#this turned into a rant

[screams-n-shackles]

Strong characters that are afraid of dying.

And I do not mean afraid of dying in a life threatening situation.

Let them be used to chaos, to pain. Let them thrive in conflict and near death experiences.

But as soon as it's quiet. When it's not possible to keep out thoughts by being busy, by fighting.

Let them lay awake. Staring into the night, and thinking about what they are fighting for.

What they are thankful for.

And then the realize, they are not only afraid of loosing those precious things.

They are afraid of never getting to experience Them ever again.

They don't want to say a final goodbye to a dear friend.

They never want to See a last sunset, their last movie.

Thinking about the Last Time they Said their mother that they Loved her or Vice versa sends Them into a Spiral.

Why does everything have to die?

They don't want to die.

They don't want to die.

That's when they start shaking. Eyes filling with tears as they struggle to breath between their sobbing.

Covering their mouth, so noone can hear them in this State of Mind.

Their mind fogs as panic overwrites every positive thought they might try to conjure up.

No Matter what they try, Images of their Possible deaths appear in their mind.

They could get shot and die in Combat.

They could choke on a peanut or get a Brain aneurism in the middle of the night.

That's it. Their end.

Nothing more. No afterstory. And in a while their name won't be mentioned ever again.

A life of suffering to protect others, only to vanish into nothingness.

Reduced to Ash and Stardust.

What are they even Fighting for?

What does it matter?

Does.... Anything Matter?

[breaking-news-the-aroace-has]

The AroAce will accept no criticism. In fact, they have decided to rant about it. (found below the cut)

Some things that are Hallmarks of the classic cinematic Batman are:

-constant depression,

-emotional dysregulation,

-extreme ego and narcissism, and

-refusal to have meaningful relationships outside of casual flings.

the Lego Batman Movie, (along with every other Batman movie) highlights these character traits, and makes sure that the audience knows that they are a direct result of witnessing the death of his parents.

However, what separates Lego Batman from the rest is that he is the only one who realizes that all of those things are deeply unhealthy coping mechanisms that hurt those around him! This movie doesn't romanticize these traits like many other Batman movies. They are portrayed as what they are, and we get to witness the consequences!

Batman's giant ego, his belief that he is the best, the smartest, is such an ingrained and predictable trait that it's what allows the Joker's plan to work. Throughout the film, he discounts and demeans those who are close to him, to the point of telling Alfred, the man who took him in and raised him as his own, that he "doesn't know what it's like to have a surrogate son." He literally and metaphorically pushes everyone who cares about him away, despite them pleading for him to let them help.

It takes him being sent to (arguably) an afterlife for him to realize how much he's hurt others. And even then, at first, he denies it. However, once Lego Batman does understand this, he tries to make things right. He convinces Phyllis, (the 2x4 Lego piece responsible for the phantom zone) to let him return to his world. Upon his return he has to give up his whole, "Batman works alone" mentality, in favor of wholly relying on his friends and family. and when he tries to sacrifice himself at the end of the movie, he gives Robin the lesson that he has learned throughout the course of the movie:

"Sometimes losing people is a part of life, but that doesn't mean you stop letting them in."

Lego Batman changes for the better, and that is why he is not recalled back into the phantom zone. If this were any other iteration of Batman, he likely would have been. This is because Lego Batman is the only one who has actually taken steps to heal from his trauma and actively relies on others for emotional support. Another difference, the "others" he relies on are not romantic relationships! When most batman movies show him in a relationship, it seems to be focused on the Token Hot Woman. But in this movie, it is platonic, familial love that causes him to want to make a change. These relationships are just as valid, and, quite frankly, probably more stable for him at this point in his life.

By the end of the movie, Lego Batman still retains many of the iconic Batman traits. He still runs around at night fighting crime in a batsuit. He is still cool as hell (the character states this explicitly). and he still struggles with the trauma of losing his parents. the difference is; he no longer does it on his own.

[an-unrecognizable-face]

One thing I’ve noticed is that the only way House can get his feelings out is through projecting them onto other people, most commonly his patients. He can’t open up to anyone about all the shit he goes through everyday, so he resorts to bluntly telling everyone about the shit he thinks others go through. From what I’ve noticed, the more he sees himself in a patient, the more likely he is to tell them and his colleagues exactly how horrible they have it (they’re dying from an incurable disease, they’ll never be able to walk again, etc etc). It’s not like he does this intentionally, though, it just happens. His self-loathing, pain, depression, loneliness, addiction, and insecurity manifest themselves as hatred for others and for the world. Someone or something must be held accountable for his suffering, everything as a logical reason behind it and this is no exception. When he can’t find a force to blame, he becomes angry and resentful, taking it out on the whole world.

