#it wasn’t ballister

[squarecloud73]

*I worship you Tumblr don’t remove it

Once upon a time

[catradoraism]

i’m rereading nimona after watching the movie and it’s interesting that they watered down the reason why ambrosius cuts off ballister’s arm, i guess they had to make it more palatable now that their romance is explicitly canon???

also shame this line was cut out too

[ymeisli]

shitty panel redraw bcs i love these fruits 🙁

[parasitic-anomaly]

I loved this movie

[legendary-alliance-stance]

if I see one more person argue that the purists were right because “boo hoo the commander showing up caused so much chaos and death” I WILL go nuclear

[yyumehh]

the turtle crew in concert/rave fits 🔊🎶

is it obvious i started with april and leo, then had to SQUISH everyone else onto the page 😅 poor raph has to crouch to fit lmao

i’m really proud of this though?!?!! i’ve only ever drawn duos at most, so five people is a huge jump for me!

peep the regression 🫣 cus my brain was braining

[mediumsage]

ballistic mains after reading his lore:

[sophiathetrainwreck]

Me when the Queen said Boldheart

[foxytonic]

Sooo…the new Persona 5 game is out. I like the way it looks, and I kinda like the mechanics!

I don’t like the new villain.

Not because she isn’t a good villain, she’s fantastically evil from what I’ve seen, which honestly isn’t much. I definitely want to see how she develops and what her plan is.

But the next person who misattributes that stupid-ass, fake-ass “Let them eat cake, tee hee~ 😘” quote to Marie Antoinette is gonna get fuckin throttled, I swear. She didn’t say it, never said anything like it, spent a ton of money on donating to CHARITY, and the actual quote was recorded as being said by Marie-Thérèse when Antoinette was TEN FUCKIN YEARS OLD! It does not take long to do a basic fact check before spouting bullshit, especially with the entirety of the fuckin internet at your fingertips, people! I found this article within maybe two minutes of searching. Maybe.

Do better. Please.

[trogdor6135]

The buff for ballistics weapons like the scudder is great. It went from being meh to being valuable. Mullered Balteus with it and the ludlow, and lemme tell you: he’s still a dick.

[m1d-45]

OKAY once i’m done with the first quest (brain is very bad at letting me play video games it’s an issue) i’ll drop the uid because that gives me motivation to actually open the game and do shit!!!

now onto the scp thoughts: so. reader creates teyvat, fucks off to earth to take a nap, but picture this with me for a second: instead of eventually being born a regular human until you play genshin, there’s something a bit off about you from the beginning. you look human, sound and act human, but the world always seems to work in your favor even when it logically shouldn’t - the air around you warms up when it’s snowing so that you’re not too cold, obstacles seem to vanish when you walk so that your path isn’t interrupted, animals are calm and polite in your presence. pretty weird, but nothing worth alerting any supernatural government organizations about.

i have no clue what would tip off the scp foundation, BUT they take you in, designate you as a keter class because of how your “reality bending” abilities would easily serve to break you out. maybe they treat you fairly well, maybe not, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been locked up and decided to be less than human because of something you don’t even understand.

you dream of another world, a world where you are free to be what you are. a bright world that feels like home, even though you don’t think you’ve ever been there before.

okay pretty prose moment from teddy is over you get isekai’d into teyvat and like. it could be imposter au but you’d be getting hunted down by the scp foundation anyways for breaching containment so it’s not like you’d be let off the hook if it wasn’t imposter au!

(also. it turns out there’s an archon class. this isn’t related to anything i just wrote but i thought it was cool) - teddy anon

reader but something is Off…. the world bending to your will without your knowing… ough..

similar to analog horror the scp entire… thing has a core place in my mind. i used to spend my free time just looking through the articles and ngl my favorite is that one machine that just constantly made weed /j

reader being keter is 100% accurate for what you described and i adore the “a home you’ve never been to” vibe but is like you to consider: thaumiel reader.

(hopefully i spelled that right-)

thaumiel reader who’s… like the very earth itself. it makes sense, they’re the one who made it, they’re one with the concrete walls and iron chains- maybe they’re miscategorized as keter because of the form they take, but- ok the best example i have is that ikea scp. the ikea is the scp but it has separate sentient like. things inside it right? it’s like that: you’re literally one with the earth, with everything on and in it, but you take ‘host’ as a humanoid.

all i’m thinking is all the damn paperwork it’ll take to try and 1) reclass reader as thaumiel because how to they know what’s a thaumiel anymore if the whole world is a box(referencing that one chart describing the differences in class)? 2) how do you even have a thaumiel class scp the size of the fucking planet?

luckily you seem benevolent enough, but the higher ups who know about you are always cautious when walking by your cell.

(also i don’t remember the archon class but i do remember the higher classes than thaumiel, do you have any sources for that-?)

[pepprs]

the sleep-reducing psychologically damaging ordeal of dreaming about the one thing that most upsets you unfolding in an extremely upsetting context and then kinda waking up and then faling back asleep again and dreaming about said most upsetting thing a second time in what is an arguably more upsetting context. LOL!

