#I'm not even tagging it as meta

[laundrybiscuits]

Just curious and i like hearing your thoughts on this stuff. May i ask what aspect of steddie fanon you're referring to (which don't fit IRL queer culture so accurately)?

Ahaha...okay so. IMPORTANT NOTE: fandom is not that crucial, do whatever you want, run free through daisy fields of whatever headcanons and characterizations you please. Also, fic is not real life and that's okay!!

That being said, fandom can get slightly weird about sex, especially queer sexual cultures and especially historical queer sexual cultures. I mean, I get it! Our current hegemonic understanding of sexuality is actually pretty recent; I studied sexuality from a sociological perspective as part of my undergrad degree, focusing on moral panics (gosh I wonder why Eddie's character arc appeals to me! so mysterious!), and I know just enough to know that I don't know shit. So I certainly don't expect anyone to be doing paradigm-shifting sociohistorical research for a fic. That would be ridiculous.

All of this is leading up to say that based on 1) the relayed experiences of queer mentors who were in the scene in the 80s 2) the secondary sources I’ve researched 3) personally having many gay male friends who love oversharing through the last ~15 years, I believe that if canon-compliant gay Eddie Munson is a virgin, it’s largely by choice. 

I've seen it suggested that Eddie's poor academic performance and nerdy interests would be, essentially, a dick deterrent. And like...I enjoy Eddie’s weirdo loser vibe as much as the next fan. I fully support him not being in any way smooth or cool with boys. But even when I myself was in my late teens/early twenties, many of my closest friends were awkward nerdy twinks who absolutely managed to get laid every weekend because MSM* hookup culture is eternal. 

And in the early 80s, when Eddie would’ve been in his late teens, MSM hookup culture was at its peak. AIDS still wasn’t being taken that seriously, and transmission etc. wasn’t really understood because…well, you know this story. It’s not a good story. Fuck Reagan. 

In short, I really can’t emphasize enough how certain types of sexual contact were extremely available for men seeking sex with men. A pretty young thing like Eddie could have literally as much sex as he wanted. Nobody is asking him for a high school transcript or anything about his hobbies, they’re asking if he tops. 

Now, would Eddie actually participate in the hookup culture of the time? That's a more complicated and speculative question, and not actually what you asked, but I'm going to talk about it briefly anyway.

In the 'yes' column: he has his own vehicle**, zero supervision, and a penchant for risky behavior.

In the 'no' column: the boy has at least three extremely involved hobbies eating up his spare time and energy; he's also a not-so-secret romantic.

Personally, I can see the pseudo-intimacy appealing to Eddie's tendency to keep people at arm's length, and I think it’s very plausible for him to be curious and experimental enough to want to explore a bit. I tend to land on 'tried it a few times, doesn't make a habit of it' in my backstories. I also tend to hint at the softer, friendlier side of hookup culture in my fics, just because I don’t often see it represented. 

Of course it’s like any other scene, there are bad actors and generally shitty people/situations, and sometimes the MSM scene specifically can be a bit of a soul-draining meat market. (ETA, because I am not white and neither are the vast majority of my friends and I felt increasingly weird not mentioning it even though it's not relevant to Eddie's situation: the scene is often also super racist, among other things! But that's a whooole other complicated kettle of fish, and again, not relevant to Eddie's situation.)

But there’s also space for casual sex to be part of a friendly relationship, in a way that I don’t really see in hetero circles. It’s hard to explain. It’s one of those dynamics that basically never shows up in mainstream media at all, so I absolutely don’t blame fics that don’t show it either. It’s just one of those things.

This is a step to the left, but I recommend checking out Dykes To Watch Out For: it’s practically an anthropological document depicting dyke culture in the 80s, it’s often funny as hell, and it’s just a fantastically detailed and relatively accessible window into a particular way of life that doesn’t really exist anymore. 

*MSM = men who have sex with men. It’s a sociological designation; not everyone in this category identifies as gay, bi, queer, etc. It may be useful to think about sexuality as having three distinct components: behavior, identity, and desire. The term “MSM” puts focus on the behavioral aspect, because it’s most relevant in this context. 

**As someone who has experienced several other countries' driving cultures, I just want to emphasize to non-Americans how willing many Americans are to drive for multiple hours for basically any reason whatsoever.

#askbox #GOD this got long #I will absolutely delete this and go on a blocking spree with zero notice if it sparks any discourse whatsoever #I'm not even tagging it as meta #I just get so freaking paranoid when talking about sex/sexuality publicly on this hellsite #ETA new tag: #ST meta for TS

[starflungwaddledee]

maybe a little bit generic of me, but i adore the dream land four!

magolor and bandee are tied for tippy top favourite, but this whole group just mean everything to me and i am extremely normal about them. after these guys it's probably a very close galacta knight and marx!

king dedede was actually my first ever played exposure to the franchise (through smash multiplayer at a party where i picked him due to Bird) and marx was my first 'character i recognised + played + was obsessed with outside the mains' in star allies so i still consider him my original Little Freak (affectionate)

ask answer for @trainerbob23!

