#to me they are symbolic of his suffering

[bumofthewild]

i like to associate kabru with mushrooms...

#to me they are symbolic of his suffering #dungeon meshi #kabru #mithrun #kabumisu #is the ship name apparently can't say i'm a fan of the name but oh well lol tags be upon ye #art

[tubbytarchia]

Oh, I'll bow my head, I'll clip my wings I was never gonna make it anyway (x)

#haha whats this doing here I dont remember drawing this #jimmy solidarity #jimmy solidarity fanart #trafficblr #thank you to the person who introduced me to this song among others in the Jimmy brainrot #you know who you are #it was Bree #tubby art #Im not going to expand on ideas here lol but fuck yeah Jimmy clipped wing symbolism #sorry to anyone whos annoyed by the constant canary theme etc but dude its way too good symbolism and imagery sorry #I dont make the rules #this is why his character is so cool and compelling and makes me wanna rip my hair out #Jimmy is a very good and capable man. I hope the angst art etc doesnt make people think that I think otherwise #you can be cool and capable and still suffer baby!!!

[hephaestuscrew]

Pan-Pan, Boléro, and Minkowski's different responses to loss

I want to compare two key lines of Minkowski's which indicate very different responses to grief:

In Ep29 Pan-Pan, Minkowski breaks down and says "Doug Eiffel is gone! There was nothing we could do to save him. It wasn't anyone's fault. It's horrible, and pointless, and it just happened."

In contrast, after arriving at the funeral in Ep46 Boléro, she says "[Lovelace, Hilbert and Maxwell are dead] to make the fact that we're not gone yet important. They're gone... so that we never forget how important it is that we're still here." 

TL;DR: In Pan-Pan, Minkowski expresses her unprocessed grief through despair and hopelessness. Whereas in Boléro, she is able to find hope in the loss and lead her crew in trying to move forward. I suggest a significant reason of the difference is the presence of Eiffel to force Minkowski to confront and process the sense of loss.

Pan-Pan: "It's horrible, and pointless, and it just happened"

In Pan-Pan, the whole episode is full of anger and despair, but Minkowski speaking about the horrible pointlessness of losing Eiffel is one of the most painful and hopeless moments. It doesn't feel like she's really speaking to the others. She's focused on her internal despair (as suggested by the fact that she goes on to talk about the cracks, which Lovelace and Hilbert aren't supposed to know about).

The only potentially positive thing Minkowski says here is her recognition that "it wasn't anyone's fault". When Hera and Hilbert have been blaming Lovelace, and Minkowski has been blaming herself, it's significant that she acknowledges that sometimes a horrible thing just happens without there being anyone to blame. 

But in this context, and in the tone of voice Minkowski uses, even the lack of blame doesn't really feel like a positive thing. If Eiffel becoming stranded was just pointless and random, if there was nothing any of them could have done to save him, then the next tragedy might be just as unpredictable and unpreventable. Minkowski strikes me as the kind of person who can sometimes fall into the trap of subconsciously wishing that the awful thing is her fault because then at least she'd have control over something. In her train of thought here, the lack of blame is followed by focusing on how horrible and pointless what happened to Eiffel was. The only conclusion she can draw is "it just happened". There's no sense of hope in those lines. Eiffel being stranded just happened, and so do the cracks, and the crew are at the whims of brutal fortune with no meaning to any of it.

Boléro: "They're gone... so that we never forget how important it is that we're still here"

In Boléro, Minkowski can't even say that the tragedy wasn't anyone's fault. For each of the deaths, someone pulled a trigger. There is blame, and some of it lies at her feet. She didn't want to come to the funeral because at first she didn't know what she could say about the deaths she feels responsible for.

Yet even so, this time she finds something reassuring she can say to her crew, a grain of hope she can provide without attempting to diminish the loss: "[they're gone] to make the fact that we're not gone yet important. They're gone... so that we never forget how important it is that we're still here."

In another show, or another context, this kind of line might have had an 'everything happens for a reason' tone, which is something I deeply dislike as a response to other people's loss. But it doesn't feel like that's what Minkowski is saying here at all. She isn't trying to make any grand philosophical statement about the ultimate beneficence of the universe, or about how mortality gives meaning to human life. What she says here is working on a much more personal level. It's more about finding something other than despair that the crew can take from what has happened. This tragedy may still be horrible, but it provides a reminder that they are still alive in a context where that's far from guaranteed. Minkowski emphasises that the fact the survivors are alive matters - her crew matters. I'd argue that this contrasts with the 'it just happened' outlook discussed above. 

I don't know how much Minkowski fully feels the importance of them still being there in the moment, but it's something that she can offer her crew, something that she can say in a situation that words can't grasp. I think the moment when she joins the funeral is such a key moment of her leadership. In the end, despite her doubts and struggles, she's there for her crew. Eiffel brought them together for a funeral, but he doesn't know what to say when Hera asks why they have to be gone. Minkowski enters just at the right moment to support her crew and she provides an answer to Hera's question. It's not a perfect answer, but it allows the funeral to move forward. It allows the crew to move forward (even if that emotional movement is somewhat thrown off by a dramatic change in the circumstances). Minkowski starts off the eulogies; she leads her crew in the acknowledgement of what's been lost.

Why such a difference in responses?

There's lots of ways you could interpret the difference between the outlook of these two moments, and there's probably more to say about it though the lens of Minkowski's character development than I'm going to say here. But for me, the main difference between these moments is that, in Pan-Pan, it feels like no processing or recognition of grief has really occurred. When Minkowski says "Doug Eiffel is gone!", it almost feels like the first time that Minkowski has fully confronted and acknowledged the loss. Eiffel has been lost in space for 116 days, but it's only at the end of this episode that Minkowski brings herself to say in her distress calls that he is "presumed dead". Whereas in Boléro, she's already eulogising the dead and thinking about what can be learned from the loss, not even a full day after the mutiny.

