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t4tpumpkinduo · 2 months ago

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ok let me say smthing rq ☝️ the reason i'm insane and often v focused on cpumpkins on this blog is bcs. well. first off, cschlatt is my favorite most special little princess and i adore spreading love/cute things with her to a fanbase that largely misunderstands and villanizes her. (as well that art of her is also significantly easier fr me to draw than others spoon wise sorry for thinking with my. heart. ♡)

and secondly, being around and int-ing with what i have many times called a word of mouth ass fanbase, a fanbase tht often doesn't int w the source material at all, that purposely ignores or discards or lets their biases make their opinions for them, it makes me want to shine a light even harder on a dynamic that i find v textually rich and compelling!! as a true obnoxious lorehead!! i don't often see very many cpumpkinheads, and i've seen even less that analyze and lay out the scenes, or go to bat for what their relationship is and represents. they're a great great duo and i'd be so happy for more ppl to pick up what i'm putting down and i can only hope i'm making a lil dent in this cruel cruel world :'] for smthing tht means v much to me.

that said, despite this being a deeply important dynamic i'm v passionate abt and smthing i v often focus on, i never want to be confused w smone who reduces characters to like... ship mush. who strips characters of their hopes and dreams and aspirations and wider connections in sm thin veiled attempt t idk. legitimize? is that what it is? and you know exactly what i'm talking abt so 👎 long ass analysis + talk abt their relationships to others under the cut bcs i got carried away

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starting w my princess, cschlatt's connections to other characters is like....the stuff he has with cclingy is CRAZY!! they both admired him so much, they parallel him directly! when he first joined the server, he was taking selfies w them, indulging them and riffing with them, and i've seen ppl argue abt this but the actual reason he built the cuck shed in the dsmp was FOR cclingy, to make them laugh! he talked to them for hours after he was banned off the server in just earnest connection.

and while ofc he made mistakes w tubbo, those mistakes are not uniquely evil as they're ones characters (like cwilbur) KEPT MAKING both DURING the pogtopia-manburg war and then long after it ended. he sees tubbo as smone who was also slighted by cwilbur, and it's not a coincidence everyone is his cabinet was. he wanted to toughen him up so he wouldn't go through the same things he has! that want to make him stronger vs the self hate he feels for himself and how that leaks into the ints he has w smone he sees as similar vs the earnestly seeing him as a pal and feeling deep betrayal at the ctubbo feeding pog information. (cschlatt actually Knew ctubbo was sneaking off, that he was talking to ctommy, and he was fine w that + he actively let him!! 😭 it was only when he found out ctubbo was a traitor did he start crumbling.)

he pawned off hurting him to ctech, the same way cwilbur did to ctommy in the pit, two deeply psychotic dudes being used as playthings, with their backs against the wall, hurting their little guy in the process but not being able to bring themselves to do it so they get smone else in hopes that'll put a stop to it, only for the guy to values HIS OWN SELF above anyone else and do it anyways. and then they both kill themselves with guilt forever about it. cschlatt loses a LIFE during the festival, that's how much this was weighing on him, and then when he revives he's still so delusional he forgets what happened and calls for tubbo. like. ofc, that's not an awesome thing to have happened, but the rest of the factors are unignorable.

and tubbo to him...despite how ctubbo compartmentalizes those who hurt him, (grinning and bearing ctech n cphil for safety but throwing them under the bus to cwilbur for safety), the way he ints w schlatt is noticeably... different. he takes and agrees w his policies, keeps most of them as new lmanberg and admits they were good, he feels guilty about going against him, doesn't think he's all that bad and he gets punished for that! he goes as far to point out and realize cschlatt is being scapegoated for the situation in the first place, same as he was as president! (ofc to a different extent)

with ctommy, he would actively join calls w the kid and hang out DURING MANBURG!! 😭 ctommy would mildly snipe at him At Most and cschlatt would go ehhh you suck too buddy. and then they'd just chill together. he invited ctommy to manburg, for god's sake. ctommy is also one of the characters who continues to bring up cschlatt in a positive light, even up to his final streams saying things like cschlatt was his hero and it's CWILBUR'S FAULT that everything went to shit surrounding that.. they have sm in common, their relationships to others their posturing the way they joke around, the struggles with addiction and having their control and personhood ripped away URWGH

and with wilbur....like v v point blank one of the reasons they spiral so bad (aside frm being sabotaged by bigger forces than themselves + being deeply sick and mentally ill), was THE BETRAYAL OF EACHOTHER!!! look at the stuff i wrote for them above!!! they die on the same day, they directly fling shit at eachother constantly personally spitefully they Know eachother and it's all coming frm a place of hurt. he broke my heart how could he do this to me how could he use me as a prop how could he let me down my loverboy my pretty princess are you SERIOUS? glatt n ghostbur were hanging out together and glatt is seen reminiscing on him with fondness and nostalgia like can we get real. and they have textual sauce in smplive too don't start w me.

ponk being a quack doctor cat murderer but she tried as cschlatt's medic, she even shows remorce abt not being better for him,,,and he likes her right back, he's like extremely nice to her and even offers to make her a floor of emeralds for what he's done for him. THE GUY WHO USES EMRALDS TO MARK THINGS OF VALUE? cnikis letter to him, saying she wishes him well, that she hopes he's resting smwhere smhow....tch. TCH.

starting w cq...like i've gone over this before and iwill again. his relationship with cclingy helps define his entire shit he LOVES those kids he does RIDICULOUS things for them in mind.

the reason cq even joins is bcs of a tommy invite, his first appearance is actually a vc where he and tommy are chattering and stealing...they already know eachother, they're already fond of eachother! and alongside the good times, cq's there for every horrible thing tht ctommy is subjected to, he visits him in exile he's there on the grid when cdrm shows his ass abt what he's doing to him, why he's doing it, he finds out ctommy died the day it happened and goes numb and then CRAZY and when he sees him revived, he's practically crying with joy.

one of the reasons for butcher army even existed was the being able to help ctommy! he wants to kill cdrm and to do that he needs to kill ctech, an active threat and accomplice to cdrm! he failed ofc, but the intent was blatantly there. and later in the custody stream, when ctommy confronts him bcs of it, not knowing why the butcher army didn't just go get him when they couldn't, when the killing of figures putting him in danger was FOR that, he'd RATHER LET CTOMMY BELIEVE HE DIDN'T TRY AT ALL THAN WEAPONIZE EXILE FOR HIM. he wanted to kill cdrm outright for what he did to ctommy, he was a seconds away from it, and then when other forces push him into the torture, he's seen using a potato as a blunt weapon to drive his points home. like what do you think that means. he pulls himself frm ccharlie's death and disappearance and the first thing he does is go tell ctommy he'll protect him, that he can always come to lnv....killing myse. self. and ctommy cares abt cq too, he relies in him, he trusts him, he gave him one of the only slash hugs he's ever given he deduces that cq is a torturer by pure chance and still rocks w him and even like actively encourages it bro does NOT care abt his crimes 😭 that's his buddy i fear

and ctubbo... if anything that relationship parallels cschlatts to ctubbos, the being harsh on a kid so the same things that happened to you don't happen to him, so you can toughen him up b4 the world crushes him in it's teeth. and even when they argue, even when they don't see eye to eye, they care about eachother they matter to eachother,,,post doomsday, saying they wanted to move forward, stay working together the want to run a business together, q apologizing for his harsher actions and making it clear how he cares abt him.

and with the cookie outpost...ctubbo is the kind of person who can't confront ppl he's actually afraid of or angry at often, like the syndicate, and instead he has "safe" targets of ppl he can lash out at and redirect it at bcs he knows they won't hurt him back. AND CQ IS ONE OF THOSE PPL! IF NOT THE MOST CONSISTENT ONE!! he knows he can posture he knows he can go so far as to outright threaten cq and he won't ever lay a hand on him. the fact they can even talk it out so easily, the fact cq hated cdrm fr what he did to ctubbo too! saying so explicitly! getting furious when others threaten or put him in danger to the point of trying to physically beat their asses like brother

cbbh's decent into being egged like fucked up cq so badddd dude....the way cq didn't understand the full extent of being possessed since he was able to pull away frm it (barely and screaming the whole time but yget it.) the being brought to the egg in the first place by smone he cared so much, by smone he considered truly good and trustworthy,,,the fact the first person cbbh truly opened up abt the further reaches of the egg was cq...the fact cq went to bat against it over and over, putting himself in danger multiple times bcs thts all he could think of to get through to bad...them cooing and laughing and having fun together so so often and one of the few times cq indulges in femininity is wearing a cute pink little bride's outfit to go on a date w bad like 😭

sam is his FATHER dont argue w me they say it explicitly. he took care of him over and over, he looked out for him always the REASON cq is able to manipulate him as much as he can is bcs that's his DAD. ossium meant so much to him BCS he got him w csam and cgeorge. i won't go on abt this one too bad bcs scarduoisms like kill me dead w grief but trust that i understand trust trust.

his stuff with foolish i just talked abt so i wont retread but be aware he's always been his buddy and understood where he was coming from as smone who was once IN cq's shoes, and chose to be by his side in shitty moments idc if that was retconned. and i won't linger or touch on ctnt bcs like respectfully you've seen it already, ppl talk abt it all the time unignorably so. yes, a lot of it is straight up misrepresented or lies but DW thts not wht this post is ABT!!! ☝️

but what it IS about is. idk. the thing that makes the dsmp so special in the first place is...connections, it's hope it's love it's choosing eachother. how on days where everything was the bleakest and worst ppl still found a way to care, to show support, that in this terrible server that chews ppl up and spits them out with scars and wounds and sharp edges and terrible mistakes, ppl will STILL love them and want them in their life. bcs thts what it's like to live ♡

so yes. cpumpkins is v v v v v good, of course they are, i'll always be the cpumpkins guy but DO NOT GET IT TWISTED ☝️ they can love eachother while having their wider connections not only enrich themselves but the narrative they inhabit. the dsmp is abt love of every kind don't you forget it

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*also let it be known i use cwilb as my example a lot cuz 1. he's the fanon darling that gets at least half his streams watched so everybody will know wht im talking + 2. if you can have empathy for his actions when they're worse than others you can have empathy for those 😭 thanks

#huri.txt #pumpkinduo #jschlatt #c!schlatt #quackity #c!quackity #c!tommy #c!tubbo #<- those'll be the only other two i tag rn bcs they're in it a lot BUT. I WANNA ADD MORE GET CONFRONTED SLASH LORE STYLE #SLASH FOND SLASH FUN. WHATEVER

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petorahs · 2 months ago

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I love your avenday posts!! Thank you so much for keeping us fed with your amazing art and hcs. What are your thoughts on canon Avenday? (Ps:- No one can convince me that aventurine wasn't enchanted by Sunday at first sight like literally "most beautiful man of Penacony" ok down bad much *delusional*)

oh hell yea anon anytime! AvenDay unexpectedly the hoyo ship of all time for me and make me sooo inspired, i'm not stopping anytime soon! B)

hm, not entirely sure what you mean by canon Avenday! :0 i try to stay canon compliant in all my hcs, characterizations and such actually. even in aHWS it was all a dream that Sunday thought Aven wanted. i guess i do make them fluffier in some settings with the assumption that they somehow got together, but thats just how shipping is :3

BUT if you mean present-avenday, then..... oh i do have Thoughts.

They both love this game, this waltz - the thrill of having a rival.

