#they were really like ‘we need to introduce a character with the mental illnesses and surgical skill to give Hawkeye a run for his money’

[cuddleswinchester]

early Charles you are something special

[dancermk]

HELLO MY FELLOW TRAVELERS!

I, like many viewers, have been completely entranced by Hawk and Tim’s love story in Fellow Travelers. As a mature queer person, this show has been very emotional, and I am deeply invested. (I WILL riot if Tim doesn’t get to die in Hawk’s arms, and know that he is, and has always been, loved by Hawk.) But I digress.

Something that I have been fascinated by are the differing opinions that have surfaced about the characters, especially Hawk. I’m not looking for any arguments here, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and this is simply mine. To me, Hawk falls hard and fast for Tim. He breaks all his own rules for Tim - they topple over like a house of cards.

When we are introduced to Hawk, he’s cold and heartless with the men he hooks up with - they are nothing more than a body to fulfil his sexual needs and desires. He doesn’t do repeats and he doesn’t bring them home. But Tim, he instantly begins returning to, gets him a job, then allows him into his own apartment, etc. When Tim pushes back, Hawk relents further, letting him in emotionally, sharing parts of his past, crossing lines by introducing him to others in his circle, and so on.

Hawk is a traumatised man, carrying guilt and anger and shame, and a bucket load of fear! Yes, he has some internalised homophobia, but interestingly, he’s also extremely righteous about his homosexuality -and I don’t believe he thinks being gay is wrong in any way. (His response to his father is indicative of this).

I can personally say that I’ve never thought it was wrong to be queer, yet I spent much of my life hiding who I was and feeling shame. It’s an odd thing! Perhaps it is that the shame forms purely from what is outside of us, while what is inside of us can love another person of the same sex, knowing it is right and pure. Perhaps these contradictions between self and society are what causes so much pain and conflict?

But back to Hawk. Hawk is undoubtedly most affected by his teenage first love experience. A love that he fucked up through his own fears (fear for many men is unacceptable and a sign of weakness), and now carries the burden of believing he is responsible for their death. Hawk doesn’t allow himself to love again, until Tim. And we see many times throughout the show how much Hawk fears losing Tim. And in the end he’ll have to face that fear. I think that, in part, not attempting to have a life with Tim, is also fuelled by his fear of fucking it up and losing Tim - so it’s easier to just not attempt it! In episode 7, when he loses his son, part of that spiral is Hawk recognising that he can’t really prevent loss, and he wasted his life trying to be something he’s not - still losing his child and Tim along with it.

But Hawk is a survivor! And no one has the right to hate or judge him for it. I don’t think some young people truly understand what it feels like to live in a world where who you love can put you in jail, and destroy your life. I grew up in the 70s/80s and my experiences were bad enough, but I try so very hard to think about what it was like before that! When being queer was a crime and a mental illness! That’s pure terror! And for Hawk, he chose to survive the best way he knew how, and he wasn’t able to change because that’s fucking hard when all you’ve known is living in constant ‘fight or flight,’ and when have chronic trauma and experience collective trauma.

I think in episode 8 we’ll finally get to see Hawk grow - I certainly hope so - because he deserves to be free. Our beautiful Skippy has been free for some time, and while we mourn for the cruelty of a world that would take such a truly decent man, I am glad he got to live freely. Being closeted is the worst kind of suffering- a compartmentalised and fragmented existence where you are never truly whole, and therefore can never be the best version of yourself.

Before I go, I just wanted to also talk about being in a closeted relationship-which I experienced in my youth. I think that Hawk and Tim’s intense and toxic and exquisitely beautiful relationship, in part, arises from this. Because two closeted people in love live their relationship in secret, in a bubble, only in certain rooms, with none of the outside world reflected back at them. It becomes the two of you against the world. It’s so insular. Hawk and Tim literally live their 1950s relationship within two rooms - their apartments. All their memories are held within those walls. And it only belongs to them. They know each in ways that no other living soul does. It’s all-consuming and often unhealthy, but also stupidly romantic.

Anyway, sorry for this long winded post that no one will read and is likely full of grammatical errors because I’m tired! This atheist is praying we get everything we need from episode 8! Acceptance, forgiveness, understanding resolution, healing and a whole lot of love! ❤️

Cheers queers! 🏳️‍🌈

PS Matt and Johnny are exquisite on and off screen and I am so thankful to them for bringing these characters and this story into our lives!

[kalechipswithasideofkale]

my adrenaline has gone down finally so i feel i can give my thoughts on this season

no more faks! no more! please!

i think the series is taking inspiration from different art movements and genres. season one - surrealism?, season two - modernism?, season three - baroque? im not well versed on this stuff but i definitely noticed they use different forms of art to make the seasons feel different from one another

piggybacking off the earlier bulletin; i think thats also why this season feels like all flash and no substance. whatever movement or era they decided to do with season three is very ou la la oui oui i zam an artist bonjour /nm its very different from the movements they went with in the past seasons. this one feels serious and fancy smancy

i still think they’re going to go through with sydcarmy and this season just solidifies it. syd and carmy are severly mentally ill with issues they need to work out. they dont handle stress and expectations well if at all.

i think some of the things being said by the characters are being taken at face value specifically carmy calling claire peace. i dont think the writers are writing claire to be a source of peace for carmy; hes just so in denial and confused about his emotions he knows he supposed to feel peace from claire but cant figure out why he doesnt

i missed marcus sweeps and tina in this season so much. and syd! i was excited for sweeps to go to wine school only for it to be a one off thing. the tina episode was good but thats the only thing i can think of from the top of my head that she stood out in. marcus’ mom died? but it feels like she didnt die at all? like the weight of his moms death isnt being felt in his character and that made me really sad. i wanted a little more with syd and marcus with their moms :/

im not angry at carmy somehow? i just feel this deep sadness because he is so unlike himself. my initial frustrations with the season made it hard for me to look at his character. now that ive calmed down, he just makes me sad. like thinking about him makes me feel like a wet sausage dude he needs serious help and im scared he’s gonna do something very bad in this next season/part

i was really hoping there would be more parallels between new york carmy and current syd. they might explore it in season 4 and i really hope they do!

where tf was everyone else in the emergency room and why was it the two faks. there is no dissection in the world that will make me okay with those losers being there im sawry

syd being the first person sugar called and claire being the last mhm yup 🙂‍↕️

a good chunk of claire and carmys scenes being muted or cool colors once again!

RICHIE AND HIS DAUGHTER AA!! i wish they had an entire episode dedicated to them theyre so cute!

theres something to be said about loneliness and isolation this season? again i would need to rewatch the season. something something carmy pushing syd away something something nat fearing giving birth because of her mom something something syd having a breakdown and isolating herself from the rest of the fam something something

pete ❤️

chris you have reached ur limit on white male characters enough is enough theres NO MORE ROOM

ngl i actually liked seeing john cena on my screen yall pls

why are we so close to everyones face i zont like zat at all

i thought they were going to bring louis back and got so excited!!! BRING BACK LOUIS

they wrap up the claire storyline by season 4 or part three?? whatever theyre doing idk

LUCA!!!!!!

as much one sided beef i have with jlc she delivered i crode very hard

backseating the characters of color is very lame and bogus! i hated it! what happened to tinas friends she met at school? does ebra not have family? syd and her dad? marcus and his roommate? so many characters they could introduce from sydney marcus tina ebra fuck even angel and manny but they insist on introducing characters that have ties to the berzattos. i hate it! i really do!

syds apartment? where did you go fren….

i wish they were more artsy fartsy with carmys internal struggles give me cringe film student vibes please ill take anything

FUCK CICERO he didnt do anything but PISS ME OFF >:(

why didnt they have syd work out the economics (or whatever tf that computer dude did do). didnt she do something like that in season one? i guess since cicero called him it makes sense

richie and nat are so adorable i love them!!!!

