#i will literally talk ad nauseam about any and all of these

[survivalove]

debunking lies zutara shippers say about the atla creators & writers

disclaimer: this is in no way an endorsement or defense of bryke or anyone mentioned. literally just debunking false statements i see spread throughout and outside the fandom as it pertains to kataang

1. that bryke made kataang endgame because the nice guy should get the girl

this is something I see often usually linked with this video of a man ⬇️ who they claim to be bryan/mike echoing this sentiment.

this man is in fact john o’bryan, one of the three known zk shippers in the writers’ room (we’ll expand on this in point 5) talking about how he saw aang. not the creators. so of course it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he doesn’t even like kataang in the first place.

2. that bryke made kataang endgame last minute and zutara was the original pairing

bryan and mike (notice how i’m using both of their names separately. this too will be important in the next point) have talked about how kataang was planned since they originally wrote the show.

they have also talked ad nauseam in a video (which I will not share here cuz it made a lot of ppl angry) about why they do not like zutara and its shippers, so this entire point is bogus.

++ the reason why they say zk was the original pairing is because of one of the zk writers (joshua hamilton) wrote this in the atla fun facts that used to run on tv. (we’ll get into him later) those atla fun facts contain a lot of inaccurate/non canon “facts” which you can check and verify on avatar wiki if you know what i’m talking about.

3. that aang is bryke’s self insert (specifically mike)

yeah, here’s where the separation becomes important. bryan (L) and mike (R) are two different men. mike has never said that aang was his self-insert, nor has he directly talked about relating to aang. bryan, however, constantly talks about how much he relates to zuko. even, going as far to say he tries to think like zuko when he writes characters and shows.

the only time mike has come close to saying he relates to aang is when dante said he thinks mike is more like aang while bryan is more like zuko, and they, mostly bryan, agreed. (mike has actually said he relates to korra more than aang but hey) bryan also is the one who drew mike’s beard on adult aang because he considered it a nice reference to his friend. this is the main reason why shippers ran with that self-insert narrative because half the time, they think bryke is actually one person ☠️

++ in fact, aang’s original character design is based off the mixed black-chinese son of sifu kisu

4. that atla was supposed to have a season 4 where katara and zuko got together

this is mostly something that has come out of a fabricated interview by the head writer, aaron ehasz. he was allegedly asked what he would have liked to do if given the chance to write a fourth season of the show and talked about an azula redemption arc among other things. zutaras then made up a whole fake interview including that he wanted to make the two characters endgame.

ehasz then came out to say that most of these “interviews” were faked and that he has never talked about having a preference for any ship. if you go on his twitter, you will see him talking about an azula redemption arc tho.

as for atla having a 4th season at all, it was never intended. the creators, the music composers have all said at various points in time, the show was written and pitched as three seasons, three elements.

5. that most of the other writers shipped zutara and bryke’s authoritarianism shut it down

as I said above, only three writers on the original show have come out to say they preferred zk at some point. atla has had a total of 21 staff writers. 3 out of 21 is not most if you ask me.

as for bryke (yes now i’m using the shorthand cuz i proved my point earlier) being authoritarians, no writer or staff that has worked with them on the show has said this so…? idk where that came from but i’m not here to back them up just mention facts.

6. that all the women who worked on the franchise shipped zutara while only men shipped kataang

atla has very few female staff as it is:

5 writers (elizabeth welch: zk; others: unknown)

1 director (unknown)

5 storyboard/character artists (lauren montgomery: ka; elsa garagarza: ka; angela song mueller: zk; others: unknown)

1 comic writer (faith erin hicks: ka)

2 comic artists (gurihiru: ka)

++ mae whitman (katara’s voice actress) has expressed her like for both ships throughout the years.

so i’m not sure what defines all and only for some ppl but those definitions are not in my dictionary. disclaimer: i’m not declaring anyone here as a shipper in any official sense. this is just based off statements they have made that you can google!

7. that katara is written poorly in post-atla content because of kataang/bryke

I mean the first part isn’t really a lie, more of an opinion which I can agree with to an extent.

why I mention this here is because zks will not only go on a tangent and link the misogyny in the writing to a m/f ship and say the other m/f ship would have been more feminist…

but they also refuse to hold all the men involved accountable. like I said, 3 known atla writers shipped zk and 2 of them (joshua & john) were men (who would’ve thought men could like a ship and it could still be considered feminist 😃). they were also 2 out of only 4 atla writers that came back for legend of korra, outside of the creators. (19 to 4 ☠️ no comment). these shippers very well know this and instead of holding these men accountable for the misogynistic writing, they instead brag about them shipping it and ask them about zk whenever they have the chance.

another example is gene luen yang, a comic writer who again shipped zk (another man GASPPPPP) responsible for the first 5 comic books. everyone knows his comics suck in terms of characterization, particularly katara’s. in fact zutaras have made multiple threads on how poor the writing is. funnily enough, they always fail to mention that gly was the script writer or acknowledge his part in this mischaracterization, while bragging about him shipping zk in other posts. ironic.

meanwhile, bryke have never offered writers’ commentary on any of gly’s comics besides the search - mike (because they were mostly writing legend of korra during his run.)

basically these shippers don’t care about misogyny or holding male writers accountable if they ship zk which is funny because I thought it was… for the female gaze? why are you hyping men shipping it anyway? confusion.

[mseirtaku]

Me watching travesty that was Kung Fu Panda 4.

Under 'read more', I have my full (unsolicited) thoughts on the fourth film - warning, I don't have much good to say about it 〔´∇｀〕;;

SPOILERS! + LONG ASS POST!

So... I'll start with the positives, because honestly, I do love aspects of this movie.

Any scenes featuring Li and Mr. Ping are the absolute highlights of this film. Love them, ship them, hilarious chemistry between them. I'd watch a whole film dedicated to just them.

Though not as funny as the previous films, it’s genuinely funny, like, some jokes are deadass hilarious. (See above for example lol)

Genuinely, the main villainess, the chameleon, has such a cool design and Viola Davis provides such a good voice for her. The animation whenever she transforms is so cool.

Jack Black as Po is just so charming, you can't help but find Po so likeable.

For what little we saw of Tai Lung, he was a treat to see.

Great animation, lovely scenery, love the little animation flairs during the action scenes

Alright, now time for the negatives... Which unfortunately there is a lot of. I’ll go step by step and build up to the bigger picture I’m trying to visualise here.

The Kung Fu Panda

Po’s character arc was pretty much complete at the end of KFP3, when he has his epiphany and finds that his true self lies in not restricting himself to one label, but by embracing everything that makes him Po. His identity by this point is very well realised. Unfortunately in KFP4, the tacked on conflict of him needing to retire the Dragon Warrior title and choose a successor just… Doesn’t make sense for his character at this point. Not to mention, the movie repeats a joke ad nauseam where no one knows who Po is, or of his adventures, jokingly chalking it down to a ‘regional’ tale. You’d think the literal saviour of China would be well known. The world-building feels so much smaller for it. Unfortunately, this movie is very determined to undermine the impact of the last three movies, all to prop up the wisecracking and super cool shitass Awkafina character. Sorry, not sorry, but Zhen is a terrible character just for that reason alone. If Kung Fu Panda wanted to pass the torch down, Tigress or even Tai Lung would have been a much more compelling option, seeing as both were telegraphed to be potential Dragon Warriors in the past. Speaking of…

Tai Lung

Man… The trailers got my hopes up that KFP4 would feature a long awaited redemption arc for the OG villain of the KFP films. Instead, he’s delegated to a cage for half his scenes, and received the barest minimum of character arcs in the finale. Granted, he was still entertaining to watch, but he was totally under-utilised.

To continue the topic of identity, the film missed the chance to ask this: “Who is Tai Lung without his kung fu?” All his life he’d been raised with huge aspirations to become the best kung fu master, and to eventually gain the dragon scroll (which he was denied.) In KFP4, the chameleon summons him from the spirit realm, and drains him of all his kung fu skill. Therein lies the missed opportunity for a compelling character arc, now that he’s been cast out as a supposedly useless body into the real world. And who better to help him figure out his identity other than Po himself?

I could go on forever about the various fanficy rewrites and plot ideas, but I don’t want to let this get any longer. So I’ll talk about one more topic.

The Chameleon

I love her design, I love her voice acting, but compared to Tai Lung, Lord Shen and even General Kai… She’s simply a weak villain. (Too small to learn kung fu… Really?? With characters like Mantis and Viper who deadass exist in the same franchise???)

