#WHO DIRECTED THEM TO DO THIS AND WHY

[bean-spring]

Hot take and not to be a killjoy or the shipping police but people treating Viktor or Jinx's aroace headcanons as if they were canon is not the revolutionary take people think it is.

Headcanons are always all right but we have to acknowledge that they are somehow damaging when they apply to stereotypes. It might not be the case for everyone but most of the time people unconsciously assume that disability/mental illness=asexuality. These headcanons erase the freedom of attraction from people who are already seen as unable to have sexual/romantic experiences/desires, when it's completely untrue and harmful.

You can headcanon Viktor and Jinx as aroace, but I have seen people changing their minds once Viktor is no longer disabled (s2 with all of his other forms) and Jinx is no longer as mentally ill (alternate universe Powder). And it speaks wonders of how people see these characters.

"I never thought about Jinx being able to feel romantic/sexual attraction until s2!" To believe she's actually only capable of that when she's not "damaged" is incredibly disturbing. Especially since Jinx has always had a bit of a flirty personality too.

"I've always seen Viktor as asexual, I don't know why!" That's fine. You can headcanon him as ace. But I believe there is a reason behind it, most of the time, if for some inexplicable reason the "vibes" of the disabled character are making you think he's ace.

I say all of this being aroaspec myself, by the way. Headcanon all you want but going to people's posts commenting how "it's weird for you that they have romantic/sexual plots when they're clearly aroace" is not a win at all. It's a headcanon, after all, and it should be treated as such, and that's fine. But it also is damaging to spread stereotypes like these.

Of course the disabled character is asexual. Of course the mentally ill character is aromantic. It's not as revolutionary as you might think, tbh.

Fandom is not activism and it's all right to have any headcanons you want BUT some of them are filled with damaging stuff and perhaps we should look into ourselves more before treating these assumptions as something canon.

[vincentvangoghs]

When Tommy saved Bobby for the second time—this time eight years in the past—it flashed me back to last summer, when Tim Minear posted a BuckTommy video to his facebook.

In that video, a fan effectively highlighted the concept of 'Invisible String Theory' and how it related to BuckTommy as a pairing, while also pointing out how this made Tommy Kinard stand out as not just a unique and effective love interest for Buck, but also an influential character for the direction of the show in general.

So, having a new flashback where Tommy is the one to save Bobby in the past, when it could have just as easily been anyone else who saved him, adds even more contextual layers to the concept. Because had Tommy not intervened at this moment, Bobby likely would have fallen into the inferno and died, leading to the alteration or complete erasure of just about everything we have witnessed in the show since 1x01--never mind just Buck no longer meeting Tommy. It makes me consider that the concept of ‘Invisible String Theory’ may have actually resonated with Minear in a truly influential way once it was brought to his attention, via that video or elsewhere, and that he didn’t just post that video for mere fandom points. Because with this latest development, we have veered away from ‘accidental Invisible String Theory’, to what appears to now be intentional. With this latest development, the writing continues to integrate Tommy into the show’s past and present, while further establishing a strong foundation for his place in the show’s future. It's yet another solid piece of evidence pointing to true longevity for the BuckTommy pairing.

Hen has her Karen, Maddie has her Chimney, Athena had her Bobby, and Buck will have his Tommy.

[sonknuxadow]

its kinda funny that the chaotix are like the only characters who mention having to pay rent or buy food or whatever and theyll take any job that pays because theyre desperate for money but none of the other characters are struggling in this department at all even though most of them dont seem to have jobs. its like the concept of needing money to live exists for no one in the sonic universe EXCEPT for vector espio and charmy

[mollysunder]

The Medarda arc of s2 struggled to be good, because the plot viciously smothered it. You can argue that Arcane was never about politics but you cannot say the Medardas were never explicitly a family defined by politics. So when the show shifted it's priorities from a drama steeped in political conflict where even though the setting was fantastical the stakes were grounded to a shift where magic is the end all be all threat to humanity, the Medardas are rendered largely irrelevant.

In s2 Mel's agency over her own story is both largely stripped from her and poorly communicated. Arcane has Mel abducted from the plot to be the Black Rose's captive. Even when Mel manages to free herself it's not through the traits the audience understands are her strengths, her cunning and social intelligence, it's through an innate instinct that natural to her and indecipherable to the audience.

Ambessa as a character is more or less a villain of convenience, which would be fine if she wasn't immediately following Silco's act. Once Mel is removed from the story Ambessa is largely disconnected from any emotional tension fuels conflict between the characters and previously drove the plot in s1. She's there to play the worse bad guy for Caitlyn and then give Viktor the man power for the Glorious Evolution.

