#also full disclosure:

[kaladinkholins]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

#blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #akemi blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #just in case... im gonna tag this as #mizukemicritical #akemizucritical #though this post isnt actually criticising the ship itself but rather fanon's portrayal of the ship and the characters #for that reason lemme also tag this as #wank.mp3 #feel free to disagree of course but please be civil #and if you need to rant about how wrong i am without any convincing evidence kindly feel free to make your own post. peace and love <3 #fandom.rtf #meta dissertations.pdf #shut up haydar #edit: for full disclosure. i do rather dislike this ship. but obviously it's fine for anyone to enjoy it. please do! have your fun! #it's just that as usual! popular fanon and fandom around a ship is what has completely deterred me from any sense of enjoyment of it #it's a shame too because i was very open and even eager for some mizu/akemi romance in the future #but out-of-character fanon + the rudeness of certain fans has definitely soured it for me #but that doesn't mean people can't enjoy it obviously! ship and let ship!!! #plus it has its appeal which i DO STILL see and enjoy!!!! #i would even go as far as to call them soulmates because their narratives and characters are LITERALLY intertwined!!! #but. yeah. my gradual distaste for this ship is indeed very unfortunate.

[azurityarts]

Hero & Partner Week (@heropartnerweek) - Day 1: Market | First Meeting | Shiny

Shinx and Vulpix's shinies glimmer in both glitter and gold!

#pokemon #pkmn #art #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd #pmd explorers #pokemon oc #pmd ocs #oc tag #silent shinx #arina vulpix #WOO alliteration in the caption #also full disclosure I did yoink shiny shinx's colors and slapped them on vulpix #IT LOOKED BETTER COMPOSITIONALLY I SWEAR #hero & partner week #heropartnerweek

[hexblooded]

natasha: d&d character profile

#marveledit #mcuedit #filmedit #natasha romanoff #natasharomanoffedit #black widow #the avengers #avengers endgame #iron man 2 #avengers age of ultron #captain america winter soldier #mcudnd #moj #i miss my girl #full disclosure #these are not going to be optmised character stats okay? #it's just for flavor #even though nat's turned out decent #also i have no idea how to write image descriptions help

[reasonsforhope]

"The world's coral reefs are close to 25 percent larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and working on coral reefs, we found an extra 64,000 square kilometers (24,700 square miles) of coral reefs – an area the size of Ireland.

That brings the total size of the planet's shallow reefs (meaning 0-20 meters deep) to 348,000 square kilometers – the size of Germany. This figure represents whole coral reef ecosystems, ranging from sandy-bottomed lagoons with a little coral, to coral rubble flats, to living walls of coral.

Within this 348,000 km² of coral is 80,000 km² where there's a hard bottom – rocks rather than sand. These areas are likely to be home to significant amounts of coral – the places snorkelers and scuba divers most like to visit.

You might wonder why we're finding this out now. Didn't we already know where the world's reefs are?

Previously, we've had to pull data from many different sources, which made it harder to pin down the extent of coral reefs with certainty. But now we have high resolution satellite data covering the entire world – and are able to see reefs as deep as 30 meters down.

Pictured: Geomorphic mapping (left) compared to new reef extent (red shading, right image) in the northern Great Barrier Reef.

[AKA: All the stuff in red on that map is coral reef we did not realize existed!! Coral reefs cover so much more territory than we thought! And that's just one example. (From northern Queensland)]

We coupled this with direct observations and records of coral reefs from over 400 individuals and organizations in countries with coral reefs from all regions, such as the Maldives, Cuba, and Australia.

To produce the maps, we used machine learning techniques to chew through 100 trillion pixels from the Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove CubeSat satellites to make accurate predictions about where coral is – and is not. The team worked with almost 500 researchers and collaborators to make the maps.

The result: the world's first comprehensive map of coral reefs extent, and their composition, produced through the Allen Coral Atlas. [You can see the interactive maps yourself at the link!]

