bestpartofbe-lie-ve - Tumblr blog

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I love this energy, and I'll keep spreading this kind of energy until everyone gets to understand that hating Spider and being fucking annoying about it is sick as fuck

Okay seeing Avatar TWoW for the fourth time tonight and before I do I just gotta defend my boy Spider and his decision to save his dad.

This kid grew up with absolutely NOBODY looking out for him. Sure, he had a human adoptive family back at Hell’s Gate, but from the comics we can tell Spider wasn’t that close to them and preferred to spend his time with the Sullys. Even with Neytiri constantly questioning his presence (and even attacking him, like we really skipped over that end part of The High Ground Vol. 1, huh) and Jake apparently not giving a shit, the kid still stuck around. He loved The People, he loved his friends, and all he wanted was to feel like he has a place there.

And then!!! When the RDA comes back and his adoptive human parents decide to surrender and rejoin the corporation, Spider says “fuck that”. He goes to Jake, stuff all packed, and says he’s going to fight for the Na’vi and his home. This kid loves Pandora and her people so much he was willing to fight and die for it. And his adoptive parents aren’t willing to stay for him, they gladly hand him off and say “see ya!” . He may have lived with Norm and Max, but that was out of convenience. No one was directly responsible for this 16 year old kid.

He gets captured by the RDA and no one gives a shit. Not Norm and Max, not Jake and Neytiri, hell, not even the other kids. Jake’s biggest concern is him being a security risk, not him being a scared kid alone with his greatest enemy. Hell, Jake left the Omaticaya behind (another dumbass decision we’ll get into later) because he was so scared of what Quaritch would do to them. But Spider? Nah, the kid’s tough, he can handle himself!

But Quaritch does see him as a kid. Maybe not even his kid at first, but a child who he has vague memories of as a baby. A child he won’t watch be tortured, who he lets guide and teach him and the other recoms. And when faced with completing his mission or saving his kid, he chose his kid. For the first time in his life, someone chose Spider.

Even without that, I still think Spider would have saved Quaritch. He’s spent his entire life on Pandora being taught how all life is sacred in the eyes of Eywa. Do we really think he’d leave a man to drown to death, a man who has looked out for him in his own fucked up way?

Spider doesn’t deserve hate for saving Quaritch, or what happened to Neteyam. He’s a 16 year old kid with no one trying his best.

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Jake was and has never been a bad father, and I'll die on this hill. Y'all be having serious problems knowing what a bad father is actually like.

Let me explain my point, but feel free to ignore if u want 🤷🏻‍♀️

So, first, the movie from the very beginning let us know as audience that the Sullys, before humans arriving again, had a pretty tight family relationship; they were close, even with Lo'ak, Kiri and Neteyam being already grown up. Jake's sweet, and steady, having games with the kids and being the ultimate malewife and dad UNTIL, as I've already said, humans arrive to Pandora. He looks horrified, he knows what's about to happen, and we eventually watch how humans start to burn and turn everything into ashes. Then, the 1 year time jump appears, and he's already the big bad Marine leader that y'all call "a bad father" but, being honest? I don't blame him.

Before Pandora Jake had nothing. He was alone, crippled, and living on a dying earth. No family, no lovers, no actual friends. Pandora gave him everything, so he knew what humans coming back to Pandora meant for him and his family. For him and everything he had built the last years.

He already went through war with humans. He already saw, and knew, what they were capable of. At the beginning, he had nothing to lose, and even then he gave it all to defend Pandora and its people. Now, he had children and a family of his own with the woman he loved. Imagine knowing that not only you could lose your home, but your family too.

Jake made a lot of mistakes in that year, that's for sure, but those mistakes don't make him a bad father straight away. He's allowed to commit mistakes, especially since he was actually trying to keep everyone safe.

Making Lo'ak and Neteyam call him sir, and have them practically being perfect little soldiers at the age of 14/15 wasn't an A+ parenting behavior, even I found it annoying, but it was understandable. Jake even says in the comics that even though he wasn't human anymore, he still felt like a Marine. So, afraid, scared of what humans could do now, he decides to make his kids "stronger" in a way of protecting them for the dangers that came from the outsides of Pandora, for a more human kind of danger, in the only way he knew; as a Marine. Because even when Pandora had their ways to make kids into men, no Pandoran kid is fully prepared for the threat that the sky people actually represent.

And no, I'm not saying he's innocent; he was rude to Lo'ak, and put such a responsibility over Neteyam's shoulders as if he wasn't just a year older than his brother but, be fr, you can't blame Jake for being afraid of his kids lives.

