#even in Middle Earth where some people don't live to die

[amethysttribble]

It occurs to me that I feel like I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about Elros’s motivations for why he chose Men but little and less on why Elrond chose Elves. Which is an oversight. 

But what metaphysical, philosophical reasons might one have to choose the fate of the Elves? The immortality and god paradise are enticing, sure, but that feels like its far to shallow for Elrond, especially considering he didn’t go to the god paradise until literally the curtain call. I also hesitate to say it was to have the time to help others over many years- which is what he ends up doing- because that’s so dismissive of the Elvish Condition

There has to be something worthwhile, philosophically speaking, to taking on Elvish metaphysical suffering and Elvish metaphysical joy.

I just don’t know what it is and I’ve never bothered to wonder and still’ve got few thoughts on the subject.

Which I think is funny, and far more telling about the Human Condition, because even in fantasy books, we bend over backwards to try and explain why one might want to be Human and never even question why one wouldn’t want to be one.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 琅琊榜/Nirvana in Fire.

Nirvana in Fire is a 2015 historical series best described as either a complicated succession drama set in the premodern Chinese imperial palace, or the story of a man who didn't die a decade ago and has decided to make it everyone else's problem.

And really, I almost feel silly giving my glib little summary, because Nirvana in Fire is so well-known of a property. It's a classic for a reason, and that reason is that it's legitimately very good. This show is what happens when you adapt a solid story, get a bunch of very talented actors, and throw a huge amount of money at it. It's incredibly popular and highly acclaimed, and it earned all of the hype.

Still, while I bet there are few people adjacent to c-drama stuff who've never heard of Nirvana in Fire, I'm sure there are plenty who haven't watched it. After all, it looks like one of those slow, serious shows with a lot of ponderous talking and no joy. If that's the impression you've been given, I could imagine looking at the 54-episode commitment and saying, I don't need that in my life.

I am here to tell you you're wrong. It is a banger of a show. It's tense. It's funny. It's heartbreaking. It’s exceptionally clever. It’s jaw-droppingly stupid. It’s romantic. It’s tragic. It has smart plots and bizarre subplots. And that's not even touching the thing with the yeti.

So in case you're one of those people who's heard of Nirvana in Fire, but has put off watching it for one reason or another, I'm here with five reasons I think you should try it.

1. Epic Shit

Did you like the Lord of the Rings? More specifically, did you really like the second Peter Jackson film? Great, then you're all set for this.

I guess I could have called this Game of Thrones without the dragons, but that's not actually the vibe at all. Game of Thrones is much more sensational and salacious, with all the blood and butts and what-not. The Tolkien comparison is more apt, I think, because Nirvana in Fire is equally about as wholesome as you can get in a property where dudes are still getting stabbed all the time.

This is a show about vengeance. And yeah, justice for the fallen, sure, that's fine too. But mostly it's about a bunch of good people joining forces to make sure the bastards who did wrong pay, with their lives as necesary.

The problem, though, is that these bastards are incredibly powerful, which means that a pure brute-force approach isn't going to work. Accordingly, this quickly becomes a story about the power of smart teamwork to exact retribution on some people who can (and did!) legally get away with murder -- and our heroes are some of the people with their necks most on the line if anything goes wrong.

Don't let the Middle Earth comparison fool you into thinking this is all epic swordfights. It's not. (I mean, for one thing, as well-funded as this project is, it doesn't have Peter Jackson Money.) The vast majority of the tension in the show comes from dialogue and slow, terrible realizations. The fight scenes are almost a relief from the nail-biting intensity of intimate conversations about getting a letter from somebody's ex-wife or returning a book.

All told, the show has that incredible almost-RPG vibe of going through all the little subquests and cutscenes you find along the way to defeat the final boss. The plot carefully unravels a multi-tendriled mystery told to you by people in incredible costumes. It doesn't get much more epic than that.

(Nirvana in Fire is also a cautionary tale about how you should be very careful with who gets invited to your birthday party.)

2. A chronically ill protagonist

Okay, right in the first episode, it is established that the main character has three whole completely different names and an old nickname. I'm going to call him Mei Changsu for the duration of this rec post, but let the record show that I could just have easily gone with one of the other three.

What you learn in that same first episode is that Mei Changsu used to be a palace insider, the cocky son of a noble family, only now nearly everyone he used to know thinks he's dead. Also, he's not far off from being actually dead -- he has an unspecified terminal condition that's mostly managed, provided he stays in his little mountain hideaway with his handsome doctor bestie and doesn't return to his old stomping ground and start kicking over hornets' nests.

So guess what he's about to do.

I have to make a note of how brilliant the casting is here: Hu Ge is an action actor! He is a kickpuncher of a man! And I think it's great that you can sort of see his frustration, as well as Mei Changsu's, at having to spend the whole series wrapped in countless layers of fabric and/or lying in bed while everyone around him gets to be the badass action heroes.

Mei Changsu's not faking it, either -- he's actually dying. He expends his energy where he thinks it's necessary, and sometimes that means he has to spend the following week in bed. He's constantly frustrated with himself for what he can't do anymore. He's racing a clock, and that clock is his own failing body. If he dies, the only hope anyone here has for justice dies with him.

He gets two love interests that the show treats pretty much equally. One's a lady general who wasn't even a love interest in the book. The other's the handsome prince who was initially going to be his textual romantic partner in same book, until the author hopped genres from danmei to general historical drama. I can't even call this a love triangle, because there's no competition. He just gets a wife and a husband -- in that he gets neither, because circumstances and his own illness keep him distant from them. He lies to both of then about his condition (among other things). He wants to be with them both and knows he can't be with either. And they in turn have to learn to accept what of him they can and can't have.

(Also, Nihuang (her) and Jingyan (him) are both incredibly gorgeous, which is exactly what bisexual genius Mei Changsu deserves.)

Obviously this isn't a perfect representation of life with chronic illness, largely because Mei Changsu is an incredily wealthy man who lives in a universe with what's basically magic medicine. However, I've seen the story's treatment of him and his condition resonate with a lot of chronically ill viewers, so even with the fantasy layer on it, there's definitely something there.

3. Dave

I have already told the story of how Meng Zhi became "Dave," but long story short, he's such a Dave that I legitimately forget his character's real name. He embodies Daveness. He's The Ultimate Dave.

Dave is an excellent fighter, a loyal friend -- and a terrible liar. He's possbly the only straightforward character in the entire show. When he's asked to be duplicitous, he's comically bad at it. Dave will never do a heel turn. I was misled at first by his semi-evil facial hair, but I have seen the error of my ways. Dave is pure lawful good.

And the reason I list Dave as such a selling point is that having a Dave means you always know what's going on. This is because Dave never knows what's going on, and he has no ego about that, so he asks questions, and other characters have to explain to him what just happened, and that is how you figure out what's going on.

It's an incredibly smart move on the drama's part, because some of the (very fun) schemes are so complicated that there's no way for you, the viewer, to understand them just by watching. Without the internal monologues and omniscent narration of a book, the machinations are opaque. You need things explained -- but why would the schemers explain their schemes? Well, Dave needs some exposition, so here you go.

So if you're worried that you might be left feeling stupid by a show where so many sneaky people are hatching so many complex plans, worry not! Like the good man he is, Dave has your back.

4. A Million Amazing Antagonists

If you like bad guys, this is a show for you. This show has brilliant bad guys all the way down. It has bad guys at every turn. It has bad guys for every taste. Welcome to Big Liang's Big Bad Guy Emporium, where we guarantee you'll walk out of here with a bad guy you like, or your money back!

(And yes, this set of pictures is also to say that their costume budget was entirely well-spent.)

Without getting too far into spoilers, I will say that the basic situation underlying the whole series is this: The emperor has done a lot of bad things, and he has enlisted a bunch of people's help in hiding those bad things, so much so that many of those other people have done even more bad things the emperor didn't even know about -- and then everyone has gone to great lengths to cover those up as well. Our protagonists spend the whole series unraveling this colossal shitshow and bringing people to task for their crimes.

So really, if you're going to spend 54 episodes taking down the baddies, they've got to be baddies you love to see taken down. And these are -- in part because all of them have crystal-clear, rock-solid motivations for their actions. Nobody here is a moustache-twirling comic-book-villain baddie. They're all bad for reasons that are very understandable in their individual contexts. And not a single one of them is going to go down without a fight.

5. World's Best Mom

(Sidebar: The fact that four out of five of my reasons to watch the show are individual or groups of characters should be your strongest indicator that this is an intensely character-driven story.)

This is not a Dead Mom Show. Okay, some moms are dead, but mostly this is a Moms Are Alive And Often Cause Problems Show, which is a lot of what makes the palace drama so delicious. But there is one Good Mom who stands out above all the rest: Consort Jing.

Played with perfect grace and devastating politeness by the stunning Liu Mintao, Consort Jing is a skilled doctor and excellent baker who starts the show with a low-level status among the women of the palace. She swallows down all kinds of mistreatment because she's not in a place to oppose it -- and when she can retaliate, it must only be through soft power. She loves her jock son with all her heart, but because of both their relatively poor positions in the hierarchy, she doesn't get to see him all that much. She wants to be an asset to him, while all the time she has to fear becoming a liability.

She is also the smartest person in any room that she's in, unless she's in a room with Mei Changsu, and even then it may be a tie.

There are lots of great characters in the show that I could have highlighted here, and plenty of them are women, but Consort Jing in particular never ceases to impress me. She is trapped in a gilded cage, married to a man who [lengthy list of spoilers that are traumatic to her in particular], and held hostage by how every time she even looks like she's out of line, it puts both her and her boy in danger. She's the most vulnerable of any of our good guys. Kind of like Wang Zhi, she's got to be clever or she's dead.

Consort Jing is not part of Mei Changsu's original plan. She figures out his plan and makes herself part of it -- and entirely remotely, as she and he aren't even in the same room until episode 40 or so. She puts herself in great danger to make sure he succeeds, not because it will necessarily do her any good, but because Jingyan needs him. This woman has been captain of the Mei Changsu/Jingyan ship for like twenty years already.

Oh, and did I mention her outfits?

I love you, Consort Mom.

Are you ready to watch it yet?

Get it on Viki! Get it on YouTube! Get it on YouTube but in a different playlist! (And also maybe get it on Amazon? Not in my region, but maybe in yours.)

