#nothing is actually confirmed and i think that was a deliberate choice

[gideonisms]

tamsyn could say two characters fucked nasty and people would still interpret it as platonic. And they might be right, depending

#harrow & ianthe fucked nasty and it was platonic on harrow's end. tbh #i truly do not get all the (redacted) hate tho. people who aren't interested in other ships just don't interact with those ships #like if you want cam corona friendship content you just make some! #but no one's saying they can't possibly be romantic etc #if it was just about the level of problematic content then we could have a field day with every openly abusive dynamic that ppl still ship #or. hell i saw augustine/ianthe the other day. i've seen john/ianthe #that woman is a whole lesbian hggjjklll #like this is barely headcanon. hanging onto *not* being canon by a fucking thread. she shows as much interest in men as harrow #i don't get what it is about this one ship in particular #just make platonic content! most of the shippers will enjoy that angle too #i really like platonic (redacted) as well it's just every platonic redacted post ends in 'and here's why they're canonically confirmed #to be exclusively platonic do not ship!!!' #and that's just factually untrue #nothing is actually confirmed and i think that was a deliberate choice #because that's not the point. the point is their weird ride or die codependent relationship and it #doesn't actually make that big a difference whether it was platonic or romantic imo? it's exploring similar themes either way #people just have their preferences

[iwonderwh0]

I wanna expand on Emma's character. She likes attention, she likes filming herself. There are piano in their room, so it's practically inevitable that she learns to play it. Who is her teacher? It's possible that it is human as, you know, music, maybe her rich parents think that it's best to learn it from humans. At least, we never heard that household models could teach playing instruments. Or actually, she probably learns using built-in program in the piano itself. Like, we saw this holographic screen when Markus was playing, it must include some learning modes.

She has favourite bands. She probably has some kind of spiritual beliefs, probably not like any specific religion but a mix of some new-age ones, at least their home looks like they are like this, like, if I remember it correctly there are Buddha statues so that's one thing. I think Emma, at least, believes in a few things, like karma and manifestations.

Her wrists are full of those handmade bracelets. Did she make them with someone? Alone? Are those friendship bracelets and there are some friends of her that have them too? She must've made at least one of those with Daniel, and it would be such a nice detail for him to wear one in-game. Missed opportunity. Maybe he took it off?

Daniel was activated for four years (huh, I thought longer, but it's still years though), so his character must've been quite developed for a while even prior to deviancy. Or, actually, maybe he deviated a lot earlier than the day we see him in the game. It is entirely possible that there was another event that made him freak out of his line, perhaps after fucking up and accidentally endangering Emma (they kept it a secret. I headcanon that Emma loves secrets. It makes her feel special), but he just stayed and continued his life with Phillips as if nothing happened without change because he liked it and felt responsible about it. I mean, it's not like he had somewhere to go — he doesn't know about Jericho as was confirmed in the evidence room. But ever since that day of his potential deviation he started to accumulate suspicions and paranoia that tipped over when he found out about AP700.

You know, it's kinda ironic that kids with household androids raise them as much if not more than household androids raise them. For kids those androids are part of their life, for androids it's their whole world (I mean, outside of some additional errands and other family members interactions that I don't think are composing even half of the time androids spend with kids they're looking after). Emma was 5-6 years old when Daniel was first introduced into her life. She must've already had friends and all kind of interests by that time, so Daniel didn't raise her from infancy.

You know, it's possible even that those kinds of androids get jealous of kid's other friends and family members. Daniel definitely feels like a jealous type, I doubt August 15 was his first time feeling resentment. The fact that he became Emma's first choice in four years must've been a really deliberate effort on his part, which, I mean, he spends the most time with her so he had this advantage.

Daniel belongs to the Phillips family but at the same time Daniel developed such a possessive attitude towards Emma as if she was his property. He integrated himself into her life as a "need, not want" and he will take her with him on his death row. He wants to believe that Emma needs him, but the truth is he needs Emma much more than she ever could. And it drives him mad.

Hear me out

What if

What if he was so jealous of Emma's other friends and so paranoid about her distancing herself from him that he cultivated circumstances where Emma preferred him over anyone else. A victory. And he put so much effort competing with other people for her attention that possibly of Emma replacing him with another android never crossed his mind. Until it hit him like an anvil. All of his work was for nothing. All this time he thought of himself as her friend. A person. Competing with other people. Turned out he wasn't even within the same category. He had always been only a toy.

#dbh #dbh emma #dbh daniel #dbh headcanons #detroit become human

[demadogs]

hello loveliest person ever. would you consider no byler to be queerbait ?

hey bestie

if byler didnt happen i would genuinely believe that their intention was to go through with it but they dropped it or were told to drop it. because if its queerbait theyre literally doing it all wrong? the ultimate goal of baiting is to gain an audience from a selected community, in this case the queer community, by promoting the media as potential representation and yet they have done everything in their power to AVOID this with byler.

for starters the majority of queerbait is usually achieved in the marketing side of things. and yet there was ZERO joint press with noah and finn, where they could have promoted byler the most. almost all of their scenes are together but they deliberately separated them so there wasnt even a chance for spoilers about byler. that is not how you queerbait.

queerbaiting is supposed to be obvious. it shouldnt require elaborate theories, it should be thrown in our faces. this article shows a clip of a trailer from riverdale that includes a gay kiss. i think the kiss was just to distract the character, it wasnt intended to be romantic at all and yet they put it in the trailer? that was obviously for the goal of getting queer audiences more excited and more likely to watch this (absolutely fucking horrendous) show.

on the flip side!! theres also straight bait and again, aaaaalll in the marketing.

i cant even believe these are real lmao.

they did this for s3 too. theres a flash of this in the s3 trailer, which had lots of mlvn shippers thinking this was the season of nothing but love for them and yet el broke up with him in the second episode. we also get audio of mike saying “we’re not kids anymore” but no visuals that showed he was talking to will and definitely not the “its not my fault you dont like girls” line, which would have been such a clear opportunity to queerbait.

and s4 was very gay and they could have so easily grabbed a LOT of peoples attention and curiosity by adding some byler scenes in the trailer but there was nothing.

could you imagine if they showed one of these in the trailer?? they had such a clear opportunity to queerbait and they didnt.

the only thing they did include was this and i didnt even notice will the first time i watched it.

the only things we’ve seen in the marketing that relate to byler are from netflix accounts in other countries that loosely imply that they ship byler but thats literally it. and these accounts dont actually have any access to the writers room. theyre not implying or confirming anything theyre just trying to be relatable and a lot of people would relate to the post if they mention byler.

aside from them just avoiding the topic in the promotion for the show, theres also the fact that byler has inspired loads of in depth theories and analyses based on how they portray them in the show. the point of queerbaiting is to throw it in your face. “look a gay kiss! watch our show to see gay people!” the fact that we’re reading into shit like lighting, colors, music, framing, all this stuff that the ga doesnt read into is a big sign that their goal isnt queerbait. one time i got an anon that summed it up perfectly, “why would they queerbait only to gay film nerds?” and its so true.

queerbaiting should not have people thinking too hard. like the kiss in riverdale, its supposed to be shoved in our faces in order to actually achieve what theyre trying to do. not everybody has time or cares enough to read entire analyses on specific film choices, and because of that, they would be completely failing to bait people. the goal is to gain their audience and no one has been baited for this because it doesnt seem obvious that its actually going to happen.

because of all this if byler didnt happen i dont think queerbait would be the right word. itd be a whole different thing entirely and i would genuinely believe they were forced to not go through with it if it didnt happen. but i highly highly doubt that would ever happen. its netflix’s biggest show and they trust the duffers and its the last season so even if people dont like it its not like theyd lose money because people would stop watching. by then theyd already finished the whole show.