‘I’m the Chameleon! I do nothing but change!’ holds such potential for a far more interesting backstory. Instead of being rejected for her size, suppose that it was seen by many king fu masters that she simply didn’t possess a true spirit of a kung fu warrior. As explained in this film, their abilities are harnessed in the spirit/soul, not just the physical body. Perhaps she didn’t want to work for those abilities properly. She wanted the easy way forwards. She didn’t want to put in the proper time and effort to become a master of the craft. Spurred on by what she sees as rejection, she learns sorcery to take on any number of identities of kung fu masters. So many identities she could use to fool herself into believing she was someone talented and gifted in the art of kung fu. But it’s only a lie she tells herself. And so, she takes the drastic action, and decides to start summoning these masters from the spirit realm. But even as she slowly grows in power through the course of this film, maybe a strong sense of imposter syndrome starts to set in. These powers aren’t truly hers - what value does a carbon copy of something original have? Nothing. She never properly worked for them and made them her own.

Anyways. I’m almost done writing.

Quick fire round of criticism;

Akwafina’s shitass character

Furious five just tossed aside except for a non speaking cameo. Tigress got done so dirty - if there are gonna be like three more films, they should have been about her

WHAT DID THEY DO TO LORD SHEN’S CHARACTER MODEL

The goofy-ass way he was attacked and then thrown into the cage, the disrespect lol

Li (the victim) and Lord Shen (the genocidal maniac who destroyed his village and killed his wife) somehow existed in the same space and did not get into a conflict.

Why does Kai still exist in the spirit realm? I thought he was literally skadooshed to be extra double dead lol. Like spirit literally eradicated

Akwafina’s shitass character

The villains bowing to Po feels super unearned given how under-utilised they were. I can see it working, just not in the plot we got in the end

Po’s character feels weirdly dumbed down, it’s hard to put my finger on it

Fart joke :(

The innocent and cute but secretly psycho baby bunnies are the definition of anti humour. They’re so fucking obnoxious and cringey

For some reason, the character designs of new characters feels super incongruous and out of place.

The Dragon Warrior isn’t an inherited title, it was given during a time where China needed a hero. Why does it need to be passed down?

Ȁ̸̺͚̮̘̔̌̇̋͛̀́́̒̉̅̐ķ̶̲͍̘̖͈̭̮̝̩͐̃̎̕w̴̙̖̫̿̿͜a̸̧̠͎̰̲̠̮͇̰̼̱͂̋̃̇̑̍̊̂̎̾̓͝f̶̛̼͓̱͖̖̭͓͍͚͋͛̍ḯ̶͕̈́͛̀̎̆͛n̶͖͓̻̉̆̎́͆̌͌͂̾̉̚a̷̡̻̟̟͍̳̙̰͔̬̜̐̏̾̍̊̎́͂͊͝’̷̢̢̭̬̹̪̟̰̣́̈́̌̈̑̄̔͗̓̃̄̐s̶̡̹̙̖̲̝͎̳͔̍͑́ ̷̢̤̈͊͛̚s̸͓̪̠̼̪̤͈̜̎ȟ̵͇̥͈̟͖͈̣̞͚̘̩͍̓̅̀͐͗͛̏̉̀̒͘͜i̸̛̦͕̖̙̲͔̗̙̘̥̣̰̖͖̭̓̄͂̋́̍̓̃͘t̴̯̯̔̑̈̽̇̋̈́͌͛á̴̡͍͓͎͍͈̖͖͎̼̀́̅̿͌̂̌̆͠s̷̢̳̙̦̯̥̮͕͍̃̃͑̂̎̑̍̀͒̊͘̚͝͠͠s̴̪͖̼͈͂̏̚ͅ ̶͕̺̟̙̲͓̘̟̠͇̩̖̠̦̫̄̅̋̓̈́̓̆͋͝͝c̴͕̤̮̎̿̎͐̀̐̊̆̓̍̾̈́͠h̵̛̝̑̋̎̃̈́̆͋͒̅͊́͑͠͝a̷̡̹͍̳̘̪̰̰̤̼̎̄̈́̚ͅŗ̷̝̲͚̻͚̮͕̳̙̭̻̄͆̇̐̄̐͂͘a̴̡̢̯̩͓͓͂̄͑͗́́͂͠͠c̸̨̺̖̪̙͖̯̟̠͙͐́͊̾̅̎̏͠͝t̸̛̗̣̳̠̯͎̫͔̣̱̞̂̅͑̀̈̄͋̈́̆͘͝e̸̢͎͙̻̩̦̹̜̩̦̖̫͍͂́̌ͅr̵̨̄̅͐̍̏̅̀̃́̇̇̅̕͝

That’s all I have really. Sorry for straying so much into fanfiction territory, but it’s an integral part of my criticisms. I could honestly write forever, but I mainly wanted to share this silly redraw of the Tai Lung meme using Lobster and I’s silly Kung Fu Panda Hetalia gijinka crossover AU nonsense lol

If you read this all the way to the end, congrats! And sorry - I never do long text posts like this lol

[sgiandubh]

Hi! Really enjoying your posts but have a question. Why do you suppose anyone even cares where Sam is at any given moment? Is it all in the name of trying to prove he is or isn’t with Caitriona? What good does that do either side when we so rarely know where she is?

(I’d argue that someone shows us where she is most often when someone has already shown us where he is, and that alone 1) is fishy, and 2) only explains a small fraction of her whereabouts, but that’s the silly shipper in me talking 😉)

Dear Whereabouts Anon,

I am terribly sorry for the late answer, but in fact, I think now is the perfect time to answer your questions, given what happened yesterday/today.

I'll answer in order:

I think you noticed already: this is a very thirsty fandom, that has been spoon-fed since the beginning with banter and innuendo, both by These Two and by Anons. When the banter ended, the habit remained. Where is he? Where is she? Where are they? This is also a very 'give me everything and give it to me now ' fandom. The minute you post something of some import is the minute you are, pardon my French, fucked: endless Anons, ranging from pleading to cursing, will land in your inbox. Gimme. Your post will be obsolete in a matter of hours, at most. Gimme everything, all the time. Last but not least, I suppose S&C live, love, procreate and break up several times a day in the minds of some people in the fandom: knowing exactly where they are could possibly help reassure them everything is ok with Those Two. It is the direct consequence of the long timeline of PR slaps, drama and plot twists the shippers have witnessed over the years and I can't be judgmental. It is what it is, the lay of this insecure land.

Not always - I just tried to explain the shippers' motivations. For Mordor, it's all about ABC: Anyone But Cait. Literally anyone, which gave birth to the Fitness Harem merry-go-round. The protracted strike pushed it to new peaks of the grotesque, when it comes to foolishly speculating. No female (not even me, just to take a perfectly absurd premise) could ever be seen near Ginger Jesus, that immediately the Chinese Whispers game starts: who is she? where does she live? what's her trade? Ad nauseam.

It reassures shippers and it serves multiple agendas in Mordor. As simple as that.

I completely agree with your conclusion. And now, I'll have to bid thee good night. I am beaten. :)

[trohpi]

okay heres a list of reasons why regulily makes sense bc i love them so much but every time i talk abt them on any platform other than tumblr ppl are like “ew, regulily is gross” like yall just dont get them the way i do 😤

we know that regulus wasnt like the rest of his family. most purebloods think of house elves as vermin, below even the lowest of wizards, but regulus was kind to them, kinder than he was to most other wizards. he was good at masking to put on that pureblood facade, though, but lily, well, she could see right through it. she was, afterall, “an uncommonly kind person with a habit of seeing the best in others, even when they could not see it themselves”

do yall seriously think that lily evans would have been put off by regulus’ standoffish slytherin demeanor? the woman was best friends with the most standoffish slytherin to ever slytherin. she was one of the few gryffindors who actively befriended slytherins and she likely would have defended regulus against sirius if he ever spoke badly about him in her vicinity, even if they werent friends. thats just the kind of person she is (and we love her all the better for it)

regulus and lily both had complicated relationships with their siblings. both of them were the younger sibling, and both of them were also the sibling preferred by their parents. regulus would understand the grief lily felt over the loss of her close relationship with petunia and lily would understand the betrayed bitterness regulus felt over sirius being happier without him in a way that no one else could. theyd see each other more deeply than anyone else

now ive seen some people (mostly og marauders fans that dislike regulus) say that it makes no sense bc they were on opposite sides of the war at first, but regulus is one of the few death eaters we know of that canonically defected. he literally sacrificed himself trying to stop voldemort, knowing that he would die but accepting it on the off chance that his efforts would eventually help end the war. to act like he was evil is just stupid

and lastly, ive seen some version of “regulily makes no sense! regulus and lily are both gay!” repeated ad nauseam and, well, my question to you is… why cant they be gay together? why limit yourself to the canon cishet normativity when you can have them be bi4bi, or t4t, or nonbinary lesbians, or any other queer relationship you can imagine? like, my personal fav regulily dynamic is lesbian lily and trans girl reg. the options are literally endless. go wild! live out your gay dreams to your hearts content! no one is stopping you!

