#Nobody needs to go their separate ways to “live their lives”; not unless the characters' priorities fundamentally change

[symbologic]

Will Zoro leave Luffy after they achieve their dreams? Not likely

Saying Zoro's gonna voluntarily leave Luffy at the end of OP so he can "live his own life" (i.e. get married, open a dojo, hang out in bars) is so wild to me. That's like saying Luffy's gonna give up adventuring so he can sit around and gorge himself on meat

First of all, it ignores that Zoro genuinely enjoys traveling with Luffy. Luffy (who's always getting into trouble) gives Zoro the chance to be his best self. And Zoro (who very much wants to be his best self) will always seize that chance with both hands

Second, both characters are like...the poster children of wanting to have their cake and eat it too. If you're Luffy or Zoro, you rarely need to make either/or choices. That's what makes them unique. It's why they've both got conqueror's haki! Basically: If Zoro wants to drink until he blacks out? If he wants to nap all day? Hell, if he wants to get lost in a paper bag?? He is like a big cat. He will do what he wants, wherever he is. He doesn't need to leave Luffy to get those things LOL

Third, Luffy's made it clear the Pirate King needs no less than the Greatest Swordsman by his side. Why would that suddenly stop once they've both achieved their dreams? Is Luffy going to quit being Pirate King? Why would he? Luffy wants to be the most free in the world, so he can live the life he wants...with the people he wants to live it with

In other words, Luffy isn't letting Zoro go without a fight — not unless Luffy genuinely feels he's no longer the type of man Zoro would want to travel with. And wouldn't that be the worst ending for both of them?

#monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #one piece #text post #my meta #zolu #tho just kind of?? #keep seeing this take on different platforms and I simply do not understand where it comes from #Whyyyyy would Zoro or Luffy want anything else #when they WORK SO HARD to keep everything they need right beside them? #imo it's very telling that Luffy's response to someone potentially getting married is: #“Great! They can bring their spouse on board!” #I imagine he'd feel the same about children or anything else his crew may want. #Nobody needs to go their separate ways to “live their lives”; not unless the characters' priorities fundamentally change #which happens of course; because people change and that's okay too #AT THE SAME TIME it's so hard to imagine this for characters like Luffy and Zoro #who unapologetically live life on their own terms #are very open about what they want as soon as we meet them #and have ONLY gotten to where they're at because they refuse to make compromises about those things.

[terrence-silver]

"Do you know how long I've watched you? You're perfect." with old Terry pleaseee. However I love your writing because you are the only person who can understand Terry Silver in many situations :))

---

In fact it wasn't even that long.

Terry Silver didn't need long observations to know what he wanted.

Who he wanted.

How he wanted them.

Fundamentally, he felt the act of prolonged watching was a sign of weak character, low confidence and indecisiveness and unless one was organizing a tactical guerilla military ambush, there was no use for looking and no acting. This was a sort of a military ambush, though. In a sense. Desire was a military ambush. Soft warfare and hard desire. And as much as he coveted the sport of stalking and subterfuge for what it was, it was time to strike first, and one needed to know when and how to separate the two accordingly. That he did too. Maybe he had this innate fear of time running thin, leaving him starving and profoundly searching --- searching for something tangible to sink his teeth into and feast, find himself sated and fed with vampiric fervour. Now he was the old man. He was the grey one. Maybe if he yearned, he wanted to do so all the way, all-consumingly, to the hilt, without reservation and half-measures, starting to subscribe at love at first sight. That some bullshit notion like magic was out there, waiting to be claimed by him. That such a thing was possible. In fact, he thought love at first was possible all his life, in certain ways, because he always knew that once he saw something and found himself wanting it profoundly enough to claw, bite, cheat, lie and split atoms for it, it validly existed as an idea --- a chemical, crushed golden powder, waiting to be inhaled. He knew because he felt it inside of him, bubbling like fever, making up his nervous system attached to his brain. Right here. Right now.

And there you were, his blood's heat.

He's casually offering you a drink, like Hades plying Persephone with a mythological pomegranate. Into the Underworld you'll go, much like her. Into the Dragon's Den. With him. If you were to love him you might as well discover immediately just what kind of man he was and how he moved.

Otherwise, was any of this even worth a damn?

He didn't think so, no.

-"Do you know how long I've watched you?"- Terry prods with effortlessly dialed up charm as an ice breaker, because truly, it really was no time at all. Still enough for him to know. On instinct. He looks you up and down, eager fingers wishing to touch and instead, Terry waves one free hand in the air with a smile and shoulders shrugging, trying to draw out your silhouette in mimicry made out of clear oxygen. -"Two hours."- He says the truth, and you giggle, convinced it is a flirtatious joke. Naive lamb. You thought he was a quaint, old six figure pensioner who formerly lived on Malibu beach for his retirement plan and that was about the jist of it. He was so much more. -"You're perfect."- He coos, with a glass of Rosé as flushed as your cheeks offered to you, in kind. Was it wrong for him to want all that beauty, that sweetness, for himself? No, it wasn't. Everything he wanted he was rightfully entitled to anyway. He almost ponders laying it all out in front of you; everything he owns, his networth, his revenues, his power and wealth and telling you he'll take care of you because he can and wants to, and in return, he'd ask for a world of devotion, you taking your heart out of your chest if he ordered it. When he was younger, he'd play the long con and test you to see if you go for him as he was, wearing elaborate masks and pretending he was a nobody, but now, as things were, Terry Silver wanted you to know and understand exactly who he was and what he was and capitulate for him. Capitulate you would. And he'd plenty time to just watch you. The rest of his life, in fact.

#thank you anon #you're very kind #terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #terry silver x reader #terry silver x beloved #old man terry #yandere

[nevarroes]

i refuse to send these thoughts separately:

who would cas main in league, he wouldnt play isnt an answer the mans gender is at least 25% calling people slurs on mic

okay but what if what if um 🥺👉👈 someone wanted to write a thing but they were super anxious about getting cas’s voice right in part because by the nature of how you share your creative concepts the only solid vibe they get is Doesnt Talk A Lot, When He Does Its 90% Weird Rude Mean Shit, hence the cesare big top burger comparison

and fuckin um i forget if ive ever asked, i mostly process cas’s fuckedupedness through a lens of npd, but am more familar with bpd because my own brain garbage is a bit of both and having had many loved ones with bpd, does cas ever fully freak the fuck out in an insecure attachment way trying to make gortash Go Away or trying to leave himself(but coming back generally), might characterize that Oh No Hes Going To Die leaves forever cant handle loss unless he “choses” it meltdown in a similar menthol eelnessTM vein

i especially love thinking about cas being extremely insecure because reality will never live up to his delusions of self importance perfection and grandeur because fun fact :^) a side affect of those thought patterns is constant disappointment in a reality of self that can never meet those expectations :^^^)

casim “i AM perfect or ill DIE” carnavorn

honestly "Doesnt Talk A Lot, When He Does Its 90% Weird Rude Mean Shit" is pretty on point here😭😭 I used to say like everyone desires him and then he opens his mouth and theyre like "hmmm yeah idk if this one's worth it chief". Like he has no filter at all but it isn't like he doesn't do it on purpose it's more like he goes out of his way to make sure everyone leaves in a worse mood than before, if that makes sense? Gortash would join in though honestly.... type of situation where Gortash tries to introduce them to some noble family on a party and Cas just drops that some poor girl looks like a fat cow (see this is funnier considering that he stands next to Gortash but ain't nobody gonna say that back) 🙏

aside from that though like.... in private? I suppose this may be more of a tone thing and I'm a VERY mid writer so I couldn't even tell you how I'd show this of the top of my head but I suppose he's more... clearly affectionately teasing? because yeah he obviously stays teasing and calls him a fat bastard in private still and such but it's very obvious if you look at them for a second that it's like a far cry from how he treats everyone else (smth smth his gaze very clearly softens and he allows himself to giggle and you can tell that they have been knowing each other for a long time)

okay sorry im YAPPING but ! ....If you want to write something I'd be over the fucking moon either way honestly like??😭 tbh I think you sound like you get him a lot already but also let me just say additionally... I see Cas as a character that's pretty flexible anyways because he erm... he has mood swings but also doesn't really have smth I'd consider a set speech pattern or something that he needs to sound in character?

anyways concerning the npd/bpd thing I never quite drew a line for him or anything to put him more into one camp but. I mean yeah based on the dying of old age scenario... LMFAOO but also yeah he does. Cas is the type of person that will literally leave the city for months or lock himself in and try to "become a new person" (he literally has moment where he's like "maybe I should just become who Bhaal wants me to be. maybe it would be easier") if there's some dispute with Gortash. It usually ends with Gortash forcing him to meet him again and Cas being something along the lines of "oh my fucking god can I just stop loving you already" but yeagh u know the fact that Gortash is kinda the only person he ever liked or even saw as a friend just makes it worse tbh

and the insecurities/delusions thing? yeah exactly what you said. a lot of his insecurities are insane too tbh like "I can never be what everyone desires" but then he loses it if he's NOT what someone desires, Gortash saying smth along the lines of "I like women too" would be enough to make him walk off a ledge because he can't be that part (smth smth I can be most perfect man on the planes but I'll never be a woman. funnier when u know he could use incubus illusion magic but he refused to his whole life). But anyways yeah as I said once Cas is like... a DEEPLY insecure person at his core even if he'd never admit or think that it shows

anyways after this analysis... Cas plays adc and shits on every support he plays with💯 He mains aphelios because he wants to look at a man but also because he thinks he's better than anyone else for playing a complex champ... hope u see my vison

#blakemail #cas lore #i thinks.... #i think gortash said that ONCE btw just to piss him off but he didnt know to what extent and it genuinely made Cas leave the city #this ones def a deep fucking trauma from his incubus days because of some weird incubus/succubus rivalry that got really out of hand #actually everything is a trauma from that time he got there like when he was a bit TOO YOUNG #fatphobia #mention i suppose

[fluffypotatey]

OK SO. the animations family.

first off i have to explain the QSMP a bit. the QSMP (nobody's really sure what the q stands for afaik) is a multilingual minecraft smp that first started in march 2023. the original server roster was 16 players, half of whom were hispanic and half who were english speakers. (this was bc quackity, the guy who came up with the server and did all the planning and stuff, is bilingual and wanted to unite his two communities). one of these original 16 was jaiden animations (this is important). on the first day of the server, these 16 members were stranded in a place called Quesadilla Island, which is controlled by a mysterious and sinister Federation (run by a weird little guy named Cucurucho)

okay, you know the trope of science projects where you get split up into pairs and have to take care of an egg together? they literally did that. All of the players were split into pairs of one spanish-speaker and one english-speaker, and tasked with taking care of an egg (actually a special NPC played by a server admin). the eggs started out with two lives each, and once those lives were out, the egg's gone for good, and your in-game child is dead. (this is a secret surprise tool that will help us later!)

one of these parenting pairs was jaiden animations and roier, and their egg's name was bobby. bobby was a rambunctious little fella- artistic, brave, very aggressive- and an absolute mama's boy. jaiden, roier, and bobby (aka the animations family) all got along very well, and tbh i need to go rewatch jaiden's vods of them bc they were so sweet together. jaiden changed her minecraft skin to match bobby's so they were both wearing overalls together.