It's frustrating to see the Medardas used the way they are in s2 because when they're together I can see how it could be good. When they're together Mel forces emotion out of Ambessa. In Act 1, Ambessa proved she could do circles around Piltover's court, which could actually put Mel in a tight spot.

Their final scene on paper sounds like a good idea where the true resolution to Mel and Ambessa's story was that Ambessa saw Mel's own ruthless behavior as she not only betrayed Ambessa to the Black Rose, but used her as BAIT to double cross LeBlanc. Ambessa died proud that her daughter killed her the way she did, and that's so cool and tragic, but the execution was a flop.

One, their final fight is completely unimportant to the actual Glorious Evolution, Mel's grief can't even be a highlight because it's interrupted by Viktor's mind trap. Two, their fight didn't rely on any of Mel's actual strengths, just magic and the poorly explained MacGuffin LeBlanc gave her. How did Mel even know it would do that?

It's like the writers had the bones for a great story for the Medardas, but then they're like the world's worst archeologists and fit those bones together in the worst way possible because they were convinced the bones made a stegasaurus instead of a T-rex or something.

[turtleblogatlast]

Something I like about Leo is that he’s honestly really chill? It’s easy to remember the moments where he’s being obnoxious or excitable but I feel like most of the time he’s incredibly “go with the flow” and has an overall affable demeanor.

[ducktracy]

i was watching Jerma make tierlists yesterday and he ALMOST DID THIS ONE but thought it was "inaccurate" and skipped it and that made me so mad and upset that i decided to do it myself. this follows an odd and slightly convoluted logic so don't overthink it too much... but this is my verdict. 95% of this is born out of indifference towards certain characters rather than actual dislike

[dimonds456]

Gonna say something controversial.

Ford Pines is a nuanced character who is neither good nor bad. Absolving him of his crimes is actively a detriment to his character and does a disservice to the storytelling of Gravity Falls, but defining him exclusively by his mistakes without taking the time to understand him is a purposefully bad faith take that actively makes your enjoyment of the show worse.

He is neither a good or bad person, because "good" people and "bad" people aren't real. There's just people. And people fuck up sometimes.

If no one fucked up and if no one held onto those fuckups sometimes out of sheer desperation, the world of fiction would be way more boring, unengaging, and dull.

Ford Pines is a mess and I don't want him to be sanitized or demonized. I just want him to be a mess.

Thank you

[afurtivecake]

It's easy to get the impression that Tetsuji never cared enough to rein in Riko's behaviour and temper but I think it's the opposite. I think Riko grew up constantly being told stuff like, "You have to learn to control your temper" and, "Is that any way to behave?" by Tetsuji. I think Tetsuji would have even disciplined him harshly every time he was caught acting out of anger. But all that is coming from Tetsuji - the man who would beat a kid if they displeased him in any way. How can you ever really take to heart the words of someone who demonstrates the exact opposite of what they preach? How are you supposed to not learn that the real lesson is, "Become the one who has all the power over everyone else and you will never have to suffer criticism for how you behave ever again."

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i think fandom spaces would become much more enjoyable across the board if people stopped flipping their pancakes over other fans enjoying characters that they don't like. or, god forbid, like them but in 'the wrong way.'

[melit0n]

And so my favourite Ancient Greek site ever; Delphi!!

This place (and, of course, the mythos behind the oracle of Delphi herself) has been a fixation for me for years, so I was buzzing basically the entire time I was there.

While everything I saw was beyond gorgeous, this place took the cake. An absolute trek up a mountain side (with a further trek if you wanted to see the Pythian stadium, which I happily did), but we'll worth it. Massive props to everyone and everyone who traveled from literally anywhere in order to get a prophecy.

Speaking of prophecy (info dump under the cut)...

Okay! So! Delphi, aside from being a temple of Apollo, was considered the centre of the classical Greek world (and just the world in general), for a long time, mainly because it was the seat of the Pythia; the high priestess, aka, the oracle of Delphi. Which, fun fact, in Greek shares the same root word for 'womb'.

Now, the temples (as well as the village, various treasuries, gymnasium and theatre) at Delphi are of varying ages, with the temple of Apollo being built around 7th century BCE, before being burnt down in 548ish BC, and then again in the 4th century BC. The ones which you can see (and are in the photos 😌) are all from the 4th century BC. Two thousand plus years old.

Isn't that insane? Sure, not the oldest thing in the world, but walked by so many people. Awesome, in the truest meaning of the word I fear.