I will warn you that it does take off running -- I think I saw someone say it introduces nineteen characters in the first episode? I was worried that I'd be too innundated by situations and flashbacks and names to be able to follow. By the second or third episode, though, I was rolling with it. So if you feel like you're struggling at the beginning, stick with it a bit. See if you don't feel it start to click.

...Man, reading over this post has left me going, oh, but I missed that! and that! and that guy! And yeah, the truth is that there are just so many great things about the show that limiting myself to only five (and being limited to only thirty images) was tough. I'm sure that people reblogging will add their own must-see elements.

Truly, this is a show that deserves its reputation. It may not be for everyone, but if this is the kind of thing that you like, it is a shining example of that thing.

Besides, you have to love a production where everyone was clearly having just a whole lot of fun being big ol' costumed dorks.

[heartlilith]

Drunk Confessional (Personal Astrology Observations)

Here are some of my observations and opinions on various placements while sipping on some dranks ;)))

🍻My Sun, Venus, and Mars are in my 8th house using Whole Sign System and using Placidus I have Moon and Venus in the 8th house. Any other 8th housers especially attracted to what others deem creepy/weird/dangerous? Whether it's people, topics of conversation, music taste, or superstitions. When I talk to my boyfriend about what happens after we die, he WON'T hear it. I got an Ouija board for Christmas one year and he wouldn't summon demons with me :( he's so scared lmfaooo. Also, my boyfriend has been to jail, has face tattoos, and is the embodiment of controversial. Any other 8th housers relate? No? Okay.

🍻Going off of ^^^. I met this girl one time at a ... facility ... and she went by the name Lilith; she's instagram famous, goth, loves witch shit, she's a satanist and basically she was everything that people side eyed. When I tell you I LOVED THIS GIRL. I wish we kept in contact, I swear I had heart eyes and I'm straight af. She was so intriguing and we became such good friends... I miss her. She was an Aries Sun, Aries Moon, Scorpio Rising. The coolest chick.

🍻I have 12th Pluto and Chiron (whole sign) and in the 11th house (Placidus) and I ghost everyone. Most times it's unintentional. Due to some issues at home, I up and left my hometown in the middle of the night to live with my boyfriend a couple states away and the next day my friends were like "Wtf? Where are you?".

🍻Guys I am the queen of running away when things get hard. Even when I was young. I'm not really sure what would indicate this? Maybe Uranus/Neptune in the 1st? 12th house Sagittarius? No clue. I'm a master escapist physcially, mentally, substance-ly ;).

🍻I have never had a "dream job" (Sun and Neptune square MC). All I know is I will be rich. I know it in my heart. I fucking better be.

🍻Actually ^ not true I wanted to be an Astronaut when I was like 5. URANUS IN THE 1ST... I am one with the aliens. This works for Aquarius rising, Uranus/Aquarius Dominant.

🍻Capricorn Rising/Saturn in the 5th house here and for all of you that claim prominent Capricorn placements are boring... let me tell you something... we are busy getting rich so fuck you

🍻I think prominent Earth placements (esp Cap), it's not the materialism that comes with being rich that we want... its the security. Like if life goes wrong in anyway, at least we have the resources to somehow make it better. It's a security blanket. I'd rather be crying in a mansion than crying in a shack. ALSO, most of us know what it's like to grow up poor or below the middle class line.

🍻So my placements - Lilith in the 1st house especially. I'm always reading posts about being sexually wanted or some version of that. Let me tell you I wear sweatpants and sweatshirts most of the time. That profile pic over there? Yeah I don't look like that most days. I feel like since this placement gets sexualized a lot and gets exposed sexually at a young age ... it results in this. Male attention? I used to need that, now I hate men (at least most of them). Scorpio MC and Lilith in Capricorn too.

🍻Scorpio MC - yes I want to be feared. I want to hold power over people that makes them think twice about fucking with me. But not feared in a way that they think I'm mean or rude... feared as in powerful, like a boss type of way. In reality, I run from confrontation and am too scared to stick up for myself but WE ARE WORKING ON IT. Check back in 10 years. I feel like Sun/Lilith in the 10th house, prominent Capricorn placements, prominent Scorpio placements, Aries placements, and Leo placements feel this too.

🍻I have Mars in the 7th house and in terms of romantic relationships, yes I am the problem.

🍻Aries in the 3rd house and the only person I've physcially fought is my sister. I beat the hoe.

🍻MY SISTER ... OK, HOLD ON NOW. SIT DOWN FOR THIS ONE. Let me know WHY this girl is a Taurus Sun, Taurus Moon, Aries Mercury, Taurus Venus, Virgo Mars... (I think her rising is Virgo but not confirmed) ... she goes into work one day, 2 hours late cause she overslept and when her boss confronted her she said "I don't believe in the concept of time" WTF. This is the only thing that makes me doubt astrology. Just kidding, I guess its all the Taurus but ??? Still I'm confused.

🍻Since she was Earth dominant ^, she never had to study for tests in school. She had an almost perfect average and never studied. Meanwhile my ADHD ass (Moon square Jupiter, Sun/Mars (3rd house ruler) opposition Neptune, Neptune in the 1st, Sun opposition Uranus) struggled with a 2.8 in high school.

🍻My mom is a Taurus Sun Libra Moon and my dad is a Scorpio Sun Sagittarius Moon. They aren't together anymore, but when I tell you they're children in old people bodies... me and my parents are more like friends if anything. I was never grounded, never in trouble for what other people my age were in trouble for, and my friends liked them more than me I swear.

🍻Having a lot of Leo in the chart mixed with a healthy scoop of Cancer may make someone kind of dramatic... but it's how I really feel guys ok? Yes, the fact that I have to wake up tomorrow at 8am is sending me rn. Off a ledge. Into a river. Never to return. I would rather eat dirt.

🍻12th house profection year and I never want to go to bed. I never want the day to end. Sleep is a bummer right now. Even when I do sleep I wake up like 100 times. Mostly cause my cat needs pets and who am I to deny him?

🍻ANYONE WITH AN EARTH MOON, ESPECIALLY VIRGO LIKE ME OR 6TH HOUSE. Get a pet. Get one. They rely on you and need you and love you to death. Someone/something NEEDING an Earth/Virgo Moon?! A dream. I love to be needed. I have a dog (1 year) and two kitties (7 months)... they are my literal children that I birthed.

🍻My boyfriend is a Cancer Sun, Aquarius Moon, Leo Mercury & Venus, and Libra Mars... I would pay money to see the female version of him. He's such a brat. BUT he is so fun to be around and is my best friend. His moon is in my 1st house, Sun in my 7th, Venus in my 8th and Mars in my 9th.

🍻Speaking of Aquarius Moon... I've met people with this moon sign and all of them have a detached sense of family in some way or another. Whether they don't have a close relationship with them or they're super independent. My boyfriend was adopted!

That's all for tonight folks xoxo

If I offended you in anyway, no I didn't.

[evilminji]

(Ironically) Oh My God... ( o.o)

Do... okay, so there are many, MANY religions... JUST here on earth. Right?

Not all of them think there is "an afterlife". Some think there is a NEXT life. Potentially MANY lives. Some also believe in JOURNEYS you must take, to reach THE Afterlife. Or perhaps periods of judgment. Evaluations of WORTH. So forth and so on.

What I am saying is?

There? Are Ghosts who probably just straight up REJECT the premise that they are dead. Oh sure, YOU might be. Or BELIEVE you are. But they KNOW they aren't.

Because The Gods Said So.

Some, are also, AWARE they are Dead. But reject that? All this? This is it. No, no. This is the MIDDLE. They are supposed to GO somewhere. They haven't FOUND it. But when they DO. They will, as a community, make a map for those who follow and head on in! It'll be great!

There are FAITHS in the Zone.

Beliefs that were compatible enough, that they Did Not Die.

And they'd probably like to tell you about it.

Why WOULDN'T they? It was a VERY important part of their daily life, originally. And NOW? Is frankly a Highly Topical Subject, don't you think? The discussion of "is there a God?" Is KINDA important to have, when you're stand outside the gates to SOMEWHERE, and none of who can agree on WHAT is on the other side.

Is it better to stay here? Were we abandoned? Is this a punishment or a blessing? An accident? Freak occurrence? Are there Gods HERE? And if so, does that mean WE can become one? What does that MEAN, if we can?

All HIGHLY important topics to discuss.

But! It's made all the more pressing because? There's all these OTHERS! Who have never even HEARD of your gods teachings. And therefore? Don't know where they are.

They, innocent people, have been TRAPPED HERE, for centuries if not longer. May be condemned to be trapped FOREVER. Anyone with even a scrap of empathy would be HORRIFIED.

The problem is that THEY are horrified too. Think YOU are trapped. And of course, your first impulse is to tell them they are Wrong... but?

Are they?

What if NEITHER of you are Wrong? Elder Beings keep insisting this place is INFINITE. It is therefore ENTIRELY possible, this is a place to simply? Store the place before afterlifes. Like a busy road.

After all, your Gods certainly never mention these new people. And THEIR God (singular, correct? Right.) never mentioned YOUR people. Surely they WOULD have, if it was important!

And such concensus starts to build. Because everyone is trying to move on, pray, ascend, or otherwise do as their holy scriptures told them too. They are ALL rather lost and confused. And UNLIKE those Fight-y violent sorts? THESE fine religious folks are pleasant and sensible.

Even if no one can quite agree. Meh. SOMEONE is right here and I shall live assuming it's me until proven otherwise, respectfully and as the gods preached.

And it's quite literally like religious Fandoms, to make light of things a bit. There is bickering. And "stop that infernal CHANTING, I can't here my self pray!" *chanting grows louder in protest* "ARGH!". And trying to make new, confused ghosts welcome.

It's one of the ZONES within the Zone. Like slowly gravitating towards like, until the Zone itself started to just naturally shuffle them all together in clumps. Like with the academics.

Now why? Do I even bring this up?

Because! I think it would be HILARIOUS if everyone wanted to convert the Newly Crowned Ghost King to THEIR religion, under the belief that he could? As some sort of Holy Divine King, ask GOD(tm) : "Bruh. Wtf are we supposed to be doing? We are SO LOST. Can we have a hint?"

And yeah, half of them are like "just for fiiiive minutes! We can totally kick you out of the Temple afterwords if you don't like it! You totally WILL, obviously, because it's AWESOME. But, like, if you WANT too! Five minutes! Pleeeeeease???"

