#old meta repost

[zennihilation]

The Dellamorte Problem

Okay. I have to talk about Illario and specifically his relationship to the other Talons. 

I apologize in advance. (but if you read this twice then we're both at fault)

Now, by the time Veilguard begins, Lucanis has not been living in Treviso for years not including the Occupation. The Dellamorte Assassins have been taking orders from Caterina and to a lesser but still extremely present extent Illario. So when Illario offers to clean house in Coffee with Crows, it's a duty he's capable and expected to do. Apparently basically Murderer HR is considered such a menial chore that he'll only do it when pressured according to Lucanis’ reaction.

It's also heavily suggested that Houses have their own specializations and levels of quality, so working with other houses wasn't unheard of on big ticket items. So other houses would have had to work with the Dellamortes. Lucanis always worked alone when not with Illario (or possibly Viago) like he's Batman or something. So the other houses have to work with Illario, at least to have access to the other Dellamorte Assassins. Murder HR.

So it's fair to say everyone knows what's going on. There hasn't been five seconds that all eyes haven't been on the seat of First Talon. For all that the Talons don't answer to each other when they don't feel it, they respect the ladder. 

OR DO THEY.

The seat of First Talon is a trap. No one's fighting for it (except for Aranai but they have like 20 years of bad decisions so that's a different late night draft). Anyone who goes for it is in for a fight to the death. Caterina survived this trap once. She's not going to let them try it again. So she makes Illario think it's a prize, not a problem. With Lucanis gone and him doing the actual leg work, it's a prize he wants and acts like he's owed.

Everyone knows, just like everyone knows that it won't ever happen because Lucanis is her favorite. It's likely why he doesn't have allies in the Talons. It doesn't matter how competent you are if everyone knows you're a stop gap. 

(Hide behind that lamp, Bolivar, if that is your real name.)

Then he calls a summit of all Talons, which proves to all Talons that he's so short-sighted it's not worth the trouble. All these guys? Representatives. There are only two Talons that are elves and you cannot convince me that THIS GUY is broke ass Bolivar. Also the Talons didn't want to go to the last summit! It's dangerous! Most of them aren't even based near Treviso and you want a majority of their leadership to cross the Occupation lines to watch you make a speech? That's not happening.

But they'll send someone, just for the tea. Because as bs as this entire charade is, it's a win-win situation for most of the Talons who lived and worked in fear of Caterina and House Dellamorte. 

(They are so ready to be done with this idiot.)

Caterina is dead, and Illario takes out Lucanis somehow. Between the two, he's the soft target. You can burn the house at your leisure now. Lucanis takes out Illario. Everyone knows he doesn't want the job and can probably be convinced to abdicate to keep the more mundane noble holdings (house, land, title, etc). Or they kill each other and jobs done.

There is no world where Dellamorte wasn't under partial protection from Cantori and De Riva out of sheer sentiment alone. That and they know the Talons are already weak enough after the last summit that Caterina’s iron fist actually is useful in presenting a stronger force than they have. But with her gone and Illario on his bs, they don't really need to protect anyone anymore.

Might've worked. A very small chance anyway, if not for the Venatori, the blood magic, Lucanis is an abomination now, and all of that.

(This guy doesn't look like he's not going to be a problem.)

This is actually the worst possible result for the Talons who aren't Viago or Teia. Caterina's alive and out of the Talon's rules. Lucanis is in charge and a literal monster. Illario is alive and forgiven so now they have to go through a lot of angry people to get to the softest of them. No one knows Lucanis isn't an asshole, they just think he has all the makings of being Another Caterina but also a literal demon.

So if you're one of the Talon's (not Viago or Teia), that's your new Dellamorte problem. Rhetorically speaking. 

I'm not suggesting anything. Just that Opera House Drama was not ending well for Illario, one way or another.

[peanutbutterandbananasandwichs]

Sam and Dean are always withholding information from and lying to each other, constantly. That’s literally the plot of the show every season.

There are important differences between the types of "lying and withholding information" (I'm going to use the word lying primarily here going forward for simplicity but it is referring to several different types of behaviours and is not being used intrinsically as a value judgement) Dean vs Sam does, and these are fundamentally tied to their positions within their abuse dynamic (and more broadly within their roles within the larger Winchester family abuse dynamic).

Lies abusers tell, and their motivations for doing so are distinct from the types of lies told by abuse victims in an effort to manage their situation and avoid conflict (within the abuse dynamic this isn't to say that abuse victims cannot lie more generally).

Dean does sometimes tell some of the same types of defensive "lies" as abuse victims, and this shouldn't be surprising as Dean is a victim of childhood abuse. ("I'm fine" for instance, something they both frequently say when they clearly are not, and something that whilst not exactly healthy for themselves is a defence mechanism and not - generally speaking - fundamentally a harmful action to the other).

The clearest distinction between Dean's abusive lying and Sam's defensive lying: Dean lies and withholds information about Sam from Sam. Sam withholds information primarily about himself from Dean.

Dean lying to Sam about Sam or things that have happened to him, or things that Dean has done to him is a frequent and repeated pattern. Instances include, but are not limited to: lying about Sam's resurrection in "All Hell Breaks Loose", not telling Sam when he finds out about Azazel feeding Sam the demon blood as a child ("Metamorphosis"), lying about Sam having been soulless and of course the big one, lying for months on end about the Gadreel possession, both in order to obtain the 'yes' needed for possession in the first place and then in for the subsequent time during which Sam was unknowingly possessed. Dean's lies allow him to maintain a position of power and control over Sam and Sam's body.

By contrast when Sam withholds information about himself he's usually seeking to maintain control over his own self, his body, his personhood, and his agency. And to avoid negative reactions from Dean that often lead to him being hit, shouted at, or otherwise punished.

The most stark example of this contrast for me is the situation regarding the demon blood administered by Azazel.

Sam finds out about this in "All Hell Breaks Loose", he chooses not to tell Dean, this is well within Sam's rights, this is an issue that affects Sam and Sam's body and nobody else, he is under absolutely no obligation to tell Dean and he has every reason to believe, given Dean's reaction to previous examples of Sam's "otherness" that telling Dean would not have elicited a positive or supportive response.

