#my naivety………..

[wawamouse]

Hmmm the bullet point in my plot bunnies note that started it all….. and I didn’t even finish the thought

(And as you can see, I also didn’t go in that direction, so I guess this plot is actually still something else I could write lol)

[vvanillavveins]

Is she Lucy Westenra, or is she just a vessel for the writer's barely disguised fantasy of a women being punished for her promiscuity? Is she really"Bram Stoker's" Lucy Westenra: a naive, innocent 19 year old, with a cheery personality and a bright future ahead of her? Or has the writer instead just slapped her name on an OC that behaves nothing like her, and- with none of the grace or decorum that Lucy's tragically short story deserves- sexualized her slow and agonising death as much as possible, whilst very unsubtly doing their best to blame her for being murdered, so that we won't object to her being killed again later in an even more gruesome and sexual manner?

[benevolenterrancy]

I'm on chpt20 and I want to study SQQ like a bug. My man is flushed, hair down, robes literally falling off his shoulders, LBH on his lap playing with his hair and kissing him... and he finally cottons on to the fact that maybe this isn't how you have a platonic and important discussion. Enforces it for all of five seconds at which point LBH starts massaging his waist and SQQ is back to being like "yeah this is fine and normal". Amazing. Can't believe he insults the IQ of SQH's characters.

[oceanwithouthermoon]

"i dont hate this female character, i just have a nuanced take on her" and the nuanced take is comically stereotypical misogyny

[crustyfloor]

Again on the dissonance between what Mizi says versus what she does... Mizi's relationship with her agency / autonomy is complicated and strained. She wanted to go to Anakt Garden for that sense of control and solidarity among humans and away from the aliens, but even then, she's punished for possessing her own autonomy (ie. Her encounter with "I'm Quite," who hit her for not reciprocating his feelings, because he felt wronged and entitled to her, like she's an object. In turn, this establishes how Mizi is punished for rejecting the education that the Aliens taught, which teaches her that her say-so is conditional and that there will always be a standard and expectation for her that she doesn't want to commit to--

but she's forced to conform either way, she never has a full grasp on that sense of control that she needs, with her dynamic with Sua, they are women, so as women they are seen the same way by the society they live in, in that way Mizi feels seen by an equal and a human like herself, in another way, Sua is like a mirror of what Mizi hates having to be, that's also why Sua's submissiveness is so gratifying to her sense of confidence and insecurities in the moment, above Sua her usual role is reversed, she can believe that she has the full control because of this power imbalance and Sua lets her have it. But something is interesting about Mizi's behavior. There's so much resentment and hurt built up within her. The moment she has the chance to become vulnerable and vent that frustration, she can't do it-- she doesn't do anything but hold Sua gently. That is how Mizi loves Sua, having the strength and say so to completely "crush" Sua, but chooses to hug her and cradle her fragile heart, Mizi's fragile god, whom she reveres and loves so much that, of course, with this much power, she couldn't destroy her, she'd worship Sua for the blessing of having this. Having the agency and ability to do whatever she wants with someone so willing, but innately, Mizi doesn't truly want to hurt anyone in the same way her pain is laughed at and enjoyed by the aliens for entertainment (As opposed to what she thinks about herself)

(🫩)

[chalkrub]

svanhildr my beloved returns

[shootingstareon]

and in that dying summer heat, you took my hand and smiled

separate and blur/textless version!

[helenvaughans]

[otaku553]

Haha

[oceanicairways]

it genuinely makes me so sad that kyle’s personal approach to heroism—extending empathy whenever possible, seeing the best in people, and believing in a better way—would be generally admired and appreciated by the superhero community on earth, where it aligns so well with the ideals of heroes like clark and diana. but in the GLC, an environment that is far more militaristic and detached, he is dismissed as stupid and too soft by many of the other GLs. and yet he still holds on to his values despite only suffering and being mocked for them

[periwinklefemur]

Hope you're having a fantastic day!

Do you think Herbert avoids sleeping not only because his reagent eliminates the need for sleep, improving his overall efficiency, but also out of fear of the night terrors of Gruber's death that plague him?

He's in SO MUCH denial. Yes, he can accept that Gruber is, in fact, DEAD, but he's completely hooked on the idea that he could have changed the outcome.

[teethburger]

”hurr durr hazel doesn’t need fairies” SHE LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL HERSELF AT ONE POINT

[tricoufamily]

how many times can i remake these sims

[ladyofchroyane]

Lyanna was a very privileged girl who was indulged by her family and was taught how to joust- stop right there. You are basically going directly against canon:

‘Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it.’ (AGOT, Arya II)

Lyanna was clearly not indulged more than any other female noble child in this world was.

And since she wasn’t allowed to carry a sword it’s obvious that she was also not allowed to joust, which means she was taught in secret or was entirely self taught.

‘Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn’t be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout. “You be quiet, stupid,” the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. “It’s just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell father?” She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool, but before she got him out again, the two of them were gone.’ (ADWD, Bran III)

These two characters in Bran’s vision are obviously a young Lyanna and Benjen, and it’s quite clear that she was not supposed to be doing this.

So, sorry, but Lyanna’s family had gendered expectations of her like any other noble family—the only difference between the Starks and most others comes from the fact that Lyanna decided to defy these expectations.

The only reason she was so good at ‘male activities’ was because of her own noncompliance. Attributing her deeds as the Knight of the Laughing Tree to naivety/childish idealization of knighthood and the indulgment of men instead of acknowledging her own hard work she was forced to keep secret is oh so feminist of you 🙄

[i-am-a-fan]

I saw a post talking about how there’s a deep mischaracterization of Mk in the fandom specifically about his monkey form and I’m here to dissect it. (WIth doodles!)

