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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel’s Return Part 2

Continuing on from part 1 -

https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/635068926214258688/tangled-salt-marathon-rapunzels-return-part-1

Summary: When Rapunzel tries to defeat the Saporians by herself she gets captured; but once Varian realizes that the Separatists plan on using one of his potions' destructive properties to destroy Corona, he and Rapunzel work together to stop it.

Let’s Talk About What a Let Down the Sapiorans Are

Throughout seasons one and two the Sapiorans were built up to be this intriguing race of people with a complex past and real problems that are sadly relatable to this day. They had a history, goal, motives, and special abilities like magic.

Yet all we got was a really bad hipster parody.

Heck, the crew can’t even keep it’s stereotypes right because they mostly slide into hippy territory instead. Hipsters, Yuppies, and Hippies are three distinctive counter culture movements for three different generations with completely different social concerns and fads.

Basically Chris tried to “stick it to the kids” again and just wound up insulting his parents' generation instead because he’s that oblivious of other human beings.

And that’s not even taking into account that previously the Sapiorans were living on the run as nomads in caravans not dissimilar to common Romani stereotypes, so the show is once again making negative racial connotations due to thoughtlessness.

Why Do You Have a Secret Underground Room Hidden Behind Your Workshop Xavier?

Like that not a thing normal people happen to have lying around there workspace. We still are given zero explanation for why Xavier has all this plot convenient knowledge and rare unordinary plot useful stuff.

Given his previous connection to Saporia and Zhan Tiri wouldn’t it not have made more sense to reveal that he is an actual plot important character in season three rather than keep him as just the exposition fairy?

So Was This Before or After the Saporian Take Over? Cause Either Answer Makes This a Dumb Plan.

Why would the guards, especially Cap, just give up? Did they even bother fighting and then lost to Varian’s weapons or were they told to stand down by a brainwashed Frederic? If they knew something was wrong then why not stay and help? What makes them think they even could find Rapunzel given how no one knew where she was heading and her letters were infrequent? What difference would they think finding Rapunzel would do?

Basically, just like with the “former cellmate” line, we needed to actually set up and establish this conflict rather than relying solely on exposition dumps. Because what we get here doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It goes against established character and leaves a lot of unanswered plot holes.

More Promotion of Authoritarianism From the Show

Remember that these are the same people who formed a lynch mob to hunt down a fourteen year old all because the king told them to. The same king who had been lying to them for years and placed their lives and homes in danger for months. The same king who persecuted the poor and orphans for years. Him suddenly sending townsfolk to the mines isn’t anything new, so what are these people’s breaking points? Anyone else would have revolted by now.

But noooo, they need Rapunzel to do it for them. Cause Rapunzel is royalty and they can’t do anything without royal permission because they’re sheep. Sheep that’s been subjugated for years and conditioned to be afraid of their “beloved ruler”.

I understand from a meta point of view why you would want your main character to take charge but...

Like this isn’t inspiring.

It’s disturbing.

Why are we promoting blind loyalty to a person who’s not earned it just because they were born special? In a freakin’ kids show no less!

Oh and still no one bothers to call out King Frederic’s abuses here, FYI.

Take Note That Quirineon is Activated By Heat

This will be important later on in the review.

He’s Already Built Grenades For You. Wouldn’t Those Be Better Because They’re Easier to Control?

He’s already built explosive chemicals for you. You just used them in part one of the episode. And it came in an easy to use form rather than an unstable, and untested, mess that could literally blow up in your faces since no one, not even Varian himself, knows how to control it yet.

You Don’t Hammer Out a Cast Iron Pan

It’s literally in the word. To make a cast iron pan you pour the metal into a casted mold. You don't hammer it out like you would with a sword or something. And you can’t even go with the “rule of cool” here cause Rapunzel surrounded by molten metal and fire would have been far more impressive looking.

Yes I’m being picky cause I’m stalling. I don’t care. This is just yet another instance of the crew not paying attention to details like they should.

Behold The Final Time Eugene Will Ever Call Out Rapunzel’s BS

This is the last time Eugene will hold an honest discussion with Rapunzel like an equal to her. By the end of this episode he will have transitioned into full on doormat mode.

Also burying negative feelings and not addressing issues is who Rapunzel is. She’s been pulling this shit since day one. It’s what causes 90% of the conflicts in the show. Have you not noticed Eugene?

So This Episode Has Contradictory “Lessons”

The episode presents this idea that Rapunzel needs to open up to others and trust again after Cassandra’s betrayal. The problem is that the episode doesn’t follow through on that. It makes a knee-jerk decision to go with a “responsibility” lesson that wasn’t built up to instead at the last minute.

More on this later.

Varian Doesn’t Actually Interact With the Saporians at Any Point.

The only person Varian interacts with is Andrew. We have no concept of how he fits in with the rest of the group and what his dynamics are with them. What do they think of Varian? What does Varian think of them? The consequence to this is to further divorce Varian from narrative, even though this is supposed to be his redemption episode.

As I said in the last part, you can easily write Varian out of this episode and nothing really changes plot wise. That’s bad writing.

Also I was robbed of Khary Payton and Jeremy Jordan exchanging lines. I was this close to having audio material for my BH6 crossover, dang it!

Behold The One Time the Black Lady Gets a Line!

I think her name is Juniper?

You can tell it’s her because of the shadow on the wall.

Anyways they casted this part and only bothered to give the character a single line? What a waste!

But this just goes back to the series' poor representation. The only WOC in the show are presented as “shifty” and untrustworthy, even when they are ultimately “good guys”. The majority of them are straight up villains tho, and even as antagonists they’re not afforded any real screen time.

And the only other outright black women on the show is the inventor lady who was given zero respect and the ghost of a barbarian.

Once again, I don’t think the crew are intentionally racist. I think they’re just sloppy. They wanted to be more inclusive but they failed to actually give voice to minorities behind the scenes and so failed in representing them well. This is a problem with the industry as a whole, not just this one show, and must be talked about as such if we wish to change things for the better.

None of this “Stuff” Holds Any Real Meaning

We get several callbacks to season one through Cassandra’s personal things that she left behind, but none of this stuff holds any real personal meaning. It’s just there. They wind up triggering these big emotional reactions from both Rapunzel and Cassandra but the audience is just left confused because what they’re crying over are things that have little significance to these characters. Even this line from season one is just dripping with sarcasm and not some pleasant past memory that either Cass or Raps holds dear to their hearts.

Way To Go, Dumbass

It’s not that she went alone, or that she broke down when it finally hit her that Cass left, that I’m making fun off. The episode already addresses those two points.

No, what ticks me off is that Rapunzel has taken down killer robots, ghosts, and monsters before now with her magical hair but a handful of regular dudes can just bring her down? I don’t care how much alchemy they got. Depowering your main character for no stated reason just for narrative convenience is poor writing.

Because If He Didn’t He Would Have DIED, Rapunzel!!!

He literally would have freakin died had he not done something! He was left inside a jail cell to rot away! Before that he was threatened with hangman’s noose! Before that violence from an angry crowd! Before that he was left alone to starve and/or die from exposure! There was no way out for him except to fight!

And here you are inside the very prison that you kept him in and you still don't have the fucking self awareness to put two and two together!

This Right Here the Assassination of Rapunzel’s Character and the Killing Blow to the Series

Yeah, and what about after the storm? Hun, bitch!?

We’ve spent two damn seasons watching Rapunzel stepping on people and making excuses for herself and the one time when she should realize her actions are wrong and finally own up to her behavior and she still does not fucking change.

This is supposed to be a coming of age story! That means the main character is supposed to grow and learn shit! But when it matters most, Rapunzel only digs in her heels and refuses to change!

Why should I care about this character anymore if she’s just going to keep on being selfish no matter what? Why should I bother watching the show if it fails to deliver on its premise? How is this in any way shape or form an appropriate message for children!?

If you’re watching the series for the first time, then it’ll take awhile to register just how awful this scene is and how it really is the beginning of the end, because they did have time to turn things around after this. But they didn’t, and here we are.

This Isn’t a Real Apology

It’s not a real apology if all you do is make excuses for yourself. Rapunzel doesn’t address what she actually did wrong here and it has nothing to do with her stupid promise.

She neglected and enabled the abuse of a child for a year and three months, and she’s not even sorry for it!

You Were Never a “Friend” Rapunzel

Friends, actually do shit together. They enjoy each other’s company. They care when the other is hurt or in trouble.

Rapunzel only came to see Varian when she needed him for something. Even now, after this confrontation, that’s all she’ll ever do. She does not actually care about Varian, because the creators will not let her care.

And Here Comes the Death of Varian’s Characterization

In order to make this stupid, forced, “redemption” work the writers had to do a complete 180 with Varian’s character and his motivations. Instead of freeing his father, seeking revenge, or just, you know, surviving, he now suddenly cares about “being friends” and “being accepted by people”, only he has no reason to want any of that!

Rapunzel is a shit friend. Heck all the mains are crap friends to him. They ruined his life and the townspeople tried to kill him. Why would he want anything to do with any of these a-holes!?

Varian doesn’t get assassinated in the same sense as Rapunzel and Cassandra do. He doesn’t suddenly become a hateable dumb douchebag or anything, but he nevertheless has his character retroactively sabotaged by the writing.

Uh, Were You Not There When Your Dad Rounded Up a Lynch Mob Against Him, Raps?

I believe you were. Also Varian literally told you to your face that he had to go into hiding cause the townspeople were willing to attack him just because those rumors that you failed to stop and pretended not to know anything about.

Just because the characters shout something repeatedly does not make it true. The audience isn’t dumb. They can remember what happened only two seasons ago.

Where Was the Inciting Incident For This Change of Heart?

Why should he even want their forgiveness? Why has he given up on freeing his father? Why is he having second doubts about overthrowing the kingdom that persecuted him?

If you’re going to drastically change a character’s motivations, goals, and moral alignment then you need to present an in story reason for that change. We don’t get that. There’s no inciting incident on screen for us to see the shift in his character development.

The audience is left to only infer, and that’s poor writing. The audience shouldn’t have to do the work of the writers for them. Characters’ motivations and goals should not be guess work.

The only thing we can glean from this is that he had a change of heart while in prison and that’s a horrifying thing for the show to suggest. That’s basically justifying Frederic’s abuse. It also recontextualizes Varian’s arc into one of submission to his abusers and not one of learning to do the right thing simply because it’s right.

Once Again, Were You Not There For Season One Rapunzel?

They had a year and three damn months of chances. These people actively tried to do him harm just for simply seeking help. He has no reason to trust them nor you.

Why Are We Shoulding All of the Blame Onto the Abused Child?

Yes, he did do all of those things, technically, but they’re being presented here without context.

The Queen enabled his abuser who was threatening his life and destroyed his home. He kidnapped her as a last restore when all other methods to get out of his desperate situation failed.

The princess he threatened neglected him for three months and repeatedly refused to help him, even throwing him out into a deadly snow storm. Despite him being her responsibility, thereby making her neglect a flat out abuse of power.

He would have died a slow and painful death in prison had he not helped to overthrow the kingdom that persecuted him.

I’m not going to pretend that what Varian did was right or that he shouldn’t feel sorry for what he did, but this is a highly skewed version of events that are being recounted here just to create bias in the viewers. It’s manipulative writing intended to gaslight the audience.

Also, why does he even want a second chance!?

Doesn’t This Undermine The Saporian’s Goals?

The Saporians wanted to reclaim their ancestral homeland so that they would no longer be a displaced people. How does blowing up that homeland help them?

Season three just throws all logic out the window. There’s barely a single villain who doesn’t undermine their own goals at some point with their stupid actions.

So Why Varian and Andrew Not Some Other Team Up?

Out of all of the various recurring baddies in the show Varian and Andrew have the least in common. I’m not saying that they couldn’t work together, but doing so required more set up than this. Because as is, this is a very contrived teamup.

They have diametrically opposed goals and moral alignments. Varian doesn’t bring anything to the table that the Saporaions couldn’t have supplied themselves. Meanwhile the Saporians have failed to offer Varian anything that he could want.

At best it’s a marriage of convenience for them to both break out of prison together, but even that is contrived because we don't know why neither of them were sent away on the prison barge with the rest of the season one villians.

Better combinations would have been

Varian & Lady Caine

Andrew & Lady Caine

Varian & Cass

Andrew & Cass

Varian & Zhan Tiri

Andrew & Zhan Tiri

Varian & Hector

The Baron & Varian

Andrew & Staylan

King Trevor & Varian

Like there were tons of options here that the writers just ignored, even though any of them would have made more sense than the one they went with.

The Andrew and Varian Dynamic Can Be Seen as an Allegory for Grooming; Unfortunately the Writers Didn’t Consider That Implication.

Yeah... That’s pretty much what Andrew has done here. He’s groomed this desperate and lonely teen to become a child soldier for him. And one only can only pray that’s all he tried to groom him to do since they were trapped inside a confined and enclosed space together for several months.

Listen, I don’t mind children’s shows touching upon darker subjects. Often fantasy is a good way for people to process complex themes and uncomfortable real world situations through the safety of fiction. It can even be helpful for those who have had the misfortune to experience certain traumas.

I’m not complaining that TTS is too dark.

I’m complaining about it being shit.

All of the crap Varian goes through is just thrown in there for shock value. It’s not here to commentate on the real world nor provide a complex story. The situations are brought only to then be outright ignored. This isn’t thoughtful nor deep. It’s not meaningful nor heartfelt. It’s just hollow drama done in bad taste.

You’re Not In a Position to Judge Rapunzel

You got captured first because you decided to throw yourself a pity party.

Would He Though?

I’m pretty sure Quirin is very well aware of how shitty Frederic is. If anything I would think he’d be pissed that his son, that he tried so hard to protect, was mistreated in such a hordenous way.

This isn’t some satisfying ending to Varian’s arc. It’s a heartbreaking revelation that he’s been beaten down by his abusers.

Varian’s Arc Isn’t Actually About Validation, and Rapunzel Giving It Here Doesn’t Really Change Anything

I spoke about this before on its own, but Tangled the Series places far too much stock in validation. Yes, it’s an aspect of his character arc, but it’s not the end all and be all of his motivation. It’s not the force that drives him to do what he does.

His primary goal is survival, both for himself and for his father. His secondary goal is gaining his father’s approval, but that’s not because he’s seeking generic praise, it’s because his father is emotionally distant. The “validation” is a mask for the real issues which are to fix his relationship with his dad and avoid the guilt of having possibly killed him in an accident.

Rapunzel has fuck all to do with that.

He doesn’t need to hear approval from her. He needs her to get her shit together and help him!

Rapunzel’s and Varian’s Situations Are Nothing Alike and Rapunzel Doesn’t Know Jackshit

Rapunzel you were dumped by your bestie because you’re a shitty friend.

Varian was neglected and abused by those who were supposed to take care of him.

Unless you’re drawing parallels to how Frederic and Gothel treated you, and even then neither of them denied you basic fucking needs!

This should be an “Oh Shit! I’ve become just like Mother Gothel” moment for Rapunzel, not an “Oh yay! Someone to share in my personal misery” moment.

Man, Rapunzel suuuuuucks!

Also This Still Isn’t An Actual Apology

Once again, Rapunzel is not admitting what she did wrong here. She’s not actually acknowledging Varian’s pain, nor what she needs to do to make admins with him.

What she’s doing is making things all about herself again. She’s talking about her feelings. About what she is facing. Rapunzel is an incredibly selfish and egotistical person and the show is trying to present this as a positive thing by rewarding her for such behavior.

Varian’s Redemption Should Have Nothing to Do with “Friendship”

Varian has no reason to want to become friends again with the woman who ruined his life and abused him.

But more than that, redemption shouldn’t be dependent upon Rapunzel’s friendship, nor even her ‘forgiveness”. Varian should be able to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing, Rapunzel be damned.

This cheepens not only his character development but also Rapunzel’s development as well. Rapunzel is not allowed to grow as a person and accept that not everyone wants to be her friend, and that people may have valid reasons to hate her even, and that doesn’t make them evil.

It also rushes through Varian’s arc undermining what the audience had to get through to get to this point.

OK, Let’s Talk About The Goatee

I wouldn’t have minded the beard had it just not looked like a fucking barcode. There’s production art where it looks fine. But just wiping it away ties back to what I was talking about in part one. It’s denying Varian the chance to grow up. This is supposed to be his coming of age story as well but the crew won't let him do that because “rule of funny” apparently overrides what the characters actually need in order to develop.

Once again, the show isn’t a sitcom. You can have comedic moments but the comedy doesn’t need to outright undermine the drama.

Once Again, Shouldn’t Eugene Be the First Person to Jump to Varian’s Defence?