[ship-ambrosia]

i need to hear all your thoughts on Theon and Theonsa. Please i need the deepest of dives. I’m also obsessed

Hello dear, thanks for the message!! I’m sorry it took me so long to respond, this week was pretty rough at work. I am of course ALWAYS happy to talk about Theonsa.

Delusional, incoherent rambling vibes incoming. You have been warned.

I feel like I have talk ad nauseam about this relationship and all the things I love about it, and if I haven’t mentioned it, I’ve written about it lmao

First of all, I was introduced to this ship by my lesbian best friend. Straight up literally one of the only het ships I can think of that she likes. Theonsa is for the girls and the gays, confirmed. I myself was so shook bcuz they were my favorite characters from the very little of the show that I had watched at that point, so to hear there was ship potential?? I was hooked instantly

Idk about yall but I have the clip of Theon returning to Winterfell and him and Sansa hugging while he’s basically ignoring dany there the whole time saved on my phone and I watch it SO much. Would offer my firstborn child to know what exactly Alfie Allen (and Sophie, but mostly Alfie) was thinking while that was being filmed because that’s the scene that convinced me they were IN LOVE especially that Theon loved her. It’s just the way his eyes flicker to Sansa even when he’s supposed to be addressing his “Queen”.

Honestly I’m a lot more forgiving toward season 8 than most of my friends but the one thing that pisses me off is that everyone leaves sansa alone at the end!! Wtf!!! Anyway if Theon had survived you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have stayed with her. He would have 100% dedicated the rest of his life to being at her side, whether anything came of their love or not. And god one day I need to write a scene of theon and Sansa reuniting immediately after the night king is killed!! Theon exiting the Godswood with Arya and bran and Sansa running over to all three of them!! Ugh my heart. Also, I feel like Dany would be so grief stricken over Jorah and to see Sansa happily reunited with Theon would make her absolutely furious which sounds very interesting to me

Umm what else. I think Theon should’ve gotten to kill his uncle. Why’d that kill go to Jaime? I had this fic idea a while ago where Baelish doesn’t bring the knights of the vale so Jon loses the battle of the bastards and Sansa ends up back with Ramsay but Theon’s already convinced Yara to go north to help (I know Yara would never do it but LET ME HAVE THIS) and then Euron hears his niece and nephew are going north so he decides to go north too. So basically three of the worst men converge at Winterfell to face off basically fighting over Sansa but surprise Theon and Yara break Jon out of prison to rescue her. And yeah Euron’s just like oh I want the Stark girl now because I know my nephew wants her. Then Theon can get to kill Euron or Ramsay or Baelish. Lmao. Most of my fics start as incoherent vibes like that

Uhhh if there’s any else you wanna know about specifically feel free to ask again! That’s about all I can think of right now thanks 🥰

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith walks into the briefing room expecting very little. They still have a couple days until their nearest big mission, and they’ve already planned it ad nauseam, so he isn’t sure what Allura needs to discuss.

But, black paladin or not, Keith knows damn well that Allura’s the boss, so. To the briefing room he goes.

He’s greeted with a beaming smile from Lance the second he walks through the door, which is surprising for a few reasons, but largely because last time he checked, he was firmly on Lance’s shit list. (They’d had an argument last night while Lance was on kitchen clean-up duty that had ended with Lance scooping a pot of dirty dishwater and dumping it over Keith’s head before storming out. So. How Lance went from absolutely furious to smiling at Keith like Keith was the sun after a storm was a mystery, but Keith has always thrived when Lance gave him any attention, so he decides not to question it.)

“Come sit next to me,” Lance offers, and obviously Keith does not hesitate to do so. The second he sits down, Lance reaches over and wraps his arm tightly around Keith’s, then hooks his ankle around the leg of Keith’s chair, yanking him closer.

Damn, someone’s in a magically wonderful mood, Keith thinks, pleased.

Before he can ask Lance what has him to happy, Allura strides into the room, straight to her place at the head of the table, and starts the briefing immediately.

“Alright, everyone. This briefing is going to be about a new mission we’ve just received. We’re expected to make an extended appearance at the Ghuwa System’s ball.”

Lance’s hold tightens as soon as Allura finishes her sentence, and suddenly his ‘magically wonderful mood’ makes perfect sense.

Oh, that motherfucker.

“You are a snake,” he hisses to Lance, who smirks and does not look at him.

“Shut up and pay attention,” he whispers back.

Keith does, but barely, busy fuming at Lance for setting him up.

What a butthead.

Usually, when anything even remotely suggesting a ball or dance or gala or whatever the fuck leaves Allura’s mouth, Keith finds a way to get the hell out of the room. Whether it be subtly inducing an argument between Pidge and Hunk so he can slip away unnoticed, or straight-up just leaving, he finds a way to not be involved.

And, yeah. He knows it’s a little immature. But he fucking hates stupid dances, and he’s fucking right to hate them. For starters, they are a massive waste of time. They had a war to win. Why the fuck are they spending literally any time at all twirling around a dance floor, or whatever? Secondly, and admittedly more selfishly, is that Keith just didn’t… do dances. He doesn’t know how, and standing awkwardly on the sidelines makes him uncomfortable. It’s not like he’s serving any great purpose, either. In the early days of Voltron, he’d make his presence for twenty or so minutes, then informed Shiro he was going to the washroom and just never come back. And it wasn’t an issue! Treaties were always signed, alliances always went through, with or without his presence. It was literally, in every sense of the word, a massive waste of his time.

“Some of us,” Allura says, pointedly looking at the space just above Keith’s head, “have been… flaky, in the past, in regards to these missions. And because I am endlessly benevolent —”

Lance snorts, making Allura whip a pen at his head without looking, nailing him square in the forehead. A dark satisfaction rises up in Keith’s chest.

That’s what you get, you backstabber.

“Endlessly benevolent,” Allura repeats, “so I have let it slide. But that won’t work anymore. Some of you are the leader of Voltron, now, it would be in the best interest of this mysterious person or persons to show up to these missions without complaining.”

“How come I can’t complain?” Keith protests. “I should be allowed to complain a little!”

“Who says I’m talking about you?”

“How many other leaders of Voltron are you referencing?!”

Allura shrugs, heavy amusement in her eyes giving her away. “Who knows. Anyways. The ball is tomorrow night, you’re expected to dress formally and each of you will be expected to dance at least once.” This time, she looks pointedly in Pidge’s direction. “That also means that certain tiny geniuses cannot hide behind their tall engineer friend.”

Pidge huffs. “I do not hide behind Hunk.”

“You really do,” Hunk says apologetically. “Sorry, man.”

“If that’s all, Princess,” Lance says before Pidge can argue, “Keith and I have somewhere to be?”

Oh, shit.

“That’s right,” Allura says, smirking a little. “You’re free to go.”

Double oh, shit.

“Or you could just execute me,” Keith offers.

Allura, Pidge, and Hunk all snigger, while Lance rolls his eyes and yanks Keith to his feet.

“You are the most dramatic person on this ship,” he says, which coming from him is the equivalent of a whale telling a dolphin it should lose a few pounds.

“That’s a dollar in the ridiculously strange cowboy idiom jar,” Lance says, dragging him down a mess of hallways, and Keith scowls.

“My idioms are normal.”

“They’re really not, dude. The six hundred twenty-two dollars you currently to the jar prove otherwise.

“I do not owe six hundred fucking dollars to the jar!” Keith protests, and he knows he’s right when Lance smirks.

“Right. You owe six hundred twenty-two.”

“I’ll give you an idiom. How about you shove your lying tongue right up my —”

“We’re here,” Lance interrupts, visibly holding back laughter.

Jerk.