I think one of my favorite revelations in 2.7 was the fact that Sunday was in fact bluffing when he said he'd "kill" Aventurine. it was always pretty obvious since 2.1, and even more so in 2.2 (when we learnt of Sunday's true motive of creating a Sweet Dream paradise, and when Dan Heng said the Eternal Centurion assimilates people into the Harmony, the fact it's only used on the Antimatter Legion even if violent).

so by removing these stakes the playing field becomes.. a chess board. they're always trying to outsmart eachother. this never changes, even in Aventurine's team join voiceline for him it's like they're witnessing eachother's turns, which piece they're moving next, what the next plan is.

i think it's exhilarating for them, and for us as the viewers.

2. "Do you love your family more than yourself?" (TL: are you like me?)

a constant theme in avenday is how theyre birds of a feather. like think about it, they could have just switched Aventurine's mom in his flashback scenes and the message would still get across, but instead they gave him a sister. just like Sunday and his sister's relationship is a big focus. why is that, if not to further cement their parallels?

and why is it that Aventurine of all characters was mentioned in Sunday's character arc climax? in Penacony everyone is a foil to everyone (Acheron-Aventurine, Aventurine-Firefly, Sunday-Robin, Sunday-Mikhail, etc) but of all of them... it's Aventurine that was chosen to show Sunday's growth.

and it's also Sunday in 2.1 who kickstarted Aventurine's introspection on how long he's been surviving, how quick it is to let go (and just stay in the Eternal dream) (of course Aven rejects this, by embracing "Death" and by doing so his Life). they had an undeniable impact on eachother.

3. The future and its possibilities as vast as the cosmos

I think they should meet again, will meet again, and it will be glorious. Sunday still has beef with the IPC (someone's going to collect his 'debt'...) and Aventurine's still not done with Oswaldo stuff, nor is he a visitor in the Express. i'd say the chances are pretty high. and even if not........ I literally am swimming in the crumbs the game has given us with these two. they're so underrated man like the more you think about it the more they work so well together. i never want them to separate <3 I'll keep shipping these two until they reach a conclusion in their ongoing respective character arcs <3

#aishi.txt #avenday #hsr #sunday #aventurine #anon #ans #SORRY IT GOT SO LONG IDK they just. mean so much tome... <33333333333333333 #the healing the growth the possibilities the chances the wholesomeness #they make me a better person!!!!!!!!!! the more i think about it!!!!!!!!!!!#they both have complex personalities and overthink. i think... they would help eachother through it. since theyre so similar #dude remind me to tell u guys about Ratio also highlighting Sunday and Aven's similarities in 2.3 it doesnt get talked abt enough #aishi.docx

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weirdmultishipper · 14 days ago

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WTH DO YOU MEAN VALENTINE'S DAY?!?!?!?!

uM, Spoilers for Wiege or Part 9 of ALNST by VIVINOS. The team worked really hard on it so go appreciate their work and dedication! If you haven't watched it yet, here's the link! Hope you sob-I mean, enjoy this episode!

Wiege｜ Alien Stage - YouTube

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/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ You done? Okay, back to the show down below.

To begin, I would like to say what "Wiege", the name of episode 9, means. Wiege directly translates to "cradle" and more likely than not "baby's cradle". But if you look into it, it can also mean "origin".

Today, we'll be looking at Luka and Hyuna's untold origin story.

So, LUKA NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK CAUSE HE'S SO HAPPY BUT SO UNSURE ON WHAT TO SAY TO HYUNA AND YOU KNOW ITS BEEN SO LONG TOO LONG AUGHHHHHHH!!!!! o(TヘTo):-)

His smile? His joy? His cheeks pink with delight? His childlike ey-Oh, wait, that picture at the top give the wrong idea. Wait-

THIS is what I'm talking about. HIS HAND REACHING OUT TO HYUNA SLIGHTLY!!!! And see his face?! HIS EYES GODDAMN EYES!!!! The art has changed so much over the course of the episodes and it's a SIGHT to see!!!

No, like, other than the beauty of it, The giddiness in his eyes is so... devastating to look at. He's so open, so vulnerable, so HUMAN, and so unlike the manipulative state we've seen him in in the last episodes. It's a look we've never gotten from Luka before and the first time we see it, he's about to lose Hyuna. His love-for another life.

இ௰இ Vivinos is cruel posting this on Valentine's Day, but their tragic romance and story parallels so well with this day that I can't fathom the pain I am feeling, hence why I'm writing this post.

Oh, speaking of life, I have a theory that may seem a tad, no, maybe a lot desperate but here me out:

If y'all watched the video, you better know EXACTLY what this scene is. And if you do, you're just as depressed as me. Because as far and as unrealistic as it may seem, we still believe in this god-forsaken modern AU. Vivinos isn't helping to stop our delusions either, so for now, let us dream. 🙂‍↕️

Also, official art confirmation that they were all besties?!?!?! FINALLY?!?! I mean, we all knew in our hearts they ewere friends and with SuaxMizi, IvanxTill, and Till and Mizi it was obvious but them actually hanging out together heals my crippling little soul. 🥺💔

Also, confirmation that Lika accidently killed Hyuna's brother?!?!?! Not sure, but it sure seems like it!

So pretty innocence destroyed :'( This darling little chub didn't deserve to be turned into a manipulative not-human. But alas, that's how thing are like, mm?

I'm glad how much we got to focus on Luka's and Hyuna's life on this portion of the episodes while also including bits and pieces of the other four. We learned that Hyuna lost a game, making us think that's when she decided to escape. And not only have we gotten more context on the dead brother scene, but we can also do a deep dive into his character now that we can see different parts of him at different times.

Hyuna and Mizi talking about what I assume is Sua's sacrifice was such a small yet touching scene, just like the rest of Alien Stage. I'm glad that was included, no matter how small. (THAT DAMNED ROCKET SHIP AHHHHHHH)

Ah, the dialogue for Hyuna's death was very heavy, oddly uplifting and downlifting at the same time, and so, so true. The only thing keeping Hyuna from completely breaking free from her chains to her past on ALNST was Luka, is Luka, and will always be Luka. Se almost made it but seeing him again cost her her life because she could not LET GO. He kept her held back in the smallest yet most impactful way possible.

"LUKA, live with love."

And he will, because that's all he's got left. He's lost his friends, possibly his career, and his humanity. but from that smile he made as he went for a hug, we know that he can still love.

For now, at least.

Oh. OH. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NAH. SH*TS GONNA GO DOWN BOYS!!!!! OUR GIRL MIZI LOOKS LIKE SHE'S BOUT'A SNAP. She's like us fr fr cause she's watching EVERYONE die. I bet Luka's next y'all.

Honestly, I hope Mizi and Luka can look past their (many) differences in their grief and work together to... join the rebels? Take down ALNST? IDK, but whatever they do, I think they'll have to stick together because they are each other's only sense of companionship left on this world.

Notice I said "this" world? Yep, modern AU still working in my mind 24/7.

#alnst #alnst luka #alnst hyuna #alnst hyuluka #alnst mizi #alien stage #vivinos #alien stage wiege #alnst wiege #alnst spoilers #episode analysis #cry y'all mfs #join me in my den of alnst depression #its free for those who suffer #suffering #everyone dies

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your-name-is-jim · 2 years ago

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What a Kirk/Spock shipper sees in a Kirk/Female-Love-Interest story [PART 2/2]

Part 1 <- Please read Part 1 first. Part 2 won't make sense otherwise!

This panel is absolutely AMAZING and you all deserved to see it :D

So, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, Laura just proposed.

As you can see, Jim is panicking not sure what to answer, so the first thing he does is calling his two best friends. There are so many things going on here; I'll try to mention everything I care about!

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together."

This is an important part of this comic: apparently, in this story Starfleet isn't encouraging relationships between officers with a different rank. I know it's sort of implied in canon too, but it's not always clear if it's actually against regulations or if it's fine when the ranks are close.

As a K/S shipper, this detail just gives me an in-universe reason why Jim and Spock aren't considering dating each other in this story: a commander can't probably have a relationship with a captain. I mean, we already know from canon TOS that Jim avoids relationships with the members of his crew, so this just adds a layer to a potential forbidden love story between them. Yeah, I know this isn't what this comic is trying to do, but what can I say? Fans don't stop shipping something just because they learn it's not allowed in-universe… if anything, they can find it more exciting! :D

"We could teach at the Academy. Mind you, she laughed at that idea."

Oh, wait. Jim actually talked to Laura about their possible future together! It looks like he's thinking about them as teachers at Starfleet Academy. Hmm… this sounds familiar:

2277 — Accepts appointment to Academy faculty, moves into San Francisco apartment

This is from Kirk's biography in Star Trek official website. Between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, Jim accepts a job at the Academy. We see it at the start of the second movie, after Saavik takes the Kobayashi Maru test.

Wait, who's the other teacher here? :D

Okay, okay, in that era Jim is an admiral and Spock is a captain, so their ranks are still different, but except for that… They both teach at the Academy. And it's literally what Jim proposed to his love interest Laura in the comic! With my Kirk/Spock goggles on, what I read in that panel is "If Laura and I got married, we could both do this thing that I'm totally going to do with Spock in the future." LOL

Did the comic creators notice the parallel? Probably not. However, we K/S shippers have special skills for finding accidental implications about our ship everywhere, so here it is :)

"Your thoughts, please, Mr. Spock."

I said I had a lot to say about that single panel, so of course I can't skip the last line! A human woman has just proposed to Jim, and what does Jim do? He asks for Spock's opinion. This says a lot about Jim and Spock's friendship, and it's very sweet on Jim's part, but it also makes me think about Jim's love life. What about Jim and Laura's romantic feelings for each other? Does Jim want to spend the rest of his life with her? Perhaps the reason they don't talk about it (not even with Bones!) is that it's implied that Jim loves her and she loves him, even if they never say it. However, I still think it's interesting that Jim's discussion on the matter is mostly "logical".

Anyway, I swear I won't post every single panel of this comic, but Spock's reply is an absolute gem you all must see:

"I AM SOMETHING OF AN EXPERT ON THE SUBJECT OF JAMES T. KIRK."

(dkjflsdjlkdjglk brb losing my mind again)

Ahem. Okay, Spock. Noted. Also, wow, nice make up. Did I say that the art in this comic is great? Good.

"I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness."

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I find interesting his use of "equal status" instead of the more specific "equal rank". Status makes me think less of their official position in Starfleet, and more of how two people actually see each other. It's not just about Laura and Jim being both captains; it's about them seeing each other as equals.

Anyway, Jim jokes about Bones and Spock finally agreeing about something, and the conversation continues.

Jim's best friends are both encouraging him to marry Laura. In this panel, I zoomed in on Bones because his words are especially interesting. Based on everything we've seen so far, it looks like having a romantic partner when you're in Starfleet is a pain in the ass in general in this comic; however, Bones is pointing out that for the first time, Jim has someone who really understands. Of course, that's because she's a Starfleet captain too.

About Spock, I won't share the entire conversation, but I just want to say that as a K/S shipper who likes to think Spock is secretly in love with Jim in this era, I find his dialogue where he's supporting Jim's relationship with Laura totally reasonable. It's important to remember that this comic takes place close to the end of the five-year mission. We know that Spock is going to run away after that, trying to erase all his emotions in Gol. So, in this specific part of his story, I find pretty in character that he'd tell Jim to find happiness with someone else. That's what he'd do, regardless of his own feelings.

So, Jim knows his two best friends think he should say "yes" to Laura. What happens next?

