age-of-wonderbeasts

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

someone called my cat drawing a "fuckass cat" and i can't tell whether the cat is "fuckass" because he's stealing a birthday cake, or if he's "fuckass" because the drawing is bad.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

it's official! I'm obsessed with geminitay!

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

fucking hate it when someone asks you how you are and you respond truthfully for them to just dip like ah okay you didn't actually care then fuck you.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

on a rainy day i like to sit and think about the random rules society has created for itself. about how we're all just silly creatures on a planet trying to thrive yet we've confined ourselves into these little metaphorical boxes of rules and order we have governed.

if aliens came to earth they would be shocked at how limited we've created the chance to thrive. the functioning of societies based solely on money? what even is money? universal trade? it's just paper and metal that we've all collectively agreed has value, and that x object has x amount of value. and then we get greedy, so the trade changes and increased and we get inflation. and we just. go with it! like oh yeah ok! that's a system that's been in place for centuries even though it's completely futile and pointless and we might be better off trading like idk cavemen or ppl who existed before these governed societies who traded objects for objects.

another concept is like. inequality. there's so many of us and we are all uniquely different that we can't see how we are all human and I think that really goes against us. it's a silly system to be divided by class and these social rules that govern ones worth despite the fact we are all bits of tissue and cells and biological genius and, despite not looking the same, are all human.

jobs is one i think about a lot. we all have our jobs, which creates money, which is trade, which determines worth. jobs. more boxes really. I think about it. a lot. IM HAVING TOO MANY THOUGHT ABKUT THIS RN AS IM TYPING I CANT ARTICULATE. what happened to build shelter, hunt food, cook food, etc etc? ofc we may find that insanely barbaric in the 21st century. but how barbaric do you think someone ( who only knows the contexts I've just described) would find a job. do you think aliens would touch down on our planet and mock us for being our own gaelers? but then I think, some jobs are absoloutely necessary. and i think jobs have evolved. not everyone in the past would have gone hunting. henceforth, it's a job. just not in our colloquial sense.

adding on to this is the work schedule in general. who decided on 9-5? is it optimised for everyone? why then do schools follow a similar structure despite there being studies showing teenagers are nocturnal with different sleep patterns that do not comply with the timings of a school day. why are we making life harder for ourselves?

why are we making life harder for ourselves?

don't get me wrong these systems have been in place for yonks and if we tore them down I think society and us as a species would crumble, I think a world ending cataclysm would cause less damage than trying to reverse the weird systems society has in place that really limit our freedoms if you think about it in a meta kind of way. or maybe I'm not using my brain enough. anyways eat the rich, education should be free everywhere at every level and trans rights are human rights

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

i saw your post about catras chipped eye colors and how blue + yellow = green and i wanted to put my two cents out there. im typing this in anon because i am NOT smart and im really scared that this is going to be completely stupid and incoherent and id just have it up on my blog lmao

so catras eyes are usually interpreted to symbolize two parallels- when i first watched the show i interpreted it to simply represent her morality, with blue being the 'good' side and yellow being the 'bad' one, but on second thought her blue eye might be used to represent coldness, that being her general detachment from the abstract concept of good vs bad while her yellow eye represents a certain warmth: it shows how sensitive she is to personal relationships.

how much she cares, and the importance she places in other people contrasts with her apparent moral apathy

either way, catras eyes seem to show two opposites, it's a contradiction,and its the type of "error" that prime would want to stomp out- he tries to take away a core component of catra; he tries to make her more "logical" and controllable. he tries to make her preoccupied with this abstract concept of goodness (characterized especially as purity) and stop valuing personal relationships (and makes her attack justly the person she loves the most for this).

