#I GENUINELY WASNT EXPECTING THAT

[kegisaroused]

IM ACTUALLY SCREAMING.

[crows-home]

part of my nimona viewing experience. idk why but i got super emotional in the first five minutes.

ID by @peachygos

[ID: A comic juxtaposing screenshots from Nimona 2023 and drawings of a person watching the movie. The first screenshot is Ambrosius's introduction; he grins at the camera as the news anchors introduce him, his name in big print on the screen. The person watching thinks with a bored expression, "Ah. Ok. This guy is gonna be the jackass. Typical golden-boy stuck-up prince that thinks he's better than the underdog. I see where this is going.

The next screenshot is of Ambrosius and Ballister on the platform above the arena, Ambrosius doing his news anchor bit and saying, "Aaand will Ballister be broody on the biggest day of his life?" Ballister laughs at his antics. The person watching now has a small smile, as they think, "Huh! Aw, they're actually nice to each other and are friends! I wasn't expecting that, that's nice-"

The third and final screenshot is a shot from behind of Ballister leaning his head on Ambrosius's shoulder. The caption reads "the knighting ceremony is just moments away." The person watching now has a touched, soft expression, like they're holding back tears. They think "OH." as a partially transparent doodle behind them bends over crying and blubbering, with another doodle showing their heart shot through with an arrow. /end ID]

[starry-bi-sky]

Okay so this is almost a direct copy-paste of my earlier reblog but only the Xin Yuan parts, because its long enough to be its own post and i want to share it! It deserves it's own post <3 typical starry stuff to write a 2k word long reblog, unfortunately.

I say almost because I went through to proof read and ended up adding more stuff.

I've been cooking on this idea for the last two days since I saw the Xin Mo!Shen Yuan post but??? I can't find anything on Xin Mo's backstory or how it came to be -- which means that's free fucking plot right there baby. That's a sandbox and im making LIFE SIZED CASTLES. I'm so excited.

The idea of Shen Yuan transmigrating centuries before the events of PIDW as Xin Mo -- but when he wakes up, he's not the sword. He wakes up in the body of a young boy named Xin Yuan. Now it makes sense for this boy to be a demon, but the drama, the intrigue, the spice of Xin Yuan being a human child.

SY wakes up as a boy below the age of ten, and the System tells him where he is, and SY is excited to meet his favorite protagonist -- only to gradually realize that he's like, a thousand years or so before the events of the novel. The rant he gives the system is legendary.

Bc what's the point of getting dropped into PIDW if he's never going to meet his favorite character??? This is a scam! BUT he settles into his new life, he's like, some orphan street rat or some other tragic airplane-esq backstory.

The system gives Shen Yuan his first mandatory quest: become a righteous cultivator. Which was like, kinda his plan/hopes anyways, except! There's like?? No official cultivator sects anywhere? The Cang Qiong Mountain Sect hasn't even been established yet, and there are pockets of cultivators running around, maybe some groups or schools popping up and then sinking back down, but nothing's really taken root!

If he asks someone how to become a cultivator, there's no straight answer. No "oh you can go to X to do that". He's pissed! How can he become a cultivator if there aren't any schools around to teach him? Deus ex machina, that's how.

Out of sheer luck, SY manages to help save a rogue cultivator, and promptly gets adopted by said rogue cultivator, who gives SY the name 'Xin Yuan'. He is ecstatic. And you know what? It's actually pretty fun!

He's getting to travel the world of PIDW in its early stages, and gets to see the building blocks for the eventual main story. He's discovering all this local flora and fauna that are foreign to his old world and unmentioned in the book, and he's learning cultivation! Granted, its unsafe, newly(ish) discovered cultivation, but it counts!

Wistfully, he thinks about perhaps he'll do something grand and get his name carved into legend. Something that would eventually help the protagonist later down the line in his quest for revenge.

The system remains silent to his thoughts.

But Xin Yuan doesn't take much stock in that daydream anyways. It's nothing more than fantasy to him; wish-fulfillment. He does discover however, that he is positively brimming with spiritual energy. Overwhelmingly so.

