Really unpopular opinion that arose after rewatching season 3 and 4 of LMK, but it annoys me to no end that Macaque barely did anything to improve (hasn't even apologized to MK lol) and basically got no consequences for his actions and yet he still got his redemption served to him on a silver platter.
Not to mention how much the fandom sugarcoats what he did, but I can't really blame them because the show is kinda doing it by itself considering the other characters' reactions. Like, you mean to tell me that Mei, of all people, would gladly fight side by side with Macaque?
Actually, why is the entire group so… casual around him as if they didn't watch the mf beat the shit out of MK right in front of them?
Highlight to Mei and Pigsy cause they are the first ones to call out Wukong about his mistakes, and them doing that while also giving Macaque a pass after everything he did to them makes no sense.
And it annoys me even more because there were villains/antagonists who could have easily had a redemption arc but got killed off instead.
Also the same thing happened with the Demon Bull Family: They hurt and tried to kill MK and many lives were at risk because of them, but guess what? No consequences lmao they're all besties now.
It is vital to my perception of their characters that Link is *selectively mute* *un-breaking stare because eye contact is 'important'* *doesn't even realize there was a social cue for him to miss* autistic, while Ravio is *nervous babbling about special interest* *bunny hat over eyes so he doesn't have to make eye contact* *pretends he didn't miss all the social cues and definitely broke that social norm on purpose* autistic, and Zelda is *rambling incessantly about hyperfixation of the week* "I wonder what's this red button do!?" *stares at painting & dissociates into daydream for hours unmoving* ADHD, while Hilda is *no articulatable thoughts just always internally screaming* "...maybe I shouldn't have pressed the red button..." *vibrating out of her skin with anxiety at being expected to stay still for even a second* ADHD.
yeah Itachi's story is tragic. You know what would have made it more tragic? Imagine if after killing his family he found out that the entire coup was a lie. That there never was coup. Can you imagine how he would feel if that happened?
That's what itachi did to Sasuke.
Like Itachi, Sasuke also had to live with the knowledge that he killed his family. Like Itachi, Sasuke was manipulated and pushed into a corner to do it. But at least Itachi didn't have to live with finding out everything was a lie. Not that Itachi could live with what he did. Itachi took the cowards way out and used Sasuke to die. And then he just expected Sasuke to live with it. Itachi really took his pain, doubled it, and handed it to Sasuke. And Sasuke, who thought he'd finally be free to live his life with Itachi gone, now found out that not only was he not free, he was left holding an even bigger burden for his family. And Sasuke didn't have a way out. There wasn't a convenient younger brother to pawn it off to. Not that sasuke would have ever done what Itachi did to him to someone else.
You can argue trying to provoke Naruto into killing him at the bridge fight is similar. But the whole reason Sasuke did it is because he doesn't believe Naruto and the rest of team 7 actually care about him or his family. A belief reinforced by the fact that 2 of the three actually were trying to kill him. Also different is that Sasuke really was ready to engage in a real fight, he wasn't just trying to manipulate Naruto and put on a show. Sasuke has more integrity than Itachi and Sasuke values free will. That's the difference between Itachi and Sasuke. Itachi was an ego-centric Machiavellian who doesn't see his own hypocrisy, and Sasuke is a really good, decent person put through the worst circumstances you can imagine who is trying to hold onto his humanity.
I am still not confident enough in my abilities to draw humans to post any drawings I do online, but I wanted to make a small offering to the resident lover fandom since it's such a wonderful group, so I decided to draw everyone's favorite lovers as cats, with the inclusion of dog!heisenberg because this man would never be a cat.
I might post the reference images I made for them later, but for clarity's sake:
Daniela is the red cat, Bela the yellow one, Angie is the pink one with a black spot, Donna the black cat (obviously), Cassandra the brown cat and Alcina the white cat
god but the way i'm loving nia's arc. she was always kinda whatever to me but they put pure pussy into her book 2 arc. the shadow as a physical manifestation of everything she has ever repressed. shadow as the parts of herself that are considered ugly but that are part of what makes her human - are part of a whole that is supposed to be together and that you can't cut off without causing great suffering (for her and the world at large). and this repressed part also being, at the same time, self love. being putting herself first instead of constantly sacrificing her own life for everything (even to tell stories, for fuck's sake). being allowing herself her feelings, being mad and not trying to please everyone else. feeling good. and the confirmation that shadow nia was nia, it was impulses and urges that nia's always had, but she repressed for so long they just had to come bursting out. all that in a character who's a (arguably?) brown woman. like... nia is the perfect fucking archetype of femininity, from her appearance to her behavior. and no woman, particularly not a brown woman, can ever put herself first. if they ever defend themselves, they're irrational and angry. if they ever put themselves first, they're selfish. they're supposed to live for others, in service of others, and nia has been told that in no uncertain terms by the temple. she was, quite literally, raised to sacrifice herself. to ignore her own needs. to not be human. and so the shadow represents everything that people demonize in her - that people demonize in women of color. and her arc is about accepting those parts. not trying to be palatable for the sake of some idealized version of femininity that only exists to oppress her. not giving a fuck if she's considered mean or angry or out of line. taking and not just giving. she kept referring to her shadow self as stronger, and i don't think it's because she meant that she was physically capable of defending herself better. it's because, with the parts nia has repressed, she is able to defend herself, because she allows herself to. that's why this is the version where no one needs to look out for her, the version that's stronger, in her head. it's not about physical strength, it's about being able to say enough
and knowing that the proposed solution is for her to accept these parts - to allow herself her humanity, to only be made whole when she is able to be a little mean, a little selfish every once in a while - that the entire point of this book is that there's no good and evil and black and white, that shadow and light are supposed to go together, just makes it so much more satisfying. it's such a good arc and visual metaphor and i'm not sure if they meant for it to be a metaphor for how WoC are always painted as aggressive if they step one toe out of line or not, but it certainly works as one, and works also as a depiction of her abuse. if her abuser was the temple of light, then of course shadow is self love. it's learning to defend herself. to trust her own instincts. to not hide who she is anymore. fucking mwah
Really extra tired of black and white thinking around COVID like can you guys activate your brain and understand that lockdown was NECESSARY to prevent massive economic and social breakdown that would have been induced by our entire population getting infected at once before we figured out how to treat it
Not to mention the whole "young people didn't need to worry about dying they shouldn't have been locked down what about their social lives!!11!!!"
Hi. Hello. I am a youth that was disabled by COVID how are you doing today. Oh, you're not disabled by COVID? Cool shut the fuck up forever.
hello i was reading this lovely post (by @lollytea) that gave a good breakdown of the writers intent behind this scene, and i thought to myself “gee, i love it all in concept, but i wonder if they could’ve executed it better by emphasizing all of the things hunter’s fighting for in the actual moment itself?”. then i remembered that i have the power of editing, and made this! complete with the cheesy white vignette toh likes to stick on flashback scenes that i love jgvhnfchgfc
it’s kind of hilarious that stephanie meyer uses copious romeo & juliet references in the twilight saga, her book series which features two teenagers whose bloodlines have a centuries-old feud that forbids them from coming into contact, and they both struggle with feeling like their destiny is out of their hands because of something their families decided for them, but they share a common goal– and these two characters are NOT the ones who are supposed to parallel romeo and juliet