#also don't take this too seriously i don't have real strong opinion on words tbh

[gummyfang]

Hey, I wanted to let you know that I love your writing, your mind is brilliant 🫶

I don’t normally send in asks, but I saw that you’re open to writing for Anakin, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to make some nsfw head cannons for him? I’d especially love to hear your sub Anakin thoughts because I lot of the content I see about him writes him in a more dominant way (which is awesome, but I’m personally obsessed with submissive anakin)

Once again, you are such a gifted author, thank you for sharing your work 💕

HHHH THANK U SO MUCH FOR UR KIND WORDS <33 honestly I have so many specific interps for Anakin in NSFW situations so I'm excited to share my thoughts. NSFW below read more, duh

♡♡♡ |   ˗ˏˋ Anakin Skywalker NSFW headcanons  ´ˎ˗

Ok first things first I have some strong opinions about what he doesn't do, firstly his experience levels.

Because let's be real, if you're his partner in the first place, you're his first. Anakin is a space monk . The code he lives by essentially forces him into celibacy. Now, we know Anakin tends to discard those rules if he believes the situation calls for a different approach, but he can't do so without caution.

Also, I dunno, he seems so romantically ride or die I don't really see him as someone who'd sneak out and sleep around. Point being, his experience before getting together with you is zero.

He can't find the clit at first.

Be patient with him.

I will say this though, Anakin is an experimental person and not afraid to try new things at the risk of them not working out. This is definitely something that extends to the bedroom. He doesn't exactly have sources to get new positions from so he's just gonna tangle your legs around him in every way he can think of, all to find that new angle that he can fuck you that much better at.

And if it doesn't work, he would much prefer honesty over being told it's fine. This extends to everything in the bedroom tbh, safewords are sacred to him and he takes your comfort very seriously.

Now the perhaps more controversial take. Anakin is a switch for sure, but he has some pretty hard limits when it comes to either.

Dom Anakin

I cannot see him being into degrading you, honestly. Anakin loves you to death. You are ethereal to him. He can't cum with such filthy lies in his mouth.

Nahh Ani is praise all the way for sure. He'd brabble on about how good you look as he cums inside of you. His capacity to respond coherently goes down as he's closer to releasing but how sweetly you moan for him and how perfect you look never leaves his mind.

By extension, I don't think he'd be super into hurting you. Though he is not gonna pass up on some consensual choking and spanking.

And boy, he is mouthy.

As in literally.

While he ruts into you, he either wants his mouth on your lips, on your neck or on your chest.

When he is not babbling his praising comments to you, his mouth needs to be busy in some other way.

If you do not want marks on you, you better tell him, because he is going to have to actively stop himself from teething and sucking purple marks into your neck.

Really likes mutual masturbation as well. He tells himself he won't do it over the comms but. He will. If you or him is on a long-term trip you know damn well he doesn't have the patient to wait for either of you to come back.

Sub Anakin

Now. Sub Anakin. That is a whole other ball park.

Anakin craves control, but getting to give up every ounce of control on his own terms really arouses him.

He has some harder limits, he doesn't enjoy being in too much pain or degradation that is too harsh and personal.

But the humiliation aspects of it make him rock hard.

Honestly. He's kinda into it when he's on his knees in front of you, staring up at you with those expectant eyes, and you just barely apply some pressure on his solid crotch. Not enough for it to hurt, just for him to rut against and then make a soiled mess of his pants.

If you let him, that is. Anakin wants to be a good boy. If you tell him no he will listen.

Oh yeah he is more into sexual denial than you'd probably expect.

Orgasm denial? Hell, nothing makes him harder and whinier than making him watch you get yourself off with him unable to touch you or himself.

Or when you edge him? Make him wait until he's close to sobbing. He wouldn't cry, but if you keep going he will get real desperate.

The longer you deny him, the more he goes from bratty to begging.

HUUUUGE validation kink.

Like HUGE.

He enjoys being denied to an extent but he does want to finish on a high note. Call him a good boy, tell himhow hot he looks when he eats you out... Boy he will go feral.

Haven't written just headcanons in a while so I hope you enjoyed these rambles

[ananke-xiii]

My ranking of SPN seasons (based only on their PLOT) pt. 1

Okay so I've finally watched all 15 seasons of Supernatural and, I must say, what a journey!

The show has releaved itself to be a pleasant surprise, I've learned a lot thanks to it. I must confess that I had strong prejudices against it and had been avoiding it all these years because I thought it was... well, tbh not worthy.

