#but this is the gist of it

[biggestwilliamfinnfan]

There aren't words to describe how heavily I feel the loss of Bill Finn.

Nothing but talented and underappreciated. His work changed the lives of surely thousands, and changed the environment of musical theater in the 80's (and modern day) for the better. He made being gay and Jewish seem normal, because it is. He shone light onto the AIDS epidemic.

Not only that, but this storytelling and composing is truly that of wonders. His music alone is enough to shape a person. His music has changed me forever. His stories have changed me forever. I will always be grateful for the fact that he never stopped writing, that he wrote and wrote and shared his beautiful music with the world. Finn was truly a blessing to the theater community. I will forever miss him.

I hope he's resting easy.

[incorrectquotesconaisseur]

I think it's time we talked about the doctor's "do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?" in relation to the master.

Bc throughout their lives, everytime the master did something bad, when he’d cone back they'd still have a sort of teasing relationship. Like they both knew it was a game. They both knew their limits and the true extent of their games. So there wasn't really place for betrayal in the game bc they both knew betrayal (on the master's side) WAS involved in it.

Then comes the time war and the doctor thinks he did the unforgivable and committed genocide on his own planet. And then the master shows up, arguably his most important friend, the only one who truly understands him - and then the master does something that's pretty unforgivable by enslaving the human race and turning the people at the end of the universe in killing machines. And yet the doctor, in a very important scene, forgives him like it's the easiest thing. Because they're still the same, the game hasn't changed, they're still on tjr same page, still doing the same things to each other.

And 12 was careful and a bit wary but he wholeheartedly wanted to help missy change - he saved her life in the process too. And I think he was happy at the prospect of missy becoming good bc that meant that the person he felt closest too, who was fundamentally different from him before (and it was okay bc it was in the rules of the game), was ready to be even more like him. Soulmatism x1000.

He thought missy wanted to change the rules of the game and that meant betrayal would no longer be part of it. He wouldn't run and she wouldn't stab him in the back for it.

Thing is - he thinks missy betrayed him. And he STAYED. He asked her to stay too, which is different from what he used to do to her - abandon her, run from her etc. And he thought that he was changing the rules of the game too. But missy betrayed him (in his eyes, he doesn’t know she wanted to come back) and he felt like they no longer even had the game.

The thing with 13 and the master is that the whole "do you think I care for you so little thag betraying me would make a difference?" doesn't seem applicable anymore and you wonder why. Bc it's not like they don't CARE about each other, in a twisted way. It's that the master still wants to play the game, although with significantly more violence because he's significantly hurting more than ever before, and the doctor doesn't want to play the game anymore at all.

[tinned-beef]

UMBRELLA ACADEMY S4 EP 1 SPOILERS

the text under the read more has spoilers for the first episode of season 4! it’s a summary of everything i can remember from the premiere. please don’t click if you do not want spoilers!

first scene is gene and jean playing cards with santa baby in the background

they leave the card game to negotiate for two copies of love on loan- one starring allison hargreeves (and tom holland lmao) and the other starring a different actor

gene kills the dealer and they take the copies

luther is a stripper- although a very awkward one. there’s only one lady in the crowd that seems invested

diego is a mailman. he’s tired of his in laws (who are alive in this timeline!), tired of parenting, and even more tired of lila’s lies and secrets

allison is trying to work her way back up into acting. she’s currently stuck doing detergent commercials. she clashes with claire’s teenage attitude

klaus lives in allison’s basement and helps her with claire. he’s been sober for three years

five is investigating the keepers, although the cia wants him to put an end to his search as they deem it unnecessary

ben just got let out of prison (after 3-4 years?) he calls luther to pick him up

viktor gets dumped by his girlfriend and owns a bar. he seems to have a lot of friends there

lila goes to the keeper meetings with the alibi of having a book club

it’s lila and diego’s daughters birthday. her name is grace! she’s turning six

luther brings ben along

five says it’s good to have ben back

allison drops off claire and klaus but refuses to come at first. she has an audition tomorrow and knows nobody will want her there

lila goes out for a breath of fresh air and wrangles allison inside with her

things are very awkward with allison. especially between her and luther

luther tells diego that people would kill to have what he has. he says sloane and him wished for a life like diego’s

luther breaks the piñata and messes up the birthday cake in the process

luther reminds viktor of the party, and while he is reluctant to come he eventually does. however he gets kidnapped before he can enter lol

lila and five run into each other at the keeper (keepers??) meeting and find out gene and jean are waiting for the cleanse. when they ask for clarification they get threatened

