useful-shits - Tumblr blog

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hey here's a website for downloading any video or image from any website.

works w/ youtube, soundcloud, twitch, twitter (gifs and videos), tumblr (video and audio), and most other websites you're probably lookin to download stuff off of.

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the notes are broken 😂

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I wish Americans fucked with more foreign music. You don’t have to know the language to appreciate a good record. Folks in other countries listen to our music and don’t speak a lick of english. Music needs no translator

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Quotes and idea shamelessly stolen from @ravenkinnie‘s Jinx-BPD meta.

(If anyone would be willing to describe these images for me, I’d super appreciate it.)

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cr: 百变花央

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Art advice 👀🎨

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Hello world! The Deathstroke: Family & Enemies Zine is an upcoming project surrounding shining a spotlight on the people who have been trapped in the shadow of DC Comics’s most infamous mercenary!

You can find the interest check here and more information on our carrd here. Follow this tumblr for more updates! 

@zine-scene @zinefeed @zinefans​ @dczines​

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On Viren, Evil Queens & Queer Coded Villains

In an interview with Cartoon Universe titled Season 3, Runaans Plan, and Aaravos Speech! The Dragon Prince Interview with Creators, Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond, talked about how an early concept for The Dragon Prince that they played with was the idea of “not evil step mother” (around the 26:35 mark).

This could relate to the creators’ desires to showcase non-traditional families and not to demonize stepparents. Harrow, for example, while keeping an unfortunate distance from Callum, is a loving stepdad. However, so far in The Dragon Prince we haven’t encountered a stepmother, good or evil. My theory is that “not an evil stepmother” relates to Viren.

In many ways, Viren epitomizes the evil queen/evil stepmother archetype. In fact, there are numerous scenes and aspects of Viren that directly parallel famous evil queens and stepmothers. Here are just some of the examples:

1.     Like the Evil Queen in Snow White Viren has a magic mirror that he demands answers from. Mysterious all-knowing beings inside the mirrors answer back.

2.     Viren orders his own “huntsman” (Soren) to kill a royal heir (Ezran) that has a deep connection to animals. Soren like the Huntsman can’t bring himself to kill the young royal. 

3.     Viren’s green voice stealing spell is an obvious reference to Ursula’s voice stealing spell in The Little Mermaid.

4.     Like Mother Gothel in Tangled and Queen Ravenna in Snow White and the Huntsman, Viren hides his true appearance (which is “ugly” and scary) with glamour magic where he takes the life force of younger, beautiful beings and uses them to keep an attractive appearance.

5.     Viren also shares visual similarities with the Evil Queen, Cinderella’s stepmother and Maleficent such as their circle jewel pendant, dramatic collar, black and purple colors, staffs, their scowls, postures, & attitudes.

6.     Like Cinderella’s stepmother Viren has two children that are kind of dopes & are sometimes mean to the princes. He expects a lot from them.

7.     Viren’s magic is often visually like evil queens’ magic, both are presented as dark & disturbing. 

8.     Like Viren, evil queens make magic with suspicious, “disgusting” ingredients & cast spells w/ staffs. Both seem to take from nature & threaten & exploit youthful & natural “innocence.”

I would argue that Viren was the “not evil stepmother” that was one of the starting ideas behind The Dragon Prince. He’s technically not one because he’s a man. But he embodies the role in significant ways. For me, this is another layer that adds to Viren’s queer coding. (If you want to read the other parts of my Viren is Queer analysis, you can read them here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). Here’s why:

Keep reading

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"Immature people crave and demand moral certainty: This is bad, this is good. Kids and adolescents struggle to find a sure moral foothold in this bewildering world; they long to feel they’re on the winning side, or at least a member of the team. To them, heroic fantasy may offer a vision of moral clarity. Unfortunately, the pretended Battle Between (unquestioned) Good and (unexamined) Evil obscures instead of clarifying, serving as a mere excuse for violence — as brainless, useless, and base as aggressive war in the real world."

Ursula K Le Guin at it again, being right as always

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Aftershock hurts too bad I dont wanna watch it you cant make me

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ok but what if i’d die to see that?

You can take a 'Joey joins the team pre-Tara and figures out what's happening when she joins' AU in two directions.

The first is the realistic one. This involves Joey and his mom slowly working to take Deathstroke out while trying to convince Tara he's abusing her without letting her know they're onto her because she'll snitch. Afterwards, Tara gets adopted by Adeline and starts working through her trauma, while Joey tries to work through the complicated feelings he has towards his father.

