#And it mostly does a good job at it

[picturejasper20]

So, i made a recent post about some issues i have with Mabel Pines' character writing in the main Gravity Falls series like how her characters flaws don't get addressed properly and they can be potrayed as something acceptable.

A mutual of mine, @amazingrich101 , told me to check out the graphic novel Gravity Falls Lost Legends since one of the stories (Don't dimension it) acts as a follow up for the Weirdmageddon and it starts Mabel as main character.

And I'm very surprised i haven't seen more people bringing up this story when it comes to Mabel's character because it addresses quite a lot of things the main series brushed off about her character and problems people have with her characterization. Because of this, i would like to do a semi-analysis about this story myself and talk about the things that explores about Mabel's character and the development she gets.

So ¨Don't Dimension It¨ starts with a semi recap of what happened post Weirdmageddon: There are dimension-rifts as consequence of Bill taking over Gravity Falls, the protagonists are going around trying to fix these rifts. In a moment Mabel pulls up Waddles from her bag, partially ignoring how Stanford said these rifts are dangerous and Dipper tells this to Mabel:

Dipper saying this of all other characters is important, since Mabel has the habit of taking advantage of Dipper quite a lot in the series and he more often than not finds himself in situations he has to go with Mabel wants to do regardless of how he feels about it.

So we have the story bringing up from near the start that Mabel can be very self-centered in occasions and ignore the potential danger in serious situations, like Dipper points out. That's a good start.

Mabel accidentally falls into one of these dimensions rifts and ends ups in a dimension that is full of different versions of Mabels that got lost and ended up in that place. One of the Mabels tells protagonist Mabel that Brain Mabel has been trying to build a spaceship to escape but she got bored and got herself distracted with stickers.

Prot Mabel tries asking for help but the rest of the Mabels don't take the situation seriously, ignore her or do their own thing, not caring about taking priority in escaping.

I think these are more extreme versions of prot Mabel but one thing that prot Mabel realizes is how irritating it is to be ignored by well... versions of herself. She wants to espace this dimension, the issue is that other Mabels are too ¨busy¨ doing their own thing that they don't care about helping.

Mabel eventually finds one Mabel that actually is helpful, lets call her ¨Mabel 2¨ for the moment. Mabel tells Mabel 2 how irritating the rest of the Mabels are and the two work together to send a signal for Stanford and Stan to pick them up from the dimension.

When the ship shows up to pick them up, Mabel 2 betrays Mabel and traps her inside a bathroom. She reveals herself to be ¨Anti-Mabel¨, the most evil Mabel in the multiverse.

....I think this writing choice for to have just ¨Mabel but bad¨ without further exploration is pretty shallow but, meh, i want to focus on Mabel's character, not the antagonist.

So prot Mabel manages to escape from the bathroom she was trapped in while Anti-Mabel takes her place in the ship. Mabel asks for help to the other Mabels again, only to be ignored... and that makes her reach her own limit.

She finds herself repeating almost the same things that Dipper told her at the start of the story and she finally realizes how self-centered she can be to others and not see when something is a bigger priority. She tells to herself that ¨i need to work on myself¨, meaning she admits she has some growing to do as person.

She tries asking for help again, which leads her to admit how she messed up by being selfish in ¨Dipper and Mabel vs The Future¨. She talks about how she negleted those around her for being so absorbed in what she wanted to do that she didn't pay enough attention how this could bother people around her. She promises that she is going to try to be a better person from now on and work on to be more caring of other people.

This is very crucial for Mabel's development because, while she learned that changing is part of growing up in Weirdmageddon, her habit of making things about herself, coming off as too self-absorbed and making people do the things she wants without considering much what others want wasn't properly addressed. And this can become a toxic trait of hers, like ignoring things that are a bigger priority and taking advantage of her friends and family.

Mabel isn't a demon because she can be very selfish at times, she is a just 13 year old teenager. However, it still an important lesson she needs to learn to mature as a person over time. This is why in this story having her confronting these problems that she has was good for her character to have.

