#so instead finding these excuses

[romanticatheartt]

No, Rhysand did NOT use his power to make Azriel call Elain a mistake, it was all Azriel's doing.

No, Gwyn is NOT a lightsinger that used her power to make Azriel re-gift that necklace to her, Azriel made that choice all by himself.

No, Mor did NOT lead Azriel for 500 years, she was clear about what she wanted and it was Az who crossed that line over and over. He wanted to be led and wait for a mating bond instead of forming any sort of friendship.

Please hold this man, that you put on such high regards, responsible for his actions. He always made his own choices all by himself without anyone's interference. This is how sjm wrote him, he's fucked up and messy.

And No, it's not out of character when you have no idea who Azriel is. So stop self-insert you fantasies into him and make this perfect character (for you) because he most definitely is NOT.

[beatcroc]

Hiiiii mecha sonic. What is the coolest trick you know? Can you demonstrate

<THERE IS NOTHING AROUND HERE ON WHICH I WISH TO DEMONSTRATE, THOUGH, AND I TRUST YOU DO NOT WANT A LIVE EXAMPLE…>

[xaphrin]

Hello, Fic Idea #4962.

I appreciate you, but did not ask for you.

Please leave, so that one - just once - I can actually finish something.

Please.

Please I'm begging you.

[good--merits-accumulated]

truly truly Neil Charlie Todd triumvirate is king please share any thoughts you have on them

OH BOY ANON YOU HAVE OPENED A CAN OF WORMS.

I. OPENING THESIS?

Basically, here’s my abstract for this whole thing:

(Les Misérables, trans. Isabel F. Hapgood)

And having put this down, I’ll ask you to overlook it, lol. Or treat it as a very loose guide! (If you haven’t any idea what the context of this refers to, here’s a quick rundown: a chief is a leader and someone who people rally behind. A guide is an enthusiast about all things and an advocate for progress, someone who checks the rampant idealism of the chief. The centre is warm, loyal, and acts almost as a mini-Sun for the chief and guide to orbit around, to stop them shooting off on their own wild trajectories.) In the interest of complete transparency, reading Les Mis at a young age had this irreparable effect on me where I now have to think of every triumvirate as a chief/guide/centre dynamic, but I don’t think this model applies 1:1 towards Neil/Charlie/Todd. Instead, I think of them a little as composites, interplaying with each other – Charlie as a guide who would much rather be a chief, Neil as a chief who works better as a guide, and Todd as a centre who’s never given the grace to grow into that role. Let’s go!

II. CHARLIE AS THE CHIEF-GUIDE

Charlie is like if rowdiness was a Guy. He’s big, he’s brash, he’s the instigator and he’s the captain and he’s the shameless one and he’s a side character! I have always found this very interesting whenever I watch DPS; despite Charlie’s main character-ness he is secondary, and doesn’t even get his own sideplot in the same way that Knox (for example) does. He’s a born leader who by virtue of the trappings of his story is relegated to supporting others, although you can so, so clearly see him fighting for space in the story. He gets pushed into being a guide almost by default; only the trait of enthusiasm really applies here. If Neil wasn’t there he’d be the leader of their group, no question. And the thing about Charlie is that he gets things done. He’s the one pushing the most for the re-creation of the Dead Poets Society after Neil, he’s caustic about things that are in his way (“Well, why don’t you stay home?”), people follow him! See Knox running after him, asking to be taught:

Charlie is the man of action – the telephone stunt is the biggest incident of that. And the way the boys gather around him afterwards as he regales them is chief-like; here he is acting as the chief, because this is around the same time that Neil’s chief role starts to slip away from him. But more of that later. 

The big thing is that Charlie never gets to really assume that role of chief, because Neil is always there. I talked earlier about how he pushes for the re-creation of the Society; well, Neil is the one who finds Keating’s old annual and reads it aloud to them. Charlie is the one cutting down the guys’ concerns about sneaking out after school: Neil is the one who suggests it – more than suggests it! Almost commands it, in a way that leaves little room for debate:

(Note that in this section, it’s Charlie who does the arguing for Neil, who doesn’t speak except to lay down the law and then ask who’s coming. Real king and knight energy.) 