lila and five go out for dinner after to talk over their findings. lila swipes at fives face like ‘ugh all you hargreeves boys eat the same.’ diego sees through the restaurant windows. he thinks lila is sneaking out with five during her ‘book club’ meetings

luther takes ben back to where he’s living. it’s the umbrella academy building- now an abandoned home for wayward boys

there’s a message left for him that viktor has been kidnapped

luther calls the family over to rescue viktor

the kidnapper reveals himself as jennifer’s dad. she attended the keeper meetings for years and eventually stopped talking to him. he wants to get her back and gives the siblings the box of umbrella academy artifacts that jennifer had

five agrees after seeing that the box has a jar of marigolds in it

the siblings go out for teppanyaki

they agree to not drink the jar- nobody really wants their powers back

ben swipes the jar

ben tells them to have one last drink for old times sake, his treat. all the siblings drink

it’s revealed that ben put the marigolds in their shots

all in all a really incredible episode! the family bonding is STRONG in this one guys. they’re closer than they’ve ever been. definitely hyped up for the remaining episodes

[ironyscleverer]

Doctor Who as a Post-Colonial Metaphor

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how beautifully Doctor Who reflects the state of post-colonial British identity, and tumblr seems like the appropriate place to share my ramblings. So let’s see if I can explain in a way that makes sense.

I must start by putting on my obnoxious little film degree hat and reminding everyone that sci-fi is one of those genres that is highly political (as most things are, but scifi even moreso). It turns out it's pretty easy to get a sense of people's fears and anxieties by asking them to envision the future, and that's what sci-fi media does; it uses contemporary cultural standards and ideas to create a vision of what futuristic/advanced science and technology might look like, and how people might respond to it. In doing so, it ends up taking the social and political temperature of the time and place in which it's created.

As such, it's very, very common for scholars to analyze sci-fi media through this lens; even Frankenstein, arguably the first science fiction novel ever written, is often interpreted as reflecting cultural fears regarding swiftly advancing science and technology during the early stages of the industrial revolution. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) is another great, very blatant example of how sci-fi and politics can interact. In this movie, a Jesus-like alien ascends to Earth during the Cold War to warn the human race about their imminent nuclear annihilation. It seems corny to us now, but it's actually a great movie and I would highly reccomend it. It's rumored that the US Department of Defense read the script and Did Not Like It because the themes were too anti-war.

In other words, despite often being viewed as too “pop,” too goofy, and too unserious to have any deep meaning, pretty much any scifi story can be analyzed within an inch of its life using a meta social/political lens. It's not the only way to interpret sci-fi, but it's by far the most common. One must simply ask, “what does this vision of science, technology, and/or the future say about us as we are now?”

But anyway. Doctor Who. Disclaimer: I haven't watched the classic series so I'll focus on 2005 onward (still post-colonial so it still holds up, lol). If you've seen Classic and you'd like to chip in, please do.

Genre-wise, Doctor Who is more-or-less a space-western, a subgenre of sci-fi that incorporates Western elements—exploring new frontiers, engaging with unfamiliar civilizations, rogue figures, etc. Star Trek is the peak example of this, but there are many, many others.

Of course, the Western genre is dripping with colonialism due to its historical setting of the American West, and the racist depictions of Indigenous peoples. Space-westerns, consequently, also tend to address colonial topics. Sometimes space westerns are just as racist as normal westerns, but sometimes they use the genre reflexively, to question colonial ideals. A more progressive space-western might be more willing to “humanize” the alien cultures they meet, asking questions like, "how does one ethically engage with foreign societies?" or "When is it appropriate to intervene in a conflict?" etc.

Althought these kinds of questions come up regularly in Doctor Who, especially regarding its anti-war messaging (Time War etc.). These themes become doubly interesting when you use them to inform your interpretation of The Doctor, both as a character and as a symbol.

Consider this: The Doctor is the embodiment of an ancient and immensely powerful being with a bloody history. Their kill-count is quite literally somewhere in the quadrillions. Although they are a self-proclaimed pacifist, they are still constantly a perpetrator of death and destruction throughout the series. The Doctor, despite repeatedly and loudly choosing peace, can never seem to keep their hands clean of chaos and suffering. Doctor Who is about an entity that destroys everything they touch, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. As an allegory for grappling with the legacy of British imperialism, I'd say it's pretty on the nose.

In this sense, not only is Doctor Who a show about colonialism, it is also a show about identity in the wake of colonialism. It's even in the name: "Doctor Who?" Who is the Doctor? What is their responsibility to the universe? What does it mean to be ancient and powerful and drenched in the blood of millions? How do they move on, become better, without falling into the same traps? What does it mean to be British?

