#But she is also far from perfect because she does things WRONG and suffers for it

[merkerlerspeaks]

Zodi/Celeste/Raine is somehow both my baby and also the girl my inner little weird girl looks up to so much she adopts parts of her as her personality

[id0what1want]

Carmine.

I've been reserved, but I'm gonna come out and say it. Carmine is a very multifaceted character just like her brother, and similarly to him, many people like to pick and choose what they evaluate to simplify her into something either hyper-villified or super one note 'she didn't mean it, and nothing is her fault'. The truth of the matter is that the Teal Mask is a messy situation and trying to figure out who is at fault is beside the point cuz blaming Carmine or Kieran or the player or anything else ruins the nuance and the complexity.

A lot of Carmine's mischaracterization comes from the fact that all of her dialogue is not directly indicative of her character and often isn't exactly one to one how she feels about something. Carmine is a character that struggles a LOT with conveying/receiving tone and is very prone to misunderstanding AND being misunderstood.

Her relationship with Kieran is by no means perfect and way more realistically messy than most fictional sibling portrayals. Many sibling relationships, ESPECIALLY the ones between a sister and brother, have very harsh rivalries, especially at certain age differences. There is constant competition since they're just old enough to want the same things, but far enough apart to claim seniority. I should also mention that throwing neurodivergence into the mix is even MORE volatile, especially the kind that we're working with when it comes to the Kitakami siblings.

It would not surprise me at all if Carmine was also bullied by her peers and it just presented differently. Carmine herself is socially oblivious and has a lot of pride so it seems like snide comments would roll of her back- but look at the things that Carmine cares about. Beauty, power, coolness. She's fiercely loyal to Mossui Town and Kieran was canonically bullied for coming from 'the boonies'. It's not far to venture that Carmine herself suffered the same treatment and her hostility towards outsiders in her hometown stems from that.

Carmine also DOES think highly of Kieran. She thinks he is a skilled trainer and also knows that he has thick skin because they grew up together. They also grew up together without their parents or other kids significantly in the picture. Even with their grandparents, this leads to a dynamic where Carmine and Kieran have each other first and foremost. They share blood and that doesn't count for nothing, and even further they share traits by nature because of it. Both siblings have a deep-set jealous streak and sense of pride, one that isn't immediately relatable to everyone and can even isolate them from other people, but not necessarily from each other. She looks out for his best interest, though it doesn't always come off right.

Carmine isn't self-aware majority of the time. When she is rude, it's not always intentional and her expression of her thoughts or emotions isn't always accurate because Carmine feels strong, complicated things. It's a struggle to verbose them correctly and she seems not to have been taught how to regulate or voice her emotions accurately, instead expressing herself through HER means instead of everyone else's. When Carmine defends Kieran's mask before the festival, that is an expression of her love. When she seeks out the player despite her distaste specifically on Kieran's behalf, that is an expression of her love. Carmine's actions are normally very well-intentioned but don't always come out that way. As a neurodivergent person myself, I completely understand this.

When she lies to Kieran about the ogre, she is attempting to preserve his friendship with the player and his bond with her, and it's because she KNOWS Kieran will be jealous. Was it wrong to do that? Totally! Was she right down the line. Also yes. Carmine does take full responsibility in being Kieran's sister and takes that role very seriously. Turning Kieran over to the player like she did in the beginning is actually a big sign of maturity from Carmine we don't see super often. She swallows her jealousy and pride, risking Kieran finding some outsider cooler than her, because she wants him to have friends outside of her despite being naturally possessive.

Carmine has a very strong sense of justice and this twists when applied to her relationship with Kieran. The two bicker a lot and have a strong leader-follower dynamic, with Carmine sometimes bullying Kieran into listening to her. Carmine is normally not taken seriously outside of Kieran and feels the need to berate people into respecting her. It's not right, but it's how she feels. It's not healthy but it's also not completely abnormal for siblings to be like this. My own siblings are like this and as a family unit we have all fought for dominance, not always in savory, healthy ways. I'm not saying she's right- I'm saying she's a teenage girl that deals with things in messy ways because she's a teenage girl. Kieran often gets the teenager pass (granted, he is younger.) but I also see Drayton getting the teenage pass when he's of comparable or older age than Carmine.

Drayton is also a hot topic with Carmine. Setting aside my own hcs, their objective relationship is antagonistic both ways. Drayton is of course not the devil Carmine treats him as, but it's very well established that Carmine struggles a) to read people and b) to warm up to people. It doesn't help that Drayton goes out of his way to irritate and antagonize her. It's not extreme of course, but Carmine is distrusting, and angers easily which Drayton is amused by. There is NOTHING more annoying than getting mad at something and somebody laughs in your face. Especially from a neurodiverse and bullied perspective- what Drayton is doing is NOT bullying- but Carmine again likely grew up bullied and made fun of, specifically FOR her temper. Growing up, older boys would deliberately irritate me to the point of a meltdown because they thought it was funny to watch me freak out. Things like that are stressful and also SUPER impact emotional regulation in a person. And while Carmine is aggressive, she senses a scheme from Drayton against her brother. She is already insanely loyal to Kieran and after her shortcomings in the Teal Mask she's DEFINITELY going to be hypersensitive about not making Kieran any worse. Drayton being cryptic and treating it all so lightly is bound to get on her nerves, and he already violates her sense of justice with his behavior. Don't get me wrong, I love Drayton, but he also has the emotional intelligence to know better to act in certain ways that he does. What Carmine is doing is essentially a cat puffing up and swiping at a perceived threat, and instead of calming the cat down, Drayton agitates it further to tease it. Carmine, while aggressive with her words, is actually surprisingly tame and restrained. It's obvious to me at least that she is trying to regulate herself and is not nearly aggressive as she could be. Carmine to me in this situation is barking but not biting- she's looking out for the safety of everyone around her, but she can't make a sound enough judgement of his intention to actually bite so she isn't going to. Carmine doesn't genuinely want to hurt Drayton. She has a temper, especially a verbal one, that he pokes fun at and thus she has a negative association with him.

I guess I'm just reallllly tired of people acting like Carmine and Kieran are either completely innocent, erasing the complicated writing behind their actions, or holding them to an unfair moral standard since it's pretty obvious that these kids should have been seeing a behavioral therapist and had more intervention growing up. (Behavioral therapy is not a desperate need but also I firmly believe that most kids should see therapists, even if they're having troubles on this medium a scale. Carmine and Kieran aren't nonfunctional, but they also weren't taught strategies to self-regulate which seeing a therapist would've helped with growing up).

Also the vilification of autistic traits in women pisses me off. Like can we please not condemn Carmine for shit that we actively excuse in other characters, please and thank you. She's not a raging bitch but she's also not the well-mannered pretty girl people want her to be. Women are slightly bitchy and suddenly that's grounds to excuse awful treatment of them and c'mon guys.

[extremely-judgemental]

Ways Rhysand has been manipulative but no one noticed.

I find it strange that Rhysand never gets angry with Feyre. Not once in four books, omitting the first of course. Some may argue it’s because he is a loving partner who understands her that well. That’s plausible if Rhysand didn’t have any anger issues.

To preface this, Feyre naturally has darkness in her that isn’t overt until ACOMAF, and with Rhysand, she gets the freedom to be herself without judgement even if she is wrong. Feyre is not brainwashed to become Rhysand’s puppet, however, she is a victim of his control, lies, and manipulation to a degree.