#i actually had to really fight with myself not to make dedede even more Penguin than this. a stylistic compromise Was Reached #and i'm happy to compromise!! ha ha! ha!! totally fine!! *squints grumpily at the yellow bill in bird nerd* #changes on meta knight and magolor however are from the events of awtdy. consider this a happy ending snapshot! #*obviously* meta knight gets back to his loved ones. that's not a spoiler right? we wouldn't leave him rock-candied forever. #a little softer and a little more protective tho. definitely makes sure to tell them that he loves them more often. (even magolor) #awtdy au #my art #meta knight #king dedede #kirby #magolor #bandana waddle dee #and also on account of it being at the end of the au i'll tag this -> #bandee x magolor #🍎

[morethanwonderful]

Sorry but I cannot stop thinking about DirkJake in the epilogues. Not even them during the actual body of the epilogues, but everything that's implied about their relationship over the seven years between them winning the game and John's choice.

Like, Dirk and Jake dated for five months and broke up when they were sixteen years old. And ever since then, for the past seven years, they have apparently been caught in this bizarre on and off situationship. Dirk is so bitter about Jake in Meat, and we never even get told what happened between them directly. We just get little hints and gestures toward what went down.

We know that Dirk and Jake were hooking up at some point over the past seven years. We don't even know whether they actually tried again at a relationship at some point or if they just had sex a couple of times, but we know it was something. We know it was enough for Dirk to consider himself heartbroken over. We know that Jake has apparently spent his young adulthood having ridiculous amounts of sex with ridiculous numbers of people, which means there probably wasn't any long-term monogamy. (Not that people in committed relationships can't agree to also have sex with other people, but we both know Dirk Strider is too possessive for that). We know that Dirk continued to be overbearing enough that what Jake wants most (when not mind-controlled) is to feel as independent from Dirk as possible.

And like, the implications about the dynamic when they are together, christ. Dirk narrates in Jake's head about the last time they "didn't hook up," which "didn't happen," and the way he says it makes me certain that "this didn't happen" is a Jake line that Dirk's bitter about. Dirk also, after the last time they hooked up, swore to never enter Jake's house again. Out loud, dramatically, to Jake. Worst of all, there's one line in Dirk's villain monologue toward the end of Meat that implies he's faked and/or played up being suicidal before just as a ploy to get in Jake's pants.

Hell, in Candy, Jane straight-up calls them codependent. She's not exactly an objective arbiter, but still.

Jake and Dirk's dynamic in that seven year gap is so fascinatingly dysfunctional and bizarre. They can't stand each other they're never even dating they're obsessed with each other they're having messy sex on the regular they're "friends" they're breaking up all the time. They do an incredibly sweaty and homoerotic wrestling TV show together five nights a week. They're celebrities. Jake has the most famous dick in the troll kingdom and Dirk barely leaves his workshop. I want to study them.

#in my heart I still think Jake is aro (tho not ace) #and Dirk is. well #Dirk is not capable of doing anything casually #ESPECIALLY not a relationship lmao #I'm obsessed with them #homestuck #dirkjake #dirkjake tag #homestuckposting #this isn't even meta I'm just listing canon facts about them bc they make me feel insane

[captainofthetidesbreath]

since the secret that the FDA blackmailed Colin with is that he is the grandson of Lucas Fontina, I guess you can say that Colin was......... grandfathered in

#😎 Yeeeeaaahhhhh!! #RIP Raphaniel. Colin really getting away with everything you tried. His dad is even part of this group and you can't even get an interview! #Colin Provolone #The Ravening War #Dimension 20 #d20 trw #d20 things #trw meta #YES I'M PUTTING THIS IN MY 'GOOD POSTS' TAG #trw things

[pokkop15]

Thalergy

The opposite of Thanergy (AKA “Death Energy”) in the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir.

So you say, “ok so it’s just life energy?” to which you are mostly correct. Thalergy is exactly that but what’s interesting about this to me (and soon to you all as well I imagine) is the etymology of thalergy!

The etymology?

The Etymology.

Thanergy as death energy derives its name from Thanatos, the greek god of death (technically the personified spirit of non-violent death but modern perception of the name is usually edgier than that lol). So it would be normal for those unfamiliar with the myriad of divinities within the Hellenistic pantheon to justly assume the ‘thal–’ in ‘thalergy’ comes from an opposite divinity of Thanatos that was a personified spirit of life. Except that doesn’t exist. Reading the first two books I knew that thalergy as a word wasn’t derived from any greek or roman words meaning “life” but I didn’t really dig any deeper on where it did come from because I didn’t think it was overly important. I Was Incorrect.

Because you see, the context for me to really connect the dots had gone over my head up until I had read Nona the Ninth. (I recall some meta posts pointing out that the Themes™ had in fact been present in the previous books just less obvious.)

What Themes? And Who The Fuck Is Thalergy Named For??

Thalassa.

Primordial Goddess Of The Motherfucking SEA!!!!

