#tl;dr version:

[ghouljams]

Bestie how’s Die?

I’m excited to see her purring and slathering herself all over ghost after he finally feeds her. A very murderous kitten rolling in a bed of catnip. Good for her.

Ghost has never been one for cuddling past the appropriate required amount, but the way you lay on him, languid and utterly pleased, is almost changing his mind. Almost.

His fingers stroke down your spine, absent minded as you rub your cheek against his mask. It is almost cat-like, he's really more of a dog person but he can see the appeal. Especially the purring, the soft little motor rumbling against his chest feels like it's drawing the stress from his body.

It's strange how much more... keyed in to you Ghost feels. Your usual weight on his chest feeling like almost nothing. Your claws don't scratch, your teeth feel dull where they nibble at his collarbone, you're perfectly docile for him. Hardly demonic at all. Shit, maybe he should read the manual.

He almost feels bad for starving you. No wonder you were such a nuisance if this is what you're like after a meal. He trails his fingers back up your spine, up to card them through your hair and pull your head back. You make a soft noise but don't put up a fuss as he makes sure you're meeting his eyes.

"Are you goin' to be this docile in the field now?" He asks. The way your pupils are swallowing your irises does not inspire confidence. You blink slowly at him, he can almost see the wheels turning in your brain.

"Of course not," You push yourself up onto your elbows, Ghost's grip still tight in your hair making sure you don't go any further, "You've got me all charged up, now the real havoc can start."

#good for her #She deserves to be a murderous kitten let her have this #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x reader #simon ghost x reader #x reader #oc: die #yeah baby now Die can explode like a fucking grenade and take out whole rooms #if Ghost will let her that is #lol Ghost asks for the manual after this #like the tl;dr version that he can skim to get the basics because obviously hes not learning on the job #Die is so smug when she gives it to him #i should write more König and fetch

[hoofpeet]

I'd probably have to read the printed version and web version back to back at some point to note all the differences but... ough

#sorry i'm going to be excited about this comic for the next month #nofna #okay having finished this now-- #and sorry if this doesn't make sense to anyone who's completely unfamiliar with this comic in advance- #the 'popcorn ending' (printed version) is nice to see but i think the web version hits harder. if that makes sense #so i'm kinda tied on which ending i 'prefer'- i think both are good though #also considering i've read the web version a good 4-5 times and the printed version only once- i probably can't make that judgement yet #easy answer- i do like Nutsedge :] so it's nice to see the ending where nothing bad happens to her #but also- NT suddenly becoming a greenie-esque villain out of nowhere felt a little jarring #as well as SV suddenly turning a corner and becoming a 'good guy' (arguable)- considering the first three books are about #/him being too stubborn to change or accept any outside worldviews . Him suddenly coming to his senses felt out of place #<- probably biased because i like characters being bitter to the end and ultimately destroyed by their own hubris #the web version is probably‚ objectively‚ a bit better #but - #(spoilers- if you're planning to drop ~70 bucks on getting these books) #the conceit of SV actually perfecting his style‚ using it once‚ and then immediately getting tooth-brained- was pretty cool #assuming it's meant to parallel him spending months tormented by trying to perfect it while something's still missing- #and then dying before he can narrate it to the audience‚ so that we never know what he figured out. #hard to articulate these thoughts but tl;dr- popcorn ending also had a lot to think about

[flootzavut]

Bless Joey for referring to Jaskier as pan, bi, and queer. I absolutely headcanon Jask as a give me more labels gay who'd be insulted if you tried to make him choose one, but also just Joey getting the widest rep he can into one character 🥹

#joey batey #jaskier #the witcher #spoilers #the witcher spoilers #witcher spoilers #I keep thinking about that #I love him #I have screenshots of all of them somewhere if anyone really wants them #but the tl;dr: version is he used pan bi and queer to describe Jaskier #I love him your honour

[attleboy]

What software do you use for drawing/animation

i've answered that question for animation over here but i'll go into more detail on the drawing program part since it got sidelined into the tags...

the main program i use for drawing is adobe photoshop elements 10 BUT i would NOT recommend that to anyone... i just use it because it came with my first drawing tablet so i've been using since i was 8 andddd i don't like change. it's actually missing a lot of the neat stuff modern art programs have and i don't even think it's really aimed at artists so... yeah don't use that ^-^;

if you want alternatives, i would say the turnip pen on clip studio is probably the closest thing i've seen to the pen settings on there, so do consider that? i think it's a far more common software in this day and age, and it seems to have some pretty neat features. and if you want something free, krita can be used for regular art and not just animation so try that out!

