#this anon was on fire guys

[gremlin-elrics]

You know when you get incredibly worried about someone and then when they are safe you feel relieved but you also remember that ugly feeling they made you go through so you get really angry and instead of huging them or showing any sign of affection you yell at them, instead of saying I'm happy you are okay you say smth shitty because you're so stubborn

Yeh that's levi and Hanji

this.

[everchased]

so, Astarion and Finch. which one of them watches the other fight and thinks "that's so hot"?

finch finds astarion's skill and deftness with a blade VERY sexy admirable but i think the person who has that immediate "HOT" moment is astarion himself.

there is probably something immediately attractive to astarion "technically not a murderhobo but only because he dresses nice" ancunin about seeing a man who (for the most part) tries to favor persuasion decide that a situation is bad enough to call for killing someone

and swiftly, effectively, and mercilessly

following through with that decision.

[bonefall]

while i do agree with the sentiment that bloodclan should be more nuanced as an entity i still believe it is wrong to portray them as the necessary "response" to clan injustice (haven't read the books in years but i am pretty sure that bloodclan started with no connection to the clans) / an opposition to the clan's flaws. some of the thing scourge did was out of selfishness and bloodclan isn't the other colour of the black and white debacle with the clans. the clans are heavily flawed yes, but it isn't realistic to completely say that their structure had no redeeming qualities altogether and that all outsider groups is fundamentally better than the clans.

all clans and groups are flawed in their own way and i believe we shouldnt brush past the things that other groups (the sisters and what they do with their toms *cough cough*) did solely to be able to degrade the clans and their culture.

Buddy, you're setting up a strawman. I promise you that if you look into the reduxes I've made of BloodClan, Guardians, The Sisters, and the Tribe, you will see that I don't make any of them a "flawless" alternative to Clan life.

Nor do I say that the Clans have no redeeming qualities. In fact, you can browse the "Clan Culture" tag to see the various expansions I've made to show how these traditions, values, and technological advances make Clan life so alluring.

The overarching theme of BB is that the nature of culture is change. For better AND for worse.

With respect, I think there's something insidious in the wording of "the things the other groups did." We're talking about fan responses to a work that consistently demonizes and degrades foreigners to make the Clans look like the "best way to live," justifying xenophobia. These are not real groups, they are writing choices.

In the franchise with some pretty extreme examples of misogyny, the authors said "What if bizarro world where women rule and have no men... woag..." and only includes a single Clan-alligned member of this culture, with a BAD opinion of them, who can't even do his diplomatic job because he HATES them so much.

In the same franchise that shows Fireheart getting bullied, facing prejudice, and fighting a murderous tyrant who publically executes a mixed-race character, their endgame villain is an outsider, like him, but this one IS a godless heathen who HATES love and friendship and banned families.

In the VERY same franchise which made its first non-malicious group barely able to get through an arc without needing to be saved by Clan cats, totally unable to defend themselves, framed as "whiny" for not wanting their clearly 'inferior' culture to be forcefully changed.

And I'm re-stating all this because, again, no offense to you in particular Anon, but I've been seeing a few people with a sentiment like yours lately. Complaints into a vacuum that don't make targeted critique of anyone's fanworks, gesturing at this broad "woobification" which is apparently out there somewhere over the rainbow, saying things like "well Scourge is selfish" or "well Moonlight abandoned her 13 year old" as if we haven't BEEN knew.

As if we're not all directly responding to these choices. As if I haven't written ESSAYS on this topic.

Since this was about BloodClan in particular though, and you admit you haven't read the books in years, please go back and actually read Rise of Scourge before trying to make critique of the ways fanon rewrites its origin. It's EXPLICITLY a response to the Clans, in the text, that the Erins wrote, it is canon that fanon is working with.

And you want people to take that out and approach it a different way... why? Because it's so incredulous to you that a nation forms in response to a threatening neighbor? That a common enemy through invasions is a way that people might choose to unite, and encourage their new culture to value brutality? Because you don't like the idea of Clan Culture's XENOPHOBIC BATTLE CULTURE affecting surrounding communities??

Could YOU, maybe, be doing this "woobification" thing I keep hearing about? Can I play this stupid game too? What's our stupid prize? Can it be a lollipop? Do we get stickers

TL;DR, ok.