So yeah! Remember all those posts talking about the importance of all the themes regarding the sea/ocean in the Locked Tomb series? Yeah so here’s more fuel for that lmao

Edit 11/20/2022: also many people have brought up other examples like Thalia (the muse of Festivity whose name also means blooming) as another more direct connection to life and @adurna0 who actually speaks Greek has pointed out that thaleros is in fact a word that means "lively" so even if the Thalassa connection is a thing it is more likely a double meaning than the lone one.

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #Thalergy #Thanergy #Alecto The Ninth #Tamsyn Muir #You fuckin genius I swear #Thalassa #It fucking would be the Ocean too #Also I legit did not fucking have this realization until I was halfway through typing the tags on literally my last post on this blog #But like AHHHHHHH #the fact that even a myriad later the name of the sea still rests on the tongues of people that have never once laid eyes upon her #OOGH #Also if you've come this far never expect TLT meta from me ever again #I'm not saying it'll never happen but the odds are low #I barely even reblog TLT stuff to this blog cuz I'm too lazy to tag spoilers lmao

[the-headless-horsedude]

HATE to rvb post on the main in 2023 but this meme has been plaguing my thoughts all day

#red vs blue #i'm so sorry #agent washington #the meta #what tags to they even use for him #rvb #agent maine

[descendant-of-truth]

Boruto wearing so many pins and necklaces arguably clutters his design a bit but I think it's entirely worth it for the emotional damage they give me

Like. at this point, Boruto hasn't been able to go home in three years. he's regarded as a traitor to his village and family by nearly everyone. there are orders to have him killed on sight. most of his friends hate him and almost nobody remembers him for who he truly is.

But despite all of that, he doesn't let go of what he had. He wears a badge of the village symbol that cast him out. He wears a necklace of the Uzumaki crest, despite the people saying he doesn't belong to that family anymore. He has a pin of the design that was on the back of his first coat, as if to say that's still who he is.

And the one that makes me go insane the most - he wears a sun symbol, of all things. A reference to Himawari, possibly, whose name means "sunflower"... but seeing as it's not a flower pin, I have a feeling that it's actually a reference to Mitsuki.

Mitsuki, who always said that Boruto was like the sun. For him to now wear a sun on his coat, I can only imagine that he valued being seen that way by him more than he let on; enough to include it in what's functionally a compilation of the symbols of his identity.

He's Uzumaki Boruto, from Konoha, and apparently, the sun in Mitsuki's sky. I am never going to be normal again

#boruto #boruto time skip #boruto spoilers #boruto uzumaki #mitsuki (boruto) #borumitsu #mitsuboru #analysis #meta #From what I've gathered the manga is especially scarce about showing Boruto's side of his bond with Mitsuki #so like. even though I'm tagging this as a ship I think it's a win regardless of how you interpret them #But also just. the accessories as a whole. they're SO good #Boruto looks so cool and stoic but then you look at his pins and you're like oh... he's filled with love still... #peak design concept honestly

[xkcd-for-that]

Hey folks, apologies for being somewhat less active lately. I've been covering for several people who are away at work, and it's had me exhausted. Running this blog isn't hard but it does take some effort, so if you've tagged me: I've seen it, I really appreciate it, and I will get to it at some point.

In brighter news we passed 3000 followers a little bit ago! Thank you all for being here.

Everyone at work should be back in early August, so I'll probably try to catch up then. I hope you're all having an excellent day, and thanks again for your patience.

#I'm so meta even this announcement #< new announcement tag‚ I'm trying to tag stuff more for my own automations

[earlgraytay]

in all seriousness though I think the thing I love most about the Goncharov meme is the way it lets Tumblr people play with both the pretentiousness/inaccessibility of film crit and the over-fandomization/misunderstandings that Tumblr likes to bring to media crit in general

affectionately mocking the tendency of Serious Film Criticism to see symbols and recognize patterns that the author may or may not have intended, as well as Serious Film Crit's tendency to mark any moments of homoeroticism as being Meant As Symbolism!!!1! even if it's, like, overtly psychosexual Hannibal nonsense

while also affectionately mocking Tumblr seizing on any film that's even the tiniest bit gay and going "these are our blorbos now", misunderstanding/eliding obvious symbolism in favour of The Gay Reading, turning any evil lesbian into a #girlboss, etc etc etc

@speculativefictions has been inventing out of whole cloth a Goncharov-themed Supernatural episode and a Goncharov-themed Riverdale episode and playing with those fandoms' patterns of analysis

(most notably a) analyzing the DeanCas subtext in Everything and b) ascribing a huge amount of intentionality to whatever the fuck is going on in Riverdale)

It's really great to see both the affectionate digs and the loving homage to two different styles of film crit that are genuinely fundamentally compatible, but that you don't normally see in the same place on Tumblr

#goncharov #not tagging this as unreality because i'm explicitly discussing how it's fake #I'm So Meta Even This Acronym #meta #gonchposting

[2hoothoots]

i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:

Restore Ford Cruller's memory

Find Maligula

???

Profit

but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.

[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]

like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.

...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:

[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]

and that's kind of interesting, right?

to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:

"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"

my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.

so what is going on here?

in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:

"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."

other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.

the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.