i have also been using medibang paint for when i want to draw on the go... for a phone app it works pretty good! i did most of the coloring and shading for pomni in this art on my phone so ik it works nicely

sketching can be a little messier if you're working w a finger but ehhh if you don't mind that or you're going to clean it up after you'll be fine. here's an example of something i did fully in medibang paint mobile... a sneak peek ;)

#tl;dr: krita for animation... an old version of photoshop for art but id recommend csp or krita instead... medibang paint for phone art #btw that background is a placeholder but i did the actual one on my computer so i can't count it #ask response

[bucketsofgiggles]

shout out to Amphibia for, when one of the main villains feels regret and remorse for his actions and decides he’s done doing terrible things, A. also having him acknowledge that his past actions make him irredeemable and B. having the protagonist, who sees and hears the villain express regret and surrender, still land the finishing blow. King Shit 

#amphibia #amphibia spoilers #amphibia all in #amphibia all in spoilers #there was a shot of Anne's face where she realizes that Andrias is giving up #and i was so prepared for her to pull back and stop short of her strike #AND THEN SHE DIDN'T #HELL SHE FUCKING G O R E D HIM #Disney Brand TM #but yeah it's exactly what i wanted out of Andrias's character and i'm thrilled the writers delivered #edit: #1k #am i really in a fandom if i don't get at least one post to blow up #technically my first solo Amphibia post too hell yeah hole in one #also i see y'alls snarky digs at my pfp #and the tl;dr is i'm not mad at SU for not doing this/not shading SU via this post #clearly i love SU; it's still my pfp in the Year of Our Lord 2022 #if you want the long version send an ask

[taegularities]

some men are textbook villains fr

#tw religion? #kinda need to rant.. kinda wanna explain what's going on #some ppl are part of humanity but don't know how to be humane... like the guy i started talking to almost 2 weeks ago #liked him a lot bc he was funny sickeningly sweet mature and understanding.. until he was not #tl dr version is that we somehow drifted to the topic religion and i told him im not too religious and don't believe in superstition much #i was extremely respectful and even when he said that he does believe a lot i was like 'thats cool!! different people believe in different #things!!' and at first it was a normal convo until man went all psycho on me (after one damn week!!!) and started talking about how #id have to be religious in a relationship with him.. my dude i barely know your fav food can we not talk about relationships yet #but he says he doesn't even need a woman who cooks/cleans just someone who believes.. n im like i get it but i can't change myself like that #and then guy moves to marriage and is all 'well my entire family is religious' n my mom and sister (who's 16) would be putting pressure on #you n force you to pray etc.. and I'm like???? who can force anyone to a thing like that are u kidding #things escalate and my absolute STUPID ass tells him about my deepest fkn trauma to explain what made me abandon religion bc #life just never got better and this trauma remained for yrs... and he gets so angry that he says he wants to stop talking to me just to spam #me all day next day.. he'd keep messaging me switching between 'i still want you we shouldn't throw this away i have feelings for you' #AFTER A WEEEEEEKKKK!!! and then goes back to 'i wasted my time with you you were so unnecessary im in a bad mood bc of you' #even said 'you'll never find a guy with a trauma and mindset like this. i will find a religious girl but no one will love you like that' #and the worst thing is that he told his friends and mom about the trauma i had just to spite me.. note that he promised to never tell anyone #(and then still asked for forgiveness and for me to rethink whether we want to end this after telling me 473626x he wanted to end it) #(nothing even ever started you bitchass) #also note that his mom knows my mom n basically most of my relatives.. so i was here trembling for days fearing they'd get to know about it #mom somehow convinced her to not tell anyone bc it's important to me and very very fucking personal.. #but he harassed me all day - i wouldn't answer and he'd send 55 messages.. multiple missed calls like dude i got so fkn scared #my heart jumped whenever he texted he was so fkn aggressive and SO MEAN #'you just needed to adjust and we would've been okay' 'tell me are u gonna fkn be religious or not????' 'you ruined everything' kinda mean #i just :') it was the worst time and i don't think i've ever seen someone degrade me so much or make me feel this defective #but.. it's finally over. his mom called my mom and mine was like pls teach him some manners.. n since i couldn't and wouldn't text him back #and literally avoided whatsapp bc of him she ended it all for me and now it's hopefully done forever #anyway i saw jks gcf performance yday n him singing still with you put a genuine smile on my face.. ill stick to THAT boyfriend honestly lol #def gonna delete later #but ty for reading if u did <3

