#where theres three positions of power

[joseigamer]

Patalliro! is fascinating to me because of stuff like this. It's unapologetically gay - even within its anime which aired during primetime hours in 1982 - in a way that many later BL manga would never be, like the ones from the early 2000s which would never dare to call their characters actual homosexuals. Patalliro has actually aged quite well in this regard, there's something comforting about how campy it is.

[lakesbian]

Put the Undersiders in a busy airport or train station. How do they handle it? Who gets onto a the wrong flight/train? How many times would Aisha use her power to get into the cockpit or engine room of the train?

oh my GOD how is putting the undersiders in a busy airport or train station not one of the Situations we've put them in yet. this is great. paging @simurghed urgently. everyone please share your undersiders go to busy airport or train station thoughts this is my favorite kind of autism to engage in

brian is like. You know he's being brian about this. you know he's got his schedule printed out and all the tickets pointed out and they're in some little binder and he's making sure he specifically is carrying it the whole time. and the one time lisa casually reminds him to make sure he has xyz necessary item he's like I Have It, Don't Be Neurotic, because his coping mechanism for being nervous and feeling like a woman is questioning his Authority (<- assumed as the main and eternal coping mechanism) is misogyny. love him.

obviously taylor is bringing bugs with her wherever they go and i like to imagine if theyre sitting down in an airport waiting for a really long time and they were in one of the areas where the birds have gotten inside and are nesting + looking for food (that's a universal airport feature right? the birds that got indoors and just live there now?) she might entertain alec and aisha and also herself by flying bugs around 4 the birds and leading them on little hunting excursions and into loops and shit.

aisha takes selfies in the cockpit or engine room (shes posing next to the pilot and making bunny ears behind their head with her fingers) whenever she gets bored and then comes back to show them to alec and brian realizes theres Muffled Laughter happening in their row after aishas been Not There for a while and is like. hmm. that cant be good. and is doing a really bad job of trying to twist himself out of his seat casual-style to find out whats all that then. i can also imagine him insisting on seating himself next to aisha

...three seat plane rows. brian sitting in the middle of aisha and alec and having a wretched time. taylor rachel and lisa lezzing it up in the row in front of them.

i think alec would really enjoy take-off on a plane because Wheee he's all floaty :) and then spend the next however many hours experiencing boredom-induced ego death. possible activities include: fiddling around on his ds. making a little teenager-typical 2011-era flipaclip animation. accidentally falling asleep on brian's arm and starting to snore and drool while aisha is doing the same thing on his other arm. watching a bad movie on his little in-flight tv screen and hopefully trying to engage both brian and aisha in conversation about it because he wants to have friends.

okay i diverged from the point of air Port or train Station sorry. ive never been in a real train station so i have less to speak for there but i think it would be fun to watch the undersiders get crotchety with each other in a long line for overpriced airport food.

imagine if you will brian and taylor trying to fit comfortably in a Nappable Position in the chairs in the flight waiting area. leg cramp city

i think this would all probably be very stressful for rachel :( maybe she andt aylor should hold hands about it. to be safe.

i want to see how lisa tries to make waiting in an airport an enriching and fulfilling activity for taylor so bad. honestly it would probably be no matter what. real bonding experience.

brian laborn tries to carry 9 suitcases at once: and other fun adventures in toxic masculinity

alec vasil has to go pee, right now, for approximately 10-15 minutes, when he's asked to find something in a heavy bag: and other fun adventures in shirking responsibility

aisha laborn's mysterious magical snack manifestation: and other fun adventures in robbing the airport

you know if they were at a busy train station brian would do that thing where he ushers the undersiders around physically and it is fully an indicator of his psychological issues but also it'd be cute. it'd be cute to watch him blocking the crowd so everyone else could move more comfortably and use his Height Advantage to guide everyone most efficiently by pressing on their backs. his psychological issues are endearing

people keep asking about How Much Longer Until Boarding and lisa starts getting bored and providing real-time updates of the Precise amount of time left. if theres a delay she reads out why too

???

its nice. to imagine if they could have a fun time going to locations.

[n3xii]

What state are you currently in?

Hey besties, I'm trying to shift the focus of my readings to stop (intentionally or unintentionally) encouraging the idea that the cards control your fate, tarot and oracle cards mirror your inner atttitudes and how those attitudes are reflecting in your daily life. The reflect what state you're in and this is that is todays readings topic. This reading will be helpful for people to become aware of what state they may be perisiting in unintentionally. Choose an image from above and go to your pile <3 don't force messages to resonate if they don't. My cashapp to tip is sarahx2x

Also, if you have ideas for pick a cards related to law of assumption send it to my asks!!

Tip and ask a question in my asks for a personal reading !! Put username in message

♤♡Pile one

(7 of swords and 6 of pentacles)

You may be in a state of avoidance, dependence, and a scarcity mindset, you're running away from your current reality instead of living in the state you want, and conversely you're in the mindset of someone who feels like they need to deserve or "earn" their desires. You may feel that theres not enough to go around and placing limits on your manifestions. Some of you are on some level dependent on the benevolence of an external source to fulfill you. This isn't true, there is nothing you have to earn or avoid to achieve what you want. You may be avoiding thoughts or things in your reality that make you afraid that you'll manifest the opposite, this is living in a state of fear, that is giving power to external forces to control you. You are not dependent on an outside force to give you what you want, the power of divinty and limitless is already in you. you don't need to earn it or work hard for it. Understand the limitless and vastness of creation, become aware of your own limitlessness

♡■Pile two

(Queen of swords, the sun)

You are in a very positive state, a state of joy and freedom. You place you're awareness on the things that bring you geninune emotions of joy and the that make you feel infinte. The sun tarot card is traditionally associated with deity and deity worship, so one could say you are in a divine/God like state. In modern times, the sun tarot card is associated with consciousness (as its counterpart is the moon, and it focuses on unconsciousness) you are very intentional and aware of where you consciousness flows, and I see that you have flushed out old states of mind that are outdated. The queen of swords is aware of ignorance and bias, she rises above old ideas. you are in a state of recognizing when your thoughts are reflecting old states of mind and you are capable of rising above them.

♡○Pile three

(The heirophant reversed, the magican reversed, the page of swords)

This is a very intresting pile, for many of the people who felt drawn to this pile they have lost their faith in manifestion, theyve lost faith in the divine that dwells within them, they feel out of control with their reality and they're in a state of doubt. They may also be in a state of limitation and frustration. The page of swords is the investigator card of tarot, they are skeptical and alert. So this futher affirms to me that this pile is in a state of doubt, skepticism and powerlessness. The magican is a card of bending reality to your will, it's associated with channeling the divine and ones own will to manifest whatever one wants into materlizing from nothing, the magician card is associated with mecury which is the planet that represents thoughts, speaking words and communication. So I feel that people who chose this pile haven't been committed to aligning their thoughts and words to the desire they have. The heirophant reversed indicates falling out of routines and being noncommittal. In the tradtional meaning if the card, people may have lost their faith in manifestion because it condradicts their spirituality or religious pratice, they theyre too stubborn with their old beliefs. I also feel that people who chose this pile were learning from sources, coaches, teachers etc that were wrong or too harsh, but that won't be for everyone.

