It’s been less than two weeks, I have already daydreamed my way through 15 Troy/Chad fics, 7 Chad/Ryan fics and 3.5 Troy/Chad/Ryan fics and written exactly none of them.
Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.
Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).
Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.
Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.
Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).
AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.
But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s
A little over halfway there, heres every hero I've met so far
❤️💙💛 a very brief and deeply serious word about every season 🩷🖤💚
( x x x x x x x x x )
Denziman: Scooby Doo but the dog is kind of an asshole 10/10 tits out Kenji Ohba
Goggle V: the most standard, normal sentai you will ever watch 10/10 lemme just red ruby beam that for u real quick
Dynaman: YUME WO KANAETE 🧨 DYNAMAAAAAAAAN 10/10 im fully convinced the black clone technique is just a thing Junichi Haruta can do
Bioman: this show is about ONE THING and thats MIKA JUN YABUKI 10/10 sexual lady saturday
Changeman: im not ok thanks for asking 10/10 im eating glass over this show
Flashman: OOF. OUCH. OUGH. 10/10 this one hurts
Liveman: OOF. OUCH. OUGH. 10/10 friends how could you
Fiveman: anyone that says this is the worst one hasnt actually watched it 10/10 sibling teachers save me. Save me sibling teachers
Dairanger: best suits in the franchise 10/10 dont let his baby face fool you that boy is ripped AND shredded
Kakuranger: 30th anniversery ending dance 10/10 silly ninja show is very very good actually
Carranger: red racer x Zonnette otp otp otp 10/10 let your kids play outside or else they'll become cops
Megaranger: they were just kids man they shouldnt have had to deal with all that 10/10 show me the silly man in the shiny jacket please
Gingaman: you know what? Maybe i WILL throw myself on the ground and lie in the sun for a while 10/10 kuro kishi Hyuuga
GoGoV: Matoi is there have you met Matoi he's a wanker bastard and i love him 10/10 killing the dad with hammers
Gaoranger: if you wanna feel like sentai is being beamed directly into ur brain watch this one 10/10 oh my god. Oh my god.
Hurricaneger: this one is a BL in disguise 10/10 Yousuke x Ikkou 4eva
Magiranger: some of the best monster and mech designs in the franchise 10/10 i love this magical family with my whole heart
Boukenger: my go to recommendation tbh 10/10 adventure for treasure boukenger START UP 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
Gekiranger: KEEP MOVING. DONT MAKE ME STOP. 10/10 if you want plot and character progression watch this one
Go-Onger: now THIS is super sentai 1000000/10 you should watch rpm as well. Watching both increases the enjoyment 1000%
Kyoryuger: dancing dinosaurs. Very good. You agree 10/10 otp confirmed after 10 year wait
ToQger: OOF. OUCH. OUGH. 10/10 just watch it dont look anything up just watch it
Zyuohger: most misunderstood and overhated season tbh 10/10 the characters are meant to be like that. Its kinda the central theme of the show. Stop being mean to Misao
Kyuranger: my first sentai 🥰 10/10 houou soldier is a change dragon reference
Kiramager: if Boukenger doesnt catch ur fancy this one would also be a good place to start 10/10 i'll take outdated meme for 100 thanks Grant
King Ohger: in a word? Ambitious. 10/10 you can go to the quarry. As a treat.
made a pathetic poll before, vox absolutely SWEPT against lucifer last time, pondered on it and thought hey out of all the people who could possibly evenly match up to vox in patheticness, ADAM might have a chance. SO
POINTS (feel free to come up with your own I am grasping at straws here):
Adam
FOR
got cucked by lucifer TWICE
what's more pathetic than getting left by your wife? getting left by BOTH your wives
an actual dudebro
dumb as bricks
just look at him
"HES UGLY" "PUT THE MASK BACK ON"
actually fucking dies
and not even by lucifer by fucking niffty
AGAINST
is actually a really powerful angel who could destroy alastor's shield with one punch and almost killed alastor
mentions that he does in fact fuck in episode 1
could possibly be argued to still have bitches with lute
Vox
some of these may just be copy and pasted from the last one. against will have new points to juxtapose adam though
if you've been around my space long enough you know these well
FOR
lost his own diss track against his rival
sings an entire number about not giving a fuck about his rival's return while being the only person TO give a fuck
tried to physically block a radio, an AUDIO output device as if it'd stop anything, failed at doing even that
his screen calls out the reason for his crashes and he seemingly can't control it
causes a city-wide blackout because his rival announced to everyone he rejected him
there is a non-zero possibility he was/is in love with said rival but said rival will never love him back
purposely avoided going to an overlords meeting and called his co-worker up at the very last minute to attend for him
the guy he appointed as a spy ended up being the very person to prove a sinner can be redeemed
coward who constantly hides behind screens
episode 8
AGAINST
he is capable in literally any context outside of alastor
debuts actually acting cunning
capable of coming up with something on the spot without hesitation (voxtek angelic security)
actually smart (able to interpret val's "put something inside them" comment as appointing a spy)
feared by his employees
well he didn't get left by anyone in an EXISTING relationship... he just got rejected in one that never started
he has bitches (yeah it's valentino but bitches are bitches okay!!)
