#while I disagree with them

[snekdood]

"if we make america worse and more of a dictatorship that will be even harder to unravel and make it the way we want the country to be, maybe then everyone will join our Glorious Revolution!" bb girl you cant even be in the same room with someone who thinks you should vote, how in tf do you think you're gonna unite people to fight in The Revolution with you? it's gonna be you and your 5 friends, i hate to break it to you.

#i dont think you realize how repelling you and your politics are to everyone else #you get all of your validation for how Smart You Are from your friends and ignore any kind of feedback that suggests you should #change or do something differently. thats the only reason you're so convinced average people will go along with you bc you keep getting #affirmation from the people who ALREADY agree with you- but you have NO IDEA how to bridge the gap between people who agree #with you and disagree with you. you're horrible at convincing people of your side of things outside of straight up guilt tripping them #or bullying them like a highschooler. im sorry but the tools you learned to survive with as a kid aren't gonna help you in this situation. #the ONLY THING you can come up with to bridge that gap is a bloody revolution. thats how bad you are at this. #and you're also so bad at this and unimaginative that you dont even realize how THAT might not even be enough. #you cant imagine ANY kind of avenue to getting people to change AT ALL outside of blood and fire. and thats why people call you #an authoritarian. #i'll be honest- i really do think the world would be a better place if we did incremental change under a democratic president who wont #set the world on fire vs the godkingemperor republican WHO WONT EVEN LISTEN TO YOU AT ALL EVER AND MIGHT KILL YOU #FOR PUTTING UP A STINK. idk if you noticed but if that evil fuck gets into office we are severely outnumbered if he gets police #n shit to go after his own citizens. letting trump win is making this battle so much harder than it needs to be. #you are choosing trying to fix the world while its exploding vs trying to fix it before it explodes at all. #what is this like a procrastination thing? you wanna wait till the last minute to try? idfgi. wtf is wrong with you #throwing minority lives away to prove a point. and then you try to tell me you care. gtfoh. #accelerationists should never be taken seriously.

[themyscirah]

Complaining abt Suicide Squad yet again but the fact that they have Waller exposing the alien community to space racist attacks and talking abt how she got to her position through deceit and being a terrible person and stuff is just. Ahsfiwueh JUST SAY YOU DONT KNOW WALLER.

Anyways literally the 3rd mission of the Squad ever (and the first framed as smth Waller picked and not orders from above) was the Squad discrediting and stopping a rogue vigilante who was only arresting POC and funneling white people into white supremacy groups (of which he was the most prominent member) in SUICIDE SQUAD #4. and it's explicitly framed as this mission being personal for Waller that she's hiding from the government bc its illegal like. Guys. Please why are we having her incite (space bc comics) racist attacks now

Also the whole "Amanda got her position through deceit and being a terrible person" NO. she KEPT her position through being shitty and playing complicated political games!!! She wasn't always that way like there is a difference and it is IMPORTANT ppl PLEASEEEE. In Secret Origins #14 we learn Amanda's backstory and she used to be a normal, caring person! Like even after she entered into working in government and politics she wasn't automatically morally bankrupt like please people. She was originally given control of the Squad by Reagan (*sigh* 80s comics...) to distract and get rid of her because she was so successful at pushing progressive social policy in Congress. Acting like she's this static pillar of evil is such a waste of her character and so fucking uninteresting and disrespectful to her arc it drives me MAD.

Like I am NOT saying Waller is all sunshine and rainbows, she fucking SUCKS (said w love <3) but like there's a human being there. It's a progression, she has a character arc like please, DC, please!!! They've fucked up Waller so bad and made her so opaque and uninteresting she can't even be the protagonist of her own story for fucks sake!

Like I don't know how many times I have to scream it until DC hears me or remembers but WALLER IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF SUICIDE SQUAD. ITS HER BOOK. yet right now she's a cutout to be used as the villain wherever the writers please. Even in her book we get none of her perspective really displayed, no exploration of her thoughts with any kind of understanding of the role she traditionally has played and was made to play in the story.

#its like youre unable to root for her in any form. which is annoying bc shes actually awesome actually #also having her say “actually im the good guy fuck you'' w/o any actual deep analysis of her psyche or whatever while doing these things #doesnt count as development or showing shes 3 dimensional. its just having 2 dimensional waller say shes right when everyone is obviously #supposed to believe shes wrong #anyways i want real waller back please i miss herrrrrrrr #anyways hope mr john ridley has read secret origins no 14. i know its from 1987 but please guys please. my only hope #also it was a few months ago but i think they tried to push certain elements of a diff backstory in dream team and sorry but fuck that. and #any mention of another waller background like my eyes are closed sry. im a preboot truther #actually im just ignorant of most squad comics outside the original series. im gonna do a readthrough and become knowledgeable on other #stuff i just need to find time. so if im wrong then sorry if its smth factual and if you disagree with my opinion then uh sorry for ur loss #anyways shoutout to the time i had a nerd night w my one friend and she was asking me abt dc and said my favorite villains and i said waller #and silver swan. and she had a “yuck WHY” to waller and a ???? to silver swan. love shouting out my faves and explaining them to the less #informed. didnt say a number 3 but would probably be parallax ig. idk hes kind of slay. or maybe someone else honestly i like hal but waller #and nessie are blorbo level for me i could think abt them for hours #or maybe it wouldnt be parallax actually idk who my 3 would be. hes definitely up there but way below the other 2. maybe the cheetah #interpretation that i personally have. v different from the popular cheetah interpretation esp rucka vers actually. much closer to the pérez #and esp develops some subtext there surrounding barbara and the exploitation and theft of sacred cultural artifacts and pieces but also #like british colonization a lil bit #but i actually despise the cheetah that lives in my head but think shed be interesting to use narratively and see diana fight #vs the other guys who i find interesting and sympathetic and like for themselves #whereas my fave interpretation of cheetah can rot in hell #i got off topic here #blah #swishy rant #also disclaimer that w the main character ik dreamer is the main character of dream team. im talking more in general and that amanda should #always have a huge role as shes the main character of the squad and yet is treated like its villain and not its protag #sui sq

