#sincerely love that kid

[mikimotopearl]

I'm going through my old phone and damn, 17 year old me was so adorable and well-spoken. I'd probably lose an argument with her lmao she was eating people up until they stuttered in such an elegant way. I think the problem is that now I mainly think in english so I'm not as refined as I used to be when I speak italian

[marthajefferson]

"...it would be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"

To Kil A Mockingbird (1962)

[ryllen]

this PSA is brought to u, by first year farmer ・゚ *✧

[daiziesssart]

maybe it’s bc it’s 4am and the sleep deprivation is melting my brain but i can’t stop thinking about the scene in OotP where harry uses the pensieve and sees james doodling lily’s initials on his exam papers.

i also love the quick detail that he hastily scribbled over it at the end of class, like he hadn’t even completely realized that he drew it in the moment. it’s just so endearing to imagine with what we know about james- that when lily was around, he was known to peacock and show off to try and impress her, but when presumably no one else is watching, he‘s really just a smitten 15 year old who is completely infatuated with his crush. like he’s literally just kicking his feet and giggling over her, he’s such a loser lmao

[certifiedcoffeeaddict]

[wilwheaton]

Hehehe.

I wonder how they’d react if they knew how long I’d been here.

[imminent-danger-came]

SWK being so flawed is like one of LMK's strongest bits. I feel like a different show would just have him be infallible or have him be like a twist villain or irredeemable or something. But he's neither of those, he's just incredibly flawed. It's also interesting that even though Mei and Pigsy are critical of him, they're still shown to care about him.

All in all, hes a more complicated character than people give him credit for :/

I 100% agree!

Honestly, if Sun Wukong wasn't flawed I'd find him a bit boring. You remove his flaws and you remove the meat of his character. Even all the way back in season 1 you get the feeling he's withholding information and concealing his past ("Show me the real Sun Wukong! The old you would have leveled this whole mountain range to stop me!"), and that only becomes more and more prevalent as the show goes on.

Wukong is first introduced as a hero, as the King who defended the world from DBK. Next he's introduced as a mentor, planning to make MK his successor (which I think is pretty debatable at this point, as I've said I personally think he just needed an excuse to train MK).

Slowly we learn SWK is pretty terrible at both of those things. He's not the hero or mentor anyone thought he would be—he's not even the mentor he thought he would be:

Macaque: “Haha, you saw a story about a hero who got handed everything, who didn’t have to work for anything, and you thought you were the other guy? The second the hero got real power, he couldn’t care less about his friends.” [ - ] "You know, I meant what I said—you really are a good kid. A good kid, with a really terrible teacher." (2x07 Shadow Play)

-

Pigsy: "Back from what? Your vacation? No- what could have been SO important you'd leave MK alone to face that- that thing! You're supposed to be his mentor!" (2x10 This is the End!)

-

Sun Wukong: "I know I can never make it up to you. Honestly I- I never thought I'd live as long as I have let alone be someone's mentor—turns out I'm not very good at it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry MK, for all of it." (3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

(he's staring sadly at a bowl of soup, never a good sign.)

s1 of Monkie Kid, as well as the Revenge of the Spider Queen special, establish a baseline. We meet Wukong as we're meant to know him—the legendary yet cheeky hero. Now that he's retired, Monkey King is training the next generation to protect the world and be the heroes in his place.

Right?

Well, just like our perception of Wukong, our perception of the role of the hero slowly degrades as well:

Lady Bone Demon: “Heroes? Please, you’re mere agents of chaos, the very thing I aspire to eradicate in this new world. No more destruction, no more disorder, I WILL HAVE PERFECTION.” (3x12 The Corrupted King)

-

Curse MK: "We’re just like Wukong. A fraud! A trickster! Destructive! Why would our legacy be any different? Actually, no no- the chaos and destruction we’ll bring upon the world will make Wukong’s past look like nothing." (4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

MK: "That can't be true! Monkey King's a hero he wouldn't just—" Azure Lion: "You saw it with your own eyes! His betrayal, his brutality—he took the only friends I had from me." (4x08 The Brotherhood)

-

Heroes aren't people fighting for the side of good, or even for what they think is right—they're agents of chaos. Destructive. "All doomed to play a role in tearing this world apart." Heroes are introduced as one thing, and then slowly revealed to be another.

Heroes, just like Wukong and anyone else, are flawed. They still make wrong choices. They still hurt people. Of course Wukong isn't a twist villain or irredeemable, because ultimately he IS a hero with plenty of the positive traits that come with that. But heroes are also flawed, and this is something I think is at the core of Lego Monkie Kid.

You can love someone, and that someone can do plenty of good, but that doesn't mean they're not broken, or that they aren't capable of causing suffering. This isn't something that only applies to Wukong either—pick any character and I'm sure you could apply this to them.

Now, all this to say that Wukong's two fatal flaws are his lack of communication and his self-sacrificial tendencies. Like Azure Lion says—he has a habit of keeping people at arms length, and more often than not doing that to protect them. These tendencies lead to his downfall.