[ask-fgod]

Hello from @mcnotok! My name is Snap, and my answers will be tagged as "mod snap". I am an avid fgod Enjoyer™ :]]. I mostly enjoy Nightmare and Error, but every character in this universe is so fascinating to me.

and im @my-names-kris! which my name is uh. kris, obviously. answers from me will be tagged as "mod kris". i usually like blueberror in most utmv aus, but theres something about ink in this one that grabbed me by a stranglehold. also an avid fgod enjoyer, to the point where it actually got me to start writing for the first time ever!

RULES:

DONT SPAM

NO RP

NO ASKING CHARACTERS NOT LISTED HERE

DONT BE A JERK TO THE MODS

PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE CHARACTERS IS VERY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE, QUIT ASKING (BUT YOU CAN SEND OBJECTS)

Story:

The backstory of this blog takes place after Error jumps into the void after he was attacked. Fate, annoyed but viewing him as replaceable, grabs a Swap!Sans, Blue, from his multiverse into the Anti-Void, and in a rushed manner, makes him into an error and the new God of Destruction. Destiny, angered by this and knowing Error would be too, tells him about what had happened to Blue, now known as Blueberror. Wanting him not to be alone, he returns, along with his newly adopted children, Void and Null that insisted to go with him.

Characters:

Error:

The first God of Destruction, jumped into the void wishing for death, and was sent to another multiverse instead with Destiny's help. Returned upon learning that Blueberror was made the next God of Destruction in his place, bringing two children named Void and Null with. Arguably the most powerful of the three gods, holding the ability to make a universe crumble with his very step. Despite this, he is normally a chill (and rather quiet) guy when you haven't done anything to anger him. It takes a lot to anger him, anyways.

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

Nightmare:

Nightmare is so detached from his past life that he considers himself a completely different person, but he is not. He hates all reminders of his detached past before the corruption, as they make him feel complicated feelings and thoughts he'd rather do without. Doesn't view Dream as a brother, but a part of him that he hates feels as if that feeling should be there. Due to the multiverse oversaturated in negativity, he has extreme mood swings. Took in the murder-time trio in an attempt to spread SOME positivity. It didn't do much, but he ended up keeping them anyways. (my mans is soft)

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

Dream:

Dream is extremely loyal to Ink to a fault, never believing the truth of the multiverse's oversaturation, even when Blueberror starts destroying. Due to this, he neglects his duties of spreading positivity, as that would disrupt Ink's creations... even if he suffers for it. Ink's right-hand man ruling over the Star Council. Is used as a mascot for the "happiness" that Ink can spread. Has only ever been used as a beacon for positivity, so when someone genuinely treats him as a friend, he gets very attached.

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

Ink:

The God of Creation, Ink, is the only god out of the three that was unable to hear Fate. Despite this, after hundreds of years go by, he figures out the instability of the multiverse he has caused. Knowing this, but having formed a council and an image of himself along with it, he still insists that he has been doing nothing wrong. Ink is extremely strict about his creations not being disrupted by any outside source, even when the scales of emotion are tipped in negativity's favor. Holds a hatred for Nightmare for taking the murder-time trio in. Hates Error and now, Blueberror, as well for their insistence that he is the one in the wrong. Very close with Dream, not really ever realizing how he's hurting his friend.

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

Blueberror:

Blueberror was a well-liked Swap!Sans (teetering on the edge of being a swapfell!sans) before he was snatched by Fate. It was to the point where he was even asked by Dream and Ink to join them. But being a neutral party, he refused. Before he was snatched, he sometimes travelled the multiverse, helping out anybody, no matter which side they were on. After Fate snatched him, he became the second God of Destruction. He is significantly less merciful than his predecessor, Error. Still helps out people in other universes, but less often due to his new duties.

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

If you’re asking “what is fgod?” Go here!:

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

If you want to read the blogs posts in chronological order, click here!

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

If you want to see everyone's heights, go here!

📍 • 𐀔 • 📍

Discord Server link below!

[scalproie]

i cannot tell what is going on over there in mortal kombat. is your ship incest now? is this a dread pirate rogers situation? no idea!

buddy you really think I would be enthusiastic over fucking incest? If anything Im celebrating that its not. Its more a inter-timeline dread pirate rogers situation yeah

ok so for the actual explanation, three names you need to know: hanzo hasashi, bi-han and kuai liang.

For 30 real life years aka mortal kombat's entire runtime, hanzo hasashi has been scorpion: yellow ninja with fire powers, his whole deal was that he has been killed and came back with the only goal to take his revenge (either for himself or for his family that was also killed, it depends)

He was killed by bi-han aka sub zero, blue chinese assassin with ice powers. BUT bi-han is only sub zero in a particular instance: in the first tournament of mortal kombat aka always the first game, where he gets killed by scorpion. He comes back in following games as a literal shadow of his former self, and without ice powers. he never stays sub zero for long.

enters kuai liang, bi-han's younger brother who's also a cryomancer, who took the mantle of sub zero in the second game and has stayed the most consistent sub zero for the entirety of mortal kombat.

Theres been two timelines for mortal kombat, the og one going from mk1 to mk: armageddon (mk7), and the second one going from mk9 to mk11. Its a bit more complicated than that but im sparing you the details.

the og timeline has its moments (like scorpion deciding to protect the new sub zero to atone for killing his brother, even going so far as to switch sides and kill the big bad in his mk3 ending bc sub zero was on the opposite team), and the second timeline has even more (the mk9 sub zero ending and every single one of their shared scenes from mkx (mk10) to mk11) that makes the two enjoyable as an item. Its a fairly popular relationship in the fandom and their whole deal also happen to be my cup of tea idk what to tell you there. When people say "subscorp" it means kuai liang/hanzo as they were both the definitive sub zero/scorpion.

anyway we are at the dawn of a new timeline in mk12. and even tho its not the first mortal kombat soft reboot, as they already did that in mk9, this one is WHOLLY shaking things up. Mk9 was new but it kept for the most part the og backstories, dynamics and storybeats of the og timeline, with only some twists there and there to keep it fresh.

Mk12 drops the bombshell among other things that this time around, scorpion and sub zero are brothers, and if you think they mean "brother-in-arms" NO ed boon is very adamant to let everyone know every interview that they're blood brothers now, they have the same father and everything, and that their shared storyline is no longer a story of revenge, but a brotherly conflict of ideologies. Confusing and dark times (this was mere months ago).

Later the sub zero gets revealed to be bi-han, and now this begged the question: who is scorpion? He is dressed in yellow, have fire powers, and a literal scorpion tattoo. For many people it meant it was hanzo: he's been scorpion for 30 years, why would it change now (even tho this raised a lot of question like why is he now part of his enemy clan, why would he still be japanese and has a japanese name if his now brother and father are chinese, and so on). For others, the fact that this scorpion had: 1) kuai liang's brother, 2) kuai liang's dynamic with said brother, 3) kuai liang's face (as his face model was really similar to his mk11 one), 4) kuai liang's position in his clan, and in a later trailer revealed to also have 5) kuai liang's best friend, and 6) kuai liang's dynamic with said best friend, meant that uuuuuuh, maybe it was kuai liang. Even tho the guy named "Quick Freeze" in chinese had now fire powers.