While the others are just shooting Informative Pamphlets out of alien potato cannons in FULL religious regalia. As Danny flees at full speed. Getting pelted.

Maybe some real weird Space Monk is just ( o-o) *is under Danny's Bed. Makes eye contact when he leans down to look for his shoes* "one of us? One of us?" "How did you even get passed the ghost sheilds?" "The Gods have many paths." "Not helpful! And terrifying! Get out from under my bed." *awkward scurry* 👉👈 "one of us?" "No. Back to the Zone, you know better." *sad mantis-otter Space Monk noises*

Just? As a writer, I am a bastard. And I think Danny should get harrased by Court Officials wanted him to Govern more. It's funny. He is a teenager and doesn't know shit. It's like watching an Esteemed Academic Conference being lead by someone's toddler. They don't know what's going on! But they Sure Are Giving Answers! :D

@hypewinter @ailithnight @mutable-manifestation @hdgnj @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter

[mytragedyperson]

possibly unpopular Pjo Opinions

Also, if you disagree, that's fine. people are allowed to have differing opinions. But, if you decide to be dick about it in the comments, the comment will be deleted. we can disagree but there's no need to be rude about it. However, if you'd like to respectfully and civilly discuss the differences in opinion, I'd be happy to. I always enjoy hearing different opinions. However I will warn you, while I'm not strictly anti-percabeth, there are some anti-percabeth or negative towards percabeth opinions in this post. If you're one of the toxic percabeth stans who hates on anyone who dislikes or says anything negative about the ship, you have been warned, any toxic comments will be deleted. I won't be arguing with you because it would be pointless. You're not going to change my mind and I'm not going to change yours. civil and respectful discussions only

Is it bad that I don't like Bianca Di Angelo. Like, don't get me wrong, I don't hate her, I don't think she's terrible, she's 12, she's a child, but try as I might I just can't understand her choice. I get that she's 12 and left to take care of her brother but they have no one else at that point and the first chance she gets she agrees to leave him. She agrees before they even get to camp, before she's even made sure it's safe and I've said it before I don't think there's a world where Nico stays at Camp Halfblood. I don't think Bianca necessarily dies in every universe. There must be at least some where she actually listens when told not to touch anything or even where she, an untrained, inexperienced 12 year old isn't picked for this quest where they know one of them will die because it's been prophecised, but I do think Nico, at least in every universe where Bianca agrees to join the Hunters, always leaves camp after discovering he's a son of Hades, and then he's really not safe. they're each other's only family and she chooses to leave him. In 2 years he'll be the same age as her, and a year after that he's older. He'll live his entire life while she pops in and out when they can, maybe sees him if he's at camp halfblood at the time. and, to be fair to Bianca, I don't think the Hunters should offer this to 12 year old anyway. but, no, Bianca will either be dead, or 12 forever as he younger brother grows older, as he nearly dies trying to save his friends and help his family. Although I would love to see her and the Hunter's reaction when Nico shows up in the fifth book, same age as Bianca, with 3 gods and, if I'm remembering correctly, an army of skeletons, as she realises her younger is growing up. Honestly I could see them finding a way to send messages and Nico, despite knowing there's no place for him there, going to Camp Halfblood when he knows the hunters will be there so he can see his sister. see, i like the idea of alive Bianca that lives in my head, because i love the angsty idea of her seeing her brother get older and get married and make new friends and meet the half sister and her still being physically 12 but so much older mentally and wondering what could have been if she hadn't agreed to be a Hunter. But canon Bianca? i get that she's young but, maybe it's because I'm the youngest of a family with quite a few cousins that are very close but I can't imagine a world where my older brother or one of my older cousins agrees to just leave me somewhere without first making sure it's safe, even if they were 12. and the fact that they're each other's only family on Earth at that point? and then in book 4, instead of appearing directly ti Nico and telling him not to come to her, she uses Percy as a middle man? Nico is not Percy's responsibility. No, you agreed to join the Hunters, you agreed to go on this quest when you were untrained and inexperienced (because somehow there was no one more qualified or better suited after the other Hunter couldn't go).

Honestly, maybe my problem is more with the Hunters than Bianca herself now that I'm thinking about it. The way they act like they're better than everyone's else but get upset when they retaliate. The way they hate all men. There's just something about their attitude in the third books I hate. Maybe it's because it's from Percy's POV but, I don't know, they just rub me the wrong way. Maybe it's because they're supposed to be feminists but they're written by a man who thinks the extent of feminism is "we as women hate all men and think we're better than them" which, while is admittedly how some women are, is not supposed to be the point of feminism. I was taught feminism was equality between men and women, not one being better than the other, not hating on one while hating one the other, both men and women being equal. Is this where I realise that my problems actually boil down to problems with Rick Riordan writing women and girls? Zoe's dislike does make some sense and I do like her character but it feels like the other Hunters are, like, radical feminists who believe men and women should be separate?

Also while I'm here, might as well add, as someone who read the first five books but does plan to read the others, Percabeth means literally nothing to me. I don't hate them but I don't ship them either. They're fine as friends but as a couple? I'm sure there are much more interesting ships for both of them. The first five books is more or less them not being together but getting jealous of anyone of the opposite who talks to them, (though Percy's is also annoyance because, you know, Luke tried to kill him and Annabeth still has hope she can get through to him even though he's betrayed them. Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty, he doesn't take betrayal well, we saw how he reacted to Nico's perceived betrayal), and (Usually Annabeth but Percy sometimes) picking arguments. Ah, yes, the old married couple. Now, the moments where they actually bond outside of quests and camp halfblood? Not many of them. They have a couple of cute moments but, as a couple, I don't really care for it. I don't mind them as friends but, as more than that, not really. Annabeth chose Percy over Luke? oh great, and so the rest of camp Halfblood, the others who stay there all year? They mean nothing? If it was't for Percy, she would've just left them? Interesting. Percy gave up immortality for Annabeth? Not really, sure, she may have been part of it, but the main part was making sure children of all Greek gods had somewhere safe to go and would be claimed. also, why would a depressed, possibly suicidal teen want to be immortal? want to be with the gods who have just used him and his friends and half of whom hate him? Also, next to Annabeth Percy is always made out to be the dumb one but he's not really. Sure Annabeth is better at planning but Percy is better at improvising when things go wrong. See: him tricking Crusty. Also in that first book Annabeth also makes some not so smart choices. See: going to the Arch to sightsee in the middle of the quest. Percy is also the one who figures out The Lotus Hotel situation, not Annabeth. They have different types of intelligence but Percy is not dumb.

[obislittleone]

Tw: suicidal thoughts (don't be alarmed I'm just venting)

I am so tired. I am so worn out. It doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter what I do. I have been financially and physically giving to Palestinians and Israelis who have been injured and were innocent victims through this war. The organization my family and I are working with has done so much to try and save lives. I have done all I can possibly do, but it's not enough. Those of you who drop in my dms or my asks to call me a 'genocidal colonizer' are so truly lost. I hope you all get help, because the amount of hate I've seen against not only myself but against literally every Jew I know is absolutely abominable. Don't say 'from the river from the sea' unless you know what it means, and if you say it, don't say it to a jew. You may hate Israel, and you may even think that all the people there deserve to die, but have you ever taken into consideration that the innocent Jews of either Israel or the rest of the world have nothing to do with their government or the mistreatment of Palestinians? Did you ever once think before you commented on a Jews post to 'wipe Israel off the face of the earth'? Chances are you did not. Chances are also that if you did, you probably just hate jews. Don't comment any bullshit on this post, I'll just remove it. I'm not here to fight anymore, I'm just here to say a few words, and give a perspective to those who think I'm some devil worshipping satanist just because I'm jewish.

These are the asks in my inbox on the daily:

Do you have any idea how this mentally affects a person? Do you even know how horrifying it is to know that so many people want you dead? I've had run ins with depression and suicidal attempts and thoughts my entire life, but never have I been this influenced by outer forces into thinking that I should be dead. Never once has anyone encouraged me to pull a trigger or off myself. Not until this has happened.

The comments and reblogs on posts about my best friend who lived in Israel, and her mother (who is arab, btw) that was killed in the October 7th attack are beyond wild. I can't even imagine how crazy it must be to live in the middle east as a jew. This is only a fraction of the hate that I experience in my day to day life, now.

The middle fingers I get from pissed off passersby at Walmart because I wear a star of david, or the slurs I get called because I told someone I had to leave an event early for Shabbat. It's all hatred, and it all sucks.

The violence, and the aggression that innocent jews are getting from random people who hate them. The little old man who stood on a street corner and held a sign in protest of Jewish hate that was killed today by a pro-hamas protestor. Its all too overwhelming. Why? Because even if you choose not to see it, or even if you condone it and think its 'not that bad', Jewish hate is getting dangerously close to what it was during the time of the holocaust. What's worse? It's being praised. Not just accepted, but encouraged. I posted on my instagram asking for prayers over my friend who's having to hide in a bomb shelter because of the war. The amount of comments saying 'just let her die' were astounding.

I have to ask you, where is your humanity? When jews can not only feel compassion but openly support Palestinians and try and give their services to save their innocent women and children from dying in the war, where is your compassion for innocent jews? Where is your willingness to feel an ounce of sadness for the loss of a life? Are you so hateful that you will condemn a teenage girl to die because of the violence her government commits? And if it happens, will you be so heartless that you will praise the notion that she is dead?

A common phrase used when I ask pro-hamas bloggers what their stance is on the beheading of children or the raping of women is, it usually comes out as: "well what do you think declonization looked like?"

I am always shocked. Every. Single. Time... why? Because I hope with every shred of naivete i have in me that people who have lost so much will understand the pain of those who are also losing so much. When you condemn one government for killing your children, and bringing a genocide upon Palestinians, why do you not also condemn the murdering of children and innocent Jews? Is it because 'that's not your team?' Is it because you want to win so badly that you don't care what the cost is? Do you think that turning into the thing that killed your people will make you a hero? The only thing I can possibly think of that would make a person respond that way is bloodlust. When you condemn an entire nation (including the innocent people) of killing your own, then turn around and do the same thing to their innocents, do you think you've proved something?