Dean finds out about the demon blood in "In the Beginning", he proceeds to keep this from Sam and it is only brought up because Sam accidentally reveals that he already knew, its pretty clear that Dean had no immediate intention of telling Sam himself. This was not Dean's right, he has no right whatsoever to withhold information about Sam and Sam's body from him.

[kalinara]

The danger of marrying a massive service sub is that sometimes he'll get his wires crossed.

But Jean's got things well managed.

[dailydegurechaff]

Today's Daily Degurechaff is… in a new slightly updated format

[thevelaryons]

CORLYS + RHAENYRA - Power Dynamics

There is a constant power fluctuation that happens between these two, both before the Dance and for its duration. They each have an advantage over each other: Rhaenyra is the Crown Princess/Queen and Corlys is the richest man in Westeros. It's because of these factors they can exert influence over each other. Though it's worth mentioning that they only act when the other is in a vulnerable state.

The first instance is in deciding the names of Rhaenyra's sons with Laenor. Jacaerys & Lucerys are given Velaryon names because Corlys decides it and Joffrey is only given a non-Velaryon name because Corlys relents to Laenor's wishes. Rhaenyra has no say in this matter and it is Corlys' will that rules here:

Laenor’s wish to name the child Joffrey was overruled by his father, Lord Corlys. Instead the child was given a traditional Velaryon name: Jacaerys (friends and brothers would call him Jace). [...] Meanwhile, back in Westeros, Princess Rhaenyra had given birth to a second son late in the year 115 AC. The child was named Lucerys (Luke for short). [...] In 117 AC, on Dragonstone, Princess Rhaenyra bore yet another son. Ser Laenor was at last permitted to name a child after his fallen friend, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth.

I say this because the book specifically emphasizes when Rhaenyra finally does have a say in deciding the name for her child:

As the year waned, she brought forth a small but robust son, a pale princeling with dark purple eyes and pale silvery hair. She named him Aegon.

Rhaenyra's first three sons are bastards and she would be well aware that she needs to appease Corlys in order to have him accept her sons as Velaryons, so the choice of the boys' names is left to him.

There's a lot more political tension underlying their dynamic when it comes to the Driftmark sucession.

EDIT: There is even a direct contrast between the two back-to-back heirs: Lucerys and Addam. Rhaenyra's choice vs Corlys' choice.

When Lucerys was around 11 years old, Corlys fell ill from a fever. Up until this point, Corlys had not named any of Laenor's sons by Rhaenyra as heir to Driftmark. As I've mentioned before, Corlys is the type who views being a Velaryon as separate from the position of family heir. Although his grandchildren have already been betrothed to each other by this point, it's not a firm solution to the problem of the family succession in Corlys' eyes. This is evidenced by the fact that Rhaenyra has to go out of her way to request Corlys to name her son as heir:

That same year, across Blackwater Bay, the Sea Snake was stricken by a sudden fever. As he took to his bed, surrounded by maesters, the issue arose as to who should succeed him as Lord of the Tides and Master of Driftmark should the sickness claim him. With both his trueborn children dead, by law his lands and titles should pass to his eldest grandson, Jacaerys…but since Jace would presumably ascend the Iron Throne after his mother, Princess Rhaenyra urged her good-father to name instead her second son, Lucerys. Lord Corlys also had half a dozen nephews, however, and the eldest of them, Ser Vaemond Velaryon, protested that the inheritance by rights should pass to him…on the grounds that Rhaenyra’s sons were bastards sired by Harwin Strong. The princess was not slow in answering this charge. She dispatched Prince Daemon to seize Ser Vaemond, had his head removed, and fed his carcass to her dragon, Syrax.

Rhaenyra is able to exert her will here, through threat of force, and does seem to have succeeded in getting Corlys' to agree with her wishes. Once again, I'll emphasize that Rhaenyra and Corlys are able to act upon their wishes when the other is in a state of vulnerability.

After Rhaenys' death, Corlys is quite furious with Rhaenyra. It is Jacaerys who works to appease him this time (acting in place of his mother). Corlys is named to the position of Hand and when the Red Sowing occurs shortly afterwards, he brings Addam/Alyn forth to claim dragons. Just going off the timeline of events, it's clear that "Laenor's bastards" was part of the conditions promised to Corlys to retain his loyalty. No doubt, it is also the reason why Jacaerys is so willing to speak up for Addam as the new heir to Driftmark, knowing full well that the next in line would have been his own brother, Joffrey. I've already talked about the politics at play in deciding the succession between Addam vs Joffrey, so I'm not going to get too into that. Though it's worth mentioning that Rhaenyra only agreed to the succession change after Jacaerys urged her to do so. Meaning she must have been reluctant at first:

Not long after Addam of Hull had proved himself by flying Seasmoke, Lord Corlys went so far as to petition Queen Rhaenyra to remove the taint of bastardy from him and his brother. When Prince Jacaerys added his voice to the request, the queen complied. Addam of Hull, dragonseed and bastard, became Addam Velaryon, heir to Driftmark.

Speaking of Rhaenyra's reluctance, it makes sense why she would feel that way. It does not matter that Laenor was gay and neither he nor Rhaenyra had an interest in each other. What matters is the public perception of events. Rhaenyra was Laenor's legal wife. Marilda is claimed to be his mistress. It is Marilda's bastard son that is being placed ahead of Rhaenyra's son who is called trueborn. For any noblewoman, this would be an unthinkable turn of events. In Rhaenyra's case, she's not just any noblewoman, but a Queen. Nevertheless, she must swallow her pride and agree with what Corlys wants. Despite taking action to ensure the succession in favor of Lucerys, Rhaenyra does not do the same for Joffrey. Corlys is the one who holds the power now and Rhaenyra must bend to his will.

It is explicitly mentioned that everyone in Rhaenyra's court plays along with the story that Addam/Alyn are Laenor's bastards. Why? To appease Corlys of course:

Many and more at Queen Rhaenyra’s court must surely have suspected the same. If so, they held their tongues.

