#i adore discourse

[justaasexual]

Been looking at the Wish content on YouTube and Tumblr.

And I just....

There's a lot of things that baffle me about some of the criticism.

But the first really illogical thing I saw was about Magnifico and Amaya.

So let's talk about this. Magnifico first, because I adore him as a villain.

Magnifico adores his people. He doesn't want what happened to him to happen again.

He also is fearful of anything that challenges his power. This is most blatantly shown in his reaction to the light.

He does not know this is Star. He thinks it is a new type of magic. And he is scared of that. Not Star, remember, he doesn't know about Star yet. It's the idea of a sorcerer he does not know about.

But his fear is hinted at in his refusal to grant Sabba's wish. "It's too vague" is what I believe he said. Because he is scared of something he can't control. But he won't give it back, because then it could happen, even if it's a very slim possibility.

Magnifico needs to be in control. And he dislikes when that control is threatened, as seen in This is the Thanks I Get. On the surface level, it's about him being unappreciated. In actuality, the people threaten his control with their insistence on another wish ceremony. This causes him to attempt to reestablish control in any way he can, which leads to his descent into evil magic.

And with that choice, the choice to set himself on a path that would end in harming the people (and wishes) he had sworn to protect, he was past redemption.

Because he went too far. The dark magic is literally a symbol of the tipping point of his tightening control. It is the point of no return.

It is not a justification for his actions. It is not what 'makes' him the movie's villain. He was always going to be the movie's villain. That was obvious from his control of his citizens. No, it is a physical representation of how he let his paranoia take over and get people hurt.

He is no longer redeemable. He can't be reasoned with. While the dark magic accentuated and pushed his controlling tendencies to the forefront, it only built on what was there.

The dark magic is where he goes from 'victim suffering from control issues as a result of his trauma', to 'his trauma causing him to abuse others'. We know it's something that he can help because he was pulled away from it before and even admitted that he made a vow to himself. He could have pulled himself back before he hurt anyone. And he knew he would hurt people if he went through with it.

And he did it anyway.

That is what makes him a compelling villain, besides the magnetic effect he has every time he appears on-screen, is the ability to stop and then choose to proceed forward.

He is a wonderful mix of self-deceiving and self-destructive, and it is fascinating to watch on the big screen.

[loomingtwilight]

i love neuvifuri’s dynamic and relationship. like. imo they are the epitome of “we are inseparable, we are in love in every way, we are soulmates not by birth or due to fate binding us inexplicably but because we spent those 500 years being the one constant in each others lives and weve come to know each other the best, but we are simultaneously strangers. we never truly knew each other during all that time.“

and neuvillette knew for so long furina was keeping a secret from him and it pained him to force that secret into the light, but he knew he had to in order to save fontaine, and despite that he still wanted to do it as gently as possible. to make the trial the last resort if the travelers conversation didnt work. after the final events of the archon quest, he let furina go wherever she wished, he (if im remembering correctly) gave her a nice house and enough funds to do as she pleased and live comfortably. he used his new authority over hydro to give her a vision made specifically for her, the very first vision he has given out. he has made it as clear as day that she is welcome to talk to him, to ask to have tea, to ask him for whatever or simply just to talk.

neuvillette using those actions to say “i hope you let me know who you truly are, and allow me to stay in your life for as long as you wish, but i love you so i will not force you.”

[anghraine]

Okay, breaking my principles hiatus again for another fanfic rant despite my profound frustration w/ Tumblr currently:

I have another post and conversation on DW about this, but while pretty much my entire dash has zero patience with the overtly contemptuous Hot Fanfic Takes, I do pretty often see takes on Fanfiction's Limitations As A Form that are phrased more gently and/or academically but which rely on the same assumptions and make the same mistakes.

IMO even the gentlest, and/or most earnest, and/or most eruditely theorized takes on fanfiction as a form still suffer from one basic problem: the formal argument does not work.

I have never once seen a take on fanfiction as a form that could provide a coherent formal definition of what fanfiction is and what it is not (formal as in "related to its form" not as in "proper" or "stuffy"). Every argument I have ever seen on the strengths/weaknesses of fanfiction as a form vs original fiction relies to some extent on this lack of clarity.

