#which is a lot better than it couldve been

[sciderman]

Sometimes i remember a comics moment i randomly came across somewhere, where Sam Wilson mentiones a musical and Steve Rodgers says he doesn't like musicals, to whitch Sam goes "Guess that means you really are straight" and even tho i don't care about Cap America or the Avengers, the moment stuck in me for that quote by Sam. And like....Sci, any ideas if straight men actually don't like musicals or is that bullshit?

actually i think i know more gay men who hate musicals than i know straight men who hate musicals. i've had a drag queen stop me point blank when i was about to sing a barbra streisand song, and i know so many gays who pointedly hate abba. so based on my experience i think the inverse is true. most of the straight men i know are kind of impartial about musicals, but gay men? hate.

my theory is that a lot of gay men don't want to fall into stereotypes, maybe. but thaaaaat's just a theory! a gay theory.

#sci speaks #i'm trying to understand the gays. they are a mystery to me. #i've seen a lot more toxic masculinity coming from gay men than i have from straight men. #i think it makes sense. they have less women in their lives. so they reckon with a lot more masculinity. more dick measuring. #also gay men have some of THE most unhealthy romantic relationships i've ever seen in my life. #this isn't a blanket statement on everyone but just from what i've seen. it's such a strange pattern i've observed. #lesbians? healthy. straights? usually healthy. gay men? universally a tire fire that makes me say “if you hate each other so much ??” #“why are you together??????????” #i have never met a cis gay mlm couple in real life that was healthy. every single one of them made my eyes widen in horror. #i want them to be healthy. please treat each other better. #the number of bitchy bitchy fights i've seen between mlm couples in public that make me so terrified #but i know mlm relationships in general are usually less... affectionate than wlw relationships. even and especially friendships. #just an observation. #i hate to say that there is a definite difference between amab vs afab experiences when it comes to relationship dynamics but. #of course there is. there is. as much as i want to say gender and sex do not matter. it really does. #it makes a difference. it does. #which is kind of why i'm glad i was born in the body i was. when people say “trans means you feel you were born in the wrong body” #im like.. i don't think that's true. i don't think that's true for me. #i wouldn't be me if i wasn't born the way i was. and i want to be me. but i'm a boy. i'm a boy but in the body that i have. #my body is still a boy's body. because i live in here. #sorry this went off on a tangent. #but yeah i know my brain would be different if i was amab. and i don't want all those other issues. #i think the only reason i'm so peaceful and serene is because i'm afab. and afabulous. #i see cis guys and im like.. yeah i don't want what you got. #once again! lucky to be me! i'm lucky. im lucky i have a vargooba. thank fuck for that! #couldve been so much worse off. could've been born with a dick and would be fighting for my life right now.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Assortment of sketches n doodles of my most recent brainworm inducers

#couldve cleaned some of these up more and arranged them more nicely but ehhhh #sharing anyway tho cos they are On The Brain <3 #dao #oc: noya tabris #oc: var'renan mahariel #mutton the mabari #(he gets his own tag too :] ) #my ocs #my art #i think i gotta change my strategy for this playtrhu cos so far ive been 'leading' with noyas and consequently kinda rushing thru renans #which makes sense cos she is the one who does most of the talking n stuff rn but its still a shame #ik im probably making this wayy more complicated than it has to be lmao but its fun to figure out in any case #edit: oh also side note cos i know it probably doesnt make much sense w/o context hdfslfd but noya and renan dont get on very well rn #bc they both got prejudices and theyre both not making it any better bc noya wants to actually like. talk #cos how are we gonna solve anything otherwise?? but also renan is not in the headspace for any of this rn which she doesnt get #so its just a cycle of them getting fed up with one another #but yea theres a lot going on with them rn and im super bad at explaining it hdlsjdf

[canthaveshitinkamurocho]

Is hating yakuza 6 a hot take. Because I might

#i dunno my feelings are way more nuanced than just hate #like i really enjoyed parts of the game and the plot #plus some of the new characters are cool #but i dont think it properly accomplished being Kiryu's send-off which was what it was supposed to be in the first place #they left out a lot of previous characters people wanted to see #and they didnt even tie up character's relationships v well imo #i feel like the kiryu and daigo dynamic couldve been really impactful if they actually went somewhere w it rather than just a letter sob #im gonna b the contrarian and say that i didnt even mind haruka's storyline like it was fine #the haruka discourse is toxic enough leave her aloooone #i will say that i didnt like yuta he was bland as hell and my girl deserved better #anyway yea #rgg #yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #kiryu kazuma #yakuza 6

[hella1975]

hella I keep getting edits with some sort of original version of waiting room?? on my fyp and I'm gonna be honest waiting room wasn't a song that did me in quite as badly as the rest of you but this version I keep hearing literally rips my heart straight open😭😭 like I've been planning on fixing the no waiting room on spotify issue by taking it into my own hands🏴‍☠️ but now I know it's gonna have to be this version I'm not even bothering with lost ark waiting room. it's just gonna be waiting room og bc what the fuck?? "I never grew up with you, and you're not my waiting room" what the fuck??? with the haunting background noises literally WHAT THE FUCK????????

OMG IVE SEEN THAT ONE everyone keeps going on about the vocals of 'and you're not my waiting room' but i really cant get over 'i never grew up with you' like what??? WHAT??????