Obviously there is much less ambiguity to a body bag (or least there would be, if not for alien interference). But I can't help thinking that the difference between the attitudes towards loss which Minkowski displays in these two quotes is less about the difference in the kind of loss, and more about a situation that prompted and enabled the processing of emotions in Boléro: namely, the funeral. After Eiffel was stranded in space, I think Minkowski probably went months without looking her grief in the eye. But after the deaths of Lovelace, Hilbert, and Maxwell, Eiffel's suggestion of a funeral forces Minkowski to confront her complicated emotions and provides a space in which she can offer direction to her grieving crew.

This is a good illustration of how I think Minkowski and Eiffel complement and support each other in a really valuable way. On his own, Eiffel couldn't provide the leadership that the crew needed for the funeral to work. But without Eiffel, and his determination to recognise the emotional weight of the three deaths, the funeral would never have happened and Minkowski would never have been in a position to provide hope and direction to her crew. When Eiffel was the one the Hephaestus crew were grieving, Minkowski couldn't offer much emotional direction to her crew beyond despair. But when Eiffel is beside her in the grief, saying that the grief deserves to be felt, then Minkowski can find a way for them to move forward emotionally. It's not the deaths that remind them how important it is that they are still here. It's the grief. It's the ability to confront that grief together.

#Wolf 359 #w359 #Renée Minkowski #Renee Minkowski #Doug Eiffel #I know that this is a lot to say about two short-ish quotes but I think they are symbolic / indicative of broader patterns #Also some of this probably contradicts things that I've said at other points #about how Minkowski dealt with Eiffel being stranded in space #But it's complicated. okay? #Sometimes I want to think about her grieving him and what that would look like #And sometimes I want to think about how in his absence she's much less able to process her emotions at all #Either way I'm emotional about them #This wasn't even initially meant to be a Minkowski & Eiffel post tbh #I just had this thought as I was writing this #It also wasn't meant to be 1000 words but these things just happen #Btw when I say I dislike the idea 'everything happens for a reason' #I fully respect if people find that a useful approach for their own personal misfortunes #but as soon as you start saying it to anyone else who is suffering #it feels distasteful to me #Maybe everything happens for a reason but sometimes the reason is shit etc #Eiffel & Minkowski #w359 spoilers #Wolf 359 spoilers #the empty man posteth #tw death #tw grief

[arom-antix]

Viktuuri week day 6: Love

#no one said love had to be happy #love can also be the indescribable pain of abandonment and longing because some times cupids arrow just hits at the wrong time #and i love making my little paper dolls suffer #i had actually planned on making all the pieces for viktuuri week sad or angsty in some way but i ran out of time and fluff is so much fast #but ive had this piece planned since like july so i was NOT giving it up #also this is the only piece with my trademark flower symbolism and i couldnt just not stick to my brand #the flowers used are sacred lotus; red spider lily and camellia japonica dahlonega if you wanna know their meanings in hanakotoba #look at me being nice #giving you the names instead of you having to figure it out on your own #i really do sometimes forget that other people havent spent hour long sessions researching flower language and symbolism #so like if you wanna know the meaning of a flower ive used in a piece just ask #i will happily rant about my thought process #anyway ANGST #yes i did take great pleasure in getting to draw every detail of this and especially his pained facial expession #AND THE HAIR #drawing the highlights gave me life #and just MMM i loved drawing this so much #yuri on ice #yoi #yuri on ice fanart #yoi fanart #fanart #art #arom antix art #arom antix #viktor nikiforov #viktuuri week

[nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius]

The children have scars too, Crosshair realises, and wishes he could un-realise it an instant later. Scars from rocks, and misjudged leaps, and deceptively sturdy-looking low branches. Accidents. The kind that they’d be disappointed to see fade. Their scars are a memento of adventure, a prop for storytelling. Like the one that Shaeeah has on her right knee from pitching headlong down a hillock in pursuit of a nuna, as she had told him in great detail no less than three times (once over breakfast, a second time after realising he hadn’t been listening to a word of it, and a third just for the sake of it). And Crosshair had tightened his jaw, and made a vague noise of acknowledgement, and triple-checked that his collar was pulled up high enough over his neck. 

She wouldn’t be smiling quite so bright if she could see just what he had to hide. And as much as it stings him to think of letting his secrets loose, a part of him wants her to see the horror, wants to wipe that stupid grin off her little face. CT-9904 had never been afforded the luxury to smile like that. 

It’s not their fault. 

That’s what the others would tell him. That’s what he’s sure Suu’s thinking, behind the unreadable glances that she casts him every time his nails bite into his palms as her daughter chatters. Not their fault. They don’t know of the labyrinth that lurks beneath carefully positioned fabric, the phantom craters of needles that he can still feel the sting of, latticed slashes of a surgeon’s blade branded onto a body that would never truly be his. 

It’s not my fucking fault either.

#🎶IIIIIIIIIII'M BACK ON MY BULLSHIT🎶 #not gonna publish the thing this is from for a while but anyways i love this passage #SEE #SEE HOW HE CALLS HIMSELF CT-9904 WHEN HE’S THINKING ABOUT HIS CHILDHOOD #BECAUSE ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS HE HATES HIS SCARS SO BADLY IS BECAUSE THEY’RE A SYMBOL OF KAMINOAN OWNERSHIP #this was so much fun to write i’m buzzing #i love making crosshair’s voice bleed into my writing style #free indirect discourse babyyyyyy #sorry gl i point blank refuse to use kriff for serious moments #best bit is where he just straight up goes hmmmm. i could traumatise this kid for life and show him exactly what the longnecks did to me bu #he’s not an angel and that’s why i love him #he’s VINDICTIVE #and everybody around him has to suffer for that because he can’t take it out on the kaminoans themselves #even the little kid who just wanted to show him a cool scar #(i did that to people all the time btw) #poor shaeeah has no idea shes dredging up crippling trauma #wip #tbb crosshair #the bad batch #tbb

[dreampearls]

so many cutie things abt nahida & scara they made them so sweets

#santol u have me thinking abt them a lot... #scaras thing w birds in his demo -> nahida as a literal caged bird.. lol #symbolically children in the sense that they were deprived of their agency/abandoned/not allowed grow up #wanderer w the mobility &freedom to move across teyvat + nahida trapped in her sanctuary #and yet both still so deeply isolated and lost #the . extremelt blatanlty obviohs buddhism thing of suffering being inevitable and universal & the only way out being #achieving understandjng & reaching enlightenment #AND WHO DOES SCARA MEET IF NKT THE ULTIMATE REPRESENTATION OF UNDERSRANDING& ENLIGHTENMENT PERSONIFIED LOL....