You mean the orphan on the streets who stole stuff and fought to survive when the adults failed to take care of him? Is that what you’re talking about Eugene? Cause if I remember correctly that was you not just three years ago.

You Mean Rapunzel Needs Him To Make Her Feel Better About Herself

Spoiler alert, but Varian doesn’t actually do anything after this point in the episode. His entire “redemption” is just about making Rapunzel feel better about herself after Cass has rejected her. He’s literally become the rebound.

How Come Varian Suddenly Became Shorter Just for This Shot?

I know the meta reason is to reflect that scene back in Queen for a Day when Rapunzel promised him that she'd help him before everything went tits up. Where he was also drawn shorter in that episode to make him seem more verunable, but here he’s just suddenly shorter for only two shots and then suddenly back to his usual height.

Crap like this is why I insist that Varian didn’t actually get any taller in season three. The show just has always been inconsistent with his height and most of the “evidence” for his growth are cherry picked instances where the show drew him smaller than usual for reasons, like here.

So Where Did They Get That Much of the Explosives and How Did They Get Them So Fast?

Only Varian knows how to manufacture that stuff. Why would he make that much of it if he was still in the experimental phase with it? He’s even surprised that they have so much, so where did they get it? If they made it then, how did they make it so fast?

So This Plan Goes Nowhere

Spoiler alert: Varian doesn’t actually get to do any of that. In fact he’s kind of pointless for the rest of the episode.

Why Would the King and Queen Care About a City That They Can’t Remember?

Like this revenge doesn’t make sense. It’s just a contrived way to get Eugene and Lance out of the way.

If the Quirineon Explodes From Being Exposed to Heat Then What Good Does Just Dropping It Do?

Yeah, remember? The stuff explodes when heated. Simply dropping it shouldn’t do anything other than make a mess on the ground maybe.

All That Build Up and Varian Still Doesn’t Get to Do Anything Useful

Up till this point, Varian was shown to be the most competent threat in the show. Yet here they have him be a screw up twice in a row just for comedy antics and to glorify Rapunzel again.

If you got to nerf other characters just to make your main look good then you’ve failed to establish your main character as being capable in their own right.

Remember That This Boy Was Trapped in a Jail Cell With This Guy for a Year!

No, I’ll never be over this.

Andrew is the most directly violent and scummy out of all of the villians in the show.

If he’s willing to do this now, if he was willing to do this to his ex-girlfriend, then what the heck was he willing to do when he and Varian were trapped alone together?

So Andrew Just Willingly Sacrifices His Own People Here....Even Though His Goal Was to Give His People a New Home....

People need to use this gif more often when concerning this show and the villains’ ass-backwards plans.

And yes they survive because of Varian alchemy. But that was on accident. Andrew had no way of knowing that would happen. He’s willing to destroy his own people just to blow up his ancestral homeland and for what!? What does he gain from this action?

The Mind Wipe Kills Frederic’s and Arianna’s Characters; Littraly

Frederic and Arianna are effectively dead at this point. Anything that made them, well them, has been wiped away. Their personalities, hopes, dreams, their on going stories and development, just gone. And we never get them back, even when their memories supposedly return.

Varian’s Not Even Allowed to Get the Idea On How to Save Corona...In His Own Redemption Episode No Less

This is his episode! We’ve spent two years building up to this point and you can’t even let him help? He’s denied the chance to make up for his own mistakes! Just so Rapunzel can play hero and be a very shallow representation of what a bunch of men think a “strong” woman should be!

It’s fucking insulting. That’s what it is.

Making a female character the center of the universe to the point where other people are just props for her is not empowering!

No It’s Not!!

Uh you wouldn’t even be here had you just fucking helped Varian to being with you dumb bitch! This is very much you and your father’s mess!

Even now, while pretending to be responsible, Rapunzel can’t actually be responsible and own up to what she did!

She’s fucking 20 and the 16 year old shows more maturity than her!

Also Your Hair Can Protect Two People at Once Rapunzel; Remember?

There’s no excuse for leaving Varian out of the action. We’ve been shown multiple times now that Rapunzel’s magic hair can protect her and other people at the same time.

Having Rapunzel Save the Day By Herself Undermines Everything the Episode Was Trying to Establish

What happened to needing to “trust again” and letting other people help you? Having Rapunzel save the day alone just tosses out the lesson that the show was trying to build up to.

The show tries to frame this as Rapunzel learning “responsibility” but that also does not work. For one it was never established that she needed to learn that within the episode itself and secondly, she doesn’t actually do anything different from what she usually does.

Being an action hero isn’t the same thing as being responsible. Being responsible is being considerate of others, doing the borning shit or mundane crap that you hate, and being mature enough to recognize your own failings and admitting when you were wrong.

So in the end Rapunzel is neither responsible nor more open to others.

And There’s the Death of Eugene’s Character

Lance, who has maybe exchanged all of three sentences with Raps, is more distrught than the guy that supposedly wants to marry her. This isn’t heartwarming, nor it is growth. It’s just lobotomizing a character right in front of our eyes.

In this very episode he was worried about Raps going to face the Saporians by herself and was, guess what, fucking right to do so. But he doesn’t give two shits if she gets blown up!?

Ooookaaaay.....

This is the completion of turning Eugene into a doormat. From now own he shan’t be allowed to have any thoughts or feelings of his own that disagrees with Rapunzel.

The Eugene we knew is now dead.

But Of Course the Show Rewards Everyone for Behaving In the Dumbest Way Possible Anyways

Don’t expect any of these grossly out of character moments and oxygen deprived logic to be addressed nor fixed within the show. The series will keep on shoving unearned endings into our facing while insisting that this is positive development.

How Did Y’all Get Here Before Varian?

Yes, he was left on a roof, but he can climb and y’all were outside of the city.

Yeah... A Year and Half Fucking Later!

Ok, a year and three months, but that’s still not any better. Worse, all this implies is that Rapunzel would not have ever concerned herself with trying to free Quirin had Varian not broken out of prison. She would have literally left them both for dead and we’re supposed to find her suddenly doing the bare fucking minimum heartwarming and inspiring?

Where Was the Inciting Incident to Use the Decay Incantation for This?

How did Rapunzel come up with this plan? When did she come up with it?

When the hurt incantation was first found no one mentioned how it could be used to save Quirin. No one even gave Quirin a thought. Since then the incarnation hasn’t been brought back up, ever. This is a pretty big leap in logic for Rapunzel to suddenly think of this.

All it highlights how Varian was originally meant to be there to translate the scrolls and incantations in order to establish all this but of course it got cut so now it just comes the fuck out of nowhere.

Not Letting Varian Have Anything to Do With Saving His Father Is Even Worse Than Not Letting Him Save the Day

This has been his motivation since the beginning. It’s been the driving plot for a season, and now that the time has finally come what does get to do?

Hold a dang bucket.

Part of coming up with satisfying endings is following through on what you’ve established. The audience needs closure. Simply freeing Quirin isn’t enough, we need the carthartis of Varian specifically fulfilling his goal.

I don’t know how to break this to you Chris, but this isn’t Rapunzel’s story. Not this segment of it anyways. It’s Varian’s and it just so happens to connect to Rapunzel’s. She shouldn’t have been center stage for this.

The Series Blows It’s Load Too Early with the Incantations

This is the last time we’ll hear any of the incantations sung on screen, cause someone in budgeting didn’t know what was important to throw the money at and what was not.

It’s not bad here, but if we could only hear one incantation only once this season it needed to be in the finale with the final heal incantation.

Varian Was Right All Along

Also, all this does is justify Varian’s actions in season one. Rapunzel was indeed the only one who could free his dad according to this. For a series that desperately wants to shove all of the blame onto an abused child’s shoulders they sure go out their way to prove him right.

So How Is the Hurt Incantation Suppose to Work?

There were so many fan theories after this scene because Varian and Quirin don’t respond to the hurt incantation the same way previous characters had.

No one is gasping for breath, Varian can touch Raps without burning his hands, and Rapunzel can control the direction of her power. ect.

Turns out there was nothing there, the writers just didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and made the hurt incantation very inconsistent just like all of the magic in this show.

BULLSHIT!!!

You literally turn into a villain because she gave up on you!!!!

She also didn’t give two shits about you throughout the entirety of season two.

Why are we just pretending like season one didn’t exist!?

Why!?

The Note!!!

No It Fucking Didn’t!

Does That Look Like “I’m Proud of You Son” To You?

Chris went on to confirm that, yes, the note did hold more information that then got cut. Pretty much confirming all that we suspected. That Varian was cut from season two and his story hastily shoved back into season three at the last minute.

Below is the link to the tumblr post he made.

https://cnotes.tumblr.com/post/190534585146/apparently-one-of-the-writers-said-a-while-back

What’s worse is that his defense is such bullshit. The below exchange pretty much sums it all up.

This Doesn’t Actually Resolve Anything and Is Therefore Unsatisfying to Watch

Part of the reason why this conclusion doesn’t work is because it doesn’t actually address any of the problems that they have in their relationship. Quirin never owns up to what he did wrong. There’s no discussion of what Varian was up to while he was entrapped, no conversation about what secrets Quirin hid from his son, and zero admission of wrongdoing on either side.

Also Varian has done nothing significant to earn those particular words. Saying I love makes sense, but in context saying “I’m proud of you” does not. It doesn’t even work on a meta level cause the episode prevented Varioan from accomplishing anything.

It’s empty.

There Could Have Been More Screen Time to Fix This If Not for Season Two Mucking About

https://discord.com/channels/427940661589704715/569296212218347522/777635115978457098

Above is the link to the original storyboards. It doesn’t fix everything but there’s a lot more satisfying emotional beats including adding Ruddiger back in who is suspiciously absent for the entire episode for no stated reason.

This version was cut due to time. Which, like with the Crossing the Line song, didn’t need to be had they been more effective with their usage of time in season two.

They also could have had a better conclusion to Varian’s arc in general had he not been cut from season two altogether.

So What Does Freeing Quirin Add to the Series?

I’m serious. What does freeing Quirin at this point and time do for the story?

It doesn’t add any character development, Quirin just wanders around aimlessly in the background until the finale and even then his part in that is a pointless dead end. Varian doesn’t gain his emotional closure, just empty, hollow “praise”. Nor is he allowed to accomplish any of his established goals. No new lore or history is exposed. No mystery uncovered.

There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done later in the season. Provide more tension and keep up the consequences of the characters actions. Give the mains something to do and work on until Cass and Zhan Tiri show up again.

The only reason why this is here is to wrap Varian’s story up as soon as possible so he won’t “steal Cassandra’s spotlight”. That’s it. He’s rewarded for conforming to Rapunzel’s will and all the fans should shut up and be grateful, at least according to Chris.

I Like This Song But It Wasn’t Needed

It doesn’t add anything to the story. It’s just a generic celebration song. Which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a limited number of songs, even less than in previous seasons, and the story isn’t over yet. This is the wrong place to put a victory song at.

Especially when we could have had a song that furthered Varian’s redemption instead. Yeah, that was cut too.

So Is Varian the New “Lance” This Season?

He’s right there! This is his dang focus episode!

Why hire Broadway singers and not let them sing!? Why waste talent and money like that?

Also These Lyrics!

Did Glenn Slater just not read the scripts before writing the songs? That’s all season three ever does! Give the mains what they want without earning it. Even in this very episode!

So Is This Rapunzel’s 20th Birthday or Not?

Ok I have gotten into many a heated debate about how long season three is supposed to be. And that’s because what the crew says doesn’t match what the series shows us.

By all accounts this should be Rapunzel’s birthday. According to season two she’s been gone for one year, and there’s the lanterns that they fly specifically on her birthday.

But no one verbally says it’s her birthday and I’ve heard conflicting accounts from different members of the crew. Some stating that it is her 20th birthday and some disagreeing that it is.

Well I’ll take what evidence that the show actually presents to its audience on screen over what the cast and crew says after the fact any day of the week, so I’ll be gathering up this evidence and proving by the end that season three is two years not one.

But the fact that I must comb through series to prove this, the fact that we can even have this debate, and the fact that the crew have to state basic info after the series is over is just proof of the bad writing.

Fun Fact: Cupcakes Weren’t Invented Until the 20th Century

Yeah, that’s the fault of the OG film, and yeah it doesn’t really mean much, but still it’s one more thing to add to the pile of stuff that doesn’t fit.

Plus I’m just a hardcore nerd for historical cooking and I like to share my knowledge.

Yeah But How Can He Trust All of You Again?

You’re the ones who let him down first; repeatedly. And you only started to make things up to him once he became useful to you. What assurance does he have that you won’t mistreat him again next time he’s in trouble or is no longer of any use to y’all?

Yes, Let NOT Show What the Main Character Is Actually Going Through

Yup, this is “Rapunzel’s show” but we’re not going to let Rapunzel have any focus on her feelings or give any insight into her thought process about what is the main conflict of the series now.

Conclusion

Ducktales was robbed!

I can’t believe this shit won an Emmy for “best writing.” It utterly fails on every possible level. It fails to be a continuation of the ongoing story and it fails to be a stand alone episode. Even the very structure of the story is fundamentally flawed. The only reason why it’s not the worst episode of the entire series because the finale and the penultimate episodes exist.

Anyways...I finally made it through. It literally took my entire weekend but I’m finally caught up. Next week I’ll be going back to the usual one episode a week schedule.

#Varian #tangled #anti-rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #Eugene #andrew

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janiedean · 3 years

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The problem with jkr not facing consequences is also that hp itself was famous all over the world to the extent that ppl are still nostalgic about it but a lot of these ppl don't really follow jkr or start online that much (I'm talking of audiences outside uk/us). Personally any time ppl who knew me as a stan being it up I just go "yea I'll always have a soft spot for the books because of what they meant to me as a child but I've grown out of it especially after what jkr did now" and 99% of the time they have no idea about the term stuff.

Then when I tell them they're shocked but the point is that none of them know about all this because so much of this happens on Twitter and then spreads to only certain pages that are critical and the vast majority aren't that active online. So it's very much a don't know don't care situation.

The scary thing is also, at least in my country, the lack of awareness + ignorance about trans issues which means that if I hadn't learnt and educated myself, or if she'd started her bs 10 years ago I probably would've believed her correct because I did think of her as an inspiration as a teen.

yeah you make... a very good point in the sense that sadly if you're not in the angloamerican sphere and/or you're not on twitter combined with the utter ignorance wrt trans issues that there is everywhere it makes the situation especially bad because hp is like.... even stones know what it is so you can't escape its popularity, but honestly... ngl I think that's why someone in the uk/us/anglo countries has to try to do something more concerning her platform because like

as that post says the problem is that she's like top ten most famous people in the world and say what you want she's basically the face of that ideology at this point - bc like the average person outside feminist circles or whatever doesn't know who julie b*ndel is and the average person doesn't, so whatever terf crap b*ndel sprouts can circulate up to a point, but everyone and the rocks their houses are made of knows who jkr is even if they don't know the name. like my mom prob doesn't know her full name bc I never was into hp but if I tell her 'the harry potter writer' she knows who I'm talking about. and when that kinda famous person with that kinda platform and fanbase and voice and whose stuff will get published regardless of whether she's writing a novel or the grocery shop list can just go and say the shit she does without a counter or at least without a counter of equal weight - because like if stephen king says she's wrong, king still hasn't the same following or influence and if stephen king says something political in general it doesn't have the same reach as she does, so.... there's a problem here and the fact is that her money will most likely go to finance terf organizations too and the last thing terfs need is anyone making their shitty rhetoric more palatable

so like... most ppl don't know/care because they don't engage with her outside her books which fair enough I found out a singer whose music I liked committed sexual harassment with more than one woman because I didn't follow him on twitter and liked the music but not enough to actually care about his personal life, that happens, and like I'll never buy stuff from him again unless he's blatantly cleared and idt he will be but like the point is that the moment someone is in the anglosphere (imvho) and they know what jkr thinks and where her money goes if they care about trans rights (and honestly if you care about women in the first place too bc terf ideology is not pro-women anyway) they should a) not consume any hp book or movie legally, b) shouldn't buy any merch, c) should openly say why they don't engage with hp anymore, d) should discourage other people from engaging with hp content legally at least and if someone says 'ah well she's a jerk but the art is not the artist' they should double down on the fact that supporting her art means funding terf ideology and with this I mean stopping going to the play, stopping buying the books, stopping gifting the books to their little cousins, let the damned prequels tank and stop trending hp related things online to begin with, because okay that won't change things for someone in italy who doesn't follow jrk on twitter nor follows the discourse but it does change things for her in the public debate and honestly it's high time that ppl nostalgic about hp to the point they'll engage with it legally after they knew about jkr's politics realize that hp isn't untouchable nor beyond critics just because it's that popular and realize that one thing is reading lovecraft books a century after he's dead and the money you pay for it surely doesn't go to the KKK or to any organization that supports anything akin to lovecraft's racist views back when he was alive, one thing is keeping hp alive like that and having jkr profit off it while she's alive and spreading ideals that like... literally do hurt people's lives which shouldn't be a thing so like I'd prefer everyone put their hp energy into supporting whatever project the former hp cast members who openly disagree with jrk did and for the love of everything stop trending h*gwarts and shit on twitter and making ppl realize it's an endless flow of cash because that's where it's going to end /shrug

#anonymous #ask post #terf alert #sorry if this post is rambly and shit but let's just say this is not my best week #anyway jkr is the worst and she can go rot as far as i'm concerned

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realbodyrevolution · 5 years

Text

Practical Guide for Body Acceptance

By Real Body Revolution

I hear this question a lot – “How do I begin to accept my body?” or “Where do I start?” If you’re asking this question, you may already intellectually understand body acceptance and even support it (particularly for other people), but how do you apply it to your own life? How do you take theory and put it into practice? Here’s what worked for me and I sincerely hope it will help you. Remember, the journey will be different for each traveller, but maybe this will get you going in the right direction!