Hence the inevitable "what about Shakespeare/Ovid/Wide Sargasso Sea/modern takes on ancient religious narratives/retold fairy tales/adaptation/expanded universes/etc" responses. The assumptions and assertions about fanfiction as a form in these arguments pretty much always should apply to other things based on the defining formal qualities of fanfic in these arguments ("fanfiction is fundamentally X because it re-purposes pre-existing characters and stories rather than inventing new ones" "fanfiction is fundamentally Y because it's often serialized" etc).

Yet the framing of the argument virtually always makes it clear that the generalizations about fanfic are not being applied to Real Literature. Nor can this argument account for original fics produced within a fandom context such as AO3 that are basically indistinguishable from fanfic in every way apart from lacking a canon source.

At the end of the day, I do not think fanfic is "the way it is" because of any fundamental formal qualities—after all, it shares these qualities with vast swaths of other human literature and art over thousands of years that most people would never consider fanfic. My view is that an argument about fanfic based purely on form must also apply to "non-fanfic" works that share the formal qualities brought up in the argument (these arguments never actually apply their theories to anything other than fanfic, though).

Alternately, the formal argument could provide a definition of fanfic (a formal one, not one based on judgment of merit or morality) that excludes these other kinds of works and genres. In that case, the argument would actually apply only to fanfic (as defined). But I have never seen this happen, either.

So ultimately, I think the whole formal argument about fanfic is unsalvageably flawed in practice.

Realistically, fanfiction is not the way it is because of something fundamentally derived from writing characters/settings etc you didn't originate (or serialization as some new-fangled form, lmao). Fanfiction as a category is an intrinsically modern concept resulting largely from similarly modern concepts of intellectual property and auteurship (legally and culturally) that have been so extremely normalized in many English-language media spaces (at the least) that many people do not realize these concepts are context-dependent and not universal truths.

Fanfic does not look like it does (or exist as a discrete category at all) without specifically modern legal practices (and assumptions about law that may or may not be true, like with many authorial & corporate attempts to use the possibility of legal threats to dictate terms of engagement w/ media to fandom, the Marion Zimmer Bradley myth, etc).

Fanfic does not look like it does without the broader fandom cultures and trends around it. It does not look like it does without the massive popularity of various romance genres and some very popular SF/F. It does not look like it does without any number of other social and cultural forces that are also extremely modern in the grand scheme of things.

The formal argument is just so completely ahistorical and obliviously presentist in its assumptions about art and generally incoherent that, sure, it's nicer when people present it politely, but it's still wrong.

[madeinwater7]

as a multishipper it’s so weird to me seeing takes like “zolu (or sanuso) have so much in canon but zosan not really so ofc zsn shippers just see them as hot or smth but there’s nothing more” and others like it. first of all… thats a weird hill to die on. since when does canon basis makes one ship superior to the other. second of all: some people just don’t enjoy having everything already established and served on a silver plate. i love zolu with all my heart, they are wonderful and perfect in a lot of ways and interpretations. but what also clicks for me in a special way (and why i can’t let zosan go since i was 16, even tho they’re very much not a priority anymore) is thinking what would it take characters that incompatible fall in love. how would it happen. how would they behave and deal with it and be stupid but also vulnerable in a lot of ways. how would this develop and change them and their worldview. its fascinating! its cool when things are pretty much established in canon and two characters are written like each other’s half but. it’s so much fun to make it difficult and make it a journey. the conclusion is always so satisfying.

so no, zosan is not just “they hate fuck and its cool”

its being incompatible and messy and weird and angry but also trusting each other and respecting each other in so many ways. it’s “you know the worst of me but you still here and i trust you with my life” and also rethinking their view on love and

it’s not for everyone, sure, but it’s not so hard to accept other people’s taste and way of thinking instead of demeaning it or making it a weirdest competition. it’s not. (especially when it’s about literally two of the most popular ships on fandom lmao)

[alchemicaladarna]

I was rewatching the fight between Sunny and Leo from yesterday and god, I just noticed so many more details.

First, Sunny lost to Leo- ok, that's fair. But she was trying to exit immediately after. Leo blocked the door and started hitting Sunny. Sunny was shocked at first, but eventually she started hitting Leo back until she backed Leo into the corner and popped her totem. Ramon went inside and placed himself in between Leo and Sunny to stop their fighting (god bless his soul)

But then, and this is the part that kinda made me go 😬 Tallulah placed a sign that said "CHEATER" in response to Sunny hitting Leo after the fight. After that, Pepito and Tallulah ran to Leo to congratulate her.

