Stuffs

Baby Magby!

And I learned to like that and see the appeal in that, sure. There are lots of stories that were made for an audience of little boys that I ended up liking. But I always wanted something that told me boys like me, who didn't want to be violent or competitive, who liked nurturing things and making friends, who avoided fights whenever allowed, were valid.

So I was really happy when Steven Universe came around and was exactly that - the kind of show a sensitive little boy like I used to be would have killed to see. And very shortly after that I was crushed when the growing criticism of the show repeated the refrain that it was bad mainly because Steven was a pacifist who cried and didn't want to be violent and liked nurturing things and making friends instead of killing people. I wasn't surprised, no, it made perfect sense people would hate it for being that, but I was crushed all the same.

Our society only accepts a very narrow definition of masculinity, and kindness isn't allowed to play a very big role in it. That's one of the reasons I quit it.

Jayfeather - The eye. Yeah. He was SO hellbent on knowing about the prophecy stuff early on, his whole dream walking thing, reading minds, like even his blindness fits. The blind cat Sees more than any other, yk?

Lionblaze - The slaughter. His intrusive thoughts about killing Heatherpaw/tail plus the whole Russetfur thing are the biggest reasons for this. But also! I remember that one scene in the mountains when he was fighting and it specifically described the way he lost himself in the violence.

Hollyleaf - The lonely. She always had the whole "I feel so separated from everyone else" thing going on. And then the tunnels stuff (fallen leaves is also Lonely btw) and I just REALLY feel like she fits the whole isolation thing. "Lonely even in a room full of people" and whatnot. I can also see some buried influence but that's mostly just bc of the tunnels I'm ngl.

Dovewing - The vast. It makes sense guys trust me like her whole thing was being able to hear and observe things *so far away* like!! She was able to observe the unobservable. Especially early on with the beaver stuff, when she didn't even realize she was different from anyone else, it just feels so Vast to me

Ivypool - The desolation. Her whole dark forest training stuff ofc, the whole cruelty and pain of the desolation heavily influencing her. But then I also feel like this applies to her losing Bristlefrost as well. The desolations whole thing (aside from the fire) is permanently destroying the things that truly matter to someone. It just feels very fitting.

Sol - The stranger. This strange guy just shows up with the knowledge of some terrifying and disorienting event about to take place. And then he changes the way shadowclan functions and convinces Blackstar to stop following Starclan. Plus, the whole "mistaken for a lion" thing. He's so stranger.

Ashfur - The web. I went back and forth with this one a lot. Desolation? Stranger? Hunt? But I've settled on the web. His whole thing in TBC is what decided it for me, tbh. His whole everything is very obsessive and not super thought through, but the manipulation and control that's consistent with his character is what makes him of the web, imo.