#this is their dynamic i'm correct

[fencecollapsed]

Pete: I don't know why Richie said we should date

Ruth, sitting on his lap: me neither

Richie, hugging them both: you're right I don't know what I was thinking

Steph, sitting across from them: so are you guys gonna share my boyfriend or-

Ruth & Richie: five more minutes

[adamworu]

I think the one thing that would give even wholesome versions of Kawoshin dynamics some heft is unsettling explorations of his power. Kaworu realizes very much that he is A Weapon. A Machine of Death in human flavoring. The very power that can be used to save lives can very much take them at a moment's notice. He feels validated by the boy who loves him and in that moment that terrifying realization ceases for the most part. But there's always that little creeping thought from within that Kaworu fears even the smallest argument. The inevitable argument. The inevitable strong emotions. The slightest tinge of strong feelings could possibly level the house. Hurt Shinji.

It's better to smile it off anyway.

[uncanny-tranny]

At this point, gender nonconformity is about what the person says their experience is.

If a woman with a beard or a man with lipstick and a mustache says they're gender nonconforming, then they are! If a woman with short hair or a man with long hair says they aren't, they aren't! And that's not even getting into the awesome nonbinary, abinary, genderqueer, intersex, and general genderfuckery that may both be and not be conforming.

So much of what is even considered gender conforming or gender nonconforming is based on a world of exclusion. When we start defining one's conformity with whether they fit into white cishetero perisex standards or not, we play into the idea that there's only a very narrow window of what is considered worthy of time and thought.

[zahri-melitor]

Okay.

I am being super, ultra cautious about how I'm wording this, but am going out on a limb here.

As someone who literally helped to care for her much younger brother (I had solo custody of him one night per week during his teens, I fed him, supervised homework, did his laundry, got him ready for school, made his lunches, all that jazz) I am just slightly familiar with what it's like to step in to be a guardian for a younger relative.

I'm reading Reborn. I'm reading basically all of Dick and Damian's appearances. I'm...not seeing a parent-child relationship here. I see mentoring and supervision, yes. I appreciated the "I was trying to have a night off" moment in Streets of Gotham. But a lot of this is just big brothering or vigilante mentor stuff.

I fully, 100% believe Dick and Damian bonded during their period together. I also believe they had a little family unit going on between Alfred, Dick and Damian. I respect people reading whatever interpretation they want to read of this material.

But from what I see on the paper? I think calling it parental is a stretch. Damian's in kincare, folks. On paper? Damian's physical needs are being provided by Alfred, his vigilante mentoring is being provided by Dick, as far as I can tell he's not even in education, and we get precious few insights into what's happening during daylight hours. (Especially, ESPECIALLY as I really have not seen Damian receive, well, boundaries outside of the field. Or consequences for his actions. Or...really, any active parenting)

Dick's looking after Damian, sure. But he's not Damian's parent.

And that's perfectly ok, not everything has to be reduced to a simple traditional nuclear family ideal.

[lucreziagiovane]

"Prince to you, not a brother."

[invinciblerodent]

side note, it makes me feel kind of unreasonably giddy that my four "main" games of bg3, i'm playing:

a man loving a man

a woman loving a man

a man loving a woman (and a man)

and a woman loving a woman

and literally all of the characters involved are bi/pansexual.

diversity win, i'm queer and so is everything and everyone I do and make

[thesnowflake18]

Just out of curiousity honestly!!

Quick explanations for each below~

Flawed Pacifist/Family Ending

Failed Pacifist ending where you failed to date Undyne or Alphys, or dated Alphys and skipped the True Lab segment. None or few monsters killed (for most variants)

Toriel returns to the throne and people accept her policy for peace with humans

If you fail to date Undyne, she blames you for Asgore's death but otherwise seems fine

Undyne is pumped to speak with Frisk if she is befriended, just sad about Asgore

Betrayed Undyne endings here are possible if Papyrus is alive, you befriend Undyne, and killed any monster afterwards.

Alphys speaks with Frisk if befriended and reassures them of the progress to leave the underground

Papyrus joins the Royal Guard (after disbanding) and only waters flowers but is happy. Sans seems relatively happy too

Killing MTT will cause Alphys to disappear and Undyne to be distraught, not even wanting vengeance. Papyrus tries to be encouraging

Exiled Queen Toriel

Many branches!!! Toriel attempts to rule but either resigns peacefully or is banished back to the ruins, either by Undyne or the monsters themselves.

