#barrel's end

[aondaneedles]

Barrel's End during generation 3

[idk-tbh-idk]

“I see a man who gets to make it home alive… but it’s no longer you”

Miles posting

Don’t take the “something in the way” seriously pls, I was just messing with the brush and — yeah

Doodle uhhhzzzzz

[elventhespian]

So like... it's a Thing in all fandoms where fans sort of latch onto fanon versions of characters and their dynamics with each other that are actually completely off-base, right? I don't know if this phenomenon has an official name, but I've seen it so many times and it's fascinated me every time. Especially when a character's popular fanon selves don't end up just diluted from their source material, but straight up OPPOSITE their canon portrayal.

So one of my "favorite" variations on this was how the early PotC fandom used to get Will EXTREMELY wrong, especially in comparison to Jack, and it made finding in-character fics SO. DAMN. DIFFICULT.

I've talked about this MULTIPLE times before, as have several other fans. It's a dead horse being beaten. But basically certain prevalent takes on fanon!Will have in the past leaned towards a personality that was very patient and grounded and even demure to contrast against Jack's off-beat personality and Elizabeth's fiery rebelliousness. Because Elizabeth has the drive to push back against social norms, Will became the foil who fell back to his pre-pirate version, reluctant to break rules unless she pulled him into it, even in post-CotBP timelines. Likewise, Jack was the one with the WTF decision making, while Will was more rooted in reasonable decisions.

And by their appearances, archetypes, and certain elements of their world views, you'd THINK that's how it works. When we meet Will in the governor's foyer, Will is so lovestruck and doe-eyed and subservient to the governor, I think that people thought that's just Who He Is. Especially because he often acts as Jack's straight-man foil in the comedic elements. Straight-laced. Rigid. Even boring or timid.

But if you actually pay attention to the movies, it's very much the opposite. In canon, Jack's USUALLY the level-headed one who just happens to have chaos follow him, because of the way he can wield it. He thinks in long run, tries to solve problems with words and as little fighting as possible as often as he can. Ideal situations for Jack are more like a thief--he wants to be in and out of the job as silently and slick as possible. The scenarios he's in are insane, because the way he throws other people around with those scenarios is kind of insane, but he himself remains largely cool and collected.

That's Jack.

THIS is Will:

Canon!Will starts out literally so impulsive and rash, Jack has to physically manhandle him at certain points to keep him from blowing up his plans--and then still gets taken out because he underestimates his listening skills and impatience. Will corners Jack into what is functionally a cage match to the death by sanely locking the door with his sword and very nearly wins. He is constantly at 11, constantly demanding things be done faster, more directly, and at the same time quietly scheming behind Jack's back almost from the get-go. He does flashy jumps and flips off of things because using the stairs is too slow or whatever. He shows up in DMC yelling at Jack to give him his compass at the point of the sword, and insisting he'll get Davy Jones' key by just "cutting down everyone in his path."

Even when Will mellows out significantly in AWE, there are remnants of this contrast still there. Jack's plan for leading Beckett to Shipwreck Cove seems to have been a very reasonable and underhanded effort to deliberately make sure Elizabeth is inside the Cove while Will is on Beckett's ship, in command of the Compass. Meanwhile Will's plan was to leave a breadcrumb trail of vulture-sea gulls feasting on dead soldiers' corpses.

What I'm getting at is, yeah, Jack's a charismatic "rogue" and Will's a "romantic hero" TECHNICALLY. Jack makes quippy jokes, and Will glares and scowls and WTFs back. But not only are they are both more alike than people give them credit for, they are also totally opposite their roles' traditional personalities in ways that the fandom tends to overlook.

TLDR; Jack's crazy, Will's a sweetheart. But Will is also a manic gremlin, and Jack doesn't always know what to do with him about it, so they often end up something like this:

And more fans need to play with this fact, the end.

[donutfrost]

playing around with the idea of noise form neku

[socksandbuttons]

how would they react to ruin being bean-ified?

i think ruin wouldn't mind being a bean

Squints i dont think he's really here yall. I don't think he'd like it.

I think Neko made the funniest comment on this tho

[annimatour]

for outlast fans who have double standers towards FICTIONAL CHARACTERS and gender

[shehzadi]

armed resistance is the key, july 2024 (by @thejaamuntree aka me)

notes:

in the first media, the figure in the kuffiyeh represents abu obeida, the spokesperson for hamas’ military wing, the al qassam brigades. alongside it is a quote from the speech given by abu obeida on july 7th 2024.

in the second media, the illustration shows a key, symbolic of palestinian steadfastness and their right to return, morphing into the qassami al-ghoul sniper rifle. the quote “it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom” is from the martyr sheikh izz el-din al qassam, after whom the military wing of hamas is named, and is the line with which abu obeida signs off his speeches.

p.s. these are scans of paintings done on paper using acrylic paint and the lettering is collage. click on the images for better quality!