Here's my personal take: don't get me wrong, I love Leo and Tallulah, but Sunny wasn't even cheating- she was defending herself. I know it's not that deep because they're kids and sometimes kids act this way. Also Tallulah and Leo have their own reasons for disliking/not trusting Sunny. And it's a block game lmao.

But like. Does anyone ever get the feeling that sometimes this egg beef kinda extends past the "goofy haha babies fighting" and more into bullying territory? Because sometimes Leo and Tallulah are just really unecessarily mean towards Sunny. I know Tallulah has been less hostile and she explained why she was more apprehensive to approach Sunny, and that's understandable on some level. But Leo vandalizing Sunny's statue, though funny at the time, looking back at it, yea that literal shit was unwarranted.

Like I said this is block game and it's really not that deep, but still. Ouch.

God, I just want to reach through the screen and give Sunny lots of hugs. She deserves so much more love and happiness than what she's getting.

[r-2-peepoo]

BAD BATCH SPOILERS

Now that the episode is out, let’s talk about Cody’s personality.

Yes he has one. Yes he has always had one. You can argue that he is underdeveloped (and I will agree with you, he hasn’t had nearly as much screen time as he deserves) but he isn’t a blank slate. He has always had a personality and here is a core part of it:

Cody is fundamentally good. That is who he has always been. He is a very obedient soldier but he is similar to Obi Wan in that he is a good person who is just very strongly bound by his duties, hence why they were so close and presumably why they were assigned to work together so often. Obi Wan Kenobi would not trust, let alone be close with someone and have him as his second in command if Cody was not a good person. People forget that Cody was probably the person Obi Wan saw the most throughout the entire war, they were together so often. Obi Wan would not proclaim Cody as a good man who he remembers fondly years into the future, even after he ‘betrays’ if he didn’t think incredibly highly of him and if the Kenobi stamp of approval isn’t enough to convince you then I don’t know what is.

There’s a reason Cody has the rank he has but also that all of the clones trust him, including TBB who generally do not like regs. It’s one of the first things we learn about them as a group actually. The fans have done an insane amount of work in Cody’s personality but it is based on what was already there. You can easily believe Cody is a somewhat stern yet very compassionate person when you read fics about him because that is who he’s been from the beginning.

Absolutely no part of me ever believed that Cody would work for the Empire willingly or that Rex would have to fight/kill him. If that had happened, as much as I love how angsty and dramatic it is as a concept, it would’ve been a complete betrayal of Cody’s character and wouldn’t be a fitting ending for him. The fan theories did get to a lot of us and honestly I thought they were plausible only because a misrepresentation of a fairly minor character is always possible in media, however that is exactly what it would have been had that been the plot. A misrepresentation.

Character arcs need to have structure and Cody turning fascist out of absolutely nowhere would not have fit in with his character arc. The inhibitor chip would be the only way for it to work and even then it wouldn’t be fulfilling at all. It could happen, but it wouldn’t feel right if that makes sense. A death is also a huge mistake, at least in my opinion. He is such a vital character for exploring who the clones are after the war. We still have the rest of the season so maybe he will still die but I truly do not believe it anymore. If he does, I firmly think it will be the wrong creative decision and would waste his character.

TL/DR: Cody has always been a sweet boy and I’m never letting people make me think he isn’t ever again ;-;

[totem-but-shark]

I saw bad got to visit a new renovated federation office and keen eyed ghosties were able to catch that qfoolish has a new office there. Whilst a month or two ago this would've been something that excited me im now not sure how to feel.

For the reset Qfoolishs federation detective lore that he'd been working on for months was completely disregarded and practically erased with no continuation planned, it was just cut. Pancks (agent 18s admin) confirmed it was cancelled and whilst I had assumed this was the case for a while it still sucked to know for sure. I just don't know if I can trust the administration with his story again or even want them to pick it up, i don't want to see my fave dragged through another arc of empty leads and abandoned storylines. I don't want to continue like nothing occurred especially when im not seeing change in how player lore is handled. I don't want to be let down again. It almost feels insulting, being thrown meaningless scraps of lore that are then too also dead ends, it's draining.