#if theyre queerbaiting theyre doing it wrong #byler #well not really anon but i made my ask tag anon and i wanna put it in there #eden answers

[variousqueerthings]

watching doctor who confidential onwards into season 2, and of course we reach some of the more... considered romantic-type episodes -- school reunion up through age of steel, because of sarah-jane, renette, and mickey

what i find interesting about the ways people describe the dynamics between the doctor and sarah-jane/rose/renette, it immediately becomes much more Alive than simply using the word "romance," which ultimately says nothing. people will throw around the word "romance" and then start talking about "well the doctor is possessive of his companions because he's terribly lonely," "well, rose thought she was Chosen to be special and save the world, but discovered that there had been many people before her who had subsequently (often) been unceremoniously left behind on earth once again without their consent," "the doctor cannot bear saying proper goodbyes to various companions, because it's too painful and so deliberately used to try and keep it casual," "the doctor knows what the companions don't quite understand, which is that they will always die and the doctor will always live," "sarah-jane had a bit of this magic and then was abandoned," "rose sees her future in sarah-jane," "renette goes into the doctor's mind and sees the loneliness there," "the doctor sees this person he knew as a girl grow up and then die in a very short space of time and it's tragic"

and that gives much more flavour to the various dynamics the doctor has with their companions. at one point dtennant describes different "relationships" without using the word "romance" and while I don't know if that was conscious, it's much more accurate and doesn't put a dynamic on the relationships that's quite... limiting. I think it's quite telling how much people tend to conflate the two words, because romance is unconsciously put on that highest pedestal, so if the relationship is intense it must be romantic, because... well romance must be intense (also, from what I've seen, not necessarily true)

it's not enough that renette encapsulates some of the doctor's worst fears (a companion simply dying because humans will always die, and there's nothing that can be done to stop the passage of time), or that she briefly caught a glimpse of some of the doctor's true loneliness and helped assuage/distract it for a little bit, before it all came crashing back tenfold, or that she as a human from a certain time period conceives of the doctors through terms like "angel," as if all of those things aren't intense

it's not enough that the doctor has left companions time and time again without saying goodbye, and that this has now been confirmed in nu!who as being because it's too hard to let them go every time and actually say goodbyes that have proper meaning, and the doctor consistently wishes for them a life beyond the tardis and sometimes they make the choice, but often it's the doctor's decision (most times without them even knowing) that now they're at a point to move on without the doctor, or doesn't need the doctor anymore, or it's too much/dangerous, or whatever that choice is based in. and that often in the past this choice has been related in them finding romantic relationships that have superseded what the doctor has to offer (skill issue, but then I'm aromantic -- I do acknowledge that the ponds is one of the only times this hasn't quite happened, which is funny because I too tend to become swallowed (with affection) into various couples to various degrees) and the doctor accepts this

once again, the worst quote came from stephen moffat, saying that in renette the doctor had finally found an equal because she was educated and cultured, which feels like a (probably not on purpose but still quite noticeable) slight against rose being able to be considered an equal -- rose who deliberately was introduced as a young woman who never finished highschool, and in the idea that romance is about... equal knowledge? equal education? unclear, but it's another example of all the talk about romance being quite waffly compared to actually describing what's going on in these narratives, which is a fascinating set of dynamics that can't be encapsulated by that word

also ofc in rise of the cybermen/age of steel mickey finally lets go of rose, and there was a description there about how mickey did read the doctor as this other guy who came in and swooped rose off her feet and had so much to offer -- but that makes sense, because mickey is a human man seeing his girlfriend prioritise someone who to them both looks like an attractive young man (who owns a time machine to boot). whether I would personally read mickey as thinking it's romantic, I don't think it matters much because mickey mainly just recognises that the doctor is more important to rose than he'll ever be, and it's a rare-ish example of the doctor taking precedent over another romantic pairing, which was quite interesting (also, again, from an aromantic perspective)

#aroace doctor #aro doctor #aromantic doctor #the doctor #dw #doctor who #sarah-jane smith #rose tyler #mickey smith #im back at it again woo #doctor who confidential #i need to get some coherent tags for all of this

[terrence-silver]

If Terry's father had cut him out of the inheritance, where do you think the money would go? Everything about Terry screams only child to me, at least, but do you think he had siblings? If so, where do you think he falls in that dynamic? Oldest, middle, or youngest?

I think he's an only child too. Sole heir.

That type of thing.

Do we really think that if he had siblings he'd speak about having no legacy whatsoever? Do we really think Terry Silver, insanely devoted as he tends to be when he truly wants to, wouldn't be here embracing nieces, nephews and extended biological family, for example? Do we think he would be here trying to make random ass Robby Keene and Kenny into surrogates for something he doesn't have well into his old age if there was any possibility of even one blood related sibling of his existing somewhere out there who happened to have...you know...actual Silver offsprings? I don't think so. I think he's all alone, and it is proven in a great many behavioral patterns of his. Has always been the one progeny his family had. Furthermore, well into the twilight of his life he's the only one remaining too. There's nobody else. Never has been anyone else. Might even add new dimensions of explanation to his care for John Kreese (and Ponytail).

They are, quite literally, the only brothers he ever had.

Terry Silver's unique and the last of his kind.

But, when he was born, in equal measure, I think he was planned, very much wanted and the fact that he was an only son was also pre-calculated as an outcome. There's no accidents for people of wealth and power. Most things they do are deliberate, tactical and practical even when they ''bashfully'' might pretend they ain't to cultivate an air of relatability (after all, Terry himself must've gotten these traits from someone, because nothing exists in a vacuum). Where insurmountable generational money is concerned, I like to imagine that Terry's parents wanted just one child for the sole reason of not cutting their own dynasty into multiple pieces; it's easier if they don't, simply from a legal standpoint. Ask any lawyer. One heir for one legacy. That's the way to go. Which is why Terry Silver going off to Vietnam might've come as quite a shock (or such a huge risk, if we believe his father sent him there under an ultimatum). If he would've had multiple siblings, especially male ones, surely, the blow and the stakes wouldn't have been quite so high because there would be always someone to take over all family businesses instead of him. But, if Terry was the only one, well then ---

I also in no way think Terry was ever cut out of his inheritance.

Where does this notion even stem from?