[pcktknife]

what do you think about the newest penacony story patch in hsr?

penacony numero uno. actually the best arc out of the 3 so far but sunday should kill himself*

[imminent-danger-came]

do you think MK is gonna have a circlet arc?? Going along with your eldritch mk theory jt could parallel his past life being contained and also more parallels to SWK and MK how fun

This ask has haunted my ask box for 3 days. Circlet arc??? CIRCLET ARC???? THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE AND SO SO SO GOOD.

I have no idea if it would actually happen in show, but I have a feeling MK is at the very least going to have an "anti-circlet" arc. Go with me for a moment:

So, we know MK's bandana parallels Wukong's phoenix feathers in design, right?

MK with the two ends of his bandana and Wukong with the two feathers coming out of his cap.

However, MK's bandana is ALSO a parallel to Wukong's circlet:

And MK was given this bandana by Pigsy (presumably):

This is basically a long winded way to say that MK has already been "crowned", in a sense. Unlike Wukong, MK never needed to be controlled in the same way his mentor did at the beginning of his journey. MK, instead, was given morals and love by our wonderful Dadsy from a young age, which effectively functioned as a "circlet", if that makes sense.

So, the bandana, a symbol of both who he is/was raised to be and the crown, is already his circlet. As MK is now, he doesn't need a circlet to exert control over him because of who he is—a good kid who is trying his best to make the right choices.

But, you know, there was that really scary scene that one time where MK didn't exactly feel like MK and he kind of went off the rails...and...WHAT IS THAT

HIS BANDANA WAS DAMAGED BY HIMSELF IN AN EPISODE TITLED "Rip and Tear" !!?!??!?!?

SO.

Say MK were to rip his own bandana off, symbolically showing his complete decent into his "harbinger of chaos" role...that would mean another crown would have to go on to replace it, right?

Whether MK get's crowned symbolically with another bandana or an ACTUAL circlet remains to be seen, but the potential is definitely there! And I'm normal about it

[marzipanandminutiae]

In regards to France and their swimsuit shit... I've seen quite a few trans men in trans groups I'm a part of state they were thrown out of swimming areas for wearing swim shirts as well. They were told they had to be shirtless or they had to get out. they were told "it's a hygiene issue" but it's a swim top not a random dirty t shirt????? Fuckin ridiculous

In France? Y e p I found that law, too. it's from 1903; apparently the concern was that men might try to swim in dirty street clothes. But as you say. Um. There is a clear and obvious difference between swimsuits and street attire, especially nowadays.

I guess that answers my question about whether it's enforced or not. Thanks I hate it

[saphirdevil]

obsessed with ur vergilius. u draw him so Wife. i want to hold him by the waist and beg him to not get a divorce with me. hes such a single mother. ur art invokes a carnal desire deep within me

WOAH WOAH WHOS A SINGLE MOTHER??! IM RIGHT HERE,,,, ofc.. shes my wife... she is taking the kids away but its ok.... /hj

[lulady030]

Dawn of the Final Day

- 24 hours remain -

[slotumn]

The truth that people are too weak to face is that Claude von Riegan would have had a crypto phase in a modern world, and if he was a politician he'd run as either a cringe libertarian or a cringe neolib and also have a podcast. Oh and he's associated with effective altruism/rationalist stuff.

Lysithea would be a STEM autist who is deeply in denial about being autistic because she can't stand other autists, and if she had a social media account she would fucking hate Claude's content and constantly insult him and call him a [REDACTED] scammer. She doesn't even give a shit about the politics part, she's just pissed that he's marketing various technology as something it's not and gets away with it because he's photogenic + good at sounding confident and dodging questions

Somehow Claude successfully ragebaits her into doing a podcast where they debate each other, offline, and when they meet up Lysithea is extremely mad that he is actually that good-looking irl. Claude is just amused + impressed at the amount of anger that can fit inside a rabbit-looking creature like her.

Idk where I was going with this I just want you guys to consider cringe podcast guy Claude x cringe angry STEM autist Lysithea

[romana-after-dark]

Is the rape fantasy stuff because your dad left or because he stayed but didn’t love you

At a certain point of writing about glorified rape you just become that person who likes rape

Idk maybe it has something to go with my childhood sexual about, and then the multiple instances of rape and sexual assault and stalking I endured in my teens!

Thanks!

And no, he didn’t love me! Thanks!

As an aside, I don’t like rape and my rapes (plural) almost caused me to lose my life!

Again, thanks!