Of course, since now I am here writing about it, it's useless to say that I was wrong. It's not the perfect show, sometimes it's not even a good show, but for sure it's an enjoyable, interesting and exciting show.

The following ranking is based solely on the plot (and subplot) of each seasons and my personal opinion about it.

15. Season 14: Frankly, I don't know what to say about this season, LOL. There is no real plot. We are led to believe that the story will revolve around Dean being possessed by Michael, okay. Basically Michael!Dean from the AU goes to Earth 1 to create an army of monsters (?) but then says bye bye to Dean and leaves (??), but oh wait, no, he re-possesses him (???), and then the army disappears (???) and then he gets trapped in Dean's mind and then he posseses Rowena (???????????). In the mean time, Jack is sick, dies, gets rescued by Castiel who makes a crazy deal with The Empty, then kinda goes crazy and starts killing angels (?????) and then gets killed by God. He also accidentally kills Mary Winchester (???????) in the process. I dont' get it, okay? Maybe it's just me! At any rate, we discover that Michael can possess whoever he wants since he easily changes his vessel without consent multiple times. This fact alone contradicts the whole of season 5 (Dean is the chosen one, the one and only Michael's vessel, hello writers?). Finally, the whole Nick/Lucifer thing. I get it, Mark Pellegrino was GREAT as Lucifer, I loved him, I wanted to see more of him. But his subplot was nonsense and meh. So, yes, the plot was bad. Reeeeeal bad.

14. Season 15: One of the the fun things about Supernatural is, for me, the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Throughout the whole series we have continuous meta incursions and I find that extremely interesting. However, I think that with the final season they went too far. The plot (kiling the manipulative and frankly insufferable God) is stimulating enough until the episode named "The Trap". After that, I felt like the writers didn't know how to fill the remaining episodes until the end and just wasted half of the show on basically nothing really noteworthy. Also, one could totally see that the main worry was not the plot but trying to tie all loose ends off. It was unsuccessful. I would have preferred a well-executed plot rather than a plot that aimed at"filling in" all the gaps of a 15-year-old TV show (read: it's almost impossible, also unnecessary). The final episode was just bad, like really really bad. The plot was resolved by episode 19, so the last episode really felt like something made to end the show forever, kill everyone off and never talk about them anymore. It didn't make any sense at all.

13. Season 7: I didn't hate season 7 per se, but the plot was not great. Like season 15, the season starts off strong with the main event but then it drags itself out until the end. There's no meat in between. The gist is to kill the Leviathans, the subplot is Sam's confronting Lucifer's mental abuse. The most interesting stuff (aka the introduction of the Word of God) happens around the last 3 episodes. This is one of those seasons that are needed to "connect" different points in the myth-arc, however it was not done brilliantly. I felt like Bobby's death was not necessary to the events, it was poorly done for emotional sake. The"Dick jokes" are funny at first, then they are tiresome. After a while I couldn't take the characters seriously, it was all one big dick joke after another, please stop. At the end, we find out that the whole subplot was utterly useless: Castiel shifts the Sam's mental problem from Sam's mind to his, goes crazy in exchange, ultimately to be cured once he's in Purgatory. I'm sorry, what? Also: the Leviathans (the close-to unkillable monsters the heroes have been fighting for the whole series) become just "regular monsters" and that's it. I'm sorry, WHAT?!

12. Season 3: This season contains arguably some of the best episodes of the whole show. The 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike affected the way the plot was planned (I presume) but I think it was for good. As a result, the plot is clean, simple, easy: the heroes need to rescue Deam from the demonic deal he has made. I like when there's a sort of "deadline" in the plot, it keeps things interesing for me. That's it, that's the plot. There's no subplot either. So why this low in the ranking? WELL. The first half of the show made me very uncomfortable. The jokes sounded very, very problematic and I had a very hard time finishing the episodes. Now I know this has nothing to do with the plot, but hey. It made me feel uneasy and the ranking is mine so ranking n. 12 it is!