Throughout most of the war, it is Corlys that is able to exert power over Rhaenyra, even in matters concerning the succession of other houses. And so it is Corlys' authority that Rhaenyra has to obey, because she cannot risk losing his support, or that of other such lords:

Their deaths left her with a nettlesome problem of succession, however. As it happened, each of the “faithless friends” left a daughter; Rosby’s was a maid of twelve, Stokeworth’s a girl of six. Prince Daemon proposed that the former be wed to Hard Hugh the blacksmith’s son (who had taken to calling himself Hugh Hammer), the latter to Ulf the Sot (now simply Ulf White), keeping their lands black whilst suitably rewarding the seeds for their valor in battle. But the Queen’s Hand argued against this, for both girls had younger brothers. Rhaenyra’s own claim to the Iron Throne was a special case, the Sea Snake insisted; her father had named her as his heir. Lords Rosby and Stokeworth had done no such thing. Disinheriting their sons in favor of their daughters would overturn centuries of law and precedent, and call into question the rights of scores of other lords throughout Westeros whose own claims might be seen as inferior to those of elder sisters. It was fear of losing the support of such lords, Munkun asserts in True Telling, that led the queen to decide in favor of Lord Corlys rather than Prince Daemon.

That's not to say, Rhaenyra is entirely powerless. As the Queen, she does have the final say in matters. Especially in discussions concerning the Greens, it is Rhaenyra's decision ultimately to decide what is to be done. Of course, she does hear Corlys out first before making her decisions:

The Lannisters and Baratheons should be destroyed as well, so their lands and castles might be given to men who had proved more loyal. Grant Storm’s End to Ulf White and Casterly Rock to Hard Hugh Hammer, the prince proposed…to the horror of the Sea Snake. “Half the lords of Westeros will turn against us if we are so cruel as to destroy two such ancient and noble houses,” Lord Corlys said. It fell to the queen herself to choose between her consort and her Hand. Rhaenyra decided to steer a middle course.

One of the descriptions that GRRM himself gave for Rhaenyra is that she never forgets a slight. So I do think part of the reason she was quick to believe the worst of Addam is because the circumstances in which he became heir to Driftmark were already a huge insult to her. The book doesn't mention whether it was Rhaenyra or Corlys that had Addam residing at the Dragonpit but the fact that he was kept out of her sight is an interesting detail. When Addam is suspected of treason, it does give Rhaenyra an opportunity to let out her own grievances.

Corlys and Rhaenyra can't really be described as being particularly fond of each other. However, they do share grandchildren/children in common, and it's obvious they care about them. So it would make sense to say Corlys and Rhaenyra tolerate each other and keep their personal grievances mostly to themselves. Corlys' outburst after Rhaenys death in which he was very quick to wish death upon Rhaenyra certainly says a lot about his own opinions though. But most of their actions are them trying to play nice with each other.

Rhaenyra's exercise of power is almost limited (part of that does have to do with her position as a woman trapped in a war because her authority was questioned on account of her womanhood). Corlys is a man and a wealthy noble too, so he can use that to his advantage many times. Rhaenyra as a woman does have to appease him for this reason. But since she is a Queen too, she can exert her own will if she chooses to do so, even if doing so means risking losing Corlys' support.

[murdockmeta]

Matt's Protective Tendencies Regarding Gwen

So, for this post, I want to focus on three moments (cause with that many this is still gonna be too long aha) that stuck out to me on my second read-through. It's important to note these examples because Matt's relationship with Gwen is the closest we get to seeing him caring about anyone or anything.

Matt threatening George Stacy

This one is the most complex of the three. There are many layers to this scene but I think it's telling how Matt makes Gwen the center of the conversation. Also, he resorts to personal attacks on George's ability to protect Gwen and be a good father to her.

Matt does seem controlled in this scene to a certain extent, clearly there with the intention to taunt George, but I think he's... not as controlled as he appears.

This is the first time in the run we've really seen him use a more hands-on approach. So far, he's used legal loopholes, threats, manipulation, and so on. He's dodged (quite literally in some cases) every chance at a physical altercation.

Here, he shows up in relatively casual clothes (another interesting choice. the only time we ever see this.) and he eventually ends up holding George Stacy in a chokehold over the side of a building.

In the previous panel he's in, he's meditating when he's contacted by George. He picked up his phone on the second ring (not the first, despite how obvious the disruption is. hes trying to give the impression of nonchalance). He goes through the efforts of pretending to not know who's calling even though he definitely does.

When we see him again, it appears as though he's only changed his shirt before showing up at George's house. It's not the next day, it's probably not even an hour later. He was waiting for George to call. I'd be tempted to say he was growing impatient.

He starts with cheap attacks on George's morality and his job, petty things. It very quickly escalates.

Frank Castle had recently proven to be quite a threat to Gwen. Castle wants to kill Spider-Woman. Matt is refusing to let that happen. But, he wants George to be the one to make the call.

He's very dedicated to protecting Gwen but he also needs Gwen to trust him a tiny bit. He knows that if he outright kills Frank that Gwen would lose all faith in him. She would drop contact immediately and refuse to work with him again.

Yet, he's so persistent about protecting her, he goes to George to try and get him to do it. Matt wants Frank dead. Out of the equation. He's willing to physically threaten George, to get angry, to show maybe just a little too much of himself. He's trying every personal attack he can. And in his desperation to force George's hand, he reveals a lot about his motives. Even George picks up on this.

George is talking about what he thinks he sees in Matt. He thinks Matt killing Frank outright would show how bad Matt is, how cold and immoral he is, therefore losing Gwen's willingness to work for him. When really, it shows how dedicated and desperate Matt is. Matt cannot-- cannot-- lose Gwen. He needs her because for the first time since he was a child he has the chance to no longer feel alone.

He needs his plan to work. He can't have Frank mess it up but he also can't push Gwen too far away from him. So, he does all of this instead.

This is one of the most interesting goddamn lines in the whole scene. This is in the middle of Matt's attempt to attack George's ability to be a good father, his ability to protect Gwen. In that, Matt lets this slip out.