These questions come up over and over throughout the new series, from the destruction of Gallifrey, to the Timelord Victorious, to A Good Man Goes to War, the Flux (arguably), and many, many other smaller plotlines I could mention. Even in the latest series with Ncuti Gatwa, the focus on adoption and family is in a similar vein—where does the Doctor come from? What does it even mean to be “from” a place? How much do your origins truly contribute to who you are and who you become?

How the companions fall within this framework is also interesting; if the Doctor is a stand-in for the nation as an entity, then the Doctor's companion, the everyday British person, is the stand-in for the populace. The companions are ever-changing, ever-evolving, constantly renegotiating their relationship with the Doctor. The companion's ultimate challenge is to find how they fit into the narrative of the Doctor's life, and try their best to come out the other end with a happy ending (ha).

Of course, Doctor Who is owned by the BBC, meaning it is quite literally nationally subsudized TV. As a result, althought the show is actually VERY critical in some places, the Doctor is usually ultimately sympathetic; their good intentions tend to forgive a lot of the problems they've caused. The companion is usually charmed by the Doctors' seemingly endless tragedy of a life. This is a country's state-owned media company working with it's own self-image--it's inherently a work of self-reflection, and perhaps of self-obsession, too.

It would be easy to be cynical about Doctor Who as a product of the BBC, which is state-funded (but notably not owned or directly controlled by the government!). However, I tend to think that just writing it off as propaganda because of this is doing the show a disservice. Yes, there is an inherent privilege and self-centeredness to endlessly forgiving the Doctor, but that's also kind of the whole point; it's a show about coming to terms with one's horrible past. It's a show about learning to formulate a new sense of self. To demand that Doctor Who to be less self-obsessed, to not be about British identity when it is in fact a British show for Brits about Brits, is just a bit unrealistic.

Instead, I choose to believe that Doctor Who can and does use its privilege for good more often than not. The creators tend to be very progressive (as sci-fi so often is) and they can get away with a lot of very progressive messages in the guise of a silly sci-fi show for families. Most recently, I would point to s14e3: Boom, s14e5: Dot and Bubble as examples of thinly veiled rants about the evils of capitalism, war, racism, social media, etc. To ignore or dismiss Doctor Who because it has some form of institutional backing would be doing the actual stories and writers a disservice.

Finally, let me leave you with one last point; One consistancy throughout the new series that I find very charming is the positive effect the companions always have on the Doctor. Companions come and go, which is sad, but they're each special in their own little way, and they each change the Doctor, wearing them down a little at a time. The Doctor is consistently at their worst when they are alone, removed from the people that make them want to be better.

Very often the companion's parting message for the Doctor is "don't be alone.” This can be extrapolated to mean: don't forget we exist. Don't forget to be kind. Even if you can't help your legacy, even if you can't wash the blood off your hands, you can always keep striving to be better. Keep someone around to remind you to be better. And the Doctor, more often than not, does. Because ultimately it is the companions, us the people, that make the Doctor who they are.

It’s this special brand of relentless optimism, this indomitable belief in the goodness of people and the power of that goodness that always brings me back to Doctor Who, one way or another, despite all its flaws.

Edit 11/29: corrected some info about the BBC per the comments!

[robiberon]

hi hello i just saw one too many bad meme making fun of the french language so here is a PSA in the form of angry texts i sent my gc at 3am <3

(for context, this is abt the tumblr post that said that the word "oiseaux" (pronounced "wazo") makes no sense)

like ik it's a lot, and idk if all of it makes sense, but i'm kind of a nerd for linguistics so i felt the need to defend my language lol

[skyward-floored]

I found a short scene I wrote for Incredibles au from the second movie just to mess with things that I’d completely forgotten about, and people wanted to see it, so here it is.

It’s right after that part where all the supers invade the house and Frozone helps the kids escape, but doesn’t escape himself, and they’re all debating what to do. That should hopefully be all the background you need to figure out what’s going on but you haven’t watched the movie there’s only so much I can help you with XD

Enjoy 👍

————————————————————

Twilight kept their father’s old car going until they were plenty far away from the house, the ice Warriors had shot at them slowly melting off the sides. Nobody spoke while they rode, even Shadow acting strangely subdued for once, and it wasn’t until Twilight told the car to pull over on a quiet country road that the silence was broken.

“They got Warriors,” Wind whispered, a hand wrapped tightly around his middle.