[carlyraejepsans]

for real WHERE does the idea that [utdr humans] are nongendered so that "you can project on them" come from. their literal character arcs are about NOT being a blank slate to be filled in by the audience

i think i understand the assumption on some level for undertale, because there is a very intentional effort to make you identify with the "player character" in order to make your choices feel like your own (the beating heart of undertale's metanarrative lies in giving you an alternative path to violence against its enemies after all, and whether you're still willing to persue it for your own selfish reasons. YOUR agency is crucial).

of course, the cardinal plot twist of the main ending sweeps the rug from under your feet on that in every way, and frisk's individuality becomes, in turn, a tool to further UT's OTHER main theme: completionism as a form of diegetic violence within the story. replaying the game would steal frisk's life and happy ending from them for our own perverse sentimentality, emotionally forcing our hand away from the reset button.

i think their neutrality absolutely aids in that immersion. but also, there's this weird attitude by (mostly) cis fans where it being functional within the story makes it... somehow "editable" and "up to the player" as well? which is gross and shows their ass on how they approach gender neutrality in general lol.

but also like. there's plenty of neutral, non PCharacters in undertale and deltarune. even when undertale was just an earthbound fangame and the player immersion metanarrative was completely absent, toby still described frisk as a "young, androgynous person". sometimes characters are just neutral by design. it's not that hard to understand lol.

anyone who makes this argument for kris deltarune is braindead. nothing else to say about it.

#this is a very difficult topic to discuss imo because on Some level I don't completely disagree with people who make that argument for chara #in SPIRIT. if not in action. like my point still stands characters can just Be neutral. and if that level of customization had been intended #well Pokemon's been doing the ''are you a boy or a girl'' shtick for ages. no reason why that couldn't have been included as well #but i do feel that we're supposed to identify with chara within the story. not as in chara is us but as in we are chara #and i think someone playing the game without outside interferences and (wrongly) coming to the conclusion that chara IS literally #themselves in the story. and thus call them by their own name (the one they likely inputted at the start) and pronouns #will be someone who grasped undertale's metanarrative more than someone who went in already spoiled on the NM route who thinks of chara #(and on some level frisk as well) as completely separate from us with independent wills and personhoods at any time #who treats them as nonbinary. even if their approach is more ''appropriate'' to a gender neutral person #systematic error vs manually changing every measure to fit what you already think is going to be the correct result. ykwim? #of course this opens a whole new parentheses while discussing the game outside of your personal experience #because even if you DO see chara as a self insert then they are a self insert for EVERYONE. women men genderqueer people #i don't call chara ''biscia'' even though that's what i named the fallen human in my playthrough. neither do i use they because i also do #if you're describing the character/story objectively in how they are executed then you're going to talk about them neutrally #because you ain't the only sunovabitch who played the darn game sonny #so like. either way you turn it. even in the most self insert reading you'd STILL logically use they/them so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ git gud #answered asks

[smultronviol]

Honestly I think the most unforgivable crime comitted by the new ATLA adaptation is bringing back the fucking kataang/zutara discourse🥰

Like, I can forgive a lot, but I can't forgive the fact that my own eyes, in the year of our lord 2024, have to be subjected to takes I first saw on 2011 DeviantArt

#tbf not to poke the hornets nest but its honestly just zutara people complaining abt 'haters' and being 'bullied for their ship' #like could you guys at least double check that the 'hater' opinion ur disagreeing w has actually been expressed by anyone THIS DECADE lol #atla #natla #avatar the last airbender #zutara #kataang #|<- REALLY poking the hornets nest by maintagging these lol. but you know what. maybe i do wanna fight. just to feel something #in that case to be clear im not talking abt zutara fanart or whatever im specifically talking abt the dumb discourse #y'all might not have been in the trenches but i was there and boy was there so much DUMB SHIT from both sides #i dont even care abt either of them lol. literally babys first fandom experience and i had to learn QUICK to avoid both #of them like the fucking plague #honestly is the concept of a 'shipping war' still a thing even? #i havent really been involved in fandom for a while lol but it just feels like such an early 2010s thing #looking at these posts in the atla tag really feels like a time window back to like 2014. even the tone #like is that still a thing? #are you guys bringing back the concept of 'lemon' and 'no flaming plz' next #you really dont want to revive 2012 fandom culture guys fucking trust me

[raining-its-pouring]

I think it’s interesting when people say that Moon is an unreliable narrator with the implicit idea that Pebbles isn’t. I agree, Moon is an unreliable narrator. But that doesn’t make Pebbles de-facto reliable.

Almost everything we know about “karma” and “ascension” that’s not empirically seen is explicitly filtered through those two. And the rest is through other iterators. I think everything they say should be taken with the idea of their bias in mind, especially with the knowledge that almost all of them are bitter and/or uncaring about the Great Problem anymore.

We don’t know what happens when beings ascend. But Pebbles was a part of the Sliverist movement - which WAS explicitly “what if the way for Iterators to ascend was death - a non-traditional method that had no backing except the mysterious disappearance of Sliver of Straw.” It’s an ideology born of desperation - of the want and need to escape, but having the very nature of yourself be antithetical to the concept.