The maps are already proving their worth. Reef management agencies around the world are using them to plan and assess conservation work and threats to reefs."

-via ScienceDirect, February 15, 2024

#oceanography #marine biology #marine life #marine science #coral #coral reefs #environment #geography #maps #interactive maps #ai #ai positive #machine learning #conservation news #coral reef #conservation #tidalpunk #good news #hope #full disclosure this is the same topic I published a few days ago #but with a different article/much better headline that makes it clear that this is “throughout the world there are more reefs” #rather than “we just found an absolutely massive reef” #also included one of the maps this time around #bc this is a really big deal and huge sign of hope actually!!! #we were massively underestimating how many coral reefs the world has left! #and now that we know where they are we can do a much better job of protecting them

[tomaturtles]

Happy Campus Apocalypse volume 1 16th anniversary here's something to celebrate

#shinji ikari #kaworu nagisa #asuka langley soryu #rei ayanami #kawoshin #asurei #neon genesis evangelion #campus apocalypse #nge #nge ca #toma edits #toma draws #<-KINDA? i edited them in on the first one but i spent more time on it than i needed to so im counting it #why did tumblr post the version from before i updated the tags and description. im losing my mind #ANYWAY full disclosure i only found out abt the anniversary earlier today via angelduets/the kawoshin bot on twitter #BUT i finished this set last night so!! excellent timing #i made the last one weeks ago and never got around to posting it but i was making memes for other purposes the other day #and did some ca themed ones while i was at it... now it can finally see the light of day #i actually also made a non ca version of the kawo&asu one a while back (did i even post that here i forget) #but they're actually friends in canon here so it fits More i think #there's another asurei one i wanted to make but i gotta fully draw that one so! it'll have to wait

[sunshikilo]

short comic based on @sopuu 's champion jesse au ^^

romeo is a dick and i can imagine him messing with the prison group when he gets bored of jesse's yammering or something

MY yammering under the cut

so.. i havent used tumblr since i was 12 and forgot how sideblogs work so i made @ssunshikilo to be my art account but forgot about the sideblog thing LOL so im just sharing that cause i dont feeling like reposting the one (1) art thats already there. this is my New application into the mcsm fandom

#ok i was trying to be cool in the post but i fucking love this au so much LOLL #cannot stop thinking about it #also full disclosure i did not read up on the lore before making this so it could be wrong #thats my mistake ... #minecraft story mode #mcsm #jesskas #mcsm jesse #mcsm lukas #mcsm radar #mcsm petra #mcsm jack #mcsm romeo

[absolute-flaming-trash]

#riri polls #polls #writing #fanfiction #I'm Curious #and for full disclosure #I use comic sans because my dyslexic ass can spot mistakes easier with that one #also comedy #don't @ me /lh

[pusangkambing]

Common Miconceptions about qJaiden!

She likes or is proFederation! False!

-She is not fond of the federation at all and the only ones she truly cares about from them are the Cucurucho's, the ones she spent 2 weeks with in isolation, which obviously has problems of its own. She has stated and told people multiple times that only cucurcucho matters to her and not the federation as a whole.

If it doesnt matter to a character in the server or to you as a viewer and you align cucurucho the same as the federation, thats completely fair, but its important to include that distinction when talking about qjaiden's character as the difference is important to her and her perception.

She was raised/an experiment by the Federation/Cucurucho! Uncomfirmed!

-it has not been stated anywhere the true nature between qjaiden and cucurucho's/the Federation's past. All we know is that qJaiden "helped" the federation/cucurucho in some way and they need her help again. It is not canon that Cucurucho was ever her father figure nor that Jaiden is somehow a mother figure/caretaker of them.

qJaiden is naive! False!