Whenever I address these things I'm usually met with the same stuff about how I'm a Jew so I'm biased and I don't get to have an opinion... but I don't think it's fair to say that to someone who's literally living with the repercussions that your hate is causing. Don't tell me to be quiet if you're spreading nazi rhetoric about jews and telling people to kill us.

Again, don't bring any bullshit on here. It will be deleted, and you will be blocked. I've spoken my piece. If anyone is interested in learning more about the organization I work with and donating to help Palestinian and Israeli families getting caught in the crossfire, please drop me a message, I'd be glad to give you more information.

[shiny-gem-ocs]

Gem worldbuilding notes

Wanna make a Houseki no Kuni oc? Lucky you. I've been compiling notes on the manga's worldbuilding and this might help you if you wanna stay canon-compliant, disregard canon entirely, or even make your own lore!

Creating an OC is all about creativity, so I tried to include my ideas on how to meet canon in the middle too.

Notes are under the cut!

On the world:

After the Earth was destroyed by six comets, it was flooded, and the island where the story takes place is the only place where Gems - one of the three remaining sentient lifeforms on Earth - are born, on a place called Shore of Nascency.

There's very little animals, all which are invertebrate, such as bugs, jellyfish, and snails, the kind the Admirabilis mimic.

Lunarians always come out in the sun, so much that their ships were named Sunspots. Later it's revealed they can come out at night as well.

While on Earth, Lunarians cannot speak.

During all the time the Gems have been alive, maybe there were minor lifeform explosions or extinction events, if you want different animals or plants in your world. Maybe even the gems themselves cultivated or bred them.

Who knows if there are other islands, and what kind of post-apocalypse life is flourishing in them. Admirabilis live on the ocean, they might've been around other islands as well, and could tell stories. Gems might've travelled to other islands. You could ignore canon completely and say new Gems are being born on another island, completely cut off from the society Adamant raised, or that new sentient lifeforms are being born somewhere else in the world. Thought that would be the kinda canon-break that disregards the whole story.

On the Gems' formation:

Gems are born from a combination of microorganisms originating from the sea, that make their way through the cliffside on the Shore of Nascency in the island, in unspecified - but geological - ammounts of time. What makes them alive are those microorganisms, called inclusions. The cliffside is often producing bits and pieces of rocks, and sometimes, it produces "stillborn" gems that fully have humanoid shapes but no inclusions.

Gems don't necessarily have to all be see-through gemmy crystals like Phos, the cliffside spits out any type of naturally-formed rock, geography be damned, as seen by the existence of Lapis Lazuli and Obsidian. Rareness of the mineral doesn't seem to matter either. But given they are formed naturally, the existence of synthetic or organic gemstones are not canon. Think pearls, coral or amber, or think glass, aura quartz and goldstone. On that note, Gem society might lack the technology to make synthetic gems altogether.

I admit I don't really know how to circumvent it without fully ignoring canon, but I do have some thoughts. Maybe for organic gems, the animals or plants that produce said gems died near the cliffside on the Shore of Nascency, and were overcome with inclusions. For sythetic gems, maybe they're an experiment from the people on the Moons - though in canon they say they didn't have that technology. Maybe naturally formed gems were altered by chemical reactions. I don't know, I admit. But a creative fanbase as this one might find an answer.

On the Gems' biology:

The gems are immortal. They can't die of old age, and if they crack, they can be put back together. They're entirely homogenous, their body doesn't have organs, instead functioning as one. Their inclusions hold their memories, which means if they get a body part removed from the whole, they lose the memories in that body part.

Also, fun fact, the Gems don't have teeth! I supoose if you want your Gem to have teeth you can just ask Adamant to sculpt it on them. Maybe they get the idea from him having them.

If a Gem loses a body part, it can be replaced with new material. On that note, Gems can sometimes be born with imperfections such as missing body parts, as shown by Padparadscha.

Due to being able to break, gems with lower hardness must be more careful than gems with higher hardness.

They get their energy to move from the sun, so they lose their energy and sleep when it's dark. And come winter, when there's less sun, they prefer to hybernate.

Honestly, you can still give your gems different body types, it's not gonna hurt anyone. It doesn't stray from canon other than about their physical shape, so you can justify they can be formed with more body mass and still be the bones of humanity.

They all have the same height and same body type - those spindly things, all leg and arms and skinny torso with no boobs. This is explained in canon due to the fact they descend from humanity, specifically their bones, and so were reborn in that skeletal shape.

Sensei smooths them out in a mold, and gives them eyes made of simple rock with part of their gem as the iris, so they can see better.

Gems have feelings and emotions, which can manifest in their bodies if they are too stressed, as cracking and breaking.

Padparadscha shows us that some gems have weaker inclusions that don't take to new materials, therefore you can still make a canon-compliant disabled Gem. In fact, my own OC is one. On that note, Gems do have a concept of mental illness, as they can become mentally ill, so they can probably be born mentally disabled as well.

Gems sometimes have superpowers, which in canon always have to do with the properties and uses of their real life rocks.

On Gem society:

The gems are immortal, but they all have kind of a childlike personality. It's not like they are children, or teenagers, they're just somewhat innocent due to the world they live in - plus the constant state of war. But they can be mature and wise as well, especially older gems like Padparadscha or Yellow Diamond.

Usually only one gem stays in winter patrol duty as the other gems hybernate (usually). When the winter is warmer and has more sun, the gems, even though they are weaker, stay awake and patrol the island as normal.

Everything they have is in what the island produces. They use the plants found in there to make glue that restores cracked gems, to make the powder they wear on themselves to mimic skin, to make paper, clothes, furniture, everything. This means they have crops, agriculture, and animal breeding and handling.

On that note, due to the lack of resources, they have very little material to make anything. For exemple, fabric for clothes, which explains why they all wear the same uniforms, and only change into high fashion during hybernation once a year.

You could say there's eras when they have more material for clothes, if you want your Gems to have different fashion.

They wear a special powder on their bodies to mimic skin and to protect themselves from the elements. It became cultural in their society, with gems considering themselves ugly if they don't wear it. In canon they mimic specifically light skin because they want to look like Adamant.

Cairngorm is a Gem that couldn't care less about powder, so it's not wrong to want to have powderless gems - and even make it the new fashion in different eras of Gem society. On that note, if you want different "skin colors" for your Gems, just say the powder seeds come in variety of colors and shades, and let your Gems experiment with them.

Combining the lack of animals in the world and the fact all Gems are genderless and sexless, they don't really understand sex. They know how animals breed, but have no concept of sexuality. Culturally they have some sense of shame, since they wear clothes and don't like being seen without them, but that's about it.

Gems don't have the cultural act of kissing, but they have the concept of romance, in their own ways.

Okay fellas, as the resident asexual, I admit I have NO IDEA what the smut scene in this fandom is even like. I do like to ship gems, but if you want your gems to have gem sex, I leave that one to you. As for gender, who knows, maybe they can learn what it is from the Admirabilis or the Lunarians, decide they like it, and pick a gender for themselves. Maybe they can add boobs on their chest as a sort of transition. Adamant has never imposed gender on the gems, he will surely be supportive of his transgemder children. I'm not gonna get into Cairngorm or else we'll be here all day. (I don't consider either Cairngorn's gender nor sex scene to be consensual, that's all I'm gonna say on the matter.)

Lastly...

It's frowned upon to not have a designated job in Gem society. Due to the constant state of war, you must be useful. It can get ableist.

Phos was the only gem in canon to have so many parts of them replaced, to the point they became a new type of human and could pray away everyone.

Given that the first point motivated the entire story, and the second was the result of the entire story, I think ignoring canon in this instance indeed means, well, disregarding the whole story. But sometimes we just make OCs to play in the sandbox and that's okay.

[snaggletoothedbastard]

So I'm having thoughts about LOTR. Specifically the ending. And the fanfiction that rewrites the ending. Bear with me.

So we all know that LOTR ends with Frodo leaving Middle Earth and going to the Undying Lands, right. And we all know that he does this because all the events of the story have had such an impact on him that they've left him quite traumatised and not really able to live life the way he used to. And we can probably all guess that this is a reflection of how Tolkien may have thought about his trauma after fighting in the First World War.

The ending makes sense considering the time the book was written, because in the 1940's and 50's, people didn't know as much about mental health and disability as they do now, and there weren't as many ways to help people manage disabilities other than institutionalising them or like. Giving them cocaine or something idk. So it's reasonable to assume that because Tolkien didn't see many ways that people could live with disabilities and be happy, he couldn't write them into LOTR and instead basically just put Frodo in Middle Earth's equivalent of Heaven and said "there you go, you're all better now".

I like this as a sort of tragic ending. I mean, you can't deny that someone being so drastically changed by an experience means they can't enjoy the things they grew up with is pretty tragic. The ending does make sense. But I kind of hate it.

I don't think it was written badly or anything, and I'm not trying to dismiss Tolkien's experiences that influenced this ending. My issue with it is that, when you look at it through a modern lens, it has vaguely ableist connotations. Specifically the idea that disabled people (Frodo) can't live full lives and be happy in the real world (Middle Earth) and can therefore only be happy when they're "cured" or when they die and go to Heaven (the Undying Lands).

Now obviously LOTR is an old book and it's important to consider the time it was created when analysing it, as you would do with any other piece of classic literature. A lot of old books have some outdated language and concepts in them, simply because that was normal back then. And until very recently, we probably wouldn't have thought the ending of LOTR was in any way problematic. And it might not have been, because it's not really the fact that Tolkien wrote that ending that's an issue; it's the fact that the way the world worked back then made it near impossible to even think about any other ending.

Since the book was written, though, there have been a lot of advancements in science and research into disabilities, and there are now much more effective ways to treat and manage them. There's medication and therapy for physical and mental issues, and there are lots of accommodations that we can and should put in place to make life easier for everyone. Back in the 1940's, Tolkien wouldn't have had these things, and therefore didn't consider them to be options when writing about what happens to Frodo at the end of the story. But now, we do have them, and it's this progress that has discredited the idea that disabled people can't be happy in the real world, and subsequently made LOTR's ending seem outdated by today's standards.

Now this is where the fanfiction comes in.