One of the biggest flaw in Tamlin is his anger. It’s how he becomes a danger to Feyre, to his friends, to everyone around him. But what people miss is that Rhysand isn’t that different either. While one’s expression is explosive and physical, the other’s is more psychological.

There are clear instances when Feyre acts on her own or disagrees with Rhysand, but she is never the subject of his temper. One such scene is when she goes looking for the Suriel (because this stands out a lot to me and my memory sucks).

Considering Rhysand’s character, it’s not unreasonable to believe he’d lash out on Morrigan first and then Nesta. But the moment Feyre is back, he is the epitome of love and compassion.

We know he is easily provoked just as any other MC. He lost his mate while he was out in the battle somewhere and when she returns, he is collected. Where frustration and anger would be justified, he is as calm as the dead.

There is a mix of emotions like fear and relief too, but I am talking about expression here. Not what he feels, rather how he presents them and lets others see him.

If I had a telepathic partner with whom I share a consensual live stream of feelings and thoughts all day long, I’d be more frustrated that he put me through the very thing that he knows will hurt me. But Rhysand never has a negative reaction to Feyre. Ever.

This is the same old ‘Rhysand is better than Tamlin’ or ‘Rhysand will never hurt Feyre’ propaganda but it fails. It’s impossible to not get angry with anyone ever. At some point, something will disappoint you no matter how deep the love is.

Also, if Rhysand treated everyone from this level, this wouldn’t be out of norm. He is very expressive when it comes to his anger—with Cassian, Azriel, Lucien, Tamlin, Morrigan at least once, and obviously, Nesta. He doesn’t hold back his words and often his temper is translated into dominance, his High Lord power that he uses to subdue the rest of them. This happens time and time again but seen as a badass move where Rhysand is always right.

So why is Feyre spared? It isn’t out of love. It’s about control. Cassian, Azriel, Amren, and Morrigan owe Rhysand for the life they currently have. There is always a limit to how far they can push him. When they cross it, he uses his rank to put them in their place. He can’t do the same with Feyre because the moment he does that, he becomes exactly like Tamlin. The illusion of the High Lady title shatters.

It’s so Feyre never sees him for who he is. As long as it’s not directed at her, she will sit on her high horse and coddle him, like she does about his hatred for Nesta. Feyre is self-centred and she can’t take criticism. Imagine if Rhysand pushes her too far, Feyre will leave him like she left Tamlin. Because of the bond, Rhysand will suffer. He will also lose Nyx, an extension of him.

The only way to keep Feyre under his control will be to make her feel loved and safe in whatever delusional capacity so she never questions him, proven by the pregnancy debacle.

Which is why this isn’t a sign of emotional maturity rather a repression of his true feelings to get his way.

Anyway, I consider this an oversight from SJM because she doesn’t let Rhysand be himself. She desperately wants to show how he is the perfect match for Feyre, the greatest partner anyone can ever have. But the contrast in his behaviour screams manipulation.

[petercaths]

Jack Shephard rant.

I’ve been down the Reddit hole over the past few weeks, and seen a a lot of posts I fundamentally disagree with in regards to jack. Primarily having to do with the thinly veiled sexism of the early 2000s, and how this gives way for a ‘nice guy’, or ‘abusive asshole’ interpretation of Jacks’s character.

I mean do I understand the criticism? Sure. It’s an early 2000s show that definitely feels dated in a lot of its material, and Jack is part of what represents that. Though, I do think people who run with this and try to pin Jack as some abusive asshole are kinda seeing something that’s not there. Calling him a nice-guy is kinda crazy to me, given that the narrative consistently punishes him when he’s wrong.

The two biggest complaints I’ve seen are his reaction to Sarah cheating, and Phuket. Both pretty valid things to call him out for, because he was in the wrong. But they also happens to be two things that— again— the narrative punishes him for. I mean, he goes to jail because of his obsession with who sarah is cheating with, and he gets the shit beat out of him in Phuket. These are not narratives that allow any positive context for his behavior. He was wrong, and he suffers consequences.

Then there’s the argument that Jack is controlling towards his partners, which I don’t fully agree with. We only see him be controlling WHILE he’s with someone with the girl in Phuket, which— again— is wrong, and presented as such, and he gets the beating he deserves for it.

However, when it comes to other relationships…

Well, Jack’s issues with Sarah don’t stem from an obsessive need to know her every move while they’re together. If anything, the problem is his negligence of their marriage because he is always working and fixing things at the hospital. And when he’s not able to fix a case he’s consumed by, he turns to his troubles at home and tries to fix that. Because he will always need something to fix.

Similarly, his issues with Kate aren’t that he’s controlling her. They’re that she’s lying to him, and he knows she’s lying to him, and he doesn’t like that. It’s insecurities and jealousy driving him up the wall because he wants a life with Kate, but the island is calling him, and he’s seeing signs and doing things that underline how he isn’t right for her or Aaron. But what’s most important about this scene, is that Jack does let go. Not in the way Kate wants him to, but in the way he thinks is best for her and Aaron, at least in that moment.

Anyways, I don’t even know how to conclude this whole essay. The point is, Jack is far from perfect, or even far from being a healthy or mentally stable individual. But he is not abusive, lol. Sorry , I’ve just seen at least three reddit threads trying to say he was, and I needed to rant somewhere.

[ilikekidsshows]

My friend asked me why I wanted Adrienette to break up. Because according to her, Adrienette is a perfect couple who not only loves but also respects each other. I said, 'Well, maybe it would look like that if you saw them from the top of the Eiffel Tower using a straw 🙄'. I

really don't understand people who think that Adrienette is a perfect couple, maybe they will look like that from afar, but if they look further, Adrienette as a perfect couple is just an illusion. Marinette once said that she would not let Adrien have a single secret, she must know everything. Marinette also did not respect Adrien by not telling him about his father's fate. Under the pretext of 'she love him', Marinette controls every aspect of Adrien's life, she even stalks Adrien in the name of love. What the heck is that? Is it just because Marinette uses love as an excuse that indecent things can be tolerated?

The power of love is indeed strong as stated in the lyrics of the opening song, but what Marinette did to Adrien was not love but obsession. How can anyone think that if someone does something, even if it is wrong, if it is done in the name of love then it is okay? Crazy. Sorry if there are any wrong words, I use a machine translator.

---

Adrinette could be the perfect couple when looking at isolated scenes like the conclusion of Heroes’ Day. Their dynamic is pretty compelling when Adrien is allowed to be a human being instead of Marinette's prize.

This is because there are aspects of the relationship that are healthy in a real way. Like, I saw a video describe how Adrien's patience with Marinette's inability to kiss him or tell him she loves him is such a refreshing thing to see in media and how great it is to see a young couple where one party puts their own need for affection on the side to make sure their partner is comfortable with it first.

This would be true, if Adrien wasn't an abuse victim. Adrien is so satisfied with a relationship where the only affection he gets is his girlfriend stalking him to find out his secrets because he's an abuse victim who's used to not being allowed any privacy. Adrien is so patient with getting no gestures or words of affirmation from his girlfriend, because he's an abuse victim who's used to being denied affirmation. Adrien will always put Marinette’s wants, needs and feelings first because he's an abuse victim whose abuse often took the form of his wants, needs and emotions being demonized and weaponized against him.

