#I DIDNT FORGET YOU ANON

[shecanball]

JORDAN HORSTON with the block on Aliyah Boston bringing her to a career high of 4 blocks in a game | IN @ SEA 5.22.24

[fanaticalthings]

Jason being the easiest kid is super funny. Bruce looking at Jason and remembering Dick at 18: “we can work through this. He’ll come around if I don’t give up on.”

Bruce, watching over a freshly street-snatched Jason: Why is he so calm

Having Dick as the rambunctious, feral, and unhinged first child must've given him SO much whiplash once Jason entered the picture. Lil guy just vibed in his own world. Just reading books and doing schoolwork. Baby Jason hurt nobody.

Bruce will just be going over the ground rules of the manor, remembering all the chaos Dick brought upon the household.

Bruce: No swinging from the chandelier.

Jason: ?? I wasn't planning to?

Bruce: No murder.

Jason: What? That never even crossed my mind-

Bruce: And please, for the love of God, don't sneak out and try to beat up the nearest criminal on our block

Jason:

Jason: WHO is responsible for these rules being created??

Bruce will just come home from a long day of work. He's tired and just wants a nice, quiet evening, but he's subconsciously psyching himself up to prepare himself for the chaos he'll witness once he enters the manor

but then Jason's just quietly doing his own thing, maybe even helping Alfred with some chores, reading, or just lounging about in the manor. In general, just causing no trouble and Bruce just turns to Alfred, all worried like, "Is he sick? I don't think children are supposed to behave this way."

[rotthepoet]

Hear it out

You and theo wake up together naked and he mostly remembers what happened but you don't. 🥺

Hi pookie im so sorry for the wait i promise i wasnt ignoring you 😫

But youre such a creative genius keep the ideas coming please🙏🙏

Waking up in Theo’s bed, your body sluggish, your head aching, everything is a distant blur and why is Theo putting his underwear on next to your bed??

“What the fuck are you doing?” You might ask, covering your eyes from the light of the room. Theo jumps a little bit, looking back at you with the warmest smile. “Well good afternoon to you too… staying in bed all day?”

And you’d roll your eyes, sitting up fully and letting the wuit fall from your shoulders. You become hyper aware of your nude body suddenly, covering your chest with a blanket. You curse at yourself, and then at the scattered clothes around the room. And theo laughs a little bit, “Not regretting it now, are you, bella?”

“Regretting what exactly?”

And Theo’s stomach drops with a wince. “Shit.”

[cator99]

out of curiosity, would you consider yourself butch?

used to be a blonde underweight twink and now I'm a based jock still got the chanel bag and the sick albeit matured mind of a suckpig to prove it so I'm gonna let you decide whether you wanna call me that word just cuz I got a pussy and short hair. I promise you that there have been enough advancements made in the art of lesbian sexual dynamics in the past 50 years to broaden the vocabulary used to describe the plethora of types of masculine females.

[sheikahwarriork]

Sylvain: I think she is staring again…

Dimitri: I am sure she simple despises me.

Felix: It’s called focus, boar. You should try it for once in your life.

Jeralt, who is in horse duty nearby and knows exactly where she is looking as once he also received the very same unblinking, wild and intense gaze from Sitri to his own bosom: … that boy has no idea what he just got himself into.

CANON TO ME DEAR ANON!!

i liked this idea so much it made me write a little fic, i hope you'll enjoy!

wordcount: 2.4k

Staring

Dimitri was puzzled by the Ashen Demon- no, she said her name is Byleth, and Dimitri couldn't find a reason to not use it (especially because it sounds so sweet on his lips)- by Byleth's intense stare. The woman was not very expressive, he knew it well by now; and despite Dimitri's efforts to get to know her better, he still couldn't figure out why she started to staring at him so much. He was almost sure she hates him, and how could he blame her? His army essentially forced her and Jeralt's company to join the kingdom (that, or death); and even if Shez tried many times to reassure him that Byleth wouldn't do anything she doesn't want, and Jeralt himself thanked the king for freeing them from the Empire's hands, Dimitri can't help but feel like Byleth Eisner isn't feeling comfortable in his army. ('Forced to fight for the useless beast you are-')

And that was a shame, because the woman was a formidable warrior (stronger than Felix, or Dedue, or Shez, and perhaps than Dimitri himself), and Dimitri wish he could make the woman feel more at home. After all, he was the king: it was his duty to make sure everybody is fine. No other reasons whatsoever, of course!