I don’t think that ascending is death, and I don’t love when the two are conflated. It’s kept purposefully vague what happens after the end-game cutscenes, and there’s a lot there to speculate on. I do think it’s - explicitly - not death as we know it here, But Pebbles was a part of a movement that conflated the two.

#rain world #rain world spoilers #looks to the moon #five pebbles #rw meta #I tried to keep this in the realm of the vanilla game #this is inspired by a post I saw (props if you’ve read it) that was very good overall but I disagree with some of their pebbles takes #I’m not linking it bc I don’t want anyone to harass them. rain world is a very interpretable game #and again I liked a lot of their points #but these are thoughts I’ve been having for a while anyways

[luimagines]

IT IS I! THE WIZARD!

I wanna write a story, but it would be weird to write so here it is:

(Warning: swearing)

A reader who can speak to the dead, can see spirits. They chat often with the villains because they hang around them often, and often ask the reader to tell the Links messages.

The reader collects cursed items, having the strange ability to quell the corrupting powers (for example, they can use Majora's Mask with no negative effect). So they have like cursed knives, Majora, a few shards of the mirror of twilight glued together (I know it's impossible but let me dreeeeaaam-), that kind of stuff.

So like, something like this would happen:

»»————-　★　————-««

Reader walks up to Four, listening to thr whispers of their spirit friend, Vaati. He had asked to give a message to Link, 'The short one that looks like a f*cked up kinstone', and Reader was too kind to say no. They always knew that spirits that lingered often suffered in pain. Maybe it would help Vaati pass on?

"Hey, Four." Reader said, and Four turned.

"Oh, hello, Reader. Do you need something?"

"I have a message for you." They said, eyes glowing a dim blue, like a luminous stone. "Vaati said 'You're a loser, no maidens?'"

Four passed, a mix of confusion and horror on his face. "I'm sorry, WHO told me WHAT?!"

»»————-　★　————-««

Reader held Majora in their hands, staring into the great yellow eyes, invested in its whispers. A cough pulled them out of their trance, and Time sat next to it, giving a caughtous glance at the mask. "You seem enamored with that thing."

"I do. . . don't i?" Reader said wistfully. They sighed. "Do you know what it's like. . . seeing the dead? Hearing their woes and being able to do. . . anything? It's painful, watching them suffer."

"Why do you keep it, of you know it's story?" Time asked, frowning. Reader sighed, running a hand on their head.

"You probably wouldn't understand." They explained. "Spirits are more complex than a dungeon clever could be. . . this one has taken a liking to me. . . or. . at least is trying to control me."

Time stiffened. "I've worn it, Majora. He always throws a fit when I do because he cannot invade my mind." Reader explained, turning back to Time and pointing at the marks under their eyes. "These marks are like the ones you have. Proof of my power over it."

Time huffed and Reader suddenly snapped their head back to the mask, eyes glowing blue. Time watched them nod to it, and slowly turn back to Time, eyes still glowing creepily as they slowly asked "He wants to know if you've become a mask salesman too. . ."

»»————-　★　————-««

"You've lost someone important to you. . . haven't you?" Reader asked Legend on night. He was on watch duty, and the others were asleep. He glared at Reader.

"What?" Legend asked, sounding offended.

"I don't mean to insult!" Reader said quickly. "It's just. . ." Their eyes turned blue, as they looked next to him. The familiar humming of a tune oh so forgien yet familiar to their ears clwas heard only by them, sung by the spirit next to Legend in the pretty blue dress and red hair. "I can see her. . . Was she close to you?"

Legend froze. "What the hell are you talking about? Is this some kind of sick joke?!"

Sensing and watching him grow angry, Reader gave a sympathetic smile. "She likes to hum a pretty tune, you know. as if she is trying tell you it's okay. She can't speak, sadly."

He continued to glare, about combust until they began to him the tune. That tune which he missed of so dearly. The tune he'd trade EVERYTHING he own To be around again.

Reader continued to hum the tune, closing their eyes and doing their best to match the woman's tune when she felt Legend shaking next to them. They stopped and opened their eyes to see him shaking, head in his hands.

"D-dont stop" He said, his voice breaking and shaking. Reader nodded and continued, and his shaking voice started to sing the lyrics softly, leaning into Reader. They wrapped their arms around them, providing some warmth, to comfort the tired, broken, hero, that the lady in blue could not anymore. . .

»»————-　★　————-««

Either blunt as a dull butter knife or extremely creepy, or comforting. No inbetween. They've got three looks. And That's IT.

Thats all. Thanks for comeing to my Ted talk

I mean.... this could be a pretty decent story if you chose to write it out.

Thank you for sending this in.

This would be like... every Link's worst nightmare. The idea that the people who taunted them and nearly destroyed everything they held dear is still dissing them from the beyond? Horrendous.

They will never be free.