Outside of enabling her confirmed-to-be-unhealthy stalking, the Adrinette relationship is good for Marinette, but at the expense of Adrien’s recovery from his trauma. Marinette is benefiting from the abuse Adrien suffered at the hands of his parents. Marinette then lies to Adrien about exactly how far this abuse went, the result being that now she will continue to benefit from having the perfect, self-sacrificing boyfriend who’s been abused into submission. I'm not saying she did that purposefully, but she definitely isn't crying about that among all the things she does cry about.

The most powerful love in Miraculous is Marinette's self-love.

[thehivemindsys]

Eddie Gluskin Headcanons because I cannot stop thinking about him and im bored

Happy holidays, I usually just am not happy during this time of year so I’m pushing down my emotions and writing angst. Enjoy. Tw: Self harm, CSA, rape, misogyny, violence, typical outlast stuff.

-Eddie hates bathing and has to be physically restrained if the doctors wish to get him clean. This is mainly due to his CSA, as Eddie was attacked a lot while he was in the shower-but it is also due to him feeling uncomfortable with being nude for long periods of time.

-Eddie hates dogs. His family had a dog that was specifically trained to bite him if he commanded it to. Eddie doesn’t own any pets, really, and believes that cats are too “feminine” for him.

-During his initial murder spree, Eddie killed around 34 people-men and women, who he all gave the definition of “bride” to. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and was sent to Mount Massive Asylum. For a time, he actually had a proper psychologist before he was eventually signed up for the Walrider program after he attacked the wrong guard.

-Eddie has diagnosed Schizophrenia, BPD, psychosis, and could possibly qualify for a DID diagnosis.

-Eddie could possibly qualify for DID because he has a few seperate personality states: a younger version of himself, trapped within his childhood, “The Groom,” the dominant personality states, and a version of himself that is haunted by his trauma, and rather prefers to be alone. Though it is unclear if this is DID or just due to his BPD (he does dissociate from reality quite often, though).

-Eddie’s favorite movie growing up was Sleeping Beauty, and often quotes it to the best of his memory. He believes that Prince Phillip is the perfect depiction of a devoted husband, and Aurora is the most beautiful woman in the world.

-Sketching and tailoring are his favorite hobbies. He most often draws women in goregous dresses, and has a very traditional Disney-like style to his artwork.

-Eddie believes that it is the 1950s and is incapable of perceiving the current year as it is. He writes things like computers, camcorders, and cellphones off as “advanced space-age technology.” Don’t ever ask him to operate a computer because he would have absolutely no idea how to do it.

-If Eddie could comprehend the concept of a trans person, he would for sure be a supporter-due to his psychosis and delusions, however, he couldn’t comprehend it even if he tried. He can’t even comprehend that he may be gay.

-Eddie may have targeted women before the asylum, but once he was incarcerated, he practically exclusively targeted men-even when there was a female presence in the asylum, he didn’t attack them nearly as much as he did the men.

-Eddie is actually a pretty damn good chef. He has to be, considering his only qualification for a good “wife” is that “she” has to be alive and breathing. (Even then…)

-Eddie has a love for salted caramels.

-Eddie has a hard time keeping his anger in check, and rarely keeps his hands to himself. He was transferred to an isolation cell after he groped a guard, and he was never really allowed out of maximum security afterwards. This, plus other forms of inhumane treatment at the hands of Murkoff, eventually led to his mental health getting worse and his transfer to the Walrider program once it was deemed that he was “too far gone.”

-Eddie may be a charasmatic, boisterous man but deep down, he is suffering from crippling lonliness and deep seated insecurities that will likely never fully go away.

-Eddie did self harm before he was transferred to Mount Massive.

-Eddie’s best friend in the asylum is Frank Manera canonically, but he does have a rather good relationship with many of the Variants, including The Twins and Chris Walker. He and Frank used to have cells right next to one another, and communicated through a hole in the wall.

[taldigi]

on Perfidy

Reader, do you know what "perfidy" means? I have a feeling you do, based on the little scene that has just unfolded here. But you should look up the word in your dictionary, just to be sure.

for as fucked as the whole adachi social link should/could have been... well, as far as the narrative is concerned, the only "bad" thing related to it is is the accomplice ending. hunger route is considered the canon one and the "good one" and the narrative around it enforces that idea.

It's a symptom of golden's kinda.. scuffed writing. it's out of character in the same way the scooter scene is out of character and lopsided- and in the same way Marie's link is forced into the cracks of the narrative and how needs to spend her whole SL revolving around spending time with the IT (in order to justify her dungeon and her place in the final photo) and so the characters morals are tilted in the same way to make the jester link work as well.

Hell, Rise baits Yu into approaching Adachi. weather or not she meant to do it or not. Rise only does so because the narrative needs her to. Yosuke forgives Yu 'cause the narrative needs him to- because him not knowing makes it worse.

in a world where Yosuke gets (justifiably IMO) angry about it and the route has severe consequences, is also a world where an alternative event is an option. The true failing of rank 8 is that it doesn't meet it's full potential as the hard-hitting moment that it could be.

In the end, I ultimately think (and choose to read it in a way) that... well, that Yu is allowed to be wrong. Yu is allowed to make grave errors and falter, even misguided ones like trusting Adachi. Yu's character is allowed to be human and suffer the consequences of being abused and manipulated and stressed and still have a big stupid heart that cares too much for people who don't deserve it.

I also think that the way it's handled can also say a lot about Yosuke and his growth as a person and his relationship and his fundamental understanding of Yu. He is able to extend the grace to forgive him- because of all people, he knows that Yu is suffering the weight on his shoulders. Yu, who (on top of being deeply rattled from Nanako's hospitalization) does his best to fulfill the role of perfect hero, perfect brother, perfect leader and friend and student- is trying so hard to save everyone and in that lies the weakness of failing to realize that he can't save everyone.

So, Is Yu an arrogant saint who fully forgives adachi- because he chooses to treat it as the morally correct decision despite it spitting in his team's faith? Is he a person who's stumbling under months of frantic, life or death rescue missions who's sense of judgment is warped by the loss of his family? Is he a kid who's been nonstop manipulated and groomed by a man for months? and who should yosuke see him as?

It can be an event that brings foreward the idea that Yu isn't perfect and that his fool needs his magician to show him the way now more than ever- a magician who's able to step back and see that in the heat of his own emotions, had almost got a (relatively) innocent man killed?

Yu is forced to come to the realization that he can't save everyone but he can be there to snap adachi's neck the second he even looks the wrong way- and yosuke's going to be the one there to hold him in place while he does it. True friends will help you bury the body, after all.

Overall, I think Jester Rank 8 can be a souyo cracking moment, or it can be a protagonist humanization one that makes it stronger (angst or fluff arcana...)

everything about me fucking wraps around to tale of desperaux. awooo.

[doraambrose]

I see this alot in fanon and I think jason Todd's parents are completely misunderstood.