He's obviously projecting himself onto Gwen. And I also think he projects his relationship with Jack onto George but that's a discussion for another post.

So, does he think he's protecting Gwen from becoming like him? Making the hard decisions so she doesn't have to? He acts like he wants Gwen to become as bad as he does but even Gwen says in the end: he wanted to lose, he wanted to be caught. So...? We know he hates himself. And with the above line, we see the closest Matt ever gets to admitting how he truly feels to someone he lets live.

Gwen's different because Gwen represents a chance for things to go right. Matt needs to protect her because he needs her to succeed.

2. Matt refusing Gwen's apology

I was going to just highlight his first few lines in this panel but the whole thing seemed relevant to this post.

So, when I first read this line, I thought it was borderline out of character. He, of course, can't just refuse her apology, he has to give some self-centered reason why. But, everything he follows up with unintentionally reveals his hand once again.

To Gwen, Matt's reasons sound selfish and cruel. She thinks he just wants to use her, control her. She thinks he's interested in what she can do for him. And, well, he is. But it's never just that.

He wants her safe. He plainly says it. He wants her safe so that he can make sure she's not in danger, to make sure she doesn't die or make any decisions she's going to genuinely regret.

I think Matt's heavy-handedness in regard to Gwen's morality is extremely intentional. You don't change someone's mind about their personal morals by telling them how ridiculous their morals are all day. You don't change their mind by trying to force them to make deals they rather wouldn't. Arguably, that's how you make them stand their ground.

And I think that's what Matt's counting on. He sees it as a win-win, whether Gwen ends up turning evil or not (because if she does then he can finally die). But really... I think he wants her to have a reason to be good. He knows how hard-headed she is, it's one thing he likes about her. So, he knows that antagonizing her will just make her more assured when she comes out on the other side.

If she can stick through to the end and beat him, there's not much that can stop her after that. One important thing about Gwen's development as Spider-Woman is that at the beginning, she doesn't have the strong conviction to do good that 616 Peter has due to his uncle's death.

Peter died in her universe, but it didn't serve the same purpose. She felt guilt over Peter's death, but not the kind that strengthened her morals. It was this crushing guilt that dragged her down, made her lose faith in herself. A lack of confidence like that can quickly lead down a much darker path and we see that in Gwen throughout volume two.

She still needs that push. That final act that'll let her come into her purpose fully. And Matt intends on giving that to her if she's willing to go along with his plan long enough. He crafts himself into a big, bad villain for her. Just so she can be good.

3. Matt protecting Gwen's identity

Matt goes out of his way to make sure Gwen's identity stays safe. He knows her secret identity is important to her. He made sure he tied up his loose ends with Toomes so he wouldn't tell.

The one that's more interesting to me is the fact he didn't even tell his ninja her name. These ninja are assigned to protect her from any harm while they are in a foreign country and an assassin is after Gwen. But Matt doesn't bother giving them her name.

There's not even really a reason for him not to tell them other than him being overly protective of her. It's not like they're going to tell anyone, they're fucking ninja. They're sworn to secrecy out of pure principle.

Yet, Matt doesn't say anything. He could've even used it as a bargaining chip but he doesn't genuinely threaten to reveal her identity even once. Would it have really even affected his plans long term? Her identity is revealed at one point, and he still gets what he wants in the end.

But he never brings it up unless it concerns her identity being revealed in a way that may harm her. He never dangles it in her face. He respects it and protects her.

---

These are just a few moments I wanted to talk about. Honestly, the George Stacy one could've been its own post and I'll probably end up making another about it eventually.

Matt is so multifaceted and he shows that best with the people he dares to form attachments to. The main one being Gwen. The way he treats her is the closest he got to caring about someone. It's the closest we get to seeing what he's really like under all his disguises.

He demands control because he thinks that is the only way to protect the ones he's attached to. He knows, in his particular position, that there really is no other way to go about it. And he doesn't want the people he cares about to like him. He doesn't think he deserves it, really.

He wants Gwen to be better, to do better, so he allows her to hate him so much that she has no choice but to come out stronger in the end.

[hamartiah]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐒

also known as the house of crows, it is an elite organization of thieves, spies, and assassins renowned across all of thedas.

they had begun as a branch within the chantry, monks who used poisons to ensure the death of a tyrannical duke. since then, they have since come to rule their home of antiva via poisons, and a well earned reputation. though honor among such an organization is dubious at best, they do adhere to a singular standard: contracts are met and agreements are kept. and failure to eliminate a target always means the life of the operative is also forfeit.

the crows are also a political driving force in antiva; often times hired to assassinate antivan nobility or at times, their royalty. their reputation is so great, that antiva has no need for a real military- most nations too terrified of repercussions by the crows to dare attacking antiva. every contract ever made is kept in the arcive of the crows which is located in antiva city.

𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐘

the organization is split into family houses: dellamorte, balazar, valisti, kortez, de riva, nero, cantori, and arainai. with new members of each house taking up the name of the families they're a part of. this was intentionally meant to be an imitation of the naming and hierarchy of great families within the whole of thedas.

𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐬: these are the leaders of the crows, and the heads of each of the previously mentioned families. members are told they have the chance to earn this position, but very few manage it without connections or family tie ins.

𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: leader of a house. not necessarily of one of the families, it's assumed this is a leadership role granted to only the most revered and respected assassins within the crows. they are in charge of houses of new recruits, and lower ranking members who are still earning their keep. zev/ran presumably takes up this role for a time if he romanced the grey warder and they died to defeat the archdemon.

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: these are high ranking assassins who accept, and handle contracts.

𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧: a member of the crows without any greater rank.

while some ranks seem a bit unclear in terms of the ladder. leadership of the Guild as a whole lies with the eight talons, and their respective houses, while lesser houses are referred to as cuchillos ( knives ). houses often times rise and fall in rank, and in a strange way mimic the rise and fall of powers in the world.

𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓

in most cases the crows will purchase orphaned, or enslaved humans and elves when they're children. they're then forced live together in tight quarters. training begins almost immediately as soon as a 'batch' is ready. taught that the only way the prove themselves, and earn their keep- is by surviving every brutal test thrown their way by their mentors. including killing their peers if they must.

the crows favor elves for recruitment because humans often find them attractive, giving them an advantage over their target. however, they do have a large number of human recruits. they're all trained from a very young age, and have no problem killing them if they make mistakes. and it seems to be pretty effective, though they would prefer the world believes it takes special talent to do what they can do.

[lovekenney]

my thoughts on white boy carl. i js wanted to say before hand i fucking hated the white boy carl era it was js plain fucking racist. the first time i watched shameless i wasnt a huge fan of white boy carl but i didnt hate it. ive recently rewatched it and can say i fucking hated it. it was annoying. the writers having carl say the nword was like a slap to the fucking face cause carl has always been one of my favs and it is js like...why??? Carl Gallagher is probably the least shitty person in his entire family besides Liam, but it can never be said that he's particularly intelligent. If you pay close attention to the show, you can see from people's reactions when he uses the N -word (not once but twice) that the show is self-aware. Carl along with the rest of the Gallaghers are very ignorant people, him acting that way is directly in line with his character. The show knows he shouldn't be doing that, but because he was in juvie and looked after by the black kids. (carl has a tendency to change himself to the ppl around him and that rlly shows with white boy carl) he picked up whatever they let him and yes, you can bet they let him. (he didn't do his own cornrows). That doesn't make it okay in the real world but this is a show and that's just how writing works.

The point of this is that Carl genuinely thinks he's black, he lacks that much self-awareness. he is that fucking dumb. i truly wish white boy carl never fucking happened. it baffles me when ppl say white boy carl was there fav era

[iridescentscarecrow]

the use of contrast in csm 167

thoughts on how the discomfort & the tension that was almost universally felt were set up by certain narrative techniques that employed a use of contrast: elements in opposition whose clashing yield tonal jarrs that casts suspicion on scene.

1. rain/heat:

CSM 166 ends on it raining, their retreat into the alleyway shows the visible marks of rain on yoru and denji's skin. this contrasts with the scene itself, the aggressive and oppressive heat you feel emanating from its panels.

the retorts, the sequences are short, jerky, emphasising this sense of heat and disconsonance. the raindrops appear like sweat: signifying warmth & passion inherent to the location of an abstract sexual act. (sweat: also a sign of distress). this is a perversion, artificial.

2. city structure & its possible meanings:

here's my inside cover analysis -- more on this.

the texture of the city, especially when made present in part 2 underlines this claustrophobia. here: the scene is set very strongly within the city and its alleyway, the texture of it, its pipes etc. being the background.

what is of the city? what exists within daily life in the city? the residue & paraphernalia of the state, its violent institutions — in schools (teachers), in churches (the cult), in government (public safety, already makima).

this figure of the city with its core of sexual control and exploitation turned against children is central to part 2's stem. the architecture of war around it, normalised into its processes: bodies in the streets & people hurt that denji regards with bafflement appear almost normal, almost natural within the setting of the city as does its inherent sexual violence (a location of control).

none of these scenes disrupt tension.

disruptions are most often exercises of our protagonist in order to disrupt the exploitative city narrative he feels alienated within. these are never entirely successful: his turning into the chainsaw man outside his burning house, his professions last chapter about his sexual urges... the scene around him (see: my 165 analysis) is turned hollow in disapproval.

3. intimacy/aggression:

i recall discussions during the <burning house> chapters when denji was hugging miri & simultaneously tearing into him about how intimacy and violence's often intertwined & experienced (by him/audience in chainsaw man). this extends to writing.

i think a useful metric of comparison is the reze kiss scene where the more sensual (almost cooler) horror of the post-kiss scene there is one of unequivocal violence. the tone here is very different: the aggression is made forefront even in an act overtly sexual. it's rushed movements, back to back, & a host of crowded panels.

4. yoru, framing war, within asa & denji's victimhood:

i kind of also find it interesting how nayuta's control (and its relinquishing of memory) is what triggers the shift in scene.

aside: the two shifts in scene here: (1) from the knife -> hand, physical proximity: potential for the rest of the scene occurs when denji says no.

(2) the memory changing nature of the scene into pseudo romantic. yoru then forces herself upon denji & this SA is simultaneously perpetrated onto asa, whose body she occupies.

understanding yoru as the metaphorical figure of war within the city as settled upon asa here is q. important.

the narratives on sexual violence that permeated all the horsemen (essentially fictitious figures of fears that set you inside city & render you to exploitation) was something i noticed a while back: CONTROL as set by makima, institutional grooming, HUNGER — kiga's affiliation with a cult that feeds into aspiration & marries off children, WAR as sexual conquest in warfare (yoru's introduction to asa about making yoshida her boyfriend).

seeing war as the thing that mediates this act and perverts it makes sense but i find the framing of this offputting (wrong: see the note on rain creating passion) & yoru's odd nervousness), the location of the kiss interesting.

the kiss as removed by control (producer of narrative that informs city's ideological construction) and now reintroduced as trigger creates the dissonance in contrast, in framing between yoru & denji. this reminds me of asa's exercises on romance, her poetry. nestling ideals of romance (asa's want of a boyfriend when she dies) within the CITY is important because this is how denji approaches it too re: sex. asa dies as a casualty of an event situated in sexual violence and war resurrects her. her whole self is now unowned in sexual encounter around a metaphorical skin (calling itself war but also functionally engaging with asa's protagonism, their names complementing each other — day/night), whose powers deal with, in some effect, consent.

bringing back what i was talking about in re: the rupture of tension that's been evading us, i think this lean into intimacy/aggression is framed in a manner where the crowded panels create this feeling of fastness, finally ends in being spaced out more and more... the last two panels, perhaps the only ones which are less active, more static in the figures that occupy them: there's a chilling break of tension as she looks at her hand post war's departure. these panels are more unhurried, they horrify and distort, occupying the page.

[darkestrellar]

Overview of the Shadow Crystal

The Shadow Crystal is a large crystal formation that was discovered deep within the Chroma Ruins in northeast Almia. It is much bigger and contains far more concentrated energy than the smaller Dark Shards mined nearby.

