#when done correctly

[cloama]

An awards show that is playing the WrapItUp music for every winning speaker could've:

1. booked the venue and production for a longer time

2. shortened the number of awards presented to save time

Playing almost everyone off with music means you fucked up, somewhere, logistically.

[iknowwhereyousnoozeatnight]

tennis

[antiterf]

Tired of people applying concepts of gender and gender hierarchy specifically made for cis people to trans people and thinking we're the problem when we point out that it doesn't fit.

[andhyssops]

my middleschool best friend

[cubicpeebles]

Their fate is in your hands!

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon zero dawn (remastered) | devil’s thirst 2/?

[thelilylav]

Once again thinking about how Ever After High's premise leans heavily into being about a predetermined versus malleable fate, and how it could've played with the question of whether we decide how to live our lives or they were already set from the moment we're born, but instead we got... the Royal and Rebel debate.

[genericpuff]

there's definitely lots to be said about how "fired up" i get about LO and WT and all that, but frankly all the energy i give off here is healthy compared to the blind rage i experience when i'm playing project diva and miss a single note at the end of an otherwise perfect streak

"talking shit about LO and rachel all the time can't be good for your blood pressure" y'all hatsune miku has been bad for my blood pressure since 2010, LO doesn't even come close LOL

[inke-ri]

After giving the Ithaca Saga a few listens, I'm surprised by how much I loved the ending. All along, I kept wondering how they'd tie up Epic with the whole slow arc of Odysseus becoming a monster, would the story "reward" his behavior by giving him his family back?

Spoilers below!

I cant be sure since the animatics aren't out yet, but the feeling I got from the "Just a Man" part in Would You Fall In Love With Me Again is that it really hammers home how Odysseus didn't become a monster by choice. He didn't *mean* to do it, the gods messing with him (and poor decisions from all of his crew, himself included) essentially forced him to do it to survive. I'm not absolving Odysseus of the blame here, I think the fact that he compares his castle being sacked to Troy symbolizes that he paid for all the pain and misery he caused and he didn't get off easy (if the crippling trauma doesnt make it obvious).

But at the end of the day, he was always someone carrying an extreme amount of guilt due to things in and beyond his control, and there always *was* compassion in him, there was always this inherent desire to be a hero bc he wanted to do good, not bc he actually WANTED to be ruthless.

Most importantly, there IS a big distinction between Odysseus and all these monsters to me. And that is that even when Odysseus finally abandons every shred of self restraint and becomes a "monster", down to having his own track titled after him, Odysseus never *revels* in it the way Poseidon or Polyphemus or Zeus did (unless the final animatics prove me wrong, which would feel very OOC to me).

Even before finally snapping and poking a hundred holes in Poseidon, he still *tried* before. Even as he did it, it felt more like he was venting 20 years of misery instead of enjoying it. He just sounds tired when he lets go of the trident. And when he kills the suitors, he's just *angry*. When he chooses himself over Eurylochus, he was broken and miserable. When he chose to leave Calypso, someone who *kept him prisoner* for 7 years, he still chose to do it in as kind a way he still managed.

Compare it to Scylla, who's having a blast comparing herself to him. Compare it to Poseidon, who was so cocky in Ruthlessness. Compare it to Zeus in Thunderbringer, strutting around like the cat who got the mouse.

I think that by the time Odysseus sees Penelope again, especially after seeing how different he and Telemachus are (Telemachus clearly being positioned as a mirror of his younger self), after telling Athena there's no hope left for him, only for those that will come after... He faces Penelope and well and truly believes that he's exactly like the monsters in his journey. He lists his sins like charges in a tribunal, like he's fully expecting her to never take him back, because how could she? He's no longer himself.

And then Penelope asks him about the bed.

With how the song is clearly revolving around love, Penelope's challenge in Epic seems less like she's testing to see if it really is Odysseus like in the poems, and more to see if he's still the man she fell in love with. Would he be willing to let go of love, of their memories, of who he was when they first met under that olive tree? He's different now, right? Surely love doesnt matter to him all that much so long as the "victory" of getting home, just as winning meant all to Zeus and Poseidon, just as relishing in the deaths of the trespassors in his land meant to Polyphemus and Scylla.

And sure, Odysseus doesnt reply the way we'd expect from him at the start of the saga. He doesnt plead with Penelope or falls to his knees and begs like he did with Zeus in the very first song. He's *angry*, he HAS changed. But despite the changes, he hasn't let go of love. He REFUSES to cut through the roots of it and throw the bed away. And so Penelope matches him blow for blow, and forces him to accept that he's still her husband and that she'll love this broken, scarred version of him just the same. Even as he seems to choke out her name, almost begging her to leave him because he doesn't deserve it, her voice overpowers him until he breaks and just. Accepts it.