---

Entering the Dining hall of the kingdom's camp, Dimitri immediately noticed two things: Byleth Eisner was eating with Shez and Flayn; and Byleth Eisner's look turned to him the very moment he stepped foot in there. Feeling flustered, Dimitri's gaze turned away, but he sould feel the woman still staring at him. (He already noticed that, if she got caught in her staring, she didn't look embarassed like anyone else caught staring would be; she kept doing whatever she wanted- exactly like Shez told him.)

Sylvain must have noticed too, because Dimitri could hear him chuckle a bit. "She really is shameless, isn't she," he said with a teasing tone.

"I am sure she is holding a grudge towards me," Dimitri replied, unable to hide the light sad tone. "Everytime I look at her, she has that same staring expression."

Felix sighed, annoyed. "For someone so sure she hates you, you sure seems to notice her a lot, stupid boar," he said, rolling his eyes.

Sylvain's chuckle becomes a full laughter.

Dimitri's cheeks blush. "I- I only wish for Miss Eisner to feel comfortable in our army."

Sylvain, still laughing, managed to catch breath. "Well, maybe you should try to give her a dagger, Your Majesty!"

Now Dimitri's blush reached his ears. "Sylvain!" he exclaimed, looking at his friend in astonishment. "This is very unprofessional and uncalled for."

"Strange to say, but the boar is right," Felix said. "If she truly hates him, why should he give her a weapon?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Aware that Felix didn't know about the so-called "dagger incident", and fearing that Sylvain was going to tell too much, Dimitri tried to change topic. "Do any of you know about today's stall duty turn?"

He failed. "Well, Your Majesty, if you're really so curious about her feelings for you, shouldn't you ask her directly?" Sylvain said with a malicious hint in his eyes.

Felix shrugged. "Again, strange to say, but Sylvain is right," he said, then looked at Dimitri. "This whole thing is distracting you. Fix it before you fully become a full useless boar, and not just an annoying boar."

Ignoring Felix's last comment, Dimitri nodded. "You are probably right. I should speak to her and make sure Miss Eisner is not bothered by something."

---

When Byleth reached puberty, Jeralt feared he was too old to deal with a teen girl; but luckily (for him) his kid never caused any problem, never went through any "rebel" phase, and never showed any interest towards anyone. And even if Jeralt knew it was selfish of him, he was glad his little girl was still the same.

But now, he would trade a whole troublesome adolescence, if it meant his daughter wouldn't fall for the freaking King of Faerghus.

The Eisners were assigned for stall duty that evening, and as always Byleth was doing an impeccable job. But she suddenly stopped in her working, and Jeralt noticed her eyes carefully following the king's movement: he was walking near them, probably headed to his tend; and Jeralt noticed the nervous expression of the king, when he noticed Byleth was staring at him.

"Hey, kid?" Jeralt called, hoping to catch her attention.

"Yes?" she replied, her eyes still fixed on the king's figure.

"Are you feeling alright? We can take a break if you want."

"No need," Byleth simply replied, not bothering to look away. When the king was out of sight, she turned to Jeralt. "Dad, Dimitri's weird."

The man almost choked. His daughter always has been honest and straight to the point, but to hear her call the king in such a casual manner… he was glad that at least the king didn't look like a strict guy. "Wha- why do you think so?"

Byleth frowned a little, the expression Jeralt knew she made when trying to express a thought she herself didn't really understand. "He… is weird. He's not like anyone I've ever met."

Jeralt sat down. 'I'm too old for this.' "Is that why you stare at him so often?"

Byleth nodded. "I'm curious. And I'm trying to understand why he intrigues me so much."

"So you're… intrigued by him?"

Byleth nodded again, not showing even a hint of embarassment. "And I can't figure out why. He's strong, but he's not the only strong person I met, right? And he's tall, but Dedue is taller. And he's very kind- well, Mercedes and Annette are kind to me too, but in a different way. And he has a pretty smile. But other people smile too. That is to say, he doesn't have anything special per se, and yet, it's like everything is special about him. And I can't figure out why." Byleth was frowing again.