No one is born knowing how to be a good parent, neither a good son. Jake was wrong on how hard he was on them, yes, even Neytiri tells him that, but then he answers "i thought we lost him" (about Neteyam) showing how SCARED he was at the moment, and how much he cared about the kids. And at that scene we literally get to understand that Jake started to split things up as soon as he saw humans coming to Pandora, as a way of keeping everyone "safe".

Now, Jake was already stressed knowing that everything was falling down to pieces because of HIM. His kids had already put themselves in danger by going out and crossing paths with Quaritch's team, and nothing seemed to go for the better, not even at the Metkayina's clan. Jake was still the target, he was the one actually being hunted; he knew that his mere existence put the clans, his family and anyone near him in danger, and that made everything harder. Because not only he had to be a father but a leader and a warrior too. Now, think about being in his place and having your kids putting themselves in even more danger as if danger itself wasn't already that worrying.

Then, tragedy happens and Jake suddenly blames Lo'ak for Neteyam's death. He's heartbroken, and doesn't think about the impact his words might have over his son. The fight occurs, and Jake's left injured and way too weak to save himself from drowning.

Lo'ak comes to save him, teaching him how to breath and telling him about the way of water. Jake sees his son, the one whom he had been the "worst father" for, being not just a kid but a man. He sees his only remaining son begging for him to not give up his life, telling him "I can't lose you too". Payakan helps them, also making Jake realize that Lo'ak was always right about the Tulkun, showing him once again that he had been failing way too much when his kids needed him the most.

Jake, lost at words, knowing how much he had fucked everything up, tells Lo'ak "I see you, son" as a way of saying "I understand how wrong I was, and how hard I was with you. I get it now, and I recognize it too. You're important to me, more than what you think" and Lo'ak's face shows relief, even peace. Meaning that both of them had learned their lesson.

We get to hear Jake narrating how he knew now that them being a family was their biggest weakness, but at the same time their biggest strength and fortress. So, at the end of the movie, and sadly after Neteyam's death, Jake gets to see that what he thought at the beginning was the right thing to do, was actually wrong. He realizes that the best way of keeping each other safe is by being a strong and united family again; no marine training, nor military codenames and ways of addressing. They just needed to be strong TOGETHER, not apart. He had to be their father, not their boss.

And I might not have children of my own, but I had to take care of my little brother since I was little, I practically raised him, and I used to be rough with him as a way of protect him of what I went through when I was his age all because I was afraid. I wanted to put him in a glass container to protect him from everything and everyone, even if that meant sucking at "parenting".

Jake made a lot of mistakes all because of fear, and that's valid. So I'll not take anyone calling him a bad father, not when he literally tried everything he could without going mad.

Me when I saw the Sully kids

vs

When I heard them call Jake Sir and saw him completely suck at parenting

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"this willful teenager has a big heart" "a true Pandoran"

BIG HEART. And for that, he's already 100 better than his father. Human Quaritch would've left him to drown if he had been in Spider's place, but Spider knew better. He's a kid, a neglected one, seeking for being better. Better than death and war itself, better than the sky people who destroy his home.

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I'mma bout to start reading the barren lands bc fuck, SHE LOOKS LIKE ME. it's insane

God DAMN it’s been a while since I was last here (sets down suitcases)

⁣⁣⁣⁣I made a thing for the Avatar fanfic “The Barren Lands” by ilovetrashiefanfiction on AO3 ( @villiansimpqueen out on this frontier we call tumblr). It’s a Quaritchxreader fic. I loved the design of y/n in the fic, especially that she has body weight fluctuation, so her body type is pretty flexible for me to work with. I figured she’d have stretch marks too (you can barely see them with the lighting but they’re there on her hips). I’m probz gonna make more art of this MEAL of a story. Who am I kidding. Of course I am.

GO READ IT. NOW. GO.

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He just wants to fit in, man

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He's a kid. A KID. And I don't fucking trust anyone who's shitting on him, or even wishing for him to be killed. One thing is not liking him, I get that, I won't fight for everyone to like my poor boy, but other completely different is being mad to the point where y'all wish for his death (some of you even wish for a violent death, get some fucking help fr).

Random thoughts about Spider from Avatar 2

So I know everyone really hates Spider and don't get me wrong I love the memes but I want to analyse his character a bit beyond "he betrayed neteyam by saving Quaritch".