overall pretty mediocre season. it was okay for a show like the bear. i don’t agree with having an entire season dedicated to build up! or atleast in the way they’ve done it in season 3. season 1 was a prologue for the entire show yet it still felt like a complete season. alot of the things that went down in season three either could’ve been compressed into a shorter span of time or they could’ve gotten more episodes (as if its that easy lol but the pacing wouldn’t have suffered as much if the season was longer). um decent season? i dont hate it! i dont love it either. like i said it feels soulless and maybe thats the intention? idk man 😔

i will most definitely be seated for season four TRUST

[fridaynightfuneral]

on your muppet joker theory there's actually been evidence for a LONG TIME that there's gonna be some sort of rift between milton and kermit like even before they were friends theres been a LOT of symbolism about milton and snakes (which yes is partially about his upbringing but still) and with that theres been some interesting reblogs:

like theres been zero payoff to these (that i can think of anyway) so yeah its very likely some shits gonna go down between milton and kermit at some point

THIS IS FUCKUNG CRAZY ?? i liked milton a lot when he was introduced and as it went on, with the moirail and the house sitting and then the woods (the inclusion of gordon kind of feels like someone for milton to abandon kermit for if milton’s just a regular bad friend instead of a legit villain, although i don’t think it bodes well for gordon anyway. love gordon so much tho) i was really enthralled with the story line he had with kermit/colter as well as milton’s own, i always felt that milton occasionally reacts to things out of his usual character but especially really coldly. As well as the thing where sage outed him for lying about being an orphan and his reasoning was they were dead to him but then most other instances of milton have him being someone who would never say that, it’s very much implied in my opinion it’s totally a facade or at least not fully who milton is, adding all of those up with the like references and hints you’ve shown me it’s like..milton you’re shady. also the way he genuinely has expressed more distressed over shit less important then kermit/colter nearly dying in a fire?? like when it was in the brotherhoods consciousness collectively and we were all freaking out milton instead of like i guess just actually worrying immediately jumped to “i must kill the monk buy”, like he expressed concern but it didn’t feel super for kermit/colter and then afterwards was so nonchalant even when he said he was going to visit her, also like he obviously is playing up how dumb he is definitely even if that’s just regular mental illness shit. seriously message me bro we need to discuss milton villainy and other croaker verse shit!! i have so many thoughts abt all of this and would love to hear yours! also what that snake eating the frogs ass for😞

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

IG this might be the wrong blog to ask (do you have a main?) but what are some things you hate about the show/fandom that don’t relate to Zutara? Is “The Great Divide” really that bad? The comics? The Legend of Korra?

Okay, let's split these in categories

What I dislike about the original show

How we never really see much about the cultures of the Air Nomads and Water Tribes, and that the planned episode about Aang's parents was scrapped.

How Ty Lee basically has no arc and just went from "Hates being part of a matched set" to "Happily part of a matched set."

How Toph didn't really get any resolution with her parents, be it a reconciliation or a decision to cut contact like Zuko did with Ozai.

How the Lion Turtle wasnot introduced much earlier and instead used a Deux Ex Machina. We all know Aang won't kill Ozai, guys, you don't have to pretent, just let us know there's something Aang can to do avoid it and go revealing stuff about energybending little by little, then give us the final piece of the puzzle in the finale.

How the White Lotus was clearly a retcon that stopped making any sense after season two and that they're actually pretty fucking useless when you think about it.

How the show basically forgot that Iroh was very much a villain in season one, and for most of his life, therefore he has no right to call Azula crazy and dismiss her as a lost cause.

How Iroh says it wouldn't be right for him to kill Ozai, even if he could, because history would just see it as just a brother killing another brother for power, then IMMEDIATELY sending his 16-year-old nephew to a battle to the death with his 14-year-old niece - all while the White Lotus FINALLY decides to do SOMETHING and frees Ba Sing Se...

...Which looks horrible for Iroh when we think "Oh shit, last time he tried to capture it because he thought it was his destiny, his son died, and now he sent his nephew to a battle in which nearly dies and gets another scar while he's off trying to free that same city because of destiny again." (Seriously, when it comes to Ba Sing Se, don't let Iroh do ANYTHING other run a tea-shop in it. Somehow it always shows the ugly side of his personality).

How "Sokka's Master" is really an episode that did not need to exist at all because while Sokka had always wanted to be a warrior, he never really expressed any insecurity about being a non-bender and was only ever teased about it once. It just felt like an obligatory "The dude with no powers is important too!" episode and not a natural stepping stone of the narrative.

As for "The Great Divide" it is a pretty boring episode... but it's not as bad as people say. I don't think the original Avatar had any episodes in which nothing is important or at least creative and/or cool. I like the music in it, the world-building is kind of neat, the theme of helping refugees is pretty coherent with a show about war, and the animation changes when we are told the versions of the story on what these people hate each other was pretty cool.

What I dislike about the novelizations of the show

While some of the attempts of exploring how characters felt in some scenes really works and provides some interesting interpretations, others just fall completely flat and feel a bit OOC.

What I dislike about The Lost Adventures comics

That ridiculous story with Katara being way too pushy with Aang's training for no reason and refusing to communicate with him when he wants to talk about the kiss on the day of the invasion. She would never treat him like this.

What I dislike about the Azula In The Spirit Temple comic

The bits that remind me "Oh yeah, that's supposed to be set in the same universe of the Yang comics." Other than that, it is a pretty good stand-alone story and it allowed Azula to be turned into a deeply offensive stereotype about the mentally ill.

What I dislike about (most of) the comics and Korra

Nearly everything. Seriously, I don't know how the reception to these were mostly mixed instead of on the same level of hatred the fandom has to the Shyaman movie. The character assassination and lack of understanding of what made the original story good is EXACTLY the same, yet because it had Bryke's approval/involvement people expect me to take it as canon and it's NOT gonna happen.

What I dislike about the Netflix version

It exists. I'm sick of all the bullshit, souless remakes/reboots that are clearly just crash-grabs for companies that completely forgot they can make money AND art at the same time. I especially hate the trend of beautiful 2D animation being replaced with cheap cosplays, ugly CGI and poor lighting to pretend it is the "dark, mature version of the story"

What I dislike about the fandom itself

To make a really, really, REALLY long list very short and not really rank them 'cause it'd take forever:

1 - The blatant ableism towards Toph and Azula.

2 - The constant delusion about Avatar being "just like Game Of Thrones" and "not a kid's show."

3 - The people still insisting that the Netflix version, Korra, and the comics are good or "not that bad."

4 - The weird way some people act like Zuko was the first character to ever get a redemption arc and that everyone who does it now is taking inspiration from it.

5 - The refusal to accept that uncle Iroh was never perfect, both due to oversight of the writers AND deliberate narrative choices.

6 - The people that act like the show was trash just because of a few bad choices.

7 - The people that act like the show is perfect.

8 - The people that act like Bryke's interpretations are the only ones that matter.

9 - The inability to not harrass others for not agreeing with them.

10 - The weird, stupid people that act like Sozin and Azulon were not that bad and not just as power-hungry, racist and cruel as Ozai.

11 - The people that don't understand how Aang killing Ozai would be character assassination AND a deep betrayal of the themes and morals of the story.

12 - The people that keep losing their shit if you want a character like Azula to have a redemption arc because it'd "make Zuko's less especial" (it wouldn't, and I know that because HE WASN'T THE ONLY CHARACTER TO GET REDEEMED IN THE STORY, hell, he wasn't even the first).

13 - The downright offensive and disgusting need the fandom feels of sweeping Zuko's mistakes under the rug, no matter how bad they are, because they think he needs to be perfect otherwise he was not truly a victim of abuse.

14 - The way people just full on make shit up to support their headcanons, ships and theories.

15 - The blatant racism.

[randomalistic]

Ok oh my god. OH MY GOD. I just saw treasure planet for the first time and It was fucking amazing. Like yeah Duh I KNOWWW i know it’s like. “underrated Disney movie bla bla it was a commercial failure” . You know the deal.

