since it seems less time passes between them before the calamity in this version)

Mipha is very proud of her ability to heal and it’s the thing that makes her happiest.

Mipha is simultaneously the mother and the baby of the champions. She’ll try to nurture and help everyone, and literally everyone will do everything they can to take care of her in return.

She isn’t used to exploring her own emotions and is therefore very private about them. Hence her freaking out over the thought of anybody reading her diary.

As for what I like to see in Mipha/Miphlink stories… admittedly I haven’t read too many, but anything that gives Mipha some depth makes me happy. She’s very sweet in the game, and you can kind of glean more from her based on her behavior and actions, but she is very much… idk, she’s not written poorly, but I don’t know how to describe it. She’s almost written too perfect? Not because she’s without flaws, she’s just seen from the nostalgia of others and rarely has a lot of screen time in memories, so it makes her a little less relatable sometimes. But there’s a lot you can glean from context and the story, so I do like her character. I just want to see her with depth! Lots of fanfics just make her the quiet, demure, sweet little champion and that’s it.

[blueeyedheizer]

Hii. Could you write anything lovers to enemies with cassie and reader. Tyy

this is literally just a cheating one shot lol

the bass-heavy music from the party is vibrating through your body like a relentless hammer, but all you’re focused on is finding a bathroom.

you've downed a few drinks too fast, hoping the alcohol would help you forget the god-awful couple of weeks you've had. between rue showing up at your door every single day in a barely functional state, cassie's odd behavior and the stress of exam deadlines breathing down your neck, you’re barely keeping your head above water.

when you spot the slightly ajar bathroom door, you don’t think twice. you push it open, expecting nothing but an empty room, a well needed break from all the chaos.

but instead you find this, and your blood runs cold.

cassie is bent over the sink, her tight blue dress hiked up around her waist as nate jacobs fucks into her with a roughness that makes your stomach churn. her hands are grabbing the counter to steady herself, her face flushed and sweaty. the sound of skin slapping against skin echoes through the small bathroom, filthy and loud — the kind of scene you'd expect in a cheap porno, not from the girl you were saying “I love you” to just a few minutes ago.

they don't even notice you at first. cassie's eyes are shut, rolling back in her skull as she moans out obscenities without a care in the world, the sound of it mostly obstructed by the loud music.

it feels like hours have gone by when nate finally catches your reflection in the mirror. but instead of stopping, instead of pulling away like any normal person would — that fucker's lips curl into a twisted grin. he doesn’t slow down. his pace doesn’t even falter. if anything, he goes harder, his grip tightening on cassie’s hips, his thrusts more deliberate, drawing louder moans from her.

he's daring you to react, feeding off your shock, your anger. he’s taunting you, every thrust a slap in the face as he grins at you, knowing exactly how much this is tearing you apart.

"enjoying the show?”

cassie’s eyes instantly snap open at the sound of his voice, and you can practically see the color draining from her face. she tries to pull away, her panic visible in the way she looks at him and then at you, her eyes wide with fear and shame as she pitifully attempts to cover herself.

"nate— stop,” she whimpers, her voice trembling, her body suddenly trying to pull away from him. she reaches back, pushing weakly at his hips, but nate doesn’t stop.

he grabs her wrists, roughly yanking them behind her back as if to keep her in place, his other hand pressing firmly between her shoulder blades, forcing her down against the cold surface of the sink. cassie’s body gives in under the pressure, her face contorted in a mix of shame and pleasure, but nate just leans into her harder, his movements growing more aggressive, more brutal, as if he’s trying to prove a point, with no care for anything but the power he holds over the both of you.

your heart feels like it’s been ripped out of your chest, but you don’t move. you can’t.

you can’t breathe. can’t think. you just stand there frozen for what feels like an eternity, until your body finally decides that you've had enough.

without a word, you spin around and slam the bathroom door shut, the sound echoing through the hallway. you can hear the faint sound of cassie's voice as she calls after you, but you don’t stop. you can’t stop. each step you take feels heavier than the last as you push your way through the crowd, your mind spinning with everything you just witnessed. the music is loud, too loud, the voices around you overwhelming, but none of it compares to the weight inside your chest.

you've been cheated on.

cassie cheated on you, and not with just anyone.

with fucking nate jacobs.

when you finally make it outside, your legs give out and you stumble to the side. you find yourself retching violently onto the pavement, your sobs mixing with the sickening sound.