[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]

i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!

we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.

like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.

i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #bored waiting at the airport so you get more psychonauts meta from me #the delugionists have been on my mind recently (because i Might Just have an upcoming au lorepost about them and also cults are fun) #so tossing my thoughts up here because people seemed to like the last few times i did this #and also it's my blog and i like to talk :) #related vent i HATE drafting posts in the tumblr editor because if you hit crtl+z to try and undo a formatting change #it deletes like half the post you just typed out #(yes i did it again while i was writing this. yes i'm still salty. why do i even bother) #what else... this is just becoming a disconnected thoughts dump #but if you've seen my posts you knew what you were signing up for when you hit the button to expand the post tags #there's new art coming hopefully this weekend if i can get it finished! it's more mermaid au designs #i'm two and a half weeks late for mermay but it turns out starting a new job and moving house doesn't leave you with a ton of free time #but that's okay it's never too late for mermaids #omg and artfight's coming up next month too! geez #i gotta make refsheets for the fsau trio because i would LOVE to get art of them #and this year i don't have a thesis to crunch on so i might actually have time to participate #oh and then in august i'm having top surgery! will make a proper announcement post for it at some point #i say 'announcement'. it's just a life update but it's nice to share #i'm super excited about it :) #i might end up blogging the process and recovery but obviously it won't be going here lol. i'd put it on my main #idk if anyone would find it useful but when i first started looking into surgery i had like very little idea about the whole process #and it's only through joining a bunch of online support/discussion groups that i managed to find more info and resources #so hey it might be useful to share? we'll see #our flight doesn't land for another fifty minutes so now i'm just writing in the tags because i'm bored #alright i'll proofread this and then post it when i land and have signal again. peace out yall hope your pride month is going well

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

i'm a little sad at how sparse steddyhands and stizzy art and writing is on here now after the finale (thankfully, i am still digging through the couple thousand fics up on ao3 so i'm not totally bereft)

because during the airing of the season there was new stuff in the tags every day, sometimes even every few hours, but i think the finale really punched all of us in the face

there's lots of good stuff from before s2 to go digging through of course, and ao3 and twitter still have some new art and fic and memes if you go looking for it, but the difference from before and now seems a bit stark

don't misunderstand me, this isn't me being defeatist, just being a bit melancholy (and mad at the s2 finale tbh lol) about it. shout out to the regulars i see in the tags still making stuff and posting jokes, ya'll are doing the most and i wish you all the passion and motivation and time to create in the world <3

#obviously in this day and age ppl seem to drop fandom right away after the media in question is done so it's not totally unexpected #but the stark difference between so much new art being shared during airing vs the sudden quiet after the finale was. damn. #the izzy tag and regular fandom tags are still pretty active but i have a very specific love lol and it is #stizzy #steddyhands #gentlehands #even the ed and izzy tags are a little more active tho that's mostly because of the meta and angst enjoyers (mood) #anyway as soon as i'm done with finals and have some free time during the break i am going to draw so much old man yaoi #and maybe finally do more of and share my steddyhands mermaid au lol #also one more thing #if i'm sad about how much less steddyhands and stizzy stuff is happening #i am sending so many thoughts and prayers ™ to the frenchie and izzy and lucius and izzy shippers bc goddamn #they also got fucked over this season #we all thought we were winning and then suddenly we all got smacked in the face about it adfgfkj

[sisterdivinium]

You know, for a show with so many female characters that so many of us love given how they all get time in the spotlight one way or another and they fill that time up rather wonderfully since they are deeper and more developed than what we're used to seeing in general media, it is peculiar (to say the least) to see so few "alternative" ships to the main one.

I'm not saying the canon ship doesn't deserve its attention -- I'm wondering instead why the canon ship and it alone seem to guide the WN fans who just so happen to enjoy writing/reading fic or fanart or whatever.

You'd think all these cool women would inspire more ships or combinations thereof, but those of us who aren't invested in avatrice just... Float along, around one another, ignored (and, yes, mostly undisturbed too; being unpopular does have its advantages and that includes a lot less weirdos leaving you strange or awkward messages -- it does not, however, shield us from people flooding our goddamn tags on AO3 with fic that has nothing to do with our little ships and I do wish such negligence of the pairing itself meant we didn't have to deal with this spam...)

I am also not saying that fandom activity should be based solely on shipping (and recently someone on Reddit was rather confused by the fact that a lot of it is, which is quite an interesting topic to discuss in itself -- after all, there is more to fan creativity than shippy fic... Or there used to be), merely that, here, it appears that a canon relationship can outshine interest in the other, non-canon ones. It's already there and it was doubtless well-done by the show, so it's natural that it should claim people's attention, sure. It's just that being canon was never the parameter for whether people were interested in these or those two (or more) characters maybe being involved and trying to explore what that could mean through fanwork.

There has always been a complaint haunting fandom spaces concerning the minuscule amounts of f/f fic, art, discussion, w/e based on how few (interesting or sympathetic or relatable) female characters there are in media at large. So what I'm curious about is why fan creations made around WN -- a show that finally gives us a whole cast of female characters that are what we have been craving for decades -- don't also reflect its diversity.

