#i 99 problems ..

[catgirljaneway]

I deeply dislike the voyager fandom trope where Kathryn is everyone's mom and Chakotay is the dad. (I love found family, I hate "nuclearized" found family) That woman is NOT everyone's mother. She is however Harry's mother. Which is even funnier because from what we know, Harry seems to have a perfectly healthy and good relationship with his actual mom. He did NOT need to be adopted by an insane middle-aged woman but BOOM now he's got mommy issues and it's literally his boss.

[darkbluetennessee]

if you don't think of the re-recordings as replacements of the original work but instead as additions to the original work, you'll never be disappointed by them

[luvingsolace]

Everybody get their panties in a twist whenever fem/non gender conforming/not solely masculine Nico comes up but the idea of Nico finally being enough comfortable with himself and his identity to ALLOW himself to explore parts of himself he grew up forced to condemn and hate is BEAUTIFUL to me. He was born in a societal context that refused everything that wasn’t alligned with the “perfect image of a man”, and him finally being able to let that go, to go past that and find himself is such good soup yall don’t get😞

And rn I’m saying this in relation to gnc Nico, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be. this is more of a general and broad thought i have! And it’s something that, yes, would have an impact on his identity, but that also really comes out with his relationship with Will as well! With his relationship with his friends, with his sister!

And like I don’t even personally hc him as gender non conforming and stuff, but it’s so sad to see that everytime it’s brought up from a genuine place it’s immediately shot down with arguments that go from being superficial to lowkey just misogynistic. WHOA who said that…

[spacejip]

you’ve been awake since 4 am.

you decided to go to the bathroom and when you came back, pulling your blankets over you and trying to relax in your dark but warm room, it was already too late. you weren’t gonna fall asleep any time soon.

you started to think about everything: from the final you failed last night; to your current friendships... can you even call it that? the same friendships you’ve poured so much effort into, yet somehow it never felt like enough; how much you miss talking about your concerns with someone... wait, you’ve never actually done that; and the list goes on.

4 hours swiftly went by... now it’s 8 am.

you sigh and get off bed. "i guess it’s a reasonable time to get up now" you thought to yourself while putting on your slippers.

you get out of your room and make your way to the kitchen, hoping not to wake jisung, your roomate, up. you bet he was as drained as you, knowing he stayed late at uni just like you had to.

you grab your favorite hello kitty mug and when you turn around to pour some coffee, it slips from your fingers. you look down just in time to see how it shatters right next to your feet, a loud noise along with little ceramic pieces spreading everywhere. you chuckle bitterly and crouch on the ground looking at your mug now turned into dust.

jisung gets out of his room hurriedly. "are you okay? did you get hurt?" he runs to you, grabbing your shoulder ever so gently. "i didn’t mean to wake you up" you say quietly without taking your eyes off the mess you’ve made.

he chuckles softly, admiring your ability to care about him even at this moment. jisung follows your gaze "that was the hello kitty one, right?" you just nod, your chin trembling at this point. "come here" he says standing up and dragging you with him.

jisung hugs you, holding your head to his chest. the difference between your height and his being too obvious now. he interrupts your thoughts "this is not about the mug, isn’t it?".

and as he says that you just let go. crying to your roomate about all that has been bothering you for a while now. gripping his now-wet-with-tears shirt.

"you can tell me whenever you’re ready, okay?" he says caressing your hair in a soothing manner.

[gods-and-accolades]

I know a great thing about paganism and keeping ancient religions alive is how individual it can be as we all follow our own path but man, sometimes I really wish we still had temples for our Gods.

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

A kind reminder to everyone who had a problem with this scene:

That this is a symptom of PTSD:

Hope this helps!

[searchforahero]

suggestion: if you hear someone say "hey this successful openly bisexual woman is actually a sexual deviant and a rape fetishist" maybe you shouldn't believe them whole-heartedly without checking their sources and doing your own research.

[redxx95]

How Cherry Magic avoids romanticising self-sacrifice

Alright strap in boys, this is gonna be a long one.

Spoilers for the manga (mostly the english volumes but I will include a bit from vol 12. I'll mark it tho so yall may skip it if you don't want to be spoilered).