ETA: I don’t think we should *never* criticize kink. I think it’s worthwhile asking “why do I have rape fantasy?” “Why do I want my partner to degrade and hurt me?”

These are valid questions. I’m in therapy right now but it’s with my school and idk if we’re gonna be able to unpack all of that before I graduate but I do think think isn’t above critique. Just bc it’s your kink doesn’t mean it’s inherently good. Or bad

What it is is not your business

[butwhatifidothis]

Like, what more do you want? For her to be tossed into a deep dark cell with rats to bring her story to a full traumatic circle? For her to executed when she's permanently has the mind of a child and has literally no idea WHY she's about to be executed?

I'll circle around to that second suggestion in a bit, but for now:

What "more" do I want? What exactly did I - or anyone - get, in the first place?

got long lol under the cut it goes

We have the victims of war blaming themselves for daring to fight back against their violent aggressor, we have those same victims either praise their aggressor for their ~reforms~ or mindlessly believe what they say with no proof, we have the story going out of its way to show the violent aggressor of a needless war to be a good leader because ~look at how bad it gets if they're NOT the one leading~ (looking straight at you AG), we have the aggressor gain a NEW mindless fan squeeing over their every action for specifically this game when they already had two characters who in some way were doing that already (Hubert and Dorothea) - oh gee, there's just so much woe that Edelgard has to go through, as the story, plot, and characters all castrate themselves trying to make her look better, amiright?

Edelgard faces zero repercussions in this game as a result of her enacting war against the Church and Kingdom for their crimes of *checks notes* doing nothing. The Church outright helps her in her efforts to get rid of the corrupt nobles of Enbarr, doing exactly what she requested of them to do down to the letter, and she still declares war on them, forces them out of their home, and chases them down to the Kingdom and goes to war with it for daring to house people who are being wrongly and violently persecuted for no reason.

You suggest her being tossed in a dungeon as if that's some sort of unjust, cruel thing, but frankly I don't care at that point whether the poor uwu warmonger shits herself in fear over rats because of the violent and cruel actions she chose to enact independently of anyone's influence. These circumstances are ridiculously different from when she was an actual innocent child being forcefully experimented on; she's the direct reason countless innocent people have either lost their families, friends, homes, livelihoods, and/or lives. To say she should go without any form of punishment - and harsh punishment at that - just because she has a fear of rats and there might be rats in the jailcell she gets thrown in is laughable. Tough shit, she shouldn't have murdered thousands in a needless war for power if she didn't want to get thrown in jail, and I have no sympathy for her in that regard.

Even in the supposed "bad end" version of the routes, Edelgard gets off hilariously easy. Who do you lose in AG? Rodrigue, a full-on playable character that you could've put actual effort into making into an extremely good/reliable unit, as well as the father/father-figure of Felix and Dimitri and someone whose presence is immensely felt throughout all of AG. Who do you lose in GW? Judith, someone who, while (criminally) not a playable unit, is still someone with a huge presence in the story of GW, and who is deeply connected to Claude on a personal level. Meanwhile on SB you lose fuckin' Randolph, a joe-schmoe nobody whose only purpose in any regard whatsoever is to die and who has literally zero connection to anyone except his similarly joe-schmoe nobody sister. Dimitri loses someone he saw as a father and who he heavily relied on to get through deeply traumatic events, Claude loses the one person he actually actively wanted to reveal being an Almyran prince to (before she put two and two together first, that is), and Edelgard loses... someone who's basically a named NPC for all the investment - personal or otherwise - he's been given.

What more do I want? Literally anything, because right now I have nothing.

But regarding the mind-of-a-child thing.

Given Hopes' obsessive need to relieve Edelgard of any actual responsibility for her actions - how it's Dimitri that started a war with the Empire and how that's bad, how it's Claude who invaded the Empire and how that's bad, while Edelgard is always given the benefit of the doubt despite being the actual aggressor unlike the other two who only fight back against her (at first anyway, in Clyde's case), things like that - her mind being reduced to that of a child's is almost fuckin' poetic, because that's pretty much how the game itself treats her. She's a child making a mess of the kitchen but she meant well and that's all that really matters - it's every else's fault for not walking over the mess well enough! It’s sadly very fitting that the game that treats her with the softest, silkiest kid gloves imaginable ends up literally reducing her to a child in the one route where the player never sides with her.