During a mission, Jim meets his ex Carol Marcus. She is surprised to find out that Jim is considering settling down. This is not completely related to this analysis, so I won't post it, but I found interesting that Carol knows about every single woman Jim dated before he became captain (the only one she doesn't name is Ruth), and she even says "And that woman in 1930, what was her name?" Just… how the hell does she know? LMAO

At least Jim hasn't told her about Miramanee and Rayna (well, technically he doesn't even remember the latter), but seriously, Carol does know a lot about Jim's private life, even if it's clear she doesn't want her or their son to be part of it. (Not really related to this plot, but in case you're confused about the timeline: David is a child in this era; however, he doesn't appear in this story.)

Anyway, this is what she eventually tells him:

So, I like to think that Carol is genuinely trying to help Jim here, because the spiteful ex girlfriend is another thing I don't really want to see in 2020. I want to think that the creators meant well; however, what happens in the story is that, despite Jim not seeing himself outside the captain's chair, and despite his best friends telling him to marry the captain that is just like him… Jim keeps thinking about Carol's words.

He knows from Starfleet that he's going to be promoted to admiral the moment he reaches Earth. What is interesting here is that Jim could refuse the promotion and be a captain with Laura. This is definitely a different situation from everything else I've seen before. It's obvious to anyone who has watched TOS movies that Jim is not happy as an admiral. He didn't really want to be one. He doesn't want to be one in this comic series either (you can see it explored in Star Trek: Year Five main story). However, thanks to The Motion Picture, we also know that he will accept promotion at the end of his five-year mission. This isn't a canon divergence story: the writers can't really change any major event, so they have to work with what canon offers.

What I find interesting is that in this 2020 comic, Jim finds himself in the opposite situation he is in Gene Roddenberry's The Motion Picture novelization from 1979. In Roddenberry's novel, it's mentioned briefly that Jim starts a relationship on Earth with a vice-admiral, a woman that was basically asked to use her charm to keep Jim grounded. Jim could refuse promotion, but he finds himself lost, without his ship, without Spock, and eventually without Bones. So he tries to convince himself that a life as an admiral with a perfect woman by his side will be good for him (it will not; Jim himself will realize a year later that his lover was an "Enterprise-surrogate").

Now, I understand trying to write something fresher and more modern in this Valentine's Day special, but I confess that I find a little hard to believe that Jim would accept a promotion as admiral if the alternative was keeping both a starship AND a wife. Also, let's not forget that Spock and Bones are both telling him to choose the married captain life. So, while I totally get from a writer's point of view that if you can't change canon, you have to work with what you have, I'm also not sure that Carol reminding Jim that he's always wanted to challenge himself is enough to make him doubt everything.

I guess I can sort of see that as part of a bigger problem: Jim knows he can't be a captain for life; during his first date with Laura, as we saw in Part 1 of my analysis, he talks about it.

"I've been thinking lately about whether I could ever stop being a Starfleet captain. Whether I could ever want to. A friend of mine talks about 'infinite diversity'. That applies to the Federation, too. But here I am, only built for one thing."

So, Jim knows he has probably avoided the subject for too long. Carol is forcing him to think about it. And, more implicitly, we could say Spock and his IDIC philosophy are also making him think, even if it's not what Spock would have expected. After all, Spock told Jim to marry Laura (in the comic), and he'll tell him that being a starship captain is his "first, best destiny" (in The Wrath of Khan).

Anyway, Jim eventually decides to meet Laura and talk to her about his personal concerns. First of all, we find out that the two of them haven't called each other for six weeks. Laura is still waiting for Jim's answer, and she didn't want to call him. If you ask me, their lack of communication is yet another a big clue that perhaps getting married is not a great idea.

Well, now Jim is at least trying to talk to her.

Aaand that's how she breaks up with him.

I'm not sure how to feel about this. I mean, in a sense, Jim doesn't say "I decided to be an admiral instead of marrying you", but Laura definitely sees it that way. I think he was genuinely looking for help, but that just proves that Laura isn't the right person for him. Why marrying someone you can't communicate with? They are such a great team as captains, but it looks like that doesn't apply to their relationship. I pointed out other clues in the previous parts, and now we got this. It's interesting to see that Jim in this comic can have a normal conversation about his future with Spock, Bones, and even Carol Marcus, but not with the person he's supposed to build a future with. Unless something changes between them, it can't work out.

Anyway, this isn't the end.

A year later, when Jim is an admiral on Earth, there's a sudden emergency. A miniature black hole appears out of the deep structure of the universe (don't blame me for the science, I'm literally quoting the comic LOL) and it's attracted to Earth gravity. Short story: they're all going to die, but fortunately the Drake (Laura's ship) can cause an anti-matter implosion that will shunt the black hole outside their reality. Unfortunately, that also means the Drake will have to go inside the black hole. Laura evacuates her crew and asks Admiral Kirk to give her the order to proceed. Reluctantly, Jim tells her that he knows she'll do it, and he gives the order.

Now, please appreciate The Motion Picture aesthetic:

Okay, I know I could have chosen a panel with Jim and Laura, since this is literally their love story, but I did say this analysis was going to be biased, so here is Laura with her two closest friends instead; they would never let her risk her life alone! <3 They are very obviously meant to be a parallel to what Spock and Bones are to Jim, which is very cute to see. Now, Laura, listen to me: I know the three of you have different ranks, but you may die in a few seconds… And I just think that the few times your friends appear in this comic, you have a lot of chemistry with them, sooo maybe you should forget about Jim and just smooch one of them, or both… just saying :)

Ahem. Anyway, after Laura and her girlfriends disappear into the void, there's another timeskip. This time it's 15 years.

Oh, damn.

I said in the premise of this analysis that one of the reasons I decided to read this comic despite shipping Kirk/Spock is that, in my headcanon, Kirk and Spock get together after The Motion Picture. Until this point, this comic hasn't really gone against my headcanon. I can genuinely believe that Jim had another girlfriend during his five-year mission; it's not a big deal. Unfortunately for me, this comic has its last part taking place around The Final Frontier era. Dammit.

Well, it's just one comic. I read until this point; it'd be illogical not to read until the end, right? Nah, it's not logic. It's human curiosity. I know I won't like it, but I still want to see it.

Also, if there's something that I really don't want to see in modern media anymore, is female characters dying just to make male characters suffer. I can accept that in TOS show because it was made in the 1960s, but even TOS movies got better about it! Characters like Saavik and Gillian can have their own lives without having to die for a man's pain. It's not a coincidence that the writers had to kill Spock to make Jim suffer. Without digressing too much, I just wanted to say that K/S bias aside, I went into this comic hoping to read something different from another dead woman for Jim. I'm very glad that, at least about this, the comic creators didn't disappoint me!

So, in this story, it's been 15 years since Laura's disappearance (actually, it should be more, but I'll try not to nitpick, despite being the trekkies' favorite hobby :D). Anyway, the one with the whales The Voyage Home happened, and Jim is not an admiral anymore. He's happy to have a starship again, but he hasn't stopped questioning his life decisions.

We can also see that, 15 years later, he's reading the book Laura liked.

HOLD IT! WAIT WAIT WAIT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? WHAT THE--

*inhales deeply*

(Friendly reminder to myself that what is obvious to me may not be obvious to everyone else, so I need to explain. Fine. I'll try.)

The screenshots I posted are from The Wrath of Khan, right after Spock's funeral. What Jim is doing there is reading the end of the book that Spock gave him for his birthday. He's mourning Spock.

In the comic panel, Jim has a new pair of glasses, because it takes place a little later in the timeline. But, except for that…

It's the same scene.

The same fucking scene.

I mean, come on! I can't even post the "they're the same picture" meme, because it's not funny if they're literally the same picture! Even the bookmark is the same!

The comic creators literally took a canon scene about Jim reading Spock's book after Spock is gone, and they redrew it with Jim reading Laura's book after Laura is gone. In a Valentine's Day special. Where Laura is Jim's love interest. They made a romantic scene with Jim and a woman that was originally about Jim and Spock.

(Brb, I'm going to chew a pillow until I calm down.)

So. Well. If you wondered why I thought there was something about Kirk/Spock in this comic… you have your answer. Perhaps the artist didn't think anything about it. I certainly do.

And I guess someone could say, "But Jim is still reading Laura's book 15 years later! That's true love!" Why yes, he's not reading Spock's book 15 years later, because he didn't stay without Spock for 15 years; he risked everything and lost all the most important things in his life to save Spock's soul.

Anyway, back to the comic. Starfleet receives a signal from the edge of Federation space. It's the Drake. Laura and her friends are alive.

Jim and Laura have a reunion after a long separation. Since they're both captains now, Jim thinks they are given a second chance.

Oh, whoops.

It's her turn now. It looks like being away for 15 years has changed her (as you can expect, honestly), and she's now glad to become an admiral. In this comic, that means Jim can't marry her. So, this is how the story ends:

So. Um.

This isn't a bad ending, but I also wouldn't exactly call it a happy ending. It's certainly not a happily ever after story. I'd call it open, maybe hopeful? Honestly, pretty much what I'd expect from a love story between an original character and Jim, so I can't say the writing is disappointing about that.

On the other hand, I can't personally imagine middle-aged Jim being so eager to start a romance again with someone he hasn't seen in 15 years who broke up with him 16 years ago. Perhaps he felt guilty about Laura's disappearance because if he had married her, they would have been part of a colonization fleet somewhere else and the incident wouldn't have happened the same way? Maybe. Personally, I would have found more believable an ending where Jim asks her to have dinner together or go for a walk, and then something romantic happening as they get to know each other again. But I can see why the creators wanted to bring up the marriage proposal again, just to close the circle. The comic is just 32 pages, so they did what they could.

"Unless there's someone else." "Not so much. I've been really busy."

Busy with what? Oh, right: Spock's death, Spock's body on Genesis, Spock's rebirth on Vulcan, the time travel (okay, that one wasn't 100% Spock-related), Spock's brother… Honestly, just say there's been a lot of Spock in your life, Jim, because that's the truth :)

On a more serious note, I guess that dialogue could mean that Jim has someone, but "he's been too busy" to do anything serious with them. However, as a K/S monoshipper I don't really like the idea of Jim being in an open relationship with Spock, so Jim's character in the entire scene in the end is just a big NOPE for me. Sorry.

That said, I found very interesting that in a few panels they show very clearly the "captain" rank on Jim and Laura's shoulders, to point out that it's the same. They can't be together forever, but they can have fun for a few days as captains. Because of that, I went back to the start of the last timeskip, just to check out something:

Fascinating.

This is a pretty detailed panel, where you can see the ranks on the shoulders of Jim's friends; the colors of their pins are also pretty good, close to the ones in the movies… except for Spock's.

Oh, please. Did you really expect me not to pay attention to this? :)

Captain Kirk and Captain Spock.

And unlike Laura, this is what they are until the end! The end of a very long life! Generations? What's Generations? Spock will eventually become an ambassador, but that's just a different job. How did Spock himself put it earlier in this comic?

"I am something of an expert on the subject of James T. Kirk. And I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness."

Did the comic creators just play themselves? I don't know, I'm quoting their own story here! LOL

And what about Jim's words from the same scene? :D

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together."

Partners. Of equal rank. Working together.

That's literally what Kirk and Spock are since the end of The Voyage Home! Without an expiration date!

The comic creators made a big deal in their universe about relationships being better between two captains, and how good Jim and Laura may have been for each other if they had married as captains; and now they can't have their happily ever after because Laura is going to be an admiral… But even if the comic tries to hide it, we know there is a captain in Jim's life. And to make things better, Jim lost his admiral rank to bring him back. Listen, I'm a huge Old Married Kirk/Spock fan, so there's no way anything can make me forget that in the last TOS movies they're both captains. And there's no way I can forget that Jim risked his entire career (and everything else!) for Spock, and that's literally why he's not an admiral anymore.

