#and like they’re such nice foils of each other too

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Alfie and El are secretly besties and you can’t change my mind. Like outside of the obvious Aadhya, Liu, Liesel, Chloe, Orion, Jowani, and Nkoyo circle, he’s maybe the closest to her other than Ibrahim and possibly Yaakov. Like he was so chill about the possibility of ending up in a poly relationship with her and Liesel. Just like ‘hmm wonder if Liesel has succeeded in her seduction tactics’ when he went upstairs. Or him offering her comfort about Orion? They’re besties your honour.

#i apologise for the spelling mistakes I probably made #but like I love their little friendship #it’s so silly i love it #like el has genuine respect for alfie #you see it so much in the end of book 2 #when she talks about Alfie’s determination to hold the party line #and like they’re such nice foils of each other too #with Alfie’s magic seemingly having a defensive focus and him coming from a line of well known wizards like El with her mum #but Alfie is obviously an enclave kid who benefits profusely from this imbalance of power #but like Chloe he still wants to change things #and while his grandad built the Scholomance he helps El destroy it #and El even helps then construct the newish one #galadriel higgins #el higgins #the scholomance #naomi novik

[erose-this-name]

Kabru is such a brilliantly written character, one of the best in Dungeon Meshi (which is a high bar as it is, most of the main cast are similarly genius). 

His thing is that he is very friendly and nice confident and maxed out his charisma stat, but is also kinda ambitious and manipulative. But not in an overtly malicious way. Which kinda scares me.

The most impressive thing about him, writing wise, is that it’s all show-don’t-tell. He very frequently uses his charm and empathy and understanding of how people think in really clever ways. We’re often walked through his thought process of how he does these social deductions. We’re never told he’s scarily charismatic, besides other characters reacting to him being scarily charismatic.

Kabru is a natural-born leader and social engineer with superlative skills in both, which makes him the perfect foil for Laios, who’s too autistic and unambitious that he’s not even the de facto leader of his own party that he’s the official leader of. He’s so bad at leadership that his party just, sort of, doesn’t have a leader. They just kinda argue and do stuff.

What’s also neat, and perfectly inline with Meshi’s general theme of clever and logical subversions of fantasy tropes, is that Kabru’s character design in no way clues us in on this fundamental character trait of his.

He’s sort of a human fighter / knight archetype, which in the language of fantasy RPGs is a class most would associate with being a white bread jock, chivalrousness optional. (Laios subverts the same trope in the same way. It’s really funny that the walking exposition dump of the group looks like the character creator default preset spec’d as the most generic class available.)

If Kabru was a bard or noble and Laios a wizard, their character traits would be far less interesting

Even better is that we would expect someone who looks like Laios to have Kabru’s personality, and vice versa. Their character designs are flipped; the confident super charismatic leader is a short wide-eyed twink, while the slightly naive and very autistic monster enthusiast is a tall conventionally attractive Aryan lookin’ mf. (see what I mean by Kabru being such a good foil for Laios?? No wonder everyone ships them, they’re perfect for each other!)

Yet, their designs also work for them. Kabru just has a face that’s easy to talk to, his piercing blue eyes and curly hair gives him a false sense of naïveté, while his iconic 👁️👁️ expression hints that there’s actually quite a bit going on inside his head. Meanwhile, Laios believably looks like someone who doesn’t know what hair conditioner is. His armor’s collar gorget thing is also pretty dorky.

You can’t trust people like that (I mean overly charismatic people with a manipulative streak, not blue-eyed twinks) because you can’t know what their real motives are. You can’t know they aren’t pretending, you can’t know they aren’t trying to or haven’t already manipulated you. How could you? When he has so much more social intelligence than you do, average socially awkward Tumblr user? He’s touched all the grass!

In episode 16 (spoilers, btw) Kabru finally meets Laios’s party, who he’s been trying to find and fight for the better part of the season, and he just decides that no confrontation is necessary. Like, immediately upon meeting the guy. Just from how Laios looked at him. He figures that since Laios didn’t seem to recognize him, they either have never met meaning he has the wrong guy, or Laios forgot meaning he didn’t think it’d be a big deal, meaning the treasure was a trap or something. Which is pretty in line with Kabru’s established ability to always roll nat 20s for every charisma and deductive reasoning check, so cool.

But he doesn’t even seem curious about which of those cases is true. (He might be interested to find out some of the treasure wasn’t dangerous, but accidentally got thrown off a bridge). Much to Rin’s dismay, he’d rather just not bring it up because that could upset the leader of the party he might be working with for the foreseeable future.

Actions speak louder than words. So, all we really learn in this scene is that Kabru’s goals and M.O. can change on a dime, and that he values reputation and political capital more than money and vengeance. More than his own party’s desire for those things. Not only is he someone with a silver tongue, but he knows its value and is determined to use it at every opportunity.

Kabru and his party might not be very good at fighting or surviving in the dungeon, in fact their frequent TPKs are a running gag. But, he also doesn’t need to be when he can just manipulate Laios’ and Shuro’s much more proficient parties into helping him.

So far, Kabru seems like the most likely one to become king of the dungeon or whatever the mcguffin is. He is the only protagonist so far who has said that’s an actual goal of his. He’s said that he doesn’t think someone like Laios who isn’t a born leader should get it.

In fact, Kabru seems to have very strong opinions on what kinds of people should be allowed to adventure in the dungeon, evidenced by the fact that he murdered an entire party over it, justified or not. Kabru seems to think that Kabru is such a leader, and he’s probably right about that, but what kind of leader? 

What would Kabru do with that kind of power if he gets it? Because I’m not sure. All I know is that he is the kind of person with the ability to use real political power to its full potential. For good, or for very, very bad.

I’m not saying that Kabru is evil or that he’s secretly gonna be the surprise villain. I dunno, I haven’t read the manga. He could just be a nice guy that’s just, like, is like that. Everything he’s done could be justified by the explanations he’s given. He actually reminds me a lot of one of my IRL friends, and I’d trust him with my life.

But, I can’t help but feel a distinct sense of unease whenever he’s on-screen. I try not to trust confident natural-born leaders like him right out of the gate. I don’t like that our instinct as humans is to blindly follow them without thinking about it.

Tyrants and psychopaths also use confidence and charm and a friendly demeanor to make people think they’re a good guy, while manipulating everyone into thinking their self-serving actions are altruistic. Benevolent, confident, skilled leaders do exist. But there exists many more snakes wearing their skin. Wolves rarely bother with sheep’s clothing, they dress as shepherds and sheepdogs.

Anyway, my point is that I think it’s kinda neat that it’s possible to overthink this much about a character whose probably just a nice guy that is the mirror opposite of an autistic person. Writing that kind of ambiguity is hard, and employing it in this way is inspired.

#writing #spilled thoughts #dungeon meshi #kabru of utaya #laios x kabru

[milk-ly]

Fuuta and Mikoto as Character Foils

This amazing post talks about Fuuta's people pleasing tendencies and they mentioned how Mikoto is simillar, but does it in a different way. And I have NOT been able to stop thinking about it so I want to get my thoughts out about how Fuuta and Mikoto are character foils to each other.

Fuuta and Mikoto are pretty much complete opposites. They parallel in that they both desperately crave societal acceptance, but they differ in how they go about it. Mikoto tries to read the room and changes every aspect of himself in order to seem more friendly and amicable to fit in. He does things based on what he SHOULD do because it’s the societally accepted way to do things and he’ll be liked for it.

Fuuta doesn’t because it’s just how he is, his naturally fiery and argumentative temperament makes it hard for people to like him. It’s not that he doesn’t want to fit in but he isn’t willing to change himself the same way Mikoto is. Mikoto is friendly and approachable while Fuuta is the complete opposite.

But here’s the thing, he IS also like Mikoto in that regard because he is seen in MILGRAM actively changing himself in order to believe that he is that idealized self in Bring It On. He tries to be a representative for everyone and confronts Es for hurting Yuno during his t1 VD, despite having to hype himself up before charging up at them.

But still, no matter how hard he tries he can’t be that idealized self. He can’t fit in, because it’s not who he is. He wants to be accepted as himself! He wants friends he can share the same interests and opinions with to feel validated.

Portal Timeline conversation (2023/07/05):

Fuuta: "Oh, well. I guess I can understand a bit now. When you're feeling down, it's nice to have someone to rely on, someone who accepts you."

It's why Mikoto thinks Fuuta’s immature because Fuuta's unable to fit into society and "be an adult" like Mikoto can. Mikoto thinks that once you grow up, you need to buckle down and start conforming or else you'll never get anywhere in life. To him, it's disgraceful to be angry because it's frowned upon, and Fuuta's pretty much in a constant state of rage, which is why Fuuta has such a hard time finding acceptance. Every time they talk, they’re criticizing each other. Their first ever conversation starts with Mikoto lecturing Fuuta about how he can’t and won’t fit in and it (rightfully) ticks him off, especially since Mikoto can. It’s why they’re at each other's throats like every time they interact (which is pretty little). Mikoto even straight up has a line in the earbud collab about how Fuuta will never get any girls.

