struggling-author

[struggling-author]

In my opinion it's a lot more healthy to be able to own that you dislike someone for petty reasons than to do all kinds of mental gymnastics to make everyone you don't really vibe with out to be a bad person actually

[struggling-author]

this is extremely valid for mental disability but even more funny when you think about physical disability - like imagine there’s a guy literally without legs saying „I can’t walk“ and someone is yelling in the background „you gotta force yourself anyway! you can do it!“

the thing about disability is it really does sometimes boil down to "wow i wish i could do that" and then you can't. and it sucks.

[struggling-author]

thanks for feeding my delusion that, under normal circumstances, aang would have found her zuko impression in the search quite funny

I do really like the idea of Azula's punishment being helping Aang restore some of the air nomad temples, and everyone involved is like "fuck yeah, this is such a fitting punishment she's gonna hate it it'll be great" and at first Azula's mad but almost immediately she realises its actually like, really fun and rewarding and her and Aang get along really well because they're both really silly and love making fun of Zuko being all brooding. Azula basically converts to being a Nomad.

[struggling-author]

this is the most azula reaction ever to becoming a shrine maiden and I love it

AU where Zuko sends Azula to be a shrine maiden to get her out of the line of succession, only for her to come back 5 years later leading a holy crusade against him

[struggling-author]

I had to google like every single thing in this entire fucking post jesus christ

why do we insist on shortening everything to complete incomprehensibilty?

I dont know who the hell the B stands for but god its disgusting that you ship anyone with Dib. Thats a whole ass child, freak. Wanted to follow for the Pokemon content but you're out here shipping whatever the fuck badr is. Dont fucking ship the kids with irkens jesus christ

HUH????? BADR IS MY NAME ITS A NAME IN ARABIC I DON’T EVEN WATCH ZIM DUGDHBCHBVHJVFH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON

[struggling-author]

sweet dreams aang 🫶🏼

😵‍💫Do not drink cactus water🌵a little fan art that I drew I hope you like it 😄

www.instagram.com/zelfantazy

[struggling-author]

now that you mention it, this has happened at least twice recently, first with the cryo parents and then with tannenbaum

tbh, I‘ve mostly viewed this as a sort if growing pains, like morty feels someone needs to „be the asshole and get things done“ so if rick won’t do it then he has to, and I‘m not really sure if that’s a conscious or unconscious decision, but it makes sense to me. and then in another way, I see it as him kind of… reclaiming his agency? doing like rick used to do, getting what he wants without caring about others. or like how the small beths took their abandonment issues out on rick, and maybe morty has similar issues to deal with, maybe part of him is resentful because these strangers now get to meet his nice grandpa while he‘s had to deal with a cynical asshole for like… 6 seasons at least? idk, but the more I think about this the more I feel like it’s not just the writers keeping the spirit of the show alive (though that also) and more an actual plot thread that’s eventually going to be resolved

Since Rick has been changing in the recents seasons (especially in season 8) it feels like Morty is becoming more like Rick.

But not just in the sense he's used to violence now or that he's not letting his anxiety or morals slow him down, it's more than that. Let me explain!!

Now that Rick is no longer this 'God figure' we used to see in earlier seasons, it makes sense that the writters are shifting Morty's role, because someone needs to fill that void. If Rick is becoming more chill and (relatively) emotionally open, then Morty taking on a colder mindset keeps the dynamic alive.

Maybe I'm wrong and the writers aren't making this a thing, but, I always think about how rare it is to see Rick ACTUALLY being a nice guy, but then Morty shows up and start acting mean, sarcastic and beats the shit out of everyone without hesitation. IT'S WILD when you think about it.

And thats why the show doesn't feel like it's lost his edge. I don't miss old Rick that much because I feel like Morty keeps that energy alive, just in a less cynical way. It's still dark but it feels... fresher, somehow.

[struggling-author]

The reactions to The Batman part 2 announcements are always so funny on twt

[struggling-author]

I forgot how beautiful she was 🥹

arrow meme: (4/7) outfits » laurel lance; muse of fire

[struggling-author]

oouh I love this! but it also reminds me of how someone once wrote an angst piece on how Aang‘s stress response is to run away, and how that would crush Azula (or Katara) if they were his partner 😭

thinking about how Azula emphasizes togetherness in a way that no one else in her life really does, ie.