[thejadecount]

So i just started getting the hang of this whole ‘peepaw multiverse’ bit where a bunch of Future! Leos from fics hang around as 4 old co-parents I guess but honestly I’m surprise no one has taken Last Ronin! Rise Mikey into account because C’MON! The angst and comedic potential is all there!

Like all the other F! Leo’s are all just talking about their angst and Last Ronin Rise Mikey is here:

I could imagine that they’re all upset over his tragic backstory, but he’s just tired of their shit.

I don’t know I just think it’d be funny if these full on grown-ass traumatized old men needing a just-as-traumatized if not worse older man to make them get their shit back together.

look it’d be really funny and really angsty I’m just saying why has no one else thought of this yet?

#the last ronin #rottmnt #rise tmnt #peepaw multiverse #rottmnt mikey #rise mikey #rottmnt leo #rise leo #future leo #seriously guys just think about it #also if you don't know what im talking about by last ronin just search up the tag #spoilers but tl;dr it's sort of like future leo but the apocolyspse is caused by the foot clan and MIKEYS THE ONE WHO GETS TO SUFFER #and i know someone (forgot who) made a rise mikey version so yeah #guys cmon #like the last ronin rottmnt mikey is just so tired of their shit cmon #i feel like he and future mikey would get along well #except last ronin rise mikey is just a tad bit bloodthirsty #but like only you just a little but like a regular amount #this post was brought to you by my obsession with last ronin rottmnt mikey

[kittytheillustrator]

Okay time for an OC! This is Magical Kitty! My magical girl OC!

Her powers make you fall asleep if you're cranky

#theres a lot more to her story but thats the tl;dr version #magical girl #mahou shoujo #OC #catgirl #nekomimi

[14muffinz]

One of those mass tmnt-verse chatfics but instead of a chatfic its a mandatory once a week facetime call with Dr. Feelings who will forsively give them therapy.

They are so threatened by this that when the 12 gang misses a week due to a fight and proceeds to apologies immensily, only for Dr. Feelings to patiently ask them what the fuck they did wrong, and when this was explained to him he asked them why that wasn't a valid excuse followed swiftly by a 'you're putting too much of a burden on yourself' talk while the rest of the group sits and watches, and valiantly pretends it does not slightly apply to them as well.

One day, someone would grumble about how you're a mikey too and you need therapy just as much as the rest of us and then rise leon full on tackles dr. feelings and takes the coat and glasses and is like "it's my time~!" and begins his therapy session that lasts a good minute before everyone realises that the reason this mikey gets no therapy is because he is the only qualified therapist he knows

dr. delicate touch is very much on the surface whenever a splinter is brought up because this is therapy and thus he's only hearing bad things about him, and so dr. feelings makes a calculated decision for them to talk about casual family bonding memories. this ofc ends with 2012 looking rly frickin jealous

Bayverse sits there in horror as everyone else tells these frankly outlandish yet horrifying stories and meanwhile they beat both of their 2 only villains over the span of like,,, a week if i'm not mistaken

It takes at least 6 sessions to get the 87 turts to open up at all. They're verse is by far one of the most comedy-based ones and thus they probs find it harder to get to the level of calm that therapy requires

#z rambles #turtles forever #tmnt crossover #rise mikey #tmnt 2012 #rottmnt #bayverse tmnt #tl;dr rise mikey as every version of the turtles therapist #feel free to add in how another version fits into this

[whitmore]

charlie slimecicle slash lore very clearly knows codeflippa isn’t juanaflippa somewhere inside of him. the specific avoidance of questions with codeflippa points us in that direction and is further confirmed by the direct questions he asked juanaflippa today during dia de los muertos— are you safe? are you in a happier place? he’s not in any level of denial barring performative, he’s just willing to settle for a codeflippa rather than no flippa at all, and that’s paraphrased but he’s said something very akin to it out loud. plus today he realized that if the missing eggs don’t have ofrendas they’re likely still alive, and i think to some end even after really processing that his current flippa isn’t the original juanaflippa, he’d still want her around emotionally to cope with the possibility of bearing witness to everybody else’s real egg reunifications. mariana isn’t around, his entire family was fundamentally gone at one point. he doesn’t want to have nothing again. and if codeflippa leaves, he’s left with nothing. again.