[astral-herald]

Uncritically Enjoying Mage Viktor

sometimes when i turn off my angry (logical) brain, i achieve some very sentimental mage viktor clarity that i would like to share <3

this is a lot different from my other Thoughtful "Analysis" Posts. my plan is as follows: address my understanding, slim though it may be, of mage viktor; bullet-point all the less than critical/theory driven reasons why he makes me happy; make a somewhat melodramatic point about reading/viewing for fulfillment over critique. mage-tor enjoyers, unite!

What is Mage Viktor's Purpose?

Try as I might to turn off my thoughtfulness, I am typically critical of the media I enjoy, so I'll be among the first to admit that Mage Viktor was certainly a retcon. That seems to be the fandom consensus, so I won't reiterate too much on that point. It makes shots like this especially funny, though, because that is simply not the Viktor we know, interdimensional or otherwise:

But something I would like to push back on is a pervasive "favorable" read on Mage Viktor as we come to know him in season 2. I fully disagree with the idea that Mage Viktor sought Jayce out in every timeline because he loved Jayce, rather than as a means of saving the countless innocents Viktor in other timelines would inevitably kill thanks to Hextech, the Glorious Evolution, etc. Hear me out for a second!

Bestie @arowyn-m pointed out to me that Necrit confirmed that Hextech is THE canonical event, the linchpin, so to speak, that ignites the chain of events we see culminate in season 2. These are the same events that Mage Viktor seeks to prevent. It takes however many lifetimes and iterations of mass destruction for Mage Viktor to gather two vital facts about the universe: Hextech is the inciting, inevitable incident, and Jayce is the complementary indelible constant. Hextech is inevitable, but only Jayce can show Viktor how to stop it.

Viktor's love for Jayce is not what motivates Mage Viktor to seek him out - it is the inevitable result of their being "inextricably bound." Reducing Mage Viktor's manipulation of time/space/what have you to his desperate need to protect Jayce in every timeline morphs him into a very out-of-character Genocidal Eldritch Being when he's supposed to be the antithesis of OUR Machine Herald Viktor. By taking up Mage Viktor's quest to kill Machine Herald Viktor under these very specific circumstances - acceleration rune in hand - Jayce can end the cycle. He trumps the inciting incident. His love for Viktor reigns supreme.

The fact that this is so awkward to explain speaks to the severity of the retcon. I guess what I'm getting at is that Mage Viktor was not acting out of selfish, obsessive love (as romantic as that may seem to some); he was searching for a way to right his wrongs and found it in Jayce, his inseparable other half.

"Only you could show me this."

MORE TO THIS POINT: even Mage Viktor, for all his implied wisdom, having seen countless lifetimes wherein they failed to stop Hextech, still does not anticipate the depth of Jayce's love for him. He (presumably, because don't see this exchange, because Riot made egregious cuts) tells Jayce that the Viktor of this world must die. Jayce "can't fail." As far as I can tell, he never tells Jayce that he has to die along with him. Jayce rejected Viktor's bid to be partners again, after all...

Mage Viktor, like the true Viktor that lurks within the Machine Herald, still believes that Hextech is fully his fault. He still believes in his own weakness and his shortcomings and is so reliant, obsessed with independence that he refuses to share this responsibility. When Mage Viktor reveals himself to Machine Herald Viktor, and he's confronted with the depths of his own feelings, he shoves Jayce away in a last-ditch attempt to preserve his isolation.

Jayce does not allow this.

The love that keeps Viktor "inextricably bound" to Jayce is not one-sided. Viktor, in all iterations and timelines, does not bear the responsibility for Hextech alone. In his dying moments, when he finally understands that LOVE is what has kept he and Jayce together all this time, his humanity returns to him. They save the world - literally. Love literally conquered all. No Viktor, not even Mage Viktor, anticipated this. All Jayce really had to do was kill this Viktor, but he couldn't bear to part ways.

TLDR: Mage Viktor found a way to save the world, but Jayce found a way to reignite Viktor's humanity. Neither of things could coexist without the other.

Smaller, Less Important Reasons Why I Like Mage Viktor

I'll never forget the breathless whiplash I felt upon Mage Viktor's reveal. I feel pretty alone in that experience - oh well! I'll be the pariah! - but here are the reasons why he's made such an impression on me.

