#since this feels a bit baity

[d3sertdream3r]

I've been loving trop this season!! I am wondering how the whole SauronxGaladriel thing is going to play out though I'm nervous it won't be very satisfying with everything they've built up and all the marketing hype it's gotten. I'm worried they're baiting shippers to get more people to watch. Thoughts?

Oh boy, I have MANY thoughts!

I am absolutely DEVOURING this season, anon! The first episode in particular really blew me away. As a Saurondriel/Haladriel shipper, I thought all the direct parallels shown in Sauron and Galadriel’s journeys were PERFECT! 

I was worried they were going to retcon Sauron’s genuine feelings of despair and questioning if he should “repent” or not due to the amount of hate and toxicity from the usual suspects on the internet. Instead they really leaned into it, and I loved seeing The Dark Lord having nightmares. It’s a side of him we’ve never seen explored before! And that Annatar reveal… holy moly! Celebrimbor and I were both like: 

Galadriel has been breaking my heart in each episode. Elrond and Gil-Galad need to give my girl a break! Morfydd Clark’s acting is stellar. She is so heartbroken over not recognizing Sauron for who he truly was and even worse… catching feelings for him! She’s really going through it and it hurts, but it’s also brilliant on the writers’ part. 

Everyone else’s acting and stories are great too. Arondir was a favorite of mine last season and continues to be this season. Disa is FANTASTIC and I love her and Durin so much there aren’t any words to describe it. Isildur and Estrid are cute and I’m interested to see how their story plays out. I hardcore ship Elendil and Miriel, and his daughter needs to take a seat before she helps Pharazon destroy their home! I know the story, but MAN was it killing me to see how Eärien is contributing to its downfall in this show (in a good way… I think having her be involved with the opposite side of her father makes for great drama). 

As to the second part of your ask… I have been involved in many online fandoms for about 13 years now, and I gotta say that 98% of the time fans come up with way more interesting storylines than the creators of any show. A lot of the time they just don't deliver. I’ve been burned over and over again, so my bar is pretty low at this point. 

They’ve done a fabulous job with the Saurondriel dynamic so far, and I’ve seen some really interesting fan theories about Galadriel briefly joining Sauron or being taken prisoner by him. As truly fascinating as that would be, I’m not holding my breath. I think it’ll be a rehash of season one’s ending with more violence since they have swords this time around. After that, I’m guessing they’ll focus on Sauron gaslighting, gatekeeping, and girlbossing his way to the throne of hell while Galadriel and company work together to stop him. They’ve hinted at Celeborn a bit, I’m sure we’ll see them reunited at some point. 

I’m sorry if this isn’t very reassuring! I wish I could be more optimistic about Saurondriel in season 3, but I honestly don’t think Tolkien’s estate would go for Galadriel falling to the dark side in any capacity. Sauron taking her prisoner could happen, but I highly doubt it simply because as I said before, fans tend to have better ideas than a lot of creators in my opinion.

I could be completely wrong! I have just learned not to trust creators to handle things the BEST way, but that doesn't mean it won't be handled in a GOOD way. Hopefully that makes sense, lol. I think some people will be satisfied and some people won't, just like every other story. The shippy photoshoots and marketing have been delightful! I can't tell if they're baiting until I see the last episode. I think they were just having fun, but some comments from cast and creators would definitely seem a bit baity if the payoff is underwhelming. We'll see!

I really hope the season goes out with a bang and we all have something to love about it; especially Saurondriel shippers!

[star-trek-dumb-comics]

Ranking the star trek openings (of series I've seen) bc I have nothing else to do :

1- TNG season 1-2

Perfect 10/10. Love the Patrick Stewart narration. The music is just straight up happy juice every time I hear it. Makes me really eager and energetic and gets me in the mood every time. Only downside is that I think it shouldn't be used as a end credit music, because it create a pretty jarring mood whiplash with the endings of some episodes

2- TNG season 3-7

Pretty much the same, except I like the sorta "reverb" sound and chords of the first one better.

3- Lower decks

The theme song slaps sooo hard it was one of the few things that kept me watching in season 1 when back then I really didn't like the show. The visuals are pretty fun as well and look very good

4- TOS season 1-2

This may just be nostalgia speaking but the relaxed and content "home" feeling I get when I hear this theme is unparalleled. Also I like how short it is, which means I almost never skip it even when binging.

5- TOS season 3

It's really almost on the same level as the first one but I like the singing a bit less than the instrumental. But idk the blue letters do look a bit better

6- Voyager

Voy may be mid, but it does have a dope opening music. Really engaging and emotional. The visuals are fine but the ship just doesn't look as good as Enterprises sorry

7- Enterprise season 1-2

Okey HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT. The visuals are really cool, and this opening would have made top three if they used Archer's theme instead of Faith of the heart like they planned at first. But hey. Ik the song is bad but like Enterprise itself, I have developed a weird fondness to it. I went trough the classic arc of hating it - liking it ironically - liking it unironically back when I first watched the show. Now I just sing along and almost never skip it.

8- TAS

this theme funky af

9- SNW

Still not decided on my feeling about this theme (like the show itself funnily enough). Feels nostalgia baity with the TOS remix but at the same time it is different enough from the TOS theme to be its own thing, and it sounds pretty good. Very cool visuals and love that they brought back the opening narration.

10- DS9 season 4-7

This may be my controversial opinion of the day but as much as I love DS9 I don't really like the opening. It feels dragged out as fuck and the visuals aren't very engaging (+ that meteorite looks ugly as shit sorry). Idk it's the one I skip the most often. This version feels at least a bit faster that the first one but the trumpets are slightly offbeat which is kinda infuriating.

11- DS9 season 1-3

Its sloooooooooow

12- Enterprise season 3-4

Really don't like how they remixed it. I don't even want to sing along, the added rhythm section is so distracting.

Edit : I wanted to add the first Disco theme since I've watched most of season 1 but I have no idea where to put it. I really like the music and the visuals but it just feels like it belongs to a completely different show than Star trek. Even the little TOS notes at the end feel out of place.