Disclaimer: I am not a victim of parents with drug abuse nor have a I ever done drugs. I sympathize and emphasize with people who struggle with drug abuse as there are many reasons to get into it and it's very hard on your body to get clean, I will link help organizations below. This does mean that I can be a little ignorant to the struggles so if I say anything offensive or wrong, please call me out and educate me so I don't make the same mistake

Jason's family has been retconned so many times, it's hard to keep it straight. But this is my headcannon based on what I've seen:

1. I feel like a lot of people write Willis Todd to be this awful abusive scumbag who hated his kid and his wife. If you are talking about young justice or arkhamverse, this canonically true, but I think that's far from the truth in the main universe, prime or whatever it's called. In batman 411, jason is clearly distraught by Willis' death and does try to avenge him by lashing out at Two face. We also can't forget about the incident with the penguin that led to the worst Bruce and jason characterization before gotham war. And that's because of one rhato issue where jason finally reads willis' letters (a truly heartbreaking issue: rhato rebirth 23)

I believe that Willis wasn't a bad dad. Not a good dad, but not an awful abusive one. I 100% believe he has never abused his family in this universe. And you know what, he wasn't a great person. He was a drug dealer and then a henchmen. But he CARED. He cared about his family. He tried so hard to provide for Catherine and Jason for their medical bills, food, shelter. He just had a poor upbringing and some real shit luck, trying to survive in poverty in Gotham city.

2. Catherine has been written in fanon to be a perfect caring mother who was nothing but a victim. I believe that she wasn't as good of a mother and a person as people make her out to be. And we haven't seen everything, but I believe this because she seems selfish. She seems to put herself and her drug addiction before her family, doesn't seem to even try to get clean or take care of jason or provide. Look at these panels:

She neglected Jason. He had to go out and put his life on the line day after day when it should've been the other way around. Jason was a kid. And don't get me wrong, she probably loved jason and had good intentions, no, she definitely loved him, or else jason wouldn't canonically think as highly of her and take care of her the way he did, but she wasn't perfect and I don't think she was as good of a mother as she's made out to be.

3. Canonically, jason seems to really care for Catherine, but not Willis. I have a theory about that. For why he thinks so highly of catherine: I've never had a parent who suffered from drug abuse, but I do have a parent who suffered from a lot of mental health issues like depression, diagnosed, and I feel like bpd, though it was never diagnosed. When things were bad, they were BAD. I witnessed a lot. But when things were good, things were REALLY GOOD. I feel like when Catherine would come off the drug haze, things were like that. She probably took care of him during those times and was loving and all that. Catherine is the one parent figure Jason has to hold onto (because of all the shit with Bruce, Sheila, etc.). He forcibly removes the bad shit she's done and hangs onto the good things she's done because she really did care about him and in life, it seems harder to hate your mom than your dad (from what i have heard when i did research on this from friends). I've done that for years, and idk if I'm explaining it right, but I think that's the best way I can. For why he doesn't love willis: I think up until he read the notes, he didn't have the full picture. From his perspective, willis leaves to do crime and then eventually gets caught and left forever. I think he blamed willis for making jason become "the man of the house" and have all this extra responsibility. Willis also strikes me as the type of parent who has trouble expressing feelings, so jason probably rarely, if ever, heard "I love you" from his dad. Willis also strikes me as the person who would believe that he needs to make his son stronger in order to survive, and there are a lot of parents like that, especially parents from a low income household or a history of poverty.

In conclusion, both parents were FAR from perfect parents, but they're not as evil or as innocent as people write them in fanon. They're just...people. fanon likes to write comic people as black or white, innocent or abusive, but in reality, It's a gray area. Willis had his flaws, I hc him as one of those old fashioned kind of dads who wants his son to be tough and strong and isn't good with sharing his feelings, but does truly care about his family and NEVER was abusive. Catherine was a mother who definitely cared about her family, but wasn't an innocent victim and had her own flaws.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted talk

[emp-t-man]

eiffel and minkowski are often perceived (either by the other characters of the podcast or its audience, but mostly by each other) as the lazy slacker who sucks at his job and the competent go-getter who’s the best at what she does, and yet neither of these things are true. i think one of my favorites of their parallels is they are both exceptionally good at what they do, and yet they both constantly suffer from doubts about their own abilities. they just have completely different ways of going about this insecurity, and that’s what creates this stigma about them.

eiffel has proven time and time again that he absolutely knows what he’s doing in his field. He’s extremely protective over his equipment, he knows exactly what to do when it doesn’t work ninety nine percent of the time, the man made two way radios from old audio recorders, for christ’s sake, not to mention the way he was able to figure out how to survive for months in the middle of deep space completely by himself. but one of his most fatal flaws is that he doesn’t believe he knows what he’s doing. his self hatred and insecurity run so deep that the moment he believes he’s not cut out for something, he stops trying entirely. he sees people like minkowski doing such a good job in their position, that when people like that tell him he’s incapable of doing the same, he believes it, because he never believed in himself, anyway. i think the most obvious example of this is after the season one finale, when he learns about the decima project. the minute he learns that being an officer of communications wasn’t his only purpose on that mission, he comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t serve that purpose at all. he resolves that he was simply an “experimental meatbag”, chosen for the mission because he had absolutely nothing else going for him. he’s so quick to dismiss his worth and his capabilities, and so he leans into this persona of a good for nothing procrastinator to avoid letting his peers down by never letting them form expectations of him in the first place. of course, he isn’t perfect, he is a bit of a procrastinator and a scatterbrain, but that’s far from all he is.

minkowski on the other hand, she’s constantly praised for all of her achievements and hard work, be it by goddard, by her students, her superiors, lovelace, and especially eiffel in the later seasons. she’s seen as strong, and resilient, and an excellent leader. but the thing is, she also constantly doubts her own ability. this can also be seen during the season one finale, where she apologizes to eiffel because she describes hera’s deactivation and hilbert’s mutiny as her own fault, because she wasn’t a good enough commander to prevent it. but the thing about her is when she starts to doubt her capability, she works overtime to try and prove herself and anyone else who may doubt her wrong, which is also unhealthy! it happens with the plant monster, when she continuously risks her own life just to prove to herself that she can have the slightest bit of control over a situation. it happens during pan-pan, where she attempts to keep the stress fractures in the station a secret and handle them on her own because she wants to be able to protect the lives and morale of her crew the way a “good commander” should! instead of giving up and saving herself the disappointment if ever she should fail, she does the complete opposite, working herself to the bone and obsessing over every detail to make sure she doesn’t fail, no matter what it takes.

now here’s the kicker— after the events of desperate times / desperate measures, eiffel and minkowski completely swap coping mechanisms. when lovelace comes to, minkowski almost immediately asks her to assume the position of commander in her place, because she thinks that the loss of lives means that she completely failed her objective and isn’t fit for the role. her stepping down is essentially giving up in her eyes, because why hold such an important position if you’re no good at it? meanwhile, in episode fifty two, after eiffel gets called out on his, while without malicious intent, inconsiderate and distasteful behavior, he completely withdraws from the rest of the crew in order to work extremely hard on his own tasks, ultimately risking his and the rest of the crew’s life in order to prove he can be useful. sounds familiar, right?

but the thing is, they’ve each already spent so much time reverting to their original way of coping, that attempting the other’s method is immediately clocked as simply being concerning and out of character, rather than establishing them as the opposite archetype of being capable or not. lovelace expects minkowski to always resort to overachieving, but not because its a way to disprove her insecurity, but because it’s just “who she is”. so when she does the opposite, that’s when she realizes something is wrong, and resorts to comforting minkowski instead of simply letting her do what she’s elected to do. hera expects eiffel to laugh off any mistake he makes and go back to goofing off— not because it’s his way of avoiding disappointment from those he cares about, but because it’s just “who he is”. so when he does the opposite, focusing solely and intently on his duties where he was so comfortable neglecting them before, she realizes something is wrong. and when he explains to the rest of the crew that his actions are only to “help the only way he still can”, they realize something is wrong, and choose to comfort him rather than simply rolling their eyes and letting eiffel be eiffel.

it is. so incredibly late at night so i don’t know if this makes the sense i want it to make but i just. cannot get enough of how much they compliment and reflect each other. they seem to have nothing in common on the surface, but they fit together so well in terms of how they operate as people and i’m obsessed with it

[lockedtombtheories]

Thanks! I think the biggest thing currently bugging me about HtN is why every surviving lyctor, with 1 single exception, was plotting to kill Jod? My understanding is that it was only when they saw cav!Gideon's eyes on the Mithraeum that they realized Jod lied about the existence of perfect lyctorhood. So why had they spent decades plotting with BoE to open the tomb and murder God? Only explanation I've read is "because he made them kill their cavs," which seems weak.