LOTR readers these days, who are aware of the progress we've made as a society and the new ways people view and treat minorities, often write fanfiction that puts things into Tolkien's universe that wouldn't have otherwise been there because of when the books were written, from openly queer characters to characters living good, happy lives with disabilities. And I think this is a good thing and it's really nice to see, especially in regards to Frodo's disability. I like seeing people work out how he might accommodate himself in the world of Middle Earth, and how the other characters would help him with that. I like that sometimes people have to get creative when figuring out how he would cope with trauma and chronic pain, because obviously Middle Earth doesn't have a lot of the things we have in the real world.

I like that we can finally give Frodo a chance to recover in a more realistic way than just sending him to the afterlife. I like that we can finally allow him to live.

A lot of Tolkien purists complain about new adaptations and fanfiction because "it's not what Tolkien wrote so he wouldn't like it". First of all, why do we still care about the opinions of a man who's been dead for over fifty years? What are you going to do, summon his ghost to haunt all the fanfic writers? Hold a seance to find out exactly what he thinks? Good luck with that.

Second of all, I honestly believe this is something he would approve of. He went on living after the First World War, but he didn't get to live with the disability accommodations we have today. And because he didn't, neither did Frodo. We can't give Tolkien the life many disabled people have now, but we can give it to his tragic hero. We can make his story a little less tragic. And if Tolkien was here now, of all the tropes we're using in LOTR fanfiction, it wouldn't surprise me if "Frodo stays in the Shire" is one he could get behind.

[mixtape-racha]

it's a scream, baby! bonus chapter #1

chapter: the date is set - hyunjin and felix centric

words: 895 // warnings: cursing, derogatory language, discussions of violence, mentioned reader (not present)

“so, lix,” hyunjin mused, breaking the silence in the flat. the movie they had been watching finished nearly half an hour ago, and they had sat quietly on their phones since - not wanting to move. “you like (y/n), huh?”

felix chuckled lightly, a contrast to the deep blush rising on his face.

“is it that obvious? i know you guys have that weird situationship thing going on, but i just can’t help it.” he replied, refusing to look up from his phone and meet his friend’s stare. the tall boy could be very intimidating, felix had to admit. especially when it came to (y/n).

“i can’t say i blame you.” hyunjin chuckled, moving swiftly across the room to tuck himself onto the same sofa that felix was residing on. “tell me, how much do you like her?”

felix was confused, and also slightly aroused in the same breath. hyunjin’s demeanor had completely shifted, and he was looking at felix like he was something to eat. was this a trick question? was he going to tell (y/n) what felix said so they could laugh at him together?

“i don't know, jin…” felix shifted, laughing awkwardly. god, maybe he was a freak.

but hyunjin just simply smiled, in a cocky yet kind of reassuring way. “i’m serious. tell me all about it, i’m curious.”

“well, i just,” felix took a deep breath before continuing. “she’s perfect. she’s so kind, and never lets anybody feel left out. she’s always there if you need someone to talk to, and she’s try her damned hardest to help you fix a problem. her smile lights up every room she walks in, and you just can’t help being drawn to her. she’s just…. she’s perfect, hyunjin. i don’t think i’ve ever wanted anybody this bad. i’d do anything for her…. i’d do anything to her.”

felix was rambling at this point, not fully in awareness of the words tumbling from his lips.

“she’s the one girl i think about, day or night. i think about her when i see a cute plushie in a store. i think about her when its a rainy day and i get an urge to build a pillow fort. i think about her, most of all, in the middle of the night. god, i’m so disgusting. she’d hate me if she knew that i jerked off to her every night, that she’s the only fantasy that can make me cum. if she knew the reason i haven’t fucked anyone yet is because i want her to be my first… she’d hate me”

“actually,” hyunjin smirked, tongue in cheek as felix finally looked at him. “i think she’d be rather flattered. she thinks about you too, you know? she’s always had a soft spot for you.”

felix opened his mouth to reply, shock and embarrassment drowning his features, but hyunjin raised a hand to stop him.

“you said you’d do anything for her, right?”

felix nodded, his soft hair bouncing with the action. he truly would, anything she wanted.

“like what?”

“anything she wanted. anything she needed. god, i’d die for her. i’d live for her. fuck, i’d even kill for her.”

hyunjin’s eyes lit up at felix’s last sentence, in a way that had the younger boy’s stomach churning.

“would you know? do you mean it, lix?”

though he was slightly fearful of what hyunjin’s words implied, he nodded. whatever hyunjin had in store was sure to benefit (y/n) in some way - everything he did was for their shared friend - and felix would rightly go to the ends of the earth for her.

“then i have a proposition for you. don’t agree lightly - take this seriously, because the second you commit, you can’t back out.”

felix didn’t even realize he was leaning forward where he sat, almost hypnotized by hyunjin as he waited for his friend to continue.

“have you not noticed how much the others boys are all over our girl? how they act like the own her? and the way people talk about her on campus for being friends with us? it’s not on, lixie, and i think we need to do something about it.”

his words had felix gripping onto his seat, ready to follow anything he had to say. no one could treat their girls like that, she was theirs. no one else's. and anyone who had something bad to say about they deserved what they got, he reasoned.

“what d’you say we show this town not to mess with her, hm? i know you’re not opposed to a bit of violence… come on lixie, say yes. for (y/n). let's eradicate them for her.”

felix’s heart was hammering in his chest. hyunjin’s word were true - he was known for getting in fights during their first year of college. some so serious he opponent ended up in the emergency room. anything to let off a bit of steam, is how he excused it at the time. was he still that person? would he really go and kill in cold blood? but for (y/n).... nothing could stop him.

he locked eyes with hyunjin, the taller male smiling menacingly when he recognized the look in felix’s eyes, and waited for him to respond.

“why don’t we start with that bitch heejin? i never liked whores who ran their mouths, anyway.”

taglist: @pretty-racha @chubbyanarkiss @queen-klarissa @queenfelix @taeriffic @mits-vi @myeg1993 @demetrisscarf @chanssmiles @5kayzee @skz-streamer @iweirdthingsblog @sinforsuccubus @bunniie0325 @torixx80 @fawnpeaks @bangtanmix73 @savluvsmingi @boi-bi-ahaha @moondustmemories @4evrglow @marrivmel @littlepotatooooo @carpioassists @comet-falls

[grey-gazania]

I'm sorry someone bombarded you with bitchy comments 😭. While my To Read list is lengthy and continually lengthier (actually I think something of yours with her is on it), I'd like to hear more about Ianneth-Fingon-Maedhros if you want to talk about them.

@polutrope

It wasn't really upsetting, just annoying and honestly a little bit funny. This guy left comments on all six chapters of By Love or at Least Free Will, every time I updated the story, just objecting to the entire premise of the story and ranting about how Elves have incorruptible pure souls and are immune to lust. I was sorely tempted to respond with this quote from "Laws & Customs Among the Eldar":

Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.

'Seldom' is not the same thing as 'never', and furthermore, I don't think lust is even a major theme of my story. It's more about conflicting obligations and unruly hearts.

In the end I deleted the comments without responding, because I have a personal policy of not engaging with people who are acting in bad faith. But I have to assume that this guy has no actual hobbies if he spends his time hate-reading entire stories instead of just...closing the window and moving on with his life. Maybe take up crochet, bro? Or volunteer at a soup kitchen? Watch a TV show that you like? Grow some tomatoes? Do something that will be more fulfilling than typing long screeds on AO3. I promise it will make you a happier person.

Anyway. On to the actual topic of your ask! As you've probably noticed, I am very fond of Russingon. However, I am also very fond of Fingon as Gil-galad's father. At first I balanced these two ideas by keeping my Russingon ideas and my Fingon-father-of-Gil-galad ideas in two separate universes, but then I started really fleshing out Gil-galad's mother, and it made me think some thoughts. To repeat something I said to @cuarthol in a comment on AO3:

...half the genesis of Ianneth was seeing so many stories (in multiple fandoms, not just Tolkien) where the woman is written out of a canon or semi-canon couple to make room for a popular M/M ship instead, without the female character being treated with any respect. I decided that the female perspective on that situation would be a nice change of pace and interesting to write.

I'm not trying to point fingers -- I'll readily admit that I have my male faves just like the next gal and that it's fun to make them kiss -- but the wives and girlfriends don't get a lot of love in fandom, do they? And it doesn't help that the legendarium in general tends to be a bit of a sausage fest. So I decided that Fingon would have a wife and be in love with Maedhros. But instead of focusing just on the forbidden love, I was going to focus on the wife's feelings, too.

Ianneth ("bridge-woman") is one of the Northern Sindar, from the community that lives around Lake Mithrim. She's the daughter of Annael (yes, that Annael), whom I've imagined to be one of the more influential leaders among the Northern Sindar, and particularly among the Elves of Mithrim.

Her betrothal to Fingon starts as a political arrangement. Fingolfin loves Fingon dearly, of course, but he's also been hinting for a while now that Fingon really needs to settle down and start having kids so that there will be a strong line of heirs should Fingolfin die. After all, Argon's dead, and Turgon and Aredhel abruptly fucked off to god-knows-where some three hundred years ago and haven't been seen nor heard from since. Your dad needs some grandsons, Fingon, and this also seems like a ripe opportunity to strengthen the Noldor's alliance with the Northern Sindar.

I don't think political marriage is unknown among the Elves of Beleriand. (For one example in the text, see Celegorm trying to marry Luthien to force Doriath into an alliance.) And the quote I drew the title of the aforementioned Fingon/Ianneth story from, also found in "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar," is:

The Eldar wedded only once in life, and for love or at the least by free will upon either part.

Free will could easily mean, "Are we in love? No. But I'll still marry you, for the good of our peoples, and I'll bring some of Dad's soldiers along with me." That sort of thing happened all the time among real-world nobility, so I see no reason why it can't happen among Elven nobility in Beleriand, too.

At any rate, Fingolfin arranges for Fingon to meet the daughters of some of the more powerful leaders of the Northern Sindar, and he's hint-hint-hinting that Fingon really needs to pick one of them to be his wife. Fingon, having been in love with Maedhros since they were young in Valinor, is not exactly keen on this plan. But he goes along with it anyway because he is a dutiful son, he knows that his father is right about needing to strengthen the line of succession, and he also knows that revealing his (quite taboo!) relationship with Maedhros to his father would probably break Fingolfin's heart.

It takes Fingon a while to decide who to court, but he picks Ianneth because he likes her sense of humor; she has the guts to gently tease him at their first meeting, which he finds quite charming. He doesn't think he can love anyone besides Maedhros, but he does look at Ianneth and think, "This is a woman I could grow to care for and whose companionship I think could enjoy."