But if there is 1 thing I want to say:

I cannot emphasize enough how meaningful and touching it is to the audience when you allow your male main characters to cry, and hug, and be emotionally vulnerable without shame. That brought this film to a whole new level 🥺

its a beautiful movie that took so many creative risks and that’s so admirable. It’s so clear they had a vision and they crafted that vision with endless amounts of love :’] I DID CRY.

More rambling below

I was CONSISTENTLY delighted by how creative the characters were and incredibly entertained throughout. So fucking fun and engaging and it feels like a 2 hour movie so much happens. How is it only 1.5 hours.

I CRIED !!!!!!!!!! John Silver and Jim’s relationship was so COMPLEX like actually amazing. The father figure dynamic is so sweet and heartwarming and so heartbreaking simultaneously like I was not expecting that AMV montage in the middle like that shit cut me so deep it was outstanding. A montage about Jim’s troubled childhood with a neglectful absent father and then DIRECTLY PARALLELING THAT WITH HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SILVER. LIKE HES FINALLY OVERCOMING THOSE FEELINGS AND LIVING HIS LIFE. GODDAMN!!! THATS SO POWERFUL!! THATS SO INCREDIBLE!!! THATS JUST IN THE MOVIE!!!!??!

Also the character/creature designs are RELENTLESS in how good they are. And they have so much fun with it. It’s so silly.

They had an old snapping turtle pirate???? hello?? He was introduced and then he died ❤️

The animation is also MIND BLOWINF like OH MY GOD!??? the seamless integration of 2D and 3D interacting is so impressive especially for 2001 like this was a technological feat for sure . Only rarely does the CG look dated (those whales at the start <\3 poor guys) BUT JOHN SILVER’S CYBORG ARM WAS FUCKING AMAZING LIKE I COUKD STARE AT THAT THING FOR HOURS .

Can’t find a gif of it but during his introduction there was a ROTATING SHOT of him cooking (❤️) while using his arm and his arm has so many tools inside it like a cyborg Swiss Army knife it’s the coolest fucking thing ever. Just Amazing

Also the fact they introduced an entirely new character 53 minutes in when the main cast has already been established was such a risk, but it so paid off. I love B.E.N. The fact he’s fully 3D animated and he’s THAT expressive. WHILE BEING A ROBOT? adorable. He’s Adorable. He’s so mentally ill and strange.

What is wrong with him. He is. dare I say. spamtonlike. pathetic and unhinged. Houses forbidden knowledge. What a Pitiful creature 🧡his glowing CRT eyes are really cute. There was a moment when the lights went out it was only his eyes and I Liked That

I love weird little robot guys in early-late 2000s movies. I need to watch Bluesky robots. I need my fix.

Morph could’ve been a really obnoxious comedic relief animal sidekick but they somehow managed to make him really cute and likable. (Also They only used him for plot points A LITTLE. Turning into anything couldve been overpowered as fuck. But alas… he is a mindless animal...) We love Morph. His relationship with silver is so fucking cute.

Kind of a Delbert centrist honestly. I liked him but also kinda dislike him. Bro kinda gives self centered misogynist scientist vibes. But he’s also silly and self conscious though guyssss.!! I thought I would like him more than I did. BUT He’s animated SO wonderfully though I love the shape of his hands and his weird goat face. Solid 7/10 weird guy. Idk why he came with Jim on the ship though❤️

Captain Amelia was fucking awesome for the first half of the movie. One of the best characters. Yeah. ……………. They fumbled her so hard. MAYBE ITS JUST ME BUT ME AND MY FRIEND WERE NOT A FAN OF HER AND DELBERT AT ALL. Disney was like. We have a competent woman character ! Competent woman has to get injured and then the incompetent man has to take care of her and then they HAVE to fall in love. It’s actually so tragic like they did NOT deserve her.

IN FACT HERE’S MY SCORCHING HOT TAKE: Delbert should’ve been the one to get injured and Amelia nurses him back to health. Delbert might apologize profusely because of his self confidence issues and cuz he internalizes things that go wrong as his fault. Amelia reassures him, realizing that she was too harsh on him earlier. Delbert becomes less intimidated by her because she opens up to him and they grow to trust one another. Amelia stays with him while Jim goes to hide. And whapow !!!! Same relationship is built up without disempowering a female character. It doesn’t even have to be romantic they can just be friends……. 🫶 cuz it comes off as weird because since the start Delbert was like “wtf the captain is a GIRL?? Wait ooh la laaa she’s pretty” and she had 0 interest in him. so like the ONLY way they could pair them together was to get her injured and have him care for her . And she falls in love with him out of nowhere. No. Being cared for does not mean you’ll fall in love with your caretaker. She’s so ace coded to me and my friend. Until SUDDENLY. Am I crazy

Ok so like yeah the forced heterosexual love interest moment. I did not want to see their FOUR (4) hybrid babies at the end. I’m losing my mind. also did Jim become a cop? I swear to fucking god LOL

The movie was SO good that disney didn’t know how to wrap it up without ruining it ❤️ WHICH IS VERY INTERESTING I think they had to compensate for all the risks they took with a safe and weird ending where the police like him now and the police are ok guys. Disney approved

Anyways watch/rewatch the movie right now. Skip the final minute <3

One of my new favorite movies goddamn!

Edit: I would’ve forgiven them if Delbert got pregnant instead

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Hey Cap!!!

First section of OM observations plus commentary, chapters covered is: fox skin and changeling. Questions are numbered and in bold! 

Right, finally found the time to have a sit down and do this, yippee! College has been taking up far too much space in my brain! 

I’ve got a mocha, and a slice of lemon drizzle cake so I’m all set up :3

[— — —]

I’ve always really loved what you open with for OM, its both nice and straight to the point and the tone is kept light to play up the comedy that *somehow* no one has figured out just what Juleka is. 

Question 1: How does glamour work in this universe? Is it a natural magic that developed as a defence mechanism from when monsters were being persecuted or was it something cast over monsters by design? Is it a different sort of glamour that protects miraculous users' identities?

I did chuckle when Juleka referred to the miraculous as “hero business she wants no part of” because a) PN being a thing, and b) Juleka is literally insanely protective and sacrificial in OM as is so she’s heroic either way, so like ha! I know what you are Juleka… mentally ill…

Oh, I do love reading and seeing the gang form, you introduce these familiar characters with unfamiliar aspects so wonderfully. The way each of them have a different intro… it’s so much fun. I do like how the reveals slow down as the story goes on but still pop up from time to time, like with Kim in later chapters. 

Speaking of, I do adore how you write, like, overall plots? It’s hard to describe, but you always have a very good mix of character driven plot beats, and manage to keep the story arcs flowing. OM does have less of a clear ending point because of how it’s written but if anything it adds to the vibe of the story; teenagers being silly goofs and learning to rely on each other and discovering who they are as people. 

It’s so funny how Rose kicks off the plot by casually mentioning Alya’s coat, like did she just get bored or something?? 

I do like how you write Juleka’s vampiric driven thoughts, they toe the line of being a bit funny and with her being self aware enough that they feel grounded. They don’t feel unnecessarily creepy or melodramatic.

Christ it’s really weird seeing Juleka interact with Marinette. I'm so used to the toxic LadyNoire yuri…

Question 2: But also. Fr. Why did Marinette react like that when asked about Alya’s jacket??

Question 3: Does Juleka also have to count things if they are thrown on the floor as another weird vampire thing after needing an invitation and being unable to cross running water? Also is Juleka burnt in the sunlight and she’s just been wearing a huge hat and been fully covered this entire time or…?

I do love Alya as a character, especially in this she has so many fun qualities which are a lot of fun to read about. They’re awkward in an adorable way in this chapter, both of them lack any tact Juleka’s “I like your skin.” line will always make me lose my mind, why tf is she like that?! I do like their dynamic in this with the magical investigative side of things and becoming closer friends it's super cute :3

Question 4: How does Juleka’s whole mind control thing work? Because you explicitly wrote that the “I suggest you tell me more.” thing is a suggestion spell and I’m not sure if we ever see Juleka attempt to mind control someone. Like, I get why she wouldn’t whip it out on the reg, it’s kind of nasty on the consent side of things, but for when they’re fucking around and finding it out it feels like it could be useful depending on how it works :)

EEEE, Alya’s transformation is so cool… love how you wrote that, plus her reaction afterwards with immediately wanting to know more about Juleka is so in character for her. 

