#this is so much more important than ppl are willing to talk about

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: June 2022 ~  

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Dailymotion and Youtube. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post!

New breakdowns coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green tick = seen or currently watching)

🌟 Pa Thirsty - June 1st (Philippines)

🌟 Sky In Your Heart - June 3rd (Thailand) ✅

🌟 To My Star 2 - June 5th (South Korea) ✅

🌟 I Want To See You - June 5th (Vietnam)

🌟 Check Out - June 11th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Old Fashion Cupcake - June 13th (Japan)

🌟 Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! - June 16th (Japan)

🌟 I Only Want to See you - June 17th (Japan)

🌟 Love Mechanics - June 18th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Unforgotten Night - June 22nd (Thailand) ✅

🌟 You Light Up My Life Again - June 26th (China) 

🌟 Even Sun Series - June 29th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Wash My Heart - June 29th (Japan)

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ My Secret Love - I’m absolutely loving this show!! it’s so hilarious and the perfect proof that you can actually make something out of a seemingly simple bl plot lol. The dynamic between Mek and Kim is super entertaining, also Lee and Park have no business being the most adorable couple I’ve ever seen djkghfd. I love them so much. The setup is nice and it plays with several bl clichés in a very cunning way. Super excited for the rest of the season!! 💜 

👎🏻 To My Star 2 - Never thought I would ever put this as my dislike of the month lol and if you’re following me you’re probably fed up with me constantly ranting about it jkfgdf but yeah. Very disappointed and I don’t see any way to fix this mess in the remaining 2 episodes. Pity. 

New series announcements

🎥 Punk Spy (starring Mii2 & others) - Date TBA (Thailand) 

🎥 A Shoulder to Cry On - coming September 2022 (South Korea)

🎥 Blueming: The Movie (147 min runtime) - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 사랑은댕냥댕냥 (produced by Strongberry) - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Eccentric Romance (Thai-Korean collaboration, from the producers of Peach of Time) - Date TBA (South Korea / Thailand) 

🎥 Star Struck (web novel adaption) - Date TBA (South Korea) 

🎥 180 Degrees Longitude Between Us - Coming August 14th (Thailand) 

🎥 Jun and Jun -  Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Semantic Error: The Movie (178 min runtime) - Coming August 23rd (South Korea) 

🎥 Love in the Big City (novel adaption) - Date TBA (South Korea) 

🎥 Back to My First Love - Date TBA (Taiwan) 

🎥 Unintentional Love Story - Date TBA (South Korea) 

🎥 Oh My Assistant - Date TBA (South Korea) 

🎥 Love is Like a Cat (starring Mew Suppasit and others) - Coming 2023 (South Korea/Thailand) 

Other news from the BL world

❗️Thai actor Copter Panuwat came out as non-binary on Twitter and had an interview with TeenVogue. 

❗️The post-apocalyptic Thai BL “Till the World Ends” (starring Art Pakpoom & others) will premiere on September 3rd 2022. 

❗️The upcoming Korean BL “Heesu In Class 2” will start shooting in August and will most likely be released towards the end of the year. It will have a runtime of 40-60 minutes per episode. The main actors have been chosen but not revealed yet. 

❗️The upcoming Thai drama “Remember Me”, starring JaFirst and others has been announced to air on October 9th. It is still unclear whether or not it will be a bl. 

❗️”Our Season” is a 3 episode variety show that features the cast of Semantic Error. It premiered on June 29th on Gagaoolala. 

❗️Fittings for the upcoming Thai BL “Moonlight Chicken” have started. 

❗️Mew Suppasit will star in the upcoming Korean-Thai BL “Love is Like a Cat”. His costars are 2 former kpop idols from the group JUST B. Details have yet to be announced.  

❗️Fiat Patchata (formerly Pattadon) was announced as the lead of the upcoming BL “Wish Me Luck”. Further details are yet to be announced. 

Upcoming series & movies for July

☝🏻 Rainbow Lagoon (short film) - July 4th (Thailand) 

☝🏻 Oh! My Sunshine Night - July 4th (Thailand) 

☝🏻 Vice Versa - July 16th (Thailand) 

☝🏻 Coffee Melody - July 18th (Thailand)

[portraitofadyke]

what's been bugging me is how some people, especially steddyhands shippers, seem to ignore Stede's complete blind spot that is Ed. I've been rereading some post s1 fix-its, and it's amazing how almost every one of their reunions had Stede blaming Ed for marooning the crew and attempting to kill Lucius (same with ppl's expectation that there would be some sort of physical fight). And then he just. Doesn't.

Stede obviously cares for the crew. A lot. But the moment Ed's well being is in the picture, he becomes hyperfocused on Ed and Ed only. Obviously the crew told him about being marooned, but we don't see him mention that once in his letters. They reunite with Lucius, and yet all Stede talks about is Ed (and his poor portrayal on his wanted posters)- Lucius confesses about Ed throwing him overboard, and all Stede does is question 'why?', because he knows Ed wouldn't just randomly attempt to murder Lucius. The moment Lucius tells him Stede broke Ed, Stede is back to blaming himself, never Ed. He clearly cares about Lucius, because later in the ep, he tries to reconcile with him by giving him 'dating advice' and trying to save him from what happened to him and Ed, but Ed comes first.

We actually see it in s1 too, if only briefly, in s7 when Stede desperately tries to keep Ed abroad and becomes oblivious to the crew's concerns and problems and we get the iconic line "Eat and apple, for God's sake!" Stede cares, but Ed is at the front of his mind and it's hard for him to understand what could be more important.

In s02e03, he gets his ship and the rest of his crew back, but Ed is nowhere. Izzy is literally missing a leg and Stede just tells him to piss off.

And I've seen people questioning why Stede never questioned that, why he never bothered to ask about Izzy's missing toe or back scars or why he didn't care about the leg more. Izzy clearly lies again and tells Stede Ed shot it off because he told Ed he loves him, and yet stede just. Doesn't care.

And i mean, that question is valid. Because people see Stede as someone who's much more caring, more hero-coded. But Stede is far more a romantic hero to Ed than he is your general hero to the rest of the characters. Stede is selfish. Stede is blind-sided. Stede is willing to abandon his morals when it comes to Ed.

I think there are two reasons Stede doesn't question Izzy's Ed-inflicted-injuries, or any other, for that matter. First one is, Stede's blind spot for Ed. Yeah, Izzy got his leg shot off by Ed (not entirely true, but I digress), but there must have been a reason why. Yeah, Izzy got his toes cut off and hand-fed, but Ed had a reason. Stede knows Ed is not violent by default, so he knows something must have prompted him to do that. Is it completely justified? That's a differenr convo about people trying to portray Izzy as a victim rather than someone who kept pushing Ed over the edge until they were both too far.

The second is... Yeah, Stede just doesn't care. Especially about Izzy. Lie it's been pointed out, Stede just thinks izzy is a dick. He misnames him. He's rightuflly mad at him for selling them out to the english. He literally dreams about killing Izzy for that. Stede blames himself for abandoning Ed and everything that happened after (and yes, Ed's actions are Ed's actions, but that's how Stede sees it), but he clearly also blames Izzy for setting them up.

So, Stede sees Izzy's missing leg? Probably deserved that. Back scars, missing toe? Eh, probably deserved that, too, Ed would look absolutely lovely in a braid. Is that morally correct? No, but Stede isn't written to be a moral character. That's what makes him so real, and that's why so many other actors than Rhys would struggle making Stede sympathetic and likeable to the audiences.

That's not to say Stede doesn't see Ed's wrongs. He absolutely does. He just. Doesn't care that much in the end, because his love for all of Ed is that bright, to the point of being absolutely, utterly selfish. DJenkins said it from the beginning; this show is about Ed and Stede's relationship. Stede doesn't question Izzy's injuries bc in the end, it just doesn't matter to him when Ed is in the picture

[mousfri]

do you mind talking about will's narcissism? i see ppl talk about that aspect of hannibal far more. also are you drawing a line between will being narcissistic and hannibal being egotistical for character analysis reasons or just to vary word choice? if it's the former, why do you make that distinction?

part of the reason you won't see much of will's narcissistic traits being mentioned is because a concerning number of fannibals like to misrepresent him as caring and selfless. it's highly ironic given his entire character is based around how desperate he is to pretend he meets that ideal of a loving, stable entirely conventional person.

i do tend to lean towards making a distinction between will's narcissism and hannibal's egotism, but it's not so much in relation to differences in their definitions as it is the meanings i associate with each term. you could probably use them interchangeably if you were going off dictionary definitions, but it's a good way to separate how and why hannibal and will each make self-centred decisions.

hannibal's egotism is grounded in his sense of superiority. he thinks himself better than others, and so he will nearly always prioritise his wants and desires over the wants of others. he is highly capable of observing, understanding and analysing the emotional responses and actions of others - it's what makes him such a good manipulator. he knows EXACTLY how to frighten or comfort or confuse someone. he knows what they want. he simply doesn't care. he does what HE thinks is best regardless of whether the object of that action would agree. selfish decisions are made in the conscious knowledge that he is better and so he MUST BE right.

this is what makes decisions like saving will over killing alana and choosing to give will the benefit of the doubt when he smells freddie on him particularly interesting. it's evidence of will's creeping influence on him, the significance of the opinions and actions of a man who he cannot predict but who he cannot help but hold in the highest regard.