She manages to escape along with the rest of the Mabels helping her, they stop anti-Mabel and defeat her. Mabel goes back to Gravity Falls with Stanford and Stan while the rest of the Mabels use the ship to find their way back their own homes.

When Dipper asks to Mabel how was her trip in the multiverse, she has this to say.

She apologizes to Dipper for being selfish during this summer and that must have been a lot for Dipper to deal with. Dipper makes a joke about it, implying that he accepts Mabel's apology and forgives her for her behaviour.

It isn't super big but is still really good having Mabel apologize to Dipper for how she would treat him in certain episodes. I have talked about how their dynamic could come off as toxic in certain occasions because Dipper had to do what Mabel wanted and his feelings weren't always taking into consideration. So Mabel apologizing feels proper for the situation.

I have some issues with this story (Anti-Mabel just... being a not interesting antagonist, for some reason having a meta commentary about how Stanford and Stan aren't the best caretakers which is fine but i don't think it suits Gravity Falls imo). However i do appreciate the development that Mabel gets in it, bringing up her character flaws and her realizing that she messed up in some ways, telling to herself that she needs to work on that.

It definitely leaves Mabel in a way better place than the main series did, by her recognizing she has to change her selfish tendencies and acknowledging her mistakes, a lot healthier than just waiting for others to comform to do what she always wants. Her relationship with Dipper is a better place too, apologizing for the way she would sometimes treat him during the summer. It doesn't fix *every* problem with Mabel's character writing in the series but does solve some main issues and it does leave a better conclusion to Mabel's character arc overall.

#gravity falls #mabel pines #gravity falls lost legends #dipper pines #GF analysis #I would have prefer this to be in the main series but ehh it is better than nothing #And it mostly does a good job at it

[sixteenthchapel]

i believe the word you were looking for is "THANK YOU"

#no one appreciates monkey and all the good things he does #...mostly for himself but still #the priest isnt dead yet right hes doing a great job he deserves treats and praise #jttw #sun wukong #tripitaka #jttw tag #journey to the west

[57sfinest]

calling harry a “can opener” was SUCH a good play for so many reasons i think about it every day.

in the context of his work, it makes him a tool. as many people have pointed out, including martin luiga, part of the hdb tragedy is that he simply cannot leave the force, and his superiors know that and are using it to their advantage. no matter what happens, even if harry hated every nanosecond of every bit of the work and wanted to leave, he can’t and won’t leave. they can leverage anything they want against him and then reel him back in with a facade of kindness when they “allow” him to keep his job, as long as he does what they want him to. the 41st knows he has this inexplicable talent with people and they use him for it. he’s a cop: that talent can be used in so many awful ways, to push so many different agendas. and they won’t even be his own. a can opener has no particular desire to open a can, aside from maybe the satisfaction of fulfilling a purpose. a can opener has no agency, it’s just a tool for someone else to use to get what they want. and he’s learned to be okay with being used as long as it means he gets to stay. his complacency with this system makes him guilty even if he’s also being harmed by it.

but in the context of his personal life you kind of... flip it. the people around him are going to be opened up whether they want to be or not, and it’s terrible for his relationships. it’s shown that the questions, the prying- the can-opening- it’s become inextricable from who he is as a person. it’s like he doesn’t know how else to communicate, except it’s hardly communication when you’re just ripping people open. he’s invasive as all hell, although whether he means to be is debatable. he’s the kind of person that wants to take things apart to see what makes them tick. he dissects people, but really that’s too delicate of a word for what he does; if he doesn’t get what he wants right up front, he’ll abandon all subtlety and go for brute force. if he can’t get your screws loose he’ll just smash you on the ground and pick through your pieces until he’s satisfied, and if what he did to you isn’t fixable? oh well, there are other cans to open. 

and he’ll use it for personal gain: we already know he is (was?) manipulative. once he knows how you operate, he knows how to make you keep him. he can yell or he can cry; he can threaten you or he can threaten himself; he can be completely suffocating or he can withdraw completely; he can be an incorrigible liar or brutally honest; he can present himself as a threat or a joke or a talent. he’s a chimera- that’s why he’s got this inexplicable magnetism, even when people know they shouldn’t like or trust him. fidelity of character means nothing to him. he’ll be whatever he needs to be as long as it gets him what he wants. the can-opening is just his way in.