#eleanor.txt #qsmp #slimecicle #this is all paraphrased bc i’m not pulling up the stream for exact quotes rn #i think it’s possible that he believed codeflippa could have been some kind of codefied alteration of the original flippa #which was an arguably realistic theory before today tbh #juanaflippa’s ghost (and the rest of them tbh) clearly aren’t frozen at the time of their deaths otherwise they wouldn’t have cracks #for another post and time but interesting choice. it will have consequences i’m sure it means Something #but anyway it’s becoming clearer that codeflippa is less a diversion and version of juanaflippa and more an imitation #something designed to look like her and (attempt to) talk like her #all of this to say. he knows what he’s doing #tl;dr: the denial is shallow he knows what’s happening and he’s consciously letting it #it’s a choice he’s actively making #‘qslimecicle is in such deep denial’ NO he’s PRETENDING he is in deep denial and YOU are buying it. like everyone else on the island #where’s the i am human i have biases blinkie. imagine that’s here too

[ghouljams]

Hello! I've been binging your 1fae1 series and I love all of them so, so much!! I am curious about something though. If Price and Witch Darling had a baby, what kind of magic would it have? Would it inherit Price's fae magic or Witch's or would it like do a cool little mix of things? Or would it do something similar to Rhesus disease where like the magic would try to fight itself cause it doesn't mix well?

(Also if it hasn't been taken yet can I be 🦈 anon?)

Ooh I had not thought about the Witch/Price potential to have a baby. Probably because they're such a slow burn lol

(Insert long pause while I think because I am just rotating this question in my mind as I type)

So I don't think they'd have a Rhesus disease situation, but I think that would be a definite concern, because honestly it's new ground for Price and the Witch. There isn't really any precedent for it that either of them can think of, so there's a lot of concern that the baby might not survive. As I've said before Wild and Witch magic aren't really compatible unless they have a reason to be. Price and Witch are comfortable with each other's magic but it's like finding pieces from two different puzzles that just happen to fit together.

The baby would technically be considered fae by convention, since it came from a fae parent, but I think their magic would be something... hmm I don't want to say completely new, but definitely unique. I think ultimately it would be closer to Witch's magic since hers is so strong. I mean generations of building strength her magic isn't going to back down in the fight for the baby, but it's not 100% human magic either.

In my mind it's a very tense first year with the baby. Very magically sickly and colicky while everything works itself out. They both lose a lot of sleep over it.

#ghoul speaks #oc: witch #1fae1 #🦈 anon #fae!Price #i think witch magic is like a really refined version of wild magic #like iron and steel #one of them is a natural occurence and the other is a refined product #Witch trains the kid in witchcraft even if they have wild magic #Price is so stressed about the pregnancy and the first year #john price x oc #the fae usually just find a witch and eat it for the raw power #usually they dont fall in love and marry the witch #i also genuinely cannot think of a story where a witch and a fae fuck #tl;dr its a fae child with witch magic #a very strange creature

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

While I agree that takes which say Crowley is a better angel than most of Heaven are wrong, because it’s supposed to be that these labels are actually meaningless and we know Crowley never wants to be an angel again, I disagree with takes that go even further and say he’s not actually “good” and there’s no such thing as good in the story’s universe. I think there is such a thing as good in the show, it’s just that it’s not Heaven’s definition of it. We see Heaven excuse horrible things in the name of their goodness and light, like wanting to kill Job’s children and broadly destroy the world so “good” can triumph over evil. Crowley isn’t their kind of good, because Heaven isn’t good.

Instead, Crowley does good things like refuses to kill (he never even fired a gun before 1941), saves a girl from killing herself, tries to stop the apocalypse and save the world, and cares about people feeding animals (ducks) the right thing. He stops trying to do evil in s2 when he’s not working for Hell anymore. This isn’t to say he’s not mischievous, because he is. He likes trouble and wickedness if it’s all in good fun (like when he makes people think they have real guns at Tadfield but no one gets hurt). He likes trolling people and low key pissing them off. He’s not always nice, but a) s2 showed us he can be and even knows it with the scene with Jim and the hot chocolate and b) to steal a theater quote: nice is different than good. He doesn’t need to act “angelic” to do good. Is that not the point? He’s been doing the human version of good—messy and faltering and sometimes not very nice and dubious, but when push comes to shove, he’ll do what he thinks is the right thing.