[snekdood]

ok this is gonna sound like word vomit bc im stitching together thoughts and im also not great at expressing my thoughts clearly anyways but-

i think heart shaped box is about kurt cobain feeling tied to courtney love. hes maybe become codependent on her, and she knows this. courtney seems like an apathetic person, and probably enjoyed having kurt on a leash making him dependent. the lyrics "i wish i could eat your cancer when you turn black" is possibly about courtney's smoking habit, which kurt seems to have accepted isnt going away. it could also mean he wishes he could consume and destroy the "cancer" that is her beliefs and her turning "black" means her turning to the "dark side". there is a sort of "venus fly trap" element to courtneys' love it seems. he's "trapped inside her heart shaped box" because she only ever "takes him out" to show him off or for superficial reasons, and doesnt listen to him when he expresses emotions, hence the inherent irony of being within someones heart while it also being a locked box. a locked box is something only you with the key can open. "being in someones heart" is a metaphor for "always being with someone" or "being in love", but with the context of the locked box it implies hes kept for courtney's personal desires for him and no one else's. the line "she eyes me likes a pisces when im weak" i think is him basically saying she "eyes him like a fish" that she wants to eat (like a cat or a crab might (courtney is a cancer and kurt is a pisces btw)), but instead of literally eating him its more like possessing him for herself. to contain him within herself, to digest him, so no one else may have him. since they both were addicted to herion and theres plenty of poppies in the music video to hint at that being a key theme in this song, it could also very well be that he was dependent on her for the herion supply as well, making it even harder for him to leave and making him even more wrapped around her finger.

the girl in the music video, i think, is supposed to be courtney and is wearing a not so subtle kkk outfit. she symbolizes the presumed innocence of white women/girls even when they engage in heinous acts (its no secret that courtney love is a raging racist, sexist, anti feminist and bigoted in many other ways). though shes dressed in a white dress to symbolize purity and innocence, she wears the klan hood showing her true beliefs or at least the beliefs placed on her by those around her that shes adopted and begun to parrot. since the klan are far right christians they are also anti abortion, though they are pro abortion for those they dislike. which is why her jumping toward the aborted fetus's seems confusing, its both as if she's trying to grab them and throw them up into the tree, though im leaning toward the latter since people who are anti abortion end up being anti life anyways since women and the babies they birth often die in pregnancies if they're not allowed to abort the baby first or the baby ends up dying later in life as an unwanted orphan. I think it was a metaphor for how anti abortion people feign caring about fetus's while actively throwing them away, and hanging them in the tree is a callback to lynching, symbolizing that anti abortion people still hate black babies being born and want to hang them, especially, obviously, the kkk wants to do this.

the lady with angel wings also symbolizes this, pretending that she cares but only ever walking in place, never actually moving from where she is to actually help the fetus's, just posturing to care with a plastered smile on her face. she is thus perhaps supposed to be seen as an "angel of death", which would explain why her organs are exposed.

the white jesus symbolizes the jesus conservative christians worship; one who willingly puts himself on the cross to suffer. the crow shakes his head not only in disappointment in the white jesus for going along with this but also disappointed about why he feels the need to do this i.e the pressure placed on to him. the santa hat is to symbolize the absurdity to which christians twisted jesus around to fit their narrative, along with him being a white man who's a "good jew" (since many christians think "the only good jew is a dead jew") who willingly and eagerly sacrifices himself for the christians benefit or satisfaction. the girl "tossing" at white jesus symbolizes a christians eagerness to sacrifice their own god the way they sacrifice women and babies due to anti abortion laws and rhetoric, and in the same way they feign caring about fetus's, they feign caring about jesus' suffering.

white jesus is in a hospital bed dying of "cancer", which both symbolizes kurt suffering and feeling trapped in his relationship with courtney (who, need i remind you, is a cancer) as well as the legacy of jesus dissolving at the hands of corrupt rw christians that care more about themselves than any god. it's also why theres a fetus in the IV bag, because they think sacrificing fetus's by forcing women to give birth to children they dont want, or die in childbirth along with the baby, or make it likely non-white women have failed pregnancies or their babies die bc of not being able to afford taking care of them due to intentionally placed poverty, etc. will appease white jesus, or make him happy and "well", but ultimately his bed is later seen as empty, implying he died anyways, and thus did the legacy jesus tried to leave. I think the fetus in the IV bag is also a jab at the absurdity of alternative christian medicines and medical practices that are all ultimately quackery and leads to more death than it ever being helpful. the girl wearing the kkk hoodie "tossing" at the sacrificed fetus's and white jesus is also to point out to conservative christians that that is what they look and sound like when they advocate for anti abortion shit.

the white hood chasing the butterflies like a net symbolizes the alt right christians' desire to catch the image of purity, ultimately failing and the hood turning to black to symbolize the true dark nature of alt right christian beliefs. and obviously her wearing all black at the foot of jesus' hospital bed is symbolic of a funeral, or perhaps her eagerly awaiting his funeral, but the fact shes still wearing the kkk outfit symbolizes she's still engaging in her own wicked version of "worship", which is sacrificing the fetus's in Gods Name, like I said earlier, and also jesus since this obviously wont make him heal and seems more like a joke at his expense. worshiping jesus to some people is worshiping his sacrificed life for their own benefit, they gain as he suffers, and they laugh and indulge and make a mockery of his name while they do so.

