#they have no moral backbone and they will not do the obvious thing because they can't

[qqueenofhades]

Since the freedom caucus successfully bullied the RNC into nominating a far-right candidate, why don't the moderate Republicans just vote for Jeffries?

I need everyone to understand there ARE no moderate Republicans. They will go down with the flaming MAGA lunatic ship rather than work with Democrats ever, on anything. That's just how it is. They may play moderate on cable news, but that's the truth.

[smoothriverrocksrock]

GOD I WOULD KILL FOR TF1 DECEPTICON BEE!! The thought of him not wanting to leave Megatron alone after something so horrific warms my heart. I need a fic of them becoming friends. (do you have any more headcanons?)

I really hope to get to writing a fic for this, and I’ll definitely link it if I do! Kinda busy with other fics tho and since one is close to finishing I wanna start it after I’m done with that one

Well first and most obvious headcanon is that Bee has to have some MAJOR respect for D-16/Megatron purely because of that scene with him standing up to Sentinel. Genuinely, seeing Bee watch that had me in the theaters wondering why tf Bee would be horrified by D-16 killing him. B-127 is a better person than me because of I saw one of my friends get CARVED INTO it would be my last straw

My main idea for a Decepticon tf1 Bee story kinda looks like this (warning this gets LONG):

-He sees Megatron and the High Guard leaving, and he can’t believe it. He just got a friend group, he can’t just let it split apart! Especially not like this!

-With a quick number exchange, Bee tells Elita that he’s going with Megatron and it’s nothing personal he just wants to stay with him ok byeeeee

-Elita is kinda baffled, and Optimus absolutely takes it personally but in a sad “wait what if I’m in the wrong, oh no, now I lost two friends” way. Optimus wants to go after him and Megatron but Elita stops him. They both agree it’s probably best to give them all space and let Bee try and figure it out

-Megatron is also baffled that this guy is coming with him, but he feels relieved that at least *someone* familiar agrees with him. He won’t admit it tho, it’s a cold comfort after everything else that’s happened

-The High guard doesn’t really care rn, they just got banished (AGAIN!) and a friend of their new leader is probably good enough to keep around

-I imagine some of them are probably injured (most importantly Megatron), so Soundwave helps them highjack a train where they can take temporary shelter, get supplies/food, and rest. Starscream finds out the base got blown up and appropriately grieves about the loss of his awesome throne. Shockwave is revealed to be the best thing they have to a doctor. Rough times.

-Bee keeps trying to get Megatron to talk about what just happened, but he refuses. Bee eventually talks about how horrible sublevel 50 was because of the isolation, and promises Megatron that he won’t leave him alone

-Still cold comfort to Megatron. He just lost his longest companion, and he knows Bee could never compare. Bee also realizes this, but he’s trying his best

Lotta places the story could go from there, but I wanna keep it as a “Bumblebee inadvertently becomes the moral backbone of the Decepticons” type of story. I also wanna clarify that Bee is still totally down for murder, he just convinces Megatron to keep the guns pointed at the Quintessons for now

He also shares soooo much Decepticon gossip to Optimus and Elita, but never anything that could ever compromise the Decepticons. He’ll be like “You’ll NEVER guess what Skywarp just said today” and Elita will ask for boring stuff like “where are you based” and “are you eating enough” and Bumblebee refuses to have his friendships compromised by politics. Optimus appreciates this, and does the same. Eventually Elita will conform and send him memes

Also Soundwave and Bee become scout friends. This is the law. Bee is one of the only people who will contribute to the community playlist

[iscariotapologist]

i will say one thing that frustrated me when i tried out that church yesterday was that they made a deal out of veterans day and had them all come up front and say what they did and the priest said something like "we couldn't be doing what we do today if you hadn't done what you did then" and like i fail to see how some bastard killing people from missile control in missouri 40 years ago or ruining vietnam 60 years ago or what the fuck ever is currently having any effect whatsoever on us going to church (because it's not). and this on the day we were all shitting our pants over republicans controlling the government again like do we actually have a moral backbone concerning the united states of america or only when they're being obvious about their evil war machine woman hating agenda. rhetorical question i would never expect a white as snow episcopalian congregation with an average age circa 75 to be anything but bland ass liberal but cmon

[silusvesuius]

unleashing the same hellscape i did on my notes app here it's my nelvas thinking dump i wrote just for fun and to keep track of what i view them as up 2 this point. Might change my mind on it later on it has a lot of things written in brackets for no reason . it's like ~2500 words long which isn't much but i think i said everything i've had in my mind for now read it for fun if you like to have fun leik me :) And talvas :) And nelothxP

retyping what i said in the tags of those last text posts and rearranging those thoughts a bit: in my train of thought that's been going steady since early 2024 i'm almost certain that neloth might see talvas as the epitome of being morally Clean (before that changes because of neloth's influence over him) and generally pure as a person. pure not used in the Pervert way; neloth is just a veeery big fan of talvas having absolutely no backbone and being very docile when it comes to him. which is r expected traits 4 someone if they find themselves under neloth's thumb as an apprentice, but it being written that he isn't at all catty and defiant to his face is cute. all talvas manages to do is shit talk neloth to others and pray neloth doesn't find out he meant the things he said but also can’t help feeling bad about it, even though neloth doesn't and wouldn't care, if he found out. neloth is happy with being an obnoxious & disgusting person. truly.. him growing obsessed with talvas' docile and innocent nature doesn't necessarily have to add up to him wanting to Taint or Ruin him (and if it happens ((it does)) it's not done on purpose, neloth can't hold that much control and power of his actions in that specific department). he encounters difficulties when he realizes he actually wants that Elven Twink.. it's too far gone to fix anything after he's tampered with talvas' patience and stability, and even then he can't be honest with talvas about anything, because he still wants to hold a great deal of power over him (neloth essentials for survival).

Might be the type to just want talvas to magically(haha) think it's okay that his wizard master desires him and expect that energy right back without talvas actually acknowledging it because it'd make neloth feel insanely cringy and embarrassed.. humiliated.. EVEN. but that's just in a deep deep dark corner of his mind, he isn't stupid. when trying to gain 'access' to his apprentice ("*His* apprentice" is also kinda funny way of viewing his mind too. just cause talvas is working as an apprentice under him neloth probably already feels a concerning sense of ownership over him that makes him feel very good) he can't even make the signs of interest be apparent to talvas because he's insanely inept at being Soft and honest for obvious reasons. he can tell what possibly could make talvas warm up to him even after he treats him like shit for eons but there's no way he's bringing himself to do it (change is embarrassing, especially in their formal dynamic, and especially at his age). so it's a half-assed attempt (actually he's trying his hardest🙄) to try and make talvas be (at least) less afraid of him. not that talvas has any other place that we know of that he "Belongs" to, he just sticks with neloth regardless of anything. neloth watching him as he sleeps ensues . Guys what do i do to make my apprentice let me hit because all of the eye contact i do with him while gripping his arm or petting his knee isn't helping. 