11. Season 6: I appreciated the writers' attempt with this season. Basically, both the plot and the two main subplots make zero to no sense until the end, when we discover "the truth". As a matter of fact, until episode 19 we don't really understand what's going on. The plot seems to be the hunting of the Alphas and, eventually, of the Mother of them all: Eve. One subplot seems to be a civil war in Heaven, although we are only told about it and never see anything. The other subplots is Sam being soulless + the fact that now he's been hunting with his resurrected grandfather who, in turn, was resurrected by Crowley and now works under him (LOL). For the plot and the first subplot to make sense the missing link is this: Castiel and Crowley have been pulling the strings all along without the heroes' knowing. For the subplot... well, for the subplot (Sam being soulless), too LOL. Cas and Crowley are having an "affair of sorts" and plan to open the door to Purgatory to take souls from there and use them as... energy? Yeaaah. I liked the "whoaa I didn't see it coming" factor. HOWEVER, for it to REALLY make sense one needs to acknowledge Cas and Crowley relationship. Like, seriously, the reason why everything starts to go wrong (and interesting) is because Dean feels "betrayed" by Cas. Which makes zero sense. But I digress. What I want to say is that the turning point of the plot is understated unless you get the "romantic" implications. It's left to the audience to get it but, honestly, I didn't get it at first so I didn't get why the characters were so angry at Cas and why Cas didn't tell Dean about his affair with Crowley. Then when you get it, you get it but anyway the plot is not the best the show has to offer.

[prentissluvr]

OKAY. it’s morning. it’s time to dissect. clear mind (4 hours of sleep. it’s okay.)

TO START. i love all of your fics ESP those that really have an overarching story, but these smaller ones you do really have my heart because they’re so comforting to read. like yeah!! nothing bad is ever going to happen!! wdym?? i’m just sitting in a stolen car with sam winchester rn, nothing bad ever happens!!

i also love LOVED the casual type of description style you went with with this chapter. your writings are always a meal, and i love angst and stuff you’re gonna get me crying with, but the occasional strictly fluff, mutual pining work is so nice to read. like you’ve got me BLUSHING at work reading this a second time to write this.

“”thanks,” you mumble, trying to sound as casual as possible as you feel his strong thighs under your own.” CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS. RQ. LIKE. you got me SMILING HARDCORE AT MY PHONE. PUPILS ARE DILATED RN!!! hello. i’m freaking out??? this sentence is so incredibly simple but it speaks so much truth bc YES!! that’s what you do when you pine! like please. make marí’s sam winchester real and in love with me.

THIS TOO: “you’re not helping yourself. or maybe you are. you can’t really tell, because it’s sort of hard to breathe with his muscled forearm pressed up against your stomach.” this drove me insane, and not just bc it’s so INCREDIBLY SEXY AND HOT TO READ, but because of the internal monologue. i love first person because i feel like you connect with the internal monologue with the character, but i prefer second & third. now, having an internal monologue in second and third person, really just sets that precedent that’s gonna ruin every other writing for me. i love feeling this connection with the reader’s character by feeling their (very realistic) thoughts and feelings.

AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE FINAL PARAGRAPH. i always struggle with not making endings cheesy or too short, and you have the perfect balance. every single work of yours (in my opinion) ends with a perfect mix of poetry and prose to leave the reader satisfied, but also with an ability to control the narrative of the ending (in my opinion, sam and reader defo got together after. i don’t make the rules. that sexual tension needs to be relieved your honour!!!)

TL;DR, another amazing and brilliant work, marí! can’t wait to see what’s next 🧡

(P.S., also listened to guilty as sin? while reading this. took me to a whole other celestial dimension.)

oh grace you seriously are just too good to me IM CRYINGGGG I LOVE YOU SO BADDDD <333333

(feel you on the 4 hours of sleep!! i think i got exactly that much as well LMAO)

first of all, i'm just so grateful that you like all of my fics, no matter what kind. and i'm so so so grateful that you'd take all the time to tell me all of this!!! it really makes me feel so happy and good about myself and make me wanna keep writing more and more and more!!! so thank you so so so much for that.

and you're so right!! nothing bad ever happens!! ever ever ever!! heh...

and honestly i ended up liking the angst and all that, but fluff is where my heart lies!! it's my happy place i think, and it's what i've always been most comfortable writing tbh. so i'm really glad that you enjoy my pure fluff works like this one hehe (good luck at work!! don't get in trouble for sending asks and being the nicest human to me on earth ilysm)

it makes me crazy happy that something so simple would speak volumes to you like this!! it means so much!!! it makes me feel like "omg! it's working! the words thingy that i've been trying to do! it's working! yayayayay!!!" and i'm so so glad you enjoy the way i use second person in my writing and that it successfully connects you to the reader's character!!! <33

and i can't tell you how flattered i am that you think my endings are nice and balanced! honestly, i worry about them being a little cheesy too, but i actually kinda like cheesy endings so i try not to sweat it LOL but i'm seriously screaming at how you described how you feel about my endings with the prose and poetry, and you saying that i have a control over the narrative that you can actually sense is just amazing to me. thank you so so so dearly <33 (and i agree!! they absolutely got together, especially because dean leaves them alone in the motel room and you're forced to acknowledge your feelings because you might actually implode if you don't HAHA)

not the tl;dr HAHA I READ IT ALL FIVE TIMES OVER AGAIN !!! thank you so so so so so so so much for your kind words and support ilysm <3