#pinky replies #anon stories #to be completely honest #from a philosophical stand point #I have to disagree with Reader #If ghosts are people stuck in their ways from before they died #then the person who was alive is more complicated than their ghost #and the villains- while alive- chose to do bad #I can't bring myself to feel sorry for them #because they made their choice when they had the chance to change #and you know #not suck #even if it this is fictional and I'm probably taking this too seriously #it just rubbed me the wrong way #probably not the take away you wanted me to get from this #but now I'm here ^.^*

[ieidolon]

Oh my god. I actually have a nemesis. It's the scholar who wrote one of the best articles on my thesis topic where they perform a lot of truly spectacular close readings yet somehow end up reaching the exact opposite conclusion that I do, to the point where one of their quotes summarizes half of my thesis but in the exact opposite way of what they meant by it

#i do actually dedicate. uh. several paragraphs to breaking down their argument all the while going “they are RIGHT to observe x” #“they make a strong case for y” #i have the utmost respect for their scholarship and our opinions couldn't be more different #i think i legit in the intro say “disagreeing with their article has necessitated a lot of work on my end” or something lol #i would actually love nothing more than to have a couple glasses of wine with them and get into the discussion bc they know their shit #sighs dreamily #my nemesis..... #academia #studyblr #gradblr #im like 90% certain that article is a condensed version of their thesis incidentally #god. what an amazing scholar

[northern-passage]

i've shared some of Alex Freed's narrative writing advice before and i recently read another article on his website that i really liked. particularly in branching/choice-based games, a lot of people often bring up the idea of the author "punishing" the player for certain choices. i agree that this is a thing that happens, but i disagree that it's always a bad thing. i think Freed makes a good case for it here.

...acting as the player’s judge (and jury, and executioner) is in some respects the primary job of a game’s developers. Moreover, surely all art emerges from the artist’s own experiences and worldview to convey a particular set of ideas. How does all that square with avoiding being judgmental?

[...]

Let’s first dispel–briefly–the idea that any game can avoid espousing a particular worldview or moral philosophy. Say we’re developing an open world action-adventure game set in a modern-day city. The player is able to engage any non-player character in combat at any time, and now we’re forced to determine what should occur if the player kills a civilian somewhere isolated and out of sight.

Most games either:

allow this heinous act and let the player character depart without further consequence, relying on the player’s own conscience to determine the morality of the situation.

immediately send police officers after the player character, despite the lack of any in-world way for the police to be aware of the crime.

But of course neither of these results is in any way realistic. The problems in the latter example are obvious, but no less substantial than in the former case where one must wonder:

Why don’t the police investigate the murder at a later date and track down the player then?

Why doesn’t the neighborhood change, knowing there’s a vicious murderer around who’s never been caught? Why aren’t there candlelight vigils and impromptu memorials?

Why doesn’t the victim’s son grow up to become Batman?

We construct our game worlds in a way that suits the genre and moral dimensions of the story we want to tell. There’s no right answer here, but the consequences we build into a game are inherently a judgment on the player’s actions. Attempting to simulate “reality” will always fail–we must instead build a caricature of truth that suggests a broader, more realized world. Declaring “in a modern city, murderous predators can escape any and all consequences” is as bold a statement on civilization and humanity as deciding “in the long run, vengeance and justice will always be served up by the victims of crime (metaphorically by means of a bat-costumed hero).”

Knowing that, what’s the world we want to build? What are the themes and moral compass points we use to align our game?

This is a relatively easy task when working with a licensed intellectual property. In Star Trek, we know that creativity, diplomacy, and compassion are privileged above all else, and that greed and prejudice always lead to a bad end. A Star Trek story in which the protagonist freely lies, cheats, and steals without any comeuppance probably stopped being a Star Trek story somewhere along the line. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, takes a more laissez-faire approach to personal morality while emphasizing the large-scale harm done by men and women who strive for power. (No one comes away from watching Game of Thrones believing that the titular “game” is a reasonable way to run a country.)

These core ideals should affect more than your game’s storytelling–they should dovetail with your gameplay loops and systems, as well. A Star Trek farming simulator might be a fun game, but using the franchise’s key ideals to guide narrative and mechanical choices probably won’t be useful. (“Maybe we reward the player for reaching an accord with the corn?”)

Know what principles drive your game world. You’re going to need that knowledge for everything that’s coming.

[...]

Teaching the player the thematic basics of your world shouldn’t be overly difficult–low-stakes choices, examples of your world and character arcs in a microcosm, gentle words of wisdom, obviously bad advice, and so forth can all help guide the player’s expectations. You can introduce theme in a game the way you would in any medium, so we won’t dwell on that here.

You can, of course, spend a great deal of time exploring the nuances of the moral philosophy of your game world across the course of the whole game. You’ll probably want to. So why is it so important to give the player the right idea from the start?

Because you need the player to buy into the kind of story that you’re telling. To some degree, this is true even in traditional, linear narratives: if I walk into a theater expecting the romcom stylings of The Taming of the Shrew and get Romeo and Juliet instead, I’m not going to be delighted by having my expectations subverted; I’m just going to be irritated.

When you give a player a measure of control over the narrative, the player’s expectations for a certain type of story become even stronger. We’ll discuss this more in the next two points, but don’t allow your player to shoot first and ask questions later in the aforementioned Star Trek game while naively expecting the story to applaud her rogue-ish cowboy ways. Interactive narrative is a collaborative process, and the player needs to be able to make an informed decision when she chooses to drive the story in a given direction. This is the pact between player and developer: “You show me how your world works, and I’ll invest myself in it to the best of my understanding.”

[...]

In order to determine the results of any given choice, you (that is, the game you’ve designed) must judge the actor according to the dictates (intended or implicit) of the game world and story. If you’re building a game inspired by 1940s comic book Crime Does Not Pay, then in your game world, crime should probably not pay.

But if you’ve set the player’s expectations correctly and made all paths narratively satisfying, then there can be no bad choices on the part of the player–only bad choices on the part of the player character which the player has decided to explore. The player is no more complicit in the (nonexistent) crimes of the player character than an author is complicit in the crimes of her characters. Therefore, there is no reason to attempt to punish or shame the player for “bad” decisions–the player made those decisions to explore the consequences with you, the designer. (Punishing the player character is just dandy, so long as it’s an engaging experience.)