#disco elysium #harry du bois #and it works on us the audience as well! #look at how many different versions of harry there are out there. each tailored to our individual preferences #we exaggerate and minimize his traits according to what we want to see. he's can-opening us too! #it's just like. of course his job will frame the can opening as a positive thing #but it's honestly one of his worst traits. or at least it is when he doesn't keep it in check #there's nothing wrong with wanting to understand people but the way he goes about it is harmful to everyone including himself #he's doing it because he has ulterior motives like 99.999998% of the time #this is mostly about pre-martinaise harry but i have no doubts that post-martinaise harry can go right back to this btw #a lot of us prefer to think of harry as drastically improving after martinaise which is great and i'd like to hope he does but. #it's also good to consider the overwhelming possibility that he will go right back to being a total shithead #and that may be completely unintentionally! which almost makes it worse! #ALSO. this is part of why kim makes a very good foil #for the most part kim will stonewall anything he doesn't feel like sharing #harry needs to respect boundaries and by god does kim have a lot of those (affectionate) #HOWEVER kim is definitely susceptible to the can opening as well #wait okay i have another post idea. #anyway thanks for reading. as always feel free to add and share thoughts! #kiwipost #hdb meta

[aroaceleovaldez]

actually in hindsight why did Rick repeatedly have Piper solve all the ghost problems on the Argo II when. Hazel was right there. A daughter of Pluto. who by all logic should be able to control ghosts even a little bit. like, we know she has at least some of those types of powers. she just never gets to actually practically use them. ever. and then when there are zombies Hazel once again. does not get to use her powers about it. what.

#pjo #riordanverse #hazel levesque #does hazel EVER use necromancy powers? besides *maybe* a little bit when working for gaea to raise giants? #though that was pretty explicitly mostly geokinesis #where is hazel's necromancy cmon #but like. ''oh no people are getting possessed. i know! PIPER! FIX THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR CHARMSPEAK'' #''rather than oh i dont know HAZEL. THE PERSON WITH GHOST POWERS DIRECTLY NEXT TO ME.'' #heck Hazel is very familiar with people being possessed. her mother was for. awhile. #why not just have hazel go ''hm yup. that's possession if i've ever seen it. hold on i've got this'' and then she uses pluto powers #you cant even use the excuse ''oh but she wouldn't know how to-'' #she's been hanging out with her brother Nico ''Ghost King'' di Angelo for what. eight? ten months? something like that? #and one of her major things is that she's pretty good at picking things up quickly and has highly honed her powers #you're telling me nico never told her ''btw just in case: if you ever need to exorcise a ghost from someone just idk smack 'em'' #like why is the exorcising ghosts piper's job #and why with the zombie apocalypse was it like ''oh no we can't do anything until apollo comes over to help us or whatever'' #''if only we had a CENTURION WITH NECROMANCY POWERS. like a CHILD OF PLUTO OR SOMETHING'' #''WHOSE BROTHER VERY FAMOUSLY GOT A ZOMBIE AS A BIRTHDAY GIFT'' #and its like. yes hazel does ultimately play a significant role in stopping the zombie problem #but functionally COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO HER POWERS?

[epicfirestormer]

What I love about Hellboy and Abe Sapien's dynamic in the comics is that, if you came into this blind, you'd expect Abe to be the voice of reason or the straight man to Hellboy's impulsive and hotheaded personality. But no, Abe is more often than not the crazy one. Hellboy would deal with fighting evil monsters and bad guys by just sighing and getting it over with, while Abe is going rabid over tearing the creature apart when he does get into a fight. Hellboy acts like it's a 9-to-5 job and will reasonably talk things out with a guy that had nearly killed him before, Abe acts like a madman in a slaughter house and his first instinct is to shoot first kill second and ask third. They're both insane, but on completely different levels.

