#also he’s a dickhead!!

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

okay so steph is definitely a music purist?

we can all agree on that right? like she's a 'said she was born in the wrong generation in middle school' fleetwood mac, david bowie, the mamas & the papas, niche modern indie artists and also chappell roan kind of music listener. obviously. but.... i dont think we've really considered pete's music taste?

pete, who is a science, left-brained kind of kid, so he probably does not actively go out to look for music and is instead just provided music by the people around him?

pete whose older brother is theodore spankoffski and so his earliest and most fond and nostalgic music influences from his childhood would have come directly from ted's cd collection???

basically what im saying is peter spankoffski has the most trashy, early 00's ke$ha, black eyed peas my humps era, all american rejects ass music taste in the world

that boy had bowling for soup's 1985 memorized at age four, his guilty pleasure music is hollywood undead's everywhere i go, ted did his first decent person move in years when pete came out as trans as a kid and stopped listening to grow a pear by ke$ha and pete forcibly made him play it because it's a bop

and then his only friends are a weeb and a theatre kid.

steph gives him the aux cord on a date to be nice, as a sign of trust, and is blasted in the face with the most uncurated mess of j-pop, sondheim, weezer, and like... owl city's fireflies and that's just a fact

[groovygrub]

[thedevilandhisgrandmother]

Just finished reading house of Hades

Emotional trauma galore

[teaboot]

Was in the car with a few of my brothers when I (oldest, riding shotgun) told one (upper middle, driving) that our mutual brother (youngest, back seat) had Damian Wayne vibes.

This started an excellent conversation about the virtues of various Robins that abruptly ended when I admitted Jason Todd was my favourite, upon which my brother (the one driving) groaned loud enough to alarm truckers in the other lane

[louhinks]

one of my two fallout ghoul OCs. Finch used to be a big hollywood star pre-war and now he lives in a basement and has a problematic relationship with Stealth Boys :]

[chuuzmii]

Anytime i see people arguing over who is worse between lestat and armand i sigh because they're BOTH awful. They're literally mirrors of eachother. 2 men so desperate for love and attention they'll do literally anything to keep it. The way they approach things is the only thing thats different. Lestat is all physical, picking Louis up and dropping him from the sky and having his lover force claudia to drink what he thinks is poisoned blood. While Armand is more mental, he gets into Louis head and changes things around. He lets the coven take the blame for claudias death, letting Louis think he had nothing to do with it. Its actually really interesting how they treat Louis because it's almost exactly like their hunting techniques, Lestat being brutish while Armand manipulates their mind.

[avnasace]

its very irritating interesting to see a lot of people hating aventurine, like yes hes sly and seems like this rich guy who cares about nothing else but money, but ironically he hasnt really lied to us so far, or screwed us over, in comparison to some other characters hes actually been honest and helpful and at least we know his motives.

also theres the whole 'he was a slave who didnt get an education and his family probably died horrible deaths' thing, and after all that he managed to crawl his way to the top of the ipc ladder by himself, aka the people who (presumably) enslaved him.

like??? of course hes not going to be a warm person helping you out of the kindness of his heart, he (presumably) got enslaved and most people who meet him are racist as fuck like???? what do people expect

also ironic the amount of people wanting darker/morally grey characters and moaning theyre not all Good or simping over TB 24/7

like just say you cant handle complex characters and go.

[gooboogy]

The problem is they both make sense.

John lacks any agency, and as his abilities start "failing" he loses more of what little he has. The only things he can do is perceive the world through Arthur's eyes and talk to him in his head. That's it. He has no material effect on the world around them. He is solely 100% reliant on Arthur for his continued existence and influence on the world. He can't ignore Arthur whatsoever (unlike Arthur who can ignore John easy peasy) he can't Do anything but talk and observe (and also experience the deaths of people Arthur touches but ultimately that does nothing). Of course he is going to be distrustful of other people and possessive over Arthur.

