#this discourse would turn into

[sforzesco]

something. about. the horror of being sent on an impossible (death) quest and obligations and hospitality politics. the trauma of not having a home, and then the trauma of being in a house that becomes actively hostile to you, one that would swallow you whole and spit out your bones if you step out of line. all of this is conditional, your existence continues to be something men want gone.

it's about going back as far as I can with the perseus narrative because there's always a version of a myth that exists behind the one that survives. the missing pieces are clearly defined, but the oldest recorded version of it isn't there! and there's probably something older before that!! but it's doomed to forever be an unfilled space, clearly defined by an outline of something that was there and continues to be there in it's absence.

and love. it's also about love. even when you had nothing, you had love.

on the opposite side of the spectrum, this is Not About Ovid Or Roman-Renaissance Reception, Depictions And Discourses On The Perseus Narrative.

edit: to add to the above, while it's not about Ovid, because I'm specifically trying to peel things back to the oldest version of this story, Ovid is fine. alterations on the Perseus myth that give more attention Medusa predate Ovid by several centuries. this comic is also not about those, either! there are many versions of this story from the ancient world. there is not one singular True or Better version, they're all saying something.

Perseus, Daniel Ogden

Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, edited & translated by Stephen M Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet

[samcarter34]

"With Marisha, we didn't talk about it, we didn't plan it. In fact, we planned on it not being a thing."

...Yeah, I can tell.

[ingravinoveritas]

I've seen a lot of discussion and discourse lately about season 3 of Good Omens and whether or not Aziraphale and Crowley will/should become human. There are definitely many strong feelings around the subject and I'm not about to tell anyone that their opinion is wrong...but at the same time, I feel like there is a sense of misunderstanding around what it would mean for them to be human.

The one sentiment in particular that I keep seeing is "They could've had eternity, but if they're human they'll only get 30 or 40 years together and it's not fair." Which then makes me think of this tweet of Michael's from six years ago:

And I think the point being made here is that it's not about the amount of time that Aziraphale and Crowley will have together, but what they would do to have that time. It's saying that the one thing that surpasses eternity is finding someone who you would give up eternity for.

Eternity is predictable for Aziraphale and Crowley. It is the easy, comfortable thing to do, to continue in that safe, familiar place. To go along with what everyone thinks you should want, because that's just how things have always been. But even more importantly, because no one has ever once made you stop and realize it doesn't have to be that way.

After that happens, eventually, you have to make a choice. You've found this being, they've altered everything about your existence as you know it...and you have to decide what you want your life to be. When we talk about music, there's this idea of something being "one note"...meaning that it stays the same, forever and ever. But after a while, that note just becomes noise. It's the change that we're really listening for--the note that comes after that, and the one after that. That's what music is.

So to me, Aziraphale and Crowley becoming human is about change. It's saying that you want to be with someone not just when things are good and safe, but also when things are bad or difficult. It's wanting to see each other grow--through aging, through the passage of time--because even just a few decades of the unpredictable and facing mortality together is more valuable, more precious than any unchanging eternity.

And ultimately, it's not about what you're letting go of, but what you're holding on to: Someone worth taking that chance.

[lilywalkers]

mad scientist pandora evil surgeon evan hot professor barty and weird man off the street regulus

[starheirxero]

PLEASE become evil on main your thoughts are always very interesting !! :3

Anon I need you to know I was debating just only making that one post and then biting my tongue about the rest but this ask was genuinely so relieving to see that I teared up a little bit thank you HDKSHDJD

I did, however, uhm. talk a Lot. and I'm very much being more honest about my feelings on this than I usually am, so it's going under the cut bdjshdjdnf

Ahem ahem. So. From a meta standpoint? I just have a very, very weird feeling about what's going on with tsams now that they've Also changed Lunar's name. The only information we have on what's happening is from Discord, where Kat mentioned it wasn't her choice to change Earth's name and the mods reassuring everyone that the changes are for a good reason. I've been seeing theories that the changes are to make them more sellable for merch? But I,, don't fully know why they'd have to change their own OCs for that? So idk

From a story perspective though? It doesn't make sense and it's just another vein of Lunar having no choice in what happens to them.

Just because Libra asked "do you accept this permanent name change?" doesn't mean that "no" was a valid answer, because then what would have happened? They say "actually, I like my name, Lunar feels fine" and then what? The astrals, of which are famously judgy and pushy, say "okay, we'll continue to call you Lunar then! (Even though we just said that Lunar is an unfitting astral name)" like?!?!!??? And Lunar just immediately goes home to be like "uh. I guess I have a different name now? and I don't wanna deal with two names, so just call me Cosmos too."

They didn't make this choice. And honestly! They couldn't have because Lunar wouldn't have ever changed their name of their own volition!!! You can't tell me that Lunar—the character who is known for trying to cling onto a sense of identity so hard that it causes more problems for them in the long run—would be willing to let go of their own name? That is the one thing about them that actually hasn't changed since the beginning, the one thing that's consistent in the face of everything.