For some reason, and this is nowhere confirmed, so take this with a grain of salt, but I envision whoever his father was, he was, according to my imagination anyway, too much of an self-absorbed, prideful egoist to simply just...give away dynastical levels of wealth willy-nilly like that. Dare I say, it would take someone insanely charitable and with saintly levels of selflessness to do something like that even if out of spite, and I don't believe whoever Terry Silver's father was was anything like that --- the charitable part, anyway. Giving his only son threats, ultimatums and conditions --- sure. But, cutting him out entirely and writing off his own money to someone or something else? I don't think so. I think, when it came down to it, the process of Terry's inheritance ran very smoothly for all intents and purposes and that if it did not, Terry himself was simply willing to lie, cheat, scam, fabricate and step over literal corpses to secure what belongs to him by birthright. Like it was intended to. He was always meant to inherit the Silver family fortune and so he did just that. By any means necessary. After all, he was the only Silver available.

Was there any other competition or choices stacked up? Didn't think so.

#terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #silver family #terry silver's father #terry silver's dad #inheritence #family #wealth #character annalysis

[kendrixtermina]

The Hamburg Defamation Case Update

To summarize from here:

What was ruled as defamation:

the I dare say obviously fictional 'hearsay' stories from "a friend of a friend who knew a former crewmember", such as the italian man story, the idea that they called it a 'slut parade', Till & richard arguing over some girl. Frankly it's ridiculous they even printed that. Obvious fiction, exaggeration, no one behaved like an actual human, tons of ambulances called but no one noticed?

spiking with KO drops (only ever claimed by Shelby, who was on meds that shouldn't be mixed with tons of booze, kind of caused a mass panic where people who were drunk or saw drunk people (Kayla) retroactively wondered if there may have been drugs involved - plus every single witness has confirmed the “bottles opened in front of guests” thing)

That the parties were intended primarily as sex things / to get Till potential partners or that people were deliberately gotten drunk with the intention to sexually prey on them/ that sex was expected (which is consistent with statements of loads of former party-goers on social media that they were just normal parties where he occasionally hit on someone)

What they're still allowed to write: (in the sense that it was ruled 'plausible enough' and/or 'in the public interest')

that Till may have sex with people in at least potentially questionable states of drunkenness (seems all but indisputable at this point, multiple accounts with affidavits)

that there was a 'system' where people were explicitly 'recruited' to parties with booze and some chance of later sexual contact - hm. Certainly technically true it was the case that influencers or just ppl from the metal scene in the town the concert was in were contacted on insta (also confirmed by posters here) but with that word choice allowed one wonders if it will be sufficiently distinguished from the third bullet point above. 'Inviting people to parties where there may be booze & flirting' =/= 'inviting people with the explicit purpose of perving on them'. There is booze and flirting in most parties, after all, some even have discounts for women.  the main point of row zero was ultimately to have some pretty, rocker-looking ppl standing in front of the stage so it looks good on photos, bonus points if they're influencers or something. So there's nothing per se nefarious about contacting pretty, rocker-looking ppl on insta. I suppose some might find it objectifying to put up attractive ppl as 'decoration' but they're getting free booze, backstage passes & exclusive invitations out of it so no different from being a model really.

This is all just related to the case with Till for now.

The stuff that was ruled defamation wouldn't have been dismissed if it wasn't too ridiculously lacking in evidence to even consider reasonable report, and the criminal investigation will only be stricter about evidence.

So unless some wild new unprecedented evidence turns up now suddenly several weeks in, I think we can confidently say at this point: 

Roofies thing 100% debunked

the idea that it was some bordello-like thing where ppl were deliberately picked to be pressured into sexual stuff, 100% debunked.

& having drunken sex in a hotel room, whether criminally relevant or not, is something any guy can do, so definitely not 'abuse of power'. (that would be, like, making your goons restrain someone or threatening their job etc.) - the moment it's just you & him alone somewhere he's the same as any lowly mortal. (Lowly mortals, of course, can still do ordinary crimes.)

We (or rather, the prosecutors) shall see about the rest, I guess.

Regardless of particular conclusions (I don't think I'm fully decided where I fall either, yet, i dont want to form biased, emotion-based conclusions and get attached to them), at least we all gotta agree that even if they’re guilty of some stuff,  we're dealing with a very different claim and level of potential ambiguity, severity and intent.

Any sane person would consider roofies or being pressured in a locked room to be rape, but drunk (but still walking & talking) is more of a gray zone.

Most ppl would say when someone is full on incoherent or unconscious & this was outwardly recognizable it’s obviously rape but almost no one would say that about being, like, slightly tipsy, and realistically, lots of people have shitfaced sex & consider it totally normal. These are evidently situations where everyone was smashed. No one’s gonna argue that this was the world’s most responsible behavior

So it depends on details & specifics that hopefully will be brought forth by fair judges asking the actual involved people non-leading questions. 

Defamations against jerks is still defamation even if it’s, say, calling a dude a serial killer if he only killed one guy. its not about defending anyone its about truth & logic. 

Far and wide you see people reacting as if the first three points were indisputably true seeing as they have been repeated over and over in the tabloids. Death threats, vandalism, random fans being accosted for wearing t shirts, calling for boycotts of any nightclub that lets them in (ironically with Michael Jackson T-shirts for sale nearby) ... this isnt rule of law, guys. 

They even pulled Flake’s book from circulation on spotify which, like... even actual undisputed criminals shouldn’t lose the right to publish books. If there is ANY way that any citizen can be deprived of free speech, you create an incentive for that to be applied to people one wants to silence. 

You can buy books of war criminals & murderers. You can get the memoirs of OJ Simpson and the Austrian Incest Case guy, for crying out loud!  & most ppl who do that are probably motivated by morbid curiosity & wanting to know how a crazy person thinks, not any desire of “supporting” them. Understanding people is not condoning them, indeed understanding crime is how you stop & prevent crime, so this kind of censorship wouldn’t be ok even if they were guilty. 

Also don’t think for a moment that the labels, companies etc. care so much about morals (michael jackson... still on spotify), it’s about avoiding controversy for advertisers because ads & corporations rule everything and rage gets more clicks than anything. 

#rammstein #rammstein scandal #rammstein allegations #Till Lindemann #Flake Lorenz

[rebelwriter99]

Yep. You guessed it. Crosshair appeared in an episode and I am a sobbing mess.

Before we get to the soul destroying trauma of crosshairs beautifully executed character arc, the rest of the episode!

Echo is practically a patron saint of imprisoned clones at this point. Did not stop cheering him on every second he was around. And he rescued Howzer! (Why do I feel like this a consolation prize?). What I love so much watching this sequence for the second time-I went straight back to the beginning again-is how obvious it is that they’ve done this before. The clones all act like this is their average Tuesday and the imperials are almost helpless. I think it’s been made clear over and over again that the empire underestimate the clones consistently-and I’m not looking forward to them inevitably realising their mistake.

I then spend several minutes dying laughing when Tech gets to experience his own driving. I don’t think he’s ever been more visibly or audibly terrified before. They are all big brothers and it’s fantastic. Hunters conundrum is getting interesting though-I’m starting to think his decisions are going to be in focus next. Everyone else has had their development and made their choices so far, but I think just as he’s tentatively come to terms with Pabu and peace, he’s going to get dragged back into trouble trying to protect his squad.