#for some reason i rlly connected this song to a childhood friend of mine that im pretty sure ive at least vaguely mentioned on here before #but basically we were INSEPERABLE for years of my childhood and he was about 2 years older than me #so i think i was 5 and he was 7 when we met and we stayed friends until i went up to secondary school so SIX YEARS #and we literally spent all day together we'd play in the gardens and run about the place and we were both really outdoorsy #and obvs it was before proper tech really started coming in so it was when kids literally just got shoved outside for the day #and left to their own devices and it was GREAT like i remember him and that time so fondly #but he was also really messed up like he'd come from a lot of foster homes and he'd had every kind of abuse #and he'd finally been adopted by the couple on my street who just couldn't handle him bc their answer to his issues #was to spoil him and give him what he wanted so he just got worse bc he had a real violent streak in him #and obvs if you let that grow in a boy they're not gonna wake up one day and it'll be gone like. it's going to get malicious #and low and behold he started getting like actually dangerous like he choked his sister once and he got kicked out of school #bc he threated to BEHEAD A GIRL WITH AN AXE like really fucked up shit #but i was in a pick me moment bc he was always really nice and respectful to me until he wasnt #and even then ive never ever blamed him for it bc we were both young and he was so traumatised #and sooner or later we stopped hanging out and my mum was relieved bc that's how bad he was getting #and ive literally never spoken to him again. but he's just one of those people i think about all the time???? #like idk if it's bc of what went down or bc of the age i was but he was a HUGE deal to me and my development #and for some evil fucking reason i think of him when i listen to waiting room especially the 'i know it's for the better' #bc i KNOW it's for the better i got away from him before he got really bad but still i so desperately wish i couldve helped him yk? #especially now i understand what abuse actually means and what he'd suffered which i had no idea about at the time #SO TO ADD 'I NEVER GREW UP WITH YOU' WHEN I FEEL LIKE I ABANDONED HIM AS CHILDREN?? STOPPPP #PHOEBE PLEASEEEE #anyway unnecessary rant over rori pls pirate this song for the masses pls pls the world needs you #ask

[raven]

sorry for being a hater. i understand liking video game persona five. but you dont have to pretend that any of the women in it** are like... good characters outside of being in persona 5. if you put them in anything else they would not be good characters...

**while writing the tags i remembered futaba who is not even a character she is like a sister to me so this aint about her

#it extends to most characters in the game but especially the women. who people do like to... idk. i think this is a fandom thing #but like a slightly niche one-- noticing that women are often underappreciated in fandom and overcompensating. which is fine but like #i cant help but feel like in this case you are just kind of lying 😶 bc there's not a lot there. well. EXCEPT FUTABA. BUT I DONT SEE #PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT FUTABA AS MUCH?! #like idk i love sumi. not gonna pretend that her arc was well executed. or really have a lot to say about her other than couldve been great #like idk if you like women. there are games that have women in them that you dont have to massively read into and project upon #games in this same series even. persona three portable femc route sticks out to me. so like. well #also sophia and ichinose in strikers are also way better than the original game delivered. so where ann and haru in that game

[perenlop]

girl help im thinking of a major oc rehaul again

#okay. pains me to consider this twice with the main group now. but im thinking of downsizing the mcs to just asha and valerie #NOT because im ignoring skylar thats actually why this is difficult to see if its a betterchoice bc i love their relationship w asha #and i do love them being taken in by atlas but like. im wondering if its necessary #and if itll serve asha's character better if she's aloof and cold bc they've been so isolated #and valerie is the one to bring her down from that. but then that feels weird when skylar is there #and skylar couldve had that effect on her yknow and its weird that they dont since theyre so close #like idk how to make that work without making asha come across as more unlikable than they should be #bc then the implication is ''skylar is really enthusiastic and always trying to get asha to try new things and she doesnt #but then val does that while showing her kindness so clearly skylar doesnt mean as much to asha'' #skylar does get an arc regarding their relationship with asha but it also feels too similar to quinn's arc w atlas #and i was trying to make it a parallel but it feels less like that and more like retreadingground since im telling both stories #or i want to anyways #and like. skylar wouldn't be kicked out of the story they'd still appear and be a character! #a main character in fact! theyre extremely important to the plot they're arguably the heart of it #(which is another reason im so conflicted) #they may appear later in the story and join later? but then they feel kinda similar to valerie augh #also im soooo attached to skylar and asha being adopted siblings :( thats been a thing since like my very very first draft #my first doodles of these characters were them hanging out and being siblings #maybe ill try and figure out a best of both worlds scenario where they can keep beingsiblings #but asha spends a lot of time with valerie alone at first #echoed voice

[jrueships]

Aries and leo (kyle and demar)

OKAY so this is gonna be a long one, im a leo but i have a lot of aries friends n people who im close to, after like 50 years of knowing me finally get told my bday n they're always like 'i thought you were an aries!' Idk why! So yea, long one!

