#i mean we seem to have mutuals in common so i'm fine with you interacting with me

[elegybeatty]

I could've sworn that you're a mutual of mine (as in we follow each other) but apparently that's not the case... my brain rn is just goin like:

lmao, whore

[sovpologist]

i’m not into drifteris or whatever their ship is called, in fact it’s kind of a notp of mine bc i just can’t do ships based on people who unapologetically and purposefully annoy each other. but i do think that’s what it is: purposefully annoying each other. in one of the previous seasons, idr which, eris says she’ll stop calling him ‘rat’ when he stops calling her ‘moondust’ and then neither of them ever stopped which is kind of frustrating given that both of them just before this express not wanting to be called ‘rat/moondust.’ and they have this weird begrudging friendship thing. i think in the line you posted, ‘but you keep calling,’ that’s part of their begrudging friendship, purposefully goading each other until the other walks away from the conversation. eris’s goading is more subtle than drifter’s though so i think a lot of people miss her doing the same to him? they do it to each other over and over and over and it’s not just one-sided drifter annoying eris. idk how to explain all this. hope it makes sense. fucking sucks eris nickname for him is an antiasian slur too. its not a common one and rat is a common insult in general so i think its usage as a racial slur just gets buried and therefore unnoticed by bungie. wish it would stop especially since they have both said they want the other to stop and could easily mutually agree to do so like wtf. its been on my mind a lot and drives me nuts bc they still use it in game

okayyyy i see where you're coming from with this but i kind of disagree for a couple reasons.

one, bungie frequently switches writers and it shows in a lot of character inconsistency between expansions/seasons (this happens to a lot of characters, not just drifter and eris). the way drifter and eris' relationship is written is fundamentally different in season of arrivals, the witch queen collector's edition lorebook, and season of the haunted to the present. in arrivals, they don't like each other bc they don't know each other very well and drifter is kind of annoying (love that about him) and it very much comes off as drifter antagonizing eris and eris only antagonizing him back when she can't take it anymore. he is the one instigating a lot of their confrontations and she only gives him a derogatory nickname when he refuses to stop using a nickname for her.

they're only briefly mentioned in the witch queen collector's edition lorebook but it seems like because they worked together in beyond light they've gained a greater understanding and respect for each other. drifter calls her eris and "three eyes" instead of moondust, which to me indicates that eris explained that moondust is a hurtful nickname to her bc it reminds her of a place that is the source of her trauma and he changed nicknames accordingly. he says that eris works "with me" (not for me, suggesting that he respects her as an equal) and says ikora wasn't giving her enough "chances to grow." again, this is a huge step forward in the way they treat each other and a much more interesting dynamic.

but all of a sudden in season of the haunted, they've taken three steps back to nothing but needless antagonism. for us to interpret this as friendly banter, there has to be some kind of indication to the audience that they are actually friends who like each other now, which is simply not there. this very much comes off as bad fanfic writing, where the author simply substitutes "banter" for any kind of actual friendship or relationship growth. or it comes off as the kind of playful rudeness with strangers that is common on the internet (and can be pretty frustrating and hurtful for the target of rudeness). i'm fine with mean jokes between friends, but there has to be a balance between mean jokes and genuine earnest character moments, which we just don't see (except for maybe ONE lore piece). drifter and eris have known each other for years at this point and still interact in exactly the same way, and have the same arguments and the same antagonistic conversations over and over again. from both a writer and audience perspective, this is just lazy and uninteresting.

two, their current writer ships them which makes it hard for me to interpret any of their current interactions without knowing the writer has romantic intentions. i know, i know, "separate the art from the artist," the author's intent doesn't need to be what i take from it, but it changes the way i view and read their interactions even though i dont ship them. i still know that the writer interprets their relationship as romantic and that impacts the way she writes their interactions. when eris calls drifter a derogatory nickname its meant to be romantic bc the writer thinks its romantic for them to have nicknames for each other. when drifter says "you keep calling" its meant to be romantic because the writer thinks its romantic for eris to hate him and yet be unable to stay away from him. and the thing is that the vast majority of people ARE picking up on this romantic coding and ARE reading their interactions as romantic. go to any destiny lore vault video of an interaction between them and all the comments will be "eris is such a tsundere" "'slur' and moondust!!! <3" "theyre so cute" "they need to get a room" etc.