(^ mentally i am here)

jaiden's character (or cubito, a word from the spanish speaking community that essentially means "minecraft roleplay character" that p much the whole community uses now bc its so damn cute) was aroace (just like jaiden in real life!), so she and q!roier were in a qpr co-parenting situation. and it was really sweet and i miss them. can you tell i miss them.

(drawing done by jaiden of roier, bobby, and herself) (the qsmp has an art mod btw)

now, astute readers may have noticed that i use "was" for both jaiden and bobby. on may 17th, 2023, bobby lost his second life to a vindicator and was ruled permanently dead. roier was there at the time, I believe, but was unable to save bobby in time. when jaiden found out, she SCREAMED and it was like. you know in hamilton how when phillip dies eliza screams? it sounded like that. (she also chased after the sunset while saying "wait for me" over and over again, it was really heartbreaking and im still a little bit insane about this).

the next day, the whole server went on a journey to the dungeon bobby died in, to plead with cucurucho for his revival. cucurucho refused to bring bobby back permanently, but allowed jaiden and roier ten minutes to talk with him and say their goodbyes. bobby asked them to remember him every time they saw a sunset.

(^ the last time the whole animations family was together. this was 9.5 months ago).

neither q!jaiden nor q!roier ever really fully recovered from bobby's death (although id say jaiden was hit way harder due to not having a support system outside of roier and cucurucho, who took advantage of her grief to manipulate her). there are some other things that happened here, such as q!roier getting married to a cellbit, a brazilian player working as a double agent of sorts within the federation, and purgatory (all the players were teleported to an island, separated into three groups, and forced to fight one another. in the end the island got blown up by a nuke).

on sunday, cc!jaiden talked about her qsmp character, ultimately stating that she was taking a long break from the server, that she had given the admins permission to do whatever they want with her character's absence, and essentially announced that unless the admins stated otherwise, q!jaiden had died in the nuke explosion in purgatory, firmly destroying the animations family.

(to me, the saddest part is that, recently, new eggs were assigned to groups of childless players, and both jaiden and roier got the chance to raise new eggs, with jaiden being assigned to empanada and roier currently being pepito's sole active parent. and all q!jaiden wanted was to be a mom. she died never knowing she had a second chance to rebuild her family. i am no okay.)

in conclusion:

THE LOVE WAS THERE AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY CAN DO. I AM CRYING IN REAL LIFE I MISS HER SO BAD. SHE'S WITH BOBBY NOW.

oh

#they were a happy family :’( #funny side note i did mimic the Leo pointing meme when you said Jaiden Animations bc i def know about her #the yt animated community was my life in middle school and high school lmao #ironically i didn’t actually watch a lot of jaiden’s stuff but she was like THE animation queen and everyone knew her #tbh i dont remember who was my first #the youtuber who introduced me to that side #i know it’s NOT 0ddonesout even tho i watched a lot of his stories #i guess we’ll never know #smp 101 with gumy #asks

[venacoeurva]

Gotta get used to this keyboard, so let’s get used it it via talking about death stuff w/ Wren bc I mull over it. This is giant, so

Important note that I don’t plot out major characters’ deaths unless that’s like a major component to things (ex. Erveasa and Uthryn, some other non-fancharacters) because I’ve learned from prior OCs I will figure out their death and then just...FIXATE on the fact they die and sometimes stop developing character depth in some fields because I’m so zoned in on them being dead, so I’m majorly avoiding that with Wren with coming up with a definitive timeline for that.

When it comes to death, Wren is pretty avoidant of the topic with people he cares about, it marked a major shift in the trajectory of his life within like 5 days of him being born, then again when he was about 16 as other orphans were going out on their own and succumbing to basic risks we all see our peers fall victim to (illness, accidents, crime, poverty, etc.) and they’d already lost a few prior.

He’s much more tense about death than most Dunmer, but he also hasn’t been raised on the rhetoric of it being another stage with a sense of accessibility of the deceased versus a harsh separation he’s witnessed repeatedly. It’s ironic an assassin is hesitant to talk about death since he deals it out on a regular basis with remorse being a thing long in the past (he does have a code of ethics regarding who he will and won’t take as targets), but it’s something he actively dodges. On top of it meaning he has to process (usually unsuccessfully)  what will inevitably happen and has happened to people he’s close to, what if talking about it manifests it? He may also be immortal and the corprus fucked him up internally so bad it circled back and everything’s insanely functional sans his bad leg (I’m establishing this is how his game-canon 10,000 hp happened, his organs got SO FUCKED UP they became BETTER (while he was like constantly throwing up blood and developing organs nobody’s ever heard of that vacated once he got cured)), so odds are he’s going to continue naturally outliving everyone he knows.

So, as you imagine any conversation about potential and likely events where he has acknowledge death and to help prepare funerals for people like Dusk, Miraak, or Teldryn are high just as he did with his childhood friends back in Cyrodiil, whose graves are completely destroyed or obstructed in the crisis, I’m sure (Compound that on any family history got wiped out in the Red Year and time, too, sore topic in general). Dusk is middle aged, so is Miraak (in my interpretation, at least) and if he is back to being mortal he only has a good natural 40 or less years. Mir might also request a fast death as opposed to getting too old and feeble and if Dusk can’t give him a final battle, it will probably fall on Wren. Given elven lifespans, Teldryn probably has a few more centuries in him naturally, I see him as only about 10-15 years younger than Wren, but that also doesn’t account for the dangerous lifestyle on top of any physical damage all the ash exposure has gotta cause in general. Kurk can’t die and is already dead-ish. He gave up his actual mortal body and exists as deadra do where he can be summoned versus being a physical constant.

Wren could extend their lives with magic, but Dusk doesn’t want that, it’s realistically too risky to do so with Miraak (if he wants it), and who knows how Teldryn feels about it--probably a no given Dunmeri stances on death, but give him a few decades to think on it, considering his comments on werewolves then going on to marry one, lmao. Either way, Tel and Wren agreed whoever goes first can be summoned, like, whenever really. Either way, he’s either already or is going to have to have this conversation with each of them, and he’s going to need a stiff drink.

HOWEVER. I do think about a few ways are more likely to occur with him when the time comes.

His body simply gives up. Right now (4e 20x), he’s in a healthier state than he’s been in, well, like 2 centuries and he wasn’t doing so hot back then either. Who knows the specifics of how he is internally, and one day something could simply give in. Something changes, leaving survival mode for the first time forever alters something, maybe. Who knows, he finds an odd sense of peace, maybe after a particularly fulfilling conversation that got something off his chest or similar and goes to bed and never wakes up.

If his health gets bad enough, he’s gonna want to go out quickly versus withering away and might lose his sense of self if it’s extreme enough. Shit, let’s party, establish closure as much as possible, then get to it. Preferably decapitate him! He’s been curious about the concept of peoples’ heads still being aware even afterword for a bit and he’d like to have an answer about that. If possible, Teldryn should be the one to do it, and if he’s already dead he gets to show up as a ghost and do the honors and they leave together afterwards before going separate ways if faith dictates afterlife (again, Wren is shaky with religion), which is....weirdly sweet.

Basic killed in battle type thing. Not much to specify.

LBR, he has issues that reached the point of stopping making his lipstick because he didn’t trust himself having access to something fatal. He might reach a low where he might actually do it.

Bload up via magic mishap. He just hopes he ragdolls hilariously.

Had to amputate another limb but he fucks up

Azura just decides she really doesn’t like him anymore and does something about it after a few centuries of thinking about it

Nerevarine prophecy...2!!!! Dagoth2 electric boogaloo. Unlikely to happen but he will be extremely angry about this if it does. They’d probably just kill each other like angry chihuahuas but magical and with weaponry and weird gay baggage

Actual assassination attempt on him that works lol

#wrenposting #not art #death mention #long post #you cna tell when the edible hit me while I was writing this #suicide mention

[denndrawings]

Just finished Jedi: Fallen Order so. Thoughts. Mostly spoiler free unless specified.

first of aLL. The music was sO GOOD and the landscapes omg every single planet is so complex and unique and even though you have to stick to the routes in the map the planets feel so bIG and rich in details and gorgEOUS. Kudos to the environment designers. Hands down my fave was Dathomir because it was so beautifully creepy and the aesthetics were On Point and the Sisters storyline is so cool (I loved Merrin So Much omg I hope she has more screentime in the next game).

THE FLASHBACKS. I love how they are used to vertebrate the story and teach us as players the force tricks at the same time Cal remembers them. And how deeply sad they are, (spoilers! Jump to next paragraph if you don’t wanna read them) specially the ones in Dathomir. I played the whole order 66 one at midnight when my house was completely calmed and I could be totally absorbed by the game and I think I will never forget it. OHOHOHO and the one when you are getting the holocrom, how everything gets dark and you light your saber and it’s fUCKING RED. I SWEAR TO GOD I JUMPED BACK AND HIT MY HEAD WITH THE CEILING. That is my favorite moment in the entire game.

Cere!! Her story her character arc I’m- how she deals with guilt and regret and she learns from Cal as much as she teaches him. She feels so damn real and human and flawed. And I’m still not over her look pre-order 66 tbh. And Greez!! He is like a father to me right now. I would love to know more about him in the second game!! How did he and Cere met, how did they learn about Cal, what’s up with him and gambling!! And Cal!! Cal is my boy that’s it that’s my champion my son. I accidentally killed him 1947194719401947 times because I’m bAD AT COORDINATION. But yeah, I’d die for him, no questions asked. His evolution is everything to me, how he looked the past on the eye and decided to build a better future so nobody has to feel like that ever again. And he is like!! Eighteen he is a chILD HE WASNT SUPPOSED TO BE A SOLDIER?? And still, trauma and all, he insists on seeing the good in people and trying to help and !!!! I am feeling so many feelings!!!

BD is my best friend that’s it he’s my favorite droid ever. He tiptoes the line between a dog and a child so gracefully he is sO ENDEARING. (Spoilers! Jump to next paragraph etc) I was separated from him for like. Half an hour. Worst half an hour of my life I missed him so bad.

Listen, I wasn’t a fan few months ago. Hell, I didn’t even know what Star Wars was about, really. Like, shooting stuff and laser swords and spaces naz*s, that is what I knew. Then I watched the prequels with my girlfriend so I could watch Obi Wan and she had So Much patience with me and walked me through the whole thing —still does because I’m not even half way through the movies lol—. She’s kind like that (maybe you’ll read this, I love you cielo! Thank you for everything!). And I think this /this/ has been my breaking point. Cal’s faith, his hope for a better world, his honest best attempt at fixing something that seems so broken beyond repair. Maybe the Jedi as an organization wasn’t perfect because nothing is totally perfect, but, as people, they did their best. And I think that is the kind of thing I needed to hear in a world as terrifying as the one we live in right now. I needed to hear about hope, and rebuilding, and faith on the inherent good in people, and that kindness is a choice that we have to make everyday. Cal said something along the lines of mistakes are a thing from the past and we have to focus on the choices that we can make /now/ that can change the future. That’s so powerful.

