thisonerandomgirl

Latest Posts by thisonerandomgirl

I really love the changes the Avatar Live Action Series does to the Bumi storyline

Warning Spoilers

So I've been weeding into the discussion about the Netflix Avatar series, and I'm seeing a lot of people talk about how they don't like the changes done to Bumi's storyline and character; when I think it is one of the strongest changes, and really hits home what Aang's role in the world is

First off, I want to say, over a decade since I've been introduced to the series, it never clicked to me that Bumi, being over a hundred years old, has been alive and been fighting the war against the Fire Nation the entire time Aang was frozen. We don't know necessarily how he came to power as King (I don't get the feeling he was born royalty?); but we can maybe assume that he was forced into power at a young age, or at the very least forced to take responsibility and grow up very early and very fast. And that weighs on him, the sacrifices, the choices; something that Iroh in his storyline brings up, the dehumanization that results from war. Both to others and yourself. And when Aang shows up again, young and happy and just the same as he was before the war, Bumi is bitter. And every time he says "You abandoned us" the unspoken thing is "You abandoned me." More than needing the Avatar to fight battles, Bumi needed his friend.

So when Aang shows up again, he decides to teach him a lesson. To toughen him up like he was toughened up. To teach him he was to harden himself, to grow up, to sacrifice others, to not trust his friends, to be ruthless, to kill or be killed. Because that has to be what the Avatar is to win the war.

And Aang says NO

Aang refused, just like in the animated series when everyone tells him he has to kill Ozai and he says he will find another way. He refuses to cut off his feelings. He refuses to become heartless. He refuses to sacrifice others or let his friends die. And what happens? He remains strong and together with his friends, pointedly a bender of another nation and a non-bender, they find another way save everyone; to remind Bumi of their friendship, of what life was like before the war. That there is more than just hate and war and despair.

Bumi is not the teacher. Aang is

Because Aang the Avatar is more than just the most powerful bender. He is a symbol of hope. He is a rejection of everything Ozai says this season: that compassion is weakness, that sacrifice is a part of war, that you must give up the weak to be strong. We see Aang's return brings hope to the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Fire Nation dissidents. He represents and shows them that there is a different way. That they can work together, that they can find joy, find happiness, that the war can be won.

The Shadow fangirlies have BEEN served and will CONTINUE to be served GOOD food in this holy year of 2024

Me when I saw Black Doom’s squid eye in the new SonicXShadow Generations trailer:

Not me coming back on here just to find out Argyle isn’t gonna be in the next season…like bro was the best part of season 4 and they aren’t gonna make him come back??? Great way to ruin your fucking show, not like most people are gonna watch it anyways cause some of your fucking cast members can’t even show compassion to those who are hurting (and dying) as we fucking speak…fucking ridiculous.

The way Stranger Things just ripped Argyle away from us is so cruel. It's not a complete friend group without 'The Stoner Who Has a Job and a Driver's License™️'

Nothing will get done w/o him.

With the general consensus around James Potter being “ yeah he was an ass in school but he grew out of it and changed for the better”, I often wonder if that would still hold true if the entirety of Snape’s Worst Memory was shown in the movie. And I mean everything.

Not just Snape being verbally humiliated and emasculated in front of all his peers, but being (the equivalent of) tied up and gagged, and forcibly putting him in a position that exposes his underwear and threatened even further with exposing his private areas.

Reading the scene should be enough to leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth but to see it play out visually, it would be harder to brush it off as “boyish behavior or horseplay” imo.

THE SHADOW FANGIRLIES ARE EATING GOOD TONIGHT Y’ALL

Even though King Julien’s character in the PoM show is more selfish and narcissistic, I love that Julien’s soft spot for children is consistent across the board.

When I first started AHKJ and watched S2E8:“Daddy Julien”, despite the weirdness of Mort pretending to be his son, I loved seeing Julien act so sweet and caring towards his “child”. He feed him, played with him, read parenting books, and comforted “Prince Falcon” when he got upset. It really drives home the point of what Julien truly desires: a family of his own, where he can give unconditional love and receive it in return (likely stemming from his neglectful upbringing with his own parents).

At first I thought “if only this side of King Julien existed early on in the PoM show “. But, after rewatching the show recently, there is definitely moments where his paternal side shines through!

Some notable examples are:

Lemmy the Robot Lemur 🤖: Julien was so happy to “raise” Lemmy and teach him all his dance moves, it is very similar to how a father proudly teaches his son all his favorite activities to spend time together. He was so unexpectedly heartbroken when the penguins blew him up that they decided to fix Lemmy again to make him happy. He acted like such a proud dad too when he saw Lemmy on TV before he was eaten by an alien.