It's both a blessing and a curse, as it puts a strain on his meridians if he's not careful, and leaves him prone to qi deviations for the exact same reasons. He already has a heart demon or two from a few traumatic experiences in the past.

(bc hey! angst a day keeps the writer sadism at bay, and all that)

I'll say he's about... eight when he gets picked up by the rogue cultivator, who I'm calling Lin Kai bc he deserves a name. They travel around PIDW up until Xin Yuan is twelve, where he goes through a traumatic experience that results in a heart demon.

It's after that that Lin Kai decides to put a stop to his wandering, and find a place to settle down to raise Xin Yuan in. Coincidentally! They settle down in a nice mountain region that's thriving with spiritual energy. The mountains at the time were called something different, but they will be eventually known as the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect

Coincidentally, the mountain Lin Kai and Xin Yuan end up on is Qing Jing Peak. XY does not realize that the mountain he's on is Qing Jing. The System does not tell him. But he likes it there, more than he was expecting. And as much as he's traveled around, he really does enjoy being in one place.

He has a tendency to go down the mountain and help the village setting up down there, and when he's a teenager he starts venturing out more and more.

Xin Yuan forgets sometimes that he's in a novel, especially after settling down on Qing Jing peak. The system becomes remarkably quiet since there's no quests for him to do and not a ton of opportunities to get B-Points. He cultivates with Lin Kai, helps tend to the garden they're growing, goes down to the village to play with the other kids.

There's one boy he's best friends with, a boy whose not all that good with words, named Liu Zhihao. He's got potential for cultivation though, so Xin Yuan drags him up the mountain when he can so that Liu Zhihao can sit in on lessons with Lin Kai. He drags him all over the forest at the foot of the mountain to go look at bugs and animals.

(One time, when they're fourteen and Liu Zhihao has been learning cultivation for a few years now, Xin Yuan drags him out of bed late one night to go look at the stars. Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao about ascension -- something that still feels like a far off dream to many in this time -- that night, while they're sitting on the wet grass.)

("We should ascend together." Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao, jade eyes gleaming. Never let it be said that Xin Yuan doesn't love deeply, no matter what kind of love it is. He was always so lonely as Shen Yuan, Liu Zhihao is his best friend. "We'll become immortals, and then we won't ascend until the other is able to.")

(Liu Zhihao stares at him silently, his face unreadable. Then, quietly, he asks; "Promise?")

("Promise.")

When he starts adventuring outwards, further away from the mountain and the village, Liu Zhihao sticks to him like rice. Not that Xin Yuan's complaining, that's his best friend after all, and Liu Zhihao has become a formidable cultivator. He deserves to show off his skills.

He starts making something of a name for himself by the time he's, like, 18 -- although that name is in its baby steps, along with Liu Zhihao. They're slowly growing renown.

Perhaps XY uses his knowledge of PIDW and cultivation in general to help make advancements in the cultivation field. Although the system prevents him from sharing too much, it doesn't mean he can't practice it himself. Perhaps he's one of the first cultivators to develop a golden core. One of the first known immortal cultivators. One of the first to have a spirit sword.

(Although I don't know the logistics of any of this since my knowledge on xanxia/cultivation stuff in general is all still pretty new and google wasn't all that helpful lol.)

Either way, its my excuse to eventually make Xin Yuan come across as ethereal to other people. Peerless beauty SY for the win. Hs wifebeam is too strong, Xin Yuan has a line of suitors following after him and he's completely unaware of it. The rest of history is not.

Demon realm stuff has been stirring up since Xin Yuan was a kid, but at the time it was rare and in the beginning stages. Its been steadily ramping up and the system is sending him on more and more treacherous quests -- some of them mandatory, some optional. SY doesn't often take the optional ones unless it comes with a sufficient B-point reward.

for all intents and purposes though, he's a wandering rogue cultivator with Liu Zhihao, going from place to place to either help a town or village, or to discover more creatures or artifacts (although there aren't that many). Just all around living his life. He participates in a few major quest lines that are sure to get him mentioned in legend, even if it's a background character way.

(Unbeknownst to him, rather than being a side character in these legends, he's named directly. You can't become one of the first immortal cultivators and NOT get name dropped for clout.)