will's tendency to be self-centred predates hannibal's involvement. it's much less evident when he's sick, but it is there. beverly basically tells him as much, although in much nicer words that i'm about to use. with jack telling will it's necessary he works on one side and hannibal trying to convince him he's too mentally ill to keep functioning on the other, you really can't justify why will chooses to keep working through his illness. he knew he was sick, he knew how often he'd begun to hallucinate violence, murder. he knew he was losing whole swathes of time, where he couldn't account for his whereabouts but was clearly competent enough to drive and navigate. despite that equal jack-hannibal dichotomy, will decides that upholding the ideal of crime-fighting, innocent, capable fbi agent will graham was far more important than the potential danger. sacrificing his health in the process was not selfless (particularly not in a universe where there are no long-term impacts of nearly becoming brain soup), it was an expression of how much harm he was willing to do to maintain his false sense of self. but he mostly hurt himself with this one. and abigail, obviously.

speaking of abigail, there's only a couple examples with her i'm going to bring up, but their entire pseudo father-daughter relationship was a projection of that false sense of self (caring, loving father figure) onto abigail. it was an expression of that particular brand of narcissism - he didn't see her, he only saw who she COULD BE in relation to who HE could be.

firstly there's the fact that he knew he was sick and yet risked going to an isolated area with her alone anyway. that obviously went super well. and then there's him telling her how ugly killing is. yes, he didn't know she'd killed yet, but where was all of that graham patented empathy when she was so clearly guilty about SOMETHING. again, his ideal is more important to him than her feelings. he doesn't actually stop to think about her at all, only how he expects her to feel, how he WANTS her to feel. how HE wants to feel. i mean even hannibal was judging him for that one,,,

moving on to s2, we've got matthew brown and related shenanigans occurring. now i'm not counting his interactions with beverly as particularly problematic because it was a fairly even relationship, and she mostly involved herself in his business (sorry bev i love you but sneaking into hannibal's house???). but matthew was a little different. quite frankly i don't care about will manipulating him, just as i don't particularly care about will manipulating hannibal - you can easily justify those decisions because lying is hardly the worst either of them have done. BUT. will knew about matthew (or at least suspected) far before the 'we're hawks, mr. graham' speech, which meant will (who by this point in the season has chilton hanging on his every word out of self-preservation, and jack slowly and surely moving in the right direction) knew matthew had killed and would kill again and did NOTHING.

matthew was more useful to him close than locked up. it would've been easy for chilton (yk matthew's boss who is totally willing to commit a little malpractice) to getting him fired at least, locked up at best. but nope, because matthew is useful to will and unlike hannibal he hasn't actually tried to manipulate him at all. it's not will's job to catch him, the ideal of will as stable and innocent seems further away than ever with bev dead, so why would he try? who cares about any innocents that get killed while he keeps matthew nice and free to be used at his convenience?

and THEN he lies to jack from the very beginning. he really says, out loud with full confidence, that nothing he did or said caused matthew to try and kill hannibal. and the insane thing is that he believes it. to an extent - in his mind, hannibal has earned this. pain, preferably death, at his hand by proxy. in his mind, he's washed his hands of it. he can still convince himself that this is not proof that he is just as murderous as hannibal sees him, and that he knows who he is (certainly not a killer, because it's not really murder if hannibal deserves it, is it? (idiot)).

comparatively to hannibal's egotism, will's narcissism is much less conscious. he often makes choices based purely on the impact it'll have on his plans, without ever stopping to consider who he harms in the process.

but my favourite example is chiyoh (<3).

he does not care about her prisoner. he does not care about chiyoh's duty. what he cares about is the fact that he wants her to go with him to find hannibal. he acts as if he's entitled to it - he sees her use to him, sees their similarities, and decides he must have it for himself. will cares so little about how she feels about killing him that he somehow STILL manages to perceive himself as some kind of victim in the aftermath. regardless of whether chiyoh kills the prisoner, will has either made her a murderer or ended a decades long commitment to hannibal lecter. fannibals who argue that will is in any way naturally caring or selfless should go rewatch that whole sequence and come back to me with a caring and selfless explanation for that move.

there are plenty more examples of this happening through the rest of the season too. will's immediate change of plans upon finding out hannibal loves him (confirmation he is wanted, finally ready to claim his prize through whatever means necessary). how easily he gives up on repairing his relationship with walt (because really he could've made ANY effort to explain). his framing of chilton as his 'pet' to get francis to respond (i mean REALLY?? man's been through enough goddamn).

the manifestation of their narcissistic traits is very different, but they're present in both of them. ultimately it's the fact that they are often exceptions to each other's rules that makes them so good together, and so compelling to think about too.

thank you very much for the ask!! as usual it has given me an opportunity to infodump about hannigram, which i always love and appreciate.

[zeevoidlight]

what's the deal with these two...

Seriously. Why is the suspicion and joking of their bromance even a thing that exists (outside of just shipping for shipping's sake and ppl making every male friendship a secretly frustrated gay relationship). Is it even a thing?

Do I ship Goku and Vegeta?... yes.. yes I do, I confess myself as part of the problem. But I feel is fair that in a show like Dragon Ball where there's sexually mature references and themes at times I can give myself the freedom to wonder. So i'mmana talk about two pivotal moments that marked a before and after for both of them together as a team: their Majin saga match and the fusion.

//////

As far as the show goes, there's not really much to go off of. They clearly both have their wives whom they both love very much, children, they love to battle and test themselves, they are bros (now at least), rivals for life, they better each other by challenging one another to get better.

On the other hand my autism tells me that that's not the whole story. Because I normally don't like to take things at face value when i can see more.

Is interesting to see how both, Goku's compassion and respect for Vegeta, and Vegeta's (albeit unhealthy) obsession over Goku, the fact that they were also the last of their kind and the only ones that could compete with each other to fight between themselves and against others (discounting Gohan since he always slacked on his training and wasn't really interested on fighting), the only ones that could understand how the other felt as being pure blooded, that Goku had a living example in Vegeta of his true origins to learn more about himself (like a walking Saiyan enciclopedia), that Vegeta had in Goku a new purpose in life (until he realized what he had with his family as well), all of that with time combined to create a dynamic where they both felt comfortable with each other. They famously became companions, with time forming friendship/friendly rivalry and some could even see them now being akin to brothers. Something that as much as Krilin was Goku's life long friend and will be forever he could never really fulfill all that Vegeta came to develop with Goku. And in a way I don't think anyone can either.

But there's also an important note to make about this relationship/friendship. Vegeta is the one that gives it more meaning than Goku does (at first). I feel like Goku is simply being his loving caring happy free self, while Vegeta takes it personal and takes so much weight on what Goku says and does and how it affects him. As he later puts in words in Super (Granola arc i think), Goku is an egotist while he himself is an egocentric. And that difference is important to get to the point because from now on for a while the question is "Why does Vegeta".

Why does Vegeta put so much weight in their fight in the Majin Saga that he's willing to kill innocent people again just to have a match with Goku (going with the latin dub again since is more accurate to the original japanese one). And it isn't just about his ego, is about what he doesn't say as well.

Why is Vegeta the only character that is so against fusion, with Goku specifically because he has only fused with him and we don't know how would he react to fusing with someone else if it's needed.

Why is Vegeta so averse to touching Goku. At least after their fight and after him dying in the Majin Saga and once he is allowed to go back to Earth.

Why on the brink of the universe destruction was Vegeta acting like a cheated on girlfriend when he discovered that Goku had a new transformation and didn't told him about it (I would be mad at him too to be fair but i also understand why Goku wouldn't want to do so and he did it to not hurt Vegeta's feelings and have a good time under fair conditions. he gets half a point for the sentiment).

The Majin Saga

From all the examples people like to pull up when trying to argument sexual tension between these two there's only a few that I feel have some significance. And I can tell you when did it cooked enough to be a possibility. And that is right when Goku announced he was going to go back to Earth for one day and one day only, presumably forever. That's where something started, but it was brewing since Goku died to Cell and Vegeta lost Goku, his purpose, his obsession, his will to fight, and entered a depressive episode that lasted 2 years (aprox, since Bulma tells Chichi that Vegeta had been training for the last 5 years in the 7 year time skip).

Once he knew Goku was coming back he just had to do anything in his power to fight against him again, no matter what it took (he looks so excited too, that's cute). His entire meaning as the person he perceived he was and his meaning as a warrior and Goku's foil depended on it. But after realizing that they might not have their match because of Supreme Kio's pink menace, nothing else mattered, not Bulma, not Trunks, not the Earth or the universe or everything he had been building for so many years without Goku. Goku was the single catalyst for his relapse. Like... how is it possible that fighting with him and proving his worth is more important that it's been a rock in his boots for years now. But ok, he's a warrior so I can understand why, also because he was going through a Major (with capital M) identity crisis where he's trying to negate his newfound value in his family and new home while thinking that is what was making him weak, though he never really believed that since he knew Goku never needed to be cruel to surpass him, it was just a jolt reaction to not knowing how to handle it, and Goku could see through that very clearly by asking him if he really believed that bs about feeling good by being cruel and being a slave of his own mind.

