#like it would be more accurate to say that I dislike her the least of my coworkers

[violetclarity]

in a ~fun~ turn of events I think this year I hate my job not because of the *gestures to conservative catholic institution* everything but because the ratio of direct coworkers whom I like vs. dislike has gone from 2:1 to 1:2 and I am LOSING IT

[randomfoggytiger]

The Evolution of Gillian Anderson's Friendship with David Duchovny

Early friendship:

He was an experienced actor when they started The X Files, she had been receiving unemployment benefit and had been in front of cameras only once before.

And she admits: "I desperately needed someone to show me the ropes and David did. He was wonderful."

There were rumours of a secret romance, which would have got them both fired on the spot. It is a strict studio rule that there will be no intimacy between the stars - off screen as well as on.

But Gillian did find love on The X Files, in the shape of assistant art director Clyde Klotz. And she did turn to Duchovny for advice after acting spontaneously on her wedding night, taking no precautions and finding herself pregnant.

She was horrified, believing she would get herself fired and ruin her career.

[“I went into his trailer,” she recalls, “and I said, ‘David, I’m pregnant.’ It looked like his knees buckled.... And he asked me if it was a good thing. I said, ‘Yeah, it is.’]

But her co-star, who was the only person she confided in apart from her husband, put Gillian's mind at ease.

He advised her not to have an abortion - that things would work out. And they did.

He kept her secret while Gillian thought things over for a month.

1995:

David Duchovny is not happy.....

Anderson, sensing Duchovny’s mood, looks down at his hand on her left shoulder and tries to brush it away, as if it were a mosquito. Then she turns and jumps into his arms, laughing, looking like a little girl making trouble for a protective older brother. Startled to be holding her, the smile on Duchovny’s face is forced no longer.

...“We really trust each other,” Duchovny says simply.

There is, between these two, a real-life camaraderie born of necessity, a friendship strong enough to survive too many work hours, and a chemistry powerful enough to rearrange the atoms on-screen. “Whenever we’re acting together,” says Anderson, “it’s there.”

1997:

But in real life, Duchovny and Anderson have a relationship as much a conundrum to outsiders as any X-File.

“We have a relationship that is completely odd and fabricated,” Duchovny says. “We’ve been thrown together, two people who don’t know each other, and we’ve been forced to spend more time together than married people do. So you can’t describe our relationship as ‘like’ or ‘dislike.’ ”

Sounds a little frosty.

“It is frosty,” Gillian Anderson agrees when she is read Duchovny’s description of their relationship. “But it’s accurate.” She laughs. “It’s not that we don’t like each other. It’s complicated.”

2008:

Question: Can you talk about getting back into these characters after a five or six year period?

David Duchovny: The first two weeks I felt a little awkward and I didn’t really feel like I wanted to do longer scenes. I was just fine running around. Then as soon as Gillian and I started working and it was Mulder and Scully, then I kind of remembered what it was all about and that relationship kind of anchored my performance just as I think the relationship anchors this film.

Shock: What’s that like with David now that you’re not with each other 16 hours a day on a series?

Anderson: It’s great, but it was great then, too. This is like a sibling relationship and I never had siblings.

What is your favourite thing about each other?

Duchovny: Gillian just doesn't give up.... She'll hang in there 'til we get it right.

Anderson: ...The easiest answer, I guess, is his sense of humour. He's always looking at the funny side of things, especially when he's around other actors who are comedians or funny themselves - it can turn into a bit of a contest to see who does the best impressions and such. But aside from that, there's a gentleness inside him that comes out every once in a while that is quite disarming and lovely. It's rare, but very nice.

2014:

Q: Was there a sense of almost a bunker mentality where you were at least going through this process with David? You mentioned he had more experience, he had done some bigger films but still the phenomenon that emerged within the first couple years was pretty remarkable. Did it help to have him there too and kind of like “Are you getting this too? Are you going through this too? Is this weird?” 

A: No. No, not really. We talk about the fact that it’s crazy that we didn’t. And that we didn’t take advantage of the fact that we had each other but it was complicated. These were long hours that we were working. We spent more time in each other’s presence than we did with our, you know, spouses and children, etc.

But also, you know, I think we p***ed each other off, quite frankly. And I have no doubt that after they’re waiting – we’re gonna roll and somebody has to come in and redo my lips and the difference between the maintenance for guys and gals and we’re shooting in all weather – you know, we never shut down except for one day for weather in the entire show.  We were shooting up in Vancouver through rain, sleet, everything. And my hair would frizz up to here in between takes and they’d have to get the blow dryer out under the tent and we’d be waiting for Gillian’s hair to do another take. You know, that p***es you right off. It adds up. So I, you know, I’m sure there were plenty of things he did that p***ed me off too. It just wasn’t, you know, but on the other hand.. NOW, we get to talk about that and we’re probably closer than we’ve ever been. 

2015:

Not surprisingly, she and Duchovny also became the story – according to the press, they were having an affair, hated each other or both. “I mean, yes, there were definitely periods when we hated each other.” She starts again. “Hate is too strong a word. We didn’t talk for long periods of time. It was intense, and we were both pains... for the other at various times.”

How was Duchovny a pain... for her? “Erm ...” Ten seconds pass without a word. Meanwhile, her smile gets wider and wider till it’s halfway up her cheeks. “I’m not going to get into it. I’m not even going to begin to get into that. But we are closer today than we ever have been.”

2016:

Anderson on working with Duchovny “Our relationship has definitely become a proper friendship over the last few years. I think we’re more on each other’s side. We’re more aware of the other’s needs, wants, concerns, and mindful to take those into consideration— and just sharing more about our experiences in the moment, under the sudden realization that we’re both in this together, and wouldn’t it be nice if it were a collaboration?”

2018:

They've worked together for 25 years but Gillian Anderson wants to make one thing clear: David Duchovny does NOT feature in her Ex Files.

While on screen their relationship left viewers wondering whether they would ever hook up romantically, Gillian says that off camera they were never very close.

In fact, she goes so far as to admit: "I don't know much about David Duchovny. If you asked me 10 things about him I'd probably get nine of them wrong."

...But now Gillian sets the record straight, saying: "We were never close. It's true we spent more time together than we have in any other relationship but it doesn't mean we were close.

"Very often when you're working long hours you may have a chit-chat between scenes but you're not really standing around talking about personal lives.

"And very often you don't have meals either at work or outside of work together because you're in each other's company all the time.

"So I actually don't know very much about David Duchovny, but we appreciate and respect each other."

2021:

Stella made a new friend today.

2023:

A huge congratulations to my old friend @davidduchovny on the world premiere of his film Bucky F***ing Dent @tribeca which he wrote, directed and stars in! A massive accomplishment and can’t wait to see it. (ps I’d say some of your prior writer / director gigs with me went pretty well and this was all just yesterday, right? 😉) #Tribeca2023

2024:

Awww Double D I’m so sorry. He was your guy. RIP Brick Duchovny

Lastly but not least,

a comment from David, 2024:

"My former X-Files costar Gillian Anderson and I are really good friends. ...When you share a seminal kind of experience in your life-- the huge success we had with that show-- only we know what it's like to be in the center of that. It's almost like being in the same family...."

[chalkrevelations]

There are things I say to my partner in the privacy of our living room when I’m blowing off steam that I would never in my life say to friends or other family members or bosses or work colleagues or fellow community members. I do this not because I’m two-faced but because I’m human. I get frustrated, but I’m also a grownup who realizes that my frustrations and fears in that moment are not the entirety of who I am. I have a right to express them, but I do not have the right to inflict them on the people who would be hurt by them. That’s why those conversations happen in private, in a safe space of trust, where my relationship allows me to show my partner parts of me that aren’t perfect and allows my partner to show me that I don’t have to be perfect in order to deserve to be cared about. I get support through my petty moments until I can be a better person.

This latest attack on Build is a horrifying violation of privacy and trust that leaves me feeling literally nauseated. I once again reiterate that I don’t trust third-hand amateur fan translation to be accurate and contextual, particularly given the provenance of the material, but Build himself is apparently distressed enough by at least some part of the material to make a public apology. So, that being out there, I will say: This was a private matter that should have stayed private, out of respect for everyone involved. Whatever was actually said is nobody’s business except Build’s and now, unfortunately, any named individuals who this was inflicted on and who may have been hurt by it. Which, rest assured, was the intention - to hurt not only Build with this, but also, particularly, Apo and Bible, both of whom Poi has shown her dislike of and ill-will toward in the past. I suspect some people also don’t know how abuse works, and it shows, given that what was purportedly said is a reflection of Poi’s own views back at her.

Whatever the context, I see that purity cancel culture still insists on freezing people in amber in their worst moments - without recognition of any capacity for change or growth - as long as it provides ammunition for a smug, gleeful Particicution. You’re stuck on some unkind things Build supposedly said more than a year ago? Let me tell you what I’ll remember for the rest of my life: The small, broken sound of Build’s voice just a few months ago as he tried to protect Bible and Bible’s career from a sociopath, in a telephone call that he felt he needed to secretly record as evidence of how he was being manipulated and abused.