Anyway this has been making me insane, if it was hanzo it had LITERALLY NOTHING in common with hanzo but the yellow outfit and fire powers, if it was kuai liang it was such a wild departure from kuai liang as we know him that this might as well be another guy completely. This guy is supposed to be the definitive sub zero but he cant fit that role anymore, he has fire powers.

Flash forward to last night, back on friday they revealed three mk trailers at comic con, and to keep the promo train rolling, they were invited by ign for an interview on saturday, and among the people there was yuri lowenthal aka smoke's new voice actor (let me remind you that smoke is and has been kuai liang/sub zero's best friend for both timelines). One of the dev was talking about smoke's role in mk12, and says this:

"We are playing up the relationship he had with Kuai Liang- uuuh Scorpion. Um. and-"

Its an accidental slip up so this is still to take with a grain of salt until we get actual footage confirmation that kuai liang is scorpion in mk12, but also come on, you cant fuck up that badly with context, kuai liang is scorpion in mk12.

And considering how HARD theyve been marketing it as "scorpion and sub zero are brothers now!" and not "one of the sub zero brothers is scorpion now!" Im guessing this was supposed to be a big reveal for later. Oh well.

Anyway now we know who sub zero is (bi-han), we know who has the mantle of scorpion this time around (kuai liang), and now the only person MIA is hanzo. Many people, me included, hope that he's narratively retired chilling somewhere and is enjoying life with his alive family for once, dude's had a hard life.

and to answer your question, no, its not incest now because hanzo is still unrelated to the sub zero brothers (tho one of them is scorpion now), and "subscorp" remains safe bc its really, again, more about kuai liang and hanzo than the ship of "scorpion" and "sub zero" regardless of who they might be.

[questionablealibi]

WAIT WHERE'D YOU GET THAT HC FROM THE MEMORY ZONE?? /genq

DEAREST ANON im terribly sorry for the wait :'D ive been rather busy with school and now did i just find the time to answer this thoroughly! This'll be a longer ramble than usual, so buckle up! I hope i made sense with this! ^^

Let me starts off with saying that im DEFINITELY not the first to notice these details! Im confident that there are multiple posts all around other platforms that discussed this!

In the memory zone, theres a bunch of flora youd be able to see! Some are leafy and some are flowery. The memory zone - from /my/ understanding - is almost like the Narrator's headspace. A box of old polaroid pictures. A bookshelf housing dozens of aged books collecting dust. A dusty attic that he visits every once a year to clean. In short- quite literally his /mind/. Well- a more nostalgic part of it, at least.

Now if that is his headspace, then itd most likely be filled with things he likes reminiscing or mulling over (especially the first few sections of the memory zone), and one of those things that are present - along with positive reviews, a nice cozy cabin, a sky, dirt, an ACTUAL outside world - are, y'know, flowers!

And not just ANY random bout of flowers- no, no, no, no- but flowers that actually TIE IN with what the memory zone IS. The flora can be interpreted as a manifestation of his actual feelings, or it can be,, i dont know uh,, just,, /there/, but im leaning more towards the latter ^^

Now- this is /technically/ where i would end this explanation, BUT i wanna discuss some of the flowers i noticed in the game and what their meanings are >:]

The ones id like to focus on are the flowery ones, since im not very well-educated with the "shrub side" of flora ^^; the rest of this ramble is below the cut! I wont delve into much about HOW they tie in, since i think theyre rather self explanatory in a way, and i dont want to drag this on any further than necessary ^^;

Let's start with one out of three flowers that i noticed - hypercium

Hypercium (alternatively known as st. Jhon's wort) usually symbolises hope, resilience, and power.

And then we have poppies! Which are one of my VERY favorite flowers that are in the memory zone because THIS little darling

Symbolizes hope, resilience, and death. Now- /why/ do those /specifically ordered words/ ring a bell..?

Now- my very favorite one - chicory

This little darling symbolises endless waiting and perseverance! Quite self-explanatory considering the section of the game it's connected to, hm?

Now theres this one shrub that im not familiar with-

so if any of you lot that recognize it and would like to add onto this ramble of mine, please do! <3

THANK YOU DEAR ANON for indulging my silly thoughts ^^ i had fun writing about this!

[fifteenth-entity]

Arc Purgatory: The one (and only) major flaw of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies

-oh, hiii, just a note, this post is super uncleaned and kinda messy, you can see points where my ADHD patience wore off. sorry bout that, ill come up and clean later, for now, i gotta recharge-

I think I speak for most PotC enthusiasts when I say that the PotC trilogy (franchise? Wym theres more than three movies?) is one of the best written trilogies I’ve ever seen. Amazing choreography (they just don’t make swashbucklers like this anymore!!), amazing set and design, amazing writing, the comedy is peak, the world building is great shit, but by far, the best and most hooking part of the series is its characters!! You have the elusive trickster captain Jack Sparrow, you have the naive but headstrong and well-meaning Will Turner, the cunning and crafty Elizabeth Swann, and an array of amazing villains to boot! Barbossa and his excellent character arc, Davy Jones and his excellent character arc, the excellent dynamic between Commodore Norrington and Cutler Beckett and who being a villain when and why, the whole shtick. With how well the villains are written, it’s no surprise that a lot of them hold a spot in many fans’ top favorite characters - I’m no exception, Barbossa has always been a favorite of mine and upon a rewatch later on in life, Davy Jones is up there too. And while all of the characters are iconic, memorable and loveable (most times), Ive noticed a sort of… pattern in who places at the top of people’s favorite characters. Namely, I’ve seen the villains and Jack Sparrow. I’ve never seen Will or Elizabeth be explicitly placed high up, or higher than the villains/Jack  Sparrow. And even when I see Jack Sparrow be high up, I always see him be high up because he’s “iconic”, while I’ve seen the villains be high up because they’re “compelling”. That discrepancy really meant nothing to me when I rewatched the first two movies; they were, after all, an incomplete story. The third movie would bring it all together and cement these characters as excellent. Right? … Well… wrong. Now, before I go on, what I said before still stands. The trilogy is still impeccable in all the ways I’ve listed above. Great characters, plot, world building, choreography, score, cinematography… but there is only one area it falls short on: character development. But the peculiar thing is that it falls short only sometimes. So I wanna examine where it doesn’t fall short, where it does, and why I think so.

As previously stated, the character development falls short only sometimes. Where it absolutely doesn’t fall short is with the villains. For at least the first three movies (cuz i have not and refuse to rewatch 4 and 5), the villains have excellent, fully rounded character arcs, with memorable story beats. Barbossa going from bloodthristy merciless captain of the black pearl to hesitant co-captain of the black pearl, leaving behind his lonesome ways and instead choosing to make alliances if not for his own benefit. Davy Jones going from a terrifying force of power to blah blah blah, we've watched the movies, we remember what happens, we all get the gist. The villains have complete character arcs, they develop from one thing to another, either by way of actually becoming a decently better person and improving in some of their qualities, or by digging in their heels and dying as a consequence (or in Norrington’s case, becoming a better person but dying anyway because his narrative foil is cutler beckett and hell hath no fury like an 18th century british twink in a position of power). Even the side characters which are related to them have fully fleshed out character arcs of their own to complement them, namely Tia Dalma, who develops from a mysterious bogwitch to a lovestruck goddess. From this section, I want you readers to remember that the people who insofar have complete character arcs are the villains, who mostly switch up every movie. Now let’s talk about the lame ducks, shall we?

