#this has been a direct call out

[bacchuschucklefuck]

doing chibi is a good design exercise bc it forces u to think on shapes n essential details, essentially thumbnailing ur designs. its also a terrible design exercise bc it ends up looking cute no matter what

[fatedroses]

And some days, I just wish you wouldn't look at me at all.

[dukeofthomas]

"Angry robin" "violent robin" "misbehaving robin" shut up and accept my alternative; spunky Robin. Determined and head strong, can out-stubborn the Batman, has a strong moral-backbone and does what he thinks is right regardless of what anybody else says, Robin. Jason who was sassy and quippy and made crude jokes with a smile on his face. Jason who hid in Bruce's cape and whispered gossip to him. Jason who, if Bruce refused him something, could keep bothering endlessly until Bruce caved. And also dramatic Jason. If Bruce tells him no, it becomes a whole theatrical show; a monologue, a narration, embellishments, and falling onto the floor in his grief upon the fact his cruel father has denied him once again.

(Jason who has suffered through abuse and homelessness and poverty and starvation, who is the Fight out of Fight or Flight, who's built up defenses and walls and when pushed and triggered responds with the thing that's always protected him; anger. He's sweet and kind and funny, and when he sees a pimp hitting a prostitute he gets furious and responds with violence.)

[rosesocietyy]

@dictee's bonus question; I don't have the range to tackle it in full cause I haven't read the vampire armand but I do want to zero in on how attitudes of victim blaming can be internalized; one aspect of it at least, guided by what's been shown in the series, and extend it to Louis too.

I believe that's inevitable when a relationship is connoted by religiosity.

or at least the specific brand I'm deeply deeply familiar with. The type that is built on the foundation of the unquestionable. What should be (way of life, how to move through the world they've brought them into) is determined by the all-knowing creator and there's an expectation that the creations should follow for their own good or reap the consequences of defiance.

I love deliberate use of language when describing the maker-fledgling relationship. Divinity is obviously ascribed to the maker, and the fledgling is ensnared in almost helpless reverence and servitude.

"But there was present, a kind of worship on my part"

"I served him with all my heart. Basked in his mercy, his worshipful mercy."

Given the life they endured prior to encountering their makers it's easy to see why Louis and Armand are vulnerable to the entrapments of devoutness.

Being the only beings at the gate to usher Louis and Armand into this new reality, the makers are given the opportunity to conceptualize vampirism. Define what should be

These are the coven rules and they must be followed

This is how you're meant to hunt

This is how you're meant to feel about and behave toward humanity

In turn, that gets internalized

I was sent to lead the Paris coven and I did so by rigidly upholding the laws

I'm a fumbling, botched, vampire for not feeding the way he expects me to

Maybe this cruelty to humanity and our kind is the nature of our species and we'll eventually end up like him in time

Well it's the vampire bond you see, there's just no human equivalent so you wouldn't understand, it's the way of things

That's really the crux of the danger. They love these beings who they perceive to be all-knowing, whose authority they have to defer and cede to (manifested differently of course). The love they receive in return is encompassing and ardous, and harrowing as it is, it's understandable why they may think it's supposed to be. The creator's hand is a guiding hand, and if that guide has to be through force then so be it. When I'm straying and being rebellious and difficult, he's just acting accordingly and in his nature to make sure his beloved is keeping in line. After all if they spare the rod, the child gets rotten.

Louis doesn't see himself as a victim. It's not entirely clear yet but I don't think armand sees himself as one either, at least not in that context. And maybe they never will, but they recognize that pain distinctly and carry it heavily with them. The identity issues, the complicated struggle with power, the voice and image of lestat that can never seem to completely fade, the works of marius hung on the walls of their home. In a way I guess they'll always feel like they've failed their gods, religious trauma 101

[wonder-worker]

“Studies of Elizabeth Woodville […] have been hampered by the continuing fascination with her brother-in-law, Richard III. The Ricardian [and Yorkist] apologetic is now largely dependent upon the argument that the Woodville family posed such a threat to Richard of Gloucester, and the kingdom as a whole, that Gloucester had little option but to take the throne from his Woodville-dominated nephew. Although this argument has [irregularly] been contested, a reassessment of the queen's role in 1483 has not yet been attempted. Michael Bennett, in his 1987 account [...] still dismissed her as `an inveterate intriguer, capable in her vanity and fecklessness of some remarkable shifts and turns'. But more often she is scarcely mentioned in general histories of the period.”

-J.L. Laynesmith, “English Queenship 1445-1503” (thesis for the degree of DPhil in Medieval Studies, University of York, Centre for Medieval Studies, April 1999)

[stardustdiiving]

How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking

As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that

Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.

Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person

My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House

Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:

It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse

Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not

This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person

I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense

If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant

[skitskatdacat63]

2010 Australian Grand Prix - Jenson Button(ft. Robert Kubica & Felipe Massa)

[dailyrickastley]

Once upon time in 1987...

[rioblitzle]

i guess im not too involved in the zelda fandom cause seeing a post about rabid totk defenders is wild to me. from my perspective people were singing that game's praises for 2 months total before it fell to the "popular game bad actually" criticism wave and i don't think i've seen anyone say positive things about totk since then lmfao

[grinchwrapsupreme]

being super normal about White calling Billy "a dreamer"after the events of Maybe No Go

[ectonurites]

SUPER DARK TIMES (2017) DIR KEVIN PHILLIPS

[akkivee]

since hiphoppia and h era reformation are connected, i was thinking about what of rinka i’d like backbone to answer/emulate and a song based on these ideals i think would be fire

[akingdomscrypt]

I have only one thing on my mind rn. And it is definitely NOT what i need when trying to write an angst scene.

[heyassbuttlmao]

I need people to stop acting like bucktommy is problematic and hating on people shipping them just because they personally don't like the ship but also I need people to stop saying that not liking bucktommy or not wanting them to be endgame is like inherently homophobic or a bad faith reading of buck's character arc or whatever the fuck

we are adults we are here to have fun watching our silly little show and putting characters in silly little situations, please for the love of god just learn how to filter tags and use the block button to curate what ship content you're seeing instead of starting a ship war like it's 2013

[the-river-rix]

Agent Seeley Booth accidentally being a really good representation of how America fails its ‘most devoted’ citizens (the patriotic Christian conservative white man) and how the act of patriotism, especially through enlisting in military or law enforcement is fundamentally damaging because of the copaganda fox tv show aspects of his character is one of the funniest things about bones

[insanechayne]

~ ~ ~