Long story short I’ve cried my eyes out a total of like a hundred times through the game, the ending was abSOLUTELY KILLER and I have enjoyed the whole thing so much, I totally didn’t think this game was going to mean this much to me and yet here we are. Go play fucking jedi fallen order if you haven’t.

#star wars #star wars jedi: fallen order #jedi: fallen order #cal kestis #greez dritus #cere junda #im dead this game killed me

[zitrus-indigo]

Thoughts on video games (some of these also are about phones)

First off, every side (gamers and non gamers) are being too hard on each other :

Non gamers might be nicer than you think.

Some of the person that are worried about people spending too much time on video games might show genuine concern for you to discover other things in your life, do your important stuff and for you to not get health issues.

Most of them don’t know much about video games and new technology can be unusual, scary, with our era of constant information, it can be very easy to fall into a unfounded belief that video games are the one responsible for people being influenced and doing crimes.

Gamers just want to spend their time the way they want without people dictating what they should do with their lives. «Video games make people violent», people that do violent acts after playing video games generally have mental issues because most people are able to separate fiction from reality and don’t do violent acts because they have empathy. I’m pretty sure that if you read about every person that committed a violent after playing video games, you would find that these people already had a problem in the first place. Not all video games are violent and not all have shock value because age restrictions exists. Video games mostly don’t shock you unless you’re haven’t be a teen yet, at most they make you cry because you feel for your favourite characters going through things, but you could say the same thing about reading books. Yes it is more visual than reading a book, but video games developers make an effort to tone down the shocking value, unless you’re in a 18+ rated video game where gore is present. «Video games kill creativity and makes us socialize less», both of these are true to an extent. It depends on your comsuption of video games. Multiplayer video games are an opportunity to extend the game variety you play with your friends and family. Singleplayer video games can be played with a person watching you playing video games and making helpful comments during your game. Every video game allows for fans to create a community where they discuss the game. Video games often end up being a conversation subject for many people with their friends and family. Video games just like any book deal with a lot of topics. Creativity often relies on inspiration, alongside books and the internet, video games are a source of inspiration for the next artist generation. Also, persons in video games communities often end up mastering things like painting or playing musical instruments because of their love for video games.

People’s attention span current criticism is way too harsh. We live in a capitalistic, busy society where most of us don’t have the time, the mood or the energy to read a book and the easy to-go solution is to scroll social media. Could you really blame anyone for that ?

« All children do nowadays is scrolling on their phone », not all of us do that. Yes, a lot of us are into this. All our friends are on social media, nobody wants to miss anything. We procrastinate by scrolling on social media because nobody wants to do something boring, we are human. On the Internet, yes there is a lot of danger (and I’d recommend you’d monitor your child) but there is also what we need as individuals a way to express who we are, to grow, to learn, to socialize and to earn our freedom when all we do everyday is sitting in a chair, listening to uninteresting things for eight hours and doing homework. We don’t go outside because we can communicate with our friends without needing to go all the way to their houses, because it’s dangerous and adults don’t allow us to do so. We scroll our phones to pass time. Finally, why should we be blamed when social media are designed to be addictive ?

I’d like to move on with a different topic.

What I think about video games characteristics.

The complicated things nowadays is that video games are on a very difficult position to hold as they are both a business, an art and games.

This leads to unfortunate things. Gamers are unsatisfied and I don’t always agree with video games critics.

Graphics - sure decent graphics are a must but since video games are an art, devs should be allowed to break modern gaming conventions by making their games in whatever artstyle they want.

Gameplay - a must, we all can agree on that

Framerates - I honestly don’t get what people’s complains are about, sure we need to have a decent amount of frames but a few frames drop isn’t something that really impacts my game

Bugs - honestly a game isn’t supposed to have them, if it have negligible ones at least it is fun to break a game

Linearity - I don’t agree with most gamers on this one, I really like linearity, non linearity games sometimes suffer on this since the dev team didn’t think this through if they blended it with some amount of linearity

Map - I actually prefer medium ones, too small is annoying but nowadays games are too big and it is getting ridiculous at this point

Quests - same as the latter

Story - the story doesn’t have to be complicated for me to like it, I abhor story incoherences (hello Tears of the Kingdom ???), games are both supposed to appeal to players and be pieces of art

Sequels - depends on all these factors in the list + my enjoyment, honestly devs should stop making unnecessary sequels to games that have their narrative arc completed, stand alone games are fine

Genres - too many open worlds today and games that copy others, stan indie game companies, with all the technology we have today, why can’t we be more creative and enjoy ourselves creating unique games

In-game currency - Anything pay to win is a big no for me, free-to-plays are best but it depends if getting the currency is well balanced or not, in some games getting money is way too hard

Time - honestly I agree that time as a mechanic is another way to challenge your player but I hate it when you have to rush just like in Mario levels (though they give you an okay amount of time most of the time)

Levels and grinding - it depends on any player appreciation, most devs use it to extend their game longetivity

Weapons and collecting ressources - weapons is one of the coolest things whatever video game you play, collecting ressources can sometimes be as hard as to earn in-game currency, we all like it when both are given as an reward in a game, I hate it when some things are can only be obtained in one single manner like using online

Multiplayer or singleplayer mode - both are cool in their own way, it’s pretty cool to fight, play and meet other people that like the same game as you, it makes you want to surpass yourself, unfortunately there are a few video games that have a very toxic gamer community, I hate it when mostly singleplayer games put such an emphasis on multiplayer mode (why, sometimes it makes collecting ressources much more difficult + not every online is free, ACNH is an example that comes into mind)

Battles and difficulty - rage, unhealthy comparisons and people beginning to feel they’re just bad at playing video games and that it’s useless to progress isn’t talked enough ahead, I’m honestly annoyed by everyone who thinks every video game should be hard, difficulty modes are a cool idea but too many aren’t well balanced, honestly we should have more video games that don’t require to fight and that have creative ways for you to progress through the game

Trading and gifting - two cool mechanics if you use multiplayer

Avatar - nowadays customisation was very much needed, however I’m not convinced by some video games fashion and customisation

Cutscenes - I’m not a « too much cutscenes » kind of person, I like watching them, it becomes more bothering when the game isn’t very good and the story doesn’t make us care about random background characters they show in cutscenes (looking at you Zelda CDI)

Modifying the environment - not my type of game, unless it’s like in Tears of the Kingdom (sorry, didn’t play that much video games, I played like ten, i’m young) where you create things that help you playing and exploring the game

NPCs - depends if they’re well written and give you interesting quests

Cities - depends on shops and NPCs quality, I don’t like it when open worlds don’t have many

Escorts - while everyone is trashing on this mechanic, I think it should be kept because it allows you to do something else for a while, a video should max have seven of these, I hate these too

Time restricted events - « yeah my video game is an online mobile video game, I don’t want the player to leave it, I need to make money », some are cools but the time restriction is glaring, please let us have a life

Stealth - same as escorts

Buttons - hate : too many, confusing ones

Movements restrictions - depending on the game it’s annoying or perfectly reasonable

Tutorials - some are cools, most are annoying, unless a game has a unique and uncommon gameplay, then why annoying us with that ?

Minigames - it gets either really boring if a video game rely only on them and they aren’t cool or it becomes cool if they’re not a primary part of your video game and are cool

Video games physics - underrated

Moving on to the next topic :

How you should approach video games as a parent

A few things

You should follow age restrictions

You shouldn’t approach your child playing video games as something negative

Video games are an excellent opportunity for you and your child to bond, to learn them how to think critically and to make them be open with you

What you should do : play video games most of the time along your child, teach them teamwork, ask them what they think and what striked them (it is an opportunity to make sure media don’t influence them in a bad way), answers their questions, let them play video games a bit alone, when they’re back ask them the same questions as before and continue doing the same as before, you should do the same with any media your child consume

Make screen time limits easy to understand to your child, talk to them about why them spending a lot of time on screens make you concerned, teach them responsabilities, make your child go to school clubs, hiking, painting, museums, playing musical instruments, cooking,

Edit : added a few arguments. Forgot to add that video games are a form of art.

#video games #phones #parents #parenting #gaming

[unpleasant-ghoul]

Oh, hey, look! A post by me that's not about some video game!

I don't normally post shit that's still in progress. But I like the creature and i want to share because I might never finish it (kinda complex for my current skill. Might get too frustrated by the idea/ability difference and drop. happens often)

So, here. Here is it and the whole process of how such things came to be.

This is a pseudocentaur. Those things started for me a long time ago, and it's gonna be a lot to read, so I, ever-merciful, will hide the rest under a spoiler. Here:

So. A few years ago i was reading about Nuckelavee, started sketching, ended up with this:

You can tell from the human-for-scale interacting with it, that even then it had some vague shadow of being more than just a random monster. Not quite a character, but has a potential of getting there. You can also see that that version involved no actual horses, merely a vaguely equine thing that was truly the part of the pseudocentaur. And it was fucking massive.

For a few years it remained forgotten. Then a couple months ago I found it again and decided that I like it! It's neat! But it needs some love and also some actual thought put into it.

And so I started thinking on how's and why's and also on the matter of "does this have to be so big, when my love of things that are fucking ginormous has already led me to an ever-growing number of dragon OC's with absolute MINIMUM height at shoulders being 5. Fucking. Meters?"

So after thinking for some time and drawing for some time I got this page:

(as you can see, size of the creature reduced. Greatly. Also, has actual horse now)

And a much better idea of what the fuck we even have here. And I will share that idea with you whether you want it or not. I'm in a sharing mood. Suffer.

So!

Pseudocentaurs as they are now are parasitic creatures! They infect horses (other animals of similar size can be used, but results vary. Smaller beings can be infected, but don't survive full transformation. It can be used as a way of healing in a pinch, as long as the larva is killed just as the body finished repairing the pre-existing damage before going through the whole "neck splitting open" thing). But they're sapient and generally not evil, so they tend to have standards.

Most, unless there's no choice, prefer dying or even freshly dead hosts, since a dying one gets to continue living, even if it looks gruesome, and a dead one is, well, dead. So nobody's robbed of a whole potential life of Being A Normal Horse. In the case with dead hosts, pseudocentaur takes full control over the body, while with a living host it's usually basically an idealized, fairytale version of riding... Except without ever separating again. I say usually because they're as varied as humans. Some, despite it being frowned upon, take over perfectly healthy animals and essentially pilot them around without any regard for their own wishes.

On the matter of anatomy: the host's original mouth essentially disappears. You can see that: it's just an upper jaw, no tongue, no nothing. The head is not for eating anymore, just breathing (that mass on the horse head's close-up? Extended trachea!) and providing most of the auditory information, as the parasite's hearing is not all that great. And keeping an eye out for danger. Four is better than two! Especially with, again, a living host that can spot things on its own rather than being a fancy horse-shaped periscope.