Arthur feels like suddenly he can't rely on this very reliable thing that has been keeping him alive this whole time. It would shake anyone up. Especially with the shit they have to deal with? If he can't rely on directions he will be sliced to ribbons or shot without a chance of fighting back. They may as well be dead already. And for all of John's lack of agency, it's Arthur who has to actually deal with the consequences. He's the one who's getting wounded and torn to bits and has to fight all that. Plus it's HIS body. If someone's existence relies on your body, you have the right to refuse, bodily autonomy is a human right.

The problem is they've gone through this cycle before (cycle of learning and forgetting and learning that they are One Unit and need to work Together vs The Problems and forgetting) but never has it shaken Arthur so much. Even when they've argued before he would still listen to John's directions. But now? Everything is in question (as is probably the intent behind John's "failing" abilities.) They DO need other people to help and they DO need to be careful and include John. They cannot truly trust someone else while keeping John a secret or without his input. Arthur has the most control over the situation and the onus is on him to make the compromises. Yeah it's his body but 1) countless times he promised to John that they were in this together and 2) at this point separating them would be so traumatic that they may as well be One.

All of this is to say, curious that Arthur is so willing to tell Oscar about literally everything EXCEPT John. What happens if he does? What if there's someone else to assert for John in a way Arthur can't ignore so easily? Would that legitimize the shared ownership of Arthur's body? What does it mean for John to gain agency by the loss of Arthur's autonomy?

[monsoon-of-art]

Who's the orange dragonfly in your latest doodle?

That is Lovebug, one of the bad guys in Dragonfly's World.

he can create pheromones that affect people's emotions. He's very much inspired by incel-culture, and he will often try to meddle in people's love lives so they'll be as miserable as him

[bardsandbees]

there’s a lot of things i love about fandom but in the case of the witcher fandom they took a named but dead character from a lambert side quest in the 3rd video game where lambert has a vague emotional attachment to said character and turned him into a fully fledged, three dimensional and beloved love interest for lambert. i think lambert says his name no more than twice during the whole quest. and yet the fandom consensus on not only aiden’s personality but also general physical appearance is incredible

[alchemistc]

Woah did I NOT remember the beginning of season three of BtVS, just started it on my rewatch and I am feeling very Season Seven about the Scooby Gang right now. The fucking? Guilt trips?? The talking over Buffy and telling her all about how horrible it is having to Do Things without her (because she left and made them do her divinely ordained job like she ever had a choice)??? The interrupting and the lecturing???

I haven't even finished 3.02 and oh I wanna punch them all in the face.

[ferdieinceladoncity]

Um how the fuck did Torchwood just go from "monsters that turn people into dust when they cum" to the genuinely emotionally haunting cinema that was episode 3. what am I supposed to DO with this show that keeps doing 180s on me

[batsplat]

after 2015 until 2018 it seemed that things had calmed down a bit between valentino and marc, in the sense that they had started to be polite between them again and valentino no longer seemed to be on a war footing. then after argentina obviously the situation worsened again. in the podcast where valentino spoke in 2021 if I'm not mistaken, when he talks about marc,however, he only refers to the events of sepang and not to what happened in argentina which instead seemed to have been the final “divorce”. so my question is, during 2016 and 2017 did valentino just pretend to put up with marc? because in that podcast you can feel valentino's resentment is still a lot even after many years, so I imagine it must have been even greater in the two years immediately following sepang, even if it didn't seem if you see how he behaved

well. look. it was reflected in how valentino behaved... I think sometimes if you see isolated photos and gifsets, you can maybe be left with a bit of a mistaken impression of what that dynamic actually looked like for those two years. they got to a point post-catalunya where they were civil to each other, and maybe they'd exchange two lines in greeting, at podium celebrations, when somebody in a presser made a joke... and maybe marc at the very least was sincerely hoping they could get back to something like what they had before 2015. in reality, though, it was still very very far away. it wasn't open hostilities... at some point in 2016, valentino realised he simply couldn't go on like this. I talked about it a bit here:

you get this discrepancy in his 2016 output, actually. if you compare what he's saying that autumn for written press interviews vs what he's saying with marc right next to him... he'd clearly decided there was zero point in directly fanning the flames. at the sepang 2016 presser when marc and him are quizzed on what had happened the previous year, he just goes with marc's response and decides against reopening the controversy by adding anything from his side. but he still made it clear he hadn't changed his mind in interviews from the exact same time period! at times, he tolerates marc's tentative advances - at other times, he's almost accidentally sucked in, like he can't quite help himself from laughing at something marc has said. but there was never a period where he forgave marc for what he'd done... for various reasons he just decided he wasn't going to harp on about it too much. he did basically say as much post-argentina 2018:

but yeah, argentina 2018. it's an interesting one, isn't it? the stuff that valentino says there doesn't actually feel... quite in line with anything else he's said about marc. typically, when valentino criticises marc, it really is all about sepang 2015 - it's very focused, very specific, he's talking about being unable to forgive marc on a personal level for something marc had done to valentino... but it's not like he's really coming at marc for anything else... when other riders have gotten into spats with marc, he's stayed out of it - and generally he remains pretty neutral when he talks about everything else concerning marc. so, for example, there's a world where the moment alex rins is saying marc doesn't respect other riders in 2019, valentino immediately jumps at the opportunity to offer his hot take... but he doesn't do that. and yes, he had criticised marc's riding before, in particular in marc's moto2 days, but obviously those criticisms were considerably more restrained and sounded at times quite worried for marc's sake. (he also got close to that in silverstone 2016 when he remarked marc had 'something special' for their battles, but a) he's not wrong, except insofar as it's clearly mutual, and b) he explicitly said he didn't have a problem with that fight and considered it hard but fair). in 2017, when valentino was criticising other riders for being too aggressive... well, he wasn't doing so with marc, and he even conceded the point to marc in subsequent races after marc had obliquely criticised valentino at cota for his rhetoric not matching up to his own riding. when valentino's young riders have gotten into their own spats with marc, he's not waded in either, at most saying stuff about marc's fight with pecco that from his lips sounds almost like something akin to praise. radio silence after bez's run in with marc at the end of last year... argentina 2018 is the exception not the rule

and you know... at the end of the day, that was an emotional reaction. valentino might be wearing the habitual smile on his face during the media debrief and sound reasonably calm and composed, but he was furious. which, it's always worth remembering, isn't an entirely unreasonable reaction to that specific situation. yes, valentino doesn't have a clean track record either, but you're going to struggle to find such a... weaponised carelessness, a blatant disinterest in his fellow riders while shoving them aside, in the way marc was exhibiting that day - and indeed that whole weekend. looking back, of course argentina 2018 ended up being an isolated blot on marc's track record that he's not come close to repeating since (yes, he's made high profile errors that took out other riders, but it's different)... but we didn't know that at the time. also, I doubt valentino much appreciated being treated just like an obstacle in marc's path! the fact that valentino wasn't the only marc victim that weekend kind of has an interesting effect, because you have to doubt whether it would have helped if valentino felt like he was being targeted specifically by marc, but on the other hand... well, it's almost disrespectful, isn't it... being singled out is in a way still better than being brushed aside like any other rider