Plus, on a more personal note? I had an experience with my old username where everyone was calling me a nickname derived from my url instead of my actual chosen name, and the realization that only one person was calling me my actual preferred name made me have a messy identity crisis. If Lunar wasn't just, a character who is unfortunately the subject of bad writing lately, this choice would probably hit them at some point. They'd probably have that same awful, dreadful feeling of "oh god. no one even knows me."

It's just. Earth made sense because she at least gave her own reasons. She said "yeah I'm tryna be my own person now, so I'm Terra!" but Lunar's reason was just "uh. Libra gave it to me sooo.... 👍 yup." Like. augghhh. They could have gone by both Lunar and Cosmos too if the writing wasn't being so weird but !!! ugh. deflates. it's whateverrrrr

[desire-demon-wish]

Varric’s DA2 narration knew how to hint things at the right time to feel suspenseful and set the tone for the next act. It was also a little corny sometimes, but that works for Varric’s character. Varric’s DATV narration has no true ability for maintaining suspense or setting a tone. Nearly every piece of narration had the exact same formula: recap + “but little did you know-” Considering Varric is not even involved in the story or had anyone he could be telling this narration to, it’s really out of place and incredibly nebulous. Meanwhile Varric being actively involved in DA2 and having the set up of the interrogation shows you how deeply personal his narration is.

[agirlking]

"You love Remmick but you hate Mary and blame her - " Okay you realize it's not Remmick fans doing that right? The people that victim blame Mary for getting turned by force and say she was invading and didn't belong there and no one would've been turned if not for her, also hate Remmick, you get that yeah?

[rowanisawriter]

i have seen too many bad posts like in a row .

[ingravinoveritas]

I just wanted to tell you, I remembered the red bikini post as well as your offer of dinner and dessert.

At the time, for whatever reason, it felt “off” and kind of creepy that Neil responded the way he did. Never in a million years, thinking something like this would happen.

One of my first thoughts after the allegations came out about him was, “some of Gods greatest gifts, are unanswered prayers.” With a nod to Garth Brooks who has had his own demons to face.

I’m glad Someone kept you safe. ♥️

(Grouping together due to similar themes/ease of answering.) @amagnificentobsession and Anon: Thank you so much...this is very, very sweet of you both to say and I truly appreciate it. ♥️

One thing I do want to make clear is that I am in no way trying to equate my experience with Neil to the absolute horrors his survivors went through. But it felt relevant to mention because I do think it gives us a glimpse into how he operates--how purposeful he is, how deliberate.

My default response tends to always be to blame myself--either for not knowing better, or in this case because I took certain actions (sending him that photo of me). And I'm fully responsible for that. In my mind, I know that he worked very hard to come across as someone safe, someone that I would feel comfortable sending that photo to--but in my heart, it still hurts so much. Not because I was such a huge fan of Neil's, but because it's yet another instance of me being a terrible judge of character. It's something that's happened in my life on multiple occasions--usually romantic relationships--where I've incorrectly thought guys felt the same way about me that I felt about them.

It's a funny thing, though, because in several of those cases, it turned out that those men were using me to feel better about themselves. To boost their own fragile, pathetic egos. Obviously, this is not an identical situation, as I was not in a relationship of any kind with Neil, but the playbook still feels eerily similar. And like those situations, I'm left wondering how I could have not seen what he was, and how I could have been so wrong. Especially because in the years since those relationships, I have definitely encountered more than my share of creepy guys, so I thought for sure I would know what to look out for by now.

But despite that, I didn't clock Neil's responses as creepy, or think that something like this would ever happen. The things he said were so calculated to be what they were--goofy, funny, sweet, harmless--that I was blinded to reality. He weaponized being Neil Gaiman, wielded it with surgical precision, and I fell for it. And it fucking hurts.

As you both have said, though, it does feel like direct corroboration of what we now know, and it seems like I did ultimately did dodge a potentially terrible experience. I only wish the same could've been true for all the women he hurt...

[dreadfuldevotee]

okay so I've gotta say I just finished iwtv and like it's really refreshing to find someone who's willing to talk about armand (and, by extension loumand) in an interesting way. Because I quite liked them in S2 so imagine my surprise when I go online and all I see is people acting like armand personally kidnapped claudia and also was mind controlling louis 24/7 (tiktok is horrible with that) when that's just the most boring and frankly nonsensical reading of the material ever. (I think it's silly in general to constantly compare loumand and loustat on the basis of who's worse because. come on.)

However, it got me thinking about how some of that might be the show's own fault? Sure, a big amount of the people not willing to engage are loustat shippers who can't comprehend one person loving multiple people, but I've seen that many people revert back to calling armand this big bad who would have let louis die as if it recontextualizes the WHOLE relationship when imo... it doesn't? Like I feel like I'm going insane bc the show presented it as this huge twist and I didn't quite get on with it? (I'm conflicted on the loustat reunion too but whatever). I feel that there's a disconnect there of what was established the whole season and what was said in the finale. And people are just running with it.

Man idek if what I'm saying makes sense but I wanted to hear your takes on it bc I quite enjoy them and value your input!