Fuuta is constantly considered by others as “immature” and “childish” such as Kazui saying that it's okay for Fuuta to be cocky because he's young or how Fuuta is constantly linked to games (typically associated with children). Or the fact that the lyrics from Bring It On: ""Kono yubi tomare" [is] a traditional saying from a traditional kid’s game."

On the flip side, Mikoto is constantly reminding people that he’s a working adult. Not to mention, Mikoto tends to hang around the older prisoners more (the smoker trio) while Fuuta interacts with the younger prisoners the most. (Amane, Haruka, and sometimes Muu)

Mikoto wants to be a cog in the machine and believes that if he works hard enough, he'll be able to make it in the workforce. Fuuta actively criticizes the workforce and how it's useless to work too hard, so he "goes with the flow."

There are so many smaller details too that emphasize their foil. Mikoto smokes, Fuuta hates smoking. Mikoto's voice is high and whiney while Fuuta's is deep and aggressive. Fuuta has an older sister while Mikoto has a younger sister. Both their parents are divorced but Fuuta is missing his mother while Mikoto is missing his father. However, one similarity is that they both SEEM to have good opinions about their moms while having questionable ones with their dads.

Something else I think about a lot is how Fuuta parallels with John. Especially concerning these lines from John when you realize John is pretty much the opposite of Mikoto too:

John might be the person Mikoto wishes he was. Someone who stubbornly stands their ground, someone who tries stand up for themselves and “gives people their just desserts.” Sounds rather familiar to a certain red-head, I must say.

In addition, they share a lot more similarities too, like their connection to the bright colour red, contrasted by Mikoto's light blue. They both have short tempers and jump at Es as a defence mechanism, in contrast to Mikoto having a fawn response and laughing everything off. They both use the first-person pronoun "ore" while Mikoto uses "boku." Both Fuuta and John have a deeper and more aggressive tone in comparison to Mikoto. Fuuta's symbolism as a brave knight protecting the weak and punishing evil parallels John protecting the "weak" (Mikoto) and acting as his saviour from threats. Mikoto couldn't stand up for himself so John did it for him, Fuuta "stood up" for the people hurt by the actions of the people he cancelled.

To add on to that, Mikoto’s name in kanji means “noble” or “revered.” Words that remind you of royalty, or a prince. (Boy princess fr fr) John being his saviour makes him his knight in shining armour. Matching with Fuuta’s knight symbolism!

Mikoto envies these traits in Fuuta yet hates them and purposefully suppresses them within himself because it's not socially acceptable to act like him. Fuuta likely similarity envies people who can fit in, like Mikoto. Perhaps the reason why the two are so irked by the other is that they each embody traits the other admires yet can't have.

But in the end, they both can’t really fit into “normal” society. Mikoto, who claims he can, is suffering to the point of breaking. Fuuta, who tried and finally found an ounce of acceptance and ally ship in his online buddies, ended up getting carried away and causing the death of someone.

I'm really surprised I haven’t really seen this mentioned or discussed very much. Sorry if it’s really obvious, I just wanted to point some stuff out. Anyway man, I love these two a lot and I would love to see more stuff diving into these two in a canon context too.

#milgram #fuuta kajiyama #mikoto kayano #john milgram #milkly ramble

[fuumiku]

They’re really interesting foils in many ways. I’ve always thought that Marcille & Mithrun have underrated dynamic potential. Give me the cringefail dungeon lords. Give me the elves with ears-centric metaphorical self-image issues. Give me the academic elites whose deepest strongest desires will always remain unreachable and the only option is to turn to the corrupt forbidden fruit of a demon pact. I am so so normal about Mithrun and Marcille

I wonder if the resemblance between captain Mithrun and general Hagreus aka Marcille’s fave in Dalclan is intentional… They definitely look very alike. It could represent idealization vs reality? Something something the romanticization of elves and their societal drama in their fiction vs a very real and imperfect product of their military system. The canaries certainly aren’t glamorous next to whatever Hagreus is the general of. I feel like she never had the opportunity to notice the resemblance herself bc within seconds of meeting him he was wrestling her on the ground but. If she had… She would so think he should have been his actor in the tallman stage play of Daltian Clan in that new extra comic hehe. I love the little details like Hagreus’ lips being drawn with extra details because they’re full and pretty while Mithrun’s lips are drawn with extra details because they’re chapped lmao.

This art is all silly and surface level but in my head mithrille is like so dramatic and I make up daltian clan level big plots with them gbdgd. I made a spotify playlist for mithrun if y’all interested, rn it’s mostly centered around cravings that consume and losing yourself and illusions inspired from his time as dungeon lord but it’s branching out. Varied vibes, levels of intensity and degrees of confusion and await you ✨ I would emotionally rant about Chainsaw Man ost lyrics and how they tie in with Mithrun and the winged lion’s relationship but this post is already a monster

I want more of these two please please please pleaseee just one or two interactions in the new canon content coming up… All they ever did was debate philosophy on desires and human self-fulfillment and try to murder each other, please… I never get to gush about them and I can’t shut up so if you want more thoughts I talk about them more below

To get a girl to peacefully accept arrest follow these simple steps: in private, ominously stand above her and forcefully interrogate her, while in public, tell her you’ve met before (untrue and also not a pickup line, you’re just face blind) and interrogate her with a thin veneer of decorum. If all else fails, threaten and follow through on said threat. My guy needs more than just physical therapy I’m afraid

Sorry if most of these were Marcille-centric with Mithrun standing there looking cool, if I were doing these more from Mithrun’s pov things would be like "She’s a bit much but I guess I don’t mind hanging around her." or "Oh you’re a half-elf? -insert elven supremacist rethoric-" or "I have to keep her from becoming demon stew." immediately followed by "Did someone say demon? Kill kill kill kill kill" since these are set prior to like really knowing another. Then things would be more like "huh she has bad tastes in novels but her magic research is pretty interesting" and "I’m lonely and don’t understand myself— Oh she loves talking about feelings? Oh shi-" That last one is an aspect of why I like Marcille and Mithrun’s potential dynamic lol. She’s very… Emotionally intelligent alongside being impulsive. You think you have no feelings because the world has beaten them out of you? Think again!! Marcille be upon ye! -In a therapy sort of way but mostly in a connecting with people and your own self through interpersonal relationships and talking kinda way. I just think a lively, upbeat, annoying friend way too interested in your personal life would do him good, the canaries are nice but like if Marcille went to prison and was a sort of extra new bunkmate I think that’d be interesting and fun to read is what I’m saying

Unlike Kabru she wants all the useless messy filler of his backstory, eating chips while listening. Like two chibi sets side by side, "me and my fellow canaries, name name and name-" "Hold on we don’t need to know that." Vs "Then we were to sleep on the third floor of the dungeon, which had the look of a mausoleum, and name and name got into a fight over the campfire placement." while Marcille is like uh-huh what next what next while kicking her feet. She thinks of pre-dungeon pompous Mithrun and is like omg you went through a character arc and become better as a person- and then he opens his mouth and she’s like nevermind let’s keep working on that. She would also go "ew ur hair is greasy" and give him a full hair care treatment. What I’m saying is I need them to be forced to spend time in a dungeon together and become besties through a life or death roadtrip

Marcille is insecure about her ears, long, like an elf’s pride should be, but rounder, inelegant. Seeing Mithrun though, the epitome of beauty, with his half-cut ears make it a sillier thought. Not sure if Mithrun is the best person to reconnect with ur elven culture with but it sure is an option Marcille would so appreciate being around someone both cool headed and kind, I genuinely think they’d get along, like not that Senshi isn’t that too most of the time but I think Mithrun would be in a way that’s more refreshing to her. I’d be so curious about them discussing Dalclan, I doubt he’d have read it but she could make him read it, maybe post-canon with the excuse that they’re trying to find him a new hobby hah. He’d tear into the writing and everything but it’d be a fun time, I like to think that it’d make him a bit less prejudiced. Marcille @ Mithrun "👉👈 Soo maybe you don’t know these books they’re pretty recent having come out 50 years ago but…"

I’ve been in a Mithrun phase I want to make and read Mithrun-centric fics and angst so baaad. I razz him a lot here but he’s literally a traumatized military man that became obsessed with revenge due to bad coping and neglects himself in the process idk not much for him going on and some of it is because he has to work on himself, but hey no one’s perfect it all comes from a place of love and relating though I prommy. He’s the one ungodly angsty squeaky toy blorbo with brain damage rep I have don’t take him from me