The running bit of Juleka being like “Why does everyone think Rose and I are dating?” only for her to be the only one who didn’t think that is literally so funny. My poor girl has no self esteem but to be fair Rose, girly, use your words!

Question 5: In your lore, is a bitten vampire different to a born vampire in any capacity? If so, in what ways?

Question 6: Why are Etta and Ella just people but Nora and Alya are selkies? Is it because their mum didn’t bring her coat with her when they escaped the sperm donor? If so; does that mean their mother lost the other traits of a selkie (as was described about Alya having sharper teeth, claws, etc.) or is it another reason? Also I find it so upsetting that Alya’s mother couldn’t keep her coat like man wtf she suffered enough

THEY’RE SO CUTE. I love Juleka just rambling about her experience as a vampire with all that stuff and Alya’s rapidly writing everything down… the buddy cop duo of all time actually. 

HA, Alya actively stalking observing Rose and Juleka as a fox at the end is so silly…

[— — —]

The way that I’m like so frustrated that Juleka doesn’t try harder at shape shifting… girl if I could turn into a few animals and all I had to do was practise a lot you best know I’d be experimenting on the reg

Hey… the gangs (mostly) all here! (plus Marinette) 

To be perfectly honest with you; until I read this I never cared about Sabrina as a character. She just felt so directionless without Chloe there. Plus the writers kept flip flopping between Sabrina relishing in the nasty tasks Chloe gave her, ending up as a quieter mean girl or being this poor girl who’s Chloe’s lackey and is being pressured into everything. So in canon she had no consistent behaviour and had no substance behind her actions. 

On the other hand, Chloe felt similarly baseless and like she was just used for cheap plot progression until they introduced her mother and everything sort of clicked into place, as far as I can remember they never did the same thing for Sabrina.

Like the show really didn’t give us anything but hints on how you could make her interesting but you write her fantastically :)

Like, you both managed to make her a really fun character to read by pulling from bits and pieces of the show and when adding the magical element to it all you created a very compelling person who has complex relationships with people and herself and it’s just a joy to read

Not the title drop-

HEHEHE I love Alya and Juleka covertly gathering information they’re so silly, the idea of them concocting this plan all mischievous like is so funny

Alix expertly changing the subject (“Marinette wasn’t you dad a werewolf Akuma?”) but still hinting towards being / having connections to a werewolf was very smooth I don’t think I noticed that before! 

Question 7: Can a werewolf be Akumatized during a full moon? If so; what would happen? I’m ngl, this question does stem both from curiosity as I may have a little bit of a plan for that in my over complicated miraculous fic (Like, seriously, I get why you largely ignore Adrien, Marinette and the miraculous in this. Combining superhero + miraculous shenanigans AND monster / magical society AND civilian stuff into one, is a right bloody fucking nightmare to make it all fit together and figure out how the different aspects interact. It’s a lot of fun but jesus christ is it a pain in the arse to sort out)

EEEE, I love Sabrina and her changeling thingmies, it’s so much fun how you write the glamour being peeled away from each character once they have an ounce of evidence and are actively looking for it

Help not Juleka rolling her eyes at Marinette motor mouthing about Adrien, girl you are no better about Rose. Though I wonder why Adrien makes Juleka nervous.

Also, I wish we fucking went on nature walks more often. The last time I did that in school was when I was in primary 7 (grade 7 if you’re american… I actually don’t know if you are sorry) wait how old are the gang?? 

Question 8: How old is everyone in this?? Wait not literally everyone- you know what I mean!

Anyway. The point is a nature walk would rock and I love how absolutely none of the reveals for the monsters are the same! Like, Alya and Juleka’s ‘’confrontation’ was in her flat, Sabrina gets fucking lured through a forest by Juleka “Blunt as a dull hammer” Couffaine, and it goes on but I’ll natter on about them when we get there :3

Insane about the Sabrina backstory with her mother divorcing her dad after she found out Sabrina wasn’t the child she gave birth to. I headcanon that Roger also sucked ass at being a husband. He seems the sort. 

Neither of her parents are the best but like I can understand freaking the fuck out that your child got kidnapped and you were left with something inhuman, I cannot, on the otherhand, understand Roger treating Sabrina as he did and then trying to get his ‘real’ daughter back… but we’ll get there and I can rant more! 

I am curious about how they found out their baby got replaced, changelings are supposed to be convincing copies or were used as an excuse to kill physically deformed babies- but let’s not get into that! 

Juleka’s simply speaking the truth about all the changeling nonsense largely pushed by how her dad talks about her.

YES GIRL SHE IS NOT A FAKE. SHE. IS. HER OWN. PERSON!!! Juleka + rightful rage about other people’s shitty situations is always so much fun, a bit depressing that she’s so much more vocal when it’s someone else but rarely if ever speaks up for herself. But fr, whenever you write a character going off about another character’s shitty parents / situation or whatever I’m always right there with whoever’s ranting and raving. You write righteous anger impeccably cap, the dialogue and the action tags, all of it gets the feeling across spectacularly. 

Not the way that you said the stump Sabrina was sitting on was “now flourishing, not regrowing in any way, but moss and grass continued their newly improved growth, flowers blooming around their feet along with mushrooms and shrubbery.” is. Is this because Sabrina has been fucking smother by her dad her entire life and this is symbolic of how Juleka’s words affected her. If it is I’m a fucking eejit cause how did I miss that, it feels like it is because of how you phrased it. I mean it might be that but it is also foreshadowing about her botanical magic

Sabrina must be getting whiplash from Juleka suddenly being all chatty and asking pointed questions about her friendship with Chloe compared to her normally just like. Nervously standing somewhere in silence. 

Also. Hey. Sabrina girly you’ve been dealing with this whole life altering revelation by yourself for four years? What the actual fuck? I feel so bad for her?? Like I am so glad the gang forms and she hashes out her shit with Chloe and- aaaaah… The gang is just such a good friend group, the dynamics feel fleshed out for all the characters…

Question 9: Hey. what the fuck is Ms. Bustier? I vaguely remember you saying something about her nearly being a succubbus and then rethinking that cause she’s a teacher, and I *think* that it’s implied she is the Fae Queen from that story about Anarka but I’m not sure… Obviously don’t say if it’s spoilers but I just realised I’ve kind of assumed she is Fae and idk if that’s correct

I do love the wee bit at the end with Alya and Sabrina jokingly pushing Juleka to get drunk off of Fae blood, it’s really funny. Also in my head Fae blood is a dark turquoise and I’ve just realised you said “off-coloured blood” not fucking blue where did I get that from???

[— — —]

That's all for tonight! I’m not sure if I’ll go as in depth with each chapter (and I may get too into reading and forget to write stuff down). I might fiddle with making the questions easier to find… Oh and If this is too much text in one ask, do say and I’ll split things up :)

(P.S, thank you for wishing me a happy birthday after my last ask :) it was very sweet <3)

YAYYY IM SO GLAD YOU ENKOYED YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

guahh Im so happy to read this guahhh okay lets get to answering

Question 1: Glamour is both a defense mechanism and a hunting mechanism! In terms for defense, its used by monsters to hide from being hunted or bothered. In terms of hunting, creatures like vampires and kelpies benefit from looking "normal"

Question 2: As for Marinette's reaction, she just straight up didn't notice Alya's coat! It confused her, and when Marinette gets confused by something she gets curious and suspicious. But she was made to show the difference between her, a normal human, and Juleka, a monster who knows what to look for.

Question 3: Juleka has a desire to count things but its not very intense its more like a subtle observation. It's also deeply uncomfortable and slightly scary to cross running water. Juleka would dub it a phobia of getting carried away by the water. She also gets pretty bad sunburns, she won't turn to dust, but god will it hurt to go out without a hat or sunscreen on for a full day.

