#heres my two cents

[goldfishwithablowtorch]

What if @official-tam-cam is just like... no one. Like not even a main person in the kotlc fandom just someone who has been silently observing, read the books 3 years ago and thought "yeah I have to get in on this meme" and now is in too deep. Guys we'll never figure out who they are because it's not even a kotlc person just someone who hopped over from like the maurauders or riordanverse or something who's been fooling us all

[a-lonely-tatertot]

So called free thinkers when they see vanilla extract

[houseofpurplestars]

What really gets me about the sentiment "Don't look away" is that its always used in the wrong context. People may be well meaning, but what they end up doing is flooding the conversation with zionist carnage in a manner not unlike the way zionists *want* their atrocities to be seen.

Rather than thinking, "I must traumatize myself with this image for Palestine," try, "I will not turn my back on the people of Palestine." Watching them die is not enough. Speaking only of their suffering is not enough.

Don't look away when Palestinians resist. Don't condemn them when they fight for their lives and land. Speak for their rights to live and move freely in their own homeland. Do not look away from their life. Palestinians are here, they remain, and they will remain, and they are in the future, and they will live free and happy lives just as anyone else should be able to.

"Don't look away" should not be a call to engage in real life atrocities like its a horror movie. "Don't look away" should be a call to make Palestine the focus of everything. Don't let people FORGET or IGNORE what is happening. You can talk about what is happening without sharing the same ghoulish photos that zionists love.

[writing-biting]

Okay, so I saw a couple of people say that we should make Zepotha out of spite. The main thing that keeps popping up is summer camps and aliens (I think someone also wanted lesbians, but I mean who doesn't want lesbians?)

But I'd like to say that this really points out the difference between Goncharov and Zepotha.

Zepotha, in a very tiktok fashion, is being made based on a popularity contest. Zepotha will exist. It didn't already exist.

Zepotha is treated like it's being made, rather than like it already exists. It's an 80s movie not because it was made in the eighties, but just based on the vibes.

Tiktok is trying to make a movie, much more than they're pretending the movie already exists.

Goncharov on the other hand, is treated like it always existed. Tumblr made a fandom and not a movie. The clarifications and contradictions are just a normal product of fandom, especially a fandom of a lost media. It's normal for people to mix up details.

The details of Goncharov depended on people seeing a mentioned plot point and going along with it, 'yes, and'ing the bit. If there was a common plot detail you didn't like, you'd just talk about how much you didn't like that that happened in the movie.

Since Tiktok is writing a movie, the contradictions are more prominent, because people want Zepotha to be the story they want it to be, rather than the story it is.

Like, I find it some of the religious symbolism in Goncharov annoying, I feel like they overdid it with two 'eating the forbidden fruit' scenes, but I'm not going to say 'that didn't happen in Goncharov', because it did!! And there's nothing I can do about that.

[makethewordsyours]

i cant believe that to be a translator i just have to come to terms with the fact that translation does not exist. there will never be complete identity between two different languages there can only ever be equivalence. there is no such thing as translation without loss & in fact loss is inherent to translation you cannot escape it. and as a translator you will always have to make choices that will lead to those losses and it will feel like a betrayal and you will be haunted by what you have killed in translation & grieve and there is nothing you can do about it. the only way to curb that loss is if everyone everywhere spoke every language which is not feasible & there is just a void of meaning, a cemetery of significance in every translation and a world of footnotes and translator’s notes will not be enough to fill in the gaps. but still. yknow yknow

[phantasmalandresplendentt]

The way that Crowley put his sunglasses back on as his emotional barrier, and then used his last ounce of bravery in a desperate attempt to get Aziraphale to stay?? I need someone better at writing than me to do a whole analysis

[o0o0thorn0o0o]

Karma: But why act so smug? You won by only 1.8% :P

Gakushuu: Shut it—a win is a win.

———

Some doodles based on this very hectic poll. I know I’m a little late, but I’m also on a trip up north rn.

A hint of AsaKanza because I haven’t drawn AC in a while, and I’d like to include the gal. That, and I got some encouragement from Luna to include Yukiko.

