#but at moments it’s infuriating

[petpluto]

A tv moment that unfortunately lives rent free in my head is Faith’s “What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me.” line in Enemies. Because, no, Buffy won’t.

Shows in general, and BtVS in particular in this arc, do this whole, “the hero can’t kill the villain - that’s just as bad as what the villain is doing!” And it’s just not. I understand Xander’s line episodes later in Graduation Day Pt 1, when he says, “I don’t want to lose you”, because killing someone, even someone who is hell bent on destroying the world and cannot be held by the normal judicial system, would definitively hurt and possibly change Buffy at a core level. Because killing people - hurting people - has been shown time and again to be something Buffy mourns deeply. But killing Faith in Enemies, killing her in Graduation Day, killing her in season 4’s This Year’s Girl, isn’t the same as Faith killing indiscriminately or for the purpose of ending the world. Faith tried to release Angelus. Faith is down with the Mayor’s plans. Faith is pissed off that after those things, Buffy had the *nerve* to fight back. It’s Buffy’s job to protect humanity from the things normal human systems can’t handle, and evil Slayers fall under that purview. The show makes the argument, through Faith and then a bit through Xander, that this is different, because Faith is different. Because killing Faith puts Buffy on a path to, what, killing more people? But that’s just not true. Faith didn’t continue killing because she accidentally killed Allen Finch and got a taste for it. She keeps killing because she - at this point - is a nihilistic character who doesn’t see or understand the good in the world. She has been failed time and time again, by her family, by the system, by The Watcher’s Council - and her rage and fear and self-loathing brings her down this path. But that’s not Buffy’s path. If Buffy kills Faith here, it hurts Buffy. It might even destroy a real and vulnerable part of her. But she won’t become Faith. She’ll still be a hero - just maybe one who won’t like herself as much. And, hey, we got that in season 6, so.

[featheredadora]

[adainesfuriousgun]

I haven’t seen nearly enough people talking about Siobhan telling Freeze that he’s “a valid response, just not right now.”

It’s truly ALL I can think about.

Because hoo boy. As a motherfucker in treatment for Complex-PTSD, l am constantly wrestling with my freeze response, and that shit made me ugly cry.

[queenerdloser]

i just finished dark heir

[dyinggirldied]

I'm so mad over how the manhwa cut down on Yoojin X Hyunjae scenes (them sleep in the same room, Hyunjae saying he can fall for Yoojin again, etc.)

A friend of mine said it might be because they don't want to alienate the percentage of male readers in this fandom.

It might not be true but if it does, the idea is maddening. Because right now it alienating some of its long time fans and novel readers.

[lord-squiggletits]

One of my favorite parts of phase 2 (and indeed one of the few moments I resonated with IDW Prowl) was when the neutrals were coming back to Cybertron and Prowl said that he refused to let Autobots be pushed aside and overruled after they were the ones who fought for freedom for 4 million years (the exact wording escapes me atm).

And I mean, that resentment still holds true even once the colonists come on bc like. As much as it's true that Cybertron's culture is fucked up, and as funny as it can be to paint Cybertronians as a bunch of weirdos who consider trying to kill someone as a common greeting not important enough to hold a grudge over.... The colonists POV kind of pissed me off a lot of times, as did the narrative tone/implications that Cybertronians are forever warlike and doomed to die by their own hands bc it just strikes me as an extremely judgemental and unsympathetic way to deal with a huge group of people with massive war PTSD and political/social tensions that were rampant even before the war?

Like, imagine living in a society rife with bigotry and discrimination where you get locked into certain occupations and social strata based on how you were born. The political tension is so bad there's a string of assassinations of politicians and leaders. The whole planet erupts into an outright war that leads (even unintentionally) to famine and chemical/biological warfare that destroys your planet. Both sides of the war are so entrenched in their pre-war sides and resentment for each other that this war lasts 4 million years and you don't even have a home planet any more. Then your home planet gets restored and a bunch of sheltered fucks come home and go "ewww why are you so violent?? You're a bunch of freaks just go live in the wilderness so that our home can belong to The Pure People Who Weren't Stupid And Evil Enough To Be Trapped In War" and then a bunch of colonists from places that know nothing about your history go "lol you people are so weird?? 🤣🤣 I don't get why y'all are fighting can't you just like, stop??? Oh okay you people are just fucked up and evil and stupid then" ((their planets are based on colonialism where their Primes wiped out the native populations btw whereas the Autobots and OP in particular fought to save organics. But that never gets brought up as a point in their favor)) as if the damage of a lifetime of war and a society that was broken even before the war can just magically go away now that the war is over.

Prowl fucking sucks but he was basically the only person that pointed out the injustice of that.

