#nothing insightful

[pilotlala]

A lot has been made of how season 2 suffered from the budget cuts, from not having enough time to fully explore the characters and relationships. But in spite of it all, perhaps the most complicated, interior, and subtle arc of season 2, Ed's exploration of his fractured identities and struggle to integrate the different parts of himself, is crystal clear yet never over-wrought. I am in awe of the skillful writing and Taika's moving, nuanced performance.

[hxhhasmysoul]

i’m rewatching hxh now and i’m starting to think that killua got judged as the one with less potential than gon (also less potential than kurapika, hisoka, hanzo and pokkele*) is solely because of his personality and attitude. 

i mean probably 50% of that goes to killua rage quitting on the get the ball game with netero. another 30% is him saying how bored and unimpressed he is with the whole thing - also to netero’s face, that might be also why netero yelled at him in the end because he had enough with the attitude. but the rest is definitely him being only focused on gon the whole time and ignoring everyone else.

*not that killua cares about any of that because he only cares that he isn’t on the same level or higher than gon.

[kittykyryi]

I was explaining this to someone earlier and I don't think I've seen enough people talk about it, but the kids getting four pearls instead of three was actually a really great writing choice. Did anything change? No. Did we all know one of them was gonna break/get lost? Yes absolutely. However, the fourth pearl wasn't about the story. It was about Poseidon. It was about him also being desperate to save the woman he loves. Watch him and Sally in ep 7 and tell me he wouldn't try his hardest to save her too?? It's such a significant insight into him that paired with the scenes we've gotten this episode, tell us so much about him and his relationship with Sally that we don't get to figure out until later in the books.

[mcmeasle]

when their monsters die, Neil and Jean both have the exact opposite response from the way they’ve learned how to survive

Neil listens. He complies. He follows the orders. He doesn’t ask questions. He answers them. He tells the police he’s too tired to be a problem. His fight is forced to stop (for now)

Jean rages. He’s angry. He’s loud. The boy who bit his hand until it bled so he wouldn’t make a sound when he was hurt is now yelling and throwing things and forcing himself to be known. He fights against the campus police that try to pull him out. His pain is seen by the students in the hall. He cannot hide his hurt from anyone in this moment.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

always enjoyed the Chess Set In The Foreground perspective framing used here

now also noting like, huh, a chess set in a general store just visited by marigold competitors who killed one of their guys and are now on the way back from their rendezvous point w/suppliers

[ryssbelle]

Poppy for N2 au, it took me so long to make her design cuz I didn't really know what I wanted to do only because I feel like her design is pretty perfect.

But then I just thought about fun outfits to give her or outfits that I would find comfortable if I was wearing them and it all came together.

Poppy here is pretty much the same as here movie counterpart, as nothing really changes on her end of things other than having more insight on Branch through his brothers, and through Lief. Shes also a bit more understanding a bit earlier on because of it but it doesnt do much to change her own character arc I would say.

Bonus

Part of Poppys design was based off a design I had made for previous rulers of Troll Village/Tree

Namely Queen Protea who I designed as Poppys grandmother

Named after the Protea flower which part of her design is based off :D

In the context of this Au Protea was the one who conceptualized the tunnels while her son, King Peppy, was the one to follow through after her death

[kenshimybeloved]

I really really really enjoyed seeing these two be loving sisters who have a loving mother and father it’s what they deserve and it makes me so happy that Liu Kang did that for them I hope if they make a DLC for MK1 like they did MK11 we see a lot more of them ruling Outworld together 💜💕💜💕

[thebreakfastgenie]

I think a lot of analyses of Hawkeye Pierce miss that self-loathing and generally high self-esteem are not mutually exclusive. Hawkeye has moments of self-hatred, but he has a reason for them. He hates the army, he hates the war, and he is part of both of those things. The fact that it's against his will doesn't make it go away. Every time he talks about hating himself, he directly connects it to the war. He sums it up pretty well in Letters, "I'm also in weapons repair." In Preventative Medicine he says "I hate me and I hate you and I hate this whole life here." He hates what the war is turning him into.

[fictionadventurer]

Have I mentioned lately that creating AUs is the most fun thing ever? You get to take a story you love and then mash it against another type of story you love and fit all their pieces together like they're a jigsaw puzzle. You get to find all the unexpected points of similarity where the stories fit together really well, and see the places where their differences change and make commentary on the original stories/genres in really interesting ways.

And then once you fit the pieces together, you get to look at the new world you've made and see how these characters in this specific world have different conflicts and explore new themes, and you get to play with another level of puzzles as you figure out what this means for this story.

It's the most fun ever. It's my favorite game.

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

Me: Why do i love making myself sad by thinking about the clones and order 66 and the jedi so much?

Also me: Captain America: The Winter Soldier is my favourite movie of all time.

[stackslip]

actually i do have something to say about this chapter and it's quite critical of it but also i'm tired tonight and i've been talking about it long and hard on discord already and putting it all together in a coherent post feels like too much of a task tonight. all i'm gonna say is that part 2 was very obviously going in a certain direction from the start, and i loved that direction, and to an extent it is still going in that direction but now very obviously missing a huge chunk of what stirred it in that direction. and i'm hesitant to simply say it's fujimoto that's dropped the ball on this (though it might the idealization, who's to say) because from the actual shape of the writing + slump in paneling/art + recent bitter interview by fujimoto + japanese audience is apparently vocally not a fan of asa + my own cursed knowledge of shounen jump and shueisha editors and how they react to a fall in sales = i think the lack of focus on asa has really hurt the themes of part 2 when she was an integral part of it + i think this wasn't entirely fujimoto's doing and it's very likely because she is apparently strongly disliked in japan and there's good reason to believe that fujimoto was told to not focus on her nearly as much bc sales slump and people complain as soon as she shows up. which sucks. becaue what made part 2 work as well as it did was the synergy and parallel between the two protagonists' paths, and the absence of asa's path in the past few months (both in universe and by real time in the comic) feels like a genuine writing and thematic and emotional hole in the comic that to me shows that she WAS supposed to be there. fujimoto had fully intended to write her in there bc there's a hole in the shape of her where she is very obviously supposed to fit. it isn't simply a question of "author forgets his female character" it's a question of "this crucial part of the manga is missing and the author is painfully aware of it and bitter about it too"