This is almost ironic in this Valentine's Day comic. If it hadn't been for Spock, Jim would have still been an admiral, and he could have married Laura. Whoops. Too bad.

Speaking of admirals, I didn't notice it at first, but there's also something about this line Laura says in the last panel I posted…

"And don't you dare 'Admiral' me."

Ah, yes, a typical thing you tell someone you're planning to have sex with. Right, Laura? Agreed :)

Honestly, at this point I should just stop checking this comic, because I wonder if I'd just end up finding a Kirk/Spock version of every Kirk/Laura Rhone line LOL

By the way, I have other thoughts to share now that the story is over, but there's one more thing first. Do you remember the last panels of the comic? Middle-aged Jim and Laura kiss; END.

Okay. After that, the comic has a picture of the cover, with Jim and Laura kissing when they're younger.

And then it has this:

dklsfjlskjflskjlksjlkdlkgjdlfgsnfjekniuwanf LISTEN, HOW--

Just how am I even supposed to say anything that makes sense about this…??? I'm just… I can't…

Okay. So. We're talking about a Valentine's Day comic. It makes sense for it to include a cute Valentine card. I also get that Spock's iconic line has become so mainstream that it can be quoted out of context. And you can make parodies.

But… But… A Star Trek TOS fan can't really forget the original context of "I have been and always shall be your friend"? Someone could just not think about it, I guess… But, well, I know that at least I can't forget that this is literally Spock's line to Jim rewritten in a romantic Valentine's Day version. I can't possibly NOT think about it!

And I know it's very possible that the people who worked on the comic story weren't even aware of this extra, but the fact that I'm seeing this after reading about Jim Kirk's romance without happily ever after… Jim kisses a woman he can't stay with forever, and then there's Spock's "I have been and always shall be your Valentine". It's just so fucking funny. I can't. If I was feeling a little down after seeing middle-aged Jim wanting to marry Laura, now I'm laughing again. Thanks, Spock's silly Valentine card. I needed it! :D

Anyway, what did I say about this comic taking things originally created for Kirk and Spock's relationship and making them romantic when they're not about them? I can believe that sometimes it's a coincidence, but this card? Please… In a sense, this is the perfect ending.

---

Conclusions.

I started this comic with a question: in 2020, how do you write a story about TOS Kirk falling in love? I wanted to see this attempt. Overall, I think the creators did what they could. Laura is different from every other woman in Jim's life; they didn't kill her off, and they also didn't force a happy ending. I think they did a good job with the canon limitations they had, especially in 32 pages.

Do I believe that Laura could have been a good match for Jim in different circumstances?

As a temporary girlfriend? Yes.

As a lifelong partner? No.

Of course, I'm aware my answer is biased, but I can try to be a little more "logical" about it.

First of all, I think that the comic itself supports my interpretation: of course, like in every story, different people are going to see different things; however, as I already pointed out, Jim and Laura never say that they love each other, and before the marriage proposal their relationship is pretty casual.

In The Original Series, Jim isn't lucky when it comes to romance because the women he falls in love with can't really understand his nature as a space explorer. Sometimes they can, like in Carol's case, and that's why they break up with him. Laura is the opposite, because she's just like Jim. But here is the thing: I think Laura is too much like him.

What would have happened if Jim had accepted to marry her at the end of the five-year mission? They would have been both captains. On different ships, though. Sure, they could have been part of the same colonization fleet, as Jim says in the comic, and maybe it would have worked for a while. However, would they really have seen each other as much as Jim needs?

I don't know about Laura, but we see multiple times in canon that behind his mask as a starship captain, Jim is definitely more lonely than what someone may think.

First of all, don't get me wrong: in these screenshots from The Naked Time, Jim is single, so of course his attraction to Janice Rand is related to that. It's not the same situation he'd be in if he were married to Laura. Early in the series, he has thoughts about his yeoman exactly because he doesn't have anyone else. Contrary to his fame as a womanizer, TOS Jim in canon always has one woman at a time in his mind, never more.

So, why am I sharing those lines? To show that when Jim is always inside the Enterprise, he does feel lonely. He needs a romantic partner's physical touch. However, we also know that Jim does not want a relationship with one of his subordinates, so Janice Rand and the rest of his crew are off limits.

Laura is good for him because she's part of Starfleet, and not a subordinate. But is that really enough? From what I've seen in the comic, no. At the end of the day, it looks to me that Jim and Laura don't really know how to plan a future together. Perhaps it's because they're so similar, but they don't really think of themselves as a couple, especially Laura. There's Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Laura Rhone; they both love their ships, so they should get married? That's not how it works.

Their relationship is casual. Jim doesn't want to define it. Are they friends with benefits? Are they in an open relationship? Either way, when Laura decides to marry him, she asks around if Jim has someone else, and only after that she asks him. Jim, on the other hand, doesn't talk to her for six weeks after her proposal. He talks to Spock and Bones immediately, but not to her. He even talks to Carol first.

Then, when Jim finally tries to talk to her about his problems, she doesn't listen. Their lack of communication is the cause of their break up.

16 years later, what we see is even worse. It's obvious that Laura has just different priorities. Maybe it's because of what happened to her lost in space, but I'm not sure. If they had married at the end of the five-year mission, would have Laura always refused a promotion to admiral? Would she have tried to get a promotion with Jim? Based on what we see in this comic, it doesn't look likely to me.

Now, as I said, different people are going to see different things, so I'm sure that someone really invested in this romance can imagine that Jim and Laura are really meant to be, and they can get their happy ending after their retirement, or in other ways. However, I admit that Jim and Laura's huge communication issues make hard to me to picture a long happy relationship between them. They should both try to get better, but in those 32 pages there was no hint towards that direction.

There's another thing that makes really hard to find any love interest for Jim as a plausible "happily ever after" option: the stakes. I know that it's just a single comic, so the creators had to focus on a few things; however, I couldn't help but notice that Jim and Laura never really save each other from dangerous situations. They work together as a team, and Jim watches Laura disappearing into the void, but does he do anything about it? Does he try to reach her inside her ship before she disappears into the black hole? Does he try to bring her back from the void? No, he doesn't.

In TOS show and movies, Jim Kirk risks so much for his crew and his ship that a Star Trek fan can't believe that a new woman is the love of his life, unless Jim is willing to do for her everything he does for his friends. And honestly, after The Search for Spock… how can he even come close to do that?

And it's not just about Jim's actions. There's his language too. At the start of the third movie, Jim refers to Spock as "the noblest part of myself". What could he say about a love interest that is as deep as this?

Let's be honest here: the reason it's so hard to write a story about Jim Kirk's true love is that the real love story for him has already been written. You may not see it romantically, but Kirk and Spock's story is absolutely a love story. And when a character has someone he loves so deeply, it's not easy to convince the audience that he could have someone new to love as deeply. In Jim's case, the combination of his personality and his canon life makes it almost impossible.

Anyway, before I end up not so accidentally turning this analysis into a complete Kirk/Spock ship manifesto, I'm just going to mention one silly thing about the Valentine's Day comic. Please, don't take it too seriously, I'm half-joking :)

So, there are two kiss scenes in the story: one when Jim and Laura start to spend a lot of free time together, and one in the last panel. Well, I can't believe Jim isn't holding Laura's shoulders when he kisses her! That's just the basis of the way Jim kisses women! D:

Different Star Trek characters kiss in different ways; it fits their personalities. And because the rest of my TOS posts are probably too gay for these gifs, I'm dropping them as references here:

Sorry, but if Jim Kirk doesn't grab someone's shoulders before a kiss, it just kills my immersion! :P

Okay, a little more seriously: Jim doesn't always kiss women the same way; however, his "shoulder grab" is common enough that you definitely notice it if you pay attention. Because of that, I think it would have been nice to include it in the Valentine's Day comic.

After reading this comic, what kind of person would I consider perfect for Jim?

Well, my answer is obvious. However, I'll try to elaborate.

First of all, this story definitely convinced me even more that Jim can only be really happy with another Starfleet officer (or at least someone who's been deeply involved with Starfleet). He also needs someone who understands him as a space explorer, without trying to keep him grounded. And someone very smart, of course. These are all traits Laura has. But they're just the basis.

I don't think Jim needs someone in command of their own ship as a lifelong partner. As I said before, I can't really imagine it working out. Another starship captain would have their own goals and their own ambitions; that doesn't mean Jim shouldn't marry someone with specific plans for their own career, but I think these plans should keep the two of them close, not on different ships. Jim needs his partner physically at his side; if he could be happy in a long-distance relationship, I believe we would have seen at least one working out in canon. But it's never the case. Working on different starships from the same fleet would be a little better, but in my opinion not enough, unless it's for a short period of time.

And there's also the matter of his partner's personality. Jim is a natural leader; that's why he's so good at his job. I don't think he needs a similar kind of leader as romantic partner. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe they would just fight about everything they disagree about. I think he needs someone calmer in his life, not someone who'd encourage emotional outbursts.

More importantly, he absolutely needs someone he can communicate with. If he can't talk to his partner about everything important, they're not the right person for him. That doesn't mean they can't have disagreements or miscommunication issues, of course, but they shouldn't happen all the time, and Jim and his partner should be able to talk about them and make up.

In conclusion: someone at his side on his ship, smart, calm, trustworthy :)

Now, I know what some of you are thinking about: what about the "no relationships with subordinates" personal rule Jim has? How can Jim be in a relationship with Spock (or anyone else on the Enterprise) if he's everyone's superior officer? Well, first of all, I already said that after The Voyage Home, Jim and Spock are both captains. And before that… I think that Spock in the comic phrased it the right way. Jim can find his happiness with someone of "equal status". I think it's pretty clear, in my opinion, that Janice Rand and Spock aren't the same kind of subordinates to Jim. Just think about it: which members of the Enterprise call their captain "Jim"? Bones, Spock and (occasionally) Scotty. These are the three people I believe are "equals" in private to Jim, no matter their ranks when they're on duty. Because of that, a relationship between Jim and Spock could work pretty well.

By the way, another thing the Valentine's Day comic made me think about is that in TOS movies, Jim sort of does with Spock pretty much everything he does with Laura in this story. Not the same way, of course, but does it matter? Spock is his own person, he's not Jim's copy. That doesn't mean he can't indulge Jim, have fun himself… and try to stop Jim from doing dangerous things "for fun", as an old spouse would :)

Okay, perhaps throwing each other into the water doesn't count as dancing, but it's so much better :D

In conclusion, this is the way I can read the Valentine's Day comic as a Kirk/Spock shipper:

Jim mentions Spock on his first date with a woman.

Jim questions his life choices as he thinks about Spock and IDIC philosophy.

Jim does with Laura everything we see him doing in TOS show, except for playing chess (just the thing he does with Spock).

Jim says Laura and him are a good team in Starfleet because they had a lot of sex (is that true about other people he works well with??)

There haven't been many ladies or gentlemen in Jim's life because he's busy (not because he's not into men, apparently).

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together." Good for your future with Spock, Jim!

If Jim and Laura got married, they could both teach at Starfleet Academy, something Jim is totally going to do with Spock someday.

Mister "I am something of an expert on the subject of James T. Kirk" Spock.

Also, Mister "I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness" Spock, which is actual foreshadowing of his own future status with Jim.

Hey, look at Jim reading a book that reminds him of his lost love! I wonder where I've seen LITERALLY THE SAME PICTURE???

"Don't 'Admiral' me". This is totally not similar to what Jim tells Spock in The Voyage Home, of course.