Now, how does this thing EAT? Not with the parasite's mouth! That one's just for speaking. Not all even choose to have it at all. Instead, there is a circular, fanged, maw at the joint of the host and parasite's bodies. Food (and the body is repurposed for an omnivorous diet during the transformation) has to be shoved in there with the parasite's own hands (or with someone else's. It's not rude to scrape leftovers off your plate and right into your pseudocentaur friend's waiting maw). It's not the most convenient way to eat, but it is how it is. Do it or starve.

Beyond the splitting neck, the loss of jaw, the development of the maw, and the whole "you're an omnivore, Harry" thing, there can sometimes be no changes at all, or there can be some relatively subtle (compared to everything else) stuff: keratinous plating growing on legs, sometimes lengthening of the tail. Might lose some/all fur, might not.

Pseudocentaurs reproduce through two methods: true reproduction, making a whole NEW pseudocentaur is, well. You probably guessed. Two pseuds with living hosts of opposite sexes... Yea. Results in what at first is a normal foal, but bears the pseudocentaur larva in it and transforms after the horse is more or less adult. Those born pseuds are much more in tune with their hosts and, as I've said already, are fully NEW beings. New personality, no experience, they learn as they go. Like children! Except much cuter.

The other, and more common way, is releasing a "fly" made of one's own flesh to seek a new host. The resulting "new" pseudocentaur will have the original's exact personality and same memories up to the point of separation. It can be done voluntarily, or happen on its own if the current body is too damaged. If done voluntarily, the original continues to exist, so it's basically two separate instances of the same dude, just using different hosts and being in different places.

So, there ya have it. Pseudocentaurs. Base inspiration, as mentioned at the start, is the Nuckelavee, additional inspirations for the recent changes were Necromorphs and Illithids.

#ghoul draws #monster

[apollostears]

COLLEGE CONFESSIONS [ jjk ]

↬︎ anime: jujutsu kaisen

↬︎ featuring: nanami kento, suguru geto, fushiguro toji, choso kamo, & satoru gojo

↬︎ warning(s): swearing, college!au, all characters are 18+, mentions of blood

PLOT. in new girl style, you become roommates with five men from your university.

ADVISORY. reader is black and female, unless stated otherwise.

college series

➟︎ meeting the boys was simultaneously the best, and worst, thing that could ever happen to you.

➟︎ on some new girl shit, you ended up rooming with them bc rent was cheap and it was close to campus.

➟︎ nanami, choso, toji, geto, & gojo all lived in this huge penthouse a few blocks down from university (shoutout to them niggas having money). it was two penthouses put into one and it was home to some of the biggest hoes you had ever met.

➟︎ it’s complete chaos.

➟︎ you share a bathroom with toji, whose nonexistent most of the time bc he’s out doin illegal shit (underground fighting) or fuckin random girls.

➟︎ none of them are completely messy, but there has been several times where you have tripped over shoes and slipped on socks because of them.

➟︎ it’s very rare that all of you are in the house at the same time other than to sleep.

➟︎ choso takes you to campus with him since he goes the same time you go. nanami is the one that’ll take you home. or geto. but they will not allow you to ride public transportation.

➟︎ partially because they’re bougie and also because they know how unsafe it is alone on campus.

➟︎ toji owns a small tattoo and piercing shop that choso and geto work at when they aren’t doing internships.

➟︎ besides geto and nanami, nobody cooks. everyone uses the ninja blender though and the air fryer.

➟︎ sometimes, on wash days, you guys will combine shirts and pants to save time but wash everything else separately. everyone but gojo is allowed to wash bc he will fuck up y’all’s clothes.

➟︎ there is a weekend out of every month where you guys just do whatever you want to do. either together or alone.

➟︎ it usually ends up with geto cooking sunday breakfast and all of you watching some movie. maybe even going to a frat party or watching toji fight.

➟︎ they’ve come to like you more than they thought they would. honestly didn’t plan on interacting with you but you grew on them. now they’re your unofficial, official, sugar daddies without the sugar. (although…😉)

➟︎ pls don’t ever buy anything with your own money and let them catch you. they will reimburse you plus interest, for no reason.

➟︎ honestly, you have yet to figure out why they even spoil you the way they do.

➟︎ nanami is a business major with toji. choso is an art major with a focus in architecture and history. gojo is pre-law and geto is a bioengineering major for healthcare services.

➟︎ toji scared the shit out of you at first, all broody and shit. but y’all really bonded after he came back late from a particularly brutal fight and you were up finishing an assignment when you saw him. he looked like he could barely stand and after that, y’all just grew closer.

➟︎ you and gojo have a strong love-hate relationship because how can someone so smart be so dumb?? has gotten you caught up several times.

➟︎ nanami helps you study and it’s so nice because you don’t even ask most of the time, but he’ll hit you up and ask if you have anything you need help with.

➟︎ geto practices his sketches on you all the time to see how it will look.

➟︎ choso and you will use his architecture skills to draw up your dream home 😭. he’s went through ten sketches already.

➟︎ you hang out at the tattoo shop anytime you’re free. sometimes you’ll go there after classes and just do homework until someone comes to the front desk needing help.

➟︎ you cannot play any games with any of these niggas because they ALL CHEAT!

➟︎ choso almost got to scrapping with gojo over a game of chutes and ladders.

➟︎ i feel like nanami likes reading and if you like reading, you guys have your own little book club.

➟︎ gojo takes you on shopping sprees. but it’s literally because he likes going out and drags you with him cause no one else will go.

➟︎ fairytale shit aside…living with these niggas is like fighting demons.

➟︎ nanami got a headache every damn hour bc of gojo so then he snappy like denzel in fuckin training day.

➟︎ toji moody af and releases that anger by having relations almost every night with a new bitch. you can never get sleep and almost always end up sleeping in choso’s room.

➟︎ geto has such a slick mouth, he be causing riots at five am cause he called choso’s mama a hoe. choso don’t play about his mama.

➟︎ gojo will have girls over for the night but never kick them out. so then y’all wakin up to some rando, wearing geto’s shirt that gojo stole and eating nanami’s meal prepped breakfast.

➟︎ you silently escort her out before she witnesses a murder.

➟︎ and ALL five of them purposefully bother you at all hours of the day.

➟︎ talkin to a man? oh, not on geto’s watch. now your ‘boyfriend’ shows up to take you home while threatening the guy you were talking to.

➟︎ you in the shower with the door unlocked again? toji’s coming in to take a shit and gojo’s going to turn the lights off and throw some rubber animal in the shower with you.

➟︎ they both, rightfully so, get they ass beat by you and nanami.

➟︎ thinking about going grocery shopping for the apartment? you better pray to god you leave before them otherwise they will try to tag along and end up adding more shit than necessary, into the cart. y’all once had an $800 grocery bill.

➟︎ gojo stay wearing yo wigs. you don’t complain much bc he’s the one that buys them, and he buys the good kind, but if you see him saying ‘stiff where?’ in the mirror ONE MORE TIME!

➟︎ living with them is a nightmare dressed like a daydream literally.

↬︎ join the taglist: @rubinocore @nyxeclipse @sweeneyblue1 @knjkitten@namjoonswifeyy @sunrayyellowhalo @pimpnameyannie @brownmochi

#kmimagines #mayawrites #black!reader #ambw imagines #anime #fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujustories #jujutsu kaisen x black reader #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #jjk x black!reader #jjk headcanons #jjk hcs #nanami headcanons #gojo headcanons #toji headcanons #geto headcanons #choso headcanons #choso x black!reader #gojo x black!reader #nanami x black!reader #toji x black!reader #geto x black!reader #toji x reader #geto x reader #gojo x reader #nanami x reader #choso x reader #anime headcanons #anime hcs

[olderthannetfic]

I'm a Chinese, nationally and racially. Racial projection seems to be a common practice in western fandom, doesn't it? I find it a bit... weird to witness the drama ignited upon shipping individuals with different races, or the tendency to separate characters into different "colors" even though the world setting doesn't divide races like that. Such practice isn't a thing here. Mind explaining a bit on this phenomenon?

--

Sure, I can try. But of course, fish aren’t very good at explaining the water they swim in.

Americans aren’t good at detecting our own Americanness, and a lot of what you’re seeing is very much culturally American rather than Western in general. (In much of Europe, “race” is a concept used by racists, or so I’m told, unlike in the US where it’s seen more neutrally.) Majority group members (i.e. me, a white girl) aren’t usually the savviest about minority issues, but I’ll give it a shot.

The big picture is that most US race stuff boils down to our attempts to justify and maintain slavery and that dynamic being applied, awkwardly, to everyone else too, even years after we abolished slavery.

There’s a concept called the “one drop rule” where a person is “black” if they have even one drop of black blood.

We used to outlaw “interracial” marriage until quite recently. (That meant marriage between black people and white people with Asians and Hispanic people and others wedged in awkwardly.) Here’s the Wikipedia article on this, which contains the following map showing when we legalized interracial marriage. The red states are 1967.

That’s within living memory for a ton of people! Yellow is 1948 to 1967. This is just not very long ago at all. (Hell, we only fully banned slavery in 1865, which is also just not that long ago when it comes to human culture.)

Why did we have this bananas-crazy set of laws and this idiotic notion that one remote ancestor defines who you are? It boils down to slavery requiring a constant reaffirming that black people are all the same (and subhuman) while white people are all this completely separate category. The minute you start intermarrying, all of that breaks down. This was particularly important in our history because our system of slavery involved the kids of slaves being slaves and nobody really buying their way out. Globally, historically, there are other systems of slavery where there was more mobility or where enslaved people were debtors with a similar background to owners, and thus the people in power were less threatened by ambiguity in identity.

Post-slavery, this shit hung around because it was in the interests of the people in power to maintain a similar status quo where black people are fundamentally Other.

A lot of our obsession with who counts as what is simply a legacy of our racist past that produced our racist present.

--

The other big factor in American concepts of identity is that we see ourselves as a nation of immigrants (ignoring our indigenous peoples, as usual). A lot of people’s families arrived here relatively recently, and we often don’t have good records of exactly where they were from, even aside from enslaved people who obviously wouldn’t have those records. Plenty of people still identify with a general nationality (”Italian-American” and such), but the nuance the family might once have had (specific region of Italy, specific hometown) is often lost. Yeah, I know every place has immigrants, and lots of people don’t have good records, but the US is one of those countries where families have on average moved around a lot more and a lot more recently than some, and it affects our concepts of identity. I think some of the willingness to buy into the idea of “races” rather than “ethnicities” has to do with this flattening of identity.

New immigrant groups were often seen as Other and lesser, but over time, the ones who could manage it got added to our concept of “whiteness”, which gave them access to those same social and economic privileges.

Skin color is a big part of this. In a system that is founded on there being two categories, white owners and black slaves, skin color is obviously going to be about that rather than being more of a class marker like it is in a lot of the world.