Meanwhile, I see that swathes of KP fandom continue to be complicit in Poi’s campaign of public and dehumanizing abuse of him, which now includes not only borderline revenge porn, but separating him from his friends and isolating him. This is what abuse looks like. It’s happening in front of your eyes. Do you even care? Do you actually, legitimately care about abuse, or is it just a tool for you to use to win petty shipwars and make yourself feel righteous? Because here it is. Take a good look. This is a textbook play. And if you’re participating in reposting those screenshots of private conversations and mocking Build’s relationships and spreading vituperative language about him and acting like he deserves to have his life and career destroyed, you’re enabling an abuser. You are aiding and abetting her, as the very scenario she threatened him with - in order to maintain access to him, to keep him under control and compliant - continues to get spun out. YOU are a bully and a hypocrite and an abuser, helping to prove that the most dangerous time for an abuse victim is when they leave.

But I guess some victims do have to be perfect, huh?

.

(ETA: 7/18/23, 1520 - This post is being linked on Twitter by @cherryluminary with my permission. I'm not over there, but I increasingly feel like it's important to name what's happened, and continues to happen, to Build online as what it is - abuse. Similar to to my last post that breached containment, I'm going to ask people to remember that the behavior of Build's fans reflects on him - however fair that may or may not be - and should remain above reproach. I understand being angry - I'm angry, and at more people than I've discussed publicly, at this point. But if I find out you've been descending anywhere near the level of the ugly little sociopath in my inbox who openly admitted they want Build to kill himself, I'll block you.)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

i just read your ask about how zutaras think airbenders are racist, sexist, ect. and i'm like?? aren't air nomads canonically the most accepting of the 4 nations??? i don't know how accurate the avatar universe wiki is (it's one of the most expansive wikis i've ever seen for a fandom), but it says it there.

Even if we don't take the wiki or anything except the show itself into account - nothing in the show itself indicates they were racist, sexist, etc.

But you know what nation is confirmed to be very fucking racist, and there's hints of it being a least a little sexist? The Fire Nation. The one that commited genocide towards both the air-nomads and Southern Water Tribe.

Zutarians are constantly going on and on about how their ship is more "complext and adult", yet lots of them are TERRIFIED to engage with aspects that would make it a complex, adult, very messy dynamic - aka the fact that Zuko is not only a direct descendent of the guy that started the war (Sozin), of the guy that was responsible for the raids on Katara's tribe (Azulon), and of the guy that order her best friend's capture/death (Ozai) but he also took A LONG time to realize "Holy shit, what my family is doing is terrible" and was in fact constantly putting Katara and her friends in danger, helped Azula get the upper hand in Ba Sing Se and thus kill Aang, then sent an assassin after them to finish/repeat the job later.

There's also the fact that, due to their immaturity, they think they HAVE to hate Aang just because they don't him and Katara together, and it can make them look really bad to hate on the sole survivor of a genocide while praising the prince that was trying to help his nation get rid of said last survivor.

They could deal with that by doing stuff like making modern AUs to avoid the war thing, or actually addressing the complexity of the situation, or being mature enough to say "I dislike Kataang/Aang as a character, but obviously Zuko was an objectively worse person back when he was supporting literal genocide."

Instead they decide to make the air-nomads look like "asshole victims" to reduce sympathy for them and Aang, pretend the SWT and the NWT are exactly the same to make it look like Katara felt oppressed by her own family and culture instead of being traumatized by their death, and pretend the Fire Nation is not only the "feminst nation" but also that said feminism would TOTALLY extend to the girl they were taught to see as being part of an inferior race just because there's a new guy in charge.

Zutarians tend to only acknowledge the elephant in the room when it's for the sake of a fetish or extra drama (see the non-con fics or "Slave/Concubine Katara" fics), or when they are genuinely fucking clueless/racist and think "Oh, it wasn't so bad" and say as much openly.

[spiderlandry]

honest — lo'ak sully

Description: Lo'ak has been preparing a courting gift for you, but you find out before he can even practice what he'll say. So why have you kept quiet about it?

Pairing: Lo'ak te Suli Tsyeyk'itan x GN!Reader (Na'vi)

Warnings/tags: mostly fluff, jumps around between POVs, courting practices/traditions that i'm not sure is accurate, takes place in the future, au where the events of atwow never happened, small death mention? not edited or proofread sorry

Word Count: 2.1k

Author's note: first time writing for avatar, my obsession has been rekindled since i rewatched both movies so it's going to be everyone's problem. this has been in the drafts for a while and i wanted to edit it but i don't think i ever will

Jake Sully had realized early into his training with Neytiri that a prominent trait of the Na’vi is that they don’t lie. He chalked up her bluntness as a dislike for sky people, and though it was true to some extent, it was also because the concept of lying was almost foreign. Not in their nature. There are no reasons to lie in their books.

Until, of course, time passed.

A new generation emerged that learned to lie a human way. It likely began shortly after the arrival of the Sky People, the destruction of their home along with it. He couldn’t blame them.

Now, as the people have reclaimed the forest, Jake couldn’t help but notice that his children were liars. It started with his oldest lying to get out of training, and it trickled down slowly until he finally realized that Tuk began to feign sickness so she can be pampered.

It’s mostly harmless. Amusing, almost.

But not when it interferes with training, no. Because time and time again he has told his youngest son that it will cost him people’s lives. And just when he thinks Lo’ak is honing his focus, something pulls him away. A cocky attitude, a good idea horribly executed, anything of the sort.

But this time? The Olo’eyktan can’t figure it out.

This is the third time Lo’ak has gone off and ditched training an hour early. Neteyam always covers.

The next day, Jake approaches Lo’ak after dinnertime, before everyone has gone to sleep. The son sits on a log and the father takes the place beside him.

“You’re off your game.” Jake isn’t accusatory, not mad, but he states it as a fact.

Lo’ak can’t look into his father’s eyes. “Sorry, sir.”

The man sighs, breaking down the barrier he had built between him and his own. “Don’t call me sir when we’re not on the field.”

Lo’ak is quiet.

“Why are you off your game?”

“I’ll work on it.”

“Did I ask what you were gonna do about it?”

“You asked why.”

“And?”

Jake doesn’t expect it. Not so bluntly, at least. “I’m preparing a courting gift.”

A smile makes its way onto his face. “Is it for Y/N?”

The boy’s head snaps up at him, “No way,” he shakes his head. “Did Neteyam tell you? When I get my hands on—“

This pulls a laugh out of Jake. “Nobody had to tell me. Hell, your mother probably knew before me.”

“I just want to make sure it’s perfect, okay?”

-

Neytiri watches you interact with her children from afar—the way you let Tuk pull on your tail, how Kiri and Spider smile from atop a branch, Neteyam even going along with the game you invented. Lo’ak sits on the sidelines and watches with an adoration in his eyes she’d never seen until you were introduced to the Sully kids long ago.

It’s almost time for your training. But she lets you hold that time a bit more when she sees how closely you watch for her youngest son even when he sits this one out.

It’s not long until you’re pulled away by Mo’at to practice healing. You spend time with the other healers, shadowing them and watching them work.

Neytiri is showing you a more efficient way to mix paste when she remembers a conversation she had, days ago, with her Jake.

“Lo’ak is preparing to court Y/N.”

From the affections that have seemingly grown between you and her youngest son, she deduced a simple, irrefutable fact: Lo’ak has begun the process of courting you. That would also explain his comings and goings at odd times of day.

“You must be very happy, Y/N.” She cleans up the table, while she watches you recall the motions she performed earlier with the paste.

You hum in agreement.

“Are you excited?”

This doesn’t even remotely catch you off guard, too focused on the task. So you mutter, “for what?”

“That Lo’ak has decided to court you. You seem happy with him.”

You falter—this moment is not lost on Neytiri.

But she’s relieved when you say, almost breathless, “Yeah, yeah, I am.”

-

Neteyam is the witness to a trainweck about to happen.

Something has definitely shifted. Not just the past few days, but ever since Lo’ak first told him about the gifts he has prepared for you.

Weeks ago.

The first few days of comings and goings, Neteyam excused him. But it has been weeks since he’s finished his gifts, and the only thing holding Lo’ak back is himself. Neteyam has been hyping up his brother to give them to you, even making sure that you would get some time alone together despite how busy it is for hunting season, but Lo’ak never takes the plunge.

You and Neteyam are close, no one can deny that. He’s felt a sense of duty to protect you ever since you became part of the family, and more so now that you might actually be officially a Sully once you and Lo’ak become real. He’d be lying if he said he’s not excited at the thought of you being able to hang around and attend family gatherings without feeling like you’re intruding, something you opened up to him about.

Obviously, he knows about your affections for his brother. But it seems you are clueless to Lo’ak’s subtle advances, and he is sick of him moping around because of it.