[butchmartyr]

Apologies I phrased that very poorly, transfem/otherwise AMAB (not all AMAB nonbinary/genderqueer people identify as transfeminine which is why i use agab, but TMA would be more appropriate!) GQ experiences are different enough from AFAB (etc etc) or TME transgender ones to classify them as different things? Lumping both together under “transgender” widens the experience the term captures. the experience of transmisogyny is 90% of transphobia, I don’t believe transmascs face any systemic discrimination aside from reactive misogyny before passing, and most have extremely different experiences from transfems: Are they similar enough to be recognized as transgender in the same way? Or would another term be more appropriate. Something I’ve been thinking on for a while

ahh, i see, thanks for elaborating. while i get your meaning, i would disagree. i think its certainly true that trans experiences range pretty broadly across the spectrum and that transmisogyny is really extreme and probably the most numerous example of transphobia, but im not sure id go so far to say that it is wholly representative of transphobia; although id get pretty close, a lot of transphobia and bias is influenced heavily by transmisogyny or other generalized fear of transfemininity/failed masculinity, like a lot lot.

moreover, i worry that this kind of analysis could lead to overfocusing on some aspects of gender, and losing sight of other vital key parts to how gender is actively lived and enforced (such as class, race, culture, whole milieu). i also want to push back a bit on the "transmascs dont face systemic discrimination" because i just think its too black and white since they definitely do (not mentioning other axes of oppression here, though you should when thinking this out because systemic discriminations interact in many ways with transness), just sometimes less or in different ways than transfems/tma folks. as an example, trans women have been observed on avg to be paid 60% less than the avg worker (horrendous), trans men arent much above that being observed at 70% (referencing this). sure the gap sucks and is evidence of the privilege that comes with not being tma, but they’re also still getting screwed, right? i also dont think we need to chalk these issues they face up to misogyny imo, i think its more accurate to describe it as transphobia as its denying their worth based on their divergent gender

tl;dr, while this feels a little baity, transmascs are definitely also discriminated against and while they can (and do) perform terrible transmisogyny to transfems and completely not understand their transphobia due to their own unique trans situation (many such cases), as a whole we have more in common with each other than against each other, most importantly the value of trans liberation and a cuter future where gender isnt so big of a deal. but to be clear if you're a snake about trans women and fail again and again to confront and learn from your transmisogynistic biases, you are poisoning the well by spreading such ideas in the community

[psychewritesbs]

Maybe I'll regret sending you this ask but it's like a thorn in my side and I need to get it out because I can't stop thinking about this so here I go 🙇‍♀️

If I don't see the romantic subtext in Gojo and Geto's dynamic, does that mean I'm not really understanding what Gege is telling? I like their dynamic, they're complex characters and so is their dynamic, but not because there is romance there. Of course, if I read and look to see romance there I find it... but I'm looking to interpret it that way. So when I see "the subtext is there", "the dynamic is ambiguous", I start to question my interpretation... I don't know if it's because my reading comprehension has already been attacked when I said their relationship isn't canon. I really tried to see that ambiguity since I started reading the manga but in the end I felt like I was reading too much... that I was actively searching for something that was supposed to be in plain sight.

P.S: I have seen ships with ambiguous dynamics in SNK, HQ, Naruto (NARUSASU, I don't even ship them but I understand 😅) and I never saw this war between shippers and non-shippers...

Nooooo anon 😭. Please, I promise I don't bite too hard.

So, first of all, thanks for sending this. I'm ngl, it makes me sad to think that I might have contributed to someone feeling like I would make you regret asking about something you don't see.

Second, I'm going to make this answer about perception because the purpose of my blog is psych.

Third, as a lead up to the psych stuff, it goes without saying that one of the reasons I don't talk about shipping in jjk is precisely because shipping is highly personal, and a lot of people in this fandom take their interpretations about the story as absolute truths, to the point that they gaslight anyone who doesn't agree with them.

It's like we're all just deploying domain expansions and the one person with the strongest sense of self wins. Right?

But this is a HUGE irony because Gege has gone on record in an interview saying that one of the themes at the core of jjk is that there is no such thing as an ultimate truth where someone is right and someone is wrong.

(source)

And to me this gets at a much larger issue that I taco'bout under the cut.

So this is the thing, right?

If you don't see the subtext in stsg, there are a lot of factors affecting your perception. Gender, sexuality, background, etc etc...

The thing to keep in mind is that you don't see the world as it is...

So I love that second angry anon brought up the idea that someone who is straight would very likely see gjhm as a romantic pairing, because it's true!

This is really complicated because, yes, heteronormativity is at play here, AND that doesn't mean a straight person is being homophobic for not seeing the stsg subtext without putting on pink-colored fujo glasses.

That said, I have seen the jjk dudebros be total dicks because they think that, because they are straight and the target demographic, the only way the story should be perceived is as if most all characters are straight and you are delusional to think otherwise.

And I'll be honest here, I'm a bi/pan woman. I am also a fujoshi. I've read quite a bit of bl/yaoi, and I think that has influenced why I don't see the romantic subtext without looking for it.

Basically, I've read really long threads by stsg fans that were meant to provide evidence for why they are canon that I was just like "this is all a subjective perception" and that is not to say they are wrong.

More like, YES. I couldn't agree more with you. It's there if you look for it. I am not sure if you saw this, but someone else came through sharing the same sentiment as you.

For me, little details like the battle taking place on December 24th, and Gege recommending bl before, point at a certain ambiguity that Gege might want to create without confirming anything.

It's funny that baity anon said stuff like "Gege is throwing irrelevant breadcrumbs at these shippers" when the same could be said about stsg according to many, many, MANY people.

Who is right? Who is wrong? If a group of people can see it and another can't, who owns the ultimate truth?

If Gege doesn't explicitly say "stsg is the other dynamic that is canonical along with mechamiwa", then who gets to have the authority on how to interpret the story? And who gave them that authority? And why are they ignoring subtext that doesn't suit their agenda?

I'm asking both sides for the sake of being a devil's advocate btw lol.

The thing is, it's all subjective, and there is no such thing as an ultimate truth where someone is right and someone is wrong--what there is is people arriving at conclusions based on their own logic according to who they are.

In the end, we're all looking at jjk through our own subjective lens, which is inevitably made up of many different factors.