A few characters dont get any character development; namely, the side characters whose name you don’t really remember, or cannon fodder (i am counting Sao Feng as cannon fodder, I take no further questions at this time). However, there’s three other characters in the series that don’t get compelling character development and that’s the three protagonists. I’m gonna start with Will and Elizabeth; both of them do develop in a sense! They become more mature and more tolerant of piracy as they learn about the fallacies of the state. They are forced to mature rapidly thanks to their turbulent circumstances, namely as only-dubiously-pirates and only-dubiously-free and legally pronounced enemies of state unless cutler beckett decides otherwise. Thats a lot of Circumstance. No matter who you are as a person, that forces you to grow in one way or another. But let’s not forget that becoming pirate king and abandoning high society/abandoning citizenship and becoming an undead pirate are only half of Elizabeth and Will’s character arcs. Why do they get into this entire mess in the first place? Well, love! They love each other so much that they’d literally uproot their safety to be together, and the only thing keeping them apart is Circumstances™ . Naturally, this then means that their character arc would involve them triumphantly overcoming the circumstances and finally being together, either by abandoning pirate life or pilfering together as captains! Or alternatively, they discover it was never meant to be either by way of death or by departing tearfully. Yeah, neither happens. Instead they leave off movie 3 right back at square one; pining and yearning from a distance. But instead of the distance being lord vs peasant dynamics, it’s a time gap of 10 years. How is this any different from what the problem was 2 movies ago? This is their wrap up? Same circumstance with a different name and an outfit change? At best, this is incomplete. I can’t even count it as full circle if I wanted to; normally, here would be the beginning of a spin off or something, because this development is something penultimate. A darkest hour at best. Not a climax, and definitely not a conclusion; again, it is incomplete. And, sadly, the same can be said about Jack Sparrow. The movie goes out of its way to point out where Jack is flawed: he fears death so much that he refuses to see the pain and drawbacks of immortality, which leads him to do all his tomfoolery. Which is great character motivation! But it never changes. He is constantly afraid of his own mortality, so he will constantly hold himself back from going guns blasing, and it will always lead to him chasing the promise of immortality. Even when he sees what that does to Barbossa and Davy Jones, he digs his heels in and goes “la la la”. even when the plot of one of the movies was that he died. He died and came back to life. At this point, he has gone face to face with his greatest fear and come back a victor. But by the end of the movie, whatever happens, happens because he is still mortally afraid of death. Even after he comes back to life, people point out that all he wants is to be immortal, and he affirms that. So like… did the death… not happen? Because even if this is happening because Jack refuses to process it, then that gives us new motivation. And that’s not the only way for Jack to continue his adventures; one alternative could be that Jack, after conquering death, instead turns to life to see how he can maximize his limited fun, and starts pilfering and pirating to the nth degree, purely because of zero inhibitions. But instead like with Will and Elizabeth, with him, we are right back to square one.

So… why is this happening? Why are we having these fake character arcs for the protagonists? In most media and most cases, the answer is “because the writers suck” in one variety or another. Time constraints, budget constraints, bad writers, the works. But I firmly believe this is happening not because of the writers, but because of one mouse that keeps ruining everyone's fun.

(if i could add sound bytes, i would, but please imagine the intro song jingle thing of disney playing here)

Obviously we all know Disney; they want to milk their cash cows until the bitter end, which means that in order for that to happen, they need to keep an avenue open for Will and Elizabeth’s story in case they need to milk that for an extra buck, and obviously, Jack needs more motivation to keep doing his silliness. Now, as stated above, there are multiple ways for that to happen without keeping the same motivations that kept us going for 3 movies, but it has been proven time and time again that Disney will take the easy way out instead of the interesting (and potentially more costly) way out. Now, I refuse to watch star wars, so I cannot validate this point by myself, but according to a friend (thank you for your service @greetings-humans), when “somehow palpatine returned”, the franchise was owned by disney. Star wars fans, and even people with a brain, recognize how much of a cop out this is, and having seen the above cop outs happen in PotC, i am now firmly of the belief that the protags of PotC dont have character arcs because Disney believes this is the cheapest way of keeping the franchise going. This, btw, delightfully, ended up making disney shoot themselves in the foot; not only were movies 4 and 5 poorly received, but because of the way they were written, it wouldn’t make sense for any of the protagonists to suddenly have a change of motives and resume character development, which would be especially detrimental since we are talking about the PotC franchise; famously adored for its writing. They could mask the cash cow before, but now they cannot. So it’s no surprise that instead of continuing a story that is continuously shooting itself in the foot thanks to Disney’s executive decision to take the easy way out of creating a continuous cash cow, the 6th movie is rumored to be a remake of the first one.

But yeah, this is pretty much my analysis. I dont have much more to say. The key take away here is: write your own fanfics of the ending, or engage with the series however you like. I think if the series had different producers and was just left at a trilogy, then it would’ve been perfect. I don’t really have much more to say here;; this is pretty much it. I’m just glad that PotC’s one major flaw wasn’t due to incompetence and was due to the mouse being the mouse.

[literalite]

26, 28, 30, 32, 42, and 44 for anyone!! <3

i'm gonna answer for kris i think 😁

26. does your sim have a favourite tv show (cable) and/or movie?

he's not a big tv guy in all honesty but he'll hang around to watch cheers if hes super bored (theres like three tvs in the commune altogether and at least one of them will have cheers playing at any given time). he likes macgyver too although admitting it embarrasses him 🤭 his favourite movie is dog day afternoon

28. does your sim like books? if so what’s their favourite one?

he does! i think he mostly reads philosophy books and the like though so kind of out of my own personal taste. i know for sure though that he would've read and appreciated letters from a stoic by seneca

30. what is your sim’s personal style?

i would describe it as kind of grungy skater slacker aesthetic.. lots of flannels lots of layers all of it on the shabby side. definitely prioritising comfort and baggy silhouette over form ahdkshsk it works for him though soo

32. is your sim religious?

not particularly- i dont think he believes in a higher power at all. his mum maria is russian orthodox though she never tried impressing her own beliefs on him and i dont think he wouldve picked it up either way

42. what is a secret about your sim?

theres a real part of his mind that he ponders sometimes about whether it was "worth it" to be openly trans, especially in such a small community where everyone knows each other. hes happier for being more honest but he worries about always being "other". but he doesn't really discuss this outright because he doesnt wanna be seen as some sort of indecisive pariah. he mostly just doesnt wanna be seen at all

44. what is a flaw your sim has?

he would call it loyalty but i would call it his current inability to stand up for himself 😭 he kind of just gets told to do things and then does them regardless of whether its a positive or negative outcome for him. even when the bad consequences are staring him in the face he'll always try to choose to believe that other people will have his best interests at heart

[video-game-kids-tournament]

MEET YOUR CONTESTANTS!