And Crosshair. Oh Cross. This entire episode confirms so much to me about who he actually is as a character. The “Drs” are either very clever and deliberately manipulated him into sending a distress signal, somewhat unlikely since they shut it off, or incredibly stupid. Revealing that they want Omega, who is honestly going back to the empire over the bad batch’s dead bodies, was a fatal mistake. He knows threatening omegas safety is ultimately a threat to kill his brothers. He will do anything to stop that from happening. Everything it cost him just to warn them-and I’m honestly not sure we’ve ever seen him miss before He wasn’t fighting because he could-he had to. In that situation there was nothing else he was capable of doing, other than risking everything to save them. And if he says ‘wrong’ again I’m going to start crying as a Pavlovian response.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, someone please wrap him in a blanket and give him back to his brothers. I cannot wait for the finale episodes next week. Really hoping this isn’t a season 2 of rebels situation. I need them all to be back together again. Safe somewhere. Please.

#star wars #the bad batch #clone force 99 #tbb spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #crosshair #force damn it dave filoni you are not good for my sanity! #given his track record with emotionally devastating writing I’m hoping we’ve had our fill this season #nothing has really ended well so far #we’ve had no ‘big wins’ #so I’m ‘cross’ing my fingers that we are allowed one now #I’ve never needed a happy ending for characters quite so badly #please just this once can Star Wars skip the bittersweet and go straight to family hugs thank you

[extasiswings]

Do you think it is indeed a choice that means something, or do we buddie shippers just need to start thinking that maybe it won't be happening? I really really hope you are right, but if they keep keeping them apart this whole first half of the season, I just wonder if we need to start being realistic? However why would they start the season with that kitchen scene then... I'm sorry this sounds negative and it is def not, I'm still hopeful, I just wonder if other people feel like this :)

Very simply: yes, it’s a deliberate choice, and not only is it not a cause for concern it’s necessary and should be exactly what leads to Buddie canon.

This season kicked off by throwing down a gauntlet that Buck is missing what is right in front of his face (a conversation that took place while he was literally looking at Eddie and Christopher and cooking for them like a whole-ass husband), that he’s searching for happiness in the wrong places because he can’t see what he already has (or thinks he can’t have it). They proceeded to send him off on a journey about fatherhood specifically (but only the illusion of it—donor, not dad) because of the Diaz Boys of it all, because Eddie and Buck still haven’t talked about the shooting, haven’t talked about the will, and are very much not on the same page about Buck’s actual role in Christopher’s life (aka to Eddie, Buck is Christopher’s other dad, to Buck, he’s only a contingency plan if Eddie dies).

Similarly, we also just got a giant flashing neon sign with Tomorrow—Henren’s queer love story (with shooting parallels galore), in which both of them ended up with a life and new dreams that looked nothing like what either of them originally intended or expected for themselves. The trajectory is LOUD.

The separation of arcs is simply because Buck and Eddie are different characters and because their arcs need to be a little bit separate right now while they’re both figuring things out. It’s partly to increase the dramatic tension and draw it out, but also partly for practical reasons. On one hand, there’s the fact that this is an ensemble show and they have other stories they’re telling and other characters—so they laid the groundwork, pivoted over to Hen for a few episodes, and now they’re pivoting back. On the other, there are legitimate plot and character reasons why they haven’t been involved in what we’ve seen so far (which, to be clear, is really just Animal Instincts). Buck is keeping this a secret deliberately. He went to Hen instead of Eddie deliberately—on a character level, because she has some experience with IVF etc and is a good friend, but also because this is not something he can talk to Eddie about. (By contrast, Eddie wanted Buck to be involved in his issue with Chris—Buck’s his co-parent, Buck is always involved, but Buck was the one pulling away and not letting himself get involved).

Eddie’s going to find out about the sperm donor thing. Probably in the very next episode (Cursed). As far as we can tell, he’s going to be the main (perhaps the only) significant person in Buck’s life to be involved in this storyline directly going forward (since Jen said Maddie hasn’t been involved with it at all). Which makes sense, because they’re on a collision course regarding all things shooting/will/Christopher/feelings-related. So they’re not separated entirely.

If I’m right, Eddie’s going to feel some kinda way about it. And Buck will feel some kinda way about Eddie reacting to it. And that’s what will set the stage for where we’re going in “What’s Your Fantasy?” With “Uncle” Buck babysitting (again, explicitly not being a parent) left once again to think about what he really wants in his life, while Eddie is going through a parenting first with Christopher (and Carla) in a scenario that is a perfect opening for them to circle back to what exactly Carla meant when she told him to follow his heart/what (who) Eddie’s heart really wants.

I strongly suspect we will have a canon confirmation of one form or another (because what it means to “go canon” is entirely subjective to everyone but whether that’s a kiss, some sort of confirmation of feelings (to a third party or otherwise), or whatever is all the same to me) by the midseason or very shortly thereafter, but they won’t actually get together officially until late in 6B (or the finale itself because Buck babygirl we have GOT to get you back in therapy)—which would be very S2 Madney of them. Regardless though, it’s happening. Everything they’re doing points to it happening. We are only 1/3 of the way through the season and this is a season-long arc—just be patient and enjoy the ride, because it’s shaping up to be some damn good storytelling.

#chapel talks #ask #anonymous

[johannawesterling]

Regarding H*laemond, there's a reason that Aemond's line was added though. Nothing in a show like this is left up to chance. Then there's also the season one leaker who leaked the whole season who said that H*laemond was being set up. The dance scene is very pointed where Aemond looking at Jace and Helaena mirrors Daemon looking at Rhaenyra dancing at her wedding. And finally there's the scene where Aemond walks into Alicent's chamber looking at Helaena and just before it she says that one always craves what's given to another, and if someone has something another will come to take it away. These are little things but the knowledge from the leaker basically confirms that these choices were deliberately made. And then there's HBO sharing a new H*laemond still in a post with other "couples" and Phia Saban's commentary on it. I wouldn't be too quick to say there's nothing there before the season even comes out because people who do are more likely to get burned. Putting two and two together there's definitely something there regardless of whether you and I think it's a bad choice.

Hi! Answering this while typing with my thumbs so forgive any mistakes and long winded rambling.

So first, Aemond looking at Jace while he's dancing with Helaena. Sure, i guess it could mean that he was jealous, and it was mirroring Daemon. But there's also the fact that he turned right to Aegon and they had their little silent conversation and immediately caused chaos when the old man left. There was no lingering looks at Helaena, and frankly AEGON looked more annoyed than Aemond did.

2. Helaena saying that to her kids - it was about Aemond wanting the throne. That's all it was. It had nothing to do with any romantic thing for Helaena. Because right after that he and Criston go looking for Aegon and he has his long speech about how he should be the one to be king, not Aegon. And then when Aegon offers him the throne, he almost let's him go. The line coming from Helaena had nothing to do with romance.