Eggy the Duckling 🐣: In his first appearance, Julien was smitten with that tiny duck egg. He had a whole song dedicated to him! Singing about all the things him and his “JJ” would do together once he hatched. My heart broke for him when Mama Duck took Eggy back and said “Does she get to keep ALL the JJ’s”. But when he returned, Julien encouraged Eggy’s (albeit dangerous) dream of being a commando. And when Eggy couldn’t defeat him, he cheered him up by showing him the ways of “shaking booty”. Cause there was no way his “JJ” would be sad on his watch!

Baby Skipper 🐧: Julien was gushing over baby Skipper, whom he named “Petey”, about how cute and tiny he was. And despite being an annoying babysitter, Julien still tried to take good care of him. He played peak-a-boo with him, “feed” him (a misconstrued way yes but it’s the thought that counts), and sang him a lullaby. But his greatest moment was when he jumped in front of “Petey” to protect him from a flying brick thrown his way. That lemur would do anything to protect an adorable baby!

Baby Fossa 🐱: Though he spent most of the episode being afraid of the baby fossa and tried to ship him away, the minute the fossa called him “dada” he did a compete 180! He went as far as to keep him safe from Savio! You know, the giant boa snake whom Julien abandoned the Penguins and Marlene to in a previous episode, and even offered himself up to be eaten first instead of the baby fossa. He has such a soft spot for babies, it’s implied he stayed around the fossa afterwards despite being bitten by him constantly, and referred to himself as “papa” when saying goodbye on the fossa’s last day at the zoo.

It goes to show that even in his worst adaptations, Julien still has a good heart deep down❣️, at least when it comes to children.

Even though it’ll likely never happen, if Dreamworks ever decides to give him kids, I firmly believe King Julien would make a great papa! 👨‍👧‍👦

Eduardo Franco as Argyle STRANGER THINGS - Chapter Nine: The Piggyback

ever since someone pointed out that they have the same smile and look a bit alike i can’t stop thinking about it i just wanna curl up and cry

have these random gifs

Warning: flashing lights/bright colors/Sonic Prime spoilers

This is the plot of Sonic Prime, right?

A fun fact about me is that I utterly loathe Stranger Things as a clumsy narrative and as a pop culture megalith—except in the areas where it concerns the 5-ish characters that were written with some genuine depth or pizazz and thus too good for the series to effectively explore.

joseph quinn at stranger con, november 6th 2022.

New headcanon: As a way to make amends with Max for how he behaved at the Byers’, he would give her and the party rides to the arcade whenever needed 🥹

I'll never get over the fact the year book implies Billy used to drop off a bunch of the kids at the arcade

how dacre sleeps knowing he makes non romanticized abuse victims feel heard, safe and less alone:

how the billy fandom sleeps knowing that antis hate on dacre and demonize him and mock his trauma:

The Silenced Victims Meta

Similar to both Severus Snape and Ben Solo, Billy got the same narrative treatment of an abuse victim who didn’t “cope properly” being punished by no one giving a shit except that one “special person” bullshit and I hate it.

Because what a backhanded ass concept. 

Harry for Severus: Harry is literally the only person alive who knows or cares about everything Severus did in the background for years to stop Voldemort. The only one who gave a shit about his own father’s bullying of Severus and showed to be disgusted with it.

Rey for Ben Solo: Again, the only person left alive who knows about Ben’s abuse by Snoke and him sacrificing his life for her. Hell, it’s not even known if Ray told anyone about it. She’s the only one who mourned his death (thanks novels) and saw him as a human and not a monster.

Max for Billy: Once again, only person that gives a shit that he’s dead (yeah know besides his abuser) only person that seems to care about his sacrifice. Oh, and let’s not forget the kick in the face line of “Your braver than you’re brother.” You know your brother who tried to fight off an interdimensional mind controlling monster for weeks alone. The one who sacrificed his life to stop it from, who knows taking over the world. But who cares about that, the writers clearly don’t.

So, have you guys noticed a fucked up pattern here?

Abuse victim who did not cope properly must sacrifice their life for some great or good, and even than what they did will never fully be recognized.

Even in death the narrative is still actively punishing them, by either lack of acknowledgement or their sacrifice being reduced. Similar to the very abuse they faced.