Charlie never quite manages to edge into centre stage. You can sort of see how there might be resentment there – perhaps there would have been if they had gone on uninterrupted. But then of course Neil dies, and Charlie assumes the chief role by default, but it’s no longer glorious or something he can covet. But he does it anyway; he wakes up Todd, he breaks the news to him, very, very gently, he wipes Todd’s mouth with snow when he vomits and tells the others to leave him alone. But by this point, Charlie going into the chief role he’s so good at isn’t enough to stop the splintering of their group or his own expulsion.  

III. NEIL AS THE GUIDE-CHIEF

Part of Neil’s tragedy is that he would be good at the things his father wants him to do! He’s a wonderful all-rounder, he's the perfect all-American specimen, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have been a great doctor – except he wouldn’t, because the enthusiasm and the motivation would have been lacking entirely. (As someone who just did a shit ton of medical school interviews, yeah, they would have sniffed this guy out really fast. Or maybe they wouldn't… not sure how stringent they were in the ‘50s.) He would have been technically great. But being able to do something doesn’t mean you should; these are the things that Mr. Perry conflates and which Neil is never able to verbalise to him, except in a way in which he thinks he’ll understand:

In this scene, when he talks to him post-performance it’s not “I enjoyed it”, but a very simple, “I was really good”. And despite this concession of terms he says it when his father can't hear, because he knows he would never relent, oh God.

Actually, a lot of what I wanted to say about Neil has already been said in Charlie’s section. (The summary is basically that you must imagine me offstage with a megaphone as the movie plays, yelling, “YOU TWO NEED TO SWITCH PLACES, FUCKOS”.) Neil is a good leader, but that doesn’t mean he likes being one, or that he should be one! He has a few characteristics of a guide – he’s enthusiastic about everything, he has this boundless kind of delight in the things he loves (not idealism; that’s slightly different). But this is honestly where the model falls apart. I don’t think that Neil would make a great guide either, logic not being his forte; the irony is that the role of the triumvirate he most fits IS the chief, it’s just that that’s what kills him. The responsibility that comes with being someone who “speaks and people listen” isn’t good for him – this dichotomy of having “control” over the friendship group/no control over his personal life is terrible. He does get to lose the chief role, but it’s not in a way that is good for him; instead this manifests in a loss of control that happens very very quickly, which just makes him reach for ways in which he can control his own life. And besides, stepping outside of a leadership role with a great deal of responsibility and losing control over the course of your own life are two very different things. I just think that he should get to go offstage for a little bit and rest, with zero expectations on him ever. (Also there’s something here about how he gets to play Puck – a side character who has major effects on the story but doesn’t have to actually put his skin in the game. This is what I think Neil should get to do In Real Life.)  

IV. TODD AS THE PROTO-CENTRE 

One thing about Todd is that in my mind, I always imagine him as much redder than he actually is in the movie. I don’t mean I imagine him to blush more often – I mean ruddier, more flushed. Going back to the Les Mis quote – in my mind he does “possess all the qualities of a centre, roundness and radiance”! Todd is a catalyst like Keating in a way that Keating isn’t; this is never explicit at all but he has always felt to me like someone who inspires others by their presence. He’s such a wonderful, calming, grounding influence. Even when he talks to Neil and they have that non-argument he tempers Neil and reminds him what’s at stake without looking down on him. And when he realises how serious he is, he goes with it and supports him to the best of his ability – he says “Oh, Neil, Neil, you’re crazy” but it’s fond, he’s overjoyed for him. And you can see similar behaviour perhaps to a lesser extent with Charlie in the way particularly he calls him Nuwanda after his request, which is taken as ridiculous by other characters: 

And even after Neil’s death he does so, refusing to go back to normal:

But the reason I’ve put “proto-” for a prefix is because these are all singular occasions. The thing is that I think Todd could be that brilliant, grounding, assured man, a lighthouse of a man, almost. But he isn’t – he clearly isn’t – at the beginning of the movie he is shy and diffident and the non-argument I mentioned early does go a little sour, because while he speaks from a place of concern and love, his anxiety manifests in the conversation and makes him a little less tactful than he might have been otherwise. If things had gone on better than they went, and if Todd had been allowed to grow and develop more and without worry, he really, really would have blossomed into this kind of centre, this very steady man who would have reminded Neil of the consequences of his actions and made Charlie care about the consequences of his. But he doesn’t get to do that – by the time he grows and becomes more confident it’s too late, the worst has already happened. 