So in this one I want to examine how cherry magic does a great job at portraying self-sacrifice in a relationship as an actual flaw rather than a romantic ideal to aspire to. Very often you'll see characters in media putting their own needs aside for their lover. A lot of people will swoon at that because it is usually presented as proof of how dedicated they are to their partner and their wellbeing. (See... well the thai adaptation actually).

But what has pleasantly surprised me is how Toyota handles this in her manga.

Starting from the beginning, we all know the millions of things Kurosawa did for Adachi to get closer to him. After all, that is what's usually expected of him if we talk traditional gender roles. But one of the reasons Adachi even starts falling for Kurosawa is because of how he was for once able to do something for him.

For someone with very low self-esteem, being able to help this super-capable perfect man is a big boost in confidence and also raises his own selfworth.

So now let's look at a few instances of selfless action and the consequences resulting from them.

First one is the disaster-date in volume 4

Kurosawa does his very best to choose activities that he thinks Adachi will enjoy. That is his primary concern.

The effect this has on Adachi though is that the gap between them feels impossibly wide, only worsening his already low opinion of himself.

Whenever Kurosawa does something big, it makes Adachi feel that much smaller. That's why he'd rather them be equals in everything instead of one giving more than the other.

Next is the argument they have in volume 8

Kurosawa attempts to, very selflessly, protect Adachi from his lowkey homophobic parents. He doesn't want them and their opinions to hurt Adachi personally, so he ends up lying to him to keep the peace. The effect this has on Adachi though is disastrous. At first he's just generally worried about why Kurosawa would even lie to him in the first place, but then they have that fight in their living room and you really get a good look at how negatively this affects Adachi.

The very first conclusion he jumps to is that he's not doing good enough for Kurosawa to feel secure with him.

The next one is even worse, where he thinks he's not good enough in general. Both of these show how when pressed, he will default to blaming himself, believing that he is the problem first and foremost.

And then, if all of that wasn't bad enough, this happens next:

He's actually being self-deprecating again, something he hadn't done ever since Kurosawa told him not to in volume 5. And yes you can actually go back and check for yourself. Whenever he has negative thoughts after this point he's always pushing back.

So there's an escalation happening here, one that is entirely caused by Kurosawa not sharing his burdens with him, by making their relationship unequal.

I think it also hurts him extra bad because they've had this argument before, just with their roles switched.

So to him it must feel like Kurosawa is betraying the important lesson Adachi learned from that argument, which is that communicating with your partner is important, even when you feel like it might hurt them.

There's also something to be said about how most people would've probably stopped prodding when someone says "it's something I can't tell you", but Adachi knows that Kurosawa has a pattern of hiding his issues from him thanks to the mind reading, which is the whole reason they had that argument in vol 6 in the first place.

So, to summarize: Whenever Kurosawa acts selfless it takes a toll on Adachi's mental health. Because of his low self-esteem he needs to feel on equal terms with Kurosawa to be able to see himself as worthwhile. (And obviously he also loves Kurosawa and doesn't want to see him in pain just in general.)

So after all that, surely Kurosawa would have learned his lesson, right? Surely he wouldn't just do it again, right?

... Spoilers for volume 12 start here ✨

So volume 12 is all about Kurosawa overworking himself because he's been assigned this big project by their chief to oversee their company's spot at a stationery convention. (I didn't look up whether or not that's a real thing but it is in the manga universe I guess lmao.)

Adachi tries to help alleviate his burdens with mixed success.

(On the left he feeds Kurosawa because he needs to finish his work and doesn't have time to eat. On the right he tries to take a phonecall for Kurosawa but gets told that Kurosawa needs to hear it personally so relaying a message won't do.)

Then Adachi muses to himself how Kurosawa was always helping him out in the past and how Adachi can't do anything for him in return, especially since they're in different departments. He feels very useless, which is once again bad for his mental health.

Later at home, he offers to at least take over the chores for the time being, but gets told that Kurosawa actually enjoys doing chores so there's no need for him to help.

Kurosawa tells him that all he needs is Adachi to be close to him, while making out with him on the sofa. And right here we see how he only got half the lesson he was supposed to have learned in volume 8: In their fight Adachi told him that they should both be happy and he should share "all the hurt" with him, too. Well, the simple solution to that is not to see all his burdens as burdens, then he's not hurting and Adachi doesn't need to bother fussing over him! Win-win. Epic mind gymnastics 😎 (To be honest, I feel like this is actually very relatable to people that tend to give more than they take. We get so used to the weight of the burden that we don't notice it slowly pulling us down.)