if we were to go back to how that spark is ignited in neloth swamp of a heart, brain… idk, it has to be when he realizes talvas' capability of forgiveness and 'Sucking it up' instead of lashing out at neloth after .. anything, but perhaps physical abuse in particular. neloth a 100% has absolutely no problem putting his hands on anyone, especially someone he sees so often, such as talvas. not that talvas really annoys him (his clear and voiced obedience pleases neloth as anyone can tell), but he just doesn't see it as too much of a big deal. the physical mistreatment that happens once in a blue moon isn't intense enough to scare off talvas for sure anyways. neloth is a bitch so all he can so is smack him at the back of the head (talvas finds it very normal) and slap him if he's feeling festive (something talvas finds kinda extreme but not that it happens often. he sometimes feels like he deserves it, or that neloth is warranted to do as he pleases. he tosses around it being justified or pitying himself, though). May be possible that neloth would realize he Like Likes talvas once he slaps him, mayhaps, for the first time, but talvas' immediate reaction to being treated like that is just sadness mixed with feeling shame for tearing up/crying in front of someone he respects *bishoujo sparkles sfx*. talvas is a delicate soul so he can't hold warranted emotions like that for long, and even tho it's expected of him to be making eye contact w/ neloth in a setting like that, he wouldn't be able 2 bring himself to do it because looking at neloth would make him wanna burst out in tears like a weeeee baby. Booo hooo.. talvas is the 19th century (4th era) damsel that runs out of the ball in tears after no young cavalier invited her to dance. watch this bleed into the most awkward and silent week of neloth's entire life because talvas doesn't even really feel like speaking to him or looking at him, but neloth doesn't wanna brute force the usual respectful etiquette out of him cus he thinks that's just gonna make talvas hurl himself down on some rough rocks at the seashore. Good thing talvas is very spineless and forgiving (especially in relation to neloth… i mean.. who r YOU to not forgive him) so that might just last a day or two. the hurt always stays tho. neloth this is why talvas doesn't wanna smash you.. you might've made some conclusions about what elven twink you like but talvas is just even more scared of you now. was your Pervert awakening worth it. and even if we do backflips and jump thru the point where everything is too far gone for either of them to go back, dude is still too afraid to make out with his apprentice. Deserve. but why though because talvas wouldn't refuse. for what reason? we may never know

^^^ this makes me feel like i love seeing characters i reaaaalllly love (elenwen and talvas in this case) as enigmas in situations where they're confronted with something so ""Intimate"". elenwen's stance on this is final tho cause she's a grown ass woman and there's no way you could reshape her brain. ulfric left her mind plane in SHAMBLES. talvas has more right (in the literal sense) to be erratic or inconsistent with his actions. maybe he likes to be desired. Also i strongly believe that talvas has probably never been in love (for any reason rly but it's mostly him not having actual time for it + not seeing it as something that is important to him at that point in his life)… i want neloth to be his first experience with Love so that it ruin his view on it forever. can't get myself to say he'd be in love with neloth at any point though. From his standpoint it really should feel empowering and 'nice' that neloth wants him in many ways (ew).. cause that's a man with status.. power.. ability to do anything rly . talvas is in no condition to be playing mind games with him or anything tho so don't get that idea. he's not strong enough of a person to be Tricking anyone or to be Playing with anyone's feelings. neloth would be immune to that, too. neloth can just kinda tell talvas is too good and … UNTAINTED. talvas wants to see the best in everyone. too bad he genuinely detests you, neloth.. so: he doesn't actually love neloth but wouldn't be happy to see his tombstone either. SO (PART TWO): if you time it right he wouldn't be against getting Freakkkkyyyy with you okay?but no promises

even if @ some point talvas develops indistinct feelings towards neloth cause of neloth's own incessant weird-mild advances it wouldn't have to mean he just likes old men permanently now. actually it kinda does. i can sorta feel it rearranging his braincells and making him unable to normally interact with people in his age range. he probably already had a hard time talking to others in hopes of developing a friendship just cause he's timid but after neloth's nonstop abuse and Accidental romance mind games he morphs into a whole new type of guy. it's hard to notice at first but he'd probably just start to leech off of neloth's prissy and unbearable personality in a natural course of things + neloth is the only person he sees and talks to on the regular pretty much. < this can just be reworded as just the cycle of abuse and whatnot. if he notices an opening in the abilities and Smarts of another person, especially someone his age/younger, he will automatically see them as umm…stupid. and also insult your abilities to your face if he snaps. he strikes me as the type to be afraid to say what he really thinks (another consequence of being glued to neloth all the time when all talvas does is act like he totally respects anything he says) and gets scared if anything slips out his mouth but is proud in letting the "Truth" be known because he already figured out you're a lesser being than him. he's just cloning neloth's verbal abuse braincells though he would never put his hands on someone. his desire to be mean and see himself as superior stems from neloth always disparaging him obviously.. talvas 4 that reason is very self conscious of his abilities and doesn't rly think he's all that useful or talented. his self doubt then would play into how he doesn't know when to believe what others are saying to and about him.. i wanna imagine that talvas is very oblivious to neloth's weirdo status just cause he partly doesn't even want that thought to cross his mind. i bet everyone but him sees it and finds it gross😕 but nobody in the vicinity is strong enough to tell neloth that he should be ashamed LMFAO. if you would try and even hint to talvas that it's happening he'd never take you seriously and just get mad. he's protective of neloth's image more than neloth himself is; not that people knowing neloth has abnormal sodomistic inclinations toward his apprentice would make his public image worse than it already is (everyone already thinks he's weird so it's not shocking at all) but talvas still wouldn't wanna hear it cause he thinks it's just false. maybe he's just ashamed that he's being brought into the whole thing. also because he doesn't wanna face the reality EJI23JRIO32KJ Well talvas when neloth makes an actual move on you don't say that we didn't warn you.. we're all waiting till neloth's status as an obvious apprentice-pervert becomes obvious to you

even if he's willingly ignorant of the fact he still thinks of the 'accusations' a lot when he feels like it. and unknowingly begins feeling even more uncomfortable in neloth's presence. heart starts beating faster and everything. neloth could come up to him meters away and talvas would still cover his mouth in realization and be like "i knew it… the DB told me but i didn't wanna believe it …..😦 so you really do like young men … and you're in love with me ..😨" *Neloth wakes up from this fever dream drenched in sweat* < neloth doesn't want (obvi) talvas to react that way at any point because he himself would just get scared so they'd just be staring at each other wide eyed. but talvas jumping into his advances isn't what he wants either (that'll also scare him). neloth is still relying on talvas' politeness to let him do as he pleases. but it is impossible for talvas to let it slide without questioning anything regardless so🤷‍♀️ take your few Ls and move on. neloth just wants talvas to sit on his lap. wants to spoonfeed him soup. he's so romantic. he also wants to(sniper on rooftop blows my head to bits). neloth is actually a pretty touchy feely person when he's feeling Frisky (=deranged about talvas). I'm certain his favorite part of talvas' body is his legs. talvas has beautiful young man skipping leg day legs. so nothing special at all but neloth wants to touch them lol.. let your master wizard squeeze your calves and he might just be occupied enough like a kid playing with a fidget toy to not abuse you verbally for 3 seconds. as i said befoar neloth is unpleasant with his touch because he doesn't know how to be soft + doesn't even want it to necessarily feel very 'rewarding' as to not pamper talvas. petting talvas kinda turns into a nervous habit for himself and an instrument of some sort of Reassurance 4 talvas when he wants him to know he’s not mad, for example. non-vebal confirmation. talvas still finds it weird but thinks it’s a charm point too. neloth wouldn't even be against touching him familiarly in front of others but only in a "older male figure" ways ex. touching his knee or putting his hand at the back of his neck (talvas sees it as some sort of disciplinary tactic though). physical touch that matches neloth's age and is enough for it to be seen as not necessarily romantic / overtly weird. 