Huffing and generously deciding to drop it, Keith looks around. ‘Here’ seems to be — an atrium, of some sort?

“I know part of the reason these diplomatic missions freak you out is because they make you uncomfortable,” Lance says matter-of-factly. “I can’t fix that, but I might be able to help.”

“I hate the diplomatic missions because they’re a waste of time,” Keith argues.

Lance sighs, shoulders slumping, and suddenly all the stress is visible on his face, tense lines furrowing his brow and deepening his frown.

“Look, man. I know — I know it feels like we’ve gotta be fighting 24/7. But that’s not what war is. Not all of it, anyway.” Dark brown eyes lock onto Keith’s, tired and anxious. “Do you have any idea how fucking scary we are?”

Keith blinks. That’s… not at all what he was expecting.

“What?”

“Dude, imagine something for a second. Imagine there was this group of aliens on Earth. They each piloted their own insanely intricate and supernatural mecha-vehicle — sentient mecha-vehicle — and can combine to make a weapon of war equivalent to what is essentially and armoured tank that can shoot nuclear bombs. And each of these mechas is piloted by an alien with different, intense levels of strengths. One of them is a genius engineer, who can build anything out of scraps. One’s basically a walking supercomputer and can hack into anything with a code. One’s a shapeshifting, superstrength-having, royally-raised warrior. Another team member isn’t a pilot, but has the cultural information of basically every planet to ever trade in the universe. And one of their pilots is this unbelievably skilled prodigy who can out-manoeuvre any opponent to ever sit in an aircraft. Keith,” Lance holds his hands up, exhausted and exasperated. “Keith, can’t you see the fucking power we hold? I think we take it for granted. We are the only thing that can stand against Zarkon’s Empire. Just Voltron. That’s it. Dude, people are terrified of us. Don’t you see?”

“You missed one,” Keith says quietly, which is really kind of off-topic but the only thing he can think to say.

“What?”

“A pilot. Hunk, Pidge, Allura, me. You even got Coran. You missed one.”

Lance’s face turns pained. “I didn’t mean — I didn’t mean to exclude Shiro. Fuck. I just meant currently. But you’re right — once we find him again, our other pilot is going to be the Champion. Who the fuck could stand a chance against the Champion?”

“No, Lance,” Keith says, voice a little urgent. “I mean, yeah, sure, of course Shiro’s powerful, but. I meant you. In your original lineup, you forgot to mention yourself.”

“Oh, sure.” Lance flaps a dismissive hand. “I can shoot, I can pilot, I’m a fucking paladin. Of course I’m up there.”

Keith shifts uncomfortably. There’s something…off, there, but Keith can’t pinpoint it. He’s not sure he’d be able to bring it up, even if he could.

(But there’s something there in the way Lance doesn’t count himself among the rest of them.)

“But you get what I’m saying, right?” Lance continues. “We’re scary as shit. Sure, we say we’re fighting Zarkon, but how the hell are civilians supposed to trust us?”

“I mean, we very much do fight Zarkon. We’re not just saying that. They should be able to trust our actions, if not our words — we do fight him.”

“For what purpose?” Lance counters. “Most of these people have either been brutally colonized and been victims of genocide, or have been under that threat. They’ve spent the last ten thousand years — think about that for a goddamn second, some of these planets have been enslaved by Zarkon for longer that humans have had widespread civilizations — with the only truth that powerful people use power to hurt people. Why the hell would they assume that we want to do anything but take Zarkon’s place? Why would they assume that we want to stop him for any reason other than to make our own empire? I mean, look at any human war! Do you know who it was to overthrow Stalin?”

“Hitler,” Keith says quietly.

“Exactly. And millions of people rejoiced when he did, only to be blindsided by his real reason for overthrowing Stalin’s empire. You can’t blame people for wanting to — for lack of a better word — humanize us, Keith. They’re terrified, and they desperately want to trust us, but they have no reason to.”

Keith lets that sit in the air between them for a moment, because holy shit.

“I never thought of it that way,” he admits.

Lance smiles, but there’s no joy behind it. “I know. That’s why I explained it. I’m not mad at you, man. None of us are. Hell, I had to explain this exact thing to Pidge a couple months ago. It’s hard to conceptualize how anyone else might be thinking of us.”

“Not for you, though. You had no issue figuring this out on your own.”

“Eh. My mother is a history professor. I’m familiar with the facets of war. I had a leg up on you.”

“Still.”

“Seriously, Keith, it’s fine. I didn’t come here to make you all guilty, or whatever. I know you’re going to take this seriously. I trust you. I came here to teach you how to dance.”

It’s such an abrupt subject change that it take Keith a second and a half to process it.

“Wait — really?”

Lance hums in affirmation, stepping over to the side to fiddle with some sort of device. “Yep. I figured half the reason you hate these things so much is because you don’t know how to have fun at them.”

“That’s because there’s no way to have fun at them,” Keith says stubbornly. “I’ll take them seriously —” because there’s no way he can not, now, not with that startling perspective Lance put in his head — “but that’s it. I’ll show up and not glare at people. Boom! Now I’m not scary.”

“Not gonna cut it, batboy,” Lance says, amused. “You’re the leader of Voltron, now. People are expecting you to lead us. Part of that is leading by example. Ergo — you’re expected to dance.”

“Well, then, the only thing this mission is going to accomplish is to make this planet lose all faith in us, because I will not be the shining example of elegance!”

“That’s why I’m teaching you,” Lance says easily, apparently very used to Keith’s freak-outs.

Which. Is kind of a nice feeling, if Keith’s being honest.

“How the hell are you going to teach me how to dance enough for me to not look like a fool?”

Lance pauses his fiddling to look at Keith firmly. “Keith. Chill out a goddamn second. Take a deep breath.”

Keith does.

“Good. Now, listen to me. I am not going to attempt to teach you every dance known to man and beyond in the next couple of hours, okay? I’m just going to teach you to waltz. It’s easy, it’s a staple at every ball we’ve been to, and it’s genuinely kind of hard to fuck up. Plus, if I can just get this damn thing working —“ Lance glares at the device, hands on his hips and eyes crossed in frustration — “this song in particular actually has the dance instructions in the lyrics.”

Keith blinks. There’s only one song Keith can think of with waltzing instructions in the lyrics. But that would be ridiculous.

Is he —?

No.

No way.

Right?

“Aha!”

Lance grins as steady hi-hats begin to sound out of hidden speakers, along with a simple guitar melody.

Holy shit. He is.

“Are you seriously going to teach me to waltz using a song from High School Musical 3?”

“Are you seriously able to recognize this song after three notes?” Lance shoots back immediately.

And, well.

Keith — 1124. Lance — 1345.

(Keith’s been having something of a rough couple weeks. He’ll catch up. Probably.)

“Touché,” he says eventually, and Lance laughs as he walks over to Keith, humming along to the music.

“Take my hand,” he sings, along with Vanessa Hudgens.

“Are we seriously doing this.”

“Take a breath,” Lance sings louder, and Keith huffs before conceding. His dance lessons will be accompanied by one exclusive serenade by Lance McClain, apparently.

That’s…fine. His heart can definitely handle that.

“Pull me close, and take one step.”

Keith bites his lip and does as Lance instructs, and — oh, God. He lied to himself. His heart can most definitely not handle that.

He hopes his face isn’t as red as it feels, even though he knows it is.

“Wait, am I leading?” Keith asks, because that seems… odd, even though he definitely is.

Lance doesn’t answer, but does carefully untangle one of his hands, and then raises it to Keith’s face, gently tilting it up to face his.

“Keep your eyes locked on mine,” he sings, quieter than before, “and let the music be your guide.”

Keith goes mute, any and all questions dying in his throat, as he looks into Lance’s face and feels his heart pounding relentlessly in his chest.

As the song crests into a duet, less of a dancing instruction and more clearly a love song, Lance fades into humming, keeping his hold onto Keith and occasionally correcting his stance as Keith twirls then around in wide circles.

“You’re doing great,” Lance says softly. “See? Not so hard.”

Not physically, sure.

But emotionally?

“Surprised I haven’t lead you straight into a wall,” Keith manages to choke out, and Lance smiles.

“Leading’s actually easier than following, when you waltz,” he whispers, like it’s a secret, something only Keith can hear. “See, cause I’m doing everything you’re doing, but backwards.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Here, let’s step it up.”

Keith’s not sure if he’ll be able to handle that, honestly, but he can barely even keep his breath even, so he can’t bring himself to focus hard enough to protest.

