#group cohesion

[robinwoodsfiction]

The Power of Shared Negative Experiences

How Collective Grievances Can Sour Memories and Harm Communities Negative experiences, whether personal or communal, have a profound impact on our emotional well-being. The process of sharing these experiences can be therapeutic, but when it evolves into a collective movement driven by negativity, it can lead to unintended consequences. Specifically, when one individual’s negative experience…

[beatcroc]

hey mecha do you get along with metal? what are your thought on him?

---

[rhowena]

The most frustrating part of the Bells Hells' meeting with the gods is that the Hells went in haughtily and snottily insisting that they were doing the good and compassionate thing and saving the gods and the gods were utterly unreasonable for getting upset about being held at all-devouring-eldritch-horror-point, but when the time came to argue their case, not a single one of them brought up the Matron telling them back in episode 109 that she misses being a mortal and still isn't sure if her ascension was worth it. Not a single one of them asked the Archheart if they'd like to rebuild that dope-ass speakeasy. Not a single one of them brought up the Everlight's time as Trist. The closest they got was Laudna saying it might help them work out some of their family issues. Any mention of the established instances of the gods genuinely enjoying being mortal would have done so much to give some coherency to Hells' reasons for settling on this plan, but taking that angle would involve actually listening to the people they claim they're saving, so it sat untouched on the table. The only discernable motive behind their plan is being seen as the saviors of the gods because, for all their pettiness and spiteful desire to overthrow the pantheon, they aren't willing to commit to a full-on evil playthough. But, in Ashton's own words, "What are you going to do when you discover that a large collection of the people who see this don't love you?"

[velvetjune]

*googling how to bribe remedy the video game company into adding a truly outrageous amount of weird little collectibles and nonsensical videos for control 2*

[necrotic-nephilim]

For the ask game

What do think would happen in a brudick au where they go public by getting married

for the ask game!

public reactions to BruDick my beloved. i've done a couple of concept similar to this for the ask game but i will do a thousand more just because i think they're fun.

i think all of it hinges on *when* Bruce and Dick publically get married. and because they're both smart about it, they wouldn't rush it. even if their relationship has been going on since they were a teenager, there's a lot of angles to consider. not just how the League will react, but how Gotham will react. this is Bruce Wayne publically marrying his ward and that's a massive scandal. they would hold off as long as they possibly could, likely until Dick is in his mid-twenties. i think they would spin it as something they're not exactly hiding, but not super public about either. Bruce didn't turn the wedding into a press parade (Dick would've killed him if he tried) but he doesn't hide the wedding band and he's quite public with affection toward Dick, in a very "i dear you to say something" way. and the reaction is. baffled, at first. because how *do* you say something? this is *Bruce Wayne*. he has the cleanest image possible. sure, the League expected it, they've seen the uglier side of Bruce, but the public? no one knows how to report on the story because Bruce is a philanthropist. he's charming and beloved.

there are a lot of questions at first. and it doesn't help that Bruce "will tell anyone about his sexual escapades" Wayne is now suddenly shy about sharing his relationship details. he says Dick prefers the privacy and leaves it at that, always pivoting when he's asked to bring up something else, like one his charity programs. it's a very calculated move, and sharper reporters like Vicki Vale are noticing how Bruce always changes the topic to bring up his charity work, painting himself in a good light. so she focuses on trying to talk to Dick. cornering him when he's trying to work, pushing all these questions about things like grooming and Dick's status as Bruce's ward. i think Dick would be far less kind to the press just because he has less patience (and less of a reputation to maintain, if anything he's a bit amused by this whole thing affecting Bruce's rep as much as it is) so his rude responses are fuel to the fiire. long think pieces are posted about about grooming, and then in support of Bruce's marriage, long thing pieces are written about the history of adult adoption in gay spaces. it's all very messy and drawn out and Bruce's reputation certainly takes the hit. i'd love to see this happen specifically around Tim's Robin era and it affecting Jack Drake's trust in Bruce, in allowing his son around Bruce. if Bruce could groom his own ward, who's to say he won't do it to Jack. i'd love to see Jack updating his will that Bruce Wayne isn't allowed to adopt his son, should something happen to him and that affecting Tim after Bruce dies.