He has a spirit sword named Shā Mó, (杀 shā - to kill/weaken/counteract/reduce) (魔 mó - evil spirit, demon, possession). He routinely goes back to QJP to see Lin Kai, or to rest when traveling has worn down on him and he wants nothing more than to sleep somewhere he knows he'll be safe in. It becomes more frequent as Xin Yuan becomes more famous. Liu Zhihao often comes with him.

it all comes to a head though when the rifts between the demonic realm and the human realm become too great, and the balance between both realms becomes unstable. A demonic emperor's influence, wanting to merge the two realms so he could conquer both to satiate his own greed.

Typical evil king stuff. This comes to a climatic head in a great battle between every cultivator available and the demon emperor's army. Xin Yuan was one of the many who helped lead the charge.

In the end, it was Xin Yuan who ends up defeating the demonic emperor, but the rift that the emperor used to cross between worlds is destabilizing as well. Except instead of trying to close, it's getting bigger and bigger, threatening to swallow the heavens and earth and demonic realm whole.

You know how Yue Qingyuan's soul is bonded to his sword due to a qi deviation? Let's take it a step further >:)

Xin Yuan uses himself and Shā Mó to close the rift. However, it takes all of his spiritual energy to do so, as well as him filtering the demonic qi into his body to redirect it back to the demon realm.

In the end, Xin Yuan and his beloved sword Shā Mó fuse. Xin Yuan's soul becomes trapped in the sword. His physical body is unable to handle the immense amount of power it takes to close the rift, and is destroyed. He is immortalized in legend by his grieving cultivators.

(Liu Zhihao ends up ascending alone. He ascends with the hope that one day he'll see Xin Yuan again, even if it's in the face of someone else. Lin Kai does not ascend, too weighed down by the grief of losing his son.)

Xin Yuan, now Xin Mo, falls into a stasis. He's very confused and disorientated when he regains 'consciousness'. The system has been silent for most of his life, only popping up to give him mandatory quests, hints, points, or to answer any questions.

But once he wakes up, it cheerfully pops up again, congratulating him on completing the origin story of Xin Mo. SY freaks the fuck out. he'd shake the system screen if he could, but he doesn't have arms. or legs. or eyes for that matter.

He can sense his surroundings, but its all like imprints to him. He can sense the energies, but he can't see anything. It's all very disorientating and horrifying after years of being human. Like a sensory deprivation chamber.

The closing of the rift and the cycling demonic qi tainted both Sha Mo and Xin Yuan irreparably, and it did some kind of damage that resulted in SY needing to feed in order to use the spiritual powers. Kinda like how Xuan Su uses YQY's life force for it's spiritual energy, but instead of feeding on his own lifeforce, Xin Mo feeds on others.

The rest is history. Xin Mo is originally tied to the story of Xin Yuan -- believed to be all that remained of the man after he sacrificed himself to keep the realms separate. It's believed that the force of the realms closing permanently infused Sha Mo with demonic energy, turning it into Xin Mo.

But, like many stories do when faced against the tide of time, things get lost; chipped off; changed. Xin Mo is steadily separated from Xin Yuan, especially once it becomes clear how parasitic the sword really is, until they are all but separate entities themselves and the origin of Xin Mo's creation all but forgotten.

The years blur together when Xin Mo is not being wielded, and at first Xin Yuan was agonized by the fact that he stole the lives of all his wielders. He knows it's only a novel, but his decades spent in this life have softened him, and he's grown attached to the world around him.

But time erodes the mind like water erodes stone, and he becomes numb to it, then eventually anticipating of it. He forces himself to remember what he knows of PIDW's plot, and kinda fixates back on his old obsession on Luo Binghe. But while PIDW stays in his mind, his memories as Xin Yuan fall to the wayside.

Not forgotten, per se, but... tucked away. The system prevents him from forgetting fully.

Xin Mo isn't fully a demonic sword either i think, but instead harbors an ugly cocktail of both spiritual and demonic qi. Special circumstances and all that. Everyone just assumes he's a fully demonic sword because that's usually at the forefront, his spiritual qi weakened from the initial fusion and from years of not being fed spiritual qi. It's part of the reason his wielders always end up destroyed by him, other than the whole, yk, 'overwhelming qi' thing.