#wheres that one comic where abe gets into a mission and has to tear down a monster with an axe #then at the end when hellboy appears and sees abe going ham while covered in blood. he's like ''oh hey abe. good job you're doing there'' #hellboy was not even worried for a second. he trusts abe to handle things on his own #they both trust each other to do their job but they also know when they can handle a fight on their own and will help if needed. #their trust and bond with each other is so implicit but speaks volumes. they dont need to say anything. they just know #we talk so much about hellboy being like. an alright guy and a whole lot kinder than the world treats him. and that's right #but it really does make Abe look fucking batshit wild in comparison because of it #the entirety of the abe sapien comics is that the guy is on his hinges and the only thing keeping him sane before was his job (which is #debatable.) and the bprd. mostly hellboy and liz and kate and roger. johan and ben are a weird case but he does kinda care about them #i love abe btw. he's such an interesting critter. absolutely crazy maniac of a guy. #tbf i dont blame him considering his backstory. if i went through some of the shit he did; i would not be sane either #also. the moments post hellboy's death in the comics where abe is trying to deal with his passing but never directly says anything about it #until he was confronted by hellboy in his dream. thats the cool bit yknow. we dont need to be told Abe was grieving about hellboy #we just knew he wasn't handling it well. using present tense when talking about hellboy to other people. avoiding saying his name. #its great stuff #the fire burns #hellboy #hellboy comics #abe sapien

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in alt text] my magnum opus

#the owl house #toh #hunter toh #lilith clawthorne #i have hcs about their dynamic but they're mostly comedic tbh #like yeah it's fucked up that Lilith had beef with a child but it's also pathetic and i think that takes the edge off it tbh #hunter kinda knows this. he doesn't like her and i appreciate it when ppl read it as ''hes walking on eggshells around her'' #based on that one dana art #i think it's a fair read #but i personally like to read it as equal parts nervousness and annoyance at having to be placed with Mean Un-Fun Lilith #hunter thinks she's a loser and has no idea why she hates him so much. he's just trying to do his job man #(my personal elaborate hc as to how this dynamic formed is that hunter as a child used to think Lilith was cool! he wanted to be like her!) #(unfortunately his braggadocios persona as the golden guard gave Lilith the impression that he was Out For Her Job and also Life) #(and bc she's Lilith these threats from a child are taken seriously. she will play nice when Belos is around but she DOES NOT TRUST HIM) #(and she's just not going to interrogate her own insecurities regarding yet another bubbly teen prodigy coming in and stealing her thunder) #(she is definitely not getting reminded of her own insecurities related to eda being better than her growing up. no sir) #(she totally doesn't see the emperor as her mom whaaat that's crazy) #(ANYWAY post canon i think they could be good friends. bitchy friends but good friends) #(someone the other comes to when they need a brutally honest opinion! steve hangs out with them too. ex emperor's coven buddies!)

[darkfire359]

What’s the difference between Izzy (who yells at people) and Stede (who abandons his family without a word), Ed (who makes someone murder his own dog and then basically forgets about it), Jim (who tries to lock someone in a storage trunk and drown them at sea), and Buttons (who tries to eat a guy’s finger, giving him an amputation-worthy infection in the process, for no reason)?

…Sometimes Izzy acknowledges and apologizes for his bad behavior.

#izzy hands #hot takes #this is basically a shitpost #it’s very uncharitable to everyone else and they don’t deserve it #Stede at least sometimes apologizes too #like when he offered Mary flowers for flipping out at the art show #though that was mostly just a fuckery tbf #anyway I am grumpy and in Izzy apologist mode #other things Izzy does better than main protagonists include: #- communicating his feelings when he’s upset about something #- asking for feedback and suggestions when people tell him he’s doing something wrong #- acknowledging that it’s fair for people to be upset with his actions and to treat him accordingly #- caring when good men who work for him are needlessly put in life-threatening peril #(looking at Stede’s reaction to Swede’s scurvy and Ed’s ‘they’re pirates; it’s their job’)

[opens-up-4-nobody]

It's so weird watching fullmetal alchemist in contrast to naruto. Because both are set in fucked up worlds where everyone has committed war crimes, has had war crimes committed upon them, or is a war crime. But I trust that fma fundamentally understands how fucked up everything is, including the sinister qualities of the institutions that allowed this to happen. Naruto understands its fucked up on a surface level, but also glorifies the institution and never changes.