[...]

It’s okay to explore difficult themes without offering up a “correct” answer. It’s okay to let players try out deeds and consequences and decide for themselves what it all means. But don’t forget that the game is rigged. [...]

Intentionally or not, a game judges and a game teaches. It shows, through a multiplicity of possibilities, what might happen if the player does X or Y, and the player learns the unseen rules that underlie your world. Embracing the didactic elements of your work doesn’t mean slapping the player’s wrist every time she’s wrong–it means building a game where the player can play and learn and experiment within the boundaries of the lesson.

#every choice you make while designing your game says something about your experiences and your world view #whether you think it does or not #i think abt that interview with hozier where he talks abt all art being political & someone in the comments tried to disagree #by saying a child's drawing of their house cant possibly be political & someone else replies: #but it is. what does a house look like to them? is it one story or two? is it a trailer? an apartment? these things imply something #about that child's lived experience #another post i reblogged on kithj that talked abt these games like the forest or far cry where you play as a random white guy #that is being hunted by the evil native people. and the game requires you to just indiscriminately kill them #without thinking about it bc it's a game and you're the protag. that says something whether it was intentional or not #allowing the player character to do or say certain things without consequences communicates something to the player!!! #this does not mean you should punish them but that you should think about your narrative design and your choices and their outcomes #think about what makes sense in your world #and think about what it could imply in the real world. to the player #and think about all the different paths you can explore with them in this way #writing

[dennisboobs]

my favourite thing about the always sunny podcast is listening to rcg all say something extremely neurodivergent and then agree amongst themselves and convince themselves its completely normal

#and to be clear im not diagnosing them charlie said he wasn't neurotypical #like deadass i think. the reason some of their writers just completely botch the gang's motivations/dialogue sometimes is bc at their core #these characters are all. SO autistic. which inevitably leads to them being misunderstood by others outside their group #whether rcg realizes it or not they inject this very specific vibe of neurodivergence into the gang #and its why they will just. argue over inconsequential details bc they Need to be understood completely #they can't just drop it unless they are crystal fucking clear #imo the biggest mistake other writers make is thinking that the gang is completely desensitized when its more like #they just don't react the way you would expect #which is often... adjacent to that but still distinct. and its trauma that influences this as well #the gang does not believe they themselves are 'bad people'. theyre most often oblivious to the fact that the things they do are insane #rob saying he doesnt pick up on social cues and then going on to argue in circles with glenn #i dont think last week was anything crazy but i think. rob doesn't know when to let up. which is a problem that *i* have #and while it comes across as being confrontational in an 'im right youre wrong' way i dont think its driven by ego here #just like with how as they said mac and dennis are making up while chucking bread rolls at each other #on both sides its frustration at being misunderstood #but they are all similar enough that even if they disagree over small details theyre usually on the same page. and this can be beneficial!! #thats the conclusion of the ep!!!! whether its suggesting smoking to cancel out the toxic apple skin or suggesting words u cant think of #glenn said he was upset about feeling misrepresented and picked on #dennis gets angry for those exact reasons in.... ALL of his big rage scenes #its frustration that leads to anger because youre speaking to (another) brick wall and you can't adequately explain yourself #which. glenn is clearly more competent than dennis & i think a lot of the time in sunny the gang is WAY more obtuse for the sake of comedy #but its interesting to watch the dynamic because as charlie said last week #they are mac and dennis (especially when theyre fighting) #i just think.. they are in a semi-unique position to understand this because this is how they are. while several other writers do not get i #ada speaks #untagged

[guideaus]

this has huge "excuse me, he asked for no pickles!" energy

#personal #honestly i think a reason shuro exploded on laios was bc no one else was there. chilchuck is the one to disagree w laios and say shuro #looks like shit. while namari also did whats best for her and split from laios' group (and she didnt even get as much shit as shuro #who came back w reinforcements for falin) #chilchuck for some reason thought senshi was weirder than laios and went w them when chilchuck definitely couldve deescalated things #and wouldve been allowed to be there unlike kabru

[dirtytransmasc]

Are yyou team green or black? And why?

team green, though I'm not in support of every green character (namely Otto though my opinion of him is complicated. I also have opinions on Aegon and his characterization that makes it even more complicated)

[I have only read bits and pieces of the book, so my opinion is based almost solely on the show. keep this in mind]

I'm team green for 3 big reasons. they're more complex, thought not perfect by any means, more morally "right", and are simply more my vibe when it comes to characters. now this is very simplified and not at all nuanced, so stick with me for a minute.

Firstly, they're more complex. the greens have very deep, detailed, and nuanced lives and stories that lead to them being very complex characters that can't be put into a box. Alicent was a child bride who had lost her mother young became a mother young and suffered at the hands of power and men all her life. her children were affected by this and the world they were forced to grow up in throughout their lives. even individually her kids are drastically different; aegon the child who was forced into a life he did not want and suffered due to his father neglect and mother pain. Helaena who was never understood and grew up treated like an oddity. Aemond who was never seen to his full potential, always ignored or looked over, angry throughout his life. each of them has strengths and weaknesses, flaws and benefits, they're imperfect but never completely horrid. they're also never simplified (not entirely, even when the plot and writers seek to simplify them) to the point that they put on a moral pedestal or made straight evil (i'd even argue that the attempts of the writer to oversimplify them as evil and in the wrong makes them 10x more fascinating). I find TB characters tended to miss the mark on that, always put in the moral light, not even allowed a moment to reflect on their actions, lives, or positions in any nuanced or meaningful way, so they always just feel dull. they're also out on a moral highground that they can never be budged from, which makes them harder to like and honestly, really boring. they get away with everything instead of being emotionally and morally nuanced.