1. Learn! Understanding the social context and history of beauty standards was very empowering for me. It helped me realize that this isn’t a “me” issue. I am not alone in this and the self-loathing I’ve been feeling was generated externally and had been nurtured since early childhood. I also discovered that all this “thin = health” stuff is BS, along with dieting and weight loss in general. The messaging we keep receiving from this War on Obesity is not in line with the science and is actually more like a faith-based religion that irrationally hates fat. Here’s a list of books that were pivotal in my journey: Body Acceptance Arsenal. Check your library if funds are tight!

2. Update your internal beauty standard. This is the idea of beauty you hold in your mind, shaped by decades of external influence and formed by seeing the same unrealistic, unattainable versions of beauty over and over again, until you believe that it’s the only way to be beautiful. It’s not. To update your internal beauty standard, you can use my Tumblr or any others that regularly post images of diverse bodies. I created my Tumblr to serve as a library of images that do not conform to traditional beauty standards with the purpose of nurturing body acceptance and updating the viewer's internal beauty standards to include a diverse range of bodies. This is a counter measure to the millions of messages we are exposed to daily so please, check in often to maintain a more inclusive view of beauty for yourself and others.

Also, curate your social media feed by unsubscribing from accounts that promote traditional beauty standards. You’ve seen enough of this to last a life time and will continue to be exposed to it on the daily just from magazine covers at grocery store checkouts to billboards when you’re walking to work so, no need to see it on your feed. Subscribe instead to accounts that promote body acceptance or diverse imagery. Here are some suggestions of people to follow (it’s not an exhaustive list at all, just something to get you started): https://www.verywellmind.com/body-positive-influencers-4165953 I also recommend: Christy Harrison, Fat Girl Flow, Margie Plus, Dexter Mayfield, Yulianna Yussef, Baddie Winkle, Ruby Roxx and Advanced Style.

3. Create a support system of like-minded individuals. You can do this by sharing what you’re learning by those around you, but not everyone in your life will be receptive to this (sadly). So I would suggest joining some online support groups, like on Facebook. Make sure the groups are diet-free zones and for every body.

4. Start healing your relationship with food and ditch diet culture for good. If you do the readings I suggested, you will learn the truth about dieting. Knowing the truth isn’t enough though, you have to actively break-up with diet culture. Throw out your scale and if you can’t stomach doing that yet, get someone to hide it for you. Out of sight, out of mind. I would also strongly suggest exploring and practicing Intuitive Eating. There are a lot of great resources out there for this, but my favorites are The F*ck It Diet book and Julie Duffy Dillon’s podcast “Love, Food”.

5. Rebuild your self-worth. Being beautiful is not rent you owe the world for existing and your appearance and weight do not define your worth. What I’ve found super helpful is developing an inner nurturing voice to counter my inner critic. I wrote a separate post on how to do this here: Silencing Your Inner Critic and Developing a Nurturing Voice to Replace It.

6. Practice self-compassion. Touch yourself lovingly, especially the parts of your body you’re disconnected from or feel the most animosity towards. Stroke these parts softly and say loving things to them while you do it. For me, it was my tummy. I started referring to it as my marshmallow and thanking it for turning food into energy and keeping me alive. Treat yourself the way you would treat a loved one or a child and stop punishing yourself! For example, don’t wear or hang on to clothes that are too tight for your current body and remind you constantly that you’ve gained weight. Self-care can mean doing a closet purge. Get rid of your “skinny jeans” because they are a daily subconcious message that you’re “hoping to get into them again some day”. Go through everything, try it on. If it doesn’t fit, it comes out of the closet. You can either purge these items or tuck them away in a storage bin. Replenish your wardrobe with items that fit (the size doesn’t matter, only the fit) and that make you feel confident. If you’re on a budget, you can do this process one item at a time, as you can afford it.

7. Let go of the dream of future weight loss. This part was the hardest for me and I went through a grieving process when I had to finally let go of some future skinny version of me. One thing I did is write down all the things that I imagined being thinner would get me in life and then address each of those things individually. For example, one thing I identified was that I had this fantasy of wearing a bikini on the beach with confidence. Turns out, I can wear a bikini on the beach at any size if I have internal confidence. Also.. what beaches am I even dreaming about? Tbh, I don’t even like the beach and have no strong desire to go to one regardless of what size I’m in – I don’t do well with heat, sand, water in my face or sharks. A lot of the fantasies I had in my head about being thin had never been challenged before and did not hold up to scrutiny so were surprisingly easy to demolish.

8. Face your internalized fat phobia. It can be a really uncomfortable process, but you need to face your deepest, darkest, hidden feelings about fatness. For me, body acceptance was okay for everyone else, just not for me. I still (secretly) wished I was thinner. I still (secretly) felt like my fat body wasn’t worthy as it was. Similar to the process above, I wrote out everything I was telling myself about what fat means for me. One thing that came out of it was the fear of not being attractive to others. Here’s the thing I now know with certainty - I don’t want to be chosen by others for what I look like. I flat out do not respect people who body shame or dismiss people based on appearance. And I recognize appearance changes with age, so anyone choosing me based on my appearance is only choosing how I look in that moment – it’s a temporary, superficial choice. So why would I invest my time and energy into someone like that? The one thing I can count on in life is that my body will change over time and with age, so I will not commit for less than unconditional love. Also, quality over quantity! If you are conventionally beautiful, you may have more people chasing after you.. but what kind of people are they? And how exhausting and frustrating would be it be to have to sort through all these superficial, shallow people who only like you for what you look like? In my humble opinion, it’s not a benefit, it’s a time waster. I now look at being fat as a super power when it comes to relationships of any kind – my fatness will expose someone’s fat phobia, shallowness or body shaming tendencies lightning fast and I don’t have to waste any more time with them.

9. Stop comparing yourself to others! Comparison is the thief of joy and another person’s beauty is not the absence of your own. A useful metaphor is to think about flowers. There is a huge range of diversity among flowers. All different shapes, colors, sizes and formations. All beautiful in their own way. And people all have different tastes when it comes to flowers - some prefer calla lilies, others prefer the black bat flower. Remember: “A rose can never be a sunflower and a sunflower can never be a rose… all flowers are beautiful in their own way and that’s like women too” – Miranda Kerr. Take this a step further and actively lift other people up on a daily basis. This can be people you know or complete strangers. If you see someone walk by with a killer outfit, tell them you love it. If your friend is considering dieting, tell them they are worthy exactly as they are – no diet necessary. This can help move you beyond jealous feelings caused by comparison and help you develop an appreciation for others instead of competition.

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Keep in mind that this journey is tough and requires effort. You’ve been bound in self-loathing for decades and it all has to be undone, one knot at a time. It’ll feel daunting and will be full of ups and downs. While you are healing your relationship with your body and food, you will probably be triggered often. Whenever this happened to me, I would use the trigger as a tool to show me what I still needed to work on because part of why it bothered me was because I believed it was true (otherwise, I would have dismissed it as rudeness or ignorance on someone else’s part). To move beyond feeling triggered or discouraged, do something to remind you of your goal of body acceptance and your worth (listen to a podcast, view some diverse images, reach out to your online support group, re-read one of the books in the list, etc).

You can do this. <3

#body acceptance #self love #fat acceptance #body positive

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 4 years

Note

Was reading your response to the Okumura Ryuji/Morgana fight, and the way the person worded Ryuji's character made me wanna ask... Do you think a bad fanbase is a fair reason to dislike a character? I've heard people say things like "no look at the character too", but... For example, I'm very neutral on Ryuji. When he's good, hes SO GOOD, EXCELLENT BOY, but Ann is my favorite girl. Guess who he pervs on exclusively and is rude to all the time? I've never seen his fans talk about (1/2 sorry)

His rude behavior, or his pervy tendencies, or his more selfish desires regarding the PT. That's fine!! Not everyone wants to constantly talk about bad things their fave has done!!! But people referring to him as a "woman respecting king" so insistently rubs me the wrong way, since he treats Ann Like That. That, and (more personal) i remember making a post/ask thing once about my grievances with Ryuji, esp his perv stuff, and the fans that interacted very aggressively denied his behavior (2/3)

And it even turned into a big discourse on the blog I submitted it to (it was that one confession blog). All the people that responded and just tried moving the arguments to "well Yusuke did this-" or even tried to push blame on Ann "she was asking for it" just kinda cemented my already growing dislike for Ryuji. Super sorry this is so long!!! Final question: is a bad fanbase a fair reason for disliking a character? (3/3)

Don’t say sorry about multiple sent asks, I don’t mind kfdsjla;fja As for the answer, I want to say yes and no, but really it’s just “yes with a side note attached.” Yeah, it’s ok to not like a char because of their fans, but I think it’s as long as you know why you dislike the char beyond the fans (well tbh, imo it’s usually the crazy fans so I think stans is a better word, but even then there’s diff stans). And tbh, I....can’t....think of a character I don’t like that the fandom/fanbase does....but I know nothing about the char all the while (closest and most recent example this....is....I know people dislike that grey haired moe blob on twitter even tho I don’t think they watched the show, and while I’m not a fan of the moeblobness I don’t know anything about the char so I’m personally not upset). I can only name chars I don’t like because of what happens in the text, fandom be damned (but sometimes they don’t help). Which is why it’s a yes with a side note. If you don’t like the char despite not knowing them.....probably get to know the char first even if your impression is clouded by the fandom....at least you gave the char a chance.

Under cut cause length (first few sentences in the first paragraph under the cut/tldr at the end gives you the answer a bit more in depth, the rest is rants related to that and why I get frustrated in a similar sense too, but yeah sorry if I repeat myself, I kinda jumped all over + my tendency to try to nail a point home I feel like might’ve had me repeat a bit more than usual akslfjdakfjaf):

I say this because.....it’s hard....it’s hard to keep them separated, unless you completely isolate yourself from the fandom (which is basically impossible if you wanna keep up with news, even the comment section is part of the fandom tbh...and you might be looking down their for diff reasons). And then.....well...the big reason....sometimes seeing the fans really highlights the reasons you dislike the char. That’s what happened to me and Makoto, specifically cause of....a certain fan (and buddy if you happen to see this, nothing against you, no bad blood, def won’t mention your name I respect you and the debates we had)....AND TO THE TUMBLR READERS WHO GET NERVOUS: It wasn’t on this website in case anyone is freaking out so if you’re thinking “Oh god it’s me” it is most likely not you (tho I think we do know each other on here cause of usernames/saw each other in passing but we def aren’t mutuals last time I checked), and while I do respect that person.......my god did they highlight the reasons I had issues with P5 and Makoto. Ironically in trying to defend her and show off her good sides, I realized the writing issues more and more and her bad sides became more glaring. It turned my frustrating dislike and attempt to try to work out my issues with her and P5 (ironically “working out” in hindsight would’ve been me....denying and refusing to look at P5′s flaws) into....well......the salt factory you know today. (same thing happens with like......Yukari and Junpei fans too tbh...that’s more recent tho, it feels like they are just downplaying their negatives constantly and I’m not about that). Basically, you probably have issues already, they are just more pronounced now.

As for “look at the character”....you kinda already are doing that, and that’s probably where your existing issues originated from (tho if someone wants a more in depth reason as to why, while you DON’T OWE them an explanation, it is also hard for someone to understand your feelings and reasons if you don’t try to explain).

As for Ryu, yea, I getcha, I like the guy, I’m neutral positive on him....was my best bro but he’s 2nd best thanks to post-Kamo writing. I like him because of his positives, but I always keep his negs in mind because. Cause like while I agree with the fans IT MAKES NO SENSE! P5′S WRITING IS BAD! it happened, same as I agree that Anne kicking Ryu’s ass, along with the other girls, is shitty. Hate the scene, and I accept that it happen (low key gonna start some kinda 2nd wave war with this bs cause the fandom be like that, but I’m really surprised no one took Anne smacking Ryu behind the neck cause he was being too loud as super offensive and abuse.......it’s def something a friend might do, not like belting him just a tap, and it’s framed as chill and also as warning him to reign in the volume control, but high key surprised no one has tried to cancel her cause of that). BUT that DOESN’T mean it erases all the creepy stuff he’s done. Is he the goodest boi when he’s being good? The best. Is he always a good boi? No, he def is not. And hearing that he is can be frustrating to people that do see his flaws (cause they are there). And like....you are 100% able to like a character despite and because of their flaws, while also accepting they have those flaws. I do it with Yosuke, Ryuji (for the most part), Teddie, Shinji, Ken, Kanji (when he’s not around Naoto, then he’s in a trash can for me), P1/2 casts, Aigis, Mitsuru, as long as the flaws are within reason and are treated pretty well....then I’m ok with it. (again, Kanji/Ryu have moments when I’m like....NOPE! but when they aren’t doing the bad thing I’m cool with them). As long as the flaws are withing reason (aka they aren’t making a jerk person out to be the person in the right, or the writing is trying to sweep what they did under the rug, or trying to force us into empathizing with them despite what they did while also trying ot sacrifice empathy towards another char.....*cough*Makoto/Yukari/Junpei*cough* if the writing isn’t doing that...... I’m probs neutral to pos on them).

Like I’m fine if they are criticizing the writing and being like “Him doing this makes no sense cause it conflicts with the good boi we’ve already seen!” That’s a-ok! Not only do you recognize your char has flaws, you also are able to identify issues with the writing. But saying “so I’ll choose to ignore that scene” isn’t....ok. Because sadly it did happen, as contradictory it did happen. AU it all you want, but you have to accept it happened outside of that AU. Like, I don’t like the Mika conflict in Anne’s CoOp, by which I don’t like how it went down (100% fine with Mika, and there being conflict with her). How it the whole thing started doesn’t make sense if you put MainStory!Anne in her CoOp. MS!Anne can read the room and other people’s emotions (only other person capable of that is Haru, or at least with Mona), hell she was so good at it she noticed something was up with Shiho without Shiho telling her about it! The issue was the fact Anne’s not a mind reader and could only assume the issue Shiho was going through that Anne was aware of (and that was her spot on the team). Now MS!Anne is not like Yosuke, she doesn’t put her foot in her mouth. She’s not like Naoto who can’t read the room. She’s not super eloquent, but can empathize and when she can interact with people she can do it pretty well. So why the hell does she basically not think before talking and insult Mika? Sure Anne’s not GREAT at school, but she’s not a moron, she can talk to people. But her CoOp makes her a moron all around, 100% airhead, and that’s how her issues with Mika start, by not thinking before talking and accidentally insulting her via blatantly “not caring” about the job to a full time person......it’s stupid, it makes no sense, I hate it. But it’s there, the flaw might not be present in the main story, but for the all around character (cause CoOps are included) it is now and I just have to deal with it. We can bitch about it all day (and trust me I will) but it happened. Basically never frame it as “it didn’t happen,” but instead “It SHOULDN’T HAVE happened.” One is denial, the other is critiquing the text.

