#especially when I see them everywhere

[sarcasticgaypotato]

thoughts on Caroline?

What to say about Caroline?

She's a massively important character to the franchise, but she barely speaks. She's constantly present in the story, but she's only acknowledged a handful of times. She's everywhere and nowhere, she's everything and nothing at all.

She's GLaDOS, but she isn't, or is she?

Depending on your perspective of Caroline, we either know a lot about her personality or next to nothing.

I think my initial impression of Caroline as a character was much more negative because it was shaped by fanon interpretation.

It's probably not a huge secret that I don't enjoy c/aveline, and that WAS the majority of Caroline content for a long time. I honestly kind of resented that ship, partially because it practically became a given that where there's Old Aperture, there's this ship. These two who barely interacted were EVERYWHERE, and I always got the feeling that the only reason they were popular as a couple was because it's a m/f ship, and the Portal fandom was practically beside itself with excitement to focus on any male character.

I'm not here to ship-bash, if that's your cup of tea, good for you. But personally? Not for me, and it negatively colored my perception of her for a while. It felt a bit like she was a character defined by fanon more than anything else, just there to be in a relationship with Cave (healthy or otherwise) just so it can end in tragedy when he puts her into the robot. I understand why people might enjoy that, but I've always felt like it cheapens GLaDOS's (and by extension, Caroline's) story to make it all amount to just 'being the girlfriend of a mad scientist and tragically paying the price.'

Cave's a creep! He, in my opinion, probably thought his relationship with Caroline was much more friendly than it was. She responds to him like a secretary who knows how to please her boss— "Yes sir Mr. Johnson!"— but nothing personal. She was probably nice and polite because she was a secretary, and look at the era she lived in. If she wasn't all sweet and cheery, Cave probably would've told her to smile more.

So does that mean I think she's the opposite of what we hear? Is she sadistic and cruel like GLaDOS is? No, I'm not saying that either. I'll get into who and what I think Caroline is in a second, but above all else I wanted to point out my frustration with how she's portrayed in connection to Cave. Making her Cave's love interest is boring and bland to me, basing their connection off of the same level of friendliness from her that I've shown to people working in customer service. It's just part of the job.

For Caroline herself? I'm also not a fan of 'evil Caroline' takes. I mean I love a girlboss, but it sort of misses the point here. If Caroline was always evil, sadistic, and scheming, it waters down GLaDOS and her development. If Caroline is too similar to GLaDOS, it takes away from the weight of who and what GLaDOS is. If they’re too dissimilar, it’s difficult to imagine the connection between them.

The fandom was so obsessed with the incorrect— and stupid— idea that Caroline is Chell’s mother that it missed the much more obvious metaphor under their noses. Caroline is GLaDOS’s mother.

Cut from the same cloth, GLaDOS is born of her, but she isn’t her. Without Caroline, GLaDOS would never exist, but it would be absurd to say that GLaDOS is the same person that Caroline is. GLaDOS grew, changed, and became who we saw at the end of Portal 2 much in the same way that anyone grows into being their own person, not a copy of their parents.

Here I go talking about GLaDOS in this ask about Caroline— it’s impossible not to.

If you want my personal take on Caroline?

I think she was a smart woman, keeping up with the actions of a madman and holding her head above the flood of insanity. I think she was able to look the other way when she had to, anyone who worked at Aperture needed that dubious morality. That being said, I think she had a heart. We can all debate until we die whether or not GLaDOS was remotely truthful at the end of Portal 2 about deleting her, but I think there’s a reason she attributed her act of compassion to Caroline— it wasn’t Caroline forcing her hand (claw?) via possession, but rather, she is the only framework GLaDOS has to reference that feeling. That scene is definitely GLaDOS projecting her own emotions onto someone else to avoid confronting them, but I don’t think she would make that comparison for no reason, Caroline might have been how she learned that emotion, even if the feeling is all her own.

Ultimately, Caroline is a character we will only really ever understand through the lens of other characters. We can only try to extrapolate who she is from what we see and hear, but she will likely always be a bit of a mystery. She’s the ghost haunting this franchise, and I kind of love her for it.