Question 4: Suggestion magic kinda taps into a curse side of things I imagine! Like, putting someone magically into your debt by being polite. I imagine the origin lies in Fae stuff.

Question 5: They are in fact different! Juleka is a born vampire, meaning while she's sensitive to sunlight she will not die, and other 'holy' objects won't immediately kill her. She can also eat human food. Meanwhile, to be bitten into a vampire means Dying. When you're bitten by a vampire, you dont turn unless that bite Kills You.

Thus bitten vampires are undead, and Will die in direct sunlight, and can only survive on blood.

Question 6: You're correct! Etta and Ella lack the traits because Alya's mom lacks her coat. Im unsure if that means Marlena's own traits are fading without it.

Question 7: I think it would be VERY difficult to akumatize a full moon werewolf since theres little emotions involved with the creature. Only instincts.

Question 8: I think they're around 16-17 in this!

Question 9: I shan't sayyyy thats a spoilerrrr

[messymindofmine]

911 Lone Star Found Family

Thank you to @lemonlyman-dotcom for the tag! I am always up for talking about how much I love the relationships in this show

1)What is your favorite 911 Lone Star Found Family Moment?

It is so incredibly difficult for me to choose just one moment but if I had to, it would be TK trying to saving Marjan in 1x03. I'm choosing this one because even though we don't see as much of TK and Marjan's friendship as I wish we did, the idea of them is very close to my heart. I got introduced the show way back when it was first released by my bestie who is so much like TK that it's a running joke that TK was created especially for him. While I am not exactly like Marjan, I am a badass Muslim woman so I am the Marjan to my bestie's TK. And that moment I picked that moment in 1x03 because at that point, TK and Marjan didn't even really know each other that well yet TK was willing to risk his life to save her.

2)Which platonic pairing/friendship dynamic are you most looking forward too seeing again in season?

See answer above. TK and Marjan's friendship is really important to me. Aside from what I mentioned above, I love to think about how Marjan went from being treated as a prop at her former place to show everyone how woke they were to being respected and cherished as an important part of the team and a family member. As a side note, this is why as a Muslim woman myself, I like how Owen bringing Marjan (and everyone else on the team) isn't treated as something that he's doing to save them but rather is him almost inadvertently bringing together a family. He doesn't treat any of them as damsels who need him to save them whether they ask for it or not, he treats them like family that you help no matter what because you love them. And Marjan obviously picked up on it despite her initial reservations precisely because she wasn't looking for a savior and that's why she was so adamant to bring the firehouse back in season. All that said, I think TK and Marjan have a lot in common with the way they have been treated in the past regarding their job. Marjan was treated as a prop to get woke points and was constantly being underestimated and held back. TK was used to feeling like he had to constantly prove himself not only because he felt people looked down on him for being the captain's son but also because he, like so many others with any kind of mental illness, felt like he needed to prove people wrong constantly as validation that he is worth something. But then they found each other and I have loved that little moment during Marjan's interview in the pilot where TK looks up at her and smiles. You can tell he feels he has found a kindred spirit.

3)If you could pick one Lone Star character to be friends with, who would you choose?

Well since I already have a TK in my life, I'm just going to go with that. My TK (though that's not his name lol) is so important to me and my life would not be the same without him. It certainly would not be as good.

4)Which would you rather attend: Catan night at the loft or game night at the Ryders?

Now this is a tough choice because I have never played Catan but I love charades. However, I am going with Catan night purely because I love seeing them all in their group and I would love to spent time in that loft.

5)A character of your choice ends up in jail. Who would they call to bail them out (assuming their romantic partner, parent, and/or child didn't pick up)?

Carlos tbh because we've seen that he has no problem bailing his friends (or indeed his soulmate who had just rejected him) out of jail. Also, I just want to sit in a car with him while he's in uniform.

Anyway, all of this is meant to say that I adore TK and Marjan together because to me it feels like watching my bestie and myself onscreen. I would not have even known about the show without him and even though he is not really participating in fandom anymore for his own reasons, it is still a ritual for us to watch the show together and talk about it.

I know that I was late in responding to this but work has been a bitch lately (why oh why does real life have to be a thing?!) and I have no idea who has already participated or wants to participate. I am also really shy about tagging people so I will make this an open tag and I hope anyone who wants to participate will feel welcome to do so. And if there is anyone who doesn't mind being tagged by me, please let me know!

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

You can't just leave me like that😭 I need to know razor's lore PLEASE

Ugh fiiiine since you're asking i GUESS i will talk about the oc lore 🙄🙄🙄 (silly)

So we all know the hit show lego nexo knights if you don't honestly skill issue have you been living under a rock or something lololol imagine

Well in nexo knights there's a knights school shocker i know a school of knights?? What a novel idea

It the start of the extensive oc plot that me n a few friends have been making up as we go razor n their friends are in the knights academy

However plot twist razor is a actually a MONSTER!!! can you believe that a monster in the killing monsters 101 place that's crazy

Since razor is a basilisk they can disguise themself so no one can tell they're a monster well no one but the besties

Their friendgroup are @/merloksdigitaltoes ocs cherry🐍 sage🐦 n trace🐐 and @/stellarwaffles oc talya☀️ + a surprise addition that will join later🦈 wink wink we call them the chimera pride :)

Anyways academy arc doesn't really have much plot it's just the characters getting introduced to each other n hanging out

Sage adopted trace as his friend while cherry adopted razor meanwhile cherry n trace were beefing but dw they make up all 4 of them are friends now yippee 👍talya joins the academy later in the years n joins the friendgroup cause gaydar for monsters

Apocalypse arc is based on the sadly cancelled s5 where the gang are basically trying to not die

Talya gets infected big L just don't get infected loser trace dies but then comes back then dies again skill issue n the other three are just going thru it™️

At the end of the arc razor graduates but not the rest of the friendgroup cause um have you considered being older?? Idiots 🙄

Fish arc is the MAIN main arc we think about that lore needs like 10 pages on it's own

This takes place like a year or 2 after the last arc when the group all graduated a lot of ppl are going missing in the peaceful seaside town of forgetavile n as their first group mission the gang are tasked w figuring out what's going on n fix the issue

Turns out fish ppl have been kidnapping the ppl of forgetavile 😱😱 the knights try to do something but thise fishes are smart dealing with them is no easy and oh no this glowy mean fish lady put a curse on cherry wtf

So they're all staying at forgetavile trying to stop more ppl from going missing until they deal with the fish pp also they find this weird fish twink washed up on shore? He's talking a lot of nonsense about a place called totallynotatlantis and this loser named agniss? Idk he looks gay

Maybe some day I'll post all the fish arc drawings i never posted it'll take days to post all of them lol

Last arc in the timeline is cayne/mimic arc this one involves another grouo of ocs

So remember how razor is a basilisk? Ok hear me out what if there was another basilisk n HEAR ME OUT!! What if he was EVIL

This evil basilisk is named cayne explaining the name of the arc n he was actually annoying the other oc group before the gang got intangled with the plot

The other group minus one are still in the academy so when they found this loser trying to commit identity fraud they asked the older moe experienced group to help (they will later regret this decision)

We don't have a clear story w this one it's just cayne going around committing identity fraud all over the room also sage n that fish twink are missing from that arc i bet they're kissing i hate those homosexuals

I gotta stop talking now the ops are onto me i got too mentally ill

[gnargrims]

Epic gnargrim holy grail

from Jeremy, Jerebear, BlaisesHead Charlidomplrfan Gnargrims

Frowning friends are the main antagonists in the episode “Frowning Friends” which show a bizarro version of both Charlie and Pim. In which we are introduced to these characters Grim (Bizarro version of Pim) is the one to be more prominently speaking than Gnarly (Bizarro version of Charlie) Obviously leading most conversations with the Smiling friends, Gnarly by chiming in to insult or put in a little factoid. In the beginning of the episodeCharlie asks “so what do you guys even do?” Causing Gnarly to mimic his sentence and telling him to shut up.