I have been following qfoolishs story for the entirety of the qsmp and though this isn't the first time his lore has been abandoned or fallen through at this point i am out of good will. After months of pouring love and dedication into the qsmp world and it's lore, being patient and understanding when things didn't seem to make sense or storylines ended abruptly without explanation i simply now don't have the energy to put myself through the same process again without sign of change. I love the qsmp and qfoolish but my trust in the lore side of the project has not been repaired. I am not hopeful for the story moving forward

[m3r1m4r5u333]

So my take on why Tommy calls Buck Evan...

I think it's because it bothers Tommy, that he's older than Buck. Because as much as he claims to find Buck "adorable"... That word is kinda telling, I think. It's infantilising. Puppies and kids are adorable! Calling your date adorable? Uhh.. It kinda just sounds like you think they're immature, wet behind the ears, less capable than you are.

So... Yes, Tommy is older than Buck.

Buck, the nickname? I think that to Tommy it just feels like a juvenile nickname. He prefers Evan because it sounds more mature, because Evan sounds like a grownass adult, a man. And Buck btw... is often used to describe a young animal. Older deers etc. are bulls, stags.

And yeah, Buck may not mind being called 'Evan' anymore. He has grown, maybe he now likes someone calling him Evan. Might be a nice change, someone acknowledging his maturity that way. As Eddie said to Buck after the lightning strike. Nobody is the same person from one day to the next. Buck doesn't need to be anything for anyone.

However... I do think the combination of 'Evan' with everything else that's going on, like Tommy calling him adorable... It does feel like trouble on the horizon.

Tommy... He's the guy who shows up to a 80's theme party wearing a henley.

And don't get me started on "he couldn't change, he was on call". C'mon, he was on car, nobody would rely on public transport when they're a firefighter on a call. He drank orange juice, he had a car parked nearby, he could have just taken a change of clothes with him to the party, and quickly changed his clothes if he was alerted to work.

Seriously, how many seconds does it take him to change a shirt, he has literally been trained to get dressed quickly, he's a firefighter!

So yeah he could have dressed according to the theme. He just didn't want to. He thought the theme costumes were above him. He thinks he's past that age, too old for costumes.

So that's why he calls Buck Evan.

Because he doesn't get silly fun, really. He thinks he's too old for nicknames, and theme costumes, and he thinks he's Buck's elder.

Because he hasn't been there to realize how much Buck has gone through, how much he has matured from where he started. He hasn't seen Buck help Eddie raise Chris, he hasn't seen the way Buck is always there for people to pick up the pieces and fix things when someone is in trouble. He hasn't seen Buck's responsible, mature side, has he?

Nope, he wasn't there to see Buck's growth, how wild he was when he first joined the team, how different he is from that Buck 1.0. So now he just sees the energetic, bubbly personality, the baby bi awkwardly stumbling out of the closet, like a Bambi on ice...

and thinks that Buck is adorable.

Like he's a child.

And.... I have a feeling that learning that Buck just trashed a hotel room suite with Eddie... will hardly make him rethink this impression!

[xeemaee]

Just saw someone call dungeon meshi “a show about women” as a way to complain about mlm shipping in the fandom and girl… if this is a show about women to you? you simply need to watch more shows, like stand up! You deserve better female representation than a show where there are two main female characters and one of them is missing for 80-90% of the series! Stand up! You deserve better than this! Go read the locked tomb! Please you deserve better than to see DUNGEON MESHI as a show about women

[oceanamethyst]

actual shipping discourse under cut (in defense of stollen x strawberry cream)

i don't even ship stollen x strawberry cream

but seeing as i am probably the ONLY TEENAGER HERE

i don't know what you guys are thinking, but if you're walking around at school, TEENAGERS CAN BE TALL. the teenagers that were in my classes were ALMOST ALWAYS AS TALL (if not as tall) AS THE TEACHERS (I'm talking about FRICKING 9TH GRADE. NOT EVEN 12TH GRADE, 9TH GRADE).

AND ONCE AGAIN.

Pinehog is talking about Stollen and himself, but it is ALSO IMPLYING THAT STRAWBERRY CREAM IS A MINOR.

this is just another example of people trying to call ships that make them uncomfortable "proships/comships/darkships/whothehellcaresships" to prevent EVERYONE from shipping them

it's actually very upsetting to see.