Nobody would recognize Xin Mo's human form as Xin Yuan other than some truly ancient demons. Of which Meng Mo might. But even that's iffy because there's a lack of surviving paintings of Xin Yuan, but also because of XM's demonic appearance and supposed lack of connection to XY.

Xin Mo has never spoken to his wielders before, not in the same way he does Luo Binghe. He tells Luo Binghe this, and he also tells Luo Binghe down the line that he is both spiritual and demonic -- something he also never told his wielders because there was no point to it.

okay okay i've got to end it here because its already gotten ridiculously long -- of which im both apologetic and unapologetic for -- but i DO think the Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan meeting (and reveal) would be fucking hilarious. Especially if SY has learned how to pop between sword form and human form by then -- although i guess it doesnt matter either way because SQH's reaction is still the same.

And that reaction is internally screaming and going "hey what the FUCK?? WHY DOES XIN MO HAVE A HUMAN FORM??? WHAT IS THIS??? SYSTEM??? EXPLAIN???"

meanwhile from his place on the sword hilt xin mo is squinting at Shang Qinghua in bewilderment and going "aren't you supposed to be dead" but doesn't pay too much mind to it because its not like its going to change anything.

...up until he catches shang qinghua going "WTF" silently from his little corner while all eyes are off him. One moment SQH is standing beside his king, and the next he's been tackled to the ground by one wild-eyed, human-shaped Xin Mo.

everyone, including SQH, thinks Xin Mo is going to kill him. It is a surprise to everyone when he does not, and instead dissolves into deranged, uncontrollable laughter after spitting out some phrase in some ancient tongue and watching SQH's eyes grow wide in recognition.

[mochiiniko]

ANNIVERSARY BLAST

[skizz-in-places-he-shouldnt-be]

trick

cubfan blog now

[call-me-pup2]

Ask follow up questions 🗣

You know, actually try and find information about the person you're talking to thats deeper than just, for example, finding out the name of their favourite movie. Ask them why its their favourite, would they recommend it, how does watching it make them feel, there's so many details to get!

Its not that hard to show a little interested because otherwise you just look like you don't actually like the person you're talking to 🥴

(This isn't about my asks on here lol I mean in actual one to one conversation)

[rainyraisin]

Movie Gerald Robotnik: An analysis on how sympathetic does not equate to forgiveable and the differences between redeemability and forgiveability

Redemption is a possibility for every person. To be redeemed is to change for the better. And as Sonic states within this film, "You always have a choice". Choosing to be better is an integral theme within this franchise and has so far been shown through Knuckles, Shadow, and Robotnik, and the movies make a point of illustrating that anybody has this choice. Everyone can be redeemed.

But not everyone can be forgiven.

There is no threshold for where redemption no longer becomes a possibility, because being better is always a possibility, after all its well known that when you're at rock bottom, you can only go up. But when it comes to forgiveness, there is a threshold where granting that forgiveness brings your own morality into question. If you're willing to forgive something that bad, what else are you willing to forgive? The characters that Sonic forgives in these movies only ever get close to doing what they aim to, and these instances only occur because of manipulation, both Knuckles and Shadow being manipulated by one of the Robotniks to aid them in their plan, along with Eggman being manipulated by Gerald. The one character that does go forward with it yet still gets redeemed, Sonic doesn't even outright forgive like he does the other two. Eggman and Sonic never make amends or properly team up together. The one time they do team up is begrudgingly and it is incredibly clear that both sides still despise each other. Despite Ivo's redemption, there is no forgiveness there. Redeemability and forgiveability are not outright intertwined with one another. Being deserving of one does not automatically grant you the other.

Something else that most would assume is interwined with forgiveness is sympathy. You understand why someone has done something, so you forgive them for doing it. That's how the majority of people assume forgiveness to work. If you do not understand why someone has done something, then on what grounds can you forgive them? But sympathising with someone does not mean that their actions are no longer inherently bad or morally wrong, nor that they should be forgiven. And in my opinion, the perfect example of this concept is Gerald Robotnik.