#Dungeon meshi #mithrun #marcille donato #I feel like i haven’t drawn in so long i’m so rusty #Mithrille #Mithrun x marcille #Marcille x mithrun #I finally did smth for these 2 yippee #Dust and dog hairs manage to get on my drawings while i take pics it drives me mad i can’t do this anymore sorry if you see any #Continuation of my Marcille: “LET ME LOVE YOU!!” saga #Sorry marcille i hate drawing your sleeves #There are a couple things I’m not satisfied with and might redraw at one point but i need to stop and get stuff done #Marcille has 5 cm of height on mithrun according to the adventurers bible neat #Spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #I’ll move those last two tags up when I get to my computer #Character playlist #I made a more formal mithrille post on another blog explaining what potential i saw in them just search in the ship tag if you’re intereste

[comradekatara]

Would it be too broad a question to prompt for thoughts on a Yue & Azula dynamic? Idk if it’s rly that fun to ruminate on hypotheticals when Yue is the moon post s1, but I mean, we have contemplated the potential dynamics of Yue with other characters beyond s1 so I don’t see why not. Tbh I just thought it was interesting bc Yue has completely internalized her role within patriarchy as a symbol of the motherland etc etc. & Azula I think everyone esp w/in fandom tends to misconstrue as like. Autonomous & selfish & ontologically evil when her whole Deal is subservience to a “divine” patriarch & being molded into a perfect weapon. Or am I only thinking they would have an interesting dynamic bc as you’ve rightly said before, sokka & Azula as foils are already rly compelling & Yue is the female sokka?

lmfao yeah you basically said it all. yue and azula are both mirrors to sokka and also mirrors to each other. they each have “duties to their father and to their people” that they embody above all else, sublimating their personhood to perform obedience to their respective patriarchs. yue performs this role through denying her own agency and sacrificing herself, azula performs this role through dehumanizing herself and molding herself into a weapon, and sokka does all of the above. but in a more literal sense, yue and azula are both princesses (obviously sokka is also the son of the chief, but it’s a different situation because he’s also not a Girl) and so this is already a huge commonality between them, considering they’re the only two real princesses in the entire show (although you could argue that toph and mai functionally had similar upbringings). I think a lot of people envision azula and yue working together in an AU wherein the war never happened and so there was international cooperation that allowed for them to meet. that, or an AU wherein yue survives the siege and eventually meets azula. neither of these hypotheticals are particularly interesting to me, but I could see them getting along, because yue likes nerdy dorks who make bad jokes and kill people, and azula likes beautiful girls with shiny hair who are nice to her (to be honest I don’t even think they have to be beautiful, I think they just have to be nice to her, and being absolutely gorgeous is just a bonus). but it’s also kind of a pointless ship to me because there’s no real scenario wherein they’d interact, and sokka already functions as a proxy between both of them in the first place. and is he not dykey enough to satisfy your desires??? for shame.

#normally I understand ppl who want to make existing ships lesbian (im only human after all) #but with sokka ships im like . that is a lesbian you’re just looking at him from the wrong angle #sokkayue is literally a butch/femme couple…….. #and sokkazula COULD be lesbians but everyone who ships them seems intent on exaggerating their heterosexuality so I cannot actually fw them #they’re so compelling hypothetically tho…. #zukkacore #asks #analysis #yue #azula #sokka #I did write one AU a LONGASS time ago wherein azula and sokka switched places in the narrative #and in THAT scenario azula/yue could be cute #but like. get real.

[mzminola]

DC Bat comics have a lot of classism issues (among other problems) but thanks to the weird-ass way that wealth scales, any analysis that assumes Tim’s original family is closer to the Waynes than they are to the Browns is going to be full of holes. Or if you assume Stephanie’s family is closer to the Todds than to the Drakes.

Like, the Drakes when Jack still has the company are definitely in a different tax bracket than Crystal Brown the nurse & Arthur Brown the ex gameshow host turned costumed villain, but the Drakes & Browns are still closer to each other than they are to the old money Bruce Wayne whose company bankrolls the Justice League.

Plus the time when DI went under and the Drakes were relying on Dana’s income from working as a physical therapist moved them to probably about the same bracket until Jack picked up a job too.

Acting like Stephanie Brown, who grows up in the suburbs in a house her mom owns outright, can easily put herself up in a hotel room for a week or two when fighting with her mom, only needs a job in college to avoid student loans instead of to supplement them... is close to pre-adoption Jason?

Even pre-his-parents-dying Jason?

No.

Tim & Steph have enough of a gap to have different experiences and sometimes talk past each other, but they’re still both much closer to each other than either of them is to the Waynes or the Todds.

Tim & Steph are both economically well off kids with abusive dads who decide to sneak out and fight crime. Stephanie’s mom is uninvolved in her life because of a prescription pill addiction (though she works past that to become more involved), while Tim’s mom is straight up dead, and the stepmom he gets later is nice but takes a hands-off approach to parenting (and then dies too).

This makes sense with Stephanie’s role in earlier comics being a foil to Tim (though she grows into a more independent character over time). They need enough similarities in circumstance that their different philosophies and crime fighting styles come down to personal choice, and they can argue with each other without mutually devolving into “You just don’t understand!”

TL;DR: economics and social class are fucking weird, Tim & Steph are foils, exaggerating the differences in their backgrounds messes up your analysis.

Bonus: You don’t need to make Steph even more of an underdog to appreciate her character.

#Dana is also a physical therapist and Crystal is a nurse #so they're both working in the medical field for another similarity #and while Jack has money at the start he also seems to disdain Bruce's social class #this isn't even getting into the OVER A YEAR Tim spent without a legal guardian #or the fact that Cass was an actual street kid from the age of eight until her late teens #like if you want to compare another Bat's economic situation to Jason's STOP IGNORING CASS #comics meta #DC #Batfam #Stephanie Brown #Tim Drake #uh maybe also #fandom critical

[solisaureus]

i’ll have to rewatch episode 6 cus i was so distracted hunting for di angelo easter eggs but i really liked it!! here are some impressions:

- (putting on bulletproof vest) lmm’s performance as hermes was fantastic. i was skeptical about the casting at first but he did a great job — i watched the ep with my brother, and he said he was worried that lin was going to “play as himself” and i think that was my concern too. but he didn’t! hermes was so interesting. he obviously knows way more than he’s letting on. he knows what’s going to happen to luke. watching the scenes with hermes with that knowledge in mind makes them hit so hard. so far hermes is the god who has shown the most love for their demigod child that we’ve seen so far, and that child is LUKE. this is in contrast to ares in the last episode who was talking about how much he hates his own kids, in contrast to athena who tried to have annabeth killed for embarrassing her, in contrast to poseidon who loves percy but has stayed away from him.

- it’s interesting that luke’s backstory and may castellan are being introduced so early. in the books you don’t find out about this until the last olympian. you (and percy) spend four books just absolutely hating luke for being an irredeemable scumbag, and THEN you (and percy) find out about his sympathetic backstory. but now we’re learning his sympathetic backstory before we even know he’s a traitor. this will change how we see luke’s character later on, and it will make sense why annabeth defends him so much when, from percy’s pov, he hasn’t given her much reason to. now percy will know what he’s been through, he will already be aware of the parallels between his life and luke’s. shrimpteresting

- the new added detail that it was poseidon who warned hermes to stay away from luke is FASCINATING to me. it greatly strengthens the foil character relationship between luke and percy. both poseidon and hermes had to watch their mortal children endure harsh and traumatizing home lives, and poseidon warned hermes that getting involved will make it worse. this explains so much about the gods “hands off” approach to parenting, and it seems like it’ll be reinforced when luke betrays olympus and percy doesn’t. luke met his father and will always hate him, percy has never met his father and is starting to come around on him. the fact that hermes TELLS PERCY ABOUT THIS is just. so much to handle

- percy trying to drive was very funny and the fact that he honked at the person in the garage killed me. he has inborn road rage, it’s in his new yorker blood

- i loved the way the iris message was visualized!!! it looked soooo cool

- okay don’t kill me but…i don’t think that the absence of the part where annabeth tells percy they’re friends in the zoo truck was that big of a deal. i was looking forward to seeing this scene at first, but honestly, in the context of where the show is now it wouldn’t hit as hard. episode 5 made it abundantly clear that annabeth considers percy a friend. they are already obviously loyal to each other. maybe it would’ve been nice to include that line in there as a nod for book fans, but in the context of the show it wouldn’t have been as big of a moment as it was in the books

- grover not giving a shit about the humans in las vegas was hysterical

- the fact that the solstice has already passed is an interesting development!!! i’m curious as to why they made that change. hopefully we’ll find out!