Legend pressed a little tighter against his side, and Wind leaned against him, looking miserable.

“We wouldn’t have gotten away without him,” Hyrule said in an equally quiet voice. “If it weren’t for him...”

He trailed off, and Wind shrank down in his seat.

“What do we do now?” Wild asked in a small voice, and all of them turned to look at Twilight.

Twilight swallowed.

“We... well. We can’t go to Fi’s,” he began slowly, “or Sky’s, they’ll just get them too if... if they haven’t already. And you saw those goggles they put on Warriors, they were all wearing them. They're all under someone's control somehow, and they... they probably did the same to Dad,” he finished in a quiet voice.

The boys went silent again, and a cricket chirped in the grass by the side of the road.

“Okay,” Legend swallowed, a hand tugging at his bangs. “A bunch of hypnotized bad guys after us. No Mom, no Dad. No Warriors or Sky.”

“But we do have our powers,” Wild cut in, looking somewhat hopeful. “Plus this car, and, and... um... anything else?”

Four flinched in the backseat, and with a flash of light, he suddenly split into four, Shadow growling as he shoved an already-crying Red off of his lap.

“They got Mom and Dad!” Red wailed, and Hyrule awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.

“I say we go and get everyone back, now,” Blue growled, and Twilight waved his arms in an attempt to get the situation back under control.

“Four— er, Fours, try to calm down,” he said gently, but Red continued to cry, and Green and Blue were both looking upset in different ways as well. “Guys, please, getting upset won’t help, we have to think of a plan.”

“Any plan you have is probably going to get us all killed,” Shadow snorted, and Vio elbowed him when Red sobbed harder. “What?”

“Dad said he was going to that ship thing, wasn’t he?” Legend said, and Twilight looked over at him as he gathered Red into his arms. “And that’s where Mom is. We should go there.”

“You want us to go right to the bad guys?” Shadow scoffed.

“I don’t know...” Wind said in a small voice. He swiped a hand over his eyes. “What if they just get us too?”

“Let’s vote,” Twilight said, having calmed Red’s sobbing to quieter sniffles. “Everyone in favor of going and saving Mom and Dad and Warriors?”

Wild immediately raised his hand, as did Blue and Legend, and Hyrule and Green shortly did afterward. Twilight and Red had their hands up, and after a long moment, Wind and Vio raised theirs as well.

Which meant everyone had voted yes except Shadow.

“Shadow? What do you think?” Vio asked, and the other boy looked away.

“Either way you’re going to bring me, so I don’t see why it matters what I vote,” he grumbled.

“If you’d rather go back to the house that’s crawling with hypnotized supers who want to put hypno-goggles on us, be my guest,” Twilight said, and Shadow crossed his arms and sank down in the seat.

“Fine. I vote go.”

“Then it’s unanimous,” Wild said, and he pounded his fist into his hand as he sat straight up in his seat. “We’re going to go save Mom and Dad and everyone else.”

All of the boys looked around at each other, and their faces grew determined, still worried and scared, and in a few cases teary-eyed, but determined to save their parents, and everyone else as well.

Shadow moaned.

“We’re all gonna die.”

[mikedfaist]

Kinda thinking about famous!reader and her feeling like she’s just too much/that she should just be alone so no one has to deal with the constant harassment from paparazzi/fans/etc and lowkey having a mental breakdown over it. I cannot fucking imagine being famous, I don’t think I could deal with it

Okay, it’s incredible you say this, because she has this exact dilemma in the universe where they meet during Newsies times. Her team basically tells her that he won’t want to be with her, that she will be too much for him, and so she distances herself from him. She’s young in this time, and she’s naive, and very impressionable. She trusts her team, because they are the adults, and they are there to protect her. So, when they tell her that she’ll ruin the life of this guy she just met, she believes it.

It takes her a lot of therapy to unlearn all of this, but I think she still feels it lingering. She feels this imminent fear whenever paps are around them, or a herd of fans wait for her outside of her hotel, or restaurant. Maybe one day he’ll just have had too much and want out? Maybe one day she will be too much for him? I talked about this briefly in an ask, but when a scandal drops involving her, and paps wait outside her apartment for like a week straight, she stays at Mike’s apartment for the time being, and she has a panic attack in his bathroom because it all comes falling down on her. This will be it. This will be his moment of, “Oh, this is too much… I don’t like it.” He’s mentioned to her he doesn’t want the fame she has, so why would he want to be with someone at that status?

That panic attack isn’t her breaking point, but it’s a small wakeup call for her.   

[pinksilvace]

can you talk about why you like alonzo so much?