3. That IG post was about ships? It also included Rhaenicent and Alicole, which are popular ships. And the sticker that Phia put on the still looked like a confused face. I really wouldn't read too much into it. Now if she said more and I missed it, then of course...but that's all I really have to say on that.

4. There isn't enough TIME. If H*laemond was gonna happen, then it would have to happen rather quickly in season 2. Because Blood and Cheese is happening in episode 2, and Helaena begins to go mad with grief after that. Where is this going to happen? I'm actually asking too. Where will there be time?

#answered #anonymous #anti helaemond

[majorbaby]

bit of a confession: i'm not too fond of "trapper thinks hawkeye is dead" because there's an implied "... and that's why he didn't write" which assumes that this is canon, and it isn't. We don't know if he wrote. It's left intentionally ambiguous.

I think it is valid to headcanon him as having not written because he thought Hawkeye was dead though, and I see why tbh because it's easy enough to interpret Trapper's whole unquestioning support of Hawkeye as his being a very devoted and loving friend. Why would Trapper do all of that just to not write to Hawkeye? It kind of only makes sense with such a drastic explanation and well, The Late Captain Pierce happens so soon after Trapper leaves. I get it.

"Isn't that splitting hairs?" Well, I think it was a deliberate writing choice to not tie up that loose end with Trapper. No closure for the audience, no closure for Hawkeye.

GFA delivers closure to everyone. Actually, this is why I think GFA is one of the best executed finales of all time. It's very well acted and directed and written yes, but it's not without its flaws, some of which I think are glaring. And just the format of it alone means it's hard to analyze as an "episode of MASH". There are things about MASH that imo, do not translate well from a 20 minute format to a feature-length film.

But before this turns into the Trial of GFA, let me say the reason I say GFA is a great finale is because it is a proper farewell to the audience from the characters, all their loose threads tied up. This is something we were denied when Wayne left the show. Confirming whether or not Trapper wrote undercuts the non-goodbye, just like confirmation that the 4077th including BJ and Hawkeye ever see each other again undercuts their goodbye in GFA.

Trapper is invoked by the narrative three times and each time it pointedly does not create emotional stakes for Hawkeye. The first time is in PoA, where the person who has the biggest emotional response to the Trapper character is BJ (huge L, grow up BJ). It's BJ who has the worse reaction to the destruction of the still, in what I personally think is the only redeeming moment for him in that episode, when he shows remorse for having damaged something he knew was precious to Hawkeye in part because Hawkeye built it with Trapper. I don't think his response to Trapper being home is a Trapper-exclusive thing, because BJ also says he's jealous of Radar being home.

In Depressing News, Hawkeye isn't torn up about Trapper when he mentions him being replaced by BJ, he's torn up about how the military dehumanizes people and views them as disposable. Even if we are to believe Hawkeye is shown to be still mourning Trapper's exit, it ought to be nothing compared to the grief he must feel over Henry's death. And that is without even considering that Hawkeye is demonstrably happy for Trapper in Check-Up. So it is a big stretch for me to believe that this scene is about Hawkeye ruminating on Trapper.

Finally the Joker is Wild. Hawkeye has some fond words for Trapper but the point of this episode apparently is that Hawkeye has been tried by a jury of his peers, found guilty of being The Worst, Actually and should suffer for his crimes. The other point of the episode is that Trapper and the early years are also the worst, which is ironic considering how Joker is at best, MASH as a pale imitation of itself.

I lied, there is a fourth mention of Trapper, in GFA but before I get to that, I want to mention the weird snub in As Time Goes By. It is technically a snub because they mention Henry and not Trapper but let the record reflect that this episode is also MASH as a pale imitation of itself and on rewatch I think Trapper would have hated the sentimentalization of his time in Korea. Idk what BJ and Hawkeye especially are doing in this one. The point of this episode is to invoke fond and soft memories of cast members past, so my theory is that they couldnt mention Trapper for this reason. Maybe they still hate Wayne or something but from what I understand it as Mclean they were properly annoyed with.

Okay fourth, in GFA, when Hawkeye for the first time since Welcome to Korea expresses some hurt over Trapper's exit. Or does he?:

"BJ is not really what's bothering him" threw me when I first saw the script for GFA because i absolutely thought he was bothered by BJ leaving initially without saying goodbye. But whatever, point here is that if he's not upset about BJ, then there's no way he's upset about Trapper. Even before seeing this i found that line somewhat... well, if Hawkeye hadn't been through what he had been through and wasn't feeling so vulnerable and didn't have Margaret's shoulder to cry on prompting him to be more forthcoming than he might be otherwise... then I might call Hawkeye's lament melodramatic.

So all these examples show that I don't think the show was at all interested in giving us Hawkeye dealing with his feelings about Trapper post the first of Welcome to Korea. And you can imagine that had they confirmed he had written, or hadn't this would have engaged Hawkeye in that way.

I'm further convinced by the scene that didn't make into the show where Sidney asks Hawkeye if he'd heard from answer and Hawkeye has this infuritatingly vague response "He sent me a nail file in a cupcake". In theory Alan Alda's delivery might've swayed us one way or another but I can also imagine him saying it like a joke, of which he has no shortage of, that still wouldn't make it clearer.

The fact that they cut it altogether seems very deliberate. They did not want to talk about Trapper in a way that gave us any hints as to what their relationship (or lack thereof) might have been like after Wayne left the show.

And that's pretty clever, because it gives further further significance to Hawkeye's insistence that he and BJ have their goodbye. Hawkeye doubts they'll remain as close as they were in Korea once he and BJ go home, BJ clings to the idea that they will. Ultimately we do not know if they will. When asked if they might see each other again, Alan Alda maintained the ambiguity, (paraphrase) "they might, if we wrote it" which I personally see as "no" because they did not write it. But there is also "they might". It's ambiguous. Sucks doesn't it? But that is what fanfiction is for.

#more on why i personally dont love the headcanon 'trapper thinks hawkeye is dead' #but that's more about preference and not my analysis of the text #re: mash

[icebrooding]

I keep thinking about how the concept of alternate realities work via Mists, in that in every alternate of Tyria events never diverge, so for example when one person dies in one Tyria, they die in every Tyria. So like, doesn't this concept actually make free will a non-entity in the world?

And how does this work, like do they all work to correct themselves according to each possible variant world that exists? And how closely converging do events have to be to begin with? Does everything play out exactly the same across every reality with the only variable being the Commander themself?

If A dies in a battle in Tyria 1, would this mean they also had to be part of said battle in say Tyria 2 or Tyria 3? Or would reality just find another way to kill them off no matter what they were doing in their own world? I'm going to assume the Alternate Tyrias work on 100% convergence so that there is never a reality in which A is not part of this battle, since their death is a constant across all versions of Tyria.

But if that is the case, it does confirm that free will is a non-existence, because no matter what they were going to die exactly then and there, and nothing they could do has any chance of averting it, right?

Also with the Commander being the only unique entity, this means nothing they individually do impacts the world, because each person would have different thoughts and courses of actions to take, but the Alternate Tyrias concept forces the Commander to always take the exact same path no matter who they may be, which might hinge that this variable entity might be the one most strangled by the concept of inevitability. They are the one being in existence that is not a certainty, with how they change across timelines and worlds, but their actions can never be any different from another Commander in another world, or else the timelines would no longer converge.