Which leads to my epic first part of this epic essay thing is that Gnarly is a supporting character for Grim in his endeavors. Whilst charlie adds the real man vibe and genuine logic into what goes on. If Grim and Gnarly were to continue living and be reoccurring characters my own personal head-canon is that Gnarly mostly follows Grim around for quick quips and chiming in when he needs to, to support Grim’s character and dialogue. In which I find really charming and interesting, in my own brain. But I do like to think when they aren’t antagonizing other characters and mostly are at home and chillaxing that’s when Gnarly and Grim are more conversational and comfortable with each other. I do believe they live together and are happily together.

Which do I believe they are mad and angry to each other?! From whats seen at the end of Grim’s speech and he’s threatened with a gun by Mr. Boss, and Gnarly calls Grim “cringe” I do believe they have their moments where they are kind of at each other’s throats, but it isn’t constantly. As grim also mentions after Pim introjects into his speech. He mentions he’s a mental ill man, which leads me to believe he does have an anger issue or some sort of mental disorder, I won’t say for sure yet because I haven’t really thought of it yet but when I do I will write about it.

Now time to write about mostly grim?!?!!!!

I do genuinely think Grim has gone to college, the frowning friends I feel is owned by Grim. So I feel he has a lot of prior knowledge and experience of business and marketing to financially support the progress of Frowning friends. = Business Major. So as himself as an entrepreneur to invest his time into making people frown with his business partner (Gnarly) They had to plan out all of this work and ideas to genuinely get to this point!

Which does imply I feel GnarGrim did have some sort of different job to be able to make the frowning friends happen. Like Full-time jobs and perhaps part-time to really be financially stable to make a living off of it. My own personal head-canon (all of this is head canon) Grim I like to think has a Major in Business with a minor in Theatre and Arts. As with this silly evil accent he has going on. Whilst Gnarly I feel is a chemistry major, with a minor in business and finance. As to helping with Grim and such with this totally epic business endeavor.

Gnarly with his quick execution of epic science facts to Pim and Charlie about helium, he will probably have the need to make a quick decision to whether he wants to tell this epic science fact to ultimately make someone frown, for grim of course. Just to impress him in a way he is able to do this epic job.

Gnarly does probably look up to Grim in a way with how he’s able to handle making decisions and being able to handle his emotions, he admires grim probably a lot but really doesn’t show it much. Grim on the other hand can’t help but also probably admire Gnarly’s laidback-ness and his very quick wittedness with his factoids and perhaps insults?!!!!

I really enjoyed writing this, I will add more in the near future when I do I will epicly do it Epicly.

[echolepzy]

rant about isat to me NOW /silly

i need to know your opinions. favorite ship? sifloop or isafrin truther? favorite silly? favorite trauma? any North Island headcanons? I may be ‘on hiatus’ but that will not stop me from scrolling isat tag for several hours a day. this game is eating me alive and i’m not mad about it

-that one mutual who’s supposed to be on hiatus but is really bad at it

(i won’t be reblogging but i will send more asks to reply i need to talk to someone about this stupid fucking game-)

Oh fuck yeah gladly

Favorite ship? Personally, I prefer isafrin, but I think they’re all neat. I also really like exploring the non-romantic relationships! This game shows that intimacy and romance aren’t essential for happiness and companionship, and I really cherish that.

Favorite silly? That’s a tough one, it’s hard to pick just one! I think I’m gonna go with Bonnie, though. Bonnie’s definitely one of my favorite sillies.

Favorite trauma? Hmmm… There are a lot of ‘em. Guess it depends on my mood. Does Mal du Pays in itself count? I really like Mal du Pays. Maybe too much. At one point I was thinking “Hmm, Mal du Pays. Yes.” and a whole AU came out of it, basically.

North Island headcanons? Ah, yes, The Country (TM). I like imagining that people from the Forgotten Country are just. Literal star people. Like actually people that came from stars. Also that they were probably more technologically advanced, and they used Wish Craft a lot but on a smaller scale (with more people making wishes, the power was more evenly distributed and big dangerous wishes were less of an issue), which led to them placing very high value in the saying “Be careful what you wish for” and commonly seeing greed and selfishness as one of the worst flaws a person could have. (Semi-unrelated but I would also really like to see more about the other countries like Poteria and Mwudu)

For any miscellaneous thoughts… I love thinking about Sadnesses. My AU has some significant focus on them and expands on them a lot, and I’m hoping I’ll get around to posting it at some point (it’ll be on @spiraling-stardust though lol). Also I love seeing people write Siffrin and Loop with a twins dynamic, like a chaos duo with a shared braincell, I absolutely love it. If anyone has any ideas for different kinds of Craft that weren’t introduced in the game, I’d love to hear about that too (after all, there’s supposedly enough to fill entire books with! I think Sound Craft and Illusion Craft should be a thing).

My brother is the most Loop-coded person I know, and since I plan on cosplaying Siffrin for Halloween, he called me stardust ONCE and suddenly it’s literally my name now in some places. Wtf why did we accidentally assign each other to kin two of the most mentally ill characters ever why did this happen. Sometimes we even do the phone hand thing when we talk to each other. I guess this is a thing now (help)

If you wanna talk to me about it more be my guest!! I must talk about the sillies. The sillies ever. They’re in agony and so am I. Brand sparkling new hyperfixation and it’s spreading like wildfire

[goodluckclove]

John Green's Thoughts on Adulthood: A Post-Mortem Analysis

So I was thinking about the time years and years ago, back when writer John Green was more active on Tumblr. Someone asked if he would ever write a book about adults, and his perspective were that adults were boring.

There's mixed physical evidence online. I remember seeing it, the first line of the ask was captured on a Buzzfeed article from 2013. I couldn't find the actual ask, because from what I've heard at some point John Green was torn apart with such intensity that he is now just a collection of atoms. And I don't hate John Green. I liked his books when I was also young. I watched the VlogBrothers. If I met him in an author space I would thank him for introducing me to NaNoWriMo when I was in middle school.

And then I would ask if he was doing okay. Like - emotionally? Because the shit she said in that ask is some of the saddest I have ever heard in my life. I'm using this Wordpress post as a reference of the rest of what he said and I just want to go through why it's just such a fucked and dangerous thing to say as an author who advocates for young people.

Follow me!

“Would you ever write a YA novel where an adult plays a key role? I know you like to leave the focus around the teenagers and their “peer relationships… but I was just wondering if it had ever crossed your mind.”

That was the ask. Fairly reasonable! And John Green responded immediately with the following:

I mean, to be totally honest with you, I don’t really give a shit about adults.

This on its own is a massive self-report. Not to any sort of crime or character flaw. In my mind, it's part of the reason why I feel like a point where big enough online figures, writers included, either need a PR team or a LOT of therapy. But he continues.

Like, all of my friends are adults. My spouse is an adult. My parents and brother are adults. I know and like many adults. But I don’t want to write for them. Or God forbid about them. They’re just so…boring. It’s like, “Oh I have a mortgage. I buy six pairs of identical khaki pants at a time. I take care of children and watch the television program CSI.” I admire people who can make that crap into the stuff of interesting fiction, but…yeah. No.”

I am angry. I am very angry. If someone said this shit to me in person I would make a face. If we were sharing a space with anyone under the age of 21 I would immediately say "you need to shut the fuck up right now jesus christ".

The thought of a writer who really made his whole brand caring for youth telling them that their future is inevitably dull and unremarkable, especially when you deal with themes of suicide and mental illness, is actually one of the most artistically unethical things I can think of at the moment. I understand that John Green struggled with untreated OCD for very long time, so there's a chance this could actually just be him voicing an intrusive thought that honestly terrifies him.

But he's wrong. We know this, right? Including the adults on here who complain about the tedious aspects of adult life? We know that in a majority of cases it is generally better to be a legal adult than a minor? If you are someone who would go back to being in high school because you maybe had less responsibilities, are you really prepared to lose bodily/legal/societal autonomy?

