i cannot stop thinking about anissa and marky though [COMIC SPOILERS]
how did he react when he learned what his mother did? just like mark, he lived a lie. he thought his mother was kind and nice — the only thing that is true is that she loved him, but now, he has no idea if he should believe it
and. you've grown up being conditioned to believe that violence is peace, and that kindness is a lie and a weakness. you hurt people. by hurting a person, by destroying him irreparably, you found the boy you love most: your son. and you don't regret it. you hope one day, once he sees him, he'll get it. but you still don't regret it. you can't say you're sorry
marky will grow up without his biological father, because when mark hugs him he can only remember his mother and what she did to him. your father can't love you the way your mom did. you can't love your mother the way your father loved his
the worst part is, that it she hadn't done it, you wouldn't have existed. you wouldn't be here. your father will grow to love you. you will grow to accept each other. but you tend to wonder — if he never sees you as anything else other than your mother's son, then who will you have when everyone else you know dies?
18 notes
·
View notes
Been reading the Sadeian woman after @normalbrothers mentioned it in relation to Diana Mitford, many thoughts but tumblr (and no computer on holidays) is. Poor format for those thoughts
That said, in a(n unrelated?) tangent, the books framing of the written pornographer’s role in reinforcing sexual dynamics/norms (and that this is why de Sade was at least worthy of analysis because he challenged sexual/gender/power dynamic norms) makes me wonder regarding the propensity (call it the dominance; the dominant minority) of readerfic these days (writ by women for women and using the 'self insert' motif to tackle first person POV) and how it’s recolonised fannish spaces back to a particular model of acceptable pornography through sheer flooding quantity .
“our Chr1s+ian (?) moral duty to reclaim queer pornography to reassert normative sexual dynamics between a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman*” and clean up all that dirty sexual power gender role dynamic complexity etc etc etc there’s only a very limited range of acceptable incest to fetishise etc etc mumble mumble even gay readerfic back to hole and prod mumble mutter mumble
14 notes
·
View notes
Hero of Sages finding his first real sword!
Link rested his head on his arms as he looked out at the grass, taking a moment to look out over his village. The sun was barely risen and most people weren’t up yet, but Link was already dressed and ready to head out, worry and nerves and a tiny bit of excitement clenching in his chest.
“Link?”
Link startled and looked behind him as Russ hobbled up, keeping a hand on the fence as he slowly joined Link’s side.
“Russ! I thought you were asleep,” Link said worriedly, and Russ hummed, leaning heavily on the fence as he looked out at the grass.
“Couldn't sleep. And the healer said I wouldn’t be out of bed for weeks, and I wanted to prove him wrong,” he said with a quiet heh. “‘Sides... I couldn’t keep sitting there replaying everything.”
Link looked down and nodded, and it was quiet between them for a minute. Some birds chirped in a nearby tree, and Link watched them fly around each other before landing on a branch where he couldn’t see them.
“Based on the pouch you have on your belt there, I assume you’re going to find your sisters?” Russ asked finally.
Link nodded determinedly, and Russ sighed, idly rubbing a bandage on his arm.
“I wish I could go with you,” Russ murmured. “...but I can help prepare you a bit at least. C’mon.”
Russ let go of the fence with a groan, and Link moved to support him as they turned back towards the house, Russ directing him around the back.
It wasn’t a long walk, but by the time they got there, Russ had a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and his arm shook where it was slung over Link’s. He didn’t complain though, merely pointed towards the cellar door that was normally locked.
“I’ve got a box in there, in the back. What’s inside should help you with your sisters.”
Link nodded, curiosity piqued, and helped Russ sit down in the grass by the door. Link left him by the wall and went inside, peering around the piles of tools and jars of preserved food. There were a lot of piles of old boxes Link had to figure his way past, and a couple rats that ran by, but he finally reached the back of the cellar.
A simple chest was tucked in the corner, and Link unlatched the lid, burning with curiosity. It opened with a click, and Link gasped as he looked inside.
A sword laid in the chest, carefully wrapped in a cloth.
Link pulled it out in awe, gently pulling the cloth off. It wasn’t very big, but it looked the perfect size for Link, a simple but sturdy hilt, and a nice sharp blade. He admired it for another few moments, then pulled out the sheath that was stored below it, making his way back through the shed. A few rats skittered by his feet again, but Link used his sword to chase them away this time, and made his way outside. Russ opened his eyes as he emerged, and Link held out the sword to show him.