The bottom line is that he can’t accept the fact that he needs help, so he insists that everyone he knows has an issue he can figure out and solve. There’s always something more to be found, a new symptom to treat, another test to be done, something he could dig into further, one last pin to push so the lock will click open. Deep down, he hopes that discovering his friends’ issues or solving another patient case will reveal the key to his own problems. When this doesn’t work, he continues to grow more and more resentful, further perpetuating this cycle of hatred.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[cheezewhis]

I'm sorry are we actually crying queerbait and misogyny because they took one episode to explain what's going on with a character that from the very beginning was obviously going to play and incredibly important role in Agatha's storyline and character arc?

Yall it's not bait it's just writing. Why the fuck can't queer people just be happy to see each other why does it have to be a competition where we tally up the individual seconds of screen time and then bitch about one identity erasing the other?? Speaking as an aromantic allosexual woman who has literally never seen my own identity put on screen, it's really fucking disheartening that we can't just be happy for each other. The infighting will never stop and we will never know peace or have any substantial representation because all of our focus is on outshining each other.

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

Thomas Astruc and the writers need to keep their pens away from Luka. He doesn't need another love interest... from them at least. Not every person needs a relationship (especially characters with so much potential that's already being wasted). Give him his second chance after the series ends 😂 (and with a character we don't know... Or two title characters we DO know if y'all aren't cowards. Y'all can use your pens for that if you do it 😂😂😂).

[factsilike]

Really tired of constantly seeing posts declaring that everyone in MXTX novels is complicated and 'morally grey' and that's what makes her works wonderfully written, and that everyone else who doesn't see that is stupid, or is 'demonising' characters and bashing them for rightfully criticising their shitty, very much unjustified actions.

And ironically it seems so simplistic to just declare that, because yes her stories are wonderfully written and complex, but not for that reason. You're clearly not reading her works and only spouting what you think her stories say. There are many morally grey characters in morally complex stories out there, but MDZS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

NONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS (i.e protagonists and their male leads except for LBH maybe) ARE MORALLY GREY OR MORALLY COMPLEX.

THEY ARE ALL MORALLY RIGHTEOUS.

Just take a closer look at their actions compared to the actions of literally everyone else around them, it's not that hard to see.

Not to mention that MXTX herself literally says that WWX and LWJ are both morally ideal and that ahe hopes her readers can be like them, but people seem to have no respect for the word of authors in the name of their self projection onto the characters being contradicted nowadays 😒

(also saw someone dismissively say that HC may think that the world revolves around XL or whatever, but others don't and they're right??

First of all, did you even read the novel? HC made his judgement based on how others treated him versus how XL did when he was a CHILD. And how XL continues to treat others to this day. He is well within his rights to think the world of XL, especially since XL suffered more than every other person and still doesn't succumb to evil, despite having every right to do so, miles more than others. He all but regards XL as his moral compass, because he's proof that truly good people do exist in this world, and not ONE other person in the novel is shown to be as good as him.)

One of the reasons why I really don't like the Xianle Trio is this; neither FX nor MQ seem to regard XL as his own person with his own agency, who is capable of making his own decisions initially as HC does, and only near the end of the novel do they let up a bit when their asses had to be saved by XL multiple times. (especially considering what fools they made of themselves in that spiderweb cave lmao)

Both of them try to enforce XL ALL THE TIME ("Your Highness don't do this or don't do that or don't say this or don't go there or don't talk to him"), as if XL has not survived perfectly well on his own without them FOR 800 YEARS.

The difference between them and HC is clearly spelled out when FC asks HC about why he is not stopping XL, and HC replies that while he may not agree with some of XL's decisions, he would never force him to do what he thinks is correct, something both MQ and FX are CONSTANTLY shown to try to do.

Like please. Xianle Trio who? More like suffering XL and his pair of nuisances who think themselves to be his babysitters. And most of the time he's the one babysitting them.

Another thing that irks me is that their frequent arguments are often played off for laughs, but XL is truly a saint, because if my friends were constantly bickering over petty things all throughout our dangerous journey and giving me nothing but headaches, especially in survival situations, I'd given them the boot a long time ago.

[melodyartist]

Do u have an opinion on Hades 2 Odysseus ^_^?