Notice something else these three all have in common? No support system. No one to turn to, no one to acknowledge their abuse, no one to help them. And yet this itself isn’t even acknowledged or even brought to attention in the story.

Now in the end am I saying all these writers planned this narrative? No

But am I pointing out how strangely common this formula is? Yes

Because it gives a message. Those who react badly to their abuse via anger or bad coping mechanisms deserve the bare minimum in storytelling.

They don’t get redemption arcs. You don’t get to see them heal, see them progress. Because they’re sacrifice was all they were in the end and even that won’t be acknowledged. Even in death they’re silenced once again.

The anguish on El’s face just screams “Well shit, if this is how my best friend feels about her own BROTHER, what will she think of me if she hears about all horrible stuff I did?”

El knows she could have easily been a female version of Billy if she didn’t get an intervention in the form of the party, Hopper, and the Byers family. So to hear her best friend talk about another abused kid like that….it must have hurt deeply.

billy fans 🤝🏽 el: understanding billy's actions and sympathizing with his past

*chuckles in latina*

my favorite genre of antis is assuming im white for liking billy.

I was planning to take a small social media break but I saw the amazing headcanon that Argyle and Billy might have been friends in California! It such a sweet idea that I just had to draw something with that :) There’s something so special about childhood friendships and having seen someone through everything including growth spurts and the preteen awkward phase! And in a scenario where Billy lived, seeing that pizza van would be like some sort of miracle after everything he’s endured.

As a Billy fan, I agree with your stance. I can understand where the distain for Susan comes from though. Us fans tend to feel angry on behalf of this scared and abused boy who’s other primary caregiver didn’t help him when he needed it most. But, I think it’s important to remember abusive households breed complicated dynamics as well. Perhaps Susan was scared that Neil might turn his wrath on her and her daughter if she dared question his “parenting methods” or make the situation worse for Billy if he had to have “a woman come to his rescue”. Neil obviously had the upper hand in physical strength and financial power, so he could make everyone pay dearly if she ever intervened. Do I think she still had a duty towards Billy as his stepmother to try and do more to protect him? Yes. But fear is a powerful tool. And quite effective in keeping people under your vicinity in line. Sympathy should be extended to Susan as well when discussing the members of the Hargrove-Mayfield household. Just my opinion.

I don’t care about Billy discourse, I don’t hate Billy haters or sympathizers. I just don’t get why Billy sympathizers hate Susan so much, like you will write a whole dissertation on how Billy’s abuse affects how he acts, but when Susan shows up your armchair psychology degree suddenly goes away and the woman too scared to stand up to her abusive husband is actually just a callous bitch who loves to see her stepson in pain ig. Like she is clearly not perfect but oh my god

Yeah, let’s be honest. Many people view Steve through fanon colored glasses. He is always reluctant, and even annoyed, to be dragged into whatever schemes the kids concocted. And yeah sure, he protects the kids when it comes down to it but it’s mostly out of a sense of obligation (being the oldest), not because they’re his uwu children. The only one he has a genuine bond with is Dustin (and maybe Max but even then we can’t be sure since we don’t see Steve visit Max in the hospital). The rest of them are kinda just there lmao. No hate on Steve, but his character has really been warped from how he really is in canon.

Real talk… the babysitter steve narrative is very fanon. Steve within the show never like… actually cares about the kids? Lmfao this is the same man who let a random 10 year old join his Russian conspiracy plot because no one else could fit in a vent like… I think y’all need to start opening your eyes

Is it weird that I haven’t really been a fan of Stranger Things proper in years? Like, I consider myself:

1. Abused Rat Bastard Public Defender

2. Hapless Romantic for the Chaos and Complexity of Harringrove, Mungrove, Argilly, and Other Trash Rat Pairings

3. Fascinated Theorist of the Woefully Under-Explored Hargrove-Mayfield Family

…

…

9999999. Actual Fan of the Show

I feel like an old-timey prospector trying to divine gold nuggets from dirt. Because there are some truly interesting, worthwhile elements scattered around the place that I’ve seen other writers spin into incredible stories.

But overall… whatever the show has ultimately become doesn’t really do it for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Is defending Billy Hargrove really the hill you want to die on?”

Well yeah I’ve already planted my feet so like

Billy & Argyle || Wouldn't It Be Nice

am i the only one who’s sad that joe got to play metallica and meet the band, even though billy’s favorite song is the four housemen and metallica is probably his favorite band?

i know that eddie’s character is its own but i can’t shake the feeling that eddie’s character was given a storyline billy could have had (if anyone had cared about him)

mother, son and holy spirit