Like all Dark Stone, it was formed by energy from negative emotions that collected over a long period of time. And like the Chroma Ruins, it is at least several thousands of years old and predates the era of the Kingdom of Almia. It did, however, play a major role in the historical events of that time that would be passed down in Almia’s most well-known folktale.

The Shadow Crystal was (re-)discovered in recent history about 30 years before the story events of Shadows of Almia. Brighton Hall, the second president of Altru Inc., uncovered access to it while drilling for oil. It was originally located at the ruins’ deepest point, in a chamber atop a dais or altar referred to as the Dark Altar. It was guarded by a Darkrai.

Brighton's son later excavated and removed the Shadow Crystal from the ruins, using it to power the Incredible Machine and thus gain the ability to command at will any Pokémon within the Machine's range of influence. After Operation Brighton’s success, when it was neutralised by the three Coloured Gems, the Crystal was left on top of Altru Tower.

Any human who comes into near-contact with the Shadow Crystal, and who has any form of emotional vulnerability or weakness in their heart, may be prone to falling under its influence. They may become inexplicably obsessed with it, and be led to act in ways that they ordinarily wouldn't. The exact effect differs between individuals. Being inherently negative and feeding off negative emotions, the Shadow Crystal leads those affected by it to take actions that will eventually create more negative energy.

When neutralised by the three coloured Gems, the Shadow Crystal becomes the Luminous Crystal. Its colour turns clear and free of darkness and it loses its effects on people and Pokémon. If the Gems are removed from their position near the Crystal, it will revert to its original state.

[heartsbreaking-migrated]

even more dani lore (reposted from my archived blog)

-dani’s mother died in the starcourt mall fire. after the russians in hawkins were found out, dani and her father defected from the kgb and continued their life in hawkins as the carter family, though they did spend time in new york directly after the starcourt mall burned down to mourn their loss with friends and avoid the fallout of the mall explosion.

-dani is in her senior year of high school during s4 and while she’s not a dnd player, she does hang around the hellfire club happily. she doesn’t fit in anywhere else. eddie/gareth/jeff would probably not know she was russian and dani still keeps the charade up. dani does not understand dnd and no amount of explaining will get it through her head (my girl is CONFUSED) but she is happy to have friends so there’s that.

-i think the mcs (will/mike/lucas/dustin/max/el ect) would know dani was a spy for the russians after s3 so i think they’d have a rocky start as friends given that they’d seen her as trustworthy and innocuous before and while she didn’t directly betray them, she did lie. but i do think with time she’d earn her way back into their good graces and they’d keep her secret and let her just be dani carter and not go out of their way to expose her and make her more of a pariah than she already was.

-given that the music store she worked at in the mall blew up, dani got a job at the reopened location in town (though it took a while because their entire stock burned to the ground). dani's dad started working at the cemetery (which was super great for goth cred but definitely more ammunition for the bullies).

-dani has very minor involvement in s4, but she was questioned by the cops when eddie was being investigated by the cops and then again when jason and the jocks decided to take justice into their own hands.

[honestlyvan]

On Tumblr it's pretty common to follow people based on the fact that they're good at curating (ie. you like the things they reblog) as opposed to following the OP of every post you like immediately, because despite the ravaging discoverability on this site has taken, especially on the fandom side, there still are people on here who run fully curatorial blogs and like doing the digging it takes to find the "good posts".

In fact, I feel like the historical presence of both themed and unthemed curatorial blogs on this site is probably the reason it's so reliant on reblogs, and the weakening of their ability to find things is one of the big reasons why posts lose momentum faster now. (The other reason people reblog less is because of the damage a culture of harassment caused to this site's identity, but that's out of scope for this conversation.) It used to be that if a big fandom blog reblogged you, you didn't have to worry about your post getting buried, because their followers and peer network would give you exponentially more notes.

Which isn't to say that you shouldn't follow the OPs of posts you like, but it's often not the most efficient or even the most interesting way to get a dashboard full of interesting things. And if you do want to follow OPs directly, you could be the next highly curatorial blog that gets followed because people like your ability to find the "good posts" and be the one with the "good commentary".

The critical thing here is that follower count isn't actually something that is visible to anyone but yourself, so that's still not exactly "popularity". However, popularity on this site gets you basically nothing other than an inbox you can never empty fully and probably a snide hatedom from people who resent having to see your URL because blocking someone doesn't hide their additions in the threads, and you can't filter out the additions of specific people without hiding the whole thread.

Reblogging is essentially a conversation tool, and has multiple registers. All the "rules" you might hear about when it's okay to add commentary and when you should keep your commentary to the tags are derived from the old way the site used to display your activity. People who have been here for a long time expect certain "manners", even when most of them have forgotten or never knew what the origin of those manners was, but I think because tags and comments are now so embedded into the OP's experience of their own posts, people forget that the middle layer of commentary and curation is what made this site what it was.

So, in my opinion the best way to think about reblogging is not as you talking to the OP -- it's you talking to people who follow you, with the OP just having provided the conversation starter.

People keep telling newcomers that they must reblog posts here because that's the only way to boost a post. And while that isn't not true, it also wildly misrepresents the reblogging culture that Tumblr actually has.

The posts like that keep talking about things as if the OP ("content creator") is someone who needs eyeballs on their work and the rest of us peons ("consumers") owe them the number-go-up an algorithm handles on other sites.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Tumblr isn't a popularity contest (note how you can't see follower count), and it's not structured with creators at the top and audience at the bottom. It's egalitarian, we're all in the same crowd, and yes, some of us have 2 followers and some have twenty bazillion, but no one actually knows which is which.

You reblog a post not as a favour to the glorious yet suffering content mill, but because you want people who look at your blog (all two of them now, all twenty of them once more people look at the notes on the posts you reblog) to see that post in the context of your blog.

Your blog is your space, and you're meant fill it with things that you want seen there. That can be your original posts, reblogs with commentary, or just a collection of things you think are neat.

Reblogs chains are often how people find other people to follow, too. So reblog to show off a post that you like and to attract more people who like the things you like to show off. It's that simple. And it's about you.

