#wanted to try doing some more dynamic perspective stuff

[riteliso]

I mean this part I do find weird because they're always looking for new members of the rebellion but they do NOT care about Kyle AT ALL

A guy named after soft drinks? Sure we need that guy

We already have an ex horde soldier though? And she's magic?

I mean maybe a second ex horde soldier LATER who ISN'T magic but only if she's RIPPED

And then like we could handle a third if Adora decides she wants to date that Cat

But not this kid

Alright, who wants to talk about implied themes of SEXUAL ABUSE!!!!! Obviously, content warning. Once you see more images, I won't be talking about it anymore, so scroll past.

Now, do I believe that Catra, within canon, was sexually abused by Shadow Weaver? No. Do I believe that the relationship between the two is meant to mirror that of a sexually abusive dynamic between a young woman and an older woman who has known her since childhood? Yes.

I do not know how evergreen the term is, as it's had a bit of a flare up recently, but I believe that Catra, on some level, is meant to represent a victim of grooming.

Catra has exceptionally low self esteem and we see later how she acts in moments where she receives any amount of affection from Shadow Weaver, and it's uncomfortable because she really melts.

Don't fuckin cry for me, but part of why I identify with Catra so much is because if you simplify our dark backstories into broad strokes, they match up.

I know what it's like to have an older woman pursue you, try to take away your personhood, domesticate you, and turn you into a tool for them at best, and a pet for them at worst.

You don't really recover from that.

Sexual abuse and its affects on young people are partially so vile and difficult to talk about because when you're growing up and you don't understand these emotions you can't sort out the bad from the good.

Horrible things were done to me that should never, under any circumstances, happen to ANYONE of ANY AGE, and I enjoyed a lot of it. I didn't know better.

Sometimes, even if you don't know if YOU love someone abusing you or not, you are DESPERATE to know that they love you.

Why would you put up with it if they don't?

Catra is too immature and turned around to understand that what is between her and Shadow Weaver is fucking vile. She can't admit she's being taken advantage of, because that would make her feel weak. She can't feel weak, because if people can tell she's weak, they'll hurt her even worse than when she was pretending to be strong.

Catra believes that her and Shadow Weaver are equals. It's part of why she gloats so much when she out-performs Shadow Weaver. She doesn't think Shadow Weaver's age or position of power or guardianhood are relevant to the relationship between the two, because she knows if those things are relevant, it makes it wrong.

In this perspective Catra is within a love triangle. She loves Adora more, she loves her a LOT more, but she can't help but feel some amount of love towards Shadow Weaver because Shadow Weaver is an abusive, evil, manipulative monster who is absolutely willing to destroy everything about a young woman as long as it keeps them useful.

And when Catra feels spurned by someone she loves, she wants to hurt them. To gloat, and tease, and show off. A lot of the ways she expresses her dynamic with Adora she begins to use with Shadow weaver past this point, majorly while Shadow Weaver is in prison.

Anyway, that stuff is heavy. Personally, I don't even know the specifics of how I feel about its inclusion. Would Catra be the same without this subtext? I guess not. And I guess I'd connect with her less because of it. But it doesn't make me feel great to see what happened to me through a different lens. It doesn't make me feel great that part of my connection to this character is through an obscure and specific pain that's really hard to talk about. It doesn't make me feel great that the reason me and Catra's cracks and breaks line up so much is we have the same point of impact.

If this was someone's reasons for not enjoying the show, I'd completely understand.

Pretty on-the-nose foreshadowing here of the portal dream that we'll experience later on.

And we see that Shadow Weaver is wrong here.

Adora won't stay willingly if you wipe her memories.

Adora doesn't belong in the fright zone. Nobody does, but Adora will always find a reason to leave. It only took her a few minutes in the outside world to find one. And she left everything for it.

Some wings you just can't clip. Some wings grow back stronger each time.

Some good times for Glimmer lovers and Shadow Weaver haters everywhere

Also I needed that after my little sidebar earlier

Also this time DON'T ignore the data moshing because it looks cool

Okay, very SPECIFIC sidebar and gripe here, there's people I've met who say the show LOST them here because to them it makes NO SENSE that the team believes that Entrapta DIED here.

ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE

IT'S INSANE THAT SHE SURVIVED

IF YOU BELIEVE IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE THAT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE USING EXTERNAL CONTEXT TO INFER YOURSELF THAT SHE HASN'T DIED YET. WHETHER THAT BE BECAUSE YOU DON'T THINK A CHARACTER WOULD DIE THAT GRUESOMELY AT THIS POINT IN THE SHOW, OR BECAUSE YOU'VE SCREENCAPS OF HER LATER ON, IT DOES NOT MATTER.

THERE IS NO REASON FOR THE CHARACTERS TO BELIEVE ENTRAPTA SURVIVES THIS

SHE WAS PURGED BY GREEN FLAME AND THE DOOR LOCKED BEHIND HER AND EVERYTHING WENT COMPLETELY SILENT

It makes complete sense for Entrapta to think that the others would stick around and look for her because a) she didn't see it from an outside perspective and b) she's not great at following other peoples' lines of logic.

It does NOT make sense for these characters to believe she survived this. Again, I feel that assumptions to the contrary are unfair and motivated by peoples' views of other media, tropes, et cetera. They are refusing to ground themselves and view the characters' perspectives. All of these characters are living through war. They've experienced death. They don't think their friends are invincible. They just saw Entrapta die.

ALRIGHT SO

Here's how we're doing things, right? We're gonna go one episode at a time, and I'm gonna give my thoughts whenever they come up. This is a train of thought type beat, alright? Unlike my usual grandstanding authorial and analytical self, this re-watch is purely for the rant factor. If you don't know me, and you just happened upon this thread because you like reading she-ra rewatches, hello. I'm a writer from Canada who found she-ra in 2025 and is currently on her sixth watch through. From that, hopefully you can discern that I like this show, even if I'm likely gonna criticize parts of it. We good to go? Good. We start with S01 E01.

RIGHT, THE SWORD PART 1! A zoom in, with an angelic singing being drowned out by digital bloopy fright zone vibes, and then Adora being a fuckin dweeb as her leitmotif plays in a decidedly crystiline synth-y tone.

Now, what do we learn from this? This, aside from one gripe I'll have more to speak on later, is an excellent introduction. With the music alone we're essentially taken from the beauty of the planet, the overwhelming dread of the fright zone, and then into a hopeful tune that isn't FREE from these sort of digital themes in the music, but is very defined and separate FROM them.

This isn't gonna be one of those things where I praise literally every single fuckin thing so keep your panties on, I'm not gonna full-on overanalyzing avatar this shit, but the most important parts of a story are the beginning and the ending.

Now, when I say that, I am speaking pragmatically. Every part of every story is important-- but when it comes to what people remember, what they love, what they never shut up about-- it's the start and the end. You need to nail the take-off and the landing, people will forget the turbulence from the rest of the trip.

Now, what does THIS bitch's intro tell us about her? Well, a lot, honestly. Most of what we know about Adora at this point is she plays by the rules, but she is a notably goofy person. She's goofy, but she's unwilling to goof-OFF too much.

And while we get a taste of the rivalry they have instantly, with "That's low, even for you." "You know nothing's too low for me~"

We instantly see that that is not the CORE of their relationship.

I'd like to praise the voice direction in this show for the first of many times here. The voice actors do amazing work in this, and the direction can be felt throughout.

"Come on, you look stupid hanging there" can obviously be a seen as a strange first line to show the warmth these two share, but the inflection from Catra's voice actor, AJ Mikalcha, makes it read as downright sweet.

Also don't get used to me using names of the crew besides ND Stevenson because I'm so awful with names I was still calling Catra Katara half the time on my second re-watch and I was like 90% of the way to realizing I kinned her at that point

Also don't make fun of me for kinning Catra there's no RESPONSE to people making fun of you for kinning Catra THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU SEEM MORE LIKE FUCKING CATRA OKAY

Anyway, the following scene makes it clear that this is not a one-way dynamic. The two banter, and it's clear Adora knows how to get under Catra's skin and annoy her as well. This is notable in a few places MUCH further on, but it is a difference worth highlighting NOW.

Once Adora leaves, Catra's primary goal is still to get under her skin. She's angry about it, she's mean about it, but she's still just doing what she's always done. The relationship between the two doesn't actually change as much as the context does. I'd say the relationship itself doesn't change much until the final season, at a scene I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about.

On the flip-side, Adora's goal when it comes to Catra is simply to fight her off. But that's not all there is. At points, it's clear that Adora holds some sort of REVERENCE for Catra, and while Catra is very capable of very mean things, don't get me wrong, Adora sees Catra as more of a threat than she realistically is.

At a few moments I'll point out she also relishes in getting under Catra's skin, but admittedly those are few and far between.

People have gone over this introduction billions of times, so I won't BORE you to death with it, but Shadow weaver's introduction does hint at a lot of what we'll learn later. I think it's very notable that while Shadow weaver brings a dark gloom that encompasses both our leads, her vile tendrils only dare to touch Catra. We learn the specifics of the dynamic these three have later, but it is a very unique and terrible situation to be the least favourite of an abusive guardian. Especially if you are repeatedly reminded of that fact.