That, and because I be hella biased towards my favorites, as y’all should know by now :P

[andromedism]

hear me out: “i love everything about you. i love being near you. breathing the same air,” is not part of a letter to ed. it’s something stede says to ed in person (i speculate in a romantic scene). “dear ed” and “i think of you often, hope you’re thinking of me as well,” are both spoken, but “i love everyone about you. i love being near you. breathing the same air,” is whispered and has an echoey resonance that the other voice over lines for stede do not. they’re from different scenes. i’m all apart!!!!

[yardsards]

i needed to express a sentiment in the creative stylings of @dunmeshiminimumwage

[roukabi]

I feel like when it comes to the Dusthide debate, a lot of people seem to misinterpret the main point of Ancients as both a game element and a product.

A big part of Flight Rising is dress-up. While users can argue on what the sole draw of FR is (dragons themselves, breeding, the Dominance system, etc), it's generally agreed that the dress-up aspect is one with a lot of care and resources put into it, and is therefore very important to site gameplay. Dress-up keeps getting updated with new apparel, and if there is to be a new dragon breed, it needs every piece of apparel re-drawn on it. This takes time. A lot of time. Gaps between dragons (now known as Moderns) stretch for years at a time.

Ancients were initially created as a way to fill in these time gaps between Moderns, and the easiest way to do that was to release dragons without apparel. However, this is a game that puts a lot of emphasis on dragon dress-up. Imagine if Obelisks were released without any coded apparel. You'd just have a naked dragon missing a huge element of the game, and for most players, there's no fun in that.

This is where the second point of Ancients comes in: because the appeal of clothing is gone, there has to be some kind of compromise. So... if Ancients can't wear apparel, then they are no longer restrained by the requirements for apparel (1 head/4 legs/2 wings)...

which means that they can break the modern mold freely! You can have a dragon with no legs, or six. Or with two heads, or no head. And now that you don't have to worry about apparel clipping, the tertiary genes can go wild! There is room for customization that apparel can't fulfill - you could give it extra wings, or a jellyfish head, or giant tree horns, or you could give it nothing at all as tertiary genes are optional, and it wouldn't matter because there's no apparel to be drawn around it!

Ancients are supposed to be a trade-off. There's no selling point to a dragon without clothing on the Dragons With Clothing Game, but there is a selling point to a dragon with, say, 13 legs, no wings and no tail. It doesn't wear apparel, because it physically can't, and it makes use of this function in creative ways. The inability to wear apparel is justified by the Ancient's unique proportions.

And this is where the criticisms for Dusthides and other 'basic' Ancients stems from: if your Ancient dragon is just the 1 head/4 legs/2 wings setup, then is it really an Ancient or a Modern you can't dress up? You could have the wildest, gaudiest, 15-limb tertiary gene on a Dusthide and it wouldn't matter, because tertiaries are optional and aren't a permanent part of the dragon that would inhibit the usage of apparel.

If a dragon doesn't have a justifiable reason to not wear apparel, then there's no reason for it being an Ancient.

No amount of linebreaking tertiaries will be able to hide the fact that some dragons seem to be created only for the first, initial purpose: just to tide people over until a better, 'real' dragon is created.

And that's just disappointing.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Chapter 105.5 Thoughts: Control, Manipulation and Partnership

Or, how Chuuya is actually the most qualified character to land a victory over Dostoevsky.

I just want to preface this with: I think Chuuya has woken from the brainwashing. We can't see his eyes, he's holding his hat again, and look at the progression of his face and expression from the last few chapters with him (these are in order btw from left to right).

I'm not completely sure how he did this, but I chalk a lot of it up to sheer stubborn determination on Chuuya's part, mostly because it's funny and he was clearly fighting back before Dazai's speech. However, I find it likely the speech did contain some kind of code - others have pointed out how "Goodbye!" might be a reference to the original author's last unfinished book and we know skk's codenames for things generally are based off their real counterparts' works so, maybe he'd already broken out of it, maybe there was something in there that gave him the final push - who knows at this point honestly? Either way, it means Chuuya had the capacity to break out of the vampire curse on his own and that's incredibly funny to me for many reasons but mostly:

Fyodor: "Bold of you to assume Chuuya's ability can't overcome flooding."