And because everyone does this, reblogs posts they want to be seen on their own blog, when people make posts that a lot of other people enjoy, that post blows up and is seen by even more people.

Tumblr's reblog system is a network of people picking something up and going "look at this cool thing I found!". It is not a service to content creators.

[nowlander]

So, meta's ups and downs from last week reactivated my old facebook profile that I had deactivated but purposefully not elliminated beacuse I'm a hoarder.

Looking at it I miss it so much. I only deactivated it because someone in the other hemisphere kept trying to log into my account... But maybye they already gave up?

[americangirlstar]

Raquel Reyes may be a descendant of Samantha for AG's 40th Anniversary

2026 will be American Girl's 40th anniversary, and with it the anniversary of Samantha, Molly and Kirsten. As much as we love all three of the girls, it's undeniable that Samantha was the breakout star of the group, who was literally used as American Girl's icon for ages. Even in semi-retirement, she's still very much the face of the company and everyone remembers and loves her stories of acceptance, family, fistfighting the patriarchy and unionizing.

Recently, 2026's Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes, and her starter collection (maybe full collection? Looks a bit small tho) has leaked. And it is looking very likely that she is either a Samantha fangirl or a straight-up DESCENDANT of Samantha Mary Parkington.

Leaks and discussion under the cut.

Got these photos from this reddit post from @/Phsyical_Occasion_57, Lord knows if it'll stay up tho so I'm reposting the relevant images below.

Now, at first, just seems like a preppy Girl of the Year. We've had pink and girly GOTYs for the last two years so a little disappointing, but I'm sure our tomboy sports girls will have their day. But no, what attracted people's attention was THIS.

Two black-and-white photos in her trunk, one of Samantha Parkington in a fancy outfit, the other seemingly of Parkington manor.

Now, she could very well just be a fangirl like Z Yang; it would fit with the meta we know she established. BUT. The black-and-white photography implies it may be a historical image rather than a printed photo of a character she likes, and we ALSO know that precedent for AG characters growing up was tested out with Julie in the graphic novel and McKenna in Lila's books (more on that later). There's also been speculation that American Girl in-universe is a company that depicts actual historical figures from their world, as Z makes a reference to "the real Nanea" when she makes her Nanea stopmotion. So this could be confirming that by having a descendant of Samantha in the same universe as Z and the other modern dolls.

But the picture isn't all– her collection is EXTREMELY Samantha-coded. Firstly, the pink-and-white and florals, obviously, but that could be for any girly girl. But let's look at her specifics.

Raquel's outfit, first– it's EXTREMELY evocative of BOTH of Samantha's Meet outfits. The bow is obvious, but the checker pattern on both is highly reminiscent of Samantha's main arrival outfit, with the pink and shorter skirt being very similar to her BeForever design. Both dresses also share the puffy sleeves with her. Raquel's shoes also have red bows like the BeForever outfit and Samantha's belt.

She also has a gold bow bracelet and golden heart necklace beside the Samantha portrait; while neither seem to show the detail on Samantha's brocade, it could be reversed or a different necklace simply meant to match old photos. In any case, it's EXTREMELY similar to her BeForever necklace.

She seems to be interested in Pickleball (basically tennis if y'all don't know), but her pickleball set and dress are labelled as for Piney Point, somewhere Samantha frequented in Samantha Saves the Day at her summer house.

Her floral dress is also VERY BeForever Samantha– so while not very historically accurate, VERY accurate for what AG envisions a modern-style Samantha to look like. The hat above the dress as well is definitely something I've seen in Sam's collections before.

Also compare both the floral dress and her meet outfit to Samantha's Harlem Fashion Row outfit from the 35th anniversary.

Her accessory bag also brings to mind Samantha's handbag and floral handkerchief accessories.

But that's just aesthetics– let's also take a look at that photo of Samantha. What's right next to it?

it's a recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream.

So at the VERY VERY least, Raquel is a Samantha fan. But the black-and-white photo and seemingly """handwritten""" recipe imply that she may be straight-up related to our very own Samantha Parkington. This, along with the fact that 2026 will be the 40th anniversary of American Girl, highly implicates a more-than-baseline connection between them.

And it's not just that; I think American Girl has been lowkey testing the waters for this since 2020. [Maybe even before, but Z was a bit of a rush-job I don't think they thought through.]

Back in Covid days, when Courtney dropped, there was a lot of disappointment around her design, including from me. Mostly the fact she was another blonde-haired blue-eyed white girl, but not even an interesting-looking one; she was nearly identical to Maryellen. When she first was leaked, people started rumors that she may be related to Maryellen as copium, maybe even her daughter. [photo from @/BookJockey1979 on reddit]

Obviously this wasn't what happened, but I think American Girl noticed the interest around such a thing. The next tested the waters of family dolls with Corinne and Gwynn being sisters– and that seemed to work out for them fine. Then, it was Lila Monetti being the student of McKenna, the 2012 Girl of the Year. Not only was that something fans loved, they LATCHED onto that so excitedly. And while it's definitely not the reason Lila is such a bestseller– her cute design and adorable collection is probably to blame for that– it probably helped the older market that wouldn't otherwise look her way and got Lila basically free social media publicity from fans. And AG is very social media-present.

I think the final test was 2024's Julie and the Blue Guitar. The graphic novel details a girl in modern times trying to track down an adult Julie, and eventually succeeding and meeting her. This was the first time we'd seen an adult historical character (unless you follow the Caroline or GrandMarie theories, which are faaar from confirmed), with the oldest anyone had ever gotten being Samantha's 16 in the Titanic book. And reception to this book was very positive. At the very least, nobody threw a fit; while it's only got 4 reviews on the official site, all are 5-star, with the same level of it's 5 amazon reviews. The most reviews I could find were on Goodreads, which has a 4/5 from 65 reviews right now. So if that speaks to anything? It was probably AG's last test before they gave the go-ahead for Raquel Parkington-Reyes.