Anyway my rant aside, yeah I hate it when...well Ren/Ryu/Yusuke (no one’s said Mona yet, cause....well yeah...which is good they haven’t labeled him as it yet tho), are labeled as “drinking respect women juice” and I’m like “I have one to a few women who would disagree.” I know some people will argue Goro is drinking it, and imo he’s not....he’s just eating the “I don’t discriminate sandwich” which is different. And yeah the “But Yusuke-” yeah yeah we’ll get to him, but right now we’re talking about RYUJI. I’m not a fan of derailing a topic *war flashbacks* *shivers* anyway. But yeah I remember that debate, I was probably one who was like “We’ll get to Yusuke but right now we’re talking about Ryuji” and pushing the blame onto Anne is disgusting and Kamo Arc!Ryuji would be very upset. >:( (btw high key I think I was the first one who started the first anti-makoto war wave with me saying “yeah Anne shouldn’t have apologized Makoto started it and blah blah she was an ass” not the exact words but basically just calling her out on her shitty behavior cause the game certainly didn’t......tho as Miley Cyrus would say.....”I didn’t mean to start a waaaaaar~!” I actually wrote my first Persona Problems on that topic.......but it got lost in the drafts....my photo examples kept getting messed up which is bad considering the whole post really relied on them....I should try to dig it up tbh....)

Tldr/short answer: Yeah, you probably already have issues with the char to begin with tbh, and the fanbase can highlight those issues more. It’s also hard to escape the fanbase (I see stuff I don’t wanna see despite trying my hardest to avoid certain circles, it just happens).

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toongrrl-blog · 4 years

Text

Pink Power Rankings (Pt. 1)

Hi I am here to look at famous pink outfits in film and TV history and figure out: is pink a power color for this character? I choose to leave out obvious ones like Pink Power Ranger because, duh it’s in her name and this is gonna be a long list. Also avoiding real-life figures and onscreen depictions of real life figures because keeping it short (and I don’t have the time)

Pictured above are the bridesmaids at First Daughter Luci Baines Johnson’s wedding in the 1960s.

Mimi Tachikawa

She is the most obvious pick from Digimon and the girl most decked out in pink. To paraphrase this video from The Take: there was once a show about a strange world beyond our own, somehow a group of preteens were pulled into this world not of their accord, including a young 10 year old girl. Along with her friends they were exposed to the elements and fought monsters out to harm them, she was sexually harassed by two clearly adult digimon, uncomfortable with the elements, often had to put up with toxic masculine BS, and was often snarked at by the story and even some of her own friends for being so girly and into pink. Of course some audiences and the story were overcome with sympathy with this girl pulled away from a familiar world...

Just kidding! They weren’t and some audiences even gave her a lot of shit and this has only been recently examined. For a while Mimi Tachikawa had a problem that seemed to be well known by a lot of female characters, like Carmella Soprano, Betty and Megan Draper, Margaret Sterling, and yes Skyler White. Put a flawed, complicated woman character alongside more charismatic (and male) characters and she will be disliked (despite the audience being more likely to be she than the menfolk held up as icons).

This is sad because looking back, Mimi was truly a badass all along: she sticks up for herself, speaks up for herself, she is unapologetic about her love of pink and girly things, she is quick to tell guys when they are getting in her space, she’s honest, she lets Tanemon go on and fight with only a sincere question if she really is going to while the others hold their Digimon down, she stands up against the Numemon who were harassing her and her friends, and she was funny as hell. Sadly it took a long while for fans to grow up but many of us, especially girls, reclaimed her as our own. It also helped that Mimi came before girly icons like Elle Woods, Leslie Knope, and Joan Holloway and also before the boom in Gen X and Millennial women contributing to comedy and starting their own stand-up specials and movies and TV.

Power Ranking: 10, all because she held her own, no matter the haters and was glad to see us no matter how odd.

Karen Wheeler

Another complicated lady, this time older and from the 1980s. This is Karen Wheeler of Hawkins, Indiana whose children are off on their own adventure. She is trying to tap into her sexual power here. It’s dicey because the man in question is a young man and she is a unhappily married affluent housewife in the suburbs; she agrees to meet him at the motel for “private swimming lessons” and does herself up in a way inappropriate for swimming lessons (in Scarlet Letter Red to boot!), only to be stopped by the sight of her lazy husband sleeping on the Laz-E-Boy with their youngest child Holly on his chest. This season sees Karen open up to her two older children over the patriarchy and saying goodbye to a best friend and girlfriend after confessing his love for her.

Power Ranking: 6, because her sexual power was on shaky ground and only based on her looks and attention from a man but she shows some character development that season.

Nancy Wheeler

This look was a game changer, but Nancy is no stranger to pink and preppiness. Here she is wearing an outfit that recalls the postwar “Boyfriend Shirt” from Brooks Brothers for the female collegiate set and it’s updated with long loose but pinned hair and designer (or mock) jeans. In this outfit she goes monster hunting with her younger brother Mike’s best friend’s older brother and Nancy’s classmate, Jonathon Byers and squares off with slut-shaming police officers and a mother who chastises her for lying about her whereabouts and losing her virginity while Nancy’s best friend Barb Holland is missing and she also tells off boyfriend Steve for trying to cover his ass by not participating in the police investigation. This is the look (which can easily double as office wear) when you want to go straight from school where you have an impeccable GPA to monster hunting in your neck of the woods to find the whereabouts of your best friend and for fighting the patriarchy.

Power Ranking: 8, this is a girl on the move as we can see with her rolled up sleeves.

Eleven

The Iconic Look, the look where she made a boy wet his pants, found two missing kids, broke a bully’s arm. The Polly Flinders dress would alter the way we see girls in dainty pastel pink dresses.

Power Ranking: 10, can you do all that without touching someone?

Barb Holland

The most tragic look for this was the sweater that Barbara Holland (1967-1983) wore when she was taken by the Demogorgan and killed. This was the look where she was the recipient of a wet willie from a boy who looked down on her and her best friend who was dating his popular friend, the look where she accompanied her best friend reluctantly to the popular boy’s party, and where her friend turned her back on her concerns. This is the look of a passive and traditional (to her detriment) femininity. She did gain a huge following who cried foul over her fate.

Power Ranking: 4, points up for the fandom and devotion but she wasn’t empowered.

Erica Sinclair

That was depressing, let’s go to the girl who embodies America: Hawkins resident wise-ass, the girl who kept her observations and words as tight as her corn rows, and her planning as precise as her perfectly well done baby hairs (Black readers, feel free to correct me as I document her fabulousness), My Little Pony nerd and Economics wonk, and American Heroine. Erica sassed her way into Stranger Things with a raised eyebrow and a lusciously girly girl wardrobe that stands out and fits in with her Midwestern environment. She’s no stranger to pink and she commands attention and the best service at Scoops Ahoy and manages to get several ice cream dishes for free (the most elaborate ones) before getting in on finding the secret Soviet military base. Girlfriend manages to deal with teenage shenanigans, assassins, creatures from another world, near-death experiences, almost being captured by foreign enemies and the most awkward sing-a-long ever. She doesn’t seem to have lost her child-appropriate enthusiasm for games even when telling off old balding men for getting her age right.

Power Ranking: 10, you can’t spell America without Erica

Joan Holloway

Pink is an appropriate color for the resident femme intellectual of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, it shows that Joan is willing to defy “the rules” of fashion for redheads (she also wears red) and it ties into her 1950s persona of the bombshell who is trying to get married to a man who’d move her out to the upper-middle class suburbs and she wouldn’t have to work. That was Joan at the beginning: over time she started to own her natural independent streak and her willingness to buck expectations of her based on her gender and looks but also deals with the same men who ogle her, disrespecting her intellect, her hard work ethic, and even her body (fuck you Greg Harris). In this fuchsia number (still in the pink family), she sets up a luncheon with a colleague (Peggy Olson) where she pitches the idea of them setting up a production company with their names, while Peggy didn’t take, Joan starts her own “Holloway & Harris” with her babysitter and mother. Sealing her end as a strong, productive, independent woman who learned to own herself as she was.

Power Ranking: 10, men may like scarves but women like not being tethered to men.

Betty Draper Francis

Meet Elizabeth Hofstadt Francis and her ex-husband Don Draper (actually Dick Whitman), for about 10 years of marriage, they have enjoyed a union where they looked like a couple right out of a magazine, he being a square jawed handsome self-made man with an athletic build who often is compared to old-school movie stars like Tyrone Power or Clark Gable or Cary Grant and she, a beautiful model from a wealthy family in the Main Line area of Philadelphia who studied anthropology at Bryn Mawr and speaks fluent Italian and is often compared to Grace Kelly (and other Hitchcock Blondes). But the interior of their perfect colonial in the suburbs hid an ugly reality where she suffered from ennui and was a brat to her kids while he gaslighted and cheated on her with other women, more modern women, like she wasn’t enough. Eventually she found out his true identity and floored that she had been living a lie and gave up her last name for an imposter, she divorced him and married a man she met at her husband’s work function.

About three years later, Don is happily married with a younger and much more modern woman (Megan Draper) while Betty is married to a man who loves and accepts her even at her worst but to her chagrin has put on a lot of weight (a blow to a former model who grew up being raised that weight gain or being fat was the worst thing a woman could be) and she hasn’t dealt with her unhappiness in a productive manner.

For a while well into 1968, she accepted the extra pounds (although looking like she lost some) and coming middle-age and even dyed her hair black, until her new husband tells her he plans to run for office and as he was excitedly recounting what is to be done, says “Everyone will see you” not knowing that his young, vain wife would read this scenario differently and after assessing her new look to an old evening gown of her’s, she sped up her weight loss and returned to her slim and blonde look that turned heads. Soon she takes a drive to her son’s summer camp and runs into her ex-husband and they feel the old spark and sleep together; it is there she tells him that he as a lover is different than him as a husband and admits about the young wife she looked down on, “That Poor Girl, she doesn’t know that loving you is the worst thing to get to you”. Next morning she has breakfast with her new husband, who is none the wiser, while Don heads back to the city. But is Betty really happy?

Power Ranking: 7, not satisfied but has received some closure about her relationship with her ex-husband.

Sally Draper

This is Sally in her birthday party dress. On that day her father built her a pastel colored playhouse, Mother prepared treats for the adults and kids for her birthday party, she and her friends played out their parents’ (admittedly shitty) marriages at the playhouse, her father goes out to get her birthday cake from the bakery and returns only with a golden retriever named Polly, while her unhappy mother fumes about her husband doing something shitty and humiliating and not being allowed to ream him out because he brought a dog and that makes him the good guy.

Power Ranking: 5, she gets a dog but is still young and dependent on her messy parents.

Rachel Menken

Meet Rachel Menken Katz, running into her ex Don Draper while he is out with his latest mistress and she with her husband Tilden Katz. She would end this series as dying from cancer after having two young children and running her father’s department store and instead of flowers, requesting that donations be made for a Jewish hospital in the Jell-O Belt. In 1960 she fell in love with an ad man who proved to have been miserable and having lost his mother during his birth, as she did, she also competed in what was called “a man’s world” at a time when women were relegated to assistant roles at best and she split from him when he wants to run away with her, mostly because he wants to run away from his issues and not because of his feelings for her. As her sister Barbara said, “she had everything”.

Power Ranking: 8, she ends up dying young but she manages to “have it all”.

Megan Draper

Meet Megan Calvet, later to become Megan Draper. How does she become the next Mrs. Draper? At this timeline, Don Draper is dealing with life after divorcing Betty Draper (now Francis) and is trying (and failing) to quit alcohol and trying to date the intelligent, warm, no-nonsense, and close-to-his-age Dr. Faye Miller. But that night Megan, who noticed she caught her boss’s eye, decides to make the moves and in a uncharacteristically demure (many fans thought she looked frumpy here) but at worst basic outfit, she sleeps with him. This is the outfit for a quickie that later won his heart and has him pop the question and she becomes part of Creative at their work. But is this really for the best?

Power Ranking: 7, she married Don Draper but then again she married Don Draper.

Peggy Olson

Meet Peggy Olson, who officially walked away from the things holding her back from feeling at ease with herself and her choices. After a whole season where the priest impressed by her skills has learned that Peggy had a child out of wedlock and put him up for adoption and starts pressuring her to admit her “sin” while Peggy would rather move on with her life, she tells him they don’t see eye to eye and walks away from the Catholic Church and while the Cuban Missile Crisis is going on, she lays down in her bed with the pink comforter and pillows with her pink floral nightgown, she lays herself down to sleep and prays with a contented look on her face.

Power Ranking: 9, she’s not fully absolved of the issues plaguing her but refusing to wear a hairshirt and beat herself up? Awesome.

Dawn Chambers

Meet Dawn Chambers, from 1966-1968, she was the only black person (let alone black secretary) at the uber-white Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (pun intended for the decor) and like many minorities in positions occupied by less marginalized people, Dawn had to keep her head low and not stand out (despite some co-workers considering her as remarkable as a sore thumb). But then in 1968, she made the mistake of punching in for a co-worker and they get caught by Joan Holloway (and it’s so horrid, thank God Don Draper intervened on Dawn’s behalf and Pete reminds them of how the ad agencies are being looked at for their minority quotas). This was also the season where Dawn took to wearing blazers over her blouses and skirts or dresses and here Dawn is wearing a conservative grey blazer over a pink shirt with ruffles down the front and a red plaid skirt when her work life alters for the...better? It is there that Joan sternly gives her the promotion of keeper of the keys, title not pay, and Dawn tells her that she decided she doesn’t care whether other people in the office hate her but she doesn’t want to disappoint Joan, who withholds any warmth or approval. The next season we see Dawn stand up to a entitled and mediocre white man (Lou Avery) and first she is moved to reception and then she takes over Joan’s post as Office Manager (With her own office! And the salary!) while Joan goes upstairs to her own office in Accounts.

Power Ranking: 10, this is a big fucking deal for a Black Woman in a mostly-White corporate setting during the 1960s.

Trudy Campbell

1970, Trudy Vogel Campbell has remarried her estranged husband Pete and they are moving out to Wichita, Kansas with their young daughter Tammy where he will work a plush job for Lear Jet (and they are being flown out by them!).

For the past ten years, Trudy and Pete have had a difficult marriage where he was dissatisfied with the choices he made and that he really didn’t want to marry her, and Trudy had to deal with being a woman with fertility issues at a time when motherhood was seen as a primary goal for women and women who didn’t have kids or chose not to were seen as weird at best. They had to deal with pressure from her father to adopt, his parents snotty issues, she had to deal with her husband’s attitude, his envy of others, and his cheating. But Trudy laid her boundaries and was able to stand up to her husband, without losing her gracious manner and her zest for society. She tried to be a supportive wife and she found some common ground with him, when it comes to common decency and politics, and they make an amazing pair on the dance floor.

Then came the end after their divorce: they behave more amicably, he’s more involved with their young daughter, he fights for Trudy, and he gives an amazing pitch for her to come back. She takes him back but lets him know that she isn’t the same girl he married a decade before and she looks at things for how they are.

Plus she is gonna rule Wichita!

Power Ranking: 8, she accepts there will be compromises but states her boundaries and has them met and will be a society wife.

Elle Woods

Who shows up in court in LA hot sandals, a pink tote bag for her canine companion Bruiser, long glossy hair, and a curve-hugging but professional power dress in shocking pink? Elle Woods. After trying hard to be taken seriously by her fuckboi ex Warner and her snotty, neutral toned Harvard classmates and learning that her Professor got her in an internship for a important lawcase (where they defend her fellow Sorority Sister) just for her looks, she leans into both her natural intelligence, expertise, and love of pink and all things girly to defend her friend and solve the case.

Also can we talk about how both Legally Blonde and Bridget Jones’s Diary are both movies where the attractive blonde protagonist is humiliated by showing up for a costume party in a Playboy Bunny costume under false pretenses and she deals with sexual harassment and being underestimated regarding her intellect? But LB ages better because it kinda pokes fun at the beauty myth more and is more inter-sectional and Elle finds supportive women to add to her posse of supportive sisters and she supports other women in turn.

Power Ranking: 10, Sisterhood and owning your personality quirks and interests and boldly defending others is always a win. Case Dismissed.

Lorelei Lee

The ultimate Pink Power icon and the one who set the path for all femme-y and cute loving blonde protagonists with wit and ambition. This is the song for a woman who sings about how transactional heteronormative relationships in the mid-century were and how the performative actions of men in heterosexual relationships don’t do much to improve women’s lives, like paying the rent and that they would use women for their own uses and could be shallow enough to dump women if they lost their beauty and/or got older, so for insurance make sure you get money or rather things that can be hocked and worn with pride, like diamonds. Tom & Lorenzo covered this in their One Iconic Look series and this sequenced has been spoofed several times in Hey Arnold!, Crazy-Ex Girlfriend, Birds of Prey, and most famously by Madonna, and it is the look for women who not only feel good about their curves but also want to show them off. As T&Lo said about the ditzy Lorelai and her savvier friend Dorothy Malone (Jane Russell):

These women were all about power, control, and looking out for each other. Men were side stories or play things.

And in the repressive Fifties it was outrageously pink and smelt of female sexual power (pink pussies).

