#some weird cycle

[squiddieblogs]

Is it morally wrong to sell a lovejoy cd and Wilbur soot merch…

[pepp-love]

sort of a wip of a normal morning in 300 fox way

[girlboyburger]

wish i had a consistent character to show for this, but since i don't i just used icons :0]

blank template for those that want it under the cut

[ganondoodle]

something i keep coming back to think about ... yes more (tiny) totk rant ... is that point that was made in one of the videos of totk criticism- the point being .... why noone apparently even tried to just kinda ... take ganondorfs enigma stone away after he got sealed

i know in the end scene of his fight when he rips it out himself it looks like it kinda fused to him but like ... are you telling me that not even all of the sages combined could get it off?? or they didnt even try? in the memories it just looks like they all go whoop the bestest most goodest god king sacrificed himself to trap the evil evil man in a not quite death limbo! time to leave immediately and stand around to wait for zelda to come to us and beg for us to swear an oath for some rando eons in the future and then watch her transform into a dragon! yippie!

arguing that it got somehow sealed in a stasis with rauru and ganondorf that made it immovable doesnt really work either bc gans body still rots and rauru disintegrates so its not like they became a weird time paradox of a statue

... it kinda makes me wonder then how rauru could literally grab gans heart and seal it but not just .. kill him .. (yeah yeah only mastersword blah blah- THO MY POINT STILL STANDS ABOUT TAKING THE ENIGMA STONE- ...... also shouldnt there have been another master sword that was very much fine around the world somewhere anyway? time travel weirdness and all? .. when gan was literally defenseless couldnt just .. anyone stab him a lil .. or the stone for that matter ...)

sorry i just keep coming back to think about totk bc im STILL trying to make anything make sense but the more i do the more it all falls apart OTL

[sadbeautifutragic]

.

[posletsvet]

I frequently think about how challenging it must be to write convincing antagonists. It's relatively easy to justify morally driven, righteous thinking and good-hearted actions (that is, if justification of something like this is at all needed). Pulling off solid reasoning behind uncompromising, dedicated malice is harder. I think that is because benevolence comes naturally to us -- that's what our evolution as social beings taught us to be beneficial. So more often than not villains come off as cartoonish, false and awkward with their cardboard-thin beliefs and exaggerated petty grudges. And that's why it's always exciting to see characters who are objectively horrible people but still exhibit intricately nuanced and dimensional personalities you can at some extent empathize with.

I guess that is also why I like Toji as an antagonist so much. (Yes, this is a Toji Fushiguro post,, Why do I feel like I should I be sorry?) He is essentially a case study of a deeply flawed, disrespectful and inexcusably violent character with a plethora of other gruesome traits (I mean, the anime adaptation isn't even remotely subtle about showing his nastiness) who's also... just another ordinary human being. He eats take-out food. He overspends inpulsively. He watches sport and gambles. He loves and misses his wife and settles down while he's with her. Toji has harmless basic needs like entertaining himself with a hobby in his free time and having someone to keep him company while doing so. He seems to seek simple human connection (like when he suggests that he and Shiu go eat out in some fancy place after receiving their reward). He gets genuinely amused with the job's destination which is Okinawa and expresses his confusion over the cult's representative's bigoted speech in a mundane, kind of goofy way. He's curious when something goes slightly off a pre-established course of action and asks Shiu about it. He gets nervous and tries to calm himself down by strategizing. He thinks of his family in his last moments.

I'm saying all this with no intention to condone Toji's terrible actions or make them seem more forgivable. I guess it just drives home a point for me that while he destroyed the destiny of entire Jujutsu society he was really just minding his own business by going through another job. Yes, he was in some way taking out his spite on the Jujutsu world by trampling on the 'blessed talents' of both Gojo and Geto, but there was never an emphasis put on it. Defeating two Special Grade sorcerers wasn't a prime event in his life (well, up untill he died as a consequence of it, I guess). Even if there were some strings attached to this job, Toji was in it first of all for the money.

He's mundane. The extent of his cruelty and filth is sickening. He's just like those people you could pass by in the street. He's so morally corrupt it's alienating. He's both unthinkably horrible and still just an ordinary person.

Toji is a walking representation of the duality of man, really, and I find it truly admirable how Gege tied all those conflicting traits into a coherent and convincing character.