But it’s not all about skin color since we have plenty of Europeans with somewhat darker skin who are seen as generically white here, while very pale Asians are not. I’m not super familiar with all of the history of anti-Asian racism in the US, but I think this persistent Otherness probably boils down to Western powers trying to justify colonial activities in Asia plus a bunch of religious bullshit about predominantly Christian nations vs. ones that are predominantly Buddhist or some other religion.

In fact, a lot of racist archetypes in English can be traced back to England’s earliest colonial efforts in Ireland. Justifying colonizing Those People because they’re subhuman and/or ignorant and in need of paternalistic rulers or religious conversion is at the bottom of a lot of racist notions. Ironic that we now see Irish people as clearly “white”.

--

There are a lot of racist porn tropes and racist cultural baggage here around the idea of black people being animalistic. Racist white people think black men want to rape/steal white women from white men. Black women get seen as hypersexual and aggressive. If this sounds like white people projecting in order to justify murder and rape... well, it is.

Similar tropes get applied to a lot of groups, often including Hispanic and Middle Eastern people, though East Asians come in more for creepy fantasies about endlessly submissive and promiscuous women. This nonsense already existed, but it was certainly not helped by WWII servicemen from here and their experiences in Asia. Again, it’s a projection to justify shitty behavior as what the party with less power was “asking for”.

In porn and even romance novels, this tends to turn up as a white character the audience is supposed to identify with paired with an exotic, mysterious Other or an animalistic sexy rapist Other.

A lot of fandoms are based on US media, so all of our racist bullshit does apply to the casting and writing of those, whether or not the fic is by Americans or replicating our racist porn tropes.

(Obviously, things get pretty hilarious and infuriating once Americans get into c-dramas and try to apply the exact same ideas unchanged to mainstream media about the majority group made by a huge and powerful country.)

--

Politically, within the US, white people have had most of the power most of the time. We also make up a big chunk of the population. (This is starting to change in some areas, which has assholes scared shitless.) This means that other groups tend to band together to accomplish shared political goals. They’re minorities here, so they get lumped together.

A lot of Americans become used to seeing the world in terms of “white people” who are powerful oppressors and “people of color” who are oppressed minorities. They’re trying to be progressive and help people with less power, and that’s good, but it obviously becomes awkward when it’s over-applied to looking at, say, China.

--

Now... fandom...

I find that fandom, in general, has a bad habit of holding things to double standards: queer things must be Good Representation™ even when they’re not being produced for that purpose. Same for ethnic minorities or any other minority. US-influenced parts of fandom (which includes a lot of English-speaking fandom) tend to not be very good at accepting that things are just fantasy. This has gotten worse in recent years.

As fandom has gotten more mainstream here, general media criticism about better representation (both in terms of number of characters and in terms of how they’re portrayed) has turned into fanfic criticism (not enough fics about ship X, too many about ship Y, problematic tropes that should not be applied to ship X, etc.). I find this extremely misguided considering the smaller reach of fandom but, more importantly, the lack of barriers to entry. If you think my AO3 fic sucks, you can make an account and post other fic that will be just as findable. You don’t need money or industry connections or to pass any particular hurdle to get your work out there too.

People also (understandably) tend to be hypersensitive to anything that looks like a racist porn trope. My feeling is that many of these are general porn tropes and people are reaching. There are specific tropes where black guys are given a huge dick as part of showing that they’re animalistic and hypersexual, but big dicks are really common in porn in general. The latter doesn’t automatically mean you’re doing the former unless there are other elements present. A/B/O or dubcon doesn’t mean it’s this racist trope either, not unless certain cliched elements are present. OTOH, it’s not hard for a/b/o tropes to feel close to “animalistic guy is rapey”, so I can see why it often bothers people.

A huge, huge, huge proportion of wank is “all rape fantasies are bad” crap too, which muddies the waters. I think a lot of people use “it’s racist” as an easy way to force others to agree with their incorrect claims that dubcon, noncon, a/b/o, etc. are fundamentally bad. Many fans, especially white fans, feel like they don’t know enough to refute claims of racism, so they cave to such arguments even when they’re transparently disingenuous.

--

Not everyone here thinks this way. I know plenty of people offline, particularly a lot of nonwhite people, who think fandom discourse is idiotic and that the people “protecting” people or characters of color are far more racist than the people writing “bad” fic or shipping the wrong thing.

But in general, I’d say that the stuff above is why a lot of us see the world as white people in power vs. everyone else as oppressed victims, interracial relationships as fraught, and porn about them as suspect. Basically, it’s people trying to be more progressive and aware but sometimes causing more harm than good when those attempts go awry.

#Anonymous

[quickspinner]

Y’all I gotta complain about Zoe for a minute, and stuff like this always gets me into trouble, so please, please just keep scrolling if you don’t wanna hear it. IDK I guess I’m hoping if I just get some of the griping out of my system I can quit thinking about it. 😂 Spoilers for season 4 under the cut. 

I want her to be a villain so bad. Why couldn’t they have given Lila a setup like that and then used her effectively? I mean you have someone who admits they lie to fit in, that they like to act, and they come in with the perfect setup to be seen as Chloe’s victim and get in good with everyone else, and then start to lie and manipulate things just a little bit to go their way, and pretty soon everyone’s twisted around and you have a really effective setup for a liar/user who’s not completely obvious, and if she does get get caught, she’s got an iron-clad pity play right on the table already. “I’m sorry, I messed up, I’m trying so hard to do better, please forgive me,” and with the family she’s living in, who would question it? I know they’re not gonna do it, because it would just be repeating Lila’s plot again (only better) and they seem committed to sticking it out with her but UGH WHYYYYYYY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER. I’m not sure how you would actually work out her not knowing Hawmoth’s identity, unless she was a sentimonster, but also how amazing would that be? Hawkmoth creating a sentimonster, while the real Zoe never leaves her boarding school and just goes on, because you know nobody in the mayor’s house is checking on anything there. Maybe Nathalie’s last sentimonster so that HM can keep making his own. ugh that would have been so good. Now he’s got an inside agent that can manipulate things at school, goad Chloe, get close to Marinette if he still wants to target her. 

To me that’s the only way to redeem the fact that you could find the exact same character in a thousand first-time-writer-self-insert fics--seriously she’s a freaking checklist. Long lost suddenly appearing sibling of a major cast member, mistreated by everybody, underestimates her own self-worth so that everyone tells her how great she is, being awesome enough to get even Chat’s attention for a millisecond, getting to tell Chloe off as the new queen bee, accomplishing previously impossible things that we’ve all wanted to see, for example the only one who can convince Mayor Bourgeois to stand up to Chloe, etc etc on and on--literally the only thing she’s missing is being crushed on by a secondary character so that she can be impressive and desirable without interrupting the main ship. I’m all for those things in fanfic, we all wrote that kind of thing at one point and I’m not judging anybody. But it drives me bananas when it shows up in a professional work that should know better (I am looking at you Heather from How to Train Your Dragon).

I know I’m massively biased, but I gotta be honest y’all the Zoeka thing mystifies me 😂 Setting aside all the issues above, we have a character who’s based around truth, sincerity, and perceptiveness/consideration of others’ feelings, and a character that straight up admits she lies to fit in (to the point of being cruel to others), who even after she reforms (so to speak) has no problem lying and manipulating her own sister (masterfully, omg, see above, why wouldn’t they use this), and generally is in the habit of not showing her true feelings or self. This is the exact opposite of what Luka is attracted to in Marinette (clear as a music note, sincere as a melody). I mean, they look cute, I’ll give you that, I think they’d have an interesting friendship dynamic and Zoe could learn a lot from the Couffaines. That’s fine in a friendship, but not great in a romantic partner. There’s a difference between supporting a partner who’s working through some hard stuff, and dating someone you have to fix, so. I don’t find it especially appealing. (I have this same problem with a lot of Adrien ships, to be honest; I ship Adrien x therapy 😂) IDK maybe five or ten years down the road when she’s learned how to separate herself from the roles she plays, but it’d definitely take some really good storytelling to convince me even then. 

Ship and let ship, of course, y’all have a party, nobody needs my approval. Just don’t expect to see me jumping ships anytime soon. 😂

#quickrants #zoe salt #zoe lee salt #zoeka salt #ml writers salt #ml salt

[24-guy]

Coming back to this after watching Wilbur's DSMP videos and oh my god the parallels.

Let's talk about it, shall we?

The similarities and differences between Wilbur and Revived!Wilbur.

Because I think they're not all that different at all.

(Usual disclaimer, this is all characters. This doesn't reflect how I feel about the content creator, if anything this makes me praise him more because this is excellent writing.

My memory is also awful, so if I get some details wrong, I apologise.)

This all sprung from one of my friends mentioning that people thought that Ghostbur and Revivedbur were all separate parts of what once was Wilbur's brain. That, in death, it split. Leaving his ghost form with all of the good, posotive things that Wilbur was, and Revivedbur had everything else.

I argued that, no, they weren't. Because Ghostbur wasn't Wilbur. Ghostbur was so far disconnected from Wilbur that Phil couldn't love him the way he loved Wil when he was alive.

And Revivedbur is everything about Wilbur. And this is gonna be what we're going to focus on. Because it's so interesting.

Let's start from the beginning, then.

Wilbur joins the server, recruits Tommy on his big plan. He's going to make a drug van. And they do, for the time going on. They make some walls, recruit more people. And then a greater power comes and they start arguing. Seeing who's "dick is bigger" as the phrase goes, Wilbur doesn't want fighting. He refuses armour. Only puting it on when it's needed to go against the greater dream smp.

Then you go to pogtopia. And he tells half truths a lot. This is the first case of Wilbur being manipulative. And it's a really smart way of doing it because we, as the audience, are put onto it to. We watch as Wilbur tells half truths and causes chaos, and uses those around him and commands. They're no longer on an active battlefield, and he commands them anyway.

He dismisses Tommy a lot. Even before pogtopia. He treats Tommy giving away his discs as something he should have done.

Now let's look at Revivedbur.

He came back to live, he recruits Tommy to join him. Starts a feud with a bigger power. Has a literal (and figurative) dick measuring contest, seeing who could get taller, him or Quackity. He blatantly lies, too. He does know things about TNT still, but he says he doesn't. We didn't get to see that for nothing. He recruits Ranboo. Makes a Van. All the while refusing armour to be worn.

He's following the same steps, in a different order.

I think it's because of Limbo.

I've spoken about this a little before, but I'll go over it again for your viewing needs.

In limbo, wilbur spoke about playing competitive solitaire.

Which, can't really be done unless you have two people and two decks of cards.

Solitaire is a single player game. You try to complete each suit in the shortest time. Sometimes, you can't. There is no solution.

I think Revivedbur is treating life like solitaire. He's laying each of his cards down, red over black, black over red, to try and get his happy ending. Because that's all you can do. You have the same sets of cards, the moves are going to be the same. Put the six of hearts over the seven of clubs and you have your turn taken. You can do that move an unmeasurable amount of times before you win.