secondly, they're more morally "right". I will never say that any of the greens are perfect, they are far from it (with the exception of Helaena and her kids, who have done literally nothing to anyone, but I digress). what I will say, 9/10 times there is some level of reasoning that has some level of reasoning. Alicent always tries to do whats best for everyone, all throughout the series she tried to do best by the court, the king, her children, the realm, and Rhaenyra. did she always succeed? no, but she always tried and her mistakes were almost always honest. I will say she held resentment towards Rhaenya, but honestly, I can't blame her. Rhaenyra's lies and behavior hurt Alicent over and over again so for her to be angry is expected.when it came to succession, Alicent backed Rhaenyra until it was made clear she and Daemon would be a threat to her children's lives and even than she held mercy for Rhaenyra. Aegon's drinking can be blamed on the abuse and neglect he suffered at Viserys, Otto, and Alicent's (though the abuse and neglect from his mother is insanely different and nuanced. she perpetuated her pain onto him because she couldn't heal herself. so I hesitate to call it abuse, cause its so much more complicated than that) hands. though nothing will justify his rape of Dyana, I personally think it was a bad add in on the writers part, and leave it at that. Aemonds rage after years of being ignored doesn't entirely justify what he did to luke, but he had reason for his cruelty after years of Luke (and jace tbh) being cruel just because they could. TB characters tend to do terrible things in response to either A. nothing B. their own terrible things. Daemon kills who he wants when he feels like it, even for stating facts. Rhaneyra will lie and hurt those around her to protect her bastard children. both of them conspire to protect themselves and allow themselves to be wed, really just cause. while there are times they have their reasons, its a lot less of the time, and typically the backing to their actions, is they were trying to unbury themselves from within their own graves. (to preface, I don't care about rhaenyra sleeping around, it doesn't bother me, but its the fact that she will hurt everyone around her to protect her lies, allowing a child to be maimed and people to be murdered)

thirdly, they're my vibe. I like morally complex character, who are, to be frank, pathetic. I like characters with complex trauma's and issues, who aren't perfect people but its not entirely their fault. I would much rather watch a whole show about alicent, a child bride who tries so hard to be a good wife, queen, and mother while not prepared for any such role. Aegon who is a boy with severe mommy and daddy issues, a drinking problem, a flawed past, and constantly wet eyes. Helaena an ignored girl who has suffered for no better reason then her family. and Aemond, a boy who was tormented, bullied, maimed, and made stronger by it at the cost of his compassion and emotional stability - over a nepo baby who was coddled by her father, her murderous husband with a knack for unneeded violence, and her similarly coddled children (the show boiled them down to this, in my opinion). one is simply more up my alley than the other. I want character that need to be dissected, who have suffered, who hurt me to look at.

also, team black created almost all of their own problems. seeing as the main source of contention had to do with Rhaenyra's kids being bastards, which was Rhaenyra's problem, which she caused, and kept digging and digging that grave (faking Laenors death just so she could marry daemon, turning the blame on aemond when luke maimed him furthering the divide amongst the house, trying to wed Helaena to Jace putting her in danger, trying to take the driftmark throne and killing Vaemond for a claim her sons did not have, etc,) till viserys's death, earns her a lot less pity from me. at the end of the day, her being a woman was only a needle in a haystack worth of problems she caused herself that hurt her claim. if she had just strived to create to connection with ancient and her kids, and didn't make herself look like a threat to everyone who lessened her claim (which alicents kids would be the first people to be taken out) alicent would have backed like she had all season and there would have been no war, maybe conflict, but no war.

theres also the effect of the fans on my opinion. I have faced more cruelty, terrible media analysis, and outright ableism/misogny/(blood and sexual based) purist ideology/etc. from the TB fans then I have ever witness by TG fans. TB fans have ruined almost all of the TB characters for me in more ways than I can count, so I will say I am very biased.

thats why I'm team green. as a whole they are simply more appealing, their stories are more interesting, demand more attention to detail and emotional understanding, and from my point of view were the "right" side to be on in the war (the war was wrong on both sides, but my chips lie in the favour of the greens).

#THESE ARE ALL MY OPINIONS IF YOU DONT LIKE IT IGNORE THIS POST. MY ACCOUNT. MY EXISTENCE AS A WHOLE. #BETTER YET. IF YOU REALLY DONT LIKE MY OPINION. BLOCK ME. #I dont want drama. so dont bother me if you disagree #and to clarify discourse and conversation (even if we disagree) =/= arguing. name calling. harassment #if you can be constructive and respectful even while disagreeing your fine to stay #(the fact I have to clarify this in this fandom is embarrassing...) #defintly could have gone more in depth and better explained some things #but I'm tired and know if I don't answer this now I won't ever cause I'm a chronic procrastinator #so this is the best y'all are getting #the pity I have for all of them compared to any of the TB fans is honest to god my entire reasoning #but so many people don't understand them at all so I can't just say that #and I say this as someone who on my first watch was swayed by the intentional moral framing to hate the Greens and support the Blacks #with my whole chest. but I've grown and reflected and rewatched the show and realized I was wrong. #so I've been on both sides of the argument #I know what I'm taking about #pro team green #pro alicent hightower #I'm damn near anti TB/Rhaenyra #but I say lukewarm feelings on them to be more accurate #alicent hightower #aegon ii targaryen #aegon targaryen #aemond targaryen #helaena targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targeryan #luke velaryon #jace velaryon #not tagging TB I like my life and sanity #they're so mean all the time and in the last week I've been harassed by them multiple times

[edge-oftheworld]

do we reckon ashton is gonna drop a single this month like he said?? or is he gonna wait til after boy is out then come in with his music, like they’re taking turns in the 5sos spotlight?