[ben-the-hyena]

I see fandoms rightfully hating or being very critical on a sequel/prequel/spinoff movie or show in a franchise for shitting on what was in other movies and straight up retconning or changing characters and relationships, but then I see it brings as much if not more money than the previous ones and reviewers, article writers and YouTube reactors love it and praise it which will only encourage making more soulless cashgrabs since a big part of the audience loves it, and then I think we do deserve living in a dark age for cinema after all

[laugtherhyena]

3:23AM, time to post Hatamori fankid and retreat back into my hiding hole

[francy-sketches]

I hateeee how asoiaf has just become the "incest books lol" to so many people. what a dumb and reductive way to look at a series that has so much more like. of all the things you could say are the central themes of asoiaf incest in not one of them lmao.(yes obviously it's present, but not nearly as much as people make it out to be) And this isn't about people who havent read it and are just judging from the outside bc who gives a shit about them. But I see this mostly from fans and its just??? what the fuck did you read/watch lmao. I mean even hotd which centers around thee incest family isnt about the incest and you'd have to have negative media literacy to think it is.

Also it's fucking insane how being uncomfortable with incest shipping gets you ridiculed in this fandom lmao. like I'm not here to be the morality police ship whatever the fuck you want idc. but dont be surprised when it makes people uncomfortable??? "ummm if you dont like incest why are you reading the incest books/watching the incest show??? weirdo" I dont fucking know man maybe all the other 348593 interesting things it's about. just a guess. And these are the same people who go on about "well just bc you write something fucked up doest mean you agree with it" which. yes! true!! then why do you uncritically endorse targ incest blood purity 😭 do you think maybe that's one of the things grrm wrote that he doesnt agree with? of course not, hotd is a cautionary tale about the dangers of not doing incest and what happens when you let your pure valyrian blood be contaminated by gross peasant genes from outside your family ^_^ obviously ^_^ and anyone who's not into your incest ships is a bigot <3 "but it's normal in their world!1!11!!!" no its not lol. and even if it was. marrying children is also normal in their world what's your point

[curseofpower]

"It'd be super interesting to hear these counterarguments 👀."

@goopi-e Well let's see… where should I start? The mass assumption that Ganondorf just sort of left his kingdom for dead and stayed holed up in Hyrule Castle for seven entire years, (lolwut???) no longer caring about his fellow gerudos or even letting them know what the hell was going on?

Or something else? Maybe something a little dicier? Like the existence of gibdos? Or the fact he didn't save Nabooru after his moms decided her punishment? ... That last one might be a little self explanatory, though, if you understand his mindset.

Ganondorf is a man with a very strong sense of justice and a very skewed sense of morality. I think it's actually because he cared that he'd ever punish or let his people be punished like she was. Twinrova were his mothers too, so, it's likely he trusted their judgement more than anyone else's. A lower ranking pair of gerudo might not have gotten away with dealing justice in his name like that.

But I digress. I know I have to be missing something. I'm just very tired today and have a lot on my mind. Do feel free to let me know, though, if any of that interests you or if there's another thing I forgot to address that you want me to go into.

[lilgynt]

my mom found the thing that started the fight that got me kicked out. so i was right. in my fantasies this happens and it’s great in real life im gonna jump her

[pastafossa]

I remember you mentioning that jane might possibly meet thor? and that is CRAZY to me like its such an interesting duo. also dd and thor being my favorite marvel heroes i would go feral. I'm so excited for spideyyyy!!

I have plans for her meeting Thor now, yes, I managed to work out a timeline section for it! Hilariously, despite the way Jane's abilities aren't technically like, punchy punchy I fight good type abilities, they're incredibly useful in a way that almost everyone can use, so there are a lot of folks that are gonna end up on her doorstep looking for help eventually, including Thor, although Thor's gonna be a bit more chill about it. It's going to be fun, though, seeing Jane interact with a giant golden retriever of a Viking god, although I feel like they have some stuff they'll be vibing on together, so it should also be a little, aww.

Just Jane in the background merrily wandering in and out of the wider MCU in between adventures with Matt and White Coat cause everyone's gonna lose their magical set of keys eventually.

[autisticlee]

that autistic feeling when social rules changed so suddenly and randomly and you don't understand why and everyone refuses to offer an explanation becuase everyone ~should just know why~, but you're the only person that didn't get the update.

do you ever see people do something a lot and assume it's fine and normal and acceptable and harmless, then suddenly out of nowhere when you (or even someone else) do it, it's now suddenly "bad/offensive/weird/creepy/a red flag/unacceptable" and you just get so confused and dont understand why it suddenly changed.....