V. SUMMARY

I’m so sorry, anon, this is a prodigious answer to what was a very simple ask, but you hit on the subject I have Very Strong Feelings About. Not to toot my own fanfic horn, but there’s an excerpt from the fair folk AU which I think sums this up pretty well:

TL;DR: Charlie gets pushed into a secondary position which doesn’t suit him; Neil gets pushed into a leadership position which suits him, but he hates; Todd is willing to step into that secondary position as a behind-the-scenes supporter, but never actually gets that opportunity. Hence the tragedy. Hence the taking of lives. Hence how many fucking tears I have shed over this movie, Jesus. 

(I had a lot of fun writing this – thank you for giving me a reason to!)

[justarandomlambblog]

"The days of crusades are over" might wanna re-check that, Lamb.

(referencing this post)

He might not be a fighter in this life, but he definitely has the soul of a fighter.

Or: Five once-gods are reborn in mortal bodies but still have divine souls and some heretics and wannabe-gods might wanna capitalize on that... and the once-Bishops are not the warriors they once were. But that doesn't mean they can't be again :)

Also seeing Narinder without his head covering, yes he has a sun and moon piercing. Wonder why he felt compelled to get those <3

(where did Narinder get a scythe? Where did he get one he could actually carry? Hmm )

[sovonight]

why is so much of sewing just tracing and cutting and tracing again q_q i see why people get projectors and use adobe illustrator now

[bluegarners]

well i mean, the argument of murderer = bad person is ontological, but also, if you're going to ignore completely every objectively bad thing a character has done in favor of reconstructing the foundations of what made that character them, and part of that foundation is murder, then i really don't think you like that character or know them as well as you think you do

[laugtherhyena]

Okay so maybe the wrinkly split head devil isn't the Aging devil itself, since it being called aging definitelly feels like a mistranslation and and public safety wanting to erase old age by sacrificing the younger generation fits the point the chapter is trying to get across much nicer than if the devil was aging itself (+ if you think about it for 2 seconds erasing aging as a whole is a terrible fucking idea since no one will be able to grow anything anymore and people will be stuck as babies and kids forever whereas erasing old age should just make people not age past adulthood and probably cause people who are already elderly to just dissapear on the spot)

But that doesn't mean i'm keeping Cherryboy the exact same because if old age specifically is enough to achieve primal fear level then aging as a whole has gotta be one too. So hooray! someone's getting a slight revamp in the future :)

[anxiously-sidequesting]

So I don't know if it was ever revealed how Duncan felt when we killed Malistaire all three times but I'm wondering if maybe some part of him could hate us for that too. Like you hear that and you go "but why. Malistaire was terrible and even Duncan knew that(?). Why would he hate you for getting rid of him."

But like I think it's so....... interesting in a very, very, very sad way how Duncan so easily latches onto anyone who directly feeds into his delusions of grandeur. And that's no fault of his own that he was manipulated by the nasty Schism but when you think about how desperately clung to the idea that Malistaire, easily one of the greatest necromancers any of us had ever heard of (at that time), somehow actually recognized Duncan's talents (even when canon supports that Duncan wasn't all that talented, at least no more than the next necromancer) and then praised him for it so often that Duncan believed that he would be the next Death Professor is. I mean ☹️

So like with that mindset I unfortunately feel like it would be quite easy to twist even Malistaire's death as something that's horrible and awful and all our fault. ESPECIALLY if the Schism was feeding into Duncan's already broken mind and shattered ego and was constantly telling him that everything bad that ever happened to him ever in his life was Our Fault. That's like a realistic conclusion that someone like Duncan could come to