Leos things are i guess they're like cats? They want your attention n if they don't get they, they will act like people they really aren't. Leos are HUGE actors. They loove actin the villain ESPECIALLY, or acting like they have inflated egos but not REALLY. They love pretending to be bigger than they really are (cough. Ja. Who's diseased with sun leo moon leo.) They HATE accountability for BAD things, they'll take the good things but stay away from any criticism. N i know bcs me using they instead of i to describe my own sign should be telling. People love to put out that leos are super cocky n prideful n they can SEEM to be, but it's really more internal than exterior. Leos just SHOW you exterior so they can SEEM exterior. You'll see a leo show off for his friends (WORST thing for a leo to do is SHOW OFF.. for someone. Because leos will turn into people they aren't all to impress the person they want attention from, they're that desperate), n think he's an annoying asshole! He doesnt have cognizance lol! But, in his head, 2 seconds after doin that he's actually zoned out thinking 'why the hell did i do that that's so embarrassing.'

You know??? Like it's EASY to put em in a box, but they HATE being put in a box. They're always MORE than what a person THINKS, they HAVE to be! That's their REAL pride, not a direct everything is about me, but similar. I know me personally.. i think the most selfish self-preserving thoughts ever. It's scary the lengths my mind will go to scenario me the only survivor of something. I HATE being in places I can't control because of it, like Rollercoasters (but i also love rollercoasters). The WORST and BEST thing a leo can do sometimes is get in their own head. Sometimes you can dig deep n realize that who you were yesterday SHOULDNT be you n it's NOT you n you gotta improve! Othertimes it's selfish thoughts that you don't think are selfish until 2 seconds later, which makes you hate yourself more because 'damn?? I was really ready to jump on that idea?? Wtf is wrong with me man!' LIKE! leos THINK, but they don't want others to THINK they THINK cus they want you to THINK they can do things without THINKING. namean? Like everything they do, they meant to. It's all gotta look entertaining but flawless to people.

N people reminding them they rlly aren't flawless can fly the wrong way. It's always personal, YOU sought out a problem in MY performance because YOU just hate MY jokes or MY shine. You don't ACTUALLY think it's terrible, you think I'M terrible. N that makes them realize everything was an act n that act wasn't even good. N that makes em think n a leo doesn't wanna think cus it CAN lead to progression, but it involves accountability and forced self change. Leos who always say 'oh im not LIKE other leos like im not the STEREOTYPE', you lowkey gotta watch out for. Cus yea, leos do get a stereotype but people gotta understand that it's just STRESSED. Those factors DO apply to leo, just not exactly in the way others perceive it to. A leo that recognizes that will be a leo who's still pretty prideful on the inside yeah, but will always TRY and improve. A leo will always try to be better than they once were. Fueled by pride because they always need a worse comparison, yeah, but when they reach a higher better level.. they ARE becoming better. THEY just gotta realize that even tho who they are now is better than who they once were.. it could be a low bar to beat. They COULDVE been really terrible, switched the flavor, n are now thinkin 'i don't gotta do anything. Im the best i can be now, definitely better than who i once was' n they stop THERE. it's easy for a leo to get stuck in the state of mind they think fits them. What a leo needs is to learn to realize n accept accountability n USE that pride into BETTERMENT.

I'm someone who doesn't take any criticism well because my first thoughts n reactions to it is 'you're disappointed. You hate me'. I have to MAKE myself step back n realize that's not the case. They're trying to actually HELP me. Not hate me. Even with school papers now, i have to look at the feedback, think out all the negative thoughts i instantly get from it, THEN come back like 'yeah this makes sense'

THATS where the aries leo connection comes in i think. People think they won't get along, aries and leo do things without thinking and that can lead to some hurtful or embarrassing stuff, but if they can both realize HOW bad they can get n are willing to try n improve from it, they can be a great duo. They have similar issues n similar solutions, moving on. Leos are quick to forgive themselves in a sense that they're forgiving their PRESENT self n hating the past. An aries can understand that because they work quick. Aries can be mean then flash into forgiveness. Leos and aries can hurt each other, realize they've hurt, and forgive each other as they move into a LARGER friendship FROM that. It seems weird to others, but it's just them! They GET it. They're both easily misinterpreted, and can bond from it.

Because a LOT of people can easily love an aries THEN hate them. An aries can be super sweet n funny, but for people who hold things for a long time with stagnant thought... they can hate them when an aries gets mad. Like my senior English teacher was an aries (zodiac girls in my class asked him), n whenever the previous class put him in a bad mood, he'd take it out on his honors class. Which isn't FAIR, but it's an aries. Aries gotta let stuff out. That's just how they operate. BUT because they gotta let things out, they can ALSO be super deep, direct, n SURPRISINGLY emotional. Lots of people just wrote my teacher off as a grump, but when he WAS happy, he was SUPER nice to us. Super sensitive to what we had to say, gave a big speech a lot about knowing we'd do well in whatever future lied ahead. Keeps in touch with his old students after they graduate. IT'S EASY to write them off as not sensitive, but they ARE. Just like it's easy to write off a leo for acting.

Aries can help a leo because they experience similar issues, but they NEVER act. They act on feelings, but they're FEELINGS. They don't care what they come off as, n i enjoy that a lot! THEY just need someone who's willing to wait it out whenever they're being an asshole. My teacher WAS a good teacher who DID like our class, but his attitude sometimes could just make a student hate him n that's it. Like.. idk. You CAN hate an aries, but you gotta learn you can love em as well. They're not ALWAYS gonna be like this, same as a leo. They both CHANGE. Not always for the better but they change n cus they share that, they can help each other thru the change

I think the beauty in an aries leo relationship is people thinkin they can be super toxic cus it makes sense. But they can a completely adverse direction and turn something terrible into something so beautiful cus THATS what they BOTH can do! Change !!