at the end, the girl finally takes a break from being a christian rw nut to finally open the heart shaped box and hear her boyfriend. she finally sits down to listen to him, and its not too long later that she just lays down instead, implying she got tired and bored with hearing about his sorrows. "forever in debt to your priceless advice" sounds like sarcasm on kurts end toward courtney, because seemingly her advice was less than sufficient when he sought it out, she probably shat out the first thought that came to mind then changed the subject or fell asleep. it's disguised as praise, but in the end of the video it's clear he's disturbed with what she has to say, as per his expression.

each time he repeats this part of the song, theres a look of desperation and a vibe that hes going crazy with how unhelpful she is. "i got a new complaint" is both him bringing up more of his troubles which courtney likely loathes hearing about as well as him bringing up his troubles with her which she likely definitely loathes hearing about, so the way he's saying it is almost sarcastic and mocking her attitude toward their conversations.

#music analysis #lyric analysis #heart shaped box #nirvana #also to be clear NO i dont think courtney 'killed kurt cobain'. i kept seeing that when i was researching stuff around this #i definitely dont think she helped at all though in preventing his suicide. #ofc this is mostly just speculation but the way things keep stacking up? iunnooooooo................ #also i think the jesus in this is supposed to be symbolic of kurt himself in a way thats hard to describe #maybe ill come up w the words for it later. basically what i got rn is the whole jesus fish symbol + him picking the 'poppies' + him #suffering at the hands of the little girl who's likely courtney + the lyrics of being 'weak' like the jesus in this music video is #and that line literally playing while hes picking the poppies. so could also be the whole 'she eyes me like a pisces when im weak' #line is her eyeing him while hes vulnerable and weak at resisting the need for heroin #and her 'eyeing' him is her preying on this need of his and resupplying him perpetuating the codependent relationship #and his addiction likely to her benefit. #man if she saw this i think she might try n kill me lmao. #idc lololol stop being a weird bigot miss'm

[muninnhuginn]

trigun (talking original anime not stampede/manga here as I can’t comment on those yet) is actually genuinely really solid in terms of themes and repeating imagery. the way the very setting of a desert with the associated resource scarcity plays into it all. you get monopolies over water where one family holds everything whilst the surrounding areas are left to rot. but then you have small patches of greenery that could have amounted to nothing but due to years of nurturing they’ve grown up into forests. it’s about what you do with what you’re given and what you choose to pass on to others.

#trigun #trigun spoilers #<- is it spoilers if the series came out over two decades ago. eh. let's play it safe #keep thinking about rem -> vash -> wolfwood and rem/vash vs knives in the whole debate about sacrificing one to save the many #because honestly both rem and knives' opposing philosophies are extremes and the only reason vash survived by rem's philosophy for so long #was because he wasn't human. rem and wolfwood don't have that and so the price they pay for moral purity is steep #(and honestly sometimes you do get scenarios where by choosing not to interfere it means more people suffer and vash is called out on this) #there's a reason why vash decides to carve his own path in the end and that's because both of the extremes are untenable #but he can still hold what he's been taught dear and move forward. people make mistakes and all they can do is try to be better #and that's all humanity as a whole can do. water and resources can be taken advantage of. but they can also be shared communally #and so in the series there is the hope that with water and nurturing eden will return and this desert planet will turn green #(also the christian imagery cracks me up but unlike with death note and eva I can't really call it faux symbolism because it kinda fits) #(and the gunpoint dilemma + cross scenes (rem -> wolfwood -> meryl) are so lovely if painful to watch #because the only time we know the 'right' choice was made is the last instance. the others are left to speculation)

[communistchilchuck]

Batman (1940) #498

'i can't stand it, alfred -- why is he acting so... so weak?'

'it's his first real failure, timothy... even when he... lost jason... it was out of his control... this is the first time he has faced another man squarely and lost.'

'yeah but --'

'bear in mind, lad, the enormous stress he's been under -- for months now... such a prolonged ordeal must exact its toll -- on any man.'

'not him, alfred.'

#temporary comic reading tag: tim drake #tim & bruce #tim & alfred #this sequence always gets me. tim is 13 years old. lost his mom. dad suffered a highly traumatic injury that's left tim in many forms of #turmoil. he's at risk of seeing his complicated surrogate father figure die but even more than that the symbol of the bat #the man who embodies it. who has never been beaten. who he turned his life over to preserve. is in this state... and hes told to snap out o #his grief. at 13.

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

hiiii really enjoyed your chenglingposting i was thinking about how sometimes the kids in adult stories function as a sort of barometer for optimism about the future in their views and options in life... obviously the alliance wants to continue the cycle of antagonizing and vengeance and conflict with the veneer of "honor" but. zcl gets to choose not to. its been a while since I either read or watched, do you know if zcl was ever onboard with actually wanting vengeance or if that was just being pushed on him? Obv its not super in line w his personality but grief could be a factor. i just thought it'd make a lot of sense if he changed his mind on that due to the influence of wenzhou and how they prioritize enjoying life w your people and following your own path over expectations. priest really took one more chance to emphasize breaking cycles/"if it sucks hit the bricks"