But the thing is that during their fight it is clear that more than winning (which he would have enjoy to no end if they finished their fight and Goku didn't had a new plot convenient powerup hiding under his eyebrows again, though that wouldn't have helped him to grow), both were very much enjoying the act of fighting (since Goku said he wanted to end the fight soon so Buu doesn't get the energy but he didn't because he could have used Ssj3 and end it quite fast), Vegeta fighting against his previous rival now companion Kakarot. Sparing with him in perfect synchrony in an equal fight because what Vegeta actually wanted with the Majin Magic was to close the powergap and convince himself he had an excuse to not feel remorse because of the magic. And i say that because before Goku dying to Cell he really saw him as competition, but after he lost him i feel that alongside his remorse and embarrassment for the disaster that was that saga, in part because of his gigantic ego, he must have felt alone, now truly being the last pure blooded Saiyan alive and not in condition to call himself a warrior anymore under his own standards. And although he had Gohan, which he respected a lot because of his courage and his immense power, it was not the same since Gohan is a pacifist and didn't had the same passion for fighting like a pure blooded Saiyan so he wasn't even training. So by the time of the Majin Saga and once Goku came into the picture again I think he subconsciously regarded him differently and he ends up realizing it during their fight (although he doesn't vocalize it).

During their fight there's a specific moment. After Goku throws Vegeta to a cliff side and he makes a hole in it to liberate himself, Goku comes to him and they both get very close just floating in the air and powering up, looking at each other. Vegeta is beyond pissed, Goku taking the fight very seriously. Then Goku smiles to Vegeta challenging him and showing he's enjoying their fight, and Vegeta relaxes for a moment changing his attitude and showing a smile back to him in empathy, sharing to him that he is enjoying it too and wants to challenge him back as well.

This whole fight is Goku's way to show Vegeta how much he actually cares about him and his well being despite what Vegeta might have believed up until then, how much he respects him as a warrior and an equal too, even risking Earth and Majin Buu's return. He did the unthinkable and menaced Kaio Shin with death if he dared to stop their fight, which Vegeta sure noticed and even reacted with complete disbelief.

I know a lot of people joke about Vegeta being a repressed homosexual because of his obsession with Goku, and i'm not saying he is, but this fight is charged with sexual tension, mostly on his part, among other things of course. And is interesting that Vegeta, ever since the Namek experience, is the most emotionally fragile of the bunch and an unstable character. He feels everything very intensely and reacts in the same way while trying to hide under a curtain of pride, ego and his title of Prince.

Goku knew what he was getting into by agreeing to fight with Vegeta. He wasn't going to just let them set the score, he was going to give Vegeta the most intense therapy session ever by letting him discharge all that literal energy and anger, guiding him through his feelings, playing by Vegeta's rules. Help him overcome whatever he had been brewing in his mind since they day they met thinking on where was the moment everything went wrong for years, so he could move forward...

And then... this happens...

... I don't think anyone expected something like this to even be a thing that he could do as a power that we will only see one time ever in the entirety of the show and is in here, lol. And not long ago I watched a semi abridged semi analysis commentary video on the fight and yeah, we coincide that there was something else going on here at the same time. Vegeta got a little too excited... The same way a football player suddenly gets rock hard without realizing because they got too much adrenaline from a very exciting match. And I didn't mentioned it but being that Saiyans were a warrior culture there exists some real life relation of warrior societies (like greeks, romans, spartans, norse, some aztec societies) and homoerotic practices as part of that philosophy. Fighting is everything and everything revolves around fighting. And finding a brother in arms could develop into something else out of admiration, or from hypermasculinity with the purpose of dominating the other and demonstrating power. And i'm not saying that that was part of Saiyan culture, just that there might be some similarities with what we're seeing.

There's a fine line between pain and pleasure, hate and love, fear and excitement, rivalry and attraction. And in moments of intensity where both opposite feelings collide can produce an equally intense and confusing response. And here Vegeta is going through a rollercoaster of emotions and given that he is the most emotionally charged character it can go all places.

So, Vegeta tells Goku if he pretends to defeat him quickly as he said, Goku responds that he's trying to do that, and Vegeta asks if he thinks he can do it *slap slap* (the disrespect). He's trying to provoke him but the way he does it is kinda similar to what you'd do in a sexual encounter since he's not really hurting him too badly (which is really funny). And I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking about anything sexual, just pure anger towards our buddy Kakarot so that doesn't change the fact that he did just lost his marbles to blind rage and wasn't thinking at all, just feeling intensely and acting freely on it. "Listen... don't you think this is enough humiliation I got from your part *hit hit punch hit*. This attacks are not enough to set the score. How is it possible that a Prince of Saiyans, that possesses such a big pride, was humiliated by a warrior like you (In the English version there's a series of flashbacks with dialogue but that's not a thing in the japanese and latin version). What saddens me the most is that you saved my life, worm (i don't remember if he's referring to Cell because Gohan saved him there, or way back in the saiyan saga when they first met since for a warrior is way worse offense to get their death in battle denied since he now has to suffer all what he's been through). You deserve to die! I'll break you to pieces right now! I'll start with the arm...".

Unfortunately for Goku Vegeta didn't share the safe word and he had to free himself so he wasn't actually dismembered by the intensity of Prince Vegeta and they continued their fight, once again Goku leveling the field into a in a less emotionally charged more equal fight all things considered. They talk again and Vegeta admits to him that he understands that he's never going to surpass him because Goku is more skilled at fighting, now getting into the real meat of the matter with him and his frustrations. We get to Vegeta almost breaking in tears again, torn by the realization of his situation confessing all about how he wants to be who he was and how he cannot cope with his new life on Earth having all this new feelings for his family and being passive that make him feel like he is not himself. Which tells a lot about how he still doesn't know how to function outside of conflict and his deeply rooted self image since childhood, and to me it says that it almost feels to him like he's afraid of disappearing as an individual if he cannot go back to being something he recognizes and is familiar with as he doesn't recognize himself being something else, a who that is completely opposite to what he has ever known. Is something some people that had lived through a deeply traumatic upbringing experience. On top of it being a Saiyan it must have been really confusing and difficult but Goku is the only one that could probably understand that in some capacity as pure blooded Saiyan.

And i love how Goku doesn't give up on him though after everything and he is still willing to listen and help. Without his help here Vegeta wouldn't have confronted and put into words his reality to later internalize it and fully embrace his love for his family, fully embrace his feelings, giving Trunks later his first hug. That was all Goku's doing.

Of course things happened since they were still in the middle of total annihilation at the hands of the strongest pink ball of bubblegum. and from this fight and his explosive sacrifice/ acceptance of his destiny and for who he was, going forward Vegeta actually starts acting a little different. A lot more relaxed with Kakarot, more open and sincere, more focused on helping than competing, more agreeable and no longer ignoring or being embarrassed of his feelings for his loved ones (like we see when he gets convinced by Goku to do the fusion using Vegeta's love for Bulma). And I'm pretty sure he felt grateful and in life debt to him. Not only for his help with unjumbling his feelings during that fight but for everything he's done for him since the day Goku spared his life way back in the day. A real true honest best friend/rival for life. (Though he still was being a bit stubborn about wanting to fight Buu himself in the anime, but in the manga he just doesn't charge head first into trying to battle him, he just doesn't like the idea of fussing with Kakarot).

Then the fusion thing...

The thing about the fusion is that Vegeta usually never wants to do it because he's embarrassed by the dance (which yeah... that's absolutely fair) but this is not the metamoran one, is the Potara, and they don't need to dance. His usual complains then change to "I just don't like to be fused with him" or "I don't like the idea of uniting bodies with him" when they have to do it later (either in canon or movie). And I don't know how doing a fusion with someone would feel like but the Potara at least has two ways it can go. For the Kaios just one person becomes the main, getting some physical characteristics and power of the other, and the other becomes dormant, just one person gets to be conscious. But for mortals, both actually remain conscious and they both "live" inside the body of each other as one new combined persona who is a combined identity, mixing mentally and physically, sharing memories, thoughts, feelings, everything in unison either the other wants it or not because when they are fused they are cooperating in a single brain so they think the same under this persona even if later they have separate thoughts on the same thing when they de-fuse, even better actually if they are rivals because they get the rival boost. Is not too crazy to think that some would consider it a very intimate act, even more because is permanent (until the retcon), which Goku is so considerate to tell Vegeta at the very last minute and he's like "WTF!" and Goku is just down with it while Vegeta is regretting ever meeting this guy but does it anyways.

And we have seen other characters combine but they don't think much about it, Trunks and Goten specifically just find it fun because they are best friends and just think about having the time of their lives beating up the bad guys. But I think Vegeta specifically does feel like it's something too personal and intimate that requires a lot his will power to do. His concept of it is different for a lot of reasons that all derive from being a very reserved person in general in many aspects. But ultimately and reluctantly agrees for the sake of his loved ones and saving his new home.

Goku certainly didn't thought much about it, just another way to become even stronger by cooperating with someone in a new way. Better if it's Vegeta because the power boost is much greater to save the Earth and he considers him a real friend at this point. He's so excited when Vegeta accepts because it means so much, it's the demonstration to Goku of his turn to an actual good guy, fighting for others and not just himself, and he's so proud. And the result is this very playful, sassy confident and cocky warrior that we all know and love because is the best thing ever and I don't have Vegetto favoritism.