#my s/o is an aries n he can be an asshole but i love him ig 🙄 #we met when we were both bullies tho n i threw rocks at him #middleschool ted.. bad ted. sometimes i gotta remember i still carry traits from the past n i may always #i just have to work on em to make em better but theyll always be there #anyways i had to move around a lot as a kid cus of alot tragedy in my life which isnt an excuse but an explanation i guess? #i dont victimize it n admit i was a dick #still can be so i gotta always take a step back n realize what im doin #but anyways ive lived rough so my first thought when moving is i gotta BE rough #so id move to a new school n my first goal was taking down the school bully which sounds heroic n COULDVE been #but no i just took down the school bully and became worse than him that was always the plan #most of the bullies were aries lol i know that cus id do whatever research i can on em to help learn what they hated #i couldve been puttin that energy into like idk! learnin the months in order or shit n i didnt n now im stupid! #it's not cool n im not proud of it 😭 but yeah one of my bullies turned out to be my s/o like YEARS years later #cus we both realized later that we sucked n we reconciled #PRETTY wild but thats how leos n aries operate n not everybody can always have the energy to take that! #i get it! #sometimes a leo n an aries gotta realize they can come across badly n it's on THEM #idk tho! these are just my thots! take em with a grain of salt lol! #this ones more analysis than funny! read if u want or dont idc! #thanks for askin! hope this helps u get at least what kyle demar get ig! #ted tumbunity things

[cloverjelly]

life series duos as songs!

3 - boat boys (etho and joel) - chandelier by will paquin

song analysis under the cut !

-i know you'll never be mine / can you come around tonight / and sing me a lullaby? / just take my heart and break it - this is pretty joel-centric, since although he knew that etho kinda moved on from dl, he still holds out hope and has a soft spot for him (ie. kinda? headcanon but i like to think joel couldve killed etho when he did that boogey kill, but didnt bc hes etho)

-i might be the enemy / but nothing quite hits like you - despite the fact that etho and joel were major opps during liml, i think the fact that they had history meant that their interactions (even when they were threatening/actively killing eachother) were special and basically always referenced dl in some way. said history kinda makes them more than basic enemies, if that makes sense (esp. if you buy that a lot of joel’s hostility towards etho was out of jealously/yearning, so if him and etho were a pair again they didnt need to be enemies anymore)

-oh, write me a song and i'll try to forget it - the fact that these two were SO dedicated to one another in dl and, like, expressed their love for one another in extreme/violent ways makes their liml dynamic a lot sadder, esp considering how both parties reference dl when talking to one another. i think both etho and joel remember whatever mess they were in dl, but the season is over and they don’t really know how to move on (which causes etho to pretend like he doesnt rly know joel and for joel to be rly aggressive towards etho)

-and as my patience, starts to dry / and my feelings skid across the sand / they’ll know that you’ve won / and ill run back to where i came from - i think this represents the end of liml/secret life, when etho and joel both kinda start acting normal towards each other (mostly hc, but i would say etho bc he found other/better people and joel bc he just lost hope and moved on). its not clear who “wins” since both parties got pretty affected from what happened, but they can both go to their normal lives (where they “came from”)

-(not song related) i wanted to be intentional about the lighting in this, so i made it hit the string of the fishing rod (for obvious reasons, the fishing rod represents the transition from the duo using it together for fun/bonding to etho using it to kill joel in liml) and joel's hands/knuckles, which are bloody and messed up, showing his fighter energy lol. the light also hits the bread patch on joel's jacket (representing the bread bad boys alliance). the smaller beam of light shows etho's tie (representing team ties) and his hands, which are clean, since joel fought way more for etho's attention in liml than etho did for him imo

(ps. its been a while huh.. thanks for sticking around :-) )

#call me a magician bc i just made angst out of nothing #life smp #traffic smp #limited life #double life #boat boys #ethoslab #joel smallishbeans #jelly jar

[bigb-enthusiast]

Hi! I don't watch much Bigb because I don't have time to watch more than one or two life series povs usually, but I feel bad about making him an afterthought in my content cause he has such good vibes. As the local Bigb enthusiast. I wanna watch a few of his videos at least, if there are any you can recommend that are particularly useful for getting a better idea of who he is generally, or if there's any advice you can give on how you think he should be portrayed that fanon tends to get wrong?