Outside of the movies, Gerald Robotnik had never really been a character I'd thought much about. But something that is a trend with these movies is that they tend to bring characters I wouldn't expect to have liked or didn't previously think about any interpretations of to the forefront of my brain, and that's what happened with Movie Gerald.

The character of Movie Gerald is objectively sympathetic, yes. This man has been torn apart by his grief, losing the person he cared most about, someone he took everywhere and did everything for, and imprisoned for 50 years at the hands of the people who took her from him, only able to escape by giving them more power than they deserve to have (although I do believe that this incarnation of Gerald didn't expect GUN to have the chance to use it, he was incredibly quick to enact his plans and seemed very confident within them). But the movie makes a point to display how he is in no way a character that you should respect or care about, because he will not change. He will not care about others, and so you should not care about him.

One of the best examples of this is one of the first scenes within the eclipse canon, where Gerald forces Shadow to relive Maria's death in order to power the eclipse canon. This event was the downfall of both he and Shadow, the thing that led to the paths they are currently on and the entire reason that all of this is happening right now, but despite how emotionally charged this memory is for the both of them, despite him being the one other person who knows how damaging and absolutely devastating this moment was for the both of them, despite being the only person Shadow has left, he uses it against Shadow anyway for his own personal gain.

And yet, in that same scene, it visually displays how destroyed Gerald was by it. In one look, you can see the moment where this man was broken to the point of irrepability, a point of no return, and in that moment you sympathise with him. Because why wouldn't you? But as soon as that flashback is over, you remember how he has just used what caused that change to hurt the one person who understands, and suddenly all that sympathy is gone, because he does not care.

Gerald Robotnik is a manipulator. He is cold and calculating and any sense of sympathy or care he himself shows at this point is only there to serve his own personal goals. The people around him, the people you expect him to care about (Ivo), and the people he has cared about (Shadow), are only there to be tools for his ultimate plan. He does not care if they live or die, in fact his entire plan revolves around the fact that they will die. Every single human life is completely irrelevant to him. Is utterly disgusting to him. So why should you care? Why should you sympathise? When this man would vaporise you in an instant simply because you exist? For something that may have happened before you were even alive. Before your parents were even alive, in some cases. A small group of people caused this pain, and yet Gerald wishes to take revenge on everyone, no matter how innocent they are.

And the thing that hurts the most is that this change is so perfectly displayed through the flashbacks within this movie. One line that has stuck with me the most is "They want to take Shadow from us, Maria". From US. He cared about Shadow just as much as Maria did. Yet now, when Shadow betrays him, he does not show hurt. He does not speak of how much he trusted Shadow, and how he is saddened by the fact that he would act against him. No. He simply laments how Shadow was once so useful to him. He pratically raised Shadow, he knows he is a child, he refers to him as a child, a kid, yet now he only cares about how useful he can be. Someone he considered his child just as much as Maria is now pratically dead to him.

This man does not care about anyone and never will again. He cannot be forgiven, because he will not forgive anyone. He cannot be sympathised with, because he refuses to sympathise with anyone. He cannot be allowed to live, because if he does everyone else's lives will be forfeit. The choices he has made have led to him being completely unforgiveable, and whilst that sympathy is still somewhat there, it gets harder to provide the further on the movie goes, the more you see of just how little Gerald cares anymore.

I really love how his death was not given a single ounce of seriousness or importance. Every other death or near death experience in this franchise is treated with the severity and intense emotional charge that is necessary within these scenes. Even Walters, a character most people do not even like, is treated with respect during his death, and he is allowed to have his last words.

Yet Gerald doesn't get any last words. Nope, he gets a quill to the ass and get launched into a fucking bugzapper and is never mentioned again. It is utterly perfect for this interpretation of the character because he got the death that he would've provided everyone on earth. No last words, no chance to properly come to terms with the fact that they are going to die. Some may have not even noticed what was happening. Half the world wouldve been asleep. They wouldve all been there one moment, and gone the next. Just like Gerald. And I think that is the death he deserves, or at least it is at this point in his life. The point of no return.

Gerald had multiple chances to change. He always had a choice. He had 50 years to make that choice. He had people there who wanted to help him make that choice, tried to help him make that choice. *Ivo*, his grandson, the last family he had left other than Shadow, tried to help him make that choice. Yet Gerald rejects him. Because he is no Maria.