The short answer is: They at least suspected that he lied about it even before meeting Gideon. She was just the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. Plus, he did make them kill their cavs! Their siblings, their lovers, their closest friends! They dealt with that truth for far more than a lifetime, but they just so happens that they had a lot of time to dwell on it. It’s not really a surprise that it eventually got ugly.

Long answer under the cut, because I love my followers and don’t want them to suffer.

First off: it isn't just the surviving lyctors who betrayed God. Mercymorn, Augustine, Cytherea, yes; but even G1deon was willing to share a bed with the enemy. Either he or Pyrrha told Wake about the RB's and what they do to necromancers, thereby handing her an effective weapon against lyctors. 

And then there's Anastasia, who's implied to have gone against John's orders by even founding the Ninth House. Cassie, who contacted BoE *6 000 years ago*. So who really knows what Cyrus and Ulysses were up to, or would have been if they'd survived for long enough. 

As for why? We get two pieces of explanation in the text. 

YOU LIED TO US

Could this refer to the proof in Gideon's eyes? Sure.  But I'm not convinced that it wasn't the message Cyth always wanted to send. 

Checking in with the other duplicitous sluts:

“You’ve offered us explanations for everything over the years. But—some of them didn’t hold up on examination … It was the power I could never get my head around, you know? I follow power back to its source, John. It’s the skill you asked me to perfect. And the longer I looked at yours, the less things added up.”  “This has been troubling you for a very long time, then,” God said finally. [...] “You don’t get your power from Dominicus,” said Augustine. “It gets its power from you. There’s no exchange involved, no symbiosis. You draw nothing from the system. It relies on you entirely, as we all know. You’re God, John. But—as the Edenites are fond of pointing out—you were once a man. So whither that transition? Where does your power come from? Even if the Resurrection had been the greatest thanergy bloom ever triggered, it would drain away over time. And then Mercy said to me—in a moment of true Mercy vileness—she said, What is God afraid of? [...] I never wanted to believe it when she said, What if he didn’t really put down A.L.? And then—What if he couldn’t put down A.L.?” (HtN, ch. 51)

So: they knew that John didn’t have a tangible power source; and lyctorhood was the only kind of internal furnace they know about. Ergo: yes, they suspected that John had lied about perfect Lyctorhood. He made them kill their cavs. 10 000 years of guilt, literally chasing them across the universe, and for what? For whom?

What kind of God demands such a sacrifice? I think that's one of the central questions of these books. What kind of God demands it? (compare the Binding of Isaac - John) But also: What kind of God punishes it? (compare the Mark of Cain - the Resurrection Beasts) 

But - 

“Why would one of the Emperor’s Lyctors hate him?” “Hate him?” The voice of the girl whom Gideon had known as Dulcinea rose, high and intent. “Hate him? I have loved that man for ten thousand years. We all loved him, every one of us. We worshipped him like a king. Like a god! Like a brother.” (GtN, ch. 35)

They are Believers losing their Faith. They’re questioning the entire foundation of his divinity. Augustine and Mercy are still asking, still hoping that they're wrong - “All that effort to break open the Locked Tomb,” said Augustine, “only to have the answer we wanted wander up in the form of one dead teenager flaunting your genes." - but crucially, they are also lovers going through a messy divorce. You know, when people who once loved each other and were presumably capable of communication are suddenly throwing plates at each other? “Come, swear your loyalty, my son—my brother—beloved—Lyctor—saint.” 

Possibly what Tazmuir is saying is, they're the same picture. But that might be conjecture. 

(edited to add in links to other theory posts. call it the director's cut)

[goddessxeffect]

MAKE PEACE WITH THE EGO AND YOU MAKE PEACE WITH THE PAST

Disclaimer: This post is not entirely written by me, I credited all the sources I remembered but if something seems very familiar, it is probably out of 4dbarbie's asks or from one or two of @iamthat-iam, sorry in advance to the original source.

" The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of 'salvation', of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions... As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. "- Eckhart Tolle

Now that you know who you really are you are fast to scapegoat the ego for everything. It is in the way of you getting to that blissful state of peace. It understands nothing, it fights you. It is the reason you suffer - or isn't it? First of all, you wanting to be different is a urge coming from ego, not you. You are already that, everything, want nothing. It's not you suffering, it's ego suffering. Secondly, you are missing the mark by far. Ego is perfectly created the way it is. It's conditioned to be that way and behaves acordingly. It's perfect, so let it be. You are choosing to identify with it. You are giving this role importance or rather life. It is again you choosing to give your power away to a dream, an illusion.

Yes, in a different way now but still: you don't have power, you are it. Already. Nothing is standing in your way but yourself or you clinging unto this false sense of self. How can an illusion be an obstacle for its creator? Only "I am" is true and your real self is love, so anything aligned with love is true. Anything aligned with fear is an illusion by the ego that You fall for.

How to get rid of an illusion you might ask then? By knowing it's not real. What do you not understand about you already being realized? By knowing who you are, you know that Ego cannot be you nor "real".

Even if she [Vanesse = ego] wasn't the greatest, what's so wrong with her? She is just somebody, she just lives a life. Things are only so serious when you're identified with her, you get scared, you get hurt, you feel stuck. But when you know that she can't hinder you? That she was never you? Don't you just want to laugh and hug her? @4dbarbie-backup

To understand Ego is to understand time (x)

Time is not experienced. You only ever experience now, the past is imaginary or as some say "a shadow, ghost town, dead", it is not experienced at all. What you experience is (a persons) memories in the present, but you give them life now and just because you identify with the person for whom this all happened this way.

This is also your answer for why you don't have to care for what will happen to a character and its life. You exist now, for example as Vanessa, with all of her memories, which make her up as we already cleared. The next moment, or let's say the next morning, you "wake up" as Lara, with all of her memories. Would you, experiencing only now and identified with Lara, as her, know that Vanessa even existed? I'm kinda quoting 4dbarbie on this.

"The past is dead. What you see is dead. Until you realize your Self, Present will always be past (something you were prior conscious of)" @4dbarbie-backup

What is the ego's reference point? The past, not the present. What is ego essentially? A "bundle" of past experiences (memories), expectations, habits and traits, that developed because of those experiences. The ego only "exists" as its mind, it IS its mind. But the mind is imagined by You (awareness) since in the present moment there cannot be past experiences.