I'm not gonna go over all the body language shit I've seen other text posts about it there's plenty of them a lot of focus in this show goes into tiny details where characters are constantly reacting to the world around them, and very rarely do we get lame stretches where anyone's face is just frozen and unflinching while they listen to someone else.

with all due respect to the setting at this point in time the bright moon rebellion is so pathetically anemic it's the two teens, some movie night lesbians, an immortal princess queen, and a bunch of fucking trees.

And you'd think the one carrying the team would be THE IMMORTAL PRINCESS QUEEN, BUT NO, ITS THE FUCKING TREES DOING ALL THE GOD DAMNED WORK

This introduction is fine. I don't particularly like it, nor have any strong feelings about it. It establishes the relationship between glimmer and her mother, but besides that it doesn't honestly do much. And don't come at me with "Uh, all it needs to do is establish that relationship?" Yeah, no shit, but we just had a better introduction to our other lead characters. And yes, those are the MAIN leads, the sort of heart of the show, but that doesn't mean that the other characters are unimportant. Glimmer's development later on is truly interesting, and Bow becomes a massively inspiring character. Fun jokey times are fine or whatever to show that they're immature and don't know the first thing about war, in contrast to our full-blown child soldiers raised from birth in the fright zone, but we really don't learn anything particularly INTERESTING about our best friend squad compadres in their intro, nor do we really see any of it until episode 2, to be frank.

This is something we don't actually see much of-- Catra has this ideal of being a conqueror, but it's very clear that she doesn't want that. Her threats are vapid and aimless-- She can enjoy some chaos, sure, but a shit-stirrer isn't gonna use that feces to build brick shithouses that they never intend to fall.

I think this should have been elaborated on more, personally. Catra is comically terrible with authority, and her plan, as stated later, is to wait it out until her and Adora are the ones calling the shots. But we don't really see what she thinks conquering even looks like, and it's not clear whether that's that she hasn't even imagined it and just likes evil words, or if she genuinely wants to rule with Adora as her Queen.

I gravitate towards the first, but that's partially because I wake up and post shit like "I want to destroy the world and rule its dust" and then forget I posted it when someone likes it 5 minutes later. If she do, in fact, as studies point toward, "be just like me fr," then I fully understand. If not, then I'd like to understand.

aw :(

Fuckin dweeb pulling the "my mom doesn't want me hanging out with you anymore" card

HA! Ah, what a bitch. Anyway, she's lashing out, but it's also quite tragic. A lot of people seem to think Adora IS, in some way, a people pleaser, but in reality she just has such an ingrained and violent sense of justice that she wants to right every wrong she has ever and will ever come across. She believes her validity is tied to what she can provide to the world, and she's got a natural sense of charisma, so it's natural for someone who refuses to blend in and naturally tends to put people off like Catra to have this view of her.

In reality, Adora is just-- a good person. And people LIKE good people. She's not a good person with an asterisk-- a good person with terms and conditions-- someone who falls into the definition of a good person while feeling and being treated like something else. Catra is the "a tomato is a fruit" of good people. Adora is just, like, a 1 dollar costco hotdog of a woman. An inarguable good treading water on this earth, no matter how hard it tries to pull her under.

Imagine falling for a brat with mad hops, like a fucking 50 foot vertical, you say you're too tired to play their favourite board game and they go hang out on your neighbour's roof, couldn't be me. Get fucked I guess

Yeah this is sad. Empathy is very much a learned skill, and people who don't learn empathy don't GET happy FOR people. Catra's not a complete person yet. She's not ready to be. That doesn't happen for a really long time, during an exceptionally long manic spiral. We'll get there, calm down, don't think about how far away that is and how much I've already yammered on.

Anyway, if you find yourself getting jealous or annoyed instead of getting happy for people, consider empathy isn't what you thought it was, and that you might still need to work on yourself.

fucking porno framing. Immensely sexual image, really. These bitches violently gay I suppose, I think I'm picking up on that during this sixth re-watch.

Buddy you got no idea how many problems those two already have you literally lose your little tiara at some point I think it ends up in the middle of a tree in space or something it's kinda unclear

Adora elbows her square in the nose during this so to everyone accusing Catra of physical abuse I just want it to be clear that Adora started it :/

Actually I'd like to retract that joke immediately because I know how people get about these two

My feelings are that they are literally child soldiers who were likely raised sparring each-other.

I was raised sparring other children and I ended up fine! Not for war, for Karate. And I didn't end up fine. And neither did they. Anyway, my point isn't even specifically that because this is sci-fi fantasy it's ridiculous to hold real life standards to it, it's more-so that because it's sci-fi fantasy there's extenuating circumstances that are going to affect how these two characters treat each-other. I'll go into hotter takes later, I'm sure, and get people to send me plenty of death-threats, but I'm gonna go into the nuances of exactly what forms Catra's abuse takes, and how it differs given by the separate circumstances we're shown the two in throughout the show.

my girl when I'm tryna live my best life playing as blue toad in mario 3d world

also holy shit we're only like halfway through this I am an AGONIZING yapper jesus fuck

Okay, what to say about lighthope-- well, their first words are "balance must be restored," far before they say Adora's name, so it somewhat lays out their secret priorities for us there. Besides that, I dunno, they got circuits on them? I don't have particularly strong feelings about lighthope, nor their introduction. I think they serve the setting and are written well, I just subjectively am not a sucker for the way they be. Their friendship with Mara is cute tho

I was gonna point out this is cute and how often I do this exact brat tactic but instead we data moshin, nothin wrong with a little data moshin, I'm down

This is the only reason she even wears a ponytail I'd stake my fuckin life on it

Once she leaves the fright zone that thing's fucking vestigial like a tailbone or having "any pronouns" in your bio when it's pretty clear you're very much a "she/they" type of bitch by now

glimmer why don't your windows have glass

or alternatively

how the fuck do you open and close that window

you can absolutely fucking hear her from this distance what on earth are you trying to pull

you a pillow princess tho how many of those arrows are just hitatchi magic wands attatched to a stick with duct-tape after the series ends do you think

The fuck you mean BOTTOM drawer we lookin at left and right here

or is this similar to my pillow princess comment and she's just addressing him and giving him an order

"Bottom; drawer."

It's established later on that he's a tech wiz but at this point in time they don't really give us much to lead us to the fact that he made that fucking thing

she's a freak

yes it's very sweet that she sleeps this way but I don't think it's some bdsm powerplay thing or anything like that, which would honestly be more tolerable, I think she's just like that

like how the way I'd sit in high school was to get two chairs and face them toward each-other then sit cross-legged across both

even if there weren't enough chairs to go around

people would sit on the FLOOR because I wanted to sit criss-cross-applesauce across two chairs, they wouldn't even ask for one of my chairs

also since I was sitting, again, cross-legged, it would have made more sense for ME to sit on the floor

I mean I think I got asked ONCE for one of the chairs and I just said "fine" but besides that people just let me sit on my fuckin throne

She really is kinda dumb, though. Like I ain't complaining, it's a character trait, but like obviously even if just you get in trouble Catra's gonna get blamed, you've seen it like at least once a month for your whole entire life

Mind you, can't really have Catra for the next part, because Catra's reaction to Bow and Glimmer wouldn't be "just let me have the sword" it'd be murder

oh wow we hit the image limit looks like we're doing TWO SEPARATE POSTS FOR THE VERY FIRST EPISODE YEE-HAW!!!!! THIS IS GOING TO TAKE ME FUCKING FOREVER

[ruskatuskapuskasapuska]

the "glock gluck gluck"-line lives rentfree in my head.

[constellationcrowned]

((All signs point to Kariom being a lot like Serban in his youth. Was he a stern kid? Yes. Grumpy? Yes. But he also had fun and was mischievous. He made pinwheels, he wanted to fly kites, he drew and colored in one of Flynn's gardening books (he drew constellations ofc but no doubt other things too) he ate so many cattails by the lake he almost choked to death, he ran around and got into trouble, he tried to make friends, and so on.

It's important to remember that he was a kid and he wasn't always so obsessively driven by his duty---and I mean driven to the point of where he, as an adult, considers all of that stuff as stupid, inconsequential, etc, and prefers not to think on it, driven to the point of self degradation (whether he acknowledges it or not and let's face it; he doesn't), etc, etc---such a severe reaction has to have a cause. Something changed him, something shifted his focus and it was definitely something huge. I imagine it's in part due to whatever happened to the Solomonari and his involvement on top of a variety of other things that built up over time until he could hold nothing else.))