Gerald is completely hung up on something that happened so long ago, and he will never let that go. He would rather vaporise every living being, including his loved ones, because he lost one person. And whilst Shadow was going to make that same choice, he chose to change.

Some people may even be of the opinion that he had been put through more than Gerald had. Gerald had more family than just Maria and Shadow. Yet they were all Shadow had. Shadow was forced to relive that exact moment for 50 years whilst he was in statis because he had no other choice.

But Gerald did. Gerald always had that choice, as soon as he got out of prison he had that choice, because he had the freedom to do what Shadow could not on his own. He had the choice to not let his anger consume him. Other characters in this franchise have displayed not letting their grief ruin them. Shadow, someone who went through the exact same thing Gerald did, possibly something even worse, makes the choice to not let his grief ruin him, and to do the right thing. To redeem himself. To not let himself get to the point where forgiveness is no longer an option, because deep down he knows that that isn't what he wants. That isn't what Maria would've wanted. She wouldn't want him to reach that threshold, something that Gerald shows he doesn't even care about anymore when he states that it isn't about what Maria would've wanted, it's about what they deserve. Maria is now only the vehicle for his anger, something that pushes it forward but no longer the reason for its presence, because anger has consumed all that remained of him. Even though he says it is in the name of Maria, he isn't doing it for her. Not anymore.

Gerald is the example of someone who allowed themselves to pass the threshold to a point where they could no longer be forgiven, the complete opposite of Shadow. And what does he receive for this? Nothing. He does not get the revenge he wanted. He does not get an honourable death like Shadow does, and unlike Shadow, nobody cares when he dies. Because he always had a choice. He just refused to make it.

He didn't choose to be redeemed.

And whilst he is sympathetic, and always will be, he didn't choose to be able to be forgiven.

Gerald Robotnik is the perfect example of how sympathetic does not mean forgiveable, and is, in my opinion, the perfect villain for the Sonic Cinematic Universe. Because he openly rejects every theme that the movies uphold. He rejects family. He rejects being redeemed or forgiven. He rejects that he can change. He goes against everything that these movies and characters stand for, and all he has to show for it is a meangingless demise that only served to make people laugh. Gerald Robotnik is made out to be a joke. And that is the only part of him that will persist in death.

[furinfry]

If you guys see someone with skill in clipping shows/videos post Sakura's precious little laugh from the most recent episode, please tag me or message me or in someway direct me to it- I need to be able to listen to it on loop whenever I feel the need to sob over him not being able to hold in his giggle being surrounded by his ridiculous friends and genuinely laughing out of pure peace and love for the first time in who even knows how long

[queerhoodies]

we're all desperate here and must help each other so i'll post about a link for 2x05 as soon as/if i get one! and my dms are always open if someone gets a hold of one first🤠 just send it to me and i'll love you forever

[5-pp-man]

I never expected this but. My new boss is goofy is actually really genuinely good. It's not just a silly comedy about a guy who's awkward but sincere. I mean, it is in part, but it's also so much more than that.

It takes the framing of a boss-employee relationship and uses it to not only tackle abuse in the workplace, but it utilises it as a metaphor for abusive relationships as well.

Episode 6 in particular is a fantastic example of this. The whole episode is named after a small moment where Momo and Kinjo are out eating lunch. Kinjo scrolls through his ensta (insta) page and names the people he's posted about in the past. He mentions some ex-girlfriends, and with the same nonchalantness, an ex-boyfriend. Kinjo's indifference about his own bisexuality catches Momo off-guard once again, and he dwells on the words "ex-boyfriend" until Kinjo snaps him out of it.

It's already clear as day in the rest of the episode, but by naming the whole episode after this moment, it drives home the (thinly veiled) metaphor of "abusive ex-boss" = "abusive ex-boyfriend".

[theartstore]

look. ok. i knew when i started watching rtgame's expedition 33 video that tracy wiles would be in there somewhere. i knew she was in it. i was expecting her to show up at some point. i was physically prepared for the tracy wiles jumpscare. what i was NOT prepared for is that JENNIFER ENGLISH IS ALSO THERE????????