[soupmanspeaks]

you ever wonder if the Glamrocks's face tracking acts up when they look at Glamrock-Freddy, like they'll look at his face, and the recognition will register as Freddy, but their systems for whatever reason or another think that there is a face overlapped on Freddy's do you think they see two small squares next to him, at his side, roughly child sized, but no one is physically there.... right...?

[lunamond]

In keeping with my recommendation of Cruel Beauty, an actual good YA book, instead of 🔥hotfire garbage🔥, aka Acotar, I thought I'd recommend another favourite of mine.

So, this time, I'm going to give an alternative recommendation to Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This post is definitely not inspired by the release of Iron Flame.

Instead please try:

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda❤️‍🔥

This recommendation is especially for anyone who fell for the advertising when FW first came out, and it was sold as a YA adjacent military dragon fantasy with a slow burn romance.

So if that sounds interesting to you and you want to read an actually well written story, go check out Fireborne.

Fireborne is a YA fantasy, the 1st book of the Aurelian Cycle (a completed trilogy).

It follows its two main characters in a military academy through their training to become dragon riders.

I personally have pitched this series to irl friends as a genderswapped Anastasia (animated movie) with dragons.

The story takes place right after a big revolution. The people overthrew the dragon riding aristocracy.

Our main characters meet up in an orphanage, where they grow up together and end up joining the military academy to become dragon riders.

A lot of the story revolves around the questions that come up when a newly formed government is put through crisis.

All seen through the eyes of the protagonists, who as teenagers are old enough to know what life was like before the revolution, but young enough to have grown up in the new system.

The story does a great job of dealing with the struggles that come with uprooting old deeply ingrained systems of oppression while trying to build a newer fairer system.

The dragons are an integral part of this theme. Unlike FW, in which magical abilities and creatures are added without regard for how they might impact the world or themes, in Fireborne, the dragons are the embodiment of political and military power.

When the aristocracy ruled their oppressive regime, they were the only ones allowed to own and ride dragons. After their fall, the new regime allowed regular people the opportunity to become riders.

However, the number of dragons is still limited, and the new regime, comprised of former revolutionary leaders, want to keep the new riders under their control.

So, in the end, they still come up with a system that allows for abuse and oppression because access to power remains restricted to a chosen few, the dragon riders and those who control them, the newly established government.

These themes make for really complicated and nuanced conflicts without easy solutions. The sequels make a great job with further expanding on these themes.

The military elements also all make sense in this series, and they employ logical means to train their most valuable military assets, their dragon riders unlike FW.

It also features one of my favourite slow burn romances (at least in YA), the relationship has actually depth and tension, while also providing believable reasons why the characters can't just get together.

I'm actually really salty that Fourth Wing took off practically overnight, while Fireborne has been out for ages and has consistently remained underhyped. But I guess it isn’t spicy... 😒

So, for anyone who picked FW up without realising that it is actually just a very trashy smutty romance mascarading as a high fantasy, I highly recommend reading Fireborne which comes with the added perk of not being written by a known zionist.

[warlordfelwinter]

if you'll excuse me i'm going to be crying and throwing up about this forever

[moonchild-in-blue]

Peeled Vessel and freshly painted Vessel are tied for 1st place to me. Peeled Vessel is feral and freshly painted Vessel is so satisfying :D

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Thank you for hearing me out.

YES.

I love my peeled boy so so so much. But when the pain is fresh and shiny and smooth?? YUM. Both are good. Any Vessel is good.

[monkee-mobile]

do you think if any of the monkees tried to actually kiss in the 90s special, everything would like glitch out for a bit and a lizard sunning itself of a rock would snap them out of it or would they be able to break free and show the kiss to the people?

[swatato]

I refuse to believe a damn thing I’m seeing thanks <3

[falseflea]

Post of the day

[folkdevilist]

Drew my own version of human!Plankton after having a bunch of Plankton AI rock covers on repeat.

[sureuncertainty]

for your consideration...

ronan lynch trans

that is all thank you for your time

[ibrithir-was-here]

Silly little personal headcanons for Sandmanverse I thought I'd throw out here for any other lovers of early 20th century Weird Fiction.

Clark Ashton Smith totally got fairy-godfathered by Dream as a baby, and totally wandered around the Dreaming proper as a kid, and that's why he's got so many fantastic poems about the Land of Dreams and its ruler, and also why his health and creativity took a steep dive around the time Dream was captured.

His creative drive starts to come back when he makes friends with Lovecraft, who also managed to get into the Dreaming proper as a kid (inspiring his Dream Cycle)