Overenthusiastic

Hello. I'm Ganaroth, which is totally a meaningful name, and not an overpowered NPC from a D&D game that I DMd back in high school. I'm a nerd who somehow knows nothing about computers, but a lot about 15th century literature. And cartoons. And video games. And other things that aren't computers. Copyeditor, occasional writer, intense social justice slacktivist.

[riovidalll]

what if i posted the new enemies with benefits au chapter…. haha jk…. unless???

[novantinuum]

i don’t think it’s really hit me until now that nothing’s gonna be quite as special to me as steven universe perhaps… ever

like i’ve watched things like she-ra, and kipo, and the owl house, and i saw s1 of infinity train, and they’re… fun? but man, these characters have not been resonating in my heart like anyone in steven universe. like, i don’t feel like i can ask myself “what is this character doing in between these episodes” and give a solid answer, because i don’t really know who they are beyond a few entertaining personality traits. and that goes double for anyone who’s not the main cast.

like, nothing against these shows, because they’re all a lot of fun. i still enjoy them. but damn. SU was kinda something else, for me. it somehow transcended the barriers of traditional storytelling and this world took a hold of my heart like no other. so yeah. all this new stuff is cool, but… bruh. this is definitely remaining a SU-focused blog for a long while yet.

[omganaroth]

I think I feel this way about Steven Universe AND She-ra. Also Battlestar Galactica, and a few other live action shows, but let's keep it confines to cartoons for now. Oh, and since I prefer to put anime under that umbrella, let's add Kino's Journey.

She-ra just grabbed me. Something about the character dynamics resonates so deeply with me that it's impossible to shake. The complexity of their relationships is stunning to me.

That being said, Steven Universe is objectively the more influential show. It changed the very face of animation, (and here I tread on blasphemy) even more than shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Seriously, look up the cartoons that were available in 2013 before SU showed up, and compare them to the ones we have now. The overall tonal difference is staggering. Steven Universe is lynchpin of modern animation, and deserves its accolades. The fact that there is no more, barring some possible future return along the lines of Adventure Time's Distant Lands specials, is a source of ineffable sadness to me. Luckily that show is as expansive as any piece of literature I've ever seen, so I don't see a problem with making this a permanent SU blog.

People still write reams about Shakespeare and Homer, after all, and for my money SU is on the same level. No, I'm not engaging in Hyperbole.

Most of my planned fanfiction is She-ra based, though, because despite enjoying it approximately as much, I'm considerably less afraid of touching it, for whatever reason.

[omganaroth]

I have many strong opinions on the current SPoP events. However, I am only a member of a couple of the different groups that have grievances at this time, and not the ones with the strongest issues either. In light of that, it's really not my place to suggest to people how they should feel.

I am however very sad and upset that this is happening, and I think most of us can agree about that much.

[omganaroth]

This is a post that also contains a fanfic.

I finally managed to will Chapter Six of “Rainbow Wings” into being, and it is now posted on Ao3. Check it out if you like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and can stand my writing. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22991077/chapters/63523975

[novantinuum]

Check it out if you’re into canon divergent AUs, fantastic characterization, and epic expansion of lore! This is a fantastic story :D

[omganaroth]

Your compliments are always too nice. :D

[omganaroth]

This is a post that also contains a fanfic.

I finally managed to will Chapter Six of “Rainbow Wings” into being, and it is now posted on Ao3. Check it out if you like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and can stand my writing. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22991077/chapters/63523975

[novantinuum]

it is quite honestly my belief that connie maheswaran,,, simply won’t die

she just won’t

she’s too powerful

powerful enough to look the concept of death and entropy in the eye and say “nah, no thanks, i’ll pass” and then just, NOT EVER DIE

[omganaroth]

Okay, people. Seeking one pic or shop of Connie Maheswaran as an unstoppable terminator robot, or similar.

[ashidaii]

read a neat book called Warbreaker and felt inspired to draw two of the main characters

[omganaroth]

Whaaaaaa? Random Brandon Sanderson Cosmere fanart out of left field? You have very expressive faces that suit Vivenna and Sisirinah well. Of course, now all that I want to is for you to draw the cast of “The Stormlight Archive” (recommended if you liked Warbreaker) in this style. 