i also love the thought of this whole thing causing Bruce to be approved by the "wrong" crowd. there are other celebrities and famous people who take part in questionable activities that border on illegal and trafficking, and now, those people would see Bruce as one of their own. they embrace Bruce socially, and i think it'd be the repercussion Bruce would despise the most. if good people see him as a creep, he'll live with it. but other creeps thinking he's the same as them is a step too far. but, he can spin that to his advantage. he testifies against them, recording conversations of admitting to crimes instead of going after them as Batman. because it helps clean up the image of Bruce Wayne if Bruce is the one taking down rich pedophiles. but it still raises suspicion that Bruce is doing this just for that reason- to look better. he's alienated from most of his Brucie Wayne social circles- even Oliver, who used to be willing to play nice with him in front of the cameras has *no* interest in associating with Bruce after this. the League is. tolerating the marriage and accepting that Dick is an adult they can't tell what to do (even though many of them have pulled him aside to ask if he's okay and gotten brushed off) but that doesn't mean they have to be nice about it. it causes small tanks in Bruce's reputation, even affecting his company enough that he momentarily steps down from CEO, probably giving the position to Lucius for the time being, just to redeem himself.

anytime Bruce takes in a new ward, it's questioned by the public. Cass, Duke, even Damian raises eyebrows as everyone's wondering the unspoken question, if Bruce is going to get with *this* one too. but as the years go on, Bruce remains perfectly loyal to Dick. and Dick seems content as an equal partner to Bruce. if anything, Bruce's loyalty to Dick helps rebuild his reputation more than anything. everyone expects him to ditch Dick for the newest young ward, but he doesn't. which seems to prove that Bruce and Dick were telling the truth about their relationship just happening out of the blue. some people are diehard defending Bruce, pointing out how long Dick lived in Bludhaven before Bruce and Dick got married and if Bruce was grooming Dick, why would he have let that happen, and so on. Dick's autonomy is heavily questioned in all of this, no matter what Dick insists. i think Dick would start posting romantic pictures on his social media just to be spiteful, no matter how much it gives Bruce a heart attack. he dares people to say to his face what they'll say online, making galas particularly tense and interesting, because while Bruce is trying to damage control, Dick is staring down anyone attempting to imply things by making them admit it directly. it forces most of the gossiping to settle down, just because how Dick refuses to beat around the bush. i love the idea of Bruce having a publicist who is Perpetually Stressed Out by Dick's shit.

eventually, everyone accepts it. Bruce still doesn't get back into the social circles he's been exiled from and some creeps try to rub elbows with him, but the hype around it dies down. it becomes one of those things talked about on social media, like a "top ten things you didn't know about Bruce Wayne", with number one being that Bruce married his ward. i think Bruce and Dick would work hard to scrub the internet of proof that Dick was Bruce's ward in the first place. since Dick was never adopted, they just delete a lot of pictures, get articles taken down, and largely let the public forget the idea it happened. they can't completely scrub it, but there's definitely an effort put forth to remove it from recent memory and make it something you'd have to dig to find out about. Dick Grayson is just seen as Bruce Wayne's questionably young husband who helps in take care of all the kids he takes in. they get more affectionate in public because of it, as Bruce gets bolder kissing Dick at galas, always having an arm around him, bringing him to meetings. Dick becomes Bruce's arm candy and well, Dick is a pretty man, so can anyone blame Bruce? they're a photogenic couple and Bruce likes to highlight that. he likes to make people stare, now that the whispers of morality have died down. it's proof that Bruce had his cake and is eating it too, getting to publically marry Dick and still be loved at the end of the day, even if it took a couple rough years to get there.

[minjoongism]

hi! i was intrigued by your tag that said San of ateez was not just born to dance but also forced to. would you mind explaining what you meant? thanks!

hi! i can definitely have a go :) maybe "born to perform and incredibly also forced to perform" would have been more apt in hindsight, but i still think the dance thing is applicable. 

re: born to dance, the sort of general kpop sphere fan-perception of him as a dancer is something that's interested me as far as i've seen during my limited time knowing ateez because i've seen a lot of (usually ateez anti-minded, admittedly, but it's interesting that they bring up the Same Criticism every time) people criticising him for being an over-dancer and then similarly a lot of people, including fans of the group, say that while he's a good performer, his technique as a dancer is something that's lacking a little. like - no matter whether they like or dislike ateez/san, there seems to be at least a semi-common line of thinking that's repeated over and over again about san being heavy on performance but ultimately not as polished technique-wise.

and it's just interesting to me because san's technique as a dancer is something that stood out to me when i started watching ateez performances properly, and it's also something that i've seen actual dancers highlight as one of his strengths. i think a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking that if someone is a particularly incredible performer, it must be to hide the fact that their actual dancing is in some way lacking (or vice versa for other people - "x is technically incredible, but they have no stage presence/their vocals are lacking"), and then when they hear it applied to someone (e.g. san) they just repeat it without really thinking to challenge it, but with san i don't think that's the case at all. 