#like the idea is similar at the root bc atrosities have been committed in both worlds on both sides and someone needs to come in #and say. thats enough. enough of this. further violence isnt helping make anything better #and fma does a better job bc it unites all the warring parties agaisnt one monster villian #but i think naruto is more interesting bc the same thing happens but the betrayals feel much more huge and the pain feels more visceral #bc the familial love is so tortured under the shinobi system and all the pain arrises from that system but it never fucking changes #bc the author still feels the need to glorify the village system despite the clear cursed god tree metaphor #idk its just interesting to me where theyre similar and where they differ #in fma the characters r more insane to me bc the fucking ego and hubris is so crazy #idk in naruto it feels more like everyone is so fucked up they think they have to accomplish their goals or die but in fma thry just seem #like they have a right to do the things they do and it unnerves me more #but hey i mostly passively watched fma over 3 days so maybe i missed some stuff lol #naruto ramblings #fma rambling #unrelated #i do think i understand now how naruto never changes. they think: weve been saved. were in a time of peace. everythings good now #and then they never fucking talk abt how fucked up everything was. they just move forward without catharsis #and thats why everything is still fucking awful. they never truely reflect

[maydaymadier]

i haven't mentioned anything about Elementary in a while but I do wanna mention my so-far favorite episode of season 3. Episode 4, Bella, it's about a break-in at an AI lab, Bella being the titular AI. Halfway through the episode the crime escalates, Bella seemingly killing its inventor by playing a series of flashing images that trigger an epileptic seizure that results in his death. Sherlock manages to figure out who the culprit is, a dying bioethicist who is anti-AI, and in investigating his financials finds out that the bioethicist has a brother who is in and out of rehab. He goes to confront the bioethicist to confess to the police and reveals that he knows about the brother. The bioethicist confidently tells Sherlock that no, he will not confess and that Sherlock will not go to the police with this information either. The bioethicist also researched Sherlock and knows that he's a recovering addict, out of rehab for about a year. The bioethicist calmly asks if he really has it in him, to send him to jail and cut him off from his brother who needs his help. The crime is solved but remains officially unsolved. This A-plot concludes with Sherlock sitting in bed, staring at the wall, rattled.

#my post #elementary #cbs elementary #yes this is mostly just me describing the a-plot of an episode #but consider it's a really good episode #elementary is not a perfect show but it does an excellent job of remembering that Sherlock is a falliable human not a superhero

[robotpussy]

i will never ever fucking forget when i went to a BLM protest and as i was walking back one of the white ppl that joined my group started saying "idk why ppl say acab, not all police are bad. my uncle is a police officer and he would never be racist or hurt anybody". i just asked her "why did you come to this if this is what you believe?" and she said "I'm protesting the bad apples, my uncle isn't included" i wanted to beat her up then and there so fucking much

#like WHAT...........................................................? #and you saying this to a group that is mostly black ppl like are you being serious i cannot stand white ppl sometimes #your uncle is part of the system HE IS A BASTARD PIG TOO WHETHER HE HAS RACIST INTENTIONS OR NOT #he is white by default it will come out eventually we live in a racist society. he is part of a oppressive system no matter what he does #he will always be included i dont give a fuck if he was a good cop he would resign and find another job that doesnt involve #policing

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Real talk I think Cherry Coading and R. Marie should switch evil genius partners for a week and see what happens