- overall i like how much plot and character development is being worked into the story along the way, instead it the side adventures just being wacky, “monster of the week” esque episodes. the waterland ep was very different from what it was in the books, but in my opinion it was much better. like i kept thinking that if the show scene had been in the books, and what’s in the books had been in the show, i would’ve been vastly disappointed. like if the books had annabeth realizing that sally jackson did so much to make percy compassionate, and that’s why he’s not like the cutthroat olympians, and she’d rather be like him than like them, and hephaestus empathizing with that message…and then the show cut out all of that just to make an awkward romantic atmosphere for percy and annabeth and just have annabeth scream about spiders…i would’ve been really disappointed. so yes it’s different from the books but in my opinion it’s inarguably better! and honestly maybe the spider thing will get worked in later 🤷

#robin text #pjo tv spoilers

[rockstrais]

What are your favorite aspects of Emerald & Mercury’s relationship?

this is a very broad question…. my gosh where do I begin?

I’ll start with how they didn’t choose each other each other by their own accord. emerald initially vetoed against mercury joining their party. it took them a while to actually accept the other’s very existence. em asks merc why he joins them. he says it was fate. cinder and her show up looking for his father the night he killed him? what else could that be except destiny. as we know, destiny & fate are heavy theme in rwby. the characters have to spend time challenging their ideas of that. we see that with pyrrha, ruby, weiss etc… but the thing is whether they were fated to meet… mercury and emerald subconsciously choose one other—despite their own protests. they’re the only people their age (literal seventeen year olds at the beginning of the show) they are each other’s first friends—and perhaps first loves(?) (wishful thinking on my part)

i also enjoy the symbolism around them. they foil and compliment each other nicely.

emerald is the gemstone of the planet mercury! in her concept art for v2, she’s seen wearing gold (linking her to cinder) jewelry. it’s later changed to silver (linking her to mercury).

emerald also has light/day symbolism! and mercury also has night/dark symbolism. every blocking of each scene they are in together has emerald in the light, representing how she’s always been morally good; and mercury teetering into the dark, representing how he keeps getting swept toward morally bad people. figures since he’s named mercury. he’s gonna be the one who is more morally grey than his peer. (haha, get it?) but as we see, emerald will get him to face the light.

their struggles also foil each other too. she projects a pseudo sister-mother relationship onto cinder, since she lacks that familial connection. she yearns for love above all else. it’s why she joined and stayed with cinder for so long. his father raised him to be killing-machine. to be the best of the best in his craft. of course he was never enough. (insert silver medal joke here) mercury craves respect above all else. it’s why he joined cinder. it’s why he accepted salem’s hasty promotion. he wants to be taken seriously very, very badly.

though unknowingly to both of them—they have what they want already!

mercury loves emerald unconditionally as she so desperately desires, you can see he cares for her. He might not show it in the best ways possible all the time, but he does. what is love if not wanting to crack a joke in front of the cute girl you barely know who’s now your partner in crime any chance you get? what is love if not trying to convince your best friend (though you’d never admit it aloud because your dad called it a weakness) to let go of the woman who is not a mother or sister to her whatsoever? what is love if not protecting the only person you give a damn about from some weird freak of a grown man who keeps threatening her?

emerald respects—dare i say admires—mercury as he badly craves. what is respect if not immediately going to apologize for upsetting him when he brought up his terrible childhood and abusive father because you assumed he didn’t know what it’s like to have such love for a parental figure (one who constantly failed you, not that you can admit it)? what is respect if not immediately trusting him with new information you overhead from a prisoner? over your mentor who just returned from the dead mind you. like, of all people, why is he, the boy you didn’t want, your first choice? if you don’t respect him why do you use his fighting style to escape a sticky situation and his favorite snarky insults? if that’s not respect, then do tell me what is?

and notice how i never said mercury wants love—like yes, he does. but not over respect. he wasn’t raised to need love. to be honest, he never makes a huge point about wanting because he already knows what it is. he learned it from emerald; her respect is her love. which is why he is trying to reciprocate that in the only ways he knows how. emerald doesn’t think her respect is love. her respect for cinder is more unwavering, unhealthy devotion. that’s not love. it’s one-sided. her begrudging obligation to give a damn about mercury has sprung into something much more.

both of them are too stubborn to realize it, but they’re getting and giving what they ask for. once they eventually—oh i can’t wait to see the epiphanies and developments that come from that!

anyways this was very long, sorry. you can see that i’m clearly passionate between these two!

#anon #lets chat! #emerald sustrai #mercury black #emercury #rwby

[mydisasteracademia]

I spend a lot of time harping on the disappointing and frustrating aspects of MHA, so I'd like to change gears and talk about some specific positives for me:

- Ida, Todoroki, and Izuku's friendship during and post Stain Arc. The way those three stuck together was just awesome, and we got the legitimately funny 'Hand Crusher' moment.

- Eri being 100% ride or die for Izuku. I'm not a fan of Eri (specifically her writing), but seeing her going so hard for Izuku in the light novels were the ONLY bearable moments for me.

- Kota becoming an Izuku fanboy and apologizing for how he acted towards him, specifically how he ran up to hug Izuku after the Dark Izuku Arc.

- All Might and Inko owning up to their mistakes and working to make up for them.

- The audience legitimately cheering for Sero after his match with Todoroki during the Sports Festival, seeing as how unfairly matched up they were.

- The OFA vestiges (for the most part) being genuinely kind and helpful towards Izuku, gently encouraging him to rest and not push himself during the Dark Izuku Arc

- Dark Shadow absolutely loving Izuku and being so gentle with him during 1A vs Izuku 🥺

- Aizawa FINALLY realizing how unfair and awful he'd been towards Izuku during the PLF War, specifically after hearing Izuku stand up for him

- AFO in Kamino Ward was badass. Enough said.

- Dadmight and Izuku. No other words needed.

- Ida comforting and reassuring Izuku that he'd always be there to help him during 1A vs Izuku.

- Endeavor actually realizing how awful he was towards his family, and Natsuo and Shoto being more or less allowed to feel conflicted/resentful of him.

Those are all very nice moments, I do have to say. I agree wholeheartedly with all of them.

Adding to that list, I love how the girls support each other. It’s such a good group dynamic and I love that despite their differences they all look out for each other and their friendship is strong.

I may criticize the plotline as a whole, but I do like that instead of turning on the Yuuei traitor they understood the traitor’s situation and promised to help the traitor with their issues. It was honestly really heartwarming.

I love Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima’s adorkable friendship. They’re all so goofy together!

I love seeing Kirishima and Tetsutetsu’s bonding moment during the Sports Festival. Kiri definitely needed another friend and branching the gap between the (at the time) nebulous 1-B and our 1-A was really nice. (Plus the separated at birth theory makes me laugh. Too many coincidences! Get the string board!)

Eri SMILING and finally acting like a kid during 1-A’s musical number at the Culture Festival and making Mirio cry? That hit me right in the feels.

Speaking of Mirio, I love his friendship with Midoriya. He is the exact kind of friend he needed and he’s so goofy he makes me smile whenever we see him. The Big Three are honestly one of the better parts of the Academia part of the manga/anime.

This is a bit of a petty moment, but I’m petty and it makes me laugh: Overhaul’s whole cameo in the Lady Nagant arc. I personally despise him so seeing him so disheveled and bewildered all of the time gives me joy.

I LOVED Shuichi/Spinner’s loyalty/friendship with Shigaraki. He is such a ride or die friend and it made me smile every time he mentioned how much he was willing to do just to save him. It reminds me of how dedicated Iida/Todoroki were to save Midoriya from himself and it hits home that they’re effective foils of each other.

And of course, Uraraka and Midoriya’s bond is one of my favorite parts. Not only are they both super cute/adorkable, but they care about each other SO MUCH and it HEALS me to see them showing that.

There’s just so much good and while it frustrates me a lot due to the wasted potential I just can’t hate it, y’know? Not when there’s so many good parts to come back to.

#she speaks #she answers #mutuals #bnha sugar #mha sugar #honestly for as much as i criticize it i can admit it has a LOT of good parts #that’s partly why i criticize it so much - i know it can and should be better-written #potential spoilers

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Goes Through Hell and High Water

So I wrote a few thousand words about William’s fire motif, and in it, I mentioned Sherlock being associated with water. I got some pushback on this, which I found interesting, but I can easily find it in me to write as many words about Sherlock, William’s other half and foil, and fire’s equal and opposing element, water. So let’s do it.

While fire and water are typically put in opposition to each other for obvious reasons, their symbolic meanings probably overlap as much as they differ. They’re both powerful, necessary, dominant forces in human life and have been…oh, what, for the entire existence of the species? So it makes sense that humans can see so many different things in them, and that fire and water are both associated with the deadliest dangers and the most necessary sustenance.

What I especially like about the motifs in Yuukoku no Moriarty is that these two characters, associated with these two things, are opposites in so many ways—the authors even discuss making choices for each to be in opposition to the other—but equal matches that are really much more similar than it would appear, just as their elemental motifs are.