i was actually really surprised when i learned that he didn't really have any dance training to begin with, because it just looks like something he's meant to do. like, this guy was born to move. him having a background in martial arts makes more sense though, because his bodily control is insane. his isolations are incredible, he's ridiculously flexible, and sharpness in dance is always enjoyable to watch but more than that the thing that gets me about san + dancing is just how fluid he is. there are plenty of examples but watch any it's you performance and ifl it's kind of obvious what i mean here.

i also like that he pulls from a wide range of styles. kpop, from what i've seen so far, is a hiphop heavy genre when it comes to the way male idols dance, and i just think it's really neat to see someone like san who clearly borrows from a massive range of styles and does it all incredibly well.

on the perform aspect, i don't think i need to go into too much detail re: born to perform, because the guy gives his everything onstage and embodies every single song in a way that's immediately immersive. i don't think he's actually forced to perform in the standard sense - it's part of the meme sentence i was parodying - but the thing that fascinates me about san is just how different on-san and off-san seem to be. 

like, if i only watched ateez performances and not any of their other content or lives or social media accounts, i guess i could sort of see how the more common fan-perception of san is formed. but he's just so different off-stage in a way that's more dramatic than most of the other guys, at least to me. it goes without saying that they're all incredibly multifaceted because i'm talking about real people here, but for people like yunho, or wooyoung especially, or jongho, i feel like there's a pretty cohesive identity formed between their on-stage and off-stage personas because every complex aspect of their personality is in some way advertised everywhere. mingi meanwhile more seems to match the vibes of whoever he's in front of at least from what i've seen, and then san gives me such powerful whiplash that i'm like wait, this is the guy people are portraying like that? i'm getting something completely different! and now even when i see san the onstage performer, i can't quite separate him from san the offstage idol, so i still can't quite see the more common fan* perception in full.

(*a lot of this comes from western/english speaking fans, and obviously, korean culture/masculinity/everything else is something that's inevitably going to be completely different to western culture/masculinity/everything else, but even looking at it through a western lens i'm still surprised by how differently i read things)

it's just something i've noticed re: celebrities but especially idols - they get assigned a persona or a set of traits that then become canon and unchangeable with no room for anything else at least for Some People, and then it becomes part of their idol persona, and then everything they do gets read through that lens. it's a bit like wooyoung + the feminine perception to bring in another example of a perception of someone in ateez that i don't fully see personally.

ANYWAY. i'm not even sure if all this makes sense i'm Very Sorry lmao. and i'll not go into the specifics here re: san and his Everything from my perspective because i've already been typing for a while and ALSO i'm very new to ateez and still trying to get to grips with everything so i'm fully expecting my understanding of everyone to evolve 100000 times in the next few months, but tl;dr i love san, i love his dancing, i love the way he performs, i want to bite him about it

[rouge-the-bat]

it weird how so many people seem to act like oppression is the only struggle thats worth discussion. if someone tries pointing out something that negatively affects certain groups and put a label to it- regardless of if they make any statements on if its oppression or not- others have to jump in being like "uhmmm but thats not systematic oppression so you should shut up maybe. other groups have it worse"

like first off, why is oppression the end-all-be-all for discussions and other forms of bigotry/prejudices arent worthy to be talked about and are fine to be dismissed and belittled as less important (or even nonexistent), and shouldnt even have a term to label the specific issues around it? or if it IS oppression thats being talked about, then this is all just coming down to oppression olympics and treating certain groups like theyre the ones that have it worse and thus are the only ones we should be focusing on (and silencing everyone else and making their struggles more invisible). either way its severely fucked up

discussions about different groups issues arent a competition. people can care about multiple issues, and we dont have to try proving who has it worse than others and instead we can just. try to help anyone who is struggling.

additionally, oppression and prejudices arent cut and dry and generally affect multiple groups in the same or varying ways. groups sharing their stories about how something also affects them isnt trying to steal spotlight from the original group. it means yall have a common enemy, a common struggle (that may vary in similarity) to work against and speak out about.

if you feel groups are trying to take over the conversation, you should question whether someone is truly trying to drown out your voice and change the topic, or is just trying to add to the conversation and give more/alternate perspectives on what harm something causes, and build community for yall to work together and support each other. are your struggles completely losing focus in the conversation, or has extra perspectives simply been added, and your struggles are still in discussion? much less people are being/acting maliciously than it may seem, which can be especially hard to realize by those whove been repeatedly hurt by others.

please remember its better for different groups to support and listen to one another, back each other up, and fight their common or different enemies together. arguing about who has it worse and driving sharp lines between groups and their experiences, trying to cut out their similarities, only helps those who want to harm BOTH groups.

