#why revolutions happen

[salty-we-never-got-mergana]

Ugh BBC Merlin tries to demean Morgana while trying to portray her as this great evil that Merlin has to kill through Killgarrah is just fucking disgusting. Like that laugh, "That witch does not have the power to wield the crystal", but Mordred does, the fuck?

Dude, in Arthurian legend, it is Morgana who is the sorceress, not Mordred. It is Morgana who is apprentice to Merlin, not Mordred. It is Morgana who is said to be his greatest of apprentices and his rival, and at times his enemy. It is Morgana who is his equal but apparently, she can't wield the Crystal of Neahtid, but Mordred could...

Morgana who is the only fucking seer we see in the show and who can see the future that for some reason fucking disappears in S4 of Merlin (I think).

God, I swear mainstream Arthurian shows like BBC Merlin and Starz Camelot is more misogynistic than the fucking legends themselves sometimes.

It's one of the reasons I was very into the Trollhunters cartoon series, especially the Wizards sequel arc... though I'll admit I haven't watch the entire series yet but I think I probably will.

Because at least Morgana there actually DID kick Merlin's ass. At least Morgana is acknowledged by Merlin and is claimed to be by he himself, the greatest wizards of all time, to be his greatest of apprentices.

Like okay make Morgana a villain but fucking don't demean her and say she can't wield powerful items especially items that can see through time and the future when you give her the powers to see the future and not the character, who in traditional legend, is supposed to be the prophet and seer, Merlin himself. And ESPECIALLY, don't say a character who isn't known to be a sorcerer in the legends, but just a knight, is meant to wield the powerful item more than Morgana herself, especially if you're trying to make her the main villain of the series.

Like omg, the villainy of Morgana in BBC Merlin is so fucking laughable that it's painful. I don't mind if she's a villain, if it's done right.

But they turn her into a fucking caricature and a joke. She's literally never on the same league as Merlin but supposedly the main horrible villain that we all have to be scared of.

The only substance is due to the actress herself and the fact that they wrote her as a benevolent heroine with good intentions in the beginning thus setting up a story of a villain who ultimately has good intentions but then resorts to extremes that later makes her a villain. That's a pretty great set up for a character who's supposed to be the villain and it's only due to the set-up of trying to write hero turned villain (but doing it terribly), her honorable motives of wanting to free magic kind, and Katie McGrath's wonderful acting in giving substance to the character, and depth.

Other than that, sorry Buzzfeed or whatever dumb fandom blog out there, I'm sorry Morgana is not the best character Merlin...or maybe she technically is. She certainly got more depth than the majority of the characters in the series.

Well aside from Merlin himself, but whether Merlin in BBC Merlin has depth is something to contemplate on a later date.

Feel free to offer opinions on that if you want. Do you think Merlin has depth in BBC Merlin. Is he well written? I actually kind of think he is, but I admit I'm not that invested in him like Morgana nor am I on his side on how he believes working within the system is the best way to help those with magic, because that kind of thinking sickens me. Maybe someday I'll get through the nausea and think about his motives and why he ultimately forsakes everything because he just happens to love Arthur more than his mission to free his people... even to the point of lying to Arthur and putting his people under the bus as "evil" and "liars" all so he could keep Arthur from killing his father due to the truth of how the ban on magic and the genocide on those who have magic was due to the fact Arthur's dad needed an heir and so decided to utilize magic to get his barren wife to produce a baby without actually thinking about the consequences of what bringing a life as a result of magic would lead too.

Ugh I'm sorry, I almost prefer Arthurian legend version of how Arthur was born and Arthurian legend version of Merlin over BBC Merlin because at least Arthurian legend Merlin had some fucking dignity and also he had a mission he followed through, or attempted to and truly did believe Arthur was the key to peace in Britian, that with Arthur's leadership, the Saxons and those abroad would be prevented from invading England.

The fact that ultimately it failed, is the tragedy, and in some ways BBC Merlin does somewhat mirrors this tragedy to an extend when it comes to Merlin's story because BBC Merlin does fail it's mission to in freeing those with magic.