-

"I ruined everything," cassie sobs. her voice shakes as she weakly pulls her dress back up to cover her chest.

nate's expression darkens, his jaw clenching as he pulls away from her. "don't act like you didn't want it," he snaps, his tone cold and accusing as he tucks himself back into his pants. "don't act like you didn't beg me to fuck you."

cassie flinches at his words. she hugs herself tightly, the fabric of her dress still caught on her skin as she tries to steady her breathing. she knows he's right, know that she was just as eager as he was, just as guilty as he is. but hearing him say it out loud, in such a harsh and unforgiving way makes her feel cheap and used.

"no, I... I didn't think she—"

"oh you didn't think, huh?" he snaps, his tone harsh. "you made your choice, so own it. stop playing the fucking victim, cassie."

the door slams shut behind him as he walks out, leaving cassie standing there frozen. she wants to run after him, after you, but all she can do is sink down slowly, her knees curling to her chest as the weight of what she just did comes crashing down on her.

[mamawasatesttube]

Do you think Superman ever found out about Superboy trying to drown himself?

so this is one of those thorny questions that rises out of the way dc editorial was like, well superboy and superman are separate books and we don't want superman all over superboy's story all the time. because in the text, there's absolutely no acknowledgment of it from clark, even when mae shows up and rips the s-shield patches off kon's jacket for misrepresenting what superman's crest stands for. if mae's heard of what's going on, surely clark should have heard about it too, right? but that never actually is shown to have happened anywhere in the aftermath of knockout arc.

it goes back to the attitudes prevalent in karl kesel's writing (and in general at dc in the 90s, i mean), with stuff happening to kon that SHOULD make any adult with a degree of common sense and responsibility go "hey! wait a minute!" but that has no real impact because karl kesel as the writer thinks it's nbd. like in superman jr and superboy sr, when clark is written as thinking kon and tana dating is just fine.

like, it's a discrepancy. because superman, the character whose entire thing is like. caring about everybody ever, and who IS shown to care for kon even before they're as close as they get later, ostensibly should have heard about superboy getting tangled up in something with a villain, and gone to investigate, and the fact that he didn't is entirely because editorial didn't let him, and because karl kesel didn't think this was a predatory situation. like yes knockout was written as manipulating and abusing kon, but not in a predatory way - just in the "manipulative and evil woman takes advantage of kind and naive boyfriend who wants to believe her" way. which is insane because she's also written calling him jailbait and all sorts of shit, but. that's just how kesel thinks sexual women are, and that's what he thinks teen boys fantasize about, etc., so it's not written in a fashion that even remotely condemns that behavior as Maybe Not Great.

because like. the thing is. if superman heard that a kid who fights crime wearing the crest of his house got manipulated into defending a villain and then tried to kill himself to take her down, of COURSE he would step in and say something or do something. in annual #2 he literally shows up just to talk to kon about how he's feeling about the paul westfield revelation - the idea that he wouldn't step in re: the knockout situation is absurd. it's completely out of character for him.

so like, no, i don't think he knows. it's the only way to explain him not showing up at any point. which is still hard to actually reconcile with the fact that mae did know, but... when working within the confines of what we're given with by a flawed canon that reflects its authors flawed views, we kinda have to bend stuff here and there a little, right? it's kind of impossible to make sense of, otherwise.

my personal interpretation of events is that clark was kind of avoiding too much news about kon in the early days because he needed some time to process the whole "being nonconsensually cloned while he was dead" thing, but also was in denial that he was upset or feeling violated at all, because he knew it wasn't kon's fault and because he was already fond of kon, and felt quite guilty for having any hangups about how kon came to be. it still takes a little fiddling (for instance, his appearance in annual #2) but it's the best way i've found to keep clark in character while having kon's story remain as it is. (i do find kon's narrative of exploitation and suicidality compelling. he's so kind and so full of joie de vivre and so independent. and at the same time those traits keep getting him taken advantage of. he's a vulnerable child in the spotlight. ough.)

[kindheart525]

unpopular opinions on the fim show?

I’m not entirely sure how many of these opinions are unpopular in the fandom as a whole, but they seem kind of uncommon compared to what shows up in my feed so here goes