Seeing an aged Viktor hit me like a bus. I know he's still stricken with the arcane, but there's so much wisdom and kindness and life experience in his expression. I never thought we'd see that. I doubt he did, either.

BEARD VIKTOR TRUTHER.

It gives Viktor some agency back. I wrote in an earlier post that Mage Viktor being the one to liberate Viktor from his own tragic narrative is pretty awesome, and I stand by that.

Mage Viktor's vulnerability. I feel like Mage Viktor, finally realizing that this Jayce is the right one, that this moment is the pivotal one, says a lot of what Viktor in all timelines longs to say to Jayce.

The question of lifetimes - how many times did Viktor search for Jayce? How many times did he watch a timeline go by without him? How much loneliness did he endure (for the greater good?). What was it like seeing that in-universe Viktor had killed Jayce?

Reading Uncritically (I Swear This is Relevant)

Rita Felski, a very cool literary critic who we all should read, said the following about reading critically (the way that lots of us engage with Arcane on tumblr): "It is a mode of interpretation that adopts a distrustful attitude toward texts...that remain inaccessible to their authors as well as to ordinary readers" ("Suspicious Minds" 216). Even though she's writing about academia/literary criticism, I think her point still stands. We engage with media with the intent to expose, unearth, and problematize. We eagerly search for moments where the text fails us at the expense of the "superficial" that would otherwise uplift us. We are practicing the "hermeneutic of suspicion," which can be exceptionally draining.

It's pretty melodramatic of me to apply this kind of theoretical work to Arcane, of all things, but this story means a great deal to me. It is deeply flawed - the Mage Viktor retcon is kind of appalling if you stare down the barrel of suspicion. But, in looking through a reparative lens (Eve Sedgwick's word, not mine), I see Mage Viktor as a agency-ridden Viktor, an aged Viktor, a vision of the future Jayce and Viktor together make possible. I'm enriched by that.

Felski asks us: "How else might we venture to read, if we were not ordained to read suspiciously?" (232). What can we derive from Arcane by putting the pieces together with the goal of harmony and fulfillment? In the smallest sense, we may feel a bit better about the ways in which season 2 seriously let us down. In a larger, more hopeful sense, moments like Viktor confessing an ultimate love and attachment to Jayce, and Jayce returning it in kind, may fill us with an even deeper appreciation for unconditional love as the culmination of human connection, a world-ending and world-renewing thing that stares down the BBEG of Arcane and wins.

You could probably read all of this as my apology for enjoying what so much of the fandom has condemned. That's alright. There are so many pieces of Mage Viktor that fragment under the critical microscope, but I can't shake the emotional impact of his reveal, so I'll live in that space for the time being. Had Arcane allotted for any explanatory conversations, flashbacks, and/or given up their soft world build to account for Mage Viktor, we'd be in a better place plot-wise. Alas, here we are instead. Everyone can point and laugh at me if they did all this just to bring back God/Made/Eldritch Being/Whatever The Fuck Viktor in future projects. That'll be my penance!

And, finally, if you really didn't like Mage Viktor, I fully respect that, but this is my self-indulgent post and I'm not overly interested in debating...there's little anyone could say that I wouldn't agree with. I'm just avoiding the suspicion of it all :)

[skywerse]

the eepening

[aondaneedles]

Gotta love romance sims. You rarely see a wants panel THIS conflicted.

[stuck-in-jelly]

Rayllum wedding but the Moonshadow elves have something akin to the bouquet toss where single members are free to attempt to catch an enchanted bouquet that is tossed up and flies around after the reception.

All Soren hears is “toss” and “the one who catches it wins,” and immediately dives for it purely out of competitive spirit. He is accidentally knocking the others over in his attempts.

By the time Rayla and Callum look over after hearing all the commotion he has already done 4 laps around the hall, chaos left in his wake as he determination only gets stronger.

Rayla is throughly amused since usually people will just jump up from their seats to try and catch it rather than chase it down like this, meanwhile Callum is half considering casting a wind spell to just give it to him at this point.

Ezran is cheering him on though telling him “you’ll get it this time!!”

[toa-va]

Toa of Gravity (She/Her)

[sysig]

Caughtcha, gotcha, not letting go ♥ (Patreon)

[isimchi]

Specter Funeral Home: Mortuary

(13 Dead End Lane, Strangetown)

[kidspawn]

I love the original four books with everything in me but sometimes I think about how The Raven King could've been stretched into a fifth book. I know each of the four original books kind of represent one of the main four characters through their themes and narrative and climax but the idea of a fifth book and how that plot would've looked actually keeps me up at night.