Overall, monsters are unhappy with Toriel's policy due to the killings by us, even more so if Undyne was killed

Sans and Papyrus (if he's alive) will follow her to the ruins and keep her company

Sans will drop the facade with you if you also killed Papyrus, saying your not welcome back in the underground

Killing MTT will cause Alphys's "disappearance" and Undyne to be distraught, sometimes wanting vengeance

Empress Undyne

Sometimes a variant of the Exiled Queen endings where if Papyrus or many monsters are dead (Alphys disappears), Undyne herself leads a revolt against Toriel and becomes Empress of the Underground

She's a tougher leader who takes the idea of war on humans more seriously than Asgore

She also becomes Empress if Toriel is killed as long as 10+ monsters are killed as well

If Papyrus is dead, Sans will drop the facade and reveal he knows you killed Toriel

If Papyrus is alive, he's given a falsely important role by Undyne. Sans just comments on Tori's silence

King Mettaton

Capitalist dystopia led by Mettaton after Toriel and Undyne are both killed.

Sans and Papyrus become MTT's agents

Sans doesn't comment on Papyrus's death in this ending and is still MTT's agent

MTT comments on his regrets with Alphys, and says she's disappeared

People who don't like MTT's show tend to "disappear" (😧)

King Papyrus

All possible leaders are gone; Papyrus becomes ruler by process of elimination

Papyrus tries to be as encouraging as he can, despite losing so many important people. His best encouragement isn't enough

Sans takes over the paperwork, Paps is proud

Sans told him that everyone else went on vacation, though it's implied Paps already knows the truth and just plays along

The most neutral human policy: can't judge them all to be good or bad, it's a case-by-case

Dog Ending (Leaderless variant)

Silly ending; All bosses (Toriel, Paps, Undyne, MTT) killed but NO ONE ELSE

Sans comments how a white dog became president of the underground and sleeps on the throne all day

this seems like the best ending for everyone -Sans

Leaderless

All bosses are killed, as well as some monsters. Small variant if there's 20+ monster kills

Everyone is distraught since no one can step up to become a leader. All hope is gone

Sans darkly jokes that this is what happens when people like him take it easy

If 20+ monsters are killed as well, Sans comments on the emptiness and also for you to "go to hell"

Queen Alphys

Aborted Genocide ending after Undyne the Undying

Alphys is the one who asks for the call, Sans barely comments

Alphys evacuates everyone, making monsters look to her for leadership after

Sans seems to be supporting her for now

Alphys reveals her secrets to the public and it seems to be relieving to her, though now she has regrets with us, saying how she should've killed us when she had the chance (RAW FR)

Dirty Hacker Ending

Technically a secret "impossible" ending. You have to hack the game save file in order to get this ending

Sans comments on how strange this is and to contact the creator, maybe for a "new ending"

Sans breaks the fourth wall by calling out the player as "just a dirty hacker"

NOW PICK YOUR FAVORITE!!

[manyblinkinglights]

I'll never understand pro models with kind of shit weight painting.

WHY'S THE BUTT COME WITH, THOUGH.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF ANY TAILED MODEL. ;o;

like I GUESS the creator is assuming nobody wants to see the asshole, and that it would be posed and filmed the etc to hide hole anyway. And now that I think of it, of all the cats, I bet on snow leopards you actually DON'T see cat asshole continually, because it's cold, and they probably keep it protected.

but not like THAT.

[justafriendofxanders]

i go back and forth a lot on my interpretations of ats s5, ie. what parts of spike are 'in character' or not, but the one thing that stays constant is my belief that spike and angel fucking would have fixed most of this.

[wellnoe]

media club plus is extremely good secondary fatt material, a great group of people to make up the core cast.

[fireheartwraith]

Red winning a second day in a row proves that they've made a comeback from day 1 and that day 2 wasn't fluke, so I hope green goes after blood 🩷

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

The way I'm genuinely starting to feel like I should keep my attractions to myself.

[adamworu]

I am very on board with your idea of Asuka and Shinji having a sibling-like relationship and sharing half a brain cell.

Individually? Each is actually pretty smart in their own way. But together? They are dumb af. Their stupid is mutually contagious. 💀

What sort of hobbies or interactions go on with them? : )

(also I hope you are having a nice night.)

That one scene in episode 9 where they're flipping blue and orange channels is very much a daily occurrence. Sometimes they change each other's channels out of spite (mainly during the best parts). Or even sneaking bites of each other's food while the other sleeps. They're very much the 'mom said it's my turn to play xbox' sibling dynamic. Wrestling the controller out of each others' hands. Or purposefully messing the other up when the other is playing video games and making needling comments when they game over.

