#this has been a family story

[heteromerous-rhyming]

post episode (and post lunch) thoughts:

thematically i appreciate this episode - ultimately i think that what this episode made clear to me was that this season was not about the trio (annabeth, grover, percy) but about percy's family (a different trio: sally, poseidon, percy). i think that if you separate show sally from book sally (and accepted that they toned gabe down, shifting that narrative 90 degrees to the left) and you just take the show as it is (with little to no relation to the books) what you're left with is a show that isn't actually about the quest, but a show about family dynamics in which sally and percy trade off on being the focus character.

in that sense, thematically, this episode did everything it needed to do - it made poseidon's parenting story line full circle, it wrapped up sally's faith in poseidon, it ended with percy finally seeing the lengths to which poseidon would go for him. that was the core of this show. and in that regard, if we make this about sally and poseidon and percy, this show makes thematic coherence.

but.

the show isn't supposed to be about that? as an adaptation from the book, the focus should be on the quest. right? the focus should be on percy's relationship with annabeth and grover right? the focus should be on percy and luke and the realities of being a child of the gods, that the gods forget unless convenient to them. right? right?

i feel like i'm going insane - surely?? that's what was promised? episode eight once again cuts out annabeth and grover. the emotional climax of the story is not from luke's betrayal. it is from poseidon shielding his son from zeus.

it's really hard to say, because i loved the moments with luke that we were given (except for whatever weird shit is going on with backbiter like what?? xin mo what are YOU doing in camp half blood [edit: forgot backbiter literally is xin mo in the book]), but the story ended after percy returned to montauk and was embraced by sally. that was, thematically, the end of the episode. i hate to say it but the rest of the episode felt like an epilogue. like it could have been cut??? and that baffles me.

i saw a post the other day about the choice to cut down on the time percy spends at camp half blood (please if anyone knows the post/who made it message me, i lost it somehow) and how it affects the story as a whole and it's so true. that change was really revealing in the end, because this isn't about percy's journey ultimately. it's about what percy represents - and what he represents is his two parents and how they influenced/raised him. so anything that isn't that is filled with significantly less emotional weight.

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC Camp

The Batfam force Damian to go to summer camp to socialize with kids his own age and have some normal childhood experiences

That’s all well and good, but normal does not describe his cabin’s councilor, one Daniel “for the love of Ancients call me Danny” Fenton

Between the son of the bat and a Fenton, camp is going to be weird

[whenchickensfly]

"1.6 million Ukrainians have been forcibly deported to Russia by the Russian Army. They go through “filtration camps” where families are often separated and then sent as far as Siberia. Those found disloyal to Russia are imprisoned, tortured, and often summarily executed. Over 5 million Ukrainians have also voluntarily fled into Europe, and 7 million are internally displaced in Ukraine."

Genocide Watch on Ukraine

[scintillyyy]

robin: cry of the huntress #1

sorry thinking about this and how tim's family expanded so much after this: dana, dick!!, helena, bruce, alfred, babs, cass, all the members of young justice, steph, damian...

team up guy ❤️ like i am a drakes defender but tim's childhood loneliness -> full of family & love arc is so precious to me

batman (2016) #134

[aurorangen]

Lunch with Uncle Billy and Josh and sharing the big news with them!

After lunch, Renee talked about cases with Billy. She was in the early weeks of pregnancy and her work routine was pretty much the same! Renee asked if she was allowed access to the Strangerville archives to read about. At times, she thinks about Veronica and Strangerville. There were too many unanswered questions about the dangerous place and she wonders if she will ever see Veronica again. "I'll check with the director, I don't see why not," Billy replied.

[buqbite]

I like to imagine that her gentleness is genuine

[hoaxghost]

Happy to have posted that cause I can go into more depth about certain other demon-lore tidbits and the like! To expand upon the familial aspect:

Split demons often have complex relations when thinking about their Roots, this is strongest in 1st degree Splits while 3rd or 4th have a much more detached point of view. When Splits refer to their counterparts, they'll often use the term brother or sister but it's usually not intended in any gendered aspect.

[canisalbus]

AU where there is some sort of zombie-like (maybe something like a rabid vampirism?)

Where one of the boys is bit/infected and desperately wants the other to join them, while also wanting to resist?

.

[caluupin]

Finished TGAAC around 2 1/2 weeks ago but only finished the doodles today. but still, here ya go!