[sqgeism]

love mail — some small little headcanons of the dynamic between the reader x anaxagoras 😽 this is for the people who fw stuff like this (* ´ ▽ ` *) if ppl like this i'd love to do phainon and mydei,, and if u wanna know other stuff feel free to ask!! also hi airi if u see this were u srs ab the hsr tag im too shy to clarify ( *´・ω)/(；д； )

more often than not, i tend to portray anaxagoras and the reader as married. that is intentional as i feel like anaxa would struggle to be affectionate with someone who he isn't sure is his forever, so him being married to them gives him great comfort and lets him feel more open to genuine romance.

this is random and it has always depended how you all insert yourselves into the story... how anaxagoras and reader fell inlove, but i always stood firm on the idea that they were professors who fell in love with each other and their respective fields <3 so cute..

the nickname anaxagoras gives them, "dove", is based off the idea that those very birds can represent new beginnings. when he met them, he genuinely thought that he had been given a second chance in life. that in the short time he had left, he was able to see a new perspective on the world just through looking at it through the readers eyes, hence the nickname.

i think in one of my veeery first works of anaxa, he was pretty closed off but still made efforts to be there for his dove, which was a very big jump to suddenly being married! so i want to emphasize that it likely took about 3 years before anaxa would propose to reader. you can take the stuff i've written as their sort of build up but i wanna write a genuinely like.. establishing up to their marriage fic soon! + if anaxa knew just how much reader would mean to him, he would've proposed earlier. since he dies and allat Σ(´□｀ )

i do want to explore more into the more complex and 'darker' themes of a relationship with anaxagoras (this section is for you ri, ily <3) and i do think that before marriage, he was relatively distant but oddly possessive. didn't spend too much time around (chrysos heir things.. research.. all of that took time) and yet he'd get moody when he wouldn't see you during the day. he wasn't as sweet as he is now, either. he was as sharp as his aim—precise and knew where to hit. so arguments, though rare, were still intense to some degree. while you were just trying to communicate, anaxagoras saw it as some sort of debate, a battle of intelligence. he would need to be alone and clear his mind to realize his mistakes.. but be too proud to admit to them until a week or so later, where he musters up the courage to apologize.

thank goodness it wasn't for too long, 8 months of that back and fourth.. anaxagoras is convinced that any sane person would've packed their bags and gone home. however you stayed, despite his indifferent attitude to life. broke down walls he but with bloodied hands from the hardships thrown at him, and loved every ugly part of him before ever seeing the good. he always reminds you that he's eternally grateful that you were tenacious, and avowed that he couldn't ever forgive himself, had you rightfully turned your back on him and found someone else.

porcelain!dove was a really interesting concept that i want to bring back, since i feel like their development tg would be really sweet,, them being parallels of each other and learning how to go through the complexities of human emotions with each other

if i had to describe the way i write anaxagoras, i think of a man who loves his partner dearly—a yearner, even. but there will be more times where he slips up than when he doesn't, as the fact of the matter is; anaxagoras would struggle to be a good husband. he's undoubtedly good to dove, but he fails in romance and especially vulnerability. he's open for you to be vulnerable and will (try) to comfort you.. but never himself, he doesn't feel ready for it even with reader.

reader and anaxagoras live seperately. though you could say that they practically live with him since they're probably at his place more than his own home. i like to think there's an established need for personal spaces, but don't mind sharing in healthy hours. if you did ask to move in with him he wouldn't mind but would make you a seperate lab/office/area for your own work or interests.

anaxa prefers holding readers waist/hip because it lets him be closer rather than holding hands. will do it if you ask though, but that's his default when you two are side by side

the reason he urges you on having you call him anaxa because i hc he sometimes struggles to recognize your voice from other people, or just generally having a hard time to differentiate voices. so letting you call him something special makes sure he knows that whose calling him is important.

if you made a joke about the whole him being tied up in chains thing, he'd say he's not against it. you want to think he's joking but it's in a deadpan voice and you don't know how to feel.

© sqgeism or wtv (^_^;)

[seadeepspaceontheside]

How do you talk about "proship" stuff without immediately getting bombarded with hate and dismissed as a terrible person?

I'm on your side, but it seems most people are not, and not willing to listen at all.

I wanna make some small things clear lol I am not the spokesperson for this topic. There are far more people who are more articulate and have done more research and I would rather just be drawing lol

I usually state that if you're not a great speaker or can't articulate yourself very well, link to the experts that understand how this stuff works. Like I've said before, a lot of the therapists and articles I have linked have done a better job than I on the topic. Because you might be actually hurting your case when you're trying to explain to someone these things and you are either hung up on the trees over the forest or can't explain something because they catch you on a minute detail.

That being said, the main advice I would give is to not to use these loaded terms themselves, just the dynamic itself. In all honesty, if you use that kind of terminology (proship/anti), it usually turns people's brains off and makes them think you're weird automatically.

I would just point out that there's a wide range of different types of stories (from tv shows to myths of yore) that have spanned centuries--even some of which featuring taboos. And the ills of society do not have these stories to blame.

I am tired, because when I think we've moved on from these rehashed arguments and stupid discourse about media , I come to find arguments that were settled ten years ago are rearing their heads again. And this time they're coming with threats!

They did this with D&D and rock music. (You would be lured into satanic rituals and be deviants) They did this was violent movies and video games (You would want to commit murders or want murderers to go free) They did with this with rap and music videos (You would be hypnotized into violence by the artist and you would want to be a harlot) They did this with anime (Foreign media that is super weird and turn people into super freaks) They did this was queer media (Gonna turn you gay) They did this with superheroes (Children will think they can fly, they think punching will solve their problems)

Now this type of persecution comes for people that are doing taboo fanworks. I am tired of seeing this shit. Hindsight is free--those who were young for these old campaigns can see this stuff clearly for what it is: veiled right-wing rhetoric that is easily adopted by useful idiots who believe they are "helping". This time, the main push has been from young people in fandom spaces.

This is how it works.

All art communicates worldviews to some extent, but that doesn't make everything propaganda. Artists aren't working to eliminate other worldviews or stifle the existence of other artists--that is actually what propaganda is. It often comes from a perspective that embraces the imperialist or patriarchal status quo.

To someone on the fence who might be reading this: art is subjective. Your need to moralize what you consume is fraught. Consuming "good" media made with "good morals" and not "taboo" doesn't make you live a good life or become a good person. You're going to hit a wall one of these days where something you enjoy will be seen as something gross/repulsive/troubling and when you have been cut off from all those who would have defended you, you will have no one around you. If you feel like you are constantly put under a magnifying glass by said friends over what you ship, what art you enjoy.... Its not healthy! When you can't unfollow or say how you truly feel in a group of people and feel "unsafe" if you were to leave…. THAT'S A CULT. I find that it's always the same people who start shit that will be repeating this behaviour wherever they go. They literally act like HOAs but instead of your halloween ornaments staying up for too long, they are saying you can't enjoy your Greek God incest fics.

One last thing to remember: if you're having this conversation, and a person takes the worst possible light from what you say…they are not trying to have a conversation with you, they are acting against you.

[hiimnothere1]

as someone who can see the appeal of cnc but is also wary of the more serious side of the spectrum, i’m always cautious when a man or masc-presenting person is super into it or fantasizing about it. probably because it’s too real and can easily just be a means of them trying to abuse their own power as a human.

other than consent of course, what are some things that help give away the fact that they’re into it for fun and not causing any real harm?

Hey gang, revival from the dead (temporarily)

This is a really good question. I haven’t talked to many people on the dom side that’s into CNC so I can only answer from my perspective.

In my opinion, see if they can exist without it. Can they do other things and be super into or even more into it than CNC. Me personally, I can. I absolutely love cute and cuddly aspects of a dynamic just as if not even more than the hard dom stuff. Dynamics in this community are a GIVE AND TAKE and if all they do is force kinks like CNC onto them, it is not a good dynamic.

I understand some subs will say “I want you to use me and degrade me” and stuff and that no situation is the same. But, in my experience, even a a the “free use” subs have times where they are either:

-Not in the mood

-Wanna be cuddled

I cannot speak for everyone and I won’t, but this is generally how it goes. Knowing if a dom is respecting of time constraints, situations, and even just current mood is a good indicator if they’re into it for fun or might actually be a super unique individual trying to catch jail time.

I’ll write a post about (in my opinion) good and bad sub/dom dynamics

[danadiadea]

Severus’ isolation after the exam is one of the reasons Lily’s attempt to get him to abandon his Slytherin ‘friends’ has never sat that well with me.

Because I get why she doesn’t like Mulciber, obviously, but instead she’s asking him to alienate them for…who, exactly? She can’t even be bothered to wait to exchange two words after something really important to him, she’s off with her girlfriends without a second thought, and there’s no indication Sev was hoping she’d wait so clearly this is a well established pattern (strange, considering he’s supposedly a possessive incel stalker, that he doesn’t interfere with her social life!) She appears to have made no moves to introduce Severus to any non-Slytherins or join any clubs together. She’s so over him that she doesn’t even address him personally while her housemates have him strung up by the ankle. And obviously he’s picked up on her indifference, or he wouldn’t be begging for reassurance they’re still best friends. I find it hard to condemn him for not cutting off the Slytherins for Lily’s sake when Lily’s so chronically unsupportive and unavailable. Total isolation does horrible things to people’s brains.

And then of course there’s the fact that Lily’s crush + hangers on have ensured the only space in the castle potentially free from violence is the Slytherin dorms they can’t enter, where Sev is also at considerable disadvantage as a son of a muggle sleeping alongside pureblood supremacists. But this also doesn’t cross her mind. I get that she’s a teenage girl, but 16 year olds are not incapable of putting themselves in another’s shoes! (I’ll add the disclaimer before I get jumped on that ofc I understand that Severus fails to do this for Lily too).

