#would stay up to watch again

[ellameloetta]

this. essay. was. AMAZING OP

Alright everyone, this beast is finally out! This is a project that I’ve been working on for a long time, and a big reason why I’ve been so quiet on this blog. Season 4 really never sat right with me, and after stewing a bit I finally decided to bite the bullet and fully dissect why. A year and change later, I had a three hour essay on my hands, which I guess is something that happens to even the best of us sometimes.

This is a full critical breakdown of every major element of Carmen– what I liked, what I didn’t like, what went wrong, and, most importantly, how it could do better.  I broke it up into about ten different chapters, each focusing on a different character (or plotpoint), so if you don’t have time to watch it in one sitting and/or don’t have superhuman focus, you can certainly watch it in chunks and not lose a whole lot. I don’t expect everyone to agree with every point or position I present, but the most important thing to me in this project was breaking down why I take the positions I do and to deeply examine the underlying ideas and logic of the show; so even if you think differently, you still might get something out of what I have to say. I’ve seen so many people discuss the worse elements of the show (evil Carmen, the mindwiper, the ending, season 3, the copganda, Gray. Oh My God Gray.) but I think what I’ve really wanted to see post-Season 4 was a dissection of the actual mindset and creative process behind the writing. I genuinely can’t tell you how many arguments I’ve watched people have in this fandom where I could see how both sides were reasonably correct about the same thing, they just (IMHO) failed to see the common factor at play. Who knows! Maybe this video will settle some longstanding debates. Anything is possible. I hope people enjoy what I have to say as much as I enjoyed writing it! (TW for discussion of police/state violence, racial police violence, simulated gun violence, death, etc in the section about ACME. Basically what’s already in the show anyway, but just in case, I’m definitely going to talk about that)

[maridrawss]

GF au idea: Reverse Portal au but instead of dimension-hopping like Ford did, he ends up in the Boiling Isles and stays there till the day of unity

[swagging-back-to]

worst trope is found family separating as soon as the antagonist is dealt with.

[n0bluev]

@fushiglow hmm….wonder who i’d draw this for all of a sudden and why… 🤔🤔

[electric-plants]

ahsjfkglhjhsh having an INSANE moment because i play genshin with the chinese audio and what do you MEAN that’s alhaitham talking in the trailer for cyno’s second story quest what do you MEAN

[mamamittens]

Idk if it's just that time for me but I had a thought.

What if Ace was like, a little more well adjusted? Like, emotionally level even if it's not in a way that would have a licensed therapist nodding their head like "No note, you can scrap our next session!"

What if he didn't quite live in his father's shadow as he did in the show?

What if the death of his parents weighed on him differently?

What if he was more upset at their passing and the future that was stolen from him than anything else.

(dead ass had more thoughts but roomie put clothes in the dryer and it's fucking screeching like a dog whistle it is ALMOST ELEVEN AT NIGHT WOMAN I THOUGHT WE ALL AGREED IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO DO LAUNDRY AFTER NINE ITS SO FUCKING LOUD!?!)

Anyway, what I was really wondering was what if Ace genuinely just wanted to see what Whitebeard was like and had no interest in joining his crew. And eventually after being pestered to shit about it, Ace explains that he can't bring himself to form an attachment with someone who clearly doesn't expect to live another five years.

That he's lost enough and couldn't handle finally having a good parental figure just to have them die on him again. Only this time he could watch it happen and remember for the rest of his life instead of just knowing.

That he can't put his heart in the hands of someone who's actively drinking themselves to death. How can he trust someone to care for him and support him if they can't even care enough to do everything in their power to stay.

That a ship full of possible siblings did not sweeten the pot because that was just a ship full of people who saw nothing wrong with someone in such a dangerous line of work actively making it worse (or not doing anything productive about it). He couldn't stay with Shanks, same issue only Shanks intends to drink himself to death for at least a couple more decades.

Ace expresses that he can't possibly join because he's already seen how badly loss wrecked people he loves and can't imagine signing up for that knowingly.

It's kind of juvenile.

It's awfully, heartbreakingly mature.

It's not born out of anger but sheer empathy for what they all must know on some level. And Ace is acknowledging that.

"Losing him is going to hurt you all. And I can't handle being hurt on top of seeing that too."

How do you convince someone to join your crew after that?

Could Whitebeard even bring himself to try? Or would he look at his precious booze and ask himself (perhaps not for the first time) of his vice was worth it.

I like to imagine Ace is dropped off with his crew shortly after with very long, teary hugs from several members.