The same for Aziraphale. He’s definitely not always nice, though he tries to be, but he’s often good. He’s “pure of heart.” He’s not always right, and s2 showed us that following Heaven’s version of goodness is usually the bad thing (killing Job’s children), and when Aziraphale does something wrong, it’s usually because he’s trying to follow Heaven’s corporate (brainwashed) model (when he sabotages the body snatching plan). Again, Aziraphale is a messier, human version of good, and he knows that his AND Crowley’s version of good is different from Heaven’s; that’s why he’s ecstatic at the thought of the two of them taking over and making a difference by doing real good together. Aziraphale was wrong for thinking Crowley would want to return to Heaven, but he wasn’t wrong for believing Crowley would be the right fit for trying to do good with him; and notice that Crowley never rejects the idea of doing good when he turns Aziraphale down. That’s not even mentioned, he doesn’t say he doesn’t want to do good. and really, part of why he rejects Aziraphale’s offer is because he believes Heaven can’t be fixed and can’t be good (“when Heaven destroys all life on earth” etc., etc.).

And no, none of this makes Crowley angelic. It just makes him Crowley.

#wrote this at 6 AM after a night of insomnia 🫠 #good omens #good omens 2 #gomens #but yeah anyway tl;dr goodness in the show is the flawed but earnest human version

[licorishh]

Welp. Binged the second half of the new ATLA show and finished it and I am still so incredibly impressed. Spoilers under the cut y'all know the drill

I freaking loved this adaptation. Slapped. Killed it. Nailed it. I'm gonna rewatch it over and over. Legitimately the only things I could really complain about are all related to Azula.

I really feel like Azula having screentime in season 1 served zero purpose here. I feel it would've been much more impactful to have her go entirely unmentioned until the finale when Zhao reveals to Zuko that Azula was behind everything (i.e. iy would've been cooler if Zhao were also revealing it to us, the audience, for the first time).

I also think it's a little odd how they're kind of totally changing the dynamic between Ozai and Azula (or at least the parts of the dynamic that we're supposed to believe is a representation of their relationship for the majority of the show). In the original show, Azula has no idea Ozai is simply manipulating her for the fun of it. She genuinely thinks he loves her, is proud of her, and is extremely impressed with her. It's not until almost the last episode that Ozai ever directly expresses his disdain for something she's done/said, unless I'm wrong. Ozai's expectations of her in the original show appear to be things she's easily capable of meeting, and she feels extremely confident in her abilities and is under the impression Ozai is equally confident in her. I find it strange that repeatedly in this adaptation Ozai is instead treating her pretty similarly to the way he treats Zuko. He doesn't appear to show her any kind of particular favor, doesn't expect anything but the most outrageously impossible from her, and regularly ridicules/undermines her and sows seeds of doubt in her mind that she's competent.

Azula doesn't show the slightest hint of cracking until the end of season 3 after Mai's and Ty Lee's betrayal. Sure, there are hints earlier on that she's a perfectionist and refuses to settle for anything less than the most flawless outcome, but she comes off as being incredibly confident and secure in her position. She doesn't doubt anything about her situation or her relationship with her father or brother. In other words, in the original show, the audience and Azula herself are never meant to realize until the very end that Ozai was pitting his children against each other. We (and her) are intended to believe that Ozai genuinely prefers Azula and is more pleased with her than he is with Zuko. In this version, there really doesn't seem to be much of that at all. It's just odd.

Smaller complaint, but I don't think that actress is necessarily just the most stellar choice for Azula, either. The casting for the show has been excellent so far, but this particular actress seems to be bringing out aspects of Azula's character that really weren't meant to be at the forefront until much later. Maybe it's the actress, maybe it's the writing, maybe it's both, but it doesn't feel like Azula. She doesn't feel like a substantial threat. Heck, Zhao is wayyy more compelling in this version than Azula is, and that's really not very good. She feels like just another competitor for Zuko.