[thebramblewood]

VICTORIAN Requested by @birdietrait, @kirsicca and @antiquatedplumbobs Starring Helena Zhao, Lilith Vatore and Ulrike Faust

The Favourite but make it Victorian. These ladies can't stay away from the drama in any decade!

[hyperfixated-homo]

ngl I feel like Ghost got shafted a bit. Like yeah she didn't die after two seconds like Taskmaster (kinda funny how one of the best MCU refonceptualized characters killed one of the worst ones), but of the main team, she got the least focus. For a lot of it she was just there, and she really didn't get enough of a chance to shine on her own, what with the constant use of sonic weaponry against her. She also was the only one in the basement who didn't get a flashback. Hell, could've done something with Bill Foster (Lawrence Fishburne), her adoptive dad. He's not been seen since 2018, and this movie is 2027. Did he die? Was he snapped? Did Ghost? Both? Neither?

Also, there's certain other characters that could've been good in this movie, thiugh they'd risk clogging it.

originally, I thought of Netflix heroes (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Cloak and Dagger, etc), but they might show up in the (hopefully much more interesting and connected-to-MCU) second season of Daredevil

Karl Mordo hasn't been seen since 2016. We know he's had run-ins with Strange, but that's it. He could've fit very well, maybe even explain that his own magic has gotten weaker from abusing it to steal magic from those he saw as abusing magic

Hercules was tasked by Zeus to attack Earth, but that was 2025. Where is he? Valentina could've made great use of a big strong kinda dumb guy who lives for the fight.

I honestly thought Sharon Carter would have some connection to the Sentry Serum, especially since she was the Power Broker who distributed the Super Soldier Serum to highest bidders.

G'iah could've been sent by Britain to ascertain whether Valentina was making America a threat to other countries. I know everyone besides me hated Secret Imvasion for whatever reason, but I like it.

Even Peter Quill could've fit. Maybe he'll be an Avenger (part of the real Avengers team), but he's also an outlaw. Either way, he's not just gonna sit still with his grandpa in Minnesota.

I do feel that Ghost got less attention than she deserved. She's one of my faves- especially for her abilities, and her actor is. So pretty. So lovely. Oh my god.

I would have loved to see more of an insight into her own mind, especially since (like you said) she was one of the four in the vault!! It would have been pretty easy to slip something in during their escape, but I suppose they didn't want to make the movie repetitive or give audiences too good of an understanding of what exactly was going on with Bob. It would have been fun to see a moment explaining her position on the team a bit better than just "shes a merc with nowhere else to go". Seriously, where is Bill Foster?

Either way, I'm filling that void (ha) with fanfics in the meantime. I try not to get too bogged down with what ifs- anything could have been different in this movie, but we got what we god, and I had fun with it! Questions about certain characters and their motivations and parts to play are always a part of marvel movies, especially ones focusing on multiple "main characters" rather than one specific hero. Half of the fun is coming up with our own justifications and filling in any parts of the story with what we, as the viewers, headcanon. And maybe replacing some parts of canon too. For funsies :3

Tangent aside, I do think it's fun to speculate on who could have shown up! I think it's very possible that these characters could work alongside or join the Thunderbolts in the future, especially if we're considering them to actually be filling some sort of role as the "New Avengers" (or like,,, second Avengers. Maybe. This whole thing with two Avengers is Interesting). You raise a lot of good points about people who could be included and why. Good for theorising, at the very least,,,

I'm just sort of imagining how each of them would interact with the Thunderbolts and it's. Interesting. Very fun. Might mess around with that later.

[theboytatu]

yall might hate him but jaden jeong must be commended for the musical direction of triples - like im sorry but their discog has already surpassed loona's

[sunshinechay]

I think one of the things I’m loving (and also hating) about the friends group is that…while it’s clear they care about each other, they don’t really feel like actual friends.

Mew and Chuem seem like the only ones who are genuinely friends.

They all complain that Boston disappears all the time but they never check on him. They just assume he’s going to be okay. They move on and go about their day and wait for him to show up again.

Ray is a drunk who is pretty obviously hiding some thing (of the emotional variety) but none of them really seem to care enough to try and help him. They just complain. They don’t care to try and help him even thogh it’s obvious he needs it. The one line he has towards Sand this episode really puts it into perspective. He says he just doesn’t want to be alone. He is alone. He knows he can’t really rely on the others. He can’t confide in them.

Basically, they seem like a group of friends who only became friends because they were partnered on a project together and now they just all stick together.

It makes it feel so much more real. It makes the already appearing cracks make sense. It makes it so much more real and deserved that what’s about to happen is all it’s going to take for them to fracture.

