#and that in itself is very freeing

[transient-winds]

On their way to school for their daily dose of teasing their grade captain like kids embarrassing their parents

Sakura is not amused.

[intotheelliwoods]

Here it is, the 2 Arms Left Collaboration Comic!

Big thank you to everyone who participated! This was such a cool project! There was so much talent put into this thing and I am amazed by the results

Enjoy the finished product everyone!

=-=-=-=-=-

=-=-=-=-=-

The wonderful artists, in order of their panels appearance, go check them out!!

To help count without eyes getting lost, the people highlighted in orange were a part of the black and white flashback sequence!

1 @tangledinink

2 @roquog

3 @sunnyyyteaaa Sun!

4 @apollo-not-in-space

5 @wraenata

6 @abbeyofcyn

7 @dianagj-art

8 @rbtlvr

9 @vangh17a

10 @avidlylivid

11 @butterfilledpockets

12 @thegunnsara

13 @manga-toons

14 @idiot-mushroom

15 @centerofleesmind

16 @sunnyyyteaaa Tea!

17 @volcanicsleep

18 @phykoha

19 @princesskkfish

20 @cokowiii

21 @y0unginhumans

22 @bluesgras

23 @karmacomesaround

24 @heckitall

25 @sad-leon

26 @blue-star-doodles

27 @teainthesnow

28 @cartoonhostage

29 @hatchi-matchii

30 @last-hourglass

[free-luigi-mangione]

look it might not be obvious to the average layperson in america rn, but the reason why the prosecution brought up the socks thing in the motion despite not talking about it in court the day it happened and the way media ran with that story about how all Luigi supporters are deranged fangirls or something is because of a number of reasons.

firstly of course, it distracts people from the very real issues of full discovery not being handed over to the defense even though the deadline for submitting discovery is long gone according to the discovery law in NY and also from how Luigi's legal team had to and is still having to fight to make sure he's able to review all the discovery using a laptop. even tho he is legally entitled to the right to review discovery and MDC rules state that inmates can have a laptop to review discovery.

secondly, it continues the media narrative that everybody supporting Luigi are just there for his looks or whatever else the media keeps saying. they don't want people's very righteous anger and support to be taken seriously. because it brings up questions about the healthcare industry and the authorities don't want to deal with that.

thirdly, it makes Luigi's legal defense team look absolutely incompetent and makes supporters question their capabilities. this should not happen. they're highly qualified for the job of defending him and Luigi has some of the best lawyers that money can ever buy and of course, there's only one of KFA and i can't say anything more than that.

so instead of fighting amongst the people who support him (reddit mods not included here for obvious reasons), please be aware of the real issues and don't lose the plot.

[gaytobymeres]

My essentials for a solo day out

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[keferon]

*clasps your shoulders gently and looks you straight in the eye*

Keferon. Please read Ninth by Kyn on AO3. I think you would love it very much. It has a large chapter count, but don't be intimidated, it's very easy to get into. It is currently unfinished, but is being updated regularly.

You are the seventh person that recommended this fic to me so ahahahaha yeah

I’m doing great Help I hate some parts of it but I love the other parts I’m spinning in the blender

…..I made the moodboard….

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[kumari8670]

Her name is Helga Sinclair, and she's acting on behalf of her employer who has a most intriguing proposition for you...

Are you interested?

[gobstoppr]

Tetris Fanart.

I've been playing tetris while listening to horror podcasts. and yeah

[callizinc]

HELLOOOO CALLI, I hope you are having a good day!!! :D

I just wanted to talk about something I found, a supposedly cut piece of dialogue, from the purge event.... and I feel so bad and conflicted cause the person I got this from doesn't seem to want attention/interaction, so I'm choosing to not link the post itself, WHICH FEELS SO BAD TO NOT GIVE CREDIT, but idk what to do..... but anywayse

It's this:

Um. Ummmmm

Girl.....

"Everything hurts"??

"I'm doomed to suffer work after work for the rest of my life LET ME OUT OF HERE"????????

UM. GIRLIE.....