#not even in a romantic way its almost like theyre switching jobs 😂 #mostly losing my mind thinking about mojo trying to deal with r marie's pure fucking evil vibes and almost not being able to handle it 😂 #like yeah he's evil of course but she's also just bitter and mean. theyre definitely gonna fight at some point hrnsjxbfb #OMG WAIT AND I MADE HER CANONICALLY DISLIKE ANIMALS. OH THEYRE GONNA FUCKIN FIIIIIIIIGHT #she would probably give such backhanded compliments like 'sure pretty good evil plot.. for a monkey <_<' HRNDJDBTX #meanwhile cortex is so so used to r marie's mean fucking love that cherry's sweet adorable good vibes would be DISTURBING to him 😂😂 #like he might enjoy it for a minute but his masochist ass would definitely not be able to handle that level of SWEET and GENTLE #and i dont mean not be able to handle in a cutesy way like awww ohhh he gets to experience gentle love NO. HE WOULD BE SICK #she's like 'wowww dr cortex thats such an impressive machine! you built it all on your own omg you are SO smart!!! >w<' and he would GAG #meanwhile in townsville r marie and mojo are just trying to out-evil each other 😂she isnt even helping with anything its a str8 up contest #i guess that also means r marie dealing with the powerpuff girls 0-0 crash always stops cortex thru luck and making stuff backfire on him #but he's never actually FOUGHT him (unless u count twinsanity) but those girls are BRUTAL so r marie definitely boutta lose some teeth 😳 #i think at the end of the week everyone is going to be more than relieved to go back where they belong 😂💀😂💀😂 #ruby rambles #🍒🧠: evil does it better #💜: the man of my schemes #🍒🧬: emotional processing lag #💜: loving you's a felony

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Same voice actor...

#i know i know he's also the voice of dio #but i haven't seen jojo and these are only examples from things i've seen #he... keeps showing up. when he was announced as the voice for nikolai i just. yeah. but then i also knew he'd do the character justice #and then he did. amazing. #he always does such a good job. i just can't get over the range of characters here. like. what #from left to right top to bottom: #nikolai gogol (bsd)/snufkin (moomin)/ranka fujioka (ohshc)/adam (sk8)/tatsuya suou (persona 2)/shuu iwamine (hatoful boyfriend) #anyways i know this is obvious to everyone else but i made this for me mostly. i need to look at it every once in awhile to remind myself #storyrambles

[abstractlesbian]

Find someone slightly annoying but in really small harmless ways so I decide none of the behaviours are worth bringing up with them → realizing: hey, Im also annoying! solidarity! → realizing we have a lot in common and starting to bond → finding out other people find this person annoying and are vocal about it behind their back → finding out this person has ADHD like me that's (at least one reason) why we have all these traits in common → fear.

#trying to be as vague as possible even tho this is someone I know offline and no one involved follows me online #on one level I get it that relying someone who is forgetful and does things slower/differently than you can be frustrating #but like its a medical condition. and u dont need to know someones medical info to have some empathy instead of assuming malice/incompetence #i just found out they have adhd today but day one i was able to go 'wow i did not like the way they handled that but i dont think they were #being hurtful/careless we just handle this task differently. rhey didnt do anything wrong and i can let this go and adjust my expectations' #not to say im perfect and never ableist towards others. my first reaction to seeing traits i dislike in myself (from my disabilities) #in others is often to get annoyed and needing to adjust my thinking #i get annoyed with myself when I cant focus / cant be coherent or concise / cant finish tasks quickly etc #→ get annoyed sometimes when I see others doing that → realize thats not fair to them → realize thats not fair to myself #→ assume good intentions and find ways to communicate/collaborate better with them → get along better and maybe make a new friend! #sorry i am rambling #idk its scary seeing someone being disliked for adhd symptoms/traits that im mostly doing a good job of managing/hiding in this #social environment so far and knowing that could happen to me in the future #but im also like ready to have this persons back #me 🤝 them: prioritizing the wrong tasks and overexplaining things and struglging to get our points across #and not noticing when we talk too loud and forgetting tasks halfway thru etc #not to be that guy but : without love it canmot be seen!!!! #lifes so much better if u just assume ppl arent doing things a certain way to be annoying + let go of / adapt to the thing that are annoying #but not harmful #thats not exactly what without love it cant be seen means but thats one of the ways i apply it in life #just like dont assume malice. assume u dont have all the info. approach ppl/situations with empathy. #or youll make yourself more miserable needlessly #again like only for shit that's not harmful obv #i need to shut up and go to bed

[an-eldritch-peredhel]

#dang it do i have a new oc now

Sounds like!! I'd love to hear more if you've got it!