Although I suppose the Asura story actually contradicts the concept of destiny as a hard fact, implying the possibility of a Bad Future deliberately chosen by the Commander, but how does this work in relation to the current set up of reality? Would this confirm the theory that all realities of Tyria have to be 'reflecting' from a source world, and whatever world that is is the one we are playing from? The only choices that matter are the one you make as the player, and every other reality that exists alongside this Tyria is forced to converge based on the decisions made in this timeline?

So the future is a variable state, but only in one reality, while the others have to play along to the outcome of a world they aren't even part of? Free will exists, but only for one incarnation of every person that has ever lived. That's harrowing.

While I get that things like the 100% convergence across all realities of Tyria is to prevent easily-abusable plot devices like dimension hopping to solve problems or bring people back to life, it does bring up the harrowing reality that ultimately everything is futile because destiny exists as an almost-immutable fact.

I imagine this is probably part of the lore that a lot of people don't actually want to acknowledge because, well, nobody likes having something so... troubling be the base ground for what reality is. I know I sure don't like it lmfao. It's a complicated and not necessarily great way to try and avoid being able to utilise time/dimensional travel as a plot device.

#text #aka i think far too hard on concepts that are way above my pay grade #im not a scientist after all

[azurenightowl]

Notes on the show Gravity Falls,

written by someone who didn’t watch the show until 2023 but was in the fandom through osmosis because of mutuals and irl friends who watched it. Binged it in a week.

damn it really do live up to the hype

pacifica is a way smaller part of the show than i realised, and candy and grenda have a way larger presence. (not to be like. annoying but. i wonder why the rich white girl is prioritised over the asian girl and the trans-coded girl. hmm. forget the author, this is the real mystery.)

the mystery and romance elements are actually pretty much equally balanced. there’s more romance than i realised; then again, i guess bingeing the show and already knowing the big mysteries (stanford, who is bill, what is his plan, etc.) means that the mystery element seems much smaller because there’s nothing to guess, only evidence that confirms what i know as fact.

i love that emotionally speaking, everyone’s arcs are complete, but there are still some mysteries left hanging. like the axolotl. whats up with that guy?

i kept waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding mabel, but she’s just like… a really optimistic positive person? like she can be annoying but she’s not evil or self-serving or unnecessarily selfish.

compared to dipper, the show is "nicer" to her in that she has less episodes where we focus on one of her personal problems like we do dipper, so her flaws are less explored. this makes her less interesting, and so potentially people go looking for flaws in other places?

most of the times where she’s shown to be concerned about boys over dipper’s problems (eg sock opera) she has like, half a second of deliberation before she does the right thing. she’s 12! and a lot of the time doesn’t have the same information as the viewer does, hence doesn’t have the same sense of urgency.

i kind of get the frustration, especially about the finale and the end of episode 17; personally i think it’s wrong of mabel to ask dipper not to take the opportunity, because adulthood and planning for it is important, as well as following your passion. dipper made the right choice for him (in that moment), and was explicit about still being in contact with mabel. 

HOWEVER mabel is totally entitled to feeling hurt and upset about this! and she was preyed upon by a monster in a moment of weakness; it is a little bit selfish, and a little bit naive, yes, to want summer to last forever. but these are normal, human traits. 

also, it’s very important that she didn’t even know what the snowglobe was when she gave it to ‘blendin.’ she was emotionally distraught and was told that a small trinket no one would miss could make her happy and prevent what she saw as a disastrous future. no one told her—granted she didn’t seek the knowledge out either. no one is at fault for her not knowing the value of the snowglobe.

i really love the depth of the show’s world. by which i mean; we don’t get to see everything. i’ve seen many instances where you see everything, except one thing called "the incident" thats inevitably a recurring joke. here, we get references to a bunch of stuff that never appears onscreen—mabel’s encounters with vampires, dipper fighting a demon bat, the family bonding day that ended with a night in county jail. you get the impression that the characters have rich and full lives outside of this.

this show is SO funny. like—

s2e6, that crack about animators and the fact that they can’t afford stop-motion.

s2e12, talking about the in-universe show they’re watching, there’s a twist where the main character has an identical twin and the characters voice different opinions the writers predict the fandom will have: from "bullshit" to "i predicted that a year ago."

s2e16, stan says "do i look like an amnesiac?" LMAO. i mean not funny but like such fun foreshadowing played off as a joke. 

i got TOTALLY misled about what bill’s personality was like, and i’m so, so pleased. i cannot explain how cool show!bill is. i thought he was--well standard tumblr sexyman. suave and dapper and whatnot.

bill doesn’t actually have that much screen time, but he has so much presence from the triangles everywhere to the effect he has on the characters—and then, you know, the whole finale. but im thinking, especially early on before he’s a named character, the fact that he’s present is really ominous, especially for someone who doesn’t actually know what happens in the show, only that he shows up at some point and starts the apocalypse.

bill just doesn’t care about dipper basically at all and it’s great! you can construct an argument that he cares (in a really fucked up way) for ford, paying him special attention and having spent a lot of time building the portal. mabel, too—the deal they make, he gives her the nicest prison, he didn’t have to, you know? in-show, based on how worried ford+stan are than bill won’t honour his deal to leave the kids alone, you learn he’s not actually bound by the deal. also when he possessed dipper and straight gave him nothing in return. but yeah bill is just off doing his own thing and you really get a sense that he's above all of this. everyone is a pawn to him, he just wants to party!

im getting off track. in all honesty, bill straight doesn’t care for anyone except himself and it’s amazing. no creeping on the 12 year olds—based off fanart i thought there was some sort of rapey vibes, but nope he’s just here to have fun and cause chaos. 10/10.

all in all, even knowing the big mysteries, this was a blast. for people who feel like they won’t enjoy the show because it’s been spoiled, definitely check it out anyway.

#gravity falls

[suffer-my-displeasure]

Could you help me answer this idiotic (imo) Quora's answer (I can quite find the right words)? Here it is: " 'Snape was talking to Lily about wanting to be in Slytherin' I’ve often wondered whether the key point was that Snape was trying to force/bully Lily into wanting to be in Slytherin. Which if James had even an inkling that she was muggle-raised/born might motivate him to try and disuade her. 'and James (who was talking to Sirius at the time) overheard Snape’s comment about slytherin...

… and made an indirect insult about Slytherin house to Sirius.' That Snape is arrogant and egotistical enough to take insult from a stranger having a different opinion (James clearly states that he wouldn’t what to be in Slytherin, citing that Slytherin’s “aren’t very nice”*) 'Snape then fires back with a direct insult to James about Gryffindor and by extension his and his dad.' Indeed. 'Then they grow to dislike each other more because of: House differences, Snape diving deeper into… … into the dark arts and blood purity (confirming James’s slytherin comment to be right in his mind since Snape is doing everything that he sees is wrong it’s Slytherin), Snape being jealous of James, fighting for Lily’s affection, BOTH of them hexing and cursing the other, Snape stalking Remus.' Both of them (and Sirius) were guilty in their own way, but the key thing for me is that James expressed an opinion and then neutrally asked Snape for his reasons for disagreeing, which was what… … prompted Snape’s deliberate insult… … That says to me that the bulk of the blame for the animosity is on Snape as he is entirely hostile, whereas James is variable. *Which was likely his father’s experience as he (a Gryffindor) was bullied at Hogwarts, and James may have negative experiences himself."