So Adachi obviously notices what's going on and berates him about not having understood anything he said from that fight.

Throughout the volume Kurosawa gets more and more overworked, makes mistakes and is confronted with unexpected complications. He's very adamant about not asking anyone for help though, stating that he "can't be bothering his senpais any more than he already has" and that he's "doing this all for the sake of his future with Adachi".

He also still has some hangups about people seeing him as just a pretty face, as you can see in that flashback in the second page. He constantly feels the need to prove himself to others, which prevents him from ever seeking out help.

So when he inevitably reaches his limit, Adachi is finally able to be there for him, being the only one that sees through his facade.

(That hand kiss is so precious 😭)

Also, on that first page Adachi asks him whether or not he's fine, which reminds me of this panel from volume 6:

He really knows him so well.

Emboldened by his husband, Kurosawa finally does ask for help and is, of course, met with understanding and sympathy.

.

Spoilers for volume 12 end here ✨

So all this to say: Sometimes, when we try our best to be selfless and to protect the people close to us, we do more harm than good. Sometimes we cause harm to others (see volumes 4 and 8) and sometimes we cause harm to ourselves (see volume 12). It is of course a noble cause but it's not something to strive for at all times and can sometimes be actually counterproductive to what we wanted to achieve in the first place.

As someone who breaks themselves apart to help all the people around them, this aspect of the manga resonated very strongly with me and is probably the biggest reason I got so obsessed with this silly little BL romcom.

I know that this manga is not like, the best in quality. I know it's super niche and silly and cannot compare to the big popular mainstream manga with lots of depth and thought put into it, BUT.

A piece of art doesn't need to be "good" in order to resonate with people. You don't need to paint the mona lisa to reach someone and make them feel seen. You just need some sort of medium and a will to communicate something to the observer. (Something an AI could never replicate but that is a whole other discussion.)

This manga reached me when I needed it and it communicated a message that resonated with me and that is all it needed to do for me to love it to the point of obsession. 💖

Finally I'm done with this essay it is so long oh my god. If you reached the end of this, I'm so sorry. I hope you enjoyed it tho.

[bunitivity]

Kissing it better 💕

(he hadn’t meant to do all that he was just startled lol)

[ignihyde-resident]

I have a theory… what if Floyd and Jade were killed and replaced cause THESE ARE CLEARLY NOT THE SAME PEOPLE😭😭💔💔😤😓

[polvsketchbook]

thaumaturge!Ligia Szulska who left Warsaw 15 years ago to study abroad, not without a massive fight with her father & teary good bye from her brother, now she's back ready to solve some crimes & eat pączki

[monaetheworldsdestroyer]

"i've been a lab rat, i know when i see one" hey so this is actually insane??? he just casually admitted to that?? hello???? Erik?????? Erik this is something you should talk to a therapist about i'm not qualified to deal with it-

[orengejoshi]

Pregnancy as a kink makes me uncomfortable so man am I glad your pregg Flug stuff is explicitly not kink oriented!

yeah I... don't wanna judge anyone... but it's more than that, it's downright terrifying to me. Blame my hormones bc I'm expecting irl but wow... I'm very sensitive and it feels dehumanizing. but ig that is kinda the point of the kink(?)

it's so common in fandoms!

I'm completely vanilla anyway tho, so not surprising.

I've tried to pretend for a super long time that I'm into kink, but most of them are off putting and I consider them intrusive thoughts, not fantasies. I'm kinda fluctuating between sex-repulsed and neutral (aroace) even fictional... ig kink just isn't for me. I tried so hard to get over it. I know some people in my asks/requests are gonna be disappointed but I'm sorry💔

I'm slightly ashamed of how boring I am and I have serious trouble connecting to anyone in fandoms due to this actually🤕 feel like the most NT autistic person ever.

anyway here's a doodle!

[charmwasjess]

You know I've got a lot of the Dooku + Sifo-Dyas Time Travel Forward Clone Wars AU written (Arcane Hardy Boys Don't Save the Galaxy, Working Title: Break It Yourself) written - and I'd probably start posting it except I'm stuck on the first chapter.