[scribz-ag24]

i doubt this holds any interest, because they are such a minor character, but i would like to bring Spiritomb to attention, even though their relationship with Dusknoir is very vague? If only because it is a character that rarely gets talked about, despite them being one of the only Dark Future Pokémon we ever meet, even taking the place of the prototypical pokemon in that time during Episode 14.

I think their vague status between "random Dark Future Pokémon" in the main story and then "dusknoir's servant" in se5 can make a fun example of how Dusknoir treats regular pokémon in his native time (i know the doylist explanation of why spiritomb is here is probably character economy, reusing concepts from the main plot to make the plot tidier, but let me ramble for a bit). Or, at least, it helps emphasize the casual cruelty dusknoir is able to display at this point.

Despite how eagerly Spiritomb jumped Grovyle in the main story, the way they speak makes pretty clear that this attack was not their own initiative. In fact, Spiritomb seems reluctant to even bring up their desire to leave. all in all they sound like a reluctant intern who's trying not to fuck up but really does not want to be here?

They clearly seem intimidated, or at least respectful of Dusknoir. They address him with suspension points, as if unsure, and once again states their desire to leave, despite not wanting to sound insubordinate. Rather than respect, I simply believe he's fearful. Which, uh, is probably understandable considering he's been ordered to keep Celebi hostage after she was captured by dialga and he's witnessing how much agony Dusknoir can cause to his enemies.

Nevertheless, their desire to leave could not be treated with less indifference from Dusknoir, who, in all fairness, is probably entering a big high thanks to his plan's success. Hell, he can't even stop himself from laughing (in satisfaction? or perhaps anticipation for his big evil laugh soon after) before ordering Spiritomb to stay.

"Remain with us a little longer!", he exclaims. The simultaneous downside and upside of text without voice acting is that the tone of the dialogue is heavily dependent on how we read it. In my own view, though, I'd say he's trying to sound like an affable host, kindly inviting Spiritomb to stay, as if they were friend. And of course, he has his followers block Spiritomb's path immediately so they cannot escape. The threat seems pretty clear to me in the scene, and for that reason I do not think it's a reach to say that Dusknoir would have ordered Spiritomb to be threatened or physically hurt if they expressed any more intentions to withdraw.

(the reason for wanting Spiritomb to stay is also left unstated, iirc? The most pragmatic reason would be assuming if spiritomb left, celebi would be left free, and dusknoir doesn't want that. However, we are given no indication that the sableye could not move celebi or that spiritomb needs to stay exactly there to neutralize celebi. Idk i think dusknoir's just being petty. "look at what i did everyone i am so proud of myself i am the smartest most cleverest boy that ever lived"<- about to get an existential revelation so great it kicks him out of the closet into the wrath of god)

From the casual manner in which he acts this way, I tend to accept this as Dusknoir's behaviour in situations where kindness won't get him what he wants. And accounting for his indifference towards Spiritomb despite them neutralizing a legendary pokemon that only Dialga could chase down, I hardly believe Dusknoir would treat the sableye any better if they ever showed signs of hesitation while following orders.

That fact makes the Sableye's seemingly long-time wishes of saving planet almost heart-breaking. If you talk to them before entering Vast Ice Mountain, they say it's hard to be brave, and it's curious to me how Dusknoir -while also being unable to be brave and see the point of sacrifice until the end of se5- was unwittingly contributing to the Sableye being unable to find that determination too. Both of them were contributing to keeping the future in darkness, not just physically by attacking the insurgents, but mentally, as not a spark of hope could ever flourish when their mission was to crush that very dream they held somewhere deep in their hearts.

I personally really like the way he acts so affable and welcoming while putting the sableye on spiritomb's back. It overall feels like a perfect encapsulation of his plan with Hero and Partner in Treasure Town: putting the front of a friendly, powerful, humble explorer while waiting for the chance to take Grovyle and the young explorers to their execution. Now he invites Spiritomb to stay as if this was their collective success, while ensuring he will keep this audience for his evil speech. Much like him going "or is it? ;)))" before kidnapping hero/partner, this playful attitude of his seems to suggest he's truly pushed his morals deep down so he can ultimately feel some sort of joy or triumph from these heinous actions. All in name of keeping his own dull existence going a little longer.

This clash between his kind persona and dark identity, which is toyed with and finally a key component of his development in se5, where he finally shows his inner goodness, is very compelling to me. And imagining him trying to connect with others in more genuine ways after se5 makes me soft.

[this was a reblog i did for the sableye&dusknoir post, but the post was weirdly formatted and it was bothering me so im putting it separately]