Jeralt wished he had at least a beer with him. "Well, kid… sometimes, people think someone in particular is very special, and that someone is special in ways only for them. The king… is not weird. I think you're intrigued by him not because he's weird, but because you feel he's special for you."

Byleth brought a hand to her chin. "And why is that?" she asked, sincerely puzzled.

Jeralt wished he had two beers with him. "I don't know, kid. Nobody knows how… uhm, why sometimes people think someone else is special. Only the Goddess, perhaps."

Byleth looked like she was lost in thoughts for a few seconds, but then she shook her head. "No, I don't think she does."

Confused, Jeralt decided to drop the matter. "In any case, it's completely normal to feel this way about someone. So you shoudn't worry."

"I don't," Byleth stated. "I guess I'll just have to live with that."

Jeralt's heart almost broke. His kid's first crush was a king, probably already engaged with some duke's daughter: not the most lighthearted romantic story. And yet, the look on his daughter face when looking at Dimitri was the same one Sitri used to give him, a long time ago. It wasn't a simple crush.

He made a bittersweet smile. "Kid, have I ever told you the story of when I met your mother?"

Byleth looked at him, her eyes full of curiosity. She simply shook her head.

"The first time I saw her, she was watering some flowers. Blue irises, just like her eyes. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen; she was so captivating I stopped in my walking, and almost tripped! She heard me and turned to look at me… And when our eyes met, she simply smiled. And that is when I knew I fell for her."

"So you did trip in the end?" Byleth asked, tilting her head.

Jeralt chucked, shaking his head. "I mean I fell in love with her."

Byleth nodded, as if understanding during a lesson. "I see. Interesting choice of words." She adverted her gaze. "But thank you for telling me this story."

Was Jeralt's sight getting bad, or was his daughter smiling?

---

Dimitri breathed deeply. The time had come to face Byleth Eisner, to finally talk to her and find out whatever reason she hated him for.

He was well aware of the true reason he postponed the talk for so long. The fear of hearing her sweet voice telling him how much and why she hated him was frightening at least. ('Pathetic. To fear some words from a whatever mercenary girl…') The fear of seeing her go away, far away from his army, far away from him-

Regular as clockwork, her stare was on him the very moment he entered her field of vision (-The fear of not watching her beautiful emerald eyes again-). She kept staring at him while he was approaching. Her stare was unnerving; and Dimitri realized, it was not because he didn't like the idea of getting attention from her, but because it was like she could see inside him, see the monster he truly was. (-The fear of hearing she knew the beast inside him, the fear she may hate him for what he truly was, the fear of knowing she, too, rightfully hated him-)

"Good evening, Miss Byleth," he managed to say, trying to hide his anxiety.

"Hi, Dimitri," she simply replied, calling him by his name. Someone else would be offended by such casualness, but Dimitri always preferred to be addressed by his name, rather than sumptuous titles. (-The fear to lose one of the few people that seemed to understand his wish, the fear to not hear his name from her sweet lips ever again-)

"I don't want to cause any inconvience, but may I speak with you?"

The woman was sitting on a bench, polishing her sword; she simply nodded and made space on the bench for him.

Feeling more nervous than ever, Dimitri complied, and sat next to her. Byleth set down her sword and whetstone and looked at him. "What's the matter?"

Dimitri inhaled deeply. "Forgive me if it's not the case and I'm stealing your time uselessly, but I have the feeling you hold some kind of sentiment towards me. If I have done anything that upset you, please feel free to speak to me."

"Oh. So you have noticed," the mercenary said, for the first time adverting her gaze.

Dimitri felt his heart sink. 'She hates you. Of course she hates you. Were you really hoping she was interested in such a lowly beast-'

"I talked to my father, and he said I think you're special," Byleth kept talking. "Then he told me the story of when he met my mother. I'm not completely sure the two things are related, but maybe he meant he thought my mother was special too?" she asked, looking at Dimitri, as if he had the answers.

He simply blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"

"See? So I'm not the only one that doesn't understand," Byleth sighed.

"No, I mean… I- what… You… What?!"

Byleth looked at him again. "I mean, it was a nice story, and I'm glad he told me. Jeralt rarely speaks about my mother. But I don't understand. And it's annoying. Dimitri, do you think someone is special for you?"