Dazai: "Bold of you to assume Chuuya's personality can't overcome brainwashing."

But really, this highlights something interesting here, both in what Chuuya's role is ultimately intended to be in this arc, and in the way Fyodor and Dazai manipulate and value others in very different ways.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: we already know that Fyodor is an excellent long-term planner, while Dazai is effectively able to counter him because Dazai shifts into thinking like his opponent. They're foil characters for a reason; they're both highly intelligent, manipulative, and willing to play the long game for the sake of winning against their opponent.

Thing is, I also stand by the idea that personality-wise, they're not similar at all - and that has serious implications for the people they are connected with. The build-up to the prison escape arc really highlights this. Some examples:

Chapter 46: Fyodor believes that all people are sinful and foolish and that his goal is to remove sin. Dazai believes that all people are sinful and foolish but asks what's so wrong with that.

Chapter 64: They decide to have a "super-happy chit-chat" about their problems. Dazai's solution to Fyodor's issue with his lazy subordinates is to get them to think lazing around is a bad thing so they will put in effort of their own. Fyodor's solution to Dazai being unable to woo the waitress is to isolate her from her job, house and family so that she can only rely on Dazai.

Chapter 77: Fyodor believes god is perfection and harmony, and thus that the people capable of change are the superior ones with most control. Dazai believes god is the accidental and illogical and believes it is the ordinary people who fight and live in that uncertainty who create the greatest change.

So, what's happening here? Fyodor's manipulation is shown to be very exacting and direct. He leaves no room for error and regards people on a hierarchy - God above all, himself as a servant of God's will, and the sinful and foolish humans he has little regard for. Dazai's manipulation involves manipulation of the situation, and is often indirect. It involves people coming to the conclusion he intends for them to on their own. And from his later dialogue with Sigma, we see he doesn't regard the world in that same kind of hierarchy.

Now, look at the way Fyodor picks an item and Dazai picks a person when starting the game. Look at the way Fyodor refers to Chuuya respectfully but brainwashes him entirely and mocks Dazai for not being worthy of "using" his ability. Look at the way Dazai is a complete ass to Chuuya but ultimately lets him make his own choices (begging people to take note of that moment in Stormbringer where Dazai cuts himself off to correct his referring to Corruption as Arahabaki's true power to Chuuya's true power).

So, the actual strength Dazai has over Dostoevsky then, is not really his strength at all, it's the strength of others and their choice and willpower to act in the way they believe is best. It's the only means of getting a leg up on Dostoevsky, otherwise they will continue to go around and around in circles forever.

And Chuuya is the best candidate for finally throwing Fyodor off his game.

Firstly, let's just establish something: no matter how mad he is at Dazai, he's not going to side with Fyodor, not willingly. Fyodor threatened the Mafia in the Cannibalism arc by attacking Mori, first of all. I doubt he's forgiven him for that. Secondly, Fyodor embodies everything Chuuya can't stand about Dazai, at the very least, younger Dazai - the manipulation, the lack of consideration and connection with others, the callousness and lack of regard for life.

Well, perhaps he's not quite as irritating. +1 point for Dostoevsky I guess?

But lastly, it is more advantageous for Chuuya at this point to help fight against Fyodor, especially since most of the Mafia has been vampirized by his organization. Helping the Agency stop the terrorist plot will help the Mafia by extension by undoing that. And we know from Stormbringer that no matter how much Chuuya is personally hurt, he considers taking out the threat to his people a higher priority. Always.

(You could make the argument that he was told whatever Teruko told Atsushi and decided to join, but not only do I find this wildly out of character, but if that was the case then there would've been no reason to brainwash him.)

That said, I don't think this was preemptive "Dazai's master plan #3057", and in fact, I stand by the idea that Dazai had no idea Chuuya was going to be in the prison. It is very, very important to me that for the rest of this arc, no matter what Chuuya does, that his actions are his own. Not Fyodor's, not Dazai's, but his. And not just because I hate that he's being controlled right now and that freedom of choice has always been important for Chuuya.