At night, when the family is cleaning up after eating, they are all chatting around the fire and Neteyam calmly observes the scene, eating yovo fruit.

But their mother says something that puts this entire situation into a crescendo.

“They are quite smitten with you.” She says it as an offhanded comment, and his brother doesn’t respond at first, too focused on tidying up.

But Lo’ak hums. “Who?“

She almost laughs. Neteyam’s eyes widen as it dawns on him that something is about go go very, very wrong.

“Y/N, of course. Who else?”

Lo’ak’s head snaps up in surprise. “Really?” His tail swishes around, unable to contain his excitement.

Okay, maybe it won’t be so bad, Neteyam thinks.

“They are certainly happy that you’ve decided to court them.”

Oh.

Oh no.

Before Neteyam can stop this (and deep down, he knows it’s too late), Lo’ak’s eyes narrow, tail dropping to the ground with a thump, ears dropping.

“I haven’t even told them yet.”

At this, the entire family falls quiet. Spider and Kiri have stopped talking (even if only in hushed whispers), Neteyam stops chewing, hell—Tuk has stopped talking to their father, who is the last to notice the quiet.

Jake observes the situation.

“Dad,” Lo’ak catches his attention. “Did you tell them about the gift? Is it because I’m skipping on training? ‘Cause—“

“Woah, hey,” Jake holds his hand up to stop him. Neteyam can read his brother unraveling, his tail between his legs and ears flicking in panic. “Slow down.”

Lo’ak breathes.

“I didn’t tell anybody, okay?”

That’s when he turns around, facing Neteyam.

“Was it you? Did you say something?” Though Lo'ak is cautious to make accusations, the older brother can tell it’s at the tip of his tongue.

But their mother interrupts, thankfully.

“Lo’ak,” she says gently. “I did not realize they didn’t know. It’s my mistake.”

The youngest son slowly faces her. “What—what did they say?”

“That they are happy.“

“Nothing else?”

She shakes her head.

-

Lo’ak has been enamoured by your presence since he was little.

He remembers vividly how you showed up at his family’s tent with an offering of fruits you gathered yourself, as a thank you to the Olo’eyktan for saving your father from a brush with death during hunting. You were both just nine then, wide-eyed and less weathered by the world and its tragic circumstances.

And for years, he grew closer to you, though keeping a distance because that’s what he needed to accept any capacity you’ll grant, even if it was just close friendship.

But as the years passed, the both of you maturing alongside each other, attending the most important rites of passage and ceremonies (he can still hear how loud you cheered once he tamed his ikran), he has found himself almost unable to hold back how he feels. He realized that he didn’t have much time left to court you when all of a sudden you had different people—some of his friends, too—in the clan asking to court you after you’d completed Uniltaron.

He got to work immediately, skipping out on training and having his brother cover for him when he didn’t show to join the hunting party even when Jake insisted. He made himself unavailable just to dedicate his time into impressing you. He learned under one of the most skilled jewelry-makers in the clan to ensure it met the standards for a proper courting gift—he needed you to know he cared.

But as he stumbles out of his family’s kelku, eyes immediately scanning for yours, he thinks he must have fucked up somehow. You found out about his courting gift before he could even say a word to you about it. And you haven’t said anything to him since then, that means you don’t return his feelings…right?

If he were in your situation and found out you were preparing to court him, he would have ran to you right away, saying yes to your proposal. You’ve been quiet. Maybe you’re deciding how to turn him down gently. Eywa, must this really happen?

When you’re nowhere to find in your family’s kelku, your sister mentions that you haven’t been home since eclipse.

He finds you exactly where he expects you to be, just like every time you have needed space. You’re alone up on a branch, secluded by trees in the outskirts, but he can see your shadow just enough against the indigo sky.

He climbs.

As he reaches the thick branch, you’re already looking at him with a slight upturn of your lips.

A smile is good, right? At least you don’t hate him. You would have pushed him off by now if you did.

He perches himself close to the trunk, a few inches from you.

“Where have you been?” He asks when you don’t say anything upon his arrival.

You turn to him. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Fair,” He hauls himself up to sit next to you, returning the smile. “Are you going to answer, though?”

“No.”

No? No?!

Lo’ak’s smug demeanor falters, ears flat against his skull, and you could probably tell judging by the way you hold back a snicker.

“Is it…” He struggles to find the words when you’re looking at him like that. “Is it true that my mother told you?”

“Told me what?”

He fights the urge to make a remark, because he can tell you’re playing with him. You clearly know what he’s alluding to, yet you refuse.

“You know what.” He adds flatly.

“I do not.”

Eywa.

He chose you, after all. He needs to own it. Regardless of how you’ll turn him down.

“That I plan to court you. If—if you allow me to.”

He is certain his heart stops beating when you take his hand, smoothing your palm over his before clasping them together. The warmth travels throughout his body.

“On one condition.”

“Anything, I’ll do anything—” He doesn’t even care if it makes him sound desperate. “I will.”

“You should not care if your courting gifts are perfect,” You mutter, losing a little bit of confidence and Lo’ak realizes your eyes have a sheen to them. “I think you are already perfect. I see you, Lo’ak.”

This is the moment he realizes that, as much as you’ve held his heart in your hands, he has held yours.

“I see you, yawne.”

[joyce-stick]

The Beef Stroganoff Song! (arbitrary subtitle discourse edition)

So, you may have noticed here that the subtitles in this clip (from Symphogear GX episode 3) are fairly different from what you're used to seeing when people post this video, and the phrasing in the subtitles is fairly different from what the associated memes often say

For those who don't know, Symphogear got itself released on blu-ray by Discotek, and with that came with a new translation authored by Noelle (@ulsairi on twitter ) who is notable for being the only trans lesbian anime translator I know of off the top of my head.

Her translation appears, in my opinion, really rather polished and very good, and I strongly appreciate the way it's written and how much character it adds to the dialogue by giving everyone distinct voices and adapting things into more natural English. It's also a fair bit gayer. I haven't encountered many people who've seen these subs, but I think most fans of the series would consider these a net positive change. There are some people who are mad about these subtitles, and they can die mad.

Anyway, let's talk about the different phrasing of the beef stroganoff song. I'm mostly going to compare to Crunchyroll's subtitles for reference since that seems to be what most others go off of. Here's a link to that version.

So right off the bat we can see here that while CR's translation appears to be a lot more, for lack of a better word, functional, Noelle's translation tries to apply more dialectal force "it's beef stroganoff/Yes! It's THAT beef stroganoff!" And generally communicate through the tone how excited the girls are to get started. Additionally you'll see throughout that the latter is a fair bit more lyrical, there's a lot more punctuation and verbal tics and filler phrases written into the dialogue to express that they are singing, which makes sense since Japanese tends to omit a lot of the sorts of prepositions that Noelle threw in here,

Like, Yumi (yes I went and looked up her name on the wiki) just says "beef stroganoffu" because it's obvious from context that it is beef stroganoff, she doesn't need to spell it out, at least, not in Japanese

(We know like maybe ten hiragana and 1 kanji do not trust us on Japanese this is all just basic shit we learned from online guides)

So this probably leads to a rushed translator from Crunchyroll (they are notoriously crunched for time) who's just trying to Get It Done probably not really bothering to throw in extra additional connecting letters to express the tone of the character, only doing so when it's required to make basic grammatical sense in the target language. So they likely didn't think to make the subtitles have flourishes like this that aren't explicitly in the original Japanese. Noelle meanwhile had the time to consider things like this and take such liberties in order to attempt to convey the same tone that was arguably implied by the Japanese, even if not explicitly put forth

And that's about all the things I should not repeat I guess, TL;DR, these subtitles are more fun to read because the translator had more time to think about the best way to make them more fun while still being accurate to the spirit of the original dialogue, who'd have thought!

(In case you're wondering, the Commie subtitles say kind of the same thing here, and y'know, it doesn't seem like a wrong translation, but also I really dislike this subtitle styling, orange on pink with that font and that drop shadow is just kinda bad. I appreciate the effort but like. Come on. Please fansubbers, please think about if the font and colors you chose actually work with the image you're putting them on)

Moving on!

horizontal and middle rhyme with each other so you can almost actually sing this, actually let me take a moment to try it right now- never mind, I can't sing. Hahaha. I don't actually think it lines up that well with the melody But I thought it did! Didn't I? That's significant, that this actually reads like plausible lyrics to a silly song someone made up instead of a literal translation of a Japanese song

Anyway, here comes the first major difference!

So in the Crunchyroll subtitles, Yumi says "it doesn't have to be beef" which in English (in my estimation) sounds a tad scatterbrained, like, "oh yeah sure beef but whatever really it doesn't actually matter," while Noelle's subtitles rather say "Got no beef? Don't you worry!" Which implies something different.

"It is recommended to use beef, but you may substitute something else if you are sorely lacking in beef" as opposed to "Oh the beef doesn't actually matter, zoinks lol!" CR's translation is kind of a bit funnier in how it sorta comes from nowhere without this qualification, which probably lead to this phrase's memeticness, but Noelle's translation seems more reasonable to me so yeah again, tada, yay for sensicalness.