#ngl I kinda think he’s gonna wait and support Luke rn #which means we’re probably gonna get ai2 while nostalgia boy tour is on the go #like. just because it’s mid march and we’ve heard nothing. no release date or single name #but can I say I’m DYING TO hear the whole song of hey! hey! don’t you hide all your pain #willing to bet my ticket to Luke’s show it’s about the boys and everything they’ve gone through and how ash always ends up caring for them #not really. but if I’m wrong then I’ll buy whoever disagrees with me a ticket to closing night #and let you find your own way to brisbane #ashton irwin #5sos #5 seconds of summer #ai2 #luke hemmings #nfattne tour #boy ep

[cheemken]

Oh that mental image of him breaking down and his Dragonite gently holding him until he's ready to hug back--crying in the club fr I wanna write this scene so much

Another personal hc that I have is definitely one that has a lot of self-projecting onto it. Mostly from the throw away line of 'my knees are creaking' and how the other E4s run to the end of the arena while he takes his sweet time. Couple that with lines on how he fell asleep and is always just resting at the club, a part of me likes to think that he's got some health issues. Maybe joint pain or something that causes chronic exhaustion.

Drayton isn't all too bad with his classes schoolwork wise but he fails primarily on his lack of attendance. Maybe it's partially from days where getting out of bed is hard, or when he can't pretend that everything's all fine and dandy. Sitting down often because standing or walking too long causes his knees to act up. Napping when he can cause he's just low-key tired all the time.

Perhaps he wouldn't have gotten the reputation of being lazy and a slacker if he just spoke up about it but no. He gives me the vibes of someone who dislikes pity, having a level of pride where he prefers to handle stuff on his own. He's got a system with his Pokemon where they help him on bad days. Shame that's how people saw him but it's not like he's making an effort to dispel it anyway. He'd hate it if those displeased looks turned to pity instead

But I'm also a sucker for days where he just can't summon up the energy to pretend around people, and while most just chalk it up to him being lazy again, maybe his friends can tell and help make things a little easier.

(Again, that's just my personal hc with a healthy dose of self projection. I just love putting him through situations haha)

Omf cndmcndm yeah yeah I get that I understand that that hit me right at home lmfaooo

No but, imagine if the reason behind that too is bc how grueling the training of Drayden was. Cause I also have this small hc that Iris really tried to keep up w Drayden's 10k push ups, sit ups, and squats during their training too (so she's a bit built thanks to that lmfao), but Drayton couldn't keep up w that, he tries but he couldn't, his body wasn't frail to say the least, but he wasn't built like Drayden or Iris, his body was a bit weaker compared to theirs, so when he tries, even when he did warm ups beforehand, it'd still leave his body quite sore

That plus the lil hc I have that he always waits for Iris to come back home most nights, so he stays up late most of the time too, making him tired the next day

But yeah, with his pride, he always refuse to get help, to the point he conditioned himself that there really is nothing wrong w him, but there is y'know, and sometimes he can't handle it anymore. There was once his body just needed rest that he didn't go to school at all, it resulted in his fam telling him if he's that lazy then he should just stop going to school and just help around the house, after all, he isn't trusted enough for the gym, wasn't motivated enough to do any kind of work, not even w school, so what's he gonna do

Anyways yeah, this I canon in my heart anon, just let the boy sleep in he deserves it

#i do love how the rest of the e4 notices maybe #amarys is always the one who notices it first #then she goes to tell crispin #who then tells lacey #then lacey just up and sometimes forces drayton to take a break #w dray really just going 'well cant say no to a break' #other students would often just question the bb e4 bc drayton is already a slacker he doesnt even do much why are they giving him a break #but the e4 knew better than to share. it wasnt their secret to tell #they know how grueling it was for him to keep up w his family so while sometimes they disagree and argue on things #they do really care abt each other #even their resident slakoth drayton #oughhgh new unova kids #pls now i wanna make hcs abt the four of them ncmdnd #plus kieran maybe bc hes also cool and he and crispin seems close hahah #pokemon hcs #an ask and an answer #anon #edit: also anon!! if you do write it tag me or send it here too i would love to read it!! hahaha

[catboyidia]

assigning candy to asgzc + plus what i think their faves would be

angeal: i want to say kitkat, i cant quite explain why but its the first candy that came to mind… maybe i’m subconsciously thinking about the kitkat slogan, which makes me think of him because damn… poor guy really needs a break… + i’m somewhere between headcanoning him as someone who unexpectedly absolutely loves candy or someone thats not actually all too fond of candy/sweets in general, but he absolutely feels like a granny candy kind of guy! like he always had THOSE strawberry hard candies on him at all times, which makes me think his favorite would be some kind of hard candy, or some kind of cheap chocolate like a hersheys bar or something, that he doesn’t like for the flavor, but because it was the primary candy he got as a kid whenever he could afford it