Psychonauts spoilers under the cut!

Name: Razputin "Raz" Aquato

Age: 10

Pronouns: He/him

Video Game: Psychonauts, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, + Psychonauts 2

Backstory: “Psychic circus kid with a cursed blood line, who ran away to become a psychic secret agent”

• “They have psychic powers, the main thing of the games, and because of this run away from their family in the circus, to a summer camp where the first game begins. This is because their family hates psychics because one cursed the family to die in water.”

• “Born and raised in the Aquato family circus. Was always told by his father of a bloody past feud with a family of fortune tellers from a rival circus wherein they cursed the Aquatos to all die in water. Because of this, Raz assumed his father hated psychics and so would practice his psychic abilities in secret. He grew up reading a comic series about a psychic spy agency known as the Psychonauts. When he was given a pamphlet for Whispering Rock Summer Camp, a secret government camp designed to train young psychic into Psychonauts, he decided to run away from home to secretly go to the camp.”

• “Raz comes from a large family of acrobatic circus preformers. his family is very predjudiced against psychics, because of the curse that a psychic placed on their family. (they are cursed to die in water, and raz is dragged in by the hand of galochio whenever he touches large enough bodies of it.) but raz is one and wants to be a psychonaut, a member of the super psychic agents. his father forbids this, having him train extra hard to keep him busy and away from using his powers. after a show one day, a mysterious stranger gives him a pamphlet to whispering rock summer camp, a psychic summer camp for kids to train and hone their abilities, run by the psychonauts themselves. he runs away one night to attend this camp, and the story of the games goes on from there!”

• "With his psychic powers becoming more prominent, he ran away from the circus to a psychic summer camp, but with strange happenings going on with both the children and the counslers only he can help the camp.”

• “He's a psychic kid who grew up in a travelling family circus, who ended up running away from it to attend a summer camp that trains psychic kids to be international super spies, which he ends up being really good at because of him being able to do sick-ass backflips in peoples' brains.”

• “Raz felt ostracized from his family growing up due to his psychic powers. The whole family had a deep-seated hatred of psychics, and while his father and sister learned to hide their psychic abilities, Raz never could, nor did he really want to. Inspired by his favorite comic series, True Psychic Tales, he ran away from home to pursue becoming a Psychonaut, helping those in need while honing his abilities! Also, turns out that one of his most idolized Psychonauts is the one responsible for psychologically implanting a hatred of psychics into the Aquato family. Whoops.”

Why should they win the tournament?: “- Nice ÷] - Can shoot lasers - Knows acrobatics”

• "The first that we see of them, they break into a summer camp with amazing security declare they have father issues in front of three government agents and a lot of children, and are extremely excited to be experimented on immediately. “

• "Both a powerful psychic and a trained acrobat. I think he's noted as being a stronger psychic than most children of his age and training.”

• “hes the most specialest boy ever. oh my god hes the skrunkly supreme. hes a very kind young man who genuinley wants to help people. hes also a bit of an imp who blasts birds and says "see ya in hell!'. hes so ten years old. these games have truly left an impact on me, in the most positive way. hes pretty op, esp for a 10yo. oh my god theres so muh more i could say but its HUGE spoilers. i love him. vote for him. play/watch a playthrough of the psychonauts series. you will not regret it.”

• “They got acrobatics, psychic powers, and hes just a little goober”

• “Because he's just great!! He's a super charming protagonist - he's spunky and determined but still just a kid and can get in over his head sometimes while trying to do the right thing. Raz has a lot of fun moments throughout the whole series and he's right in the mid-point between "sweet little fella who just wants to help" and "feral little freak". (see the YouTube video "Psychonauts out of context but its just Razputin Aquato being iconic" (note: there are spoilers for all the games there if you care about those)) Also going with the death game thing his dad put him through grueling acrobat training meaning this kid is both strong and fast as hell, and also in the first game he sets seagulls on fire with his brain while cheerfully saying "see you in hell!", so he has a decent shot of winning one of those based on that I think.”

• “he's just a little scrimblo bimblo. he's got autism swag. he's even employed.”

[mcl38]

How will chokedo fuck it this weekend?

get outwualified and outperformed by a rookie?

get track limits penalty?

get involved in a first lap incident?

all of the above?

obsessed w this poem actually

1. the composite word neologism of 'chokedo' places us firmly in the tradition of tongue-in-cheek, provocative poetry, typical of the 21st century

2. 'fuck it' instead of fuck it up is brilliantly ambiguous in its succintness. it's almost like the speaker is reaching towards the platonic ideal of 'fuck it up' but cant reach it, hand perpetually outstretched as they seek solidity in the epistemologic uncertainty of the future. theres also the implication of sexuality in it but so subtle its almost freudian

3. outwualified im not sure if its a typo or an ingenious way to bring back the bwoken meme but either way its SO fascinatingly tought-provoking. it hints at age regression, going backwards in time (reinforced by the mention of the 'rookie'), but is also more literally a tiny mistake in an otherwise correctly spelled word, possibly a physical representation of the image the author is trying to paint: a single mistake rendering a qualifying lap worthy of ridicule

4. we all know track limits result in your lap being deleted rather than a penalty, but i think so does the author - they just choose to lump them all in at once, foregoing the indefinite article 'a' on purpose, to express the desperation of the speaker in their ill-will wishing. they won't be satisfied with one misfortune, they want track limits - penalty - it all. the factual error also invites the reader to question the soundness of their argument more generally, implying that perhaps the speaker themselves is subconsciously aware of the unlikely nature of their wish

5. the fourth line is where the repetition of the word 'get' starts to become especially poignant. the rule of 3 has a long history of association with magic and curses, not least of all referencing macbeth's three witches. the wishes written out as questions, all employing the same repeated formula, start to almost feel like a chant, a spellcasting. the 'get' is also ambiguous in its grammatical displacement. not attached to a verb construction like 'will get' or a subject like 'will lando / he get', the word exists basically in semantic homelessness. it floats at the beginning of the lines in a tantalisingly incomplete lowercase, hinting at whatever is supposed to come before it but ultimately cannot come before it, because of the speakers underlying uncertainty that these things will even happen. or, read differently, the 'get' almost transforms into a vocative command, asking me, the reader, to 'get' it - to understand, to show compassion, empathy

6. 'first lap incident' is a wonderful little bit of intertextuality - it shows the speaker's awareness of past correspondence between myself and (i assume) them, where i pointed out that lando has never had any dnfs out of his own driver error. the remarkably neutral and blameless 'incident' reinforces the poem's tendency to contradict itself, portraying the speaker's conscious hate and subconscious admiration of the muse (lando) for his driver skill. the balance is so impressively delicate its almost seamless