So! Let's make some lists of where we see these flaws in the show.

Wukong's lack of Communication:

"Look, I'm going to come clean—um, I've been kind of watching you."

Leaving MK and lying to him during s2 (this includes lying about both going on vacation AND that LBD had returned)

Keeping his plan to stop LBD a secret during s3

"Where I got my staff!" "Got or took, right? You took it?"

Not telling the gang about the 4th ring

Other lies I'm sure have yet to be revealed (such as the truth about MK's origins, if that's the direction the plot's going)

Him and Macaque's past

Wukong's Self-sacrificial tendencies:

Leaving during s2 to find a way to stop LBD on his own

"What!? You're not going I'm going!" "Yeah so, here's the problem, you guys have this thing called mortality, so-"

Gravely injuring himself to get the samadhi fire Map

Blocking the brunt of the samadhi fire to protect MK in 3x10

Originally planning to put the Samadhi Fire in himself

Going off to fight the Lady Bone Demon alone

Protecting MK from the curse in 4x01

(and this post here that travels into theory territory)

Now, most, if not all, of these decisions lead to something bad happening. It's very in line with MK's words in 4x08:

MK: It doesn’t matter if I want to help people or not! Everything I do just- it just makes things worse!”

Wukong, even if he has a very questionable way of going about it, is truly motivated by protecting the people he cares about. However, these choices also hurt those same people. Not to reference samadhi fire Mei another time, but this is EXACTLY what she points out:

Mei: "We trusted you! All of us! How could you lead us into the fight without a real plan? Time and time again I've watched you put MK in danger leaving him to figure out EVERYTHING on his own. Don't you realize you're hurting the people who care about you the most?" (3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

But that's the point, isn't it? Even with all these flaws and after all these mistakes, Wukong still tries (he's very much like Mei in that regard):

Sun Wukong: “Point is, mistakes happen, but so long as you leave the world in better shape than you found it, then it’s all good. Right?” (4x01 Familiar Tales)

-

Sun Wukong: “We can’t change who we were yesterday or in a past life, or a hundred life times ago! We live with the choices we’ve made, for what matter is the choices we make RIGHT NOW! Only we decide who we are and what we do with the power we have.” (4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

This is who Wukong is. He's not a hero or a mentor, but he's someone who cares (and maybe that's what a hero is). That's the tragedy of his character, really. That's the tragedy of both him and MK. They're people doing the best with what they have, but still failing anyways.

"Nice hero speech bud, but I know better—deep in your hearts, you don't believe a word of that."

-

But people still love you anyways.

[winxwiki]

I was asked for a comparison between the eng and italian scene of Sky's speech to Dark Bloom, so here's my findings

Here, the dialogue is completely different in Cinelume. Italian below

Lockette: What should we do? Sky: We can't abandon her. There must still be somewhere in her heart a memory of us.

Cinelume instead...

Lockette: Sky...! Sky: I know Lockette, you did everything you could. I'll try and give it one last shot.

I really don't like the implication that this was Sky's last attempt in Cinelume, meanwhile the real italian Sky is determined to bring her back through her *own* agency and memories. He refuses to give her up. Also Lockette didn't do shit

Interesting choice of words from the italian original, where Darkar says "You think you can convert her to the light?". In Cinelume, he says "Bring her back to the light". I think the original Darkar implies that Bloom is now fully a creature of darkness, that there's never been a chance to save her to begin with, forever corrupted. My own interpretation, but just a few words can change a lot. It's not "bring her back", it's "convert her".

There's also... a lot of awkward silence that wasn't in the original italian. So the scene is a little weird in the Cinelume dub, pacing wise.

In italian, Sky says "Please Bloom, react!" during his speech with Dark Bloom. Should I translate it as "Fight back!"? It's the implied meaning, roughly. It's better than "Wake up!" used in Cinelume. Sky gives Bloom agency, he trusts her, he knows she's still in there. Sky doesn't see Bloom as a helpless victim!

And last, his final words before passing out...

Italian

I wish I had spent more time with you... because I care more about you than anyone else in the world. (You must) Believe me, my love! Please Bloom... fight back!

Cinelume...

Maybe, the only thing I wanted, really, was to spend more time with you. Because I care more about you than anyone else in the world. Please, Bloom, please.

He's much more romantic and determined than Cinelume, dare I say...

[see-arcane]

In honor of the month of love, here's Lu Holmwood and Quincey Harker posing for a beautifully bloody Valentine's Day dance.

Immense thanks to @ibrithir-was-here for the commission! Check out my Ko-Fi info here if you want to order your own doodle or drop in a buck.

[nguyenfinity]

Every time I draw Mamagi it does AoE damage (I am also in the area of effect)

Lighthearted bonus:

[asexualbookbird]

there is a third grader in my life who likes to read! anyone have recommendations for middle grade books? all i know is he likes goosebumps lol

[eggwishing]

pov . ummmnot paying attention to class lolll!!!!!!