there'ssssss no saving talvas after such a powerful person gets his hands on him. any will to leave would leave HIM either out of fear or out of attachment and neloth wouldn't just let him go (Alive at least) since he knows the things he knows. if talvas were to escape i'm a Truther of him not feeling in place and wanting to go back cause it's the stability that he's used to. but tbh if he encounters neloth on accident anywhere he's gonna start running. I was drinking tea while writing this and started choking on it i just nearly died writing this are youhappy. anyways, nelvas is a never-ending abusive relationship that doesn’t even have High highs, all it has is low lows. neloth always mistreats talvas for any reason but is never genuinely kind from the heart or out of remorse. .. hmm……yeah. I forgot to type this back out from my posts tags > talvas might just start viewing neloth as fuck crazy and demented after he Finally notices at least one molecular sign of gay attention from him . like ‘Oh wow Master Neloth obviously doesn’t get any female attention or anything cus he’s a sick fuck why does he have to search for it from me Can varona take the hit for me 🥺 *sees her dead body being dragged by the DB* hmm i guess not well i’ll figure something out i guess’ (he doesn’t) also the dialogue talvas has with varona after he steals neloth’s book trying to conjure some bs up will always be so cute to me he’s so defensive and afraid of neloth finding out. Him trying to decipher neloth’s handwriting is cute TOO ik their 19th century love letters to each other would go crazy and make sense to anyone but each other but i’m not gonna talk about 19th century girl talvas x neloth rn it’s too much . what ever. i think i’m done thank you i should just go back to drawing them as grecian pottery red figures or smthj Fun stats for you 4 getting to the end: times the word ‘abuse’ is used: 6

[dabistits]

when do u think bnha became unsalvageable?

i think bnha might've always been slated to become that way from the get-go, with the protagonist being an aspiring hero and heroes being superpowered cops.......

that said while copaganda shows will always be suspect to me, i'm willing to watch them for entertainment value if not moral backbone lol. so i think bnha could've still been a somewhat fun show about these kids going to superpowers school and learning how to use superpowers better. the major failure points that stand out to me are:

mva

endemption

i'll talk about #1 first since i'm sure that's gonna be the most controversial coming from me lol. dgmw i actually love mva and i think it's one of the better-written (if not best) arc of the series, BUT it was so good and set up so many expectations that the series ultimately just could not live up to. mva was very strong imo because, in giving its villains depth, it dug into the fabric of bnha's society and tried to illustrate, like, how did this happen, why are these people villains? and by and large, the answer to that was poverty and the societal alienation of vulnerable populations (children, abuse victims, mentally ill ppl, queer ppl, "mutants," etc.)

and this was good and interesting but this was Also Bad because mva added complexity to the world of bnha but that was ultimately a complexity that horikoshi couldn't execute. i'm not interested in a story that makes systemic change secondary to scolding marginalized people for reacting to how they've been treated. i would even prefer some kind of liberal "change from the inside" story that at least focuses more on the theme of systemic flaws than one that focuses on how the people systemically wronged are actually the bad ones and we have to fight them for 400 chapters.

look, i'll even drop the whole "the lov did nothing wrong" bit for a moment. sure, bnha doesn't have to throw away all believability and have everyone forgive the lov just like that, but it's always going to be fucked to me that bnha's story and fans are obsessed with the lov ~owning their crimes~ when (takes a deep breath) the government ordered the clandestine executions of people who would make the hero system look bad. and the story barely wastes any breath talking about the corruption of the hero system and higherups lol. which brings me to the second point.

endeavor started out as a character that embodied everything that was wrong with quirk/hero society. he was one of those very early downsides we saw of bnha's world: the publicity/public image of heroes superseding the contents of their actual character, and the value of quirks superseding the value attributed to their human bearers, to the point that domestic abuse and rape is seen as an option to make one's genes/one's power stronger. this was a good set-up! i was intrigued! but again, horikoshi couldn't follow through.

endeavor's character eventually shifted away from making a point about hero society to becoming one of the emotional focal points of the story, especially in the todofam subplot. "waaah tumblr user dabistits you just hate when people change for the better!" and yeah i do kind of hate how an abuser having sad feelings immediately gets him prioritized over the people who suffered because of him tbh! but personal feelings aside, i would say that endemption really marked the point where bnha swung hard into depicting characters as good or bad not through the actions they take but through their alignment with either heroes or villains.

endeavor and hawks are the most obvious in this. in contrast to the obsession of making sure villains repent and "do the right thing," endeavor/hawks' actions are either forgivable, pitiable, or simply necessary. several years of spousal abuse and at least 10 years of child abuse don't earn endeavor so much as a lecture (no, being told to stop being pathetic doesn't count), and hawks' execution of twice—not much different than lady n's executions—is dismissed through a press conference and never addressed again. there's a distinct line drawn between "heroes (who sometimes do bad things!)" and "villains," such that anyone aligned with the heroes is deemed to be "good, deep down," and generally more morally superior or redeemable than villains. consider the fact that someone like gentle (youtube crimes) or aoyama (blackmailed 16 y.o) were held to higher standards of proving themselves than someone like endeavor or hawks. i'm not gonna lie, these story beats are all uncomfortably real, except that when real live people do endeavor or hawks things i see them unquestionably as counterrevolutionary enemies, not protectors of the peace lol.

the decision to have endeavor transition from minor antagonist to a major supporting character was, imo, a big turning point in the ethos of bnha. i think in many ways it was a symbolic shift, but also a mechanical one in terms of how the story was going to be told going forward. the problems about hero society that were continually introduced at the beginning (ostracizing quirkless people and ppl with "dangerous" quirks, the valuation of powerful quirks over people, "fake heroes," all of the lov stuff) took a backseat to Stopping The Big Bads, with marginalization as flavor text instead of a genuine area of contention between heroes. think about the difference in deku confronting endeavor during the sports festival compared to how all other injustices were dealt with afterward... because the readers have to be convinced that endeavor is Ultimately Good, the heroes stopped challenging him, and in stopping challenging him, they lost one of the major ways through which the heroes of the series wrestled with societal issues.

but whereas the way the heroes handled corruption and violence within their own ranks became simplistic and non-confrontational, with mva, so many aspects of dealing with and interrogating the status quo and societally-accepted injustices were pushed onto the villains instead. but since the villains must be defeated as villains, despite being the main carriers of social critique now, their messages were also torn down/deprioritized in favor of enacting bnha's vision of a cohesive conclusion wherein the villains answer for their crimes. so instead of making the heroes challenge anything, hori shifted this burden onto the villains, in the process making most of them some kind of vulnerable/marginalized and with opinions on the matter, only to ultimately assert that the issues they raise are less narratively important than a restoration of peace.