The trouble begins when, over the course of their courtship, Fingon starts falling in love with Ianneth without falling out of love with Maedhros. And he doesn't know what to do about this. He can't call off the marriage, and he doesn't want to break things off with Maedhros, so he decides to just...keep the whole thing with Maedhros a secret and marry Ianneth anyway. It's not a good decision, but really, are there any options here that won't end with someone getting hurt? I don't think so.

So we have Ianneth, blissfully ignorant of her husband's infidelity (for now); Fingon, in love with two people at once and feeling horribly guilty about it, but unwilling to pick one partner over the other; and Maedhros, resigned to the situation but still hurting because Fingon is no longer his alone.

Maedhros' feelings are complicated by the fact that, once he meets her, he finds that likes Ianneth. It would be easier, he thinks, if he could write her off as just a political necessity for Fingon, but it turns out that she's charming and intelligent and kind, and he can understand why Fingon loves her. His feelings soften further once Ereiniel is born, because Fingon is so happy being a father, and he loves Fingon, so how can he begrudge him that? There's a line from "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen that I always think of when I'm getting into Maedhros' head at this point:

And thanks for the trouble you took from [his] eyes. I thought it was there for good, so I never tried.

Things tick along about as smoothly as they can for thirteen years, until, in the aftermath of Fingolfin's death during the Dagor Bragollach, as Fingon prepares to send Ianneth and Ereiniel to the Falas for their safety, Ianneth learns his secret. This is understandably devastating for her, and leaves her wondering if Fingon ever really loved her as she loved him, or if his marriage to her was simply a politically expedient sham.

Add to that the fact that she leaves for the Falas less than ten hours after this revelation and spends most of that ten hours either crying or asleep, as she's too upset to really talk to Fingon about what she's discovered, and it leaves her with this horrible knowledge and all the worst thoughts that come from it gnawing at her nearly a full year until Fingon next comes to Eglarest -- time that she spends as the sole caregiver for her young daughter, among strangers in a foreign city, without her mother or her sister or any of her friends who might have theoretically been able to offer her some emotional support.

Theoretically is a key word there, though, because even if, say, her sister had come to Eglarest, Ianneth isn't sure she'd even be able to tell her. For one thing, she can't help feeling ashamed, because infidelity is very rare among Elves, and she can't help thinking that maybe she failed as a wife somehow, and if she'd done something different, Fingon wouldn't have strayed. Then there's the fact that he's the High King of the Noldor, and if this gets out it could cause a crisis in the Noldorin government and possibly tank the alliance between the House of Fingolfin and the Northern Sindar. Ianneth is a practical woman, and she's of the Northern Sindar -- the people who have been living practically on Morgoth's doorstep for centuries, with no Maia queen's magic girdle to protect them. Their alliance with the Noldor is vital, and she would never want to jeopardize it.

So Ianneth is just...completely alone with this pain. She has no one to turn to, no one who can comfort her. And that pain is central to her story, and a not insignificant part of Ereiniel's story, too.

[skinnypaleangryperson]

All I wanted in life was to be a mother, a loving wife, to raise a beautiful family because that is what feels like the most profound spiritual human gift of God to me, so much to the point that I can't even stand it even just with a stimulation of consuming or thinking about it for a few moments. I wanted to live in the city for a little bit of day-to-day diversity and to have a feeling creative career or at the very least have some sort of modest side product of a career, I wouldn't have been to picky in that aspect.

I reached my conclusion years ago and of the gradual devastation of realizing that none of those things would ever be even remotely possible to me or for me, and on top of that, did not even have a support group for profound grief, or even just general community and general for anything other than soulless people on apps all day that argue about things that don't matter and have no compassion for those that are spiritual and had actual human goals and dreams and to live meaningful lives outside of being a slave, aimless hobbies or temporary passions, and arguing about things like selfish appearance, or political opinions or things that true late, down to the absolute core nub if you're anybody who thinks or has any soul or self-awareness at all, does not matter. On the contrary, The people who stand for all these things is all that I have, who don't care about anyone or even themselves, much less incredibly spiritual gifted people like me who just wanted to live a human fulfilling dignified regular life with spiritual and creativity fulfillment.

These past couple of days, months, have been even enough because of the very two people of my parents who I am forced to stay alive for after they saved me for my suicide attempt from these very conclusions a couple of years ago, and living with them and living for them is just fulfilling enough that even though it does not save me from the profound mental and spiritual suffering I am enduring every minute of every day with very little relief, it is just enough to put me into this strange stagnance despite the suffering, like sitting in the middle of a fire, while waiting for the two people that occasionally pour a tranquil of water on me to keep it just enough so that I sometimes forget I'm sitting in the fire, which I've become numb to as much as anybody can become numb to that kind of pain and is forced to live with it for the sake of the two people pouring on the trinkle of water now and then.

There is never been any such thing as friendship for me, there will never be a community again, the few people that I even just saw casually around me in college I will never even have again even just remind me that I'm not the only person existing on this earth. There is no happy ending, there is not even anything that resembles anything even remotely tolerable, there was only a slow decline of death, watching my parents die and then immediately ending my own life as soon as I can, but having to deal with the profound physical and emotional suffering that comes with having to end my own life and having to wait for so long and day-to-day existence and of being crushed everyday with seeing the superficiality and the literal subhumanity around me that is my generation no matter where you look, that is turn the profound grief that I have of a lifelong suffering of never having a family and of having nothing that I can do about it into nothing but soulless malicious gas lighting, of telling me that I can do something about my problems, to not feel sorry for something that is of a prone suffering I can't even around I had around that I cannot fix, of telling me that I need to get over it, as if I could ever get over something, and all the while not even having the luxury of being able to end my own life that is told time and time again that does not matter and isn't even allowed to grieve, or be seen, or to even discuss things say for posting over towards places where I essentially am just talking to myself on a digital screen instead of to the literal void in reality where I can no longer perceive or understand reality or that I exist, where dysfunctionality and suffering increases daily.

The suffering can be beautiful sometimes, but only in the sense that it reminds me that at the very least I will die for a genuine true human reason unlike the majority of people that I am forced to see everyday just to fight off psychosis and to give me stimulation of human interaction even though no one is really human anymore or even understands what that means, and you can see it in the posting that is on every app everywhere daily, how a soulless, rude, loud and how aimless people are. It's reached incomprehensible points where there's not much point in even trying to keep up with that at this point.

I just want to go, I just want to not stuff for anymore. I've had everything taken away from me, even the ability of being able to talk with people who respect my profound grief and my perspective and as to the conclusions that I've reached, and I have nothing but full grown man and woman children that have reduced it to a joke of telling me "just to get a plant". I am one of the only few human beings left on this earth, and as a result I have been left alone with my grief, and as if the loss that I've experienced wasn't enough of the dignified life that I wanted to live, I don't even have a community or people who are at the very least offer the baseline sense of decency or sympathy, or even humanity, towards that grief, and it is suffocating inside my head like a wretching grief only getting more confusing as I get older.

Please, fate, let me go. Everyday I will my body to give out.

[dr-futbol-blog]

Hot Zone, Pt. 1

Hot Zone (S01E13) is, in many ways, a story about the aftermath of the storm and the events of the Genii siege.

The episode starts with McKay and Zelenka playing Prime/Not prime, a math game. Zelenka is trying to get Ford involved, but he's just not into it. We never see McKay play this with Sheppard but the thing is, Sheppard is better than McKay is at mental math. We already saw this in Rising (S01E01), and we'll see it again toward the end of the season in The Brotherhood (S01E16). Where Zelenka is trying to get the young military member of the team to play the game with them, McKay is more trying to help him understand the game and how it's played. Like maybe he's either had to explain it before had it explained to him previously.

I'm going to go on a limb and suggest that this game was started by McKay and someone that is not currently present. Passing the time doing it is a way of keeping Sheppard close even when he's not there. In fact, we later learn that Ford hadn't been with them from the start but had joined them in the middle of things which would suggest that there had been someone else there with them previously that Ford had come to replace. Someone that might have had to leave for a regularly scheduled gym appointment, for example.

McKay seems to be in a real good mood. Not only is he engaged in the game, he's talking to everyone in an up-beat way. He calls one of his team members "the lovely and talented Dumais," calls one of the guys that has had enough of these shenanigans "Dr. Killjoy," and is just being all-around positive. He even admits it himself, telling the whole team: "Alright, you clowns, listen up! I don't often get a chance to say this, so savour it: good work, boys and girls! Let's go home."

This is the opposite of the McKay that Zelenka claimed is "always like this," the last time we saw him with his science team in The Storm (S01E09). Also, you got places you need to be, Rodney?

McKay does give a compliment to a woman here. It's not in his usual, sleazy over-the-top way when he's performatively hitting on someone. This woman is a member of his science teams so hitting on her would be somewhat problematic to begin with. But he does appear to just genuinely be giving her a compliment because he's in a good mood (and he also turns his back to her pretty much immediately, which signals a complete lack of interest).

And by the looks of it, Dumais is not used to receiving praise from him and isn't quite sure what to make of it. If anything, she looks 100% done with her boss seeming to walk on Cloud Nine.

What ever has Rodney in such an obviously good mood can obviously last only so long. He's reminded of the reality of living on Atlantis when members of his science team start dropping dead under mysterious circumstances. This connects to the events of the previous episode The Defiant One (S01E12), where McKay had to watch a member of his science team die before his eyes, which is also relevant to the resolution of the episode later.

Toward the end of the season (Letters from Pegasus, S01E17), we see McKay musing about leadership. It's a humorous pastiche of his attempts at putting down some of his thoughts for a video message to earth. But the thing is, he has been thinking about it a lot. And the reason for it is John Sheppard and his relationship with the Major (what ever the nature of this relationship may be). He admires Sheppard and hence tries to emulate him. He especially tries to act the way he thinks Sheppard would act when there's danger in the air. And here, McKay displays a lot of leadership. He acts like a responsible leader, taking care of his people and the safety of the city. He wants to make Sheppard proud.

Perhaps not coincidentally, this episode is the first where McKay mentions that he has a sister on earth that he has lost contact with. It connects the episode to Letters from Pegasus, where he's making his video message with his thoughts on leadership to send to her.