-Jaiden is fully aware of cucurucho's wrong doings and is not naive about the fact that they may be manipulating her. Although she IS attached to them, remember that the whole reason she started working with the Federation is for the gauranteed safety of the eggs, which they failed to do. She is not ignorant of this fact btw, she's aware that they failed to keep their end of the bargain but she's also aware that she's gotten far with her relationship with the Cucurucho's and consequently the Federation, which she believes may be used to her advantage. She's also not always agreeing or in line with what Cucurucho does, as seen when she found out about the Happy Pills and Forever being drugged, which ended with her waiting for hours to confront Cucurucho in anger but spiraled to somewhat of a breakdown as she becomes scared and nervous and tells herself that she cannot mess up their relationship now as she has gotten so far. QJaiden is fully aware and understands the drastic consequences that her actions may take, she is not naive or ignorant.

Impromptu list because reasons. If im wrong about anything or if you want to add something then tell me!

#impromtu qjaiden misconceptionlist that may be missing lots of stuff but idk these come to mind because im tired #the one that bothers me the most is the federation one because shes said it so mamy times and always explaims it that shes attached only to- #cucurucho amd not the feds #AAARGHH WHATEVER #RAAAGGGHHEHWHW #paimon!speaks! #qsmp #jaiden animations #also full disclosure that my memory is shoddy and if i am wrong about a lot of thjngs tell me and ill edit/delete it #i need that blinkie about being wrong about anlysis and shit and being human

[a-5-m-0-d-3-u-5]

Have I ever even touched a COD game in my life? No.

Do I plan to? Who knows.

Am I smitten with 141 and crave male reader stuff, so want to offer it? Very much.

I just hope no one cares if I get them wrong lol

#cod x male reader #141 x male reader #poly 141 x male reader #male reader #ghoap x male reader #john price x male reader #soap x male reader #ghost x male reader #gaz x male reader #full disclosure i know the least about gas stop i might not offer him until i know more but he seems sweet and goofy #also polyam very very likely i need more polyam stuff

[raiiny-bay]

sleepy morning with the boys

#ts4 #simblr #ts4 edit #ts4 render #sims 4 #myedits #kelly #dhestyn #i apologize for the long post #this originally had 6 photos for a grid format but #i don't really like the other 3 so. yea. #full disclosure it is actually very rare for kelly to wake up at the same time as dhes #kel is literally a cat. he will sleep 16 hours a day if dhes lets him #& dhes gets out of bed at like 4:30/5 every morning #he'll cook a full breakfast & do a load of laundry & go for a jog before going to work #he also usually feeds duder bc if he doesn't she will yell & bother kelly until he wakes up #kel has to be woken up gently or he'll get cranky lol #he tends to wake up later in the morning & pick up lunch for everyone at the shop before walking to work #then the boys will drive home together at the end of their shifts #dani kind of just lets them come & go whenever they want. they mostly make their own hours #she doesn't care as long as they show up for work at some point

[devilsrecreation]

Me: I watch TLG for the plot

The plot:

#full disclosure #THEY ARE MY EVERYTHING #i care about the outlanders more than i do about the actual main characters #it’s just a thing with me #i wanna hug all of them #also makuu is one of the best characters #i don’t make the rules #WHY DO THEY HAVE TO BE MINOR CHARACTERS THEY’RE SO COOL #tlg outlanders #and makuu lol #the lion guard

[jstor]

i'm not gonna lie. i can't tell if this is legit or not but either way, i'm so happy to see you guys in tumblr. also that you guys like bg3 <3

It's legit!

And we're happy to be here :)

#jstor #ask #also full disclosure #it's just me (the mod) who likes bg3. i cannot speak for my coworkers and if anyone else does they haven't told me. but they should

[willowcrowned]

stories where memory is a character. stories where the past is alive and haunting you. stories where you are your own ghost

#full disclosure this is about a kendra/nora legends of tomorrow au raleigh proposed over discord #in which ray is dead #but it can also be about other things #tropes

[l3viat8an]

rooo, about the bros with a sweet mc ask i send youu, i never really make an nsfw ask so this is probably the first time i did it lolol (i'm also really bad at it😭)

like..the mc is probably also a virgin too yknow yknow, they are probably too shy to initiate things with others so when they were introduce to the thing they don't really know what to do with it...so the bros teach them all about it and corrupt their mind too- AAAA this is so baddd

-🦋 anon

Nsfw content MDNI

Okayyyy so I tried to come up with something 🦋!!! But was a little lazy on this- I never know what to write for virgin stuff hdjshsjsj

Lucifer, Levi, Satan & Belphie

Fuck he’s been watching you for what feels like forever, but never going too far, never pushing more then he should.