I like to imagine even more that not long after that, Whitebeard starts refusing to drink. Not all at once. But slowly it goes from every meal and while relaxing to once before bed. To once a week. After a long week. A long month.

Until one day he's been sober for a whole year and his nurses and children are sobbing as his medications are finally working fully as intended. No more side effects from drinking.

And then they meet Ace again and Whitebeard asks if he would reconsider his answer. If Whitebeard could have the honor of calling him 'son'?

And Ace... Oh, Ace's heart aches. Leaving hurt so bad because he could tell it would be a good, if short, live on the Moby with such a large family. He wanted it so bad with every step he took that day as he left.

But more than anything, he wanted just one thing.

Someone that chooses to stay.

So many people left him, for reasons within and outside their control. And they died. One by one. All gone and leaving him alone with a desperate boy who'd rather die than be alone. Just like Ace would rather die than choose to blindly trust nothing bad would ever happen again.

And finally.

Someone chooses to stay.

And now Ace can too.

[a-bit-of-cest]

Luffy the type of guy to let the dog watch

[ritahayworrth]

y'all all my life my dad has never shown any real interest in traveling outside of the philippines because he's not really interested in doing touristy stuff so the cost + his personal list of cons have just never made it appealing to him UNTIL a few months ago when i brought up that he and my mom could go abroad and watch a tennis tournament and now every few weeks it's been "kara can you look up how much it would be to fly to xyz" "kara do you know anything about getting this visa" "kara can you check how much hotels are in abc"

[atopvisenyashill]

do love how this is an asoiaf blog but i did not put either show in my top 10 this is the world we live in

[dootznbootz]

I feel kind of bad about that post I made talking about how Odysseus would never sacrifice his family to save his own skin while I didn't give a name, I hope that person doesn't feel bad or that they get hate. As I don't want to gatekeep someone's interpretation of the Odyssey but also...while I guess you could claim that he would do that, there's so much MORE evidence as to how he would literally rather be stabbed than see his wife and son have even a splinter

Her rejecting him at first put him in a bad position. Honestly, in an alternate universe, where she didn't accept him or trick him that night, I think the poor guy would've cried himself to sleep again in that separate cot. He'd probably cry to Athena and ask if he did something wrong.

It would probably be an "awkward morning" of Odysseus and Penelope silently doing their things (not bringing up suitors' parents right now. And Odysseus would probably tell Telemachus to not say anything stupid.) and eventually, everything would bubble up out of Odysseus and honestly, I could see him straight up begging her to accept him. Not even caring about how he appeared to others.

Honestly, if she DID take a lover in that time...I think he'd either accept it and just...wander? Around Ithaca as a beggar as he doesn't want to be away from them but if they won't accept him, what else can he do? OR if she had another lover, (War flashback of the shitty retelling where Penelope has an affair) he'd probably kill the lover as let's be honest, Odysseus is basically a Yandere, to put it simply. Touch the wife, you get the knife.

And yeah, he doesn't JUST want his family.

"Oh, he wants to not be in constant danger."

"He just wants to go back to Ithaca."

"He wants to be king again."

Boy howdy, he sure does!!! But if, for example, Penelope and Telemachus for some reason moved to somewhere else? IDK, AU where they permanently moved to Sparta, hanging with Helen and Menelaus, and she didn't remarry or something. He'd be like "Shit, okay, BRB." And go to them. He'd probably have them all go back to Ithaca but still, THEY ARE HIS HOME. They make Ithaca home. Any place is home as long as he has them.

Despite having the opportunity to wed the most beautiful woman in the world, he took the Oath so then he could marry Penelope. And even then, it wasn't "for sure" as he had to race her dad. He did so much simply to have the CHANCE to marry her even though he probably wasn't planning on getting married as he brought no gifts. And he did so much so then he wouldn't have to leave the life they had built together and their young baby.

He could've had ANYONE. Went ANYWHERE. Did ANYTHING and he still wanted THEM.

Like??? Holy shit. This guy would do ANYTHING for them. I mean that's kind of why he's considered to be so "scummy" in how ride or die he is for them and basically a bitch to everyone else. That's what makes him SO different from many of his peers.