The barely concealed resentment Boston has towards Mew. The intentional oblivion Mew has towards how Ray feels about him. Mew’s smug attitude towards well all of them. (Smug might not be the best way to describe it but I’m using it because I can’t think of a better one.)

Top may end up being the trigger, but the gun powder and dynamite were already there long before he showed up.

[gnomebud]

maybe it is just a perception thing (no real way to measure this obviously) but i feel like i am increasingly seeing stuff implying that queer folks have an obligation to be in non-normative relationships or be non-normative in their identities (i.e. having a complex relationship with gender rather than identifying with the binary, not having a monogamous "traditional" romantic relationship, etc.).

and obviously this is not an "actually queer people who are doing things considered slightly more 'normal' are More Oppressed" post because that would be absurd. obviously they are not; they are literally sticking to the "norm" more. but i do feel slightly troubled when i see things implying that it is every queer person's responsibility to break every norm in their personal life or relationships. i think it is every queer's responsibility to stand with other queers and not abandon those breaking societal norms more intensely than them; i don't like the implication that one can be a bad queer for not engaging in the most radical or non-normative behaviors or identities in their personal life

(this also vaguely relates to this altschmerzes post i like, which is not entirely the same concept but does deal with the idea that assuming all aroace-spec folks are fluid about romantic/platonic/etc. boundaries can also diminish or belittle people's aroaceness.)

[fisksaturday]

i love the way that "cryptid" means basically nothing in the secret saturdays universe since all the animals they study are real animals that they are documenting. its very funny to me

[velvet-dusk]

echo - outtake

(This little scene is an outtake from a fic I'm working on polishing. It didn't fit, because the flow of the conversation meandered pretty far from the way I needed the scene to go, and eventually I cut this section entirely and replaced it with one that worked better. But I liked it enough to want to share it, even though it's short enough that I'm probably not going to post it on AO3. Shadowbringers spoilers.)

Once it had become clear that G’raha had fumbled and was continuing to fumble his summoning spell, he had told himself sternly that the Scions were not his friends. Not because he had any reason to dislike them—far from it!—but because he knew them far better than they knew him, and moreover he had stolen them from their rightful lives. No matter how useful their skills, no matter how generously they offer their help, the fact remains that he had done each and every one of them a painful disservice by bringing them to the First.

After their return from the ruins of Amaurot, though—after the second return of the night—G’raha is startled to realize that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn seem to regard him as… a friend?

“Of course we do,” says Thancred matter-of-factly, as the two of them examine one of the Crystarium’s shield generator nodes. Thancred may be no mage, but the generators are also partially mechanical, and with the Facet of Forging staff busy working on some project they refuse to tell G’raha about, he’s the next best choice for repairing fiddly machinery in the entire city. “Our inauspicious arrivals aside—” G’raha winces. “—you were doing what you needed to in order to defend the people under your care. We all understand that. Indeed, we all respect that.”

“I’m surprised to hear you dismiss your arrival so quickly,” says G’raha.

“Me, of all people?” asks Thancred with a shrewd sidelong glance, and G’raha’s ears go flat with embarrassment. “I won’t pretend it was an easy thing to get over. But, well, I like to think that all of us, I’m on the more pragmatic side of things. It was the right choice, and that’s what matters in the end. Wrench, please.”

G’raha hands over the wrench. “Knowing that someone is in the right and thinking fondly of them for it are two different things.”

“They are,” Thancred agrees, and smacks something in the generator’s guts with the head of the wrench. G’raha yelps in protest, but then the generator buzzes to life, and Thancred grins and tosses the wrench back. G’raha fumbles the catch and has to duck down to pick it up. “But the first can lead to the second. And luckily for you, it has. Though, if I may offer a word of advice?”

“Of course,” says G’raha, slotting the wrench back into its rightful place in the toolkit. 

“Y’shtola in particular dislikes feeling like a piece on the chessboard rather than a player. If, in the future, you ever come up with a scheme that you think might involve her, ask her for assistance in the planning stage and not a moment later, even if you think she won’t be interested, or won’t be able to help. She may have forgiven you for this one, but she’s better at holding grudges than I am.” Said with a playful wink, it would be easy to dismiss as a joke. But G’raha can tell that it’s a real warning—and, also, a real invitation, to be a part of the group and its various social dynamics, rather than an outsider looking in.

“I shall,” says G’raha, with sincere gratitude.

[the-way-astray]

team valiant should've been called team horse girl i said what i said

[marbalai-marble]

Uhm uh Easter toon designs why not.

I gave them all flowers to tie their designs together more because they did NOT have it together before