Now here's another interesting change:

Again, the flat manner in which the CR subtitles say "finish with salt" with rendezvous only being included because that's literally what they said, is sort of absent any stronger emotional implication,

Noelle's translation meanwhile going with "don't forget them, they need it" imparts personhood upon the salt and pepper. The implication being that the girls are saying, "the salt and pepper are in love, please reunite them, they must be in gay love together." Or maybe you think the salt and pepper cannot be forgotten and must be reunited because they are Only Friends.

Whether you choose to believe that this is the salt and pepper getting married, or merely subtext, or an interpretation, or salt and pepper shipping bait, this is a deeply important tonal indicator because it reminds you that these girls are ultimately playing with their food!

"And there, now you're in for a treat!" I don't think I need to explain this one.

Now, here's an interesting one!

In the Crunchyroll subtitles, it just says the memetic "boys don't know this." With no context, no elaboration, no clarity, no qualifiers. Boys don't know. Did the boys magically get their brains wiped? Are the boys biologically incapable? Who knows. Nothing is said but that.

Noelle's subtitles, on the other hand, qualify this statement by saying "Boys aren't taught to cook, so they may not know" (And note again how, it says "kno-ow" to emphasize, once more, that they're singing, and also this lines up with the long "ooooo" sound they make at the end of this lyric, so cool)

There is now context! Boys aren't taught to cook! Anime and Japan's culture in general still pigeonholes people into gender roles! And an anime translator just wrote you a hidden translation note about it! You might be a boy, you might know how to cook, but certain boys in another part of the world aren't traditionally taught cooking, so they may not know

They may not, but they could!

Trust a trans person to express gender facts with subtle nuances like this in anime translations.

And with that lovely bit of good translation and good writing and good localization of a thing to make it make sense to people

Mew!

[amerricanartwork]

I want to say I love reading your headcanons, especially your Iterator ones. Do you have a unique headcanons for Pebbles, since you haven't talked about him much?

Ohhh, I'm so glad to hear that!! I love creating and typing down these headcanons, but sometimes I worry whether anyone actually wants to read these long posts about it, so it's always so nice to hear people appreciate them!

I would love to talk more about Five Pebbles! I actually have quite a few headcanons for him specifically since I tend to ponder him a lot. In fact, of all the canon characters, when it comes to headcanons that aren't purely working out their general personality and backstory I think I currently have more outside headcanons for him than anyone else.

But nonetheless, assuming you mean "unique" as "interesting and relatively uncommon/unheard of in the fandom", here's one of mine that might seem odd or specific, but I really like it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I’ve headcanoned for at least a few months now that Five Pebbles is very much an auditory learner. He’s more receptive to spoken and auditory information than just written text, and as such he tends to talk a lot, which is how he best formulates his ideas. 

Now, when I call him an auditory learner (or maybe just an audio-oriented person in general would be a better way to describe it), I also mean he generally cares a lot about how things “sound” to him. Five Pebbles pays close attention to how certain sounds “feel” in a sense, not just with regular abstract sounds, but spoken words, phrases, and ideas too. He likes it when sentences flow smoothly, convey the proper emotion or idea, and sound intellectual and well-thought-out, and dislikes when phrases sound clunky, confusing, or otherwise unprofessional and improper. In situations where he wants to appear smart and sophisticated, especially in a competitive sense, he loves flexing his extremely large vocabulary by throwing in long and obscure words and technical jargon too. To reference my last headcanon ask, this trait is another quality making him dislike NSH, who doesn’t care as much about grammar or syntax and thus tends to speak in casual ways Pebbles finds “improper”.

Usually, when he has a decent amount of uninterrupted personal time, Pebbles will spend several hours on end just talking to himself in his chamber to work out his ideas and plan any essays or speeches he’s preparing to give. He loves making sure that every sentence sounds pleasing, proper, and is grammatically correct, yet still explains his ideas thoroughly and accurately. However, despite being an introvert who values his alone time, he sometimes talks about his ideas to other iterators, especially when he wants feedback and criticism. In fact, having long discussions and debates, particularly about scientific, artistic, and philosophical matters, is perhaps one of the only things he actively enjoys doing with other people.

In this latter regard, this habit was actually one of the only reasons he occasionally, yet still actively sought out the presence of Unparalleled Innocence, someone whom I headcanon he never had much of a relationship at all with, positive or negative (at least pre-AU, that is). But nonetheless, Innocence is a very good listener and never declined an invitation to talk with him, though more often than not it turned more into him just rambling about something and her quietly listening and encouraging him to continue on (which she did for… other reasons besides her fascination with the subjects of his speeches, but I will get to those some other day…)

Another facet to this headcanon is that Pebbles has a strong appreciation for music. He finds it helps him calm down and work through his emotions very well, alongside one other habit I’ll address in a more official headcanon post. Thus, he’s got various music pearls with his favorite tunes that he’ll listen to while working or when he needs to relax. The purple one in Rivulet’s campaign is only one of many, though that was also the only one he could obtain at the time his chamber was broken into by the rot. 

His love of music has always been another little “worldly pleasure” that he took for granted, not realizing just how much he enjoyed it until after mass-ascension. And even then, he stuffed it deep inside him and kept trying to downplay its value to him all the way until his rot condition was almost at its climax. This emotional turmoil I imagine him having is a particular element of his character arc I find very interesting even in regular Downpour canon, but once again I will elaborate on it more later…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Anyway, there's the headcanon! Seeing as I'm planning to explain major character info in official headcanon posts, I tried to choose one that wasn't too essential for narrative comprehension, but is still unique and hopefully decently entertaining in-and-of itself. I also tried to use this to test a new format of doing more sketches for these headcanon posts, so it's not as much pure text.

Anyway, I hope you like it! And if you (or anyone else reading this, for that matter) ever want more headcanons, or can add to this one, don't be afraid to send another ask!

[acourtofthought]

Hi!

I just wanted to say that, I have been an elriel shipper for a very long time. For the longest time I figured they'd be endgame, I've seen enough flirting between them to surmise that Sarah really wanted them to be together and was getting us ready for it.

However, Az's bonus chapter, really shook my belief in what I thought would clearly be endgame. I'm usually a lurker on Tumblr but pretty adamant in Reddit and thought maybe I can ask others what they thought?

I'll be completely honest with you. I challenge my beliefs all the time, I want to find answers to questions I have which will help reaffirm my thoughts. Not a single elriel could come up with any good reasons why elriel should still be endgame. The reasons I've seen

*Azriel called her a seer

*The pent up sexual tension and how Elain wanted it too

*Azriel gave her a rose necklace.

*The fake mates theory, and how Azriel shows true mate behavior.

none of these held up to me. I've been stalking your elucien blog along with others who have time and time again debunked these theories and proven with cannon text why elucien is truly endgame. When I go back to the books and read these I realize, yeah, you guys make very accurate points. Since then I've come to realize, elriel isn't happening and I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of falling in love with gwynriel and elucien.

I also didn't know there were actual messages from sarah herself that Lucien and Elain had more story to tell. I cannot see how she'd intentionally ruin one of her favorite characters. She also loves Azriel, and it feels like she's setting him up with a woman whose actually healthy for him.

Suffice all of this is to say, thank you for your insightful blogs. I think more elriels who are like me on the fence, really should challenge our thoughts critically and see maybe what we thought we were reading into, wasn't what the author intended.

Keep up the great work!

Hi there and I appreciate your message. It's nice to hear from someone who can acknowledge that both sides of the ship wars are valid, at least in some ways. I think when someone dislike a character as some do Elain, they put on blinders, refusing to acknowledge that there definitely were E/riel moments that made you stop and think, "hmmmm". I think the more familiar you become with SJMs writing you realize that the first glance is not always telling you what you need to know but of course there are noticeable E/riel hints. I just think those hints don't hold up under scrutiny, they don't support endgame potential for the pairing. The flip of that is those who dislike Gwyn or don't like her for Az and refuse to acknowledge that there were definitely some Gwynriel moments in SF too, things that hint at her becoming a future LI for him. But when you are someone who can see both sides, I think you're coming into the debates with less bias and I appreciate that. It helps you weed out the ridiculous from valid arguments. At least with your perspective you'll hopefully end up happy with whatever outcome but I do really appreciate you coming to tell me that my blog has given you pause and helped you see that Elucien could be a beautiful story too! ❤️❤️❤️

[majorbaby]

commander pierce is a low point for MASH, my personal least favourite episode and here's why:

Regardless of your position on the framing, which i'll get to later, the writing is weak.

It sets Potter up as being a competent, strong leader and Hawkeye learn that being in charge of the base isn't as easy as it looks (which makes no sense for Hawkeye but again, I'll come to that) but then when we cut to Potter at the very important conference he's meant to be attending with some other army brass, we see them getting drunk and later on, just chilling together. He only gets up to leave said conference when he catches Radar's drift that the camp is falling apart without him - we're to assume he would've just continued fucking around until whenever he felt like returning.