Power Ranking: 11, hawwwwwwww that’s what you get for having an iconic and referenced look!

Marge Simpson

The most nostalgically remembered outfit in cartoons and the most written about in think pieces and articles by Millennial women who grew up watching The Simpsons and the rest of what the Animation Renaissance had to offer. In “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield”, the family goes out to the outlet mall in Ogdenville where Marge and Lisa happen upon a beautiful pink Chanel suit that even left my cartoon-apathetic mother enthusiastic and Marge is soon seen by a old high school friend who mistakes her for being wealthy and Marge goes along with the ruse and is invited to Country Club activities with the ladies where she shows up in several talented alterations of her suit (until getting destroyed by Santa’s Little Helper, RIP Iconic suit), she also gives her family a hard time about how they don’t fit into that Country Club Scene and then when forced to see how she hurt them (and even Baby Maggie), turns around and tells them she loves Homer’s sense of humor, Lisa’s compassion and outspoken human rights politics, and just loves Bart (even if she can’t figure what she likes about him).

This also happens to be another instance where Marge sacrifices a social life (she’s not seen with a lot of friends who have her back, aside from a brief time with Ruth Powers), chances for social mobility, and her own self-improvement for her family. While we love a mother who prioritizes her family’s autonomy, we still kind of hope that she didn’t have to sacrifice her own identity for her family.

Power Ranking: 8, points for the iconic suit and it’s layered meanings.

Bridget Jones

A rare move of power for a normally powerless and insecure woman and in a shocking pink blouse and black slacks that show off her hourglass curves and go with her coloring.

Pink is not a color Bridget isn’t familiar with, especially with this deleted scene that shows her in Pink Passivity (and it looks delicate on a blonde with blue eyes and pale skin but could risk her fading but I as a brunette would look popping!). But here after entering a relationship with Daniel Cleaver (who is a walking red flag) and finding out he was keeping her as his side-ho to his skinny, bitchy American girlfriend and colleague and I have my problems with Bridget Jones as a series (which would take several parts) and I can talk about how Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway were a lot better written versions of her (klutziness and awkwardness but succeeding!). But this is a huge power move where Bridget wears a simple outfit that owns her looks (even being affirmed by a older and previously antagonistic co-worker that she’s actually thinner than the average woman and she can’t back down, like ever) and is able to quit her job for a better and more glamorous job and tell off her ex-boyfriend for how poorly he has treated her. And all her co-workers smile off as she walks off in triumph after telling Daniel she’d rather wipe Saddam Hussein’s ass. I kinda wish I could go Joan Rivers on Daniel here.

Also points on that bolder shade of pink.

Power Ranking: 10, no one gets to burn a cheating, manipulative bridge like that (and yes she is conventionally prettier than I but that’s not the point).

Alice Macray

I know, I should shut my mouth and wear beige but my personal color analysis says I’m a winter person.

It’s an interesting power move, albeit within the confines of patriarchal society and even the only defiance that wouldn’t get her tsked at because she is serving the Male Gaze. And yet it’s a natural part of her characterization in this part of the series: the traditional housewife stubbornly keeping her pedestal and fighting to stall progress for other women pursuing other paths (part of wearing beige and shutting up as Mother of the Groom is to allow the Bride to take center stage) but it’s also a path she had to take what with being a dyslexic in a less informed and intolerant era and growing up in a sheltered, conservative Catholic family. This is also the outfit she wears when she spots a younger wife being forcibly yanked by her husband, alluding that the patriarchy isn’t benevolent.

This isn’t her first time in pink, or even a pink and blue combination: she wears pink when she goes and gives out bread to defeat the feminists at the Illinois Legislature, she wears pink and blue when Bella Abzug calls on her and her peers’ hypocrisy, she drinks a Pink Lady when she is given a “Christian Pill” and it matches her lavender dress. It’s also ironic: pink, white, and blue are the colors of the Transgender pride flag and she is defending White Heternormative Cisnormative Christian Values TM and it’s also a color combo that shows up in the beauty parlor she frequents where she and her friends wring their hands over working women gaining more ground and feeling that their comfortable privilege is being taken away by women who sully their hands working outside the home while they stay home with their children in their coordinated pastels and have maids of color keep their worlds nice and orderly.

But she is wearing a pink maxi dress with a high neckline and a very prominent hat that provides very ladylike shade for her fair skin, just like our first Pink Power Girl Mimi Tachikawa, and like Mimi, Alice will take a life-altering short trip to Wonderland. And like Pink Power Girl Eleven, she finds her true hidden power and starts wearing more saturated colors as time goes on.

Power Ranking: 5, she is on her way to breaking out of her little safe world and doing more than subverting a wedding tradition.

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bluerazorbirb · 5 years

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About the Two fathers theory, and why it keeps nagging me

OK, so I caught up recently with the manga, it’s why I haven’t really been able to look this theory up much.

I didn’t think of the possibility of the twins having a different parentage while reading. It’s only when I saw this one crack theory post about Mephisto, of all people, being their potential dad by shape-shifting or something, that I looked at the timeline a little more (and I haven’t saved that post, so I can’t find it, sadly).

Anyway, the way chapter 108 presents the events is disjointed, and somewhat confusing with few time indications, but this may be why some kind of twist could be very well hidden here (along with 106 and 107).

Disclaimer: In spite of presenting the elements here, I’m neutral at best about the possibility that the twins’ parentage isn’t as it appear. I don’t see it as very possible, and I don’t know if it would matter much to the story if it’s even remotely true (perhaps for Yukio’s development, idk). Nevertheless, I’m putting my thought-process here.

Something that one crack theory ‘Mephisto is the dad’ post pointed out was the timing of the pregnancy, and how it doesn’t actually appear to line up with the timeline we’ve been given. As for why that is, let’s examine the events in detail:

(Wall of text incoming, TLDR at the end)

We know Satan came back to Section 13 two years after vanishing in the sewer. He came in with his demon army and took the kids and workers in Section 13 hostage. Lucifer and his three Baal followers acknowledged their ‘father’s leadership and offered their assistance. Satan was fine with having the Section 13’s researchers keep making the Elixir, as long as they gave it to him. This also suited the Section 13’s team, because Satan was a precious test subject.

However, True Cross’s Eastern branch’s Asylum being invaded like that forced its leaders to admit the existence of Satan to the other branches, and theses branches sent out exorcists in reinforcement to deal with this new threat. True Cross East still kept the existence of Section 13 a secret. Mephisto also failed to negotiate the release of the Section 13’s children in exchange for supplies (given he was aware that Satan wanted to let Section 13 continue their research, this was likely part of his 'statement’ to the other branches). We don’t know how long this whole thing took, but it likely was only a few hours, since it’s a hostage situation, and exorcists can use keys to travel to True Cross East fast.

The Paladin Abel Franken announces the plan to the outsider exorcists: Satan’s vessel is decaying, he likely only has about a month to live. They will fight and try to take on the fortress during this time.

And so, for a month, they fight. Satan never shows up, but the three Baal do. Many exorcists die (final count is 114 by the time this is over). They are at a disadvantage, because they cannot find where Satan’s HQ is (since it’s in Section 13, and True Cross East is still hiding its existence, and all the nasty clone experiment biz going on in there). By the time the month ends, the exorcists are ready to cave in to Satan’s demand, and send supplies to keep the hostages alive.

It’s when Yuri decides to act. She’s been kept on the site as a consultant after Satan first demanded her presence. While asking her higher up permission to go herself and negotiate with Satan, she learns that Section 13’s leaders are happy with the situation, and have been secretly resupplying the secret lab themselves. They’re just waiting for Satan to finish decaying while using him as a subject. It also means that the outsiders exorcists are basically dying for no good reasons.

Hearing this, Yuri goes behind her superior’s back, and get into Section 13 with the key she had secretly kept from the time she worked inside. Satan guides her to him, and Yuri pleads for Satan to release everyone in Section 13 in exchange for her staying by his side until the end. Satan eventually accepts the term.

We don’t know how long Yuri and Satan stay in Section 13. The outsider exorcists were meant to send out supplies to keep the hostage alive for the next month, but we don’t see that happen. This coupled with Satan’s decay being an issue means the two likely did not stay in Section 13 that long. Perhaps a day or two, at most.

During this time, Satan announces his departure to Eminescu and the people in Section 13, who are displeased by this development. Yuri reconnects with her friend Jenny, and learns that Jenny plans to use the opportunity that the outsider exorcists are here to reveal Section 13’s horrible deeds.

Yuri also discusses her plan to run away with Satan for him to finish his days with her. But the women are overheard. Jenny is killed, Satan and Yuri are captured right as they leave True Cross East, and Yuri shows signs of being sick.

After Satan and Yuri are recaptured, the outsider exorcists are being fed a BS story about Satan’s vessel being found decaying somewhere once the demons left the fortress (the demons left because of Yuri’s negotiation, which is kept secret). The outsider exorcists begin to question if Satan was even here, or if True Cross East is hiding something.

In order to cover-up Section 13’s existence and its involvement with Satan, Mephisto tells them that Satan was invited by Yuri after he bewitched her. He also announces to them that Yuri is pregnant by four to five weeks, and has a Cradle Barrier around her, preventing her child from being killed.

This here is the first issue with the pregnancy. It is possible I’m wrong, but from what info we were given, by the time Satan was recaptured by Section 13, only roughly a month should have gone by from the moment Satan took over True Cross East. In other words: roughly four to five weeks.

If this is so, Yuri Egin became pregnant from about the time Satan resurfaced, and a month before she found Satan and they got together to do the deed.

And it’s not a discrepancy the outsider exorcists would be able to pick on, as Mephisto told them Yuri was the one responsible for inviting Satan to True Cross East’s Asylum a month back. From what they know, she could have gotten pregnant during that time.

As for Shiro, we don’t see him at that meeting, but we do see him discuss Satan’s child with both Yuri and Mephisto, so he’s aware that Yuri is pregnant… however, the paneling of Mephisto and Shiro’s discussion has a strange layout. Specifically this part which happens in the middle of a flashback he has while stealing Kurikara:

Now, why the reaction here? Why not before? By this point, as readers, we’ve already seen the decision Shiro took right after knowing about the pregnancy, so what’s the point of putting such a reaction here? Maybe there’s no significance to it, but even Mephisto’s wording, “Yuri was pregnant”, is a bit unsettling. Perhaps the Japanese version shows something else, though, so this is just speculation.

But that timeline strangeness itself is no proof that Satan isn’t the father, or that two fathers are involved. For one, Yuri does have a Cradle Barrier around her, which only manifests to protect a demon child. Furthermore, Mephisto could have lied to the outsider exorcists about how far in the pregnancy she was. I know this would be harder to pull, because Yuri is under examination, but the Section 13 personnel may be the ones doing the job. And there is one other thing which could point to Mephisto not giving the right estimation for the pregnancy.

…But that reason is also something which points to the Two Father Theory being a possibility.

The thing about Yuri, is that she was late in delivering her babies. She was four weeks past her due date. Roughly about a month.

There is a month’s discrepancy with the info we were given about when Yuri became pregnant, and Yuri was a month late in delivering.

This hardly seems like a coincidence to me.

Which brings me to two possible conclusions if we go with the idea that Yuri’s pregnancy should last about the same time a normal pregnancy does. The first is that Mephisto simply lied to the other exorcists about the time of the pregnancy to cover up Section 13’s involvement with Satan, making Yuri the only culprit for the month the exorcists spent fighting the three Baal and Satan’s legion.

The second possibility is in favor of the Two Father Theory: Yuri was pregnant a month before meeting with Satan, and somehow, thanks to demon-power shenanigan, got pregnant again with another child. The reason she was past her due date by a month was so that the other child’s development would catch up with the first.

In this situation, given what we’ve seen so far, the second child is most likely to be Rin, since the Cradle Barrier vanished once he came out. The Cradle Barrier disappearing is also another hint on Yukio being possibly full human by ancestry as well (although the concept of a trade off in the womb would have been interesting).

Like I said, this possibility shouldn’t particularly affect the story, although if it’s correct, then, the fact that very few people in high place ever refers to Yukio as a ‘son of Satan’ is notable. For one, none of the Baal, or Satan himself have referred to Yukio as either a ‘brother’ or a ‘son’ (Satan himself only referred to Rin as a ‘son’, he calls Mephisto by his original name, for example). Granted, it’s as likely that demons just do not recognize Yukio as a family member due to his lack of demon powers, but this is still something to consider.

That aside, it raises the question: who is Yukio’s father if not Satan? The likeliest candidate is still Shiro, for lack of anyone else. It’s where the Two Father Theory falters in my opinion, because, while there certainly are romantic tensions in between Yuri and Shiro, and there is no doubt that Yuri viewed Shiro romantically, we haven’t seen their relationship progress to a point where they would have casual unprotected sex with each other.

Arguably, that’s also where the timeline of the event can be referred to, because the last scene we have of Shiro and Yuri together before Satan returns is when Shiro picks up Shura, and Yuri ultimately refuses to take Shura in, because she’s still waiting for ‘Rinka’ to come back once his body fails. This whole encounter happened six months after Satan bust out of Section 13. In other word, it happened a year and a half before Satan returned (further confirmed by Shura when she speaks of the sole time she met with Yuri, two years before the twins’ birth).

It does mean that, as readers, we’re missing a year and half of potential interactions in between Shiro and Yuri, a year and half when Yuri could have changed her mind about waiting for Rinka and open up to other potential futures. What still makes this a huge maybe to me is that Shura only met Yuri once, so if Shiro ever spent time with Yuri, he did it on his own, without Shura’s involvement.

Well, that’s about it for the wall of text.

TLDR: According to Mephisto, Yuri was pregnant four to five weeks in when she was captured with Satan, and this makes it more likely that she was pregnant before sneaking into Section 13 and spending a few days with Satan in there. But since she gave birth a month late from her due date, Mephisto either lied about how far ahead she was, or Yuri could have gotten pregnant a month later for a second time with Satan somehow, making Rin and Yukio fraternal twins with different fathers.

(Not going into the weird ‘fraternal twins with signs of parasitic growth’ affair, because I’m not knowledgeable enough to comment.)

But, if Yuri was pregnant before she came in, she likely realized the truth about her child when they announced the news to her. And she would know who the father involved was.

Not like it would help if the child has already been labeled as the spawn of Satan thanks to the Cradle Barrier, though.

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tae-kun · 6 years

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HEY BLACK TUMBLR, Y’ALL WANNA PLAY SOME GAMES TOGETHER!?

So on ps4 they just released this game called Onrush that’s free for PS+ and the game is pretty Dope. I figured it would be the perfect game to get a bunch of us black gamers together and start to play some stuff together and make it a dope, fun and peaceful environment. It’s already hard enough to play online games without dealing with racism, but i find it even harder to find black gamers that don’t just play 2k or call of duty.

So this game is basically a 6v6 objective based racing game with powers, destruction, customization and alot of speed.

I already like racing games but most are usually the typical NASCAR simulator type ish where its the same loop with exotic cars.

This game is very easy to get into with some skill involved and it also has this Dope underground style and feel to it. From the Underground Hip Hop and Punk songs to the unique cosmetics for the cars and characters.

YOU WANT DOPE CAR CLASSES!?

well you got 8 to choose from to fit your playstyle (each class has about 3-4 car shells, which is basically what the shape of the car looks like)

Each with 64 custom styles for em

YOU WANT UNIQUE CHARACTERS TO PICK FROM!?

well you get 12 to choose

With some unique cosmetic changes for each

I was actually surprised about all the dark skin characters they had to choose from, out of 12 there are like 4 or 5, which sadly by video game standards is way above average these days.

But besides all that there are 4 game modes to choose from, All of them fun, fast paced and unique.

i’ve only been playing for about a day now and i can already imagine having some dope 6v6 with some of you guys on here. It’s competitive enough to make you want to win but not to the point that it makes you want to curse somebody out (not to me atleast)

I really want to make a game night or weekend out of this with the black gamers on here. It’ll be a great way for us to meet and have fun. Like i really want to have like a fun Boys vs Girls night, especially since the black girl gamers don’t get the attention or respect i believe they deserve in the gaming community. Like these women will destroy you in some games and make you wonder how the lie that “girls aren’t good at games” even started lol

But this Isn’t an excuse for people to try to hook up or be a place that allows any homophobic, sexist, harassing, bullying or disrespectful comments or actions at all. This is a space for All Black Men and Women to feel comfortable and accepted no matter your lifestyle.

A lil smack talk and joking is fine, hell i’ll definitely have something to say if you let me win enough, and most games are competitive by design like this one.

BUT by no means will I allow anyone to feel judged, bullied or uncomfortable because somebody said something uncalled for, because of a loss or because someone may not be as good as others or any reason what so ever.