“Okay, so you’ve got on hand in my waist and one hand in mine, right?”

Oh, believe me, Lance, Keith thinks hysterically, I know.

“On the next downbeat, you’re going to lift the hand in mine above our heads and let go of my waist, okay?”

Lance barely gives him time to nod before the downbeat hits and Lance twirls neatly under their raised arms.

“Okay, now you can put your hand back on my waist. Easy, see? But it looks real fancy for everyone else.”

Keith’s skin burns through his shirt when Lance’s hand comes back to rest on his shoulder. He wonders if his hand burns Lance’s waist just as fiercely.

“God, Keith, you’re killing it! You’re a natural. Makes sense, seeing how easily you fight. Fighting and dancing are cousins.”

Lance smiles so brightly, looking at Keith with so much pride and — and affection, in his eyes, and Keith can barely understand what compels him to do it but he can no more stop it than he can stop his heart from beating, his lungs from filling; when the song swells, Troy and Gabriella’s voices twirling together in passionate harmony, Keith dips Lance.

Just. Leans forward and drapes Lance over his arm.

Lance’s lips part in shock, and he stares up at Keith, stunned but — trusting.

Keith swallows roughly. He should — he should pull Lance back up. Keep dancing. A dip would make sense, would be explainable. They’re waltzing, after all. But the longer Keith holds the position, the less he can explain himself.

He can’t bring himself to pull away.

“Keith?” Lance asks, but he doesn’t sound confused. He doesn’t sound like he’s asking Keith what he’s doing. More like — more like asking permission.

“Yeah, Lance,” Keith whispers.

Granting it.

Lance sighs, and his eyes close, and — “Don’t drop me, Red,” —then he’s tilting his head up and pressing his lips to Keith’s.

Keith tightens his hold around Lance’s waist, pressing back just as gently.

“Never.”

[bylertruther]

random thought, but i feel like putting all of the blame on karen for the fact tht mike doesn't open up to her is a little ...................... (insert vague hand motion here bc i can't think of a fitting, not-childish eloquent word) ????

yes she's the parent and yes she does have to make the effort to create an environment where he feels welcome to share and talk to her, but karen cannot force mike to open up. mike doesn't respond well to his parents being overbearing and honestly he doesn't react well to ANYONE coming at him head-on no matter how close they are to him.

mike needs to come to people on his own terms when he's ready and collected himself. and karen knows that! she literally says that to ted when ted offers to go talk to him in s1 because they know will's death and disappearance is hard on him. and no i don't think they should've taken away his toys aka doled out a punishment when mike wasn't cooperating in s2, because that's simply Not how you handle such a situation, but they did it because they thought well if us being "soft" isn't working then maybe us putting our foot down will get through to him. it's not like they did it bc they thought to themselves "lmao fuck that guy 🖕".

and even though mike doesn't seek support through verbal means like nancy does, he does seek comfort from her through physical affection! and karen does give it to him! whenever he feels like he's lost will, he goes to her and breaks down in her arms and she drops everything to go hold him.

the point is that when mike does go to her, she's there. they all care about and love each other in that family, including ted. karen and ted are not plot-involved parents like joyce and hopper are, and we're not going to get a deep dive into any of the other families unless it's relevant to the plot. ... as we've literally already seen before?

and ted is the way he is because he's written as the kind of father that spends all day at work to provide for his family and gets home and just wants to watch tv and eat dinner and go to sleep and repeat that ad nauseam for the rest of his life bc tht's just what you do and you only have so much energy (smth smth silly little play). i'm not saying he's father of the year and no one should ever comment on his involvement with his kids, but... that's just his role to play in this story.

he's clueless abt the crazy shit that goes down in hawkins the same way that everyone else is clueless abt it but that doesn't make him a bad guy lol. there's purposeful juxtaposition of him chillin' watching the news cover everything up while joyce and hopper and the kids are out there losing their minds almost dying fighting monsters saving the world etc etc. it's supposed to be comical. he lives here and he has no idea what's really happening, unlike us and the central characters of the show.

not every family has to look or act like the byers or sinclair family to be Good. you can try your best to get someone to talk to you, but they're not going to do it if they don't want to. mike is a hothead that doesn't often share or even totally understand what he's feeling, and if he does, he rarely opens up all the way. he still keeps certain things to himself and only reveals just enough to achieve his goals. it's mainly when he's apologizing over something big that he manages to be open, and that isn't even something that happens often or outside of a situation that necessitates it.

and the whole "not knowing exactly where your kids are, but knowing they're with their friends somewhere and that they'll be home later tonight" isn't a sign of abuse or that they don't care. that's what life was like before the technology that we have now, and that level of freedom was the POINT. it's a big part of WHY the duffers chose the eighties. such a story wouldn't work with our current technology. that isn't even an experience exclusive to those that are 30+ or whatever. i'm in my twenties and i remember my childhood being like that.

like. i don't think it's as black and white of an issue as some people suggest. the wheelers haven't been perfect parents, but they're not malicious and they do love their children, even if they clearly don't always understand them. saying that karen and ted don't care about or love their children and that they're on the same level of neglect as lonnie is just... i mean. what?

[the-haunted-office]

I have updated the "Stuff I am not comfortable roleplaying" section of my rules. Please have a look, and let me know if you have questions!

Please note: The section I added about "my muses being in inauthentic relationships" is not due to anything anyone has recently done. I felt I needed to say this because I didn't want anyone getting the idea that they had. It's something that has happened in the past, and I don't want for it to happen again because of how this dynamic was abused. It unfortunately created a negative experience for me that I don't wish to repeat. What it boils down to is communication between you and me - that is literally all it takes for me to be okay with the dynamic. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

⭐ Stuff I am NOT comfortable with roleplaying

Let me preface this by stating that I do understand the separation of fiction and reality. I understand that fiction is a place where people may safely explore themes that wouldn’t be okay to do in real life and that it does not reflect who you are as a person. However, the below subjects are personal icks for me, so I’d like to avoid roleplaying them. You may roleplay them on your blog and I have no issue with seeing it on my dash. That is all fine. It’s just that I personally am not interested in roleplaying these topics with my muses, and I appreciate the mutual respect in this matter. Thank you!

Smut. I am not really into rping smutty stuff. Suggestive or dirty humor, implying things, flirting, mentioning it, saying it happened, asking questions about my muses’ sex lives (like in inbox ask meme games), and suchlike is all fine - just nothing overly explicit, please. I don’t mind other people rping smut and following those who do or seeing it on my dash; I am just uncomfortable rping it myself. If in any case an rp starts going in that direction, I’ll have it fade to black or skip ahead.

Excessive violence towards children. It’s okay if it’s part of a muse’s past, and in threads I am also okay with some angst and general childhood things like skinned knees and the like. But I am not comfortable rping actual threads where there is excessive harm being done towards children. Also, it should go without saying, but anything of the pedophilic nature will be absolutely, 100% not tolerated and will result in an instant block if it’s even suggested.

Abusive relationships. Enemies to lovers type relationships don't fall under this category to me - it is specifically when one partner is harming the other with no healing or remorse in sight. It’s when the party/ies are enjoying hurting one another and the other clearly isn’t enjoying it is when it becomes abuse to me and when it makes me uncomfortable. Again, you do you, I have nothing against that, we’re all good, it’s just something I’m not interested in rping myself.

My muses being in inauthentic relationships WITHOUT MY CONSENT. This doesn’t necessarily apply to romantic relationships - this is speaking of ALL kinds of relationships, including and especially friendships. This dynamic unfortunately has been sprung on me and my muses ad nauseam, especially with Thursday, to the point where I am not really interested in tolerating this any longer. This is referring to relationships where your muse doesn’t actually consider mine their friend - they are only calling them a friend for ulterior motives, to use them, because they need them for something, etc. Please, no more of this, unless we talk it over extensively in advance and it’s something we both 100% agree on. My consent is the key here. I do not mind doing plots and muse dynamics where there is a disingenuous relationship between your muse and mine - it’s that I do not like when it is presented as a genuine friendship at first, only for my writing partner to turn around later and tell me “Oh no, my muse doesn’t actually like yours, they’re just using them,” or for their muse’s actions to show something completely different. At that point I consider the relationship abusive and being done under the table to boot, so I will likely be coming into your DMs to talk about it.