These scenes align well with MASH's earlier anti-establishment beat, but it doesn't fit in this pro-establishment episode. Is Potter a responsible leader who is simply misunderstood by the rebellious, immature Hawkeye, or is Potter shirking his duties while the camp suffers? Both, it would seem.

I enjoy Margaret's little mock-salute to Hawkeye because 1) he wouldn't care to be properly saluted (except ?? this episode seems to want me to believe otherwise lol) 2) when are you ever going to see her do a mock-salute otherwise.

But here's the thing, I dislike when this show muddles Hawkeye's distaste for the military with Hawkeye's misogyny. Hawkeye can be anti-establishment and even give her (and other pro-army characters) a hard time without going so far as to sexually harass her. Frank Burns was invaluable as that other "pro-army character", taking the brunt of Hawkeye and Trapper's ire.

Speaking of Frank (affectionate), in addition to saluting him, Margaret adds mockingly, "If only Frank Burns could see you now". He can't, because this episode can't achieve its goal if Frank is there to either applaud Hawkeye's efforts or laugh as he struggles. It would kill the episode's suggestion to the audience that military leadership is admirable or desirable.

BJ's "I don't know Commander Pierce! And I don't know if I want to!" makes me roll my eyes hardcore. I'm not sure if he's annoyed at how Hawkeye is acting or if he's annoyed specifically that he's being a bad leader. Seems like a little bit of both, but my read on BJ based on how he's written thus far and going forward is that it's more likely his pride is hurt when Hawkeye yells at him.

On that note, I could maybe buy that because Hawkeye is so stressed out, he accuses BJ of trying to "play hero" but I don't genuinely believe that Hawkeye's opinion of BJ could be so low or that he doesn't see how BJ dropping everything to save a life isn't, as BJ says, exactly what Hawkeye would've done in his shoes. We've watched Hawkeye do that on multiple occasions.

Or at least if Hawkeye is to be upset at BJ, then let it be for a believable reason, like, hey, BJ, what about all these other patients that came in after you left (altho even then, Radar points out that BJ couldn't have known it would happen), hey BJ, we lost 10 other guys while you were out saving one.

Instead, incredibly, Hawkeye complains that BJ left him holding the bag, and later that he undermined his authority. Generally I'm left with the impression that Hawkeye is at least a little upset that BJ thinks he didn't do a good job as a CO, when Hawkeye didn't even care for the title "Chief Surgeon" at one point, which more accurately describes his role at the camp and could very well describe a role he might eventually have as a civilian someday. To say nothing of s03e03 Officer of the Day which is the episode you should watch if you want to see Hawkeye Pierce in charge instead of a guy who only looks like Hawkeye Pierce in charge.

I said I would come to the framing: it sucks! I guess if you want to see Hawkeye give a shit about having military authority, this episode is for you, but it's hard for me to imagine that any audience member was holding their breath waiting for it to happen.

[ariainstars]

The Genius of Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer, an Englishwoman who lived from 1902 to 1974, is one of my favourite novelists, and I often reread her books or at least some parts of her books just to retire into an agreeable world. She wrote historical novels and thrillers, but I must admit I don’t like these very much. To me, Heyer’s genius was giving a breath of fresh air to the overworn genre of romance novels set in the English Regency era. (Although some of these Heyer novels like These Old Shades or The Convenient Marriage are set during High Rococo.)

In my opinion Heyer is highly underrated, standing in the shade of the more known Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters, books women most relate to when they want to read historical romance novels; Barbara Cartland is also more known, an author whose works are too saccharine for my taste.

Austen’s or the Brontë sister’s novels are not actually romances although they are often described as such; they are accurate portrayals of the society the authors lived in, romantic attachments playing a major role of course, but the focus is on the importance of family and society framing them and influencing them, for good or for bad.

I always found myself drawn to Heyer’s stories, long before I fell in love for the first time myself; the average romance novels get on my nerves. Now, and after having experienced love more than once, I can say that I wholly share Heyer’s approach that no matter how much in love you are has no influence on whether you and the object of your interest fit together.

The common trope in romances is “love conquers all”, which I personally dislike because it strips the protagonists of having their own mind and their own agenda. “Love” makes the choice for them; they don’t consciously choose to be with this person or other. Alternatively, the protagonists are “meant for each other” but “star-crossed”, i.e. circumstances or their own folly (or both) prevent them from being together, in which case the novel is framed as a tragedy and we are expected to cry buckets over it.

This is fortunately not the case in Heyer’s romance novels. Like Cartland, she writes of an England that was long gone before she was born, of course in a romanticized way. A lot of her stories mirror how the do’s and don’ts of those times, in particular in the upper class, influenced their lives and made it very difficult to navigate society.

Georgette Heyer’s genius is her capacity to imbue old tropes with new elements, and most importantly, to detach herself from the adage “love is all you need”. Without being sarcastic, she is at her best (in my opinion) when she weaves stories about people who realize that being in “love” is not that important at all. Her romances do end well, yet not due to the influence of a higher power but because the couples involved had the chance to realize who is the right partner for them to spend the rest of their lives with. Her heroines are usually headstrong, independent and reasonable; they may act on a whim or following their heart, but it is when they listen to reason - or are pushed to do so - that they finally get their happy ending.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

The Cinderella Trope

Arabella, and also Friday’s Child and The Convenient Marriage deal with the subject of a poor, or at least modest-living, female from a good family being launched into London’s high society by a strike of good fortune. In the latter two novels, this includes for them the chance to buy a heap of beautiful new clothes, strongly reminding of the Cinderella trope.

But Heyer would not be who she is if the novels would not be original in their own way: Arabella, far from being a modest, kind girl, pretends to be a rich heiress in order to “show his place” to a man who believed she wanted to ensnare him due to his wealth; Hero from Friday’s Child and Horatia from The Convenient Marriage both do not end but begin the story through marriage, and the plot unfolds as they slowly realize (and their respective spouses, too) that they have married the right person after all.

Finding Love in an Unexpected Place

In The Convenient Marriage, the Earl of Rule is ready to marry a certain girl to make a match, arranged years earlier, with a poor but very aristocratic family; it is on meeting her younger sister that he realizes “he does want to ally himself with the family”, to put it in his words.

In The Quiet Gentleman, as he has to deal with conspiracies and attempted murder, the protagonist Gervase Frant learns to put his trust in a female he first found dull, and who is not aristocratic the way he is.

In Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle, the Duke of Salford is at first disappointed by Phoebe, the girl his mother and her friend had chosen for him, and she doesn’t like him any better; they have to live through a number of adventures, together with friends and family, until they realize that they fit together perfectly.

In Sprig Muslin, Sir Gareth Ludlow overcomes his grief over his lost fiancé due to being responsible for Amanda, a girl of similar temper, and getting the chance to compare her to Lady Hester, a shy, unremarkable woman whom he liked but did not appreciate enough before. A beloved theme of Heyer’s romances is brought up here, too: having the same sense of humour shows to be indicative for two people fitting together.

In Charity Girl, notorious bachelor Viscount Desford gets involved both with a very beautiful girl named Lucasta and another, quite helpless damsel named Cherry, but none of them turn out to be right; instead, he finally realizes that Henrietta, an old friend of his, whom he had not wanted to marry years earlier, is the right mate for him after all.

In Faro’s Daughter, Mr Ravenscar gets interested in Deborah, a girl who works in a gaming house, which makes her free game to all men who visit it although she is a decent girl and only wants to earn a living for herself and the aunt who owns to place. A parallel is made through the protagonist’s niece Arabella, forever being in love with one guy or another but then refraining at the last moment. Finally, her uncle gives her a sound advice: that only if she will meet a man whom she will be ready to introduce to her family, she will know that he is the right man.

In False Colours, twin brothers Kit and Evelyn literally switch their places, one of them finding the right girl in the process by getting to know his brother’s prospected bride.

In The Foundling, the Duke of Sale is all but pushed to make an offer for Harriet, a girl he likes but is not in love with; but as he lives through some adventures and meets Belinda, who is very beautiful but also superficial, he learns to appreciate his future bride better and to realize that he would not want to be married to anyone else.

The Wrong Match

In An Infamous Army, Lady Worth wants to match up Colonel Charles Audley with Lucy, but then has to find out that the sweet, innocent-looking damsel is already secretly married, and that the temperamental Lady Barbara whom she had not liked for him is exactly what he needs since she has courage and straightforwardness.

Not Falling in Love at All

In A Civil Contract, Viscount Lynton, heir of an impoverished family, marries the shy and average-looking Jenny, the daughter of a rich, vulgar merchant to keep his family out of debt; she loves him but is aware of the fact that he does not requite her feelings, since he secretly loves Julia, a beautiful woman who does not have much money of her own. It is only as the plot thickens, the woman he loves marries another man and his wife gives him a son that he realizes “his Jenny” is the best wife he could have found.