7. all of the above is such a powerful ending to the poem - due to its strong association with exams and multiple choice forms, it seems to place the burden of proof and expectation of knowledge on the reader, absolving the speaker themselves of any responsibility. although the poem obviously uses the interrogative mode as its main medium, the 'all of the above?' at the end is pushes past the rhetorical and challenges the reader directly, seemingly the last and most important attempt to get the confrontational tone across

all in all i would say this poem is very reminiscent of chelsey minnis's brilliant 2007 collection of poetry 'bad bad', in which the speaker's disillusionment with the practice of poetry is positioned as an aggressive front to mask what is really unprocessed grief and love for her late mentor. there is definitely an undercurrent of that 2000s in-your-face defiant poetry in this text, which i think plays beautifully with the characteristically 2010s broken up loose lines. fortunately, despite the author being anonymous, we can date the poem pretty exactly to anywhere after the 2023 qatar gp and before the 2023 cota gp, and i would be quite comfortable to even make the conjunction that it was typed directly into my askbox. lastly, i would ask the anonymous poet to keep applying themselves to the craft, because they have a marvellously promising future in front of them

[duckiemimi]

i think the core reason why non sorcerers shouldnt know about jujutsu is like geto once said: for their peace of mind. thats why they put up curtains etc etc. jujutsu exists almost entirely as a means to exorcise curses i think if people knew about jujutsu and curses itd bring a lot of anxiety into their lives. do nt know if this can really relate to ur question but remember the scene where nanami goes into a bakery and helps get rid of the curse on the girls shoulder? at first he shows himsepf a little apprehensive to exorcise it because hes afraid to scare her or that shed think hes a creep. so maybe thats another reason? vulgar humans would maybe be creeped out by the fact theres people out there who are different than them and have this special powers. also maybe its put sorcerers in danger? if you bring this perspective into the real world it kind of makes sense, remember when people were burning girls the sole reason being they thought these girls were weird and were accused of being witches? salem for eg. people are afraid of what they don’t understand. this is my perspective of it.

that comparison to the salem witch trials and witch trials in general—ur so right!! sorcerer and witch and shaman are almost all synonymous!! (though i guess depending on culture context, the connotations can be either positive or negative).

yea, i totally get that! and i know geto’s already mentioned it in season 2, too, but i can’t help but feel that the stated reason is insufficient because if non-sorcerers knew about jujutsu, then they (non-sorcerers and sorcerers) can form a somewhat symbiotic relationship, where non-sorcerers can keep each other in check and look out for each other to prevent big, big, big emotions from spawning into curses and as for the ones that do spawn into curses, the sorcerers can take care of that! in exchange, non-sorcerers could…do something for sorcerers (idk, like i’m still fleshing this whole reciprocal relationship out 😭).

but! nevertheless, i imagine involving the people they’re supposed to protect into jujutsu (at least, having them know of its existence) could help a lot! and if jujutsu is a long-standing system, they could’ve done this ages ago! which brings me to my next theory; perhaps at one point in time (maybe around sukuna’s era or even before that), people knew of the existence of jujutsu, but something happened and now secrecy is a rule! idk, but i’d love to know more about the history of jujutsu society!

but let’s talk rules for a second: the memorandum where this rule is in (the rule being article 8 of the memorandum of duty of jujutsu sorcerers) was created by the big three clans for all sorcerers to abide by. since family politic is such a big theme in jjk, i wouldn’t be surprised if they (the big three) created a rule like that (and other rules pertaining hierarchy, chain of commands, punishments, etc.) to set the status quo and make sure they stay in power.

and since two of the clans aren’t in power anymore (the zenin clan being nonexistent and the kamo clan losing their head, hehe), that would leave only the gojo clan. gojo wants the current system to topple over, so i’m curious to see how a new system will be implemented!! what’s a post-hierarchical jujutsu world gonna look like? how is it gonna work? i’m excited to see gege explore this concept, a realization of allies!!

anyway, sorry for the long-winded ramble and thank u for ur insight!! i’m glad they’re using the anime to add more info so everything ties in together cohesively!!

[quillthrillswriting]

i just need to write a love letter rant to bouldering and rock climbing because after spending so long struggling to find a form of exercise i enjoy, bouldering just floated down from the heavens in a beam of light with a choir of angels holding it out to me, and i need to recruit other people to this wonderful, wonderful, life-changing sport.

point number one:

for starters, super duper chill environment! as someone with a lot of social anxiety, i get nervous with team sports because of letting people down, but with bouldering, everyone pretty much stays quiet and keeps to themselves while they work on their projects. if you ask for help, everyone is super non-judgemental and chill. most people who have done the sport for a long time are not genuinely judging beginners or trying to get competitive. it is lovely!!

point number two:

next up, the problem-solving & puzzle aspect to it! i know, its hard to think that a wall can really have that many ways of getting up it, but once you start climbing, and especially when you rise up in levels, you start to realize that there are different methods you can use, and you can get creative! as long as you aren't hurting yourself, theres lots of space to try new things and use that smart brain of yours.

point number three:

everyone with different body types has different strengths and weaknesses in climbing, so there are lots of different styles of climbing and lots of different body types that can be great climbers! tall people have a long wingspan, but a disadvantage when it comes to moves where you need to make yourself small, while short people can often have more explosive power because they carry less body weight and they can also curl up into smaller positions. its really really cool to see, and theres also lots of really cool climbers with disabilities who show just how creative you can get in para-climbing (an IRL friend of mine who only has one arm is a super creative climber and really talented). bottom line is no matter your body type, you can be a great climber with time & practice:)<3

point number four:

the measurable improvement you have! climbs have clearly labeled difficulties, so you can easily track and measure yourself as you improve, which is really cool (although it is super important to note that your worth as a climber is not equivalent to whatever number you climb at!!)

point number five:

the constant sense of accomplishment! you get a massive burst of happy brain chemicals (or at least, I do) every time you finish a climb, and since the climbs are short, you can do several in one session and walk away feeling super accomplished and hyped up. bouldering is especially good for this because most climbs have only a handful of holds.

[dyketubbo]

theres a lot to say about the subject of forgiving abusers but really it all just comes down to the fact that theres like. different types of forgiveness, and the fact that dsmp doesnt exist in a bubble. theres nothing wrong with like, tommy going yeah i forgive you because i need to move the fuck on with my life. his decision. there wouldnt even be anything wrong with tommy apologizing because dream was about to die. tommy is at his core a kind person, theres nothing wrong with him showing some regret and kindness, even to dream.

what is wrong with tommy apologizing to dream and gaining this ~understanding~ of him is that it uh. is based on the idea that tommy being an annoying 16 year old is a fair reason for dream to effectively kidnap, abuse, and outright torture him and also kill him three times, kill lazar and vikk three times each and torture them, try to kill tubbo just to get to tommy, torture and kill sam to have control over the prison, abandon sapnap and george, manipulate multiple people, and more.

its that tommy taking on the blame for ruining dream in the same way dream ruined him. makes it out as if theyre equals in any way. as if their entire relationship wasnt always dream having power over tommy and abusing it, abusing him. theres hardly a win in clingyduo taking themselves out with dream, not in a "the only way to seek justice is to kill dream" way (although that has some truth to it on a narrative sense), but in a "jesus fuck they had lives outside of him and the narrative acts as if this is the only way, they have to abandon everything just to show that dream and tommy couldve been friends if.. what, tommy was less annoying and a bit more kind?" way

and ultimately it sucks because. this just isnt a good time for that kind of narrative. not to meta game, but when one of the actors has allegations currently in legal question against him, its.. not great, that the story hes been working on for years now where his character consistently hurt and abused and held his position of power over a teenager ends on a forgive and forget moral. no matter what the truth of the matter about the allegations are, thats.. uncomfortable. not because im upset that dream didnt die in the way i wanted, but because during a time where victims have it hard as is, its just.