There are alternative ships (I'm here, all happy in my tiny Doctor Superion bubble, and I know there are Camila/Lilith, Ava/Lilith, Mary/Shannon, Mary/Lilith shippers out there, so a warm hello to you if you're reading this), but go on AO3 and compare the numbers of things tagged with these proper pairings to the grand total of WN stories. Better (or worse) still, do so with the "otp: true" trick or simply by excluding avatrice from the search to see how many are left.

It's... A considerable difference. And a mystery, at least to me.

#tagging this as #warrior nun #simply because i'd like to talk about this and maybe some of you have thoughts or theories about it #i just ask you engage in good faith if you do. i'm not pointing fingers at avatrice people i think they're fine and dandy #i'm just -- to reiterate -- surprised at how little interest there is in other ships when the potential is all there #(is it because they're nuns? that never stopped avatrice so why should it stop others...) #(besides lilith is hardly still a nun after s2. bea left. mary didn't really take vows did she? you really thought i was a nun she says...) #meta fandom talk i guess #then again about the nun thing... i have noticed a lot of people just go for aus. i can't recall ever being in a fandom with SO many aus #is the religious aspect an issue by any chance? i also recall someone commenting on how little a part religion played in these aus #curious. very curious. #i imagine some of you are wondering why i care when i don't even read fic but -- #-- to quote jillian salvius herself i am a curious person and well you are a curiosity lol

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Danny 'I don't do weird' Pink frustrates me as a character, because I'm honestly not sure whether he was supposed to have an arc or not.

His primary role is as a foil for Clara's arc and, in aid of that, as a mirror to the Doctor. A solider with survivor's guilt and a man of action who can't stand by when people need help etc., in some ways he and the Doctor have a lot in common, but he's also a very grounded and circumspect personality versus the Doctor's being fantastical and adventurous. Danny isn't curious and doesn't want to pursue new things or experiences, instead he wants to be fully present with and grateful for what he already has. The Doctor is incorrigibly curious and always interested in new things.

Danny is someone who desires nothing more than an ordinary life, and looks for beauty and satisfaction in the normal things and people around him. He wants his world to be small and quiet, he values the mundane things others might take for granted. He's normal, patient, dependable, simple, honest, etc. His reaction to trauma hasn't been to disavow the things which lead him to that event, or to seek out stimulation to avoid thinking about it, it's to be thoughtful and cautious and somewhat rigid so he can always apply the mindset and skills he retained from before he was traumatised.

He's very firm and unbending in his worldview and in his self-image. He doesn't seem to ever reassess people once he's decided what he thinks of them. He's not unreasonable or unwilling to compromise, he is in fact maybe too reasonable, but he is implastic. He's extremely even-tempered except for around his identity as a soldier, which he's prickly about, but still pretty quick to let it go as long as he's not being deliberately antagonised.

So anyway Danny represents this other path, and this opposite response to the horror of war and making a catastrophic mistake, but he never learns, he never grows and he and Clara are never much on the same wavelength about anything. He's supposed to be stability, the things she 'should' want, the 'person she's supposed to like', the safe choice, the presentable life which Clara feels like she has to have. He's orderly and ordinary and that's what she wants from him. She has to control her image, her future, and her options.

And their simple relationship, once it exists, functions well as the contrast to her complicated and tumultuous relationship with the Doctor while the companion power dynamic is being dismantled and rebuilt so they can be emotional equals. But like, the set up is confusingly executed.

Listen- they have zero chemistry, they have nothing to talk about and have to resort to talking about work, every conversation goes instantly off the rails, they rub each other the wrong way, there is never any reason for them to keep reconciling and trying again to connect. Like. You are not hitting it off! and keep offending each other bc you're not compatible! Quit!!

Clara is forcing it, that makes complete sense with what she's going through, she's trying to take control of her life and her emotions, trying to prove to herself she's not pining for the Doctor and at the mercy of his whims for her life to be full and complete. She doesn't want to need him or to be dependant on him. She doesn't want to be the heartbroken sadsack whom he abandoned at Christmas or who will take whatever scraps he'll throw her. She wants to control his position in her life and control how she feels about him. Hence her assigning him a specific day and confining their adventures on her own terms. She's trying to keep the Doctor compartmentalised. Having an Appropriate Human Relationship means she's successfully put the Doctor in his box (lol) and neutralised the chaotic power of her feelings for him. I mean, obviously not, but that's what she tells herself.

But what is Danny doing? Why does he keep pursuing this when it's so clearly not a good match?

Again in Listen, and much more so The Caretaker, Danny illustrates that he does not know who Clara is, he's wildly wrong about her and what she's like, and he's very high handed about it as well. He's convinced that the Doctor is taking advantage of her, that the Doctor is domineering in their relationship, that she is not a person who wants to be put into challenging or dangerous positions, that the Doctor is pushing her to takes risks and become a leader where that's not her nature. None of this is true. Clara was always a decisive, assertive, strongly driven person who seeks out new experiences and naturally assumes a leadership role any time that's necessary; she relishes being challenged and facing the unknown. Her blow up with the Doctor wasn't about him 'pushing her too far', it was about him failing to support her when she needed him and condescending to her as a human rather than treating her with the intimacy and equity their bond and history together demands. It's personal and it's about their emotional relationship. It's not about making hard choices, it's about having to make hard choices without her partner being honest with and emotionally available to her.