Hii! I can help uhh the best way i Can help you with portraying him is like? Watching every episode? But yk. Its a lot of episodes. But heres some i can help with

3rd Life episodes 12 + 13 (his finals)

Last Life episodes 4(pt 1 + 2), 5, 7, & 8

Double Life episodes 3, 4, & 5

Limited Life episodes 6, 7, & 8

Secret Life episodes 1, 2, 5, 7, 9

Sorry i just gave you (and whoever else follows this) like 18 videos 🧍 he just used to split his videos into parts and then also he showed more of his character further as the season(s) went again id really recommend watching Every video of his cause theres just so many details you can find but i picked what couldve been seen as more important within his character

Fanon wise he is normally not going to betray people on purpose, its usually by force of the game and hes actually rather caring. He tends of isolate but also stay quiet when theres more than at least 2-3 people in an area unless hes Really close with them, despite isolating a lot hes very easy to force or drag into an alliance and also when he does he tends to become super clingy to at least one person such as ren and then cleo who despite betraying he tried to get back with her whether its on good terms or an alliance for at least around the 3-4 seasons that happened after she declared he was dead to her, ive seen people characterize him as innocent which no his first interaction with joel EVER in 3L was a big dick joke /t /lh, and also he is also portrayed as ruthless or mean specifically during the soulmate scandal. He wouldnt have really did it if he knew it hurt scar THAT bad (which in canon it DIDNT. Sorry scar did NOT care)

#salt talks #bigbst4tz2 #trafficblr

[muikitoo]

Sooooooooooooo...

so...

Are you still taking requests?...

Idk what you are comfortable with doing or not... But if you are ok with it, could you do a Rise Leo x Reader anxiety attack?

*Nervous anime sweat drops 👉👈*

Like, maybe the Reader has been masking emotions all day and when Leo comes over they break down or catches them mid break down... Or something like that...?

Thank you!

*Runs away-*

Anxiety attack

Leo x gn! s/o who is having an anxiety attack.

Warnings

Anxiety attack, but the rest is fluff and comfort.

A/N:

I was actually pretty excited to write this. I hope it turned out well enough

- When he finds u in the middle of an anxiety attack, he panics. A lot.

- Quickly goes and gets you some water.

- He tries to calm you down, without necessary touching you or doing anything that could possibly trigger you more.

- breathing exercises/techniques

- after youve calmed down a little he tries to use reassuring words and hugs u gently(only if u let him).

- "Its okay. Youre safe now, i promise."

- it rally hurts him to see you like that, he loves you more than anything.

- After some time he'll ask to talk to you about what happened, if you dont wana talk abt it then he'll try and distract u/make u feel better (movies, games, cuddles, ect) and then talk about it whenever you need

Leo decided to visit you, worried. You hadn't texted or called him in a while. He thought you were just busy bc of school and that you'd visit the lair after your classes ended, but you never did.

Once he entered your apartment/house - it was awfully quiet. He felt his heart start to race, thinking about everything that couldve possibly happened. "Y/n? Hermosa? You home?" He said nervously. He was afraid, which he usually masks well, but this time he couldnt even think of that. He needed to make sure youre okay. The more he got closer to your room, the more he could hear faint sobs. He entered your room and saw you on the floor, shaking.

"Y/n!" He was quick to be by your side. He was confused and didnt want to touch you or do anything triggering. He quickly ran to the kitchen to grab you some water. He helped you drink some and then set the cup down somewhere and then turned his attention back to you. "Breathe, love. Breathe." He made you look at him as he told you to follow his instructions, breathing slowly - in and out.

"hey, do you mind if i hold you for a little while?" He asked after youve calmed down a bit. After getting your approval, he slightly scooted towards you and gently layed your head on his plastron, wrapping his arms around you. "Do you mind telling me what happened? Or do you want to talk about it later? As you amazing and handsome boyfriend i want to be here for you through this and help you anyway i can!" He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a little and wanting to earn atleast a small smile from you. You let out a shaky giggle, telling him about your stressful day and everything that happened during the classes. He listened carefully, petting your hair and humming every once in a while to let you know he's listening.

After having a talk and making sure youre okay, you decided to watch a movie. "You know what? Ill be generous today and let my amazing s/o pick whatever movie you want." He smirked as he pecked your head, getting comfortable in the sheets as he handed you the remote.

A/N: i wrote this in school so it was rushed. Im not that educated in stuff like this so if i got something wrong please correct me without being rude.

#leonardo tmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt #rottmnt fluff #tmnt 2018 #rise of tmnt #rise of the turtles #rise leo #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise leo x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt x y/n #rottmnt x you #leonardo x reader #leonardo hamato #rise movie #rottmnt movie #rottmnt donnie #raphael rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt splinter #rottmnt april #donnie hamato #rise raph #rise mikey

[gizkasparadise]

final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

#a journey to love #cdrama

[oceanwithouthermoon]

Talking about Saiki and SA here a bit, btw, just a warning~

Thinking about how you said Saiki was a victim of SA and you’re literally so right. I feel like people sometimes just blow right past the fact that Kusuke is like that with his brother, but I think it can add a lot to interpretations of his character. But even if it only goes as far as what is shown in canon — which I almost doubt — it still remains the fact that Kusuke is doing all of that knowing fully well that his brother can hear him. It’s literally sexual harassment.

People point it out more often with Teruhashi and her brother (back to the reasons you said, people think it’s more serious if it happens to women). But the things he does, that’s all sexual harassment. And yet when Kusuke does similar things, it’s often brushed aside. Just,,, a bit crazy to me.

(And that’s not even mentioning when people completely disregard this part of Teruhashi’s story and act like she’s one-dimensional,,, but that’s another story)

But all this to say you’re literally so right. Anyways love you mwah =^•w•^=

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I NEEDD PEOPLE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS MORE.