sephiroth: hes literally a sour patch kid… he looks so intimidating and mean but (pre insanity at least) he’s actually just an awkward sweetheart! post insanity though is like toxic waste or something (like the sour candy, thats an actual candy i swear) because it just hurts a lot and to most people is not enjoyable at all + i dont think he eats much candy, nor did he eat much of it growing up, i think he mostly only ate what he was given by others, like hard candies, because people are more likely to carry those around as opposed to like a chocolate bar or something, and i feel like it’s probably stuck with him, so by process of elimination, they would be his favorite but he isnt really opposed to any candy, he just doesn’t really eat it in general and he probably prefers other sweets, like baked things

genesis: hes fireball/any of those cinnamon “spicy” candies… they’re red… and genesis seems to really like committing acts of arson with fira materia… and they fit perfectly dont ask its hard to explain! also skittles, which i feel is self explanatory… + he likes lollipops, not because he truly loves them, but because he loves purposefully sucking on them in a provocative manner when angeal and sephiroth are around to get any kind of reaction out of them! his actual favorite would probably be like… turtles or ferrero rochers or something of that really expensive, fancy chocolate nature (do not correct me on the fancy or unfancyness of those chocolates! i’m poor, they’re fancy to me!)

zack: … pixie sticks… all the way… just a fucking tube full of sugar… + he doesn’t have a favorite because he likes literally all of it, put any candy in front of him and it will be gone in a second and he will love whatever it was that you put in front of him! the only exception is that he hates chocolate, and i think i have that in my head because of the whole puppy zack thing, but regardless he loves all other kinds of candy, and he absolutely bounces off the walls for the rest of the day, after eating every candy he can get his hands on

cloud: he feels like gummy bears, especially the mini ones… cute, small and squishy… and pretty basic like they aren’t like remarkable, just kinda there but generally liked and appreciated without any strong haters, and i don’t think i can think of a single person, in canon, that ever actually hated cloud (dont quote me on that, i could be wrong) + his favorite would probably be some kind of obscure small town local candy, which only like a few people have ever had or heard of, and he thinks no other candy can match or live up to it… otherwise, he probably likes most chocolate/candy bars in general, and hes not really picky about it, but hes also not primarily fond of most other candies that aren’t chocolate

#most of this actually just popped in my head while i was eating candy (b/c i can’t do anything w/o thinking about my faves… literally…) #if you disagree with any of them… yeah valid… but its half my own biases half projecting and half first thing that came to mind #happy (currently early) halloween though!!! thats the only reason i’m thinking about candy so much right now… #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #crisis core #asgzc #angeal hewley #sephiroth #genesis rhapsodos #zack fair #cloud strife

[mikesbasementbeets]

god i wish i were more articulate so i could actually explain my thoughts on all the milven/byler visual parallels...... people using the situational and framing similarities to "prove" that mike feels the same way about both el and will when truly the further you get into both relationships the clearer the discrepancies become between the emotional weights and contexts of each scene.... and the way they're both framed the same way to make those discrepancies stand out even more

#i have so many thoughts on this i've tried writing it out but there's too much nuance i keep giving up #also the day people stop using 'pretty' (nancy coded) and el's dress (NANCY'S) as proof of mike's romantic feelings is the day i know peace #he is literally seeing her as a sister figure it's made so clear over and over and over #(while also being heavily influenced by heteronormativity) #i neeeed to talk about the visual parallels one day though i will figure out how to explain myself #they're there for a reason and it's not mike having genuine romantic feelings #also. you know he doesn't feel the same way about both of them. i know you know. the cognitive dissonance required to pretend he both #does and doesn't love el the same way he loves will #not getting into discourse not getting into discourse not getting into discourse (i hate it here) #if u completely erase the context to claim mike's lovesick look in the van is the same one he gave a girl he'd known for 2 days........... #i respectfully disagree :)))))))))))))))))))))))) #ghfhdfhhjgfgdf i'm gonna lose my mind

[mazm-imagines]

This one's for Jekyll and Hyde (or whoever wishes to answer the question if you can't do both) What's your opinion of each other? Like what does Jekyll think of Hyde (especially when he first emerged) and what's Hyde opinion of Jekyll (Especially because Jekyll is the reason he's here) Follow-up question...If you two could send a message to each other, what would you say? Like if you were asked to write a note with a message to your other side, what would you say to him?

"Hyde has... certainly got out of hand. I never would have thought what started as a midnight rendezvous could end so dangerous. I would say I curse him... but the responsibility is for me to shoulder."

Jekyll rubbed his temple with two slender fingers. The exasperated frown on his face was replaced with a grimace of acceptance.

"I think you misunderstand how we function. It is not as if he isn't aware of my wishes nor is it that one of us disappears when the other is active. We are one in the same, albeit in a constant headlock.

"However, I understand what you are suggesting. If I could send Hyde a note to completely disappear... I would. It doesn't gurantee he'll listen, but I would want to make my intent clear in every way."

...

"Doctor Jekyll is me. And I am him. What is there to say? If he stays outta my business... I'll stay outta his. Even then he can't do that. Tch. What a pain in the arse."

Hyde scowled at the mere thought. This form was to indulge in mindless pleasures, not to think about such complicated matters. That would be Jekyll's problem.

"If I could leave a note to that prick, I'd tell him to sod off. But... ugh. I don't know anymore. Living a boring ass cushy life or a life like this... Maybe..."

He cut off before he could say further. Maybe he shouldn't have been created in the first place.

#mazm #mazm hyde and seek #mazm jekyll and hyde #henry jekyll #edward hyde #answered ask #BTW my interpretation of them is not DID or anything similar ^^ #I see them as the same person just different facets so while they may disagree they will more or less ahve similar goals #Like NOT getting arrested lol #So i don't mean to invalidate anon in any way ^^ i just want to be consistent with my portrayals #This ask was super fun