No, I totally get what you're saying! I think the details of the loumand breakup collapse on itself upon prodding a bit. I can understand why they wouldn't want them to split the way they do in the book (years of travelling together, finally ending up in New Orleans- Armand setting Louis up to meet Lestat who is wallowing, jumping at sirens 'n just generally sad and pathetic; and being fed up that Louis is seemingly unmoved to any real emotion after the encounter. Them exchanging some harsh observations about each other and then Armand walking off into the night) I think the season ending is more interested in serving the direction they're (presumably) heading for Louis, and wrapping up his life story.

I've been thinking of it to myself as a "Straw that broke the camel's back" kind of break. It's the resurfacing of all the myriad of ways Armand fucked up and fucked Louis over- Oh, and by the way not only did he have a more active role in the play than you originally thought, it never even crossed his mind once to lift a finger to save you. Though, even this falters a bit under remember that Armand breaks Louis out his crypt. People smarter than me have put their finger on exactly why it stumbles on the landing, I'm sure.

What makes it work enough for me is that Louis doesn't go back to Lestat. Yes, they see each other and hug tearfully but Louis does not walk out of Dubai with the intent to ask Lestat to take him back. No, he goes home. He ruminates in the sound of the driver's accent and immediately steps out in a saint's hat. The fact that he finds his way to Lestat is a turn of fate and even then its not really a reunion of lovers but of parents, as the only two people who will mourn Claudia. I say this all the time, but I think knowing that IWTV as a contained story is about grieving a child is the puzzle piece I think a lot of people miss. Before its about Lestat and messy romances and aliens, the whole story sprouts from this moment of deep grief. So I love that Louis has this moment of personal introspection and allows himself to feel his own grief and share it with Lestat but also make a promise to try living for himself and still goes back to the penthouse alone.

I think my continued feelings are a little contingent on how the show plays it going forward. The way I see it, if we start taking score for whos worse, Armand or Lestat- They are tied for gold. Lestat is still complicit in the trial, as is Armand ofc, but neither of them wrote it or schemed it, or genuinely personally desired to kill Louis/Claudia/Madeleine. If the show decides it wants to act like Armand is irredeemable in Louis eyes I will be....less than happy, to say the least. But if the show is as interested in engaging with all the character and all their complexities I think it could all come together quite nicely by the end.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

So have any unpopular opinions about the owl house? Mine is that Gus should gotten more recognition in the show and the fandom.

i agree honestly, gus was a character with so much potential and they completely squandered that. but at least he got a few episodes centred around him, unlike bow who had no role in the story apart from being the emotional support and the occasional comic relief.

my unpopular opinion is that.. the fandom blames the disney executives too much. don't get me wrong, they definitely screwed over the show and refused to let dana give us the entire story she had planned out. but a lot of the bad writing in s2b and s3 (and heck, even in s1) was the entirety the writers' fault.

unlike some other shows, the creators toh actually got the opportunity to wrap up the story. there were a lot of shows that were just cancelled with no warning, and the creators never got to write a conclusion. in that sense, the writers of toh got lucky and they should have used that to their advantage.

especially in s3, all three episodes together had a longer runtime than that of a movie. and i believe disney announced the decision to cancel when s1 was almost over, so they had all the time in the world to plan things out and make a coherent plotline instead of focusing on rushed ships and fanservice.

i was so excited for s3 and it was sorely disappointing. belos went from being a complex three-dimensional villain to just your standard Big Bad™ with no motivation outside of pOwEr. hunter was given trauma after trauma to deal with, and none of it was addressed properly afterwards. huntlow was rushed and unnatural, and screwed over both characters involved. luz's whole epiphany and the palisman was extremely lackluster, and her palisman didn't even play a huge role in the narrative afterwards. titan luz was just a deus ex machina and went against the original message of the story, which was that “there is no chosen one”.

overall, i feel like the creators did a bad job of handling the story and fans should stop blaming everything on the show's cancellation. it's an easy excuse because they don't want to hold the writers accountable for their bad writing decisions.

[whoify]

aaaaand that’s enough time in the doctor who tag just saw someone saying moffat is problematic for including a lesbian character in the 1800s

[bluedalahorse]

Periodically I wonder what Young Royals fandom could have been if bad faith anon discourse about so many characters and plot points hadn’t been so Everywhere during the fandom’s heyday.

[anyataylorjoys]

Auuuugh Shauna haters in the Shauna tag are so fucking boring and to actually claim Shauna is evil without reason and to argue that she’s not a layered and complex female character simply because you don’t like her and can’t stand that people are eating up the entertainment her character brings to the show… well. It’s time to accept that this show was never for you and that’s okay! But this is the Shauna Shipman show actually.

[anishake]

I just wanna say that J2 tinhats were right and God's strongest warriors

[onward--upward]

must we do the thing every single season when ryan misses his two episodes and then everyone is mad about it. you guys. its so consistent that its clearly a contract thing of some kind. they clearly have to choose SOMETHING that he isn't going to be in. and this time there is even! solid narrative justification for him not being in the episode!