Severus is an incel stalker, but Lily has a friendgroup that talks shit on Severus and that clearly is her priority, but he does not interfere or try to prevent her from hanging out with them, unlike Lily who tells him to not spend time with the only people sho seem to at least somewhat accept him (by the way she doesn't assign anything bad to Avery, and I find it interesting that Sirius doesn't mention Mulcibier when talking about "the gang" at all, but he mentions Avery too. Maybe Avery was closer to Severus, and he was a more decent person overall? also Lily says she detests "some" people he's hanging around with, so maybe there were Slytherins she didn't dislike that much, like Rosier and Wilkies? I don't trust Sirius too much though, he mentions Bella and Rodolfus who couldn't possibly study with Snape).

Lily not adressing Severus during the SWM irks me so much. Like this is the №1 reason I support the "Lily was a deeply imperfect friend" agenda even more than "you're ungrateful to James Potter" stuff, honestly. Like this is charity what she does, not backing up her friend. Not only she doesn't attack them, but she doesn't help him to get his wand back or unbind him – all her attention is clearly on James. Severus isn't treated like a subject of the social dynamics, but more like an object of pity, and we know he's very proud. And I wonder if their friendship was already so rotten, or if Lily and Severus weren't known to be very close publically?... At least the adult Marauders never refer to it, so it wasn't a very big part of Lily or Severus from their perspective it seems. Clearly it was known they were friends, but she might not want to be associated with Severus more than necessary in their later years, since her other friends disliked him. At least that would explain why doesn't she approach him after the exam or vice versa, why she seems to be very, very impersonal during SWM, and why no-one ever (except Petunia) refers to Snily friendship from a Watsonian perspective.

Severus begging for the reassurance they are best friends😭😭😭 Too bad we don't hear the previous lines of theirs, I wonder to which phrase/situation he reacted like that. They probably discussed something related to his affiliations, but I don't think it was about Avery and Mulcibier all the way before – she seems to bring them up rather then continue a long lasting argument against them (also this is obvious it's not an argument they have for the fifth year straight. like Severus couldn't possibly be closely associated with them for a long time before that scene). I can imagine a lot of things from which the dialogue might go to Mulcibier and then to the Marauders, but yeah, that "I thought we were supposed to be friends" line sounds desperate asf... And how he can't contain his happiness when she says she hates James, and forgets about defending Mulcibier! All it had required was Lily supporting him in his rightful anger the tiniest bit!

Severus was pretty selfish as a teen, but no-one cared for him. Was even he himself supposed to not care about him? Well, he'd just die then (non-figuratuvely at this point). Severus was a kid from a violent neighbourhood, with abusive and neglectful parents, didn't have any really close friends who'd stand up for him, and his abusers were supported by the school authorities and the student body. Of course he would do what serves him best in that situation, which is sticking to Avery and Mulcibier! Again, Severus' loneliness in SWM shows they weren't emotionally close at all at least by then, he probably just spent time with them (as you've said, they live together and every place in that school that is not Slytherin dorm room is pretty unsafe for Severus, and also the Marauders might not attack him with other slytherins around, when we know that Lily's presence only heated James up from his glances to her in SWM) and Lily asked Severus to abandon even that without giving him any other options.

Also, my favourite ignored thing about it is that this argument arises just after the Prank had happened "the other day". Might a silenced murder attempt intensify Severus' wish to support Mulcibier, I wonder?

[insomniacmiss]

GOODBYE, YOU

As a Joe Goldberg fan, I have to speak up about the end of the last season... And no I am not a romanticizing him. Also, I prefer the book version Joe because he is raw and not a watered down version, giving him 'redeemable characteristics'. The first book of 'You' is the one and only you need to read to understand who he really is. Keep seeing people in the comments saying, "Hate book Joe Goldberg because he's creepy and or disgusting compared to the show on Netflix." Hmm, how do I tell you this..? Book Joe is the first and real version of Joe. Netflix show Joe is just a watered down version of him, trying to make him somehow likable because, let's be real, if Joe was not likable, you clearly wouldn't want to watch the show.

With that said; there will be huge spoilers for the Netflix show plus the book(s). If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this post.

Let's start from the beginning because most fans, or rather 'viewers', forget what the show/books are actually about. The show/books are narrated from the perspective of Joe Goldberg, who at the start was a bookseller with a traumatic childhood. His mom and him were beaten by her various boyfriends and Joe shot her current boyfriend to save his mother. Instead of living with her son in peace, she abandoned him to start a new life/family. The Netflix show wasn't going really deep into his childhood (trauma). However, the book(s) gave us a bit more information about his mother and their toxic relationship dynamic. His mother would drop him off or as Joe said 'dump' him at Key Foods. She would tell him they were playing hide-and-seek but he knew they weren't. Joe would play along. Everyone knew about it but no one called the cops. His mother would then return and slap him hard on the face and scream at him to not 'run away' or pull 'that shit' again. He promised to be a good boy. This was explained in the book 'Hidden Bodies'. His mom wasn't abusive towards Joe in the show. At least I couldn't find anything about his mom slapping him. That's a big difference, in my opinion. His mother was more of a victim in the show who was trying to protect her son while she slapped him hard on the face in the book, pretending Joe ran away when she clearly dumped her son. It wasn't a secret, everybody knew, but she still decided to slap Joe and play this charade. And the fact she slapped him hard told me everything I had to know about his mom. I firmly believe that in the books his mom was abusive towards Joe. You have to read the books thoroughly because he would drop vital information about his past every now and then. Some of Joe's stories are lies that he presents to the reader in order to manipulate you, yes, you.

Sometimes he tells the truth;

I believe him when he tells us his mother dumped him at Key Foods and later slapped him hard and screamed at him, pretending he ran away.

and sometimes he lies;

I do not believe Joe when he tells us he was not the one trying to force himself on his classmate in 4th grade but she was the one who tried to take his virginity.

And yes, there exists a scene in the first book that mentions it. In the end, Joe was the one sent to the psychologist, to the dean's office, and to the counselor where Joe had to show on a 'show-me-who-touched-you-where' doll where he touched her.

Why don't I believe him that he's innocent? Various reasons: I'm aware that Joe is the unreliable narrator. I'm also aware that Joe likes to be honest occasionally so that it's easier for him to feed us lies later on. Very powerful manipulation tactic, by the way... I mean, lying to you, but sprinkling in truths from time to time so that you believe me or can't even tell the difference between lies and truths is powerful. I'm also aware he likes to play the victim all the time. When Beck found his box with her bloody tampon and other stuff in it, Joe tried to blame Beck. It's her own fault she found his box with her stuff in it because she snooped around, she's crazy, it's her pms, she's unhinged, a wild animal. He doesn't see anything wrong with stealing her stuff and keeping it in a box. Because Beck belongs to him, she's just an object. I'm also aware that Joe can and probably would rape a woman. Big words, I know, shocking even! How dare I say such a bad thing? Well, the real Joe Goldberg (book Joe Goldberg) is literally spitting this information right into your face. In the second book 'Hidden Bodies' Joe is falling in 'love' with Love but also tracking down Amy (short summary: after she stole a huge cache of valuable rare books, he tries to track her down.) In one scene Joe's engaging in a conversation with Forty. Both talk about scripts and Joe had written down some of his disturbing fantasies. In one of these fantasies, he catches Amy before she was able to steal his books and flee the shop, keeping her locked up in his cage, using her as a slave. What kind of slave? Sex slave, of course. Because that's the only slave Joe Goldberg wants to keep in his cage. And I don't know about you but I don't think Amy would be overjoyed and consent to that. And if you try to tell me it's just a fantasy, he literally killed Beck because she didn't want to be with him. He also talked about how he could give it to Beck right now even though she was screaming/crying for help. And after Beck managed to ran out of his cage and upstairs, trying to escape through the front door (door was locked!) Joe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her behind the counter. He kissed her neck while she was hitting and scratching him in order for him to let her go. He did stop but kept talking about how she was his broken doll. Joe doesn't give a fuck about consent, he pretends he does. There is also no empathy on his side. Sorry, but, "I could give it to you right now but you have to scream and cry!?" doesn't sound empathetic to me. She's scared, she doesn't want to be there.

The name of the girl in 4th grade is Maureen Grady, her nickname 'Mo'. People called her 'Ho Mo', not funny. Maureen was Joe's crush back then, he describes Maureen in the book as gruff, an odd misfit. They were on a trip with the class, touring the deck of a tall ship, it was according to Joe 'boring' so they ditched the tour and broke into the off-limits hull. According to Joe, Maureen told him she would 'steal his virginity', he then punched her in the face, escaped and told the teachers. Joe also added that Mo's the fucked-up now; a twice-divorced paralegal with a profile on OkCupid and a Pomeranian named Gosling, obviously she'll be alone forever. But after telling us that he then says, he prefers to live in the moment, like it's no big deal. All of that appears weird to me. I mean, Joe obviously stalks her, after years, keeping tabs on Maureen. He also dances around the topic, keeping it vague. Joe never really tells us the whole story. And he never straight up says that he is innocent, that he didn't touch her. And Joe never claims that she did touch him. You know who else dances around a topic..? Liars.