The thing is...Merlin never tries. He never tells Arthur the truth until the very end and then Arthur dies, and the ban is never lifted to free magic. In fact, Merlin spends a majority of his time killing his own people who are trying to kill Uther for their own liberation and justice!!! All because he's afraid of Arthur hating people with magic! All because of WHAT ARTHUR THINKS! (as if the attempt itself isn't gonna really cement anything in Arthur? Like there's no real conversation on the why the villains do what they do. Hell Naruto does a GREAT job in exploring the why which is why the villains are so great. The hero sympathizes with the villain and yeah talk no jutsu is annoying, but you really get into the meat of the problems of the Ninja world, and it offers world-building in the sense that THIS is what the hero is up against, and he has to think, how to make the world better. This is what Arthur and Merlin should've done. Think about why magic people are killing Uther, and Merlin knows, I'm sure deep down if Arthur thinks about it, he knows too. But neither have this conversation. Arthur spends most of his time abusing Merlin, and Merlin takes is and just teases Arthur back and also comforts him about Gwen and all the ugh...nothing about magic. Nothing. Except lying about it being evil just so Arthur doesn't kill his own father when all he had to do was appease to Arthur's morality and tell him that if yes what Uther did was horrible but killing him isn't the answer and if he did, he would regret.

That's all you had to say Merlin!

The only one, the only one, who tries to talk to Arthur, and to UTHER about why the villians are trying to kill them, why the villians do what they do, is MORGANA! When she was good! She is the only one!

I swear to god, it's so hard to be a Mergana shipper when the centerpoint of the ship is this problem, the method in which to liberate those with magic by undoing the ban on magic. Morgana is the only one actually actively working on that. Yes, she goes to extremes, but what's Merlin doing beyond judging her methods? Huh? What?

He pisses me off so much sometimes that I truly truly wonder if he even deserves her at all.

He really doesn't.

Here enjoy this video that mentions how Merlin is against radicalism:

[hamletthedane]

I have been banned from continuing to discuss the existence of the French Revolution in the Bridgerton universe at family dinners

[teecupangel]

‘What if desmond time travels and has to deal with such and such, or turns into an animal, or gets hurt, or-’

What if Desmond time travels and learns how to bake bread!! Huh!!? What about that!! What if he opens a super successful bakery, and solves all the worlds problems with the best fresh baked bread every!!

(This is /j but like. 👏🏻 anons let Desmond have peace challenge👏🏻 (but also don’t cause I love reading all of them I’m just like ‘how did you even come up with this? Sometimes lmao))

Anyway, since we already have a Desmond is a baker in Renaissance Italy idea, here’s Desmond is a baker during the Third Crusades instead:

So in this setup, Desmond would say fuck it and just open a bakery in Acre.

Jerusalem was too much of a hotspot at the moment and Acre had ports which meant there would be new customers that Desmond could lure in with the smell of freshly baked bread. 

And it worked.

Maybe a bit too well because…

Kadar visited while he was out looking for information for his brother’s current target. 

They both stared at one another for a moment and then Desmond just did his usual ‘Welcome! Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to hear today’s recommendations?’ spiel while Kadar just stares at him.

When Kadar went “Altaïr?”, Desmond just gave him his best bartender ‘I’m being respectful but also distant so you’ll still tip me’ smile as he goes, “I’m sorry, we don’t have a bread called ‘Altaïr’.”

Then he showed Kadar the star-shaped pull apart sweet bread he’s just perfected and go “But maybe I can interest you in this pull apart start bread? It’s sweet and fluffy and freshly baked.”

And sweet poor Kadar leaves the bakery with a basket of breads instead because Desmond was good at using both Ezio’s charms and his bartending social skills to get customers to buy more than they should.

Hey.

A man needed to profit to keep the roof over his head while trying to experiment for the upcoming debut of his sugar-free pastries.

The next day, Malik entered the bakery but Desmond was ready.

Desmond had planned for this!

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted, giving Malik his sweetest smile that he knew would completely unnerve Malik.

Desmond weaponized the similarity between him and Altaïr to unnerve Malik to the point that he cannot focus on observing Desmond, distracted by such a sweet smile that looked so disturbing in his eyes because he’s imagining Altaïr doing such an expression and it was horror beyond Malik’s wildest imagination. 