Because that isn't the full story here. So from the comics which includes Spiders childhood and "origin" story we see his mother is killed at a very young age. So there's trauma number one as we know his dad is also dead making him an orphan. He is then abandoned by the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE by being left behind. I know he is raised by norm and the scientists but cmon that's abandonment issues squared. Then on top of that he is labelled a "pandoran human" (a human born on pandora) which he is the first one ever. This separates him from other humans as well and would explain even further his connection to the planet.

All of that alone in a young teenage boy is gonna traumatise him enough into making some perhaps stupid choices (I don't think him saving Quaritch was stupid, it was an emotionally loaded decision). But it doesn't end there with abandonment issues because although he grows up alongside the Sully family (and therefore Na'vi culture) he is never truly a part of that culture. He has no way to connect to ewya by the hair thing (I can't remember what it's called). He is disconnected on a physical level trying to keep up with the Na'vi, being unable to breathe with them, being separated from their cultural practice and not being able to take part in their religion no matter how much he may believe in eyes.

And despite all this he seems happy, at least in the comics and flashbacks of the movie. He is content enough with how things are with the Sully's. He clearly cares a lot about them and views them like his family.

Yet Jake literally refers to him as "a stray cat" that won't quite leave them alone. Neytiri openly dislikes him and probably ignored him as best as she could (a decision fueled by her own trauma but also he husband is half human?? Like girl pick a standard at least Spider hasn't committed war crimes unlike Jake). We actually don't see much if the kids interacting with Spider once their older apart from the scene where he goes "it's not great to know who your father is 😐"

Which yes was a funny scene but really he is opening up about what is probably a strong point of trauma with him and he gets ZERO support or recognition from people he sees as family.

I remember watching the movie and getting half way through and just constantly thinking "the Sully's haven't mentioned spider yet? When are they going back for spider? That boy is being tortured and no one cares? No one cares cause he's human?" I know getting him back wasn't feasible for Jake but they don't even say his name. They go and play with the fish and forget he ever even existed. Jake's main concern is what Spider will say, he assumed he couldn't be trusted despite practically raising that boy. Imagine you are abandoned by everyone, your parents are dead, you have never been accepted ever. And then you find out that you "family" forgot about you AGAIN. Spider has every right to be hurt and he wasn't.

I'm disappointed because we had an opportunity for an halarious dynamic is Naytiri and Jake had adopted Spider more officially when Quaritch return they could be like "we killed your ass and stole your son :p". Objectively I think that would be way more entertaining.

Him saving Quaritch if anything proves he is better than his father and maybe even Jake. Spider is literally breaking a cycle of abuse and violence in this movie but no one is willing to see it. Him teaching Quaritch the way of the Na'vi may seem like betrayal but really what we see is a traumatised abandoned child sharing his love for his home. What he is doing is more that what Jake did by trying to bride the gap with the Na'vi, Spider is bridging the gap with the sky people. Which I think will make the difference in the war.

I don't know if Quaritch will get a redemption arc but I do know Spider deserves better than everything he has been given. And the solution isn't to just give Spider an avatar body but to give him a home and the unconditional love a child deserves.

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Already on my four's so I can be the one licking his face

@the_luka_and_diego_show: We just met with outstanding actor and all around nice guy Stephen Lang aka Colonel Quaritch from the Avatar movies. We discussed the possibility of Pandora having a species of dog. Possibly a blue pit bull and a blue chiweenie.

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Being this fine should be fucking illegal

Stephen Lang as the Blind Man in Don’t Breathe 2 (2021), dir. Rodo Sayagues

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Y'all need to stop being in denial. Stephen Lang IS hot as fuck. Recom Quaritch isn't hot only bc he's blue now, he's hot because Stephen Lang literally looks like this.

Look at him, smiling and knowing how hot he is. He knows, HE KNOWS THE POWER HE HOLDS.

This man has such a grip on me like oh lord, I'd risk it all for him. On my hands and knees already.

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Jake x Miles has a grip on me, sorry. SORRY but I'm a slut for the enemies to lovers trope, specially if it's gay. The more they want to kill each other the more I think they should just fuck

After I watched AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

AVATAR: THE WAY OF SHIPS

8/10 not gay enough, just kidding, it’s a great movie along with TOP GUN: MAVERICK, YOU SHOULD GO TO WATCH IT IN HOLIDAY!!!

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It makes me so sad when people hate on Spider, because...did we watch the same movie?

That kid was so loyal to the Sully's and Na'vi! He went through torture and never let anything slip through. Loyal to people who didn't even see him as family (outside of the kids).