[amadeoapologist]

i also think armand fundamentally does not know how to make people happy because he himself is unhappy. i was talking with my friend about louis and how louis still uses human markers of wealth and success that lestat and claudia and armand don't understand. louis wants to own things, he wants to invest in profitable endeavors. i don't think he wants to laze about in his wealth, but he wants to work hard and have it pay off and he wants to see the tangible products of his efforts.

and i'm bringing this up in relation to armand because i think this mindset explains some of the disconnect in dubai, beyond just the circumstances with lestat that got them there. because louis feels lobotomized to me in his cold modern penthouse where he's disconnected from his food, he's disconnected from other vampires, he doesn't work. he buys and sells artwork he appears to have only a passing interest in, he's tempered his accent. he sleeps in a bed and not a coffin, he eats at the table.

and i've been trying to wrap my head around that and how he ended up there, but i'm starting to think a lot of that is armand trying to give louis what he thinks louis wants to feel satiated. louis wants independence and nice things and obvious markers of wealth. so. have this penthouse with the most coldly, impersonally stylish decor. acquire this expensive artwork and then sell it so you can buy something more expensive. if you won't hunt, then here--dine on fine china.

i'm not saying armand holds all the money or anything, we don't know their finances. but i could see him continuously providing louis with expensive things in the hopes that will satisfy louis' desire to feel successful (and also because he has a metric fuckton to make up for and this is one way he tries), but it doesn't because what is louis doing to earn it? money makes money and it seems like louis doesn't have to do anything any more but coast, which is, as armand fears, boring. but idk if he knows how to address that because armand doesn't understand louis' perspective in the first place.

i think i love and empathize with armand so much because he's the one character on the show who feels, at his core, like he isn't good enough. i don't think this is as much a struggle for louis or lestat or claudia, but i think it is for armand. armand is pathetic. he's morally void, and he's too damn weak to grow a fucking backbone and stand by his choices without couching them in lies, because he can't accept being perceived as someone who would make those decisions. he wants affection. he craves approval.

(lmao old school a/n here--i wrote most of this before the finale and damn......i was spot on re: armand couching choices in lies lolololol)

people keep making posts about how armand seems a bit too invested in daniel's opinion of him. and obviously there's an armandiel bent to those, but i also think it's because daniel is the most objective person in the room. he isn't objective because he's tangled up in their story, too, but he's outside of the partnership. he's a journalist. he's an archivist of some version of the truth. and i think he wants daniel to see him how he wants to be seen. he didn't want daniel to think he was boring in san francisco, and he doesn't want daniel to think he's boring now decades later. he wants the external validation from someone outside of his unit to tell him he did the best he could. which obviously daniel won't do, which makes armand want it more.

there's a very good chance i'm completely wrong and talking out my ass and just a pathetic armand apologist myself, but idk. every episode makes me more curious about him. i started season 2 really disinterested in armand and lowkey put off by his presence. but the season has shifted things for me slowly but surely, and now i think armand is one of the most interesting characters on the show. and that makes me love him even more.

[thekingofwinterblog]

The Problem with Trespasser

So there has been said a lot about the flaws of tresspasser as a finale to Inquisition, as it can basically be divided into two sections.

There is the lore, the character stuff with your companions, and the actual titular trespasser section of the story, which is generally liked.

Then there is the Exalted Council part of the Story which is generally greatly disliked for the way it portrays Arl Teagen as an ungrateful arse, who even though he's in the right that the Inquisition really does need to disband, is such a bitch about it that a player might feel the desire to keeping it intact just to spite him, despite all the reasons that is a terrible idea(Such an organization being doomed to become the templars 2.0 being the single biggest). Not to mention the way it makes Thedas's nations look like they have the memory capacity of a goldfish, given how instrumental the inquisition was in stopping the last massive threat and might be so again against the plenty of obvious threats on the horizon(and sure enough, the stop the Dragon breath terrorist attacks that would have happened with or without them being there).

However, looking at the big picture, i don't think the actual writing of Arl teagen was the problem here.

No the problem is that Arl Teagen and the rest of the world's reaction to the Inquistion is very, very clearly taken from an older draft of this story, where the Inquisitor was far less... An unambiguous force for good, lets say.

The concept art for inquistion tells a story that is very, very different than what we get in game, with a lot more emphasis is put on the inquisitor very obviously being a dick, that is not well liked by anyone around them.

There is also the way said inquisitor could be far, far more pragmatic and morally grey or dark, like here, where the Inquisitor could force the Venatori to serve after defeating them.

Way more emphasis is built on the idea that the Inquisitor is creating a cult of personality around you, personally.

Essentially a dark mirror to the Hero of Ferelden and Galahad's journeys to defeat their own crisis'.

The option of letting celine die was always gonna be a part of the game, but rather than a pragmatic, move of standing aside and let it happen, your companions would have very negative reactions to this choice, with you having to force Blackwall in particular to stand back as he curses you.

And of course, it would all cuminate in the logical endpoint for the herald of andraste, the living embodiment of the Andrastian reformation as you took your place on the sunburst throne, and usher in whatever changes you want.

This outcome... makes perfect sense. Frankly speaking, this is a much more narratively fitting ending for the inquistior, that has a clear climax from where they start.

Of course we all know this didn't actually end up happening. The Inquisitor ended up being the most passive of all the PC's by a wide margin(you could shape them into having a personality, but not one with a true backbone like Hawke and the Warden), and all these very morally dubious options was taken out of the game in favor of a much more morally simple story.

The most evil thing you can do in DAI is to choose the templars over the mages... and rather than being portrayed as the clear evil choice as it should have been(and still been a legitimate and pragmatic option for you to take) there is instead attempts at making it more nuanced.

Other than that, you don't have the kind of options that the Warden had, and even hawke did(like selling Fenris into slavery), to be a dick.

With all this in mind, it's blatently obvious why Teagen and the world is so damn afraid of the Inquisition.

Because this part of the story was written from before this change in the direction of the game, and was never updated to fit the final product.

If the original vision of the game had to to pass, Teagen's extreme reactions to the Inquistion would have been far, far more understandable, and in it's own way a way of calling the player out on their bullshit.

However, the final product just makes it appear he's way overreacting, rather than maybe questioning that maybe Teagen is right, maybe it is time to end this inquisition for the good of all.

Its one of the biggest problem with what is otherwise a very good epilogue to Dragon Age Inquisition.