On a related note, I also like that both are Symbols of London, the light and the dark, the crime and the justice, the Thames and The Great London Fire (of which there were…well, more than one of). So both are also strongly associated with their rainy, rainy, entirely too flammable home, and the Thames is…pretty well known for being filthy and polluted, as much as London needs it to survive. Hm, I wonder who that sounds like…

But I’m a few hundred words in already and have not even started my argument for Sherlock’s elemental motif as water. So let’s dig into the good stuff. Unlike with William, it seems I’ll have to prove myself a bit this time. William’s is omnipresent and obvious, but perhaps, as is the way of water, Sherlock’s is a tad more subtle.

We could start with Sherlock’s first proper introduction, but I think it’ll be fun to go even further back, to that first page again, with that waterfall obscuring Sherlock’s features in mist while William nearly falls from the slippery, wet rock to his death. Although it’s not obvious back then, William is trying to give in to the water and let it kill him (the way he’d like Sherlock to, in fact).

That page is a nice big splash panel, although not as big as the later one that chapter with William, his brothers, and fire, but it’s a strong association drawing Sherlock and water together from the beginning and it’s a flash forward, too, so the impact is pretty strong for a one-off scene that’s not really dealt with for a while. And it’s just about all we know of Sherlock for the first volume and a half: Wiliam in conflict with him, Sherlock shrouded and hidden by water. William is in danger from that torrent, just as Sherlock appears to be one.

Water has long been thought of as unknowable, the holder of mysteries of the deep. One of the least explored and difficult to access places on Earth. An often calm, easy surface hiding depths and danger below it. There’s a million idioms about it. “Hidden depths” itself is one—and Sherlock is certainly full of those, as much as he tries to throw his personality on display. There’s a lot to him that takes quite a lot of light and time to explore.

This brings us neatly to his “proper” introduction to the series: when he meets William on a cruise ship isolated in deep water. Where William pierces right through Sherlock and sees…not everything, but far more than most.

The mysterious, watery depths that can swallow a man whole (Enders) arrived with Sherlock (who did much the same to William). The water is dangerous, but perhaps William can still make use of it, no? He can blaze a bright beckoning path of flame and the water will follow, as its purpose is to put out fires.

It’s not a coincidence that Sherlock shows up on a cruise ship in the middle of deep water that way. The Noahtic is a fun setting, but it’s also wildly in contrast to…most of the series. It’s not as if, “Oooh, play on a boat,” even makes a lot of sense. The reason Sherlock’s even on the damn thing is given extracanonically, because there’s no clear reason for it. The only other times we see anyone on boats in the series are: the steamship escaping London for America (Sherlock), the chase on the Thames in The Sign of Mary (Sherlock) and, very briefly, Moran and Moneypenny on their way home from India.

Similarly, despite the series taking place largely in the rain, wet, gloomy city of London…there’s not actually a lot of rain in the series. But there is in A Study in ‘S’. And, yeah, okay, drawing rain all the time is a pain in the ass, but they still made the point of including it there.

Sherlock doesn’t really shield himself from it. He kind of just throws his jacket over his head. Sure, that’s also about showing what a disaster man he is and how little he cares about social norms, but it’s more than that, too: he’s exposing himself to the rain and accepting that it’s just part of his life.

There’s two different sections it rains during in that arc, and they’re not actually attached. There’s a period of dryness between them. It rains when he first meets John and they meet up with Hudson, and it rains later after Fred shows up to claim Hope’s ring. Interestingly, it does not rain when Sherlock is in jail, investigating the scene, or even when he then announces his deductions and finishes off the case. It only rains when Sherlock is pursuing his own ends and meeting people he builds bonds with.

The water isn’t The Great Detective. The water is Sherlock—and we know after the time skip especially that they aren’t one in the same and that Sherlock is more than just the guy who solves mysteries, as he says himself. Sherlock’s personality reflects a lot of traits of water: deep, unknowable, insightful and clear of purpose, relentless, turbulent, moody, inclined to reflection and sadness. Dangerous, cold, but curiously soothing and helpful. He longs for the unknown adventure, to explore and discover abroad.

William’s personality erupts in a purposeful, intentional inferno. Sherlock’s comes in as a force of nature. Water isn’t easily controllable, and rain the least of all. It’s simply…undeniably there. And everyone is soaked by it whether they want to be or not. Drowning in it. Thriving off it. Really annoyed by it. You know. How rain is, how Sherlock is.

And then Adler shows up in A Scandal in the British Empire.

Adler is the one who jumps into the Thames to rescue a kid, not Sherlock…and yet, when Adler becomes Bond and switches over to William’s side, there’s a very similar scene, in which Bond ducks in, smeared with fiery ash, to save a kid from danger from fire. They’re basically parallel scenes indicating which side the character is on, and Adler is firmly aligned with Sherlock when she jumps into the Thames.

In fact, it’s with that water rescue between the two of them—pulling a kid from danger, and pulling a friend from danger, that finally starts to bond them and gives them a new start on their relationships. It’s an extremely revealing scene for Sherlock and Adler both and gives them both pure insight into each other’s goals and values. The turbulence of the river washes away the trappings they’ve put on around each other and their relationship is renewed and reborn—both of which are associated with fire, but equally with water and baptism.

And “Adler” supposedly meets her end in the river and finds her final resting place permanently on Sherlock’s side.

Now let’s talk a bit about The Sign of Mary. Most of the plot was adapted pretty straight from the novel, I’m told, so I’m not going to say they obviously chose the setting and the Thames for Motif Reasons. They didn’t. But it still serves a purpose in this story, too.

There’s something so high adventure about Sherlock standing at the peak of a boat, water flying into his face as they rush forward and he calls out to the others. Something so adventurous about the tense shootout and rapid action. Something that calls to mind “adventure” novels about young boys and men flirting with danger at sea. Something adventurous and fun that William tends to be missing. William can be dramatic, but he doesn’t have fun killing people and taking down enemies. Fire is dramatic, but it’s not adventure. Water has always been Here Be Dragons to humans, and Sherlock has always wanted to seek out, find, and know those dragons.

I noted in William’s essay that the Jack the Ripper murders flee from William’s fire to water, which held no safety for them and Sherlock closes the book on their story even being known. And it’s not the only time something like that happens: Milverton also assumes Sherlock will be the water on William’s fiery rage and that involving Sherlock would handle it for him, and instead meets his end in a watery grave. His plan was for fire to boil away water and water to drown out fire and he would be rid of both and the dangerous Lord of Crime would no longer be targeting him. But, well: Sherlock is just as dangerous as William in his own way. Water isn’t necessarily a safe harbor. The open ocean is dangerous.

It's also interesting that Sherlock sets things on fire in The Two Criminals—the entire arc is about him being able and willing to use William’s methods as well as his own. Yet even when Sherlock murders someone, he uses a gun instead of a sword as is William’s preference, and water is the thing that hides the evidence of his crimes, not the fire William typically uses—fire hid the evidence of Milverton’s crimes.

 Sherlock sends Milverton to the deep and leaves everything about Milverton undiscoverable. He doesn’t kill with drama, passion, or flare: he kills cold and still like an unassuming pool of water. He washes away Milverton’s harm to allow Mary and John to start their life anew.

And that brings us to The Final Problem, the ultimate clash of water and fire, of the Thames and the Fire of London, of the Detective and the Lord of Crime. William sets all of London ablaze knowing it will be put out by the water from the Thames, the same way he anticipates Sherlock putting an end to him. That water, from the Thames and from Sherlock, will wash away not only his sins and his life, but restore, renew, and bond all of London. It will heal and soothe its wounds and clean out the rot William has all this while been trying to burn out. Sherlock is the cool head to negotiate a true change.

Of course, Sherlock chases William directly into the river to save him, and that river and the land across an ocean brings William peace, and rest, and clarity at last.

And it’s across that entire ocean that Sherlock manages to build a new life in a new world, restoring William’s health. Just as the Thames washes away the worst of William, it washes away the worst of Sherlock, too. Sherlock is the cool, steady, unrelenting presence in New York that William can and must rely on.

And in the end, after William has come to his own realization about himself, it’s water that he finally washes away his doubts with and steels himself with to chase after Sherlock, and water that he cools his head with to temper his fiery anger into something strong and relentless.

And when William refers to himself like fire, Sherlock accepts it and turns it back on William: William keeps a flame stoked, but Sherlock is amongst the stormy sea and needs to know where to turn. William has always thought Sherlock is his light, but perhaps it was that mirror character Sherlock is to him he was seeing, that brilliant water in a dark night reflecting William’s own bright light back at him, allowing William to finally see himself for who he is.