"Now, all ego knows is illusory, because it's the past, it no longer exists. You see life through the past, you aren't really in the now, so really what does ego know? How can ego be helpful in the now if it only operates based on something that does not exist? If you realize all is now, ego becomes useless" @napolonio

Everything is imaginary, nothing is real in the sense you were taught growing up. You have to imagine the past, which makes it not real. A memory coming up is no different than you imagining "yourself" with a million dollars. Both of those things are imaginary and experienced in the now."

Reality, or the "world" Ego experiences, is real because of our (awareness) experience of it. WE make it real. It’s not like the reality the person was born into is the ultimate one true reality. Every reality is real as long as you are conscious of it being so. You have to re-realize that you are reality itself. "Things" or "objects" are dead (have no independent or own beingness) but only become "alive and real" through our occupancy in it, by borrowing our beingness temporaly. That’s why consciousness is the only reality!

On the topic of "Revision". Before realizing all of this I (person) was like “But it won’t be the same because I didn’t actually get to have the experience” but “Hold up; all that exists of the past IS the memory of it! Its not like I’m vividly physically experiencing my memories every moment. I only accept my past as true because I feel like it happened and I’m attached to it. Who’s to say I actually experienced all those things?”

All the memories that the person/ ego has, good or bad, are only kept in place by the love or rather attachment that we are giving to them. And why wouldn’t I love my own deliberate lovingly created memories even more?

[klemsk-a]

TL;DR

S2a undermines the concept of redemption so badly it makes me want to cry.

Megatron changing for the better is interesting because it’s complicated. He used to be a warlord, a tyrant, people suffered directly as a consequence of his actions. Unfortunately ES fails to show us these consequences. The closes we have are Starscreams words and that is far from showing us anything.

There are no flashbacks, no actual conversations. Nothing but the present and most of it is from childrens perspective.

This lack of nuance is frustrating. For all we know Megatron might’ve acted exactly the same, but changed factions therefore he is a good guy know.

And this “autobots = good, decepticons = bad” morality is so on the nose in s2a it’s actually kind of pathetic.

The new season needed a villain, and all the hatred for cybertronians apparently evaporated (everybody else just had a change of heart ig and the only 2 people who actually disliked them are dead) and the cons were “always” bad so it doesn’t matter.

It allows the writers not to think about Megatron and problems accompanying his redemption because his victims are terrible so… it’s all fine, don’t worry 👍.

Perhaps it isn’t this way and I majorly misinterpreted the show.

The existence of the chaos terrans really makes me doubt it tho. It also makes me incredibly mad.

Aftermath literally comes into existence, has no idea what’s going on, who is everyone and they’re all fighting. So he does too. And immediately gets called terrible, basically the evil version of the terrans.

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGES IS THAT?

That because you aren’t from a perfect family you’re evil? That is what I got out of it.

Terrans = whole Emberstone = good

Chaos terrans = broken Emberstone = bad

For a show about acceptance and empathy that is a terrible plot point 😀

The episode with Aftermath and Jawbreaker (was extremely boring imo but that’s not important) gives you the impression they’re going to further develop Aftermath. Have him questioning orders and thinking about his choices. But no, he STOLE the entire water from a cave in one tank (how did he even manage???)

Spitfire is an even worse example.

On her first day alive, she gets told that if she wins a race she gets to go on an autobot mission.

She wins, by endangering Alex, and they tell her she won’t get the reword. It’s all understandable but the writers clearly don’t know anything about raising children or children in general.

Yes Spitfire did a bad thing and has to be taught that her behaviour was bad. No they cannot be mad at her for not immediately understanding and agreeing with them. That’s why children (especially toddlers) are infuriating. They don’t know better so you have to teach them, but they will find a loophole to help them get what they want (obviously depends on a child but we are rolling with Spitfires personality). Now depending on what they’ve done to get to it you either reward them or punish them. Because they don’t necessarily understand what they did wrong, even if it’s obvious to you, it can be hard to explain in a way that satisfies a child.

Spitfire lashing out and attacking Twitch is common for kids who believe that someone got something they deserved. It’s especially common if a kid has problems with aggression.

That could’ve been an interesting character development and a good message. Sometimes children won’t be easy to deal with (as all the terrans are, sure they can make bad decisions but ultimately they don’t cause much problems), sometimes they have unpleasant personalities or behavioural problems but it doesn’t make them evil. Being there and loving a child isn’t enough to raise them, discipline is needed and so is patience.

But no.

Aftermath and Spitfire are chaos terrans so they are evil by proxy. Too bad lol.

Twitch and Thrash needed to learn everything. So did Nightshade, Hashtag and Jawbreaker. There was a great deal about self discovery.

Aftermath and Spitfire already have alt modes (at least Spitfire I don’t actually remember Aftermath) and they are just terrible, no good people.

Case closed, problem solved.

Oh. And then they died so…

Unlucky 🤷‍♀️

Redemption in media, especially kids media is important. It sends a message that you can in fact mess up in life, make a couple (hundreds) of mistakes and still come out on top.

But redemption is earned, and it can be (and often is) hard to changed for the better (as opposed to changing for worse).

You shouldn’t change for those you have hurt but so it won’t happen again, so you won’t hurt others again.

Some will come back, some will not.

It IS important that you try nonetheless.

Because no matter what explaining isn’t excusing and no one is born evil.

This show is so FRUSTRATING to me because I cared, and still do obviously (I wrote two versions of this but accidentally deleted the first one so had to write one again).

I really hope S2b will be back on track about acceptance and redemption.

I think Starscream deserved better but sincerely hope they (autobots) will get a hold of him, and him and Megatron will actually talk.

At least let Starscream have his father-daughter relationship with Hashtag, please 🙏.

[thelunarfairy]

The Moon Prince's Secrets 🌙

Hanako's evolution throughout history. Amane, the enigmatic boy from the moon, as I sometimes call him. He made me create so many, many questions, he made me create so many, many hypotheses.

He started out as a playful boy, he didn't want anything serious, just to have fun and hide the darkness that had been stuck in his chest for so many years under the rug. The darkness that those eyes hid so well.

The darkness that guided him to do things he shouldn't do to save someone he loves. It's comically tragic that he planned to use Nene's life for a dead end, even though he never wanted to do anything bad to her, fate, the short path she had, guided him to those choices.

But still, he tried to give her the best life he could give, he didn't expect her to be so sweet and kind to him, that she would be the first person who would show so much affection, of course, she is not perfect, she makes mistakes , like anyone else, but she was there, when no one else was.

He fell in love with the sacrifice, and little by little the pain increased. It was like dejavu, reliving the same suffering again, of being destined to receive and give love to people who will leave, to people who are destined not to be by his side.

Because every reality he finds himself in, Tsukasa is never there as he should be, he's not there just as a younger brother, nothing more than that, in the same way that Nene is not there to be the woman who will live by his side. .

It's distressing.

The two try to save Amane, but he doesn't want to be saved, not if he can't live with the people he loves. What's the point of being alive if he won't be with the one he loves?

I can't call Hanako's evolution that, I must call it discoveries. He's still the same Hanako, the same Amane who trapped Tsukasa so he wouldn't be abandoned, the same Amane who tried to trap Nene so she wouldn't die, so she wouldn't abandon him.