(oH MY GOD I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW GOOD THAT SONG WOULD BE TO LISTEN WITH THIS FIC WOWOW)

[bisidneycarter]

gonna rate all of the synonyms google have given me for BEAUTIFUL, you want to wait until the end (at least skip to it) i promise.

Attractive

2/10. blunt. uninventive. kind of formal. sort of based on societal norms but i guess all beauty is. well used so ig it gets some points for popularity. but basic imo

Pretty

5/10. it’s... fine. like we use it all the time, right? it’s nice, a gentle sounding word. solid adjective. ppl like to be called pretty? not terribly imaginative though

Handsome

5/10 ngl, forgot this word existed, was kinda the one i was looking for but. normalise using it in reference to women bc it used to be gender neutral or at least more feminine than today. bold but again, not hugely imaginative.

Good-looking

3/10. a mash up of handsome and attractive. too blunt sounding to be complimentary. boring.

Nice-looking

2/10. like the word above but the adjective has been downgraded. booo

Pleasing

1/10. sounds self centred. means nothing to me

Alluring

4/10. certainly different. would be weird to call someone this to their face. but fun for writing probably. i feel like it provides an air of mystery?? but it doesn’t really have a full meaning in my head so eh

Prepossessing

2/10. this means nothing to me quite honestly. 

As pretty as a picture

2/10. idk how to explain this but in my head this phrase screams misogyny so no thank you

Lovely

6/10. it’s gentle and sweet. but kinda boring idk

Charming

7/10. it’s more of a masculine descriptor but I love it used for women too. a nice word for anyone. but doesn’t quite scream beautful, has a different vibe

Delightful

4/10. seems more like how you’d describe a good dessert or something rather than a person, but still somewhat valid?

Appealing

2/10. idk man, just feels icky

Engaging

1/10. in what way would you ever use this in place of beautiful?

Winsome

4/10. points for originality. apparently means ‘innocently beautiful’ and that lowkey feels icky. 

Ravishing

0/10. no.

Gorgeous

3/10. it’s fine. there’s something about it that idk tho. it always sounds patronising idk man

Heavenly

6/10. this one does give me mixed vibes but personally i find it to be a small step up from beautiful. Not to get deep but if heaven is like, where our true happiness may lie or whatever, then someone being heavenly is like them being all of a person’s happiness and future they will ever need

Stunning

5/10. highly complimentary ig. i’d never use it though

Arresting

7/10. this is so random??? but it’s like a ‘my whole world was put on hold and on arrest when i laid eyes on you’ i think. and that’s, pardon the pun, beautiful

Glamorous

5/10. probably great for some ppl but just no for me

Irresistible

5/10. could be either romantic or creepy. context important for the rating of this one.

Bewitching

8/10. has the word witch in it, what’s not to like. magical and i love it. 

Beguiling

5/10. it’s bewitching but with no witch. and a strange pronunciation. but i like the connotations i think

Graceful & Elegant

7/10. putting these two together bc they’re very similar to me. if the character in question is a dancer then what better words are there? highly romanticized i feel.

Exquisite

5/10. i find it kinda weird but it could be good depends on use i suppose.

Aesthetic

4/10. look if we’re describing a mood board then sure, but saying a person specifically is aesthetic is a no. but if it’s like, a nice view of something, then absolutely, go ahead!

Artistic

4/10. i get and also don’t get this one. art can be beautiful. but i dunno if beautiful = artistic ????

Decorative

4/10. ok i definitely gotta remember these synonyms aren’t all about people because obviously a painting can be beautiful. still sounds pretty blunt though. plain. which is actually contradictory to the word lmao

Magnificent

3/10. a great word but not in the place of beautiful. just doesn’t fit

Bonny

2/10. is it really sucky of me to just say ‘outdated’ and move on??

Hot

4/10. look i really hate this personally. maybe its a me-being-ace thing but it feels strange to me. but commonly used and i gotta get over that

Tasty

0/10. what.