You have to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Don't let Joe manipulate you.

The book(s) do a very good job in displaying how misogynistic Joe really is. He keeps talking about tits and pussy and sex, objectifying women every second. Joe does not want love or connection, he wants control, sex.

They toned it down for Netflix but that's no excuse for you to say, "I didn't know!" Joe still objectifies them but not in the same way book Joe does. You actually have to use your brain, shocking. You don't even need a high IQ to understand the message.

This is why the ending of the show was so perfect. People who still didn't understand the point of the show were called out.

MAYBE THE PROBLEM ISN'T ME. MAYBE... IT'S YOU.

Pointing directly at you, calling you out.

"They nerfed Joe!" - "Bad ending!" - "We're women ahh!" - "Feminist ending!" - "They went woke!"

Breaking news: Joe Goldberg was written by a... WOMAN, outrageous, I know! Joe is the bitch/slut/whore of a WOMAN, he belongs to a WOMAN, whoa!

"Come on, it's just a show/fiction, why do they have to lock him up? And not give him a happy ending?" Maybe because both the books and the show are written/produced in a way to criticize a lot that happens in real life. Misogyny, anti-vaccine, forgiving or romanticizing a murderer because of his childhood (trauma.) I enjoyed 'You' because it was talking about real life problems in the fictional world. Why is his name Joe and not Steve? Because of the idiom; 'average Joe'. Both the show and the books want to tell us that someone like Joe exists in real life and he's not the huge, intimidating guy who grabs you, screams at you and threatens you. He could be the sweet bookseller, your employee, your neighbor, your professor or your boss. Joe could be anyone and you wouldn't notice it because he's gentle, he's kind, he's supportive, he 'loves' you in a way no one else has loved you before (or could love you...) 'You' is filled with a lot of messages for us. It's not just a show for fun, it never was supposed to be. If you don't like messages in shows, don't watch 'You'. Not every piece of media is just a silly, little fictional story with no real meaning behind it. And that's okay. 'You' was made for the people who love to see real life getting dissected in a fictional world. And it's not just a silly, little story for you to enjoy. It's a confrontation, showing you what's wrong with the real world.

Joe Goldberg NEVER was a good person, he was just able to fool his victims. Yes, he was also a victim back in his childhood. Yes, he has mommy issues. And yes, Joe has huge abandonment issues. But nothing, NOTHING, that happened to him justifies his disgusting behavior. Joe's just recreating what his mother and him had, over and over again. Joe will never find the destined 'you' because she doesn't exist. All Joe does is projecting, manipulating and claiming. "I did this for YOU so YOU belong to me." Book Joe also loved calling Beck a whore/slut/dirty and no, not in the bedroom. Joe wants to degrade her in his mind, to feel superior. Joe also hates taller girls, he's an insecure man. He doesn't need love or a relationship, Joe needs a lot of therapy and jail (which he got, finally.)

"But why did they have to make a joke out of him? She shot him in the dick!" Joe always was a joke. He lasted 8 seconds in the first season. They started it with a dick joke and they ended it with one; it's perfection. Full circle.

I mean, I get the whole complaining about Bronte and Kate surviving but in the end it was their decision to end the show this way. Is it realistic? No. But if you can ask that, then, please, also ask yourself whether it is realistic for an 'average Joe' to manage to kill that many innocent people without being caught. The answer is; no.

Conclusion: The show may be fictional but the topics/subjects addressed are part of our reality. It is an appeal to our society.

[haithhegimp]

hi hi hello i am also abnormal about batman: under the hood (2005). i would gladly talk about it forever and ever. here are some things i think about often that i'd like to hear your perspective on :3

what are your thoughts on jason's getup + gear (the bomb in the helmet, wavy knife, lack of any real symbols on his outfit, etc.)

do you think the batarang was an accident and if it was what do you think bruce was actually trying to do with that thing

how does jason feel about alfred in all this

OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING I LITERALLY LOVE YOU

im gonna put it all under a cut because its super long

Ok im gonna start with the batarang incident because that’s the one i think about the most often haha. I like looking at events from both a meta and an in-universe perspective, and i think the batarang incident is such an interesting product of commercialization, because Batman isn’t allowed to kill– he’s not allowed to be a murderer, but the Red Hood, who challenges him in every conceivable way cannot be allowed to live. So you get the batarang incident which dc tries very hard to convince you is an accident. Anyways!! In-universe i actually don’t have one specific answer! The thing that i love most about the comics is how versatile and flexible they are, so i always interpret the incident differently depending on what i’m doing it for. Whether i’m writing a good dad bruce fic or whether im making an artwork that showcases him being awful or whether im looking at things from his perspective or jason’s, i have the most fun when i can change it up every time! But i think with total canon compliance, the interpretation i like most is that the incident was sort of an accident. By that, i mean that i completely agree with the joker that bruce is a master marksman and he would not miss his shot. I think that bruce was fully intending to hit Jason’s neck, but in the moment of panic, he wasn’t fully aware that he was hitting Jason’s neck, if that makes sense. He’s hyper trained for instinctively attacking and reacting to threats when he’s overwhelmed by thoughts and emotion, but those instincts don’t account for the fact that the threat in question is his son. 

Next up, Jason’s get-up!! First of all, i LOVE IT. as an artist, UTRH is my overall favourite outfit for jay. It’s so distinct despite being very simple and the colour scheme is truly chef’s kiss, monochrome with a splash of bright red is absolutely brilliant. Not to mention that silhouette!? It’s so unique despite its simplicity and i adore it! 

Ok sorry now actual stuff about more than the looks. I think all of it is absolutely brilliant, especially for where his character was at during UTRH. the bomb in his helmet is a triple kill with showing people how skilled he is– how many other characters would be able to get a bomb so stable that they can have it in their fucking helmet– how dedicated he is to what he does, and how insane (affectionate) he is. Also just banger in terms of practicality to have a bomb where absolutely no one would suspect, being combined with the fact that he wears a mask underneath meaning he can take it off and use it whenever he needs to. 

The wavy knife has SO much symbolism potential i adoooooreee it. The fact that he uses a knife that is specifically designed with the intention of injuring and causing more pain than your average knife is so tasty for subtle metaphor of jason being willing to hurt people more than strictly necessary to achieve his goals. I also think it looks great too, very fun design and adds something really dynamic to his silhouette whenever he’s holding it. 

And THE LACK OF SYMBOL AHHHH ITS SO GOOODD!!! Once again, i like looking at things from a meta perspective as well, and GOD the lack of symbol is so fascinating. I think that DC took off the (R) that jay had on his fit during hush because they wanted to distance him from their batfamily cash-cow. They knew for sure that even if in-story, jason was doing it to mock bruce, having a direct visual link between a character that represented and showed everything wrong with their money-maker and the money-maker itself would be Bad for a comic that would definitely be scrapbooked together and summarized and taken out of context by the fandom. MOREOVER, symbols and logos have been inherently associated with superheroes and good guys in general– barring characters that are obvious “evil” parallels of heroes (e.g bizarro)– and making jason lack something thats become associated with heroes subtly creates a visual emphasis on what DC wants to convince us that the red hood is in fact a villain. All very fun stuff, and in-universe is also sooo fun. I think that in canon as well, the lack of symbol is a layer of separation between jason and who he used he to be. I think it can be exemplified wonderfully in his own words, “I am no one’s son.” (i FUCKING LOVE THAT LINE BTW IT DRIVES ME FUCKING INSANE EVERY TIME I SEE IT GRTNJARJHR) jason obviously still wants reassurance that bruce loved him and cared about him but he doesn’t consider himself bruce’s son anymore. Bruce’s son– to jason– was robin, not just jason, and everything that robin meant. So now that jason is a criminal, now that he isn’t robin anymore, now that he isn’t bruce’s son anymore, he chooses (needs) to have that layer of separation between being a hero (being robin), being a bat, and his persona as red hood. I think that as jason transitions slowly from being a villain into being an anti-hero, it would be interesting and fun for him to have a symbol. But not the red bat. I hate the red bat.

And finally, alfred! I am personally of the opinion that jason loves all of his parental figures, regardless of whatever other feelings he has for them as well. I think alfred has always sort of been an enabling abusive figure, and jason can see that, but he still holds fond and loving memories of the man. As in he can recognize that it wasn’t a good thing that all alfred did was support jason in the aftermath of whatever bruce made him go through as a kid instead of actually putting a stop to it, but he can’t resent him too much for it either. I think he definitely does have some resentment towards alfred for the aftermath of his death, though. Jason obviously understands bruce’s reservations with murder, even if he hates that bruce has them, but he also definitely knows that alfred shouldn’t have those, and i think that he resents alfred a little for not doing anything. Honestly im not too sure with alfred, i don’t like him very much and i think i project a little onto jason and can’t fully come up with how he would feel about alfred. 