#Yuukoku no Moriarty #Moriarty the Patriot #character meta #I don't want to tag Sherly's name this time for Reasons #Anyway I proofread this and edited it again and if there's still typos I'm sorry

[macaronissi-mo]

GUYS i have another tav!! meet Sydrun (Syd.) he's my character for my multiplayer run with @feeble13 <3

he was a half-orc oath of vengeance paladin... well, until he accidentally broke his oath, and decided to just roll with being an oathbreaker. also guild artisan background - i think he’s trained in leatherworking and likes to keep the party’s armor in shape

he’s chaotic neutral (partly why he decided to stay an oathbreaker, because his oath was just too limiting for him.) he just goes with the flow and does whatever’s best for him + his friends. not averse to using his “big scary orc guy” face to his advantage, although he’s generally a fairly nice dude.

if you piss him off after his warning scowl though... he's happy to smite

besties with Tryp'a's (feeble13's githyanki monk Tav) :D they’re just silly little guys wreaking havoc together!!

romancing Wyll <3 he appreciates Wyll’s dapperness and good sense of humor (they joke with each other so much.) he also has a deep admiration for how Wyll is very refined and virtuous, almost a perfect foil to himself. (whenever he thinks about this, he always gets a brief moment of shock at “wow how did I manage to win over this wonderful guy??”)

#tav: sydrun #my tav #mac's fandom rambles #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #tav x wyll

[definitelynotshouting]

hihiiiii i’m back and i promise i’ll spell grian correctly this time lmaoo (post-writing here, there are lots of words lmao sorry)

i’ll try and be a bit more coherent since i’m not half asleep but god. how watchers themselves work in the hunger au is already so so interesting to me, especially with how grian is basically playing the wolf in sheep’s clothing. like he is a predator, here. but he remembers being a sheep, remembers being eaten, so no matter how hungry he gets, he tries so hard not to do that to the rest of his friends. but he’s still a wolf surrounded by sheep who all think he’s just a fellow sheep and he can’t survive on the same things that they can. and the sheep are right to be scared of him when they find out he’s a wolf but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s tried so hard not to hurt any of them and GOD the narrative dissonance (i think that’s the right term?) is so good between the reader perceiving everything through grian’s eyes because like. if it was the hermits of the traffic smp members he’s be portrayed so differently, especially with how much incomplete and unique information every individual has. like the traffic members all being scared that they’re going to be dragged into a game again so even if they want grian back they have to get past that barrier, and the hermits having to learn to distinguish or accept the grian they knew and the grian they kicked. and grian being the narrator, especially with his own hatred toward his needs as a watcher and his own feelings toward his former friends, creates this super strange effect where you can’t forget what he’s done because they victims are there but also you can’t help feel sympathy for him purely because he is so scared of himself that he is forcing himself to die. i’m not saying he’s irredeemable, it’s just a super cool writing decision that enhances the emotional elements to the story so much.

that shines a lot with how watchers enhance emotions, but it’s also soooo clear with pearl specifically because they’ve known each other for so long and through so much. and it’s such a highlight to both their relationship and grian’s situation that grian still struggles so much to read her. it’s dizzying almost, the way that grian is so good at reading emotions because it’s a latent ability he has but this one person foils all of it. and he knew, back when they were friends, how to traverse that because he didn’t need that ability to know her as a person, but now that there’s so much distance between them he has absolutely no idea how to traverse that. because he knows the minefield pattern has changed, knows that he was the one to change them, but all the soils settled and she’s acting like he still has the pattern memorised so what is there for him to do but do the same dance they used to. and then when those mines blow up as he knew they would he has no idea how to recover because he’s seen them explode but he’s never been in the blast area. and it’s so so interesting because for everyone else he can infer, and with pearl he still knows enough about her to guess, but she’s not giving him information in the way he knows her to frequent and it’s. it took me until my second read to fully understand the implications of their conversation (the couch thing, tilly, the cows) but i did and it’s so well written. i don’t know if it was your intention, it might’ve just been a side effect of me having to reread it while more attentive to that stuff, but somehow that only sucked me into the narrative further because i felt just as confused as grian for half of it and it all hit harder somehow so massive kudos lmao!!

grian and mumbo’s relationship, especially when juxtaposed with scar’s is also super duper interesting. like, on their own they’re so nice to pick apart too, but there’s so many additional flavours when looking through them as a trio. like, mumbo is angry, rightfully so. grian got kicked, ran from them for months, and then when they actually caught up to them it was because he (in their eyes) tried to overdose on weakness potions and begged them to kill him. and from what tango said they likely didn’t all know his biological resistance to potion effects, and tango doesn’t know that he’s purposefully making them think he’s more resistant than he is so that he can confidently have enough to od on and. god they were best friends. and he dragged you into a game, slaughtered you over what to a red life was just a little joke, kept the fact that he was behind the games a secret, then when you see him after a year it’s him dying in the void begging you to end him. and mumbo’s angry, and the anger is all his even though grian keeps unintentionally heightening it (both with his abilities and his not-quite-resigned attitude) and. and you can’t pretend this is in any way normal bc that is your former best friend and that’s so stark when compared to scar who tries to meet grian where he is and keep him comfortable. like, mumbo isn’t used to grian in the games, but scar was betrayed him and was betrayed by him in turn. they know this dance, they’ve lived it thrice over, this is anger that he’s learned and he recognises and he can let go of. and that doesn’t mean it’s gone, but he’s used to it, he knows that letting it fester between them won’t change anything, especially when they found grian half-dead and their priority has to be getting him better. so he jokes and he falls into their old habits because he misses that, and mumbo does too, but neither of them know what to do to help him, and they show that in such different ways. and neither of them are unfair or incorrect in their anger or their comfort, because both of them are hurting people trying to navigate another hurting person.

i love love love the way you write tango too. i’ve already said the whole peak guy thing so i’ll skip that. but i love how honest he is about why he’s there. like. he’s angry. he’s angry in the same way that mumbo is, he feels betrayed by someone he trusted, he doesn’t know what to do to help (both because of his biology and because no-one knows what to do when someone else is in a crisis, especially with complex feelings about that person). and it’s so realistic that the thing that makes him want to help, that got him to follow xisuma and pearl and mumbo and scar wasn’t any sense of anger or duty or anything but was that someone who mattered to him couldn’t go. tango wants to give jimmy that sense of closure, regardless of his own feelings, because grian and jimmy were close and then they weren’t and then grian just up and disappeared. and that’s supposed to in and of itself be the solution but it isn’t, not when you don’t even know why he created these games in the first place, not when you knew each other for so long, not when your relationship dynamic was about as “cruel” as you knew this person to be. and even in those jokes and jabs the grian you knew never would’ve revelled in that suffering enough to make a game out of it, enough to drag fourteen to sixteen other people into it. and even in those games, grian was supposed to be the ringleader, so why did he seem so miserable during (and after, though jimmy wouldn’t know that unless a hermit [LIKE TANGO] told him) (also excluding the more lighthearted moments [southlanders aha bit] and red lives [semi-unpredictability is average red life behaviour]). also the trust that he gives grian and what he says because grian can barely do anything on his own anymore because he’s so weak and tango doesn’t want to make him think he’s taking away more of his agency and grian is much less likely to lie than he is to bend the truth or avoid subjects altogether and. something something the fastest way to earn trust is to give it also applies to rebuilding trust.

also xisuma and. i said the gold star on his helmet as a joke but now i can’t stop thinking about hermits just petting stickers all over his helmet until he can’t see and has to get another one (he would never remove the stickers, those are special!!) (let him rest he already has a wall full of helmets he can’t used not even because they’re destroyed but he can’t see there are too many where do hermits keep finding them!!). i can’t keep saying the relationships are interesting but they are and i don’t have a better adjective sorry lmao. but the way that xisuma, especially in the world they’re on, has to be so many places at once; he has to take care of his hermits, and keep the world stable because its not meant to be multiplayer, and he has to keep up with grian because that’s the whole reason they left, and he has to try and help build or gather supplies when he has the chance. and he’s spread so thin that when grian says something concerning (as he’s wont to do) there isn’t much he can do because he’s stressed and he’s busy and grian is so emotionally constipated it’s not even funny. and because he’s so busy and everyone’s so busy and concerned none of them are even thinking to put all of their information together because they just assume grian doesn’t say anything (AS HE’S WONT TO DO) or they all know the same stuff about him. and xisuma is too busy to pull everyone together because that’s usually his role as admin (when he’s not being a wet rag of a man [affectionate]) on hermitcraft and everyone is struggling so much with their own emotions and grappling the fact that the weak and depressed guy they chased down for two months and is half-dead is the same grian that would regularly pull pranks and didn’t even argue when they decided to kick him from hermitcraft. and xisuma also looking at grian and seeing his own failure as an admit because even though he made a reasonable decision that was backed by his server members looking at the ramifications is shaking him, especially considering the fact that grian is someone he used to consider a friend. and now he’s looking at a man that begged them to kill him and is slowly starving to death and doesn’t even seem that upset about it and what else if there for him to do but question if he could’ve changed this if he put his foot down and kept grian on the server despite the danger that could put them in (especially since they don’t know what directly caused the games, they just know that grian was responsible, not why he did or if he could even control that he did it).

ok i had more thoughts than i thought i did about these guys. and your writing!!!!! quality!!!!!!!! delectable!!!!!!!!!!! gourmet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you for the meal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a lovely day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! drink water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANON,,,,, you flatter me SO MUCH with this analysis oh my gods???? I am SO so happy that all of this is shining through, the complexities that im going for and the different, subtle dynamics. Also very very grateful that the fact that everyone so far has different information is something that is very apparent; i was admittedly worried it would cause a lot of confusion, so its really nice to see someone picking all of that up!!!