[putnamcapital]

s1 ep 6 rewatch notes

[yeah i am still doing these essays, everyone copes differently OKAY]

I wish i had the words to convey my love for the Simon-Rosh-Ayub dynamic when they’re sitting on his bed trying to talk about his video, not the Kim K. video. it’s an instance of one of the things i ADORE about YR, namely, the importance of the love and support of friends - “the gang is back together”. contra a lot of the teenage and adult movies that put romantic love on a pedestal and everything else goes to the dogs.

That shot of Wille set against the sky when the Queen leaves = is it the apocalypse or is it heartbreak and i'm not the only one seeing the religious imagery right?

“we haven’t done anything wrong.” Simon’s moral clarity, his unbreakable backbone - it’s a moment where it’s obvious the Court has no idea who they are dealing with. I’m not sure Wille even knows then.

Frida doesn’t get enough praise for her acting. that side eye of August as they cross in front of him loafing on the picnic table: sublime.

Another parallel I hadn’t seen before: Sara dresses up before dinner; she likes the image she sees of herself in the mirror. She is “someone she is not”, according to Simon (later that night), but she wants that false countenance. In S2, that same move will devastate Wille. But we have another Sara-mirror scene, in S2. Leaning on the Wille-Sara parallel, there’s something being done here about becoming who you are through artifice (dressing up ‘in costume’) or through love (revealing your true self). August (as opposed to Simon, i think …) ends up being a false or traitorous ‘coming into self through love’ for Sara.

Related … when Sara went to see August to confront him about the video, i have retrospectively imagined her as having planned what happened. But if you look at the scene as it happens, both Sara and August seem to just be playing the situation as it arises. Sara starts off by not even intending to tell August, I think that was honest. When she then confronted him about the video, she first asks why did you do this to Wille and then, how do you have the right, you destroyed Simon? none of it is about her. it’s when August asks her ‘what do you want’ - that i think the idea comes to her. And i think that explains her face after she kisses August - her revulsion at herself. it seems like a situation that spiralled out of control very fast.

i can’t really talk about the Sara-Simon fight scene because it’s my Point of No Return in terms of “This is a nice program to watch of an evening” and “These characters have become my entire waking and sleeping existence, is there treatment for this.”

in the scene that starts with them sitting on the floor in Wille’s room, there is that tender moment by the door, and one of the top two kisses and hugs in the whole of season 1 and 2 combined, punctuated with the forehead tap. and i’ve always thought it so lovely until this time i saw the “red flag” - the towel hanging on the hook - and it reminded me of the red ‘flag’ we see in the locker room every other time things go south.

the scene with kristina and wille in the car starts simply with him saying, “WHAT?” which a) comes straight out of fanfic; b) is hyper-realistic adolescent approach to dialogue but also c) actually shows that they are really close. as in, Wille might loathe his mother by the end of this episode, but also he knows exactly what she’s thinking and they can just skip all the usual staging aspects of conversation. it links, i now see, to the book scene, where wille admits that he can’t just throw out everything he’s been taught, b/c he’s internalized it so well

when K is lecturing W about all the public attention he’s going to get now, and how it will be even worse, it’s the same shot of him looking out the car window wishing he could be literally anyone else as in the first few minutes of s1ep1, after the club fight. and we see his reflection in the window, so we get him 'in double' - who he is IRL, and who he is seen to be by the viewer. very clever. very clever.

[yuttikkele]

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG LONDON SPECIAL SPOILERS!

Basically, my main thoughts on it. I have a LOT of thoughts about it, but I’m gonna just try to air out the most important and relevant ones for right now.

ok I actually rambled for a while, so beware, this post is really long.

1. It is VERY obvious how hard they are trying to justify why these things happened and why they’re actually good. Like why Gabriel was actually a good person and “finally a good father” when he made the wish (going so far to even say that Marinette should’ve made the wish, and that would’ve been heroic. Despite them saying MULTIPLE times in MULTIPLE episodes, making it CRYSTAL CLEAR to everyone watching, that even if you make a wish for a good cause, you’re not doing the right thing because you should continue to live life and make changes with your own strength, not with a magical wish). First of all, stop acting like Gabriel had anything to lose, he didn’t. He was seconds away from dying anyways, AND If he died, he’d be with his Emilie which is what he wanted anyways. Gabriel got the best case scenario. Now, he’s got everything he wants, he doesn’t have to take care of his son Adrien, he doesn’t have to live in a crazy world anymore, and he doesn’t have to own up for his actions! Him making a last minute decision to save Nathalie doesn’t make up for that. I am glad he made that decision though since it IS in line with his character. He DID… sorta… still care about Nathalie. At least a little bit.

They also try to justify why Chat Noir wasn’t in the finale. Which, I know it makes sense for the plot, but I don’t care about the plot THAT MUCH to absolutely SIDELINE a main character, removing them from the finale that has been holding suspense for like, 9 years. And I KNOW Miraculous doesn’t care about the plot that much either, cause they’ve messed up the plot multiple times for much less things.

And, of course, they go OVERTIME trying to justify Ladybug’s lying to the world. I mean, OVERTIME OVERTIME. It’s terrible. It’s so hard to watch. WE all know it’s wrong, anyone who’s old enough knows how terrible of an idea this is, not only because lying is wrong, you can just tell lying about this will have dire consequences. And since everyone just HATES seeing their hero protagonist lie so horribly, instead of just making their hero protagonist… yknow, NOT LIE, they have to bend over backwards to justify it. And the justifications are terrible too, like THEY even know it’s a terrible idea but they just go with it cause it’s Marinette and what are they gonna do, stop Marinette? There’s a reason Marinette doesn’t tell Alya and it’s because Alya would make sure EVERYONE knows. Not because she can’t keep a secret, but because she absolutely wouldn’t stand for that.

2.

That leads me in to talking about how this is for sure not for kids, not in a way that like there’s bad stuff in it and it’s not rated for kids. No, it’s like still good and everything, but I just feel like kids were not the target audience here for once. I mean, disclaimer, as someone who is not 8 years old anymore, I don’t know! Kids might like it! But from what I know about videos that are trying to cater towards kids, this doesn’t feel like that. 1. The lying message they’re telling to kids is HORRIBLE. I mean, the lying message wasn’t great before, but I gave it a pass cause yknow superheroes with secret identities. But this is SO much worse. Like it’s one thing to have a lie be told but not really bring it up again. This is not that. They bring up the lie Ladybug told through the WHOLE thing, it was like the backbone, moral of the story type stuff. And when they bring it up, you can TELL that it’s wrong like everything SCREAMS that this is not what Marinette should’ve done, AND THE NEXT SENTENCE IS THEM JUSTIFYING IT. I kid you not. It’s utterly horrendous. The whole segment where she’s talking about it with Nathalie: I for sure thought Ladybug was going into her villain arc. Yknow when villains do something wrong and they gaslight themselves into believing it was the right thing to do so it leads them to becoming worse? That’s exactly what Ladybug did to herself in that scene and it wasn’t even sugarcoated!! But they still tried to justify it! 2. I don’t think this special was targeted at kids because it was boring. Like, it wasn’t boring for me, but you can tell this special was made more so to explain rather than entertain. And if you’re a kid who doesn’t care about this stuff, there’s like two scenes I can think about that would be either funny scene or cool-action scene, and the rest of the special is depressive exposition. Yeah, now that I’m thinking back on it, like most of the special is just sad-times and explaining things. I’d say this whole special’s target audience was longtime watchers for sure. I’m pretty sure this special was made to explain things to longtime watchers for season 6. And that leads me to my next thing.