They order a quarantine so as not to endanger other people in the city. We can contrast the way one of the scientists, Peterson, freaks out to how cool and collected McKay is. He understands the danger they might be in better than most people but he's still completely unafraid. He's not acting unafraid, he is unafraid. It does not occur to him to be afraid. McKay is also adamant about not endangering anyone in the city.

The plan, as instituted by Weir and Grodin, is for everyone in the city to stay put where they are. This seems to quickly become a problem for Sheppard.

Sheppard and Teyla are practicing some form of Athosian martial art using wooden bastons at a room that has been converted into a gymnasium. She is teaching him, and apparently has been teaching him for a while. Although, she notices and makes note of the fact that Sheppard has not been practicing lately, which is interesting.

Although he's getting his ass kicked, Sheppard also seems to be in a real good mood.

I mean, the fact that he's getting his ass beat so badly and is still in such a good mood is pretty telling.

Firstly, he doesn't treat Teyla as a woman but as a warrior, which is something she noticed pretty much immediately upon their meeting on Athos. He sees her as a person. John Sheppard is not sexist. He has no problem getting his ass beat by a woman that is better than he is at something, or learning from her. And he's learning more than stick fighting:

Sheppard: Y'know, no matter how many hours I put into this, you're still gonna kick my ass. Teyla: It is not for the winning that we practise. Sheppard: Well, what's the point?

(This exchange seems to hearken back to the beginning of the episode where Ford failed to see the point of Prime/Not prime. Like, this exact exchange may have happened previously between Sheppard and McKay regarding the numbers; clearly, he eventually learned to love playing just for the sake of playing; just to hone a skill).

Second, this kind of activity gives them time to bond. They are good friends and care about each other. Where Sheppard is wound into tight knots inside, Teyla is empathic and very good with feelings, expressing what she thinks and how she feels. Being around her is really good for Sheppard. And the fact that she is very sexy, and they are a man and a woman, does not make their interaction sexual or their bond erotic.

They get a message through the intercom about the city going under lock-down for a few hours. Granted, Sheppard is head of security and obviously, he should be concerned. His mood changes instantly, just like McKay's did when a member of his science team died before his eyes. We can contrast Teyla and Sheppard. She's concerned. He is agitated. He needs to know whether there's danger and especially whether someone he cares about is in danger.

Elsewhere, Rodney is leading his science team. Unlike Sheppard, McKay is not freaking out but seems to be on a mission, and indeed it's members of his science team that express concern. Trying to figure out why the scientists died, he tells Ford: "Don't worry, my motivations are based entirely on self-preservation."

But is that what they are?

He wants to get to the bottom of the problem, to be sure. It's not to save the day. It's not to get out of quarantine, which he helped set up himself. There's no indication that he's personally in any danger, yet. He says that his motivation is self-preservation but it seems much more like his motivation is actually to keep what ever is down there from spilling into the rest of the city. Where someone he cares about it.

But it's not that he wants to put himself needlessly in danger. He very much doesn't want to die, not now. He has a reason to want to get out of this safely. It's a motivation, but not his main motivation. He even orders Ford to come with him to the Ancient lab for protection. He wants to figure it out, he wants to fix it, but he also very much wants to get out of there safely.

In the gym, Sheppard is pacing during his call to Weir, getting more and more agitated by not being in control of the situation:

Sheppard: Teyla and I are coming up to join you. Weir: We're in a self-regulated quarantine, Major. Everyone stays where they are. Sheppard: They're nearly a mile away on the east pier. D'you really think I'm in any sort of danger walking from here to the Control Room? Weir: At this point we don't know where they contracted the virus.

First of all, let me note that he knows where McKay is, like exactly. Yes, McKay and Ford are both members of his team but he seemed to be enjoying a day off, having no reason to know his whereabouts in that detail (also? He started heading out of the gym finished with the stick fighting class around the same time as McKay was supposed to be returning back to the city; just saying, he threw that towel on his shoulders like he had places to be and wanted to grab a shower before that).

So, to recap: Sheppard was in a good mood. Has been skipping practicing recently. Forgot to bring his radio with him to the gym. Was about to grab a shower. McKay was in a good mood. Playing a mental math game. Couldn't wait for the inspection of never-before visited nooks of Atlantis to be over and return to the city. All I'm saying is that we later learn in canon that McKay and Sheppard have been spending a lot of time together between missions (ergo, episodes), and while we don't know exactly when they started playing "the game," they are definitely doing it by this time.

I also have no doubt in my mind that Sheppard was the reason Ford was down there with them because he wasn't exactly enjoying himself and seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else. And it wasn't just Ford but they were also accompanied by two huge marines. McKay's safety seems to be a pretty important thing for Sheppard, for some reason.

This being the case, he is trying every trick in his book to convince Weir that he needs to be in on the action. He pulls rank, he tries reasoning with her, tries coming up with excuses and ways he could join them in attempting to figure this thing out. Also, look at his eyes when Weir says: "At this point we don't know where they contracted the virus."

It's not a generalized anxiety he's feeling. It's not that he's missing out on the action and wants to save the day. It's not that he's head of security and his city is under some kind of a threat he needs to fix. This is a very specific fear for the people that Weir claims have contracted a virus. Two of them in particular. One especially.

And he is conflicted. He doesn't want to risk making it worse by breaking protocol and evading quarantine. But he also can't just sit on his ass if Rodney is in some kind of danger.

Continued in Pt. 2

[tanadrin]

i posted that poll was bc i occasionally see people express the sentiment that living longer or even forever would suck in some undefinable way. yet it seems to me that most people, unless actively suicidal (as in already planning how to kill themselves, not just vaguely ideating) go to bed each night hoping to wake up tomorrow. like, the idea of living another 50,000 years sounds weird and disconcerting, maybe, but if you frame it in terms of "life, not too bad and not too good, mostly like it is now, but just... indefinite"--idk! i think that sounds pretty great! and i wanted to probe people's intuitions around that.

i don't think the poll is very successful in doing so though. some people are depressive or really pessimistic about the future. and of course once you start thinking about immortality (especially exceptional immortality) you have to think about all the ways in which it would change your life. or even the world.

but i always liked the Sandman character of Hob Gadling who, when offered the opportunity simply not to die, keeps on being a mostly pretty unremarkable dude, just one who has been alive since the Middle Ages. and i think the future in 17776, where, being immortal and having done all the cool science fiction shit, humanity settles down to a peaceful life on earth, just sort of fucking around for eternity. and that sounds pretty amazing to me!

[fantasyquests]

Rewatching Season 1: Some thoughts on episode 7

1. Friendship. This episode feels very true to the spirit of Tolkien's works because of the strong emphasis it places on friendship: Durin and Elrond, Nori and the Stranger, and an interesting new friendship that is forged between Galadriel and Theo. It's also important that in all of these cases it is a friendship between members of different races of Middle Earth. Durin and Nori find themselves in almost identical situations, going off-trail to help their friend who is an outsider, except that this time Nori's community is more sympathetic and supports her decision.

The exchange between Theo and Galadriel is wonderful, and reveals so much about both of them. I frankly don't understand people who complain that the pacing is too slow - as far as I'm concerned, the entire episode could have been just Theo and Galadriel walking and talking! It's also interesting to juxtapose the image of Theo holding the hilt of a real sword (the one that Galadriel gives him), to the previous episodes where he held the hilt key, and was tempted by the forces of darkness. A part of Theo's desire for empowerment is quite understandable for a boy his age, who wants to be recognized as a grown-up individual, and I'm glad that Galadriel gives him this recognition. Unlike Bronwyn, who asked him to stay in the tavern with children and old men during the orcs' attack, Galadriel calls him a soldier. Not because war is a good thing (she says explicitly that it is not), but because she recognizes his need to fight for himself.

I don't understand why Galadriel believes that she is to blame for losing the war against the orcs? Even if she hadn't convinced the Numenoreans to come to the Southlands, the outcome would have still been the same, Mordor would have been created the same way, and probably many more people would have died. At least the Numenoreans were there to save some lives, help evacuate villages and take care of the survivors.

2. Ashes, destiny and faith. In this episode we have two communities struggling to rise from the ashes and come to terms with what they have lost: the Southlanders after the eruption of the volcano, and Harfoots after the Mystics have burned their caravan. Interestingly, ashes are also mentioned in the speech that King Durin gives to his son. He says that fire is that aspect of the dwarven nature which tells them that everything is eventually consumed and "fades to ashes". The speech is meant to convince prince Durin that the Elves' destiny is already determined, that they either have to fade and die in Middle Earth or sail back to Valinor. He talks about believing in the design of the Valar, and it's quite similar to what Galadriel tells Theo: "We have little choice but to trust their designs, and surrender our own." "My home is gone", says Theo. "Where is the design in that?" This question is relatable for anyone in our world who has wondered the same thing - how do you keep faith in some benevolent higher power when terrible things happen to you and your community?

Galadriel replies, "I cannot yet see it", which I think is a better and more humble attitude than that of King Durin, who believes he understands clearly the will of gods. The motif of sight, foresight, or insight, is another one which permeates the entire episode, which is called "The Eye", which begins with Galadriel opening her eye after the volcano explosion, and in which Miriel goes blind. "The Eye" also makes us think about the Eye of Sauron: what if he is overseeing everything and it is his design, and not the design of the Valar?

Links to the previous analyses: ep 1 ep 2 ep 3 ep 4 ep 5 ep 6

[lordgrimwing]

Okay, you must tell us about αβΩ au

I'm going to call it an atypical alpha/beta/omega take on what Middle-earth could be like if the Valar didn't bring the elves to Valinor/the elves refused to go. This all came about when someone did some art of Glorfindel, Erestor, and Elrond and mentioned that it was for an a/b/o au with minimal explanation. Of course, I and @nighttimepatrons went a little crazy over it.

What I've actually written so far is mostly focused on Celebrian, Gil-galad, and Elrond, who are all married and very happy. Celebrian is a princess of the Noldor and Sindar realms and travels gracefully from diplomatic meeting to minor crisis. Gil-galad is a merchant and low-level politician in Lindon working very hard to make sure he's never connected to the High Family (Finwe's family) because thoughts of somehow becoming king haunt his nightmares. Elrond's a healer raised by the nomadic Feanorians who has the unfortunate habit of complicating Gil-galad's life because the path to political upheaval is paved with good intentions (re: bringing Avari Glorfindel to Lindon and picture).