still, valentino's pushing it with his criticisms, he's out of line, and he clearly did lash out in the heat of the moment - which was of course largely a product of the resentment he'd been holding onto those past two years. calling marc's behaviour that day dangerous? sure, you'd find a lot of agreement for that. saying that marc was ruining the sport? that he was intentionally causing other riders to crash? ... well, hold on one moment. I reckon the simplest explanation is the best one here: valentino was angry and said stuff he wouldn't otherwise say, which we know because he's not done so before or since. of course, he was never going to retract what he said about marc that day - he wasn't ever going to apologise for it. not with their history, not when there was still just enough about those argentina comments that he meant... so he wasn't going to feel too much regret about the bits he wouldn't have said under any other circumstance. the problem post-2015 for valentino is that constantly signalling his fury to the world wasn't doing him much good... but pretending like everything was just fine clearly also took a bit of a toll. argentina 2018 wiped the slate clean - even though they gradually crept back towards basic civility after that. and valentino really didn't continue with that line of critique... since then he's basically completely reverted back to a sepang 2015-centric approach. maybe a few hints at it... in 2021, he said something along the lines of how he doesn't feel good when he's on-track with marc, but that's pretty generic while also crucially being personal - he's not saying marc is a problem for the series, he's saying it's them specifically that have an issue with each other

which doesn't mean he didn't believe what he said in argentina 2018 in the moment... when they reconvened in cota and had marc and valentino do separate media debriefs from the main presser, valentino said he stood by his comments - but also didn't actually repeat them or elaborate on them or anything. he's back to terse short responses to the press' questions, saying he wants to focus on the race ahead: kind of the go-to approach when it comes to marc post-sepang (with notable exceptions). he's walked his strongest comments back as much as he was probably ever going to - by simple virtue of the fact that he's left it at that. and you know, he's a complicated guy... 2016-17 was both pretending and it also wasn't. he didn't act like everything was forgotten, but he certainly was willing to let people believe that this relationship might end up being mended - which quite frankly was probably never going to happen. mostly, he was just sort of sick of the whole thing, struggling to enjoy himself in what had become such a charged, hostile environment for all the riders involved. at the same time, look - fundamentally, the interpersonal chemistry with marc was always fine. they click as people! they click as riders! marc makes valentino laugh! sometimes, that line between 'pretending' and 'letting yourself pretend' and 'actually not pretending at all' can be quite thin. when valentino talks in that time period about how much he enjoyed a battle with marc, of course he isn't lying - because he really does enjoy those fights! that's what racing is all about for him, and that's something him and marc still share! as long as marc isn't barging him aside and causing him to crash, that is. maybe it'd be easier if it were all a pretence, but it wasn't... sometimes, when you say you thought a race was hard and fair, you really do mean it and you really did have a lot of fun. sometimes, the struggle isn't actually acting nice for the cameras, it's trying to bite down the temptation to laugh alongside your sworn enemy

see also assen 2016... like, isn't this kinda wild? you've just had catalunya the race before, you've just had the mere semblance of a tentative start to a possible reconciliation - then they return to the place that was really the beginning of the end for them. they go on a few track familiarisation laps, including to check out the resurfaced final chicane (aka the scene of the crime). they race each other on said track familiarisation laps. then marc brings it up in the presser, giggling about the whole thing, and apparently valentino also finds it pretty funny - before he visibly swallows up his grin. later that weekend, marc pointedly decides to try out valentino's final chicane move himself during the warm up session. this is all obviously deranged, but it's a type of deranged where they are fundamentally on the same wavelength. it's the kind of ridiculous behaviour they're both incredibly fond of... you see it in how valentino shrugs off the towing at catalunya 2019, and thinks it speaks to marc's smarts and wiliness - unsurprising, really, because they're so similar in that regard, and valentino has never shaken his admiration for marc as a competitor

valentino can clamp down on his animosity towards a rival during his direct interactions with them... lord knows if you watch a few of the casey and valentino face-to-face interactions over the years, you really wouldn't match that up with the sheer vitriol of some of the stuff they were concurrently saying about each other in the press. that rivalry was never really personal (on valentino's end), it was never fraught in the same way (for valentino anyway) - still, it shows he's theoretically capable of separating this stuff out when he needs to... and he just about managed with marc for two years. if he had just been waiting for an excuse, surely you would have heard at least a hint of that when him and marc swapped paint in 2017. you never quite knew how he was going to answer the inevitable questions about marc's riding, but no direct criticism was forthcoming at any stage. the post-argentina 2018 rhetoric wasn't in any way premeditated from valentino's side, and personally I don't think he was just waiting for an excuse either. it was the result of a constant internal conflict between knowing that engaging in any more active beef with marc wouldn't do anyone any good, and the fact that he still hadn't forgiven marc... and then a race came along that simply pissed him off enough to push him over the edge