Sorry about that last answer, but other than that i hope you enjoyed my thoughts!!!! Thank you sooooooo much for asking. I absolutely adore you. And i would love love love to hear all of your own thoughts on these things!!!! What do you think about jason’s fit and the batarang incident and his thoughts on alfred? And Also! What do you think about “I am no one’s son” because it is highkey one of my favourite lines in the entire comic and i want to know your thoughts on it soo bad.

(also sorry for the inconsistent and horrible capitalization i wrote this all out in google docs first and cannot be bothered to edit it all)

[hadesisqueer]

I'm not saying people must ship Kataang or anything, everyone here is free to ship whatever people want, but at the same time, some of the criticism I see of the ship is insane.

One of the softer ones (because today I saw some crazy stuff) is that they're sibling coded. Like, I watched ATLA several times, I kind of just rewatched ATLA, and yet I still don't get how exactly they're sibling coded? Aang pretty much had a crush on Katara from the moment he met her, and Katara at first saw him as a friend —she never said she saw him as 'her little brother', by the way, you guys need to learn the differences between sibling dynamics and friend dynamics—. That starts changing at the end of The Fortune Teller when she begins seeing Aang from another perspective, though. By the beginning of Book 2 it's pretty clear she has already started to develop a crush on him. If you think it's very 'sisterly' of her to blush while asking Aang 'we're in the Cave of the Two Lovers, so what if, you know-- what if we kissed 😳👉🏻👈🏻', then get upset when Aang said he wouldn't kiss her and then after they did kiss and were already out she blushes and gets nervous again-- or when she gets jealous in The Headband when he dances with another girl and then blushes again while dancing with him-- you're tuning into the wrong show, go watch Game of Thrones or something, because this is not it.

You can argue that Katara was 'like an older sister' or 'motherly' to Aang over the fact that she was often very caring towards him, but honestly, that's not it, either; otherwise, you could say that Katara sees Zuko as her brother because she likes teasing him. Do I think Katara and Zuko are sibling-coded? Not really. But if you say that Katara was sisterly or motherly to Aang because she's caring towards him, you can also say Katara sees Zuko as her brother because she often teased him the exact same way she teased Sokka, her older brother. (I do not think Katara sees Zuko as her brother, btw; just clearing this up. And I may not ship him and Katara but if that's your ship, you do you, I am not getting into a ship war here).

Katara in general is a very caring person, to the point that yeah, it comes off as 'motherly' sometimes. She was like that not just to Aang but towards Toph and Sokka as well. That doesn't mean she really sees any of them as her 'children' as well, guys, nor do any of them actually see them as their mother (well, Sokka kind of did, but that's another thing). And she's very protective of Aang, yeah. Try to switch Kataang's gender for a second; Katara as the boy and Aang as the girl. Switch it up and you have a girl with a cute crush on a slightly older boy who at first sees her as a friend but after a while starts reciprocating. If you saw that boy act more caring and protective of that girl, you wouldn't assume he sees her as a daughter, you'd just assume he is extremely protective because his feelings are strong. I once saw someone saying 'Katara acts like a Booktok boyfriend' and honestly? Kind of, yeah. A lot of Kataang is them being kind of a reverse of the stereotypical 'kind but stronger, older boy gets with sweet, younger girl' stuff we see in a lot of media. Both of them are very caring and supportive and constantly reassure each other, not just Katara to Aang, (and Aang is also very protective of Katara as well, we see it many times, most of all in The Avatar State), but Katara is the older one, and usually the most protective as well, the one who fought off Zuko at the North Pole to protect Aang, the one who almost lost it when she saw him literally die and fought off the Dai Li, Zuko and Azula to get him and get out at The Crossroads of Destiny, the one who grabs Zuko when he joins them and literally tells him 'hurt Aang and I will kill you'.

Yeah, I don't think Kataang is sibling-coded at all. That person is right, Katara is just Aang's 'Booktok boyfriend'.

[abugsomewhere]

Now that i have eaten and feel more human, i’m gonna spew more lansoni thoughts. This is ofc all hc and speculation that’s based on canon, and it may be entirely incoherent.

Now, in regular Sonadow canon, i hc Sonic to be the one that falls first, and it’s a bit of a gradual slow burn. But with Lansoni, I hc that Lancelot falls first. He falls fast and hard.

The reasons behind that are twisted in some hcs i have about the world of Sonic Camelot in general. I hc that the illusion of King Arthur was… well, pretty much abusive of his knights. Forced loyalty, any doubt (no matter the severity) would be punished harshly, stuff like that.

(This is also important from a character design perspective, as my design of Lance is very roughed up and is blind in one eye.)

Of course, being Arthur’s most loyal knight, Lance saw the worst of it. He was loyal out of self preservation. But then, suddenly, there’s a new king and he’s kind. Like Arthur used to be. Obviously there’s hesitation from Gawain and Percival to be loyal at first, but Lance learned that complete loyalty would save him and immediately falls back into his role as the king’s most loyal knight.

Of course, Sonic doesn’t like that. Sonic is kind but pushy — pushy about the knights, especially Lance, being their own people. And this is how Lance falls fast and hard, because Sonic really cares.

Onto a bit of a tangent, i need to talk about how their power dynamic would work, because… well, they’re a king and his most loyal knight. Lance would do anything for Sonic if he asked — and I think Sonic knows that. So even when Sonic realizes he loves Lance, he has to force himself to wait for Lance to speak first. If Sonic said anything, Lance would follow without Sonic knowing if he actually wanted to. Of course, Sonic would try to encourage communication between the two of them as much as possible, but it would ultimately be up to Lance to say something.

I just have. So many thoughts about them.

[glossypolaroidkisses]

hi my love!! im excited to see what ur blog will contain hehe omg im so ecstatic that u commented that ur interested in the whole right brained reader thing hehe i js want to know ur thoughts on the relationship dynamic of having a more humanitarian reader who likes english, arts everything that's quite opposite to what luigi is like!!

hihi!! omg I’m SO excited too!! i already feel so welcomed!! ok this is so fun, buckle in!! bear with me!!

since luigi seems to be so analytical and anal with his thought processes (like you mentioned), i can see him pre-relationship being a bit skeptical while getting to know you; just because that’s not how his brain works. at the start he’d ask you so many questions. you’d have so many conversations that would give him better insight into your mind, to make sure you’re not just in la la land all the time. it’s giving, waiting for 3rd or 4th date to talk politics?… no. 1st date we’re talking about thoughts on religion, the afterlife, etc.

also, that’s not an insult to right brained/artistic ppl, I’m one of them (if you couldn’t tell lol)! i’ve been perceived as dumb(er than others) because I’m so driven by creativity, english and the arts (NOT scientific or mathematical at all). It's only once someone gets to know me better, that they learn how intelligent I am. right brain thinkers are more likely to be dismissed or overlooked, imo!

someone like luigi may not have been too surrounded by many right brain thinkers let alone dated them, and he would be so curious about what goes on in your mind.

obviously, you do develop a relationship and the dynamic would be adorable. you balance each other out! there may be some minor situations and misunderstandings where his strict, logical, rational self isn’t sure where you’re coming from; but he always listens to you explain your POV, and does come around to understand it. he’s very open minded, esp when it comes to you!

he loves your brain. i mean, he’s so fascinated by it. you find art, beauty, creativity and meaning in things that he could’ve never perceived in such a way. both of your brains work in different ways that are both so important.

whether you come to him about a situation all pouty, or do the opposite, acting stubborn and silent about it until he picks up on your mood shift, coming over to help you.. he’ll have a solution. he’d drop anything to brainstorm a way to help you solve your problems. for luigi, because of his logical problem solving, the solution is usually simple for him to come up with. but then you’re standing there with stars in your eyes like ‘wow luigi😍❤️ i would’ve never come up with that🤩 thank you so much😩’ and he’s just there, giddy, bc you make him feel so smart and useful. he’s so happy when he can help you in any way.

there will probably be a lot of funny moments trying to make decisions together. you might want to decide based on gut feeling, or your emotions, but he’ll be so analytical; thinking of every detail. for example, buying furniture together. you might be like “omg! this couch is such a cute colour, matches the vibe of our apartment and it feels so soft!” and luigi would be like “uhm… yeah! cute! but… (pulls out tape measure) it isn’t the correct dimensions, the fabric isn’t stain resistant, the cushion covers aren’t removable, and it isn’t well reviewed online….😅🥸”

if he’s not with you, he’ll take photos of things he sees while out-and-about, maybe exploring, and send them to you. or!!! when he comes home, he’ll be all excited to show you stuff he took pictures of, wondering what your perspective on it would be, how you would interpret it. he’ll go through the pictures with you and just listen to you gush over something artsy or interpretive, like if he saw graffiti he thought you’d find cool, a quote from a book or painting at a museum. idk!

if he goes book shopping for his own yk NON fiction books, he’ll always come back with a book or two for you. he’ll get home, probably make some sort of joke like “i just chose the book that had the most colourful cover”, when in reality he spent time at the bookstore looking through the books, reading so many back covers to choose one that he knows you’ll genuinely enjoy. or, he’ll just buy a book he remembers you mentioning you wanted in passing. even if he wouldn’t enjoy reading it, he enjoys knowing it brings you joy. and if you talk to him about a book you’re reading/read, he’ll listen as if it’s his favourite genre.