[breaking here because this is getting Long]

The core idea for the au is that Elrond went on an expedition with Pengolodh and others to document one of the few Avari tribes that's been untouched by the outside world since leaving Cuivienen, but the tribe lives within another realm that is very set on keeping them free of outside influences so the research group has to promise to not interact or let themselves be seen by anyone in the tribe. Well, as one might expect, this doesn't go as planned. A great beast of the wilds attacks the group but an Avari they'd been watching (Glorfindel) steps and saves them but is grievously wounded and will die unless they help him. Elrond, being Elrond, insists on doing what he can in the field and on smuggling him back to Lindon on one of Gil-galad's ships when it becomes clear the Avari will die without in-depth medical care.

Really, it's an excuse for me to yank Glorfindel out of his home and shove him into a new culture because I love him being an outsider among the Noldor. (I'm basic, what can I say?)

Nightie and I also think A Lot about Miriel/Indis/Finwe and Feanor :) (spoiler: Feanor gets mirked by some Men which inspires the first Manslaying)

Anyway, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with a/b/o. Well, in the 'modern realms' like the Noldor and Sindar, very little importance is put on if someone's an alpha (Celebrian), beta (Gil-galad), or omega (Elrond). Sure, sometimes someone could have hormonal things that make them act a bit different (re: Elrond's nesting habits), but it's no big deal. HOWEVER, the Avari tribe has Very Different feelings on the matter.

The tribe believes that an evil spirit or force causes elves to become alphas or omegas (they don't use those terms but whatever). There isn't much they can do if someone becomes an omega, but generally omegas can live a normal life but just lose control of their bodies sometimes. So, omegas can stay in the tribe but don't have much respect unless they dedicate themselves to healing and or soothsaying etc. Alphas, on the other hand, are considered violent and dangerous and are not allowed to stay with the tribe after reaching adulthood unless they go through a ritual to cast the evil spirit from them. This involves a moderate degree of mutilation and pain and is very unpleasant and sometimes people die during it.

Glorfindel's an alpha. He went through that ritual and is a very good warrior/hunter/protector for the tribe. He is very proud of his scars.

This makes things a bit awkward in Lindon, where everyone is horrified by this thing that he takes deep pride in.

Anyway, that's a lot and there's even more but I should probably stop (warm hug if you read all that).

[anluz]

ok i have many thoughts about this season SO i will write them here, home it makes sense.

no formating, we die lie [CENSORED]

Some blanket statements about the season at all.

GOOD.

-The comedy is on point. The show jokes hit much better and harder this season. -Some scenes really are well framed. (aka the spitfire episode. holy shit)

BAD

The maltos are much more ‘battle thirsty’

The autobots are useless now

the flattening of the decepticons

Episode 1

Ok, so we are starting in the media res of the new conflict. slightly disappointed but don’t mind it that much.

What I DO MIND is the shift the maltos had about the whole Autobot-decepticon situation on Earth.

Like, correct me if I'm wrong, but the MALTOS were fighting in order to have their new family members not taken away, yes? to live on earth in peace? 

Why do THEY have to retrieve the emberstone shards? Why do THEM have to sacrifice both their safety and their time developing as well adjusted people (in the case of Mo and robbie) FIGHTING WITH WAR VETERANS?? 

WHILE THE AUTOBOTS

ARE

RIGHT

THERE

“oh but anna its a children show, of course it needed to have some action with the kids”

ok.

but how come there's not ONE autobot with them on the mission? its more in the autobots best intinterest  to keep the decepticons away from that fucking stone.

also good fucking job just ASSUMING the new terrans are evil from the get go. just from ONE fight where (where the terran in question was created. and theres a whole thing about the emberstone creating live in accord of the needs of the moment).

Aftermath is funny. i can give him that,

EPISODE TWO.

Not much to say.

its was good.

I am a sucker for the joke `dangerous individual tries to kill cinnamon roll, and cinnamon roll doesn't notice it/luck makes all the harm deflect on them” so i had a good time on that.

The `mosey` subplot was weak. it needed more build up and that annoyed me.

hOW NOBODY FOUND THOSE RUINS BEFORE THERE'S A BIG ASS HOLE LOOKING RIGHT AT THE MIDDLE OF THOSE RUINS COME ON. Don't even talk about drones (probably ghost emps against any of that for a long time) but how not ONE living person stumbled upon that???)

its was ok. 7/10

EPISODE 3

It was ok. Hashtag plot about `choosing` was ok. nothing special.

Hashtag and shockwave fight was pretty fucking awesome, as ravage escape.

I also love that shockwave optic gets redder as he gets angrier.

EPISODE 4

i didnt liked the idea of `human villains` before but…in a world where cybertronian tech exists since the 80`s, it surprised me there aint more people using that and committing to some gimmick for the shits and giggles.

said that…

swindle???

your whole thing is BEING A WEAPON SALESMAN. A CON ARTIST.

HOW DID YOU LET YOUR COOL SLIP YOU SO BAD????

WHY ARE YOU NOT BACK THERE TRYING TO GET THAT FUCKING STONE WITH FORCE??? WHAT???

also…didnt the ‘humans and terrans feel eachother emotions’ thing went away after the second batch of terrans came about?

Also yayy weird al

who care about the fusing gimmick. sure.

6/10

Episode 5

I like that wheeljack points out that this fucking and the enigma of combination are two different things.

Jawbreaker was…kinda annoying in this ep? i guess…it could roll in the sense that JB is excited to meet a possible new friend/family member and he wants to make a good first impression but….

Still very annoying.

we could have explored more about why aftermath is so angry all the time or why jb is always so careful and peaceful all the time APART from when he is in his alt mode!

there could be a thing there, but the JB partakes in some destruction seems more like a child not knowing any better than possibly something he bottles up in the daily.

also??i get the others are excited for the fusion thing  but JAWBREAKER IS GONE FOR A WHOLE DAY? MAYBE CHECK ON YOUR BROTHER?

EPISODE 6

the  shot composition in this fucking episode are CRAZY HOLY SHIT

Twitch going more on her ‘leader’ role. nice.

why…how the shard is just…lying there?

I like spitfire, and i think it makes sense for her to be a literal `evil twitch` as if, what if twitch didnt had a moral compass

now the thing that FUCKING ANNOYED ME

WHY,

WHY ARE YOU GUYS EVEN ENTERTAINING THE IDEA OF GIVING THIS NEW BOT. A BOT YOU DONT KNOW. A BOT SAID TO BE BORN THAT VERY DAY. A FUCKING IMPORTANT MISSION?????

Op Elita and Megs should have shut that shit down rigth there! there should have been a `sorry spitfire. i dont doubt your prowess, but twitch knows more of our MO but now. with some training i bet you will be taking a mission like this one in no time”

SHE STILL CAN BE FURIOUS

SHE STILL CAN CHALLENGE TWITCH TO A OBSTACLE COURSE

WHY DID YOU GUYS HAD TO DRESS UP AS A STUPID CYBERTRONIAN PRIDE THING???? MAKES NO SENSE

it was funny? yes. i loved the race per se. but?? the WHY? they are doing it?? stupid.

(((what if alex won the fucking race then Megatron?? Would you guys go through with it?? huh??? fuck off. ALSO WHY SIR. WHY ARE YOU WITH YOUR DECEPTICON BADGE? SHOULDNT YOU BE W AN AUTOBOT ONE? OF FUCKING NONE AT ALL?????))

EPISODE 7

Sure. ok. mind swap episode. sure

ngl it was rlly cute seeing aftermath consider Spitfire his true sister

i appreciate hardtop only arm getting fucking jacked (i bet he cant *afford* a new one because OF COURSE swindle your charge him lol)

ravage lil energon bowl (also…is energon solid? do they it in in chunks AND liquid? hmn)

i like the `bravado fight` with the seekers…i think it legit would have worked a bit if she did that towards skywarp of nova storm first lol

it was an ok episode. 

EPISODE 8

It was fun. zero substance.

since WHEN robbie likes optimus prime that much??? they always acted ok to neutral with him in s1

but sure. ok. serviceable.

EPISODE 9 AND 10

oh? do those kids GO to school? you could have fooled me.

i liked the slight ptsd/anxiety of hashtag in the cave.

more `chaos terrans` sibling moment. cute

(the first time watching i though it was unicron. happy it wasent)

to be fair with the quintessons i ALSO would be very mad if my god created me with the purpose of ‘helping’ (whatever this may entail) a race i never saw in my life, and discovered they did that with many many others.

hey shockwave? maybe if you had a problem w the plan maybe you should have SAID something? or made your counterplans? why wait the HOUR before the plan was going to be put in action to say anything?

also…how…is the titan bring a new cybertron to earth? Is he going to metalform the planet? is it a ship? is it just a `big gun` so you could threaten the USA and control earth somehow??

also, glad to see they ‘tried’ coming back to cybertron but couldnt figure how (yet)

this marks the point where….the dialogue gets really cheesy…unbearable cheesy and cliche ..ugh (when starscream has alex as a hostage)

im should have been happier that mo, hashtag and trash are the team for the last fight…they are my favorite maltos..ugh

i feel like there should be a more angry/emotional shouting match w hashtag and starscream…srlys

ah yes. the part where starscream kills the kids…honestly? in character. He always was `the end justify the means’ (unless his 2 brain cells are rubbing together and he thinks in a more long term form) and killing two brats that their main traits was destroying stuff and being a prideful lil shit? yeah. nothing to star to form attachments there.

he would NEVER take the ‘you are more cruel than megatron ever was’

not THIS starscream.

unless they try handwave it with `he was larping as villain so he could get through the plan he thought would legit help the decepticons’ but im not holding my breath on that.

oh wow, starscream going crazy with power again, who would though.

im really getting tired of this. 

more chest fucking dialogue

ARE ALL THE DECEPTICONS LOCKED UP AGAIN, THIS TIME WITHOUT ENERGON????? FUCK. I CANNOT BELIEVE WE ARE BACK TO FUCKING SQUARE ONE.

YES JUST HELP TERATRONUS. THE PERSON YOU JUST MET AND TALKED FOR LESS THAN A HOUR. 

fuck i'm upset.

i wish s1 didnt happened so i just could have this be another actiony-humor tf cartoon and not give me hope for something more.