But, onto the Pythia. For a bit of context, the original site of Delphi is believed to have housed a different God, suspected to be Gaia, who's son/daughter (varies depending on what translation of the myth you're reading into), named Python (sometimes called Drakon // Drakaina) resided in a cave. When Apollo took over the site, he killed it, and, when he did, it caused a great chasm to open up in the Earth and spew gas. Henceforth, the oracle was known as the Pythia.

She would've also sat on a tripod over this chasm, of which with inhalation of the gas, the spirit of Apollo could posses her in order to give prophecies.

It's been debated whether this chasm did or didn't exist—it is highly possible for one to have been there; the area is known for earthquakes, and natural gas that causes hallucinations, such as methane, ethane and ethylene is able to come from the ground—but, either way, the priestess was high as balls when giving these prophecies. Either from gas, laurel (known in the modern age as Oleander), or both.

So, imagine, you've been travelling from Athens to Delphi for a week or two, have waited a month to see this oracle, only to step into a dim temple to see a lady probably between 40-60 years old, dressed as a young woman, with visable gas spewing out from underneath her, and she spews what sounds like absolute nonsense, in which, very helpfully, a priest translates into poetry for you to take home, which turns out to be scarily accurate. I'd be damn sure the Olympians existed too.

Her being so accurate is, in fact, what brought Delphi such high prestige.

While the idea of living breathing oracle is very cool, the way Delphi was set up aided her being so precise. As noted before, Delphi was considered a hub (would've had street markets, banks, small villages, religious sects etc.), with almost everyone there to see the oracle—people would be waiting weeks to months for a visit from her—and, during this time, they'd interact and talk with those around them. War plans would be drunkenly shared, marriages would be quietly talked of, and most of these conversations between generals and kings, and their messangers and servants, were all heard and noted down by the various priests in the area, who'd provide information to the oracle, and slip in some more details in their 'translation'.

Interesting, no?

The oracle of Delphi is dates back to about 1400 BC, with her last prophecy being delivered about 390 CE, to a Roman Emperor who began stating various laws to end pagan (classical Hellenistic) activities.

[clumsypuppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[ozcarma]

In light of the TGWDLM remount I’m tempted to make a compilation of my favorite parts of various student and community theater productions that have been uploaded onto YouTube…

[pseudophan]

sorry but i think if you saw one of the tour shirts having a defect and you got immediately angry about it accusing dnp and their team of deliberately scamming people instead of going "hm could this possibly be an unforeseen production error" you should delete your account and never post about them or anything else ever again :P

[lavendertarot]

Not all stories need antagonists necessarily but I do think it's very fun how, in the world of Milgram, the main antagonists are the audience themselves and a talking rabbit.

[flying-cat]

People don't want character redemption they want a revenge plot from a story that was never supposed to be about revenge

[toast-in-a-cowboy-hat]

I like to think that Felix looks exactly like his dad did, there's just so much potential there, from current time on into the future like. Imagine you're a child, a young teen, your dad is your idol, the Most Important Person in the World to you, you meet some of his friends, relatives, and they look at you and they go "Oh, you look just like your dad did at your age!"

And you're thrilled, because of course you are, you look up to your dad so much, you wanna be exactly like him, and now people are telling you that you even look the same as he did, it's great!

Then he dies.

And now, you see those same friends and relatives and they look at you and there's pain there now and they say "You look just like your dad did when he was alive when he was your age."

And they're trying to be nice, and there is comfort to that, he's always with you in that way, but it also means you can never get away from it, no matter where you go, it's always there.

You try to go out with friends, to relax, to try to forget about everything for a little bit, and someone comes up and "Oh, you look just like your dad did."

You go away to college, you come back for holidays, "Oh, Felix, good to see you, its been a while! How are you enjoying school, god, you look just like your dad did back when he was in college..."

You move away, to an entirely different country, no one who knew your dad is here, there's no one to comment on the similarities. One day, you catch sight of someone and, for a few moments, you're very confused, because 'Huh? Why is your dad here? What's going o—Oh.'

That's you. It was just a reflection.

Turns out there is one person here who knew your dad.

Time goes on, one day you're back home for a visit, someone sees you and says "Hey, wow, you look so much like your dad did."

...

So much.

Only so much.

Because you don't look just like your dad did anymore.

You can't.

He never got to this age.

Now they say "You look so much like your dad did" and all you can do is wonder.

Would you have looked just like him?

Would it have still been exact? Would your dad have looked like this? Would his hair have gone grey at the same time, would he have gotten the same wrinkles in the same place at the same time, would he have had the same aches and pains, would he—

It doesn't matter.

He didn't.

He never will.

And you'll never look just like your dad again.