The second one is the one where Joey figures out his dad's a pedophile and goes 'by god I don't kill people BUT MY MOM DOES', Adeline lands her shot this time, and Tara becomes yet another murderous addition to the Kane family and the human embodiment of 'excuse me, he asked for NO PICKLES'.

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Meanwhile my problem with Terra storyline

is how much slut-shaming and this idea of what girls “should be” was wrapped so deeply in it in the comics

The cartoon wasn’t perfect either, there was the whole deal where she couldn’t control her powers- women with power are dangerous!!! And the whole trope of how young girls are easily taken in by predatory men and girls down’t want power it makes life hard- but Terra was supposed to be a sympathetic character and a hero and Slade wasn’t. And it was totally about her journey and she was relatable and she had an ending where she chose that she wanted.

The comics tho it was like- complete “Terra is the worst person ever” and Slade is a totes sympathetic dude  who Gar has lunch with and bonds with and he gets off scot-free despite the fact the whole fucking betrayal and murder was his idea and oh yeah he committed statuatory rape on a sixteen year old girl and manipulated her and exploited her anger and hatred to get what he wanted. But he was doing it to like…honor his son or something! For the organization that KILLED HIS SON! SO THAT’S OKAY. 

Also, I love George Perez, but he specifically said we were supposed to totes know Terra was evil when she was done up in heavy makeup and skimpy clothing and having sex with Slade. Because trying to betray your friends isn’t a sign of evil BUT OMG SHE’S HAVING SEX AND WEARING MAKEUP BURN HER BUUUURN. So much fucking slut shaming there. And never mind that I felt it was more proof that Slade was evil as he was having sex with a teenager. at fifty. And then he totally used the “but she came on to me!” to justify it. Fuck you.

And then there was the whole thing of Terra being flat-chested and tomboyish with an overbite and therefore seethingly jealous of all the prettier girls on the team. Because tomboys secretly hate all feminine women and want to kill them and plus are so unnatractive omg. “Ugly” women are evil!In the cartoon she was also tomboyish and flat chested, but it was…like not a negative thing, she was never resentful of the other girls because of it (in fact she actually forged friendships with the other girls le gasp), it was never even mentioned, and yeah.

Also the whole relationship with Beast Boy- in the comics, she made it clear she wasn’t interested and constantly insulting him, but he kept like, creeping on her. Because he’s a creeper. And there was really no reason for him to have a crush on her because she hated him and yeah, but apparently he liked her because she was you know the only girl around his age he had a chance with. In the cartoon, it was clear why he liked her, they bonded over peppy attitudes and huge eating habits. But in the comics, we’re supposed to feel so sorry for Gar and it was so shitty Terra betrayed him except she always made it clear she thought he was a creep and he was completey delusional not to see that.

And then the Titans are painted like perfect angels  who were OMG BETRAYED UNJUSTLY in the comics despite the fact they treated Terra pretty shitty (see Beast Boy, see calling her on things they let the rest of the team get away with) and in the cartoon, it was made clear that they weren’t angels and their actions helped lead Terra to this point- what with Robin being all insensitive about “OH AND I REALIZE YOU HAVE PROBLEMS” and her running off as a result, and Beast Boy’s reaction to her betrayal completely scaring her off despite her begging him for support and help (and he owned that) and finally her rant to Robin about how goddamn condescending he can be was basically spot on and I think the viewer was supposed to know that. 

And finally the fact that the twist was just “Terra is insane and hates everyone and totally deserves to die and she let herself to her own death WITH HER OWN POWERS just so we can make it clear she’s every evil female stereotype”. How…super edgy and complex. A one dimensional evil character! A woman we’re supposed to hate! Never seen that before! It’s ridic lazy and not a “moral” at all. Also the idea that insanity and mental instability naturally equals violent and hateful. ALSO WE SHOULD TOTALLY BLAME PEOPLE FOR THEIR MENTAL ILLNESS.

And like I said Slade gets off scot free, despite being sane the whole time and really doing nothing to redeem himself. In the cartoon, Slade was murdered by the girl he manipulated at least. He came back later, but so did Terra, and she got the life she wanted. Maybe. Possibly?

So yeah, the cartoon story line had it’s problems, but at least Terra wasn’t a one dimensional mass of stereotypes and the storyline wasn’t basically “dudes do what they want, chicks die for their sins”

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In the comics, Slade did not manipulate Terra. Pt1

Do not mistake the animated Terra from Teen Titans with the 1980s comic version of her.

They are not the same person except for their background where she is the daughter of a king’s mistress, and the half-sister to Geo-force!

Teen Titan’s Terra was a victim. She feared her own power, and needed someone to help her gain control.