(heed the sa warning + abuse and incest warning before opening, i talk a LOT here.. im mostly just reiterating what happens directly in the manga though.. ALSO EXTREMELY LONG POST WARNING..)

I always viewed kokomi and makoto + kusuo and kusuke as like.. paralleling each other ? not sure if thats the right word, but IMMEDIATELY when i saw both of these dynamics i made the connection.. i guess since it was so clear to me, i assumed that it was so obvious and on purpose that everyone else knew too, but so many people just.. ignore it..

i think most people that read/watch saiki k have recognized the fact that most main characters are meant to parallel or relate to saiki in at least some way, (if anyone who doesnt know what im talking about is reading this, im sure at least someone on here has done a better breakdown on that, i just.. dont know where to find that..) but this particular connection is one i dont see often and i genuinely believe that its almost entirely because of the whole "sexual assault/harassment isnt as serious when it happens to men as when it happens to women" thing.. most of the fandom acknowledge that what makoto does is awful and kokomi is a victim, so why is it different when its kusuke and kusuo ??

its EXACTLY the same.. what we see on screen with the saikis is WORSE, actually.. and what WE see from these two relationships isnt the full extent of what the two victims experience off screen, and i strongly believe that its heavily implied that both kokomi and kusuo have been through much worse with their brothers than whats shown..

we have no idea what kusuke couldve done BEFORE moving away and creating the telepathy canceler (and dont say that he couldnt have done anything cuz they were kids, cocsa [child on child sa] is still a thing and still valid, ESPECIALLY since they were both kid geniuses and kusuke definitely KNEW better.. but yea, kusuo implies that hes been like that for a long time, way before we ever saw them, sooo..) and its highly likely that whatever happened that we didnt see, before or after the move, was WORSE than what he does ON screen (i honestly dont want to think about what a guy with an incestual obsession with his brother does with cameras everywhere in his brothers home..) and what we see him do is already insane..

literally using his brother to get off, manipulating him and forcing him to play the games that give him sexual pleasure.. actually, speaking of, ive seen some people say that what kusuke does isnt really incest because the only reason he uses kusuo is because hes a masochist and kusuo is the only person that can overpower him.. this is a total misfire LOL, his upbringing alongside kusuo and his relationship with him is the REASON that hes a masochist, the ENTIRE REASON why thats what he gets off to.. its not just CONVENIENT that kusuo is there to get him off, he SPECIFICALLY seeks kusuo out and forces him to do things that give him sexual pleasure.. he believes that kusuo is the only person in the world that can ever give him sexual pleasure, what about that doesnt sound incestuous?

and one of the worst parts of it is, kusuo BARELY acknowledges how weird it is.. in fact, he's COMPLACENT in a lot of the games, obedient even, being bribed into them the same way he does with simple things like bringing kuniharu to work.. this is the biggest reason why i believe the off-screen stuff is probably worse, because kusuo is obviously conditioned to think that letting your brother get off to you is just.. fine.. we hardly see him try to get away from this situation beyond simply calling him gross.. theres one moment during the cat tank situation where kusuke tries to get him to grab the limiter off of his crotch specifically so that he can see him in that position and kusuo looks terrified and cant do it, BUT its unclear whether the expression of fear was entirely his concentration because he didnt wanna break the limiter or because he didnt want to let his brother get off to that, and i think its mostly the former ? idk, i dont remember this part that well but im preeeetty sure..

he does acknowledge that MAKOTOS behavior is bad when he sees it, but he never thinks its a big enough deal that he needs to help her or anything, (except for maybe the okinawa situation) which i know is probably just for the sake of not letting the gag manga get too serious, BUT it can also be explained pretty easily by this whole thing.. the way kokomi is treated is literally the same way kusuo lives his life, even down to their incestuous brother being possessive to the point of berating their potential love interests.. (which in this case happened to be each other, kusuo and kokomi..)

so yeah, kusuo just. doesnt really know how bad it actually is ? or maybe he does, but doesnt acknowledge it because he doesnt WANT to.. him barely acknowledging it and being complacent is part of why some people dont really get that its sa and incest, but his complacency obviously plays a big part in how its effected him too, like thats purposeful.. like i said, hes been CONDITIONED not to acknowledge it..

to me, it looks like a classic situation in which kusuo doesn't acknowledge his trauma because he knows that if he did, it would change his outlook on his life, his family, and his childhood FOREVER. he would never be willing to tell anyone or ask for help on his own accord, and accepting that there was anything wrong in the first place means, to him, dealing with that issue by himself for the rest of his life.

why would he ever admit that anything was wrong if nothing would change either way? the only thing that WOULD change is HIM, and why would he want that? isnt it better to be blissfully unaware than to knowingly suffer in silence?

plus, he genuinely does love his brother and knows in the back of his mind that kusukes feelings toward him comes from their unhealthy upbringing and relationship and its more complex than just "hes an evil guy blah blah.." because he isnt really evil and kusuo KNOWS that.. actually, he might be the only person in the world who COULD understand..

so yeahhhh.. kokomi and kusuo are both CANONICALLY victims of sexual harassment.. (and incestual abuse at that..) and, by my interpretation, implied victims of sa as well !! (im not really sure where the line can be when it comes to this sometimes, like when your brother sniffs your bedsheets and rubs himself on them or gets off to you right in front of your face or tries to get you to grab something positioned over his crotch so he can see you in.. THAT position.. but i already said that its pretty likely that both brothers have gone farther than that off-screen..)

anywayyyy.. this is so important to me and i wish people would talk and write about it more instead of pretending it never happened and mischaracterizing every one of these characters, especially for the sake of a ship like i was talking about in my other post.. it sucks that people so often just cast kusuos canon issues aside..