And then the Just a Man theme I mentioned at the start of this text wall finally kicks in, which to me feels like the story reminiscing on Odysseus' journey and, well, accepting it, just as he does... That while his sins ARE sins (again, not absolving him of any of it!!), he never did them out of hatred or pride or just because he enjoyed it, he did it because he was, well, just a man who loved his family so desperately that he'd do anything to see them again.

He finally lets himself breathe, realizes that it really has been 20 years of his life attempting to shape him into something different, and even though it succeeded at that... for all it did change him it did not change the love that was always at his core. And so he can allow himself to perhaps never be fully free of that guilt and anger, but at least finally, finally rest.

[backjustforberena]

Rhaenys Targaryen being perceptive as HECK:

Devotion has never sat well with him. Where he goes, he wishes to be his own master. [...] Not as such (will he challenge her). But neither can he allow her to command him.

"Neither can he allow her to command him." - We never see Rhaenyra actually order Daemon's flight to Harrenhal. Not directly. It was his choice to go when he did, it was his plan to being with, at the start of the whole thing - to create a toehold in the Riverlands. It was Daemon's instincts and feelings. He follows his own path.

Again, Jaehaerys's murder was done without Rhaenyra's sanction, he chafed against staying on Dragonstone whilst she searched for Luke's remains, and he took charge of the war council and drew his sword against Otto without waiting for her leave to escalate. He addresses Otto's terms before she does. Whilst he shows loyalty and believes his motives to be selfless and his allegiance as true, it's not true deference. He seeks power/independence where he can.

Devotion and love don't sit well with him, though he has great capacity for it - we see him struggle with those feelings and the warring sides of his nature during Harrnehal: his brother, his niece, his second wife. His ignorance of his daughters. There is a corruption to his love. An acidity.

"Where he goes, he wishes to be his own master" = he goes to Harrenhal, and wishes to be his own master, and even King.

He doesn't not challenge her "as such" = he never raises banners against her, never pushes for his own claim other than in private conversations. Still, his behaviour causes Rhaenyra to have doubts in herself as Queen and others to have doubts in her as well.

It absolutely challenges outside perceptions of her rule - his lack of communication creates fractures in her council, leading, amongst other things, Alfred to question her suitability. It also makes her strategy wayward as they cannot be sure of ground support for any campaign. She's doing things she shouldn't have to do because of his behaviour.

His behaviour also challenges her because the things that he does impacts how her cause is received. Her name is cursed in King's Landing because of what he enacted, leading to the death of Jaehaerys. They blame her for what he did in her name.

Otto Hightower would never have allowed this. Hotter blood has prevailed, I think. The young men have taken the bit in their teeth. They wish to punish, to avenge. Soon they will not even remember what it was that began the war in the first place.

Otto Hightower did, indeed, not allow or know anything about sending Arryk to assassinate Rhaenyra, leading to the death of both twins. In fact, Otto was appalled by the scheme.

It was, as Rhaenys surmises done on the orders of the "young men" (Aegon, and the less young Cole) - as punishment and revenge for the death of Jaehaerys.

Aegon has "declared" war following the death of his son and has seized on offence. He did this whilst his blood ran hot: a scene where he is smashing up Viserys's model.

We teeter now at the point where none of it will matter. And the desire to kill and burn takes hold and reason is forgotten.

The deaths of the children (Luke & Jaehaerys) in the scene with Alicent and Rhaenyra, ultimately don't affect the idea of peace or war. Alicent does not change her behaviour due to the loss of a grandson, and Rhaenyra does not for the loss of her son, either to make war or peace more or less likely. The road is already set. They reach a point where it doesn't matter.

Rook's Rest represents a point of no return. They pass the point.

Rhaenys sees "the desire to kill and burn" take hold over reason in close quarters - she sees Aemond burn his own brother. That is the kind of savagery: the unforgivable. The bloody war between dragons and the hateful act of kin against kin. It's chaos.

Rhaenyra’s council is wayward. She has a hard task. I must hope she will rise to it, but I fear she’ll need you by her side sooner than late.

After Rhaenys dies, Rhaenyra has one council session, where each of the men around her have individual ideas - they argue amongst each other but none of them have no true plan to offer her. There is no progress.

Nor does she rise to command them: they continue to ignore her, shoot her down, not work with her, leaving her isolated. As Rhaenys fears, she needs Corlys. Rhaenyra soon offers Corlys the role of Hand.

[3-aem]

my cat has, after many attempts, still been unable to catch onto the fact that when i point i am trying to show him where the toy is.

but has learned very quickly that if he stands under the fridge when i open it there is a possibility, however slim and inconsistent, that cheese may fall on him.