The main issue that I want to start with a little bit of slice of life from Sifo's POV because I think it's important to establish how different their pre-travel lives are from their Clone Wars Jedi age peers - and also because I suspect setting this in the Clone Wars, I might have readers who aren't as familiar with their backstories and might appreciate the introduction to their status quo.

But I'm just cracking myself up trying to scene set this. THEY'RE SO DUMB.

Sifo-Dyas: Sifo-Dyas here, but you can call me Sifo or Si, two real things I canonically call myself even though it sounds like utter fandom bullshit. Yeah, that's my two hundred year old stacked purple mom who is Sith Artifact Indiana Jones and my bestie, future Sith Count Dooku. I've started having disconcerting visions after putting a Sith artifact directly in my mouth for some reason, but I haven't discovered it will ruin my life yet - the actual biggest problem in my life is my mom's fucking bird, who I hate. Want me to sing you a dumb little song??

[skyfallscotland]

The constant "maybe you should have re-read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame before jumping into Onyx Storm, don't blame the author for you being confused" posts are getting on my last nerve.

Stop being a pick me. Do you think we're all over here saying there were "so many people" because we're referring to Lynx & Baylor?

Sorry, I'm upsetti spaghetti. I was fighting for my life with my brain trying to remember all this in the first ten chapters, sorry I thought it was going to be important 🙃

Duke of Calldyr - short blond beard, four different consorts in four years

Duchess of Elsum - dark brows

Duchess of Morraine - high pitched voice, golden-brown skin, ruby earrings and necklace

Duke of Luceras

Queen Maraya - light brown skin, dark eyes, curly hair

Captain Anna Winshire - talkative, strawberry-blond, brown eyes

Captain Henson - female, tightly woven black braids, air wielder

Lieutenant Pugh - male, blue eyes, farsight

Lieutenant Foley - male, agrarian (plant-wielding)

General Tinery - in command of the Southern Wing

Ewan Faber - stocky, sour-faced, Navarrian Fourth Wing wingleader

Iris Drue - wingleader of Navarrian First Wing

Theophanie - long silver hair, high cheekbones and full mouth, pale skin, tattoo on forehead, beautiful, venin sage or maven

They were all introduced in the first ten chapters. Of a 60+ chapter book. This doesn't include description only characters, dragons, or places.

She did a really good job in the last book of introducing the Assembly as "silver beard" or "battle-axe", getting their descriptions stuck in our heads before we moved onto actual names and that, in my opinion, worked really well. That kind of technique can sometimes be greater than throwing a whole bunch of names in off the bat like she did with all these captains and lieutenants, especially if they're not going to be important.

Sometimes giving them a name is giving them significance—to me, it signifies to the reader hey, these people are going to be around a lot, you should know them!

I've also seen people saying "well there's a map and an index" ...these people aren't on there. The Isles aren't on the map. I have no visual for where we're going. If you're worried about spoilers, you can always put the "new" map at the end of the book for those who want to see.

I'm not 'blaming' Rebecca Yarros. She's allowed to make whatever choices she wants, it's her book, but these are choices she's made that she could have made differently, and I don't think it's kind to be calling other people idiots because you think we're all out here forgetting who Tecarus is because you only took in the surface level.

How are we supposed to know who is going to be important? We don't know where the story is going and all of this is getting shoved at us one by one in the opening chapters.

Also, as a generally nice human being, if I were on the other side of this discourse, I would have said "I'm not sure how people are so confused, what are you missing?" Not, "sorry you're too stupid to understand, maybe you should not be reading fantasy" 😃

The internet has made it far too acceptable for people to be rude to others. We're allowed to all have our own experiences and disagree. You can do that without denigrating other people's opinions and gatekeeping fantasy? Ew.

I don't dislike Rebecca or the series in general, I think she did a fantastic job with introductory world-building and introducing characters in the first two books, it's why I like it so much. The techniques she used worked. I just don't think she used them as effectively this time 🤷‍♀️

As I constantly say, if you only read it on surface level, if you're just here casually for the vibes, I love that for you! I wish I was you! But the toxic positivity can fucking go.

[atoriv-art]

birds of a feather