Fit: Alright Ramon, I'm gonna tell you a bedtime story about nighttime.
Fit: Now, nighttime of course is when monsters come out, and they try and scare little eggs just like you. But, the thing about nighttime is that as long as you have a source of light, you will be safe. That's right. And Ramon, do you want to know what my source of light is on this island? It's you, my boy. You are my light on this island. Without you, I would be covered in darkness.
Fit: So, I'm just- I'm just so glad to have you as my boy. That's right.
Ramon: [Nods and holds up his totem]
Fit: Oh, Ramon... Yeah, that's right – you got that totem right there! You're going to be nice and safe with that as well! That's right. But I'm just uh– I'm glad you woke up today, Ramon. I was getting worried about you for a second, but no, you're a tough kid. So, I'm just glad you woke up.
hello everyone sorry for not posting much recently but I’m once again art fighting…..choosing between vampires and werewolves is a very hard decision for me so I haven’t picked a team yet. i might just let random chance decide for me
my artfight is also chalkrub, or alternatively you can click HERE……I can’t be bothered to make one of those fancy information sheets everyone else makes but I attack YOU and I attack indiscriminately. above, you can see some of my guys that you can attack if you so desire
i'm soooo very excited!! <:^) feel free to drop your art fight usernames in the reblogs/comments/etc and I'll check em out and maybe bookmark some characters
So now that I've finished with volume 1, I just wanted to write down a couple thoughts I've had and neat things to point out so far
When I was watching Stampede, I took note of a few kind of textbook avoidant behaviours Vash engages in, and lo and behold, here he is in the manga displaying even more of them. I'll list out a few here.
In order, we have:
Casually asking for a time limit on the interaction (ie. "How long do I have to keep this up before I can leave?")
Attempting to lose people in a crowd
Leaving without saying anything (and as a bonus, dreading being recognized in public)
Over-indulging or over-involving oneself in social events to create a viable excuse to leave suddenly (in this case, he uses alcohol as a reason to "pass out")
Sleeping to avoid unwanted conversation
Escaping to the bathroom to get away for a bit (and also to grumble about it haha)
Playing off sincere reactions by deliberately allowing them to be misinterpreted to avoid personal questions
It's really obvious, even this early in the manga, that Vash is intentionally avoiding prolonged interaction with people, and only involving himself in situations by necessity. He doesn't like attention on himself - the only reason he intentionally draws it is to divert it away from others.
The reason for this is a bit muddy though. It does seem that Vash doesn't particularly enjoy being caught up in drama, and it is also very likely he wishes to get in and out of places as quickly as possible to avoid them getting caught up in his drama too. It may even be that he finds prolonged socializing kind of tiring; that he needs a certain amount of time to himself.
But then there's also this bit, shortly after the celebration, where he pretends to pass out.
This brings in a bit of a guilt aspect to it. It likely has to do with July, or maybe it's due to something else (at this point, we can't say), but I think it's notable that Vash cuts things off shortly before they become intimate. He can play along to make others happy and to share in their joy for a bit, but the second things get too personal or focused on him, he will quietly slip away. Now this is specifically an instance of physical intimacy, but I think it'd probably hold for emotional intimacy as well, given the continuous avoidance and misdirection he does to prevent too many questions.
I made some commentary on Stampede Vash's self-punishing behaviours - specifically, the way he denies himself food. I don't want to get too into it because I don't know if everyone reading this has seen Stampede, but food is framed as something to be shared in the show - so, denying himself food is denying himself the right to share with others, which is denying himself belonging, which is denying himself any semblance of intimacy. (It means other things too, as food-sharing is associated with Rem, but I don't want to get too into it here.)
Vash in the manga doesn't seem to have the same issues with eating, but this is a similar premise - he's denying himself intimacy out of a sense of not being deserving of it.
So, then, there are probably many interwoven reasons for Vash's avoidance - he's sick of the chaos that follows him around, he doesn't want others getting hurt, he gets tired from having to "play it up" all the time, and he seems to also feel that he doesn't deserve that closeness. I'm intrigued to see how Vash's avoidance will be tackled going forward (I'm assuming it will?), and I suspect, more than there being one right reason for it, that all these reasons are actually true to an extent.
On a completely different note, this panel here is the biggest mood. I feel it in my bones.