i genuinely dont mean anything rude by this, because i do this to their relationship too, but i think what you describe is your own personal interpretation of why they act the way they do with each other, not the actual text. and again, thats not a bad thing! i do that too, because otherwise their relationship makes no fucking sense and is super boring! but imo, there is no greater meaning behind their interactions or some deep hidden and interesting friendship, it's just bad writing and heterosexuality lmao

EDIT: just read the new lore piece for this week and i actually like how their relationship is portrayed there. it’s “banter” that is respectful. again the problem still stands that there needs to be a balance, and two nice and genuine moments between them in lore books (which only people who really care about read) does not balance out the heap of negative ones that you get at the end of ketchcrash (which basically everyone is going to hear). idk if i’m just unwilling to give their current writer any credit but we do know different people write about the same topic so i can’t help but wonder if this and the eidolon lore (which is also a much more nuanced and friendly portrayal) was written by someone different than the person who writes their ingame dialogue

[icharchivist]

Could you write up a script/summary for their (Percy + Sandy) interaction? I'm interested too. 👀

HI NONNY!

i haven't written in forever i'm so rusty and i don't know how well i can fill that but let's try

(also i don't know how much i can write a script, if only because those two's way of speaking would drive me to tears trying to figure out the flow of their sentences.)

And it depends whenever we, indeed, acknowledge the wmtsb's incident

I could see perhaps a meeting in Sandalphon's coffeeplace. After all, what kind of future king would Percival be if he didn't make sure to know every corner of the Grancypher, every little business in it, and made sure they were going well? And besides, it is coffee. As a connaisseur, it would also be his duty to make sure that there is nothing but top quality on his vassals' ship.

Once Sandalphon would have offered him a cup of his best coffee, Percival would call out to discuss with him.

It would ensue an overly long and complicated conversation about coffeebeans, how to take care of it, their harvest ect.

"Oho. It's the first i hear anyone having such knowledge about coffee before that point." Sandalphon would probably remark.

"Mph. Naturally. Knowing about the quality of what one drink is essential, after all."

"I can assure you that there is only quality under my care. No one knows coffee better than i do."

"That much i could figure, after such a coffee."

While Percival can be pretty prideful and boastful about his own knowledge, i doubt he'd go as far as to oppose to that statement made by a primal who clearly has a long history of experience.

On there would be build a rather good and jovial conversation about coffee.

Eventually, Percival will bring up that he does have, under his care, a coffee harvest place for the Kopi Leol. I don't really want to think about how the conversation would go in details because i think Sandalphon would be interested in the idea at first, then get really heated up about hearing about the process to make the coffee and Percival could grow rather defensive about this answer, and it would look maybe a little similar to the conversation with Vane in the Bistro event, probably adding its lot of "It's nonsense! Complete Nonsense!" as Sandalphon learns about the process.

But i also think Percival would manage to stay more calm than he was with Vane, and eventually, "It would be better for you to test it before writing it off. Unless a pro like you would be unable to make use of this particular taste?"

Yeah i can see him lightly provoke Sandalphon and Sandalphon being picked enough that he would eventually concede to the challenge.

Now honestly, i'll leave it up in the air if Sandalphon approves or not that coffee ahah.

But i do think there would be a common ground and a conversation held in polite, but albeit quite smug atmosphere.

Eventually the conversation would stray away from coffee and start talking about the crew, MC, Lyria and Vyrn.

Both could quickly realize that they have similar strength, both being swordmen and at ease with the use of light magic. as fighters they could discuss more about their skillsets.

"So you are a primal, correct?" the conversation would go further. "May i ask, what are you focusing on?"

"I inherited the duty to watch over the skies." Sandalphon would answer in a firm way, not wanting to elaborate further on his situation with a man who's merely a stranger at this point.