Hey, we're both captains now! Just for a few days, but isn't that great? I wonder if anyone else is a captain now, and forever? :D

"I have been and always shall be your Valentine". Totally not a Kirk/Spock line, I don't know what you're talking about! :)

Okay, okay, that's all.

As a Kirk/Spock shipper, I won't deny that I'm a little jealous of this Valentine's Day special comic, because I wish we could get something with amazing art like this where Jim is in love with Spock. On the other hand, Star Trek: Year Five comic series has a few scenes about Jim & Spock's friendship that I really liked. Platonic, sure, but good enough for my K/S goggles!

Thank you so much for reading this post until the end! I hope you enjoyed my analysis! Live long and prosper!

#star trek analysis #star trek: year five #star trek: year five valentine's day special #star trek comics #james t. kirk #laura rhone #spirk #star trek tos #star trek the original series #k/s #kirk x spock #space husbands #my gifs

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badgalsasuke · 13 days ago

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Honestly when you read the current plotline in boruto it became so annoying how they steal sns plots for their lil ships while not giving those two some more room independent of the kids' story. Especially when something major happened to them a few chapters ago like naruto losing kurama and sasuke losing his rinnegan. What's going on rn in their arc is that boruto and kawaki's like, switched places where everyone in the village now has an altered memory of the two where boruto is seen as some kind of enemy of the state and is a suspect for naruto's "murder" which leads him to become a rogue missing nin (hence all the sasuke wardrobe lol). While Kawaki is the one who is the hokage's son and loved and protected by everyone. This is done because kawaki believes boruto needs to be killed to ensure naruto's safety (something about some alien powers possessing boruto and how it's a threat to naruto) so he put naruhina in a coma so that naruto can't stop him and made a deal with ada to make everyone in the village believe that boruto killed naruto so that its easier to kill him when he's hated by everyone (stupid plot i tell you). So now everyone in the village believe in this spell and loathes boruto except sarada, who is immune to the spell and believes in his innocence. They even have a scene where sarada pleads to shikamaru as the acting hokage to spare boruto or something. Literally stealing from five kage arc where naruto pleads to the raikage. There's also the whole sun and moon monologue about mitsuki and boruto, once again paralleling sns. Sns itself in this arc is mildly touched upon, more than the other ships for sure but they're also there to amplify borusara more I think. There is a focus on sasuke's headband but it's mainly used to prop boruto's character development in fighting kawaki. Also, when the spell first broke out, Sasuke also believes in them and loathes boruto for a while because he believes he killed naruto before it was Sarada who convinced him that everyone's memory has been altered. Sarada awakens her Mangekyou while pleading with Sasuke so that's also what convinced him to help Boruto and went rogue with him (again lol, and there is also absolutely no mention of sakura at all throughout all of this, which pleases me deeply). When Sasuke sees boruto again he sees the headband he gave and that's also another thing that convince him that his memory's altered. Somewhere during their rogue time Sasuke was defeated by a tree god which made him stuck there, just a mere plot to make boruto be "alone" without his parental figures and mentor I think. We're gonna have to wait for the plot point where sasuke and naruto are back from the coma to see if the writer might actually develop more to these two but i doubt it tbh. Ikemoto might grasp the significance of their bond but nothing will ever hit like the stuff Kishimoto where writing about them. The best we can get is probably some more acknowledgement of their bond while borusara will be endgame.

Hi anon!

The whole thing sound very dumb and stupid ngl LMAOO

Idk but I never liked the inclusion of alien shit in the Naruto universe, to me is one of the worst things Kishimoto ever did.

Anyway, it's not a Sasuke clone but the actual Sasuke that did the whole thing w/ the headband and that weird comment of "I'm gonna gave to show my resolve too" or something like that? lol and the whole thing about the tree happened after that conversation with Boruto... hmmmm.

Isn't Kishimoto now writing the story? he's given interviews that it was Ikemoto writing it based on the outline he wrote before the series started but he has to approve everything Ikemoto writes. The cover of the manga doesn't really specify who is writing the story. Usually you have "written by" and "art by", but here they dropped that. Ikemoto does the art but the creator (of what? the franchise or the story?) is Kishimoto and he supervises Ikemoto but to what extent?

Boruto is too confusing to me, idk what is going on, I just wait for other blogs to point out whatever is happening between Naruto and Sasuke.

#ask reply

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fandom-flight · 2 years ago

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I'm about halfway through Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint,and I'm really impressed with how it practically bleeds with themes of storytelling and our relationship with stories as humans. There's the obvious stuff, like how the main character's whole shtick is being a reader with "bookmark" and "fourth wall" abilities, but as of about chapter like 240, I've never stopped tangibly feeling how much ORV seems to want to explore the concept of stories (and not just in the sense of the novel's world where stories are like a kind of power, though that is kind of part of it). I ended up having a lot of roving thoughts, so more under the cut

Specifically what I mean by this is that almost every aspect of the world building and the plot has some kind of commentary on how people relate to stories. The constellations, for example, are very clearly kind of meant to be audience stand ins, especially in the beginning. They're watching the stories of our main characters on stream much the same way that we the readers are watching the story of ORV on our devices in the real world, and oftentimes their reactions to the events mimic our reactions from the outside– they cringe when characters do embarrassing things, they ship characters with chemistry, they hold their breath when things gets tense, and feel genuinely sad and heartbroken when bad things happen to the characters in their show. It's through their financial support that some of these stories can continue to be told, kind of the same way that fans' monetary contributions to artists enables their art to continue being made. Kim Dokja even calls out how the tables have turned early on in the series, that he used to be the one watching them through a screen, and now the situation is totally reversed. The constellations also kind of mimic the negative effect that the audience can have on art– sometimes artists have to bend to the will of their supporters even when it goes against their desired direction for their own art because that's what pulls in the money, and the way that incarnations and dokkaebi have to listen to the will of their sponsors feels like a very on the nose parallel for this. ORV sets up both the constellations and Kim Dokja as content consumers who have a love of stories in common in order to make a statement about how loving stories is universal, while simultaneously laying groundwork to make statements about the line between reader and narrative. Another thing that Kim Dokja has in common with the constellations is that both he and they are increasingly brought to the boundary of the fourth wall as the series progresses. In the same way Kim Dokja starts to realize that he IS part of the story now, and that the people he previously just saw as characters are actually real human beings that he has emotional attachments to, the constellations also start becoming characters who appear in the story and impact it directly, rather than being detached observers. This process of becoming a part of the story after being emotionally invested in it is naturally not something that literally happens to people in real life, but readers wanting to insert themselves into a narrative they love is something very human. I mean, fanfiction is incredibly popular because a lot of us humans can't just leave media that we love alone, we keep thinking about it, we want to expand on it, change it, and sometimes even insert ourselves into it. Historically, myths have had many different versions circulate over time, with some cultures borrowing figures from others and literary giants creating characters of their own (or even versions of themselves *cough Dante cough*) to insert into these legends.

In addition to the very human desire to become a part of the stories we love, ORV also calls out how humans are are kind of enamored with certain themes, and that we show this by having these themes appear in various legends the world over. Realms of death, myths of resurrection, tales of slaying supernatural evils, all of these things are shown to be so universal that constellations sometimes have copyright disputes over them. The fact that the constellations that appear in ORV are so varied is another place where ORV proves to be a love letter to storytelling. The author has such a diverse collection of gods and historical figures that I can't help but see their love for stories as something so strong that it transcended culture and nationality. Furthermore, the fact that constellations obtain their status from how widespread their stories are feeds into the theme of people being stories, which is another interesting angle to look at the relationship between people and stories. ORV has characters literally say "people are stories" out loud, and Han Sooyoung references the philosophy that people only truly die when they've been forgotten, but there isn't a single second where I really stop feeling like this holds true for everyone in the book (and not just because souls being stories and people needing stories to live ends up being part of the worldbuilding). The idea is that our stories give us value, both intrisinsically and extrinsically. ORV represents this literally, as the notoriety of a story actually makes people stronger, and also stories can be used as currency or food to some people. Even on a scale lower than the constellations, the reputations of characters and the rumors of their incredible deeds can increase their value to outsiders, the same way that a person's reputation in the real world can affect their job prospects and social connections (this is a little more obvious and would happen in any story, but I think that the mythologizing of the ORV characters in their own universe is meant to exemplify the effect of a person's stories on their perceived value).

The theme of people being stories also extends to a related but still separate (I think) theme of everyone being the protagonist of their own story. Kim Dokja begins ORV by talking about how much Yoo Sangah feels like a protagonist. She has all the qualities that a main character should have, and Kim Dokja feels like he could never match that, despite the fact that he clearly wants to be a protagonist really badly. He wants to be cool, special, and confident, but it's not until the scenarios start and he starts being able to use skills in a way unique to him that he starts realizing that maybe he can be a protagonist too. And again, this is a theme that ORV just constantly exudes– Kim Dokja often explicitly talks about how everyone is living their own life and being their own person. When he sees Yoo Sangah and Lee Hyunsung for the first time after the intermediate dokkaebi Paul separates them following the golden thrones destruction, he's impressed by their growth while he wasn't looking, and we the audience are reminded that these people learn and progress as the center of their own world. When Kim Dokja is separated from his friends after the Dark Castle arc and hears what they've been up to, he muses about how, even without him, the world continues to turn, scenarios continue to run, and people continue to live. It very much helps that the author of ORV gives every side character a vibrant and memorable personality so that we can better empathize with them as their own people with their own lives, even though they might not get as much screentime. Characters who we do not think to care much about are shown to have significant development while the main character isn't with them. Kim Namwoon matures into a calmer, happier person in the Underworld long after I forgot he existed. Han Myungoh went from bring an insufferable nepotism baby to being a determined and loving father who is willing to be an ally. The author constantly reminds us that Kim Dokja isn't the only one in this world who is a protagonist with a story worth telling, and in a way, it kind of feels like they're also telling the readers that, not only are we the main characters of our lives, but we also can never forget that the people around us are protagonists of their stories as well.

In short, ORV uses just about every character and storyline to convey that humans may love to consume the stories of others, but we can't forget that we're also writing our own stories by living them. Humans are made up of the stories they love, the ones they write themselves, and the ones they put a part of themselves into, and I just get the sense that the author has a lot of feelings about stories and how important they are to us as a species in every sentence they write. I'm definitely curious to see how the story ends because I can't imagine how the author will conclude the series when making a statement about this theme seems so important, but anything that would be a satisfying conclusion to the story would really be counterproductive to making that statement. As a reader, I want a definitive "and they lived happily ever after after solving the story's problems," but since the author actually has Kim Dokja muse on how "he never felt satisfied by 'and they lived happily ever after'," I kind of can't imagine that that's how this series will end? Because it doesn't sound like the author was ever completely satisfied with those endings either. But I also don't think ORV is meant to be a tragedy, so I'm excited to see where things go!

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv spoilers

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coolhorse · 2 years ago

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Christian pure spy. History and characterisation the essay.

not usually what i post here but hey. I am presenting almost everything available on christian pure spy and the major 2 eras of his characterisaiton and their influences/his powers/ all that kind of thing. This is the most comprehensive cps thing out there.

incredibly long post warning.

the beginning. tumblr user mit-332 (23 may 2012)

^^ very relevant to tumblr’s general perception of CBS also. Was pretty different to kekas videos. (here is the post link)

As an avid sniperspy shipper, mit-332 built cps as a counterpart to cbs, this is why the pair compliment eachother like they do, and why the first piece of art of him is with cbs. The shippability is the point here. That is why he exists. the first art of him ever is ship art.