[humaforever]

You know what gives me life? In that interview with Thomas Doherty, Brenna D'Amico, and Dianne Doan when they were asked a question about Uma-

Interviewer: what can we expect from Uma?

Dianne: "Hook, you take it away because you're besties with Uma"

Brenna to Thomas: You are besties with her

Thomas: "I am :)"

[2-d-rogue]

My Christmas haul!

[alenightshade]

hey I saw you call kevin aymoz an abuse apologist, i had never heard anything of the sort, what has he said?

Hi!

His coaches Silvia Fontana and John Zimmerman covered up for Morgan Cipres and Kevin has defended that cover up.

If you don’t know, Morgan was sexting and sending d*ck pics to a minor in the US during Olympic year. The girl in question reported it to Zimmerman and he as well as Fontana intimidated the girl into silence so Vanessa and Morgan could go to the OG.

The girl eventually spoke up and that’s why Vanessa/Morgan retired quickly and quietly. Cipres cannot step into the US otherwise he’ll be arrested. Zimmerman was suspended for a year due to the obvious cover up + a settlement out of court. Fontana got away scot free.

Kevin Aymoz was asked by fans to leave his coach (Fontana) and he started deleting comments and publicly defended her and the decisions of their coaches.

I totally understand the horrible decision of leaving someone you’ve been with for years but going so far as to fight for their character and their (lack of) integrity when they literally COVERED UP ABUSE and INTIMIDATED A MINOR is just disgusting.

[puppy-the-mask]

I introduce- Lord Wěn Chàng! I swear he's nicer than he looks lol. Wen is a warrior through and through, having spent most of his adult and adolescent life learning and practicing the ways of combat. Despite his marred expression and grisly lifestyle Wen remains optimistic and carries an almost carefree attitude, always being the one to lift up his fellow soldiers and think up unorthodox methods to victory. Having worked his way up the ranks- Wen is adaptable and goes with the flow, which is good! Because his life just got a lot more complicated now that he's been adopted by the Emperor for his military achievements... to then be married off to demons for peace... yeah. But at least he had his trusty head maid and best friend Lianhe and his close companion Macaque, right? :)

[rainintheevening]

Top 10 fictional gen relationships!

Girl. GIRL. Don't you know this one????

Granted, I haven't actually finished the series yet, and should get back to it. (My series of webweaves/moodboards for top 10 platonic relationships.) Anyway, fine, here's an approximate list. In no particular order.

James and Sirius

Peter and Edmund

Obi-Wan and Anakin

Steve and Bucky

Roy and Maes

Tony and Peter

Anakin and Rex

Ed and Al

Aragorn and Éomer

Sherlock and John

Also Thor and Loki, Harry and Ron, Frodo and Sam... shall I go on?

[sparklecryptid]

Look Sage might be the protagonist of his novel but it’s Tess that has all the main character energy

It Survives Without You is literally just two gay mentor-father figures raising their changeling child who is framed and hunted for crimes she did not commit

[sylverbough]

A comfortable abode

[eventheodds]

derringer meryl — outlaw au

Meryl’s parents died when she was young, so it was her father’s best friend, Roberto de Niro, that took her in and raised her. Roberto worked for the Bernardelli’s (actual profession tba), and he made enough to support himself and Meryl.

He kept many photos of her parents and made sure she never forgot them.

Then, one evening, Roberto never came home. Meryl, who was just about to leave for school in the city of November, left their apartment and found his body in an alley. He’d been shot several times in places where the murderer made sure that he’d not be getting up again.

The authorities were of no help, or chose not to be. And anyone who wanted to help turned away, knowing that this was the work of the Bernardelli’s—though they were connected well enough to make sure nothing would be traced back to them.

Back home, after she’d given Roberto a modest funeral, she found his work on what he amassed on the Bernardelli family; they were a crime family whose roots went deep in corruption, trafficking, coercion and anything they could sink their fingers into that would ensure they remained unchallenged.

Meryl never went to November City, she never enlisted in school, and instead found her father’s derringers and vowed to avenge Roberto’s death.

Her hits started on the outskirts of smaller cities and she would eventually make her way towards bigger areas where the Bernardelli’s influence was more potent.

She knows this isn’t a lifestyle where she comes out unscathed on the other side; she knows the risks, but Meryl Stryfe has made her decision and she means to honour her promise.

Important addendum: Because @full-of-mercy mentioned this, Meryl writes angry letters to the news agency whenever her title gets mistakenly written or said as Dillinger Meryl as opposed to Derringer Meryl.