That ramble aside, I hate that your reading comprehension was attacked because you can't see what someone else can see. That's just lame af because it tells me this is someone arrogant enough to take their opinion as absolute truth, and insecure enough to make someone else feel bad for questioning their interpretation.

As someone who has been internet-mean and who has wrongfully thought she owned the truth about something in the past, I apologize that someone has made you feel this way.

The reason this is a bigger issue than just shipping is because this issue is prevalent across fandom.

jjk dudebros will have you believe that if someone reads jjk for anything that is not battles is wrong.

Others will gaslight people and call them dumb for being open about how they don't understand how Gege explains certain things.

By the way, Maki is better than Toji according to some, but not to others.

I'm telling you, for jjk being a story about how there is no absolute truth, we sure are attached to our interpretations as being the ultimate truth.

All I know is that I don't want to be part of the problem and that starts with me making space for understanding why someone would disagree with me or think differently than I do.

Here's the last thing I'll say, anon.

If you don't see the stsg subtext as romantic, then you are indeed missing out on a romantic interpretation. If that's not something you're interested in... that's no one's "problem" but yours.

As long as you aren't seeking to minimize someone else's perception, then it's your interpretation and yours alone.

For me, I see this:

And I fucking love this spread because I see deep and intense longing. I get the sense Gojo is looking really hard for any semblance of Geto in this body.

Do you see something romantic? Yes? No?

It doesn't really change anything, does it? It just means someone reads into something you don't see.

The fact that you are questioning whether you are "really understanding" the text "right" tells me you have the humility to look to adjust your perception and be open to other ideas.

There's a difference between saying "I don't see it" and "I don't see it and neither should you because I don't see it, and if you do, you are delusional!"

Which one are you?

Which one will you be moving forward?

Thanks for coming to my TED talk looool.

I went on a raaaaant bahaha.

I just... man... this is the kind of problem that shipping in this fandom creates. As you said... imagine just wanting to mind your own business and someone who ships a certain pairing comes and tells you you are an idiot for not reading the same way as they do. OR viceversa, you're shipping along, minding your own business and someone tells you you are delusional for enjoying a ship.

Come on....

It really is a matter of perception and we're quite literally spamming domain expansions on each other as a way to impose our personal truth on others as absolute. It's really ironic and funny ngl.

This reminds me...

Idk if you've seen any Gundam shows, but at least the ones I've seen, usually the plot revolves around how war and conflict is the result of two sides of the same coin being unwilling to accept a different point of view.

So anyways. As I said in that baity ask... I'm at a point in my life where I'd rather focus on holding the tension of opposites. It's just where I'm at.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts anon!

Don't let others define your perception! If you do, you've already turned your back on the only person whose perception matters most--you.

[tscritical]

Something I don't think enough people put enough consideration is that while Thomas started Sanders Sides, Joan was in large part its mastermind and literally ever since they left, that's when the direction of the series almost immediately floundered. Idk how to find all the sources but I believe they essentially created Logan's character from the ground up and was the one to convince Thomas that Sanders Sides could be more than some 5 minute silly skits.

Still previous anon regarding Joan, I just really feel in a lot of aspects, Sanders Sides was their love child, and I remember they'd interact with fans and talk about behind the scenes stuff on their Tumblr which was sadly deleted. You might be able to find old reblogs for sources I'm not sure. Also I think the was Roleslaying w Roman was initially advertised should get a mention because Thomas was like "oh there's going to be this spinoff with Roman!" And everyone was thrilled at the idea and then eventually it turned out it was a "different" Roman and along with a few sanders sides baity things with the series I think it goes to show Thomas has a repeated habit of misleading viewers instead of directly communicating with them, like ughh.

Anyways at this point it's not necessarily Thomas owes us content (although with the Patreon I say that's up for the table) it's moreso that if he just gave more updates on the series progress and be a bit more open on things, it would ensure he kept fans in the loop and engaged with his content. Like he doesn't have to do that but the alternative is that he doesn't have any fans like *shrugs* how else do you maintain a living as an internet content creator????

honestly i agree with you. joan leaving may have killed sanders sides. and it’s like. i don’t blame them for leaving? it’s their life? but also… it was a mistake skjddkfj

i don’t remember why they and talyn moved actually, could someone refresh my memory?

and ohhhhhh the fucking CLICKBAIT with rswr im. :grips: like i love rswr but it can’t be denied that it only became a popular series on the channel because of the name roman. im not wrong

and like look at the difference in views between episode one and episode two

[ID: a screenshot of two youtube videos, the first and second episodes of roleslaying with roman, called “the ward and the wanderer” and “tricks and traps” respectively. the first episode has 331 thousand views and the second episode has 145 thousand views. End ID]

like it’s so obvious that the first one got as many views as it did because people were like “oo!! it’s roman!” and then lyra (is that the name) was like “this is a different roman” and a ton of people tuned out

(it is also possible that it’s just a natural decline in views that youtube series usually get but like. listen)

and as for the last paragraph i AGREE!! like it’s not that hard to give people updates explaining any delays but it seems like this man is so desperate to maintain his ~image~ that he won’t acknowledge that anything is screwy backstage :/

being a fander is such an emotional rollercoaster istg

[vintage-bentley]

If David were giving "wait and see" style answers I'd have a bit more hope but he was talking to the Radio Times which is a reputable publication in the UK so I don't feel like he'd outright lie to them about the nature of Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship.

To be honest, both he and Michael have been pretty clear on this being a ~secret background story~ or whatever, and have repeatedly said it's up for interpretation, and I'm worried everybody's doing another Johnlock where they ignore what the people involved are saying and have convinced themselves they're getting confirmation that will never come. The difference is this would be even WORSE because of the marketing campaign for season 2 and Neil's baity comments.

I honestly don't think Neil would be affected by this either because the second anybody expresses disappointment the asexuals in fandom are going to make it all about them and about how society ignores and invalidates their kind of love etc. I think he'll be successfully shielded. There will be pissed off people (especially olds like me who were book fans first and have lived through this shit a billion times) and I'm sure a huge part of the fandom will be quietly seething but we simply won't be allowed to call it bait because "Neil has always said it's a love story and therefore canon uwu" (even if it's plausibly deniable to homophobes and eludes the casual viewer 🙄).