Clara was always an adventurous person, willing to be spontaneous as long as it's on her terms, and excited by the prospect of authority and responsibility. The danger and challenge isn't an unfortunate side effect or a risk she has to take to see amazing sights, it's part of the appeal. She lied to Danny by omission when she said she went off in the box to 'see wonders', not just because the real reason is that she's in love with Doctor, but also because she doesn't just want to be a tourist. She wants to get involved and save people, she wants things to sometimes go pear shaped. She enjoys and craves that part of it too.

Danny is also wildly wrong about the Doctor, but this is understandable and would be fine except that he's never corrected? He never learns better? What's the point?

In Death in Heaven Danny goes out still wrong about the Doctor, still condemning him cruelly and unfairly while knowing nothing about him. He had a point with his original rant, there was actual insight there, but it's buried in assumptions and bitterness and then Danny keeps tripling down on the assumption. The one which doesn't understand that the very thing he's shitting on the Doctor for (being willing to lead and make hard choices which must be made in order to save people) is something the Doctor has in common with Clara. And always has. The Doctor didn't change her or push her into that, that's who she's always been.

What is the point of Danny calling him a blood-soaked general and mocking him, calling him an officer as a pejorative again, and again because the Doctor is trying to save the planet. Like, memory check, that's what Danny is mad about. The Doctor doing everything in his power to save literal billions of lives. Doing it for no reason, out of altruism. Doing it while always trying very hard not to fight or kill anyone.

I don't understand how we're meant to find Danny sympathetic in that moment, because he comes off like a complete dickhead. And it's all the more frustrating because in the intervening episodes Danny has been eminently reasonable. As I've discussed before, we're exhaustively shown that Danny is 100% okay with what Clara claims is going on, that he doesn't want to get in the way of her friendship with the Doctor, that if it really were only the relationship she's pretending it is, there would be no conflict. He's the one who encourages her to make up with him after Kill the Moon! He tells her to go on travelling and it's fine!

Even when he discovers she's been lying to him and cavorting with the Doctor behind his back (again despite him telling her it was fine!), he's calm and repeats for the millionth time that all he wants from her is honesty. The truth. Which is the one thing she can't give him because Clara knows their relationship is built on the lie. The truth is, as Moffatt said, that Danny never stood a chance. There is a conflict between the two relationships and she's always going to choose the Doctor.

And that does come out, she gives the whole speech to Danny, not knowing it's him, finally being honest. And he seems unsurprised by it, which makes sense because on some level he definitely always knew ('do you love him?' 'no' 'really sick of the lies'), but then nothing comes of it. Clara just soldiers on and he allows her to pretend. He goes off on the Doctor, but not in a way he actually deserves at all, and just sweeps her confession under the carpet. Letting her get away with it again. True to form, I guess! he always did. But shouldn't we make progress?

And it's like... I hate that he dies on that note. It feels like he dies in denial. I guess you could argue it contributes to his decision to not come back, but that feels like a disservice to the character. Saving the kid is important to Danny, it allows him to atone but he didn't need to change or grow to accomplish that and it doesn't provide closure to his actual role in the narrative, which was as Clara's foil. Clara is off the hook, free to go on lying to herself about their relationship. It's not addressed in Last Christmas, either, it's only hinted at.

#clara oswald #whouffaldi #dw #twelfth doctor #dw meta #I feel a constant need to remind people that the first thing Danny asks after Clara explains who the Doctor is #is 'do you love him?' #it's that transparent #and he asks already knowing the answer and immediately calling bullshit when she denies it #and apparently accepts this as not a threat to him on the basis of the Doctor being an untouchable alien incapable of loving her back #like as if she had a crush on a dragon or the Great Wall of China #I can't tell if that speaks to his lack of self worth or if it's just really patronising #I appreciate In the Forests of the Night so much for the scene where he finally realises he should be jealous #but then he's just Extremely Reasonable about it again #he has total faith in his idea of who Clara is- utter conviction #and it's completely misplaced #I feel owed the psychological fallout from this is all I'm saying #calling this meta is being very generous bc did I even say anything #but whatever it's a bunch of words I'll put it in the box with the other words #I've realised 95% of my whouffaldi meta is in tags on gifsets so

[veinsfullofstars]

“I. Am going. To kill that rat.” “What was that, Boss?” “I said, BACK TO YOUR POSTS NOW!” “Y-Y-Yes, sir, right away, sir!”

(ID: Kirby series fanart comic, Kintsugi AU, four borderless panels featuring Dark Meta Knight, Mirror Axe Knight, and Mirror Mace Knight, in which the latter two comment on their leader’s interesting new battle scars, much to his restrained dismay. Transcript below the cut. END ID.)