*Crack knuckles*

Oh oh oh! I do indeed have an opinion on this bastard, it's an unreasonable love and hate relationship with this guy. I played the game for just like 20 hours till now and I still don't know If I like him or want to strangle him.

It's also funny that 4 or more characters in the game are directly linked to his misadventures, "what do you mean they hate me more because you had beef with them" Polyphemus my boy need some justice honestly 😭 (but the funniest line he had untill now was about Poseiodon)

Design wise? He is cool like everybody else in the game,definitely not the best and not the worse, nothing really bad to say. I would even like to admit that he has a refreshing design with all his maps and trinkets, plus the dagger on his finger is so unnecessary, I love it for a show off like him.

Side note: I've tried to draw him from memory a while ago it was almost 4 A.M when I still didn't buy the game at the time... It didn't go that well, the only thing that I remember vividly was his grin, eyes and weird mantle with crosses, he ended up looking like Peter B parker 😭

"We got Odysseus at home" looking ahh drawing

Going back on track! Personality wise? That's where I want to throw hands with him.

Is he funny? Yes sometimes, do I skip his dialogue? Of course not, I don't skip anyone's dialogue, I didn't even skip Theseus dialogue in the first game so Odysseus is no exception (Mainly because I love the voice acting of all the characters, is so well done)

But do I want to wrap my hands around his neck in a so not loving way every time he says "my goddess" and tries to be flirty in a subtle way? Absolutely!

This version of him is clearly a womanizer and I'm ok with that! He is weak to women, that's fine, give me a man with flaws! But who wouldn't be? Have you seen the women in this game? chef kiss, stunning, gorgeous...but that's not what's throwing me off... There is something in him that just make me wants to kick him, idk I can't pin point it...

Maybe it's because I've missed it but not even once he mentioned his wife and kid, or any type of deep remorse for his past life, while Achilles was kind of the opposite. I don't really see him like an Achilles counterpart but more like a Hypnos counterpart.

Catch my drift, his role (at least right now) is to bring back reports and update Melinoe on the situation, adding funny anecdotes and comments. His dialogues feels less like a mentor/father figure watching over you, like Achilles was to Zagreus, and more like a friendly companion who is there to keep track of your progress just like Hypnos

So that's it.

[radio-ghost-cooks]

some takes about black leg sanji bc i feel like starting some chaos in the aldi's tonight

he isn't into just conventionally attractive women

oda is transphobic, sanji is not (and i'm saying this as a trans guy)

if you're going to hate him for being a pervert then you have to extend the same feelings to Brooks

he didn't want the invisibility to spy on women, it doesn't make sense in the timeline

sanji would hate the michelin guide

i'm fucking serious

he would despise michelins with a passion

he wants to feed everyone, no matter who it is, because he knows how it feels to starve and he doesn't want anyone to feel like that

michelin stars are the antithesis of that goal

they commodify food to the point where you're paying upwards of $150 per person for plates that could fit in the palm of your hand

that's not feeding people

he would hate all the foams and inedible plating and the audacity to serve just straight fucking oil as a dish

that isn't food. that's plated pretention.

sanji is many things. the kind of guy who would make you pay and arm and a leg for a pathetic plate of food is not one of them

sanji wants people to eat. he knows what food is. it's fuel. it's family. it's community. it's safety. it's feeling like you're going to be okay. it's medicine. it's the entire reason people are alive and he understands that in a way not even i ever will.

sanji would turn his nose up at the modern and noma and eleven madison in favor of the diner in my local shopping town where my grandma used to take me when i was little.

he can appreciate michelins as restaurants. he can appreciate the dedication and the flavors and the detail and the quality. he'd leave without paying the bill in true pirate fashion because you shouldn't have to pay so much for so little.

he would love helping soup kitchens. he'd scour the area for the best ingredients money could buy and come marching back with armfuls of white asparagus and eggs and tofu and jackfruit and chicken and tuna and salmon and shrimp because he cooks because he loves it and he wants people to eat good.

[tea-moth11]

A thought on differences

Being surrounded by friends that are as heavily into TMA as myself has been such a gift.

Many of them have also such deep dives into the various themes that exist in the show. The writing for TMA is so well done, and with the fics of my friends they reflect that.

There have been such amazing character studies, connections of themes to everyday life and problems, I could go on and on.

Fanfiction has an interesting way of bringing light to things in your own life that you hadn't yet considered. It gives a name and much needed language to feelings and experiences that may have not been given their true weight without it.

As a new writer I am often envious of the beautiful writing of my friends. They take such care in every work and I have the wonderful opportunity to see it from the ground up in most cases. The wide array of writing styles to uses of imagery is a wonder to behold.