Okay.

Desmond was exaggerating but that got Malik to not ask too many invasive questions and leave the bakery after purchasing two baskets worth of bread so Desmond was going to consider that a mission successful.

And then…

His greatest adversary entered his little quaint bakery.

And Desmond was ready for him.

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted happily, “Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to see today’s recommendations?”

Altaïr simply stared at him.

But that didn’t matter.

Desmond held all the cards.

Because he knew one of Altaïr’s greatest weakness…

Altaïr secretly loved sweets.

“Today’s a special day!” Desmond clapped his hands in practiced joy that wasn’t over the top, “Today’s the debut of our dessert line! Here.”

Desmond took out a tray of sweet deserts, glistening in either honey or fruit jams. 

“Would you like a taste?” Desmond asked with the sweetness of the snake that tempted Eve to take a bite.

And Altaïr…

Altaïr left the bakery with a basket filled with desserts and pastries, quietly sinking into the shadows before anyone could see him and ask for one of the forbidden sweets he had acquired.

[youandthemountains]

it probably is insane how much I wish I could express the thing about spones. the vibes about spones. Like there's the joking fun fandom vibes and I love them, I love to play with them, of course of course. but the THING. the CORE to me. i wish i could capture it and share it.

[livelaughlovelams]

Hamilton: Are you today's date? Because you're a 10/10.

Laurens: [blushes]

Washington: That was horrible.

Hamilton: [Walks up to Betsy] Are you today's date? Because-

Washington: HAMILTON.

Hamilton: okay.

[couriersiccs]

if i had a nickel for every time a morally grey character whose main motivation for the catastrophic betrayal he committed was initially described as being in the name of his people and his culture and then, in the next installment, was retconned to actually be because a woman he loved got murdered and he got real upset about it, i'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

[brick-van-dyke]

If there's one thing I've respectively noticed from Zionists and defenders of Israeli war crimes, it's that every source, argument and potential avenue to explore each explanation is riddled with cherry picking, moving the goalposts and mental gymnastics to explain why their conclusions, which typically are barely even related to the sources they use, somehow overshadow literal reality and what we see with our own eyes.

While scrolling, one example I came across was the repetitive misrepresentation of BLM, antifa and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr, as well as statistics, scholarly journal articles and government website information. These are all good sources, yet every single time they're mangled completely until the only possible "interpretation" of any of them is "well Israel is right to defend itself after shorting rockets beforehand because the retaliation was brutal and all Arabs are bad by default therefore". As if any of these sources are even about individual exceptions of Israel versus hatred towards Arabs.

I think what I find most absurd, as someone in the middle of their own studies, is how every bit of critical thinking and logic goes out the window as they do every single thing possible to do what professors worldwide say NOT to do when evaluating sources. It's like watching a race to see who can tangle and misconstrue scientific information to fit their world view the fastest. Then said people say "um actually I studied at university before so it's actually not wrong that I'm doing this exact this everyone is warned not to do because I have a permit". Ignorance I can forgive, but willful and arrogant manipulation? That's another thing entirely.

[askinnyblackman]

fucking hell. now I have to come up with another line

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

"B-but billionaires shouldn't have to live in fear!!1!" You're so right. All that money making that poor man a target. I say we should all go help him out! It's a lot of money, though. It'll probably require a lot of people to help him move it. We should get started right away! 😊

[frevandrest]

I feel so, so dumb, but until very recently, I didn't understand that when revolutionaries (particularly during the Convention) talked about aristocrats, they didn't mean on nobility. They meant on each other. It was a slur/accusation against each other and members of the bourgeoise.

For former members of nobility, they used "ci-devant noble" moniker. And they didn't talk that much about them - the old nobles were stripped from their privileges and didn't exist as a group anymore. They were a potential threat in terms of counter-revolution, yes, but the talk about aristocrats was so often about the (rich) bourgeoise trying to use the revolution to get on the top. Such members of the bourgeoise, including deputies, were called aristocrats as a slur. This is why denunciation speeches and the like are full of references to aristocracy. This is why SJ called Danton an aristocrat, and was called an aristocrat in return.