He is slowly showing us sides of himself that we didn't know, it's not an evolution, it's just a little truth being shown here and there about his real nature.

The obsessive love, the love that hurts and that doesn't allow him to let go of the ropes, the boy who loves so intensely that he doesn't care about certain limits, not only for the people he loves, but also for himself.

How far will he go to get what he wants?

Amane started out not knowing how to talk about his own feelings, and he still doesn't know how.

Amane started hiding everything he could from the people he loved from the beginning, and he still does.

Amane knows that what he did in the past was wrong, but he continues to do the same.

Amane started out afraid to talk about his past and himself, he is still afraid.

Tsukasa and Nene are the same, the same mistakes he made with Tsukasa, he is making with her.

Or maybe not?

There are things he didn't allow himself to do with Nene. The death of Tsukasa and himself differs from Hanako's desire for Nene to live.

Tsukasa was surprised by this, Amane did a double murder, but he wants Nene to live. This time, he let her free from the prison he created, but still, Tsukasa says he is selfish.

That's because Amane killed Tsukasa, arrested him, but didn't give him the freedom to choose to leave, like he gave Nene. Even though he had already tried to arrest Nene other times, Amane gave her the freedom to live, but did not give her the freedom to choose to take her own life, like he did with Tsukasa.

Amane's love imprisons.

His evolution…. how could I say… a boy who started one way and remains in that state… has he evolved or are we just getting to know him little by little?

He is someone who fears himself, he is not evolving, he is slowly showing us who he really is, making the same mistakes.

After all, Nene is just like Tsukasa, what happened to him will happen to her.

Perhaps?

Even after all these years, I still wonder who the real Amane is.

[doorhine]

I think the show does a really good job at validating and empathizing with Akemi’s concerns as a woman living under a patriarchy while also acknowledging her privileges, not just as a wealthy person, but as a literal princess. There’s a lot to be said about Akemi’s dynamic with Madame Kaji and the other sex workers but right now I’m focusing on her and Mizu as two main characters whose experiences as women contrast each other the most. I specifically want to talk about the end of episode 5 because it’s a culmination of so many things.

*SPOILERS BELOW

Mizu obviously isn’t there to personally see the misogyny Akemi experiences so from her perspective, she has no real reason to empathize with her running away. Mizu also just has her own priorities with her revenge quest. But even with the lack of context or understanding of Akemi’s situation, Mizu and the other sex workers' judgment of Akemi isn’t unfounded because she has real privilege over them. As a princess, she has an unfathomable amount of wealth that lets her live a life of comfort and luxury so far removed from other people’s experiences to the point where, Akemi herself states that being rich like that makes you forget that you’re rich. And while Akemi is clearly shown to utilize the skills sets she does have to her advantage when she runs away, it’s not an insult to her intelligence to acknowledge that getting as far as Madame Kaji’s establishment was also the result of luck because there’s so many ways that things could’ve gone wrong on the way there. 

So for Mizu to encounter Akemi

A princess who ran away from all that luxury for the sake of a failed marriage with a guy who bullied/hate crimed Mizu as a child and wants to duel and kill her for his honor/social status in the present (when social climbing was never truly possible for Mizu even when disguised as a man and because we know how her marriage ended)

A princess who tried to kill her and says she only regrets not doing it immediately 

A princess who calls her a monster just like everyone else 

A princess who has no idea Mizu’s even a woman or all the experiences that got her to this point, including the assassination of Kinuyo (who didn’t want to die) at Madam Kaji’s request because women have to be practical and think of the results (not how they get there) when it comes to revenge 

A princess who may have fought to help defend Madame Kaji and her girls but then expected a mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted Mizu (suffering from multiple puncture wounds after doing the majority of the killing/defending) to fight Akemi’s own guards like a personal attack dog when doing so would’ve more than likely killed her and Ringo while Akemi still lived and got taken back home…. *takes a deep breath*

It’s totally understandable why Mizu just lets them take Akemi. 

On Akemi’s part, she doesn’t know the context around why Mizu is the way that she is but at the end of the episode assumes that she’s not capable of love when they’ve only known each other for… not even a day and half technically speaking. Meanwhile Mizu’s assessment of Akemi’s privilege is still accurate in certain ways despite her lack of context that makes Akemi empathetic to us as the audience. Also, not that Mizu sees this happen, Akemi is able to maneuver her way around the shogun’s court and her new husband while also uplifting and hiring Madame Kaji and her girls to both their benefit. A path she chooses to continue taking at the end of the season. It’s still within the confines of the patriarchy and not without its challenges, but Akemi is taking advantage of the privileges she does have when she previously took them for granted. 

Both Mizu and Akemi are just so nuanced and well written and this scene is a perfect example of how and why they clash due to such drastically different lives shaped by their social status. I’m curious to see how their journeys will go from here and what circumstances reunite them (for better or worse) given where they left off with each other during the season finale.

[waterfire1848]

Au. Where azula didn't only just focus on bending, but also to everything (combat, weaponry, chi, meditation, and being a assassin/ninja, and learned that lightning redirection in just 5 minutes) and mastered and remastered them all.... And that azula is not that blind (and know she's starting to get insane but realize why should she care about them?) and after ozai tells her that she's not coming and stays in FN and be fire lord, azula challenge him to agni Kai (azula not blind enough to realize she's far more stronger and powerful than ozai, blinded because of her fear) and wins, who makes the fight for ozai super long and hella painful.

Hello, @lala-ann-11 !!!

1. When Azula is a child, she’s brought up as a soldier but Ozai knows that if he plans to use her in the field then she needs to be a master of other things aside from firebending. Along with her bending, he makes her study weapons and combat and everything else under the sun. When Ty Lee shows off chi blocked, Ozai has Azula constantly learning from her until she has it down. He basically wants to make sure he has the ultimate weapon. And, by the time she’s fourteen, that’s what Azula becomes.

2. Ozai also makes sure Azula is educated and sends her to school as early as possible. Not only does this help her learn strategies but it gives her access to books from before the war. In all honesty, Azula started off reading just with the intent to learn more and please her father but as she began to read she saw more and more what things really used to be like (since these books would be untouched by FN propaganda). She’s not 100% against the war now (because she’s still a child and believes that her father is right) but she is starting to see that maybe he got some things wrong or maybe the world wasn’t as horrible as he told her. (I swear this won’t become a Tangled AU)

3. Azula is sent out into the field after the Avatar and does somewhat struggle (mostly because she’s on brand new ground and fighting enemies she’s never encountered before) but it’s very similar to the show where any set back she suffers is for a minute, if that, and then she’s back in the game. Only now, Azula also has her knowledge of the world before the war and gets to see how the EK is faring from it. Again, she’s not 100% against the war but her teaching of FN propaganda is starting to break. While fighting, she also gets a moment to speak with Aang which only furthers her belief that maybe things aren’t that perfect (Aang: You know, before I went into the ice, the Fire Nation and Air Nomads had a yearly celebration together where we brought food, played games and at the very end used firebending and airbending to create different pictures in the sky. Some of the teenagers used their bending to try and fly around. Azula: That sounds really fun…I wish I could have seen it. Aang:…Maybe one day it’ll come back).