“Oh good, you found it,” Russ said with a faint smile, and Link looked at the sword again.
“This is really for me?” Link asked in disbelief, and Russ nodded, his smile growing a bit.
“I’d been talking to your grandfather about getting you proper sword lessons. I figured you’d need a sword, but... well. Guess you can give it a real test instead,” he said as his smile faded. “I wish I could do more... be careful, Berry.”
“I will. Thank you Russ,” Link said gratefully as he sheathed the blade, and Russ nodded, closing his eyes as Link then helped him up, and back into the house.
“Anything for your sisters.”
18 notes
·
View notes
Gentle reminder - reblog!
Hi everyone!
Not sure if you've been keeping up with all the changes that keep happening on tumblr, but every single time this website and company is acquired by someone new, they try their best to turn it into another facebook, or instagram, or tiktok, or whatever the cool new social media platform is. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how this platform works and the benefit of the anonymity and workings of the unique algorithm. But every single time, they've tried. First when yahoo got it, then when it went to verizon, and then when they sold it to automattic. Now with the death of tumblr live, they're trying to do another rebrand.
Tumblr is one of the few remaining online spaces where we get the opportunity to truly curate our online space, and share and experience things in a way that can't be capitalised on. The concept of a tumblr influencer doesn't exist, because there's no advantage of it, there's no benefit of being an 'influencer'. But the only way we can keep this website around, is to keep using it as the way it was originally intended, in the way that other websites have not worked.
Likes on tumblr are not the same as likes on instagram or youtube, they don't really do anything! They don't help the creator, they don't help promote the post itself in any meaningful way, it's just a way to safekeep it for yourself later. And while that's a totally valid reason to want to like something, just as a reminder of something and a way to revisit a post later in the future, I would highly encourage everyone to try and reblog things as well!! Whether it's art of your favourite ship, whether it's a gifset of your favourite onscreen couple, whether it's a meta around a certain show, or whether it's discussions of the latest major current news event, the only way to truly circulate it and create a positive impact is by reblogging! The more people that get to see any given post, the better.
As an example, KOSA is becoming a thing again, and we're all being encouraged to act against it. I wouldn't have found out about KOSA if someone I follow hadn't reblogged it first, and then i reblogged it again. KOSA is one thing that could impact our online experience DRASTICALLY, and it's imperative that we spread the word about it - forewarned is forearmed, and only when we know about it can we take action against it, right?
I'm not saying this to try and promote this blog at all. I won't lie and say a few more reblogs on this blog here and there wouldn't be nice, but frankly at the end of the day my blog contributes little to nothing to the larger fandom discourse in the grand scheme of things. I'm saying this for everyone else out there. If you want tumblr to survive and thrive as our internet experience continues to evolve in the coming decade, keep using it as much as you can! Reblog anything and everything you can! Your one singular reblog can have a butterfly effect on a post. When you just like, the movement of the post stops there.
And tying into my blog (sorry lads, i'm only human and have to make it a little relevant for me as well 😭), if there's one type of post on the website you encounter anywhere that I strongly recommend you reblog, it's a poll. A poll only serves it's function if it reaches people who can actually vote on it, and we can only get a true reflection of the views of the masses when the most number of people get to participate in it. That's democracy, babey!
Anyways, that's my biannual rant. Back to your regularly scheduled programming, and see you in 6 months for the next big rant!
9 notes
·
View notes
Y'all do know you can't make Jason be NOT white without changing his whole character, right?
For other characters, yes, because their physical appearance are not that influential in their story, on how they are viewed by people, on their personality formation — you can have a black/asian/indigenous/arab/brown/latino/etc Nico and yes, the hate he gets will have a undertone of racism but at the same time nothing significant on his story, motivation or personality will need to change. This is also true for other characters: Clarisse risks repeating the "aggressive WoC" stereotype but the character itself doesn't change.
This isn't true for Jason, whose main character trait is how he is perceived by others and how he showcases himself to others based on that perception. (specially with how little effort Riordan put on him besides making him perfect-er Percy who's somehow also weaker and less important than him).
Let's not pretend a black, Arab, indigenous, Asian, Latin man, etc, in the USA would ever be treated with the universal reverence Jason gets from New Roma, you can't have the illusion of perfection and most of all, of invincibility they have about him when you see him suffering racism or xenophobia in the middle of a mission. Nothing in his life has ever gone wrong, that's his image, destined to be king, he is supposed to have no weakness on his peers eyes.
