#real platonic ideal

[sneakysnoo]

i guess if puppys gonna genderpost puppys gonna genderpost hehe 😖💦

idk i mean im fluid in that it feels like its always vibrating and never still, and i didnt used to think i swung between masc/femme but now ive been out long enough to see that sometimes one or the other comes and goes, on top of the usual mix of non femme non masc feelings. ok slightly masc? still havent figured out if thats actually masc leaning or if maybe itll change someday when ive put some more distance between myself and my agab… weirder stuff has happened heh

but when it comes to how im seen i just need everyone to know that im a guy who also no he is not, and also that i am a goofy silly companion who aspires to have game show host vibes in the philosophical way

how does one have game show host vibes in the philosophical way?? i mean. a show is an experience, and the host takes you through it while also making it fun and entertaining. life is also an experience and i think if you do not try to have fun along the way you die a long time before your body dies lol. but not a lot of people think about this, because its so easy to get swept out of the moment and into lifes insanity. this is why we are in desperate need of these silly little guys called hosts. i think i also like the irreverence and the sheer balls to the wall insanity attracts me. akira kogami, garfield the cat, max headroom, mister rogers, bob ross, pat sajack. and of course. kermit dee frog, all of these bold individuals did the job thats a lil bit of everything, that at the end of the day is also one with and facilitates the show. they are the glue that keeps a timeslot that would just be a pile of skits from falling flat on its ass. they shepherd the present moment so that things can be Seen. They tell the audience, welcome! everything is ok. this is where you are, and this is whats coming up. now look. listen. to host is to take a walk with someone, and to keep them company for a little while. which is what so so much art is really about at the end of the day.

there is significant overlap here with the more evil counterpart of the game show host, the used car salesman. both the host and the salesman project the confidence of those who have seen beyond the firmament. they have Figured It Out. a good shepherd must instill calmness in the flock. but unlike the game show host which is a capitalistically originated entity but still with a little breath of soul, of art, the salesman has seen through to the simple, ugly truth, and he is not interested in distractions or happiness like art. the salesman sees that the only one who can possibly succeed in this system must be hollow, and hollow he becomes. but still the truth shines in him, shines out from his desperate hungry eyes like light through cathedral windows. hes happy. as happy as he can be. hes “successful.” as successful as he can be. he can imitate, but he can never quite truly be a good host, because being a good host requires some amount of care for your audience. the audience will, if theyre lucky, sense this deep dissonance in him and trust themselves instead of his words.

idk why all that got mixed in with my gender brain wires crosses who knows lmao 😜

[mylittleredgirl]

EXTREMELY funny how talia’s first reaction to ambassador kosh is just “this fucking guy.”

everyone else is (rightfully) intimidated by the incredible power and mystique of the vorlons, but until kosh starts really fucking with her, he’s just the most annoying customer she’s ever had. fucking hour of scampering. are you kidding.

@ god are you hearing this shit.

[anonymouspuzzler]

in the world of Villain Coded, are there still superhero comics? Leaving aside 'creepy promotional comics about real life people'.

oh there's absolutely still fictional superhero comics. they probably fill a little bit of a different entertainment niche than in Our universe - the vibes are wildly different but I imagine VERY roughly analogous to how, say, something like Columbo exists as a story and character even though he is Not a real human live detective. or maybe as an even more fictionalized version of something like True Psychic Tales (stuff like True Psychic Tales where it's sensationalized versions of Real Hero Exploits also definitely exists, but that's a different question). (god the in universe discourse about Superhero Comics As Propaganda is probably rancid)

this is tangential to the original question but thinking about it also made me realize there's probably a HUGE underground/indie comics scene around both real and fictional superheroes/supervillains. "supervillain as the protagonist" indie comics are probably a particularly big niche and probably just as controversial as a lot of Underground Comix of the real life Back In Da Day, especially if your Evil Guy Of Interest is inspired by/actually Is one of the big heavy hitter evils. anyway all this to say if you go looking I'm almost certain you can find at least One zine about The Invincible Bulkhead that's pretty openly Comic By and For People Who Like Bears

[t4tails]

not him gaming in the hall of justice

[coquelicoq]

raksura for the ask meme?