It's so interesting because he's playing against nobody but himself. Revivedbur is playing against his former self by seeing the moves he's taken, and putting the best ones first.

These would be recruiting tommy, making a van, and apparently going against a bigger power.

And I think the reason he wants to go against this large force is because it ended well the first time. L'manberg got their independence. Thanks to Tommy.

Which is something I think Wilbur knows, as well. Wilbur, this time around, doesn't want independence. At least not that we know about. Wilbur has his ligitimate burger van, with his teenage employee who's having a relationship crisis behind the scenes.

Wilbur doesn't lie about the van this time around.

It ended badly when it did, last time, remember? They got raided.

Wilbur is not a stupid man, he learns from his mistakes. And he uses that learning to make his plans stronger.

And he has had 13 years of isolation to learn from his mistakes.

#dsmp #dream smp #dsmp theory #dsmp analysis #dream smp theory #dream smp analysis #wilbur soot #dsmp wilbur #revivedbur #revived wilbur #long post

[benevolentbirdgal]

“Thirteen″ Tips for Writing About Synagogues / Jewish Writing Advice / Advice for Visiting Synagogues

So your story includes a Jew (or two) and you’ve a got a scene in a synagogue. Maybe there’s a bar mitzvah, maybe your gentile protagonist is visiting their partner’s synagogue. Maybe there’s a wedding or a community meeting being held there. For whatever reason, you want a scene in a shul. I’m here as your friendly (virtual) neighborhood Jewish professional to help you not sound like a gentile who thinks a synagogue is just a church with a Star of David instead of a cross. 

Quick note: The are lots of synagogues around the world, with different specific cultural, local, and denominational practices. The Jewish community is made up of roughly 14 million people worldwide with all sorts of backgrounds, practices, life circumstances, and beliefs. I’m just one American Jew, but I’ve had exposure to Jewishness in many forms after living in 3.5 states (at several different population densities/layouts), attending Jewish day school and youth groups, doing Jewish college stuff, and landing a job at a Jewish non-profit. I’m speaking specifically in an American or Americanish context, though some of this will apply elsewhere as well. I’m also writing from the view of Before Times when gatherings and food and human contact was okay.

Bear in mind as well, in this discussion, the sliding scale of traditional observance to secular/liberal observance in modern denominations: Ultraorthodox (strict tradition), Modern Orthodox (Jewish law matters but we live in a modern world), Conservative (no relation to conservative politics, brands itself middle ground Judaism), Reconstructionist (start with Jewish law and then drop/add bits to choose your own adventure), and Reform (true build your own adventure, start at basically zero and incorporate only as you actively choose).

Synagogue = shul = temple. Mikvah (ritual bath) is its own thing and usually not attached to the shul. Jewish cemeteries are also typically nowhere near the shul, because dead bodies are considered impure.   

A Bar/Bat/Bnai Mitzvah is the Jewish coming of age ceremony. Bar (“son”) for boys at 13+, Bat (“daughter”) at 12+, and Bnai (“children”) for multiples (i.e. twins/triplets/siblings) or non-binary kids (although the use of the phrase “Bnai Mitzvah” this way is pretty new). 12/13 is the minimum, 12-14 the norm but very Reform will sometimes allow 11 and anybody above 12/13 can have theirs. Probably a dedicated post for another time. Generally, however, the following will happen: the kid will lead some parts of services, read from and/or carry the Torah, and make a couple of speeches. 

Attire: think Sunday Best (in this case Saturday), not come as you are. Even at very liberal reconstructionist/reform synagogues you wouldn’t show up in jeans and a t-shirt or work overalls. Unless they are seriously disconnected from their culture, your Jewish character is not coming to Saturday morning services in sneakers and jeans (their gentile guest, however, might come too casual and that’d be awkward).  1a. The more traditional the denomination, the more modest the attire. Outside of orthodoxy woman may wear pants, but dresses/skirts are more common. Tights for anything above knee common for Conservative/Reform/Recon, common for even below knee for orthodox shuls. Men will typically be wearing suits or close to it, except in very Reform spaces.  1b. Really, think business casual or nice dinner is the level of dressiness here for regular services. Some minor holidays or smaller events more casual is fine. Social events and classes casual is fine too.  1c. Even in reform synagogues, modesty is a thing. Get to the knee or close to it. No shoulders (this an obsession in many Jewish religious spaces for whatever reason), midriffs, or excessive cleavage (as I imagine to be the norm in most houses of worship). 

Gendered clothing:  3a. Men and boys wear kippahs (alt kippot, yarmulkes) in synagogues, regardless of whether they’re Jewish or not out of respect to the space. Outside of Jewish spaces it’s saying “I’m a Jew” but inside of Jewish spaces it’s saying “I’m a Jew or a gentile dude who respects the Jewish space.”  Outside of very Reform shuls, it’s a major faux pass to be a dude not wearing one.  3b. There are little buckets of loaner kippahs if you don’t bring your own and commemorative kippahs are given away at events (bar mitzvah, weddings). Your Jewish dude character not bringing or grabbing one is basically shouting “I’m new here.”  3c. Women are permitted to wear kippahs, but the adoption of a the traditionally masculine accessory will likely be interpreted by other Jews as LGBTQ+ presentation, intense feminism, and/or intense but nontraditional devoutness. Nobody will clutch their pearls (outside of ultraorthodoxy) but your character is sending a message.  3d. Tefillin are leather boxes and wrappings with prayers inside them that some Jewish men wrap around their arms (no under bar mitzvah or gentiles). Like with the kippah, a woman doing this is sending a message of feminism and/or nontraditional religious fervor.  3e. Additionally, prayer shawls, known as tallit, are encouraged/lightly expected of Jewish males (over 13) but not as much as Kippahs are. It is more common to have a personal set of tallit than tefillin. Blue and white is traditional, but they come in all sorts of fun colors and patterns now. Mine is purple and pink. It is much more common for women to have tallit and carries much fewer implications about their relationship to Judaism than wearing a kippah does.  3f. Married woman usually cover their hair in synagogues. Orthodox women will have wigs or full hair covers, but most Jewish woman will put a token scarf or doily on their head in the synagogue that doesn’t actually cover their hair. The shul will also have a doily loaner bucket. 

Jewish services are long (like 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning), but most people don’t get there until about the 1-1.5 hour mark. Your disconnected Jewish character or their gentile partner might not know that though. 

Although an active and traditional synagogue will have brief prayers three times every day, Torah services thrice a week, holiday programming, and weekly Friday night and Saturday morning services, the latter is the thing your Jewish character is most likely attending on the reg. A typical Saturday morning service will start with Shacharit (morning prayers) at 8:30-9, your genre savvy not-rabbi not-Bnai mitzvah kid Jewish character will get there around 9:30-10:15. 10:15-10:30 is the Torah service, which is followed by additional prayers. Depending on the day of the Jewish year (holidays, first day of new month, special shabbats), they’ll be done by 12:30 or 1 p.m. Usually.  After that is the oneg, a communal meal. Onegs start with wine and challah, and commence with a full meal. No waiting 4-8 hours to have a covered-dish supper after services. The oneg, outside of very, very, very Reform spaces will be kosher meat or kosher dairy. 

To conduct certain prayers (including the mourner’s prayers and the Torah service) you need a Minyan, which at least 10 Jewish “adults” must be present, defined as post Bar/Bat/Bnai Mitzvah. In Conservative/Reform/Recon, men and women are counted equally. In Ultraorthodox women are not counted. In Modern Orthodox it depends on the congregation, and some congregations will hold women’s-only services as well with at least ten “adult” Jewish women present.

In Conservative and Orthodox shuls, very little English is used outside of speeches and sermons. Prayers are in Hebrew, which many Jews can read the script of but not understand. Transliterations are also a thing.  In Reform synagogues, there’s heavy reliance on the lingua franca (usually English in American congregations). Reconstructionist really varies, but is generally more Hebrew-based than Reform. 

We’re a very inquisitive people. If your character is new to the synagogue, there will be lots of questions at the post-services oneg (meal, typically brunch/lunch). Are you new in town? Have you been here before? Where did you come from? Are you related to my friend from there? How was parking? Do you know my cousin? Are you single? What is your mother’s name? What do you think of the oneg - was there enough cream cheese? What summer camp did you go to? Can you read Hebrew? Have you joined?  A disconnected Jew or gentile might find it overwhelming, but many connected Jews who are used to it would be like “home sweet chaos” because it’s OUR chaos. 

In Orthodox synagogues, men and women have separate seating sections. There may be a balcony or back section, or there may be a divider known as a mechitzah in the middle. Children under 12/13 are permitted on either side, but over 12/13 folks have to stay one section or the other. Yes, this is a problem/challenge for trans and nonbinary Jews.  Mechitzahs are not a thing outside of orthodoxy. Some older Conservative synagogues will have women’s sections, but no longer expect or enforce this arrangement.   

Money. Is. Not. Handled. On. Shabbat. Or. Holidays. Especially. Not. In. The. Synagogue. Seriously, nothing says “goy writing Jews” more than a collection plate in shul. No money plate, no checks being passed around, even over calls for money (as opposed to just talking about all the great stuff they do and upcoming projects) are tacky and forbidden on Shabbat. Synagogues rely on donations and dues, and will solicit from members, but don’t outright request money on holidays and Shabbat. 

Outside of Reform and very nontraditional Conservative spaces, no instruments on Shabbat or holidays. No clapping either. Same goes for phones, cameras, and other electronics outside of microphones (which aren’t permitted in Orthodox services either).  11a. In the now-times an increasing number of shuls have set up cameras ahead of time pre-programmed to record, so they don’t have to actively “make fire” which is “work” (this is the relevant commandment/mitzvah) on Shabbat, so services can be live-streamed. 11b. After someone has completed an honor (reading from the Torah, carrying the Torah, opening the ark, etc), the appropriate response is a handshake after and the words “Yasher Koach” (again, Before-Times).

Jewish services involve a lot of movement. Get up, sit down. Look behind you, look in front of you. Twist left, twist right. A disconnected Jew or gentile visitor would be best off just trying to follow along with what an exchange student we had once termed “Jewish choreography.” Some prayers are standing prayers (if able), some are sitting prayers. It’s just how it is, although a handful of prayers have variations on who stands. 