"A heavy responsibility." Percival would comment. "You have my sympathy."

"And what were your motivation on joining this crew?" Sandalphon would question.

Percival would pause before answering, judging to which length he could discuss it with the primal, until he figures that if their Captain trust him, then so can Percival.

"I am Percival, Prince of Wales, and future King. The Captain is my vassal and we sought to build a country untouched by war, protected by peace."

"... That's quite the ambition. And the responsibility."

"And i intend to see it through."

"With the Singularity on your side and their unability to give up, i suspect you may indeed."

A chuckle. For a moment, they would relate to one another. While different scales, their goal is to protect the world they come to care about. Both of them followed the Captain because this was the best way to do that... and both of them ended up caring about them, after all.

From then on the conversation can actually shift over that. On their mutual respect for the Captain, and on their responsibilities as people who are set to protect a huge group of people. The nuances, due to the different scales, but still an understanding to be had, calm and composed.

Further in the conversation:

"May i ask, how did you meet the Captain?" Percival asks.

A silence. Awkward. "That's... a long story." Sandalphon gets uncomfortable, avoiding the way Percival is looking at him, frowning at this answer.

Sandalphon figured he shouldn't mention that he almost killed their Captain when they met. It's not something he'd bring up to people he doesn't know, but having talked a little with Percival make it certain that it is an incredibly bad idea.

It's not like Percival doesn't know that some of their crewsmate had a rocky start with the Captain so he doesn't push. He doesn't know how far it extends with Sandalphon and perhaps he shouldn't press. If he's on the ship, it's because the Captain trust him after all, right...?

The only way i could see the shoe drop would be because the Captain, Lyria and Vyrn, passed by the coffeeshop and saw those two discuss and decided to join in. What an odd pair, they comment, but surely this can be interesting.

They discuss of what they've discussed so far, of the fact they seem to get along pretty well. Everything is going pretty fine, in general.

I don't have the set up for it but then at some point, Sandalphon ends up teasing the Captain a little. And the Captain decides to give it back with their most trusty weapon:

"Oh Sandalphon, your fingers are delicate."

Not the day Sandalphon was specifically thinking about how much he shouldn't bring up that one day! He gets flustered, a bit panicked and alarmed.

"A-Again with that??? Could you please not use it on me anytime you want to get your way?? I admit of my folly but-"

"Your folly?" Percival's voice butt in, frowning, trying to figure out the meaning of this exchange.

Sandalphon realizes that he is setting himself up into a very. very bad situation. He sends another alarmed glance to the Captain, who also realizes that the situation isn't wise. Like, sure they love to tease Sandalphon with it, but knowing Percival, this is not something that should be said. Lyria too, seems to pick up the situation and she starts to panic.

"It's nothing!" Lyria tries to cover up. "They're just joking around it's fine!"

Clearly something is /not/ fine though, and Percival frowns further.

.. Vyrn however didn't seem to get the memo:

"Isn't that what you told them when you threw them o-MRPH"

The Captain immediately reaches to Vyrn and put their hand on his mouth, trying to shut him up. Now something is definitely strange. Sandalphon is wincing and Lyria seems even more agitated than ever.

"Threw them....?" his voice is low and menacing. "Threw them where?"

"Nowhere!!!!" Lyria tries to cover up. "No where! It's a joke right Vyrn... right????"

"A-Ah... right!" Vyrn finally understands, as the Captain is finally letting him go. "Right! He didn't throw them out from an island or anyth- oh."

Wincing from everyone around the table. The expression on Percival's face turn darker and darker, reminiscent of Aglovale's darkest times - you can see the uncanny family ressemblance.

"Next time i slice you off you lizard." Sandalphon hisses a threat under his breath to Vyrn, realizing how bad this whole situation is for him.

"I DIDN'T MEAN-"

"So it's true." Percival is calm, too calm, like the calm before the storm.

"But i'm alive!!" The Captain puts themselves in front of Sandalphon, putting on their brightest smile. "It was years ago, I'm alive and well, and Sandalphon now knows better, so please calm down."