How... how could I miss this for so long? 0_0

[radarsteddybear]

[For the Anastasia AU ask game] Back to the Future? (I mean, did you expect anything else from me...?)

Send me a piece of media and I'll tell you how I'd do an Anastasia!AU for it!

Oooooh, that's going to be tough because I've only seen the film once and that was probably...somewhere around 10 years ago? But let's give it a go. (I apologize in advance if this doesn't actually fit.)

In order to keep the royalty element, I'd stick Marty and co. in a fictional country that recently overthrew their monarchy and replaced it with communism. The country is buzzing with the rumor that the youngest of the king and queen's three children survived. Meanwhile, Marty, as above, has amnesia and is trying to eek out a meager living while trying to piece together who he is, only having bizarre flashes of memory fragments to go off of--fire, nearly being run down by a strange-looking car, blinding flashes of light, the sound of tires squealing against the pavement. He arrives in this fictional country's version of Twin Pines, where he finds himself drawn to Doc, former Scientist to the Crown, who's now working as...something that is definitely not science and is unquestionably beneath his ability/skill level. Doc, much like Marty, exists on the fringes of society as the sort of person that everyone else tends to avoid because they're different and weird and tend to say stuff that doesn't make any sense and are probably doing things that could probably get them in a lot of trouble with the law. Which Doc is, by the way. Doing things that could get him in a lot of trouble with the law, I mean. Idk what he's doing exactly (probably multiple different things), but he's doing it to earn money to fund his scientific experiments and hopefully get out so he can relocate to somewhere he can have the freedom to pursue his scientific endeavors.

Now, this next part's a bit tricky, because Doc is, at heart, a very kind person who would absolutely never intentionally do anything that would ever hurt his good friend Marvin (or whatever the heck's going by at this point in time), but let's see if we can make this work. Soon, what remains of the government in exile announces a monetary reward for whoever finds the Lost Prince, Marty McFly. This gets Doc's brain going, and he starts to put some details together in a rather "I've connected the two dots/you haven't connected shit" sort of a way. Dates line up, places line up, and the kid even sort of looks like the lost prince. And if he is the prince, the reward money is more than enough to get Doc (and Marty, because Doc doesn't really think through the idea that Marty being the prince would lead to their separation) out of this fictional country and set them up with the tools and equipment to do Science™️. Doc uses his knowledge of palace life to teach Marty how to be a prince as they make their way towards Fictional Country #2 where the government in exile is currently exiled. Marty slowly begins to regain more and more of his memories, though they don't paint the happiest picture.

After they arrive in Fictional Country #2 and start to prepare to meet with the Fictional Country #1 Government in Exile (which is mostly going shopping for snazzy new clothes), Marty starts to realize that, this whole time, Doc has been more motivated by money (and freedom) than by the idea that Marty actually may be the lost prince, that Doc has been twisting the facts in his mind to fit the picture he wants to paint. And Doc starts to realize this, too, and he is absolutely horrified because, again, he'd never do anything to hurt his friend, and now...he has.

And just before realizing this, Doc also realizes that, if Marty is the Lost Prince (which Doc hopes he is, after all this), Marty is going to stay in Fictional Country #2 to take his place as the exiled king leading Fictional Country #1's government in exile as well as take his place in Europe's royalty. Sure, maybe they'll still get to see each other here and there, but it'll never be the same; they'll never again get to live in the same world.

Marty is understandably angry and decides he needs his space. Doc decides that the best thing he can possibly do is respect this, so he wishes Marty the most genuine, heart-felt "good luck" he can and starts making arrangements to return to Fictional Country #1 (because without the reward money, he can't afford to start a new life in a new country; there also a definite element of some self-flagellation in there as well).

I guess Biff gets to play the role of Gleb, working as an agent for the government of Fictional Country #1, which has a vested interest in not having any of the members of its former royal family return from the dead. Biff's mission is to either bring Marty back to Fictional Country #1 to be made an example of (if he's not the lost prince) or kill him (if he is). So at this point, Biff has been following Marty and Doc for their entire journey, and this is the moment he chooses to make his move, having determined that Marty is, in fact, the lost prince, and therefore he needs to die.