"I'm going to need a small elite team" (return to Omashu)

"I've plotted out every move of this day, and the only way we win is together" (crossroads of destiny)

"But I thought we were going to do this together" (Sozin's comet)

All of this compounds back to, while she was of course impacted by her mother's view of her which is something she can acknowledge ("my own mother thought I was a monster" / "I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster"), the implicit trauma Azula never acknowledges is that she doesn't want people to leave her. She relies on fear to control people so they don't betray her, but to her that has often been synonymous with leaving. It also speaks to some awareness about Ozai's true nature—since Azula could believe Ursa left entirely of her own accord, and Mai and Ty Lee did—as Ozai made Zuko leave. "You can't treat me like this, you can't treat me like Zuko!" is about disgrace, distance, and punishment yes, but is also about separation ("I deserve to be there by your side") and her fear of it... especially because as of this point, Zuko likewise left the family, meaning that Ozai is all she has left. It also shows in Azula's paranoia, with the punishment she doles out to people being banishment—that they have to leave because she says so, that she's self-sabotaging and making them leave before they choose to first ("sooner or later, they all would've betrayed me, just like Mai and Ty Lee did").

This fear of abandonment makes me think most notably of Katara and Aang. Partially because Katara shares this fear, but is also incredibly steadfast. While she would likely hold a lot of resentment and hatred towards Azula post war (the girl did kill Aang) and I don't know if their personalities would mesh well, Katara's loyalty ("if he's banished, then I'm banished too!" / "And we need you" / "I will never ever turn my back on people who need me") and friendship (or more) could be a balm to Azula's abandonment issues. Alternatively, Aang is someone who like Katara — if not more so in some ways — values togetherness and presence ("we've got to stick together" / "we could learn it together!" / "but we just got the family back together"). Being abandoned is something he fears (keeping Hakoda's message) but ultimately something Aang is more willing to undergo and handles a bit better. At the same time, his added maturity here is juxtaposed with his immaturity and tendency to leave / run away, something that Katara doesn't really do except when it comes to certain things.

Basically: Azula has a deep seated fear of abandonment, and I think it makes Katara and/or Aang very interesting potential dynamic partners for her either way.

[struggling-author]

Well put. (Source: Writing About Writing Facebook page)

[struggling-author]

make students take a test like this, call it common sense exam

Small game idea I've had for a while:

You're taking a history exam. You haven't studied. The exam is about some completely fictional event in a fictional country. It's all multiple choice questions about this made-up history. Here's the trick, though: the exam is really poorly made, in that way where a lot of the questions (and the answers they give) inadvertently give hints to the answers of different questions.

So you'll get, for example, "who assassinated Chancellor Eurich?" and "who was the Chancellor in 1895" and "what event in early 1896 precipitated the Great Power Struggle" You have to determine from the test itself what the answers are and get as good a score as you can.

[struggling-author]

Dvattra dump

[struggling-author]

and you will never need any excuses

Some questionable dvattra art I'm so sorry. i have no excuses

[struggling-author]

you‘re gonna make me cry in the club rn

My new Roman Empire is about Rick Sanchez

Hear me out. Rick Sanchez has narcissism: his ego is frail, he lashes out when he feels like ppl are out to get him (all the time), he cannot stand himself, he's vindictive, manipulative, he uses his vulnerabilities to get his living supplies stuck with him, he abuses family members just for fun or out of boredom, he's antagonistic, he lies, he's entitled and he actively gaslights people, especially his family; his empathy and sense of selves are completely f*cked up.

So, if he had the chance to take care of his own Beth, would he really have been a good father? Compassionate, consistent, emotionally present? Or Rick Sanchez needed to step out of his own mental prison, to embark himself in this Odyssey, before actually achieving this honest and serene acceptance of love? Was this Rick Sanchez even possible, without a Rick Prime catalyst?

Would he have been just another mediocre father, another absent minded, self-absorbed narcissist with a ruined family?

It's my new Roman Empire.

[struggling-author]

bro do you think I know the difference between brown hazel and amber? 😭😭😭 those are the same thing

are your eyes brown?