Divine

6/10. yes. good! back on track. ‘exquisite’ but better

Knockout

2/10. literally who has used this in place of beautiful i- no! points for amusement 

Drop-dead gorgeous

3/10. i already don’t like gorgeous. this is worse to me

Fanciable

2/10. this one feels mean bc of the suggestion ppl can be ‘unfanciable’ lol idk it’s also boring and uninventive.

Beddable

5/10. i wouldn’t use this. actually i hate this. (as i said, asexual here) but it really cracked me up so i simply have to give it points

Easy on the eye

3/10. this isn’t the compliment ppl think it is to be honest

Fit

2/10. another one i realllly don’t like. boring and more on par with like, ‘sexy’ than ‘beautiful’. which are separate things to me 

Smashing

2/10. that doesn’t mean beautiful pleaseeee

Cute

5/10. it’s fine. common but fine

Foxy

0/10. cringe and i hate it goodbye

Beaut

2/10. i mean that’s just beautiful with a syllable missing. it’s the same thing as the og

Spunky

4/10. this is slang i don’t understand but it sounds fun

Beauteous

2/10. i have only ever heard of this word in the context of ‘beauteous maximus’ and i thus hate it

Comely

3/10. so far away from ‘beautiful’. not even close. do better

Fair

0/10. isn’t this only used for like light skin and/or light hair? the idea that that equals beauty is a big no goodbye

Sightly

1/10. omg it’s ‘easy on the eye’ but worse lol

Pulchritudinous

?????/10. LIKE WHAT IS THAT? what a WORD. DAMN. it’s not even got objectifying connotations or anything it genuinely just means beautiful. WHY. HOW. HOW CAN I EVEN USE THIS IN ANY CONTEXT??? I LOVE AND HATE THIS

and there you have it. beautiful’s synonyms, rated. in conclusion, not many good ones. if you read all this then i’m sorry but at least you probably learnt a new word (pulchritudinous)

[vlovers19]

Heya! I just read the post from Marie and your response that got me interested. I was actually gonna post something similar to Marie asking whether Jimin likes Tae. Cuz let's be honest, if you look objectively, Tae likes Jimin, or judging by his song Scenery and Sweet Night he might even be in love with him. But when I observe Jimin I'm confused on whether he likes him back. I know they consider each other soulmates but what other proof shows that he likes V like that. He literally flirts with everyone so you cannot really use that as proof. Also, like Marie stated, if he liked V then wouldn't he slow down the flirting? Especially if he knows how V feels for him which i'm sure he does cuz there are moments when Jimin catches V staring at him in a not so platonic way. That being said, shouldnt Jimin be a bit more considerate of Tae's feelings if he really liked him back? V also seems like the jealous type with the way he responds to Jimin's flirting. I guess I do see some sort of progress from Jimin I guess in 2020  but idk. TBH vmin just looks like a one sided love. Either that or Jimin might like him back but like you said he is the type who needs a lot of love and affection. Although I know V feels deeply for Jimin I don't think that's his style. I do see V trying harder this year though. But idk, that's just how I see things. 

Jimin is my bias so yeah I love him to bits so not tryna attack him or V. I see things pretty objectively too and out of all the ships based on what I've observed, vmin is the closest to actually being real only if the feelings are reciprocated. Love to hear your thoughts though. Thank you.

********************

Like I've always said, we keep judging people based on what we see outside. Based on the parts they choose to show to us and because of this, we already deduce people's feelings, thinking that Taehyung is in a one sided love because Jimin flirts with a lot of people and doesn't seem to notice Taehyung's feelings. I'm not going to say the reason why Jimin does this. I'm just going to attribute this to his natural behavior because I believe they are not dating and Jimin is free to flirt if he wants to but at the end of the day, he knows who his soulmate is and if I'm going to use what I see on camera, then I can show you that it isn't only Taehyung that looks at Jimin with love filled eyes. He does too.

There are several more of these but we don't see this because Vmin shippers aren't that much and many of them are actually lazy to highlight these things and even if we do, with time, people forget things. Many vminers are just content to see them having moments so hardly anyone makes analysis or looks deeper into things that's why we always see videos about Tae longing for Jimin or staring at him when he isn't looking but it's never the other way around. I will love to do that but I'm also quite lazy to do so and I'm not such a fan of making analysis based on what I see on TV. I'd rather make analysis based on my feelings and off camera interactions.