But because it makes narrative sense.

The vampires are a bit silly, yes, but they represent the way Fyodor and Fukuchi think - humanity will commit atrocities. They cannot be trusted to make their own decisions. They want to make a world that is free by... mind-controlling people so their plans work without a hitch. In short, they choose, on behalf of others, to sacrifice human autonomy for peace. So, if we are going to turn this arc around, we need to have characters breaking out of that control and thinking for themselves, in spite of the uncertainty of the outcome.

We already see this with Atsushi in the last chapter! He finally takes initiative and makes that choice to leave the room when he doesn't exactly know what the right thing to do is. And this is also why I don't think Teruko is wholly convinced by the DoA either - she lets him go. She gives him the freedom to choose what he does with that information.

Another one of the focus characters here is Sigma. Sigma is a guy who has no past, whose humanity is questioned, who keeps being used by organizations for his valuable ability, who has no home but desperately wants one... oh wait. Remind you of anyone's younger self? This could go one of two ways: Chuuya fails to assert his autonomy, leaving Sigma to learn from that failure, or, Chuuya succeeds in asserting his autonomy, leaving Sigma to learn from his success.

I think it, by necessity, has to be the latter. Sigma's at a tipping point right now, and I think seeing someone try to assert their freedom only to fail would damage him greatly. And I think it's a waste of Chuuya's character honestly.

Chuuya needs to assert his autonomy in this arc. Not just for thematic reasons but because I can think of no one else who can effectively break the "super-genius stalemate".

I keep hearing "Dazai knows Chuuya" in response to Fyodor calling their bond shallow, and that is absolutely true! But Chuuya also knows Dazai. Incredibly well. Odasaku knew Dazai's soul, but Chuuya knows Dazai's mind, knows his strategies and ways of thinking without even needing words. What's more, Chuuya has thrown off Dazai before and done what he didn't expect him to.

Which is nifty, because Dazai and Fyodor think a lot alike. Chuuya is in a unique position to thwart Dostoevsky because he may actually be able to predict him to a degree. Chuuya can absolutely land a victory against him, and it's excellent because it would be completely unexpected to Fyodor, who apparently thinks Chuuya's strength lies only in what his ability has to offer and not much else.

But listen. This also can't be skk's plan. I need Chuuya to sideline both of them. Both for the sweet, sweet catharsis of putting those two idiot geniuses in their places and also because I need Dazai to have screwed up. He wasn't wrong about people making their own choices in uncertainty. People need to assert their autonomy to create change. Dazai can't be wrong in this regard.

But with going ahead with the trap to drown Fyodor despite also having to drown Chuuya when he promised not to let him get killed... this needs to have been a mistake, otherwise the value of Dazai's emotional speech to him is diminished.

I want Dazai to try to laugh it off. I want him to say he always knew Chuuya would escape and then for Chuuya to deck him because "no, the fuck you didn't".

I really think Dazai hoped Chuuya would make it. Do remember that Chuuya was one of the first reasons young Dazai decided to try giving life a chance. The fact that he flashbacked to all his key memories with Chuuya says a lot. But his survival was no guarantee and it seemed very unlikely.

So, Chuuya is faced with the fact that Dazai nearly sacrificed him to kill Dostoevsky and save his new Agency friends.

And I hope he finally gets mad. I hope he finally expresses hurt on his own behalf for once. I hope they are forced to break their status quo that they have carefully maintained by not talking about anything ever. I hope they are pushed to uncomfortable places and that it is Chuuya who finally spurs this development.

Let Chuuya break the stalemate between Dazai and Dostoevsky. Let him shatter the status quo that him and Dazai have kept going for year after year.

Autonomous action in the face of uncertainty is necessary for change.