And like, at this point in time, are Malistaire's crimes even a factor in how he thinks????? Was Duncan ever able to separate Malistaire's talent and skills and prowess from the terrible and awful things he did? If Duncan wasn't able to consciously tell that distinction in the first place I can't imagine it would be any better during the years he was being manipulated and isolated and lied to

Like in Duncan's mind it probably isn't, "maybe I shouldn't idolize a national criminal, or idolize anyone at all for that matter, and aspire to be like someone so harmful when I can recognize my own talent and build from there" it's probably more like, "you (the wizard) permanently got rid of a brilliant mind, an innocent person who just made a few mistakes, and someone who believed in me no matter what just so that you could be the better than me and loved by everyone else" and that's! very sad actually!

[flamestar126]

Game Night with Douglas

Click for better quality

What happens after Douglas leaves for a second

rambling about their outfit in tags

[seri-tonin]

I'm still not over what the genshin fandom (specifically meta players) did to dehya tbh...

[front-facing-pokemon]

what will u do when u complete the front facing pokédex?

you must be new around here, or you must not read the asks that i post on occasion! i have gotten this ask a few times by now—folks seem concerned about the issue, considering we're in gen 9 now, being the last generation currently available. of course, i am wondering the same thing—i've heard a few ideas, and when we start nearing the end of the generation 9 pokédex, i will likely start putting out some polls and such to ask the general audience what they would most like to see out of this blog in the future. i don't have any ideas, either! i've heard things like back-facing pokémon, doing a shiny dex, doing the rumble models, and a few things i can't remember at the moment, but ultimately i'll find something to do with it so that hopefully the blog doesn't just die until generation 10 comes out (though when generation 10 does arrive, whatever new thing the blog is doing will be put on hold to finish the new dex, once the models are somehow accessible [obviously i need the models to run this blog, so it can't be as soon as gen 10 comes out {or legends: Z-A, which will probably have some new pokémon in it!}]). i'll ask around when we get closer to that day, but for right now, we're still in the beginning of gen 9! sit back, relax, and enjoy the regularly scheduled programming for now. and some nose ratings, where the nose rater was enjoying some Delectable popped corn!:

WHOOPS I ACCIDENTALLY JUST. LEFT THIS POST OPEN OVERNIGHT AND FORGOT TO POST IT. UH OH!!! here's some new nose ratings that dropped while i was forgetting to post this

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Love the song you posted! And love that it's entirely possible that Dorothy loves it since she def would've heard it, and a lot of the songs she likes in canon are older. How did you come across it

I know, right?? It's so sweet, I adore it!!

I was looking for some 1940s songs for a personal project of mine a while back, and when I stumbled into this little gem I was immediately reminded of Dorothy. There's something about the general atmosphere of the song, that wistful dream-like quality it has, that just *screams* Dorothy to me. We all know she's got a somewhat rough, disillusioned exterior, but she's a big softie at heart -- she doesn't believe she'll ever get that dream-like romance, but she still yearns for it! She just wants the chance to give all the love she's capable of giving to someone who will give it back to her!!

And I mean -- look at those lyrics!!

I can see No matter how near you'll be You'll never belong to me But I can dream, can't I?

I'm aware My heart is a sad affair There's much disillusion there But I can dream, can't I?

Can't I adore you? Although we are oceans apart I can't make you open your heart But I can dream, can't I?

I feel like this applies both to young!Dorothy and the early stages of her marriage and to canon!Dorothy and her general attitude towards love (*especially*, but not only, in the context of the Golden Wives).

