#i may have been defeated

[honeybubbletea33]

GET BOOPED

WELL THANKS BUDDY, NOW I CAN’T GET UP

[wonder-worker]

Thinking about Elizabeth Woodville as a gothic heroine is making me go insane. She entered the story by overturning existing social structures, provoking both ire and fascination. She married into a dynasty doomed to eat itself alive. She was repeatedly associated with the supernatural, both in terms of love and death. Her life was shaped entirely by uncanny repetitions - two marriages, two widowhoods, two depositions, two flights to sanctuary, two ultimate reclamations, all paralleling and ricocheting off each other. Her plight after 1483 exposed the true rot at the heart of the monarchy - the trappings of royalty pulled away to reveal nothing, a never-ending cycle of betrayal and war, the price of power being the (literal) blood of children. She lived past the end of her family name, she lived past the end of her myth. She ended her life in a deeply anomalous position, half-in and half-out of royal society. She was both a haunting tragedy and the ultimate survivor who was finally free.

[demigod-of-the-agni]

Finding it endlessly hilarious that while we got an absolutely stunning glow-up for Pavitr, we simultaneously got the simplification of E50101-Green Goblin

Like. sure. the armour is cool. orange instead of purple. wonderful embossed details. weirdly angular iconic face. he SCREAMS classic Green Goblin and that's perfectly okay

But COME ON they downgraded him from a literal demon!!!!!! He was literally a 1:1 trans-adaption of E1610-Green Goblin!!!!!! They turned a big hulking BEAST who could throw fire and stuff into a Skinny Old Guy

Nalin Oberoi i will avenge you

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

ngl this boop-o-meter thing is a great icebreaker! I'm boop-battling people I've never interacted with a day in my life with no hesitation-

[fluffypotatey]

Honestly, LMK turns the plot on its head so often that I've never voiced this due to the Macaque hate club, but legit. What if Wukong killed Macky trying to save him because as we've seen with MK, he can use that amount of force, that same line, trying to keep someone from certain doom, so why not an out of control monkey with hijacked powers? Macky just. doesn't remember. but that might even be plot relevant since Wukong also doesn't remember things, supposedly. *stares at Nine.* He might've never done anything to Tripitaka and friends, I mean, current Macky has never even SAID anything about hating those guys, heck. He out right SAYS the Monk was good for Wukong and he was allegedly killed AFTER the journey, even if the friendship ties between them never ended afterwards, I honestly struggle to see Macky even being angry enough to want to "save" Wukong as he never did before to just.....be so crazy about it to the point Wukong needs to kill him over it. He'd stand down, he WOULD listen to reason, right? Unless if something else was going on? There'd have to be some other trigger for him to just go off like that, as for all these memories. I bet the "he" Nines was talking about could have been the Demon King of Confusion. You can really make up some fun new powers there, the guy's the first villain ever in JTTW, it's kind of poetic, and also. "Demon KING." Sure, good foe for the Monkey King. They can give him the LBD treatment in raising the prestige.

What if Wukong killed Macky trying to save him[…]?

this has, honestly, been my own theory for what went down since i started lmk. like i knew they would be vague about Wukong and Mackoach’s circumstance because, you know, Wukong did a murder in jttw and this is a kid show intended for an audience of 8-10 year olds. and that kind of topic is a doozy to do right in media (Western media especially).

anyway, by s3, i was under the impression that Macky assumed Wukong killed him final blow style, but Wukong actually left him incapacitated enough for him to admit defeat (and maybe, possibly leaving him for dead, oblivious to the fact that Mac might be too weak to use his shadow powers) because of how much lmk utilizes unreliable narratives. but then, watching Wukong’s and MK’s fight really solidified that original theory of mine. when Mackintosh frees Wukong from his memories in 5x07 (also jfc Wukong literally spent a whole season trapped in his memories and has to do it all over again, my poor babygirl ;-; he’s exhausted!!!!) Wukong looks horrified.

STOP MAKING HIM RELIVE HIS PAST HE ISNT OVER IT AT ALL AND HOLDS TO MUCH GUILT AND REGRET (pls continue!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏 put him through the ringer!!!!! make him snap por favor 🥺🥺🥺🥺)

ahem. AnYwAY!

clearly, that fight is considered one of Wukong’s deepest and darkest memories (which were what the 100-eyed Demon was looking for. because he likes the good tea like me frfr) and doesn’t like looking back at. in a way, it makes sense with how much distance he placed between himself and Macody in 1x09 (almost….indifferent one might say 👀 or trying to act apathetic about it which comes off annoyed…..ain’t that interesting?)

but yeah. good food for thought :3

[bluespiritshonour]

The Boling Rock has got to be my favourite Maiko epsiode because of several things:

I expected them to pull the plug on Maiko the moment Zuko switched sides. But while he did break up with her there wasn't any animosity.