[sasukebabygirl]

hate it when ppl portray sasuke as completely cold and not affectionate like uchihas love fiercely that is Fact why wouldn’t sasuke? he is defined by his love for his family that is his motivation he loves so strongly we see this throughout the entire manga and he shows the same kind of love to naruto as well so why do people love to make him be completely cold. he may not be overtly loving the way naruto for example is but he wouldn’t be downright dismissive of any affection shown to him by people he cares about arghhh let him be whipped and in love!! let him make gooey eyes at naruto!! let him!!!!!!!!

[bethesdas]

[galacticlamps]

ok I have A Lot of thoughts about the staircase confession (well really about Edwin's whole character arc, but all roads lead to rome) but for now I just wanna say that, yes, I was bracing myself for something to go terribly wrong when I first watched it, and yes, part of me was initially worried its placement might be an uncharacteristically foolish choice made in the name of Drama or Pacing or Making a Compelling Episode of Television but at the expense of narrative sense--

But I wanna say that having taken all that into account, and watched it play out, and sat with it - and honestly become rather transfixed by it - I really think it's a beautifully crafted moment and truly the only way that arc could've arrived at such a satisfying conclusion.

And if I had to pinpoint why I not only buy it but also have come to really treasure it, I'd have to put it down to the fact that it genuinely is a confession, and nothing else.

That moment is an announcement of what Edwin has come to understand about himself, but because it takes the form of a character admitting romantic feelings for such a close friend, I think it can be very easy, when writing that kind of thing, to imbue it with other elements like a plea or a request or even the start of a new relationship that, intentionally or not, would change the shape of the moment and can quickly overshadow what a huge deal the telling is all on its own. But that's not the case here. Since it is only a confession, unaccompanied by anything else, and since we see afterward how it was enough, evidently, to fix the strangeness that had grown between him & Charles, we're forced to understand that it was never Edwin's feelings that were actually making things difficult for him - it was not being able to tell Charles about them. 'Terrified' as he's been of this, Edwin learns that his feelings don't need to either disappear completely or be totally reciprocated in order for him to be able to return to the peace, stability, and security of the relationship with which he defines his existence - and the scale of that relief a) tells us a hell of a lot about Edwin as a character and b) totally justifies the way his declaration just bursts out of him at what would otherwise be such a poorly chosen moment, in my opinion.

Whether or not they are or ever could be reciprocated, Edwin's feelings are definitively proven not to be the problem here - only his potential choice to bottle it up - his repression - is. And where that repression had once been mainly involuntary, a product of what he'd been through, now that he's got this new awareness of himself, if he still fails to admit what he's found either to himself or to the one person he's so unambiguously close with, then that repression will be by his own choice and actions.

And he won't do that. Among other things, he's coming into this scene having just (unknowingly) absolved the soul of his own school bully and accidental killer by pointing out a fact that is every bit as central to his self-discovery as anything about his sexuality or his attraction to Charles is: the idea that "If you punish yourself, everywhere becomes Hell"

So narratively speaking, of course it makes sense that Edwin literally cannot get out of Hell until he stops punishing himself - and right now, the thing that's torturing him is something he has control over. It's not who he is or what he feels, but what he chooses to do with those feelings that's hurting him, and he's even already made the conscious choice to tell Charles about them, he was just interrupted. But now that they're back together and he's literally in the middle of an attempt to escape Hell, there is absolutely no way he can so much as stop for breath without telling Charles the truth. Even the stopping for breath is so loaded - because they're ghosts, they don't need to breathe, but also they're in Hell, so the one thing they can feel is pain, however nonsensical. And Edwin certainly is in pain. But whether he knows what he's about to do or not when he says he 'just needs a tick,' a breather is absolutely not what's gonna give him enough relief to keep climbing - it's fixing that other hurt, though, that will.

Like everything else in that scene, there's a lot of layers to him promising Charles "You don't have to feel the same way, I just needed you to know" - but I don't think that means it isn't also true on a surface level. It's the act of telling Charles that matters so much more than whatever follows it, and while that might have gone unnoticed if anything else major had happened in the same conversation, now we're forced to acknowledge its staggering and singular importance for what it is. The moment is well-earned and properly built up to, but until we see it happen in all its wonderful simplicity, and we see the aftermath (or lack thereof, even), we couldn't properly anticipate how much of a weight off Edwin's shoulders merely getting to share the truth with Charles was going to be, why he couldn't wait for a better, safer opportunity before giving in to that desire, or how badly he needed to say it and nothing else - and I really, really love the weight that act of just being honest, seen, and known is given in their story/relationship.