hi!! omg!!! thank you and im glad you enjoyed it! honestly this is a question i have been thinking about since at least two rereads ago. the show and the novel are handling this issue of zcl picking up his legacy / giving in to external expectations / finding out what he really wants in life a little differently, i think, as befitting of what they both focus on. ive said in my chenglingpost that the show is about legacy and inheritance in my eyes, while the novel is about martial arts and freedom of choice. obvs freedom of choice is a high priority in word of honor as well, but word of honor seems to have an overarching look, kind of focusing on the big picture and what a generation / a community needs rather than a few individuals, while the novel focuses exclusively on wenzhou and their little group and seems to handle the rest of the themes in priest's usual style. the show is about something "grand", the novel is about the mundane, almost boring human experience. martial arts play a bigger role in the latter too because they are a stand-in for many things that are hard to grasp, like autonomy. in chengling's context, martial arts are irrevocably linked with seeking revenge. i think that is specifically in the novel the case, not so much in the show. in the show seeking revenge is pushed onto him by others as well as inheriting his sect's legacy and becoming worthy of being his father's son. in the novel, the idea of seeking revenge is first presented to him by gu xiang, and it is actually this huge contrast to how others treat him because others "generously" offer to take revenge for him, while gu xiang tells him he can do that himself. we see with wen kexing that getting revenge does not make u happy. it gives u closure but it does not make u happy. i think that is something chengling learns during the novel. he gets closure in the end but it does not look the way he had imagined it would. i think he imagined himself to get super strong and then single-handedly slay his foes. yknow, as u often see in wuxia and as wen kexing literally does. then he starts learning martial arts and realizes getting super strong is actually not that easy, and this chasm between what he expects of himself and what he is able to achieve gets wider and wider and he falls into depression spirals, because to chengling, seeking revenge was taking ownership of his life and his trauma, and what use does he have when he cant even do that? that is the path wen kexing walks and it hollowed him out and it would have him kill himself if he hadnt met zhou zishu; wen kexing viewed himself as an instrument for a very long time rather than as someone deserving of having his own life. so obvs, that path is rubbish by itself (wkx gets his revenge and his closure and his life, good for him!) and its far too much for a kid. and i think, that is what chengling learns here: he only needs to do as much as he can, only bite off what he can chew, and the rest should not be his concern. and there really turns out to be a way to get everything he needs without walking the same path as wen kexing, as the novel proves, because wen kexing had nobody when he was in the same situation while trying to survive the valley, while chengling has wenzhou who guide him and shield him and love him. (crying myself into a huddle over wen kexing and chengling and them being foils of each other.) so in that sense youre already putting it into words. chengling seems to have changed his mind over the course of the novel, he doesnt have that same outlook on vengeance as he as in the start. i think thats different for the show. in the show, there is this weighing of the concept of revenge against the concept of getting justice, and what both these things do and require of a person and what they can offer u as an individual, but also u as a collective, in the long run. they are seen as two different things and are explored and qestioned individually. i think that can be seen in the conflict with chengling and all these expectations everyone has of him and how he handles that.

#i cant say much more regarding the show rn. but i think it does something very similar to the novel #re: wen kexing and chengling getting their closure parallel to each other and being foils of each other #one walking a path the other doesnt have to or doesnt get to #chengling is kinda symbolically getting the kind of justice wkx would have deserved to and gets now through chengling #but for the show #their closure is not just holding the big bad accountable. its also the community effort of forging a better future together #aa this went off track. but i cant get into more detail re: chengling and vengeance for the show. still in my rewatch! #i hope this answers your question anyway!!!! #thank you for sending it to me i had a lot of fun! #i have a lot more to say but tumblr seems to impose a word limit on answering asks! >:( #something something martial arts are zzs's way of communication and he uses that rather than his words to give chengling what he needs #something something practising martial arts helps chengling discover the boundaries of his own body and reverts him back into a child #rather than the orphaned failure of a son who needs revenge to give himself meaning. like a tool. #something something martial arts is both chengling's cause of suffering and his tool of freeing himself #something something zzs knows for pretty much most of the novel that zcl has this grand potential inside him and simply ignores it #something something chengling's shifu (he has a shifu in the novel before zzs!) is an idiot who doesnt even see his disciple's potential #who blames chengling instead of reflecting upon himself (and how thats kinda like schools blaming neurodivergent and other kids for failing #and how zzs notices chengling's inert dormant potential / difficulty practically immediately and is probs uniquely qualified to teach him #drawing from his own experience with harsh teaching methods and surviving impossible tasks and breaking through body limits and difficultie #paired with being bamf at martial arts and probs having this vast pool of knowledge #something something zzs acting nasty but doing good (and nobody knows) and chengling turning out happier and more stable in the end #inbox #geneticcatalyst #tian ya ke #faraway wanderers #word of honor #meta #zhang chengling #zhou zishu #wen kexing

[leatherbookmark]

actually yknow what, yeah jgy’s relationship to the Atrocities he committed IS interesting! it’s just that people are so fucking annoying about them,

#like the tingshan he sect extermination? so fucking unnecessary #and like. 'i warned you over and over again' maybe that's exactly what he wanted to avoid! knowing that jgs would have no scruples ordering #a whole sect thrown to become xy's enrichment #he su was right! jgs Was after becoming wrh 2.0! but in such a situation literally nothing could have been done #even if jgy nobly and heroically refused... he'd die. jgs wouldn't even kick him out of the sect -- despite how powerful the jin sect is; #jgy with his knowledge of jgs's plans would be simply put a threat. he'd die and then he'd be dead and jgy really Really doesn't want to #be dead. therefore: gestures. #like... the sheer Difference between jzx -- beloved best dad and a wife guy but above all a human equivalent of a soggy french fry #what are his political opinions? what kind of a sect leader would he be? what does he think about his father's policies? WE JUST DON'T KNOW #he's perhaps the blandest of the great sects' young masters. he was born blindingly rich and privileged -- all that built on other sects #suffering in whatever meaning of this word; because i don't believe jgs was a benevolent ruler who gave to the poor with a generous hand #-- and he. either is unaware of dgaf. and then you have jgy who has/stands by and watches as people are fiercecorpsified alive #For Nothing. as in i assume there was Something with a jin cultivator -- from what he su says there Was something -- but it was obviously #just a situation artificially engineered for this exact purpose. it's actually fascinatin; the way it all works #because it's... almost 1:1 what the wen/wlj do. fabricate an excuse (wwx being mean to wc/one of the jiang shidis playing with a kite #that looks like the wen symbol) -> intervene -> extreme retaliation in case the offending sect doesn't agree with the intervention #though llj have perfected it because they didn't even 'intervene' as much as 'captured the whole fucking sect' #~60-70 people. this also makes the question of jrs's death so interesting because if you look at the steps above it all checks out! #except it feels a/ needlessly cruel and b/ too... smart? calculating? for someone who's decided to keep sisi alive out of sentiment #on top of that... the timing... it just Doesn't Fit for me! #but if you don't approach it from this angle it just really creates a whole neat vortex of 'hhhhhhholy fuck llj is SO unnecessarily cruel #and horrible and for what! for what!!!' #good luck a-ling!! good luck buddy. #good luck. #shut up shrimp

[tysonfurybattlepass]

20 for Aster?