Now, you might ask why would I expect animosity in this situation?

Because what we get to see of their relationship is at a time when Zuko's struggling with his Identity—so most of it is them not working out.

And now that Zuko is one of the heroes, and Mai one of the villains you'd expect for her to be put in her place. Like it often happens to female villains.

But Zuko only seemed sad at the prospect of leaving her.

I had a feeling that Zuko's feelings for Mai weren't as strong as hers were for him. Until he tells Sokka about her.

It's such a simple thing, he just talks fondly of her. And it does more to show that he genuinely wants to be with her than several episodes before that did.

Then, again, because we're used to tropes, I kept expecting them to have a final fallout. Because something about that break up did not feel very final. Or wasn't disparaging to Mai.

But Boiling Rock keeps rolling and there's no signs of Maiko sinking. If anything they go ahead and pull her betraying everything she's ever known for him.

Zuko shows no signs of ill will towards her. Even when she's on the wrong side of the war. Even when he thinks she's loyal to Azula. Even when he probably can't begin to think about the outcome of the war—and them being able to get together depends on that.

He still can't help but be hopelessly in love with her. (I honestly did not think he loved her back before this episode. It felt like she put his needs first and he liked her because of it).

Compare that to the ease with which he cut ties with Ozai and Azula: he simply couldn't bring himself to approach Mai that way.

I think that's the kind of unconditional love Mai needs. Her parents' love for her was extremely conditional, Zuko's wasn't.

[emperorofthedark]

At one point, Cara Livingston needed a place to live, so I mistakenly decided to come out of my grungy hell hole wheelhouse with the Hotel Belladonna.

The result was something like the Hotel Cortez and The Overlook decided to have a baby, in spite of the fact that they were close relatives...

[t-u-i-t-c]

i think that every relationship with the boonboomgers holds value, no matter how little time they may have spent together or what grand developments they have had. i think that genba and jou having small moments of joy and goofing around are just as valuable as ishiro and jou confiding their belief in one another or ishiro stating that he trusts taiya. i don't think the mundane parts of life, or relationships that are still fresh or simple have no value in comparison those that may be filled with more highs and lows that occur over arcs.

i think that different relationships can have different impacts and some relationships may mean more to people than others, but i do believe every relationship can have value no matter how brief. that being said, jou's feelings about genba leaving are not worthless bc him and genba haven't had an arc together or bc their relationship has been simple in it's presentation. it's also about the two of them as individuals, not just their relationship. jou's feelings are very much in character for someone whose feelings are strong and someone who has time and time again showed to value loyalty and strength and how that can be utilized to help others. jou's sadness over genba leaving does not only stem from his relationship but his understanding that genba is a strong and kind person that may end up hurting himself in the end, something that is a reasonable concern considering how genba has been shown to be capable of losing control in fits of rage. episode 28 however is one in which we think about the idea of not being able to control other people and knowing when it's our place to step in as adults.

it's something that they discuss in the episode blog and i think it's really interesting. taiya doesn't keep genba from going bc they're adults and cannot control one another. it's similar with jou and genba. genba makes it clear that this issue is not something that he is willing to compromise on and jou has to respect that boundary, so he decides not to wallow on how things might be better if genba were here bc he knows he can't change genba's mind at this time. jou then chooses to focus on putting his energy to doing what he can, and when faced with difficulty it shifts into doing as much as possible to make up for genba not being there as well.

this isn't really about jou just caring about genba but also his sympathy for people who've been displaced and victimized by the hashiliens which is something that he desperately wants to prevent happening on earth. it's becoming more and more real for jou that the hashiliens have had a bigger impact and more victims than what he's witnessed, and it's becoming more real that he has to prevent it from getting worse. this all really goes to show that while jou is kind and strong, he is also ignorant to how much the hashiliens have done and how many people have been hurt. jou has always been one to keep getting up and to keep fighting and this hasn't changed as of this point, but there's a greater influence and drive to this than just protecting earth. i think this would be interesting to explore further, but nonetheless i do think that jou's feelings about genba leaving are important and impactful for jou's development and for what is to come.

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

[mariocki]

Anthony Ainley guests as medical specialist Josef Kerston, a doctor but also (shock!) a villain, in The Adventurer: The Bradley Way (1.4, ITC, 1972)

[lixbf]

ive been playing so much hades 2 atp i feel like the first Big early access patch is gonna legit change my life....