[ickymichi]

just had the worst experience with a guy i slept with 2 weeks ago reggie wants to cry 🫶

[gay-fae]

also the way that the nimona movie showed that hate is a taught behavior?? the way that gloreth, the hero worshipped for slaying monsters, was fully accepting of nimona until her mother told her what to believe? until that generational bigotry was passed down? the way the director’s motive wasn’t even power like most evil government figureheads in media, but rather a fear of monsters destroying the kingdom because that hate had been instilled in her too, like it had in gloreth? the way ballister was also indoctrinated into hatred of “monsters” until he was just as outcast as one? because only then was he willing to change and learn?? and how even people with good hearts and good intentions like ballister and ambriosius and even the queen herself are still capable of perpetuating bigotry and unnecessary violence when they don’t take the time to understand or learn about the “others” they supposedly hate????????? i need to lie down

[annoyingloudmicrowavecultist]

nimona oTL

[lauraneedstochill]

if I see one more post about Aegon “bullying Aemond his entire life”, I will go fucking ballistic, I swear to g—

scratch that, I will actually go ballistic right now. this is the “Aegon doesn’t deserve such a shitty treatment” club and I’m the self-proclaimed CEO. we are about to do some analyzing and reading so BUCKLE UP.

gonna make one thing clear first — Aemond was bullied when he was a child. no one denies that, no excuses can be made for that. I’d only like to note that there wasn’t only one bully. here’s a quick reminder:

now that we successfully counted to three, let’s look over Aegon’s other horrible crimes relationship with Aemond throughout the years.

📍 the night Aemond lost his eye (S1EP7), Rhaenyra suggests he should be ���sharply questioned” (she means tortured) so they can learn who told him that her sons were bastards. Viserys, in his perpetual denial, angrily asks Aemond “who spoke these lies” to which he replies that it was Aegon. it is clear that Aemond does that to deflect suspicion from their mother but his words come as a surprise to Aegon.

he’s in a tough spot — Viserys demands the answers “as their king”, not their father (to signify his authority and pressure them into telling the truth). and Alicent screamed in Aegon’s face and slapped him just a minute ago, so he may be less eager to defend her. he can easily lie and say that he overheard some maids gossiping or that he can’t remember where the rumor came from. instead, it takes Aegon about 5 seconds to back Aemond up.

📍 we didn’t get many scenes with young Aegon and Aemond in general, but here’s a short bit people keep overlooking: when Harwin and Criston start fighting, Aemond and Aegon instantly gravitate toward each other. and moreover, Aegon puts a hand over Aemond’s back (which to me is either a protective or a comforting gesture). what a horrible brother, truly.

📍 next we see them all grown up before dinner in S1EP8. I think it’s safe to assume that if Aegon has been bullying Aemond all these years, Aemond wouldn’t want to spend a second in his company. he’s seated between Helaena and Otto, both of whom are dear to him, so Aemond can stay at the table and chat with them. and YET, not only does Aemond voluntarily talks to Aegon, but their conversation seems friendly (you can barely hear it in the show so here’s the enhanced audio). Aemond makes a joke about Aegon’s drinking habits — Aegon quips back — and then, what a shocker! Aemond starts venting his frustrations to Aegon (“Even when the noose is so tight, they expect us to break bread”). nothing would’ve stopped him from venting to Otto but Aemond stays with Aegon. he wouldn’t have done that if there hadn’t been some level of trust between them. he wouldn’t have done that if he hated Aegon’s guts.

📍 at dinner, when Aegon pisses Jace off and the brunet springs to his feet, Aemond stands up too, which forces Jace to act as if nothing happened and come up with a toast. Aegon watches him with a shit-eating grin on his face. it’s the face that screams “I know you won’t dare to act up in front of my brother and my brother has my back”.

when Aemond makes a toast and calls Rhaenyra’s sons “strong”, Aegon raises a cup to that. he can sit this one out — Aemond has his personal vendetta against the boys, and it would be safer for Aegon not to meddle. but what does he do instead? when Luke gets up from the table (clearly intending to go to Aemond), Aegon instantly stands up, comes up to Luke and not just stops him but slams his face into the table right in front of Rhaenyra without thinking twice. and it doesn’t look like Aegon is just messing with him — no, it looks like he wanted to do that for a while. like Aegon finally got his chance to stand up for his brother too. AND he also stops Baela from joining the fight.

📍 S1EP9 is when we get a glimpse of Aemond’s ambitions: he deems himself better than Aegon, he thinks he deserves to be king. but once he finds Aegon and they get into a fight, it turns out that Aegon knows that Aemond is a better choice. he doesn’t want to fight him, he begs Aemond to let him go. and Aemond can do that — Criston has his back to them, so Aemond could’ve pretended that Aegon managed to break free. and even once they caught Aegon, I have no doubt that Aemond could’ve helped him escape. but it seems that, despite his displeasure, Aemond values his family the most. he can’t betray his mother’s trust, and he knows Aegon is the first in line to the throne. Aemond envies him, yes, he may even hate him because of that. but he values his family the most.