me personally, idk if it’s the eldest daughter in me, but i LOVE being taken care of + i think he’d enjoy feeling helpful. like if i was drawing on an app on my ipad and it crashed or something, i’d go running to him for help.. with anything technology related (even if i had an idea of how i could fix it myself) like heyyy my lil compsci problem solver.. help pls😇

overall, i think this dynamic is so sweet as long as you can both embrace each others differences and find that harmony. he would add more structure to your life while appreciating your perspective, and you’d add more spontaneity, empathy & creativity to his!

also idk if i touched enough on this, but this dynamic is literally a humanitarian power couple. like fighting for what’s right, with his brain and your heart!! best of both worlds for a well rounded perspective!! mwhahaha

thank you so much for submitting that! oh my god that was so much fun I’m not insane i promise (maybe a lil hehehe) it is literally 7 am i am going to sleep now. i just started responding to that ask and couldn’t stop. aaa love it!!

i hope you liked it!! don’t be afraid to give feedback, anyone! i loooovee requests like these!! keep em coming!! mwah

[bambi-kinos]

Why do people perceive John's love for Paul as unrequited? I confess that I fail to grasp this perspective. Paul is absolutely infatuated with John in every sense of the word. The difference between him and John, as Paul himself has stated, is that John voices his feelings out loud, while Paul excels at self-preservation; he knows how to navigate the rules of society while also enjoying the thrill of breaking them.

For the same reasons why Hanya Yanagihara wrote her eye wateringly boring novel "A Little Life." In "A Little Life" Yanagihara writes a Stephanie Meyer-esque novel about boys being turned gay via SA perpetuated by adult men and how they eventually grow up and become super rich and also they all have vague disabilities that cause a lot of pain but never get full definition because defining them would be inconvenient to the narrative. (Disabilities are debilitating and Yanagihara wanted to write about Sad Boys Who Were Turned Gay By Child Rape But Also They Are Rich And Go On Globe Trotting Vacations Everywhere All The Time While Being Depressed.) The point of "A Little Life" is not to tell a Sad Gay Man Story about the fallout from CSA, it is to depict a sexually exploitive miseryfest that uses disability as a way to pad the word count and add a layer of fancy fondant to the masturbatory and self indulgent text that makes it look more interesting than it is.

I bring this up because I think the phenomenon are related. There has never been a good justification for why Paul is magically indifferent or blind to John being a gay simp especially when you have so many examples of Paul being a gay simp for John in return. BUT it does make for an even sadder and more exploitive miseryfest where a Sad Gay Man died Forever Alone because he was so in love with a Happy Heterosexual Man who could never Return His Love and that is what a lot of people want. That's the only reason the narrative has any steam IMO.

It's just trying to make a sad story and make it even worse: more sad, more tragic, more gay, etc. If John and Paul were mutually attracted and in love with each other than that means they may have had stretches where they were happy together and that's unacceptable to a certain kind of mind. Because the point is the emotional and sexual gratification of seeing a Sad Gay Man Suffering, not to respect the Sad Gay Man and his story and the events and decisions that lead to his predicament. If Paul reciprocates John's love then the John and Paul love story turns into a mundane tale about a first marriage that started out happy but didn't work out because the two spouses grew apart over time. The point of "A Little Life" is the same, there's nothing genuine or cathartic about the Sad Gay Men or the Sad Painful Disabilities, they only exist so the author can circlejerk with her readers about how enlightened and noble they are. Needing the misery becomes all consuming to the point that entire rest of the story, the three dimensional nature of it, gets destroyed and swept under the rug. It's too real and some people just don't want to engage with that.

There's a mundanity to McLennon. Yes there was all sorts of stuff happening but at the end of the day they were just another couple trying to muddle through life together. The soulmate-ness of it all didn't save them when push came to shove. There wasn't a clear path forward for them to make up and get back together even as friends. This is much harder to bear for some people because it shows how the simple act of living your life can carry you away from the person who loves you most. John and Paul found each other but they still drifted apart eventually and stopped wanting to be together. The romance novel didn't end with "happily ever after." The fact that it was so relatable and downright boring is something a lot of people don't want to know or hear about. How can they jerk off to it? It's not miserable or indulgent enough.

Reducing their dynamic to Sad Gay Man Who Is Forever Alone and his Evil Oblivious Heterosexual Partner Who is Blind To His Yearning flattens it, makes it two dimensional, and thus makes it a lot easier to cope with and masturbate to, emotionally and sexually. And look there may be some people who genuinely believe this and don't type that narrative out with one hand, but they're outliers and outliers get discarded.

[flightyalrighty]

(sorry if you've gotten this before or if this is not the right kind of question for the blog)

Do you have any advice on HOW to make a comic series? From what I've seen your work is fantastic, well made and written! (Cool concepts, story, and character dynamics etc)

How did you start? How DO you start?? How do you comic lol

I'm glad you enjoy my work! I'll do my best to answer this question!

I could give the ol' "Just jump in! Get started!" But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for, here. Even if it's technically the correct one.

"How do you make a comic series" Is one of those questions where the answer is kinda difficult to summarize in a single ask, because there's a whole lot that goes into it, y'know? I'll give you a brief run-down of my process.

I figure an idea for a story. In the case of Infested, the whole story was written before I even got started on the script. This is an outlier in my usual process and I don't normally do this and definitely don't recommend it.

Figure the plot like how you would figure a regular story's plot; The beats you wanna hit, the way the characters develop, the beginning, the middle, the end. What's the point of the story? What, exactly, are you trying to convey here? Who's the target audience? All that stuff ought to be figured out before even picking up a [MEDIUM OF ARTIST'S CHOICE].

Script the story. If you've seen a movie script, these things look a bit like that. You wanna not skip this step because this is where you determine the visual language of each page. Comic script writing is a whole thing and a half but I do have some random tips regarding it. -> When writing the beginning of a new scene, write down the time of day, the weather, and any important details about your setting (this is most important if you're working in a team). -> Using storyboard/film language when trying to figure out a scene is very helpful. You're not gonna remember exactly how that scene looked in your head when you finally get around to penciling it. Trust me. Write it down. Or thumbnail it! Thumbnails are also very helpful! -> Remember that you have very limited space for dialogue. Write with that in mind.

Figure the paneling on a page. I work at 11x17 and do my panel layouts based on those dimensions. I tend to make more important panels, or panels with PUNCH or SHOCK bigger than the others. Each panel is an individual illustration, but together they make a whole piece. You gotta treat it like that, y'know? Find the focal point on a page, find the most important element of it, and make that your focal point. Don't be afraid to get a lil wacky with panel shapes, either. They don't HAVE to be squares and rectangles. Check out what other cartoonists do! Get inspired! Paneling is an art-form within itself!

Page from "Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name" By Tess Stone

5. Penciling time! Get the perspective figured out, then draw the background, then draw the characters. Do it in that order. Trust me. With a background already set up, characters can be drawn more like they exist within that space, instead of floating in front of it. Also? Be aware that comic artists need to be ready to draw ANYTHING. You may have a great idea that you GOTTA put out into the world, but you have no idea how to draw, say, a car. Or debris. Or jungle foliage. There's no shame in using references, tutorials, or even doing a bit of tracing if something's outside your wheelhouse. Here's a bazillion tutorials from two guys who REALLY know their stuff.

6. Speech Balloons! Yes, really. In fact, you may want to do this and penciling at the same time. I certainly do. It's better to figure this out immediately so it doesn't hurt you later when it comes to getting your balloons to share a space with your art. Here's some great advice on the whole subject from a master of the craft

7. Inks! Line weight variation is key. Closer to the "camera" means thicker lines. If a part of a character is in shadow, that part is gonna get thicker lines, too. Personally, I make my background line art thinner than character line art. It helps the characters pop out!

8. Flats! Or flat colors if you wanna get specific about terminology. It's exactly what it sounds like -- Coloring the characters and backgrounds with the bare bones basic colors. I highly recommend keeping the character flats and bg flats on separate layers if you're working digitally.

9. Rendering! There's no hard and fast rule as to how a cartoonist ought to render their comic -- If they want to do that at all, even. Go with what you believe looks good AND is something you can do quickly. The "quickly" part is important. Heed my warning. Don't be like me.

And then I'd schedule the comic to be uploaded on whatever day suits me -- Thursday (usually) in Infested's case.

Of course, I kinda suck at relaying my process, so the final thing I can do for you is direct you to an extremely helpful book that really breaks it down in a way that may click with you as it did with me.

I hope this was in any way helpful to you!

[brucewaynehater101]

I know there’s a bunch of stuff about Bruce being oblivious about Tim being his parent. I want to see the moment of dawning realization. (This might have been addressed.) I don’t know if it’s a slip of the tongue where he calls Tim “Dad” or someone in the know casually asking Bruce about his parent (referring to Tim and maybe even Bruce answering without thinking about it and then realizing what he said). I want to know if Bruce freaks and tries to establish himself as the parent, only for it to backfire horribly, or if he makes a family tree and stares at it until he starts to have those optical illusions behind his eyes that you get when you look at things too long.