They have been so encouraging not only to myself, but other writers out there. I only started posting in September with their support, not exactly screaming into the void, but the feeling was still there.

While I have difficulty articulating myself, I have seen discussions that are akin to scholars in ancient time on back and forth at lightning speeds. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I experience media "wrong".

Make no mistake, I am not hard to entertain in the slightest. While I love deep dives on various things, I could never do one myself and that is where I worry. I experience life through feelings if anything. Granted I cannot name them in the moment to save my life. This difference in consumption has led me to believe that I may just be somewhat of a shallow soul. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but I feel the difference.

This difference can be seen in my writing. Sure, it is fun and light hearted more often than not, but there are times that I wonder if that is worth putting out. Yes, I know that can considered negative self talk, I promise I am working on it.

There are no overarching themes that are explored in my works. I simply love TMA and everything that has come into my life because of it. Do I even want to have those deep, philosophical topics in my writing? Probably not.

There have been a few of my works that have been used for cathartic release after a stressful time or a bad episode. I cannot imagine that isn't something we see in fanfiction quite often as well.

It is hard not to compare yourself, and don't do what I am doing if you want to write.

Write for you. Write because it's fun. Write.

Sure, it isn't that deep. Cryptid Watch is basically like writing morning cartoons, a new episode of Scoobydoo dropping every Sunday. Perhaps not a story that will make you think or even just feel something deeply, but it is fun.

I appreciate every one of you that reads any of my stuff.

Anyways, thank you for reading if you did. I had a point to this, not sure where it went.

[jaal-ama-daravv]

heres 10 mins of me responding to all the nice things before the suffocation of 70 hour work weeks presses in again

[salty-we-never-got-mergana]

I know I probably should just use this for mergana content... I've made this blog a bit for escapism and to indulge my own obsession with Mergana and Merlin and Morgana le Fay but... I feel like it would be selfish not to share the posts of the very many who are currently enduring and suffering the genocide in Palestine.

And in a way it partakes a bit to my own obsession to the Mergana ship and BBC Merlin when in the storyline of BBC Merlin, there is a genocide going on against those who have magic, a witch hunt, a massacre, and people both trying to survive and fight for their own freedoms. The difference in the show gives us the point of view of the oppressors when I am more interested in those that were oppressed. I think many of us who understand what oppression is to a certain extent could understand whose truly right and that the world isn't simple black and white. If we can support the good guys, the freedom fighters in fiction, then we need to do so in our own world as well. Not just complain about the injustice in fiction, because that's a mirror to our world, and while we can make everything better in fiction by writing our own fanfiction, in the end of the day fiction is fantasy, but with real life, there are real people suffering the very oppression our favorite characters had endured and fought against today.

We need to do what we can to help them, even if it is re-blogging their posts in our blogs dedicated for our fiction and escapism because they don't have the luxury to escape. So, the least we could do is acknowledge their pain and do what we can to help even if it means donating just a bit or spreading awareness of the genocide going on in Gaza today.

Mainstream media is currently trying to distract us from the people currently suffering, and what's more is spreading the narrative that only helps the oppressors much like how the narrative of BBC Merlin works to demonize the very people whose freedom was promised in the end only to be betrayed because in the end of the day working within the system that contributes to oppression will make one betray their very own ideals over the care of those who contribute to oppression and could change things.

Anyway, I might end up re-blogging a lot of fundraisers and my blog might look morbid a bit. If seeing genocide bothers you, please donate, help and share.

[casual-space-plant]

My patience for Max is, as always, zero

[just-two-blokes]

Someone: 'In every other fandom you also take two male characters and ship them even though they aren‘t canon. So why not Elton and Bernie in Rocketman?'

Me: 'Get out.'

Them: 'Excuse me?'

Me: 'I said.. GET OUT!'

Elton John and Bernie Taupin are the living example that platonic male friendships exist (also between a gay and a straight man). This kind of friendship is an amazing gift and I am so sick and tired of people watching this movie and saying stuff like 'Bernie liked him back, he just never admitted it.'

No.

'But Bernie told Elton he loved him multiple times.'

Yes.

In a platonic, brotherly way. There's nothing wrong with men telling each other they love each other. Because.. surprise.. men have feelings too. No matter their sexuality.

Elton and Bernie are two real people. Both are married (Elton with his husband, Bernie with his wife) and both deserve to live their life.