not appropriate? to have almost two years of a storyline about abuse and how it affects the victim, turns them into a worse version of themself and keeps them in a state of terror for as long as their abuser is out there, creates a situation where because the abuser happened to be somewhat charismatic and hide their worst flaws from the public, the victim is scared that no one will believe then, and does have a multitude of people who think that the victim shouldnt be listened to, because theyre annoying, because the abuser wouldnt do that, because the victim must have done something to deserve it, to make the abuser do what they did. and have it end on a note where the victim apologizes for making the abuser a worse person by.. being annoying. and dies with their abuser and their best friend, memory wiped of everything (supposedly, including their memories of their friends and family) so they can go on and be friends with their abuser never knowing what happened.

all while a victim of one of the actors has been mass harassed because.. supposedly, dream wouldnt do that. because amanda acted weird before and after. because she wanted it and that made it okay, even though she was in a position where she didnt know what was wrong about dreams actions. because. dream has power over her, because hes a somewhat charismatic man whose built up a public face of a well-meaning man who cares about his community and about victims. and amanda, in the eyes of many who dont believe her, is an annoying girl who just wants to ruin dreams life. all while we have some clues suggesting that dream may have finally gotten around to this so he could do damage control.

even if you ignore that the ending just isnt satisfying on a narrative level, it. gets concerning, to think about, when you realize that this story is influenced by cc biases, and that that includes dreams own biases against the people hes hurt in real life. thats what makes the ending uncomfortable. its not a proper story leading up to a narratively satisfying understanding of where the abuser came from, a narrarively satisfying way for the victim to forgive and move on. its a not great moral at a bad time handled by someone i dont trust to have had good intentions when playing out this ending. the fact that the people who already hated ctommy for being a victim of cdream can feel like they were right and go on to hate amanda for being a victim of ccdream? thats unsettling. very fucking unsettling.

[alexilulu]

Books I Read in 2024 #1: A Desolation Called Peace (Arkady Martine, Tor Books, 2021)

Summary: Following Mahit's return to her home on the heels of defusing a succession crisis in the imperial core, Mahit and Three Seagrass reunite to find a way to defuse the unknown alien threat probing the edges of the Empire along the station's borders, threatening both with oblivion.

This is a pretty damn good book. Theres a few things about it that don't work as well; I find books that have a tendency to jump perspectives have a hard time maintaining a consistent voice and keeping things compelling (this was a gigantic part of my problem with Translation State, a novel from an author I adore that has almost nothing for me to cling to as parts of the novel i enjoy). The POV characters are relatively fine, and I don't think there is a way around it in the way the novel is constructed as a narrative drawing from the first person, but the end result is that the writing can be inconsistent as hell in some of the more secondary character's chapters. You get the best sense for Mahit and Three, and for the admiral Nine Hibiscus (who is honestly a delight to read, a fun compromised character), and child-emperor-clone Eight Antidote, but the others are barely there, mainly existing to give context to actions the primary characters could not see.

The book is primarily focused on the rush to the border by a Teixcalaani fleet to understand and then crush the alien forces revealed in the climax of Memory Called Empire, a long-known threat that has been nibbling at the border of the Empire and its outlying vassal states like Mahit's station for years. The aliens themselves are seemingly implacable, appearing from nowhere and crushing Teixcalaani forces before being crushed in turn by the superior weight of arms available to the empire. The race quickly becomes to try to negotiate a peace between them both, as the alien force seemingly considers humans as not being people worthy of consideration (another connective tissue point between the Imperial Radch novels and their implacable, completely opaque and purely alien Presger who prey upon humanity with impunity and negotiate from a position of absolute strength), butchering an entire colony for seemingly no reason; bodies are abandoned where they fell, untouched.

The aliens are the type of strange you would want from them, a semi-hive mind formed from a fungal substrate that integrates individuals into a shared consciousness and makes them Whole in their cosmology, and cannot imagine a world that cannot communicate in the way they do. They act the way they do because to not be part of the mind is to be screaming meat. It's fun.

Mahit and Three's relationship takes great steps here both forward and backward; I genuinely do enjoy that they have an extended period here wherein Three has to come to the understanding that every interaction she has with Mahit, accidentally or on purpose, is just slathered in references to Mahit's barbarian-ness in Teixcalaani culture. It's great specifically because they so clearly have this incredible rapport with one another from the moment they reunite, but there's some part of Three that cannot help but other Mahit as the Outsider, to view her with this lens that simultaneously acknowledges her skill and brains and beauty, but still as something lesser that she cannot help but bring up. It feels good when they finally connect again and come to greater understanding, and at the same time it's clear that that isn't the end of the road for them. It's phenomenal that they're allowed to be messy and grow over these novels, from the standoffish camaraderie they started with to here, an uneasy pair of lovers, still finding their footing with one another.

The finale is effective, a power-hungry admiral under the commander making a move to genocide the aliens even as they finally reach a proper ceasefire, sure that a decapitation strike on one of their worlds will settle things in the Teixcalaani way, power via might and awe and destruction.

The biggest part of this novel is about identity, weirdly enough. The aliens are networked and bound to one another and yet individual, and a recurring element of the story is that the Teixcalaani Shard pilots are networked in a similar way (based on the omnipresent, semi-human police of the Teixcalaani home world who are networked to the city's AI) and are rapidly discovering the problems with such a thing being rolled out in the middle of a war; pilots across the galaxy are collapsing in howling, bawling pain at the moment another pilot dies, weeping uncontrollably and feeling connected across a further length of distance than has ever been possible before now in the empire. The repeated refrain of 'how broad is the Teixcalaani definition of 'you?', returning from Memory Called Empire exemplifies this; the Lsel stationers are all implanted with the memories of their predecessors sometimes up to 10 generations back, forming a gestalt of the centuries of experience needed to survive in space into a compatible person's mind.

Overall, I do feel that it's a weaker second book than the extremely strong Memory, but that is only in comparison to one of the best space opera sci-fi novels in the last 5 years. It builds on the framework it created, giving us a closer look at the spear arm of the empire after seeing its heart laid bare and the ways it is at war with itself even as it crushes everything outside of itself.

[ryuuthefluffybunny]

helloo :o im reviving my tumblr after years of inactivity because whyyy not ive been wanting an outlet to do tarot readings and im pursing a written format because videos are just not the vibe rn >.> so here goes 

*~some shadow work that would be beneficial for you~*

 theres going to be 2 piles to choose from and I’m using the hermetic tarot. I’m initially pulling three cards for wants, needs, and desires(one of my favorite simple spreads for myself, my go to) and then some motivational cards for closing advice. 