Falling Out of Love

In Friday’s Child, Lord Sheringham believes to be in love with Isabella, an acclaimed beauty, until he has lived for a while with Hero, the young woman he had married on a whim. “Bella with her airs and graces, her moods and her sharp tongue! No, thank you!”

Isabella on the other hand was about to contrive a brilliant match, but good sense makes her refuse it after all. “When I thought how my life would be, that I would have to spend the rest of my life with him… oh, I could not!”

In The Grand Sophy, Cecilia is besotted with Augustus, a very romantic but unreliable young man. After a trying period spent nursing her small sister, who was critically ill, she finally realizes that the less romantic but more worthy Lord Charlbury who had offered for her in the first place is a much better partner for her.

In Cotillon, Kitty enters a fake engagement to teach a lesson to Jack, the man she is in love with; but when she comes to London for a while and learns more about him and the world, she slowly realizes that she was in love with a figment of her imagination, and that Freddy, the man she is engaged to, is a much better person.

“He seemed like all the heroes in the book, but I soon found that he is not like them at all.” “No. I’m afraid I ain’t either.” “Of course not! No one is.”

Heyer’s chief oeuvre in this respect is in my opinion Bath Tangle, where Serena and Lord Rotherham, both hot-tempered protagonists get engaged to someone much gentler than them, only for them to realize that they would not be happy with them. The heroine’s fiancé Hector gives her up amicably, having also found a much better life partner.

“You are a grander creature than I even imagined.” “And you are the kindest and best of men, but not my love!”

The “Pride and Prejudice” Trope

The themes of Jane Austen’s famous novel is upended in Faro’s Daughter, where it is the man who has a strong prejudice against the girl, whom he inevitably believes to be a scheming, money-grabbing minx because she earns her living in a gaming house. The girl on the other hand has strong personal pride and would never accept money from anyone, or accept marrying or becoming the mistress of a man for whom she doesn’t care. Far from declaring his devotion to her, the man insults the woman repeatedly, before he finally realizes his mistake and also that she is the right mate for him.

The Beauty and the Beast Trope

In Black Sheep, the protagonists Abby and Fanny are aunt and niece, both at the same time in love with two members of the Calverleigh family who both have a bad reputation; but while Beauty (the niece) has to realize that the man she had fallen for was only after her fortune, non-Beauty (the not quite so pretty, but intelligent aunt) realizes that the uncommon Miles who gives nothing on society’s standards does care for people, and that he is the broad-minded, worldly-wise partner she exactly needs.

In Venetia, the person falling out of love is a Edward Yardley, a sidekick, who really ends up being disillusioned; but the story had made it abundantly clear that he had been a fool all along to believe that he and the protagonist would suit. Venetia, the Beauty, has to find out that she cannot tame the Beast Lord Damerel, and that she wouldn’t want to do it additionally. The Beast is not a bad man but someone who does not fit in with society; which makes him ideal for her since she does not, either.

This trope is brought to a climax in Lady of Quality, where the protagonist Annis, who never felt the slightest interest in the gentlemen she met, on getting to know the rude but protective and straightforward Oliver finally gets to fall in love, despite the fact that they argue frequently. At one time she muses that “Surely kindred spirits did not quarrel?” only to then add mentally, with a little self-irony, “How mawkish!”

If you are tired of Jane Austens’ prim heroines and the Brontë sister’s drama, I invite you: give Georgette Heyer a try. Her novels are entertaining but neither flat nor sentimental, and I always find new layers and aspects in them when I reread them after a few years. Her heroes of course live in an idealized world, but it’s just what you might need after a hard day’s work. 😊

[celluloidbroomcloset]

This is more general fic related, but I am curious what your take on it might be. I've enjoyed your thoughts on fanworks and this particular bugbear has been gnawing at me for years.

There's a trend in some fandoms to take a (usually) mlm relationship, both canon and fanon, and turn one party into a cisgender woman. A genderswap AU where both characters are cisgender women (or men, though I have yet to see this specific occurrence with wlw ships) or one comes out as trans are not the same thing as what I mean here. It would specifically be a cisgender woman, thereby turning a queer relationship cishet.

It was popular in the Gotham tv series fandom to turn the canonically queer Oswald Cobblepot into a straight woman and then ship her with Oswald's canon love interest, Edward Nygma*. It was also always Oswald who got this treatment, never Edward. To me, this reads as "straightwashing" a queer relationship to make it more palatable, as though they enjoy the canon dynamic but dislike the fact that it is queer. So they turn one half of the pair into a woman.

So at the end of all that explanation my question is, what do you think of this occurrence? Am I wrong in thinking it happens because someone doesn't like the queerness of some ships?

Also, I am glad to say that I have yet to see this turn up in OFMD fanworks. There are plenty of genderswaps and trans headcanons, which I welcome gladly, but thankfully I have not seen Stede as a cishet woman and Ed as her equally cishet boyfriend...yet.

*Oswald/Edward is canon, though it was only confirmed as romantic on Oswald's part, making him at least canonically queer. Edward's sexuality and the nature of his feelings for Oswald were left open to interpretation.

So I haven't seen this particular thing in action, as my fandoms are generally relegated to OFMD, The Avengers (UK) (very cis het but quite kinky couples), and a bit of Good Omens. So I'm taking this as it's offered and assuming that what is being described here is accurate.

Fandom, and especially shipping fandom, trends female and cisgender (and white, but that doesn't seem to be the thing at issue here). This varies from fandom to fandom, of course, but that's a general trend. It's often hard to really get down to demographics on who ships what and how, in part because a lot of fandom is anonymous and based on people deciding to disclose gender/race/sexuality/etc.

What is being described above does read to me like straightwashing a gay couple/ship to an author's preferences, for whatever reason. This could just be personal desires or interest in dynamics, but it does have the effect of taking a semi-canon queer couple and turning them cishet for the sake of...something. Hard not to see something at least a little problematic going on there.

I think that there may be a bit of self-insert going on, as well, and this is where we get into that problem of cis women placing themselves into gay male ships. This gets into what I would call a porn aesthetic from the perspective of a cis woman - fantasizing about being with/being part of a gay male couple. We gotta be careful there because female fans tend to get marginalized for shipping two male characters together and are often accused of fetishizing gay men, and of course this is all fantasy anyway. But while I do not at all think that the majority of fandom shipping is fetishization, there are times when it does cross over into that and should be considered and interrogated a bit more. I wouldn't apply a blanket statement to it, but consider the media itself, what is canon/what isn't canon, and what the goal is of an individual author/artist/fan. There's nothing really wrong with self-insert, but it does become something we should think about in context of the specific media involved.

(I'm very much someone who believes that fic/art is fair game and that it should not be censored in any way, but also that all fic/art can be critiqued in the same way anything else can, and indeed should be. No art can develop if we're not allowed to critique it.)

[harukapologist]

Hewwo fellow Haruka apologist/stan :)

I wanna ask the expert themself, what do you think about the headcanon that Haruka's parents (or his mom at least) is into taxidermy? There's a shit ton of taxidermy in his second t2, but also in a translation of AKAA lyrics (a more 'accurate' one, rather than the eng sub that's provided) instead of "I will keep killing to be a good boy" it's "Rather than taking something away, it's better to give". What if Haruka was killing animals to 'help' his mother with taxidermy? In his own sick and twisted way of getting her attention. And, let's not forget the famous scene where he's standing on top of the chair surrounded by the dead animal corpses, he's says "Mommy, look, aren't I amazing?". Sick, yeah. But what if he's presenting his 'gifts' to his mother, who's into taxidermy?

And the orange/amber liquid that everyone thinks is honey in reference to Muu? Someone in the comments said it could be formaldehyde, which is used for taxidermy. Just another thing that caught my attention

I thought about this way too much, but it's a just silly lil hc of mine

Hi hello!! Thank you for sending me this ask (and so sorry I replied so late!) I'm always happy to meet & discuss with fellow Haruka enjoyers :3c

I completely agree with that headcanon (in fact I don't think the orange liquid in AKAA resembles honey at all except for the color--the consistency seems closer to that of formaldehyde, and it makes more sense with the sequence of events that it'd be formaldehyde), I think Haruka's mom was a taxidermist or at least into something biology related, hobbyist or professional, so Haruka was exposed to a lot of things involving animals and taxidermy throughout his life. I assumed this is at least part of the reason why he dislikes animals--they remind him of his mom, when he was still somewhat loved by her, I imagine she'd tell or show him some details of her work/hobby, so he learned a lot about animals & taxidermy from her.