Dimitri was speechless; their talk wasn't like anything he had prepared for. "I- well, I think you're a very special person, Miss Byleth," he finally said. He did, in fact.

"Oh." Byleth, the usually impassive Byleth Eisner, the infamous Ashen Demon, the one mercenary known for striking down enemies without batting an eye, was blushing.

"I- I mean, I saw what you're capable of on the battlefield, you're one of the strongest warrior I've ever met. But I know you're also very kind and patient- I see how you help everybody you can here on our base, and… And you're also very smart, your strategies in the last battle were crucial for our victory! It's a pleasure to have hired you, I consider myself a lucky man to have the change to know you, Miss Byleth. So yes, I can confirm you are a special person indeed."

Dimitri was aware he stuttered a lot, but couldn't stop himself in keep going. Especially because for every thing he said, the blush on Byleth's cheeks got redder. And she was more mesmerizing than ever.

"Very interesting," she finally said, breathless. "Now I understand what my father meant with 'thinking a person is special'. Thank you."

"I admit I feared you held a feeling of hate or some sort for me, Miss Byleth, but I'm glad to know it's not the case," Dimitri said with a smile, feeling lighter.

Byleth frowned lightly. "Why would I hate you?"

Dimitri blushed. "I…" 'Because I'd deserve it.' "It doesn't matter."

"Well, according to my father's words, it's more like I'm in love with you, so I don't think I hate you even a bit," Byleth bluntly stated, as if reflecting on a mission plan.

Dimitri stared at her, sure he didn't hear her words well. Surely he misheard, she couldn't really feel that way for him, he wasn't worthy of such things from anyone, especially her-

And yet, if he did hear her right, if she truly meant what she said- if there was a little, brief possibility she returned his sinful feelings-

"… So yes, you shouldn't worry," Byleth nodded at her own words. "If it's all, I think I'll go to get my dinner. Are you angry? We could-"

She was getting up, she was about to walk away. Unable to stop himself, he grabbed her by the wrist. He needed to know. "Can you repeat that?"

Byleth tilted her head. "That I'm gonna get my dinner?"

"No… before that. That you lo… that you lov…" Dimitri immediately regretted his actions. Of course he misheard her, and now he was making a fool of himself. 'To hope for such things when it's clear nobody can love you, do you enjoy so much to suffer?'

"Oh! You mean that I'm in love with you?" Byleth replied. "My father didn't exactly said that, but I guess it's the right name for this feeling-"

Dimitri moved quickly, taking her face in his hands and pressing a soft kiss on her lips. "Byleth, I love you too. Please marry me."

Byleth was right in thinking she'll live loving Dimitri, and Jeralt was wrong in worrying about it.

bonus scene:

Byleth: Dad, I made a weird dream about Dimitri. We were both naked and-

Jeralt: NOPE. I'M TOO SOBER FOR THIS CONVERSATION

[theokusgallery]

nick is so bad tell him i want him (i have short black hair so im basically sunny)

Nick says thanks! :D

[oifaaa]

wait fr which kind of asks piss u off?? cause i'm the shellfish tim anon and i need to know if that brand of stupid is off limits

No level of stupid is off limits my shellfish friend and no asks actually piss me off I'm just a very dramatic person I fear

[klance-headcanons-official]

I think Keith should randomly kiss lances cheek, then like walk away as if he didn’t do it

you mean like this?

(Stupid fucking comic strip that took me way too long to draw ⬇️)

[mychlapci]

I have done some intricate research on tarantula mating and it's quite inspiring. Essentially the females will be trying to eat the males face off the whole time, so he has to hold her upright with his legs while trying to shove the sperm sac into her abdomen - after which she enters a trance state where he can book it before she eats him.