[its-maemain]

Okay but Bruce being Bruce Wayne and adopting a bunch of kids, like the elite looking to him and stuff and they want to appeal to him so he supports them and stuff. Stay in his social circle.

So they start adopting children and stuff. Some of them genuinely growing to love them and adopting children of Gotham. Others though, they hate it and the children, so after like 4 months they stop doing anything for the child or just go “I don't want it anymore, it's just…they aren't the right kid for us”

And when Bruce finds out he looses his shit on these people, he is making jabs at them with a strained smile with rage in his eyes. He is making sure those kids get good loving homes, he talks to others who are good and care.

Tim? He finds out these kids are getting neglected and he makes sure those kids get out of their house and then tanks their business, but don't worry, he hands out applications to those who work for them so they ain't struggling to find a job.

Jason seeing these kids were on the street getting homes and being fed and clothed and warming up to them, it warms his heart, yeah fuck these rich elitists but some of them are good. Then he sees the kids who get sent back, who don't get attention after a certain amount of time, he takes the kids and says screw you to rich persons. And works with Tim to take them down.

Damian understands being forced into the home of strangers and not belonging and having to conform to their ways, it doesn't feel good. He sees kids going into these rich homes and having to change themselves, he watches very carefully. And when the kids get sent back, get ignored, oh-ho there's an unimaginable anger he never imagined having. They deserve to be cared for, to be loved, you took them in, you don't get to abandon them.

And Dick, he’s certainly the most proactive. Yeah…he wears the blue suit, but he isn't just in blue, he's a detective. He also has a private investigator license, no matter how much is going on, he will see if you're fit to be a parent. If you don't take care of those kids he will have the evidence, yeah Red Robin will drop evidence on peoples desks but it means so much more with Dick.

I don't know, just thinking about Bruce’s effect on the elite of Gotham that isn't just Batman but just Bruce himself. And then his kids being his little ducks behind him in the change of Gotham.

[15-lizards]

Thinking more about Patron Saints in ASOIAF so I decided to make a list of some of the big ones and their patronages pls enjoy ✨

Jaehaerys- yeah yeah I know take it up with The Faith. He’s the Saint of Truth, and liked how Catholic Saints intercede for God, he intercede for the Father. He’s patronage includes kings, lawmakers, and honorable men.

Septa Magelle- She’s the Saint of Sacrifice and Kindness, a favorite in the motherhouses. She’s the patron of girls, septas, the sick, and the poor. Intercedes on behalf of the Maiden. Inspired by Saint Agnes of Bohemia

Septon Barth- Saint of wisdom. He’s the guy for septons that secretly wanted to be maesters. Patron of both secular knowledge and religious knowledge, begging brothers, the illiterate, and the common folk

Naerys- Saint of Piety. Another favorite of septas, spinsters, and suffering wives. Patron of young brides, abused wives, virgins, and children. Inspired by Saint Agnes of Rome

Criston Cole- Saint of Honor. Usually pictured with Alicent. Every squire with a has a weird complex about loyalty chooses him. Patron of armies, knights, and loyal soldiers. Inspired by Saint Sebastian (obviously)

Hugor of the Hill- Saint of Glory. Particularly loved by the major lords and other guys with big egos. Patron of leaders, prophets, the bold, and nobility. Not really picked a lot bc not many ppl see themselves as worthy.

Baelor- Saint of Righteousness. Every septon in training with a stick up his ass always chooses him. Another patron of septons, holy men, ascetics, and missionaries. Inspired by St. Paul the Apostle

Alicent- Saint of Duty. Often portrayed with Criston. Patron of mothers, righteous women, and dutiful wives. Ascended to sainthood after her death after Oldtown not so subtly forced the High Septon to do it.