Like I struggle in life. Sometimes I've struggled a lot. But at my worst, when I was unemployed and flat broke and I couldn't even sell my blood because I took Lithium, if someone told them they could magic me back to being 16 years old again I would scream in their face until they left.

Also, I have a mortgage. It's not boring. Mortgage and insurances are, in fact, pretty confusing and something you have to learn and research. The most boring part about my mortgage was the thirty minute meeting I spent signing paperwork, and once I did that I owned a house with my wife.

Young people who see this - there are going to be boring parts of your life. That's a thing that happens, and sometimes you'll actually be grateful for it. You aren't boring for being thrilled that there's a sale on khakis if you're buying them for a theatrical production, or donating them to a war relief effort, or you're using the fabric, or if it allows you to save money and time in a way that means you get to have a smoothie or something later.

I cannot speak for the experiences of people with higher support needs than I have. But I did talk about this to a friend with higher support needs, and they agreed that being an adult rules. There is a point in which you are no longer an extension of your family or upbringing and it is your life.

It's not always fun. It's scary and confusing and lonely. I had to learn a lot of what my parents never taught me. Adults are always learning things. But since I graduated high school, the only boring period of my life has been the times where I overworked myself into a breakdown and was forced to recover.

And, considering where John Green is now, that kind of explains his perspective a lot.

I hope he figures stuff out. There's no age limit to having to figure stuff out. We're all going to have to do it a lot in our lives.

[o0anapher0o]

Miss Lily and character stereotpyes

I’ve been re-reading @halo4life2017-blog's rewatch blogs and the discussion we had about Miss Lily and about how Lestat might at some point tell us he only killed her because she was actually planning on blackmailing Louis or something like that, and I had some more thoughts I need to get out.

The thing about Lily as Louis presents her is, she’s a stereotype. The ‘whore with the heart of gold’ is a common trope. It’s a cliché the same way the though, street-hard, black pimp is, or the rich European genteel who is abhorred by American racism, the stately southern matron who saves face at all cost even if it means waving off a guests outburst with a comment about the weather, the sassy little sister who supports her gay brother and only wants to see him happy, or the religious zealot who is really a gentle angel when he’s not possessed by the holy spirit. All those are sterotypes that Louis uses when he introduces the people in his life to the story, ways he tries to shape the narrative perception of them. Or maybe lies he tells himself about them.

And all of these stereotypes get dismantled within the first episode: Louis is really a sensitive baby gay who likes to read and cries at the opera. Lestat is a terrifying vampire, who we can rightfully assume has never cared about how black people are treated anywhere prior to meeting Louis, and really still doesn’t.  Florence is an emotionally abusive bitch who happily unloads her own grief on her child, Grace is mommy little princess who deserts Louis when he needs her most to side with Florence and Paul is a condescending brat who shamelessly uses his mental illness for the liberties it gives him (we don’t talk about it enough because mental illness is tricky and Paul is a great character, but the way he acts towards Grace’s fiancé and wedding, and how he talks to the priests when he goes to confession are on a level of entitlement that’s breathtaking. And that’s instances when he’s supposedly ‘right in the head’. My favourite is ‘I wasn’t being rude”, like, yes, you were. Just because the voices in your head told you to say it doesn’t mean it’s not rude to say it and the fact that you’re trying to justify it tells me you know that.).

You could probably make a similar case almost all other characters, Bricktop, Tom Anderson, Levi, all of them are initially presented in a very stereotypical way and later we’re shown they are not quite what they seem at first (Fenwick might be the exception here, he’s always a horrible racist pig). Except for Lily. She never gets the chance to be shown as more, because she gets killed off-screen and is never brought up again.

But we do get hints that everything isn’t as Louis presents it with Lestat’s throwaway comment on her wretched life, or the fact that it takes Louis two weeks to even notice she was dead, which tells me they weren’t as close as some people seem to believe. (Yes, he was a regular customer, one she might even have liked but they definitely weren’t friends.). So yeah, I won’t be surprised if we do learn about some nefarious goings on she was involved in. That’s not to make Lestat look better btw, he did kill her and the main reason was no doubt to get a reaction from Louis and/or to dismantle his support system, but I do think there was more to it than that just ‘she was a poor substitute’. And just as a side note: since we tend to treat Louis as an unreliable narrator (justifiably so) if and when the time comes we certainly need to look at Lestat’s story the same way, because I’m pretty sure if anyone is trying to make Lestat look better, it’s going to be Lestat.  

[bi4bihankking]

curious as to who hank is

Hank is local stupid boy of the JSA fandom, and a founding member of Infinity Inc. (subject to change probably). He is the only member of Infinity Inc. to not be the child or god-child of one of the members, because he is the son of their biggest (most commonly fought at the time of 1984, there may be others who are worse) villain.

Although he is also the nephew of the Star Spangled Kid (Founding Member of Infinity Inc. and long time JSA member) and the son of Merry, Girl of 1000 Gimmicks (Minor Superheroine around the same time the JSA were the big heroes).

On the same day that all the other Infinitors barge into the Christmas JSA meeting, Hank also goes, to ask for help not to demand to join, because he is a telepath and has picked up signs that his dad and other villains are going to break out of limbo, however, for unknown reasons he decides that he is going to introduce himself by pretending to be his dad and tearing a hole in their building with his psychic powers, which starts a huge fight. When his uncle (who doesn't know he's his uncle at this point) stops it, he is basically like "I will only tell you now *sulking*"

Anyway Infinitors end up solving the problem, but mostly because Hank's Dad decides that he actually loves his son more than he likes fighting the JSA, and then his former ally decides to kill his boy, and Senior dies to protect him.

Hank has a lot of issues with loving his dad while everyone else thinks that his dad was evil, and he also knows that his dad was evil, but still died doing good, and none of this is really helped by the fact that every time he gets a head injury an illusion of his dad pops up to talk to him, but he does do very well as a hero and (unfortunately) has a cute relationship with Green Lantern's daughter until about when his uncle gets murdered.

Hank leaves the team, has a mental breakdown and gets into a fight with the Justice League, loses, because Maxima recognizes that it is a mental breakdown and makes him recognize that his illusion dad is not actually real, and everyone talks about how he needs help and rest, at which point (for unknown reasons) Alan Scott Green Lantern shows up and locks him in a torture asylum. This is generally in the JSA fandom agreed to be a bad decision, and that maybe Alan should have let Jay or maybe Carter deal with the situation.

He does end up becoming a hero again (not before beating up Alan) by having a worm eat part of his brain (bad) and Jay Garrick spends all his remaining appearances before Flashpoint going "You seem as though you need a father. I can be a father." But the entire JSA got removed from the main DC universe for a decade.

Anyway he MIGHT appear in JSA (2024) because it's a very Infinity Inc. centred series by the looks of it but I am very uncertain about what form that might take, because Lemire is very new to writing JSA so unlike all the other writers we don't really know what to expect from him. Historically he has been quite good at writing mentally ill characters but I am a bit anxious.

[stanheightsimp]

I wrote this quickly to distract myself from my burnout. Sorry, it's badly written and sloppy, a bit. There will surely be corrections in the future, when my mental health is better !

Group Therapy | Adam Stanheight x /Leon Kennedy

Adam must take part in group therapy. He meets a survivor of Raccoon City. Since Amanda and Leon are both in DBD, I'm obsessed with the idea of a Saw and Resident Evil crossover (and also because Leon and Adam are comfort characters). | 2478 words

Adam Stanheight stepped hesitantly into the overheated room, nervously fidgeting with the excessively long sleeves of his flannel shirt. He didn't want to do this. Fuck, he hated this kind of thing. Group therapy. For people suffering from PTSD. Great.