Easier said than done, but while still angry, hey, the coffeeshop didn't burn down just yet so-

"Please Percival-san!" Lyria pulls on her cutest puppy eyes. "We'll explain everything to you, but don't do anything to Sandalphon, please!"

And it's only because all of them are protecting Sandalphon that nothing degenerates just yet. Percival is willing to listen.

And while upon hearing the tale, the idea of burning Sandalphon to crisp is tempting, he learns to deal with it. In the first few months following this announcement, Percival would be particularly cold to Sandalphon, making it clear that it is only because the Captain asked that this is not escalating.

But after a while and a few battlefield together, and especially seeing how much Sandalphon is protecting them all, he would eventually ease down and let it slide. Sort of.

And that's more or less how i'd see the whole thing play out.

The writing is all over the place because i wasn't settled on making it an actual narrative piece DLKFJDLKF but i hope you don't mind and like this mess of a post o7

Take care!

[cero-blast]

Your post about Gin "messing with people's heads" makes me think, doesn't this also apply to Ulquiorra? He also psychologically tortured Inoue, don't you think it's hypocritical to say Gin's actions don't nullify the bad things he did, but say that UH is good/not toxic? I'm not trying to hate on you, I don't ship anything in Bleach, I just wanted to know why Gin is considered a bad inexcusable guy but Ulquiorra's relationship with Inoue is glorified?

This will get… really long. I’m genuinely sorry it’s this long.

I never said Ulqiorra did nothing wrong (though it’s fair to say I didn’t happen to specifically point it out), or that UH is a ship with many positive feelings associated to it. That would be… an interesting take. I hope you don’t think I think that. But I also need you to understand that I don’t base my taste in ships on what I desire/consider healthy in real life. They exist in the context of the canon — not interchangeable with reality considering the existence of superpowers, ghosts, semi-human creatures and time warping — and that’s where it ends for me. Applying the dynamics in my ships to any situation other than the precise one of Bleach’s canon would make them fundamentally different.

I’ve wanted to mention this about Ulquiorra for a while now and I’ll take the occasion to do so. It’s a mistake to put him in the same framework as a human or shinigami. (The latter two also have their differences but based on observation shinigami seem to behave in a much more human-like manner compared to hollows/arrancars.) He’s practically incapable of understanding what empathy is or find any good reason not to hurt other people, which is why it’s surprising when he manages to grasp even a shred of the concept right before dying. Hollows are born from experiencing such severe pain that it distorts their whole ‘essence’, so something has gone terribly wrong with them emotionally by definition, whether they evolve to arrancar form or not. Ulquiorra’s aspect of death, his ‘theme’, is emptiness — characterized by complete neutrality towards everything. Since a person with a healthy mindset tends to focus on danger and negative events, neutrality often comes across as immoral for being equally conceding towards moral right and moral wrong. The point is, Ulquiorra’s motivations for provoking Inoue had nothing to do with him taking joy in causing pain to her. In fact, it’s hinted he’s not even fully aware he’s doing it, like the scene where he tells Inoue he’d laugh at her friends’ foolishness in her place. He’s unaffected by most things AND has difficulty placing himself in others’ perspective, which results in him assuming everyone around him would be unaffected. The only thing that factored into him doing just about anything was curiosity, the need to fill the void, however you want to put it. If a human or shinigami behaved the same way he did around Inoue, it would come across in a vastly different way and I’m not sure it would even interest me as a ship. Ulquiorra is not only a hollow, but a hollow with a particular impediment in understanding how others feel, and this is an integral part of him as a character, of his interactions, of UH, of anything regarding him. I know it’s funny as a fandom meme to act as if he were human, but he’s NOT and this needs to be kept in mind.