It's not as if Jimin's expressions aren't there, it's just that people don't look hard enough and also there's not enough people who actually care to look. If we actually rid ourselves of biasness, we will discover things we didn't expect. Unfortunately, the love we have for one particular member or one particular ship makes us unable to see that.

And I think him declaring Taehyung his soulmate is all the proof we need to show that he likes him. In fact, it's the highest proof. A soulmate is someone you share the deepest connection with. Someone who completely understands you when no one else does. Someone who will always stand by your side when no else is beside you. Someone who will love you unconditionally despite all your faults.

Unfortunately, because Vmin has been identified with this strong bonding word, many people have tried to downplay it making it look like it's really nothing when we all know, it's not so. No one calls another person their soulmate except you have a very strong bond with that person and you completely trust that person enough to call them that. You can't call someone your soulmate so randomly. Is it until they kiss people will take them seriously? (Cough. They will never do that)

They have expressed their emotions all in subtle ways. They have been there for each other, they are best friends, comforted each other during their trying times, (Jimin especially in public). Showed love for their individual projects (Jimin mostly). They have fought with each other and reconciled again. Jimin has said these words to Taehyung. 'i want to be your strength''i want to be with you even after we've become grandpas' They have mentioned their need to stay together even after the cheers have ended (even after BTS has disbanded), They wish to serve in the military together. They want to travel together but never quite get a chance according to them. They miss each other when they are apart. They especially hold hands every chance they get (It gets me every time) I don't know, what else do people want?

Everyone has their own opinions. However, this is mine and everyone is welcome to believe it or not. Thank you for this ask. Have a great day.

[pythiadidelphi]

On why Diotima of Mantinea (Socrates' teacher) deserves more credit than she's given and how Plato said Achilles was the bottom (among other things about The Symposium, by Plato)

(I give prove about the Achilles thing in the end. Stan Diotima.)

•Platonic love, originated from Diotima's ideas discussed in The Symposium:

Just saw a post on Instagram about how Plato said that you should date someone who's better than you in something because love is admiration and they can help you grow, a simplification of the original concept of Platonic Love. In The Symposium, Plato writes down what other philosophers think about Love (you know, all that stuff Aristophanes says about lovers being two sides of the same person divided by Zeus; and also Pausanias who, in the middle of a really sexist and messed up speech I would not recommend reading, makes half of a point saying that in a relationship there should be a young beloved who wants to be virtuous and a virtuous lover who's able to teach him. Tho Plato's version in which they have similar ages and complete each other is way better than this one so just ignore Pausanias) well all I can think about reading posts like this now is:

1) Half the time we say Plato said something it's because it's in a book written by him. But most of his books are just him writing down the things Socrates and his dudebros said while drinking wine and gossiping (they all get wasted in the end of that book).

2) Y'all remember Diotima? Diotima of Mantinea? Socrates' master? Yeah well everything Socrates and half the things Plato said she said before and better.

3) In this case, that post is simplifying the definition of platonic love, but the original ideas Plato used to originate this concept are Diotima's ideas.

For example, in this post I'm talking about, it says that your lover should have the qualities you lack. Diotima was the one who told Socrates about the balanced nature of Love, not being good or evil, fine or foul, ignorant or wise, but something in between that's endlessly longing for good and beautiful things. And then this knowledge came, through Socrates, to Plato, during the events of The Symposium.

•Extracts from The Symposium, when Socrates explains what his master told him about Love:

Diotima said (and the one who answers her questions is a young Socrates) -- "and you hear people say that lovers are seeking for their other half; but I say that they are seeking neither for the half of themselves, nor for the whole, unless the half or the whole be also a good. And they will cut off their own hands and feet and cast them away, if they are evil; for they love not what is their own, unless perchance there be some one who calls what belongs to him the good, and what belongs to another the evil. For there is nothing which men love but the good. Is there anything?" "Certainly, I should say, that there is nothing." "Then," she said, "the simple truth is, that men love the good." "Yes," I said. "To which must be added that they love the possession of the good? "Yes, that must be added." "And not only the possession, but the everlasting possession of the good?" "That must be added too." "Then love," she said, "may be described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?" "That is most true." 

And with this she slapped Aristophanes in the face but that's a whole other topic, here I'm just illustrating what a genius mind this woman had.

Also next time a teacher asks you anything, answer like Socrates did Diotima: "Nay, Diotima, if I had known, I should not have wondered at your wisdom, neither should I have come to learn from you about this very matter."

After all he's the I know that I know nothing guy.