He is not trying to prove people wrong, he is trying to prove them right; he isn't worthy despite their prejudice, on the contrary, he only tried to make himself worthy to fulfill their expectations. He can't be a woman or an immigrant or have a visible disability or any other thing that strays him from a perfect ideal by western society standards, and be that same character.
12 notes
·
View notes
I do find it interesting that ATLA managed to use a very black and white narrative (stop Evil Empire) to tell several character stories with some nuance, while TDP claims it has a nuanced conflict and flattens everything to try and make up for that, ultimately leading to protagonist centred morality more than anything. And if they didn’t want me to compare the two then they should have let go of the ATLA references right away.
you're right and you should say it.
the constant and shoehorned references to ATLA do not really do this show any favors. honestly might be part of the problem (why are there 7 primals with color-coded elves? to follow ATLA's pattern of marketable separable elements. why is it an adventure story with a core crew? because ATLA was like this too. etc etc.)
but anyway. yeah. ATLA had a very simple main conflict to provide a constant source of tension throughout the show (even if they dropped the ball at the last season re: the plot), and this structure allowed for episodes that explore other aspects of the setting and characters while still making everything feel relevant and tied together by said conflict. it's not some arthouse show by any means, but it has good compelling story work into it. genuinely great show.
tdp immediately opens up with the nuance and it never really delves deeper. you'd think that opening with characters being aware of the cycle of violence stuff would be interesting and the show would explore that more, but it just... flatlines there. there's no progression or graduation or exploration of themes as the seasons go on like in ATLA. very rarely are there new questions being asked or arcs that feel sensical.
honestly the main characters having to be perfect in every situation is the biggest problem with tdp. the mains are not allowed to have shortcomings or mistaken judgements or anything to meaningfully interact in any way with the nuanced set-up. they emotionally exist entirely outside it, which ends up making them the Messiahs of Peace Who Can Do No Wrong. good for fandoms i guess, people bitched and whined about bato and the water tribe for years. but it's not very good for storytelling.
and also, they're just bad characters and the writers can't put two and two together while still asking you to take their world very seriously.
anyways i'm just rambling at this point. good observation.
32 notes
·
View notes
Is it just me or do some Bylers reach way too hard to defend Mike for things he was objectively wrong for? Like the rink o mania thing is a perfect example, Will was not being bitchy (onscreen) at all to Mike until the argument where Mike was the one who started it by blaming Will for not telling him about El’s problems. Mike was being a huge asshole there, which even he noticed and said Will didn’t deserve the way Mike treated him. He then apologized and Will accepted it because Will knows that Mike was genuinely remorseful and that he wanted to be best friends again. I hate to say this bc 99% of the time it is deeper than it looks but for this I just don’t get how you can watch and think Will was actually in the wrong.
i do enjoy a good reach and i get not wanting one character to be 100% in the right and one character to be 100% in the wrong in an argument and i don't even think mike was 100% in the wrong at rink o mania but when you back up a bit...what did will do wrong exactly lol.
do we agree with mike that he was a douche for...not telling him that el was being bullied? nonsensical. he didn't even know she was lying to him before the airport.
was he wrong for barely talking and basically sabotaging the whole day? a day el said was supposed to be about the two of them, making will third wheel and feel like shit just like in the beginning of season 3 and for months before that? right...because that makes sense.
was will in the wrong for not calling mike and for making it sound like it was his fault they didn't keep in touch? this one i can get behind but he would have let that go (the painting being a welcome gift doesn't scream resentful) had mike not made it clear that he wasn't interested in anything he had to say by...rejecting his hug, agreeing to the whole day being about him and el, ignoring him save for the vomit green joke, And not calling for months. if the first three hadn't occurred maybe will wouldn't have felt the need to defend himself when mike started a fight because he didn't tell him his gf was being bullied like he's their couples counselor or something
it's like you said mike literally starts the fight and then deflects (twice) and Then he apologizes...idk!
long-winded answer but how exactly was will being a dick lol. i know he apologizes for being mean to him and for pushing him away in the van scene but when exactly on march 22, 1986 was will mean to mike. i can see the pushing him away because he didn't call but he said he deserved the fight and admitted to being a jerk to el (literally HOW. when) and wouldn't let lucas apologize to him in season 3 so i'm not taking his self-deprecating martyr word for it SORRY
it's especially funny when you remember that mike trying to call will is a THEORY
56 notes
·
View notes