I also think it's very telling that Neil only drew attention to the fake spoilers circulating when a post appeared saying the season was "500% gay" and that Az and Crowley had many romantic scenes. He has also said that while the marketing dept at Amazon clearly love the show he would've advised them to do things differently were he not on strike.

I know we've all been interpreting David and Michael's tight-lipped squirming when asked about a romantic subplot as an attempt not the give EVERYthing away, but it could also be that they know they're not going to deliver what the audience wants (including, apparently, every single interviewer on press day lol) so have been ordered not to say anything that sets themselves up.

IF all of this does turn out to be bait I am going to become a fic writer just to spite Neil lol. Trust I will be writing the smuttiest fic and finding the nastiest NSFW Ineffable Husbands art imaginable and it will be gay, gay, GAY 😂

I still HOPE we're getting what we want because I'm an optimistic fool. I'm just not sure it's guaranteed in the way the fandom thinks it is.

(btw if this doesn't go through anonymously please message me rather than publishing? Unfortunately I have co-workers and real life friends following me on my main 😬)

Sorry anon I couldn’t help but publish these together, it’s very funny to me 😂

Now, I know you’ve done a complete turnaround, but I do see where you were coming from with your first ask. It’s fun to imagine that the squirmy tight-lipped attitude is them doing their best not to spoil…but it’s sadly true that it could also be them feeling like they’re walking in a minefield, knowing that fans are anticipating something they didn’t deliver.

And I agree with you about fan reception to Neil. Like I’ve said before, spicy straights thinking they can call themselves “queer” has been absolutely disastrous to our ability to talk about queerbaiting. Because that term is really supposed to mean gaybaiting. It refers to the specific trend of shows teasing a gay relationship to get viewers hooked, but never taking it anywhere to ensure they don’t loose the viewership of homophobes. But now since everyone and their mother calls themselves “queer”, they seem to think the term queerbaiting applies to them, too. Which has led us to the point where people say “actually this show isn’t queerbaiting, because they don’t show physical affection which is aro/ace representation! Not everything has to be gay!” (In other words, “this show is gaybaiting but I’m happy about that so you can’t get upset about it”).

So, even if the show ends up being perfect textbook queerbait…we can’t say that, because of how the term has been appropriated. And we’ll have to deal with spicy straights whining about how they’re oppressed by gays wanting representation.

But as I’ve said before, I’m very optimistic about it not being bait! Let’s hope we’re right!

[persephones-poet-blog]

I’d like some feedback on a work in progress:

I have a queer couple (f/f) who canonically like each other and finally express it at the end of the first book (yay!) Because of action that has to happen to move the story forward they are separated at the end of the first book and through the second book until the last ~1/3.

The part of reconnecting in book 2 is heavy action and not relationship focused though there would be some. Additionally, there is a potential f/m relationship for the mc (she’s bi) in book 2.

What I was originally thinking is that in the third book they’ve been together for a little bit but because of differences in personality/trauma they break up or don’t “end up together.” In my mind, it makes sense with the storylines and who they are and because sometimes love isn’t enough.

I don’t have plans for my MC to really end up with anyone at the end of the trilogy, but is any of this a little too queer-baity?

I’m most concerned with the first book since they reveal feelings and then are split apart. The MC is queer, but I do know that same-sex partnerships that don’t end up together have been called out in the past for the “tease”

Any thoughts on this would be helpful!

Please note: I am a bi cis female so recognize that this is not me coming from a place of complete ignorance (and to a degree includes experience).

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

Age Gaps, a Uniquely Adrestian Issue

This title might be a bit click baity because a lot of this requires making assumptions based on what characters say and can be interpreted in different ways but basically Dorothea’s backstory confirms there’s an issue with this in Adrestia and I wanted to look into how this issue appears in the different Fodlan countries.

So starting with the obvious, Dorothea’s story. The main thing that got me thinking about this was Dorothea talking about how a noble she suspects was her father flirted with her. Obviously there’s no way to know for sure how old this noble was, but considering most of the students at Garreg Mach (a prestigious academy that most nobles attend) are in their late teens and there are even a few in their early twenties, all with no kids, I think we can assume that most nobles wouldn’t start having kids until they’re at least in their mid twenties. So let’s say the noble was 25ish years older than Dorothea. This happened a few years before the main story so Dorothea was probably 16ish years old. Throughout this conversation Dorothea never makes a big fuss about the man’s age, leading me to think men of this age hitting on teenage girls is common in Adrestia (or at the very least in the opera company). It’s also heavily implied that Dorothea had to trade sexual (or, at the very least, romantic ones) favors with nobles to get enough money to attend the academy. None of the nobles faced any sort of repercussions for their flirting, hinting that there is probably no system in place to prevent people from preying on teens. While it is possible there actually is a system and Dorothea just didn’t bother to report it for whatever reason, Hanneman never asks her about if she reported these nobles or anything of the sort in their support, which I feel he would have done if there was a system in place for that.

The next story I want to focus on is Mercedes’s. While she is a Blue Lion, she originally lived in Adrestia with her adoptive father Baron Bartels. As I’m sure you know, Jeritza killed Mercedes’s father because he was planning on marrying her and forcing her to bear his children because her mother was too old to have another child. We must again make an assumption about the age of Mercedes’s father but let’s say he was in his 40s or 50s at this time (we know Mercedes’s mother was likely this age since she could no longer reproduce and we’re assuming her father was close to his age). The house was destroyed in 1176, meaning that would have been when Baron Bartels was pursuing Mercedes. This is four years before the main story, so Mercedes would have been 18 at the time. While that’s technically an adult at least by the standards of many modern countries (and I personally believe Fodlan considers you to be an adult earlier but that’s a separate discussion), it’s still very young and this man hadn’t seen Mercedes since she was 10. It also opens up some questions about how Adrestia would treat incest because, while they may not technically be related, he is her adoptive father. Anyways, it doesn’t seem as if Baron Bartels was at all concerned about how marrying his 18 year old adoptive daughter would impact his reputation, leading me to believe a relationship like that is at the very least accepted.