#jumlbr #jewblr #jewish #jewish writing help #jewish writing #jewish characters #writing jewish characters #jewish representation #writing advice #writeblr #writing jewish spaces #how to write synagogues #another long one sorry not sorry

[traincat]

Can you explain the fantastic four volumes? Why are they separated like that, are they different continuities, should i read them all, who wrote which, and such? They‘re very confusing to me

Welcome to the terrible world of comics renumbering, aka the reason we have volumes. The long and short of it is, at some point, the big comics publishers got it into their heads that more people would buy their comics if they had easy jumping spots, the logic behind this being wouldn't it be more friendly for new readers to pick up an issue #1 than an issue #389? Which, sure, in theory, until you have, for example, six different Fantastic Four #1s, some of which were published very close together, and then no one knows at first glance where the hell they should start. But Marvel persists in this practice anyway because for some reason they think that one of these days it's actually going to work. So yes, unless otherwise noted -- because volumes are a publishing quirk and not a specific continuity quirk, so for example something like Spider-Gwen, which until recently took place out of the main continuity, has multiple volumes -- they're in main continuity, with the notable exception of Fantastic Four v2, kind of. I'll get to it. As to who wrote what, it varies -- some volumes have a ton of writers on them, some only have the one, like Fantastic Four volumes 4 and 5. It kind of depends on the length of the volume. Should you read them? It depends on if you're looking to be a completionist or not. If you're still confused, that's because it's unfortunately a feature of this particular system, not a bug. It is not a new reader friendly solution to having a huge series with hundreds upon hundreds of issues, despite the fact that Marvel just will not stop doing it.

If you look at most long running Marvel series, you'll probably note that most of their "volume ones" are actually extremely long -- Fantastic Four v1, for example, lasts from issues #1-416. The first renumbering takes place in 1996, and this one kind of has a good reason behind it. In the mid-90s, Marvel was, how can I say this nicely? A complete dumpster fire, and I don't mean from a storytelling perspective. In 1996, Marvel temporarily outsourced production of two major titles -- Fantastic Four and the Avengers -- to the studios of former employees Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. This outsourcing took the form of what appeared to be a "hard reset", especially for the Fantastic Four, who during v2 got an updated '90s origin story with updated '90s costumes and updated '90s personalities, essentially brought back to the beginning of their continuity without memories of their previous iterations. This is because, as it was later explained, though the Fantastic Four and the Avengers seemed to die in the main continuity, they were actually sheltered in a bubble reality by Franklin Richards. It's. You know. It is what it is. So essentially, volume 2 of Fantastic Four (1996) takes place in a separate continuity -- you can skip it and not miss much. Volume 3 (1998) picks back up in the main continuity when the Fantastic Four return to their own continuity and try to pick their lives back up while the world has moved on without them. It's VERY good, from a characterization standpoint -- a lot of volume 3 is written by Chris Claremont, who handles all the characters with an extreme amount of nuance. From a plot perspective -- I mean, it's totally fine as long as you don't care about anything making sense ever. Claremont was not here to write a coherent plot; he was here to write extremely an extremely insightful and sensitive Johnny Storm, and I applaud him for that.

This is where the numbering gets messy again, though! Because you know what looks really dramatic on the front cover of your comic book? A big ISSUE #500. So when volume 3 was approaching what would be, in what's called legacy numbering, issue #500, they switched the numbering again. Fantastic Four goes from Fantastic Four v3 #70 straight to Fantastic Four #500. There is no Fantastic Four v3 #71, something that can be confusing for new readers who are JUST trying to follow a book from issue to issue. From my perspective, I'm generally in favor of a return to legacy numbering, because it really is so much simpler to just have whatever number the issue actually is on the cover instead of having to be like "Fantastic Four issue #499 is actually Fantastic Four v3 #70." But Marvel hates simplicity! Loathes it! We need more new readers! Who definitely will pick up anything labeled #1 and not worry about THAT WHOLE MESS behind them! So while Fantastic Four retained the legacy numbering for 88 issues, it soon switched things up again when the entire title of the book was renamed. When Johnny dies in the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #587, the book was renamed from Fantastic Four to FF (just the initials) to reflect the change. This is a creative decision that I don't personally hate -- I think it makes its point well -- but also it really makes this entire period of Fantastic Four hell to read when the book comes back with Fantastic Four #600 after 12 issues of FF, but the FF title also remains, and the two are supposed to be read interchangeably at that point. Good luck figuring out how that one's supposed to go on first glance and thanks a lot, Marvel.

After Hickman's run wrapped up with Fantastic Four #611, Marvel entered a period where it was relaunching a lot of its main series basically every year. This is why there's a Fantastic Four v4 (2013), closely followed by Fantastic Four v5 (2014). These are basically one writer brief runs that are encapsulated in their own volumes for very little reason, especially since towards the end of Fantastic Four v5 it reverts to legacy numbering once again, with the last four issues of the run being Fantastic Four #642-645. Congratulations, nobody could have thought of a worse system. Then there came the three year Fantastic Four publishing ban (a real thing that happened) and when the book relaunched in 2018, it was with Fantastic Four v6, which is still using its own numbering, with issue #36 just released. It's essentially like that scene from Pacific Rim about how the kaiju keep coming faster and faster, except, you know, with comic book runs.

So here's a very basic reading order: Fantastic Four #1-416 -> Fantastic Four v2 #1-13 -> Fantastic Four v3 #1-70 -> Fantastic Four #500-588 -> FF #1-12 (at which point FF separates into its own book with three separate volumes) -> Fantastic Four #600-611 -> Fantastic Four v4 #1-16 -> Fantastic Four v5 #1-14 -> Fantastic Four #642-645 -> Fantastic Four v6 #1-36.

That brings you up to the present, not counting series like Secret Wars (2015) which slots in between #645 and Fantastic Four v6 #1, or things like annuals, which are issues published sometimes annually that may be standalones or may be important to the main plot, you can never be sure. Comics are terrible.

As for whether or not to read all of that, like I said above, it kind of depends on you as a reader, whether you're a completionist, whether you bounce hard off certain decades or creators, etc. There's really no one right way to tackle a comic series that spans 681 issues and six decades, especially not when the publisher doesn't exactly make it easy for anybody to keep track of what exactly they're supposed to be reading next. I do hope that clears up some of the confusion for you, though, even though the truth is the way a lot of American big two comics are published are, very simply, in an incredibly confusing, extremely new reader unfriendly, archaic way.

#*replies #traincat talks comics

[kingwuko]

Wuko in the comics

Welcome to my first post discussing Wuko in the LoK comic books!

This first post will be discussing Turf Wars- which unfortunately does not feature Wu. But there are lots of excellent Mako moments, and there are some major plot points that carry over into the next comic trilogy.

Turf Wars is the first LoK comic trilogy released after the finale. Though it was released two and half years after the finale aired, it picks up right where we left off. While the creators confirmed after the finale aired that Korrasami was canon, the last moments of the animated series were a little ambiguous (on purpose, since this was a time when queer representation was just not considered "acceptable" in children's media-it was truly the only way they could get away with it). The comics definitively remove all ambiguity. Turf Wars features multiple frames of Korra and Asami kissing, holding hands, and coming out to their friends and family. 

The overarching plot of Turf Wars is a conflict over the land upon which the new spirit portal sets. There is also conflict between rival Triad gangs, the Triple Threats and the Creeping Crystals, over turf in Republic City following the chaos of Kuvira's invasion. These two sets of turf wars overlap when a business tycoon hires the Triple Threats to secure the spirit portal for him by driving others off. The new Leader of the Triple Threats, Tokuga, is attacked by a spirit defending the portal, causing him to gain a dragon-like appearance and a new agenda-seizing control of all Republic City. In the midst of all this there is a refugee crisis, a presidential election, and Korra and Asami trying to navigate their new relationship once they return to the real world with all their responsibilities.

Notable plot points and character developments:

Korra and Asami canon is confirmed (repeatedly)-They come out to family and their friends

Business owner Wonyong Keum, who owns the land upon which the new portal sits, demands everyone vacate so he can turn it into a tourist attraction for profit-prompting Korra to enter the Avatar state to temporarily drive him away.

An unhappy spirit requests Korra closes the portal to prevent exploitation of the spirit world.

Bolin joins Mako as his rookie detective partner.

Zhu Li is running efforts to care for refugees who lost their homes during Kuvira’s attack and teams up with Asami to begin rebuilding homes for everyone displaced.

Tokuga is introduced as the leader of the Triple Threats, fighting for control of the streets with Jargala, the leader of the Creeping Crystals.

Kya reveals she is queer and gives us a history lesson on the context of LGBTQ+ history in the world.

Tokuga is attacked by the afore-mentioned spirit and his right arm and half his face become dragon-esque.

Raiko is a colossal idiot. He is way too focused on getting reelected and making his decisions based on what his campaign advisor suggests, rather than just, you know, governing his city. He calls the military to occupy the portal, prompting the Airbenders to peacefully protest.

Zhu Li runs against Raiko for the presidency. She rallies more protesters to protect the spirit portal while her husband films her for his newest project- a “docu-mover” which he presumably uses to influence the election. 

Asami and Keum are kidnapped by Tokuga and forced to make a poison gas device bring the city under Tokuga’s control.

The Krew manages to save the day of course, thanks to Asami’s wit, Korra’s unstoppable stubbornness, and back-up from Bolin and Mako. Except Mako, bless him, says he’ll “take care of Tokuga”, and then promptly loses him.

Tokuga mysteriously disappears into the spirit world.

Zhu Li wins the presidency.

Korra and Asami share a lovely, romantic moment where they exchange their first “I love you”s at the conclusion of the comic.

Mako scenes

There is no Wu in the Turf Wars comics (Unless you count one line of dialogue where it is mentioned that the Earth Kingdom is sending supplies to help the refugee situation) - however, there is plenty of Mako! Mako’s primary role in this series is as a detective trying to find and stop the Triads from waging their turf war in the city.

Our first scenes with Mako shows him back to being a detective- and his brother is his partner. He doesn’t seem super thrilled to be working with Bolin, but I think it’s just because he knows how his brother is- not that he doesn’t want to spend time with him. They are trying to track down the new leader of the triple threats and control gang activity. Mako’s arm is still in a sling, he’s got his usual brooding grumpy facial expression, and his hair is spiky again! He and Bolin arrest two-toed Ping and try to interrogate him. Two-toed Ping is weirdly proud of Mako and Bolin for rising up from being “nobodies” to a couple of “bigtime cops”.

They catch up with Korra and Asami, and the four of them are alerted by Jinora that the Triple threats are attacking the Airbenders that were meditating at the portal. Asami gets hurt in the battle and she and Korra share a kiss in front of everyone:

Look at Opal’s sweet face. She looks like she’s barely containing her excitement and is maybe squealing a bit, and she’s looking directly at Bolin which I think is a sweet moment to show their relationship. Bolin calls dibs on the first double date.

Mako probably needs time to process the information....

Mako and Bolin do some detective work to try and find Tokuga. There is an interesting scene where they are questioning Scoochy (We saw him in the first season, he’s the kid that told Korra and Mako the Bolin went to do some work for the triple threats before getting captured by equalists) Bolin tells Mako they should do “good cop, bad cop”, with Bolin being the good cop. Mako gets annoyed, and Bolin asks if he’s grumpy because his exes are dating. Mako insists he’s cool with it- though he’s got a distressed look on his face. They catch up to Scoochy and Bolin actually loses his temper and is rather menacing. Mako pulls Bolin back and genuinely connects with Scoochy- relating to his past, pushing him to do the right thing and help others. I really liked this moment because it shows how much character growth he’s had when you compare the way he treated Kai in season 3. (They are ultimately unsuccessful and Scoochy’s tip leads them to a room rigged with explosives- but I don’t think Scoochy knew that, I think he was fed false info).