She also said-- "For love, Socrates, is not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only." "What then?" "The love of generation and of birth in beauty." "Yes," I said. "Yes, indeed," she replied. "But why of generation?" "Because to the mortal creature, generation is a sort of eternity and immortality," she replied; "and if, as has been already admitted, love is of the everlasting possession of the good, all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good: Wherefore love is of immortality." 

The secret history vibes.

"If you believe that love is of the immortal, on the same principle the mortal nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal: and this is only to be attained by generation, because generation always leaves behind a new existence in the place of the old. [...] For what is implied in the word 'recollection,' but the departure of knowledge, which is ever being forgotten, and is renewed and preserved by recollection, and appears to be the same although in reality new, according to that law of succession by which all mortal things are preserved, not absolutely the same, but by substitution, the old worn-out mortality leaving another new and similar existence behind unlike the divine, which is always the same and not another? And in this way, Socrates, the mortal body, or mortal anything, partakes of immortality; but the immortal in another way. Marvel not then at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love and interest is for the sake of immortality." 

Holy shit that woman.

Ok this is turning into a Diotima stan shitpost real quick so let me just

•state my point:

1) Plato was smart, and high-key classist and elitist, and low-key sexist, and really really high-key xenophobic, so as always, take everything these ancient smartasses say with a grain of salt.

2) The Symposium not only has a bunch of dudebros talking about love, we have a parenthesis in which Plato clarifies that Achilles was the bottom (beloved) and that's information you all need to have.

3) If you were to read The Symposium, I'd recommend reading only that part about Achilles which I'll leave at the end of this post, and what Socrates and Diotima say. And as a plus you could go to the very end and read how Socrates' boyfriend Alcibiades roasts him, compares him to a satyr, and then says his words always had and still have a great influence in him so he wouldn't want him dead (peak romance).

4) If you like ancient philosophy do yourself a favor and read about Diotima. Men from this time should've just shut up, listen to her, and drink their respect women juice cause the things Pausanias said could have been prevented if they had (like seriously, skip his part, he basically says that man-man soulmates are better than man-woman and woman-woman cause women are stupid, like........ this is why Darwin was like that huh?)

And now I bring to you, Achilles was a bottom and a twink:

As you can see, they said lover/beloved and not top/bottom and even tho at the time they were like "yeah the younger man who wants to be virtuous and good is the beloved and the older man who's already virtuous and good is the lover" we needn't use it that way now! You can totally bring it back if you like it :) It sounds really DA.

The fact that Plato went out of his way just to clarify this... he literally has 0 opinions about everything else in that book, he's just writing down what they say, but the second they imply something wrong about his otp he's like parenthesis you're wrong close parenthesis.

I'd do that tbh. Also if you wanna know more about Alcibiades and how he calls Socrates a satyrface but don't wanna read the book dm me and I'll send screenshots likely followed by very strong opinions on said screenshots.

Stan Diotima and have a good day!

[crayfish-critical]

I'm honestly super glad your blog isn't purely SU critical tbh, because at least blogs like this don't have an obvious bias towards one show and they act completely stricter on one show compared to the other. While I personally casually enjoy Voltron and BNHA (I do agree there's issues with how both treat some of their characters), and love SU, your points are extremely valid and you give good reasoning behind them besides reaching for subtext that can be interpreted in many different ways.

Aw gosh thank you anon, this honestly means a lot to me!  My goal is to be fair to most of the media I criticize.  To be honest, I probably criticize Voltron about as much as SU (and then BNHA more since I have such strong opinions on pedophilia) and I really think both of them are good shows.  I just like to scream, but I also like being fair about it!

Criticism whose goal isn’t to positively influence the original media’s creator or positively influence others is ultimately worthless imho; like hey, free country, you can say what you want about it.  As an aspiring cartoon/kids show creator, I learn from criticizing the shows of others and put their mistakes as something I can learn from.  I’ve honestly learned a lot about pacing, story structure, and character building from my problems with both SU and Voltron, and they’ve helped me sort out what does and doesn’t make a good story since some parts of them are so good and other parts aren’t.  Honestly it’s kinda embarrassing to look back on my original story now, having learned everything from SU and Voltron - but hey, that’s alright!  I’m far, far from above the writers of either of those shows, yknow?  I don’t think they’re bad people or bad writers; at worse they have a skill level similar to me.