What I'm saying is, Tarantulas is trying to murder Prowl, who grabs his wrists instinctively and well... very helpful diagrams

Poor Tara's expecting some nice transfluid but 50/50 will be left disappointed, your choice QAQ

Imagine Prowl's surprise when one second Tara's trying to bite his nose off then immediately does a complete 180 and pops his panels

OoOh yes. Prowl pinning an unruly Tarantulas down and Tarantulas just melts. His instincts go haywire, they tell him to open his legs and accept the transfluid now…

Prowl figures it’s best he just fucks him. I mean, Tarantulas just tried to kill him, cumming inside of him is bound to help mellow him out. Anything to keep his face from getting eaten off (he tells himself, but he totally wants to fuck that hairy tarantula pussy)

[ratatatastic]

idk if it's obvious but in the forsy offseason training vid the reporter asks "how do your legs feel, you know, for a man who, well, some see as a greek god" and forsy is just hand on hip staring off fondly in the distance he knows damn well who some is like even at home he's never living that ekky thirst quote down linked together forever just how ekky drew it up

OH YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME

MAN HAUNTED BY HIS PARTNERS HORNINESS EVEN IN SWEDEN IM GONNA CRY EKKY LOOK WHAT YOUVE DONE THIS MAN IS GETTING HARASSED IN HIS OWN HOMETOWN OH MY GOD CAN HE NOT HAVE PEACE

[whaledocboi]

"i love camila and all non-camilas equally" - mother superion probably

[slimslamflimflam]

Howdy soo uhhh drawing request time! (Pls do kak w jotaro's hat and joot w kak's earrings??)

Back at it again wit the inconsistent art style [backflips into oncoming traffic and is run over with bitcrushed splat sound]

[spacedlexi]

Would love to hear u talk more about Clem and Minnie mirroring one another if u haven’t already 🦅

i have Not >:) cracks knuckles

talking about minnie can be hard since she Really only exists in eps 3 and 4. eps 1 and 2 keep the twins pretty mysterious we only learn a few things about them. i think the most important thing we know about them tho is that they (or at least minnie) provided a sense of relief for the ericson kids. tenn saying how minnie would sing them "dont be afraid" when they were feeling scared. i think its safe to assume she wrote the song Specifically to have a way to make the other kids feel better when things were rough

when the twins die the kids lose this emotional support and we can tell its been hard on all of them (some more than others). but then in comes clementine. our girl whos been carrying the "light in the darkness" motif since season 1. and although she got that shit a little dirty in seasons 2 and 3 (ava going off in s3 about how clem and aj are light and hope and shit so we're still supposed to see it (and recognize that clem has become so Dark in s3 without aj)), she got her light back when she got aj back and she'll die protecting him

clem (and aj) fall very quickly into the hole the twins left. now its clem who makes them feel safe. first with finding them food then protecting them against the raiders ("youre our savior clem" "we were more scared than we let on when you met us. you made that go away"). its not an accident theyre put up in the twins room. and with the way violet grabs the frame and looks at it sadly we can even assume clem sleeps in minnies old bed (also the old torn down paintings seem to only be on ajs side of the room and hes got his whole "i wanna be an artist too" thing going on). clem has unintentionally taken on minnies old role of making the kids feel safe and reassured

then we finally meet minnie. and based on how the others described her there is definitely a piece of herself that shes lost (that shes killed). her light is gone now. and although her motivations have been warped, they remain the same. i do genuinely believe she is still trying to protect the ericson kids and do whats best for them, but just in the only way she thinks she can to stop more people from dying. she might even think the pros of living with the delta are worth the cons. clementine is the one teaching them to fight back but minnie knows from experience that fighting back just gets you killed, so she feels like if she can just stop clementine then everything will be fine ("youre the FUCKING problem here" "i wont let you get them all killed" and she does seem genuinely concerned if clem and vi are fighting in the cell. and obviously we know she doesnt want anything to happen to tenn). both minnie and clem want to protect the ericson kids they just have conflicting opinions about which is the right way to do it. but minnie Does show her ass when she ends her "if you just do what they say you can live" speech with "you can be rewarded just like i am" 👀 oh girl... she didnt just give up she gave in. killing sophie was her breaking point and i really wish we knew more about how that scene went down outside of lillys dramatic retelling i would like to see it objectively please. but based on the way lilly tells it, minnie (im sure begrudgingly) accepted her place at the delta before it even came to that, and was probably just pulled along by sophie when she tried to escape. which is probably why (im assuming) lilly gave her the choice to kill sophie to stay with the delta (her New family), and she did... she kills a piece of herself when she does this (only compounded by the twin imagery), and i think her seeing clem fight back reminds her of sophie and brings all those feelings to the surface. and if she can just kill clem everything will be ok, cuz it worked last time....