[cynthi-universe-archive]

Playing around doodle. Steven and Connie would absolutely wear masks. Mostly I just wanted to draw them wearing them. lol that’s all.

Also wanted to play with a lazy pastel coloring look.

[omganaroth]

What’s great about this, besides the art of course, is that Steven almost certainly doesn’t need to wear that mask. He’s a living universal cure. If a virus got into him, he’d heal himself immediately, and thus become unable to infect others either. He’s the only human being who actually has no reason to be masked for his own or anyone else’s safety. But he would definitely wear a mask anyway, because he would want to set a good example for others.

[citrusella-flugpucker]

((TBH, I think this depends entirely on whether he’s capable of spreading it asymptomatically.

Like, does he just have a real strong immune system? Or does it heal the effects the pathogen has but not deal with the root problem (i.e. like that guy on Spongebob that was just raining punches on Spongebob while Spongebob had no ill effects, until the guy tired himself out from punching so much)?

One means he may well be incapable of spreading it. The other makes him a walking vector without potentially knowing. ._.

STEVEN, WHY ARE THE INNER WORKINGS OF YOUR BIOLOGY AN ENIGMA????

EDIT: But he would absolutely wear a mask, I agree))

[omganaroth]

Whether Steven cures root causes or only symptoms is indeed unclear, especially since we mostly see him reversing injuries, in which the two are the same. However, given that he is capable of restoring Connie’s eyesight, broken inanimate objects, and reversing the effects of bio-poison (to the extent of creating new life), it seems like his ability functions as a general “fixes what he thinks of as being a problem” effect. In which case, I would argue that it eliminates the virus entirely. The power seems extensive enough that it’s not a reach. Not that this is the point, of course. It’s headcanon to say Steven can kill viruses. It’s simple canon that Steven would want to do the right thing and protect others. :)

[cynthi-universe-archive]

Playing around doodle. Steven and Connie would absolutely wear masks. Mostly I just wanted to draw them wearing them. lol that’s all.

Also wanted to play with a lazy pastel coloring look.

[omganaroth]

What’s great about this, besides the art of course, is that Steven almost certainly doesn’t need to wear that mask. He’s a living universal cure. If a virus got into him, he’d heal himself immediately, and thus become unable to infect others either. He’s the only human being who actually has no reason to be masked for his own or anyone else’s safety. But he would definitely wear a mask anyway, because he would want to set a good example for others.

[thegoatsongs]

This is why everything was framed as a “friendship” during the first few seasons. From Glimmer’s jealousy over Bow’s new “friend”, to Scorpia’s striving to be Catra’s “friend”. No romance allowed because 2016 elections and homophobia.

Also they somehow convinced them that the dip was platonic…

[omganaroth]

The best part about this, really, is that if the company was truly insistent that everything be framed as friendship and that no romance was allowed, the only possible explanations for the dynamics we actually see on screen are: a) The company is deeply stupid. or b) Noelle Stevenson and crew have mind control powers.

[irresistible-revolution]

thinking about atla thematics as usual and fascinated by how many fans insist they wanted aang to “grow up” more at the end of the series without considering how one of the show’s major themes is the terrible ways war and imperialism rob people of their childhoods. one of aang’s major gifts to every single character is restoring a piece of their lost or stolen or brutalized childhood. aang reminds katara there’s still joy in the world, and fuels her hope.

he brings wonder to sokka’s life with his flying bison. he sees zuko not as a terrifying enemy but as a boy he might have been friends with and had fun with, he offers toph a way out of her repressive home to have the adventures she’d been longing for, and all these characters rise to fulfill their destinies through honoring their inner child - the parts of themselves that are hopeful, kind, gentle, fierce, innocent, deserving of protection - and breaking the cycles of violence and abuse that interrupted their childhoods. azula was convinced she had no need for her inner child, and killed aang in cold blood in ba sing se, after which she slowly but surely lost everything she cared about, including her sense of self.

and finally, aang shows ozai mercy, thematically reminding the latter that the children he tried to kill and brutalize are a force capable of rising above petty violence, and reshaping the world. you could even argue that the original rupture in the mythos was when both sozin and the air nation sought to rob a child of their right to childhood - sozin by hunting a child, the air nomads by hastening aang out of his childhood so he could help them - and that balance is restored when aang, who represents the world’s lost gentleness and mercy, and upholds values that a war torn world regards as “childish” and “immature”, manages to end the war with a gesture that honors those values and affirms everyone’s right to a safe and loving childhood, to a life free of violence.