YAY

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most) moon was designed in a lab to appeal to me personally, so. it's about the trust issues!

scrunkly (my "baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped) the sky copper clutch!! traumatized children imprinting on a guy with baby fever is usually what i go to fanfic for so to have it right there in canon? incredible. i love all of frost's little tantrums and idk, just the way that she claims moon as her family in a way that has nothing to do with court politics? she's like, we're your clutch, obviously. and this is our court because it's your court, and all the other jabronis who live here are on thin ice. she's ready to throw down with moon's wife/the government at all hours of the day and she's like six years old. i love that moon has that energy in his life even though he personally is pretty confused and exhausted by it lol.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave) it's hard out here for an ember stan because he is in so few scenes relative to the space he occupies in my psyche! i need 5000% more interactions between him and moon. him and stone. him and shade. him and river. him and the teachers. him and the clutches. him and jade and balm and chime. oh my god him and malachite? him and celadon? him and delin??

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) niran. i'm always up for a "longsuffering ship captain resigns himself to another restless night of hearing gigantic shapeshifters with incredible stamina fuck nasty on the roof of his cabin" moment. technically i have never been in that exact situation, but i feel like i can relate.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave) river who is CLASSIC poor little meow meow territory like yes his whole personality is being a grade A asshole and sure he tries to kill my blorbo a few times, but once you get to know him he's so sad and pathetic that i'm kind of like okay where can i sign up to defend him from the largely factual aspersions of his dozens of quite frankly justified haters? he'd hate that. the good shit 👌

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason) stone. every time he crankily says "why did i ever reproduce" upon finding himself entangled in yet another ridiculous clusterfuck thanks to one of his hundreds of idiot great-great-great-great-great grandchildren, an angel gets its wings. he's depressed and antisocial but he can't totally check out because he has to mediate relationship issues between his dumbass relatives. love that for him.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell) malachite but specifically because malachite would not be scared of superhell. she'd skulk around being invisible, maybe fuck some shit up if she felt like it, and leave when she got bored. she probably makes it like. opal night's sister city or something. and nobody in the court is at all phased. yeah that's our reigning queen who recently got back from vacation in superhell. she does that. she says it's relaxing.

[cleromancy]

i hate it when people complain about the brucebabs in the timmverse bc 90% of the time they're complaining about the wrongggg thingggggg

because yeah actually there WAS comic book precedent for Barbara being romantically interested in bruce and not dick when she was batgirl. at the time in the comics she was in her 20s and he was a teenager and dicks crush is completely one sided. then obviously dick left and has his first love with kory, and barbara doesn't reciprocate his interest At All until he comes back to new jersey as an adult, and this is in the 90s while btas is still being made.

like there's no "bruce stealing his sons girlfriend" thing going on bc Bruce wasn't even considered uncomplicatedly dicks dad at that point. remember dick doesn't even get adopted until hes well into his 20s in gotham knights 2001.

the real reason timmverse brucebabs sucks is the same reason babsdick sucks now, infantilizing barbara n sanding off all her harsh edges like. they fucking girlfriendified her do you know what i mean. they hit her with the girlfriend beam and instead of trying to explore what is actually interesting about barbara and barbara in relationships they focused on making her appealing and feminine and girlfriendified.