Kind of branching off of that, and this one is a pretty small one, but Mai and Ty Lee are super boring. Granted, I don't really care about them at all in the original anyway (Mai has really no narrative reason to exist other than to be part of what causes Azula's spiral; I do like Ty Lee a little bit, but I could really take her or leave her), but they're just... so bland. There's no reason for them to be in those scenes other than to be cardboard boxes Azula can glare at. At least in the original, they serve as an excellent example of what's tethering Azula to reality and how she feels an incessant need to exert control over every aspect of her life. I reaaaaally wish they'd waited until later to bring them into the adaptation (it's also just reinforcing to me the fact that I simply cannot see Zuko with Mai at all in either version, but that's an issue for a different day).

Other than those things I wasn't too thrilled about, I really did love the show. The acting from the main cast was excellent, the stakes felt SO MUCH HIGHER and it was SUCH a nice tonal change, the bending looked incredible, the amount of effort put into accurately replicating the sets and the costumes was just astounding, and the pacing was excellent. I love how they were able to cut down on so much of the extraneous filler from the original season 1 by finding ways to compile them together in a way that still flowed excellently and allowed for a greater focus to be put on the main story. The main story in this adaptation never stops going, and for me, that makes it SO much easier and more fun to watch. It doesn't go off on forty-minute tangents that have zilch to do with the main point of the show.

Also Dallas Liu is literally the best possible pick for Zuko. He is capturing Zuko's miserable wet cat energy in a way no one but Dante Basco could do and that is saying something. He's also putting an excellent emphasis on how desperately obsessive Zuko is about catching Aang in season 1. He's completely blinded by his desire to find him, causing him to make completely illogical and irrational decisions driven purely by a desperate desire to measure up, and Dallas Liu is really doing an incredibly good job reinforcing that without having to actually say it.

Gordon Cormier is also absolutely killing it as Aang for me. I'm really not the biggest fan of Aang (I just don't usually like child characters; he's better in some parts of season 3 but he's just not really my favorite), but he's actually making Aang incredibly fun to watch. He's adorable and fun and silly without being painfully immature and difficult to be invested in. Yeah, I know, Aang's twelve and twelve year olds are immature, but that doesn't mean they're automatically fun to watch. He's really doing a great job there.

I also love this version of Zhao. I feel like he got way more screentime in this version than in the original, which was pretty cool. He turned out to be a much cooler and more dangerous villain than it felt like he was in the original.

I also liked this version of Yue WAYYYY more even though she was only in one episode because man!! She has a personality holy cow!! She's actually fun!! And entertaining!! Not just Phantom Menace Natalie Portman-levels of "Well she's a very nice person :)"

Also also, I loved the vibe of uhh episode 5, I think it was-?. Both of the Koh jumpscares legitimately startled me which I was not expecting 😭 normally I can eat simple jumpscares for lunch but they made him so frickin creepy which is honestly good because hE IS FRICKIN CREEPY

And I cried. Like three times. First time when frickin Leaves From the Vine played at Lu Ten's funeral (that one had me weeping as usual), I think a second time when Katara is remembering being a little girl and is hiding and she sees her mom being killed (that was honestly so much more impactful that we actually got to SEE such things instead of just hearing about it), and then I think again in Zuko's Agni Kai because my gosh he's been through it :((( the flashback parts before then though were so nice 😭 I lived long enough to see happy smiling Zuko in 4k which means I can die peacefully now

All of this is coming from someone who first watched the show as a young kid, was never really a huge Aang fan, and really doesn't care for the original season 1 and tends to skip it every time I watch the show. I have pretty unusual opinions about the original, so my opinions here may vary massively from the general consensus, and that's fine. I really loved this adaptation and I will be so heartbroken if they don't make a season 2 MAAAANNNN I NEED MORE 😭😭😭

Also the writers are goated for replacing Aang with Sokka in the Cave of Two Lovers and having Katara reinforce their family bond instead of pushing a self-insert crush a little boy has on a teenage girl who treats him like her son. And also that scarf scene which I think I will perhaps never not be thinking about. I will be forever indebted to them for that but again that's a topic for uhh not right now 👍

#avatar the last airbender #avatar netflix #get into a fight about ship wars and i'll break your legs. you can talk about it if you must but BE NICE #tl;dr show is radical!! very hopeful for a season 2 #all of you whining about it need to Shutte Uppe 🤓👍 it is Good and you should be thankful that this much effort and love went into it #if i wrote something incorrectly it's 2:45 in the morning which means i'm not responsible. good night #now i ain't gay but if i were sokka and this version of suki were right there. geah. she's. pretty and very cool

[bleachbleachbleach]

[Bleach 129]

I am the kind of person who will latch onto one thing one character said one time and gnaw on it compulsively like it’s some kind of diction dog toy. These panels are fairly innocuous, relative to what comes immediately before and after them (that is, Matsumoto’s dream about her and Ichimaru’s origin story, followed by news of Hinamori’s jailbreak). But they’re also the first time we see Hitsugaya and Matsumoto really interact. 