Pinkie’s family is not abusive or toxic. I know they are portrayed as extremely old-fashioned and strict in their lifestyle, based on what is probably a surface-level understanding of Amish communities. This makes it easy to compare them to similar communities irl who engage in practices like shunning. But the Pies’ behavior in the show and especially Pinkie’s attitude towards them seems to make clear that they have not shunned or abused her despite her “leaving the community.” In other words, I think there are key differences between the Pies and some of the real-life people they were meant to emulate, so it’s inaccurate to say that abusive Pie headcanons have any real basis in the show. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Zephyr Breeze is not nearly as likely to be a deadbeat dad as some might think. He was shown to be on the road to being more responsible by the end of his own debut episode, so I highly doubt he’d be the same pony he was at the beginning of the episode by the time he would become a father. Not that I don’t think he could be at least a little bit irresponsible as a dad; I just don’t think he’d leave his child or not love them. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Amending Fences was a missed opportunity for a very important friendship lesson, one that the show never dared to touch. Which is that sometimes people are incompatible and sometimes your old friends won’t forgive you. Instead, Moondancer was written in an extremely exaggerated way (her whole life was ruined by one rejection??) yet this wasn’t regarded as an overreaction at all. It was weirdly handled at best. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Rarity gets a bad rap from the fandom. I don’t know if it’s her mediocre taste in stallions or if there’s something about her ultra-feminine nature that some people don’t care for, but I think her maturity and intelligence are severely underrated. Of course she can be a drama queen, but so can Twilight and Pinkie and pretty much every other member of the main cast. Rarity had a breakdown over getting a fashion piece critiqued, but Twilight blew up at her friends over having a late paper; the two scenarios really aren’t that different.

Just because Rarity has multiple crushes on mediocre stallions (Blueblood, Trenderhoof) doesn’t mean that she would sleep around or have a tumultuous love life. Haven’t most people had celebrity crushes? Multiple celebrity crushes, in fact, and also multiple crushes and relationships involving people they actually know before finding “the one”? I’m sure a lot of people have also been disappointed to find out the celebrity they fancied is actually a terrible person, like Rarity has. It’s part of the human experience for many, and Rarity’s TWO moments of poor judgment are not a reflection of her whole character or even her full palate of romantic taste.

Along with being a drama queen, Rarity can have moments where she’s materialistic and selfish, like the time she convinced Spike to give her his fire ruby. That was not a good moment for her. But on a bigger picture, materialistic and selfish is not her usual state. She is literally the element of generosity!!! She made Gala dresses for all of her friends FOR FREE! She has also shown herself to be a leader among her friends, at times taking charge and coming up with plans in Twilight’s absence much like Applejack does sometimes. One example is Castle Sweet Castle; the whole premise of the episode was Rarity’s idea! To help Twilight feel more at home! It’s clear that her generous spirit informs her actions through most of the show, unlike Rainbow Dash who’s only truly loyal when the plot needs her to be.

Yes Rarity is flawed, but all her friends are too. Her flaws are not objectively worse than the others. In fact, Rarity was literally under mind control once and still regarded Spike as a genuine friend, while Rainbow Dash sold one of her best friends into indentured servitude completely sober (among a long list of other things). Twilight yelled at her friends that she didn’t need them, also with an unaltered mind. Rarity has had her own hurtful blowups ofc but hers aren’t any worse than the others. Give her more credit y’all.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash, I’ve seen a number of opinion posts about how she and Applejack should switch their elements (so RD is honesty and AJ is loyalty), but as I started rewatching the show myself I’ve come to disagree. Rainbow Dash may be honest, but her brand of honesty is extremely rude. There’s no integrity behind it, not like AJ’s honesty. Rainbow Dash in general is extremely rude. There are a lot of points where I’ve wondered if she even likes her friends. There was also that Secrets and Pies episode which establishes that Rainbow Dash has lied prolifically to Pinkie over something that meant a lot to the latter, so RD really isn’t that honest either. I do agree that AJ would deserve the element of loyalty if she didn’t already have honesty. But you know who else is loyal? Spike. The elements of harmony would honestly make more sense if RD were just removed from the group entirely and Spike replaced her as loyalty /hj

I promise I don’t actually want to remove Rainbow Dash from the show, I just really wish she was written better. That’s what fan fiction is for I guess 😂

I have mixed feelings about AppleDash as a ship. I really like the fandom portrayals of it which is why I reblog quite a bit of AppleDash art, but canon alone doesn’t seem to show the good side of their dynamic very much. All they do is argue. Applejack is normally mature and levelheaded, but around Rainbow Dash she’s much less so. Dash really brings out the worst in her sometimes. It’s much different from the loving bickering that people write for them in fan works, which I think is a better spin on the dynamic. If I went off their canon interactions alone, I could see them being exes or on-and-off lovers at most, not a stable, long-term married couple.

