#and he deserves the credit for that

[nightingaletrash]

Freyr: leadership's not really my strong suit haha I'm just good at inspiring people

Me: honey that is literally a facet of leadership and you're very good at it

[bbygirl-aemond]

Aegon was the son Viserys always wanted, the son he slaughtered one woman and raped another for, the son he neglected his daughter for. And yet he did not love him.

Helaena was the dragon dreamer Viserys had always hoped to be, the holder of the Valyrian magic he so revered. And yet he did not love her.

Aemond was the lover of dragons, the eager student of history, the kindred spirit Viserys was never able to find in court. And yet he did not love him.

I will rage forever at how much Viserys should have loved these kids. He should have loved them so fucking much. Every single one of them embodied one of his deepest hopes and dreams. And yet he spent the rest of his miserable life punishing them for his own goddamn decision to bring them into this world.

[neithrain]

daily reminder that dorian pavus is not only so skilled with magic that he helped create time travel with his mentor, but can also easily keep up with a literal elven god on the subject

[sunclown]

Spell caster doing spell casting things

[kiuda]

POV: you go against dteam

[slythereen]

anyway friendly reminder that:

charles threatened to leave ferrari in 2022 & ferrari scrambled to keep him ->

ferrari brought in charles’s former tp whom he trusted to replace binotto ->

fred began poaching and rebuilding ->

fred drew in lewis hamilton ->

lewis drew in newey (potentially)

so when people start talking about ferrari’s resurgence and who built it back up, I BETTER HEAR THEM SAY CHARLES

[see-arcane]

I am almost fine with people saying he has one brain cell, because I have seen dozens of people make the worse claim that he is "an arrogant, smug, proud of his rationality Victorian who laughs at the locals for their superstitions."

It is such a prevalent assesment that it's now considered a core character trait of his. When today's entry indicates nothing of the sort.

UH OH, YOU’VE ACTIVATED MY TANGENT CARD

(Text Brick Incoming)

Jonathan’s fundamental flaw at this stage does involve looking down on or viewing the locals and their traditions as quaint/idolatrous/ridiculous et al. He uses poor terminology too, owing to the Doylist reason of his author’s knowledge and biases, while the Watsonian reason is easy enough to read as Jonathan 1) Having to rely solely on biased/incomplete knowledge from his homeland’s writings on the place and 2) What I think is him trying to overcompensate as a trained reflex

I’ve always pictured Jonathan and Mina as having not only a lower social and monetary standing, but possibly a hindrance of race. (Case in point, I suspect a certain unique prop Jonathan brandishes later on is something he inherited, not something picked up by happenstance.)

That said—they are poor, they are not the idealized picture of the fair English Citizen…but they are both polite, charming, hardworking, and masters of ~making friends~ as a defense mechanism. And I’d bet money that included relying on what few positive nods their peers allowed.

“You’re so nice! So industrious! Your physiognomy really counters your origins! And you are wise enough to look down on those silly foreigners, aren’t you? Of course you are! You’re one of the good ones.”

Now, regardless of what headcanon is landed on as far as race/ethnicity/other backgrounds go, those last points are key. Because they go towards Being a Good Englishman/woman. Being wiser than to buy into fretting non-English superstitions. Knowing to ogle the people of other lands like curiosities in a zoo. Judging people by their face or the shape of their skull. This is the Norm. This is Good of the Victorian Englishman Abroad.

And we see Jonathan hold to all these stereotypes…to a degree. But we see within these same early entries that his instincts and general good nature chafe against that social training. He’s too much himself to do entirely as a Proper Englishman should.

He went out of his way to study all the limited info he had access to, incomplete or half-informed as it was. He delighted in learning everything he could of the places and people as he traveled, wanting to embrace and be educated on the land. And even when a lifetime of advising against it, of insistence upon derision, tried to take over when the crucifix was offered? He still accepted it. He still wears it even when the old woman departs, whether or not he believes in its importance.

And, vitally, his instincts are very Very awake to the fact that Something is Off. A Proper Englishman (and many an oblivious or stubborn dad in a ghostly horror movie) would shrug this unease off at once. But Jonathan doesn’t. He remains on Dracula’s route only because he has no other choice. All he does is mention quietly that he hopes Mina gets his diary if he happens to die on this journey.

Imagine that. Bracing for and acknowledging the sense that You Might Die on This Little Business Trip and just…having to go along with it. Because what will you tell your boss otherwise? What will you tell your fiancée?

These aren’t the concerns of a well-off stuffy snob of a man. It’s the resignation of someone who understands they live on the lowest rung of the ladder and that they will risk losing what little progress they’ve made if they dare to turn back.

As for sneering at the locals’ superstitions, period, consider: How likely would anyone really be to suddenly believe in monsters after coming out of the background Jonathan has? What could possibly have convinced him of the reality of the situation OTHER THAN SEEING IT IN PERSON? (Note, a key plot point for certain other characters later!)