He saved Quaritch because he's a good kid. I also saw it as "a life for a life", since Quaritch stopped Neytiri from killing him on the ship (and yes, she 100% would've killed him for her daughter, she doesn't give a shit about Spider, especially in the state she was in).

Also!! He spent MONTHS with Quaritch, grew close to him in a way, had a relationship with a man who's technically his father, and you fault him for not wanting let him die when he could save him?

He didn't side with him, didn't forgive him, didn't show love towards him. He saved a man's life. Spider is kid who couldn't let a man's life be on his conscious.

I don't fault him for it, he knows his choice will have consequences.

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James Cameron better be on his way to my house to pay my fucking therapy bc all I can think about is this mf becoming a better person, a better father and, eventually, a full true na'vi, and that's making me go mad

Like, I'm literally mentally ill and my father was absent af. Ofc I'll be rooting for the big, blue and confused clone of the fucking guy I used to hate

I just can't believe that jim cameron injected a shakespearean "to be or not to be" conflict into quaritch's personality and left me to live with it.

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im literally in the shower booty naked rn but imma defend spider for a sec, i feel like he only saved quaritch cus he feels like its his only chance to actually feel like he has a father despite him being with the sully family because neytiri doesnt accept him, he def gaslights himself into like "BUT HES MY DAD" scenarios, he just wants to feel connected to his father despite everything, he has fucking daddy issues.

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I just love the way he's passionate, not only about the way he played human Quaritch, like his traits and what made him "him", but also with the change that Recom Quaritch is going through thanks to his natural connection with Pandora, and even Eywa herself as he says! He's not necessarily "evil" anymore, because he's not entirely that man, but he's still having that internal fight about who he's supposed to be making his character much more interesting and complex

I absolutely loved the way he answered this, like he knows quaritch so well👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

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I've just finished the most recent chapter of an AMAZING fic called Song of the Banshees by Anglotron on ao3, if I'm not mistaken the writer is @letsunity and, I gotta say it, it's incredible. Hands down one of the best Avatar fics I've recently read, and it just made me fall in love with Recom Quaritch. And yeah, it may be just fanon but it does makes me wonder how much of that "idea" James Cameron might actually use for the next movies.

Like, Quaritch's now much more than a villain. He's not even the "big" villain anymore. He's much more than Human Quaritch, and that has a lot of potential.

And I just need it. I need the conflict. I want to see Recom Quaritch finding out about the wonders of Pandora, I want him to fall in love with it in the same way Jake did as in a somehow twisted karma's type of way. I want him to suffer by not knowing who he is anymore, and I want Spider to be his whole motivation. I want him to feel guilt over all what his past self did, and what he now self already did too (like Neteyam's death). And all thanks to Spider. Istg Spider has to be his downfall, my daddy issues crave them bonding how they actually deserve.

But, returning to the fic, pls read it. It's just wonderful, and it explores the whole "I'm Quaritch, but I'm not actually him nor I know if I want to be him either" thing I feel Recom Quaritch has going on perfectly. Big and honorable mention to the author on making Quaritch actually naming his ikran cupcake a thing

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Oh dear, I do love when a plain character is made into something completely different and interesting.

There's a bit of discourse in the Fandom about Quaritch, and it's valid. Human Quaritch was a monster, evil personified. He was humanity's greed and love of violence in one fleshy package and I honestly hated his character in the first movie.

Na'vi Quaritch is not that monster. He's done some bad shit, let's just acknowledge that right out of the gate, but he's not the Original. Every moment, every chance that the Original would have reveled in the violence and bloodshed, the Na'vi him hesitated and moved away from the worst of it. Sure, he captured Jake and Neytiri's kids multiple times. But the Original probably would have killed at least one each time just to press a point.

He showed Spider kindness and acceptance while the OG would have 1) kept calling him Miles, forced him to cut his hair, and dress 'like his species' and 2) would have allowed him to be tortured without a care. It's even hinted that the OG was... less than pleasant or gentle with baby Spider. Instead, he put his job on the line to protect him, he gave up a significant advantage to protect him, and he listened. The OG would have merked those villages with a smile on his face. The OG would not have wasted a second taming an Ikran properly, learned the Na'vi language more than he had to, would not have adapted to a more Na'vi way of being.

I'm not trying to be an apologist, I'm just coming from the perspective that these are distinct characters. The Na'vi clone is going through that classic clone dilemma of becoming a whole new person despite the original's plans. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the next movies he starts to separate himself from Human Quaritch further, like finding a way to cover the tattoo, or wanting to be called a different name.

I'm probably gonna get sideeyed for this and that's fine, I fully welcome discussions.