Hello anon, I'd first like to apologize for the late reply! I think seeing the actual Quora answer would help me understand a bit better but let's break it down

Snape was trying to force/bully Lily into Slytherin “You’d better be in Slytherin,” said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little.

Reading this while already having a negative opinion about Snape then sure, it comes off as a little forceful. But in the context of them being best friends and him being a child, I can definitely relate to wanting my friend to be in the same house as me for the next 7 years at a boarding school.

Did Snape bully Lily into wanting to be in Slytherin? Hardly no, he had already decided he wanted to be in Slytherin and understandably wanted his best friend to join. Lily wasn’t easily persuaded anyway and then ended up in different houses. 

Snape was arrogant and egotistical for taking offense when a stranger [James] insulted his choice of house, the animosity between them is all Snape's fault “Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?”

Describing Snape as arrogant and egotistical in this situation may be a bit over the top. Snape actually says nothing after this, he just snorts when James states that he wants to be in Gryffindor like his dad and then James continues insulting Snape. You have to be a saint to not take the bait, and again, we can't forget Snape is an 11 year old kid.

Snape was minding his own business talking with his friend when James interrupts their conversation and insults Slytherin house.

Snape dives deeper into the dark arts and blood purity, confirming James's opinion on Slytherin being bad Yes Slytherin house wasn't exactly full of savory people in the 70s, ideas about blood purity were allowed to fester without much intervention or control from their head of house. It's hard to say how much Snape was into all that beyond calling Lily a mudblood during a humiliating moment and having rumors about him being knee deep into the dark arts.

Snape probably became somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy, sure

Snape is jealous of James and stalks Remus Snape is jealous that his bully has everything going nicely and smoothly in his life? Hell I would too – and stalking Remus, we're not exactly shown how it escalated into him finding out from Sirius how to access the tree and thus discovering Remus’s secret, but sure, if you get an opportunity to get rid of your bullies then why not grab it. Wrong? maybe, understandable? hell yea

James's father was bullied at Hogwarts so James can relate Wait what?

Already disliking Snape as a character can easily colour your interpretation of the text, he didn’t always behave like an innocent and blameless victim but wasn’t the devil incarnate either. And something something that’s why I love that weirdo, he’s as gray as his unwashed pants.

#no idea if this helped or just confused even further #I'm no meta buff #ask #long post #snape

[goldenfharry]

So, from my understanding, you are saying that whoever believes that this is a real relationship is actually defending a very shitty boyfriend when they shouldn’t

I’ve never seen someone put it so perfectly. If you believe that this relationship is real then Harry is a really shitty boyfriend and everyone’s applauding that. This woman gets death threats to her and her kids, people are making fun of her children, people are tearing her looks down. You can see the amount of weight that she has lost a game during this PR stuff. Her weight has fluctuated a lot, she has gotten so much work done to fit the narrative of what his girlfriend look like an his girlfriendbecause his fans of her insecure. There’s nothing about this “relationship” that his goals or cute. He doesn’t defend her ever. She was accused of having an affair and there is a lot of evidence that supports that and instead of coming out and saying that it wasn’t true he put out a statement through to a source calling himself blameless. When he could’ve defended their relationship. when the GQ article came out with Jason on the cover and it was confirmed they broke up in November he did nothing to defend her, when she was served he did nothing to defend her. She is made fun of and bullied in the internet everyday and had to turn off her Instagram comments and he has done nothing to defend her. People have said she was involved with the shit that Harvey Weinstein Did and have basically Assassinated her character and he has done nothing to defend her. A lot of the shit that the fans are uncovering and talking about are defamatory things , things that could ruin her reputation and career and he has done nothing to defend her. She is constantly travelling around the world to take your time away from her kids to be with him whenever it fits his schedule and his needs and doesn’t do use the same for her whatsoever.So if you think that this relationship is real then Harry doesn’t give a fuck about her and is it a very good boyfriend and you guys are defending and shipping A fucked up relationship. If I was getting attacked by my boyfriends fans on a daily basis, then lying about me, then assassinate my character and try to ruin my career and my boyfriend didn’t stick up for me I would fucking dump him Because all the shit that’s happening to me is because of him

He doesn’t defend her because he doesn’t feel the need to. It shows that they don’t have enough proximity for him to just simply be vocal about it. Despite that, everything that is happening to her in terms of hate it’s not his fault directly. Each individual that sends hate to her is deliberately choosing to. We are all owners of our own actions. When I write about her on my blog, it’s not Harry’s fault, it’s mine. I might have a blog because of him, but I am responsible for all that I write and my actions. It’s not Harry that makes his fans hate on her. I struggle to believe that if he had a choice, he would choose for her to be this hated. But the hate, even thought I don’t agree with a lot of shit, the hate against her kids for example also comes from a place where she doesn’t protect them enough. In fact, she uses them and puts them right in the middle of the spotlight when she knows what will happen. It just shows who she is. A lot of things that you point on this ask were situations created by her, that lead to reactions. Because trust me, she wants the hate as well. It makes her talked, it makes her seen. Closing comments? Typical move for eventually pay off as the poor victim. Everything that she does has a purpose and is extremely calculated.

[catboyebooks]

continuing the investigation in komaeda's room. nanami suggests they check to see if there's anything stashed under the bed, since people often hide things under their beds. hinata thinks "yeah, like porn" but checks anyway. no porn, but there's a plastic shopping bag containing a gas mask and rubber gloves. they look like pretty legit equipment, likely obtained from the military base.

for the sake of being thorough hinata looks around under the bed some more and spots what he thinks is a piece of paper, but it's actually a round piece of aluminum foil. the two of them don't put it together right away but i'm near-certain this is the seal that would have been on the poison bottle.

komaeda also has a bookcase in one corner, and nanami tells hinata he should go through it himself because what if there's private boy stuff in there or something. i take it this is also why it was up to hinata to check under the bed. while sorting through the books looking for anything that might be a clue, hinata comes across the hope's peak files komaeda received from beating the final dead room. though he didn't question it at the time, hinata now doubts that this file was solely about him, especially now that he sees it's a pretty hefty volume. he also hopes komaeda might have been lying about him not being talented.

as soon as hinata starts looking through he sees that komaeda was indeed lying — there's stuff about everybody in here, not just him. he flips through till he finds his profile thinking maybe he's got a talent after all, but nope, his profile clearly says "reserve course." hinata starts angsting about his talentlessness all over again, and also wonders why he's the only reserve course student here on the island.