If I'm being honest, when I first watched AKAA it didn't occur to me at all that Haruka killed the animals, I interpreted that as a metaphor or symbolism (but I won't talk about that here because it'll be too long and it involves Weakness haha), so seeing most of the fandom interpret it literally (I guess because of his VD but I didn't take the VD at face value either) surprised me and I spent a while thinking of why Haruka would do something like that, and the perspective you offered really makes sense!! In my interpretation wouldn't call it sick or twisted as much as it is Haruka "accepting" that he is what his mom painted him to be, in his mind--someone whose only talent is bringing bad things, so he took to killing the animals in an attempt to utilize his "evil self's only ability" to do something his mom would hopefully approve of. It kinda reminds me of Tendou Satori from Haikyuu, who embraced the label "guess monster" because he was so used to being treated as a monster, so he embraced that he's weird and unlikable in a way that can make him still a good player but also true to himself. (I hope I remember correctly I haven't watched Haikyuu in like 2 years but Tendou is very dear to me) Except in Haruka's case it is way more fucked up lol.

Also gotta thank whoever retranslated AKAA more accurately--I noticed this theme with the innocent prisoners being painted in a purposefully bad light in T2 so we could vote them guilty, and the other way around as well, the guilty from T1 being painted as miserable and actually not that bad, yk. There's really nothing in MILGRAM that should be taken at face value imo.

And worry not I also thought about this an unimaginable amount, it's been on my mind the whole week actually, but I'm trying to articulate my thoughts into a coherent post lfhksdsl

[adam-raki]

I wanna have a quick rant about Adam (2009). Yes, there is a TL;DR at the end.

Now, I love this movie. It means a lot to me. It's probably very obvious due to the way that I've dedicated my whole account to it. Still, I think people tend to fundamentally misunderstand this movie - and I wanna talk about it.

Let me first say that it isn't perfect. A better movie would have, for example, employed an autistic actor (despite how much I adore Hugh Dancy's performance) and made various other changes that I will not be bothered to list. Is it a perfect representation of autism? No. But, is there a better representation out there? Personally, I don't think so. It's hard to define what 'good representation' is.

I've actually heard this reviewed as a 'bad' or even the 'worst' autism movie ever, which I think is an unworthy assessment.

A lot of criticism of this movie boils down to people just not relating to Adam's personal experience as an autistic adult - and that's fine. Having autism is such a diverse experience, and I can understand the frustration of the representation being almost exclusively cishet white men who like STEM (trust me, it infuriates me too). Still, some autistic people ARE like Adam, and that's also fine. Some of us don't find his character exaggerated at all (like me, who found the shot of his multiple boxes on cereal in the cupboard painfully relatable). A more varied set of autistic characters need to be seen in cinema... including ones like this.

But, the reason why I have a problem with this movie is also why I love it so much; it's uncomfortable. I haven't re-watched it in so long because it genuinely makes me upset. It's uncomfortable to watch Adam mistaken as a predator and watch the miscommunication between him and Beth (per the "were you excited?" scene and the fakeout where you think he's pestering her for sex, but he just wants to practice for his interview). It's uncomfortable to watch him continually shut down by the people around him. It's uncomfortable to watch him misunderstood, mistreated, and left on his own when his partner couldn't be bothered to understand him. It's raw and a little bit ugly.

Was this what the movie makers were going for? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe it really was meant to be a 'pity the autistic' movie for neurotypicals, but I think that would be reducing it to something that it isn't. Yes some of the scenes are jarring to watch. It's less so romantic and comedic than it is awkward and kind of heartbreaking. But maybe that's the point.

Adam 2009 is very much a product of its time. I mean, it's roughly 15 years old now so I wouldn't have expected much. Yet still, it manages to be nuanced, showing the flaws in both sides of Adam's and Beth's relationship and how it ultimately doesn't work out (literally, almost exclusively because of Beth, not Adam).

I'm not telling you if you should or shouldn't like this movie. I happen to really dislike a lot of movies that are praised by viewers and critics. I don't even particuarly find this movie to be all that impressive in the narrative sense - but it hits hard. At least to me, it's the most authetic experience of my own struggles as someone on the spectrum. I hate how accurate it is, and I hate how much I see of myself in Adam sometimes. It's difficult to watch. And I love it.

TL;DR for this - Adam 2009 is flawed as a movie, but many of its facets are misinterpreted as bad representation unduly. I think it's supposed to feel awkward and uncomfortable. Some of us on the spectrum relate to that and good representation can't possibly cover every single autistic experience.

Anyway - if anyone has thoughts on this, I would love to hear them! You don't have to agree with me. Just be nice (or I'll be upset).

[vartamin]

i will say that i think kiawentiio is a great casting choice for Katara, she's a great fit for the character and im super excited to see her perform. i will also say however (and this is no fault of kiawentiio's) that im rly disappointed in the costuming choices regarding Katara specifically

Out of all the pictures of the cast so far, Katara definitely feels the most "costume-y" and unrealistic

The design of the patterned pieces on her coat do not resemble any type of Inuit or otherwise indigenous embroidery that I know of, in fact they aren't embroidery at all (which I find personally offensive because embroidery would've looked SO much better and more natural and would relate it more solidly to the Inuit and indigenous clothing it should be based off of) but they are reminiscent of water tribe designs in the show so I would give them a pass on that technicality. However, it's just so bad looking I really can't let it go. It's ugly! There! I said it! I have no real reason to dislike it other than my own personal preference! So what!

Moving on from the coat, the absolute lack of Inuit inspiration is a lot more apparent in the inner layers/traveling clothes. I understand that the Southern Water Tribe being inspired by Inuit/Inupiat/Yupik culture is a cultural outlier in the rest of the show, where the other nations draw from an amalgamation of East and South East Asian cultures, and the Northern Water Tribe of Mongolian and various Siberian cultures. Katara and Sokka's traveling clothes (both in the og show and the netflix adaptation) seem to be inspired more by East Asian clothing in order to bring their designs more in line with the rest of the show, but the lack of Inuit and indigenous inspiration in any of these new designs (that we've been shown so far at least) really annoys me

To my knowledge, even the inner layers in Inuit garments are commonly made of skins, not cloth, but there are other cold climate cultures that will use fabrics like cotton, wool and silks in their clothing, so I could forgive them (again) if they drew accurately from those designs instead.

Katara's outfit appears (to me) to most likely be based off of the Mongolian Deel, but I think an argument could be made for Qing Dynasty Chinese dress as well as they both wrap around the body to clasp to the side of the chest (the look of the clasps however do not seem to have any basis in anything whatsoever)

However, netflix seems to have gone the same way as the shyamalan movie in choosing what looks like a linen(??) fabric? which really stumps me because, to my knowledge, linen is not a fabric often used in cold climate cultures. While it does have thermoregulatory qualities and works well for insulation, it is much more well known for its cooling capabilities than its warming ones. I understand that, to be true to the show they needed to use fabrics not common in traditional Inuit fashion, but even the Mongolian Deel is much more likely to be made of cotton, wool, silk or skins, so the decision to use it seriously throws me for a bit of a loop.

Katara's iconic "hair loopies" are a reference to a traditional Inuit hairstyle (Nunavut Inuit specifically), but the way they have the braids start so far from her part with those plastic beads just makes it look so unnatural. It might be more accurate to the look of the show but spirits it doesn't look good (also just realized now writing this that her necklace pendant is white too it looks like a plastic bottle cap what the fuck EDIT: you see the difference between the faux fur lining her hood and inside it??? CHEAP OLD NAVY DOLLAR STORE LOOKIN ASS COAT)

Even Kanna, who wears the same hairstyle, has her loops integrated more naturally and they look so much better in general

the beads in Katara's hair are not culturally Inuit as far as I know, and instead seem to resemble Tibetan beaded and braided hairstyles. You can see here, though, that they somehow manage to not look like absolute shit and out of place like netflix has Katara's looking (and also are not plastic dental floss white they aren't even white in the show why would they do this to me specifically??)

Somehow, the studio producing a franchise live action show cannot make Katara's hair look better than one of those cheap cosplay wigs you can get off aliexpress

It's not hard to make a show-accurate Katara hairstyle work, though. Silvousplaits on YouTube has a great tutorial for a realistic Katara hairstyle that, in my opinion, is somehow better than the multimillion studio hair they've given Katara in the live action

https://youtu.be/tXP-7ja6J_k?feature=shared

Cosplayers are great and devote so much time and talent to making their costumes, but there is absolutely no reason that professionally produced costuming should look worse than something handmade by amateurs that can often only devote so much time to a craft they've picked up outside of their actual careers.

It's ridiculous.

I don't want to prejudge the ATLA live action before it's even out yet, but I already know I'm going to spend the whole time lamenting every single design choice they've made regarding Katara, and the lack of care that I see in her design makes me reticent to watch it.

[mcfiddlestan]

Fandom Ask Game

4, 11 (Frostiron and Winteriron), 17 (Loki), 22 (Tony Stark), 25 (Bucky Barnes)

4. Is there a popular pairing you don't necessarily dislike but aren't too invested in?

Not that I can think of. There are a lot I dislike and I won't invest any time in and go so far as to block the ship name and any variants so I don't have to see art or headcanons, etc, about it. So if it's not blocked and I see it and I think the art is cool I guess that means I don't dislike it? I often share it even if it's a ship I don't necessarily involve myself in. Like I don't write for SamBucky or SamTasha, or Stony (although I've apparently blocked Stony, tho I'm not sure when that happened lol), but if I see cool art I'll share it. But yeah....there's a lot I avoid by all means.