3.

Despite how TERRIBLE I think things are going right now, I do believe this is a very nice segway into season 6. Even though I don’t agree with how season 5 ended (from Gabriel making the wish, to Chat Noir not being in the finale, to Ladybug lying to the world), this special does a very nice job making all of those mistakes make sense in the world and to the plot, so I give the writers kudos for that very hard job.

I do feel it’s odd that so much lore was packed into a movie special when before, the movie specials were kinda just spin-off extra things. Like the TV series could still be understood without watching the specials, but now I don’t think that’s the case. I mean, we’ll have to see once s6 comes out, but I find it very hard to believe that S6 will be easy to understand without watching this special. Like I do think it’s odd that a movie special has this much lore in it, but I completely and totally understand why. I, for one, needed that 40 minutes to explain to me what the heck happened after the s5 finale cause I was so confused. I’m much less confused now, and I did like all the exposition it gave.

I also think it was very cool how the very last part of the special was in the new animation style. I think this special did a good job being a segway between s5 and s6 if nothing else.

4.

Ok and this isn’t really as big as the other things I’ve talked about, but LILA (or whatever her name is) WEARS THE BUTTERFLY MIRACULOUS UPSIDE DOWN?? Maybe I’m thinking something like that is so cool cause I have such low expectations for Miraculous, BUT I THINK IT’S COOL AND I WANNA MENTION IT.

that’s all goodbye

[musings-on-wisteria]

Exploring The Elements (Via Comparison)

This post is about how I came up with my version of the Four Elements. My variations are not exactly unique, but there are some key departures from traditional depictions that I think make my system stand out. If it’s not obvious, this is entirely my UPG.

Context: While the elements are the backbone of my witchcraft practice and are absolutely part of my spells, I view each element as more than just a tool or an energy, but as a category. For me, each element has its own lessons, its own mysteries, its own aspects and its own path for a practitioner to walk down. That being said, I think they're absolutely categories you can play with. I took the elements and made them more sacred than sorcerous; you may want to make them more secular than spiritual. That's totally your call!

For starters, I mentioned in this post that I prefer to work with the elements as they appear in my life. When I began my practice, I meditated on each element and followed the threads that it reminded me of.

To take Wind as an example, I thought of letters, weather vanes and feathers. From that I could extrapolate correspondences of communication, ideas, omens, change, exchange, favors, levity and freedom.

That's a LOT from three objects.

From there, I applied the correspondences to my life- where did I see omens, experience exchange and communication, feel free? Pretty quickly, Wind's domain became the internet, as well as academic study, games, and travel.

Once I had done this- and mind you, I didn't sit down and write out every element one by one, it was a more organic process- I wanted to find the intricacies of the system. Some of the elements seemed to overlap- Earth and Water, for instance. I wanted to know what separated them, made each its own path.

That's where comparative groupings showed up. Dividing my four elements into two sets of two as many ways as I could was a pretty useful way to figure out what they were and what they weren't. These categories are fairly arbitrary, but they help me understand the connections between the elements and solidify their meanings. You can see how this is done with the traditional four Elements, with "passive" and "active," "feminine" and "masculine," and all of that. There are three axis that I measure them through; Hearth vs. Flux, Aspirational vs. Foundational, and Energetic vs. Organic.

The Hearth elements (Fire and Earth) are physical. Their domain is the solid and mundane. They’re called “Hearth” because their properties are more familiar to us, being steady and predictable. The Flux elements, by comparison (Water and Wind) are shifting and metaphysical. They have influence over things that only exist in our minds- our thoughts, ideas, magic. They also fluctuate, hence the name. 

The Aspirational elements (Wind and Earth) have goals that are either endless- they can never be truly achieved- or which I gravitate towards in good times. When I’m doing well, I focus on these things, which encourage growth, progress and self-expression. They concern the external world, beyond an individual person. The Foundational elements (Water and Fire) meanwhile, are more about maintenance and healing. In bad times, I come to these elements for renewal and comfort. They focus on the internal, the self, the- well, foundational. These are paths that set habits and routines.

The Energetic elements (Wind and Fire) are more energy than spirit. They tend to be simpler, more linear, more man-made and more morally neutral. They’re more sorcery than spirituality, if that makes sense. Organic elements (Earth and Water), by contrast, are more spirit than energy. They’re complex. They like cycles and feelings and spiritual development. They like dealing with people rather than products. (I have a whole UPG around energy and spirit- long story short, I see spirit as condensed energy and energy as unfocused spirit- but that's another story.)

So, reading through that, you can probably already glean a lot of my elemental associations. That's how it's supposed to work- through these three comparative lenses, you can triangulate my correspondences in a really satisfying way.

For instance, you now know that Water is a Flux element- changing, metaphysical, mind-focused- a Foundational element- self-focused, healing and internal- and Organic- specializing in spirituality, cycles and feelings. The sentence writes itself- Water is about a person’s relationship to themselves and their internal feelings, the cycles of healing and development, and spiritual wisdom.

Additionally, that tells you how I might use Water in a spell! Personally, I almost never use only one element- it's much more potent to blend them. In my practice, Water will be present in both a cleansing and an emotional healing spell- but in the former, I'd combine it with Wind (the Flux Elements like movement and shifting things around), while in the latter I would add more Fire (because the Foundational Elements are eternal sources of renewal and self-love).

This has been a long post, so if you made it all the way through, thanks! I may make more posts outlining my specific, in-depth profiles for each of the elements, for my own record as much as anything else. Keep in mind these will be entirely based on my UPG and highly personal to my craft.

PLEASE, please please please add your own UPG around the elements to this post- or tag me in your own- I would really love to see what other people make of these four!

[spiralhigh]

the concept of theft was invented by people who wanted to accuse others of doing it while getting away with the very thing they themselves created the concept of, at a much larger scale. basically i think the concept of ownership is inherently unjust and should be abolished. when people say "under communism we all have to share one toothbrush" as a joke i mean it for real. property is a scam. most egregious, with the obvious exceptions of slavery and other claimed ownership of literal people, is the concept of intellectual property. how can you own an idea, a style, a way of thinking, a piece of information. because you created it? discovered it? what an awful way to think. mathematicians and speedrunners have the right idea. and people who make anime girl pixel bases and say "no credit needed just have fun!", they are the moral backbone of our society and we will not survive without them. when something is released upon this world, tangible or cerebral, permanent or ephemeral, it becomes part of the world. the world that doesn't "belong" to anyone. and then people have the audacity to turn around and say that it can be stolen? the only real theft is the kind that bars other people from that resource. obviously i was being cheeky about the toothbrush-sharing, it's really a matter of convenience that we each have our own individual copies of some items. but the powers that be have convinced us that theft is when you take someone's designated toothbrush. when the real theft is whoever put the "thief" in a position that they could not access a toothbrush without revoking access to someone else. this myth of scarcity that keeps us at each others' throats while the rich make off with their hoards and order their orderlies to throw everything they can't keep all to themselves in a landfill. they want to kill us all. they want everyone who isn't one of their own to die and they're not even pretending to hide it anymore. sickening. it's sickening is what it is.