Oughhhhh i am ESPECIALLY super glad the subtleties of the pearl and grian convo in chapter 5 were picked up on. I think my actual and legitimate "stage direction" for myself in that chapter was, and i quote:

"PEARRRLLLLLLL. they should talk. well okay they NEED to talk. but they should talk abt anything OTHER than what they want to" 😂😂😂😂😂

Which then birthed that EXTREMELY roundabout conversation with the cows, and tilly, and pearl not necessarily knowing everything but making some highly educated guesses. Honestly, the play-by-play of that convo was so interesting to write-- if anybody ever wants a sorta behind the scenes review abt it, i would be SO happy to explain what i was going for during that entire scene

Anyway anon i LOVE your thoughts you have SPOILED ME with them and i appreciate you so so much, this is so kind and sweet and i am vibrating as i continue chugging away at chap 6 bc i hope i can make that just as enjoyable as the rest of the story

#shouting speaks #asks #compliments #hunger au #THIS IS SO!!!!! IM YELLINGGGG!!!!! #❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #anon u are an angel actually this is every writer's fucking dream comment fr #hoping chap 6 lives up to it all bc ive been staring at this bastard for like a week straight #so the brain thinks it sucks even tho its probably fine #MAN. IM SO. CRIES AND SOBS FOREVER /POS #long post #ALSO. I AM DRINKING MATCHA LATTE RN. HOPEFULLY THAT COUNTS AS WATER DJEHDJENDJDJ #txt

[ecargmura]

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 25 Review - Frieren Vs Frieren

The only person who can defeat Frieren is Frieren…and Fern. While these replicas do seem like they are like mirror copies of the original, their only flaw is that their “minds” aren’t actually minds, but they’re pretending to have one.

I do like that Fern is confident that she can defeat Frieren because she’s the only one who knows her weakness. Frieden’s weakness is that when she turns around, her mana detection stops activating. That means her moment of weakness is not being able to detect mana when her back is turned. I do like that Frieren seems all powerful, but her weaknesses are still present. It’s also stated in the episode that her weakness is actually what amateur-level mages deal with. She never stated it because she’s embarrassed as she was never good at it.

Another thing I liked is that the mages are strategizing on how to deal with Replica Frieren and how to deal with other replicas that will soon gather to where they are. It’s a nice sense of cooperation. Frieren and Fern deal with the stronger opponent while the other mages will stay behind and deal with the others. What I liked is that whenever a new mage shows up, they bring vital information. Dunste brings in that the replicas don’t have true minds of their own. Lawine and Kanne bring in that the one responsible for the replica is a demon named Spiegel; Lawine knows because her eldest brother had ventured into the dungeon for patrol once. Now, it makes me wonder when Wirbel, his group, Land and Ubel will show up and if they will know about the plan.

My favorite part of the episode has to be the fight scene between the two Frierens. Frieren always used basic magic throughout the show, so for her to amp up the level of magic she’s using just to fight herself was a treat to watch. You can tell the spells she’s using against herself are high leveled because they do look like what Denken would use and we’ve seen what he used during his fight with her a few episodes back. It’s so interesting to see Frieren fighting a mirror of herself. If you’re a fan of the Tales series, I legit was playing the song Meaning of Birth from Tales of the Abyss in my head.

Like with the fight between her and Aura, Frieren doesn’t think too much of her opponent as she starts thinking back to a memory with Serie. The reason why humans are able to use magic is because of Flamme’s efforts into creating a world where humans can use magic. Serie wants magic to be special, so she hates what Flamme had done, but it seems that she’s still lenient on the changes of a new era. It makes sense why she’s so skeptical. Change is scary. What would the future hold if humans were to wield magic? Fortunately, it had changed positively as there are plenty of strong mages, like the ones in the exam. I love how Serie and Frieren are foils in a way. One has silver hair, the other has golden hair. The other prefers to stay idle in her abode while the other prefers to wander about. They dislike each other, but still respect each other greatly, albeit begrudgingly. They both have a connection with Flamme as Serie was her teacher and Flamme was Frieren. It was as if Flamme was the fire that gathers the elves together in a way. 

One funny part about this episode is the flashback to Frieren strategizing a way to defeat a dungeon boss with the hero’s party. They were planning, but left Heiter out because he was hung over. I love that the group establishes “off-days” for Heiter and just leaves him be when he is too hung over to function. The fact that Frieren drags him around is even more hilarious.

There are three more episodes left. I’m curious to see how they’re all going to deal with this situation and if they’re all going to make it out safe. I can see some mages retreating next episode, but I don’t know who. What are your thoughts on this episode?

#frieren beyond journey's end #sousou no frieren #frieren #fern #dunste #kanne #lawine #serie #flamme #himmel #heiter #eisen #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal #Youtube

[majorshatterandhare]

I’m thinking about which yarns I will order next for my dolls. The copper color for sure, and I know which skin and hair tones I want to use for Ashes and Marius, so I can get those. The other skin tones are harder because I’d like to have variation in them and it’s hard to tell if they’re too pink or too yellow or too orange or whatever, like, the color looks greyish but is it actually or is it bad lighting? I have photos from two different sites of the same yarn I am using do I can get a slightly better idea. TS gets to be a “wood” color (wood colors align pretty well with skin tones though so it’s basically gonna be whatever color I want) and I’d like a muted tone for Nastya since there’s not really another way for me to show her mechanism. I need two skeins of each color (actually I need four I think because they’re only twenty-five gram skeins) so I’ll likely order of a few of the lighter tones so I can decide who gets what color or if there’s one that just won’t work or something. I’m just not sure I’m gonna do that yet.

I am thinking about doing some trials to bleach some of the yarns, so I can get a nice color change for Nastya and Ashes’ hair. I was thinking vinegar or something might work, but I have used household bleach for cotton bleaching purposes before (it was just a denim jacket instead of strands of yarn). But the yarn is mercerized, so I don’t know how that will affect it.

I somehos just had the idea of only doing Brian’s heart and not his whole insides, since, like Tim, Marius, and Raphaella, his mechanism is visible from the outside. But I love how he and Jonny are foils, so showing his heart too would be great! And potentially give context for whatever grey lump ends up being Jonny’s heart. I think Brian’s heart is visible through glass, but recreating that would necessitate clear plastic, which would be hard to begin with due to size and the fact it’s fiber (ie, just trying to glue the edges in there probably wouldn’t work), but also I’m trykng to keep them natural fibers. On the other hand I do want them to be relatively accurate. …Weave a little cage cover using fishing line or something… still won’t br clear but leaving purposeful gaps would still allow viewing without opening… IDK. If anyone has a good idea for thaf, let me know. The best I can come up with so far is allowing this exception and using a piece of one of those plastic clam shell containers you get food in, because, while sewing through that would be pretty impossible (except maybe is I use a hot needle to melt holes in it?) it’s sturdy enough super glue or the like may work.

I tend to stuff things hard. Like, really hard. The most recent ami I made, I purposefully tried not to stuff it too much, and thought I did a pretty good job, but my mom insists is still quite hard. I think the Mechs would think it was fucking funny to be able to beat each other to death with little dolls of themselves, though, so….

Anyway, so I started Brian’s head and it is smaller than I was dxpecting but it looks really good IMO. This yarn is barely plied together, so holding it double results in the plies just melding to look like one thinker strand instead of two smaller ones, which is really cool. I’m a little concerned about doing Brian first, since he has several changes for body type, so I really out to be doing whoever I decided would be as written first, which is part of the desire to order some of the other skin tones, although I believe that I have planned neither Marius nor Ashes to be as written either. I don’t know. Shouldn’t take too long for the felt to get here once I order it, since the seller it relatively near to me.

#the mechanisms #my crochet mechs dolls #sorry if i repeated myself on any of this #i guess i also need to get wire also but i can probably do that with relative ease #ashes oreilly #marius von raum #the toy soldier #nastya rasputina #drumbot brian #gunpowder tim #raphaella la cognizi #jonny dville #i apparently only didn’t mention ivy in this post #i might hollow out her head and make her a little brain hatch like jonny and ashes in their chests #what do mechanical organs look like? im gonna need to look at a lot of fan art i think

[childotkw]

AhhhhHHH!!!

I’m so happy you’re liking the art, this au has me by the balls, in a frickin chock hold I swear to god. I’m inspired to say the least!