I hope you're having a nice day/night too!

[tiffanybluesclues]

Every week someone makes a post about how annoying it is that Dick Grayson fans don't acknowledge his flaws, and every week someone replies with an explanation that the flaws OP listed are entirely fanon and inconsistent with canon as it actually happened and at this point I have to assume that none of those explanations are ever going to stick because clearly some people just want the fanon to be true.

Anyway, I'm just putting this here for me to edit and add relevant-to-the-topic links later so I'll have them nicely at hand to read and sooth my frustrations when it gets real bad out there. (Echo chambers are good when we use them to drown out character mischaracterizing fanon.)

[navree]

How can you humanize Maegor , if you will make a show about him?

It depends on how far back you're willing to go in his life, because really up until he takes the crown, you can do quite a bit to humanize him and make him someone people want to engage with, without woobifying him or trying to excuse the truly heinous things he does. Starting backstory onwards, there are lot of ways to do this. There's a lot of room to play with in his childhood and the interpersonal relationships that should be his strongest tethers to humanity, but aren't: his relationship with his brother, his relationship with his mother, and his relationship with his father.

Aenys and Maegor are a relationship that was doomed to fail since birth. For one, while the age gap isn't huge, five years is still pretty significant in terms of differences in development as children, which definitely got in the way of any bonding. For two, they also appear to have largely grown up separately, with Aenys spending most of his time by Aegon's side in King's Landing, and Maegor being raised on Dragonstone with Visenya, before the two essentially switched places with Aegon at Dragonstone and Visenya overseeing the construction of the Red Keep in King's Landing. For three, there's also the external factors, such as their incredibly different personalities and viewpoints on basically everything, as well as the fact that, when Maegor was born, Aenys was only very recently removed from the complete breakdown he had due to his trauma over his mother's sudden death, and likely still wasn't in a state to be trying to forge new bonds with anyone who wasn't Quicksilver (and Aegon, but Aegon's grandfathered in by being his literal dad). So Maegor, who we know wasn't making friends on Dragonstone and just in general was probably really isolated from kids his own age due to it being Dragonstone (not unlike how we see with Shireen Baratheon) also isn't getting any kind of connection from anyone close to his own age throughout his entire childhood.

Really, the only person Maegor is close to in any capacity is his mother, Visenya. She's the parent he grew up with, his primary caregiver and his closest relationship not just in childhood, but likely throughout his entire life. In the nature vs nurture debate on childrearing, she's the one who was providing the nurture. Nearly everything about Maegor, his personality and his view of the world and his personal philosophies and his love map in his brain, among many other things, all of that was shaped by Visenya and her influence on him and her care and devotion for him. And with no one else really around to provide him any sort of companionship that he might have needed, and with his other parent being incredibly distant and barely a parent, Maegor likely latched onto her incredibly strongly. I think, if asked, Maegor would say that, should he be found capable of love, Visenya would be the person he loved the most in his life (I'm of the opinion that his relationship with Tyanna was him trying to find a significant other that most reminded him of his beloved mother, not entirely dissimilar to the way that Henry VIII felt that an ideal wife would be one who was almost identical to Elizabeth of York). And we know that this is something that persisted long after childhood, into his adulthood Visenya was his strongest supporter and Maegor relied on her a lot early in his reign, and was publicly devastated when he learned that she had died. His mother was the only parent he ever really knew as a parent, certainly the family member he loved most, adored even, especially in such sharp distinction with Aegon as a distant father. And speaking of that distant father...