nanami notices him going through the file and asks to see it. she finds her own profile and comments that it's disappointing, there's nothing in their profiles that gives them a hint as to what memories they're missing. she thinks these must have been written before they actually started classes at hope's peak. nanami seems to be implying it's a waste of time going through the file more closely, which, yeah, i bet there's stuff in here she doesn't want hinata to be seeing. hinata suddenly notices something, though — looks like a particular classmate of theirs has his info missing from this file. there's nothing in here about a byakuya togami.

monokuma shows up just then to laugh at them and ask hinata if he thinks twogami is the traitor based on the missing info. hinata says, well, it's not just that. he was in a previous killing game too, wasn't he? seems a lil sus. monokuma says hinata's drawing the wrong conclusions and he'd better actually read the file if he wants to figure it out.

looking through it another time, hinata stumbles on a profile that's mostly blank. no photo and question marks left in most of the information fields, just a talent listed, "shsl imposter." monokuma confirms at this point that the "byakuya togami" they knew was a fake. the profile is deliberately mostly blank because the imposter has no identity of their own (and i may as well use they/them, because their gender identity, if they have one, isn't known — this more or less explicitly comes up and now i'm recalling why nonbinary twogami headcanons were popular. it does seem to be essentially canon actually.)

hinata feels a bit betrayed at the realization that "togami" lied to them, but nanami says the imposter didn't really have a choice because, well, being an imposter is their talent. she says having a talent can be restrictive, because if you're recognized as being skilled at a particular thing, you're expected to do said thing whether you want to or not. monokuma backs her up and says hinata's lack of talent is actually rather liberating in that sense. (hinata isn't happy to hear this from him.)

i know this post is getting super long and i'm sorry but there are two other things of importance here. first, about the bit back in chapter 1 where twogami alluded to having a dark past, making one think he's talking about the dr1 killing game: monokuma doesn't seem to actually know what imposter was talking about there (nor care) but figures that having no identity of your own probably sucks, so maybe that. tl;dr it was a red herring. second, about the identity of the traitor. monokuma says one of the student profiles is a fake he created, since there were only meant to be fifteen of them on this trip, and there's no way they could tell which profile is fake just by reading the file. nanami asks if that means komaeda wouldn't have been able to figure it out either and monokuma replies "...probably."

#we're almost done with the investigation..... #kes plays sdr2

[avrelia]

Airbending and death of cultures

I keep going back to thinking about airbending and Air Nomads in the Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it’s subsequent stories in the Universe. There was a post that stipulated that the absence of other airbenders and information of Air Nomads in AtLA was the sign of bad writing. Which really made me angry, because – how are you even watching if you misinterpret the show so profoundly? Little kids, the show’s main audience, understand what “the last airbender” means, but not adults.

Could some Air Nomads survive? Should they have survived in the story? What their survival would mean for the world and the story? Was Aang lazy in not looking for them? Were the authors lazy?

We confuse survival of persons with the survival of the culture. The people are people – actual human beings, young and old. The culture is comprised with the language, all the beliefs and habits and everyday things, and games and superstitions, and references and songs and jokes, and anecdotes, and spiritual practices, etc… And while a single person is easier to kill, a culture could be killed just as efficiently while there are thriving genetic descendants of the people who carried this culture. There are no statistics of dead cultures, but there are statistics of dead languages – some languages even have a marked time of death – the date of death of the last person who spoke it.

But is airbending a genetic trait, same as a color of skin and eyes or more like a language? Well, we have no confirmation, actually, that it is indeed genetic, or, it being a different world, the laws of genetic inheritance work slightly differently. We have benders born in nonbender families, we have nonbenders born in bender families… It definitely has more to do with the qualities of energy, chi – that allowed Ty Lee’s chi-blocking technique to stop bending for a short time, and energy bending to turn off it completely. And it also has to do with culture and spirituality – otherwise Katara would not be the last waterbender left in her Tribe. Fire Nation was taking away adult waterbenders, but didn’t seem to check for their descendants to assure elimination of waterbending genes, therefore they (almost) successfully killed off the waterbending culture, and while that didn’t prevent baby waterbenders from being born, it had prevented them from developing their talent – we saw it in the very first episode, with Katara. Still, the culture of South Water Tribe survived, but maybe in a couple of generations of culling off all the waterbenders, there would be no waterbenders being born, either.

I said it before, but will repeat myself here: I believe some airbenders survived the initial attack. It is really the only logical conclusion. But then, there were other attacks – since the goal was to kill the possible avatar, and everyone who might hide them. So the surviving airbenders became hunted refugees, whose only real survival tactics would be to hide that they are air nomads. And well, it is hard to keep the culture alive while hiding it from anyone. It is hard to keep your culture alive even if you are not hunted, but just living in a different dominant culture – ask any immigrant. It is much more plausible that the children of the surviving air nomads only had a vague idea about their origins, and grandchildren of the survivors had no clue they were anything but Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation nonbenders.

Could the airbender culture and airbending have survived? Yes, it could. We have many examples of cultures that survived against all odds.

Is it plausible that it didn’t survive? Yes, it is absolutely plausible. We have again many examples of cultures that didn’t survive, and we have only names and scant knowledge left of their existence. Or we have nothing left. Maybe some abandoned settlements, maybe strangely decorated bones… Maybe a couple of unusual pottery shards.

Cultures die.

And it was a deliberate choice from the creators to make it so. I mean, they called their story Avatar: the Last Airbender for a reason – and that reason was that they set out to explore the world where genocide happened and the culture died, and what it means for Aang to be the truly last one of his culture. He is the last one to remember life before the war, and what the world was with the Air Nomads in it. (ok, technically Bumi and Guru Pathik remember that, too, but they are tiny islands in the world that forgot about Air Nomads).

So yes, the information about Air Nomads is scarce, and it is not bad writing. We are meant to feel this scarcity, this loss, this abyss. That empty space created by the deliberate genocide. The pain and discomfort that the empty space causes. The dis-balance. That’s kind of the point: we are meant to feel the pain of this world that had seen so many people killed because other people decided they were too weak to live. That their culture and values were stupid and worthless. The Avatar is meant to keep the world in the balance, but how balance is even possible now? And another, maybe the scariest thought – is that the world forgot what it lost. The world is left to believe that it didn’t even need those values, anyway. So, having Air nomad survivors who are fine and who are airbending stealthily, while might be plausible is a totally different story. And it was a deliberate choice of the creators to tell the story they wanted to tell – where there is one person who can bend four elements and who is also a last person of his culture in a world torn by endless war.

Another moment – we see Aang’s memories in a couple of episodes, I think – Eastern Air Temple and the Storm, and in none of them airbenders are depicted as paragons of perfection, as shining beacons of enlightenment. The boys are mean, fearful, don’t want to play with Aang, not to mention, snotty. The elderly monks are full of self-importance, not wisdom. They are all just humans – no better and no worse than other random denizens of the Avatar world. (and Kyoshi novels build up on that very masterfully, showing in simple strokes Air Nomads as normal people, with specific set of values that could be used in good and bad ways).

#atla #avatar the last airbender #tw genocide #aang #airbending #air nomads #atla fandom problems #my posts #sorry for ranting #it really was painful