[secondlastk]

housemate is watching hxh atm and im legit mad about his killua takes

[wonder-worker]

"Among their complaints [in 1460, the Yorkists] specifically blamed the earls of Wiltshire and Shrewsbury and Viscount Beaumont for ‘stirring’ the king [Henry VI] to hold a parliament at Coventry that would attaint them and for keeping them from the king’s presence and likely mercy, asserting that this was done against [the king's] will. To this they added the charge that these evil counselors were also tyrannizing other true men* without the king’s knowledge. Such claims of malfeasance obliquely raised the question of Henry’s fitness as a king, for how could he be deemed competent if such things happened without his knowledge and against his wishes? They also tied in rumors circulating somewhat earlier in the southern counties and likely to have originated in Calais that Henry was really ‘good and gracious Lord to the [Yorkists] since, it was alleged, he had not known of or assented to their attainders. On 11 June the king was compelled to issue a proclamation stating that they were indeed traitors and that assertions to the contrary were to be ignored." - Helen Maurer, "Margaret of Anjou: "Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England"

Three things that we can surmise from this:

We know where the "Henry was an innocent helpless king being controlled and manipulated by his Evil™ advisors" rhetoric came from**.

The Yorkists were deliberately trying to downplay Henry VI's actual role and involvement in politics and the Wars of the Roses. They cast him as a "statue of a king", blamed all royal policies and decisions on others*** (claiming that Henry wasn't even aware of them), and framed themselves as righteous and misunderstood counselors who remained loyal to the crown. We should keep this in mind when we look at chronicles' comments of Henry's alleged passivity and the so-called "role reversal" between him and Queen Margaret.

Henry VI's actual agency and involvement is nevertheless proven by his own actions. We know what he thought of the Yorkists, and we know he took the effort to publicly counter their claims through a proclamation of his own. That speaks louder than the politically motivated narrative of his enemies, don't you think?

*There was some truth to these criticisms. For example, Wiltshire (ie: one of the men named in the pamphlet) was reportedly involved in a horrible situation in June which included hangings and imprisonments for tax resistance in Newbury. The best propagandists always contain a degree of truth, etc. **I've seen some theories on why Margaret of Anjou wasn't mentioned in these pamphlets alongside the others even though she was clearly being vilified during that time as well, and honestly, I think those speculations are mostly unnecessary. Margaret was absent because it was regarded as very unseemly to target queens in such an officially public manner. We see a similar situation a decade later: Elizabeth Woodville was vilified and her whole family - popularly and administratively known as "the queen's kin" - was disparaged in Warwick and Clarence's pamphlets. This would have inevitably associated her with their official complaints far more than Margaret had been, but she was also not directly mentioned. It was simply not considered appropriate. ***This narrative was begun by the Duke of York & Warwick and was - demonstrably - already widespread by the end of 1460. When Edward IV came to power, there seems to have been a slight shift in how he spoke of Henry (he referred to Henry as their "great enemy and adversary"; his envoys were clearly willing to acknowledge Henry's role in Lancastrian resistance to Yorkist rule; etc), but he nevertheless continued the former narrative for the most part. I think this was because 1) it was already well-established and widespread by his father, and 2) downplaying Henry's authority would have served to emphasize Edward's own kingship, which was probably advantageous for a usurper whose deposed rival was still alive and out of reach. In some sense, the Lancastrians did the same thing with their own propaganda across the 1460s, which was clearly not as effective in terms of garnering support and is too long to get into right now, but was still very relevant when it came to emphasizing their own right to the throne while disparaging the Yorkists' claim.

[rabid-catboy]

yeahhh i totally had nothing to do with the queen ahahaha

[lofthousezzz]

I need to draw Shadow Man's giant hips I am so jealous of that asshole! I want those!

[disillusionedjudge]

{Hero Archetypes: The More... something version}

The Fallen Hero You are the Fallen Hero, a tragic embodiment of betrayal, vengeance, or perhaps a heart-wrenching love story turned awry. Whether exposed to corrupting influences, manipulated by deal-makers, brainwashed, extorted, blackmailed, or witnessing the destruction of sacred bonds, your descent into darkness is marked by profound sorrow and loss. You might have turned for the sake of greed. Yet within, a lingering spark of hope remains, compelling you to reluctantly extend assistance to the newcomers. Motivated by the sincere desire to shield them from the same tragic fate you endured, you find yourself driven to guide and protect, despite the shadows of your own past.

tagged by: @tarnishedxknight tagging: anyone!!