11. What's your favorite piece of fanart?

OMG HOW CAN YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE?! I literally have more than 600 pix of fanart for FrostIron -- some made specifically for me -- and 134 of WinterFrost. Anything by @batwynn and lightonlight I love. And you'll probably laugh but this is one of my favorites for FrostIron.

As for WinterFrost...I seem to have made a lot more edits for this ship than any other LOL. But millennium-h always did the BEST edits for WF, including making those pix of Hiddles kissing someone on the rocks MUCH BETTER (sadly, they left the fandom not too long ago). And like with FI, I have a lot of faves, but this is one I really enjoyed.

and one to go along with it

17. What's a book, movie, or show you think [Loki] would like?

I think it's obvious that Loki would be all over Shakespeare and any adaptation of his works. And he'd probably critique it better than Shakespearean scholars themselves. But I think that mischievous and love of chaos side of him would probably also be really into trash reality TV. Like the Real Housewives franchise. He'd have watch parties and hours-long discussions afterwards and everyone would be shocked by how accurate his psychoanalysis is. Because if there's anything people who are used to being overlooked and ignored can do it's read other people's emotions.

22. Give us a headcanon for [Tony Stark].

Aw man. I'm terrible at headcanons! I don't even know, man. Maybe that despite all his bravado (or overconfidence to cover for his insecurity) and need to prove himself to Howard, there's still enough of Maria in him that emerges in his tendency to take "lost" souls under his wing, not even to mentor but to give them a hand? Happy (loss of his boxing career, so he gave him a job), Peter, obvs, and even Steve, who he reluctantly helped bc y'know resentment. I say that's Maria bc considering how difficult Howard as a person was, who the fuck else could see anything redeeming enough to marry and have a child with him? She had to see something under the surface, yeah?

Idk. Told you I don't do headcanons. LOL

25. What's your least favorite thing [Bucky Barnes] said or did?

Killed Tony's parents??? IDK, there isn't much I dislike about Bucky, except that they didn't let him kiss Steve! I'm honestly just glad they never included that relationship from the comic in the movies bc I despise that actress and it would've bothered me to watch her shitty flirt-acting and whatever with Sebastian. It was bad enough with Fluffalo. Ick.

Thanks for asking!!

Fandom Ask Game

[danggirlronpa]

Hey, do you see Touko as more of a bisexual, or more of a lesbian with comphet? I've seen cases made for either, and both are pretty compelling. On one hand, I definitely think her and Byakuya will Never work out as anything but a friendship, but just because she and him aren't meant to be, doesn't mean that those *feelings* weren't real... But even saying that, I'm not sure if her feelings for Byakuya are actually *for* him, but instead the idea of him. How she characterizes him in her fantasies in UDGs illustrates this; while I think some of the lines she imagines him saying are accurate (though would be said in a different tone/context), some of it is just Shit He Would Not Say. So I do see where people are coming from regarding "she's a lesbian only in love with the idea of Togami" because I think there is an argument to be made for that. On the other hand...

I keep going back to Syo's last FTE - now, obviously, Syo and Touko are different people, but there *IS* leak through with them. According to the two of them, they share feelings - which is why they both love Byakuya and are friends with Komaru. So, in Syo's final(?) FTE, she talks about how confused she is over the fact that she doesn't want Byakuya dead. She goes onto conclude that her feelings for him are just Deeper if I remember right, which I think is compelling evidence of Touko and Syo's (shared) feelings for him coming from a genuine place. (And also supports my headcanon that Syo killed the boys she did because Touko wanted them dead after they hurt her - since they share feelings, Syo felt that too, and without the context of WHY Touko felt this way, it would just feel like to Syo that she a) loved these guys and b) wanted them dead, leading to her mistaking the feeling for, well, wanting to cut up cute guys. But that's a different story.)

So, I sort of see where both camps are coming for. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on it? I think either headcanon is valid and has at least some support in the text, but I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

The quick answer to this: I'm a staunch supporter of comphet ace lesbian Toko and comphet lesbian Jack! Also, I think it's really important to remember that different alters can have different sexual orientations - there's no reason not to headcanon Toko as a lesbian and Jack as something else! (I think Jack would really jive with 'no labels just rock and roll,' actually. Queer Jack.)

The slightly longer answer to this:

So to start, a huge disclaimer: I hate Toga//Fuka. Everything about it squicks me out. I hate the way it makes a joke out of stalking and male victims, I hate how it characterizes both of them, I hate the sheer amount of space it takes up. I think fandom has, in general, politely swept just how bad Toko was in THH with Byakuya in favor of her much better characterization in UDG. And I do not blame them. It is hard to watch and be a part of. I like to think that this does not bias me in this discussion, but like...ultimately, just keep in mind that I'm speaking from a place of dislike for one of the core "Fukawa system likes guys" belief in general.

(Note: this is a completely independent issue of me not liking Byakuya. I ALSO hate Byakuya. But in a like. Very different way. And he is DEFINITELY the victim in the Toga//Fuka dynamic.)

I am generally also a believer in "Jack is actually the core alter, and Toko was the alter that developed later." I think it both makes a lot of sense and makes the other issues surrounding her 0.02% less bad. It doesn't make it GOOD. But we're working with the game that does just about as bad as its physically possible to do representing DID here, so I'll scrape my pennies from the bottom of this barrel to buy an eighth a pack of gum. I can pay the rest of the dollar myself.

Within this context. I think, rather than Jack manifesting as the system's overall need to release immense tension, Toko manifests as the system's overall yearning to be socially acceptable; to, rather than being zany and bad at picking up on social cues and inclined towards immense violence, be quiet and aware of what those around her think and romantic. (This means a girl who has toppled the other direction and is immensely anxious about what the people around her think, but y'know, you get what you get.)

In a lot of ways, I think the Fukawa system's comphet is an extension of their shared desire to be "normal." To, for metaphorical purposes, cut out the part of themselves they don't like - the violence, the anxiety, at time the fact that they share a body in general, themselves- and replace it with a nice traditional Good Girl TM.

(I do think that this works with Toko as the core alter as well, or for both alters developing at the same time. In that interpretation, Toko wants to get rid of Jack, the part of her which she considers 'abnormal,' and Jack wants to get rid of Toko, the part of her which she considers 'abnormal.' Ultimately, they actually both hate Toko in particular - Toko in self-loathing, and Jack because of having to share her body with such a bummer - so the ideal is Still a new, third alter, which subsumes both of them and is A Perfect Person. The essence of the thing is very similar. I just prefer the first interpretation in general, because I think it adds more depth to the character.)

The same way that Fukawa's comphet is an extension of general desire to be normal, the obsession with Byakuya is an extension of the comphet - the extension of the extension of the desire to be normal (in simple terms: a=b, b=c, thus a=c). Like you said, the characterization of Toko's imaginary Byakuya is a great example of this! As is Jack's even greater obsession with Byakuya in UTDP-verse, where there's no killing games to restrict either of them (though any UTDP characterization should be...taken with a hefty handful of salt).

And in terms of the development of Jack's desire not to kill Byakuya, I think there are two important things to remember.

Jack is not a reliable narrator of her own experience. (This feels obvious to me, but it's always good to establish at the outset, because sometimes people forget that characters can't be taken at face value.)

Jack's desire not to kill Byakuya doesn't come from time spent with Byakuya. It comes from time spent with Makoto.

You can't even argue that the time with Makoto counts because it line up with the time spent with Byakuya - because of Jack's availability for FTEs, you can't to get this scene after the first day of Trial Four. And Jack remembers the two years spent together - and we know Jack was around and interacting with classmates in that time, because she's in some of the class photos Junko hands out.

In my opinion - and the beauty of analysis is that there's any number of ways that you could interpret this scene, but what I find the most likely based on what we know of both Toko and Jack - is that this isn't out of any special romantic feelings for Byakuya, the way Jack is mistaking it: this is from Jack's general platonic affection for the group.

The thing is, at the end of THH, the group has very deeply trauma bonded. Toko is even aware of it, to a certain extent. But Jack isn't aware of it, because Jack - as we've established earlier, and as I think is a pretty widely recognized part of her character - is really, really, bad at reading the room. Jack struggles a lot with emotions! That's why she conveys them through scissors. Very, very directly. And because Toko's almost always fronting, it's safe to assume Jack has rarely, if ever, interacted with anyone except her classmates more than once or twice.

I think it's not only possible, but very reasonable, to think that Jack mistook "I have a lower urge for violence because for the first time in my life I've had friends who accept who I am and the support system has made me a better person, more capable of handling my unhealthy coping mechanisms, and now that they've forgotten me I'm coming to truly appreciate how much that support has changed me" for "I must just be SUPER in love with Byakuya! So much that I don't want to do violence to ANY boys anymore. As long as I just keep thinking of him and being in love with him all the time!!"

And surely that won't lead to any self fulfilling cycles!