And then from then on out most of the characters from other colonies like Caminus and wherever else are going "i fucking hate you and your conflicts" w/ people like literal-nobody Slide and various Camiens getting to just sit there lecturing Optimus about how Cybertronians are too violent for their own good and how their conflicts are stupid, with only brief sympathetic moments where the Cybertronians get to be recognized as their own ppl who deserve sympathy before going right back to being lambasted.

Like I literally struggled to enjoy the story at multiple points because there was only so much I could take of the characters I knew and loved being raked over coals constantly while barely getting to defend themselves or be defended by the narrative so like. It was just fucking depressing and a little infuriating to read exRID/OP

[quinn-of-aebradore]

I keep thinking about how Ashton’s been acting lately and I coming back to them saying that they’ve earned “a minor sense of superiority” for all they’ve been through in their life and then how through a lot of what they said after that demonstrates that that sense of superiority goes far beyond being minor. Especially the way they laughed and said “who else?” when the Hells asked themselves if they should really be the ones deciding if the balance of the world should be upended and remade. It carried a lot less of a “well who else is going to do it?” energy that I think it might’ve once carried, the sort of thing the Nein might say, and instead felt more like a “you really want anyone else but us choosing that?”, which aligns with the wildly out-of-hand way they were behaving in the council meeting. They really seem to be placing themself above everyone that was in that council room, especially with how they repeatedly said that all of those delegates are stupid and blind and so on, particularly those who answer to divine powers (I cannot remember if Ashton directly said that last night, but I feel like it would align with what they did say even if they didn’t put it that clearly).

What makes that very interesting to me is that Ashton is also a vessel for a higher power now, a power that—from the way they seem to be looking at things—is grander and older and more powerful than the gods themselves; a titan. They may not answer to Rau’shan, but they channel her power just as surely as any cleric or paladin might channel their deity’s powers. Which is a little hypocritical, but that’s not my point.

I keep wondering that if maybe, probably on a subconscious level, that connection to an older power than the gods is fueling Ashton’s sense of superiority over the gods and those who follow them.

[pharawee]

"Nara's life is pitiful. She is about to marry a man as a mistress in exchange for her family's comfort and happiness. This short story reflects the oppression and principles of a woman being kept and suppressed. However, after I've read it, it also reflects who I am."

—I FEEL YOU LINGER IN THE AIR 💮 Episode 7

Bonus:

[all-inmoderation]

gonna admit, i was very convinced that patrick was in love with Art, but i wasnt very convinced of it the other way around. art just seemed head over heels and tunnel visioned onto Tashi. idk what do u guys think

[bonefall]

Tbh I never read that far in DOTC but I heard so much about star flower from fandom that now hearing about it directly from you I feel so cheated. I was promised a femme fatale.. tho in hindsight considering how much these writers hate women I probably shouldn't have gotten my hopes up

I WISH we got a femme fatale. It would have been incredibly cathartic for her to make herself alluring to Clear Sky, turning his worst traits against him and getting both power and revenge. For Thunder to bond to her over it, reaching the conclusion in the end that they both had terrible parents that they need to reject.

but, knowing the Erins, they would have just had Clear Sky kill her violently and gratuitously for ever tricking him. Like how he gouged Willow Tail's eyes out. So... I guess we were doomed either way.

Anyway im cooking

[crowned-ladybug]

I wanted to draw my own take on ART-as-a-presence-in-the-feed but struggled with what path to take for A While bc all I had was that I was adamant about a winding, serpentine body, too large to take in at once and So Good at piling upon your shoulders with weight that's either overwhelming or comforting, take your pick

And then I brought in the hexagons and everything just worked

(They let me give it a face without an actual face, make for a good shorthand to show that it's talking/present in potential future art, and as a bonus serve as an homage to JWST bc hey, science!)

Partially brought to you by a whole lot of listening to Satellite by Starset

[ratatatastic]

OKAY SO WHAT YOURE TELLING ME.

is that THIS photo was preluded by

THESE antics. The antics that are mikksy after becoming a stanley cup champion choosing not to hug lombo but tease him with the hallway ritual™ and lombo just grabs him into a hug anways and mikksy craddles him back...the most ultimate form of pigtail pulling... mikksy... like what the hell am i supposed to do with this now

[vowofbrotherhood]

coloring and shading practice

[jackfrostimposter]

genuinely why is there so much misinformation about the guardians of childhood book series?

[the-old-mayhem]

are there any books on black metal history that you'd personally recommend?

Black metal: Evolution of the cult.

[maliciousalice]

Yes yes yeah but Chakotay (alternate) has now spent more time with HJ than he ever did with Captain Janeway (also alternate I guess lmao???). So uh riddle me as to why he would give a care about (prime, denoting superior lol) Admiral Janeway no more 🤔

Dw I'll lift up the rug, you sweep s2 under there.

Don't boo me you know I'm right!