#i really wish this was talked about more.. #i referenced a really old draft to write this that i never posted because i couldnt figure out the phrasing #so thank you for giving me the opportunity to finally talk about this in detail lol #saiki k #tdlosk #the disastrous life of saiki k. #saiki kusuo #saiki kusuke #teruhashi kokomi #teruhashi makoto #sa tw #incest tw #abuse tw #meows post #meownalysis

[loveislandthegame]

my overall thoughts on season 7, writing edition: what in the world ? 😭 i cannot believe i thought this season was gonna be good. i’ll be joining rohan & S2 MC in the circus, since FB made me look like a damn clown. i don't even know where to begin

being a casa girl had so much potential, and it was something that a lot of players actually wanted, even before FB started doing these themed seasons. they really fumbled the bag here

i enjoyed casa amor. the guys were all unique, had their own dialogue, and it was cool to see their pre-established relationships (alex being the villa dad, bryson and rafa being partners in chaos, the beef between bryson & joyo) then we arrived in the villa, and it all went downhill from there:

everybody became an empty husk, so they could be forced into interchangeable roles: uma’s partner, bonnie’s partner, OG LI’s ex, loved up couple (summer/joyo or #rafne) to name a few. FB’s lazy asses ruined their own characters . why is alex, the supposed level-headed & mature one, being petty & childish af in my playthrough? 😭

MC literally had no thoughts, head empty. we barely participated in any of the challenges and games. it felt like we didn't do anything besides "get pulled for a chat" by your LI or the girls

the LI personality merge in this season was the worst it has ever been. all they do is agree with whatever you say, or tell you how great you are (gone are the days of LIs having their own interests, & getting extra dialogue because of that, like levi with artist MCs)

same problem as the most recent seasons, where MC doesn’t have friendships. she has a forced bestie, then potential LIs that sit around waiting for you to pick them, choose them, love them (they immediately disappear if you don’t pick them)

the plot made no sense at all. being a casa girl means we miss out on the first half of the season, but there were many different ways they could've shown what happened before we arrived (it couldve been something as simple as MC watching the show at home or during the jeep ride to the villa. lol) the timeline was inconsistent, so much important information was paywalled, and i’m pretty sure FB was just making shit up as they went along, since the drama with stephen and OG LI's ex genuinely came out of nowhere . he wasn’t previously mentioned in the beach hut, casa amor, nothing . his only purpose was to make the OG girl look bad.

speaking of the OG girls, what a disappointment . before we got to the villa, i honestly thought they were hinting at estelle and/or willow being LIs . even if they were forced to be our rival, they still could’ve had an interesting character arc . it would've been a lot more fun if she was like allegra, rather than OG LI's equivalent of suresh

i was gonna write, "why tf did she even make it to the finale?" but the answer is obvious : for the gem scenes. every damn volume, it's pay diamonds to upstage her, pay diamonds to clapback, pay diamonds so “your man” doesn't turn his head 🙄 it's already stupid enough, but it makes even less sense if you're not pursuing your OG LI

which leads me to the biggest problem of this season, the lack of branching. you're given the illusion of choice, everything leads to the same outcome . i didn't think it could get any worse, until i saw what happens when you choose the money . does your LI storm off? nope. they make you do the treasure hunt anyways...to win you back ??😭 MC should've called security on their ass

s7 had a promising start but ended up being a flop. it was better than s5, but that's really not saying much . i wish FB would just take their time—s1 and 2 had a whole year long gap between them. but it's clear that rushed seasons are gonna be the norm, season 8 is dropping in february . capitalism ruins everything luv x

#making a separate post about the art for the sake of my own eyes...i really hate making long posts #love island the game #litg #litg season 7 #litg s7 #litg spoilers

[cancerian-woman]

NO BECAUSE WITH THE WAY BONNIE, TYLER, AND ENZO WERE WRITTEN, I’M ACTUALLY STUNNED AT HOW RACIST JULIE PLEC IS.

Like Michael Trevino is a non white fully Mexican man, Kat is a white Jewish/African American woman, and Michael Malarkey is a mixed man with Palestinian/Lebanese (Arab) heritage… what do Enzo, Tyler, and Bonnie have in common? LAZY AND/OR BAD WRITING. Enzo, like Bonnie and Tyler, had a compelling character and personality and storyline potential, but noooooo. Even if he wasn’t the most compelling love interest for Bonnie (which I also think was lazy writing), HE WAS DONE WRONG. THERE COULDVE BEEN MORE DONE WITH HIM.