Marty, of course, isn't going down without a fight. The ensuing fisticuffs somehow catch Doc's attention, as he's still nearby and hasn't left yet. He joins in the fight, probably with the help of an invention or two, and quite literally throws himself in front of Marty to protect him from Biff once Biff reaches for his gun. Biff doesn't get the chance to fire because Marty is able to use whatever invention Doc brought along to defeat Biff once and for all (he doesn't die, of course; he just ends up getting arrested by the proper authorities).

Doc and Marty hug it out. They don't have to say much to convey their apologies to one another. They decide to ditch the whole lost prince business and find a place for themselves in Fictional Country #2, starting from scratch, because they don't need much as long as they have each other.

[one-silly-cart00nist]

Even if the fireworks wither away and we drift apart Never forget the time when we shone together We can't be eternal

I still don't have access to the newest episode but I DO have access to Xdinary Heroes' new album and I'm making it everyone's problem <3

[nyan-bynary]

I'm gonna have to wait out a few weeks to be able to complain about jjk's ending bc rn half the ppl are bashing everyone who expected more as ppl who just wanted gojo back

[age-of-moonknight]

“The Moon Warrior,” Marvel 85th Anniversary Special (Vol. 1/2024), #1.

Writer and artist: Yuji Kaku; Special thanks to Ken Kunito

[el-yon]

[ personal sharing time ]

beyond all the character/narrative reasons for Ichigo to live a full life, I have a very personal/political/professional (cannot dissociate the three) appreciation for the fact that he does not join the Gotei - nor any organization, for that matter.

I know Kubo draws mainly from Buddhism, and I don’t think he’s worried about political organizations at all, since his message is about self-realization. However, as he takes us through Ichigo’s journey, he does take us through different political arrangements, meaning, organizations of violence: oligarchic and militaristic regimes, colonialism/imperialism, theocratic and totalitarian ideologies, you name it. For instance, I think Kubo said somewhere he chose the spanish/latin motif to Hueco Mundo and the Arrankar/Hollowfication stuff because he thought it sounded sensuous, which makes sense with the uh... subtext of it all, BUT, the predatory viciousness of Hueco Mundo is such a strong colonization subtext too!. Also, expropriating a population/territory (Karakura) to literally fabricate and access sovereignty (the Royal Key)... wow. Then you know, don’t even need to get into Ginjo literally stealing powers, or everything about the Wandenreich.

But the most important “organization of violence” here is not the one that imposes one’s will onto another, but the individual one that informs human agency and autonomy. Ichigo happens to have all the available types of power in his hands, he has a lot of means to inflict violence, but he gets to learn how to use them to be his own person.

No gods, no hierarchies, no masters but himself.

When we’re kids, we’re vulnerable. Things happen to us, and we are powerless. Then, as we grow up, we gain physicial strenght, we get the chance to walk on our own, to actually do things, to be active - we get access to power, including, to do things to others. When we start Bleach, Ichigo gets this immediate power boost in his life and we see him fighting the world: he chops off Sora’s hand, he chops off the serial killer hollow and he is angry, he’s brutal, he’s violent - as we see even more clearly in the whole hollowfication journey. A journey that, beautifully, comes to its closure when he finally learns the truth about himself, stops trying to supress it, and learns how to use it, how to regulate it, and once he relies on Orihime. Which brings me to the next part.

Growing up right beside him, we have the development of three other young people, each one relating to particular aspect of his own powers, dealing with violence too: Chad is a window to racial violence and learns how to fight back on his terms, Orihime is a window to gender violence and learns how to fight back on her terms, Uryu is a window to genocide and learns how to fight back on his terms. And they are also helping and being helped by Renji and Rukia, two people who have been hurt by class opression and nobility dynamics, who also found their own way to make it work - the “we gripped each other’s hand instead of the blade” is very important to lil old me.

In a world that is terrible, but also full of possibilities, Ichigo and Karakura are (to me, this is a personal take) an amazing ode to human agency that is informed by self-improvement, desire to help, to care and protect more than any disciplinary power out there, and I love that for them.

[skijumpingf1]

What the heck is going on in team norway?? The jumpers are against Alex? There was a letter sent to the ski federation???