But something did changed in both of them after the fusion. I know is an anime only thing for better pacing (at least until Super came and made it a thing again in small ways of its own), but after the fusion thing Goku started to unnecessarily get into Vegeta's personal space more (I mean, I don't think there's anything more intimate than fussing and you'd have to get a level of trust and understanding with that other person like with no one else ever afterwards regardless). Like, I like that when they do the cheek to cheek attack, which again was completely unnecessary, Vegeta feels dirty about it, even muttering to himself "He's an opportunist (as in like, Goku taking advantage of him), I would have preferred the fusion" and Goku asks him is he's finished blasting Buu bits and Vegeta recoils and yells "Don't get close to me!". (In the manga there's not really that much fuss about it when they separate, they just get to work and directly from separating to Buu's brain). The fusion represents the pinnacle of their growth together as partners. Probably even more than that at this point for how much they share as rivals and how much they understand about each other above any other person, including their own wives in some regards for all they have gone through on things only they can share between themselves like their love for battle.

And if they both were friendly before while still keeping their cards up, now is when they start to act more like brothers and cooperating. Goku with his power and techniques and Vegeta with his strategic planing at the end of the Buu saga. Goku even becomes more playful with Vegeta, even sharing funny moments together. And as pointed out, I believe the fusion made them know the thinking, memories and intentions of the other to a degree.

This is the turning point for Goku as well regarding accepting his heritage as Saiyan. Because from then on he also accepts the values of the Saiyans as warriors and accepts feeling pleasure in having a good fair honorable fight without aid and relying only in his strength and talent just for the thrill he gets of it (much like what he felt as a child/teen), which he demonstrates by breaking the second pair of Potara earrings while Vegeta responds by telling him that he's so proud of him for going into the fight the Saiyan way. Also from then on others start to recognize Goku fully as a Saiyan.

Now, about Vegeta with the fusion, if he wasn't too sure about the fusion first, now every time the fusion is required he almost feels violated by the suggestion (which right before the kid Buu fight he actually didn't mind fusing again and kinda wanted it in the anime while this wasn't in the manga but ok). And of course, if he didn't had much thoughts on getting close and personal with Goku when battling because it meant nothing (like the arm riding in the Saiyan saga and their bondage session prior), now he recoils from him in certain situations (it also didn't help that the first time they fuse they went dick first...).

And onto Super, they made this thing about Goku asking Vegeta to grab his hand in order to instant transmission but Goku knows very well that's not necessary, he could have said to Vegeta to grab his shoulder like others do but he wants him to grab his hand, and Vegeta gets all flustered and nervous every time as if people are going to make fun of him for being gay or something (since we are told by the Pilaf gang that holding hands is very romantic and a sign of being a couple, and something to be embarrassed about, although from a childish perspective of course but this information was set up for the audience when Trunks wanted to hold hands with Mai). Like... Goku, do you have something to share to the class as well?

They later spent 3 years in the hyperbolic chamber at Goku's request... 3 years together just sparing in a void where there's nothing but infinity and them (which again, it wasn't really necessary because as Vegeta points out that wasn't going to make much of a difference in terms of power because they are at their limit of what their bodies can achieve by just fighting). And Bulma even got jealous/angry about Vegeta accepting the invitation.

It's become such a well known thing that there's something going on that even in official material (not canon exactly but official) acknowledges it. Maybe Goku knows something we don't since the fusion happened but it goes a little beyond just a joke from his part XD. And i haven't talked about it but Goku has no shame or filter. He does seem to display asexual tendencies but he's either oblivious to sexual stuff at times and how it affects others, or does it on purpose because he feels not much about it but does know how it affects others.

In GT there's actually not too much, they just remain companions and friends for life... Vegeta again reminiscing of everything they've gone through and accepting his role in the powerscale and being very freaking cute with Bulma, being such a dad and all. The highlight is the fusion again though, where Vegeta is the one that says he wants to do the fusion to which Goku just laughs saying that he feels happy because is the first time Vegeta asks him to do it, and Vegeta is just averts his eyes and says he hates him, lol.

Of course, the bromance tones might be just fanservice (I didn't knew that in shonen is actually very common). But either if there's something or not I don't really care much about that. Because as characters I have seen them grown so much and they have learn so much about themselves and each other it might as well be just another aspect they allow themselves to explore if they're down with it, with whatever canon or the anime presents us to see and guess, just like they have with their own families, wives, form friendships, discover new feelings, ways of thinking, how they have become stronger and how they have change the people around them, meta speaking as well. Either they are just friends, honorary brothers or something more I'm happy with who they have become thanks to each other. And the trust they have for each other is what is beautiful to see reflected. I'm so proud of them and what they have achieved. Now they are inseparable as the best duo in history.

And I'm my conclusions I would say that Vegeta might feel something towards Goku for how much he has helped him and how he has come to admire and respect him in levels unimaginable... in a spartan kinda way if you like and if he ever was down with it. And Goku is just Goku. He loves in a storge kind of way because that's what he does. He knows Vegeta to a T, knows what he needs, and wants him to be happy as well and become the better version of himself, to feel comfortable and feel loved too because he admires him as well, and if he can help him he will do so. Is not really a physical sexual attraction (which doesn't mean it cannot derive on one if you want) but there is attraction and love in a different way.

[levmada]

ppl don’t talk enough about the fact levi is somewhat morally grey. he’s not perfectly on the side of objective good at all times, and he’s not a pure hero willing to fight tooth and nail for everyone.

in the uprising arc, the MP levi squad captures tells levi to trade all their lives for the scouts who’ve been arrested so they can live. levi says no, and that some lives are more important than others.

to win, sometimes the choice has to be made to let some people die, even if it’s ones he cares about. he’s like erwin in that way.

“‘Take no risks’. Make no sacrifices’. There is no room for such convenient conversation. if there was such a thing, it wouldn't be realistic.”

levi has tortured, and killed people without much of a thought. the reason he and hange tortured sannes for “no reason” was a technique to get him to talk later. it’s horrible but it’s to a worthy end.

does levi like it? of course not, but he doesn’t stand up and do what he feels is right, because there’s a *best* right he needs to strive to reach. he keeps his head down and follows the orders he’s given to that end.

also, in order to survive in the underground there’s definitely a laundry list of bad things he’s done, and not all as understandable as stealing food from a company who can stand to lose some.

he has a sadistic side too. such as the way he shredded zeke’s body over and over as he kept healing, and what he said to annie after she killed his squad. he believes in an eye for an eye without mercy.

after no regrets he let go of much of his arrogance and pride, but he’s not blameless. he doesn’t just curse and get irritated easily. he can be cruel. he has done things warranting feeling ashamed of, but all the same he’s determined to live having no regrets, even though there’s room for shame deep down that he doesn’t let himself feel. that’s mostly what it comes down to.

but levi isn’t perfect. he’s sympathetic but he isn’t forgiving; he doesn’t want to see the world burn, but he will commit violence without hesitation, and sometimes enjoy it; he’s humble, but he knows his own worth enough to save himself if the situation called for it.

[general-cyno]

okay punk hazard was a bit shorter than I expected but still fun. and my two favorite things wrt zolu in this arc were:

1) getting to see a lil bit more of luffy and zoro as a chaotic, ride or die duo

zoro claiming he can just slice a whole ass dragon in half, luffy having absolutely no doubt that he can do it and actively encouraging him with a bit of help of his own, then both of them talking mid air about how tasty it looks/how to cook it? peak crazy dumbass x crazy dumbass behavior.

it was also cute and funny how robin immediately (correctly) assumed zoro would carry luffy across the water and that, well, it kinda ended up happening as it was zoro holding onto luffy when they fell in.

2) THIS ENTIRE PAGE

(this is gonna get a bit long oops)

the thing about zoro is that he can be a big softie. he cares a lot more than ppl might think at first glance, and he worries. especially where luffy's concerned, even if his words can seem harsh at times. for all that zoro definitely trusts luffy's strength and believes in him, he worries for luffy's safety anyway. one example of this is back in alabasta when sanji points out that zoro was worried luffy might lose to crocodile despite having agreed with luffy's decision to stay behind and confront him alone.

zoro's also very aware that luffy's not really infallible, that he's got shortcomings and weaknesses of his own. but that's not an issue per se - because zoro's willing to make up for them, for luffy's sake. like in thriller bark, when he leads and convinces the crew to protect luffy's shadow and to believe that luffy would take care of everything else:

on top of that, zoro takes luffy, the crew and his own role in it very seriously and something he expects from them and from luffy, especially, is to do the same. this is clearly seen back in water 7/enies lobby when zoro refuses to accept usopp back into their group unless he genuinely apologizes first and even threatens to leave if luffy doesn't square up to be/act like the captain he is. because luffy's the captain, they rely on him and he's responsible for the crew in turn. more so since, as zoro reminds him, they aren't playing at being pirates. at this point in the story, they've gone through different adventures together, fought and risked their lives each time as well.

aaand to go back to thriller bark for a bit, zoro's also the one person in the crew who has first hand experience with the kind of pain that luffy endures for other ppl's sake. all in all, zoro truly cares about luffy, so much that he's willing to put his dreams and life aside to protect him, and by extension, the rest of the straw hats too. part of that care includes not only sacrifices like the one on thriller bark, but also anchoring luffy and setting him on the right path if needed. that scene from punk hazard? an example and byproduct of all this.

though I gotta say, perhaps what I like the most is that luffy... actually listens to zoro whenever these important moments happen. those two share a single braincell and are usually on a similar (or the same) goofy wavelength most of the time, and zoro is often one of luffy's enablers, so you can see that when zoro goes off at him for real like in water 7 or at punk hazard, luffy is surprised at first. but he listens. and in punk hazard, apologizes and reassures zoro that he won't be careless again. it's a bit of a subtle but compelling part of their dynamic, that does well to emphasize the equal footing and reciprocal nature of their relationship. it's not zoro following along blindly, nor is it luffy just being an idiot and receiving undeserved loyalty. it's really good honestly.