4. When Azula starts suffering from her mental breakdown, it goes a little different. In canon, she had time to form a bond with Ty Lee and Mai so their leaving really hurt her, but here? She doesn’t have that same bond with them, so them leaving, while upsetting, doesn’t completely break her. She does grow a bit paranoid and become more agitated but doesn’t get to the point of hallucinating. And her agitation actually works to her benefit because it gives her the push she needs to fight against Ozai. (Azula: Shouldn’t have spent all that time making me the ultimate weapon). Let’s just say Azula has A LOT of pent up anger towards her father (Fire Sage: Princess! Princess, you won! Azula: In a minute! He still has some unbroken bones!)

5. Zuko and Katara arrive to face Azula but find her already crowned and telling them that they don’t have to worry about the Fire Nation anymore. She tells them that she called off the airships. (Zuko: And where’s father. Azula: I don’t know. Bleeding somewhere. Zuko: *Shrug* Okay) Aang, Sokka, Suki and Toph return to the palace where they all have a long talk with Azula about what should happen next. Much to their surprise, she gives the crown to Zuko, saying that she wants to have the chance to be free for a while and explore. (Azula: But I’m coming back at some point. Zuko: Maybe we could be co-Firelord’s when you return. Azula: I’ll think about it.) Azula leaves right after Zuko’s coronation and heads off to finally be free of her ultimate weapon title.

[lanonima]

Talking about anime @docholligay and @sola-nine

*prefacing this with I don't like watching things in Japanese so I watch anime in English and donghua in Chinese, those are the specific versions that I'm talking about

**also not including Mushi-Shi, Kino's Journey (2003), or Frieren as Doc already watched some of/is watching those, though I'm happy to talk about them!

It's a little bit long. It's 10 anime I love a lot, and sort of roughly in order of things Doc might like from most to least likely...?

Starting with the queen of my heart, my most beloved, probably will not ever be dethroned

The Twelve Kingdoms (2002)

I said a little bit yesterday but this is primarily about a girl who gets violently ripped away from everything she knows and dropped in the middle of the strange, hostile land by herself after being told that she is supposed to be the queen of these people that she knows nothing about. It has a focus on iskeai as something difficult and horrific that isn't present in a lot of shows of this nature. I love the art, I love the character writing, I love the whole package.

As the title says though it does focus on more than just one kingdom, and there are running themes about what it means to be a chosen one, who's doing the choosing, and what they have to gain by telling people that they're special.

My only complaint is that the last few episodes start the next major story arc and then get cut off, so it always leaves me wanting more u__u

Eighty-Six (2021)

Look my top 3 anime had been Twelve Kingdoms, Mushi-Shi, and Kino's Journey for almost 20 years until this show came along lmao

I do think that you probably should at least Enjoy: mecha shows, war dramas, and/or post-apocalyptic stories to really love this, but I still think that this is a perfect example of its genre and one of the best animes I've ever seen, if not the best. I read the first novel and while I think the base story is solid, it gains a lot from being adapted into a visual media because they're just so clever with how they do things!

I would say the running themes of this one are what it means to be human, what it means to be alive, and what it means to be able to make your own choices in life (as well as the cost of war on the people involved in it).

Fantastic Children (2004)

This is perhaps my most obscure cut, at least as far as the purpose of this list goes, but I love this anime. I liked it a lot when I was young and finally got a chance to rewatch it about a year or two ago and not only did it hold up but I actually like it more as an adult than I did before.

Probably the anime that I have the most pretentious things to say about. I don't know how to talk about it without giving a lot away but running themes are death and loss and reincarnation and the effects of not being allowed to die.

Link Click (2021)

Chinese show about two guys who can enter the past using photographs and the ways that this goes compoundingly wrong almost immediately. The first two seasons are both really solid, I'm still part of the way through season three so I can't say for sure that it continues to stick the landing, but so far the third season has also been really good.

I don't want to say too much about it (again) because it's mostly mystery and suspense, but it's difficult to do time travel stuff well and I think this is a very interesting take on it that hasn't let me down so far.

Trigun (1998)

I know that most people preferred Cowboy Bebop as their sort of Space Western choice but Trigun has always been my favorite.

While it might be a little bit goofier than Doc would particularly prefer (the show is definitely over-the-top), it is another fun example of a character who suffers for his choice to be a pacifist.

The new one is okay, but it's missing some key things in my opinion. (why would they not make the main characters insurance claims investigators, that is such a funny choice and they should never have gotten rid of it, also the guns are really boring compared to the original)...I just like the old one lot more.

.Hack//Sign (2002)

I know these days there's a lot (A LOT) of shows about characters getting trapped in video games but you know what, this one was here first and it's still one of the best.

I think it's fun that only one character is actually trapped in the game. Everyone else plays as normal, and the other players who encounter them end up getting pulled into this mystery of who they are and why they're stuck and what is actually holding together this game that they love so much. And it also deals a little bit with their lives outside of the game too. This has just been one of my favorite animes for a long time and it's a very solid choice in my opinion.

Last Exile (2003)

It's been so long since I've seen this one that I think I will struggle to talk about it succinctly, but I've loved it for a long time (also has one of my favorite soundtracks NOT made by either Yuki Kajiura or Hiroyuki Sawano).

Essentially airship delivery pilots get pulled into horrific and mostly senseless conflict happening between their country and another country, there's a lot about the spirit of exploration and how the greed of the upper class is destroying the planet and how you can do totally horrific things and not be censured for it because ~it's not war crimes as long as it's following the rules of chivalry~.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan (2015)

Arlsan is a Story Of All Time for me and while I don't know which adaptation is definitively my favorite, I wouldn't necessarily say the newest anime is it…but it is certainly one of the most accessible in terms of availability and also understandability. (I have a soft spot for the 90s OVAs but they don't explain Jack Shit about anything. Beautiful art though). I do actually like the new manga more than its anime but I do still enjoy the anime too. Also this newest adaptation was spearheaded by the chick that wrote FMA so the art is familiar haha

Anyway this is a historical political war drama set in a fake medieval Persia and deals with issues of war, religion (lots of tie in to the Crusades), inheritance, what it means to be a good king, etc.

The Elusive Samurai (2024)

This is a partially fictionalized account of a real historical figure from Japanese history. Most of the characters are children and it does lean a little bit into juvenile humor BUT I've been saying it all along, ever since the manga started coming out, if you like historical war dramas, you should check this out.

Also if you're a big fan of animation, you should check this out. The animation in the peaceful scenes is beautiful but the animation in the action scenes is stunningly fluid and experimental.

I love this one enough that I watched the anime as it came out in Japanese which is really saying something, and the experience of watching it did not disappoint me.

Seraph of the End (2015)

I will be fair and say that I don't think this anime has much, if anything, for Doc but I love it. It's created by people who thought "I want to write about A, B, C, D, E, and F" but never had the thought that maybe those should be separate stories...it has everything. It has vampires, it has demons and demonic possession, it has horrible plagues as proof of divine wrath, it has an interesting idea about angels, it has the apocalypse, it has monsters, it has cults, it has human experimentation, it has political maneuvering, it has battle and strategy, it has high school bullshit, it has a decent helping of homoeroticism...

Not to say that I have no complaints about the show, I certainly have some complaints, but nothing that seriously affects my enjoyment of it. Do I think that the authors know where they're going with any of this? Absolutely not. Do I think that they're going to be able to land any of the planes they have in the air? I also have no idea.

I think anime is insane, and I personally think that it's really fun. That's all.