There’s another touching scene, after Asami is kidnapped, where Mako notices how upset Korra seems as everyone is trying to form a plan to stop Tokuga. He steps aside to check in and see how she’s feeling. He comforts her’ empathizes with her, and reassures her that they are going to find Asami. At this point he seems to have fully processed that they are together and seems to fully accept it and is very supportive. Not easy considering the awkward position he’s in as both their exes. In this scene, Mako also informs Korra that he can’t firebend with his injured arm.

Mako and Bolin helps Korra to find Asami by requesting help from Jargala- in spite of the fact that Chief Beifong told them not to… They show up for Korra and Asami even if it means risking their jobs. They team up and fight the bad guys together, just like the old days.

We see many examples of how bad the damage is from Mako’s injury in the Colossus. He can’t bend with his left arm, it’s in a sling almost the whole comic, and he really doesn’t seem to be at the top of his game. He told Bolin he would take care of catching Tokuga, but apparently couldn’t and lost him. Mako’s injury is pretty bad and it’s probably really frustrating.

At the end, Bolin decides to quit the force (surprise. The guy loves to hop from calling to calling!). He makes a big dramatic speech to Mako, talking about how it’s time they go their separate ways. Mako is like “Um I’m going to see you at home in like two hours”, so it sounds like they are living together.

What all this might mean for Wuko

So now I’m going to try to tie things back into how all this affects the potential of Wuko- whether that’s for headcanons or fics or whatever- and just try to give you an idea of what this comic means for Wuko shippers.

Wu is governing in the Earth Kingdom right now. It is mentioned by Zhu Li that the Earth Kingdom sent supplies, so one can assume Wu has taken his place on the throne and the Earth Kingdom is in a stable enough position to be sending supplies to aid another nation. Nothing is mentioned about efforts to transform the Earth Kingdom into a democratic nation (we’ll get to that in the Ruins of the Empire comics).

Mako’s primary relationships that are explored are with his brother and with Korra. His relationship with Bolin is just as it always is. He loves his brother even if he is a little exhausted by his upbeat, enthusiastic attitude. We build up on his final interaction with Korra from the animated series and continue to firmly establish them as friends and amicable exes. Interestingly, we don’t get any meaningful Mako and Asami interactions. When he is comforting Korra, he relates to her by remembering how worried he was when Korra was kidnapped by Amon. He doesn't try to say “Yeah I’m really worried about Asami too”, which, to me is bizarre because he and Asami are friends too, right? I don’t know if we should read too much into it though- most likely it was just a writing choice that we aren’t meant to psycho-analyze- but it could also mean he is being careful with his words so that Korra doesn’t wonder if he still has feelings for Asami. The love triangle is completely resolved and Mako is out of the picture romantically with either of them and has no lingering romantic feelings. In other words, he is 100% ready available for a relationship with someone else.

The scene where Kya gives us a history lesson establishes how LGBTQ+ people are viewed in the world of LoK. In short, Korra and Asami are fully supported by their friends and family, and even their enemies acknowledge their relationship without any homophobic tones. The closest we get to homophobia is Korra's father, who, after expressing his happiness at their relationship, warns Korra to be cautious going forward because not everyone will be as understanding. Kya gives us a quick lesson on how same-gender relationships are viewed across the nations: The water tribe, being a patriarchal culture, expects discretion. The Earth Kingdom is not particularly accepting-Kya says that Avatar Kyoshi was bisexual but couldn't affect "real change" and that the earth kingdom is the slowest to accept change and is also militarily repressive (full disclosure I have not read the Kyoshi comics, maybe there is additional insight in those?). And in the fire nation, Sozin made same-gender relationships illegal when he took power (I hope Zuko undid all that when he became Firelord). The air nation is the only one that seems truly accepting-Kya paints a picture of total acceptance and says that Aang was supportive when she herself came out. Korra is worried that maybe her father was right, but Asami points out that a lot has changed over the years and everyone seems accepting, especially in Republic City. 

I think what we can take away from this as far as Wuko goes- is that in Republic City, same-gender relationships are not much of an issue, while in the Earth Kingdom it could be viewed negatively. One could make a case that Wu might have cause to be closeted, while Mako might not. (Feel free to reject this history canon and substitute your own. I’d just as soon say that no one in the avatar-verse cares if you aren’t cis or het).

In conclusion. Mako is just a guy trying very hard to be a good, supportive friend to his exes who are now dating each other. He loves them (platonically) he loves his brother, he’s kind and has matured a lot, but he still always has a grumpy look on his face so it’s time for him to move on and get together with Wu.

Well, that’s Turf Wars. I did cram the plot of three comic books into one post, so I certainly did not hit all the details. If you feel I missed something crucial, feel free to reblog with your own takes. Next I’ll discuss Ruins of the Empire, in which we get lots of Wu and potential Wuko moments, a sizable helping of angst and even some Wu & Korra friendship! RotE is a really fun comic trilogy and I’ll be breaking it down into multiple posts. Thanks for reading everyone!

Wuko In RotE part 1

Wuko in RotE part 2

#Wuko #Mako #Turf Wars #Lok #King Wu #Prince Wu

[jaskiersvalley]

CW: Character death (Geralt and Jaskier live)

Brown eyes going blank as life drained from them haunted Geralt's dreams. It was why he loved Jaskier so much, his blue eyes looked nothing like Renfri's and he could get lost in them for as long as he wanted without memories of another set of young eyes staring up at him sightlessly. As Jaskier got older it was a relief, the youthful edge fading as laughter lines took up their rightful places at the corners of his eyes.

Life happened, Jaskier continued to accompany Geralt, they fell in love, found Ciri, even managed to find a family of sorts in the form of the Hansa, as they liked to call themselves. It was the happiest Geralt had ever really been. Renfri still haunted his waking moments, the golden brown of Milva's eyes, the youthful arrogance of Angoulême, Cahir's proficiency at fighting. She was there in all of them but it was okay. Each night Geralt could curl up with Jaskier and his dreams were filled with blue eyes, laughter and love. It was good.

Until Dijkstra surfaced, scattering the Hansa, Regis spirited Ciri away with the others while Geralt and Jaskier tried to head in the opposite direction, hoping to create a distraction. Their plan worked a little too well. Despite their best efforts Dijkstra's men caught them, tied them up and carted them to who knew where.

"What have we here?" Dijkstra gave them a look, cold mirth in his eyes. "You gave my men quite the run around and then had the gall to not even have their target with you. Most rude."

"Just let us go," Geralt growled.

Humming, Dijkstra looked like he was actually considering it before he smiled. "No."

When it looked like Jaskier was going to argue Geralt shoved him with his shoulder in warning. This wasn't something they could simply argue their way out of and Jaskier should have known that.

"I'll let you go. If you emerge victorious from my fighting ring. You just have to win one fight, that's all. Give us some entertainment in exchange for the trouble you caused us."

It didn't sound too bad. One fight was okay. Even Jaskier could win a fight, he was wily enough. They nodded and Dijjkstra laughed, gesturing for the two to be separated and shown to rooms (holding cells) away from each other. They wrote given food and a place to rest so the fights weren't even going to be unfair.

Morning came. Geralt pulled his armour on and was ready. He could hear the crowd gathering already, chattering and excited for the fights. Fanfare sounded and Geralt was prodded out into the arena and the crowd went wild.

"Just remember," Dijkstra boomed, "One fight is all you need to win to go free."

Opposite Geralt the door for his opponent opened and his heart stopped cold. Jaskier marched out, looking determined until he spotted Geralt.

"No." Geralt dropped his sword. "I refuse."

"Then you will both die," Dijkstra purred gleefully. "Unless someone is willing to take either of your places."

Silence fell on the crowd, delighting in the emotional tension. In the quiet a new voice called out.

"I will take the place of the bard Jaskier."

Geralt's throat tightened. He knew that voice, that accent. From the crowd Cahir emerged, clad in armour. He should have been on the other side of the Continent, safe with the others.

"What a surprising turn of events! A Nilfgaardian fighting in the bard's place. This changes the odds!"

Jaskier was whisked away and Cahir squared off against Geralt, sword raised. He was so young, determined and fierce. Geralt couldn't bring himself to pick up his sword, Renfri's ghost flaring to life in his conscience. There was no way he could take another young life like that.

Somewhere a gong sounded and Cahir rushed in. He gave Geralt’s chest a hard shove when no sword met his.

"Fight, damn you!" Cahir hissed in his face. "They want a show. Give it to them."

Reluctant, Geralt picked up his sword and blocked the next attack. Locked together, he heard Cahir’s soft, "It's okay. Just make it quick."

Reality dawned on Geralt. There was no grand plan, no escape. Only sacrifice. Rage bubbled through Geralt at the unfairness of it all, he fought in an attempt to delay the end, to draw it out in the hopes of a rescue or a change of plan. But Cahir was tiring, his blocks grew weak and attacks sloppy, youth and inexperience showing all too soon despite his cocksure attitude at the start. His sword went clattering and Geralt’s blade rested against his throat. The crowd bayed.

Blue eyes stared up at Geralt, a wobbly smile trying to reassure him.

"It's okay," Cahir whispered.

It wasn't okay though. It was as far from okay as Geralt’s imagination could fathom. Despite their rocky start, he had grown fond of Cajir and his odd, quiet ways. The crowd screamed, frenzied by the promise of blood.

"I was never going to have a haply end," Cahir murmured. "Let me at least give you a chance at yours."

Brave words which were undermined by the soft tremble of fear. There were barely unshed tears in Cahir’s eyes and his breath had a soft shake of terror. However, he still tipped his head back, acknowledging his defeat and accepting his fate as gracefully as he could.

"I trust you. Make it quick."

Blue eyes continued to stare up at Geralt, so young and scared, much like the brown ones that had followed Geralt for so long. There was no magic portal opening up, no stunning rescue, no sudden change if heart. Nobody was coming to change their fate. In one swift move Geralt brought his sword up and plunged it down, other arm coming to catch Cahir. He could feel the sudden jerk as pain hit, the hitch of suddenly wet breath, muscles twitching and shivering as Cahir’s body tried to make sense of what just happened. All through it wide blue eyes stared up at Geralt and he watched as life rapidly faded from them. He held Cahir for a moment longer, despite only having a lump body to cradle before gently laying him down on the now blood soaked ground.

Around him there were cheers and screams or delight but Geralt didn't hear them. He stood, looked to Dijkstra who grinned. But a deal was a deal and Geralt wiped his sword clean before marching to the exit where Jaskier was waiting for him with a harrowed look. Geralt could only glance at him briefly before his eyes skittered away, unable to meet the gaze he once loved so much. All he saw now was another pair of blue eyes staring up at him with trust as life faded from them.

#geraskier #jaskier #geralt of rivia #cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach #sigismund dijkstra #the witcher #cw: character death #tldr: geralt has to fight and kill for his freedom