But there’s just something about how you look, eyes wide, sweet smile and most importantly is how you look at him.

Always innocently making eyes at him, looking up and smiling whenever you see him.

Now you’re finally here. In his bed for the first time and he’s trying so hard to be gentle, using his fingers to work you open, knowing it’ll help you, after all this should be about you and your pleasure first.

Slowly bottoming out inside your tight hole.

He lives for your wines, shaky touches and those pretty tears falling from your eyes at the pleasure flooding your body….Fuck now that he has you, he won’t let you go until he’s completely corrupted you~

Mammon, Asmo & Beel

He’d never tell you that your innocence is such a huge fucking turn on for him…..he’ll be patient, so, so patient, letting you be the one to set the pace and decide how fast everything moves. He doesn’t want to rush you.

And it worked so well! Here you are and he finally has you spread out on his bed, pulling your hips to his face and burying it there, watching your face intently and even when you’re cumming all over his tongue, he doesn’t let up.

Hands pulling you closer. Maybe he can pull at least one more orgasm from you-

#🦋 anon! #obey me! #obey me #om! #obmswd #obey me smut #obmswd smut #om! smut #obey me lucifer smut #obey me mammon smut #obey me levi smut #obey me satan smut #obey me asmo smut #obey me beel smut #obey me belphie smut #obey me x chubby reader #obey me x reader #roro writes #also full disclosure mm just a bit tipsy so idk if this is any good-

[starfacedstudio]

rough painting/sketch?? thing from my characters + environments class! we did a quick prompt for villains based on fears (the one i ended up getting was megalophobia/the fear of things that are Too Big)

weather and severe storms (and tornadoes specifically) have been a special interest of mine since childhood and it just so happened that many of the images you get when searching that fear were tornadoes so 100% used this as an excuse to draw a tornado... person? thing? sure yea. 

 this is real messy and i dont plan on revisiting this anytime soon but it works for what i needed it for!

#froxart #art #digital painting #its like the taurnado from centaurworld but like. a person and not a horse. #that entire sequence lives in my brain both for the fact that its connected to my interest in storms and also. its just beautifully animated #full disclosure i dont consider myself a painter. tried something ab it different here and it certainly works but like not my fav #STILL really happy with this composition though #character design #tornado #cw tornado #ask to tag #undescribed #froxposting

[aro-absol]

Here's a meme for all the aroallos <2

[ID: A meme consisting of two pictures. They depict a scene from a cartoon TV show. In the first picture, there is a black haired man wearing a suit. He is looking towards the viewer with a big smile on his face. He is gesturing behind him as if he wanted to present something. Behind him, there's a white pedal with nothing on it. Red ribbon held up by four golden poles is going around it. Above the pedestal, there are three headlights shining on it. The room appears to be part of a gallery or a museum. At the top of the picture, white text in all caps says "This is where I'd put good canon aroallo representation...". The second picture depicts the same situation, except the man is now leaning slightly forward so that the pedestal isn't as visible anymore. He appears to be yelling angrily. His hands are in front of his body, half closed with the palms facing upwards. White text in all caps at the bottom of the picture says "... if I had any!" / End ID]

#full disclosure I'm not aroallo myself #just a non-SAM aro who is frustrated that almost all our canon aro rep is aroaces whose aro identity is overlooked constantly #also sorry shitty id again i'm not good at phrasing #not a native speaker #aromantic #aro #aroallo #alloaro #aromantic allosexual #aromantic memes #aro memes