First image by (x) created one day after the freak was first posted. other are by tumblr user star-bbee and are also some of the first fanart of the freak. Despite the first image being created literally the day after his introduction, and the post specifying he is not a man of religion. we already have angel/demon imagery!

other early fanart. here is the credit (X) (X)

tumblr/deviantart user uberchain also began making sfm posters of him at this time.

(x) (x) (x)

he was always paired with cbs, which is to be expected. and typically he is seen in a non combat role, or being his sidekick/ally and looking out for him. he is the kinder of the pair and a parallel to cbs. none of this will change.

2. DW VS TK VS CBS (21 SEPT 2013)

Christian pure spys first video appearance and where most of his characterisation comes from. and a personal favourite freak series of mine. (x) (x) this may also be the first time christian brutal sniper has been shown as a christian. I havent been able to find anything that predates this series to depict him in this specific way.

in the linked image, witchy does not credit mit-332 as the creator of christian pure spy. he says the creator is unknown. Which i think is important to remember when it comes to how he writes cps.

Basically in this series he is working alongside cbs to kill demon witchy who is a demon and satans daughter. A lot of his characterisation seems to be inspired by the helsing anime. the series is lemurfot and witchy collab but looking at their individual works outside of the collaboration, I assume witchy was behind the script so I will refer to him as the writer. it lines up entirely with how he makes and writes his machinima and lemurfot says in the video that witchy did most of it.

In DW VS TK VS CBS the pair are religious and christian pure spy uses bible themed powers to attack and remove demons from the world.

He takes his job as a demon hunter very seriously, and typically is very calm and gets straight to the point. He views demons as things which he needs to remove from the world and takes care in doing so as painlessly as possible. while not a pascifist he disagrees with harming people, but is not above threatening them. he plays off of brutal, often grounding him and being 'the voice of reason', his seriousness and detatchment to his job is a purposeful direct contrast to him. and despite their arguments they work together and seeming have been for quite a while.

Christian pure spy aims to kill demons painlessly and quickly. Not liking to make them feel pain or suffer. This causes conflict between the two. but they are still partners. in this iteraton he also says he likes to be called "father pure" but it never comes up again.

His powers are introduced in this. his abilities need to recharge after use, and too much use of his magic at once can stop it from working. when he introduces himself and states his ability to "turn off the body" which he later uses, it basically just knocks someone out. He can create portals, locate items (cbs' knife), use some kind of forcefield attack to throw people back, he can teleport his weapons and himself, he also has a restoration ability as well as general 'bible powers'. he is agile but not superhuman.

3: The rest of it.

to my knowlege there has been no more major videos containing him, he has had a few cameos but nothing dw vs tk vs cbs level. the freak fortress wiki says he may appear in lost in nightmares but the only similarities he has to the black spy in the video is that they are both religious spies. one of the wikis also mentions him as weak to lava, i do not know where this comes from, there is no real mention of this. He is mostly depicted as a human, so sure he would be weak to it but theres no source or explaination.

the idea about christian pure spy being a resurrected red/blu spy has never come up beyond the original post. in christian brutal sniper origins (x) (the video referenced in the original post) cbs is a red sniper is kidnapped/tortured/killed and he comes back to life and becomes cbs and seeks revenge, and the red spy from the previous videos becomes gentlespy. christian pure spy may have been intended to have had a similar backstory. but regardless, he never got one and this version of his character seemed to be abandoned and left out immediately after it was posted.

tdlr; watch dw vs tk vs cbs and check out the linked artists. its great fun.

#i wrote this in one sitting. so i may have left things out but i dont think i did. thoughts? these are like ALL the major cps events #freak fortress #christian pure spy #tf2 freakshow

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thegrimreaperisanerd · 2 years ago

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I have DE fics on A03 under the same name as my URL:

The first one is complete and covers the time between the end of the game and Kim joining precinct 41;

EXTREMELY slow burn. They don't even get together, they're literally just buds, it's 62K of Harry making questionable decisions and fighting to stay sober until the furies shatter his repression and he figures out he might actually be in love with his new Boy Best Friend. Written in the style of the game, because it's fun! Last chapter even has some Kim POV for extra flavour~ If that sounds cool then you can read Imprinting here: (x)

Fic two runs on immediately after Imprinting ^ and is more plot heavy. Currently at 22/28 chapters (218K) but I'm expecting this one to get LONG.

This is written from both Harry's POV (in the style of the game), and Kim's POV (my own spin), and alternates between them every chapter. Harry's chapters explore his feelings towards Kim and adjusting to life post-Martinaise, whereas Kim's chapters are set in the past (starting 46', when he's still a Juvenile Crimes Detective) and explore him meeting Eyes/ joining homicide through a case fic. *chefs kiss* It's about the parallels... If you like the sound of that, then you can read DUCKLINGS THAT DROWN here: (x)

I've also done a little bit of art for both and might do more in the future! I tag these posts with the fic names, so they should be easy enough to find :)

I'm definitely a writer over an artist though, so if you read my stuff and like it and want to talk to me about (or draw for it! Which people have done and won my undying devotion for!!!) it then please do!

One shots!

WHISKEY BAR 33k: (x)

case fic set in a night club exploring Harry's struggles with addiction; Kim's jealousy, workaholism, and his over-protective nature; as well as both of their experiences being queer. They've had a bad argument before the beginning of the fic which introduces an interesting dynamic. Harry POV besides chapter 2 which explains the reason for their conflict.

Of Games And Winning 17k: (x)

The challenge for this one was "DON'T put Kim Kitsuragi through the ringer" and I still failed. He's fine though, much lighter than what I usually write. Can be read as ship or as best friends who are really *really* weird about each other. Harry POV, featuring a high-composure Harry who never figured out his sexuality. A bit of work, a lot of board games, jokes, then Harry manages to *somehow* convince Kim to accept a massage that definitely doesn't get really homoerotic. <- heavy sarcasm

Rubber, Meet Ultraviolet (Finished, with a chapter left for a epilogue that I'll write at a later date) 46k: (x)

This is porn... *coughs* ...Role reversal (Harry is usually the sub, they try something new and have to - quite literally - work out the kinks) I mused about Kim being a bit of a brat and Harry making a god-awful brat tamer, then it turned into an exploration of Kim's PTSD and martyr complex. Because I also have PTSD and apparently can't stop writing about it. There's porn, there's plot, there's just a smattering of metaphors and some guy gets shot in the head. Disco Elysium baybeeeee~ Kim POV.

#sorry if you've already read this or don't care #I just wanted to put it in its own post that I can link in my pinned rather than just having it in my pinned because my pinned is VERY long #imprinting #DUCKLINGS THAT DROWN #WHISKEY BAR #of games and winning #rubber meet ultraviolet

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imminent-danger-came · 2 years ago

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Your analysis is delicious and thank you for enabling my bitching. We are holding hands.

Your point about the samadhi fire is so right! Like if Red Son got it, it would have to be a completely different arc, everything would have to change. Unrelated but I think Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is very interesting

TBH I could go on for even more paragraphs about my many problems with how Mei's treated by the fandom so here's some petty complaints I left out of the first ask:

Her getting hypersexualised in a lot of fanart

Her struggles with the samadhi fire only getting used as angst-fuel for other characters and never for herself

Fans only ever addressing misogyny when it's about someone disliking a ship shes in.

She gets compared to Willow from TOH like a lot? I don't know why???

(this one is hyperspecific and very petty) Multiple Youtube vids about LMK that only bring up Mei to talk about how the ship her with Red Son (while making fun of other ships simultaneously for sooome reason...)

girl is canonically into MCR. thats not a complaint i just dont see people talk about it

and thats not even going into how the fandom treats female villains :P

Anyways Mei deserves a gun and LBD and Spider Queen deserve the world

Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is SUPER interesting. I just talked about Mei and MK as well as Mei and Red Son parallels, and like it SLAPS. I should delve into MK and Red Son parallels, but that's for another time.

On the topic of Mei being compared to Willow, I think it's because they're both green girl characters who are considered "tough"? It's a very vague archetype—but, I think fandom in general likes to put characters into these nebulous categories. Each character gets sanded down to like 3 base traits and everyone calls it good. It's genuinely maddening.

And personally, I don't really ship anyone in LMK (excluding Freenoodles), so the amount of ship art I see and the way ships predominate is very off-putting for me. I think that's mainly because none of the actual show really focuses on romantic relationships (one of it's virtues, I'm an MK is aroace truther), but to each their own. Shipping is super fun, and I totally get it. However, when it gets to the point where no other relationships/dynamics are really focused on, especially on a show so focused on friendship, it just feels off. It feels even MORE off when the only time you discuss the main female lead is to ship her with Red Son.

AND LOL THE FEMALE VILLAINS. MY POOR GIRLS. I don't think I've ever come across a post about Spider Queen (though her henchmans get a lot of love), and really it's a shame. That girl was doomed by the narrative, and BOY was she doomed by the narrative with MK. Granted she's been dead for 2 seasons, but I STILL see Sandy and Huntsman art, so idk. It honestly feels like the misogyny.

Lady Bone Demon and I are best friends and I love her so much. Truly one of the most villains of all time. "No staff and no backup—so, your plan is to fist fight a child?" OH MY GOD SHE'S SO ICONIC. That AND she has fucked up parallels to MK (sorry my boy foils just about every character in this show, he's a reflection), what is there not to love?

She TRIED to go about helping the world the "right" way, attempting to lead someone with real power to be better (as shown in the 3x11 flashback, but on god that scene parallels her whole relationship with spider queen), and IT DIDN'T WORK. So then she tried to "help" the world by starting with a clean slate, and that didn't work. And then you realize that she was doomed by the narrative just as much as anyone else. I'm fucking obsessed with her. Seriously, the "to pain" scene has been in my head for 5 straight months. I'll never stop yelling about it.

I've been listening to Lady Hell by Dirt Poor Robins on repeat thinking about LBD, and I can't help but rotate her in my mind. She captivates me.

#100% forgot Mei was into MCR good for her #asks #imp tag #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk mei #lmk lbd #lmk lady bone demon #lmk spider queen

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s-aprua · 2 years ago

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//kaveh character story spoilers

tldr: kaveh has so much angst and I love him for that. babygirl is suffering (I am suffering with him) (also some sucrose parallels bc I'm sucrose's no.1 fan and also some flavors of haikaveh angst)

Foreword

this is honestly just the word dump I threw together bc I couldn't sleep, thinking about angsty kaveh art and how he may now be my second fav character

what's not to love about a man so filled with angst, so riddled with guilt and unable to escape the ghosts of his past? who believes everyone can reach the same heights if they work together, but unable to let others see his own weaknesses? who hates loneliness, but would suffer through it for the happiness of others? wishing to attain the pinnacle of his craft, even if he has to give up everything to see it through? a man who wishes to love everyone around him, but is unable to accept any for himself?