[bandzboy]

I don't think it was just a concept for skz I think they really believed everything they've said when they were fighting against the industry, however things have changed. They are one of biggest kpop groups now and I think they have this certain greed. I felt that with bts too when they really blew up, or taylor swift, she is already a really big worldwide known artist yet she wants to break all the records even if it means losing quality of her music and not letting other smaller artists shine. I feel like something similar is happing with skz, they are at this point in their career where they can achieve huge things, so they don't really care about anything else. After met gala they said several times that they are proud to be the first group to attend, even though it was with tommy hilfiger, they were happy to collaborate with a western artist, even though it was charlie puth, they are happy about marvel, etc. I think they are happy to do all the "cool stuff" and just don't care if it means associating with problematic people. It is dissopointing that they've become the thing they fought against and instead of using their influence for good they are using it to promote zionists brands

truly i just brought up the concept thing because all of it, all of they essentially wrote about and talked about in their music becomes meaningless when you know they are not taking a stance right now and literally not having a backbone it sucks truly. obviously idk what is like to be the biggest artist but i imagine some artists just want more and more and don't want it to stop and don't really think through about what they are doing and it doesn't help that they are in an industry that enables everything and everyone so they must think it's okay and just throw whatever morals they have to the side and idk if it's the case here but i mean... i think it's fair to question that. and btw, i know zionism is heavily entrenched in this industry it has truly been in every corner for years and nobody has put a stop to it because so many of these people in power are zionists so it's truly hard to fight against it but it doesn't mean you shouldn't fight you SHOULD. and i know they might not know it about it in depth hell even i wasn't well versed on it that much months ago and now i'm making my life's mission to stop it but i would genuinely hope they listened to their fans and would try to slowly distance themselves from zionists and try to understand but it has been so insanely disappointing that after lmb it has become worse and it's so blatantly obvious that some of these zionists in the music industry aren't being that accepted in the west anymore so they are migrating to the kpop industry and these companies just let them because they only gaf about western validation nowadays so they just let anyone in without a care in the world and it's just crazy to me. i don't know what will happen next my expectations are very low but obviously, as someone who has stanned them for years, i have a little hope reserved because i am not the type of person to assume the worst obviously it has been really hard but you know unless they give a clear i don't gaf about anything you people say then i'm out but are so much shit left unsaid and shit we don't know that might be happening behind the scenes that just make you question everything. to me it's all very mind boggling at the moment. but yeah, when these artists start to get big and the money starts to come in it's like everything they were previously is gone and they seem out touch and all of that and seeing that in real time is crazy i don't even if that's the case here but ahm yeah i really hope it isn't

[smoothriverrocksrock]

I’m really invested in your con! Bee au because of the potential, I wonder how thinks work out in the future, because he is the "moral backbone” and what things could change because of that

And following your headcanon of Bee having Alchemist cog, and Shockwave thinking he is the legacy of the Prime, could you explore more on that? Because after seeing the movie, the cogs of the Prime should give them some powers but we only see it when D-16 takes megatronus cog, changing and becoming Megatron.

What are your thoughts on this?

So glad to hear it! 

About the T-cog thing, first I wanna establish that I headcanon that the Primes T-cogs’ cause physical changes in the group. Megatron’s was the most obvious by literally growing in height, but they all got changed. It mostly manifests as muscle memory so they know how to do combat moves that they never actually learned. It also gives them agility, strength, and stealth buffs. Imagine one day Optimus and Eita start sparring, and then they both take a moment to remember they were miners and have no idea how they actually learned all these attacks. And then if someone asks them to do the move again, they can’t because it was a pure in-the-moment response.

More specifically for Bee, he’s noticed that his hands have gotten a lot more steady after getting his cog. Doesn’t twitch *neary* as much as it used to. Later on when Shockwave tries to teach him science shit, Bee doesn’t really know what he’s doing but his hands *do*. Shockwave absolutely refuses to compliment Bee on anything (just on principle) but he will admit to himself that Bee’s physical techniques are a lot better than he was expecting.

Also like… Tf1 Bee is a tinkerer. They established that he can make stuff to some extent. He had nothing but mechanical garbage to entertain himself with for who knows how long, and he made himself friends OUT OF TRASH. Is he any good? Probably not. But it’s at least a starting point Shockwave can work with

[lerry-hazel]

The long-ass Thomas Barrow post that needs to stop living in my brain

Part 4: The Aftermath

*continued*

Instead -

No off-screen development is implied at all: it’s like in the three actual years between the series final and the film (and however long it was supposed to be plot-wise), Thomas ceased to exist.

And he doesn't get to come back, not entirely.

A lot – of both posts and fics – have been written about how illogical and rude Lady Mary's decision to bring Carson back was. It has also been pointed out she might genuinely feel more comfortable with a more experienced butler, – which might actually make sense: *if* the Royal visit happened, like, a week after Lady Edith’s wedding; if the Crawleys hadn't had a chance to experience at least one grand event where Thomas had been at the helm, yet all the silver had been properly polished, and – I don't believe there actually were any other allegations against him?

Of course, narratively speaking, it's obvious Thomas gets caught in (or, rather, out of) the vicious circle of “we need Thomas out of the house so that he can go on a romantic adventure of his own, so Thomas gets to have a romantic adventure of his own so that he is out of the house and Carson can come back”.

But the way things unfold from that point makes very little sense.

*******************************************************

I won't argue that proudly stepping down and letting Carson handle the mess was the right thing to do: up to the point where Carson admitted he wasn't faring much better – and where Thomas should have seized the opportunity to come back and rub it in everybody's faces that *he* had things under control, thank you very much.

It's also painfully obvious that vengeful scheming is 100% Thomas’ thing – and most certainly not Anna’s: who, if anything, should be talking him down from a borderline criminal offense to something gentler and funnier, thus showing that in the last [however long it’s been] Thomas’ colleagues have learned to both accept and manage his mean streak.

Instead, we see the entire moral backbone of Downton staff cheerfully poisoning people who are just trying to do their job – with Thomas’ participation limited to bringing in Richard.

Whose presence in the plot makes even less sense.

**************************************************************

To begin with, if the king’s valet was supposed to be on leave and not meant to attend on the king, there was no need for him to come to Downtown in the first place.