In fact, we see Hitsugaya interact with Ichimaru (throwing out death threats) and Matsumoto interact with Hinamori (handing over contraband) before we get to see Hitsugaya and Matsumoto interacting with each other. We’re being introduced to them with these two other important people already in the mix.

What might we glean about Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, before we get to the Ichimaru bit? Across the board, Hitsugaya’s speech generally isn’t that formal, because he’s a boy in a shounen manga and he’s also the boss, so there’s less of a requirement, but I also think there’s an intimacy being shorthanded here. He could be less incredibly casual, pull a Byakuya and just use plain neutral language to address his subordinate, Matsumoto, but Hitsugaya also just did an entire ream of paperwork while she stress-napped in the office. He tells her, 構わん (kamawan, it doesn’t matter), using a shortened/masculine/superior’s form of 構わない (kamawanai). When describing Ichimaru and Hinamori’s altercation, he uses the phrase モメ方すりゃ(momekatasurya), the ending of which is a shortened/masculine/colloquial version of -すれば (sureba). Additionally, this phrase is made more casual/emphatic by using katakana instead of kanji [揉め becomes モメ]. We don’t know them yet, but we’re being asked to know them. We have about thirty seconds and two lines to do so: Syllables drop out and close the distance between them.

Despite this, Hitsugaya still seems to have a dim understanding of who Ichimaru might be to Matsumoto. His full line goes something like, 

Seeing your cohortmate and junior in conflict like that would probably be trying for you, too.

Hitsugaya refers to neither Ichimaru nor Hinamori by name. Instead, Ichimaru is "douki," or cohortmate, and Hinamori is "kouhai" (junior cohort). Which, knowing what we know about Ichimaru and Matsumoto’s whole deal, feels like a somewhat inadequate way to describe it. XDDD The whole sentence is couched in the epistemic mood; Hitsugaya seems a little unwilling to assert anything concrete. Maybe Hitsugaya is trying to split the difference and be sympathetic while also not making assumptions, hence "douki" instead of “friend,” or “past lover” or “your version of a Hinamori, maybe...?”

This is where I go full doggy toy, because also like, what if we take Hitsugaya at his word here and accept that this is not as convoluted as it sounds, because douki is actually a meaningful and relevant relation within the Gotei? 

The Viz translation is more natural than what I offered above (I mean, outside of the decision to refer to Ichimaru as "Gin" in the same breath as Hinamori is “Hinamori”―bold move, Captain Tôshirô!). "Your classmate Gin" still feels weird, though, because in an English-speaking context that kind of makes it sound like Hitsugaya’s throwing it back all the way to like, school classes at the Academy. But you can have Work Douki, as many large companies will welcome an incoming "class" of new employees who are entering the company at the same time. ...Of course, Matsumoto and Ichimaru did not actually… join the Gotei at the same time, either. Maybe they’re close enough, in the scheme of the thousands of years a shinigami might work for the Gotei. Though this would imply that Hitsugaya’s douki are RenjiKiraHinamori(Rukia), which I doubt is something he’d claim.

So I’m kind of taken by the idea that douki could have a looser literal meaning in the Gotei, and is one of the forms of relation that aims to capture a shinigami’s social affinities outside of one’s official seated rank.

Usually, the Gotei is all about rank, rank, rank. But we know there’s also Seireitei vs. Rukongai; there’s gender; there’s degree of nobility; there’s age. These things all matter―if they didn’t, we wouldn’t have a Shinigami Women’s Association; Hitsugaya’s life would probably be easier; the Kuchiki would pitch an absolute fit because of course degrees of nobility matter. Maybe having douki helps recapture the age/experience aspect of a shinigami’s understanding of self/relation, which might otherwise be wholly subsumed by rank.