[thewarnerbrothers]

alright i gotta say something

you really cant do anything when you have a moderately popular blog huh

look. im a lurker at heart. i just happen to have one issue: not being able to shut up when im interested in something. thats the only reaaon this blog exists. i didnt come here to make friends, though i ended up doing that along the way

i dont want or need your pity. what i need is for people i dont know at all to stop putting me under a microscope

newsflash: i dont matter. follower count doesnt matter. at all. do you know what its like having thousands of eyes on you all the time? it sucks

i literally cant do anything

if i block literal strangers, they get mad and try to publicly shame me for it. if i try to settle disputes amicably in private, its seen as bad. if i attempt to be open and transparent with modding decisions, its bad. if i ask people to actually talk to me, they dont. instead they kick up a frenzy in private to coordinate a stupid mass hissy fit disproportionate to any perceived slight they may have endured. if i make friends, people take it personally. people see that as some sort of insult. i cannot be friends with everyone. i wont. this hurts strangers feelings, dspite me not existing for their pleasure.

some of you feel very entitled to my time. you dont own me. i dont owe you anything. ive tried to not lose the few molecules of my mind left on a regular basis because of some people who are no longer in this fandom, and some who still are. and man. i am just. tired. of everyone. all the time.

i think even more than the fact that this series was released (mainly) as a bingewatch fest, what killed this fandom was you

not necessarily you, whoever is reading this. i mean the fans. in general. some of you are so annoying, rude, inappropriate, and willfully lacking in social skills. youre over dramatic. youre moody. youre dramamongering. youre liars. youre bullies. youre self-ascribed victims. you dont care about other human beings.

youre repulsive, frankly

you are part of the reason people have been leaving the fandom in droves. the homophobia. the transphobia. the ship hate. the inability to treat other people with basic human decency. the manufactured scandals. shut up and grow up

you know why i barely interact with larger fandom anymore? ill tell you

waves of harassment to varying degrees ad nauseam

creeps who refuse to even try to keep their fetishes to themselves in private groups that include minors

abusers (most of whom are thankfully now gone)

people befriending me only to reveal that they dont actually like or care about me as a person

the most willfully socially inept people to ever exist

nosy jerks who literally cannot stand not sticking their nose in personal problems that have nothing to do with them

people treating me and my blog like im google adsense. im not a billboard guys

people deciding i am evil for no apparent reason? sdkjfalsdjfa

thinly veiled anythingphobia pretending to be socially just (hi homophobes who imply that being lgbt by nature is 'adult')

people who just make things up. all the time. just make up a lie, say it passionately enough. if you try to defend yourself, youre seen as guilty/suspicious. if you try to resolve things quietly with only those involved, you're seen as guilty/suspicious. cant win

wankers who need to learn why parasocial relationships arent actually meant to be embraced wholeheartedly

really lame one-off trolls tbh

the most fandom discourse-poisoned takes i have seen since su hatedom was at its peak

im just tired of being nice all the time? i think you guys just like taking advantage of people you imagine to be good targets

listen. i am allowed to do whatever i want, regardless of how you feel about it. the same thing goes for you. i tend to try to resolve things reasonably and rationally, but i wont pretend ive never gotten mad or overreacted or made a decision i regret. ive made that pretty known. i like to think i've grown, and ive gone out of my way to apologize to people.

however.

some of yall do not understand that just because your feelings got hurt, it doesnt mean you are deserve an apology or an explanation. sometimes it literally is just a you problem. a skill issue. you need to grow thicker skin. learn how to curate your online experience. get. over it.

lets talk about blocking, shall we?

blocking is great. i block people all the time. i block bots, i block tag spammers, i block people who make posts with rancid vibes, i block people who ive personally interacted with and no longer wish to, i block because i get tired of seeing someones posts, i block people who post things that trigger me, i block blogs with icons i dont like. there's usually no grand reason for it, aside from egregious cases where i've been harassed. its also usually not personal. i will block people who ive followed for years. i dont care. i dont know most of yall. i know i've been blocked by tons of people and that's okay! i would rather people who don't want to interact with me do that.

if you get blocked, thats it. dont attempt to contact me again unless i reach out. im not the only blog in this fandom. youll live without my posts. i am not the arbiter of all things animaney.

im just some guy

i know that the people who need to hear this most will not care nor will they actually absorb what i'm saying. ive gotten a lot of hate over the dumbest crap. im done. i think i need to stop trying to be so friendly, because some of you think being a little pissbaby is the only way to interact with others online.

cant wait til i finally explode one day and just delete everything

tldr shut up leave me alone oh my god its not that big a deal jesus christ

[maxdurden]

tagged by @deadchannelradio! thanks!! i'll always take the opportunity to talk ad nauseam about music i'm listening to lol

shuffle your on repeat playlist (on spotify) and list the first 10 songs and then tag 10 people

1. Pigs is Pigs by Mannequin Pussy — what an incredible first pull. uhm. sorry for the screamo ass punk music but also consider that i literally JUST saw them in concert and this song goes so hard. it's not sung by their front woman (who totally deserves her flowers), but i LOVE colins' vocals. not a lyric in the song, but what he said at the concert was 'we don't need police, we need community' and fuck yes. this is such a good band if you have an opportunity to see them in concert do it holy fuck they're so good haha 😬👍

2. American Teenager by Ethel Cain — i know exactly two (2) ethel cain songs but this one goes hard what can i say. peak speeding down the highway singing at the top of your lungs music (don't speed, dive safe kids)

3. Control by Mannequin Pussy — it's gonna be a lot of mannequin pussy on here,,,,,,, lmao. this song is great tho!

4. Too Sweet by Hozier — there's probably gonna be a lot of hozier on here too lol. he released new music which always makes me ill, but also unreal unearth unheard has been sooo good for the oc's i've recently been throwing around like ragdolls in my head lol

5. I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy — 'and what if jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?' need i say more? this is maybe one of their best songs lol

6. Smog by Indigo De Souza — everyone go listen to all of indigo de souza's music RIGHT. NOW. thanks :)

7. Clean Slate by The Mountain Goats — this is another band that released a new album recently(ish) and i've just been a bit ill about some of the songs. the trumpets are especially fun in this one lol

8. Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain — okay so stick with me on this one. it's a great song first of all (insane that it's on the same album as american teenager lmao but go off ethel) but i've mostly been listening to it for oc purposes. this oc is kinda a vessel for working through feelings about gods and faith, and the way that both gods and the faithful need each other and shape each other. essentially,,, in a universe where gods are sustained by the faith of their followers, what happens when all but one of their followers is wiped out. in what ways do those two entities change and warp and love and destroy each other. ya know. just coping with senior year of college things tbh. anyway it's a great song :3

9. Apollo by Momma — this song has fun instrumentation, makes brain go brr. also!!! very on theme for the previously mentioned oc and thinking about gods and the weird relationships you can have with them.

10. Same as Cash by The Mountain Goats —IN YOUR CAR WITH YOUR HEAD IN YOUR HANDS AT THE FAR END OF THE WALMART PARKING LOT, TRYING NOT TO BUCKLE UNDER THE STRAIN, STRIKING A BARGAIN WITH THE IMP IN YOUR BRAIN, PREPAIRED TO TAKE ANOTHER KNOCK FOR THE SHORT GANG, BUT YOU CAN ASK ANY VETERAN RUNNING BACK, EVENTUALLY YOUR JOINTS COMPLAIN. this song is so special to me no one will ever understand it like i do (only bitches who have worked long hours at an understaffed walmart during the pandemic while couch surfing bc you just left your shitty home situation will ever understand what john is trying to say here like i do tbh. entirely possible john doesn't even understand it like i do [this is a joke. art is personal and always ripe for meaningful and individual interpretation. pls don't shoot me]). but everyone should listen to it anyway, the violins and piano are so so fun and good

hahaaaa i told you i could talk soo much about the music i like, unfortunately for y'all

@darkravenstag @thrustin-timberlake @mitebitmurderous @johaerys-writes @sabrirene @sarcasticbeanie @seethestarsalittlecloser @sleeperagentclone @notacluedo @alive-ontheinside

(no pressure ofc!!! and if you don't have spotify i say just go hog wild and talk about songs you've been enjoying no one can stop you)

[fndmstrugglecomments]

I’m glad this was brought up because I’ve been dying to talk about it.