Im doing this because most groups aren’t as accepting as they put on and i just want to have some fun with my people without anyone feeling ostracized because of how they look or their skills.

Whether winning or losing i want this to be a fun, playful and respectful group of gamers so hopefully we can encourage others todo the same while creating a space made for it. So at some point we can play other games together and have some genuinely great people to party up with, without any bs attached.

I wanted to start this either sometime tonight and Sunday or next weekend, Just so that this post can circulate enough and give people time to get comfortable with the game.Plus i gotta make the rules and get some moderators to keep everything in check.

But if your down: just reblog this with your PSN name or message me directly so i can add you guys to this list, and even if you don’t want to play still reblog it. You never know if one of your followers would want to join this

I’ll be inboxing everoyone once everything is settled and ready to begin 😬👍🏾👍🏾

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starkandstormborn · 5 years

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ohemdiving back into the fanfic life after gendrya left us for dead (rip us).

chapters all in the canon-verse trying to make sense of things but also their ending is gendry on that damn boat so don’t even with me (!)

most will be in arya’s pov but might dabble into gendry b’s too depending but she’s so complex and we need to get in that girl’s head to make sense of the nonsensical bs that was the s8 finale eps * sigh *

ill upload on a03 and fanfiction once my membership’s been approved coz this gal hasn’t been on these sites in an ice ageeee

but here’s a sneak of what’s to come. this is for you, my fellow gendrya lovers <3

the world is yours and mine chapter I - set after the long night battle, gendry’s proposal, etc.

In her eyes, she has one purpose. Kill the queen on the Iron Throne who watches and hears and knows. Kill the queen who understands the power of the living against the dead. Kill the queen who fears Daenerys Targaryen who marches astride a powerful army who will fight for her, who will kill for her, who will die for her.

Two powerful women, one evil, one good, perhaps. But both dangerous. To the living and the yet to live.

Knock, aim, loose.

She shuts out the pandemonium, the chaos of the celebrations coming from outside the walls where the Dothraki are situated and extending towards the Great Hall where she knew her family is. She took food from the kitchens earlier, sneaking warm, fresh-baked bread and a bowl of hot stew she dipped it in. She ate on the fortifications overlooking the pyres where the smell of the burning bodies still lingered.

She would’ve joined in on the celebrations at the Great Hall but truthfully, she was still very, very tired. They stitched up the scar on her forehead well enough, but a bruise still formed that snaked around her eyes and down the right-side of her face. It hurt to move her face at times and the thought of having to repeat her thanks to every congratulations made her head hurt.

She ate quick enough and stayed long enough in the cold for her insides to burn in that familiar, throbbing way that she had almost forgotten about as she faced literal death and willed herself against it a mere day ago. Not today. Not today.

Now death calls again. The only death she will demand of the red god. And if she perishes with her, then so be it. There’ll be no coming home.

She faces the target and sees her father. Knock. She remembers his kind eyes shining in amusement and pride at her. Aim. She looks at the target and pictures the face that took him from her. Cersei. Loose.

And barely misses Gendry.

“Don’t shoot,” he says with his hands raised as he makes his way towards her. She smiles at him fondly as she picks up another arrow to knock.

“It’s night time, it’s freezing, and everyone’s celebrating,” he says, taking his place beside her. “You should be celebrating with them.”

She aims and lets loose, her eyes fixed on her target.

“I am celebrating.”

“I am too.”

She picks up another arrow and readies herself to knock before he speaks again.

“I’m not Gendry Rivers anymore,” he says, “I’m Gendry Baratheon, Lord of Storm’s End. By order of the queen.”

She looks at him then, genuine surprise written on her face.

“Congratulations,” she says, and means it. He takes her by surprise and kisses her and parting before she could register what just occurred.

“I don’t know how to be a lord of anything, I hardly know how to use a fork!” he says, his hand gripping her arms and his eyes fixed on hers.

“All I know is that you’re beautiful and I love you and none of it would be worth anything if you’re not with me.”

She beams up at him, slightly perturbed at the emotions he’s awakening inside her; this silly boy that she’s been in love with and would have followed to the ends of the earth if he had asked. She looks at him, a little dazed by his confession, as he continued.

“So be with me,” he says, and her heart stops a little at the intent she reads in his eyes. He takes one knee and looks up at her, hopeful. “Be my wife. Be the lady of Storm’s End.”

For a moment, she thinks of her father and how he would’ve loved Gendry Baratheon. She remembers his words to Sansa, her then idiot of a sister who proclaimed her vocal infatuation to Joffrey Lannister. Her father had said that he would arrange for Sansa to wed someone brave, and strong, and gentle. Someone who was kind and worthy of a daughter of the north.

It amuses Arya to think that her father had met Gendry before. It amuses her even more to think of what her father would’ve said if he found out that his Arya had fallen in love with Gendry Baratheon. With all of his bravery, and strength, and gentleness, and kindness. She wonders what her father would’ve said of a union between them now that he’s legitimised as Robert Baratheon’s son. She knows her father wouldn’t have wanted anyone less in character.

She imagines how their union would’ve been celebrated throughout the realm. A true Stark of the North and a legitimised Baratheon of Storm’s End. A rekindled hope for a realm that bled and died for a failed love between Robert Baratheon and Lyanna Stark.

She pictures Gendry with Jon, with Robb, with Bran and even with Rickon. She imagines that he’d get along well with her father and mother. She imagines her mother being quite amused by his naivety, but he’ll win her over through honour and respect.

He’d learn to be more than just a smith. She could teach him to read, to write, to fight with a sword and have Maester Luwin teach him history and languages and the legends of First Men and the Targaryens since Aegon the Conqueror – her favourite stories.

She imagines sharing a life together, going off on adventures and travelling across the realm, visiting every part of the Seven Kingdoms and perhaps even beyond that. To Essos and all the lands beyond Braavos, to the Bay of Dragons and further towards Asshai and the Shadow Lands. They could even go and see what’s west of Westeros, if they wanted. Just the two of them, exploring, travelling, just living.

But that was for a different life. A life that’s passed now that her father, mother, Robb and Rickon aren’t here anymore. When Bran isn’t the three-eyed raven and her sister isn’t the Lady of Winterfell and Jon isn’t serving a Targaryen queen bent to rule over the Seven Kingdoms.

Perhaps, she thinks quite sadly, it’s a life for a different Arya too. The Arya that she knew before. The Arya that he knew before too. The Arya who was meant to live. This Arya, the Arya that she is now isn’t meant to think this way let alone to actually live it. She can’t second guess now. She can’t allow her feelings of sentiment overturn her purpose. She has to kill the queen or she will die trying.

And Gendry…

He’s still on one knee looking up at her with his hopeful eyes, waiting eagerly for her answer. An answer that she wishes she could grant him. An answer that a deep part of her is begging her to tell him.

But she knows that she can’t. She’s not a lady. She’s never been and never will be. She will die come the next war in Kings Landing and she will not bring him along with her. The red god will not have him. He deserves a family, even if it won’t be her.

She puts her bow away before leaning down and meeting him where he is on one knee. She takes his face in her hands and lets him know exactly how much he means to her as she takes his lips with her own. He holds on to her arms as she moves to stand up, their lips never parting. She holds his face, gently, lovingly, and he takes her lips this time and she savours it, savours him. She opens his eyes a second after he does, and she steels herself to let him go.

“You’ll be a wonderful lord,” she says, “and any lady will be lucky to have you.”

She doesn’t let herself feel the moment she sees his hopeful expression crumple into a mix of pain and confusion. She goes on. She needs to go on.

“But I’m not a lady,” she says, the final weapon in her arsenal. She needs him to understand that and she needs him to be angry at her. The only way for him to let her go is if she breaks his heart. At least then, he will not be anchored to her and It’ll hurt less when she leaves. Really leaves.

“I never have been,” she continues, looking up at him. “That’s not me.”

She immediately turns away to grab her bow, trying for that semblance of indifference. She wills him to understand as she picks up an arrow and knocks. She wills him to move on, to walk away, as she aims. She can feel him behind her, she can feel his pain, his confusion, his shock, and she wills him to forgive her…and to let her go.

Loose.

#gendrya #gendrya and arya #gendrya fanfic #gendrya fanfiction #this is for you and me who were robbed of an ending they deserve #arya x gendry #gendry baratheon #arya stark #gendry waters #gendry rivers #got

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soleminisanction · 5 years

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The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Poised on the upper landing of the Manor’s grand staircase, Brianna Wayne bears a striking resemblance to Tim’s mother. They have the same sense of style (fine suits and commanding high heels, though Bria prefers boots to pumps), the same regal demeanor (squared shoulders, perfect posture, head raised high) and the same all-encompassing presence that makes his mouth go dry and his heart pound against tightening ribs.

They are of the same breed: resilient women in a man’s world, self-forged into weapons that only fools would dare challenge. The creeping knowledge that this woman is also Batwoman, Gotham’s dark knight, only increases the tension. He’s known for years, but now she knows that he knows. And he’s here to train with her. To maybe, if he proves himself, become Robin.

Tim has never been more excited in his entire life, nor more terrified.

He hides the latter with a grin, hands tense on the straps of his book-bag. “Hiya, Ms. Wayne.”

“Bria is fine.” As Bria descends, her cool, dark eyes give Tim a once-over, taking in his school uniform (rumpled), his hair (gelled, but wilted since this morning), and his school-bag (full of homework and the clothes he’ll need for this weekend visit). Her painted lips thin into a tight line. Her expression is unreadable.

Her gaze burns into Tim until he squirms, his chest growing tighter than ever. When they’d first met, Bria could hardly meet his eye; he’d been dressed as Robin, after all, a ringer for her dead partner and son. Now that she saw him for real, he couldn’t shake the idea that those shadowed navy eyes are peering into his very soul.

She reaches the floor alongside him and pauses only a moment to complete her observation. Then she turns, gesturing for him to follow. “Before anything else, you and I need to talk. Alfred, some tea would be lovely.”

“Of course, Miss Brianna.” The old butler primly tucks his driving gloves into a coat pocket and clasps Tim on the shoulder as he strides for the kitchen. It’s meant to be supportive, but the very idea that Tim needs support makes his stomach squirm.

He stars up at Bria, willing himself not to pout. “Am I in trouble?”

Her gaze softens. “No. But we need this.”

Tim nods and follows, his sneakers almost as silent as her heels on the thick carpet. She leads him to her first-floor study and motions that he should take a seat on one of the couches. Tim obliges, tucking his backpack under his feet and trying not to stare at the grandfather clock, now that he knows what it hides.

Alfred appears shortly thereafter, bearing a full tea set and several fresh-buttered scones. He places the tray on the coffee table between them, prepares each a cup to their preference, and bows out, latching the door behind him.

Bria muses over a few long, silent sips before, at last, she begins. “So. Tim.”

He straights his posture. “Yes?”

“You must know we’ve investigated you.”

He deflates.

She knows. Of course she knows.

“Naturally, we began with your school.” Her tone and expression are both carefully even, like she’s trying to soothe a frightened dog. “We needed their permission for you to spend weekends here. That meant getting access to your student records, including your parents’ names…”

Tim bites the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming.

“…which led to Alfred’s revelation that, so far as the public knows, Jack and Janet Drake have only one child. A girl.”

Tim hurriedly sets down his teacup before his shaking hands can do it for him.

“Tim—”

“I’m sorry!” he blurts, hands clutched over his thighs. “I swear, I didn’t mean…I-I’m not lying. Wasn’t lying, I swear. I just…”

He blinks against the tears that prick at the back of his eyes. He doesn’t have the words to explain why and how he’d approached her like this, why he’d dressed in boy’s clothes and given the name “Tim” when Dick and Alfred had asked. Maybe he’d thought he could disappear after Dick came home. Or maybe, maybe, when he’d thought this would be his only chance to meet his heroes, he’d been desperate for them to see him as himself. Or maybe…

“Tim.”

Brianna’s second call, more firm, cuts through his thoughts like a warm knife through butter. His heart trips over the realization that she’s still using his name. She has also set down her teacup. She pats the embroidered cushion beside her.

“Come over here. I want to show you something.”

Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Tim abandons both his teacup and the untouched scone. Once he settles awkwardly alongside her, Brianna opens a coffee table drawer and pulls out a leather-bound family album, which she opens across both of their laps.

The photos contained within are clearly of her childhood. Some are even in black and white. They’re labeled in neat handwriting — Alfred’s, Tim would guess — but never with more than a date and few names. There’s school photos, galas, social events and private moments, all of the same three figures: a handsome man, a beautiful woman, and a lean, spritely dark-haired boy.

Tim frowns, his thoughts nagging, but it doesn’t register until Brianna stops on a family portrait. It looks very much like the one above the mantle in this very room, only the album’s version also features the young boy in a stiff, short-pants suit. The label beneath it reads only:

Masters Thomas and Martha Wayne, age 36 & 34 Master Bruce Wayne, age 7.

Tim stares at the page for a full thirty seconds before it finally clicks. He gasps as his head jerks up to stare at Brianna, goggle-eyed.

She smiles softly back, leaning in until their shoulders brush with something like affection. “I only figured myself out a decade after this was taken. I’d never heard of the word ‘transgender’ before then. It took me years to come out, but once I did…I’ve never looked back.” She lifts her hand, hesitates, then tucks a bit of hair behind Tim’s ear. “To possess that level of self-awareness at your age is admirable.”

Tim shake his head, trying to rattle his thoughts into some kind of order. “I…I’ve always known. I mean, I didn’t have the words, but I just…knew.”

Brianna nods in understanding. “When did you…”

She gestures to all of him. Boy’s haircut, boy’s uniform. Binder and cup.

“Just this year. I, ah, hacked the school records over the summer. Nobody noticed. New school, new level, new start and all.”

“And your parents?”

Without thinking, Tim’s shoulders slump. “They, ah. Haven’t been home to see my haircut yet. And without the gel they might not, you know.”

He bites his lip, silently begging that she won’t make him explain. Part of him wants his parents to know. He wants them to use the right name and stop sending him dolls or jewelry or dresses that feel like he’s wearing another person’s skin. But a larger part is afraid. What if they blow him off? What if his mother thinks he’s trying to cheat, to take “the easy way” to respect when she had to fight for it so hard? And Dad…Dad, who calls him “Janie” and dotes on “his princess,” who beams with pride when he sees the dresses he’s bought put to use…what would he even think?

To his unending relief, Brianna doesn’t pry, though she does gaze sadly upon her family photo. “My parents never had the chance to know. I’ve always regretted that. But it does make things easier.” She closes the album and sets it aside, turning to face Tim with a fiercely protective expression. “Tim, however this training pans out, I want you to know that you can always come to me if you need support. I have press contacts, access to research, top medical experts on speed dial, and a half-dozen lawyers on retainer who specialize in discrimination suits. And…I also have personal experience. For whatever that’s worth.”

She mutters that last bit, but to Tim, it means more than he could say. Brianna Wayne, Batwoman, C.E.O. of Wayne Enterprises and one of the world’s greatest heroes, is like him.

He beams and half-wishes he could hug her. But they’re still basically strangers, so he holds back and hopes the smile says more than he can.

Brianna clears her throat and doesn’t look at him as she sets the photo album aside and stands up. “Now, about your training.”

Tim sits at attention. Brianna pins him with a sharp, stern look.

“No binders in the Cave.” She raises one finger to cut off his objections. “No buts. You’ll have enough bruised ribs from training alone, you don’t need to risk any more. Trust me, we have alternatives. Are you on puberty blockers?”

“No.”

“Do you want to be?”

“I don’t think my doctor would…”

“Your new one will. So long as it’s your choice, she’s supportive. And even if she wasn’t, well.” Bria shrugs. “It would hardly be the first drug I’ve procured under the table. Get changed after you finish that scone; you’re going to need the extra calories.”

She strides for the grandfather clock. Tim scarfs the last of his tea and hurries out to the guest room, where Alfred has laid out a training uniform. The first deep breath after he pulls off the binder tastes of sweet anticipation.

------

Four months later, Brianna presents him with a Robin costume all his own. He stands before a full-length mirror and admires the defined muscles of his armor, the way it broadens his shoulders and slims his hips. He puts on the mask and feels more like himself than ever before in his life.

And that night, the Boy Wonder flies again.

------

Originally posted on AO3 a bit over a week ago, but there’s been a lot of exclusionist bs on my feed today, so it’s here now too. Happy pride everybody.