[omganaroth]

It’s actually even stronger than that thematically, although everything you’ve said is also true.

Remember the very beginning of the show? After waking up from being frozen in an iceberg, what’s the first thing he wanted to do? Go penguin sledding. And then ride giant Koi fish. And generally ride and play with animals however he could.

Of course, his life after that point is filled with people attempting to strip childhood away from him, and sometimes succeeding. Everyone around him insists that his coming-of-age story has to finish up now, and that he has to grow up, let go of joy, and kill the damn Fire Lord already. Even his friends get in on that act by the end.

So what happens? He learns another way to finish the fight without killiing, without sacrificing his ‘childish’ principles.

By riding a giant animal.

Aang refused the call to grow up too fast, embraced his original childhood wonder, and saved the world in doing so. That lion turtle’s ancient wisdom would have been completely wasted on “grown up” Aang, because that version of Aang wouldn’t even have looked for it.

[broodingsoul]

You know what I want out of a Buffy reboot? I want a trans slayer. I want someone assigned male at birth but pre-transition to show up with all the slayer abilities and everyone to be like “a boy slayer wtf???!!!” and then she’s like “oh I’m a trans woman” and everyone is like “ohhhhh.” I want the slayer line to transcend biology and genetics. I want slayer powers to be something so innate that it’s tied into one’s own gender identity. Please. Give me a trans slayer.

[broodingsoul]

Y’all this is pissing off terfs in the Buffy fandom, reblog it to support trans women and piss off terfs

[omganaroth]

I hardcore want this. I will go so far as to say that if this does not happen, even with a minor character (provided that multiple slayers still exist in the reboot), that the showrunners are doing us a disservice.

Either that, or the slayer spirit is a TERF, like the moon in that one issue of Sandman. Your choice, showrunners.

[aljustal]

ummmmm catra tried to slash and KILL adora in the portal lol. your ship is toxic af

I think that Catra loses it at that moment, it’s a slow development over three seasons of her failing to evolve or change as fate itself kicks her in the teeth over and over, literally torturing her and punishing her for every change she tries to make and throwing at her face how she should not be trusting anyone.

Catra snaps when the only person who has loved her tells her that the world where she’s not suffering should be fixed, after at least two years of her suffering one way or another. She decides to NOT to go back to the real world, as there’s only pain there. Still, even in her state and attacking fully, she doesn’t use her full speed or strength against Adora, but this time she’s not holding herself back, it’s the pain making her slower.

Yes, catradora is somehow toxic at first because:

-Catra literally depends on Adora to survive

-Adora either forgets that or ignores it and leaves her team behind, betraying them after years of working with them. She does this out of desperation to fix things, it’s not her fault, but she still does it.

-Catra begins a cycle of revenge as her friend constantly sees her as the bad guy after having talked to her for less than three minutes before changing sides. They are at each other’s throats and will “fight” one another (but also, let’s remember, these two girls were beating one another with electrified batons at the age of 12, so those fights are pretty standard for them...they could rip each other apart, and yet they don’t)

-As they are manipulated further, they begin hurting one another badly. Still, those two disasters hold back for most of the show, until Season 4. Where they both do attack one another earnestly on two occasions.

So, yes, at first Catradora is somehow toxic, just like season 4 Glimmadora would have been somehow toxic, or Scorptra at any moment before or after the Crimsom Waste, or before redemption would have been toxic. But that’s the thing, the toxicity of the pairings in SPOP is not permanent, the characters are evolving, learning, growing and that makes the pairings grow with them.

Let’s stop blinding ourselves:

She-Ra is a strange show, it hits you differently depending on what you've gone through. Makes you fixate on certain pairings and characters because it has characters that, no matter who you are, will hit you and pull you into the narrative, and you’ll want to see them happy.