This has been talked about extensively on here, so I'm really not saying anything new, but it's pretty clear that Dorothy did do her best to be a loving wife to Stan, during their 38 years together. Whether this is because she actually loved him or because she felt that it was her duty to be a good wife to him can be debated (personally I feel like it's a bit of a mixture of the two, if that makes sense), but I think it's canon that she went above and beyond for him. Even just the fact that she stayed with him for 38 years through cheating, lying, horrible mistreatment, financial issues, etc etc is proof enough that she really did whatever she could to love him, imho -- and all of this without ever being loved back. There's several moments in the series where Stan shows a modicum of decency and she all but melts because of it (see e.g. S4E10 Stan Takes A Wife), and you can just tell that she's been surviving on these crumbs for all her life, hoping and praying that this time, surely, it will last. I can't make you open your heart, but I can dream, can't I? Yeah.

And then -- canon!Dorothy. She's obviously disillusioned when it comes to life in general and love specifically; she puts herself out there, and she can be pretty impulsive at times (her reaction to John Neretti in S6E22 What A Difference A Date Makes never fails to make me laugh), but she has the hardest time believing that good things will last. Her heart is a sad affair. Take for example what she says to Glen in S1E14 That Was No Lady:

"You know, every time you tell me you love me, I turn around to see who you're talking to. I can't believe it."

That's an underlying theme every time she has a serious relationship with someone she likes: she can't believe it's happening. Is that any wonder, considering the marriage she lived through?

Finally -- the Golden Wives. Or any Dorothy ship that involves one of the other Girls, really. All of my points above still stand, and there's the added complexity of Dorothy grappling with her sexuality and being certain that Rose and/or Blanche couldn't possibly love her back, no matter how close they are as friends. Because -- of course they couldn't! They both had husbands they loved with all their hearts! They both have active and vibrant love lives with men! And she's just Dorothy -- tired, sad, Dorothy, always too tall and too brash and not feminine enough and just not enough to be loved back. What could the other Girls find in her? No matter how near you'll be, you'll never belong to me. But she's Dorothy, she's a bleeding heart, and so she can't help but dream, in the hidden corners of her soul. You get what I mean?

Oh, anon, I'm sorry -- this turned into a bit of a ramble, but I just love this song so much and I think it fits Dorothy so well!! Add to this the fact that it came out in 1949 (canonically the year she married Stan) and it all becomes even more painful to me :') I wouldn't be surprised if she had a soft spot for this song!

[autisticlee]

that feeling when you get advice from someone who you know is well-meaning and has good intentions....but it's just the most allistic, neurotypical, and/or abled advice you have ever heard and completely invalidates the point you're trying to make about why you struggle to do the thing in the first place.

they're telling you to "do it in this specific way that is completely opposite of how you physically/mentally work" for example, make eye contact/read people's facial expressions and intentions! but you're autistic. initiate verbal conversation and don't be shy! but you're nonverbal or semispeaking. get out of the house more and participate in these physical activities! but you're physically disabled. Just Be Yourself! but you have DID/OSDD/other personality disorder. etc.

i'm sorry. I know you're just trying to help. I appreciate it, really. but it's all things i've heard before and none of it helps me specifically. I have tried (maybe even still try out of habit) and learned I can't just do those things. they don't work for me or cause more issues. practice isn't the issue. not everyone can simply willpower through everything. but thanks for trying 😔✊️

[cathodic-clairvoyant]

There's a lot about discussion of hdwr that baffles me (not all discussion to be clear, because i do think there's a lot of good discussion about hdwr. But equally so are there the ones that make you wonder if you're reading the same story) and I think one that is especially annoying is the constant infantilization of miwa as this passive eternal victim. It drives me up a wall because this is quite literally an issue she's struggled with within the text of the story! She had an arc about how she dislikes how people treat her this way like towards the beginning of the story! And like even ignoring that, this story is about like nuanced and realistic portrayals of being in relationships and learning how to navigate them and so it's like what's the point if you're going to immediately reduce the characters to "the victim" and "the victimizers?" Is that even interesting? Is that a useful lens to look at interpersonal relationships?

[theygender]

ADHD sucks so fucking bad. I'm currently sorting through my mail and listening to my voicemails—two activities I absolutely hate—bc I can't decide whether I want to read or play video games. Can't do an activity I actually enjoy bc my brain is incapable of Choosing so instead I'm procrastinating by doing things I don't want to do