[bylertruther]

y'all are gonna hate me for this one but i think it's worth nothing that eleven levels up and develops more as a person whenever she breaks up with mike, and how the vines were tightening around her as he was giving his speech and roping them back into a romantic relationship/context (not his fault btw no mike slander here + it's complicated), but when she's reviving max the source that she pulls her power, focus, and resolve from are memories where max is reminding her to be her OWN person, that she doesn't need anyone else, and she is more than enough as she is with "not hopper. not mike. you." and "there's more to life than stupid boys."

she performs a miracle by believing in herself and the one and first ever person that ever taught her to do so. the girl who viewed her not as a superhero that happens to be a girl, but a girl that happens to be a superhero, too. the girl who encouraged her to grow and change and put herself first. that's who and what give her the courage to fight on.

like literally how much more clear do they need to make it that her romantic relationship with him is holding her back? just look at seasons three and four as well as how the flashback they used for mike's speech was of her in the woods which is undoubtedly a nod to the fact that he doesn't see her as she is now and is stuck in the past while she desperately wants to move forward.

i just. !!!!! i'm sorry but Be Serious Please we can admit this and be real about it. it's okay. it does not make either of them a terrible awful character okay We Can Say It! It's Okay! and i focused on el's perspective here, but the show makes it exceedingly clear that they are not compatible in this way at all and that this relationship is something that makes them both feel worse about themselves in serious ways. they don't have a strong foundation between them to fall back on and they won't be able to move forward and fix things between them until they forge one. everything is shit because at the end of the day they don't feel secure or comfortable with each other in a way that actually matters.

[raymurata]

for oak: lovers, tower, moon reversed. for tarlyn: hierophant, hermit reversed

The Lovers: Which of your character’s relationships has been the most positive? (Romantic or otherwise)

Their family of course, and the Moonlighters and Gal.

Since you're the one asking I'm going to talk just about Espen (and that alone is a text wall): It satisfies something in me that I gave you one character to be unquestionably the child figure to Espen's mom complex. And that character isn't Oak -- It's Tarlyn. It was easy for Oak to look at Ahlysaaria and think "she's a shit mom" bc they had Nayi'rah to compare her to. Oak does appreciate motherly figures fussing over them, but they don't need a mom ideal to replace Nayi'rah -- no one could even.

But Tarlyn did need a mother figure to replace Ahlysaaria. It was very satisfying to me that beside Tarlynoak on this journey walked a woman who was a wizard, a drow, a "noble" (adjacent, but still. And Fyrna also counts for this, even through Espen's tales only). A woman had to navigate den politics and who also cared for reputation, all of which paralleled her to Ahlysaaria and made Oak wince and fear for Shanfel every time Espen talked about "reputation" in the first weeks. But Espen (and Fyrna) still raised their child with love and freedom. They were good mothers, and their position and power and culture didn't affect that. Tarlyn wishes they'd met Espen (and Fyrna) in the past, but they're glad they met her now because they still need a powerful spellcaster noble mother figure to navigate den politics with. They're still a really young little guy who's better at making things than handling nobility.

But yeah. Tarlynoak really loves and admires Espen so much. They are still anti-monarchy, but she's helped them have more hope in the dynasty as a whole, and her actions and her stories about Fyrna have made them believe that it is possible to be both a noble and noble in intent, which is what they want to be now.

The Tower: When has your character lost an ideal or relationship?

Oak has lost friendships. I haven't written fic for this yet but I 100% picture a deep and extremely meaningful friendship early on in their life that ended in miscommunication and eventual estrangement. I picture them crying so much over it, weeks on end of sadness. I also picture another couple of great friendships that they really tried to keep alive when they went to Rosohna, but the distance and the ways in which they changed just made those connections weaker, even if they still loved those people and still remembers them fondly. I know that Oak lost relatives both to divorce (the beloved wife of their uncle left him) and death (a grandparent) and all of those losses hurt, but they taught them how to deal with grief and abandonment, to understand that sometimes people leave, and sometimes the Gods take them. And they learned it hurts because that relationship mattered, like they told Moxie. Better to love and risk suffering the grief than to not love at all -- the latter isn't really living in their opinion.

The Moon in Reverse: When does your character mistrust their feelings or intuition?