[struggling-author]

Oh Baby Jesus😭😭 I cried my f*cking eyes out ohhhh oh oh 😭😭😭

Okay it was a good episode. Daamn it was a good episode, let's begin my dudes: my take, episode's themes I noticed and the sus/interesting details.

There be Spoilers

_________My take (I'm part of the R&M cult, so, impartiality)________

Expectations: the episode started totally on point with my expectations, actually, I couldn't believe I was really watching Beths so openly discussing the elephant in the room, I loved it. The show usually tends to be more subtle, and despite being a catchy way to give life lessons without sermonizing, sometimes I really wish they could take a well defined stance more often and explaining stuff more clearly, bcs not always the writers point of view/life experiences match with the viewers': sometimes something obvious to you isn't that obvious to me.

Important life lessons: as always, Rick and Morty is quick to deliver more accurate, better life lessons than our actual overpaid therapist: both Beths quickly dismiss the daddy issues thing with "write a book abt it lol" (a reference to Morty Junior), only for the show to prove that the daddy issues were in fact the main issue. But why both Beths didn't realize where the problem actually was? Well, that's how this episode shows us what the essence of a successful therapy, of your "healing process", if you want, is: to feel. You can cognitively understand something (ex. you have daddy issues) but you can't fix the problem without directly dealing with it, without speaking about it, without understanding your reaction to it, without processing it, without feeling it on your skin and accepting what is actively doing to the person you are right now. To bottle up emotions into a cold consideration about your life's misery, is sadly not enough to cure your wounds. This lesson really reminds me of a Doctor Ramani video I saw lately, about how important is to feel, in order to found yourself again after narcissistic abuse forces you to shut down all those emotions your abuser dislikes.

Beth unprocessed abandonment: the real core of the issue is shown in a quick but decisive exchange between the two Beths.

Being abandoned triggered in her a violent response against everything and everyone. Why do I have to take care of everyone if no one is taking care of me? Why should I, if nothing matters, not even family bonds? I'm just so angry all the time. This resulted in an adult Beth full of remorse about her past actions, that only wants to take a lot of distance from her father's steps. Adult Beth tries to fix everything she can, taking on herself more responsibilities that she can/should actually handle.

In real life it's not possible for a 10 yo showing this level of psychopathy to grow up into a mildly narcissistic person, nor even a sociopath (which, to put it really simple, is an "improvement" over being a psychopath), but R&M world has a lot of ways to stretch reality just as needed. For example, we can speculate that all the Beths that actually survived had a Rick Prime-like dad, and a probably very messed-up/totally neglectful Diane mum: but at a certain point, a "good" Rick shows up, a Rick who lost his Diane and Beth, he build Froopyland and other toys to keep Beth busy and entertained, basically he tries to re parents a very difficult child, probably even with the help of his technology, somehow managing to raise some kind of a well adjusted adult (kinda). Is it yet unclear though, for how long Rick stayed with child Beth: did he left and then returned, then left again? There were different Ricks every time? The kind of experienced genius that builds Froopyland to help his daughter, doesn't sound like the same Rickhead that leaves his wife and child for Infinity. At the same time, we know that adult Beths grew up with their mother, without a Rick during their childhood. Also, despite knowing about Froopyland, Rick is not familiar at all with Beth's trapped dungeons...

a Beth's peculiar tendency that reminds me more of Rick Prime than our actual Rick. That might suggest that Froopyland Ricks arrived after Prime-like Ricks already left the family. I guess we are still missing a lot of data about that time window.

In a nutshell: remember when Beth asked Rick if she was evil?

Turned out this was tormenting her since season 3. Making a clone didn't fix the problem right away, but allowed Beth to talk with herself, to give time to herself, and to gradually start accepting herself. A good metaphor for re parenting. Rick on the other hand... I'm starting to understand his answer from s3. At first I thought: "Whoa wtf you don't tell kids they're evil, you f*cking raised them, it can't be their fault if they're traumatized" but in this case, it wasn't Rick's fault either. Rick C-137's Beth, the one from his memories, looks like a serene, loving, normal child. Considering that good Ricks probably arrive long time after some Prime-like Ricks left their Beths, good Ricks really try their best with what they have. I would love to read some fanfic about the time another Rick "returned" home and tried to deal with this little devil lol.