he blends her colors together,washing out a unique feature of hers, and turns her into barely even a shell of who she really is

imo this lines up nicely with the subtext of prime as basically the personification of abusive church, including his penchant of using electrocution to "fix" people, reminiscing conversion therapy

i also really like what you said about both of her eyes connecting to she ras blue and yellow color scheme, and its really interesting in this context. applying this to the symbolism of prime washing out her eye colors would probably lean a bit heavier into the whole 'conversion therapy' theme

i assume you're referring to this post by me + this post by @age-of-wonderbeasts, for context? (it doesn't seem to me like you knew about the latter but the way you described the symbolism of each "side" reminded me of its existence!)

anyway, i don't mean to come across as lazy but i truly don't have anything to add because you're totally onto something and i agree with you 100%! i honestly hadn't thought of the religious themes behind the color blending, and although nate had confirmed that horde prime is a metaphor for the church & conversion therapy, i doubt that specific detail was intentional ─ it's still a very valid interpretation though, and i'd like to believe he would adopt it as canon if he (theoretically) saw this!

i'm gonna go ahead and tag @horde-princess because religious meta in SPOP is/was known to be her whole gimmick thing on this side of the tumblr fandom and i would absolutely love to know what she thinks of your idea, assuming there's more to say that i just simply missed.

thank you anon, for providing this insight, seriously! feel free to reveal yourself if you feel comfortable with the approval of your opinion because actually, despite your doubts, you're brilliant. ♡

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

my relationship with religion is complicated. specifically Christianity

yes ofc I'll go to church with you! yes, I believe jesus was just a regular guy. yes I follow most of the bibles teachings naturally. No, I don't think all Christians do this, or are good people. sometimes I believe there's a god. sometimes I believe there WAS a god who decided we were beyond saving. I don't believe our paths are foretold, but I do believe every decision we make is the right decision and is for the best, even if it's a regretful one. I'd like to believe in an afterlife to keep my restless fears at bay, but logistically it isn't plausible. I believe some functions of human life are divine intervention (the fact about your eyes and the immune system)

Is this normal

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

the thing that's upset me the most about Wicked, as someone who was not familiar with the story before watching the movie (I know, don't come for me) is that she's dead. we're watching the life of a doomed woman. to me that's heartbreaking. no matter her choices and decisions, the end is final. she will die.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

arcane what the FUCK was that.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

mild arcane spoilers (it's just the new intro)

okay les miserables I see you

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

pre-arcane s2 theories

- the doctor/ singed is up to something that's gonna be important in s2 (he's had so much screentime so I think he's gonna be important)

- caitvi will be endgame but we'll have absoloute angst inbetween

- I may be crazy but I think the mage who saved young jayce is gonna be viktor. don't know how, don't know why, I just think it will be

- ekko and heimerdinger will create like a 3rd party opposition to the war from the firelights and some cool sciencey stuff

- the council isn't dead. or, some of the council is and some aren't and i think part of that will be Viktor and his weird hexcore survival instinct thing

- we learn more about magic and the arcane

season 2 act 1 came out yesterday but I haven't watched it yet

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

nimona is a social commentary on social perceptions of people and how the whole good vs bad thing isn't as simple as the story books suggest. How we shut ourselves out from the rest of the world to keep ourselves safe, but actually those ideological barriers control and manipulate people to believing in a dodgy cause. How when you open your heart to difference and acceptance the world can be a beautiful place. How being different is okay.

this isn't articulated very well but I jsut wanted to express my love for nimona

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

[cw: suicide]

I think Adora was too ready to sacrifice herself throughout she-ra.

And I don't think it was 100% a "this is my destiny" thought process. I think Adora was passively suicidal. She had suicidal ideation.

If you think about it, there are at least 4 times where Adora is willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good.

The portal

Destiny Part 2

Save the Cat

The final three episodes of season 5.

I think Adora's struggle is on her personal self worth. Sure, everyone loves She-Ra, but that mantle can be held by anyone. To herself, Adora doesn't matter. That's why she wears the uniform, even after she left the Horde, because it gives her purpose. She doesn't know who she is behind her warrior princess front. To Adora, being a hero means being willing to give it all up, even your life, for the greater good. But that's not true.