Tldr: Will Mk end up hurting his family in season 5 due to his new Monkey form? Most likely no, but it is possible that he indirectly hurts them by not understanding the limits of his power.

First things first let’s collect a list of attributes that we know Mk has from past seasons. This will serve as a spine or checklist to see if certain actions are possible. A thing to keep in mind though is the ranking of each attribute as the writers of LMK wrote there are characters as complex and sometimes abandon certain character values if their center value is threatened. 

Mk’s character value list (in my opinion) is as follows: 

-Family 

-Strength 

-Freedom 

-Dependability 

with family and strength being so close to each other, so sometimes strength ends up as Mk’s main concern. Of course, all of these end up mixing at times and in the first seasons we see the mixing of these values gets him in trouble 

Desiring the freedom of choice over listening to Wukong (Pig Pong Panic). Wanting to be dependable but overestimating his strength (Duplication). Wanting to be strong but forgets his family in the process (shadow play). Eventually, he gets his priorities in check and has ended up sticking to this list for most of seasons 3 and 4. 

Now his flaws (in no particular order): 

Impulsivity 

Forgetfulness 

Stubbornness 

Blind devotion 

He’s overcome a lot of these when he was forced to learn them in season 3. His stubbornness to not tell anyone what was happening with the LBD got people hurt. His impulsivity with his actions ended up crashing the ship, and almost sold his family to a goldfish demon.

(Text: Mk's Fault, Good Intentions, Trying mentor)

So he’s had to come up with methods of working around that. Mk’s blind devotion to Wukong almost got Mei killed, and we see how he changes because of it. At the end of season 3, Mk doesn’t explicitly say that he sees Wukong in a new light but he heavily implies it with the metaphor of a bowl of noodles. 

So… Will Mk go crazy and end up hurting his friends? 

I highly doubt it. While I toyed with the idea, Mk is a lot smarter than the fandom usually gives him credit for. He knows Wukong is flawed, and he still trusts in him because he knows Wukong is trying. Mk has faith in Wukong’s strength and the fact that Wukong also heavily values family, even if his isolation makes it a lot harder for him to do so. Just rewatch the ending of season 3 where Wukong apologizes to Mk and watch as Mk comes to the realization that Wukong is trying so hard to make up for his past. (They also drive this point home in season 4 with how disappointed Wukong sounds at himself for not finding Mk in the scroll in the season finale.) 

(Text: He's flawed and trying, Has to accept harsh reality, Dissociating Coping mechanism)

So what about Mk’s impulsivity? I doubt that’d be something that directly harms his friends. He’s worked on his impulsivity by working with others (Redson in season 3 and Mei’s planning in season 4) to help fill in the gaps in his plans. In order for his impulsivity to harm others, you’d have to break that family value first or raise that value of strength and freedom. Most likely this flaw can manifest in Mk overdoing his Monkey form ™  and sending a shockwave that accidentally hurts the people around him.  Probably manifesting either in training or while having fun with Mei (think about how Mk was in the Bad Weather episode). 

Okay, what if Mk is tricked into it like he was in Season 4 (back to the flaw of blind devotion)? Mk has spent every season backstabbed by someone he trusted. We see him snap at Azure after he finds out that he was going to keep Wukong in the scroll. He snaps at Macaque in season 4. It’s safe to say that he’s learned, at least partially, to not trust others so blindly. Mk is also supposed to have gotten the “skill of self-reflection” in “Revenge of the Spider Queen” but his reflecting has mostly just impacted the other flaws. 

(Text: Side note, Monkey Mk doesn't have a nose)

But there is one possibility I toy with, bottled up emotions. Mk has extremely big emotions but hates showing any emotion that can be seen as negative. He loves being happy and he’s not afraid to show it, but as soon as those emotions turn to doubt, anger, or sadness he bottles them up fast. He knows he can rely on his family, but he’s stubborn and thinks that his emotions aren’t worth that hassle. Take the ending of season 3 where Mk states that “he tries not to think too hard” about his own place in the universe, which could be due to a fear of losing the value of freedom if he has a specific role to play in the universe.

(Text: Guys He's so avoidant, forced to think about his identity, 18-early 20's and Identity crisis)

It’s worsened by the fact that every. other. character. avoids. their. emotions. No other characters in this series are open about their emotions except Tang and Sandy. And from season 3 (and a bit of season 4) we know that Mk doesn’t view Tang in an extremely positive light.

Not exactly negative, but his admiration lies more on the rest of the team. Macaque points this out in season 2 stating in “Shadow Play” that Mk should talk out his insecurities, but no one else does that. 

That being said Mk isn’t entirely forgetful either. Macaque was a season 1 villain with his betrayal going through season 3. Mk’s high value of family, and flaw of blind devotion, make him want to give him a chance as Macaque’s past is connected with Wukong’s. HOWEVER, Mk is also stubborn and hasn’t forgiven Macaque’s actions. That’s why he snaps, plus the fact that Macaque is terrible at direct communication. Like I said before, Mk won’t directly hurt anyone he cares about, but if his monkey form is highly connected with his emotions (as most magic tends to be) having those bottled-up insecurities might accidentally cause Mk to unleash more power than he means to.

(Text: Normal, Fed up Meter, rage (on jar))

I have no idea where season 5 is going to go, but I’m so excited about the possibilities. 

(Text: Terrified of his actions hurting his family. UNSTABLE!!!)

[voxmilia]

Oh Sklonda's righteous fury hits so hard, as a kid who WAS taken advantage of in many ways by her friends when she was in school, and whose mom tried to tell her they were being unkind and who didn't believe her until she got kinder friends