#batman #robin #tim drake #bruce wayne #genderbends #genderbending #batmom au #batmom #the adventures of batmom and robin the transboy wonder #trans positivity #trans pride #batfamily #pride 2019 #happy pride 🌈#tw transphobia mention #fuck terfs and fuck transphobes

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thebachelordiaries · 6 years

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‘Never-Been-Kissed Gets Promoted:’ The Bachelor Ep. 5 recap

The Bachelor left Singapore to arrive in nearby Thailand, so that’s cool. I’m still not sure if Singapore is a country, or as the internet says, a City-State, so that’s also cool.

This episode was my favorite one of the season so far. Let’s just say it had some monumental moments, starting with Heather’s one-on-one date.

Never Been Kissed In Thailand

Heather says she had “quite a few” opportunities to kiss someone in her lifetime, but always knew, deep down, “they weren’t the one” for her.

Sis, just kiss someone. it’s not that serious.

ABC really wanted that Emmy nom this year, and if it doesn’t happen by getting a never-been-kissed girl to make out with the virgin Bachelor, it’s never going to happen.

During the date, Heather and Colton has a lot of profound moments: they talked about how cool the rocks and grass looked, blew kisses to monkeys and awkwardly stared into the distance in silence.

ABC also put kissing on our brain by using mildly disturbing closeups of Colton’s mouth.

Where is the “unsee” button?

During the dinner portion of the date we learned Heather was in a relationship for nine months and didn’t kiss the guy she ws with. And no, this wasn’t a third grade relationship; it happened after college. This girl really needs help.

And that’s where The Bachelor producers came in. I mean, they’ve been literally waiting their entire career to get a girl who has never-been-kissed to kiss The Bachelor. And here’s their chance.

They really went all out, too. There were quite literally fireworks.

And not only did Heather lose her kissing virginity, but she also got a new job title! She was promoted from “never been kissed” to “has been kissed.” I believe the new title come with benefits like “automatic entry onto Bachelor In Paradise.”

Elyse’s Weird Goodbye

This entire scene was so edited that it was hard to figure out what was really going on. Elyse put on her most snatched face, curled her hair to the heavens and put on a dress that the internet says is actually a wedding gown; Clearly she meant business, whatever she came to do.

If anyone doesn’t know what a “franken edit” is on the show, it’s when scenes get chopped up so badly that it is very clear that sound bites are being taken out of context. That was pretty much this entire encounter between Elyse and Colton. It felt like a poorly edited and poorly acted Soap Opera.

“I— I can’t do it.” -Elyse, and also me with taking this scene seriously.

The show was making it seem like she couldn’t bear to share Colton with anyone else, and that it was too hard for her to see him with other women (wait, sorry, I meant girls. The median age here is 23).

But we all know that’s not the truth. Elyse just wasn’t that into Colton and wanted to go home. I don’t know much, but I know that’s for sure. Another thing I know for sure: I thought Elyse had Bachelorette potential, but she went home too early for that. But it’s fine. I still want Danielle Maltby to be Bachelorette anyway.

Jungle Joe and Hannah Beast

I don’t care about this “Survivor”-esque group date. I do, however, care about Jungle Joe, who was raised in the jungles of Thailand and now teaches tourists how to “survive” out here. Survive is in quotations because even with the knowledge, suburban and city folk are most likely bound to die in the jungle anyway.

But I do expect one person to survive: Hannah B. Or as she says, “Hannah Beast.”

Roar

Hannah swallowed a jungle bug whole. I call that bad bitch energy. Colton, who claims he wants an adventurous and spontaneous woman, did the “sword swallow” trick and pretended to eat the worm, when in fact he threw it to the ground. Hmm...

During the cocktail portion of the group date, Onyeka wanted camera time so she started beef with Nicole. I don’t care enough to talk about it. They’re both irrelevant.

Hannah B. got the group date rose because she swallowed a bug and then said she was falling in love with him. Tough and emotional. Get you a girl who can do both.

Colton And Cassie Get Horizontal

“On a scale of one to hot, Colton is....hot.” -Cassie

Colton and Cassie took a boat to their own private “island,” which honestly made the Frye Festival island look like a resort, but they didn’t seem to care.

As you can see, they were a bit preoccupied:

Oh, and at one point Cassie spoke to Colton about her not being a virgin, because she didn’t want to be judged for it. Um, ok.

Anyway, here’s the rest of the date:

Rose Ceremony

We saw a lot of Nicole/Onyeka drama with all that “wrong reasons” bs. Even Colton didn’t want to hear about it. Sadly, the drama took up so much airtime that we didn’t get a rose ceremony and didn’t get to find out why Kirpa had a friggen bandaid on her chin.

ABC claims she “fell on rocks” while “taking a selfie” but we all know contestants aren’t allowed to be near phones. So what is the truth?

Me after not getting a rose ceremony:

#the bachelor #abc #colton underwood #chris harrison

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - You're Kidding Me

So we’ve finally come to the last of season two’s filler episodes. Let’s see if we can knock this one out real quick.

Summary: The front door of the mysterious seashell estate vanishes, trapping the group. They try to find another way out but find a spinning top whose magic regresses Cassandra and Lance into toddlers and Shorty into a baby. They’ve only have an hour to find the top and reverse the effects or the changes become permanent. Unfortunately neither of Rapunzel’s or Eugene’s parenting methods keep their now childish friends on task.

So Why Did No One Stand Watch Last Night?

They were all sleeping right next to the entrance, and after the run in with the mirror monsters, you would think that they would have taken turns standing watch.

But nope, the front door vanishes when no one was looking cause they don't have any foresight.

A Low Budget Doesn’t Excuse Filler

Like most of season two, this is yet another episode that adds very little to the overall story. It’s slightly better than the Return of Quaid or Curses, but not by much. I put it on the same level as The Forest of No Return, as I do like the mains’ development, but there’s really no reason why such episodes exist to begin with.

The meta reason for staying in certain places for three episodes, instead of only one or two, is because of budgetary reasons. The crew have to build new sets and models for every new location or person the cast comes across. This costs money to make, so the higher ups wanted to reuse assets. Which is understandable, but not an excuse for utilizing them poorly.

If you need to stay in one area or have characters reappear, then you need to give story reasons for that. Ones that tie back to the overall narrative and/or the mains’ character arcs.

The shell house and Matthews should be more important than what they are as they both have connections to the ultimate big bad of the series.Adria shouldn’t be wasted for a whole episode when she’s the only one driving the plot in season two and has limited appearances. Vardaros and its people shouldn’t be a one and done thing if you’re going to spend so much time setting them up. And there’s still one off episodes, locations, and characters who aren’t brought back and add nothing

Not only does this make for a weaker story, it also undermines the cost saving measures that you tried to implement to begin with.

This Isn’t Representation!

Get it?!

She’s a top!

She’s totally gay, but like not really, cause this can also be interpreted as a dominatrix joke, and there’s no other real indication of her orientation outside her like smiling at her best friend/crush/sister sometimes and keeping that rose her creepy ex-boyfriend gave her.

And don't give me any bullshit excuses about Disney not letting the crew make Cassandra canonly gay/bi.

The Owl House aired just this year, the same year as Tangled’s final season. Also Globby and Carl from Big Hero Six were both confirmed to be a couple on screen a month after this episode came out. Both shows would have been in development at the same time as Tangled was. Both would have been subject to the same regulations and restrictions while writing their stories.

It isn’t “Disney” that stopped the storyboard artists from having Cass be a confirmed lesbian, it’s Chris and Ben, the head writers themselves, who failed to write it into the story properly, if at all.

Chris is the one who made Raps and Cass “sisters”. Chris is the one who wouldn’t tell the crew about his ‘twists’. Chris is the one who had Cass crush on Andrew, even after he tried to kill her. Chris is the one who made Cassandra ‘straight’ and has since used gay baiting to keep her fanbase in his pocket.

Like I am really damn sick and tired of Casspunzel stans defending Chris on twitter, when he’s the very one who sunk thier ship to begin with. I’m also really fed up with certain fans trying to bully others for not accepting their “Cass is a lesbian” headcanons as fact because what the storyboarders say on twitter after the show is over with isn’t gospel and isn’t real rep.

I don’t care if you ship Cass with Raps or headcanon her as being gay. Ships and headcanons are great and can be a lot of fun. But fuck you if you ever try to shame people for not sharing your ships/headcanons. Not only is it biophobic and acephobic to insist that there’s only ever a binary option when it comes to orientation and shipping, but it also reinforces harmful stereotypes and tropes about people in the queer community.

Like, yes, I personally may be an introverted angry bitch who’s an LBGTQA member and activist, but that doesn’t mean that every introverted bitchy woman in media is a lesbian. What kind of message does that send people when that’s the only character archetype that’s given representation or is loudly proclaimed as ‘gay’ by the wider audience? Fuck that noise!

I Know Humor is Subjective but...WHY?

Why did we give the baby a beard? How does that logically work? Did anyone outside of the crew actually find this funny?

TTS has like this one out of touch dude throwing out jokes that don’t really land with the target audience. Fans have called it ‘boomer humor’ but it’s actually ‘Gen-X’ humor. Not only because Chris and Ben are Gen Xers but because this is the type of crap my older brother would find hilarious.

Gen Xers are between Boomers and Millennials and so their humor is this weird blend of gross out shock humor, ironic nihilism, and out of date stereotypes that are only mildly better than those of the previous generation before them. They’re the generation who gave us Beavis and Butthead, South Park, and Clerks.

That’s not a criticism of Gen X as a generation, but rather just an acknowledgment that they’re worlds away from the neo-dada absurdism, more socially conscious, and globalized humor of Gen Z.

So Why Is the Bad Guy Telling the Heroes How to Foil His Plans?

Like he not only tells them how to fix their problem and how long they got in order to do so, but he also informs them how it happened in the first place. This goes directly against his plans. Had he simply said nothing and stayed out sight, then Raps and Eugene would have been lost for the full hour and most likely not have saved everyone on time.

I like to headcanon that Mathews is just “that asshole” that loves to taunt and tease but in a that manner that gives him plausible deniability. He also may just be bored, since he’s a ghost trapped in one place all the time. Yet that still doesn’t change the fact that he shot himself in the foot here.

Raps and Young Cass’s Relationship Is the Same as Raps and Adult Cass’s, and That Is a Problem.

Condescending, manipulative, hypocritical, and bossy is the way Rapunzel treats everyone. She doesn’t understand the actual difference between a child and an adult. She only understands who she who she can and can’t boss around. And those people that she can’t place under her thumb are labeled antagonists by the show.

Nor does she actually care about what either kid Lance or kid Cass has to say. She’s just being proformative, and young Cass can see through that BS, which why her methods do not work. It’s not because she’s not ‘strict’ enough; it’s because she’s not being honest.

Meanwhile Child Cassandra is just as combative, rude, bullying, and entitled as Adult Cassandra. In season three she regresses even further and becomes more violent than before.

Unlike Rapunzel, Cassandra wasn’t trapped in a tower for 18 years with zero human contact outside of her abuser. She escaped that fate and was raised in a loving home. That doesn’t mean that there won't be scars, but I still expect her to be more mature than her seven year old self. Just because she’s whining about not being special enough at 24 instead of screaming about the floor being lava doesn’t mean that she’s still not throwing a temper tantrum.

Like I should not be seeing a replay/foreshadowing of their main conflict here. They aren’t children. They’re dynamic isn’t that of a mother and child. It’s not even a big sister looking out for a little sister type relationship. Its two immature women dragging innocent victims into their bitchy cat fight for dominance over the other.

If you want me to take their issues seriously then give them real stakes to disagree over, mature behavior that I can root for, and a resolvement that doesn’t reverse any potential development that they could have had.

Matthews Plan Makes Zero Sense

For starters, half the group being kids isn’t enough of a reason for Rapunzel to stay at the shell house. Even if the effects of the time top became permanent, then Raps and Eugene could just leave and take the kids with them. Either to finish the road trip, or go straight back to Corona. Not that there’s any real reason to get the Dark Kingdom anyways, nor is there a ticking clock stopping Raps from trying again later if she chose to.

Rapunzel also is not obligated to become anyone’s mother. If she took them back to Corona than Cap would undoubtedly raise Cassandra all over again, and Lance and Shorty could be adopted by someone else. Any of the pub thugs might take them or even perhaps the King and Queen since they missed out on raising their actual daughter. Though for my money I’d get Monty or Xavier to take them in. They seem the most mature and both are shown to be good with kids.

Then again Rapunzel has been shown twice now to not give a damn about abandoning orphans, so even the ‘dump them at an orphanage’ or ‘leave them alone in the woods to fend for themselves’ isn’t entirely off the table either. I wish I was joking, but I’m not. Sadly, only Eugene’s love for Lance might be the one thing to stop her from doing just so, and even that’s iffy.

As for the missing door from earlier, if that was all that was stopping them from leaving then the time top shenanigans were fully unnecessary altogether.

I Actually Like Eugene and Rapunzel’s Conflict Here; I Just Wish It Was In a Better Episode.

Each of their viewpoints stem from their upbringing.

Rapunzel is unique in that she was simultaneously emotionally abused and neglected while being physically spoiled. Especially once she found out that she was princess, where she was then handed nearly anything and everything she wanted. She doesn’t recognize that getting your every possible whim come true can be damaging. Nor does she have any comprehension of what living in poverty is like and how this many toys is wasteful to someone like Eugene who had so very little and stole to survive.

She does however associate limits, boundaries, and orders with abusive behavior because she’s been denied autonomy and respect her whole life. She’s never seen what healthy parenting looks like and how rules can be applied correctly.

To Rapunzel no orders is ‘freeing’ and ‘validation’ is all that is needed to get a child to listen to you. Which doesn’t work for her because she doesn’t understand that real communication is more than just giving a compliment now and then.

Meanwhile Eugene lacked any sort of anchor at all. He was left to his own devices at a young age and had no one to rely on for emotional needs and, after leaving the orphanage, no one to provide physical needs either.

It’s telling that he and Lance latched onto Quaid as the only authority figure in their life, despite Quaid never out right adopting them. He was the only sense of stability that they had who they could trust wouldn’t hurt them, despite being strict with them.

And now that Eugene has gotten older and is reformed, he can probably understand why Quaid was so harsh on him and Lance. Quaid probably did more to try and help them turn from a life crime than even Rapunzel did. Like meeting Rapunzel was the inciting incident that inspired Eugene to make that leap, but the groundwork was already laid out for him to do so elsewhere. Things like his good communication skills, respect and empathy of others, and understanding of boundaries had to be learned from somewhere, and if not from the Sheriff of Vardaros than who?

What I’m getting at is that, while Rapunzel rejects her parents methods but then fails to break her learned habits from them anyways, Eugene is the reverse. He’s come to embrace his mentor’s teachings, but he fails to implement them correctly because he’s not Quaid. Being authoritative isn’t his strong suit. It goes against his usual nature as the easy going person that he is and so any attempts to come across as forceful fail as they’re hollow.

Kids know authenticity and genuineness when they see it. The children reject Rapunzel because she’s not being real with them, yet they also reject Eugene cause he’s not being honest with himself.

It’s a complex and mature conflict. Neither person is fully right nor wrong, and only by learning from each other and adopting both methods can they achieve their goal.

TTS can be deep when it wants to be. There’s a good foundation here for mature themes and complex characterization. It’s just the series doesn’t ever commit to it.

Whatever personal drama going on here about two young adults trying to cope with their past traumas and how that affects their current life and future goals is completely lost in the magical goofy antics and low stakes situation. Even the stuff about Eugene and his relationship with Quaid is reduced to nothing but a one off joke rather than being genuinely explored as a point of development.

Imagine how much more powerful things would have been if Angry and Red were brought along on the trip. If this argument was over them and whether or not they should adopt the two girls themselves or consider other options. That would be something with real weight. Something with a choice that had actual consequences attached to it. Something that would permanently affect all involved parties. Something that wouldn’t make the two leads look like outright dicks for abandoning two children for a second damn time in a row.

You Have 70 Feet of Magical, Indestructible Hair! Why Are You Afraid of a Bunch of Dogs!?

You’ve fought off giant monsters, killer robots, and supernatural beings with magical powers. What do you mean you can’t hold off a pack of guard dogs while busting down a stuck door? Why is Eugene the shield for everyone and not the actual unbreakable hair that you use as a shield all the damn time? And Why did we have to rely on Shorty again to be the deus ex machina of the episode?

At this point the writers should have just made him Demantius instead of the monkey.

What Happened To This New Dream? Where Did It Go In Season Three?

Most fans who do enjoy season two happen to be big New Dream fans as this is by far and away the best season for them. I’ll admit that the series, up to this point, had me actively liking them together, despite being originally lukewarm to the pairing in the movie.

Their conflicts were for the the most part mature and real. They learned from one another equally and had open communication when it didn't involve ‘marriage is a trap’ BS. Things, like compromising on differentiating future goals, honesty and communication, and making time for one another and extending effort into a relationship while being true to yourself are all relatable issues.