In the beginning Season 5, we see Adora being reckless with her life as well. Throwing herself into battle, the lack of sleep, the intention to go it alone. She might not have actively wanted to die, but she definitely does not value her own life on equal footing to others.

And I wonder if this self-doubt, the crippling sense of worthlessness (that most of us struggle with on a minor level), and the willingness to throw her life away was instilled in her as a child, or if it is just a fatal flaw of her personality.

In Save the Cat, Adora DOES NOT HESITATE to jump down into the abyss after Catra. She was willing to risk it all to get her back. Even if it meant they'd both die. At least they would be together.

It takes not only Catra asking her what she wants, bur also Mara telling her she deserved love AND Catra confessing her love for her for Adora to want to live so strongly that she transforms into She-Ra. I know that the general consensus is that the confession of love sort of levelled her anguish of loving Catra and not knowing how to say it or what to say and meant she was able to turn into she-ra, but I would also like to propose that a part of that is because Catra had just given Adora a big enough reason for her NOT to be okay with her imminent death.

And I think we (as a fandom) talk about Catra's struggles a lot, especially in seasons 4 and 5, where she very obviously has 0 regard for her life. I have read (and written) many a fanfic where she's actively suicidal, even. But Adora's suicidal ideation seems to be glossed over. And I know it's glossed over in the show, I mean it is buried under the guise of destiny (especially since as a kids show you can't have characters saying "I want to die").

In other words, I really REALLY need Adora to get some therapy so she can start valuing herself as a living human being and not just a warrior.

If you struggle with suicide, please reach out to someone. My DMs are open if you need to talk, or you can Google hotlines for your religion. Take care of yourself. You're worth more than what you can give to other people, and you deserve love too. Please, stay.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

I agree

Someone needs to study the way we see Catra's side profile and which colour eye is showing when she's looking at Adora and tell me what it means please, or if I'm reading too much into things

honourable mention #1- if blue eye represents her emotional vulnerability, then is it significant that that eye was the one that got portal-ed?

honourable mentions #2- baby catradora where adora is always closest to her blue eye

I feel like this has some significance.

let me know your thoughts

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

guys I just read the saddest fanfic ever on AO3

If you want some angsty Catradora with a happy ending read The Way That I Am by cast_out_the_shadows on AO3 when I tell you I cried...

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

I could talk so much about Adora and Corrupted Catra's altercation at the end of Portal.

Because this is the very first time Adora physically hurts Catra that isn't reactive. Before, Adora and Catra would fight, but Adora was fighting reactively, dodging Catra and only responding to her action.

But in this episode, Adora full force punches Catra in the face. She snaps. Everything up until this moment was Catra yes, being an 'enemy', but Adora didn't want to seriously hurt her. At this moment I think Adora had completely had enough. Catra completely crossed the line when she opened the portal, and this is the turning point in their relationship.

I can't say for certain that Adora thought there was no way Catra was coming back from this moment, but it certainly seems that way. She begged her not to open the portal, and Catra did it anyways.

Also to note, Adora had completely lost everyone she knew to the portal, so in this moment I think she is also emotionally devastated, and maybe considering the possibility that she would have to sacrifice herself to close the portal.

So she punches Catra and knocks her out (which, I mean, let's go lesbians). And this is the start of the physical distance we see between the two in season 4.

Catra's face when the portal closes also re-inforces this. Adora/She-ra glares at her, and Catra looks horrified. She knows she's crossed the line. Catra knew there was no way of coming back from this (which I think sparked part of her guilt induced breakdown throughout season 4).

And the moment is just so significant for their relationship and for the plot. And for the PLOT (adora knocking catra out with one punch)

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

Kate: Someone’s coming. Someone you don’t like.

Yelena: That could be anyone!

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

I'm not sure if I even wanna be here anymore