Finally for Adrestia, I want to look at Hanneman’s endings. He has two endings with Black Eagles, both of which seem to be romantic. Dorothea’s ending confirms that they get married and Edelgard’s ending says they had an “affectionate and fulfilling” relationship which definitely has romantic implications. Hopefully everyone can see why that’s a strange age gap. The thing that led me to think this might be an Adrestian cultural issue as opposed to an all of Fodlan issue. Hanneman also has endings with two Golden Deer girls and one Blue Lion girl, none of which have any hints of romance in their ending, so I thought it was kind of weird that he could only romance Black Eagle girls.

The first place I went to look for Faerghus was Ingrid. We know she has had to deal with suitors and I’ve definitely seen people headcanon that some of her suitors have been way to old for her, but is there any indication that that is actually how it was? I looked at her supports with Byleth and Seteth because I remembered those touching on these topics and didn’t feel like skimming through every support. Basically, I found no indication that she had gotten proposals from men significantly older than her (although there’s nothing to indicate she hadn’t so again, it’s open to interpretation). We know she was first engaged to Glenn, who I believe was around Sylvain’s age so not that much older than her. And also, in the letter we see from her dad in her support with Byleth says she’s probably found good prospects at Garreg Mach. The students there would all be fairly close to her age which could be taken as a hint that there is some sort of age limit for what Faerghus culture views as acceptable.

Finally, I wanted to look at Leicester. But then I had no idea where to look so I gave up. Honestly, I don’t think marriage is talked about that much among the Golden Deer. I guess its something Lorenz is focused on, but he’s pursuing other students who would be close to his age. He can end up married to Catherine or Manuela though which are definitely large age gaps. However, because the only place we see any large age gaps in Leicester (to my knowledge at least) is in end cards and not in the actual story, I interpret that as meaning large age gaps are less of an issue in Leicester than Adrestia.

[brynnasaurus]

Hi! ♥ I have a very random question, but I saw your "best movies of 2022" list, and I wanted to ask if you thought TAR was scary? Is it a thriller? Or more drama? I'd really want to go see it with a friend, but she's a major scaredy-cat. Anything too horrifying and she'll be freaked out (she was scared of the trailer). Since you're the only person I know who has seen it, I'd like to ask your opinion, if that's okay? Thank you. ♥

I would LOVE to answer this question and I hope you don't mind if I post it publicly just in case anyone else is curious!!

You will be glad to know that TÁR is not at all scary! I think even the biggest scaredy-cat should be fine :) I suppose you could call it a psychological thriller in a way, but it isn't really a thriller in the traditional sense where you're worried someone's about to be murdered or is trying to get away from something/one - Lydia Tar is mostly running away from herself and her own bad choices, so its more of an internal movie in that sense. I'd definitely categorize it as a straight drama.

There are some slightly spooky moments, though! But they're more atmospheric - strange noises at night, a scream in the woods, some dream-like sequences that are a bit unsettling - but I don't think its a spoiler to tell you that none of it amounts to anything actually scary. There are no real ghosts in this movie - she's just haunted by her own mistakes.

And, as a bonus - it's actually a pretty funny movie! So much of the conversation around it and most of the marketing frames it as a super serious drama (and it is) but it's also got a lot of surprising levity, which I think is why it works so well, because often you can have these super serious Oscar baity movies that can feel like a chore to watch, and I never felt that way at all. I'd watch five more hours of it - I'm starting the campaign for Todd Fields asking him to make TÁR Cinematic Universe happen

Hope this helps and hope you both enjoy!! :)

[russell-crowe]

do you think crowe will get another oscar in the future?

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh anon.... i will let you know that im a bit (very) tired right now so i might be taking some short cuts in answering this BUT after having thought plenty about it during breakfast, here are my thoughts: i do think he still has the acting skills to be top of the game, and therefore based on just that alone: yes but winning an oscar depends on a lot of other factors. some of it is almost 'strategic', because some actors choose to star in oscar baity films to try and have their shot (hugh jackman in 'the son') at a statue like that. it's a lot of 'being at the right moment, at the right time'. 'gladiator' at the time was actually quite a risk - it was reviving a genre that around then was a cliché filled cheesy genre nobody bothered to give a fuck about, the script was constantly molded during filming and there were a lot of doubts whether the dramatic plotline would hit well.

i feel like, looking at roles russell picks, he's not really bothered by the idea of an award winning role. tbh ever since gladiator (and even before that), he has largely played roles that he thought were fascinating for one reason or the other. and the last few years he also seems content with slightly smaller roles and playing more supportive roles. some of those do land him in the eye of award shows, but it doesn't seem to be his creative driving force.

so if i had to place a guess and put money on it and all, i kind of expect him to win best supporting actor in the future in a boy erased kind of drama.

(gosh im sorry this is not very coherent but i loved this question and it did make me think about things!! but im also generally not too bothered by award shows so i do not know what his shots would be realistically speaking)

[mrnerdteacher]

The One Scene in “Avatar: The Way of Water” that Perfectly Encapsulates Everything Great and Not-So-Great about the Sci-Fi Spectacle

A Slightly-Spoilery Avatar Review

Lest I be accused of click-baity cynicism, let me begin by saying that James Cameron’s Avatar sequel is a ground-breaking achievement of visual story-telling. It is quite literally the most amazing thing I have ever seen on screen, and its special-effects filled me with a sense of awe and wonder I have not felt since the first Jurassic Park.

However, for all its technological innovations, watching A:TWoW feels like unearthing a time-capsule from a day when movies were more simple-minded and audiences expected less nuance. Pot-bellied villains cackle about how much money their evil deeds have wrought, newborn babies are held aloft for the adulation of the village, and every male character (indigenous or military) refers to one another as bro. For as innovative as the franchise has been, its script feels weighed down by the 13 years it took to make it to the second entry. And no scene summarizes this better than one in particular… (Minor Spoilers ahead)

At about the halfway point of the film, a new set of villains is introduced: poachers. For the sea-faring Na’vi, the ocean is filled with not animals, but friends. In fact, the audience is explicitly told that the whale-like Tulkuns possess more emotional and mathematical intelligence than even human beings. Which makes one 12 minute segment of the film borderline unwatchable.