Oak is insecure and they can easily mistrust their feelings and intuition if they can't find rational evidence to support their inklings. There are many things they're not knowledgeable about and they struggle to trust their instincts when doing something they're bad at. Or when they're before a challenge with high stakes. Or when they're around people who are much more socio-economically or politically or even magically powerful than them.

The Hierophant: Who has served as a mentor to your character?

Ahlysaaria :( I've written five fics to depict how she raised him rigorously (but luxuriously), taught him magic spartanly, and exerted excessive control over his every decision and expression of self. That is by far the most relevant mentor he had in life and the reason why he ended up as he did, but... She wasn't the only one.

There was also Professor Waccoh. When Tarlyn was studying in the Conservatory, he loved her classes. You might think it's because she's a weapons designer and he was interested in that, but it's the other way around. She was kooky and unafraid of people's opinions of her, and she was a powerful wizard woman (remember this boy has mommy issues), so, of course, he imprinted on her and dedicated himself like a maniac not only to excel in her class but to impress her personally.

A funny thing is that canonically Professor Waccoh absolutely hates the Icozrin, so I picture that it was common for her to insult Bodo and even Ahlysaaria to Tarlyn's face, and somehow imply that he was not entirely like the rest of them. That confused him because very few people dared to be so blunt with him, and it invited him to question his family too. Just a little bit. Unfortunately, he still tried to pretend he didn't really care about her and that he just liked her subject, and boasted that he'd help his family never need to hire her again by making better designs than hers.

The Hermit in Reverse: When has your character felt the most alone?

Tarlyn felt really alone his entire life. When he was amongst noble friends who (as far as he interpreted it) only wanted him for the magic he could perform for them and the things he could sponsor with his wealth, he felt alone. When he sat at the dinner table with Ahlysaaria and Ymril, decades of tension between them, he felt alone. When he lay under whatever guy wanted him just not to feel alone, he felt alone. He was struggling with a lot of mental illnesses.

I guess I'll turn this question around a bit and tell you that he felt the least alone when he could just spend some idle time solving pointless riddles and crosswords with a friend who liked kissing him and enjoyed the riddles about as much as he did.

And when the Luxon gave him a glimpse of what it meant to feel one with everything.

[mantisgodsdomain]

We think Kabbu is aroace but specifically the kind of aroace where he's aware of romance and sex and all that jazz and he is in theory Totally Allo And Normal Definitely but in practice he couldn't catch someone hitting on him if they hit him with a brick to the face.

He's aware of it in theory but in practice the fact that it applies to him and people exist who could find him attractive is completely alien because internally the concepts are like oil and water and he cannot conceive the idea of him actually, like, entering a relationship with someone.

[livvyofthelake]

what if there were two women. and they were firefighters in the same station. and they were bestieeeees. and one of them was a lesbian!!!! and they were roommates 😳. and they were both just like really focused on their careers right now… should they have gayass dyke sex yes or no

[greenerteacups]

I was just talking with a friend about possible great HP-world tv-shows and we ended up at "Pride and Prejudice in the HP wizarding world" (not the plot of P&P but the vibes; with Slytherin!Mr.Darcy and Gryffindor!Elizabeth (or OR! better yet vice versa)) and I thought you would be such a perfect fit to write it 😍

aw, thanks, that's a fun idea! I feel like Hogwarts AUs for other fandoms used to be more of a thing back in the age of peak Pottermania, and I wonder if they won't end up coming back when the TV show drops.

Darcy is totally a Hufflepuff, though.

[revindicatedbyhistory]

(voice of a man who has lot his mind) monika from ddlc and shiori from rgu are kind of similar characters

[mummer]

yes im an adult yes time of the doctor just made me cry. that’s allowed

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also let's hear it for our [cam stone exists] entry being the only one (so far) of the 2 trans 2 furious zine to have an editor's note, hell yeah

[coloursofaparadox]

i ✨️cannot sleep✨️ and vaguing about shit on the internet feels more cathartic than writing it out somewhere else. suffer.