(referring to my tags on this post)

You will meet a stranger, sometimes, if you make a habit to frequent taverns, inns, halls for game, or even the one tree where the young Bracegirdle cousins sneak off to play marbles. Well, you will like as not meet many strangers, except in the last case, but this one will be different. Or perhaps you get lucky, and don't frequent such places, but find yourself in one unexpectedly, and meet them regardless.

Everyone in Gondor knows someone who knows someone who met Lady Luck, no one has met her themself. If you do, starry-eyed romantics say, you'll be blessed with good fortune for all your days. The pragmatists tell you you'll be blessed with the good sense to discern a scam.

He may smirk at you after winning a bet, some dark-haired man, using his earnings to buy a round for the bar. It's always a different man, but it always goes to Alwed's tab. It keeps the crowd from getting too rowdy, even if the more superstitious get on edge.

No one remembers meeting them the first time, but dwarves with common sense avoid Audr's shell games and silver-toothed smile- you always win, but it's never worth it.

A woman with greying-gold hair and stiff fingers might call herself Eadrun, and challenge you to a game of dice. Few decline, and far fewer win.

For as few elves remain in Middle Earth, the one who calls himself Herendil and laughs as though his name is a joke should be recognizable. He seems young and lighthearted in a way most have lost, but he will play you cards, win just as much as he loses, and disappear, never recognized.

A hobbit-lass may giggle, red curls gleaming in the sun, and introduce herself as Peony Sandheaver, her family is visiting from Bree, and she wants to see how Shire-hobbits play Jacks.

Sometimes an orc prays over a set of knucklebones, knowing that at least one god will hear one prayer. Orcs have little luck in battle, but uncanny luck with dice.

There are countless stories, just as many true as not. Countless names, far more unnamed figures, always just out of place enough wherever they are to be interesting and promise new tales, never enough to provoke suspicion, not at first.

Even those in the Blessed Realm may find this dark-eyed stranger. Always dark-eyed, like bottles of dark glass. They stop by Aulë's workshop on occasion, to learn and suggest and play new games. They never win the first round, but most have the sense not to bet anything they aren't willing to lose on the second.

Oromë's people call them Umbarnica with a laugh and a toast in welcome. They thrive in the drunken revels after a successful hunt, sharp as ever as they dance from game to game, cackling at ill-advised propositions offered as collateral for or against a bet. Usually this means them winning to avoid it, a frequent enough occurrence as-is, but every now and then they'll decide to let someone get lucky. The bragging rights are the real reward.

And there are no guarantees with this stranger. No way to ensure their favor, though many ways to get their attention, few good. They like irony, take pleasure in hubris reaching its fall. They love superstition, even if they don't always honor it, and they love stories. There are gods that can be mistaken for kind, they are not one of them, created to serve the king the Dark Lord could have been. Their favorites are fickle, their grudges subtle but long-held. They love cheaters, unless they're at the end of the attempt. They will always catch you, and you will always regret it. They slink through candle-shadows and pipe-smoke, grinning, dance in town squares turned to faire grounds, curl up on comfy chairs indoors on rainy days.

But sometimes, in these days, you won't meet a stranger at all. Sometimes your storyteller will get a bright-dark glint in their eyes, and some dice will roll strangely high and some dice will roll strangely low and either way the story will be better for it. And if the next time the group meets you need to take a moment to remind the storyteller exactly what happened last session, well. That's why you take notes.

So pray to the dice-god, card-master, quick-sighted. It might do you no good, but they love superstition, and they love stories. And when you play a dark-eyed stranger, don't cheat at cards.