[pocketgalaxies]

what did you mean about laudna and ashton driving you nuts?

mmmmm. dangerous territory! for me, i mean. to indulge the side of me that don't give a fu about–

it's pretty interesting how this ep turned out to be a direct comparison between laudna and ashton and how they discover and come to terms with the idea that there is an option for them to ostensibly destroy themselves in the name of protecting/helping/saving the rest of the party

a few ppl have already discussed this with far more thought and nuance than i'm willing to put into words right now but something something both of them taking this as an opportunity to Be Useful and Contribute to the cause, blind or perhaps willingly ignorant to the fact that these people love them for who they are and that they don't need to Do Something in order to be loved - in fact, losing them is actually a far less acceptable outcome to the party than whatever reward they perceive to be gained from their self-sacrifice. which is all very sad and tragic and juicy and pulls at the heartstrings which i always love. but this is kind of where the similarities end?

laudna follows this with a conversation in which she tells imogen what she would want to happen in rather explicit terms. and when imogen responds by saying she'll do everything in her power to stop it from getting to that point, laudna says "i can accept that." the next morning, they tell the whole group what happened. on the other hand, ashton pulls fearne aside and has their own grave conversation but in more vague terms, at least in the sense that i don't think fearne picked up what they were putting down or at the very least wasn't given the opportunity to really process and respond to what was asked. and then ashton isolated the two of them from the rest of the group to undergo this transformation without their knowledge. all of which drives me nuts! to see the direct comparison in which one is so much more communicative than the other

and i don't think it's fair to say that this is a consequence of the party being poor communicators overall. it's somewhat reminiscent of vax's initial response to scanlan leaving in c1 - we don't know your mother's name because you never talked about it. aka there's a difference between ashton bringing up this desire or plan to hold both shards and everyone brushing it off/not sufficiently exploring it vs. ashton choosing not to ask for their opinions, ideas, or feelings about it because he thinks they won't let him do it. he unilaterally made the decision for everyone, which is the most frustrating part for me. they presume to know what is best for everyone, and they presume to know that this is the only option, despite being surrounded by not only some of the most powerful people on the planet but also the people who care for them the most. which he said himself: nobody will miss me when i die, given that we all die - implicitly saying that if i am the only one who dies, i know you all will miss me. so to me it feels disrespectful to them, because even having acknowledged that they care, he doesn't trust that they might have ideas for a better solution or that they might recognize what this means to him and try to help him survive it. or that they might not want to be "saved" if it means losing him. or that they might like to say goodbye.

i know many people are saying that this is in line for ashton's character, frustrating or not, which i think is true. but it feels stagnant to me. ashton has come a long way in terms of learning to care for these people but they have learned little about being cared for. and while laudna is trying to believe what others say to her (that they love her, that she's important, that she deserves life) with varying degrees of success, to me ashton feels like they have made minimal progress and/or aren't trying to make progress. they refuse to see bells hells for what they so loudly and clearly are - people who love and care for each other, ashton included. and unfortunately, 77 episodes in and coming up on a vastly important mission (the first in a while), this brand of hypocrisy (taliesin's words not mine!) and lack of awareness for the group's feelings in the name of High Risk High Reward is something i have a rather low tolerance for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

and for the record i've been thinking about this a loooot because i know most of it is colored by my general apathy toward this character. and i understand that a lot of people who love this character are so so fascinated by and invested in what happened. but my apathy toward ashton is something that i've tried to circumvent or logic my way out of a LOT in the past few years and at this point it's kind of an immovable object. and doing mental gymnastics to try and enjoy someone that i simply don't makes everything so much worse! so i don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but these are my thoughts whether i like it or not

tl;dr the end of this ep didn't make me excited, it just kinda made me feel annoyed and crazy. sorry

[thespineoftherighteous]

about the choking scene, it really is the damn kevin of it all that I hate about it😭but not because I like kevin as a character (I do, but that's not the point) but more because I personally hate the idea where its like you can only have the one person youre in a romantic relationship with important to you and evrything else comes second and fandoms push that a lot, though I expected something different from a fandom that probably has more ace/aro ppl than others, other types of relationships can be just as important and I think it would be nice for characters who have been lonely for so long to have a few people who are important to them 😭I think it's like you said where I don't like when other relationships get butchered for the romantic one, I don't think it was ooc, and even if it was, people do things in desperate situations that are ooc so that wouldn't be a problem, it's that a lot of readers make it this romantic thing or a thing where Andrews prioritised neil over kevin, or has picked neil over kevin and they do the same thing with aaron too, it's like can't andrew love and care about his brother and boyfriend and kevin at the same time😭does it have to be a competition? Love can't even be quantified so a competition would be stupid anyway

I just think I hate the way a lot of people talk about it and I wanted to discuss it with a person whose posts are more objective and that I like, like it's such a tricky scene to think about, it's like the wires get crossed in my head its a hard scene to contend with in general

omg yeah basically everything you've said here is how I feel about it. a lot of people say that Andrew's relationship with Neil is more significant and just means more than any of Andrew's other relationships because of how Neil you know. gets him I guess. but honestly even though I fully understand that his relationship with Neil is on a different level, I still hate the ditching of Kevin (AND AARON UGH I HATE HOW THE TWINS LITERALLY CHOSE THEIR S/O'S OVER EACH OTHER. it's completely understandable in context and it is way more in character than the opposite would've been but still. I hate it) and I think people also tend to like. baby Andrew when it comes to his relationship with Kevin like "well if Kevin treated him better and understood him better then mAYBE—"

but yeah the thing that makes me most uncomfortable about the choking bit is like you said how people try to make it romantic. which, to be honest, is I think how it's supposed to be taken like it's supposed to be showing Andrew's desperation and how far he's willing to go for Neil. I just. well. I despise that Kevin was the one that had to be used to demonstrate that. but the whole thing is that, because that's Kevin, it's the only way to show the magnitude of Andrew's frustration, like it wouldn't have been the same if he'd just trashed the hotel room in rage or something but I still hate that he overstepped their boundaries for it because me personally I'm thinking about Kevin when I read that scene, not Andrew and Neil.

that whole thing just uses how important Kevin is to Andrew to show how much more important Neil now is. so if you're mostly about the romance in these books, which I think a lot of fans are, then ofc you'll eat that up but personally the non romantic pairings always are more interesting and dearer to me so I think that's why it bothers me

[stardustdiiving]

What popular familial headcanons do you not like? If you're willing to share, of course

This post was specifically about parent / child interpretations of Zhongli & Xiao and Nahida & Wanderer ! which r my favorite genshin character dynamics and also involve my two category 5 genshin blorbos . Like obvious disclaimer I don’t have a problem with people liking said hcs but I have kind of a bad grudge against both bc I’m a bit polarized out of people just Really Really insisting on them whenever I talk / make fanworks about the characters ☹️ along with just really not liking the characterizations attached to both dynamics esp in how they handle Xiao & Nahida

Elaborating on both for fun & how I like to characterize them under the cut

I like Zhongli & Xiao as a form of character study where you kind of lean into the god/follower power dynamic and the way Xiao’s idea of duty/devotion blends with his internalized dehumanization. The idea is Xiao gives Zhongli a lot of power over him bc he wants to be devoted to Zhongli as a weapon more than a person while Zhongli is, used to being in a position of power but trying to navigate around this bc he wants Xiao to learn to exist outside suffering

Its not a very actively destructive dynamic for either of them but it’s kind of challenging Xiao’s dehumanization of himself and willingness to die/suffer for Zhongli out of a deeply engrained loyalty and devotion to him. I like zhongxiao (their ship) in the sense I think it can be fun to throw in very unbalanced complicated romantic feelings into this for added drama/ambiguity because I had my brain chemistry rewired by Pearl & Rose from Steven Universe when I was 11. I was so captivated by the idea of Pearl having such an intimate and tragic and self destructive devotion towards another woman it single handedly made me comphrend the fact I could gay

I’m just really not into the father/son portrayal bc I feel it’s just really awkward and weird to do any of the complicated emotional introspection or w/e I’m interested in doing w the dynamic through that lens. Also there’s only so many times u can draw zhongxiao and have people insist on interpreting it as father/son (?????? Soemtimes even while acknowledging i specific my work as romantic omg) before you just get kind of uncomfortable with it….im not a fan of the characterizations either…I feel ppl infantilize xiao a lot and EURFH idk it just makes me uncomfortable to think about bc of how I view the characters personally yk

Nahida & Wanderer I do enjoy exclusively platonically / even as found family, but I am a rare case of being a Nahida fan over a Scaramouche fan so it doesn’t do much for me when Nahida is reduced to being his mom/therapist/etc especially when a big reason I love hat radish is the way both characters compliment each other and make the dynamic a fun ground for mutual character study