[utilitycaster]

tbh it does feel like the early setup for Bells Hells was a cool experiment but ultimately had some ongoing drawbacks because I do agree with Matt here that there has been time for watch conversations - there were plenty of opportunities for that or for just regular conversations in Whitestone, the Shattered Teeth, the Feywild, and their most recent long rest - but it's just not something the party got into the habit of doing because of the early pacing. It's just not a party that naturally falls into easy conversation with each other for the most part, and I think because he's never had to do this in prior campaigns, particularly this late in the game, Matt hasn't been very obviously laying out "anyone want to have a scene now, during downtime" the way one might with newer players.

[dollypopup]

Colin did not get a POV in Season 1. No scenes where he grapples with his feelings and the situation in a meaningful way. Colin fans notice. Calm down, you tell us. It's coming. It's not his time, yet.

Colin does not get a perspective in season 2. Few if no scenes of him bonding in meaningful ways with his family, no perspective of him conducting research. Nothing for his own personal growth. Colin fans notice. Calm down, you tell us. It's coming. It's not his time, yet.

Colin's statement at the end of S2 brings about a fandom that demonizes him. It has no context. We do not see the lead up. Colin exists through Penelope's eyes, through her feelings. Colin fans notice. It's not his time, yet. Colin doesn't get a poster. Calm down. It's coming. It's not his time, yet. The information told to us center around Penelope loving herself, her story, her growth. It's not his time yet.

Colin is not even in the teaser clip of his own season.

It's not his time yet it's not his time yet it's not his time yet

Will it ever be?

[yunmeng-jiang]

that man does NOT think of wei wuxian as his gege

[moonpaw]

Fighting DEMONS rn trying not to get invested in one piece to figure out wtf you're posting about!!!!

come here cyber.... we have this thang

‎

[greenerteacups]

thoughts on Ginny and Harry as a couple?

There are a lot of people who find their romance in HBP forced. I don't think it's forced so much as underwritten, and the books don't get the chemistry quite right (though the movies certainly don't, either). There's potential, but they just don't get enough actual scenes of substance (besides Harry thinking she's pretty or feeling jealous of Dean) for a lot of readers to buy that they're not only in love, but deeply enough in love to break up, get back together, and wind up married.

That's not to say I don't see the appeal. There's a very cool scene in Book 5 where Harry's doing a woe-is-me-Chosen-One act, and Ginny effortlessly puts him in his place about it by reminding him that she was possessed by Voldemort at eleven, which is a rare glimpse into her character and also a great synecdoche for their relationship — Ginny is a grounding presence who, like Ron and Hermione, isn't going to be awed by his past adventures because she knew him before they happened. In that respect, Ginny's probably one of the few women Harry could feasibly wind up with, because he only ever seems comfortable around people (let alone girls) who can see past the Chosen-One schtick and treat him like a normo (see: Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Luna, Hagrid). True to type, he doesn't get interested in Ginny at all until she's ditched her celebrity crush and ceased to view him as an idol, because in his heart of hearts, Harry wants to be a normal boy, and it's stressed over and over that part of what he likes about his relationship with Ginny is how normal it feels. He kind of has a horribly supercharged version the celebrity dating problem: after the Battle of Hogwarts, anyone he meets is going to know him first as Harry Potter, Chosen One, Boy Who Lived, and Actually Fucking Resurrected Messiah of the Wizarding World, which is... I mean, it's possible that there are witches out there who could get over that, but Harry's not an extroverted guy, and I'm not sure how he'd go about finding them. Ginny's the one who's been there since the beginning, doesn't need anything about him or his past explained to her, and actually likes him for who he is.

When you look at it that way, it's not surprising he married his high school girlfriend. She's one of the few people still alive who doesn't see him as a demigod.

[moongothic]

Seen quite a few people comment how they believe it's more likely the Dragodile Divorce happened due to ideological differences rather than because Dragon was too straight to stay with Crocodile, and. Like I did suggest that (or at least tried to) in my Crocodad Giga Thesis (really I should've been more clear about it in my essay so I wouldn't be writing this now lol), but like yes, Dragon and Crocodile absolutely have drastically different beliefs on How One Overthrows The World Government. And that absolutely could have contributed to the two separating and/or Crocodile deciding to go his own way instead of becoming a proper Revolutionary

