Do you ever think about how when BMO plays pretend, they favor nomadic/loner roles like a cowboy, a hard-boiled detective, a traveling salesperson, etc., which is pretty in line with their directive from Mo. But when they really are on their own (eg in BMO Lost) they immediately, desperately establish a family from their surroundings.

And how one of those universal struggles of people, especially in the context of growing up (including but not limited to childhood) is dependence vs. independence. Wanting a hand to hold and wanting to be able to drop it at will. And how some people need to hold that hand less often than others, and how some people really don’t want to even when they really need to.

Finn and Jake get frustrated with each other and try to solve a dungeon separately, only to be met at every turn with a challenge that they can’t face without the other. Marceline travels for a thousand years and settles down here and there and picks back up because the people around her aren’t constant so she doesn’t want to be either. PB and IK each create an entire kingdom because they’re lonely, and neither of them feel whole because, just like the quarters of Ooo in Elements, living in those kingdoms is too much like living inside their own heads.

Every episode of Distant Lands is about characters who both resent and long for the versions of themselves they used to be— the versions who needed other people, the versions who could still insist they didn’t — and have to reconcile with the fact that they never really stopped being those people, but also that they can never really be those people again.

Every major character in the series is building connections and love and safety using whatever tools they have, and distancing themselves with equal effort. So they’re all kind of just alternating between playing cowboy and playing house, figuring out how to balance both and where they fit in between.

ERIN KELLYMAN as Jade Claymore Willow | 1.07 “Beyond the Shattered Sea”

WILLOW (2022 - PRESENT) 

This is the way…

The amorer is such a fascinating character to me! With the little bits we’ve gotten through the series she’s been shaped into an interesting part of Mandalore and a fun counterpart to Bo Katan. I wanted to draw how I imagine her journey in little important bits. I like to think she was amongst the Mandalorians exiled to Concordia when Satine’s new Mandalorians won the civil war. (I definitely think the tribes exist from before the clone wars, because Din had to end up in one of these to never see a Mandalorian taking their helmet off through his life as a foundling).

I know it sucks that she has banished Din, but it was their adherence to the creed what kept them alive so far, I find reasonable that she’s so harsh when it comes to it. And she still let him keep the dark saber despite not considering him a Mandalorian anymore, which I find super interesting. Emily Swallow, the actress who plays her, once said in an interview that the Armorer sees the potential that Din doesn’t see in himself.

I can only pray there’s a lot of nuance in the way they write her next xD I really don’t see her as a villain at all.

Anyway I had so much fun with this!! and it took me like…half a year to finish it cuz I’ve been so busy kajshdkaj finally it’s done!!!!!

the man who chainsaws doodles

the way kit looks at jade :)

Fleabag 2.04 | Russian Doll 2.07

One of the best tings Andor shows is a theme I noticed on a recent rewatch of The Clone Wars, interestingly enough coming to my notice especially through the Onderon arc:  The people of the galaxy cannot stay asleep on a war that is about their very lives. In the Onderon arc, the Separatists have legally taken over Onderon, deposing the original king and putting their puppet in his place.  There is a rebellion brewing on the planet, lead by Steela Gerrera, Saw Gerrera’s sister.  A major theme woven into the episode is that they cannot win back their freedom, they cannot defeat the Separatist occupation, without the will of the people being on their side. Steela says it more than once, they need the will of the people. It’s woven into other moments in the story, like when Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka are on Felucia and Sugi tries to say the Jedi are at fault for not keeping the peace, Obi-Wan points out that the rift in the galaxy is not their fault, if the people of the galaxy actually stood up for themselves, this fight would have been over long ago. And that’s what Andor is following up on and really hitting home–yes, Luke Skywalker is going to join the Rebellion and ultimately save the day, but the big point of Rogue One and now of Andor, is that the galaxy cannot be saved through the Jedi alone, they never have been.  That’s what the real shitshow of the Clone Wars was, that the galaxy sat around with their thumbs up their asses and waited for others to save them. Now?  Everything in Andor is about everyday citizens realizing they have to stand up.  Sure, Luke Skywalker is going to battle the Emperor, sure, it’ll be Darth Vader who yeets Palpatine down the reactor shaft.  But it is Cassian Andor who delivered those plans to the Rebellion.  It’s every pilot who flew an X-Wing.  It’s every Senator who risked their life to throw their weight into rebelling against fascism. It’s about how the will of the people has to be there and that every day citizens have to stand up and fight the fascist regime, that’s why so much of the show has to be set on Ferrix.  It could have been any planet–it is any number of worlds, the more the Empire tightens their grip, the more worlds slip through their fingers–but showing us Ferrix being choked by the Empire and the people standing up to fight alongside the Big Damn Heroes of the story, that is what it takes to achieve revolution. It can’t be down to just the Jedi to save the galaxy, there’s never enough of them, they can fight and die and give everything of themselves and it will never be enough because they’re only one in six billion of the galaxy. You need the will of the everyday people. You need everyday people to be willing to say, “Fight the Empire!” You need everyday people to be willing to pick up a brick and hit a fascist oppressor in the face. Andor is the story of how the people of the galaxy are finally waking up and realizing they need to be the ones to stand up, too.  You cannot defeat oppression without the will of the people and the willingness of those people to stand up.

