#where lies happiness?

[echodrops]

A key problem I’ve seen bandied about over and over is that Y’sthola doesn’t have a “character arc” and that she is a very static character--she has no growth because she essentially came in without any flaws that could be fixed over time in the narrative.

Characters don’t need flaws to be good characters. But in the absence of flaws, what they do need is organic motivation. Y’sthola ostensibly has a motivation: she loves knowledge and wants to learn more to sate her own desire for information about the world. She’s literally a ham-fisted “curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back” metaphor.

The problem with this motivation is that no reason has ever been given for it. Why is she so driven to pursue knowledge? What made her choose this path? What events in her life led her to this specific course, when we meet her sister who behaves in a totally different (read as: much less self-sacrificial) way? What made her leave her family to study with Matoya and then leave Matoya to join the scions?

At her core, Y’shtola is characterized by her lack of prevailing connections. She has essentially no backstory other than “has a sister and studied with Matoya.”She has a family but never spends time with them. She loves Matoya, clearly, but still made the choice to leave her to join with Louisoix. Why? Although she’s friendly to all the scions, she still isn’t given any of the truly personal relationships that mark the other scions’ stories--she doesn’t have a Papalymo, a Minfillia, or a Moenbryda to truly “humanize” her; Matoya is the closest, and Matoya is a side character at most.

To be honest, I don’t care about learning a ton more about Y’sthola’s search for knowledge. It’s a typical and, in her case, criminally under-developed motivation. What I do care about is why, surrounded by so many opportunities to connect, she remains quintessentially a stray cat.

It seems to me that Y’shtola’s story would be much more interesting if it was not about this or that arcane magic she can learn to advance the plot, but instead about the deep and personal struggle between individual desire--endless pursuit of knowledge to sate one’s own curiosity--and the abiding desire to belong to others, to forge meaningful connections even if that sometimes means giving up on some of your personal, lone pursuits.

If you are never satisfied, can you ever settle?

Y’sthola’s "character arc” shouldn’t be about intelligence. It should be about wisdom: the discovery that the road to enlightenment might actually be the road that leads you home.

[coffeeandtoastforbreakfast]

…the Lies of P brainrot continues. I love them so much

[punksalmon]

get freakay with it

[stil-lindigo]

how clare managed to lock down the two strongest warriors of her generation as mums.

a claymore fancomic.

[deepseasecret]

Got into Street Fighter in the last few months (and old woman yuri)

[snailvibes]

Redid my Max design!!!! Also enjoy a lil timeline of her and her appearances!!

[crrows]

Jane Marple's 2001 Feather Motif Ring

[todayisafridaynight]

[teaandinanity]

I love my character in The Golden Rose so much. His stat screen is basically like

[corpusdiem-seizethedead]

Charlie: I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now

Alastor: I came out to attack people and I’m honestly having such a good time right now

Angel: I came out

Niffty: attack people

[evie-doesnt-write]

Found these on a video about Zoro’s love life

[oddly-casual]

I think Mutant Mayhem is the first tmnt propriety to make Leo my favorite turtle right off the bat.

Not that I don’t like Leo anywhere else, but usually it takes me like a second rewatch or something to really pick apart Leo’s character in full to appreciate him- and even then he’s usually not my favorite.

But MM Leo is my favorite for reasons I cannot identify.

Maybe it’s the way he walks, his cringe fail personality, I don’t know but I care about this loser so much.

Idk he cares so much abt his siblings despite the fact that they can be so mean to him sometimes. He is also the one who continually pushes to do the right thing when theres nothing (or even sometimes worst things) to gain from it.

Even his attempts at being cool come off as dorkish but it’s charming in a way only little kids can be. In a ‘you’re doing your best sweetie’. Leo is a single mother of three while also being a teenage boy, that takes work.

He’s such a silent but calculating character, ironically when he doesn’t try so hard and does what he feels is right he gets the best results (ie his leader speech, the plan to be accepted, gaining the acceptance of other mutants) for all his fumbling and try hard attitude he has such natural potential it’s insane.

[alexandria-thornton]

All of this has made me feel so terribly old.

[unriding]

hi evie !! how have you been ? :33 i hope you dont mind me borrowing you and moze for something ehehe <3

[ruvviks]

was vitali ever truly happy in his college years when he was together with nick? well, it's complicated.

taglist (opt in/out)

@shellibisshe, @florbelles, @ncytiri, @bialanwake, @stars-of-the-heart;

@lestatlioncunt, @katsigian, @radioactiveshitstorm, @estevnys, @adelaidedrubman;

@celticwoman, @rindemption, @carlosoliveiraa, @noirapocalypto, @dickytwister;

@killerspinal, @euryalex, @ri-a-rose, @velocitic, @thedeadthree;

@jacobseed, @swordcoasts, @ordinarymaine

[whyeverr]

We are eating good today!