Because like, as I tried to imply in the essay (but failed to deliver); if Crocodile's goal had always been to get Pluton so he could just nuke Marijoa off the face of the earth by himself and end it all in one go, then Crocodile and his way of thinking could work as this, like... contrasting opposite to how Dragon believes things should be done. Some fans (unfairly imo) call Dragon a "fraud" because over the past 20+ years he has only attacked Marijoa and the WG directly just once, and even when he did, instead of doing something to stop their corrupt reign for good... the Revs destroyed... the Tenryuubito's... food storage..? Like. Sure, that'll bother them for a little while, get their panties in a good twist etc, but in the end they're just going to demand more tributes and more free food. The Revolutionary Army may be successfully inspiring more people and more countries to rebel against the World Government's corrupt rule, but the Tenryuubito are still in power and will continue to be in power for a long time. And that's kind of how Crocodile would greatly complement Dragon within the narrative. Dragon being arguably "too soft" with his slow, methodical way of overthrowing the WG, while Crocodile would just kill them all without mercy, even if it meant hurting innocent people in the process. The two would act as the opposite sides of the same coin, the different extremes of the same spectrum. Crocodile would become like a response to the complaints people have against Dragon.

And yeah, the two having such wildly different ideological views could VERY EASILY contribute to a divorce, for sure.

My thing is that... If (and this is an if) Crocodile is meant to go a character arc and grow as a person, if we're meant to see him as a sympathetic character at all and maybe even feel bad for him... It'll be much harder to write that if the Dragodile Divorce happened only because of the two having ideological differences. Like who's going to feel bad for Crocodile if the two got divorced because Crocodile wanted to mass murder people and Dragon wasn't okay with it? That's not a tragedy, that's not a situation where we as the readers would feel for Crocodile and want to root for him. That's not something that would give a character unprocessed emotional trauma to heal from and overcome. He'd just be a villian who'd need to have his beliefs changed.

Where as, if The Divorce was caused by Dragon and Crocodile no longer being compatible due to Dragon being straight while Crocodile transed his gender... Even in the most respectful of scenarios that is a heartbreaking situation, a painful thing to go through. That is a tragedy without bad guys, a story where you could feel bad for Crocodile and want to root for him. That is a situation that would give him trauma to heal from.

And that's kind of why I so strongly believe in Crocodile's transition being a more important, contributing factor in The Divorce. Again, this does absolutely depend on what Crocodile's actual role in the story is going to be and whether or not he's even meant to go through a character arc at all. Like if he's not going to be that important and if he isn't meant to go through an arc then sure, Crocodile's transition doesn't have to matter one fucking bit. But if he is meant to go through an arc, if we are meant to feel bad for him and find outselves rooting for him eventually... From a writing perspective, that'll be far easier to do if we can find ourselves sympathizing with him even just a little bit.

Also like. Yes, you can have queer characters who are just queer for the sake of being queer, their queerness does not have to be an important aspect in them or a huge plotpoint in their story at all. Crocodile could be queer just for the sake of being queer. Because that's what it's like being queer, you just are what you are. At the same time, from a writing perspective. What would even be the point of making him queer if it didn't matter to his character at all and have an impact on his character?

Also while Crocodile and Dragon clearly have very different beliefs on how the WG should be dealt with right now, we don't really know when Crocodile came to his beliefs. Like for all we know Crocodile could've formed his worldview years after the divorce. Hell, based on the way he spoke to Vivi about her ideals, and how we know he spent over a decade in utter emotional solitude, his current worldview could have been partially born from resentment towards Dragon (and his ideals) that's been simmering away over the years.

All of this to say; yes I think the two's beliefs could have been a contributing factor in The Divorce, but from a writing perspective (and based on the direction I personally want to see the story go), I find it far more likely if Crocodile's transition was the main cause, one way or another.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

I think one of the reasons why the theory that Arya will go away at the end of the story because she’s too far gone to assimilate back into society is so unconvincing is because she literally spends the latest two books (AFFC and ADWD) doing that very thing! Like her training hasn’t been about her being a reclusive murderous hermit. She literally spends the two books talking to people, making friends, integrating into new cultures. She’s around people all the damn time! And even if we bring up her ACOK and ASOS arcs which were rather dark in nature, she’s still around people interacting with them, still being a part of society (even if she’s quite low on the totem pole in those books).

Arya is a character who feels so strongly and whose arc is often dictated by how she interacts with the people around her. So to take that away from her is not only a bad understanding of her character arc (not to be condescending or anything), but it’s also not very satisfying as far as character/narrative progression goes. Because if the narrative has proven so far that even in her darkest moments, Arya can laugh and love and be such a passionate member of society, how then does it make sense for her to go away and be on her own?? How does that make sense when AFFC and ADWD prove that she still loves being around people?