Because now she “shouldn’t” be punished! Isn’t she going through enough, the poor little dear? It’s just like you mention nonnie; she’s already just gone the absolute ordeal of *checks notes* being put in a situation where she literally can’t be held liable for her horrific, cruel actions she committed before she was Lobotogard. Now any attempt from anyone to do anything to Edelgard regarding the actions she chose to make independent of anyone else will be seen as being “too mean,” because now she’s in a state where she can’t understand the wrongs of what she’s done - she doesn’t even think she’s done them! Her mind is reverted to the time she was lil’ ol’ El with her crush Dee and isn’t that just so sad? Feel bad for Edelgard, not for her victims that she forced into war.

Because, like, think about it. Why was Edelgard lobotomized, instead of just defeated/jailed/executed? Why was mind-control + mind-reversion dark magic pulled out of Hopes’ ass to make Edelgard completely unable to be liable for her actions? In a game where Rhea and Claude can die and TWS can be completely wiped out, showing that Hopes doesn’t really care that much about keeping other main important characters on the table? Why not just simply have Edelgard imprisoned - not even killed, not even executed, just placed in prison for omega murder? Even Claude, for as mindlessly the Deer eventually follow him once Clyde switcheroos with him in GW’s Part 2, gets some form of pushback from them initially (...for inconveniencing Edelgard by killing Randolph + other Imperial generals and not for fucking over Faerghus, that is, but it’s still anything), and like I said, he can actually die for doing certain things (...that certain thing being betraying Edelgard on SB’s bad end, but again, it’s literally anything), which is much more than can be said for Edelgard.

Because honestly, I think it’s because the game really didn’t want her to actually face the consequences of her actions. The only thing that happens to her is her being in a state that sad to see... for others. For Edelgard herself, she’s just a confused kid - she’s not living with the guilt of her actions, she’s not facing any real justice for what she’s done, there’s no acknowledgement on her end - or even any ability to acknowledge - all that she’s done. And for fuck’s sake, she wasn’t even put in this state because of the bad shit she did; she was put in this state because she was helping Dimitri fight Thales. This isn’t a result of her killing who knows how many people for a war that’s literal only purpose was to expand her influence over all of Fodlan, in her own words even in this game - she got this standing up against the real bad guy, which definitely isn’t her. Nothing like the loss of a loved one, or dying yourself, and nothing that results directly from her killing innocent people to expand her power. 

So basically what I want is for the aggressor of a needless war that’s killing innocent people to face any actual consequence for doing the shit she does, for other characters who are literally being victimized by her to stop going on about how “well maybe she’s not that bad” when she’s ruining their and their people’s lives, and for the game to not place her in a state where it’s almost completely impossible for anyone to make her hold her accountable for her actions. Considering the shit she still does in this game, I really don’t think I’m asking for much here

[murdermitties]

cloudtail?

Cloudtail

[novelcain]

reader somehow manages to make a makeshift stim toy, it kept wukong occupied and out of trouble for almost a week, a new record at the time /j

🎵

they throw a party to celebrate Wukong's new temporary sense of self control

except its in the style of a child's first birthday party

everyone's clapping and saying how proud they are of him while he's jumping up and down staring into the flame of the single candle on the cake absolutely EXTATIC to blow it out

[onippep]

...Hey everyone. Good work in here. Lookin' great. Let's finish on up, gather your things, and leave in about an hour. Bossman's heading home.

[calciferstims]

izzy hands stimboard

my phone literally died while I was making this I think it was a warning 🤡

the ‘making a stimboard for every ofmd character I damn well please’ series - part 12/12

sources: ♠️⚔️♠️ | 🕯🩸🕯 | ♠️⚔️♠️

[imminent-danger-came]

Hi there! So, I don't know if you’re in the mood to have your brain chemistry altered by the silly little lego show once more, or if you’ve just already done this, but I have a suggestion. Try watching the S4 special (specifically A Lifetime of Mistakes) for the millionth time, and then take that knowledge, along with the Wukong-Macaque/MK-Mei Hero and Warrior parallels we’ve been getting, and THEN go rewatch S1E6 AKA The Great Wall Race. Specifically through that particular lens.  

And just… enjoy watching the decisions they, especially MK, make during a situation where an immortality-granting object is on the line. Have no major thoughts about how this is the first real fight we see Mei and MK have. Experience absolutely zero strong emotions as you watch MK’s pursuit of that object lead to him destroying things that both of them love. Just… have a lovely, peaceful rewatch. 