A mother “whale” is isolated from its pack and slowly tortured to death in front of its infant. Its skin is ripped, its limbs stretched out, and its brain is literally juiced for an anti-aging serum that has no bearing on the plot whatsoever. 

However, my objections are not with the violence (Cameron’s environmentalist commentary is heavy-handed but well-intentioned). My biggest issue is that the film can’t help but make the bad guy’s seem kinda cool. The music swells triumphantly as they fire their harpoons, they quip and woo-hoo like Marvel heroes, and their crab-shaped submarines transform into Lego figurines right before your eyes.

And it all looks incredible.

And thus, there is the essential problem that keeps an obviously good movie from being truly great. The filmmakers can’t set aside their enthusiasm for technology (cinematic or imagined) and focus on the emotional core of its story. The actors, writers, and everyone involved ABSOLUTELY have the ability to make a statement. But they’re slightly more interested in making and selling toys. And that’s just a bit of a shame.

Good for: special-effects enthusiasts & lovers of the third dimension

Best line: “Spare yourself the shame of being useless.”

Final Grade: B

[bravelittleocelot]

I am asking in the goodest bestest faith with my heart open trying to accept that there's an answer: how is bisexual polycule with Beronica the straighten endgame option for Riverdale just because they don't explicitly mention Jarchie? I mean, they could have not had Beronica? (Sorry if the post was old, I just was scrolling around the Riverdale tag). I also don't understand how Archie wasn't still canon bi, but that's harder to talk about I guess

Hey Anon! It's not that old, and as I mostly shoot my mouth off about RVD without much thought to how it comes across im absolutely happy to explain my jumbled half-baked thoughts lmao.

To be totally clear; I'm absolutely not erasing the bisexuality of the polycule nor am I discounting the fact that we absolutely had canonical bisexual archie even if he and reggie didn't kiss on screen/at all. None of these fools were straight at the end of the day. and for all my grievances with this show I do completely appreciate this. I didn't mean to imply that archie wasn't bi just because he didn't end up with jug in the polycule.

I complained about it being the 'straightest possible version of this' as in 'this felt very written by a straight person who has very specific views on queerness'. the tl;dr is; I felt like it was kinda fetishy and queerbaity to imply that only the women in the relationship are dating each other as well as the men, especially since they were the only ones who kissed on screen. We didn't get to watch archie or even jug have nearly the same level of queer exploration at all, and I think that's kinda shitty.

as a small disclaimer, i believe the writer is actually gay, im not trying to be like 'ugh a straight person wrote this' I'm trying to explain my feelings in terms that can be understood lmfao.

Now ofc, idk what was happening behind the scenes. Maybe KJ felt too uncomfortable to do a scene of kissing another man, maybe he didn't want to kiss cole, who knows. totally valid reasons.

To explain it bit more in-depth: It felt super queerbaity, or I guess bi-baity? to me to have a whole episode of archie figuring out bisexuality and never have him explore that more on screen, only to say that he was in a polycule that didn't include Reggie (who it was implied pretty heavily he had some feelings for) ((It should've involved reggie I'll die on this hill)) and only really seemed to imply that betty and veronica were dating. We got to see Veronica and Betty explore this side of themselves repeatedly and on screen, and I love that they did this, but I honestly think it kind of sucks that Archie didn't get to have that same level of exploration as well (even if it's lowkey implied he's gonna ride trains and fuck all summer until he ends up going to the farm instead). I really would've loved to see him figure out his feelings some more through dating Reggie or Jughead in a similar way Betty and Veronica got to explore that.

I haven't seen Every Bit Of Media OUt There, but growing up I always felt like the bisexual women on screen were always out having sex and kissing and being loud and proud while the bisexual men were always a bit more closeted and restrained, and never as loud and proud. This is a broader spectrum, but this is where that part of that annoyance stems from.

And like it's all well and good that we got to hear about the polycule, but it felt like an afterthought and a meatless bone thrown to the queer audiences out there, we didn't really get a chance to explore that side of things at all ((because we were too busy learning chic was playing bury your gays with kevin's dad and archie's uncle??? like wtf?? I guess we were going for a bit of a gritty ending but cmon)) and they kind of immediately break up on screen? It just felt like one last middle finger from the cw. And yknow, time constraints, endings are insanely hard to write, etc. But not one person was like "hey shouldn't we... explore this a little bit?" cmon,

tldr part 2: The should've done more or had a longer ending so that more stuff could be fit in.

anyway, I just think it would've been nice if we could've seen more of that whole deal, but at the end of the day it's just my opinion, sorry for the huge jumbled ramble its nearly 1 in the morning lmao.

[toastshark]

Hanging out with fairies- nightlight

-

(Click for better quality)

Aka the companion drawing to this one! I think the lighting turned out pretty good for my skill level :D Constructive criticism is always appreciated, though!

(The water‘s based off this amazing tutorial here)

[captainjacklyn]

Octavinelle with a white shark!s/o please

I like this one ! You have good ideas mate ! Now onto the fic..

Pairing(s) : Azul x reader, Floyd x reader, Jade x reader

Reader is gender neutral since the gender was not specified.

Warning(s) : I cuss, a lot so please bare with me. This post will be more serious than my usual crack self so I hope you enjoy it although I do not guarantee you that I won't be going crazy with this. I did add just a little bit of suggestive content but nothing too spicy, just a bit.

Octavinelle with a Shark!s/o

an octopus and a shark...mmmh..

Pretty crazy pairing if you ask me, I wouldn't be surprised if Azul is naturally intimidated by you. When it comes to your merman/maid/may form you are logically a lot bigger in size, octopuses and squids are ideal preys for sharks.

Azul will be scared most of the time but it doesn't mean he doesn't like you, in truth, I would imagine you two met around the same time he became friends with Floyd and Jade leech.

And because of your predatory nature, it would scare his bullies away as you are known to be one of the most dangerous fish species when it came to other fishes.