I specifically don’t like her as a maternal figure because well. Nahida is a 500 year old child and I think this is important to her character & how she furthers the themes of Sumeru. The entire reason she’s neglected her entire life is bc she’s a child and the sages disregard the idea a child has any “useful” wisdom to offer them and feel emboldened to mistreat her because of that. Its that kind of mindset that we’re in conflict with throughout Sumeru. To have the Archon be a child who is still really smart and full of wisdom is like. Thematically sound to the story when the message is essentially don’t use wisdom/knowledge as a way to disregard people and seek only power/control. Its that exact mindset that Scaramouche, as an antagonist, is the cumulation of in the AQ

So to have him come to respect Nahida and listen to her is really sweet, and I think it’s additionally sweet when you lean into this kinda duality of Nahida being really wise and in a position of authority but also a kid, and Wanderer 100% rolls with it. (Especially given the fact Wanderer is established to have a soft spot for kids, I like imagining Nahida’s more childish qualities put him at ease and r something he actively likes about her—which is sweet when it’s her childishness that she was disregarded for yk) I think ppl struggle to grapple with that kind of contradiction of Nahida being a child on some level but not the same as an average human child, which is a shame bc that’s something I like seeing interpretations on

So with all of this in mind if I am viewing a character as a child where a big part of her character is it was wrong to disregard her as a God of Wisdom bc she’s a child, I don’t exactly find it really appealing or cute to have her dynamic with a character who is absolutely treated like an adult man in the writing be her parenting him and tending to all of his emotional angst 😵‍💫 the way it’s done esp with Scara being likened to an immature edgy teenager son here (which is kinda ooc to me) while ppl insist on Nahida being the mom feels very. Well. I am not really a fan of the idea of a female character being reduced to the mom friend and people being more willing to view a fictional adult male character as a “teenager” than the girl who again I feel is on a certain level written as a child? I and unfortunately it makes up maybe 70% of Nahida showing up in fanon NSJNDJCKDNND

[sageandred]

The "Real" Message of The Show

No matter what, people will be determined to classify someone as "bad" when a new series drops. like people can't be viewed through the lens of being "neutral" or "good people who make bad decisions"...despite that typically being how people are???

When I watched season one, I only really paid attention to Wille and Simon, but when I did a rewatch, I really saw all the moving parts and how much YR was a super cohesive story with intertwining of all of the character's experiences. At the center this show deals with different societal classes, upbringings, etc and we do actually see how that affects who these people are and what they do as the show goes on, and it's not meaningless/out of the blue.

Because no matter how much people want to act like it's not as impacting as it is: People are a product of their experiences.

Wille- If we're being real we saw him for a very small portion at the beginning of the show before everything blew up-him being super adorable, sweet, and awkward. Since being under his strict lifestyle and pressure, he's been going on this downward spiral-he has literally been becoming more and more in the image of his royal family since season 1 (and season 2 he was a lot of the same as 3, it just gets glossed over by his thoughtful decision at the end).

Since I first watched the show, it was clear to me how all of the backstory with August's character was not throwaway information. Tbh, what we know of him in season 1 was never enough to make sense of where his bad decision came from (I guess his insecurity..). But this season, they just gave so much more. And it's strange to me how strongly people react for either argument- of August being actually evil, or having to identify him as a good person [tbf I never thought he was a "bad" person per say, which is my whole point of writing this because for every character of a series (look at the reaction to Wilhelm this szn) people immediately have to sort them into good and bad columns on the judgement of morality and not just take story for what it is: story]. Again, with August his backstory has always added reason to why he is the way he is, but now knowing what we know with Erik, and being 1? 2? years older than Wille, his experience does make sense of what he did (when it's almost exactly the same thing with Wilmon). Because hurt people hurt people.

And with Sara, it's never been warranted the amount of hate she gets that insinuate she is evil. The show tells you very early on what her arc is gonna be: she places value on external things-she wants expensive clothes and to live in the fancy school and will try to impress to fit in with her new group of girl friends. And the irony is she lost it all after everything came out at the shooting range. She wanted what she never had and made decisions, because she thought that was what was important. She's a product of her experiences and it's also her experience-because she was bullied-that August's letter means even more to her and results in her kissing him.

Simon- has literally done nothing wrong (we're not talking about his decision to sell, because that's not really a choice that badly affects ppl other than mostly only himself).

Felice- has literally done nothing wrong; had the biggest positive transformation between seasons 1 and 2, because she stopped caring about external accolades (and that is also a representation of her being a product of her environment because of her mother).

And, to be clear I'm not saying people can't change how they are. Because, yeah Felice is a good example. August has surprised many people this season. Maybe August continues to change; maybe he doesn't. Wille has surprised people in his own way. Maybe we'll get more shocks in the final act. This show has always dealt with the subtext of personal experiences that lead to how people react.

[pinkanonwrites]

YES YES YES THAT IS A VERY ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF HIM.

Pretty much after he no longer is a decepticon and is working with the military he becomes obsessed with this show called nurse whitney (it's p much just like Grey's anatomy or smthn ig) and he becomes so inlove with this show he watches it and bases scripts of it and his dream is to become a screenwriter. After the war whenever he comms other decepticons they usually answer with "no I haven't read ur screenplay yet" 😭 which I think thats super cute bc almost everybody he's met he is obsessed with showing his writing and having ppl review them for him (also also, in some panels he's wearing reading glasses which is chefs kiss)) also important to note that even tho both starscream and skywarp betrayed him (fucking shot him after finding out he was no longer a decepticon on multiple occasions)) he was willing to just forgive them and let them all be buddies again. He also talks abt movies alot and when he gets reunited with them he tells them how he's always seen them as the three amigos and asks them if they've seen that movie 😭

Do you know marissa faireborn? She's the leader of the group he works for. Some speculate he has a crush on her (which I also agree with) bc the main character of his story and her lover are lowkey hinted at to be him and her (her name has been scribbled out in his script and replaced with his oc's name, and her bf in the story is apparently as handsome as an f22 jet and can travel at mach 10)) but he's very sweet to her and helpful even tho she's lowkey kinda rude to him ahehwhwv she was the one to gift him his dog tho. She reads his scripts even tho she dreads it and he said he'd only work with that military group if they offered marissa a job. They also go on vacation alot together. I'll think of more things but those are just some of the reasons he's so fuckin sweet.

- from number 1 idw thundercracker fan

AWWWWWWW I LOVE HIM!

I had heard about Marissa before but I didn't know TOO much about her other than the fact that she was a bit abrasive, they were friends and coworkers, and she would read his work even if she wasn't super interested.

He seems so SWEET and like such a lovable DORK I really love that he's an aspiring writer and he's always showing off his work. That's confidence in your art, babey! And I'm glad he's still buddies with Skywarp and Starscream cause I love trine dynamics SO MUCH. Thank you so much for the crash course on this sweet boy! To be honest I have been working on a little pet project starring TC based on what I thought his personality was like and this makes me a lot more confident in my read of him, so that may be something to expect in the future!

[the-s1lly-corner]

spot that meets a autistic reader, that is talkative to themselves, but has poor social skills because (lack of good parenting + bullys, but is very smart and loves art and engineering, and dreams to be a scientist one day.. it could began as the reader first feared him over an awkward moment? to opening up about themselves and the reader's obsessive fascination over him. two very talented ppl that only wants to be appreciated, respected and loved...💔

idk is it to much?? bruh I'm trying to be creative😭 I'd be happy with whatever happens!. aNd TaKe yO tiME!! On irl things and beloved spotty <3

Spot w/ an autistic reader!

Rubs my autistic little hands

Feeling a lil drowsy but I wanna chuck this out before I fall asleep for (possibly) the next 7 hours :3

Not proof read we die like Peter Parker <\\3 we are sleepy and tumblr wont let me save drafts for asks <\3

Obligatory "I like this character so I'm hcing him to be ND like me" touch

He gets it

Anyways

I think to help make the whole thing less jarring, or whatever, is that you may have known each other vaguely before the collider incident

You weren't a scientist at alchemax, more like.

Well shoot I just forgot the term but like, you work there, but you dont do hands on experiments, not experienced enough yet

Intern?

Maybe, idk

Obviously you don't work there anymore after the collider blowing up, so... you're looking for a new job

You knew about Jonathan, but you weren't friends

You had also heard rumors about what happened to him but you kinda dismissed it as cruel rumors surrounding his death.. I mean no one could've survived that explosion.. right?

So imagine your surprise when you end up almost getting robbed by spot

Can you blame him? He hasnt found another job since the accident and hes probably living off of pity handouts; likely homeless

Now hand over the wallet!!/j

No but on the semi likely chance that you manage to defuse the situation, given Spot sucks as a criminal, you just bluntly ask if the whole

Rumor thing is true

I mean obviously it is but confirmation is important

After a few more chance encounters, you guys both finally decide to properly sit down and talk

Its tense and awkward at first since 1. How does one even act around someone like spot? He's vulnerable but also trying to do the whole. Revenge thing... And 2. Hes desperate for human interaction and it SHOWS, it's almost uncomfortable actually

But you both trudge past it and make it work

One meet up turns into two then three; then you discover how much hes struggling and

Now you're roomates

Oh my god they were roommates/ref

Anyways, that's the set up!! It kinda felt wrong to just. Jump into it without some explanation on how yall end up in the same area consistently

Doesnt mind that you mumble to yourself, he probably does the same thing. From muttering things to keep his train of thought to having a personal monologue, I wholeheartedly believe he does the same thing

Hs understands how it feels to be. Not treated very good, he likely wasnt the most respected in alchemax so it's not uncommon for the two of you to have vent sessions where you both let it all out

You ask him about his journey to becoming a scientist and not so subtly ask for advice on how to get into the field; and touching onto the whole human interaction thing, hes more than willing to talk your ear off about his entire career history

On the chance you dont want to do physics stuff, and you wanna do another branch of science he's all ears on listening to you ramble, may even lend a hand in getting you to where you need to be career wise

Yall do at home experiments as bonding stuff

Look if spot can make a mini collider in some building then I can only imagine the type of shit yall get up to at home

Oh? You're still curious about.. him? Of all things, him?