In the Tim is Bruce's parent AU, there is a semi-established point where Bruce finds out. It's after the BruceQuest. I'll go more in depth below, but I wanted to acknowledge that I'm totally chill if people utilize any of the ideas for their own fanwork (and thus have a different "discovery" method). Feel free to write or draw about whatever scenario inspires you most.

Anyways, the semi-established one already cooked up occurs because Tim has a famous reddit account. From years of receiving and then finally giving advice to other parents, he's established himself on a few parenting threads. His account has become something of a legend, especially for his advice with superpowered kids. He hasn't asked for advice for a few years and mainly just helps other parents out. From his past requests and his more recent advice giving, everyone knows that the kid he is raising is quite the handful. The kid sneaks out, gets hurt often, doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, destroys things when mad, screams, pushes away others, and isolates. The legend account states that they adopted their kid and, after establishing rules and open communication, have been doing much better with the extremely traumatized child.

Bruce, who's returned from the timestream and realized how important family is (and how much of a lacking dad he's been), goes to reddit for advice. He finds this really famous account with an extremely traumatized kid and realizes a lot of the advice (and perspective of where the kid is coming from) is helpful to Bruce's relationship with his own kids. Tim and Bruce befriend each other unknowingly until Bruce asks for advice that is pretty similar to Tim's siblings.

Tim suggests Bruce implement specific advice to deduce that Bruce is the account he's befriended.

Tim has a mental breakdown for a bit cause of that.

Bruce notices that his online friend is being distant and becomes a bit sad. He's suspicious, but he's trying to respect boundaries now. Besides, this account is at least five years old (Tim is eighteen now and started when he was thirteen).

I don't have quite the method of discovery set, but Bruce finds out both that it's Tim's account and that the "kid" is actually Bruce (although feel free to add misunderstanding shenanigans and angst where Bruce thinks Tim's been hiding his kid from him for that long).

Bruce, understandably, does not take this well. A child should not parent an adult. The fact that Tim did is a failing on Bruce's part. Bruce tries to correct this by suddenly being a parent to Tim (and ignoring some of the advice/habits Bruce has picked up from Tim). This is frustrating for both parties. Tim is an adult and has always been allergic to parenting/authority. He would rather have a fake uncle than a parent who tells him what to do (I know this isn't the actual reason for the fake uncle). Bruce doesn't know how to parent a child like Tim either.

Suffice to say, their relationship falls to part for a bit while they both try to work through the new dynamics and emotions. Tim is trying really hard to let Bruce be a parent to Tim, but it's just not their relationship. Tim has always been the parent. It feels condescending, belittling, and restrictive.

The entire time Bruce is trying to change their dynamics, he's getting the sense that Tim is only letting him do this in the way that a father let's their kid make mistakes or decisions so that they learn a lesson or practice. It doesn't feel genuine.

Eventually, they manage to figure out the new limits of their relationship and new boundaries. Bruce will always be Tim's child, but Bruce doesn't have to acknowledge Tim as his dad. He never did before.

But, yes. Bruce does spend many days after the realization blankly staring in space as his entire worldview shifts, and he goes over every interaction he's ever had with Tim

[v-a-l]

Hi! I was just thinking about what made Hermione come to the conclusion that Sirius wants to live through them. Now I last read OOTP a month ago, but I can't remember anything from the conversation that suggests that he wants to live through them, he only said that they should know how to defend themselves because of the environment that will come and that is why the DA is a good idea. And even if Hermione was influenced by Molly during the summer what makes her think that the DA is a bad idea after Sirius says it's a good idea? He gave valid reasons why it is a good idea. Hermione is very smart but this scene just felt and she felt ooc here.

I know that sometimes JKR used characters like Hermione and Dumbledore as spokespersons about what she wanted the audience to know that's why we get Hermione saying that but if that's what she wanted us to think, she did a poor job because Sirius actually kind of right and it makes Hermione look biased against Sirius.

Same with Dumbledore in that conversation with Harry after Sirius's death and it sucks. She wanted us to think Sirius saw Kreacher as inferior because of his species but that's not true at all. Now, some scenes with Sirius and Kreacher made me uncomfortable and I am not going to lie about it. But Sirius hated Kreacher because he was a part of his abusive childhood and repeated the same bigoted stuff his family thought and let's not forget Sirius only got violent with him when he called Hermione a slur. So Dumbledore saying that just feels so ooc because usually he is so wise (but once i read a meta about him seeing Sirius as Grindelwald and thinking by that meta it gives us an interesting perspective about this conversation as well).

Sorry this is getting long 😅. Anyways my point is that none of it makes any sense. It is clear that JKR was biased against Sirius and to show that she brought two other characters down (though these moments can be seen as interesting flaws in them)

Have a lovely day! (Sorry about the long ask, I hope it makes sense)

Honestly, while JKR is a brilliant writer, I also find her fairly reactionary in her writing style. Sirius was one of the most popular characters in the story because she wrote him that way, he inadvertently became more popular than a lot of other characters she preferred because again, she WROTE him that way. Perhaps the creation of a character as multi-faceted and dynamic as Sirius is was entirely by accident, as she really seems to double down on the character assassination as the books go by, but regardless, there's little in the way of canonical proof to suggest that Sirius is trying to live a vicarious life through the kids. Especially cause he's the one who seems to understand what they actually need after all they've been through instead of just patronising them.

Sirius is the only one who takes Harry seriously, he is the only one who tries to not just physically be there like the others, but actually also provide emotional support. He's constantly been doing this since he escaped Azkaban, and at this point, both in the case of Harry generally, and the Weasleys specifically when Arthur was injured, he's repeatedly looking after others at his own personal cost. He gets Ron an Owl, almost tells Harry how to beat a dragon (and that's the kind of stuff Sirius Black simply just goes around knowing, how to take down Dragons), gets Harry his firebolt and Hogsmeade slip. Sirius is generally an emotionally intelligent person, and this is after 12 years of forced isolation from civilisation.

The tragedy of Sirius' arc in OOTP is that there's no one around him who can relate to his experiences. This makes it impossible for Sirius to find the kind of empathy and support he needs from the members of the order. By OOTP, Sirius' mental health, whilst constantly deteriorating is also displayed on technicolour before the entire cast. He's not allowed any secrets, his abusive childhood, his unprocessed grief, years of dementor and solitary confinement related trauma, the fact that he lost his entire twenties, his burgeoning alcoholism is all on display and not spared judgement from the self-righteous members of the Order who did not support him at 21 and are not going to support him at 33.

Furthermore, the narrative repeatedly validates him. He insists that Harry should be told the truth, and he's right, he insists that he can do more instead of just being locked up and left alone and he's right, he wants Snape to restart Harry's lessons and he's right, he repeatedly and actively disagrees with Dumbledore's opaque methods and again, he's right. He gives Harry the two way mirror because Harry needs him to be there, and as Godfather, it is Sirius' responsibility to find a safe way to ensure that happens.

Whilst he's not at his best, he's still trying, he's trying so hard to be what everyone needs him to be even when its contrary to his own instincts and emotional needs which are either dismissed entirely by the people around him or mocked with derogatory catchphrases like "fit of the sullens" that its genuinely heartbreaking that despite him going out of his way to help the Order, not only is his devotion not returned it's barely even acknowledged. They never try to acquit him, there's no mission run by the Order to try and recapture Peter or get Sirius a trial or even an opportunity to give a press conference (which, with the political climate in OOTP would actually be a great way to discredit the ministry), Dumbledore pretty much just locked him in and threw away the key, a circumstance not entirely different from the past 12 years of Sirius' unfortunately short life. An acquitted Sirius would mean a discredited justice system and ministry and also a powerful wizard to run missions again, but this prospect is not even brought up let alone addressed. He gets a posthumous consolation through a footnote in the Daily Prophet, like that could compensate for the trauma and the decade he's lost.

I think it's very binary to put people into boxes and go "this person is only these set of traits and that's all they can be." Sirius is more than his grief for the Potters and love for Harry and years of isolation and torture. He's a brilliant detective, one of the order's most powerful duelists, someone who is blatantly not afraid of calling people out, be it Walburga or Crouch or Dumbledore, someone who despite growing up in a cesspit of bigotry and violence fights for people like Lily Potter and Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger. The guy who barely tolerates Kreacher but is distasteful of Crouch's treatment of Winky. Sirius, like most people, comes with facets and is possibly one of JKR's finest creations. Not that she seemed to realise it herself.

Not that that's surprising.

The most interesting thing about Sirius and Dumbledore, and Dumbledore's repeated refusal to trust Sirius is that unlike pretty much everyone else in the order, Sirius knows that Dumbledore and Grindewald used to be friends. Lily wrote it to him and Sirius read it. If Sirius could figure out the GoF plot while being half starved to death and living in a cave, a free healthy Sirius with a very much alive James Potter would probably have put the whole plot together. I wonder how much that influenced their dynamic in OOTP because whilst the others have nothing on Dumbledore, Sirius does. If Sirius can spare Dumbledore his judgement despite knowing the truth, Dumbledore can get over Sirius being a Black.