So could you please stop convincing each other that Bernie was 'in denial' when he just clearly was and still is an amazing friend to Elton and still is friends with him until this day?

Fandom and queer pairings are fun and nice but it stops when you pull real people into your little 'headcanons'.

[autisticrosewilson]

I want you to know I am EATING UP your headcanons about Willis and Catherine, posts that treat them like people (and not just their failures) are so hard to come by. Thank you for sharing ❤

Thank you for reading! Not a lot of people are generally interested in a more grounded perspective on the Todd's.

What DC has done to the Todd family has SO much underlying classism, and as someone who grew up in a very similar environment it always grosses me out how people make them completely devoid of any actual personality. Catherine becomes the miserable helpless wife who passively allows her husband to throw around her kid at best or a mindlessly neglectful addict at worst. Willis becomes violent and uncaring about the people he originally died to provide for, he gets reduced to the most bad faith interpretation of a criminal and in doing so it really misses the point of Jason's character. It's no wonder so many people mischaracterize Jason as trigger happy, as someone who doesn't care about petty criminals or thinks all addicts are disgusting or all dealers are heartless monsters.

They fail to see that in growing up impoverished and seeing his dad commit crimes to provide for them, in watching his mother self medicate after the healthcare system fails her, he learns to empathize and he knows where the root of the problems lie in a way someone like Bruce or Dick never could.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

yoo we've got the same huntlow opinions lol! it's not a /bad/ ship per se, it's just. Not For Me haha

OKAY, I've always disliked it and I had a really petty reason in the beginning.

The first time I ever saw anything huntlow related was WAY before they ever interacted. Someone had posted a picture on the Owl House subreddit of two characters who looked almost exactly like Hunter and Willow, talking about how they thought it was hunter x willow art at first. And one person said something along the lines of like "winter is one of my favorite ships bc their names make an actual word." And I kinda went "thats a really weird reason to like a ship and also they don't even know about each other's existence??" and I haven't liked it since lmao

Honestly, I think one of the Owl House's only major flaws is that it kind of fell victim to that thing some media does where they try to pair off their main characters in a way that gets them the All Three Achievement by having a lesbian couple, a gay couple, and a straight couple. Owl House has Lumity, Huntlow, and Gustholomule (although the last two are only implied). The Simon Snow series did the same thing, which made the last book worse for me than it would have been otherwise.

idk it just annoys me. Not everyone needs to be paired off, and you don't need to try to fulfill some quota with your romantic relationships.

[spiralling-thoughts]

How many games has d14 won?

So this is very embarrassing..... the truth is I created district 14 and the characters related to it specifically for tbosas only and I fully intended that it's characters are involved in @majorsoapfan and @moreespressoformydepresso fix it aus because thinking any further than that would mean that my babies ruthis and Rycee 's death and I can't express to you how much it pains me to kill off my characters I don't know how do other creators do it but I genuinely can't bring myself to kill my ocs it's the whole reason why I abounded my first quarter quell fanfic because once the reality of me having to kill my ocs even those who I haven't put too much effort in sunk in it genuinely caused me to be distressed I know this is silly but to me my ocs are my creations and I put ridiculous amount of thoughts and effort in creating them so the idea of putting developing them so much then killing them off genuinely hurt me again ik that this is stupid but I can't help it okay? I get emotionally attached to things especially my creations it's the whole reason why I haven't deleted my first fics from docs and kept all my drawings from when I was a kid, so basically I created Rycee and ruthis with the whole intention that they will survive along with the other tributes and I completely ignored the canon and previous trilogy as I have fallen into a tbosas hyperfixation

But if I had to implement the canon universe id say that they don't survive the games as often and perform as bad as district 12 with only 4 to 5 victors at most, besides the malnourishment and childhood injuries their industry doesn't provide them with exposure to the elements due to being an industrial island surrounded by pollution and their industry won't provide them with fighting skills or weapons training, and the stylists won't be of help because similar to district 12 they won't know how to make good costumes related to recycling and waste management and purification of the elements and add on their green skin caused by argreen and the stylists would want to put excessive amounts of makeup on them as their green skin would be considered ugly by the capitol standards wich would lead to them having a clown like appearance in both the parade and interviews which would make the capitol citizens see them as jokes and they won't want to sponsor them, so yeah all the odds are stagged against district 14 tributes to perform well and they are as much of a joke as district 12 although much worse because the attempts to glamour them up would fail miserably and no stylist is interested in having to work for them

Sorry about all of this ranting

But genuinely thank you for being the one most supportive of this little project of mine it means alot to me