He never thought anyone would look at him with interest; usually its disgust or fear, or both

Hes hesitant at first because what if you discover something that'll totally change your view of him?

Takes (some, a little) coaxing

Bro caves fast, he misses physical touch

"So like, these holes-" you proceed to just. Dip your entire fist into a hole and watch said fist pop out from another hole

The demons are telling me to make reader like

Make it a game to try to throw stuff through his holes but I feel like that would be really mean, no one likes stuff getting thrown at them

Please dont throw stuff through his holes :(

Random but like

Idk if this happens with yall but

If someone stims do yall. Like stim back

Like I have vocal stims and mess with my hands; and sometimes my friend will be prompted to stim if I stim??

Idk but yall do that

OHOH before I post this if you're both comfy with physical touch please please please hold him, it's been so so long since someone has hugged him and he really really needs it :(

[youremyheaven]

Hey! You said you were Indian and I saw in another post you said you don’t talk to ppl much about ur astrology interest bc it’s too woo woo and seen as something of older generations (pls correct me if I’m wrong!). I just wanted to ask what the general attitude of Vedic astrology is India ? I imagine it would be hard to generalise just considering how many sects of Hinduism there are and how huge India is. Also this may be silly (and I hope I don’t sound ignorant) but do you learn about it at school? Not necessarily in a religious way but like from an academic, historical way? I live in Europe for example and I go to a historically catholic university, and so I have a course on ancient Roman religion which ofc doesn’t have much to do with our modern context or anything, but inadvertently we do learn about astrological signs and their archetypes. Just wondering if there would be an equivalent in Indian schools?

This post is so long winded I’m sorry. Last question: have you ever heard of the proto-indo-European theory, in terms of the origins of certain ancient religions in regions of Europe and Asia? It’s a super interesting linguistic theory, I would like to explain but this anon is already super long haha, I would recommend reading about it tho, and if you would like I could totally explain!

Yes I did indeed say those things. India is a large country and a country of a billion people. Astrology is a big part of Hindu culture. Some people are more religious than others and more superstitious than others. Astrology is not synonymous with religion tho. Its a part of it but not all religious people are going to also be deeply invested in astrology? Many people are but its not necessary. However, astrology is very important in certain areas of life, when fixing a marriage for example; since arranged marriages are common in India, astrologers are consulted (and being an astrologer is a real job here too) to draw up the synastry chart (we call it kundli milan which kind of means chart matching?? very literal lol, its to see how much your charts match with each other) and its a very elaborate process and on many occasions marriages don't take place because the kundlis dont vibe well or because it spells doom and gloom (indian astrologers can be vvv black and white, they will literally say "if you marry xyz, you will die a painful death etc although in many traditions its forbidden to predict death??), astrology is also used to fix a muhurat which means the most auspicious time to perform that activity? suppose you're constructing a house or moving into a home or getting married or sometimes even with elective C section, people choose the date based on the astrology of it (after consulting an astrologer)

regardless of caste or sects, astrology is kind of deeply permeated into Hindu culture and even many non Hindus are invested in it. contrary to what popular depictions of India may have you believe, religious syncretism is very much alive and has long been a part of Indian culture. so many Hindus go to dargahs, celebrate muslim festivals and many muslims celebrate hindu festivals and go to temples and there are many other religions in india as well and everybody kind of has a mish-mash of many different belief systems. but i would say upper caste Hindus can often be more "puritan" in their practices and beliefs and less willing to embrace others. all that said, for a lot of people, especially the younger generations (more than 50% of indians are below the age of 25) astrology is tied to superstition simply because for many many years, astrology has been used in many damaging ways.

indian astrologers can make very black and white predictions and since Indians in general love to be fatalistic and believe things are predetermined at birth, astrology negatively feeds this attitude and often punishes people who've done nothing wrong (here's an article that goes into some of it) an astrologer can say that your cousin will negatively impact your business and some people will go out on a limb and murder that cousin 💀💀im not in the slightest bit exaggerating when i say that people often take astrological predictions to the extremes in india. esp in the context of arranged marriage, it often happens that the person who is a perfect astrological match for you is some 34yr old man with a pedo stache (and you're 20 and the astrologer predicts that if you dont get married by 23 your family's luck will be ruined) so astrology is majorly practiced in ways that are demoralising and fcked up. this is why people think youre kind of insane or stupid or straight up fcked in the head if they know you believe in or practice astrology. its hard to try to explain to them that im more into decoding patterns based on the mythology of the stars and understanding the more philosophical and symbolic meaning of nakshatras *sigh*

no we dont study astrology in schools and its not looked at as a "legitimate" study either. spirituality is largely looked at as a scam in india because we have sooo many fake gurus and fake astrologers peddling their bs. astrology and spirituality are also heavily gatekept. many believe in it but they dont study it even if they practice it lol

i looked it up and all i could understand is that there is a common ancestor language to indian languages and european languages?? 😭idk more than that but it would be nice if you could explain it. idk if you mentioned it randomly or if there is a connection between the theory and vedic astrology?? either way, id like to hear your thoughts<333

sorry that this is soooo long lol

[nonsenuser]

planet of the apes (trilogy + kingdom)

spoilers ahead for the whole planet of the apes trilogy and kingdom of the planet of the apes

i have a very faint memory about these movies from when i was younger, i mean its a very popular series, who wouldnt be intrigued by the concept of talking apes (also the visual effects for these r genuinely very impressive) but what i don't remember is how surprisingly nuanced the conflicts in the movies feel

when watching these movies as someone much older, with the context of everything currently happening and everything that has happened, it puts the conflict between the apes-humans into a very real life context. caesar is such a wonderful, interesting and honestly deeply complex character, the trilogy works incredibly well as a whole and while some of the movies r much much better than others, his upbringing, trauma and overall experiences play such a role in what we see him do and say in these movies. what makes caesars experience so unique, is his proximity to his oppressors (humans). he has undoubtedly seen the ugly side to them, but on the other hand, he was literally raised by a human. who he undoubtedly holds so much love for and at the same time understands the ways in which as a collective humans have been bad to his people.

that's also why koba, who has seen the most grotesque side of human nature, and in a sense these experiences have radicalized him, will always haunt caesar. because of koba's experiences, one could say his ideology is more focused and clearer than caesars, who is grappling with it continuously throughout the trilogy bc of his attitude twds humans (and this gets brought up repeatedly throughout the trilogy) koba isn't even wrong in his frustrations, would the humans have attacked first? maybe, if the humans had a leader who was much like caesar, the conflict wouldn't have escalated to a point we saw in war. but again who could say for sure. im looking back on what i wrote so far and ive realized how much harder it is to talk about the original trilogy! Dawn is the best of the trilogy for this reason, the escalation of the conflict is dense and you could analyze it through a political lens and compare it to real life events... but i don't think i have enough political insight to serve it justice.

people have analyzed War (which is think is kinda easier to analyze than Dawn) like theres a clear parallel with american nationalism and how horrific and damaging that is to the oppressed (like they put the apes in literal camps) and also they had a strong strong desire to rid of anyone who held mutated virus, you could pull the pandemic parallel sure but this is also how an unfortunate huge chunk of the world feels about disabled people (the idea that ppl need to rid them so they don't infiltrate the gene pool or something like that). and just like in real life you have the humans outside of the camps who are opposed to the ideology of woody harellson and his men.

but anyways throughout all of this CAESAR grows and learns, and as a leader he guides his kind to freedom, their path to liberation is rough but it is well understood that his leadership was incredibly inspiring. it is no surprise that people live by his word, generations after he passed, to the point where they misconstrue his message

kingdom planted a lot, and i mean a LOT of interesting seeds. caesar being a religious figure of sorts, and noa, who you could call a skeptic for most of the movie, are great inclusions to continue the saga. a lot of very important questions get asked (not literally, but this is what i gathered)

caesars words guided their kind back then, how suitable are they for everyone generations later? (especially since they just have word of mouth to go off of)

the humans want to 'reclaim what they once had', what lengths are they willing to go for that and is it justified?

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR HUMANS AND APES TO LIVE SIDE BY SIDE? the most important question of them all. and it will be a very difficult one to tackle! has it been long enough that apes will 'forgive' humans? will humans just want to consume and reclaim without consideration for the apes? how nuanced r the viewpoints within the humans and apes?

DO YOU SEE HOW MUCH THERE IS HERE. the messaging is so so so dense and even though it is just an ape movie it is really fascinating to see how all of this plays out! i am so incredibly excited for the sequels to kingdom. would love anyone to jump in on the conversation, correct me or otherwise it is just a lot! i love this series!