If douki really is a meaningful aspect of shinigami life, Matsumoto could, say, have a social identity with the 10th, with the VCs, with the SWA, with her douki, and also with her miscellaneous friends. I like the idea that she would get to have all five of these things! 

(…All that’s missing is NON-WORK FRIENDS/LOVED ONES…)

I’ve been saying "cohortmate" as a translation for douki, but in my experience in the United States, the cohortmate relationship isn’t quite as compulsorily ride or die as douki are “supposed” to be. For example, there’s a 2004 article in The Japan Times that explains douki as a

"cross between sibling and comrade — the unwritten agreement is that all douki will stick together, whatever happens. / They work together, organize drinking parties, invite each other to their weddings, keep in touch and communicate for decades, often until retirement."

Given that it’s Ichimaru we’re talking about, though, it’s sad, because I don’t think any of those things are actually true of Ichimaru and  Matsumoto’s relationship in the Gotei, except perhaps in the unwritten whisper that it should have been. They should have cultivated this support, shared these memories, expressed this loyalty—they should be ride or die for each other. But they don’t have that—at least, not in any material way Matsumoto feels.

Because in the end, Matsumoto doesn’t know who Ichimaru is, either:

[Bleach 129]

Douki...? / Do you really― That Gin ― Ichimaru-taichou ―

More specifically, she says Ichimaru-taichou no koto (市丸隊長のこと), which softens the object of her thought. She’s talking about Ichimaru, but in the amorphous sense of the kind of person Ichimaru is, his essence, things he’s done, the general idea of him. The question comes out of Hinamori’s accusation about Ichimaru killing Aizen, but I don’t think Matsumoto’s really focused on the hard facts of a murder mystery. She’s asking after her captain’s read of who Ichimaru is. Which is a related but, I think, meaningfully different line of inquiry. 

After all, we don’t actually have a murder mystery to solve, because Aizen isn’t dead.

What we do have are a spiderweb of tested loyalties (between Ichimaru and Kira, Captain to VC; between Kira and Hinamori, as douki; between Kira and Matsumoto, as VCs; Hinamori and Hitsugaya, as childhood friends; Hinamori and Aizen, not as her Captain but ~"as a man"). But not, notably, between Matsumoto and Hitsugaya, even though Hitsugaya and Ichimaru end up very much at odds.

From the beginning, Hitsugaya summons this idea of "douki" into the room, and perhaps that word clarifies all the things Ichimaru is not. 

Maybe it’s then that Matsumoto knew this was going to be the last time she addressed those thoughts in the form of a question.

[Bleach 180]

#matsumoto rangiku #hitsugaya toushirou #ichimaru gin #bleach manga #bleach カラー #shinigamiology #bleach language #bleach meta #bleach headcanons #well this may have started as meta but for me meta exists only as a vehicle for headcanons #i certainly did not try to separate meta from headcanon #this is the full version (with--believe it or not--quite a bit of editing down for tl;dr) of the polynya-inspired GENERATIONS comment #that i added to the hiyori post from earlier this week #matsumoto era WHEN #no brain just bleach

[koopaling-headcanons]

Roy has more pairs of sunglasses than Wendy has bows, jewelry, and shoes combined

Darn right he does! Part of me wants to believe he has an assortment of all different kinds of sunglasses, but then the other part of me thinks he has like 8 billion pairs of the same sunglasses lol 😭

#koopalings #koopaling headcanons #sorry for being inactive again!! #tl;dr version is I am dealing with some medical issues requiring multiple visits to various doctors and specialists and even hospital visits #this all caught me entirely off guard #this next week is the first time in over a month that I don't have any kind of doctor appointment hehe #anyways there may be times of inactivity but I don't want this blog to die

[jazelock]

YOOOOOOO LET'S GOOOOOOOO

#I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM #I love this game #The Sinking City #Frogwares #look up the game on wikipedia if you want the context of why this is a big deal #it's listed under Distributor dispute #tl;dr: Nacon was the distributor but then they didn't pay Frogwares so Frogwares terminated the contract #but then Nacon kept uploading their own pirated and altered version of the game onto various platforms while the legal dispute was ongoing #just to double down on the shittiness #like the Steam and PS5 versions were both Nacon's #I had to very carefully purchase the PS4 version from the Playstation Store because that was Frogwares's version #anyway absolutely thrilled