I love Aegon, he's one of my absolute favorite Targs, but he was practically just a parent in name only to his second son. And that's going to do a number on someone, no matter who they are. Maegor's father doesn't much care for his mother, certainly doesn't seem to care for him at all personally, and despite the fact that Maegor is probably far more like Aegon, and a far worthier successor, than Aenys, Aegon still dotes on his eldest while barely spending any time with Maegor. And it's not because of anything Maegor's done, or even anything Aenys has done: it's entirely because of Aenys's mother. Aenys is Aegon's favorite, his precious son, not because of anything Aenys has done to earn that, but simply because he is the son of Aegon's beloved Rhaenys, and that his very existence is a way of having Rhaenys still with him after her disappearance/death. We know that Aegon was forever incredibly affected by what happened to Rhaenys and that he never stopped loving her, given that he openly wept when he held Rhaena and was informed that she was named after her grandmother. Meanwhile, there's Maegor, whose own mother's relationship with his father was never very good (marriage of duty for them vs the Aegon/Rhaenys marriage of desire) and had become incredibly cold and distant by the time that he was born, and you can very easily see how that might ultimately affect a kid. He's watching his mother be completely ignored by his dad just for being the wrong woman, he's dealing with himself being completely ignored and passed over in love and affection just because he's the son of the wrong woman, because his mother isn't the lost ghost that Aegon loved and won't ever be able to stop loving. How much of Maegor's prowess in fighting, not to mention the unchecked aggression he showed during training, was borne of trying to impress his martially skilled father and being upset when it didn't work? How much of his continued presence in tourneys and melées was to show Aegon that he was a much better son than Aenys, that he deserved the love Aegon was freely giving his brother just as much? Was there ever a time when he resented Visenya for being his mother when that was enough to make Aegon uninterested, and did he ever hate himself for blaming the wrong person, or blaming anyone at all? How much did he internalize his own feelings about it as the relationship never got any warmer? How did he feel when Aegon finally noticed him enough to knight him himself, and make him the youngest knight in the realm at that? Did Maegor ever want to talk to him about it once he was a young man, did he ever want to try and forge a stronger relationship on his own merits as an adult, did he ever even try?

There's also the matter of Balerion, which is as much its own relationship as a subset of anything that can be played with as it pertains to Aegon and Maegor. For one, we know that Maegor point blank refused to claim any dragon because he felt that Balerion was the only one worthy of him. And you can take that at face value, but you can also go deeper into it, into the ideas that Maegor might not be consciously aware of. Maybe he wants to try and connect with his father on some level through the dragon bond. Maybe he looks at how Aegon gives Aenys so much, his companionship and his throne and his sword and his love, Hell he even gives Aenys a Valyrian bride (Alyssa Velaryon) but demands that Maegor settle for a simple Westerosi, as if he's lesser than and not the blood of old Valyria. And still he waits to see if maybe Aegon will give him something. Maybe once Aegon is too old for dragonriding, he'll give Maegor Balerion, or at least give Maegor the opportunity to try, to prove himself as Aegon's son, to have that connection. And when Aegon doesn't, when it's still Aenys getting everything Maegor might not even realize he wants, that's just another disappointment for him.

But Maegor does get Balerion anyway, once Aegon dies. He finally gets a connection to Aegon that's his alone, and it's after Aegon is already dead and likely after Maegor was already hardening into the man he would ultimately be remembered as. Not to mention, even on its own, Balerion and Maegor's bond is a good way to show a human element to the man. I've always maintained that, when it comes to Targaryens, the most unconditionally loving and the most openly affection and emotional we should see them should really be with the dragons. With their magic and their Valyrian blood and old world roots and just everything about them, even if you don't subscribe to Targaryen exceptionalism, they are pretty far removed from the place they actually live; culturally and ethnically and socially, they are not Westerosi and certainly in Maegor's time, don't see themselves or are seen by others as Westerosi. The dragons, products of Valyria's heyday, are the closest living beings that Targaryens can relate to, and this is doubly important when it comes to Balerion, who was born during the reign of the Valyrian Freehold, who was alive before the Doom. Balerion is a living cultural heritage, and for someone as isolated as Maegor is (and, as we see in his actions re: his marriages and the Faith, as divorced from Westerosi customs and standards as he is), having that connection is probably the deepest one he'd have, bar maybe his mother, and even then, despite that closeness and love, their mutually cold personalities probably made it hard to be open in any deep affection once Maegor started growing up. Dragons and their riders are practically one being, they feel each other's pains and pleasures and angers and grudges and triumphs, and Maegor having something like that, along with the connection to a father he never really was connected to, adds a human element to the man that he was, despite the fact that he used Balerion to do terrible things.