minnie singing "dont be afraid" when attacking them on the bridge. a song that once brought them peace now being used to herald death. but since she approaches already singing it she was probably singing it to soothe herself as she succumbs to her bite, walking away from the wreckage she blames on clem, her delta family dead (she Did care about them in a fucked up way), using a herd of walkers against them the same way clem used a herd of walkers to attack the boat. all minnie cares about at this point is finding tenn, and she does, and shes gonna take him with her. just like clem looking for aj, finding him, and taking him. but where clem would die to protect aj, minnie wants to kill tenn to take him "home" with her. add to this ajs feelings about ending up alone without clem and wanting to be walkers together if it came to it. this is why tenn dying on the bridge feels narratively fulfilling to me even tho i hate it 😭 tenn wants to be with minnie (and sophie and their parents) and death doesnt scare him. it kinda comforts him. him and minnie dying together here is like the dark fate clem and aj barely avoid

and then vi fitting into this as she became tenns caretaker after the twins left. she also wants whats best for him so her and minerva fighting at the end for tenn is interesting. especially since violet (and louis but he wasnt tenns caretaker the way vi was) can die throwing him over the gap. i like the layers violet adds to being in the bridge scene, and it makes it even more sad when she cant protect him because thats all shes been trying to do since before clem and aj even showed up. plus aj shooting tenn puts violet in a similar position to louis in regards to marlons death

i really love the ways violets route adds to all the minnie and tenn stuff. and the way we can see clems influence change her. how a saved violet is ready to fight with clem but a kidnapped violet believes in minnies goals and thinks giving up is the safest plan for everyone. because regardless if you save her or not violet ALSO wants to keep the ericson kids safe and just doesnt know the best way to do it. clem encourages violet to step up and minnie encourages violet to give up (warping her character growth which is why i cant Not save her 😭 and the betrayal of it all). using violet as a common denominator is another way to differentiate between clem and minnie. then throw the romance on top of that.... you can see why i get a little...Sillay.. this is ALSO why i dont like vinerva in any romantic capacity post the events of ep3 and why i love seeing vi with clem. its what they each encourage in her. minnies weakness, clems strength.... why seeing vi and minnie fight clem makes me want to cry but seeing clem and vi fight minnie makes me jump off the walls LETS GOOO

and i havent even talked about lilly yet.... how if lee took lilly up on her offer in S1 about stealing the RV together clem couldve ended up in her custody.... i definitely believe clem looks at minnie and sees some broken scared part of herself in there. she is Fiercely Loyal and would do anything for her family so if she was raised (or broken) in that environment (and it seems very "ends justify the means" with the delta as it sounds like its actually pretty good over there if you can look past the intimidation and torture and kidnapping) i could definitely see her being the one standing behind lilly in some other universe. its what lilly still tries to do with her but its too late (and so lilly tries it with aj instead which is still a way to get to clem). but clems grown now and shes been making her own choices for a long time. shes already been through this with the new frontier (and hell even with carver at howes). she'd die before she gave in. and minnie made the choice to kill her sister to save herself

even with the little info we actually have on minnie she still works pretty well as a foil to clem. this is why i find it easier to talk about minnie when comparing her to clem like i feel like its her main purpose. i feel like theres still more i could say its just eluding me. its not a coincidence that minnie almost takes clem down with her in the end. why shes the reason clems able to get bit. minnie blames clem for her own demise and she's gonna get in one last fuck you. and minnies fate is one clem is desperately trying to avoid. kinda 👀 to be taken down by your narrative foil

[funkyjeans]

I had a dumb idea for Atticus shenanigans. You know that whole meme of cats trying to fit into boxes? You know how Larry is always carrying a briefcase around?

My dumb idea is Larry visits the school for official Pokémon League business, and when he sets his briefcase down for a minute, Atticus gets the bright idea to see if he can fit in it. He's an athletic ninja kid; surely he can find a way. LOL.

HAHAHA OMG I LOVE THIS!!!!

larry visits as one of those speakers who are there to tell these kids all about the gym challenge!! how exciting it is!!!! how you get to learn so much about yourself and others and your pokemon a-- (please, he's boring. absolutely boring. everyone's falling asleep in class)

then it's just.. ortega in the bg. heads lift up from snoozing on desks. eyes are wide and watching this little gremlin of a child tiptoe behind larry and towards the briefcase he has on the floor. even the homeroom teacher, who's dozed off like three times already, is watching intently

atticus, of course, *doesn't* mary poppins his way into larry's suitcase. just sits on it. like those cats that glare at you and let you know they're not moving. LOL

[broke-on-books]

☕

The live action Scooby-Doo movies?