Person: Would you rather have your family- Odysseus: Family, always. Person: I didn't even say it yet- Odysseus: I don't fucking care. Always family. Person: Even if it meant you got immortality and a hot goddess for a wife? Odysseus: You act like that's a good thing? That was literally torture. Fuck you. I already have a hot Water Wife™ that I get the privilege to drown in every day. She gave me a wonderful Water Son™ who is the light of my eyes and who I am more proud to be the father of than I am of being the son of an Argonaut Person: Even if I give you a million dollars? Odysseus, acting nonchalant while Penelope picks the person's pockets: As if we can't get that on our own. Person: You'd die? Odysseus: I'll set myself on fire if I have to. Person: ...Okay, new question. Would you rather lose your family- Odysseus: The other option. Always. Person: Even torture? Odysseus: I never said I would like it, just that I would do it. Person: Even yeet a baby?! Odysseus: I'll punt the baby if I have to. It's not like I wanna but I gotta do what I gotta do.

And so on and so forth. You GET IT.

[baeshijima]

i am predicting that sunday will be a nihility character to contrast robin's harmony (hoyo PLEASEEE make him a dot buffer 🙏 i really want him but if he won't synergize well with kafka then i fear i'll have to skip...)

honestly at this point i just want sunday to be drip marketed and released and in my account 😭😭 like i will be pulling him and his lc no matter what his synergy with the charas in my account are bc i need him. carnally. and desperately.

[cerealbishh]

"You okay?"

"Mhm."

"Good, now go get ready and wish for the best."

[giddlygoat]

my brother can make me laugh without moving at all. he can make me laugh on command, just by existing, and there is no physical tell or indication that it is about to happen. it’s like he can will me to laugh and i will. of course we’re not telepathic, but we do speak in unison sometimes. we improvise like no one’s business. we could fool anyone into believing we are psychically linked. when i try to explain it, i sound silly saying it out loud, but i really CAN tell what he’s thinking. we exchange so much information just with a look. he can make me cry laughing and he doesn’t even have to move

[autumnoakes]

hyperfixations really will have you imagining a 2 hour video essay on some white guy video game character huh 😪

[shigussy]

i keep getting tiktoks of these younger gen z kids referencing a time they did something relating to fandom in public and now they're embarrassed by it and everytime i see one i sit there thinking over all of middle and high school and having genuinely 0 moments that i feel embarrassed by, like i definitely did a lot of shit these kids would be embarrassed by but i think these are all just really fucking funny

also photographic evidence of the kinda kid i was. these are from 2014/15 when i was in 8th grade

-desolation row one shot(still on wattpad gerard way/reader smut)

-twerk it on (mcr crack fanfic no longer on wattpad but i have another fic in my library called twerking in taco bell which definitely ALSO used for my reading log)

-frank iero must die(a serial killer/assassin frerard fic, still on wattpad)

-hair (really vague maybe a phanfic? nowhere in my wattpad library rip)

my binder i used in 7th grade i had a blue one that looked pretty similar to this for 8th grade but idk where it went, also the parts i scribbled out are my full legal name i had written on it. i wrote it normally and then the big spot is where i wrote my name REALLY BIG in elysian code from the vladimir tod books. also the lines are from when i used an exacto knife to cut up some papers and forgot that my binder was underneath

in conclusion yall can now see why im so shameless about talking about shigaraki the way i do

[gierosajie]

Thinking about how there's a lot more ghosts wandering Mondstadt in the Archon Dvalin AU than usual because Venti is usually the one sending off spirits into the afterlife and well. he's kinda stuck on that side post-Cataclysm

At first there weren't any because they just followed Venti, but afterwards there were some that still lingered and the number just kept piling up over the centuries. Many did eventually go on their own, but there's just more that didn't want to or simply couldn't

Dvalin doesn't know how to send them off, no one really showed him how and he doubts that even if he knew, he probably couldn't. Still, whenever a spirit decides to show themself, he stays with them for a bit, just to alleviate their burdens even a little and maybe help them find enough peace

It's probably another thing that eats at him alive because he couldn't even help those that he failed to protect, no matter how much most of them say it isn't his fault

And then, after the whole reconciliation with Celio thing, one of the lingering spirits asks him for a song. Before, he might've gently turned down the request, but after everything, he decided he might as well

Dvalin starts singing an old song he loved. Singing it had been painful, once, considering it was made as a duet and having to listen to the silent answer just brought him nothing but grief. Now, there's a sort of peace to how the breeze and the sound of nature fill in the gaps and pauses.

Over the course of the song, more and more ghosts come to listen. By the end of it, Dvalin opens his eyes to see most of them disappear, not in terms of hiding away like usual but rather beginning to dissolve into light as they finally move on

The last one to leave was the one who requested a song. She turns to smile at him. "I suppose I can finally tell that bard how much you've grown," she says before finally dissipating into the wind