[aropride]

how the fuck do u wash a weighted blanket

[justacynicalromantic]

Mariinka. Once a homely lively town in the East of Ukraine.

Then Russians came and "protected it from the Nazis".

[cherrysnax]

with hobie getting more popular, I’m not ready for the poser allegations

[void-tiger]

“Hey I wanted to say __ but I didn’t want to stress you out (again.)”

“Hey no stress! All good!”

“…well GOOD because I have been stressing myself about that for (months) awhile. But if it’s all good it’s all good. (I can tell my anxiety to shadduuuup about it if I know that directly.)”

[continues to resist the urge to send bird and cat memes and music covers]

(Wait until y’all actually feel comfortable talking without that Wall of social anxiety specifically around eachother, Tiger. Don’t abuse the dms. Patience. You at least know he won’t run away from you again. He showed up to your party and wore the bandana you threw at him playfully, and apparently did pay attention to what patterns you wear on your nicer clothes despite him getting more avoidant than ever when you do. Tell the dopamine to CHILL and BREATHE. Ya know. Like ya promised.)

[ovletoak]

I'm not against including other languages in an ENG fic but yall better start actually learning Japanese instead of spamming fucking romaji everywhere

(I am aware of the tangents this can go into in a serious debate but no I'm just cringing so hard my innards are dripping out please don't at me)

[hwiyoungies]

the day idols stop talking about weight it's the day we're all gonna be free

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 218

Adjective: Sweet

Noun: Haunt

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Sweet: having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey, or not salty, sour, or bitter; (of air, water, or food) fresh, pure, and untainted; smelling pleasant like flowers or perfume, or fragrant; pleasing in general, or delightful; highly satisfying or gratifying; (informal) used to express approval or admiration, or excellent; working, moving, or done smoothly or easily; (US) denoting music, especially jazz, played at a steady tempo without improvisation; (of a person or action) pleasant and kind or thoughtful; (especially of a person or animal) charming and endearing; (dated) (informal) infatuated or in love with; dear, or beloved; (archaic) used as a respectful form of address; used for emphasis in various phrases and exclamations; used to emphasize the unpredictable individuality of someone's actions

Haunt: a place frequented by a specified person or group of people; a ghost; a place or event involving a ghost or spirit haunting a person, location, or object

[jrueships]

I'm just curious- who are your favorite teams?

!!!!! FUN ASK !!!! sorry it took me so long to get to it, the demons, but i made a tierlist!!

LOVE the curiosity, thank u for asking!!!!!

i like a lot of teams tbh / dont mind a lot of them and don't really have That One Team I Hate because im more of a player person so i usually try finding at least one player on each individual team that can make whatever game more fun for me, so ill explain some !!

💙 I love watching pathetic people be pathetic, that's the true sport to me. I find a bigger thrill celebrating one win than 100. The rockets have my biggest attention rn because i know all the roster, the other povertys i still love but it takes some getting used to after most of em either blew things up or are in the process of !! they're still my skrungles tho <3 i will root for their win over larger markets best i can. i am not immune to underdog propaganda !!

💙 please win (they wont)

💙 ant eds and his tired bf jaden mcdaniels, Zions boyfriend rj maxey's boyfriend iq, collin sexton ochai agbaji, rjs boyfriend zion dames boyfriend cj guy that looks like swaggy p babygirl Willie green uh actually i think the pelicans belong with Cringe Gays... im too lazy to edit the photo tho but yeah Pelicans are with Cringe Gays now 🥰.. They're a good candidate for pathetic people too actually anyways, terry rozier JT thor, jaden ivey jalen duren, darius garland jarrett allen, wendell Carter Jr bol bol (i like that he frightens children)

💙 the order makes it look like i hate my hometeam but i don't 😭 i just don't pay attention to them much, mainly cus they're blacked out on nbatv but also since they're hometeam it's like, they there whatever i hope they win if they don't then it's regular Chicago depression whatever lol. I LIKE THEM and i don't pray on their downfalls, i just don't? Pay them much heed as much as other people who live near them may do. i paid them more attention when kris dunn was on the team.. bring him back and maybe Zach will stop being upset ? will it help us win games? no. but the gays 🤨? yes 🥰

💙 sorry but they're homophobic (except for you Thomas Bryant MWAH my wizard king). I don't hate any of them, but like.. if they had a downfall... so be it 🥰 (warriors can get a slight 'okay I hope you get saved at least' pass because they look polite (some of them))