But seriously, if you’re in the mood to let the silly little monkey show do its silly little monkey show thing, try rewatching that episode because it legitimately ruined my night. 

Like… it’s not a perfect, one-to-one comparison. There’s a lot of differences, both nuanced and obvious, that differentiate the two situations. 

But there’s something there and it’s been driving me insane, so feel free to come join me on the precipice of madness if you want.

*GRABS YOU*

I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR DAYS. ANON, YOU GET ME IN A WAY THAT NO ONE ELSE DOES, WE ARE TOGETHER IN ARMS.

But anyways *puts on sunglasses* I always have zero emotions when it comes to the lego show. Me? Completely calm and collected. I totally didn't have a breakdown while rewatching 1x06 to write this post.

But, just to meander on by the precipice of madness...

Mei: "*gasp* My bike! What is wrong with you! I thought you were my friend!" MK: "Okay! I did bad! I just- I really wanted that peach and I guess I got carried away! You know how much I love stone fruit. *sigh* I was never gonna win though—you're the racer, not me. I'm sorry." Mei: "Yeah I know—just, don't be dumb next time, okay?" MK: "All I can do is try!"

(1x06 The Great Wall Race)

-

Even without the added context of s4, it's easy to put together that the whole reason MK wants the peach to begin with is to become more like Monkey King. Case in point, 1x09:

MK: "I just wanted to be good enough..."

"...like you."

(1x09 Macaque)

-

MK in seasons 1-2 is pushed by his motivation to live up to Monkey King's legacy—to become stronger. He wants to have the power to protect and help his friends, but this often causes more trouble than it fixes (1x01, 1x02, 1x06, 1x09, 2x03, 2x06, 2x10).

And so, MK reaching for immortality and wanting to be "good enough", instead harming the relationships he's trying to help?

Macaque: "No that's YOU! You're the one always running off! Looking for more power, more sources of immortality—you're the one who wouldn't quit while were were ahead! Not the great sage, he's got to drag EVERYONE else into his mess!"

-

MK: "Why didn't he just stop, right here? He was already so much stronger than anyone ever needed to be!" Macaque: "Wukong didn't think so. He always felt he had to be stronger—more immortal."

-

Sun Wukong: "I just wanted to protect the people I cared about—to be strong enough. I lost sight of why I was doing any of it."

-

It's like history is repeating itself.

Which, this all obviously has a strong connection to 1x06, but it also is a strong connection to 2x06:

MK: "It means I need to be stronger! Be so powerful, that it'd be certain defeat to fight me!" Sandy: "Maybe you need a break little man, just kick back for a bit." MK: "Uh, did Monkey King ever take breaks?"

(2x06 Game On)

-

Which,

Sun Wukong: "Daw, don't be like that! Eat some fruit, soak up the sun—that's why I've been training so hard! Macaque: "What, so you can be the strongest?" Sun Wukong: "No! Well...maybe a little bit—but that's not the point! It's so that we don't have to worry about anything or anyone ever again! Just live a lazy life sittin' in the sun and eatin' fruit, and doing whatever we want!"

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

Did Monkey King ever take breaks?—well, he did. It's here we start to see both the similarities and the differences between SWK and MK. AND IT DRIVES ME INSANE. They both reach after power in paranoia. They both try to protect the people they care about (and sometimes they do that through lying/leaving). They both want things to stay the same. Yet, SWK is arrogant where MK is self conscious. SWK goes off alone where MK tries to do it together. SWK can't plan for shit where MK is the designated plan man.

Sun Wukong VS MK and Monkey King VS Monkey Kid. How are they similar and how are they different?

And then if you throw Wukong-Macaque/MK-Mei Hero and Warrior parallels into all of it?

Peng: "The six-eared Macaque fighting side by side with his own replacements! Is there anything Wukong could do that would break his hold over you?" (4x13 Rip and Tear)

Is there anything MK could do that would turn Mei against him? I feel that it's SO telling that Mei wasn't included in this conversation:

Yellow Tusk: "I know full well what would happen should Azure fail. But- but he is my brother. I owe him my life." Sandy: "We get it! I'd do anything to help my friends. But at the cost of the world?" Pigsy: "I'm sorry pal, but NOTHING worth that price!"

(4x14 Better Than We Found It)

-

And here's why Mei is going to be the one to calm MK down like MK calmed her down during 3x10—