20. What’s their greatest fear? How does it control them?

Aster is terrified of not living up to her potential. Even worse, she isn’t exactly sure what that potential is. Her amur leopard ancestry causes her primarily human family and community to perceive her as superhuman, which not only puts immense pressure on her to perform up to expectations but also distinctly alienates her from her more ‘normal’ human peers. The truth is, she is not a human with superpowers. She is a hybrid between two different types of animals. Her feline physicality comes alongside distinctive feline behavior and needs, which many humans find off-putting and unacceptable despite being perfectly normal in the context of leopard ecology. Thus, actually interacting with Aster shatters the illusion of supernaturality people tend to perceive her through, and they are often left frustrated and disappointed with the real Aster. This is a struggle that a lot of animal species face when integrating into human societies, but specifically hybrids like Aster whose phenotype is fairly humanoid tend to be held to very human expectations which simply aren’t feasible for non-human creatures. Aster is constantly scrambling to get a good grade in socializing, something both possible to achieve and normal to want. Because of this she has severe social anxiety, which fuels her already asocial tendencies as part solitary animal. She also feels a need to hide her feline physicality from people, often refusing to run or climb and purposely pretending to be weaker than she is (and she is by no means weak. have you ever seen a leopard carry an animal bigger than itself up a tree using only its teeth?) to avoid setting expectations or making a spectacle of herself. Because of this self-imposed restriction, she is unable to express natural behaviors in a healthy way, which only adds to her overall stress and results in maladaptive daydreaming and intrusive thoughts.

that was all pretty heavy so here’s some cute concept art of Aster with short hair

#i might utilize this haircut for later in her character arc #because i am a sucker for the symbolic act of cutting one’s hair as a means of liberating oneself from societal chains or whatever #oc aster #thanks for the ask! it gave me an opportunity to really sit with her and flesh out her character and motivations more #she and mach are bffs btw. his unabashed love for his own felid ecology helps her in her journey toward self-acceptance #the story i’m writing with these anthro-felid characters is heavily influenced by how people irl perveive nature and wild animals #how we feel the need to forcibly mold wild things to be more palatable to us #keeping big cats as pets and then being shocked and angry when they lash out and act wild despite it being our fault #only showing concern for the conservation of animals we consider cute or likable #assignig human characteristics like cruelty to carnivorous animals who really are just trying to eat like the rest of us #people for the most part fundamentally misunderstand wild things and the wild things suffer for it

[lighthousegod]

Me finding trigun/trigun:stampede and actually getting attached to 2 characters after only caring about steddie for a while: oh hell yeah new ship just dropped and half of it isn't even dead!

Me immediately finding out abt the couch scene b4 i finished the 98 or the manga:

#trigun spoilers #trigun stampede #if they kill off stampede wolfwood im literally. idk. idk idk idk. hes not safe. NO ONE IS SAFE ANYMORE WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME NOW #I NEVER USED TO LIKE CHARACTERS THAT DIED CAUSE I COULD ALWAYS TELL AND WOULDNT GET ATTACHED #I MOURNED EDWARD LIKE A REAL PERSON I CANNOT DO IT AGAIN IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET OVER IT THE FIRST TIME #ON CHURCH STEPS? #“i didnt want to die like this” ??? #Eddie was hunted by an entire town for being different #by the fuckin CHURCH #And he died because “there was no future for him” #thats LITERALLY. WHY GAY PEOPLE KILL THEMSELVES ALL THE TIME. #AND NOW. #IM ATTACHED TO A GUY WHO CARRIES A FUCKIN CROSS SHAPED GUN AROUND #AS A SYMBOL OF EVERYTHING HE HATES ABOUT HIMSELF #SUFFERS ALL HIS LIFE #FINALLY FINDS FRIENDS #AND DIES BEFORE HE CAN HAVE A FUTURE WITH THEM ON THE STEPS OF A FUCKING C H U R C H #WHAAAAAT. WHAT. WHAT WHAT WHYYYY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF #but in other news wolfwood in stampede fulfilled his contract or whatever so maybe his future is brighter ? #but. that is wishful thinking i fear #i cant believe that they better be gay and happy in stampede im gonna force their hand

[yuukiiqwq]

Satoru was confident that you liked him back. He was positive. He had no doubt in his mind that you were going to be his pretty little wife. Is he getting ahead of himself? Sure, he is, but he's that confident. That's until he noticed how he hadn't received any chocolate from you.

It was Valentine's Day, and he still hasn't received any chocolate from you. Yeah, he had a mountain worth of chocolate from all those people who gave him it, but where was yours? He couldn't find it anywhere. He was sure that you would have placed your chocolate on his desk since you hadn't given him his. He double no triple checked all the chocolates, yet he could not find the one that has your pretty little name written on it. He continued to search through the chocolate pile for the fourth time today.

He must have missed it, right? Or did someone steal it? He swear he's going to hunt that person to the end of the Earth. Who dared to steal something that was rightfully his?

"Satoru, calm down."

He looked up at his best friend, who was trying to hold down a laugh at his panic.

"She'll probably give it to you later. The day just begun."

Right. Suguru is right. You'll give him his chocolate later. He's a good boy. He can wait.

That's what he told himself, but Suguru and Shoko have already received theirs this morning, and his is still nowhere to be found. Where is his chocolate? You're just sitting there in your seat, looking all pretty as if Satoru is not going through a huge dilemma because of you.