[winteriron-trash]

rdj the (whitewashed) electric boogaloo

This is a reminder to everyone who's excited about RDJ's casting as Doctor Doom that this casting is whitewashing. Victor Von Doom is a Romani character and has been a Romani character since his introduction in the 1960s. (Fantastic Four Annual #2 [1964]) Not only that, but his Roma identity and the persecution he and his family faced due to it is integral to his character, it is what forms his identity. (Books of Doom by Ed Brubaker) Even if on the off chance this casting is meant to not be Victor but instead be some variant of Tony or whomever else becoming Doctor Doom, it is damaging to the character to rob him of that important cultural background. Doctor Doom does not exist without that history. Fans have been pushing hard to cast Doom as a Romani actor for years, especially since the MCU has whitewashed other Romani characters. (Wanda, Pietro, etc) This casting is not a celebration moment, it's fucking heartbreaking that the MCU repeatedly ignores the important and nuanced cultural backstories of characters.

I know I can't change anybody's mind on whether or not you want to be excited about RDJ's return to the MCU. But I do think at the very least you should be mad that the MCU is baiting us all and destroying nuanced and interesting characters for the sake of self-referential easter eggs and nostalgia bait. Because that's what it is. Feel how you'd like to feel about RDJ's return, but personally, this is soul-sucking. I had such a deep love for the MCU as a teenager, it was obviously something incredibly formative to me, especially Tony Stark. This isn't recreating what I fell in love with the MCU for. This is turning a well-planned and artistic storyline of adaptations into cheap cash grabs and fan service. Because, I think we're past the point of being able to call the MCU an adaptation of anything. They can use existing characters' names and powers, but to say they're being properly adapted is laughable.

This is not an adaptation of Doctor Doom. This is RDJ the Electric Boogaloo because Marvel's fear of losing the interest of dedicated MCU fans overrides their willingness to tell stories that are genuine to the characters. I don't know what there is to be excited about that. The MCU has lost its authenticity and aside from a few projects, feels heartless. Every movie is a copy of a copy. This announcement isn't something celebratory, it feels like a death knell of a cinematic universe that's so desperate to cling to relevancy it's resorting to nostalgia for a character/actor who hasn't even been dead for a decade. We're not getting anything new, we're just rinsing and repeating the same song and dance.

I get it. I love Tony Stark, his death destroyed me and I to this day, rue the ending he got in Endgame. It misunderstood his arc and it robbed him of a satisfying conclusion. But the solution to that isn't dragging the corpse out of the grave five years later to whitewash an existing character with rich and interesting nuance, just to forcibly tie his existence in the MCU to Tony. Whether he is a variant or not. Why would you want someone else's fave's legacy to be destroyed simply so your fave's legacy can go on? Hell, if we were really all so hellbent on the return of RDJ and/or Tony to the MCU, we have the multiverse for a reason. There were other ways to do it that didn't whitewash and ruin someone else. This just. Isn't something to be happy about.

[sparkledog-dot-png]

Ameda Ravers by geckoSegno (2008)

[theanonymousninja247]

✨ Star Friends ✨

When I found out that @chessman-protocol boy Crit liked Astronomy, let’s just say I was beyond estatic and immediately planned this little comic. Here’s to my boy Vincent doing his best to make friends with folks who share similar interests 😅💙

Funny enough, I didn’t realize I put this in Vincent character’s until I looked at the whole thing, but Vincent very much shares the lack of stranger danger the way I did/ I do to this day. To quote one of my past managers I’m “abnormally friendly” or whatever

I can’t tell you how many times even as a small child (drove my parents nuts) that I saw a cool person with whatever connecting factor and I just straight up walked to them and was like “Ok cool. We’re friends now.” And nobody’s really stopped me? So apparently I have friends now. 😆

Vincent however is just a wholesome baby boy who doesn’t realize he’s actually an intimidating hunk of a turtle and randomly walking up to strangers and not saying anything can be taken the wrong way.

Like I said, he’s trying his best. He wasn’t exactly the most socialized if you can’t tell, but he does love dearly and is certainly a boone of a friend to have once you get past the inevitable social awkwardness. He’s loyal to put because he really doesn’t know better, and I adore him for that. Anyway, dunno if Crit knows any ASL or not, but either way Vincent is just excited to meet somebody else who likes space ✨🌌 💙

[eightringsofsaturn]

Something I'm personally a huge, huge fan of in the live action is the way they went about the foreshadowing, especially the comments they made on later arcs. Like when Mr 7 from baroque works asked zoro to join the agency, but he declined unless he could be the leader, and then later after zoro lost the duel with mihawk Nami was reading him the story of Noland the liar, which comes up later in the Skypea arc. I just really enjoyed their attention to the plot, and effort they made towards bringing the entire story as a whole to life

[virescent-v]

Hey Reid Girlies

I swear to god I'm going to start blocking each and every one of you who posts a Reid fic with "Emily Prentiss."

You should not be tagging Emily in a Reid centric fic.

I will give you some leeway if she's in the fic, but if she's not like one of the main characters, don't tag her or anyone else that isn't the main character.

I don't know how many times other people in the CM fandom have to post this to get it through your heads, but it's annoying as hell.

I'm in the tag "Emily Prentiss" FOR EMILY. NOT REID.

Keep him to his own tag.