Good thing his minions aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch - otherwise they’d’ve found out about all the friendly hugs he’s been getting in his off-time.

(… this isn’t too much, is it? Stars, I hope not. I tried to keep it vague enough that it doesn’t have to mean anything spicy. Maybe it was just a very competitive game of tag. Or maybe DMK couldn’t quite reach an itch between his wings and Daroach got a bit overenthusiastic trying to help. Basically anything that could ruin his “big scary cool toughguy” reputation. As long as DMK is too embarrassed to admit to it in front of his crew, they’re all viable options, haha.)

Started 12/25/23, finished 12/28/23, updated 01/04/24. NOTE: This was originally posted on my deleted account on 01/04/24.

—

Transcript:

Panel 1

*DMK walking forward towards our left, M!Axe and M!Mace passing by in the opposite direction, M!Axe waves cheerily to DMK, who glances at them over his shoulder*

M!Axe: Oh, Boss, there you are! Hey, how was the fight? Didja win?

DMK: Hm? What’re you talking about?

Panel 2

*reverse shot of DMK, still glancing over his shoulder, several pink scratch lines can be seen on his back and the base of his wings, each in sets of three*

M!Mace: Got some new scratches on your back, Boss. Nasty ones, too, by the look of it.

M!Axe: (laughing, impressed) Ha! Musta been one heck of a scrap to leave marks like that! I’d hate to see what happened to the other guy, haha!

Panel 3

*front shot of DMK, his eyes shrunk to dots in realization, as a thought bubble hovers over his head - a simple headshot of Daroach, grinning roguishly beneath the shadow of his hat, showing off his claws as they glint sharply*

Panel 4

*front shot of DMK, sweating and glaring fixedly off to the side, eyes still shrunk, a vivid blush inside his visor, while M!Axe and M!Mace stand where they were before behind him, heads tilted in innocent confusion*

DMK: (strained) … … … Yes. … … A fight. … That’s what happened.

#veins art #veins ships #veins fanart #fanart #kirby series #kirby #dark meta knight #mirror axe knight #mirror mace knight #(not tagging them as OCs since they're not really different from their counterparts here) #daroach #dark meta knight x daroach #darkroach #rarepair #AU #kintsugi au #comic #(almost didn't post this one not gonna lie) #(I generally prefer more fluff-centric stuff) #(since even implied spice tends to make the ace brain leap into panic mode) #(plus I don't wanna y'know... accidentally set some kind of weird precedent regarding my art?) #basically I'm overthinking things again) #(but these two have a very specific relationship in my headcanon) #(at least when compared to MetaDede or Marxolor for example) #(not to say there's no fluff btw them - it's just more... neutrally physical? than what the others have) #(“friends with benefits” fits best I think) #anyway - panel 3 DMK face is my favorite thing ever I've decided #suggestive #<- (just in case) #veinsfullofstars

[metatronhateblog]

All Boxed Up

Okay, this one is going to be way quicker than my last one. I just got to thinking.

So recently I came across a lovely post made by @insanity-is-just-a-state-of-mind questioning the sheer bullshit power Crowley and Aziraphale have when performing their 'surreptitious half a miracle' on Gabriel. And I highly recommend the post because it really is a thought process with endless possibilities to get stumped by.

But actually I'm not here to talk about the contents of the post. I'm here to talk about the comments and reblogs made on that post. It seems in the spirit of trying to figure out just how our loveable idiots performed such a powerful miracle, people have come up with the most intriguing idea about how it's a possibility Gabriel had the Book of Life inside that cardboard box and how it could've effected the strength of the miracle (Here's the little addition from @drconstellation)

And all of this got me thinking about...how fucking weird that box is, and come to think of it this isn't even a fully thought out idea, more of a surreptitious half an idea, but like....the box was originally empty. Minus the fly.

Like the box was so empty Aziraphale was confused and tried to take a closer look. Nothing in there but that little fly with Gabriel's memories in it that we see hints of flying around the whole season.

Okay, I recall originally thinking that was weird but promptly forgot about it. An empty box? Who cares clearly it's not important.

And then we don't see that box again until later as the series goes on and threads start to unravel, when the box falls out of the sky into Gabriel's arms after mentioning needing to clean out his desk (to which Michael is hilariously baffled/jealous.)

It just falls down and lands into his arms. Obviously empty cause he's yet to put anything into it.

But then we see Gabriel putting something into the box (we soon find out it's the matchbox with the fly.) But we never actually see him put anything else in it.

He just picks it up, writes his message on the bottom and leaves.

(Don't get me started on all these little symbols yet in heaven. If it's an actual language then something tells me there's a smidge of a cypher for us to uncover. But honestly I don't know because it could just be random symbols meant to look like words that aren't actually.)

So we see him kinda...toss the matchbox out of the box before entering the elevator, also the only item we presumably watched him put in. So by all means that box is just empty right? Should just be carrying a fly and some sharpie on the bottom (all weirdly human and materialistic of the him compared to the sleek minimal items we see of the angels through the show, not to mention Michael's pure disgust at touching the match box, a human object.)