This same fandom attempted to cancel someone for shipping PureRaisin (and it kind of worked, considering how they ended up quitting the social media it was on), and I will NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

DO YOUR RESEARCH. OH MY GOSH.

[personinthepalace]

Spinny Emmett :)

anyway I am reobsessed with the 2018 Penn State production of Legally Blonde the musical and I highly recommend that everyone checks it out :)

[rainbowchaox]

Go on Twitter because I wanna see fanart

Sees people wishing death on dapper to humble BBH because soulfire won yesterday

Close twitter

[ingravinoveritas]

climb-dtennant-like-a-tree replied to your post "Hello there! I hope you are doing well (as well as...”

The happiness in Michael's eyes… ❤️❤️

Right? SO much happiness, honestly, that it's plainly visible...

You can see it the moment they link arms and start walking, but the further onto the stage they get, the more Michael's face just completely lights up. It's the crinkles around his eyes that do it for me the most--the way he's already nearly bursting from being arm-in-arm with David, and then breaks into a full-on smile as they walk onto the set, as if he just can't contain himself any longer. I love that Michael looks so ready to take on the entire world, with David right beside him.

(Also this hits very differently now that we know about the kiss in season 2, as it wasn't out yet at the time. It's like you can see in Michael's face that he wants to brag to anyone willing to listen about getting to kiss David, but he can't, so he has to settle for looking like the world's proudest husband instead...)

[insecuregodcomplex]

thinking about how (at least in the show) coach singh and mr ajayi have absolutely discussed Nick and Charlie

[ria-the-camel]

I'm usually pretty good at ignoring discourse and reading through the tags without it getting to me, but it's been so bad on All sides this whole week and getting worse after yesterday's episode.

Makes me a little sad to see people who all enjoy the same show getting sososo mad about it and each other.

It's a show, improvised! Oftentimes the actors make mistakes, both in character choices and the way they speak, they have to make it up on the spot and are not all-knowing fucking experts of the human psyche!

They touch sensitive topics and I get that, it feels personal. It's not though.

Remember that, this is not about you, it's about eight people in LA playing DnD as a game and as a story (which sometimes does not align well) and making mistakes. Sometimes being vague and unclear.

And it's a show, people will enjoy it in a different way than you, it makes me sad to see people going into blind rage, futilessly defending a fictional character from others' "wrong" opinions and hurting the real people on the other side instead.

Some enjoying reading into it too much, see pattern that aren't there, and it can lead to disappointment, but its self caused. This is not you, this is not about you and these are not your same problems.

There's many ways to interpret the same thing, wouldn't it be better to discuss it without ripping into each other.

[nebs-shitposts]

can we talk about how the doctor is actually kind of a huge dick to everyone or are we just gonna keep pretending he's the perfect example of goodness and heroicism. hes not.

he treats people like theyre below him. unless youre the ONE person he fixates on and decides you're special. (and this includes trios! like he treated rory ?? so horribly?? and mickey too!! and fucking nardole) when he gets vengeful you really see it come out. he's spiteful and merciless and honestly half the time what he's doing is not even GOOD morally. he decides that he gets to make the call for the future of literally entire races. why?? bc he lived through a war? thats fucking pompous of him. and not even just that he makes SO many awful comments, even to his companions, idek why half of them put up with it. imho eleven is the highest offender. twelve gets a pass bc he has his grumpy grandpa shtick and we all know he doesn't actually mean it 😭 but his issues were far worse than just being bitchy. i mean. damn bro the toxic codependency really isnt it.

i couldnt even start with thirteen. the show LOVES to pretend like she's all knowing and that everything she does is perfect. at least everyone else got kicked off their pedestal and the show addressed their moral failings. but thirteen was the worst as far as her problem solving skills, but none of it got addressed :||

i love this show and have since i was a literal child but fr rewatching it makes me feel so manipulated bc i used to idolize him but like, he's not a good person?? and i really REALLY enjoy how much the show plays with morality and let's them REALLY have their values and boundaries tested (pre chibnall) and it really shows how his cocky ass holier-than-thou thing is really just meant to mask how much he fails and hurts people.