[Not humans, sharks are harmless if unbothered by humans]

Oh ! and ocean fact :

Sharks are cartilaginous fish with a torpedo-shaped body that can weigh up to 2,400lbs, while octopuses are cephalopods with eight appendages protruding from their heads that rarely weigh over 150lbs.

So yes, this proves you are a lot bigger and physically capable than him. And let's not ignore those sharp teeth of yours my goodness you could rip someone's head off under a minute !

Another reason for him to intimidated, Sharks usually eat octopuses by biting them once they've latched onto them with their powerful jaws.

And no, this is not a kink but an absolute phobia.

Don't go and try to bite him while you fuck because he will turn completely white.

Floyd Leech

you two truly are the terrors of the seas, scaring absolutely everyone to death. In fact, moray eel bites are infamously painful and can cause extensive bleeding. And your bite which could skyrocket close to 4,000 pounds of bone-crushing force.

But when compared, floyd is a lot physically weaker than you. You are one of his known predators after all, but your terrifying reputation is exactly what makes you special to him.

It would be a huge underestimation if he called you a shrimp.

Sharky, Bubbles, Baity, Jack sparrow-

Floyd has many little nicknames reserved only for you but with others he sticks with his little sharky.

You might want to rephrase little.

Now this man..

This man WILL be into your biting.

My boy is a pure masochist and he will bite you back as well. When he met you it was probably at school, having such a bad reputation for someone who possibly also wanted friends wasn't easy.

Floyd is one of the few brave kids to come and talk to you, He also likes the big fins on your back.

You both like to swim around in the aquarium of mostro lounge and scare the absolute shit out of everybody.

Jade Leech

Another fearless bastard !

Again, jade is also physically weaker than you. You may not be as long but you sure are huge in size.

Did I tell you that as a shark you have not one but two rows of teeth, no ? I didn't ?

Still couldn't give a motherf-

Jade isn't intimidated the least as he is simply curious about how strong you truly are. One time, both of you decided to take a swim in his hometown once, and as you were strolling around.

You spotted a couple of mermaids who were a slight bit older than you bullying another young mermaid. Feeling furious about it, you stopped and swam up to the group.

Jade didn't react but right when he turned his eyes to look at you, He saw one hell of a fight.

It had only bit a couple seconds and you were already chewing down their fins the most violent and disrespectful way possible and slapping them with your tail.

Scaring the entire group away as you turned your attention to the young mermaid. Of course, the child was terrified by your actions but once you asked if they were okay or if they needed help in any way. It relaxed a bit, still feeling bad for showing such atrocities in front of the kid.

You volunteered to give them a ride back home, moving your back fin around as a signal.

Jade swam towards you and chuckled as the young mermaid laughed when you swung it around gently.

After bringing them home when they told you the directions, he promises to remember that event for a long time.

A shark who played the bad guy to be a hero.

[100hearteyes]

I know a lot of people arent happy with the way their relationship is going but I'm loving it so far! All ncis show have their main couples go through a slowburn fase so I'm happy the same will happen with Kacy.

I think a lot of the people that just want the reconciliation to happen already are so used to the usual speed run edition LGBT couples get on shows that slowburn can be a bit jarring, especially since in so many instances when a LGBT couple doesn't get together right away it usually means the fans were "reading to much into it" or "imagining things" so people get afraid of being stringed along.

I can't wait to see those two being friends and actually getting to know each other all the while still feeling Things^tm and trying to put it aside, the yearnings is going to be delicious!

That's exactly it. We've been so underserved and mistreated, it's hard to trust that good things will ever happen if they don't happen NOW.

But I do believe, in this situation, because Kacy is getting main couple treatment and I've never seen NCIS do wrong by that status (I remember Tony and Ziva, even after so long, and Kensi and Deeks, and that other one from New Orleans iirc). And honestly? It's high time f/f couples start getting treated like het couples, slow burn and all. I don't want rushed, let's-give-the-gays-a-quick-fix shit anymore. I don't want eternal, baity slow burn either. I want a "real" relationship built over time and over the right foundations, which is what we're getting now. Kacy are endgame, y'all. I am 1000% sure of that.

[nightswithkookmin]

Jimin is a pretty bOY

This is a continuation of our discussion on my last post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, I think I agree with all of it.

Not sure how I feel about the calling eachother out bit or near scolding of others in the comments. Please let's be welcoming and respectful of others's thoughts regardless of whether or not we agree with it. It's ok to hold diverse views. We do after all come from different backgrounds and have accumulated different experiences and I think it plays out in how we see things. Everyone's opinion is valid. Plus, I purple yall.

Now, do I think he is trying to pack on muscles........? Yes. He said so himself in Festa when he said he would rush to the mirror when he thought he had gained some muscle only to find out his biceps looks like a muscled kindergartner.

He also said lately he's into exercising and staying in shape which is true because for quite sometime now since early this year he has been talking about how "weak" he is in their Vlives and have even given instances of him not being able to do certain things- certian simple and easy tasks- which is typical of him I'd say. He's always talking about how "weak" he is especially around JK and juxtaposing that with "but JK is so strong" which I'm sorry but I have to smirk at right now cos it's such a typical gay pick me simp thing to do. We've all been there.

Do I think he's trying to be a muscle bunny or revert back to his body shape around debut? Absolutely not. But I do think he is straddling the line of toxic masculinity which is what the conversation is about.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to stay in shape or even enjoying work outs. Last night I ran downstairs because I had left my stew on the stove and now this morning I called renew my gym membership because I discovered running can be actually fun to do... No. No it's not. The gym instructor would have to come for me kicking and screaming.

RM have said even though JM looks skinny and fragile he is one of the strongest within the group. Besides, this is not the first time he's expressed interest in working out and building his body- hello, on Era?

I remember people complaining he looked too buffed up in that period on SNS and PJMs quickly jumping in to clear the searches for it. The choreo for On required agility and endurance and required the members- not just JM build up some definition in their muscles.

We've seen them go through all that. So it's not simply a matter of black and white staying in shape or doing it because he feels pressured to do so. Especially, when you consider that he's undertaken some pretty unhealthy measures in the past in attempts to lose weight or soften out his body post these muscle building, weight gaining periods and we've always chalked it up to his dance and how as a contemporary dancer he has to look a certain way or this or that to try to justify and make sense of it. Next you, know there are six chapters of break the silence of him talking about all the dark places he's been, the pressures to look his best for his fans or for his job and all these other painful stories he's shared with us over the years. And it's like, but why? Why do this to yourself?