A lot of RWBY fans like to assume that it’s detractors are all bigots, mainly from the assertion that RWBY is Progressive™ so anyone who doesn’t like it must not like progressiveness. For reasons that have been repeated ad nauseam by myself and others that simply isn’t true: A civil rights group is made out to be terrorists, people with disabilities are constantly depicted as villains, the audience is constantly baited with queer characters, not to mention that fact that it’s made by the most bigoted company I think of off hand.

One’s opinions of RWBY is no indication of of one’s beliefs, there many people who love the show who are just as bigoted as they claim the critics to be, but no one wants to call them out because they support RWBY. Every time RWBY’s inaction in V8 is criticized the defense always falls back the sexist assumption that women are physically weak: “They’re tired, they need their rest,” and on and on and on. When RWBY’s decision to steal an airship instead of taking Cordovin’s offer to send Weiss back is criticized the response is that Jaques will do *something* to Weiss when she gets back to Atlas. They can’t tell you exactly what he’d do and when pressed you’ll get a million different headcanons, but just know that regardless of all of Weiss’ abilities she will be stopped in her tracks by her father, once again falling back on the notion that regardless of how powerful a woman is she will be overpowered by literally any guy.

Those are just two examples, I won’t even get into how the female characters have clearly been designed by men, or how Pyrrha only existed to be the Self-Insert’s waifu, or all of the ableism and racism. My point is that all of what I’ve mentioned is clearly rooted in some kind of bigotry but the fandom doesn’t care. The one’s that do are labeled as RWDE for being critics and then labeled as bigots lol. The RWBY fandom isn’t split into progressive fans and bigoted critics, it’s split into those willing to bury their head in the sand to uphold a mid cartoon and those who aren’t.     

[whoify]

thinking again about that poll asking if people consider doctor who a queer show. i’m in the minority of thinking no and i want to say more about why.

first of all queer characters does not a queer show make. doctor who has a healthy dose of queer characters, but it’s more like characters that happen to be queer as opposed to Stories Fully About Queerness. other people have talked ad nauseam about whether this execution is good or bad in general but like it’s literally fine. sometimes queer people are just living their lives while being queer.

but here is where some people responding to that poll would say “but the stories are about queerness, look at the themes of change and gender and acceptance of all!” to which i say no. those are themes that can be connected to queerness if you do choose. any theme can be interpreted as a queer theme.

i think what makes a queer piece of media to me is some combination of explicitness and intention. is the author aiming to tell a Queer Story? are the characters Actively Queer? there’s some sort of matrix here that lets us define heartstopper as queer while excluding like. law and order.

obviously this is completely up to interpretation but based on all that, doctor who just doesn’t live in the queer shows category of my brain. although i would say that torchwood ramps up the explicitness so much that it does in fact qualify.

[destinyc1020]

I wish people would let Chaos Walking go. It had Daisy Ridley attached, a well respected director attached and it’s a popular YA book. Are you telling me on paper that didn’t seem like a great film to sign up for at the time? Who could predict the future and know what it would turn out to be but let’s be real, the auspices attached, any young actor would have signed up. Also, same with Cherry, two directors coming off of literally one of the biggest movie of the year, hell yeah anyone would sign on to that movie. And TDATT had an all star cast and it didn’t help that it came out at the height of the pandemic and Netflix just shoved it out with no real promo but once again, a popular book with an all star cast, what young actor wouldn’t have sign on for that?

Yea, the complaints about those projects are a bit overplayed at this point. 🙄 Y'all know me....I don't like beating dead horses lol 😆 Once smthg has been discussed ad nauseam for a certain amount of time, I don't like just continuing to talk badly about it, cuz it literally gets us nowhere. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Just move on.

Personally, I'm kind of shocked that fans had bad things to say about Cherry. Most of the fandom seemed excited about it when it was coming out? 🥴 I don't know why it's been lumped into the category of a "fail". Same with TDATT! Most fans (I THOUGHT) liked it when it came out at the time. Were fans just lying to themselves lol? 😂 Like, what changed? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Look, y'all need to STOP allowing ppl online or fans on "film twitter" to think for you. Think for yourselves! If you LIKED a movie, even if it was campy and cringe asl, just like it, and OWN it!! Don't flip flop just cuz you read reviews online lol😅

If you liked it, that's all that matters! 🤷🏾‍♀️

Anyway, as I've said before, ALL ACTORS (yes, even the "greats") have had "flop" films. That's nothing new. You just move on!

[cantarella]

Hopping on this (well-informed) hate train to ask your thoughts on foc*llette? I noticed a lot of nvfrs make the switch as if that makes it any better. I thought it was pretty clear in Furina’s sq that Focalors was pretty much everyone’s big sister, to put it simply…

"well-informed hate train" took me out ngl but it's definitely an accurate way to describe whatever's happening here

since I've mentioned I believe furina and focalors to be different characters with different experiences and different minds technically what I think of the idea of furina and neuvi romantically doesn't apply with focalors, but I do think 1. it's deeply heterosexual and boring as hell 2. the fans are annoying and conflate it with nvfri so like even if I didn't mind it at first the fans made me dislike it and 3. it's also kinda weird for a bunch of reasons which I might as well elaborate on

so dragons in teyvat have been textually colonized by celestia, like it's a 1:1 comparison it's not particularly difficult to get that, so I'm not exactly comfortable imagining neuvi romantically invested with an archon no matter who they are. in fact I think even something like neuvi being as sad as he was during her execution scene and afterwards was kinda forced, considerng he's never hidden his resentment for celestia nor gods

you could argue he's inherently kind and felt sad she had to go to such lengths, which, well, yeah obviously. but other than what I've already mentioned there's the fact he straight up didn't know her until 5min prior so it was all a bit much

it also really undermines the fact the execution was an act of righteousness, oppressed groups don't owe gratitude to their oppressors for giving up on their privilege in the name of doing good. so the framing being entirely on how sad and tragic this sacrifice is and make the colonized character be the one to express said sorrow was... ehh a bad look. yes he's kind, and part of the emotional reaction must have been bc he learned of what furina went through and bc he finally found the answer to what he's supposed to do in his life, but it was still sketchy framing when you consider the bigger picture and the themes it touches on. ok tangent over bc this is barely relevant

you're also onto something in the way focalors is a sort of bigger sister bc she is a mentor figure, though only symbolically. in a way her leaving furina 500 years ago, revealing to neuvi her reason for inviting him to the court, handing over her powers and leaving both furina and neuvi for good ties back to the moment in a coming of age narrative in which figures that give guidance and mentorship leave and you're left by yourself to learn to stand on your own. obviously in this case it's only symbolic bc neuvi literally looks like a man in his 50s and they didn't know each other at all, but it terms of story beats it ties back into the main theme of the region. that's how I interpret it, and as always (bc I'm a romance hater) I think the canon dynamic is more interesting if kept as it is and not potrayed as romantic for the sake of it

also it's just weird bc she looks identical to furina like idk my man. I've talked ad nauseam about why I think neuvi fills the role of a guardian figure both in the text and symbolically, I'm not gonna feel comfortable imagining him romancing someone who looks like his pseudo-daughter what kind of freudian nightmare would that be😭

[mlobsters]

supernatural s14e5 nightmare logic (w. meredith glynn)

i haven't been engaged with a main plot on this show in a long time but man, every new season i just get more and more tired. michael using grace?? to juice up super monsters, jack doing unspecified potential evil-erasing, ad nauseam

i thought this maggie girl wasn't an on the ground type hunter, and with how they always have harped on not hunting alone.. good things sure to come.