I was looking through the drawing prompts and the little toothless moment was too good to pass up so tada:

I don’t know if I’m quite set on this Lucerys design yet but drawing the clothes has definitely sent me down a armour/historical rabbit hole!

Picturing Luke in his post-cannibal attire has me thinking of all the cool accessories: studded tunics, dragon jewelry and just down right bad-assery that slightly-gone Lucerys is going to have!

In skimming over the last 2 chapters, it’s apparent that Luke will be getting some pretty nasty scarring??? On his leg or maybe his arms in the near future, which is always a fun time to draw, Its also an interesting character foil to Aemond seeing as they’ve both got them from acquiring new dragons 👀

As always thank you for such wonderful material to work from, it’s been so cool seeing the other art and inspiration from ruination!!

It do be like that hey 😂 we can just fall into an endless cycle of screaming in excitement at each other because HOLY SHIT THERES ANOTHER ONE!!!!!

Lucerys, my boy 😭 he’s giving off massive heart-eyes for his murderous dragon and I’m here for it.

Lucerys: he’s baby

Literally everyone else: no he *eats* babies

Lucerys: baby boy, precious son, let’s go commit war crimes :D

Your design for Lucerys is so beautiful as well! Even if this is just one concept, you’ve got such a distinct style! I particularly love the outfit - all the little details are stunning! The chain mail looking a bit like scales, the dragon heads, the braid! He’s so good! 😭😭😭

As for scarring - yeah he’s gonna have one prominent one on his left (from memory) thigh, and a few thinner, less noticeable ones up and down his arms, and a few on his chest. And you’re so right about the parallels of scar = new dragon. It’s a subtle but nice symmetry between Lucerys and Aemond. They’re such great foils to each other!

And thank you, darling, for sending through another amazing piece! You’re so talented, and I’m legit wiggling in my seat at work because I’m so excited! You, and every other artist that’s dropped by to share their incredible creations, are spoiling me and I just love you guys so much 🥰🥰💕💕💕💕💕

#parkerpeanuts #HOTD #ruination au #lucerys velaryon #cannibal the dragon #aemond targaryen #lucemond #fanart

[osdove]

why i love azulaang

I got an ask earlier on what got me into Azulaang.  For me, what got me into it isn’t really related to why I love it so much, so that’s going into this post.  Azulaang from a narrative perspective, their roles in the universe, story, and as foils to each other.

Side note, but this got LONG, so it’s under a cut and thank you to anyone who reads this all oh god oh no

In the canonical series itself (aka, the show), Azulaang actually doesn’t get much interaction besides battles.  I believe the only times they directly address each other is in The Chase, and maybe DOBS-though, day was more of Sokka, Toph AND Aang talking with Azula.  The only one-on-one exchange of dialogue they have is in The Chase.  It’s where Azula introduces herself, and Aang tells her that he’s going to fight.  He’s not just prey that will go with her easily.  A nice contrast to the predator and prey theme of the episode.  Azula is relenting, never stopping in her pursuit, and though he and the Gaang run and run, eventually he decides to face her alone.  I think this is a good summary of their dynamic in s2.

But that was actually just a tangent.  See, the main form of storytelling we see for Azulaang is.  Well.  Physical.  They don’t talk, they fight.  Which is natural, since they’re enemies, but Aang talks a lot.  Like, a lot a lot, even in fights.  Azula, too, she makes verbal jabs and insults to Zuko in their fights and Suki too.  But when she’s fighting Aang, there’s... nothing? And same with Aang.  Almost all of their storytelling, their dynamics, is told through fights, and seeing as how ATLA is an action series, fights have just as much meaning in the storytelling as anything else.

You might be thinking, “but isn’t that just them fighting?  doesn’t that mean they hate each other?  you can’t have a dynamic out of fight scenes alone!” you fool.  You foolish fool.  1) Enemies to lovers.  2) You put two prodigies of their respective elements, one a princess groomed from birth to be her father’s right-hand, the other destined to become the most powerful person on earth, both designed to be weapons by the adults around them, and you think that fighting/bending WOULDN’T be as much as a form of communication, an expression of themselves, as a conversation around a campfire?

Azula killing Aang at the end of S2 is the last time they really fight, which I think is pretty interesting.  I’m sure there’s more I could say about it from a narrative perspective, but that’s more on post-show potential than anything else, plus brain not co-operating atm.

And, yeah, I gotta bring attention to their positions as narrative foils.  Parallels.  Whatever.  They’re similar.  Like, really similar.  And of course, Zuko + Azula & Aang + Katara + Sokka all have similarities that can tie them to one another, but Azulaang is one of the ones which I think doesn’t get the commentary it deserves. (side-note, but I wish more people discussed Azula & Katara in how they approach being ‘women’ despite being very young in the absence of their mother, where Katara puts herself in a motherly role because she and Sokka both have a hole to fill, and Azula makes herself seem older than she truly is, lipsticks and make-up and long nails and all, because Ursa leaving took the last of her childhood away)

So, let’s look at them:

Young prodigies of their respective bending arts (for Aang, his airbending of course).  They are recognized for this and praised for so.  With Azula, it’s shown in Zuko Alone when Ozai shows her off, and also her introduction scenes in s2 to show off just how formidable she was.  With Aang, it’s the fact he’s a master at such a young age.  Of course, there’s differences too.  Azula’s natural talent is honed by the adults around her.  She is being raised for war.  Aang’s is, well, I assume normal for Air Nomads.  The monks knew he was the Avatar, but given that he didn’t find out until he was 12, I don’t think that really affected his airbending.

You take these prodigies, and you put them in war.  They are given responsibilities that seem impossible to handle.  No adults can handle them, after all.  Aang must end the war that’s been happening for a hundred years.  He must be the one to defeat the Fire Lord - something that Roku couldn’t do.  Azula must capture her brother and uncle.  In time, she gives herself more responsibilities: kill the Avatar.  Conquer Ba Sing Se (which Iroh himself couldn’t do).  Aang must help end the war.  He’s a key part in ending it.  Azula must end the war.  She’s a key part in ending it.  They are on different sides of the battle.

The adults around them, the same ones who give them these responsibilities, they do not see them other than their power.  Generals look at Aang and the Avatar State, and decide to use him as a weapon.  Ozai looks at Azula and her talents, and decides to raise her as a weapon.  These two in particular get this more than any other characters in the series I think.  Absolutely there’s other characters who are strong, prodigies, young, with the world on their shoulders.  But none are quite as... not sure about the word.  I don’t wanna say dehumanized.  Weaponized?  As Azula and Aang.

Thing is, though, that Aang has unconditional love on his side.  When he was younger, he had Monk Gyatso, he had Appa.  He had the other kids in the Temples, he had friends around the world, he was allowed to be a normal kid.  Azula didn’t have that.  Ozai’s ‘love’ was conditional.  She believed that Ursa thought she was a monster.  Yes, she had friends in Mai and Ty Lee, but whether they began as genuine friendships or not, they ended with her clinging onto them through fear.  Aang had the Gaang throughout the series.  People joined him, he made relationships, he was loved by so many because of his journey.  Everyone left Azula.

So, you take these two characters, these foils, who are so close to understanding each other but one’s missing the key that makes the other stand victorious in the end of the show.  Azula’s story is a tragedy, Aang’s is that of a hero.  And I think the beauty of that, in Azulaang, is that Aang reaches out to Azula.  Despite her killing him, the hurt she’s caused, and all their fights, Aang understands her.  Most fics and such I’ve read of this pair - well, it’s not as easy as just that.  Their relationship is a complicated rollercoaster.  Recovery and redemption does not come easy.  In those fics that don’t take place after the pair has been established already, there’s something just really.  Really hits me hard.  About Azula being forgiven, loved, and challenged, by the boy she’s killed, and the boy who won the war.

Less of a meta-note and more fluffy.  But domestic!Azulaang gives me joy.  Obviously they’d presumably have responsibilities with the world post-war (married office couple talking shit about governors vibes), but I fully believe that Aang would take Azula on a Appa-trip (atla universe equivalent of a road trip) and show her the world outside of the Fire Nation Palace, war council rooms, and yknow.  War.

Also, I like bullying Ozai, and if there’s one thing that would cause him more pain than finding out his son’s partner was a nonbender with a worse sense of humor than Iroh from the Southern Water Tribe, it would be his daughter, the one he molded to fit into his absolute image, dating the AVATAR, a monk, who took away his bending and keeps showing him a weird marble trick, “Azula make him stop please this is torture, what do you MEAN you want me to spend time with your future son-in-law, i am NOT allowing you to - DONT WALK AWAY FROM ME, HELP ME”

Zuko isn’t getting bullied as much, but I think Azula and Aang would love teasing him.  Affectionately.  He wouldn’t mind as much because it comes from a place of love and care.

This shit took like an hour to write jfc

#atla #azulaang #azula #aang #atla meta #osposts