He couldn't help his hands that kept inching itself closer to the chocolate you gave Suguru. He wouldn't know if he snatched it, right? Suguru had received a lot of chocolate! He wouldn't know if he took it... was what he convinced himself before Suguru slapped his hand away.

"Satoru," he sighs.

"But Suguru!!!" Satoru whined as he sunk down into his seat.

"Be patient. You'll get yours soon."

But how soon is soon? Satoru isn't exactly known for his patient.

It was the end of the day, and still no chocolate from you. He asked Suguru and Shoko to leave first because he thought you would finally give it to him when both of you were alone. But you haven't. Where was his chocolate?

The two of you were approaching the exit of school, so Satoru made a quick decision, grabbing your wrist and pulling you into an empty classroom. He quickly shut the door and locked it.

"Satoru?" You asked in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"My chocolate."

"Your chocolate?"

"My chocolate from you! The symbol of your love towards me!"

"I didn't make you any," you replied smoothly. "Forgot to make them yesterday, so I woke up early today to make them, but I guess not early enough. I only had time to finish Shoko's and Suguru's. I didn't have time to make yours. Otherwise, I would have been late."

Satoru swear the world just ended. He looked down at his chest because he swears his heart ripped out of his chest at your words. Nope. Still alive. Why is he still alive in this cruel world? You had no chocolate for him? None? Not even a crumb?

"That's fine with you, right? I mean, you got a bunch of chocolate from other girls! You don't need mine."

He swear he is about to burst into tears. He didn't care about other girls. He didn't care about their chocolate. He wanted yours. How could you be so cruel and deny him of your chocolate? To reject him like this? He was devastated. No. Beyond devastated. Where is the closest cliff so he can jump off?

Pure silence radiated the room as Satoru tried to comprehend this horrible situation. Then he heard a small giggle slip pass your lips. That small giggle soon turns into a full-out laugh.

"You should have seen the look on your face, Satoru," you say as you try to stop laughing.

Was this funny to you? Why were you laughing at his suffering? Do you know how much he looked forward to today? To receive the cute little wrapped up chocolate you made for him? He dreamed of today, and you didn't have chocolate for him?

He then sees you reach into your bag and pull out exactly what he had imagined. A cute little chocolate box wrapped up in a baby blue color with a touch of white ribbon to finish it off. Fuck. He thinks he just got a heart attack seeing your chocolate. His chocolate.

"Princess, please don't joke like that to me ever again. You scared me half to death. I was going to jump off a cliff," he whined as he took the chocolate from your hand.

You couldn't help but roll your eyes at his dramatic behavior. "Stop being dramatic, Satoru. It's just chocolate."

A look of offense dawned his face as you utter those horrendous words to him.

"Chocolate? Just chocolate?" He huffed at you. He can't believe you as you treat this amazing god send gift as just chocolate. "Don't you dare call this just chocolate! This! This right here is proof of your undying love towards me!"

You laughed at his antics– "You're getting ahead of yourself, Satoru."

He delicately placed the chocolate safety away in his bag, treating it as a prized possession. He's looking forward towards white day. He already knows what he wants to get for you. He pulled you into a hug, nuzzling his face against your neck as he mutters– "You won't be saying that after I wife you up."

#gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen x y/n #jujutsu kaisen x reader #gojo satoru drabble #satoru gojo drabble #satoru gojo imagine #jjk imagines #gojo satoru imagine #gojo satoru headcanons #jjk drabbles #jjk headcanons #satoru gojo x reader #jjk x you #jjk fluff #jjk #gojo x reader

[corpus-incorporated]

I made my character Nathaniel based off of American Psycho and it shows, but you can very much tell the difference in the fact that while I would like to give Nathaniel Corpus a little kiss on the forehead and tell him to get better soon, if I were to walk up to Patrick Bateman I would surely kick him full force squarely in the nards and watch him whimper and cry

#guy suffering from eternal torture (sad) vs guy suffering from eternal torture (hillarious) #guy who is blorbo vs guy who is a worm to me who I delight in detesting #patrick bateman is more a symbol of something and a reflection of his society than a person and I think that matters #nathanielcore #d3da5 hot take of the day

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Sexism in TOS: Worst Offender, or Progressive in Retrospect in Comparison?

I see a lot of folks claim that TOS was the most sexist of the Star Trek shows by a landslide -- and while I agree that it definitely suffered from the sexism of the times, I also have other perspectives to share to give some food for thought.

I am of course not insinuating that TOS isn't sexist -- it is, but I have to ask folks to consider the breadth and depth of Berman's sexism in his run and ask yourself: Was Gene Roddenberry genuinely more sexist in his storytelling and delivery than Rick Berman?

I'm not telling you to feel one way or the other, but all I ask is that you hear me out and consider some perspectives and make your own balanced assessments. Nobody is obligated to share my opinion, but it means a lot just to have folks hear it and see their thoughts on the subject. So here is what I was originally responding to:

Someone's response to this photo:

"Devil's advocate. This was a part of the popular form of cardio during the production time of TNG. Yes, it was heavily sexualised by men, but so is literally every other way women work out. Men have been caught taking pictures of women while trying to do dead lifts, running on tracks and working on sled machines. They post them online to share too. The fact is, there is no way a woman can be shown working out without it going there. And yeah,t hat includes the combat forms of workout they do in Star Trek. Just look at how Dax dresses when she spars with Worf. Yes, they're dating, but still, same goes when 7 does and any other female.

Aerobics routines like this were made dirty and cringy. This was what women wore then by and large. This is how the workout was done. We make it cringy."

My response to them:

"I respect your take, but I disagree on a few fronts.

The miniskirt was chosen by the TOS female cast, not the male cast, specifically requested by Grace LW and affirmed by Nichelle and Majel who would go on to vehemently defend the miniskirt over the years as comfortable and embraced by them.