Idealism

ok this is the sucrose part and it is kinda a stretch but I like both of them very much and my target audience is always me, I do what I want

kaveh designs with practicality and artistry in mind, unwilling to give either up, to the point that when he finally gets to create something that he can go all out on both fronts on, he is willing to give up his home to see it through (even then he still owes dori for helping him find the project). when he works with others, he tries to help others keep up because there shouldn't be a gap between "geniuses" and those who aren't, even of it means more work for himself. sucrose is so intent on bioalchemy because of a childhood promise to reach a mythical domain from a fairytale with her ex-friends, both of which have moved on (one literally never returns to mondstadt, one breaking off their friendship after a domestic tragedy). regardless, she still works to achieve the paradise they wished to see as the only way she can make good on that promise. even now she hopes beyond hope that if she can create the wonderland from that fairytale, her friends will return. neither of them have accepted their reality; kaveh's idealism alone isn't enough to fund the construction of a palace, carrying extra burdens wasn't enough to bridge the gap between alhaitham and him and their fellow researchers; sucrose's friends are unlikely to return if she is even able to create that paradise in the first place

(bonus: not gonna type an essay for this one, but there's just something about the way they have lost people but don't let others know it hurt them; kaveh pretending it was fine when his mom left, sucrose never mentioning her friends or the wonderland to anyone)

Alhaitham

I have been typing on mobile and frankly the word vomit and angst have quite thoroughly rotted my brain, sorry if this no longer makes sense

god these two are so. the whole opposites thing they have going on. yes ok shipping them is cool, I get it (roommates, bickering like they're married, opposites attract, etc) but like. imagine this. they both care about each other, ever since their akademiya days, but they express it differently; kaveh with his whole "I wanna help people unconditionally, but if you help me, I will return the favor even if I suffer for it" vs alhaitham with his "I don't care what other people think, I do what I want (and I want you to stop making yourself suffer, why won't you let me just help you)" (ok yeah I made that last part up, pretty sure that wasn't quite how it went) and because of this and on account of how stubborn they both are, neither of them are able to ever see eye to eye again. they eventually come to tolerate each other but they'll never be able to be what they once were; after all, their relationship as built on a foundation of sand. kaveh's mom had just left him, and he had heard about a genius new student; maybe someone who could fill a bit of the loneliness in him. they were perpendicular lines, different from the start, only intersecting once, and bount to drift down different paths

opposites angst aside though, an alternate flavor of angst: alhaitham tries to show care/affection for kaveh, but kaveh with his paranoia of abandonment and fear of loving and getting hurt again, rejects him (if anyone has heard 'namonaki kanjyou' by usotsuki, yea).

that's all I have for that one I am tired and the brainrot is getting harder to fight off

#and I'm home #see you tomorrow #rambles #genshin #genshin impact #genshin kaveh #kaveh #sucrose #alhaitham #i was supposed to do stuff today #but instead i have been going sketch delete repeat #needed to get this out even if getting it out doesnt help #theres also some other stuff i couldn't find a way to add #namely the 2 madoka character songs #the kyoko and sayaka one literally titled #and the madoka one #where she fake smiles as she waves goodbye (idk i wasn't paying attention to the lyrics)#also again apologies for any spelling or formatting things i am on moblie and have typed for an hour

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brokentoasterrr · 2 years ago

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ok listen this has been on my mind for DAYS now so i’m going to shout it into the void and we’ll see what happens.

i have a note on my phone that says “exclude tags ao3” where i have written down every single tag i don’t want to see when i scroll through my favorite ship tags. this means that i don’t see what i deem gross on my feed, because every time i go scrollin’ i make the choice to curate my online experience.

the ONLY time i have ever reported a work on ao3, it was because there was a fic rated teen with tags that were clearly explicit. i didn’t want to read it, i didn’t want to leave a comment on content i wasn’t going to read, so i reported it for the sole purpose of the creator getting a little nudge so they could rate it appropriately.

the amount of posts i see about content being reported because it contains a squick of someone’s is BAFFLING to me. it’s insane that people feel the need to censor content that presumably wasn’t meant for you anyway. you cannot go online expecting the world of fandom bending over backwards to make sure that you’re safe, because guess what! the internet isn’t an inherently safe space! in order for it to be a safe space, you need to curate your own online experience, and if you’re not mature enough to do that, you should not be online. if you cannot see a piece of fiction or art or video edit without feeling squicked, grossed out, angry, or even triggered, then you have to ensure that you do not see it again. not reporting content that is “problematic” or inappropriate or offensive.

and on that note, fiction is allowed to be problematic. it’s fiction. it is not real. i have read fics containing infidelity, age gaps, murder, drug abuse, what have you, and it does not reflect on me as a person, or what i do during my time offline. i have written violent, disgusting fics; fics containing drug abuse, toxic, abusive relationships, but never in my life would i want to embody or experience what i write. i don’t want to bang a married, muscular silver fox as someone who’s much younger, but reading it? why the fuck not, it’s not about me.

i absolutely do not want to read underage stuff, or incest, or mpreg. it’s stuff that i personally think is disgusting and, to some degree, problematic (incest and underage, to be precise, i find very problematic—the rest is just personal preference). in order to avoid it, i filter those tags out. what one person thinks or feels about one certain topic should not affect other people wanting to read/write it.

the lack of nuance i see in younger people when it comes to fandom and content is frankly insane. they seem to draw such a large parallel between the fictional world and the real world, to the point where they’re incapable of seeing and understanding that the two are not one and the same. you can like a character who killed a bunch of people, write fics about it and explore who they are and why they are the way they are, without agreeing with their actions, beliefs, and values. (coincidentally, the same people who despise problematic content like graphic violence or non-con, will also take the murder character and make it into an uwu smol soft boy who just suffered trauma so its ok he’s doing this loki regulus barty crouch jr need i continue but we don’t have to unpack all of that right now)

sometimes it’s fun to be a problematic little rascal and that’s okay, because the outlet isn’t real. the fic isn’t real. it doesn’t reflect on any personal feelings, desires, beliefs, etc etc etc. the art isn’t real. if it feels too real to you, then????? don’t consume it??????? you can’t watch hannibal and then write to the show producers telling them that they’re horrible people because the show about cannibalism and murder contains just that, when you could’ve just stopped watching hannibal and done something else instead.

curate your own online experience.

#fandom rant #fandom disk horse #fandom discourse #anti anti #proship #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom #anti ship #anti proship #antiship

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caendtowntrash · 2 years ago

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More Marx? (Annoyed Groan)

It’s another one of these! Spoilers for the January Endtown Update just as a forewarning.

In my other Marx rant I went over a good amount of Marx but I feel the newest updates to Endtown really drive it home how horrific Marx is and how damaging his presence is on this story and how cruel a god entity he is just via context alone. I think I need to appropriately break it down so people can really grasp this with both hands rather than be dazzled by fancy art and faded memory.

More under the cut!

Marx is basically the creator, the author if you will, of the Endtown world. He chooses worlds which are slotted for destruction and manipulates the circumstances within them to seed a new sandbox for him to play around in. Multiple sandboxes even!

During the Ship Arc it’s revealed that the parallel worlds to Endtown’s world are dead. Nobody survives the apocalypse, which typically is caused by resource squabbling. Marx, horrible god that he is, sets up Endtowns in these worlds that shelter and preserve humanity which we see during the post-mortem Flask epilogue and again in Holly’s flashback where she and Doc Chase are sent to Endtown. He also gives Apex (Topsiders) means to survive the resultant Armageddon as well as evidenced by Amesworth’s Exposition segment of the Eden Arc:

Marx left his ‘clue’ about what was happening to the world and tampered with the biosuit’s plastics which allowed the Topsiders to persist when they would have all transformed or perished. This makes him responsible for the Topsider’s existence and their genocidal rampage on the mutated (grexed) humans. Now the cause of the mutations were revealed to be due to some thinning of reality’s walls which allow a completely unrelated universe, not parallel but cosmologically distant to this one, collide and infect it in a way where people turn into cartoon animals. This may, perhaps, be seen as a kind of accident if you are so inclined to believe so. Like a boulder crushing a sparrow’s nest it’s an act of nature the occupants never would have foresaw or anticipated until doom was upon them. But what if I told you that there was a man who pushed the boulder in the first place? Enter a brief but incredibly damning comment made by Dr. Amesworth in a quiet aside during the Exposition segment:

Isn’t this a really curious thing for her to say? Almost as if Marx chose the nature of what the universe collision was. Which, if you think about it, might be actually true. Marx has been shown to accomplish anything and has not faced something that actually stands as a challenge to his skills or will and expresses nothing but fawning adoration for Cardoodles. We have from his own admission that he’s been manipulating Wally’s ‘story’ to serve the purpose of feeding him to Eye and ultimately combining his soul with Cracked Cat and that he’s done this countless times. He’s admitted in this most recent update that he’s watched or been aware of Duffy committing suicide ‘8 million times’ but only now supposedly thought to stop him. And why?

Marx seems to have this happen where his outreach for characters not named Wally are curious larks rather than anything in his rigid five billion step plan to whatever endgoal he’s looking for with his sandbox. This happened much earlier for Flask too.

And in fact ONLY seems to happen when he’s ‘curious’ if that really is earnest and not another lie to get the circumstances of what he wants to happen, happen. He’s a master manipulator after all, privy to countless permutations of how a situation will go and pulling the strings accordingly. He doesn’t save Holly because the Ship reveals what her ‘deal’ was and deems her too fundamentally broken to fix (even though there could be opportunities to fix her, I feel like Marx cared more about Holly fixing Wally and getting him out of Endtown rather than Holly’s own wellbeing and orchestrated Milk Trial to break her fundamentally). He doesn’t save Walt because he knows exactly what happened with Walt, there’s no mystery to his actions because it’s a perfectly understood progression. How tragic but not anything he has to deal with, people die every day! And he doesn’t save Heather because, uhmmm...

He just doesn’t okay????????????? Endtown’s served its purpose! Who cares about the innocent people left behind in there, it’s fine and dandy to pull some parlor tricks like making your eyes bleed to scare the fascist you put in office or make a sad pose as Walt disappears from existence, maybe the audience will forget you’re actually the reason this all happened and give you a pass for not intervening when you did it for Wally and now Duffy. If the characters are not serving Cracked Cat’s ascension then they’re disposable. It might be neat to see what new thing can twist the story around for Marx’s point of view but each ‘tweak’ is fundamentally not important to his main goal. If something affects the main goal, like Holly, he’d gladly throw them in the garbage. And he has every right to do this in his eyes. Why? Because he made the world. Everyone’s lives were forfeit to his whims the second he ‘saved’ them from an apocalypse. Nobody in Endtown is supposed to be alive, absolutely nobody. So if this world was supposed to die he can do anything to it, can’t he? He can cross a cartoon universe over the one he’s chosen, make the inhabitants change into cartoons. Why? How else can he make the Cracked Cat he wants to see?

#Endtown #aaron marx

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laismoura-art · 8 months ago

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Ok, I'm gonna answer from bottom to top!

I'm so glad you asked about Khameleon cause I did have some ideas for her!

The main idea is that Tanya sort of adopted her as her younger sister and it's Khameleon's dream to become an Umgadi just like Tanya, but she's too young and can't join in just yet, but Tanya highly encourages her and tells her stories about other warriors, Li Mei is the one she talks about the most (she's gotta hype up her teacher), she doesn't talk much about the her training cause that's against the rules!

And I could definitely add Skarlet (there's always space for more girls❤️)

I was thinking in keep her "born as experiment made for evil purposes" origin going on, she would be made by Shang Tsung (I'll probably keep him as this constant antagonist that always sends his minions but never fights the heroes directly), secretly ordered by Shao, his goal was to make a warrior that would infiltrate the Umgadi and kill the royal family!

In the end, Skarlet didn't turn out as expected, she's lost and confused and now everyone thinks she's going mad and that she's a monster and need to be stopped!

But of course the girls will eventually realise she's the victim and will help her out!

---

I was a bit nervous about Jade and the Osh-Tekk bit, but I'm happy you liked!!💚

The idea of having Delia being a deity with a different name for the Osh-Tekk came from a religion of my country, the Candomblé, you can trace a parallel between their Orixás and the catholic Saints and I think that's awesome!