- Catra will destroy emotionally anyone who has dealt with or seen child abuse

- Adora will destroy anyone who just wants to do the best but is so traumatized that they just can't keep up with it.

- Glimmer hits right in the feelings of anyone who has felt they live in their parents' shadows, or has not had the power to change things no matter how badly they wanted to do so, having to lose a lot without being able to fix anything.

- Scorpia, loving Scorpia, hits twice.

-Once for everybody of us who have been too nice, given too much, and now we regret it, and it's like we want to slap ourselves and say "STOP, you are not being nice to the person, you're being annoying and letting yourself be used by them"

-Twice for any of us who have been hurting so much that we wanted to close ourselves, and found someone who wasn't helping, but was forcing their presence with us, making us react aggressively only to utterly hate ourselves for doing that.

These and other characters can be very problematic, though, making bad choices once and over, choices they regret but can’t back down on, hurting others or being hurt themselves and reacting badly to that.

But, the thing, the wonderful thing, is that this show deals with forgiveness and redemption. All the surviving characters want to be better, want to help others by the end of Season 5, they evolve and close their arcs, learning what they needed to learn, managing to escape from their pain and become something more powerful than they had ever been before.

They all still have a lot to do, so yes, therapy for them all, please. But at the end, everybody is forgiven, and they might have a TON to do in order to heal Etheria, but they are able to do it without being in constant maddening pain.

The war narrative goes to hell because the show didn’t care about it, it even specified that only two murderers were around: Shadow Weaver and Prime, so when the characters are forgiven that’s that, they must continue their redemption path, but they are loved.

Catra and Adora hurt one another badly, but they heal, and no, Adora doesn’t just take Catra back in and lets her continue her destructive behavior, Catra gets the tools to deal with her own pain, which in return makes her be able to confront their abuser and save Adora from a self-imposed sacrifice. They grow as characters and that’s the beauty of it.

Also, even if Catradora had not been endgame, it would still have been beautiful, because the characters grow, complement one another and evolve, and now they are together again, they are safe, they managed to end the war. Plus the important detail of how Glimmer, Adora, and Catra are not alone anymore.

Dismissing pairings where the characters are suffering as “toxic”, at least in SPOP, dismisses their evolution, which in turn dismisses the evolution of other characters and that development of personalities and traits is what made Spop a good show.

Now, if you wish to further debate me on this, you’re welcomed to do so.

Also, sorry for any typos.

[omganaroth]

I would like to be as inflexible and absolutist as I can manage for a moment when I say that believing Catradora, as presented by the end of the show, to be toxic is essentially saying that people can’t learn and grow and become better. That they can’t heal, can’t earn forgiveness, can’t ever become whole.

What a bitter, cynical view of the world. I don’t know why you would want to live there. Sure, if Catra never learned from her mistakes, if she never hit rock bottom and then, with the help of people who still cared, managed to admit her own wrongdoing and face down her demons, and was still violent and abusive to everyone in her life, Catradora would be toxic. But that’s not the story. She struggled, and admitted her culpability, and tried to make amends where she could, and continues to fight every day to be worthy of the trust people are putting in her. She’s still broken, but she’s getting better. She’s trying, and people are willing to allow her to try. That’s exactly the opposite of toxic.

If you don’t think damaged people deserve a chance at love, especially when everyone is going into the relationship with eyes open, I don’t know what to say.

Addendum: You are free to dislike Catradora. Shipping is personal stuff, and I’d never say you must like or dislike any given pairing. But declarations of toxicity despite substantial evidence to the contrary is a different animal.

[novantinuum]

Intake (SUF one-shot)

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences (TW: brief discussion of mental illness related topics like suicide ideation and intrusive thoughts.)

Words: 2800

Summary: Steven fills out an important form.

This is set multiple months pre The Future, and is a small glimpse into Steven’s journey to find a therapist.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. AO3 link will be provided in the reblogs. Thank you! <3

____

His leg bounces with a restless fervor as he slumps in the waiting room chair, clutching the clipboard and pencil the receptionist gave him with a white knuckled grip. Gaze hardened, he takes a good long look at the other patients spread across the room, a few of them appearing equally as spent and fidgety as him, and hunches over the intake form so his answers will be conclusively obscured from their view.