You can also do a lot with Maegor's actions before his own kingship, specifically the reign of his half-brother Aenys. In spite of their differences and distances, in spite of the shadow of Aegon and the relationships he had with his sisters that affected his relationship with his own sons in turn, Aenys does embrace Maegor with open arms. He gives him Blackfyre, another possession of Aegon's that Maegor must have coveted, and he promises that they'll rule together. They're both adults now, and Aenys seems emotionally sensitive enough to have realized that Maegor probably has some deep rooted issues borne out of things that were set in motion before he was even conceived. And while Visenya might have scoffed at the gestures Aenys made for Maegor, Maegor appears to have taken them really seriously. He personally crushes a rebellion against Aenys in the Vale, and makes huge showings of his loyalty by fighting really hard for his brother against his foes. When Aenys makes him his Hand, Maegor takes that responsibility really seriously and is willing to obey Aenys as his Lord and King, as well as protect him. This seems to have been loyalty that was reciprocated, since it's noted that, when Aenys exiles Maegor for his bigamy, he does it because he felt he had no other option than to be mad at Maegor for what he did, due to the huge public outcry, and even then he still offers Maegor a way out. He only exiles him because Maegor refuses to set Alys aside (another way to humanize Maegor, he takes Alys as a wife despite it being a big taboo for most Westerosi and in spite of her being from a pretty minor noble House, and he refuses to leave her even at the cost of losing his home, he keeps her by his side and he refuses to give her up when there were likely a shitton of better options to deal with his childlessness, to say nothing of women from greater Houses with more potential for him politically, but he CHOSE Alys), since Aenys felt that this was the only choice left to him. And Maegor abides by the exile. Yeah, he takes Blackfyre even though Aenys asked him to leave it, but he still goes into exile, and he stays in exile. Aenys rides Quicksilver and Maegor rides Balerion, the two dragons literally go toe to toe with each other and it's so massively onesided because Quicksilver doesn't stand a chance. If Maegor wanted to, he could have very easily repudiated his exile and decimated Aenys if he tried to enforce it. But Aenys told him to go, so he did, and he stayed gone until Visenya came to fetch him back with the news that Aenys was dead. He respected Aenys's word as king, his sovereign authority as liege lord and as the elder brother, and even if he might not have entirely thought the man worthy of what he had, that does speak to a sort of deference in spite of the complexities of their upbringing, and a willingness to obey Aenys despite everything about their personalities.

So, by the time Maegor comes back from Pentos to usurp the throne, there's a lot that can be used to humanize him and make him a compelling protagonist. A close but somewhat stilted relationship with the only parent to have ever tried with him, an unfulfilled, desperate need for approval and affection from a parent who couldn't give that to him due to circumstances entirely outside his control, a brother he didn't know well in his youth and might not have thought worthy of what he had and certainly been jealous of but that he still respected as king and fought hard to defend and that he deferred to even when he didn't have to, at least one marriage that, in spite of what little it offered him and the clusterfuck it caused, he valued enough that he refused to set aside, and an intense bond with a fearsome dragon that you can make him value more than almost anything or anyone. All of that set up can then be used for an extraordinary fall from grace, to watch the potential and nuance slowly grow darker and darker and darker as Maegor does increasingly horrible things, treats the people in his life increasingly badly, descends further and further into the tyranny and madness that will utlimately kill him. There's bright spots that can be used as well, like the fact that he does have Jaehaerys as his heir and doesn't seem to have had him or Viserys treated that badly, even though they were prisoners, and that he didn't actually set out to kill Aegon the Uncrowned at all until Aegon decided to take back his throne and amass an army. Then, as we've watched Maegor slide further and further down, we can watch with a sinking dread as he annihilates Aegon beneath God's Eye, as he turns on Alys and extinguishes her family, as he has Viserys literally tortured to death to punish Alyssa and Jaehaerys and Alysanne for their escape from Dragonstone. So that, by the time we get to shit like the completion of the Red Keep and the Black Brides, we see that Maegor is incredibly far gone, and we can only watch as all the complexities within him are swept aside by the monster he's become, so foul and loathsome that the eldritch abomination that is the Iron Throne finally kills him to stop the madness.

It's not about woobifying Maegor or excusing him. It's about providing a reason for the audience to look back on who he was as he becomes what he was always going to be, to give explanations for why he does the things that he does (how much of his initial militarism and violence and heavy-handedness, before he went doolally, was borne out of not just his martial prowess as a kid but also watching Aenys's version of ruling not work, for instance), and to get people to understand and feel his initial motivations so that the later stuff also makes sense, and so that you're watching something akin to a doomed fall when he becomes Maegor the Cruel. These are, at least to me, some of the most important and influential ways you can humanize Maegor as a character if you're planning to center him in a proper narrative story, without filing down his edges and keeping him as the kind of person he is. Extrapolate on why he is the way he is, and then show him how he is throughout his lifetime and what he does, along with the how and why of what he does.

[pochapal]

tomorrow i will have been reading umineko for one whole year