The Andor finale played out gorgeously. I love the way both the ISB and Luthen’s intelligence cell were caught completely flat-footed by the uprising on Ferrix. It really called back to Luthen’s speech about being forced to use the tools of the enemy to defeat them: he may have predicted the Empire’s actions and motivations with 100% accuracy, but he ended up having the same blind spots.

Both groups thought they were in for a game of cat and mouse over Cassian Andor. Both were wrong for the same reason: the little people, the ones they’d written off as predictable puppets, were ready to take matters into their own hands.

This entire episode hammered home the idea of community as the most powerful weapon against oppression. Cassian could walk through people’s backyards, sewers, and kitchens to operate much more effectively than any spy, and Maarva’s speech speaks for itself. Her audience floods the streets; the fact that neither group caught wind of this level of turnout and organization in advance puts them to shame.

I can’t stop thinking about the way that when Robin hears Nancy’s name in Season 3 she rolls her eyes and calls her a priss, but then not five minutes later she runs into Nancy in the flesh who’s apparently in the thick of the insane situation Robin has become unwittingly wrapped up in. Her makeup is smudged and her hair is messy and she’s terse with Robin and all Robin can do is utter a flustered reply while giving her this look:

And then shortly afterwards Robin watches as Nancy plants herself in front of a station wagon full of kids and shoots at an oncoming speeding car with a pistol, fully ready to sacrifice herself to protect them. That night at the Star Court Mall changes everything Robin thought about this dainty, pretty, prissy girl who turns out to be a certified badass with nerves of steel. 

After this, Robin is smitten. She volunteers to go with Nancy the moment an opportunity presents itself. When they’re waiting in the library, she assumes that Nancy has some genius trick up her sleeve because since Star Court she’s built up an idea of who she is in her mind: brilliant and brave and tenacious. Robin is so desperate for Nancy to like her that she loses all pretense of sardonic aloofness that we see around other characters and the words start spilling out, exactly as she described when venting to Steve about how she behaves around girls she’s crushing on. 

Robin is self-conscious and apologetic about how she comes across to Nancy, she repeatedly tries to diffuse the underlying tension between them in any way that she can, and is particularly keen to emphasise the platonic nature of her friendship with Steve. Despite barely knowing Nancy, she starts using the nickname “Nance” right away. There’s a sincere and earnest effort to win Nancy’s approval and affection; Robin needs it more than she even realises.

And the thing is, it works. Nancy starts off cool and irritable and exasperated (which, one should point out, may be in no small part because she’d been up all night looking for her friend who she just found brutally murdered - cut her some slack folks!), but after those two hours with Robin in the library, she realises that she’s remarkably bright and creatively minded and complements her own logical way of thinking so well. You can see the journey she undergoes in that short period of time written on her face: bemusement and impatience soon give way to respect and the dawning realisation that she’s met her intellectual match, someone with the same insatiable curiosity and a whole new way of seeing the world to show her. 

Nancy has so many emotional walls built up from years of repression and trauma, especially surrounding having and losing friends (not to mention, potentially, her own repressed queerness), but Robin despite her insecurities over her lack of filter and tendency to ramble and her other personal quirks manages to steal in past those defences. After that first encounter together, Nancy wants Robin by her side at all times. Even though she knows Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max so much better, she picks Robin to come with her to Pennhurst, she asks Robin to explore the Creel House with her, she has Robin ride shotgun with her in her car. They stick together as a pair at every turn. 

This is so, so important: Nancy grows to like and care about Robin because of her being totally and utterly herself. The Robin whose mouth moves faster than her brain, the Robin who is relentlessly inquisitive and goofy and clumsy, the Robin who is at her most overtly neurodivergent around her. And Robin is slowly but surely finding confidence in herself and courage through that relationship, she’s taking risks she never would have before, and learning that her perceived flaws are actually strengths. When talking to Warden Hatch at Pennhurst with Nancy, it’s her runaway way with words that saves them and leaves Nancy incredibly impressed. The unmasked, unfiltered, beautiful gay disaster Robin Buckley is the person Nancy comes to admire and develops a deep fondness for. 