Grace said it was comfortable and seen as a symbol of female sexual empowerment during the 60s and thought it would be a progressive garment (and turns out that it was, as it was later adapted and worn by male crew as a skant on TNG) -- FYI those were designed by a gay man and Gene approved them.

This was also supposed to be Spock's TMP outfit:

Literally lingerie.

We saw both Uhura (who saves Kirk in from Marlena Mirror Mirror) and Yeoman Landon (the first to initiate combat with a classic Kirk-esque kick to help the Captain being attacked in The Apple) carry out their combat training in their Starfleet uniforms without ever being made to change into any ridiculous workout gear.

In fact, I'd argue Jim Kirk was sexualized even more than the ladies of the week on the show and I saw his naked body more than anyone else's on a fairly regular basis. He wore red yoga tights while topless in Charlie X while the women wore full length gymnastic suits that covered their entire body. If anything, it went out of its way to avoid sexualizing women practicing fitness in those scenes and instead focused on Kirk.

Gene confessed that he asked to have Shatner filmed in suggestive/provocative ways to "give something to the ladies", so he -- as he said -- liked to "film him walking away" or have him conveniently busting out of his shirts in just about every episode as it were, because Shatner apparently had great assets. LOL

Gene made an effort to at least sexualize both if he was going to sexualize one, and he carried that attitude forward in wanting the m/m and f/f scenes in the background on Risa for TNG. He also insisted that the men and women wear skimpy outfits on THAT TNG planet. You know the one. LOL I mean the dudes even had on less than the women:

Gene also gave permission to K/S shippers to have their conventions back in the 70s when he was asked for permission. Gene and Nimoy felt with all the skimpy outfits they had the ladies wear, why not let the ladies and gay men have their fun, too? It's how we ended up with moments like this:

Yes, those are two people dressed up as Kirk and Spock's penises doing interpretive dance. Gene didn't give two damns. LOL

In my eyes, that was a very progressive take on Gene's part for the 60s. It was actually PARAMOUNT STUDIOS who had the big problem with K/S stories and vehemently tried to shut them down. Gene literally hired slash authors on his payroll and even had several slash stories/writers published in his official Star Trek books (The New Voyages & The New Voyages II).

I feel I saw Uhura and women in TOS engaged in more physical combat/altercations defending themselves that Troi or Bev were shown holding their own.

In fact, Kirk used to get furious when someone would "dress up" his female crew members without their consent (Trelane episode, Shore Leave episode) because like his male crew members, he wanted them to be treated professionally and to also have his male crew act professionally.

Berman brought some of his own personal biases into Star Trek that in some ways regressed it. While TOS had blatant sexism and was called on it time and again, that show was made in the 60s -- a solid 21 years before TNG. We as a modern audience understood why some of it was cringe/sexist due to the time period -- look at any other media coming out in the 60s and Star Trek was miles ahead of what other shows were doing.

Compare that to Berman who was churning sexist stuff out when women like Starbuck and Scully were simultaneously on screen on other programs airing, and we had already had Sigourney Weaver and other strong women in Holywood playing respectful roles.

In my eyes, there was no need of the sexism seen in TNG but especially VOY and ENT. There was no excuse for it when other shows were writing women far better and a number of those weren't even set in the future like Trek was, making it age even faster due to having those dated perspectives frequently highlighted.

In the Center Seat documentary as well as "The Fifty Year Mission" book you will find cast members, writers and other studio alumni who attest to this. Some discussions from "The Fifty Year Mission":

"First, Berman was supposed to have been a real sleaze ball . . . According to Terry Farrel, he would go on constantly about how her breasts weren't big enough, how she should do something about it, and how his secretary was a good example to follow as she had huge breasts. She even had to have fittings to get larger bras, and that was all done at his behest.

Later Berman and Braga developed a name for Jeri Ryan's character prior Seven of Nine. They originally called the character "perineum" which if you look it up it is the area between the anus and the scrotum. Later they floated the name "6 of 9". I mean, what does it tell you about where these two were coming from in the development of this character if they had names like that put forward in all seriousness for her?"

Gene Roddenberry also had some of his own more progressive ideas for TNG cut or watered down by Berman. Roddenberry agreed TNG should have homosexual relationships and representation at a con in the 80s and insisted on it in a meeting with his writers -- something Berman later would not honor. Gene wanted the AIDS episode, showing m/m and f/f in the Riza scenes -- these were some of Roddenberry's requests to include in TNG that Berman later stonewalled.

Berman's era was sadly dated by his own misogynist bias, IMO, to the point that it can somewhat hurt the shows he worked on through his cringe egoism and blatant disrespect toward his female cast.

There is a reason why Gene could keep female actresses working with him and Berman had a revolving door of women that he couldn't seem to keep working for him -- he was abhorrent to women, on and off set. Gene wasn't perfect at all, he had a lot of issues himself -- but Berman was a whole other level. Just look at what he did to poor Jolene Blalock, Marina Sirtis and his toxic commenting on her body weight which exacerbated her struggles with eating disorders, or how he treated and talked to Terry Farrell.

Anyway, just some food for thought. I'm not saying anyone is wrong regarding a take like that, but there are a variety of ways to look at this. Gene Roddenberry isn't a saint by any means, but it definitely bothers me how folks will tote the Berman era as if it were the lesser of two evils or the more progressive depiction of women when I felt there were far more concerning portrayals of women in his era with far less justification.

(P.S: I don't event want to go near the sheer amount of "creepy old dude/villain preys on innocent/naïve/scared young woman or little girl" stories there were in Berman's era, either. But that's a whole other can of worms I can write about in a part 2.)

#star trek #star trek tos #star trek tng #star trek voy #star trek ent #star trek ds9 was the one show that went above and beyond #1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt #oc #octrekmeta #octrek #gene roddenberry #rick berman #brannon braga #kirk #spock #uhura #rand #nichelle nichols #majel barrett #grace lee whitney #tos #tng #voy #ent #marina sirtis #jolene blalock #terry farrell