#ask #cuarthol #umbarnica #my writing #my ocs #they play favorites with the orcs because they feel like they have bad enough luck as is so they throw them some bones #and they like the Narrative of it all #i had fun writing this #they're very amoral not in the sense of being Evil and Bad they just. don't have morals. #they're kinda like a trickster god i think. and they like underdogs but not as much as people think #in my headcanon a lot of powerful maiar were intended to serve melkor before he went all evil but not all of them also went evil #and that leaves a very interesting crack for them to fall through because they just don't really. fit. anywhere #my arien is also a case of this (sibling of the balrogs) #and ultimately the deciding factor in turning evil is mostly if they are able to find support and a purpose with people who care about them #even if they still don't quite fit in #so umbarnica is also a case of this but instead of arien who found her niche by following the formula as closely as possible #(find a vala- take a role under her doing something directly related- oh whoops Fate called so i'm going to be a good maia and do my duty) #(if i don't do everything right i'm going to go insane and then go evil. please for the love of eru let me just do my valar-damned job) #umbarnica went 'yeah you can't tell me what to do. if you try to keep me stuck here in aman i will go insane and then go evil.' #'is that what you want? no? then let me cause nice low level chaos and fun wherever i want and i'll stay out of your hair' #i think they like dnd a lot for the sheer novelty of it #a lot of their domain is gambling or adjacent so to have a game of chance that seeks to tell stories and build community is intriguing #namo is probably the one who has official jurisdiction over them? but mostly in the sense that fate and luck are tied up #he does the bare minimum to make sure they don't get out of hand. neither *likes* this arrangement but they're content with it by now #but yes i'm gonna be calling them umbarnica #is that their name? sure as much as anything can be. #i just thought that 'little doom' would be a really funny euphamism tbh

[qubitos]

i don't think ive ever experienced the sort of emotion i felt when carre gave roier the coordinates for the global quest turn-in. like on one had LA TRAICIÓN on the other hand YES DRAMA and on the other other hand yaaaayyyy roier i love roier yaaayyyyy ^-^

#qsmp #qsmp purgatory #i dont think it even really mattered in the end but in the moment it was everything to me #q!carre #q!roier #i also felt bad for carre since he wasnt with anyone else who spoke mainly spanish :/ #i mean cellbit was there and he does a really good job with spanish but he was mostly speaking english the whole time

[queermediamonday]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

One of the best things ever, this movie is literal perfection.

(Dr. Frank-N-Furter in his iconic drag outfit from the song Sweet Transvestite in the front, with Brad and Janet in their traditional 50s clothes in the back.)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical comedy movie based on the theater production by the same name. A tribute to classic science fiction and horror movies, it tells the story of Brad and Janet, a stereotypical 1950s US-American couple, who get caught up in a Frankenstein-like science experiment, leading their traditional world to clash with a very sexually liberated one.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. While the first reactions to the movie were negative, it gained cult status when people started to interact with it during screenings, first by yelling comments, that then evolved into a whole script of lines to say at certain points. People started to dress up like the characters, and a shadow cast acted out the movie alongside the real actors. This subculture of Rocky Horror late night screenings still exists today. 

Both the movie and its fanbase are very queer. The story is, above all, about sexual liberation, and it features same-sex sexual relations as well as characters in drag who loudly self-identify as “transsexuals”. Also worth noting is the age and body diversity of the background dancers. As to the fanbase, Rocky Horror screenings opened up a new space for people to be openly queer and experiment with gender expression.

All in all, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an absolute classic both for fans of science fiction, musical theatre, and queer people in general, and everyone should have seen it at least once.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

#this thing really is my Number 1 Comfort Movie at the moment #it just does a really good job creating this alternate pocket reality #that is mostly Vibes #and the Vibes are that being somewhat weird is good and encouraged #it is so beautifully imperfect #clothes don't quite fit or have holes in them and many songs end with everyone screaming and running around #also the sex in this movie is just FUN #people are doing it because it's fun and they feel like it #Idk it's just nice to watch #movies #queer media #queer movies #queer cinema #the rocky horror picture show #musical movies #horror movies #science fiction #Queer Media Monday