It’s been said many times before, but Robin and Nancy complete each other. As we’ve just established, Nancy quickly becomes a source of reassurance, inspiration and affirmation for Robin. And Robin is someone who can keep up with Nancy’s laser-focused fixations and faced-paced thinking, who can challenge her to consider things she never would have otherwise. She also encourages Nancy to be more honest with herself and makes her feel at ease at a time when she’s more lost than ever. Robin is always carefully reading Nancy and respects her opinions and feelings; she’s the friend and confidant Nancy has been missing in her life all this time since losing Barb.

When they’re talking in the woods, it’s not what Robin says about Steve or Jonathan that Nancy latches onto. What truly takes her aback is the realisation that Robin considers them to be friends, and both quietly, bashfully blush and smile to themselves at that confirmation. However adrift Nancy might be from her complex feelings over Jonathan and Steve or her unhealed emotional scars, she’s found an anchor in someone. However insecure Robin might feel about herself, she’s found a girl who she doesn’t have to pretend with.

And then we come to perhaps the most revealing scene of the season so far: when Eddie, Steve, Nancy and Robin are on the boat over Lover’s Lake. The parallels to Tammy Thompson are evident as Robin stares at Nancy who can’t pull her eyes away from Steve, and the way in which the camera focuses on the two characters in the frame imparts so much more than Robin simply being happy for the rekindled feelings of her friends. Her longing expression breaking into a soft smile and the bowing of her head feels like the sad acceptance of something she believes to be unattainable for her. 

Nancy demonstrates her trademark reckless abandon to protect the people she loves when she dives in to rescue Steve without hesitation after he’s pulled under, but Robin’s reaction is gut-wrenching as she cries out Nancy’s name and reaches for her. And then Robin, who beneath her snarky facade is far more scared than she likes to let on, pushes down those fears and without wasting a second moves to go after her with a sense of resigned determination. The framing of this scene, the dialogue and Maya Hawke’s performance make it clear that Robin is willingly following Nancy Wheeler into hell. As Eddie says, that’s as sure a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen. 

Regardless of whether the romantic subtext is intentional or this relationship is supposed to remain strictly platonic, Nancy and Robin’s blossoming friendship is a very special one. Having swiftly dismantled their presumptions about one another, they’ve found true synergy, inspiring and pushing each other to be the best versions of themselves. In spite, or rather because of their differences, the two are slowly but surely forging a profound bond that is already one of the most charming and memorable on the show to date, and with any luck, we’ll get some meaningful and moving payoffs to their arcs together in Vol 2. Perhaps, through each other, Nancy and Robin will finally find the closure, catharsis and connection they’ve been yearning for. 

Thanks so much to @meanlesbianrobin for providing the accompanying screenshots! 

ivy collecting girlfriends:

this pride month I am wishing everyone a very stop overanalyzing yourself and just have fun with it. have gay sex. don't have any sex. try on a new gender. stop caring about gender at all. talk to your doctor about hormones. go on a date. break up with the person you dont love. whatever it is you have been putting off doing by dithering about it in your head. just do that and fully experience how it feels without trying to put it into words. if you still need a word for it later there will be one. they aren't going anywhere. but people were here before language and there's only so far language can go in giving you a fulfilling human experience. so if you are hiding behind finding the right words for whatever it is your heart wants i hope this month you get the courage to just do it instead.

on the other hand. this guy gets it

im not joking when i say that this meme single handedly got me invested in learning how the fuck electrical production works small scale so that i could explain it to somebody from a millennium ago

If that's a thing that bothers you for more subjects then just electricity there's actually a book for this! That I own! That is both very stupid and fairly useful! And entertaining!

How to invent everything: a survival guide for the stranded time traveler is the book for you, complete with flowchart about how to identify what time you've landed yourself in! It's very funny and very fun and informative and starts with the production of written language and works it's way forward through inventions of varying complexity, all framed in the way of "so you got into this time machine from our company and it's broken, huh? Well tough fucking shit! Welcome to your new home!"

Follow your dream

winston duke!batman and hasan minhaj!riddler are soooo top tier, i’ve been having fun doodling them

DANA PARALLELED HER OWN FANART FROM LAST YEAR I-

I have so many thoughts about everything everywhere all at once and this doesn’t even scratch the surface but I’m thinking about the bagel vs the googly eyes as symbols and how they are effectively different interpretations the same shape (one symbolizing a meaningless void and the other symbolizing creating meaning through seeing and loving others) which is a microcosm of the film’s larger ideas of nihilism having the potential to either be damning or hopeful depending on how you interpret and react to it