I did not see this ask until RIGHT now (first time on desktop since crab day, second time since Nov 5 2020 [which was DOUBLY experience since I got my phone taken the same day]) so I'm going to assume this ask got eaten on mobile because tumblr, HOWEVER you poked a bear with this ask anon (as I'm sure you knew when asking) SO without further ado: my Scooby Doo live action opinions

So when you say 'live action Scooby-Doo movies' I'm assuming you're talking about the James Gunn films, starting with Scooby-Doo (2002) followed by Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, just due to like, generally popularity and also the fact that I have actually seen those films. However shoot another ask if you wanted me to include Curse of the Lake Monster in this (because I will if anyone cares and turn this into a live-action scooby dissertation, i'd just need to like. watch the movie first) But anyways where I'm going with this is that this post is about the Gunn movies aka the ones with SMG, Freddie Prinze Jr., Linda Cardellini, and ofc our #1 man, Matthew Lilliard.

Okay so my take on these movies is... complicated. I wouldn't say it's as complicated as my feelings towards SDMI, because I watched the live actions way less as a kid and generally care less about them, but still no matter how much shit I throw at these two movies there are parts that I generally like (even love) that stops me from totally condemning them wholesale. Like the fact that these movies are FUNNY! There's so many moments from this duology that are just beyond iconic "like, that's one of my favorite names!" the whole thing with Scooby in the dress at the airport, ET. CETERA (like I can go on!)

The Gunn movies are genuinely SO fun and I can 100% see and understand how they've stood so well in the public view as a representation of Scooby. HOWEVER, this is where you start to see my problems with them. For the general American, (because that is the audience I'm familiar with) ESPECIALLY millennials and younger, who happen to make up the majority of both people on this site AND people I talk about Scooby with in real life, these movies, and the elements they introduced as "quintessential scooby tropes" are the base of their understanding of the Scooby franchise, along with likely some miscellaneous WAY episodes and maybe SDMI.

Which is where I get pissed off. In the pushing of the narrative of "breaking away" from the Scooby norm, Gunn basically invents (aka totally makes up) an idea of what classic era Scooby was like, cementing an idea of classic Scooby into the public mind that is totally disingenuous and just straight up false. For example, in attempting to portray Daphne as having taken strides to be seen more seriously in solving mysteries and defending herself, it pushes the narrative that in the classic era she WASN'T taken seriously, and only existed as a damsel-in-distress prop of a character, which is just not true??? Like yes, Daphne is clumsy, that's a part of her character, and her friends (because, fun fact, the gang ARE friends) joke about it sometimes because that's what friends DO. Framing that in some kind of sexist "that's all she does" lens is just total bull, especially as gang members fall into secret passageways/get lost etc. in WAY ALL THE DAMN TIME because that's how the plot functions! Like are we calling Velma ditzy for losing her glasses every other episode? Of course not, and Fred falls into passageways all the time, not to MENTION Shaggy and Scooby and all they get up to. Also one last thing on the topic of Daphne, like this idea of her mystery solving skills not being respected by the gang is just so supremely bullshit it amazes me sometimes, especially when she was the LEADER (or leader adjacent) through pretty much all of her appearances in the 1980s [Not that James Gunn could look at '80s era Scooby without spitting on it, but I digress]