📍 as @florisbaratheons noted, during the coronation scene, when Aegon glances at his family, Aemond looks right at him and gives that tiny nod that says “I may hate this and think I am better for the job as king. But I’ve got your back.” I like that Aemond is the one who keeps eye contact in that scene. He could’ve turned away to signal his dissatisfaction with the situation, there wouldn’t have been any consequences for that. But he didn’t.

📍 what I find interesting about S1EP10 is the beginning of Aemond’s dialogue with Luke. that’s the boy Aemond wished to get back at for years and yet, he starts by saying “Did you think that you could just fly about the realm trying to steal my brother’s throne at no cost?”. Aemond could’ve skipped that part — imagine him saying smth along the lines of “Wait, Lord Strong! Don’t you think you and I have other matters to discuss?” (to which Luke answers that he doesn’t want to fight and the conversation goes on). instead, Aemond makes a point to remind Luke: my brother is the king, and I came here on his behalf. you can argue that Aemond doesn’t do it for Aegon specifically but for his family in general. but Aegon is a part of the family, and S1 Aemond has his priorities straight.

📍 as much as I hate comparing the show and the book (these are two different things and should be viewed as such), I’d like to remind you that Aegon was the only one who stood by Aemond’s side after Luke’s death. I wonder why we didn’t get that scene… I guess it’s because it would be kinda hard to call Aegon “the main bully” after he literally throws Aemond a feast. but we do get to see Aegon supporting his brother: in S2EP1 he welcomes Aemond at the small council meeting despite his mother’s protests (“Aemond is my closest blood and my best sword”). and he trusts Aemond wholeheartedly, that much is obvious.

📍 let’s get to the most controversial part — the brothel scene in S2EP3: some people believe Aegon is being a bully at that moment. those people seem to forget one little detail:

it’s been only a few days after the death of Aegon’s son whose murder was a direct result of Aemond’s ruthless actions. does Aemond ever address it? does he express his condolences? does he mayhaps help to catch the killers, being the skilled fighter that he is? the answer is NO.

I do think Aegon’s joke was cruel (I wrote a whole post about it) but that’s all it ever was — a JOKE. the humiliation comes not from the things he says but from the fact that Aemond is found in a vulnerable position and surrounded by a group of strangers while his brother laughs at him. TGC explained it best:

I also love @notbloodraven’s take on that scene:

Aegon lashing out so cruelly at Aemond seems to be an effort in making Aemond feel as badly as he does and blaming him for Jaehaerys without actually saying the words.

would this be the right way to act? no. but there’s no right way to grieve and to cope with the loss — and HIS SON WAS BEHEADED so maybe take 1% of the sympathy you show your favorite character(s) and cut Aegon some slack.

+ other things worth talking about:

📍 @bietrofastimoff23 analyzed S2EP3 beautifully and I can’t help but mention the scene that happens before Aegon goes to the brothel. it’s the moment when Larys suggests that Alicent and Aemond are plotting against Aegon. he isn’t surprised by the idea that his mother can do that — but the second his brother is mentioned, Aegon’s face falls and he shakes his head no. because there is no way Aemond would ever do that to him. and instead of asking for any proof, he asks Larys “who spreads these lies?” and then commands him to “tend to them.” Aegon can ask him to spy on Aemond, to find any dirt on him, find any weaknesses he can use — he does not.

📍 it turns out to be true — Aemond was plotting behind his brother’s back. which is treason btw (I don’t think Criston intended to keep things from Aegon — he probably believed that Aemond would let Aegon in on their plan). and Aegon does have the power to remind Aemond of his place — he can throw him off the council with a snap of his fingers, he can take offense at Aemond’s attempt to publicly humiliate him (their conversation in High Valyrian — Ewan himself calls it a “public execution”). but that’s not what happens: as TGC phrased it, Aemond’s betrayal “breaks a bit of Aegon’s heart off”. an actual bully would’ve immediately pushed back, but Aegon silently sits down and doesn’t argue, he’s so defeated he can’t utter a word. he has the means to be a bully but he doesn’t contemplate it for a second.

📍 I don’t want to talk about S2EP6 because it makes me sick but I will reiterate one thing: never ONCE Aegon made fun of Aemond’s disability or tried to cause him any physical harm. just want to point that out.

there is no moral to this story, I guess. if you managed to read till the very end, thank you. if you still hate Aegon, that’s your opinion and you are allowed to have one — but please, for the love of god, just stop making shit up. no, Aemond was NOT bullied as an adult, absolutely nothing suggests that he was. Aegon was naive to blindly trust him and it backfired on him, that’s the actual story. and if you are so eager to hold Aegon accountable for his mistakes, maybe it’s time for Aemond to take responsibility for his actions too.

+ some of my favorite critical posts about Aegon and Aemond: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x.

P.S. I will not argue with anyone so please don’t waste your time — I consider all my arguments solid and that’s enough for me. if you are thinking of sending me anon hate, pls go take a walk instead, it will do you more good. 🌿