80s Comic’s Terra wasn’t a victim. She was evil and bitter with full control of her abilities and potential. 

Also do not mistake Teen Titan’s Slade with the 80s-90s Deathstroke.

Teen Titan’s Slade is a mysterious villain who wants to gain power through any means necessary.

Deathstroke is a mercenary with an ambiguous code of ethics who just wants a soldier’s job of his choosing.

Their only similarities is that their super, badass, old men with Joey and Rose as their children, Wintergreen as his butler, and have a relationship with the Teen Titans.

(I do not hate this version of Slade bc I grew up with him, and he isn’t a moron. Go ahead and make him a bad guy, just don’t make him a moron.)

Their relationship is drastically different!

TT Slade manipulated terra to join him. Deathstroke recruited her, and she willingly joined. Why?

She was corrupted that even Slade feared her, and they used each other. It was a sick, MUTUAL relationship.

And she was worse than Slade! As pointed out in the middle of Slade’s and Garfield’s conversation:

And with the whole sexual relationship, she was 16. It was unlawful sex with a minor, and I won’t deny that.

But she was not forced. She was not manipulated either. It was consensual, and it would make sense that Terra was the one who wanted to be lovers first. Anyone who likes to stay alive and keep their plans in action would not reject a crazy girl like Terra. Just saying.

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Vi's reaction to Powder's screw up was totally understandable and in some ways justified though. There's Let Me Be Bad and there's The Consequences of My Actions are Never My Fault. I believe Jinx falls more in the second category than the first, and no amount of love or trust can fix that if the person is hell bent on staying in that mindset.

I don't recall her ever using her psychosis & trauma as an excuse, though? I think it's a giant mistake to read her as doing anything than trying to find a way to exist where she doesn't fucking hate herself and live in a constant state of regret over what she's done. Ironically, that sort of repression and "I GUESS I'M JUST A TERRIBLE FUCK UP LMAO" doesn't let her truly process what's happened so it manifests in her hallucinations.

I don't think Jinx has been given a safe space to explore healing. She was given only a tiny glimpse of the possibility of a safe space and a trusting relationship with Vi during the tea party and it seemed so possible to her, that for a moment that it caused her to question her identity as an unlovable fuck up who destroys everything she touches and completely destabilized her.

So yeah, I think Jinx is actually the opposite of someone who happily uses their illness to avoid accountability. She lives her guilt every day and endlessly struggles with it. She’s forged an entire identity around becoming what she’s done. 

Her “Lol I’m baaaaad and dangerous, don’t you know??” is just her attempt to pretend to herself that she’s okay with it. She’s very, very not.

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btw what I said on twitter about Jinx is that decision to make her schizophrenic aside (because that is hugely problematic, the portrayal of psychotic folks in media is pretty much universally terrible and wrong), the portrayal of mental illness contained a lot of elements I really liked. 

First of all, Jinx is shown to be very vulnerable, searching for someone to love and trust, and unfortunately this made it possible for Silco to exploit her to his own ends. He may have loved her (and perhaps he genuinely did, as much as he’s able to), but their relationship was extremely toxic and he stoked her insecurities and cut her off from other supports and other people. He manipulated her to make her MORE insecure, and therefore more unstable. I adored how intensely vulnerable she was - this is something that rarely gets shown properly in media. Mentally ill folks and folks with psychiatric conditions are so, so vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. 

Secondly, I loved how ‘Jinx’ was created. Powder had her heart broken so many times trying to do the right thing, it was so easy for Silco to tell her ‘she’s fine the way she is’ and let her lean into all the things that was bad for her. It’s such a relief to embrace being a bad person if people have been saying all along that you are. It’s so much more peaceful to be like “FINE I GUESS I’M BAD THEN” and just behave the way everyone expects you to. It hurt so much for Jinx to try and help when she feels like she keeps failing, it feels so much more comfortable to be like, “You think I’m dangerous, crazy and that I’m someone who ruins everything? FINE THEN. I AM. I AM THAT PERSON. WHATEVER.” than it does to try to heal when there’s no one to support your healing. 

Jinx isn’t evil. her vulnerabilities are exploited and she’s been used to Silco’s own ends. What she needs are healthy relationships (and therapy, and perhaps the right combination of antipsychotic and mood stabilizer) in order to heal and potentially even have a full remission. 

Also, on therapy, all her psychosis was very clearly triggered by her complex PTSD, which leads me to think if she had therapy for her PTSD her psychosis would be much better controlled even without meds (although tbh she’ll probably always need meds and that’s okay). 

I hope she gets her happy ending in coming seasons.