Even in TO, POC aren’t done well. While POC are done better in TO than TVD, I don’t like how they did Marcel. Nope. I ain’t with the Marbekah train, and the Mikaelsons vilified that man when he was right about A LOT of things. AND THEY STAYED AT THE SAME HOUSE THAT HE WAS A SLAVE AT. THAT SHIT WAS WEIRD. But yeah, they made it very clear that it didn’t matter how close to the family Marcel was, he was never one of them. And maybe I’m reaching, but it reminds me of how in some white families that adopt black kids, they treat the black kid completely different than their biological children and I don’t like those undertones… but maybe it’s just me overthinking. And the thing is, she didn’t HAVE to write the Mikaelsons like that. Plec could’ve emphasised the family bond that the mikaelsons had with Marcel and how much it hurts for both Klaus and Marcel to be at odds with one another, but noooooo. They treated Marcel like that one “problem child” that’s iced out of the family.

But the racism carries on into Legacies because you cannot TELL ME that Alaric of all fucking individuals had a more compelling storyline than MG or RAF.

Not even in Legacies but in TVD, but remember Sarah Salvatore? The black Salvatore? SHE WAS DONE WRONG. COULD’VE HAD A GOOD STORYLINE.

Like people seem to think that the racism was only with Kat (and to be fair, she’s one of the only ones who has been outspoken about the racism), but as I look back at the TVDU more, it’s actually worse than I thought.

Vincent, Marcel, Bonnie, Tyler, Enzo, I’m definitely forgetting some, but the list goes on and on and on.

You summed everything perfectly tbh.

Yeah, Kat wasn’t the only one. Bonnie fans were rallying for years when the show aired and stopped airing. So that voice of fans naturally seems louder.

thank you for the ask💜!

#dria responds #tag later #tbh those viral tweets + videos etc etc is why i think legofseas chars got safer endings tbh. #never a real push like the yts but most of them lived not many in t v d can say that. #and it was barely anybody but yt ppl in the baby plot show so. #anti tvd #anti the vampire diaries

[dwtdog]

if it helps to any of the anons panicking over georges health, i think its good to remember that dream has a Lot of experience with this kind of thing(which is very sad). he out of everyone would know that twitters reaction is not at all indicative of what the majority think. on top of that, this is happening to george, not him. i think he will be able to ground himself easier than if it were him because he has to. he needs to be there for george to lean on and how he can do that best is by being rational and realistic about this. yes hes clearly affected by all this and hurt too, but honestly if you look at how both have responded, it is miles better than how dream used to respond when it came to twitter outrage. yes george was overly defensive but his response was not nearly as bad as it couldve been for someone who was being treated as if they committed rape out of nowhere. things are rocky and both dream and george are having a tough time, but i have faith they are there for one another as well as their other close ones.

yes absolutely 🙌 dream and george are both incredibly strong people

#cq.asks #george situation #rape mention #tw suicide #sorry just want to be extra careful probably should have been tagging that earlier

[milfygerard]

Do you think Gerard's comics are good? I haven't read all of them. I felt like the story doesn't really wrap up well and make sense good in the Killjoy comics or Umbrella Academy but maybe comics are just like that. Maybe they were imitating other writers I don't know about and I'm missing context. What are your thoughts

anon i am so deeply biased towards gerards comics but YES i do think theyre good! I think lots of the critiques are fair but i also think it leads to the fandom kind of underrating him as a comic author at times and dismissing the work out of hand. I especially see this for umbrella academy and to answer your other question yes i do think some of it is a matter of missing context! TUA was never...really made to be a popular and commercial comic? The satire and style are very inside baseball, mostly about x men, as well as later leaning more into a silver age style of both writing and illustration (which is why im soooo obsessed w hotel oblivion guys its so goood its so good i swear)

When it comes to other comic runs, I'd say killjoys comics tend to be the messiest but they are also deeply meaningful to me wnd natuonal anthem is so fucking gorgeous and interesting (controversial but im a natam ending defender even if i think the comic itself couldve used another issue or 2 to push the character writing more). I think gerard has one of the better doom patrol runs, Including milk wars i'd put it up there at maybe 3rd or 4th depending on how much i let personal bias into the equation. However doom patrol is also very Like That just as like a superhero group and can be kind of impenetrable if you arent down for genuinely bizarre and sometimes seemingly nonsensical writing, its kind of apart of the teams DNA as the "worlds strangest heroes". Milk wars is soso good and maybe one of my favorite Comic Things gerard has made/been involved with but its also best with looots of comic context bc its playing w both doom patrol history and the context of where DC as a company was during the time of its release. Its still relevant in many ways but probably feels impenetrable if you arent already into comics at least a bit.

Gerards style def isnt for everyone (and they do sometimes get bored and cheese the ending a bit though i defs tend to like them more than other ppl do) but i do think theyre extremely good at what rhey do and im soooo excited for paranoid gardens especially bc 1. gerard has always taken an extremely empathetic and nuanced and honest approach to writing about mental health and mental illnesses bith real and semi fictionalized and 2. the artist on board is an industry mainstay and has made some fucking incredible work! I didnt love the first issue cover dropped and was worried i wouldnt click w the artstyle but after properly checking out chris westons style im really excited!!!! gerard time

#ask #anonymous #i hope none of this comes off as dismissive #gerard definitely has a very particular style and has some flaws it can be hard to look over if its not for you #but i also think gerard is extremely skilled and very much deserves their place as a respected figure in the comic world #and again im SOOOO EXCITEF for paranoid park #whenever gerard mentions 'silver age weirdness' while describing a project theyre working on i get so hyped #also wheres TUA5. @gerard where is she