[craqueluring]

i want to talk about randall tier

hannibal draws a lot of inspiration from manhunter (1986), which was the first film adaptation of the hannibal books, and i want to talk specifically about the scene where randall crashes through will's window, because it derives from a scene in manhunter. i am going to compare these two scenes, and use this to further my discussion of hannibal, which will be the focus of this. (there is a TLDR at the end of this!)

in manhunter, at the end of the movie, will runs and crashes through dolarhyde's window, shattering it and directly jumping into a fight with him. now, there is a copious amount of imagery in manhunter depicting will talking to his reflection in glass, windows, etc as if his reflection is dolarhyde. we get the sense that dolarhyde is inside of will’s head, and they start to blur as will has to relate and empathize more and more with dolarhyde to catch him. 

will crashing through the window is him meeting the darkest parts of himself face-to-face – now, he and dolarhyde are on the same side of the glass. will kills dolarhyde, which represents will overcoming (or, at least, suppressing) his violent urges and the turmoil that comes with understanding killers so deeply.

so, will crashing through the glass to meet dolarhyde is him meeting the ‘bad’ part of himself, the part that understands killers and lets them inside of his head, and by killing dolarhyde, he defeats this darker part of himself. will graham, in typical 80s fashion, ends the movie stable in his morality and can return to his heterosexual family life and watch the sunset with his wife and child.

the scene in hannibal is a bit different. instead of the identity parallel being between will and dolarhyde, it is between will and randall tier. randall is (if i am not mistaken) the first patient of hannibal’s we meet that has undergone his “therapy” and is considered a success. this is when we fully start to grasp what it is that hannibal does with his “therapy.” and what will could Become if he accepted hannibal's guidance.

instead of solely will’s violent urges, like dolarhyde represented in manhunter, randall tier represents, in a way, what will could be: a 'balanced' person who embraces his violence and becomes one with it. randall tier has the same violent urges and the dissonance in his identity that will has, but he accepts it, embraces it, and revels in what he is. 

so, when randall crashing through will’s window, will not only comes face to face with himself, but the Higher Self that hannibal is guiding him to Become. this is why randall is depicted as the raven stag, and then the stag man: will is forced to come face to face with who hannibal is guiding him to be, hannibal's influence, and has to confront how to handle his violent urges once again by being forced to kill in self defense. however, his fight with randall does not represent him overcoming these violent urges, as was in manhunter. the fight does actually facilitate will’s Becoming. will throws his shotgun away and chooses to use his hands to kill randall, as hannibal suggested. through Will’s fight with and murder of randall tier, he actually becomes closer to his Higher Self and his Becoming.

this is furthered by will's choice to make randall tier into a tableau. will’s first tableau. in will’s pendulum conversation with randall, it is made even clearer: will says “you forced me to kill you” and randall replies “i didn’t force you to enjoy it.” !!!!!

TLDR: in manhunter, will crashes through the window to meet a man who represents the darkest parts of himself. by killing dolarhyde, will defeats this dark part of himself and fortifies his sense of morality. hannibal flips this completely around. in hannibal, randall crashes through will’s window. will comes face to face with him, who, in a sense, represents his Higher Self and who will could be if he accepted hannibal's guidance. his fight with randall marks the start of him beginning to embrace this intimate violence hannibal has been talking about. by killing and displaying randall in a tableau, will revels in his violent urges by killing him with his hands and enjoying it and becomes closer to his Higher Self and his Becoming. instead of will overcoming his violent urges through this fight between a him and a representation of his violence like in manhunter, will killing randall fuels these urges.

[zeb-z]

“What do you really want. And just say it, so I can fight for it” after refusing to equate letting Jay go as a favor for the armor, taking it off as she insists because no favor is worth losing his crew, his family, honor bound to his word. After going through hell with her and Chip, sharing his deepest secrets and biggest worries, taking some of it personally but shrugging it off because he has to. Keeping a clear mind to keep the others safe. Refusing outright to leave Jay in that tundra, even as his own skin freezes and hardens, moving close to help her, to give her his Blessing to help her at his own detriment. Always at his own detriment.

Gillion Tidestrider, champion of the undersea, hero of the deep, eater of grass kicker of ass, defenestrator of the adulterous, and above all else, Riptide Pirate, waking up after what should have been an ultimate betrayal, and wanting to know what Jay’s intentions are - not to gauge his own trust, but to let her know that he’s going to fight for her anyway. He’s going to dig in his heels and he’s going to fight for her anyways.

[chirpsythismorning]

You basically sabotaged the whole day.

Seconds after El literally just got assaulted…

But no Mike’s hung up on Will moping being the cause of the day sucking even though Mike looked pretty much unbothered in all those moments he’s referring to

[vanhelsingapologist]

Leo got his sword arm cut off by Rahadin so his portrait had to change a tiny bit.

Also one of our party members assured him of his morality and he laughed out loud <\3

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

I am once again going down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out the ages of the Gallifrey characters