This would only be unpopular in very specific circles, but I think it’s pretty stereotypical to insist that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are lesbians primarily based on their tomboy interests and the former’s rainbow mane. It’s one thing to headcanon them as such just because you want to, and that’s perfectly fine! I write Applejack as a lesbian too. It’s another to insist that it’s canon based on xyz evidence from the show or think it’s wrong for anyone to ship them with stallions. Even if you consider AppleDash canon, one or both of them could be bi or pan for all we know. Canon tells us very little about their sexualities so there’s a lot of room for different headcanons. I wrote more on this opinion here.

(More specific to the next gen community) Just because Fluttershy is good with animals does not automatically mean she would be a good mother. There was a whole episode (Stare Master) about how she couldn’t handle babysitting even though she thought her animal caretaking skills made her qualified. Obviously she was shown to be much better with kids later in the show (becoming very popular among the School of Friendship students), but again that’s teaching, not parenting. This isn’t to say that I think Fluttershy would definitely be a bad mom, just that her being good with animals is not a solid reason for her being a good mom.

I definitely have more opinions about the show, characters, and fandom of mlp, but I don’t think many of them are so unpopular. Like for example:

I don’t think the Apples would be queerphobic just because they value tradition and are coded as Southern US Americans. The word “tradition” doesn’t automatically equate to conservative politics, and even if it did, these ponies have been shown to learn new things all the time. But all the trans Big Mac positivity I’ve been seeing tells me that a lot of people agree with that sentiment.

I don’t think most of the popular/generic ships of the fandom (like FlutterCord, FlashLight, and SoarinDash) are necessarily bad or devoid of positive chemistry, they’re just way too often written in extremely boring and generic ways. But I’ve also seen such ships written in unique and interesting ways so I think there a lot of people who also understand that sometimes all they need is a more creative approach.

Episodes like Over A Barrel, Bridle Gossip, and She’s All Yak (among others) were horribly handled and should not have been written. I don’t even consider them canon. I don’t know about the larger fandom, but most of the next gen community that I interact with feels the same way.

I think Starlight’s backstory was stupid and contrived, but it seems like the whole fandom thinks so too. We’re all rewriting it lmao

[dmbakura]

Would you say AA has this sense of thinking he /needs/ to be like Cazador, because that's "what works" and what's "safe"? Like this is who he has to be, and nothing else is viable? That's how I interpreted AA's masking (especially during his sex scene, it seems very insincere and more like what he thinks he needs to be than what he wants) and I can't really make it work with Neil's statements honestly.

I also think he's very much capable of cruelty but the way AA acts is something else entirely to me because it's so goofily a Stereotypical Cartoon Villain Big Bad Sexy Vampire which doesn't really come across as honest in the way, let's say, Gortash's antics seem honest from what we know of the character. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what masking means, idk. I'm definitely not saying it's not honest that he wants to do all that power-hungry shit and that he's secretly a pure tortured soul because that's a lame ass reading that contradicts canon but everything about how he carries himself is so uncanny and all those underlying themes of being really fucking afraid and unable to face what happened/running away from it don't lead me to believe he's living an authentic life, more like he's trapped inside himself.

I don't really see how this contradicts anything Neil said. He never says AA is Astarion's most authentic self at all, or even that he's healthy and confident, only that he stops masking with theatrical deflections.

You also have to account for the supernatural element here too. In dnd lore, most true vampires basically succumb to personality rot and become paranoid and obsessive scheming freaks. I know the 'vampire ascendant' is a new thing and bg3 plays with the lore a bit more but considering this is alluded to by Astarion AND Cazador and heavily reflected in AAs behavior, I'm willing to believe that the vampire ascendant is literally just that but on steroids. Hence the cartoonish behavior lol

Astarion's a complex character. A lot of his arc is a question about how trauma can shape a person and what remains (if anything) after they've gone through something inconceivable, and if they can move past it and reclaim an identity for themself. I don't think it's a coincidence that his background is mostly vague and we don't actually know the kind of person he was before he was turned (unlike *those* fans, I also don't believe 'corrupt magistrate' means he was 'always destined to be evil' or some nonsense like that.) So much of his character is informed by the choices made in the game and how the experiences shape his worldview. He's by far the most dynamic character in the game and people want there to be a simple answer to his character (whether that be 'he's a poor uwu baby who did nothing wrong' or 'he's always been irredeemably evil and is incapable of change') when the reality is there just isn't one.

All this to say, same as what I've been saying from the beginning, both endings for him serve a purpose. They're two sides of the same coin for his character. They are both true to Astarion and his development and they're meant to contrast in ways that make you think deeper about him and his story. They absolutely cannot be taken in a vacuum and I am just so annoyed with people not engaging with the story on this level and wanting there to be simple moral platitudes to everything because they're uncomfortable with complexity.