AND THIS IS JUST DAPHNE! Like the perceptions pushed towards Fred (and Velma, but mostly Fred) through these movies are just as bad! Like okay, with Fred---In these movies Fred is just an asshole. I hate Gunn Movies!Fred. I mean yeah he can be funny but it's almost always so mean! Almost nothing makes me madder than a mean Fred by the way. If he's putting other gang members down (even halfway, like with his whole "dorky chicks like you turn me on too" line, which... ew) then to me something has gone very, very, VERY, wrong in your basic understanding of Frederick Herman Jones as a character. Like he's the cheerleader! He puts himself in between his friends and danger! He loves nets, and traps, and Elvis impressions, and wrestling, and the trapeze, and cars, and most of all he LOVES sharing the things he loves with his friends! (Sometimes to a bit of an extreme. No one wants to hear about your net facts, Fred) And the live action movies just don't understand that at all. And I know there's maybe something to say I suppose in that some of those aspects of his characterization hadn't been "established yet" by the time "Scooby-Doo" came out in 2002. But it's there if you look. For Fred Jones, being the leader means being the caretaker, (he's the Mom friend what can I say) and any version where he's cruel and arrogant and just DOESN'T CARE about his friends in the way he's shown to in the Gunn movies is just so far from Fred to me it's not even funny. And what makes it even worse for me is that this (or at least something similar) is the idea of Fred that has really spread to the popular culture. Just the "leader", the jock that makes the rules, the one that [insert X adaptation here] finally gave a personality and made interesting (something that has been said more times than I can count for pretty much every gang member, save Shaggy and Scooby).

And I haven't even touched on Velma, and how they gave her a bit of a early 2000s smart superiority girl complex against Daphne, plus the whole makeover thing and etc. etc. The Gunn Movies are pretty much what would happen if you took someone who hadn't seen Scooby since they were 7 years old (and honestly had a pretty negative outlook against it then) and tried to "fix" it, only his memory was so bad he just made up problems (and threw in a good helping of early 2000s style sexism with it) convincing pretty much the entirety of the popular culture that said problems exist and that Gunn was absolutely brilliant for fixing them (and then bringing up said "problems" whenever anyone wants to talk about Scooby) and this entire rant has been without even fucking MENTIONING what is probably the reason you, anonymous tumblr user sent this ask in the first place, to I, Swishy "Scrappy Doo Redemption Arc" Broke-on-books (dot tumblr dot com), which is his HIGHLY SUCESSFUL and utterly sadistic character assassination of my number one man, Scrappy Doo.

And I am going to try my damnedest here not to get totally into my highly passionate opinions over what James Gunn did to Scrappy in the first of his Scooby movies and how thoroughly it has pissed me the fuck off because I have been writing this post for over an hour now and if we start to really get into my feelings on this topic it will certainly be a couple of hours more but like. That Fucking Bitch. I give James Gunn personally a solid eighty-five percent of the blame for making my life as a Scrappy Doo fan UTTERLY unbearable with this stupid fucking movie alone, and just his Scrappy crimes would honestly be enough for me to say that I hate this movie, not even considering the numerous Scooby crimes I've been talking about here for the past million paragraphs, but the part about this movie that makes me the MOST mad the most pissed off is that it's actually a good fucking movie. James Gunn wrote two hilarious and entertaining movies that have become beloved in the popular culture for their successes in that arena, while at the same time pissing all over the core themes and messages of the franchise of which it was based, that of friendship.

TLDR; The Live Action Scooby Doo movies (written by James Gunn) are highly entertaining and fun pieces of media to watch, and are widely loved by the general public and looked at with fondness and nostalgia because of that. However, as a hardcore Scooby Doo fan (writing that phrase sounds so ridiculous but oh well) the existence of these movies and their impact on the popular culture can be extremely frustrating (despite any personal nostalgia said fan may have) due to their spreading of a misinformed picture of what "typical Scooby Doo" looks like. This picture is especially frustrating due to the fabrication or exaggeration of problems present in classic Scooby (such as sexism in regards to the girls), as well as giving more ammunition to other problems in Scooby fandom (such as oversexualization, and sexualization in general, which no one wants to see in regards to their children's cartoons, like HONESTLY.) Discussions of sexism and sexualization in Scooby (both of which ARE present and are issues, although not at their worst in WAY) can often lead to an overlooking of the issues that are very present and clear in WAY and have continued since then with far too little resistance (I'm 100% talking about the racism here) HOWEVER that topic deserves at least a dozen posts of its own that I am no way informed or qualified enough to even begin to think about writing. The Gunn Movies are frustrating to many longtime Scooby fans because of these reasons, but for me, and fellow Scrappy Doo fans there is also the added aspect of the demonization of Scrappy Doo in the live action movies and the affects that has had on the popular culture as well, making it uniquely inhospitable to like or enjoy the character of Scrappy. End post.

[todayisafridaynight]

Okay so how’s your dad (who we need to dub as Daikawa) doing?

well he just asked me if i was down to go deep sea fishing next month so there's that