[estbela]

pleaseeee elaborate on your robul marriage post bc i've been thinking about this concept all day....!!! i need a full length post 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'll try my best but I am terrible at explaining myself sometimes but I will for you anon!!! (and also because RoBul has been consuming my thoughts lately)

(Also this post is a mess and I probably got some info wrong i'm sorry)

First of all, before actually talking about RoBul I do need to mention the history behind the proposals!! So during the Middle Ages, you probably know that Bulgaria was an empire, twice! And At times, Wallachia & romanians(who were called vlachs at the time alongside probably othee ppl who were also called vlachs, which yes, makes it confusing to research.) were part of it. The guys who founded the second bulgarian empire (Asen & Peter) were also probably vlachs, so there was cooperation between the bulgarians & vlachs in the empire.

This was one of the reasonings for the union essentially, that bcs they worked together well in the past, they would also work well tovether now, and together be pretty strong. Bulgaria especially would have had a lot to gain through the union(it wasn't independent and had only recently gained some autonomy from the Ottoman Empire), which was the reason proposals mostly came from the bulgarian side.

Anyway yada yada yada all the proposals for the union were fruitless, because of a lot of factors, which could be basically summarised like this: Neighbouring countries didn't want this to happen, and both Bulgaria and Romania had different goals and plans, sometimes that contradicted eachoter.

But if somehow they had succeeded to unite, well, that's certainly an interesting scenario. And now I will mention the union of Moldavia & Wallachia, which would form Romania. You see, those two principalities weren't allowed to truly unite by the powers of Europe, but they had not said that the danubian principalities could not elect the same leader to form a personal union, which led to Romania.

During the reign of king Carol I, he had considered doing this, aka being elected by Bulgaria too, to form a union of this king, but this was strongly opposed by Russia & Austro-Hungary, so yeah. But if he had somehow done this & Austro-Hungary & Russia didn't like...attack...uhmm...Romano-Bulgaria (I GUESS???) immediately, I guess Robul would officially be married!! Let's say they unite in like the 1880s.

Which comes with a lot of questions, obviously, that I will gloss over and just focus on RoBul. Thing is, I think Ro & Bul have somewhat different opinions on marriage. I mean, I see Bul as being way more keen on the concept of marriage than Ro is, so like Ro isn't very into marriage I guess? I see him aa someone who really values his freedom and independence, and isn't very willing to tie himself down, thought he'll do it for someone he loves. And that someone is Bul in this scenario.

Honestly...I think at first it is alright. I think Ro would have more control thought, similar to Austro-Hungary in a way, since from what I read, it would have been a similar kind of union to this one. I think Bul would be fine with this tho, especially at the start. He trusts Ioan(my human name for Ro) and his judgement, and Ro would also seek his opinion on things. Ro is happy about having control on some stuff.

But they do clash, quite a lot. Their personalities and view on things and their friends are different. Serbia is Ro's friend...while him and Bulgaria often don't see eye to eye. Russia and Bulgaria as well...yeah. Ro does not like Ivan very much, and Tsvetan also has conflicted thoughts on him, but veers towards liking him.

And also!!! Unless Bulgaria somehow achieved independence, Romania qould go back to being a vassal. Which well, I doubt Ioan would be fond of that. Honestly, I cannot say if being an union would help Bul achieve independence sooner, but it is not that important I suppose.

Also the capital of such a state would probably be Bucharest, like how the capital of Austro-Hungary was Vienna.

And to continue, as time goes on, I do think all these factors, including the political and cultural differences do put on a strain on their relationship. I cannot say if they would even enter the Balkan Wars, but this would also be a reason for fighting between them. Romania tends towards being neutral and really thinking things through while Bulgaria does tend to act based on instict and feelings, so I can see them participating in the first balkan war, and when Bul does not get what was promised for him, I can see him wanting to start the second balkan war, while Ro is trying to stop him from doing so, because it would be pointless in his opinion (as he was less focused on Bul's goal to unite with Macedonia and more focused on Transylvania and Moldova, which was definitely something they argued about!)

But I think they do have good times, really. I mean, being together like when they were children (in the middle ages) is wonderful for both of them. I think they can be very sweet together, and being marriage would def appeal to them because of being almost always together.

And now I am gonna stop talking about alternate reality and focus on their relationship more(because I suck at alternate history). The thing is, as I already said, where Ioan thinks, Tsvetan feels. And I think they do appreciate eachoter for these qualities, but in the end when you have different opinions about a lpt of things it's very hard to be in a marriage, especially if this marriage holds the fate of a country. I think they'd try to pretend those problems aren' there, thought, until they eventually have to face them with no way to run away from them. Alrhough I see Tsve as more willing to talk about things, while Ioan wants to pretend nothing is wrong and is non-comfrontational unless he believes talking will help him.

So at the end, things are...bad. towards the first world war, their relationship is already standing on it's last leg, but WW1 in this reality is what kills it truly. They each become their own country, like Austro-Hungary, and just, not talk to eachoter for a long time.

Althought...there is another scenario, in which they unite in the communist era. So like, everything happens the way it did in actual history until the communist period, where somehow those 2 manage to unite. I guess they'd fight for different reasons then, as again Bul kinda likes Russia & Ro Does Not. They probably separate in the 90s.

Also in these scenarios RoBul 100% has a way more complicated weird relationship going on and they do make it other people's problem.

[contententhusiast]

Fourth wing thoughts

1. Violet says her dads heart gave out right after Brennan “died” - was Brennan responsible for keeping him alive?

2. Why were violets mom and dad together in the first place? (Seem pretty opposite)

3. Do the commanders inside the wards have some kind of alliance with the venin to take out the griffon ppl

4. Fewer dragons willing to bond - because Navvare leadership is becoming corrupt and the dragons don’t like ?

5. What really happened with Brennan and Naolin? And does Tarin know Brennan and by extension knew violet before all of this

6. IS NAOLIN ALIVE AND NOW A VENIN BECAUSE HE REALIZED HE COULD BE MORE POWERFUL THAN AS A RIDER (I,e violet mentions being able to resurrect makes you a god) maybe the reason Tarim hasn’t bonded with anyone since Naolin is because he doesn’t want another power hungry rider but violets willingness to protect the weak and compassion ensures him she won’t be like that and that’s why he chose to bond again- Naolin wanted her moms favor aka power and his power is similar to how the venin work- also they mentioned a venin teacher so it would make sense that

7. What is the deal with the silver hair of the sorrengails - is it related to vi’s weak body - does it have to do with venin like power

8. Violets mom isn’t as bad as we think maybe working with the rebels in some manner

9. Did Brennan tell Xaden stories of violet?

10. Xaden is an intrinnic. Violets head always prickles. Tarin tells him not to read him.

11. Imogen has erased some of Violets memories I.e montserrat

*** what are dragons said to respect, ruthlessness strength - it would make sense as one of the most powerful dragons in existence Tairn would bond with someone who fits those qualities. Which leads me to believe His first rider Naolin was powerful, strong, cunning, perhaps a bit power hungry.

Naolin: we know his power is syphoning. He has the ability to absorb power from “other dragons other riders and then use it or distribute it” this is eerily similar to the way venin operate. They take power from the land instead of from the sky so it stands to believe that if he was that powerful and had a really good grip on his skill set which I’m assuming he did then he fundamentally already understands HOW to draw power like a venin

- when violet is talking to professer about how tried to Naolin save Brennan violet asks why someone would do that professor says people Fear her mother but also want her favor aka power. It would stand to believe that anyone who saved General Sorrengails favorite child would of course be granted her favor and more power in their hierarchy.

- Also when she’s talking to the professor about Naolin Violet mentions that being able to resurrect would make someone a god I.e the most powerful thing in existence

- When violet goes through her book of fables from her father there is mentioned that the bond between a dragon and a rider can turn against the rider if they try to pull too much power

- “A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without a dragon is dead.” - I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot. We’ve seen how a rider will die without their dragon (RIP Liam 🥲) but generally a dragon whose rider has been killed in this story is fine and eventually rebonds. The only mention of a dragon not bonding again is Tairn and that’s said because “the bond between Tairn and his last rider was so strong” but as we’ve found out the understanding of why dragons bond is not very well understood and I wonder if that’s just another speculative as to why tairn never bonded

- The venin students knows about all the power violet has as tairns rider

- My thoughts are, not to say Brennan couldn’t have been important to Naolin, but I think Naolin’s main goal is power. He wanted to save Brennan to prove he could be a god and was the most powerful rider. He wanted to move up in rank by impressing their mom. Whatever

- I think when he tried to save Brennan he was drawing so much power that A. The bond with Tairn tried to turn against him

- B. It nearly killed Tairn or he was taking all of Tairns power and almost drained him similar to how feather tails can gift their power and if the rider uses too much it will kill them

- I think however that all went down the bond between Naolin and Tairn broke and Naolin realized he could draw from the earth as a venin and be more powerful since he already knows the rope. Unlike with the dragons there are no constraints to his power.

- This also would explain as to why Tairn wouldn’t bond again until violet- because what do we know violet isn’t the typical rider she’s considered weak and fragile in the physical sense but we see plenty of people tell her how she’s smarter than her siblings and how that is not the only weapon there is. I think Tairn chose her because she’s strong but in a different way and is willing to defend the weak but also she’s willing to die for them too. If what happened with Breanna almost killed Naolin but he didn’t want to die if makes sense Tairn would respect someone who It makes sense tairn wouldn’t want the normal rider type after all that happens with Naolin. Also why Andarna would bond her too. They know Violet isn’t power hungry and won’t abuse power and she’s proven it time and again