Like. Does she just. Not have a choice?? She said this is her destiny. Is she like. Maybe like a. Worker drone?? Cursed to forever toil (beyond death itself, as the watchers have said.... hmmmmm)??? Is this just her god forsaken purpose?

The post also mentions this dude:

(Which, curiously, they mentioned that this pose kinda mirrors ENA being stuck in the cubes at the end.... hmmm)

And like. If you talk to him in the auction area at the end, he also mentions that he was 'born with a purpose' and 'a disturbing relief is now in front of him', implying he's finally. Free.. or something..... IDK!!!

ITS JUST.

THIS IS SO INTERESTING... WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU ENAUR......

This could also mean not that much, seeing as this is cut dialogue after all, but idk. It does certainly seem to line up with the rest of the game in the end. And, well.... maybe it's just a commentary on how, as existential as it sounds, we ourselves are ALSO doomed to work forever in some sort of way if we want to survive... hashtag Capitalism, but. Idk. It just makes me so sad, dude. Why is ENA seemingly cursed to not be allowed any rest or happiness or joy or salvation ever 😭 SAVE MY GIRL!!!!!

(OK FIRST HFJGSKFDG. HI I did have a good day :] Thank you for the wishes and i hope yours is/was good too :D)

OK. SEEING THIS WHOLE THING IN MY INBOX. WAS LIKE RECEIVING A GIFT OF A COMICALLY LARGE RAINBOW SWIRLY LOLLIPOP. I GENUINELY HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS DIALOGUE BEFORE, And obviously, still take it with a grain of salt, as i know you have too Cause it's literally not actually in the game: BUT STILL. ...STILL.

THIS IS FUCKING. CRAZY. I feel like even if these lines aren't actually "canon" they still really encapsulate the Torment Nexus she is fucking going through in such a cool way... For example, only breaking down and showing any sign of weakness in a place where she's Supposed to let loose and relax because she just Can't Fathom that she'd ever be able to Do that...

BUT THIS IS FASCINATING BECAUSE LIKE... IN HER ACTUAL PURGE DIALOGUE, SHE NEVER ACTUALLY... ACKNOWLEDGES THAT SHE'S SUFFERING? IF THAT MAKES SENSE? Like "i can't afford another minute of joy" Still makes me crazy and so on, and all that other stuff too, But none of it actually shows her saying that she's in any bad type of way at all. Rather that she just... Really shouldn't be in that place. 😭😭And then in this dialogue she straight up just says that she's fucking doomed LIKE WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN????????????????????????????????????

(Maybe that's why this was cut/changed? to portray a slightly different version or mindset for her character, but. Shrug. No way of knowing either way and it doesn't matter i'm just #Twisted)

THAT CONNECTION WITH THE BUILDING GUY IS ALSO FUCKING CRAZY BUT I CAN TOTALLY SEE IT. I saw his dialogue for the first time in my last run and was... Flabbergasted 😭Soon i wanna go back and make a post on wtf he says and you will be the first one invited to it ok ....

AND. NO YEAH; I doubt knowing this text Exists will affect anything in the later game, but you're so right that it certainly lines up with the rest of the game, so i still find it fun and interesting—AND INSANE. I agree that it is absolutely continuing the rest of the game's commentary on #Capitalism and #SocietyBad But i am going to stop myself there because if i start talking about that theme i;ll never fucking stop.

FREE ENA!!!!!!!! FREE MY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIRL WHAT THE FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[turtleblogatlast]

Thinking about the Don Suave scene and what it means in terms of LGBTQ+ representation because my brain does nothing if not torment me with random topics to ramble about on the regular.

Anyway, I just wanted to ramble about why I like the scene but to get it out of the way - the scene can very easily be interpreted in so many different ways, and all of them are valid. I personally see it as Leo having at least some attraction to a man. And the following is an explanation of my own interpretation and thoughts on it and what it means especially for Leo’s portrayal in the grand scheme of things.

Long-winded interpretation under the cut!

Now, to start with, it’s important to me that in the scene Leo looks at Don Suave in the very beginning and then for the entirety of the rest of the time the man is on screen, Leo’s eyes are closed. Yet, in the end, he is still visibly enamored with Don Suave, happily cuddling up to him as he’s being carried away.