Then, just like with Jimmy, we don't get to find out what Thomas sees in Richard, beyond his willingness to get his colleagues into trouble for a slim chance to get laid. Which is, apparently, not impressive enough, since Thomas ends up leaving with the first man to give him the same offer. After which it's doubly unclear why Richard would want to risk his own career for a guy who doesn’t seem all that interested; and who, to the extent of Richard's knowledge, is just a petty little troublemaker with no respect for his own job and the royal family.

As it is, Richard should be asking himself if Thomas’ willingness to kiss him back was born from anything but gratitude; and Thomas should *not* be kissing back, properly terrified out of doing anything even slightly illegal for the next 2 months.

*****************************************************************

So, wouldn't it be better if Richard were the one Thomas met at the club? They would barely manage to get away from the police, and, too scared to do anything “unlawful” that night, would end up walking around the city for hours, talking and getting to know each other

Fine, that looks more like a fanfic than a flashback. Let’s say,

Thomas and Richard meet in a club, spend a passionate night together, and Thomas feels there might be something, but of course they'll probably never see each other again, because since when does he get to have nice things?

Then there is the royal visit, and Richard suddenly shows up as part of the royal entourage.

Carson is in charge – after a polite reminder that he was supposed to be overseeing the major events, – and is dealing with all the rules, regulations and pointless demands. Therefore, it falls to Thomas to keep the Downton staff happy, and he gets to be all angsty because, on the one hand, he knows he has to prove himself by inventing some kind of a scheme to get rid of the royal stuff, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to let Richard down.  Eventually the others find out and somehow help Thomas to “have the cake and eat it too”.

Although, what does it matter, if Richard too doesn't last?

[eye-of-yelough]

Ask gaaaaame Desire failure fear for aeryn

wowie this is so many okay

What’s one thing your oc wants more than anything in the world?

To be good and feel good at the same time. Hedonist with a praise kink fr. Unfortunately it’s… pretty impossible for him to get both as a Bhaalspawn. It’s partially why he’s so easy to manipulate by uh. cough. awful people. you can convince him to do any amount of heinous shit if you can convince him it’s moral. and tell him he’s a good boy after :)

Are they open with that desire? Why or why not?

uhhh definitely Not, i don’t think he even consciously acknowledges it. I think he thinks his greatest desire is to be loved. or normal. or dead. probably dead.

What would they do to fulfil it?

As I said, pretty much anything, except things he deems immoral (that Gortash didn’t deem necessary to convince him wasn’t. For example, he never bothered trying to convince Aeryn that slavery was okay, because he knew it would be both really difficult, and ultimately unnecessary; Aeryn’s repugnance for it never stopped him from always coming back.)

What’s your oc’s greatest failure? Have they been able to move past it?

Answering these two in the same paragraph because “move past it” implies that it was One Event, which isn’t true in his case. Aeryn’s biggest failure is his consistent inability to grow a backbone.

And it eventually kills him, so… yeah he never moves past it :/

Does anyone else know about it?

I’d say it’s fairly obvious to anyone who spends significant time with him. Gortash, Bhaal, Orin, and Sceleritas, for sure. Minthara, maybe Shadowheart. I think the other companions are either not perceptive enough, or too wrapped up in their own shit (said with love)

What is your oc’s greatest fear?

I can’t believe i haven’t thought about this, I have no idea. I guess if we were thinking existential, the idea that his life has all been for nothing. I guess just being a failure in general. He’s really not very ambitious, especially not in comparison to uhhhhh Certain People, but he at least wants to have made a positive impact on the people around him.

What do they do when confronted with it?

He’s been battling it constantly, he never makes good decisions. Not a single W for this freak. So i guess he’s developed something of a thick skin to it. I think his fear response is to puff himself up and act all arrogant and laugh in the face of horror, and then break down when the pressure becomes unbearable or after when he’s had time to process.

Are they open with that fear, or do they hide it away?

I don’t think he makes a conscious effort to hide it, but, again, you really couldn’t tell at first glance considering how often he fails/loses.

i gotta be honest i don’t think i’ve answered these fear questions right at all but. we move. i can’t think of anything better :/

[astromechs]

I want to preface this with I love Gunn's work with the guardians a lot. I know he's been the best for them in the mcu. I do believe he put a lot of love in vol 3. That said I have seen a lot of people blaming the Russo Brothers choices in IW for any messy parts of vol 3 and the thing is James Gunn wasn't helpless. He was a producer on IW/EG. He's talked about how he had to sign off on what happened and he's said that he did so because it served the story they were telling. This isn't me saying he's a bad guy or that he's never made good choices for Gamora. This is me saying that there were too many people who looked at Gamora's story as an abuse survivor and decided to prioritize her abuser and making him sympathetic. Gamora died all alone at the hands of her abuser while the spirit of a Nazi watched everything. None of that was necessary. There were other ways to make Thanos sympathetic. Or better idea is to not try to make an abusive genocidal maniac sympathetic

I do believe Gunn didn't love the choice and there probably was a lot of professional courtesy involved where he didn't want to knock what they wanted to do. But that still doesn't change that there are way too often biases in whose stories get priority and whose don't. I think women continue to be the ones most likely to lose out. There was no way that Steve Rogers or Thor for example were having their story end like Gamora's. especially not without any sort of intense emotional follow up. I don't think Gunn would have been keen on Rocket dying the way Gamora did either. Can't imagine Peter ending his time with guardians barely knowing who they were in a story he helped build. None of this means Gunn hasn't predominantly done amazingly well with gotg. It's just an example of how it often takes more effort and mindfulness to see the bigger picture of choices that get made for some characters.

The other issue is that there is an entire documentary on Disney about women in the mcu and Gamora is featured. The whole episode about her credits her for being essential to the guardians team and how she's the moral backbone. It also talks about how special her relationship with Nebula is. I loved the documentary but it made it even more obvious how awful killing her off was. She is the guardians. What she stood for, what she wanted out of life, what she wanted for herself, all of it embodies being a guardian and as much as I like vol 3 and love Rocket getting his time to shine, Gamora was the absolute last character who should have ended the trilogy only just beginning to have a new attachment to all of that. The very fact that there are people now arguing about if she has the right to be a guardian anymore goes to show what's depicted on screen matters.

gunn definitely isn't blameless, for sure; he signed off on it, and if his recent interviews are to be believed, actually had a plan to kill gamora off in vol 2 originally. (though part of me is like... that death for her would've been better than the one we ended up getting, because at least she would've gone out fighting of her own volition, and not murdered by her abuser with all her agency taken away, but that's a conversation for another day. still stupid af and why did she have to die at all, but... god lol, the bar is on the ground for anything being better than "murdered by her own abuser and thrown off the fucking fridge cliff.")

i think the issue here is we have a bunch of cishet white male creators, gunn included, who get this idea of, like, "oh this would be cool in the story," and don't have a good handle on their own internalized misogyny; this story would've never happened to peter, and it would've never happened to rocket, but.... sighs.

i love gunn's work, and he's gotten better over time (i really recommend peacemaker, especially, that show is really indicative of how much he's grown as a creator), but, yeah. it's not 100% the fault of markus and mcfeely/the russos, with gunn totally blameless.