The point of his being unable to take the supernatural aspect at face value is that, well, Why Would Anyone Immediately Jump to a Supernatural Conclusion in His Place?

What possible context does he have here!? Maybe he should have read Dracula first, ha ha—

Oh wait. He can’t do that. Why?

Because this man has never read Dracula BECAUSE HE IS LIVING AND WRITING THE BOOK DRACULA!!

Anyway.

tl;dr: I am very tired of both the Stuffy Victorian Snobprick and Oblivious Idiotbaby takes on my good friend Jonathan Harker

[mister13eyond]

dont normally post about drama but this seems relevant:

im seeing a lot of people jump to "james somerton was never good anyways" in retaliation for the hbomb expose, but there's a really fine line to tread there before you get into stepping on the toes of the people he stole from, you know?

some of his videos and analysis did seem genuinely intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, and well-written. yeah, it turns out those are the result of him stealing from other people. but that doesnt mean the original writers WEREN'T intelligent, thoughtful, insightful and good writers. he had plenty of garbage opinions interspersed throughout, but the reason many people (myself included) were suckered in by him is that the queer creators he stole from DID have really important and interesting analysis. the parts of his videos that were good were stolen, but by discounting his essays entirely we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater and insisting those he stole from didn't have anything important to say.

the parts he himself supplied were trash, but he stole the work of some genuinely brilliant and insightful writers and passed it off as his own- and that writing still exists and is still brilliant and insightful; we just know now who was actually responsible for it and who to thank for that work

lets just be careful when we smugly proclaim that we always hated everything he had to say- because a lot of the words we're discounting were never his to begin with, and the last thing those authors need is to have their work trash talked because it ended up in the mouth of someone dishonest

[emotinalsupportturtle]

Who wants to get in a time machine and go tell him?

from that 2005 R&J essay by David Tennant

[logicalbookthief]

Bruce has utilized his younger sibling energy to maximum effect in The Brothers Sun. His brother is an infamous, lethal assassin, whose mere reputation is enough to scare the most hardened criminals. Bruce gets him to do what he wants by threatening to snitch to their mom. Does in fact snitch and gets Charles—again, a deadly assassin—in trouble for hitting him. Later he convinces another criminal, this one unrelated to him, who also kidnapped him, to divulge her tragic backstory so he can express his sympathy and then invite her to family dinner instead of fighting his brother to the death. That’s his sister now.

Within the span of one quality time montage and like a week of hanging out together, his emotionally stunted brother becomes a softie who lets Bruce drag him into a karaoke duet and invite his girlfriend to their secret safehouse, even after the other gangsters point out what a bad idea that is. Who else is doing it like him.

[assassinnumber9]

One of my favorite aspects of Spy x Family is the fact that the fandom often forgets that Twilight is extremely physically capable and athletic as well.

Why does the fandom forget, you ask?

Because his beloved fake wife is Yor - who could very easily bench press 5 of him without breaking a sweat.

[wisyhana]

Guys, the king of games is Yugi not Atem, that's the whole point of the story.

[appropriatelystupid]

[purpleshadow-star]

Casual reminder that Wymack did NOT only recruit Aaron and Nicky because of Andrew. Wymack approached all three of them at the same time. He wanted the whole family set because he wanted a strong defense line.

Here is the link to the story from Nora's blog that this came from. I really recommend reading the whole thing!

[sorrelpaws]

nice toaster brah

[dootznbootz]

I need "Ithaca's waiting~, my kingdom is waiting~

PENELOPE'S WAITING~ For me!"

Injected into my goddamn veins. I don't even have a lover but as soon as you hear that lyric, you just fucking MISS HER.

Penelope is just a name at this point. We've heard it said before (still with extreme longing but that's a different ramble) but we as the audience of this musical have not met her yet. But you feel that excitement and utter joy at the thought of seeing her once more. Joy for this woman we don't know. Just how he says it tells you that this man would do anything ("horrendous horrifying actions" type of anything) to see her again and keep her safe/happy. You just sit there loving her just as much. Love that he would kill you for even having

With the first two lines, it's his men echoing his sentiment: Excitement to go home. But at Penelope, it's ALL those voices together with no echo. Penelope isn't waiting for them like their homeland is, they don't feel that way for her. But Odysseus' adoration is so profound that it needs multiple voices to even release it. Even the fact that the chorus is silent at "for me" is telling you that the fact that she's waiting is what's most important. PENELOPE IS HIS HOME. He's "just a man, She's everything" type of adoration!!!!!! He truly would trade the world to see his son and wife!!!

Even with how he says "Full Speed Ahead" after that kind of drifts off like he's already daydreaming about it and I'm just a fucking MESS. He daydreams in the Odyssey already and I love it so much.

I LISTEN TO THESE PARTS OVER AND OVER! IT IS WHAT REVIVES ME!