You can very easily interpret this as Leo being spellbound and that’s honestly super valid and I believe he likely was at least somewhat in the beginning, but considering how fast he looked away and how he never looked again, I personally think it makes more sense to read it as Leo just finding the man attractive, at least somewhat. (For the record, I personally headcanon Rise Leo as bisexual with a heavy preference for men, but I want to be blunt when I say that any interpretation is valid. Literally any. Ace, pan, gay, bi, none of the above or a mixture of something new literally all of it is more than okay and fair. Hell you could even interpret this entire scene as more romantic attraction than physical and it would still work. Anything goes!! Don’t bother people, guys, really.)

The main reason I take this scene to be at the very least LGBTQ+ adjacent isn’t just because of how it’s portrayed, but because of who Leonardo is. Not in terms of Rise of the TMNT, but in terms of the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™️ franchise.

Leo’s a character who, while changing with each iteration, has still at his core been around for decades upon decades as “the blue one”. One fourth of the team. He’s the one most are going to look at as the Leader, and oftentimes he is the one closest to having the title of Main Character. Not to say the others aren’t just as important, but Leo’s presence in the A plots of basically all TMNT media is often something very main character-esque.

And that’s very, very important to note. Here we have a Main Character of a prolific and decades long-running franchise distributed by a children’s television network. You can play around with his and his brothers’ characters all you like, but there is always going to be challenges to dodge around, especially since this was still in 2018-2019.

For example, you can play around with their designs so long as they’re color coded turtles, but their sexualities? Now that’s tricky.

“But what about Hypno and Warren?” Not main characters and also they’re Rise originals. They have a lot more room to play around with than a character like Leo does. But even talking about main characters in the franchise, you could arguably have an easier time playing around with Donnie or Mikey’s sexualities than Leo or even Raph, as (unfortunately) the former two tend to get more B plots, so they’d likely have had a little more leeway (still not a lot though.)

So, where does this leave us?

It leaves us in a place where outright stating and/or showing undeniable proof of Leo’s attraction to men is very, very difficult. So, workarounds!

Workarounds like the entire Don Suave situation.

To be honest, as left up to interpretation and lowkey and deniable as it is, this whole scene means a lot to me because of who Leo is as a character. It’s just nice when we get so see even the bare bones of representation with characters that have been such a large part of pop culture for decades, y’know? Even if more would be so much nicer, this is better than I thought we’d ever get for these boys.

And, again, literally nothing I’ve said is the only way to interpret it, I’m more than happy when people interpret media on their own honestly, it’s just something I’ve been thinking of lately and I was wondering if others felt the same way.

Whatever you think when you interpret this scene or Rise Leo as a whole, I just thought this would be interesting to think about, even if it was ramble-y, haha.

[beachbears]

I made these like a year ago for a friend group presentation and I never had the guts to post them until now

[icryyoumercy]

i kind of want to write a second part to a fic i wrote, but the story needs a lawyer, and also some understanding of. manumission, and the associated legal problems (in the context of murderbot diary secunits); and probably also labor laws, mostly about appropriate pay and work safety procedures; and theft vs. smuggling vs. liberation when it comes to living beings

which i could theoretically google, but i have absolutely no idea where to start apart from the us civil war, and possibly ancient rome, both of which are kind of difficult to find info on that i can understand as a layperson while also being (more or less) neutral and without judgement, and also neither seem very applicable for a science fiction story

so. uh. if there's anyone following me who knows about these things and is willing to explain things to me in small and simple words, pretty please?

[thatgoddamngingerundercut]

and I begin to bloom like a lotus flower once again the Agust D trilogy

[itz-pandora]

Thinking about Shadow and Metadow and Metamyadow

[ryuki-draws]

Some photo draw-in for a vague MahoYome idea with pre-curse Joseph travelling with two mages for a while before meeting Cartaphilus (aka "instructions unclear - apprentice acquired" AU) based on my two Slavic mages + Slovak Joseph headcanon (since Merkmal metioned him being from eastern Europe). And I wanted to use this photo I took back in 2015 for something as I still really like it!