[fruk-choosing-a-username]

me: hey this npc fighting with us kinda looks like alistair from behind lol- HOLY SHIT

[sneppu]

uhhh idk lily thoughts (I'm about to spew critical rambling bullshit, big sorry. these things are my badly worded opinions and nothing else.)

thinkin bout how my feelings for Lily are so complicated tbh.. in canon, I cannot like her. I just can't. The disconnect between what the narrative tries to tell us about her and the reality of who she is and what she does are just too jarring to me. for all that she's meant to be a paragon of virtue and goodness, her actions and choices come across wrong and off and bad in a way that is visceral to me, as someone who has been bullied and sexually assaulted myself. And to clarify, I'm not talking about her breaking off her friendship with Severus; she had every right to do that, and I dont think I've seen a single Snape fan actually seriously state otherwise - but because she *knowingly and deliberately chose to get with an abusive bully.* That she and Snape were no longer friends is irrelevant to me. I understand not everyone feels this way, and that's fine. But It's important to me, and so it carries weight to me. The implications are just too offputting to me, and yes, I am biased. Snape is my favorite little guy, after all. I dont pretend otherwise. To each their own, and she, as written in canon, is certainly not for me, historical context and location be damned.

So i can't like her in canon. If anything, I cant help but feel acute resentment for her character, because it feels almost like betrayal to be told "here is a perfect and good person" and then get.. that. Ironically, I would like her a whole lot more if the narrative didnt try insist on her goodness and instead was just like "actually, ngl she was kinda shitty sometimes. questionable as hell. she was a bit of a gremlin and a little bit fucked up" because then it would feel honest. she would no longer feel like a hypocrite to me, and then those moments of kindness would carry more weight, would feel more meaningful. Her actions would be more believable, would feel more nuanced and I would maybe even love her.

...and that, ultimately is what my problem with her is. she has all the potential to be such an interesting character, but she instead falls short of being a full character at all. it's not her fault; this is a jkr skill issue (and her portrayal of female characters in general leaves A Lot to be desired.), so in the end i'm not too pressed.

its exactly why i like Lily so much more in the context of fanworks. Canon lily? offputting. An incomplete character. but fanfic lily? such potential! she could *actually* be the good person she was meant to be and make different choices or at very least have reasoning that makes more sense! or she could go a new direction entirely and be an absolute gremlin menace alongside Snape and in the process, add more interest and nuance that way! all of these things are enjoyable, and for this reason i cannot say I truly hate her - because I do love her so so much when people make her their own and make her make sense, to do her justice and preserve what - i think - would have been that spark that brought Severus and Lily together in the firstplace - whether it be genuine kindness, or a friendship based on being able to relate to one another at a deeper level, on having that shared weirdness together, or even both things! (that's not to say I love every portrayal; and sometimes there are pet peeves, but they do not ruin the character for me in that scenario, for the simple reason that in these fics she *IS* ultimately a full character, which is more than what can be said about canon lily.) ... and that's the joy of fanfics and fanart and creation, isnt it? that you can make your own ideas come to life, put things together in a way that makes sense to you, and see how others would make a these stories and characters come to life. its why I can despise the marauders in their canon, and yet ship everyone of them with Severus given the right scenario. it's why I can dislike snily in the context of canon, and see their relationship as purely platonic under that lens, and yet wholeheartedly ship them otherwise in the context of fanfics and fanworks. It's why when I say i ship Severus Snape with literally everyone I can truly and genuinely mean it. Because I do. I think theres always room for a scenario, for a characterization, or AU, to allow for it. Fiction is a lovely and magical thing, and it ultimately exists for enjoyment, for entertainment and creativity.

anyway, idk if i worded this wrongly or weirdly but tldr: I dislike and am put off by canon lily, but I love what lily can be, what she could be, what she SHOULD be, I love what fans are able to do with her, I love what I wish she was.

[good-beans]

today on Minigrams That Are Supposed To Be Funny But Leave Me Shaking Crying Grieving All Over Again

[olivewormz]

soo... we got a tactics demo, huh

[beesgav]

dont. look at me