So then. This is where I get stumped.

Crowley and crew head back down to Earth (thanks to Aziraphale doing the little halo bit) and we see both angels and demons entering the bookshop, where we reveal to them finally that Jim is Gabriel.

But first Crowley asks Aziraphale where the box is...the boring little box that was empty when he opened it. This time, Crowley opens the box...and it's filled with stuff??? Hello?

I'm not sure if any of the stuff in this box is important or should be looked into too deeply, but...there wasn't stuff in this box before. And I don't know about anyone else, but I had completely forgotten the box was empty up until @drconstellation pointed out that the Book of Life could very well be in that box. And suddenly I was like...wait a minute the box was empty???

So why is there suddenly stuff in it when Crowley opens it? He promptly dumps it all out and turns the box upside down to see what Gabriel wrote on the bottom. And we see Aziraphale observing something on the floor, presumably from the box. But we never see the contents on the floor or what Aziraphale is looking at. He's certainly not looking at the writing on the box that Crowley is looking at.

So I have two thoughts here.

My first one being. What the fuck the box was empty why was there suddenly stuff in it? Why did I forget the box was empty, and why didn't Aziraphale seem to remember it'd been empty either??

Second.

Could this box possibly be related to the scene we just saw? Our dear little murder Hornet in Heaven opening a document that you have to be a Throne, Dominion or higher to view?

Maybe I'm just reaching. Maybe it's not relevant at all. Maybe it doesn't matter that the box was empty and suddenly it wasn't. Or maybe this is another one of those little 'slight of hands' people have been discussing from this season. Or maybe I'm just going crazy and looking for every scrap of anything I can get my teeth on.

This season has me absolutely feral. But anyways I needed to share this. I'll go back to my little hole now until I have more ideas to dump upon you people.

#good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #archangel gabriel #jim good omens #meta #good omens meta #this one isn't even relevant to this post but fuck metatron #hate that guy #if i tagged you in this post i'm sorry for bothering you #i just need to direct people back to the masterful words that make the gears in my brain dust off the cobwebs

[mrsketchydude]

OKAY HEAR ME OUT I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING This might be kind of obvious but, as always, I like to share my thoughts so that maybe others can share theirs too. It's really interesting how Vash is called "The Humanoid Typhoon", right? Like a straightforward name, a human-looking person who causes destruction wherever he goes, we get that. BUT hear me out, why don't they just call him the Human Typhoon..?

The majority of the people on No Man's Land don't know he's a plant so obviously that can't be the excuse. And I doubt Nightow was like "Well it would be confusing to call him the Human Typhoon when he's not really human" like cmon be real here for a second, he could've easily done that, there is WAY more confusing stuff in Trigun then calling a non-human character a human. I'm bringing in examples from Stampede because it's what I can recall quickly so sorry I cant bring up specific examples from the manga and the 98 anime, maybe later. Well, I mean, when you think about it, most people don't really see this 'Vash the Stampede' guy as a human. We LITERALLY have a whole scene with Meryl poking fun at people for making him out to be this wacky character and not as an actual human. Like she said in the eng dub:

"Real people aren't such caricatures. He's a man, not a monster."

The people of No Man's Land don't view 'Vash the Stampede' as a human. He's basically like an urban legend to them. A rumor you hear about amongst folk sitting on their front porches in the evening. A scary story older siblings tell younger siblings that if they don't behave the Humanoid Typhoon will come and get them. Even Rollo had heard of Vash being talked about this way. He said, after Vash was surprised the kid had heard of him,(again in the eng dub):

"Well, yeah, you're super famous. You're the real-life Humanoid Typhoon, everybody knows you!" "I heard something else, too! You're a walking disaster, a demon who wreaks havoc wherever he goes."

Even in the manga and 98 anime after the JuLai incident, they talk about him like he's this weird cryptid going around causing mayhem and destruction. He's destroyed two whole cities and put a hole in the moon. It would be hard for any human to believe something was capable of this unless they met him in person and saw what he is capable of.

Idk it was just something that literally struck me while I was eating dinner and I typed this up real quick after finishing my meal so sorry if this seems a little messy.

As always, I appreciate the attention to detail when it comes to the writing in Trigun. While this may seem like a small and insignificant thing, I really love how even the smallest of things seem to carry information throughout the story. Just makes it all the more special to me :,)

#sketchy says #trigun #trigun stampede #trigun maximum #trigun 98 #trigun meta #vash the stampede #vash trigun #trigun vash #vash stampede #vash tristamp #i think this counts as meta im honestly still confused on what that means skdmskmd #technically manga and 98 since it is the same in the manga and 98 anime too even if I didn't bring up examples from there #anyways at this point I need to make a trigun rambles tag at this point if I'm going to keep talking about it like a madman #if you made it this far just know I still have like 2 or 3 other trigun posts I'm working on rn KMDKMSDKM #im telling yall the brainrot is real #zazie the beast gave me brainworms and by god are they wiggling #maybe Ill make that my trigun rambles tag ksmdsdmmd