He grimaces. Ugh. Why would a place like this lay out their chairs so close, anyways? Why even give people the option of being nosey? He may be stuck seeing this therapist Connie’s mom recommended because he’s all messed up in the head, but it’s not like he wants the whole planet to know about it. Goodness knows all of Beach City and Little Homeworld already does thanks to his little ‘incident’ a month back. That’s bad enough.

His chest almost feeling hollow as he sighs, he scrawls in his name, his birthday, his cell number, address, and an emergency contact (Dad, who left for the car to give him privacy after signing a few forms he can’t fill out as a minor) on the lines indicated. He leaves out his many middle names for once, all of them leaving a bitter taste in his mouth at this present moment. Briefly, he wonders if this will be a problem, as these past few weeks Dr. Maheswaran assisted his dad in finally acquiring legal documentation and health insurance for him, and per those records he’s officially ‘Steven Quartz Universe’ in the eyes of the law.

Eventually he shrugs, figuring the likelihood of there being another sixteen-year-old ‘Steven Universe’ here today to confuse him with is nearing zero.

Okay, what’s next?

He briefly skims over the next few passages— a bunch of legalese about the terms of counselor-patient confidentiality and when they might have to breach that for safety reasons— and signs where indicated so they know he looked over it.

Someone sitting two chairs away coughs. He can’t help but flinch at the sudden noise, and folds himself tighter in his own seat as he flips over the first page of the form and continues to read.

In a few words, explain why you’ve chosen to reach out to us today. How can we help you?

Keep reading

[novantinuum]

w o w i suddenly really wanna talk about how like…

one of the fundamental themes of the entire show leads directly up to Steven’s family and friends making the choice to treat him with compassion and love when he’s trapped in a monstrous state instead of (as a concerning number in the fandom expressed desire for) fighting against him, hurting him. Beating him back.

Because at the very beginning of the show, Steven began to challenge the way the Gems responded to perceived threats. He directly challenged their “attack first, ask questions later” outlook by continuously responding with compassion to those who are hurt, confused, and lashing out. 

And thankfully, by the time “hurt, confused, and lashing out” ended up describing Steven himself, the Gems had wholly internalized that message, for the greater good. 

None of that would’ve happened if Steven didn’t first change their minds.

[novantinuum]

One day I swear I’ll finally write my whole essay on this topic, and this shift in Steven from observing the world like one of his fictionalized video games with clear cut “good guys” and “bad guys” to a full-color world where he understands that in the end there’s no single permanent line determining “good” and “bad,” there’s merely choices and consequences, and that every single choice he makes in how he interacts with those around him matters, leaves ripples, and thus if he’s gonna leave ripples he wants to leave good ones and treat everyone with the inherent kindness and respect they deserve, treat everyone with the acknowledgement that no matter what they can always turn a new leaf and improve their lives, become better, make up for their wrongdoings, because the ideas of his old binary, pixelated worlds simply do not fit into his lived reality.

[omganaroth]

Whoa whoa whoa, hold up there for a moment. Are you saying that Steven, once confronted with evidence that reality works in a different way than he had previously believed, changes the lens through which he views reality?

Clearly impossible. 0/10, totally unrealistic and irresponsible to suggest.

[novantinuum]

found this comic i made in first grade and i’m suddenly filled with the urge to redraw tiny me’s superhero OCs for old time’s sake

you go, you funky little kid you, you

[omganaroth]

Oh shit, it's cute and amazing. Never stop.

[omganaroth]

Trek Litmus

Whenever you decide to act, think about what you are doing, right there in the moment, and ask yourself a simple question: If this were an episode of Star Trek, would this be something you’d expect to see from a crewman of the Starship Enterprise, of the United Federation of Planets?

Or is this something that you’d expect to see from the problematic and probably vaguely racist depiction of the unenlightened culture of the week?

Star Trek has a lot of problems. A LOT of problems. But if whatever you’re doing doesn’t meet Starfleet standards, that’s still a pretty good indication that you should cut it the fuck out.