Season 3 parallelism: I have the feeling that we are literally seeing the other half of season 3 (it's an 8, u get it?), like the missing part of it, the side that all characters missed by that time. We have a lot of s3 reference, the same dark, grim atmosphere, even a Citadel episode. Yet at the same time, all our beloved characters, the Citadel itself, are forever changed. I know there are still a lot of seasons, but I have this bittersweet feeling that we are very slowly approaching the closure of this unique, astounding, heartbreaking show.

Other gems from the episode: like, damn gurl, that's such a smart way to transport criminals, it gives that "players-totally-abusing-the-mmorpg-mechanics" feeling 💀💀

Beths shrieking, omg I laughed so hard, she's a living nightmare but I totally love this f*cked up kid(s) with all my heart💀

Okay... can we talk about the moment that made me cry so, so much please?

I wildly loved Rick's arc, simply being a good parent instead of the same manipulative dude, hidden behind layers and layers of Idon'tgiveafuckness. It's just a super old, fragile Rick, and the daughters he's so proud of, hugging and crying, all grieving together about those failed promises of love (all bcs of Prime if u think abt it, f*ck that guy fr).

I feel like this scene was really a gentle caress on the cheek of a lot of fanfic writers: for real, I saw this line in sooo many R&M fanfics and art, this moment was so longed by a huge part of the fandom, and I love when the show's writers are ready to deliver, it means caring about your community, it should be the standard.

In the end, maybe you don't need to be an intergalactic hero or the perfect surgeon to be loved and seen.

Switching to plot B: the message was pretty simple, humanity sucks in general, and yes I agree. Our society is completely messed up, so an earth themed park like that actually makes sense; and now that i think about it, maybe the park thing was a metaphor about the duality of people, just like the duality of Beth, due to trauma. There can be so much good and so much evil in humans. Well maybe not just in humans...

I like this little parenthesis about Morty starting to understand what basic, adult relationships requirements are, like respect and connection 💀 It's also heartwarming to see Rick interacting in a more normal way with Morty and Summer, (and there's even Jerry getting along, wat)... even when one of his ideas fails dramatically, with Morty joking about Rick punishing him for criticizing him: same Vat of Acid vibes, different outcome, 10/10 💛💛

Look at this cocky yellow dude, look at him go. I love it 💀

Omg rick losing his shit abt the wrong themed park 💀💀💀and everyone bullying him a little bit 💀💀💀 Morty is acting more like a young adult and less like a teenager, while Summer is definitely the adult of the group (yes, I'm not even considering Jerry), I love how she quickly takes the wheel as soon as the situation start to escalate.

In general, I really liked the episode: it wasn't something shockingly new, it was a good elaboration of themes we saw before and were left unsolved. I think we cannot talk of an actual closure yet, but what we saw was definitely some good character development on all sides. Also Doctor Dogballs... the name killed me in its absolute 8 yo irony 💀

________________Ep. Main themes in a nutshell_________________

the duality of people's nature: it can be violent and cruel or compassionate and forgiving, all seems to depend on how much we work on ourselves and our universe. Being cruel or not basically just depends on how f*cked up our childhood was and how we decide to cope with that, great take.

there's a parallelism with the episode Final DeSmithation, the zebras' zoo in particular, when everybody in the commercial start to eat each other and Morty deduces that the visitors of the park were the attraction themselves, just like in this episode: humans themselves were the main attraction just bcs Dogballs was nuts.

__________________Sus stuff/interesting details___________________

Meta energy: there is a looot of purple energy everywhere lately. The hypercoal, doctor dogballs energy, and before that Rhett Caan's crystal, Prime's outfit, the reality goggles that freak Morty out... everything that gives incredible results is fueled by meta energy and they are reminding us quite often. A lot of powerful stuff is meta related, probably bcs its function is to alter the reality of the show itself.

side adventures: Jerry was apparently transformed in a trash can and Morty knew about a Rat Utopia thing, both references to adventures we never saw on screen, so it seems like the whole family is actually spending some time together even outside of the tv show now 💛

Gene is divorced but not exactly...? I wonder what's Gene full story and I also felt a little bad for him 💀 I mean I don't like him much, but he didn't deserve double baby Beth on the run.

Okay, all done! And remember:

Life is good, there's Rick and Morty 💛