Having Raquel as Samantha's descendant is also a genius marketing strategy; JUST from the initial reddit leaks, I've seen comments on both reddit and instagram saying they already are planning to buy Raquel based on the Samantha connection alone. Not only is she pandering to the nostalgia market, not only is she pink and frilly like Mattel loves (and what sold well with Lila), but she's also finally a non-white Girl of the Year, so the "AG So White" demographic isn't pissed. The name "Raquel Reyes" is very hispanic, she has the same face-mold as Maritza, and she has a medium skintone. Right now the name is very popular in Brazil and the United States, and MyNameStats.com says that 63% of people named Raquel that they've gathered are of Hispanic or Latine origin. All of this heavily implies that Raquel will be latina, which is great since the last latina doll of the year we had was Luciana (and Maritza as our last modern, who barely had advertisement).

So Raquel is nostalgia-bait for the collectors, extremely girly and frilly for the child doll-collecting market (or at least what Mattel thinks it is) and isn't a third white GOTY in a row, so it mitigates our frustration at AG's lack of diversity. Pretty much, everyone wins, and Raquel is gonna be their major cash cow for their anniversary year.

And I can't wait.

[iheartsparklingwater]

2025 House MD fandom

My analysis of the four corners of the House MD fandom:

Reddit

Obsessed with ranking systems: best seasons, best team members, best cane.

'Who else is watching House in 2025??' (2600 upvotes, 340 comments)

Looooooooooooong threads discussing the show’s medical accuracy/realism

'Do you think House was a good doctor?'

Nostalgic 42-year-olds watching House with their spouse at night.

'Wow Hugh Laurie does such a great American accent, I had no idea that he was British haha'

'Medically speaking….'

'just watched season 5 episode 20 😭😭'

Thinks House is "Grumpy"

'This gets asked every 2 weeks but…'

There are daily posts, with 50+ comments debating whether House ever truly changes.

Cameron haters ;(

'Was House justified in breaking into the patient’s apartment?'

Tumblr

Carries the weight of 2006 House LiveJournal fandom lore.

Fanfic

#Hilson divorce AU, #Chase as Persephone, #hurt no comfort

Heavy focus on seasons 1-3

Chase = babygirl

Dominated by aesthetic gifsets of House's eyes with all lowercase captions

META META META

Kept alive by queer-coded English majors with receipts.

Anti-twitter, scared of reddit, tolerates tiktok for the aesthetic edits

'Chase is the sad prince, and pain is the point'

Ships House with suffering. Ships Wilson with codependency. Ships Chase with guilt.

 ‘This 12k-word post deconstructs House as a Byronic hero through the lens of queer temporality.’

My faves, ily tumblr forever

TikTok

SPOILER ALERT (for a show that ended in 2012)

my editing queens

Hilson

Doesn’t know what order the show goes in, but knows allllll of the most emotional moments.

POV: You’re a patient and House just told you you’re dying of sarcasm

They loveeee Wilson and RSL

Never watched the show linearly

'House gaslit a nun into living? King.'

'Why he eat the Vicodin like that??’

Cuddy edits captioned “girlboss entrance of the century💅’

‘He needs more mouse bites to live!’

Audio: ‘House you can’t keep doing this.’ / Caption: ‘When the neurodivergence hits 😍’

Can tell you the entire Wilson/Amber arc beat-by-beat but doesn’t know Chase’s first name.

Hasn't watched season 8 and refuses to acknowledge it.

Twitter

Hilson or die

Headcanon > canon. Canon is pain. Canon is wrong. Canon was written by cowards.

90% out-of-context screenshots, 10% 'House is literally me'.

YouTube shorts

Someone posts an earnest analysis, gets roasted in the comments for ‘romanticising medical malpractice’

Live-tweeting entire seasons

Screenshot of a blurry scene with no context 37k likes captioned ‘Me when the serotonin hits’

YouTube Shorts reposted with quote tweets like ‘This edit just solved all my emotional repression’

Supposedly ‘loves Cuddy’… until she’s brought up, then the gloves come off.

'House is not a bad person, he’s just deeply pragmatic and wounded.'

Anyone who posts in good faith gets eaten alive by someone quoting them with 'this ain’t it.'

[befemininenow]

Read this if you're interested in preserving anything feminization or femme related!

With the inevitable ban of TikTok and the elimination of LGBTQ+ protection on Meta apps like Facebook and Instagram, never mind the awful moderation on Twitter, there's really not much sites where LGBTQ+ people can express themselves without being harassed by anyone hateful. Bluesky is an alternative that seems ethical. YouTube is good to use for actual feminization tutorials. As much as I despise the API decision, Reddit is one of the few sites where trans spaces have really good moderation and has a lot of useful info regarding transition. It's only a matter of time before these sites go down the gutter. That includes Tumblr.

Speaking of which, Tumblr seems to be a safe space for a lot of us. Unfortunately, a lot of blogs have also been target of termination and their posts have been nuked, even with reblogs and shares. Since feminization captions seem to be one of the more difficult pieces of NSFW posts to preserve, there's only one thing you can do continue that scene: repost.

While we have survived constant purges and flagging in the past, the future of feminization blogs and captions is looking more bleak as we speak. Sure, a lot of p0rn blogs have been deleted, but even the more SFW blogs like VikkiPNK have faced termination, probably due to so much flagging. It was so bad, I got instantly flagged 8 times myself! (plus a "copyright" strike)

So how can you help with this problem? Reblog your favorite captions! Hell, save all your favorite captions in a folder and repost them here or outside Tumblr in case the original gets deleted! It doesn't even have to be my captions. It can be another caption creator or some old legacy creator that no longer exists. Some of us don't even have Twitter or other sites, yet I see some of my captions being posted there. It's a sign of relief and I lowkey do get happy when I see other blogs sharing my posts.

And while we're at it, save your favorite TikTok videos as well! A lot of feminization caption creators use TikTok to make their captions and it will be a huge loss for a lot of them. The site is closing this Sunday and unless you live outside the US, it will be gone for good. You will see less Brooke Monk, Tate McRae, Neekolul, Pamibabyy, Peachybunn, and other creators, so save those too!

If you reached this far, thank you for reading and please reblog this post so that we can preserve as many captions for years to come!