[apocalypse-friend]

Glad to say ofmd hasn't stopped being dorky as fuck. Yes, I want drama. Yes, I want comedy, but I also want this weird to be a bit cringey when sincere. It builds character

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

I'm thinking about Dahlia and Iris again. I'm thinking about how Iris had to bury her sister four times in her life and never got the chance to say goodbye once.

Thinking about we don't really know what happened in the Terry Fawles case, because we only hear about it from Dahlia's lips (and why should she tell us the truth? She owes us nothing), and how possible it is that Iris was there when he first started tutoring them, was there when he began "falling for" her sister, was there and was so kind and sweet and vulnerable that all it would have taken for her to have been his victim instead of Dahlia was a slight turn of the head, a little look to the side, and how Dahlia could not allow that to happen.

Thinking about how Dahlia's first death -- the death of Dahlia Hawthorne as Iris Hawthorne's sister -- comes with the death of Iris Hawthorne herself by Dahlia's own two hands, because it is the only way; two halves dying as a whole to save one of them. Thinking about how Dahlia's next step was to kill "Dahlia Hawthorne", because she has no use for that name unless it ties her to her sister. Thinking of how she goes back to Iris for that, offers her the chance to do to Dahlia what Dahlia did to her and free them both, at last, from this horrible, poisonous family so they can just be together again, whole again, sisters again, just the two of them, like it has been from the beginning. And Iris wants that so badly, she agrees, but she can't do it, because she is good, and kind, and they aren't alone anymore, because Iris has Sister Bikini now, and maybe things can be different. But they can't. Thinking of how the second time Dahlia Hawthorne dies, she dies with her hatred of her sister burning her tongue, but then she climbs out of that river reborn and loves her all over again, because she can't stop. It's her sister, and maybe things can be better now that Dahlia Hawthorne is dead, and it isn't perfect, but she's free of all the people who hurt her, and she still has Iris.

And it is better. For five years. And then her past catches up with her, and Dahlia Hawthorne comes back with a vengeance, and, this time, she isn't going away. Thinking about how, no matter how hard they pushed her, no matter how easy it would have been to fabricate a story about the girl at Hazakura Temple and how it was her who was at the bridge that day, Dahlia never breaks, never breathes a word about her sister because she won't do that to her. Thinking of how Dahlia is reminded of Iris's "betrayal" and immediately chooses to trust her again anyway. And thinking of Iris, and how she becomes "Dahlia" in her third life -- becomes a person who is openly resilient and smart and loyal and loving and is Iris but is her sister as well, and she can't tell how much of her is whom. Thinking of how the third time Dahlia dies, it is as a direct result of Iris's actions and inaction. Thinking of how Iris believes that this time, the time it truly matters, Dahlia's death is at her hands, and she has finally fulfilled her role as her sister's executioner. Thinking of how Dahlia's third death is also the death of Iris, but, this time, neither of them are saved, and Iris is left with the only part of her that is truly her own: weakness.

Then, at last, the final time. The time Dahlia says she never loved Iris, but still calls herself her "other half"; and the time Iris isn't allowed to speak of her sister, both narratively and mechanically because you're never allowed to ask her about Dahlia, but still manages to push through and say that she loves her, she always has. The time when they meet on the mountains, and, for a few moments, it's just them again, like it has been from the start, and it's almost as if Dahlia hasn't died and Iris has come like she promised and things are going to be okay. Almost, but it isn't. And so, Dahlia dies for the final time, again in a place far from Iris, where her sister never has the chance to say goodbye, but it isn't the end. Because Phoenix is here, and Dahlia's final death has returned to Iris what her third death took away, and she is finally, finally able to tell the truth. And the truth, as they say, sets her free. Because Phoenix tells her that the death of Dollie was not the death of Iris. Because she has always been smart, and kind, and resilient, and loyal, and more. Because he recognises her when they meet again. Because she is, and has always been, the person he thought she was. Because she has always been Iris, even when she was Dahlia.

And so, Dahlia's final death does precisely for her sister what her first death did all those years ago, but it goes further, too. Because Iris is now not only free.

She is whole.

[mar64ds]

i think the way sans wholeheartedly supports papyrus through everything is really sweet but also very interesting for both of the characters, because i don't think sans is trying to humor him or is 'afraid to hurt his feelings' like many might think, i think sans fully trusts papyrus's own decisions and if he's ever wrong he can figure it out himself and grow from it, if anything sans really respects papyrus's choices, he doesn't think papyrus is making a bad decision by trying to be a royal guard, his brother knows himself best. papyrus also... doesn't have that much support from anyone else, sans is his only family and he barely has friends at all, i think for sans it's more important that papyrus feels supported than anything else, like i said, if papyrus is wrong about something? that's alright, he'll be okay, he'll learn from the experience, and his brother will be there for him. but for this situation, it's more important for papyrus that his brother believes in him when nobody else does than being told he's being 'naive'

[imminent-danger-came]

You know I think my lmk ships are: skeletalspider (SQ x LBD), ivorylotus (Ne Zha x Yellowtusk), shadowpeach (you already know), and the samadhi dumpster fire (dragonfruit)