Even today's episode featured the topic of having kids and parenting. Which is a discussion you absolutely need to have with your prospective spouse before entering into any long term commitments and signing any legal contracts. For real, I’ve seen marriages fall apart because they didn’t agree on whether or not they wanted children.

I don’t know what went down between writing season two and season three, but things quickly took a sharp turn away from this dynamic and nosedived into a pit of uncomfortable bullying and gross sexist implications here after.

Matthews Plan Goes Against Zhan Tiri’s Plan

Yeah so Matthews is one of Zhan Tiri’s disciples, but he apparently doesn’t know of her goals/plans, cause she needs Rapunzel and company to reach the moonstone, not stay stuck here.

The meta reason for this that the Zhan Tiri’s story was altered at the last minute and the writers failed to make sure there was any sort of consistency between what they already set up and where they actually wound to actually taking the plot.

The in universe reason is that Zhan Tiri is an impotent moron, but that’s not what the writers were going for so it’s a fail.

Conclusion

I like the New Dream stuff, and Matthews is at least entertaining despite being incompetent. Everything else about the episode is ‘meh’ tho.

#tangled #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #anti-cassandra #eugene

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elenatria · 6 years

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Headcanons and fan fiction aside, what’s your personal opinion about Chris and Tom, both as individuals (what type of persons they are, how you think they come across) and their relationship with each other (whether it’s a genuine friendship, played up for cameras, well covered dislike, one sided friendship, etc.) Sorry if this doesn’t make sense I’m just curious :)

Well… I can’t possibly have an OBJECTIVE opinion on two individualswhom we only see in interviews, promo tours, press conferences and premieres.

But after reading/ watching interviews and having longdiscussions with my friends I’ll tell you my SUBJECTIVE opinion on how theycome across to me.

Part 1: Chris

Chris grew up in nature, his family moving all the time, and they werenever well-off. Chris always remembered his folks stressing over how they’dmake ends meet. His mother was a teacher so he learned to appreciate herprofession, at the same time he wasn’t a good student. He admits that hisbrothers are better than him at studying and reading books, plus he never went toan acting school, he’s self-taught and, with looks like his, who needs it,right? :-P But as soon as he started working he helped his parents pay offtheir house loan, it’s the least he could do.

From the way he’s so fidgety with everything he gets his hands on whilefilming (umbrellas in the Brisbane streets, hammers, Valkyrie’s sword) I mightsay he gets bored/distracted easily so he wants something to keep his handsbusy (so there might be traces of ADHD in there but AGAIN that’s just myspeculation - for all I know only Tom Holland has admitted he’s dyslexic). Kidswho are not good with books are usually good with sports or arts, and Chris is exactly that.

I believe that all that freedom, his ties with his family and growing upin nature made him the man he is, laid-back, warm and funny. Some of us believethat one of the reasons he uses self-deprecating humour so much is to prove tothe world (and the ladies) that he’s not just a piece of meat, he’s more thanmuscles and good looks. That he’s smart.

Plus I have a feeling he secretly (?) enjoys male attention as much asfemale attention. He might have a praise kink (I mean which actor doesn’t) andI’m sure he’s a major tease and a flirt with both men and women. However,although he doesn’t mind making heart eyes at his male co-stars, directors andinterviewers all the time (Anthony Mackie, Tom, Taika and Jimmy Fallon toname but a few), when people question his sexuality he’s firm like when a fanasked him to comment on Tom having seen him naked (after he was done joking hegave her a big fat “NO”) or during the IW premiere when he was asked to playfuck-marry-kill and he said “It would be weird because they’re all maleand I’m married”. So yeah, a major tease. :-P

He feels bad when his non-Marvel movies aren’t as successful as hisMarvel ones, at the same time he knows Marvel is a safe bet and he can go backto it whenever things aren’t going so well

Everyone says he’s a great friend, a person you can rely on, someoneyou’d like to go on an adventure with, and he can be endlessly silly. At thesame time he’s a serious and devoted family man.

Part 2: Tom

About Tom, apart from being one of the nicest people in the industry anda true gentleman, he seems to be very very sensitive. He always comes across asvery humble although he was the son of a chemist who was able to send him toEton, so admittedly he got a head start. His mother seems to descend fromartistocracy as well so maybe his aristocratic behaviour has something to dowith that. Of course one does not just go to Eton, and Tom was (and is) thestudious type. I’m sure he was one of the best students in class. He remembers everything, he’s good at memorizing stuff and he also wrotearticles for the Eton journal or something. The thing is that he was sent awayfrom home while his parents were divorcing and that must have been quitetraumatic to him as he himself admitted. Being away from home for months on endat the age of 13 while your family is falling apart isn’t easy.

It is said that he was very shy during his school years (maybe withgirls too) but acting helped him cope with his parents’ divorce (as well assome of his insecurities, I might add).

The tabloids like to call him ambitious, I’d rather call him aworkaholic who’s more devoted to his art than anything else. He has made manysacrifices to become who he is (he confessed he had a fall out with a goodfriend because he didn’t go to his wedding in order to not miss an audition)and I suspect his dedication to acting doesn’t allow him to commit to long-termrelationships.

As I read in his Esquire interview, “in the novel of The NightManager, Pine is described — here Hiddleston quotes — as “a perpetualescapee from emotional entanglement, a collector of other people’s languages, aself-exiled creature of the night, and a sailor without a destination. I readthat to my sisters and they said, ‘It’s you!’” You may draw your own conclusions from that.

My personal (and very subjective) opinion is that he talks abouthumility a lot but in reality he knows he’s good at what he does, there’s no hiding that.

Plus he has developped a very complicated relationship with the fans andthe media despite himself. His enthusiastic nature, impulsiveness and eagernessto please, as well as his worry to “not miss a chance, not lose anopportunity, to not regret not doing something” perhaps pushed him to be tooopen. I believe he gave too much too soon to the media and the crowds, and thestudios and PR people endorsed that behaviour. I don’t know if they shouldhave “protected” him as some people say but I do believe he was somewhatnaive, trusting people more than they deserved. Because he always had the bestintentions, and perhaps he thought people were the same.

He’s a tease as well, and he relished every moment of his success asLoki. I think he might be a bit insecure deep down but when he puts on thetrickster costume all his insecurities fade away. I do believe that with Tomand Loki we have a clear case of Ego (who he is) and Supergo (his ideal self). WithLoki he lets go, he’s free to be sassy, chaotic, irreverent. In real life he’svery reserved, diplomatic, polite. Maybe with Loki he finds some kind offreedom and confidence that he normally doesn’t allow himself to have.

He used to care too much about what people think of him but I think he’spast that now, I think he’s grown a thicker skin after he saw how ungratefuland canniballistic people can be.

I also believe, after months of speculation, that his feelings for TS weregenuine but his own insecurities matched with her entitled behaviour left himdisillusioned and heartbroken.

Part 3: Hiddlesworth

I’ve said this before, I don’t think they’re each other’s bestestfriend. They can’t, they live in different continents plus they have very differentpesonalities and lives (Chris is married with kids, Tom doesn’t have a familyof his own yet and that, sadly, sets people apart). Tommentions “his best friend” a lot but that’s not Chris, otherwise he’d justsay “Chris”.

Also people like to say that Tom is more fond of Chris than Chris ofTom, and that, imho, is -wait for it- BS. Tom is always always prone to overshare, even Tom Holland himself said before Tom arrived atthe Shanghai press conference that he likes to talk.

Tom likes to describe even the glacier and the volcanic soil he andChris walked on while filming in Iceland so yeah, every in-depth interview hegives is like writing an essay.

Chris, on the other hand, won’t reveal “the deep dark places inside him”to directors who try to bring out “the unseen Chris” because he believesthat stuff is personal and no director has the right to know, just to extract aperformance from him. So why open up to interviewers, right? Plus he’s notoverly sentimental with his own wife, he doesn’t write elaborate love letterson how and why he loves her, let alone open up about his friendship with Tom tocomplete strangers.

I believe that Tom is a bit more sentimental and needy than Chris andmaybe maybe his insecurities are soothed by Chris’ light-hearted nature; let’s notforget that what we have here is a boy from a broken family and a boy whosefamily stuck together. Tom has his own family of course, his sisters, but henever had a brother so who knows if he sees in Chris’ relationship with hisbrothers something he doesn’t have. A sense of belonging and “complicity” perhaps?

I don’t think their friendship is played up for the cameras, no, whywould it be?

There’s no doubt Marvel used their chemistry to promote theirfilms with the help of the Hiddlesworth bromance but c’mon, just because their friendship is public that doesn’t mean it’s not private as well.

And no, I don’t think it’s one-sided at all.

#chris hemsworth #tom hiddleston #hiddlesworth #infinity war #avengers #loki

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canaryatlaw · 6 years

Text

okay. so. today was pretty fun. I had set my alarm for 10:30 as we’d agreed Jess would pick me up at 11. Well, I woke up to said alarm at 10:30 to a series of messages from Jess telling me to get up already because she wanted nuggets before we went to the con. I told her I’d be ready in 15 minutes, because I was being good and woke up half an hour beforehand when I knew it only really took me 15 minutes to get ready when I’m not doing my make up (doing it in the car here). So I got ready, doing Peter Pan today because I gotta take advantage of my short haired red headed cosplay options because I hate wigs and will be wearing them both Saturday and Sunday. Got picked up, went to Mcdonalds, drove to con, didn’t get stuck in ridiculous traffic like we did yesterday, so that’s a win. I’m trying to remember the details of how everything went down, when you’re there all day and you’re doing different things within a small space it can be hard to remember exactly what you did when. But I think we got there and went to find some people and talked with them for a while, then found Jess’ two friends (”friends”) who were running around doing different things, after waiting for them for a little bit. And I mean, for most of the day we just did different versions of walking around and finding people and looking at things? we’d hang out with a certain group of people for a while and then they’d go off and do a photo shoot or something and we’d migrate to a different group of people. At some point during the afternoon we decided to go through the whole show floor aisle by aisle to assess options before buying anything. I knew I wanted to get a t-shirt of some sort, and sadly there were very few legends-related items out there (I think the only places we really saw them were in the sections where you have the IDs from different shows) so I figured I’d either want something Wonder Woman or Superman related, since those are my other two faves. I was also potentially looking for a cool backpack that’s somewhat bigger than the one I have now because in two weekends we’re doing HVFF New Jersey/Rose City CC in Portland over two days and are just bringing backpacks, and since I decided tonight that I am going to cosplay both days (and the NJ one I am SO excited about!!) I’m gonna need something that can fit a lot of things. What’s annoying about the t-shirt thing is pretty much all of them at cons are only in unisex sizing, not women’s sizes, and I don’t really like how they fit me so I don’t end up wearing them as much as I do the Wonder Woman or Superman shirts I have in woman’s sizes. The other thing I might potentially buy is an Elektra from Daredevil funko pop because back when I was still looking for Katniss but was getting convinced I wouldn’t be able to find her (before I found her online) I was considering making Elektra my next one, and she would fit nicely on my stack of funkos in their boxes (that are literally in a stack on my dresser right now that consists of dark haired women who totally kick ass because apparently I am predictable like that (right now it’s Wonder Woman, Jessica Jones, and Katniss) (I do have three other funkos that are out of their boxes and placed elsewhere, which are my White Canary and Captain Cold, placed in conjunction of course, and Smallville Green Arrow played by Justin Hartley love of my life and the only actor to portray Green Arrow in live action as far as I’m concerned). So we set off to do that. A number of good Wonder Woman options I took note of, a few ones that are old comics styled, a few featuring other Justice League members like Superman and such (though I’m really not a Wonder Woman/Superman shipper like, at all, so not those because Clois is the only valid ship for Clark Kent, though I am open to WonderBat possibilities). There is also a very cool Wonder Woman backpack we were looking for that I’ll probably go back and get because it had a lot of places to put stuff and looked like it could fit everything nicely, it was just 60 bucks so I wanted to make sure it was definitely the best one before actually buying it. The Elektra pop has shown up a few places, cheapest so far for $10, so I’ll keep looking at those since there are of course a ton of places with pops. We kept getting stopped by random men that wanted to talk to us because Jess was being a fucking furry (she got asked to take a picture with two people in full on fur suits and I was dying laughing while also taking a picture of it). By the time it was like 5:30 or so we were pretty much done with everything, so we ended up meeting up with some people and heading to one of the restaurants over by the parking garage, because if you eat at one of the restaurants there they’ll validate your parking so you don’t have to fork over like $15 just for parking. So we ended up going to the German restaurant, which is always a bit of an adventure lol. The first time my family went to DisneyWorld when I was like 12 our restaurant reservations got messed up for one of the days and the only other place we could get in was the German restaurant in Epcot, and all I remember is there menu being like, essentially like three different types of hot dogs, so whenever I think of German food now that’s what I think of, and how I somehow managed to not barf it all up when my brothers and I ran (literally) from Epcot over to Animal Kingdom to get to our fast pass for Expedition Everest, which we made with like 4 minutes left on it and then went on the crazy roller coaster where I was sure I was gonna puke it all up (our restaurant reservation was for like, 4:40, and the fast pass was between 6 and 7, so we thought we’d be fine, but the restaurant got super backed up and didn’t seat us till like 6:15, so we basically ate like half a meal and then ran from the middle of the Epcot circle of nations through the rest of the park, onto the tram and then all the way through Animal Kingdom to Expedition Everest, making it at 6:56). But we got some super cute pictures of my darling baby sister who was 3 at the time and like at peak cuteness dancing to the polka in the German restaurant so that was definitely worth it. ANYWAY. this restaurant seemed somewhat similar in that there was a polka band and everything but thankfully had a larger menu selection. Jess and I ended up splitting some potato pancakes (sorry Germans, they weren’t as good as latkes) and a jumbo pretzel because she doesn’t eat red meat and I’ve been getting Meat Fatigue™ (which we’re still pretending is a real thing okay). We had an interesting conversation going on around us as the guy sitting next to me was trying to say it was bs that people were making excuses for James Gunn in that situation when strongly condemning Trump for making obscene comments, except he was not explaining it well at all and it was totally being lost in translation for everybody else until I was like okay, this is what you mean and explained it and he was like “yes, exactly! I like her” to which I was like 😂😂😂 understanding what people are saying pretty much all the time and explaining things happen to be two random talents of mine that come in handy a lot. So the meal was pretty good, one of the ladies we were with graciously picked up the tab so we were very thankful to her for that. At that point we were pretty beat so we walked back to the parking garage (after getting our parking validated) and drove home. I got dropped off and we planned to pick me up at 10 am tomorrow. I fumbled in the dark with my keys for a few minutes because somehow all the outdoor lights and the lights in the hallway of my building have gone out and not been replaced (yes I could’ve turned my flashlight on on my phone but I was being stubborn and wanted to do it myself) but eventually got it figured out. NICKZANO was very happy to see me, though I told her she’s gonna have to get used to being alone more once I get a job (at some point, anyway). I think I may actually be allergic to cats though, because my legs where I’d been letting her sit on are like hella itchy, but it’s obviously not a major issue at all and I’ll just like, put pants or longer shorts on from now on and that won't be a problem. I showered and changed into my pajamas, then watched a few episodes of 30 Rock, keeping it nice and light. I’m in their 5th season now out of 7 (which is kinda funny because I’m also on the 5th season out of 7 on GoT right now) so sooner or later I’m gonna have to find something else for funny filler episodes when I just want funny tv. And yeah, I did that for a while and then finished getting ready for bed and here we be now. So yeah, lots of fun, hopefully tomorrow will as well, I will be debuting my Ava Sharpe cosplay (who I was never really planning to cosplay but ended up needing to do so for our photo op with Matt Ryan which is gonna be fucking hilarious, just wait) and seeing Matt Ryan so that will be fun. I’ll probably wait till Sunday when I’m doing my also new (and pulled together exclusively of stuff I already owned because business wear) Lois Lane cosplay to see Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. I was considering doing a photo op with them, but their joint one was $150 which is a tad excessive, and like, Tom alone was still $90 and I wouldn't even know what to do in a single one with him because I’d rather like, have one with both of them so Tom and I could look like we were fighting Michael, but also Michael has hair now so he doesn't even really look like Lex Luthor anymore, so given all of those factors I decided meeting them and getting selfies with them in my cosplay would be good enough. Okay, that’s all I got, it’s 1 am and I’m waking up at 9:30 and I like sleeping so I’m going to go to bed now. Goodnight peeps. Have a lovely weekend.

#daily journal #August 2018 #Jess tag #Rachel's cosplay adventures

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