I’ve also first-handedly put the pieces together of a show that became a mess for seemingly no reason, realizing that there was a reason and it was basically unavoidable.  There was a sitcom I watched that’s overarching love triangle bullshit became an absolute goddamn nightmare of a mess (sprinkled in between with various weak episodes that didn’t even reference the drama).  But, when you put together that a major reoccurring character would have likely been part of that plot since the beginning (as opposed to just being in the very end), whose actor got into a serious accident around the time when the episodes would’ve been filmed, the original intention of the arc makes a lot more sense.  Like seriously, once you watch the episodes with that knowledge, the pieces fit in perfectly.  The show was a horrible victim of circumstance and I just hope all the actors and writers have a good rest of their lives.

Point being, you never know what’s going on behind the scenes of a show, so I think it’s unfair to act like minor plot holes and weird pacing are some moral failing of the writers.  Yes, it’s their job to write a good story, and yes, you have a right to dislike their writing.  But it shouldn’t be seen as such a crime??

The crewniverse has made mistakes, like the Concrete incident, but they’ve tried to fix issues that they’ve caused.  Quite frankly, racism is the only argument in SU that I can’t defend them against; not only is it not my place, but it’s hardly revolutionary like their LGBT representation.  As a dumbass white person, I can tell you that Rebecca and her clue is probably more clueless than the SU critical community realizes (if you don’t live in SoCal, you don’t know how sheltered us middle-class white folks are) but that doesn’t make it okay.

However, everything else I find to be rather shit.  As a fat person, Steven becoming “thinner” isn’t fatphobia; the art style changed.  Rebecca is a BISEXUAL NONBINARY WOMAN, and I will literally never forgive the SU critical community for their insistence that her nonbinary rep is enbyphobic (bc they “present as women” and “go by she/her pronouns” and “sure stevonnie goes by they/them but they act like nonbinary is just male + female and its not” and “either way they don’t call themselves nonbinary in the canon” even though nonbinary people can present and go by whatever pronouns they want, bigender people exist, and the only valid point is the last one but its still fucking stupidly insignificant.  Like Korra and Asami didn’t call themselves bisexual [ok scratch that korra called herself “buy-curious”] but they’re still bisexual.).  And yeah, “lgbt people can fetishize other parts of the lgbt community” but do you know how hard it is for a bisexual woman to fetishize lesbians?  It’s.  Pretty fucking hard, considering she’s a wlw.  She can be lesbophobic but when you have one (1) “predatory lesbian stereotype” out of a cast of different types of lesbians, maybe you should uhhh stop policing how lgbt people are allowed to act?  There’s a big difference between a predatory lesbian stereotype and a lesbian who happens to be predatory (and pearl isn’t a predator anyways, she’s an abuse victim - that doesn’t excuse her behavior but I digress)

god I dunno, there’s just so much stupid shit that goes on in SU critical, which is a shame because it’s an idea with a lot of promise.  Really, the SU critical community developed because fans didn’t like having negativity towards something they cared about on their dash.  But since it became an isolated pocket of everything negative towards SU, it just festered and festered and what started as simple criticisms has turned into outright hatred and malice.

Personally, I hope that SU’s portrayal of LGBT people becomes outdated some day - it’s really not that bad and I think even if we make great strives in the next decades, it’ll still be able to hold its own, but as an lgbt person I think Rebecca would agree with me that only good things can come from kids shows being better than SU.  But for now, it’s far far ahead of anything else in its time, showing LGBT people as real people (or….aliens), as flawed individuals.  It doesn’t make them particularly evil nor does it make them particularly good.  They’re characters who happen to be their sexuality, and that’s alright, and that’s normal.  And that should be celebrated.  People should be allowed to celebrate what SU has done so far, and I hate how SU critical likes to shit on fans minding their own goddamn business.

I feel bad for SU critical too, because keeping yourself in that kind of environment becomes very toxic.  I’ve been trying to keep my own opinions under control (actually, that’s part of the reason I made this blog) because I can become very angry and opinionated while typing and I know that that can hurt other people.  But it’s just exhausting and toxic for me at this point to keep doing it too much, so I just write what I can but also try to embrace the positive so I don’t die of a heart attack lmao.  I can’t imagine what running an SU critical blog 24/7 must be like, it sounds absolutely exhausting and immensely unhealthy.

You have the freedom to choose to do that, but as someone who shares some of your opinions and mindsets I advise you to take a break and have things you DO like in the things you critique.  Point out things you like alongside things you dislike.  It’ll make the world so much better for you.

Overall though sorry for rambling anon haha, but thank you for the kind words!