DEAN You kids have fun out there. SAM Don't even say it. DEAN What? No, it's good. It's got, like, a very camp-counselor vibe to it. Just need to get you a whistle.

at least he looks pretty fond while he's saying it :p

DEAN You got any rest lately, like at all? I mean, look, man, I know things are crazy right now, okay? I mean, hell, I just went toe-to-toe with my own personal horror-movie icon, but we all need our beauty sleep. SAM Dean, I have 16 Hunters on cases right now. That's not counting Jack and Cas in Sarasota or Mom and Bobby working that rugaru in Texas. DEAN Okay, you know that these people survived a war, right? SAM Yeah, but a war isn't Hunting. These people need, uh, lore and weapons and tips and backup, and -- Look, don't worry (phone chimes) about me, all right? I'm -- I'm -- I'm good.

where's uh. garth? someone else to delegate some of the hunter wrangling to? does he still do that post-werewolfing? this is ridiculous. whatever

having a hard time wrapping my head around those hills in the background there

DEAN Huh. Private cemetery. Must be nice. SAM What?

ok that got a smile out of me

DEAN Something on your mind, Bobby? BOBBY Yeah. Your brother. He let Maggie come here when she had no idea what she was walking into. (pause) She wasn't ready.

i mean. based on what the show showed us about her before, inclined to agree. but whatever! heavy is the head blah blah

MARY Look, don't listen to Bobby. SAM Um, maybe he's right, you know? I encouraged her. Maybe he's right about me, about everything. MARY Sam. Watching you these last few weeks, you know what I've been saying to myself? "This is what he was born to do." If Bobby can't see that, then it's not the only thing he's been missing lately.

maybe he is but i rolled my eyes nonetheless. all this is just so out of left field

SAM I wasn't gonna mention it. None of my business, but it did seem like you'd gotten pretty close lately. MARY Yeah, and I thought so, too. Maybe, but since we've been back, things have changed.

there had been a lot of meaningful looks. i was wonder if they were gonna have yet another younger woman be interested in him

SAM Have you asked? MARY Bobby's not open like your dad. SAM Wait. Like my dad? MARY Okay. At least he's not like your dad was when I knew him.

L O L

MARY Bobby's got walls, big ones. I just don't know if I can do that if I even ever put myself out there again. (chuckles) I shouldn't be talking to you about this.

seriously, why does bobby pull literally all the ladies? ellen (in an alternate timeline), jody, his neighbor lady marcy, mary, that lady with the awful sword in the stone bit. get you a lady in her 40s, she's there for it. they were all born around 1970, he was born in 1950. and he's never had the most winning personality

BOBBY You think I was too hard on your brother back there. DEAN He's doing his best. He's doing better than his best. You know, this whole Hunter Five-O thing -- he's -- he's killing himself over it. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, grew himself one of those Kenny Rogers beards. No offense.

tell him, dean. but i mean, also, i kinda agreed with bobby. but no one makes perfect decisions - and especially not when sleep deprived and underfed

DEAN Can I give you a little advice? Let it go. The past is… There's nothing you can do about it now, so… it's just baggage. Let it go. You'll feel a lot lighter. SASHA Is that what you do? DEAN I try. Every single day.

the snort i snorted. okay i feel like he's had this conversation before but then admitted that he can't/is terrible at it. oh god. i'm never gonna remember who he was talking to/when. ughhh

anyway, old chestnut of giving someone advice that you need yourself

bobby getting beaten up by his dead (smited??) son. sure. is he gonna survive the angel blade skewering to a tree through the left side of his chest

upgraded by michael djinn that can manifest nightmares, sure sure

NEIL Relax. I won't let anything happen to Michael's favorite monkey suit, but I am curious (distorted voice) what are your nightmares? [The djinn puts a hand on Dean’s forehead. His grin falls. He lets Dean go.] NEIL You -- You're --

mmmk. vaguely ominous

DEAN You did this. You got her home.

now eat a sandwich and go to bed

no prob, bob

BOBBY I'm the one that brought him to war. I'm the one who sent him to die. I don't even know what they did to him. The angels took them. We never found the bodies. I never figured I'd be any kind of a father to a child. But Daniel… was the best thing in my life. (sighs deeply) I always assumed that war'd kill me, too, but it didn't. I guess lately, I've -- I've been looking for other options. MARY The Hunting. BOBBY It ends the same. MARY No. You are not allowed to give up on me. BOBBY I don't… I don't know any other way to live. MARY Then we'll find one.

all right then. this is a lot

that was a sweet moment there, good job, samantha. but now i'm crying because i'm like. WHEN DO DEAN AND SAM GET TO JUST BE HAPPY, HUH???? and we get the mushy music for the hugs and goodbye

DEAN Garth? It's Dean. Here's the deal --

speak of the devil

SAM Dean -- DEAN I know, I know. Not my fault. It's Michael. It's all Michael. (scoffs) You know, I've been trying to -- not forget, but to move on from what I -- from what we -- from what he did. And I got to be honest, I was -- I was starting to feel like myself again. Almost. SAM So we'll work harder. DEAN How, Sam? You get sleep three hours of sleep a night. SAM All right, then -- then -- then I'll sleep two. Dean, we're going to find Michael, and when we do, we will kill him.

you cannot function on that little sleep for an extended period of time this is just stupid.

DEAN How? SAM I don't know. We'll -- We'll -- We'll track down Dark Kaia and her spear. We'll -- We'll find something. DEAN I hope you're right.

am i missing something? did the two archangel blades disappear?? reading the wiki without trying to completely spoil myself, i see it says it can only kill an archangel when wielded by another archangel. hokay. did we know that?

[putschki1969]

What do you think can happen if let's say Wakana exit Space Craft? I want to see Wakana appear on YK events, but I have doubts about their relation. Maybe you have more insights about Wakana and YK's relationship. From my amateur observation I see that YK doesn't follow Wakana on Twitter, so I think they are not on good terms. The thing is, YK follows people like Lisa, Aimer, Junna etc who she just recently work with. She doesn't follow Wakana who she had been working since forever, why is that?

Hello there anon! I am afraid you've hit a sore spot with your ask...I really don't mean to come off as rude but I am so tired of these specific questions. Why is it that I keep getting them on a regular basis? Have you all been living under a freaking rock for the past five years? Are you on my blog for the first time? Is no one bothering to check out my extensive coverage of this topic? Don't get me wrong, I am always happy to answer questions and to help fellow fans out but I'd appreciate it if people actually invested some time to do a tiny bit of research. I've talked ad nauseam about the whole situation with Space Craft/Wakana vs. YK so there is more than enough reading material to satisfy your curiosity. For example, you can go HERE, HERE and HERE to check out my most recent posts about it.

I will still try to give you an overview〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it all boils down to Japanese society being very non-confrontational. Instead of dealing with conflicts like sensible adults, issues are simply swept under the rug and everyone just pretends they do not exist. It’s all about keeping up appearances and not losing face. The fragile sensibilities of old men with outdated mindsets are put above everything else because those men continue to hold power and make decisions in Japan. The infamous herd-mentality forces everyone else involved to just ignore common sense and roll with it.

Basically, this all started with a bunch of old dudes in Space Craft’s management being butt-hurt about stupid stuff. One of those old guys (Yasunori Mori - who happened to be in charge of YK’s and Kalafina’s management) decided to abandon the agency and out of loyalty, YK left with him to join him at his new agency. The rest is history as they say. You have to take into account that lifetime loyalty is still very much a common thing in Japan. So when people decide to leave, it can easily be seen as a form of treachery, especially if it isn’t a consensual agreement. We don’t know any of the details of course but it is obvious that some sort of incident has resulted in a rift between Space Craft and Mori/YK.

Seeing as Wakana is still signed up with Space Craft, it would be beyond improper for her to publicly associate with anyone from the YK family and vice versa. I would assume there is some sort of non-interaction clause in Wakana’s contract, or at the very least, some unwritten rule to not openly engage with any of them. I know from an outsider’s point of view, this might come across as grade-school level pettiness but this is literally the reality in Japan. As I said, it’s all about not losing face and protecting fragile sensibilities. For this exact reason, it was possible for Haruna Luna to publicly attend YKs live as soon as her departure from Space Craft had been announced.

Now, we must not conflate public displays with actual relationships. What is being presented to us via official channels is merely a contrived act to keep up appearances. None of this reflects how Wakana and the YK family really feel about each other. It’s true, they don’t follow each other on social media accounts, they don’t openly support each other, there are no pictures of them together, etc...But if you follow any of them closely or just check my blog on a regular basis, you will realise that you can’t just take everything at face value. You have to pay attention to their less official interviews, posts and appearances! You will quickly notice that they still refer to each other with fondness and respect. There is no doubt in my mind that when Wakana finally decides to leave Space Craft behind, she would be welcomed back with open arms into the YK family. Not that she would actually have to be “welcomed back” because let’s be real here, in everyone’s mind she is most definitely still considered an important member. But you know, as far as public appearance is concerned, it would seem like Wakana was the lost daughter returning. On a side note, YK has made no secret of the fact that Wakana has always been one of her biggest muses so I am sure she would be thrilled to work with her again (in whatever capacity).

I hope this shed some light on the matter. I would encourage you and everyone else to read up on my other posts about this. Most of them can be found under the following tags: #reply, #yuki kajiura and #space craft; You will have to browse through quite a lot of stuff but I think it will help you get a better understanding of the situation.