And since we are talking about the Osh-Tekk

Please, I CAN'T be alone on this ship! (I know I am ;-;)

When I was reading the comics (and didn't know D'Vorah was a traitor) I honestly thought they were cute! (And you cannot convince me Kotal didn't totally have a crush on her!)

I definitely want to have Jade begrudgingly agreeing to help D'Vorah on a mission because that would make Kotal happy!🤭💕

---

Ok, I'll give the credits where they're due, I didn't draw the tattoos, there's a feature on Ibispaint where artists submit some of their art to be used by other artists, it's a pretty cool and helpful feat! And I'm still glad you liked the result!

But I DID draw the pixie cut and I'm PROUD of it! It does fit her, doesn't it?👀🩷

happy you liked Tanya too! I liked that MK1 gave her braids cause I love drawing braids!!💛

---

After all this I suppose you can tell I'd LOVE to see/make an animated show of the Umgadi Girls! It would be so awesome to have them going on adventures, exploring Outworld and learning more about the different cultures and themselves! (I'm having a lot of plot ideas, right now)👀❤️

I grew up watching Teen Titans and later got into Voltron, so I ADORE a good show with a cute found family team! (I also watched Winx, but I gotta confess I was more of a W.I.T.C.H gal🤭)

Gays, gals and non-binary pals, the time has come, presenting:

°◇The Umgadi Girls!◇°

The Umgadi leader, Li Mei, was given the task of turning these four young women into true Umgadi warriors and, in the process, help them achieve their own personal goals!

Now let me ramble a bit (a lot) about their designs!

Li Mei wears a typical Umgadi outfit, the only thing is that I gave her her classic bandana but now adorned with silver to resemble other Umgadi hairpieces!

For the rest of the girls, I gave them the same outfit as Khameleon as I believe this outfit is for those on a lower rank.

🗡 For Suchin, I gave her bangs cause I think they give her a meaner look. The tattoos all over her are lilies, a common symbol of redemption and a nod to her family's history!

She seeks to learn more about her family's roots in Outworld (Seido) and gather more skills to become a better vigilante for Thailand!

🌺 For Harumi, I gave her a messy pixie cut cause I thought it would reflect well her "too much energy" personality! She also has a lot of flower tattoos all over her, to represent important people in her life, she has one for her parents, for her grandparents, for Cetrion and Kuai too! And of course, they are a nod to her clan!

She seeks to fulfil the Shirai tradition of becoming an Umgadi and earn her place as next Grandmistress of the Order of Cetrion!

Now, I find it interesting how much sun Tanya has on her design, from her Union of Light Skin to her powers, and even her golden colour palette adds to it!

And it had me thinking, Tanya is the best example of an Umgadi we have, so her design speaks not only about her, but also about the Umgadi as a whole.

So what if Delia is a Sun Goddess?

She's already "The Lady of Flame" it wouldn't be too wild if she became the Goddess of Flame, and what bigger flame we have than the sun?

@rasta-bot once said she could be a blacksmith Goddess that creates holy weapons, now imagine if she uses the sun as a forge!

Now you must be wondering why doesn't Li Mei have any sun motif on her? Or why Jade doesn't have a face paint?

🔆 My idea is that Tanya is not from Sun Do, but from another city in Edenia, and was raised by a different group of Umgadi with their own worshiping rituals (which include the face paint).

She was sent to Sun Do after proving herself to be the best of her group, now if she succeeds here, she gets the to perform her duties in Sun Do, closer to the Matrons Superior, serving the royal family itself and more importantly, being among the best of the best!

She seeks to become the best Umgadi warrior to ever exist and be remembered as such!

🍃Now, Jade is not from Sun Do either, she's a countess and her family is ally of the Osh-Tekk people and (thanks to her absent parents) she spent most of her life among the Osh-Tekk.

they also worship the Sun Goddess (though they call her by other name) and it was through them that Jade started to learn more about Delia and ended noticing some sort of mysterious connection with the Goddess, and thus came the wish to become an Umgadi. She decided to train in Sun Do to be closer to the Matrons Superior and find some answers.

She seeks to learn what is exactly her connection with Delia!

For her design, she has the sun tattoo (given by the Osh-Tekk) and her jewelleries are supposed to resemble Aztec (therefore Osh-Tekk) jewellery!

They are all gifts from Kotal, they are old friends and he likes to gift her stuff. Though it would be convenient for both their parents for them to marry, they never liked each other that way (plus, Jade is pretty sure he has a thing going on with that to-be Kytinn leader from the Arnyek island, she doesn't like D'Vorah one bit, but trusts her friends judgement...)

Oh yeah, and the Edenians have pointy ears too because I said so :P

Aaaaaaaaand that's it for now, folks!! :D

Questions and suggestions are very welcomed, I really want to make this AU grow!

An special thanks to all my girlies for being always so supportive to my ideas!💕 @mikka-minns @thedragonholder @madamealtruist @orbitinytheworld @rasta-bot @meme099 @moody-bloos

#Suchin has severe MKX!Tanya vibes zjsnasjakz #<- SHE HAS!! omg that was so not intentional😅#it's such a nice AU #<- thank you🥹💕#umgadi girls au

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princessamericachavez · 4 years ago

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YES HELLO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT FJORESTER HEART TO HEART?

THE WAY IT PARALLELED THE JELLYFISH TALK??

Fjord following Jester into trouble and momentarily doubting but eventually being like “I don’t care” because he would follow her anywhere even against his best sense

Both of them sitting there, looking out at the night ocean... like they did on a ship so long ago when Jester first opened up about her sadness.

And now she’s volunteering some of it again:

“Look, you have to see the moon from up here [...] This is where I used to come when, you know, I lived here and I didn’t really any friends. And I would dream about leaving the city and look out in the ocean and think about all the places I could go.”

Sigh

*breathes in*

SCREAMS

guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuys

omg remember

“And then I don't know what. I want to explore the world. I want to see the lands we haven't seen. I want to find the things that people are scared of and solve them or do whatever anyone else needs to do. But-- I hope she's a part of that.”

I AM STILL SCREAMING I SWEAR

Anyway, we are just getting started but look at Fjord’s faces through this bit

Because that’s when he realizes that maybe... just maybe... Jester might want the same thing he does... maybe

And then, what does he do?

He diverts attention to something funny: her drawing dicks on the tower. Why? Because Jester is talking about something sad and Fjord wants nothing more than to cheer her up.

And then, wishfully, Jester brings up one thing that I’ve been thinking about ever since we found out these two coast kids had been in Nicodranas for years without knowing each other.

“I wonder if I was ever sitting up here and saw your ship go by even knowing”

“I bet”

Invisible String_Taylor Swift.mp3

okay but also

PLEASE GUYS

if any of you have any art skills and wants to give me that poetic image of younger Fjord and Jester, each looking up wishfully... she’s lonely and young and on top of that tall tower looking at the life she craves to live and Fjord is looking at the city full of homes like he’s never had and they are unaware that they are looking at each other’s future??

GUYS PLEASE C’MON

ok ok ok moving on so Fjord....

he brings up Vandran... awkwardly... nervous... stuttering about the whoel thing...

and his voice suggests that his optimism in Eisselcross was a front put to keep the others calm.

And then he says the magic words:

“Would you come with me?”

“Of course!”

Like he has to ask, please. Like she hasn’t followed him everywhere since the very first day they met. Like she wouldn’t follow him to the ends of the earth just like he has followed him through plunging falls and vertiginous heights above volcanos.

Still Fjord, deep down still that insecure kid who faked a whole personality for months, tries to give her an out.

“I don’t know if being on the sea is of any interest to you or if you want to stay in Nicodranas because you can now and I would totally understand.”

BOI HE JUST TOLD YOU THIS IS HER LIFE LONG DREAM

LITERALLY

STOP FREAKING OUT

“There’s... That is my favorite place to be. I love it out there.”

THE WAY SHE LOOKS OUT WITH JUST AS MUCH LONGING

“And I feel like there’s so much that we could see and share... Besides fucking Darktow is out there and we spent less that one day on it... That can’t stand”

LOOK AT THEM

THEY ARE SUCH A MESS AND SO CHAOTIC AND THEY ARE BOTH SO CURIOUS AND EXCITED FOR NEW ADVENTURES

Also, does his tone talking about that remind anyone else to the way he talked about the possibility of finding treasure to make Marion even fancier before she meets Jester’s father again???

Because I really feel like that’s the same mood.

The same longing for more while trying to make her laugh.

“I would love to go out there with you. I would love to meet Vandran.”

“We could make this our port.”

“We could make this our port”

“WE COULD MAKE THIS OUR PORT”

(sidenote this line alone could’ve sent me spiraling before they were canon... and still kinda does)

excuse me while i scream for the next ten minutes

And then Fjord drops the hint that he wants to still deal with some stuff in Port Damali

ONE SHOT WHEN TRAVIS

GIMME THAT ONE SHOT

YOU WANT IT

I WANT IT

WE ALL WANT IT

UKOTOA WANTS IT

I WANNA MEET SABIAN AND GO TO DARKTOW AND GO TO PORT DAMALI

PLEASE

“But... this city really is beautiful”

YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO SAY IT LOOKING AT HER LIKE THAT

AND YOU REALLY DIDN’T HAVE TO SAY IT LOOKING AT HER LIKE THAT JUST LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU SAID THE JELLYFISH WERE BEAUTIFUL TRAVIS

AND YET HE DID

“There’s always a home for us here”

hey hey hey hey remember that Tarot reading and Fjord’s future card being “home/the traveler”??????

BECAUSE i do

IF I MADE A DRINKING GAME WITH SHOTS EVERY TIME THIS CONVERSATION had a throw back for the campaign I WOULD END UP LIKE VETH

“Or... maybe we could... you know... get our- our own place”

THE LOOK OF A WOMAN WHO JUST REALIZED THIS MAN WANTS TO MARRY HER (in paper graph again)

im sorry but the rest of the cast’s faces are too good to let out

And then Jester gets SO EXCITED THAT SHE CAN’T EVEN SPEAK

because this boy

this man

this man she loves

he wants to spend his life with her

this isn’t just a “come have adventures and fun with me” proposition

this is a “spend your life with me proposition”

and while she can’t talk of course Fjord panics

much like she did after the “i love you”

because these idiots are really made for eachother and still stumbling through their own confusing feelings for each other even after so long as friends and they are so afraid of screwing it up

But when finally she speaks, when Jester says “yes”... her tone isn’t just a “yes”... THAT YES SOUNDS LIKE AN “I DO”

And they are both so nervous and happy okay?

And then

OKAY LISTEN STRAIGHT OUR OF A ROMCOM

He looks at her

and she meets his gaze

and they both look down blushing

and then she looks at him first

and he meets her gaze

and they don’t look down this time, this time is steady... because they both know they love each other

“I’m really glad that everything happened the way it did”

“Yeah, me too.”

Good and bad. Tumbles and crushes and heartbreaks and deaths and tears and fights and laughter and adventures and doubts and confusion and longing and pining and protecting each other and fighting together and falling and rising and catching each other and healing each other and looking out for each other because it all lead to this... to this moment where they are together and so sure that they are loved and cherished and that this is where they want to be and there’s so much more in their future to look forward to

And Jester snuggles up to him and Travis does the tiniest move to show how he leans against her that just DESTROYS me

and of course Fjord needs to make a joke then, to lighten the mood, because these two disasters are friends first and foremost and is in their chaos that they understand each other

and they have so many adventures ahead

i love them so much you guys

im going to miss them so bad

i love them

oh god

#fjorester #fjord #jester lavorre #critical role #cr spoilers #ONE LAST OF THESE FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE?

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