from 2016 onwards, valentino both very much wanted and very much did not want further conflict with marc, and neither of those impulses ever quite go away. usually, he's disciplined enough to avoid stoking the flames any further... potshots to the press outside of the paddock are essentially a free and harmless outlet in that regard, and even there you can tell he was trying to scale it back in the years where he was being forced to directly interact with marc. he was pretending and not pretending and sometimes pretending like he wasn't pretending and sometimes pretending like he was pretending. maybe it would have always just taken one major on-track confrontation for things to fall apart between them again... but you do kinda have to acknowledge the whole thing was really unfortunate. I've long thought that something like sepang 2015 was pretty inevitable as long as valentino managed to put himself in title contention once marc had joined the premier class, but I don't actually feel the same way about argentina 2018. an awful marriage of circumstance and coincidence and bad choices caused the relationship to fall apart again this badly. valentino might have had some more or less sincere misgivings about marc's riding, but at the end of the day he wasn't going to ever express them unless it got personal - because all of these people are incredibly self-centred and valentino wouldn't have felt like it was worth it. he lost his temper, he said some stuff he might partly but not fully believe, he's not inclined to bring it up again. that's that

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᶠᵘᶜᵏᶦⁿᵍ ᵏᶦᵈᵈᶦⁿᵍ ᵐᵉ

[giantchasm]

Hey Peony! Are you a zombie!? O:

It's a favorite nickname of some kids I don't always get along with, unfortunately... these stupid jerks who are still caught up on stuff that happened a really long time ago. They don't like my family— Dad and Miss Sectonia especially, so they don't like me either. It's dumb 'cause all the things they're angry about are things that happened before we were even born. But their parents have told them all about it, and now they're mad even though it never affected any of them. I... hear a lot about how my dad really hurt people or is responsible for all of the current issues in Floralia. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind if they just took it out on me, but that's not what it's like. They're always going on about how bad my family is, and I hate hearing it. They call them awful people, and it's not accurate at all! Dad and Miss Sectonia didn't mean to harm anyone. Dad just loved too much, and Miss Sectonia was sick. I don't meet people who dislike my mom as often 'cause of where I live, but it's the same for her. She's not evil! She was just desperate! Granddad, too! ...It's okay, though. I try not to let their words get to me. I know they're just imbeciles. So it's not like I'll let them affect how I see myself or the people I love. Would still be grateful if you didn't call me that, though.

[Soft gasp] What's this? Not everyone thinks Peony is the specialest girl in the world!?

Yeeeeahhh. Unfortunately it just kind of comes with the territory of being the daughter of two war criminals. Taranza in particular kind of helped Sectonia ravage Floralia, which is where Peony lives. The kids around her have heard a lot of stories about their parents being traumatized or haven't been able to meet certain family members of theirs because said family members were killed during the tyranny. Lots of anger and sadness regarding that.

Not that that excuses them taking it out on Peony. Being mad at Taranza, sure, but Peony didn't do anything. Like she said: she wasn't even born at the time! But Taranza's not someone these kids feel they can lash out at (...in fact, they're kind of scared of him), so they aim at the next best thing: his innocent daughter, and that's where it crosses over into just being cruel.

...Yeesh. Just get some therapy, you brats! Leave her alone! D:<

It's okay, though. Like Peony said, she's coping. Truthfully, half of the time she just has her guardian angel taze these people to scare them off. Doesn't make it any less of a pain, though.

@kirbyoctournament

[nazskoll]

IT fanart in 2024 is crazy 😭

(i did add some hcs that i put an explanation for in the tags)