It was his therapist who'd sent him there "an indispensable step in his healing process". Supposedly, Adam was too self-focused on his suffering. Supposedly, it would do him good to find other people who had it as bad as he did. Blah, blah, blah. Fucking idiot therapist. As if he could understand what Adam was going through. As if anyone could understand what it felt like to wake up in a tub of dirty, cold water, seeing a person saw off his foot, , get shot by this person, and be left to die for seven days in the dark, without food or water. Adam decided he'd do the bare minimum, even put all the ill will in the world into it, so they'd leave him alone, or even, oh fuck, that was what he wanted, kick him out of group therapy for being unbearable.

He sat down grudgingly on one of the folding chairs arranged in a circle in the center of the room, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest, reluctant to cooperate. A few people were already there, people in his age bracket. At least, that was something. Adam didn't really like people from his parents' generation.

His gaze met that of a blond boy with hair like the lead singer of the Backstreet Boys (Adam hated the Backstreet Boys). Blue shirt open over a white T-shirt, sky-blue jeans, big clear eyes, and eyes rimmed as if he hadn't slept in days.

Leon Kennedy met Adam's gaze and wasn't sure whether he liked him or hated him. His old self of a few years ago would have liked him, probably. Leon liked people, trusted them without restraint. He believed in many things, was unfailingly optimistic, and managed to find beauty in everyone. Even when people were capable of the worst, he could find the best in them.

Well, that was then. Leon clung desperately to the ghost of the carefree, optimistic kid he'd been before Raccoon City.

"We have a new member," declared the group therapy organizer, and Adam rolled his eyes. "Adam, stand up, would you like to introduce yourself?"

No, fuck no, I don't want to introduce myself, I don't want to be there, I want to disappear.

Adam stood up with a sigh.

"My name's Adam. I'm twenty-five years old. And four months ago, I was a victim of Jigsaw. He locked me in the bathroom, and I almost died in there. And… that's it."

The assembly said a unanimous "hello Adam" which Adam felt was forced and hypocritical. Fuck, he hated group therapy. Everyone came not to support or listen to others, but to be supported and listened to by someone, to have someone sympathize. Basically, this kind of therapy was the most singularly selfish thing Adam had ever seen.

"Was there any particular reason he captured you?" asked a girl, older than Adam but not by much.

Are you fucking kidding me? You really think this asshole needs a reason? You're such an idiot! Adam tried to reply, but just shook his head.

"Actually, maybe there was a reason. I was suicidal, in a way."

"What do you mean, in a way? You either are or you aren't, there's no in-between." commented a teenager laconically.

"Shut the fuck up, I didn't fuckin' ask for your opinion." Adam replied, sitting back down.

The therapy organizer intervened, asking with forced enthusiasm and empathy, someone else to talk about him. At first, Adam couldn't help rolling his eyes as he listened to the other people's testimonials, and especially as he saw the sympathetic nods.

Leon didn't say much either. But he did listen. He listened a lot. He seemed to really listen to what others were saying. He didn't necessarily propose solutions, but offered a listening ear, a real listening ear.

Then Adam decided to speak up:

"Before the trap, I was… I was convinced I was nothing. I was alive, but I was nothing. I didn't even want to live. Today, I want to live, and I've realized it, but I'm just… too broken to live. I have nightmares every night. Horrible nightmares. I can't get into a bathtub without thinking about the trap. Everything brings me back to it."

He took a deep breath, holding back the rising tears. And it was Leon who came to his rescue by speaking up, diverting attention from the dozen or so curious faces scanning Adam, probably waiting for him to burst into tears.

"I was in Raccoon City when it happened. September 30, 1998… It's a day I'll never forget. Somehow, I made it out. But too many others...weren't so lucky. But deep down, I know that the cop inside me died that day. If I could just forget what happened that night, the pain—even for a second."

Leon swallowed his saliva with difficulty, his eyes moist and his fingers clutching the fabric of his jeans.

"Thank you for your testimony, Leon" said the organizer. With a wave of his arms, he invited the participants to repeat what he had just said, and there was a brouhaha of more or less sincere "thank you for your testimony, Leon".

The rest of the session passed laboriously, and when it was over and Adam had put on his jacket, Leon approached him. The room had already all but emptied.

"Hi. My name's Leon." "Adam" he replied in a formal, wary tone. "First session, huh?" "Yeah, and probably the last." Adam replied with a deeply jaded look.

Leon could see through Adam's game. He knew that Adam's cynical, sarcastic attitude was just a mask. Just as Leon had closed in on himself like a shell, Adam was trying to repel others.

They stared at each other for a long, long time. Soon, the room was completely empty.

"Shall I walk you back to the parking lot?" offered Leon to Adam. "Why not" the dark-haired man conceded.

Five minutes later, they were in the men's bathroom, Leon pinning Adam against the wall, pressing his body against his and greedily exploring his mouth, Adam's arms around Leon's neck and Leon's hands on Adam's hips.

"Is this how you welcome newcomers?" sneered Adam against the blond's lips, as he slid his knee between his legs. "Just you. Only you." moaned Leon in his ear, before disengaging himself from the brunet's embrace and wiping his lips. "See you at the next session, Stanheight?" "Wait, all this so I can continue your bullshit therapy?"

Leon gave him a mischievous smile, placed a tender kiss on his cheek, and exited the restroom. Just before, he turned back to Adam and whispered in a soft voice:

"It's a date, yes." "Shit."

And so it was that Adam Stanheight didn't miss a single session of group therapy.

[duhragonball]

Yeah, Evangelion isn't really a show about the action. I'd say an accurate summary of it is "what if you had to pilot robots against monsters, but all the characters have mental illness?" It's got some neat action for sure, but that's not the focus of the narrative at all, really.

And that's fine. I didn't go into this expecting a lot of action! If this show is Shinji getting therapy then bring it on, but that's not what's happening. He's just laying there like a pile of mashed potatoes, and everyone remarks on how mashed-potato-like he is! For three episodes!

The action scenes are basically all I've got for amusement, but they aren't enough to carry the show because they were never meant to. But what is carrying the show? You can't just write "He's mentally ill" on a 3-by-5 card and put it on the screen for fifteen minutes and call it a story.

Let me use an example of what I'm talking about. There's an episode of M*A*S*H called "Hawk's Nightmares", where Hawkeye starts sleepwalking through the camp, and when other characters find him he acts like a kid, playing marbles and basketball and talking to them like his childhood friends. Then when he finally goes back to bed he wakes up screaming because he saw his childhood friends dying horribly.

About halfway into the episode Colonel Potter calls a psychologist, Sidney Freeman, to get to the bottom of this, and Hawkeye talks it out with him. Ultimately his nightmares are a symptom of the larger trauma of the Korean War, so there's no easy fix, but at least Hawkeye understands what's happening to him, which gives him some reassurance. Sidney tells him he's not losing his mind. "If you were crazy, you'd sleep like a baby."

This is a single half-hour episode of television. Is it a thorough examination of mental health problems? No, of course not. Sidney makes several more appearances on the show, often for Hawkeye specifically, which kind of makes you realize that maybe Hawk isn't the "sanest person [Sidney has] ever known". The psychological analysis may not have aged well, since it's a 50-year-old TV show about a 70-year-old war.

But it's effective as a story because it introduces a problem and immediately draws in the viewer. You can't not notice Hawkeye playing hopscotch in the middle of the night. It's impossible for the other characters to ignore him when he tries to place a phone call in the middle of the night to his childhood friends to make sure they didn't explode like they did in his dreams. And the other characters do something about it. When they can't help him on their own, they call in an expert. They have to. He's their friend, and they need him in the O.R. to save wounded soldiers.

I think Evangelion is following a similar arc, but-- good night!-- it sure isn't in much of a hurry. And if Shinji were shooting free-throws in his sleep, that would be at least kind of amusing to watch while we wait, but he's not. He's practically catatonic. If there was another character to focus on instead, that would be something, but all we have is Rei, who seems to be even worse off than he is.

What kills me is that they're going to get into this eventually. They have to. There's no other choice. So why don't we just do that instead of marking time? I'm an hour into this show, and I feel like I'm watching an unskippable ad for Kroger while I'm waiting for a YouTube video to start.