I'll never forget the look he gave JK when JK was talking about wanting to build muscles in one of the interviews for the promotion of Be- I think I made a post on it. When JK noticed JMs disapproving glare he backtracked saying he would want to stay skinny after gaining all that muscles.

I mean if I'm to be honest, he was bound to crack at one point. The signs were there being surrounded by all these men who adhere to the traditional aesthetics of a masculine body- from Namjoon to Taehyung.

I wish y'all will steer the conversation in this direction and make it more about gender norms and expressions and breaking stereotypes and diversity in the body aesthetics of men.

Jimin is a man too. He just isn't what people traditionally will label masculine. Androgynous is more an apt word in my opinion. How many times have I said, I think Jungkook hetero passes because his body aesthetics is quintessentially what most associates with a masculine man?

Breaking gender barriers is not just about embracing feminine apparels- that teeters on cross dressing quite frankly and can be a bit performative and baity. Then you have to consider their culture in itself has an inherent pro gender diversity feel to it.

Now, let me explain my problem with the Klout ad campaign a little bit.

Do you see how Tae stands out? And I'm not saying this to fuel the "Tae was their fav" debacle. It's the 007 feel... I'll explain in a bit.

Most often, alcohol advertisers as well as most advertisements intended to sell to men often try to appeal to men's internalized ideals of masculinity or try to shape and define what a man or masculinity should look like. These ideals are so often toxic and detrimental to men and mostly women too.

Take a look at these ads for example. All I had to do was google search ads for men.

Real men drink milk and look at the image they present as real men. This blatantly implies if you don't look like this, if you are not a strong cliff climbing man with abs you are not a real man.

The second image is subtle. I call it the 007 slash Kingsmen-esque ideals of masculinity. It portrays men as sexy cool badass- works out but isn't too buff, filthy rich or middle class, wears Rolex, designer clothes, is kind but has a mean exterior and is every 13 year old wattpad girls's dream of a man. In fiction, you see this kind of masculinity in characters such as Edward cullens to Christian Grey. And a lot of ads for men alternate between these two ideals of masculinity.

Do you see how they modeled Taehyung in these ads after this kind of masctheme? Tae looks the same in almost all the ads. 007 sexy cool badass.

Now, I may not be a makeup beauty guru or MUA or whatever, but one thing I've picked up on especially when it comes to makeup for men- BTS and Kpop idols mostly is that, they soften out the harsh features on their faces and make them appear more androgynous or effeminate to suit the Kpop look and they ditch it entirely in different settings.

So for instance, Tae and Kookie's natural hawkish eyebrows tend to get softened around the arch and edges- don't know how the fuck they do that- but it appears less in your face intense most times when they wear make up in kpop related contents.

However, in certain other contents that lean towards a certain gender theme those features are emphasized. Not to say hawkish features are masculine features. Just saying in men, Kpop idols, my observation is they soften those features out with makeup or surgery.

Now, take a look at JM in these ads and look at everything from his posture, make up, hairstyle and brows. It's as if someone took an eraser to his androgynousity and erased his feminine side. Take a look at his photo above and compare it to the ads.

I am not a man. But I feel the gender look they went for, intended to appeal to men, tapped into a rather outdated stereotype of what man and masculinity should look like.

What is a man?

What should a man look like?

What aesthetics of masculinity is Jimin gravitating towards now? And I'm not talking clothes, I'm talking the expression of his gender. Time and again, he's talked about how looking a certain way made him uncomfortable in the past because he was constantly fighting his feminine side. He is androgynous. Sometimes he leans more into his feminine side. Other times he leans more into his masculine side but this is the only time he's leaning into his masculinity that makes me uncomfortable to watch because like I said it bothers on toxic masculinity.

He's said whoever he was, the version fighting to look masculine, that wasn't him. So forgive me if I worry whenever i see him suppressing his feminine side and acting like 'one of the boys.' Him staying in shape is not synonymous with him erasing a valid part of himself or suppressing it. He can stay in shape, celebrate his masculinity and still be FILTER.

What I'm saying is, this not a conversation about him exercising. This is a conversation about an ad erasing his feminine side and boxing him into a narrow expression of his gender and how that might be affecting his view of himself especially in the way he's been gravitating towards a certain masculine aesthetics and how that could be toxic.

Tae has said the same thing and BTS have agreed the JM as of 2019 was the real JM according to them.They said he was that way- suppressing his feminine side, because there weren't much songs and choreos that suited him and so he had had to bend himself to fit with the others.

And so when I see him leaning a certain way I tend to wonder if his exterior environment is playing a role in that. I hope you can understand that.

He is a contemporary dancer and strength and flexibility are prerequisites for his craft. The company go out of their way to incorporate contemporary dance in their choreos for JM's sake which helps solve that problem of him trying too hard to look a certain way.

May be I'm projecting. May be my little brother is effeminate and I've always recommended Jimin as a role for him to tell him not to try to look different just because other boys look different. May be I've seen him try one too many times to kill himself in the gym trying to build on muscles and getting frustrated with himself because he ends up looking like someone else. You can't gym the queerness away. Society will never let you be who you want to be so you might as well flip it the middle finger.

These boys are being shaped by their environment. I hate to say this but the environment they are in isn't exactly progressive and the longer they stay in there cut off from the outside world...

Flying out helps. Meeting different people and being exposed to different cultures and conversations on gender expression helps.

Anywho, these are just concerns I have. Will have them till I see that's not where he is headed towards. But let's not act like these ad campaigns do not and can not psychologically impact these boys especially as these advertisers are not looking to tap into their own definition of gender and masculinity but shape it and redefine it to appeal to the demographic they intend to market to.

I think this is just a grey area for me. Rather than try to change JM to look a certain way in order to sell alcohol. I think the ground breaking thing would be to have a man who looks like JM show us how someone like him would sell a can of drink. I think that would be revolutionary.

Signed,

GOLDY