♡ Pile 1 ♡

Wants: Nine of Pentacles

Needs: The Empress

Desires: The Emperor

what i see is that you have a strong desire to see the seeds you have sewn in the past finally bear you fruit. you feel you have waited a long time to the point where you feel like ripping them while they are unripe. your lack of control in this process makes you feel anxious and powerless, causing you to double down acting extremely controlling and insensitive. it could be that money is a tender spot for you, perhaps you’ve experienced periods in your life where you had very little and you DID have to rip it from the tree early just to make ends meet and sustain yourself. you have both the emperor and the empress, representing a power and self mastery that is unrivaled in the entire tarot. yet your past hinders you from seeing this, or maybe even accepting it. a part of you feels unable to cope with this current waiting period because it could have cost you so much in the past. but now is different, you have grown so exponentially as a person and its time for you to truly embrace this. you ARE in control of your life, so you don’t need to overexert your power onto things, trying to rush against time. let this period of waiting be a lesson to you, to show you that good things DO come to people who wait. you have watered this plant every day so diligently. it is time for you to wait for the plant to do the work too, seeing how equal give and exchange with the world can bring you even more beautiful, fruitful results than you could have ever imagined. 

motivational cards: “I believe in you”, “Happiness blooms from within”

there is a need to work on the way you think about yourself. you lack a self belief to the point where it clouds your vision of the present. some good exercises for you would be to ground yourself when you are feeling powerless or even down and insecure. acknowledge the things you have achieved. maybe the voice in your head will tell you your achievements are small and insignificant, but this is not true. take the time to see how the ways you have progressed as a person have helped you in your life, to bring you to the point you are today. and remember that success is not defined by numbers-- money or followers or anything of that sort. success is progressing positively, even a little. when you first plant a seed, the first sprout is such an exciting and successful moment! and most importantly, you can never get to the flower if you don't get a sprout!

if you are interested in doing something more physical, there was a strong theme of growing plants here, and i would say that watering a plant everyday(literally) and meditating on how slowly but steadily it grows would help you build trust with the idea of equal give and take. you are the type to kick yourself for not doing enough, even when you're doing way tooo much. remind yourself as much as you can, you are enough! believe in the work you do and it will take you far on the path of prosperity and self love. good luck! ♡

♡ Pile 2 ♡

Wants: Seven of Cups

Needs: Four of Swords

Desires: King of Pentacles

this pile has a LOT of options in some area of your life, the word i am getting is opportunities. you are currently in this state of overthinking almost constantly. you feel you have to make a decision on what you are going to do/where you are going to go ASAP or shit will hit the fan and all hell will break loose. yet in all this thinking and forcing yourself to try and make a decision, you just fall deeper and deeper into a pit of confusion. your energy is just charging ahead aggressively, and there is a vibe that you are running from the past. sitting at this giant multi-fork in the road is making you feel extremely unstable. its like you are on a bike and you are trying to stand still with both your feet up, you feel like you will fall sideways into the ground. or that you are driving and at a stop sign and scared someone will pull up behind you while you don't know where to turn yet! but the reality of this situation is that rushing is not going to help you, even though this is going to make you soooo anxious. its time to step off the bike, and park on the side of the road. you have decisions to make and that's no simple task. there is this constant energy that you are looking behind you, that you don't want something to catch up because you wont be safe. like you have to go as far away as possible. its possible there are some things that have happened in your past that you felt controlled your life and there were all these rules set in place and now that you are finally gone from it you don't want to fall back in. the truth is you have left that situation in the dust! but it has left your sense of safety damaged as well as your ability to make decisions for yourself. decisions were made for you. you didn't choose, things were chosen for you. being in a cage became comfortable. the eyes that watched you so constantly made you feel safe. what you want is to feel independent, and free. but the first step to doing so is realizing that these feelings of the past are unhealthy, and weren’t meant for you forever. you feel paranoid now because its time for change, and that is never comfortable. you are a powerful and self sufficient being who IS ready to do whatever you want! and that means taking the time to ask yourself, “what do i really want?” what have you been denying yourself? do you feel like you are incapable? just plain bad so there is no point in trying? because that is what holds you back from identifying your true desires. you ARE capable, and its time you washed away any feelings from the past that tell you otherwise. 

motivational card: “Say yes to new adventures!”

the reality is that whatever choice you make is the right one for you. it might sound unrealistic, sure, but you live and you learn, and you have a lot of both to do! you don't need to feel rushed to make a decision because one might disappear either. if you don't catch it in time, it wasn’t meant to be, and that's okay! there is no one right decision that will make your life amazing. your life is a culmination of all the decisions you make, big and small. its absolutely ok to jump into things that make you excited, whether or not you are familiar with them. but most importantly, you have to take the time to see yourself for who you truly are and what you truly like. 

some exercises that would really help you are for one: napping-- and to extend off that, taking a couple minutes(or even seconds if you cant go for minutes yet) to close your eyes and let your body relax. listen to the sounds around you, and know you are safe to be who you want to be. finding places that bring you peace could be an adventure in itself. :3 when you find things you consider yourself to be bad at, pursue them wholeheartedly instead! if there are things you dont feel allowed to do, ~JUST DO IT~ you are allowed to explore and experiment with yourself, so find every mental chain you can and break them, one by one. and dont feel stressed if you cant finish this task quickly, its not easy at all. for some it can last a lifetime, but that is what it is all about. we live, we learn, and most importantly we find things that give us joy! so live your life to the fullest, walk where you please, hell, run if you want to. your life is for you and no one else. ♡

[xamaxenta]

I cut and slowed down this particular moment by about 20% from Ep 1025 because its so incredible to look at

Here we can see around (roughly) 4-5 frames of Marco anticipating the dive, where he positions his body into a head first situation with the perspective, all frames I think the first three four frames of him moving are running on 2s as part of the pre action and then the awesome wingbeat frames are two separated drawings on 1s

Here they are the sexy wingbeat frames:

Poor quality bc thats what happens when you muck around with timing a gif but you get the jist

Just look at the initial down pose its so powerful as a stand-alone, the shape of his wings and the way they have that V shape fucking poetic, his main body has yet to move which is what gives the powerup feel which is then further supported by the high contrast frames after

See second frame of the stark black and the gold spark, I thought the black bg only had the gold but theres one frame with the blue follow through fire of Marcos wings phasing out dramatically - not phasing out where hes cancelling his power but its a visual trick esp the shape of the blue fire is very hard and sharp looking, it leads the eyes because the golden sparkle of Marco himself comes through on all 1s and holy fucking shit it works

I didn’t add it here as its own cut so have the gif again:

But notice how the golden sparkles on the black bg part tilts towards the lower right corner of the frame?

Looks like huge wings banking during flight and its rly cool how Ota animated the effects like this bc it then cuts into a close up of Marco flying toward and past the camera and theres this delicious tilt back towards the left bottom corner like a rocking motion Idk how to explain it

But it sells the fact that hes riding the wind whilst controlling all of this insane power which he is hes gearing up to land a heavy blow to an enemy character, I just think the way the gold wingspan tilts to the right and then Marco cuts back in with his blue gold purple aesthetic and tilts back to the left visually it rocks it rocks my goddamn little socks off

Especially bc the injtial frames of Marco coming out of the sparkle effect is clean as hell then he blurs up its jsut hfnbngngg good animation really fucking good stuff

Praise Akihiro Ota for this sequence, dudes out there doing Gods work for Marco fans