This applies to any arrancar or espada, really. It’s tempting to judge them on the same basis as enemies who are closer to humanity, mainly because of their appearance and intellect. But this is the trick itself the narrative plays, a progression that has been present in Bleach since the start: it created a human/monster (shinigami/hollow here) dichotomy, then spent the longest arc deconstructing it by blurring the lines between the two. It doesn’t matter how smart and eloquent the espada manage to get, the only productive way of interpreting them is as people who are missing a very core part of their personality, so someone severely psychologically ill. (I say this as someone who has their own problems, before it gets misinterpreted as condescension.) Should this absolve them from punishment? Bleach says a very clear no. They almost all get killed by shinigami, in Ulquiorra’s case Ichigo specifically — Ichigo, who, by his own admission, empathized with everyone he fought and even gets angry at Yammy for speaking ill of Ulquiorra after his death. (I don’t want to start arguing about how he was in hollow state when he defeated him. He would have killed Ulquiorra either way if he continued to stand in the way of protecting his friends.)

In summary, the espada aren’t human. Ulquiorra isn’t human. It’s unrealistic to expect him to behave like a human. You’re free to pick who you want to have compassion for among Bleach’s positive and negative characters and if you decide Ulquiorra is irredeemable in your opinion, that’s fine — many characters would agree. But at the very least it can be objectively said that Bleach spends a lot of time presenting ‘evil’ characters’ perspectives as nuanced and explicable instead of writing them off. It gives the audience a choice in the matter. A core message of the entire story is that we’re subjective and maybe we’ll never manage to see the world the same way as someone else, but that’s fine and it doesn’t make us all that different; hollows can become *almost* shinigami, shinigami can become *almost* hollows, and they both have ways to relate to one another while retaining the insurmountable differences and even fighting and killing each other.

Now, onto Gin. First off, you seem to be under the impression that I don’t like him as a character. That couldn’t be further from the truth; I only said it in the tags because I figured saying it in the post would have sounded like making excuses, which is not what the post was about. I don’t know if I would call him a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person. All I know is that I really enjoyed him as a character and I could see how he evoked sympathy — in the tragic way antagonists do when they get some sort of redemption. I noticed it’s a common tool in fiction to make an impact on the audience, I suppose because we’re happier when we see ‘bad people getting fixed’ rather than someone already good doing more good things. It’s a Prodigal Son type of thing; can be argued about but it definitely makes an impact.

Gin is a quintessential ‘mysterious type’; he has a long-running plan that he executes throughout almost his entire life without ever consulting with anyone (an important detail). He had a hypothesis on what would be the most effective way to kill Aizen and constructed a convoluted plan based on it — a plan where the ends would have justified the means in many, many situations, and that required causing problems to a lot of people. He had, however, no certainty that what he was doing would lead to the desired results (which it then didn’t…). A lot of his provocation was a means to create a certain image of himself and there’s a big question of where to draw the line there, whether all of that was absolutely necessary. Leaving to Hueco Mundo and technical demonstrations of loyalty were, sure, but mocking Rukia on her way to being executed? He considered keeping everything a secret a prerequisite for things to work out — presumably because if he talked to anyone, Aizen could have noticed — but was it, really? Many of his actions were based on his personal judgement on what would and wouldn’t have ruined the façade, subjective and hunch-based since he didn’t know the outcome for sure.

Gin isn’t inexcusable, but I noticed a lack of emphasis on the damage his actions caused among fans, both because of the chronological order of the story and his affiliation with the protagonists’ side. Because the last thing he did was a good thing, that’s what he’s remembered by, without taking into account the sum total of his interactions with others. He posited himself as vicious until the last moment and did so consciously. Ulquiorra had a very, very gradual progression in the way he talked to Inoue, which doesn’t make it less rude and traumatic, but there’s a difference between him showing up and telling her she ‘has no rights’ and later taking an active interest in her views on the Heart. It would be equally reductive to interpret him by his last moment and nothing else, but all he did before led to that moment progressively, while Gin’s was a very abrupt twist.

My post was a comment on psychology on the most basic, technical level, not a moral judgement. The two are separate in the way we process trauma and that’s exactly what I find interesting. Having strong negative emotions associated to a memory (what I think Kira, Hinamori, Hitsugaya or Rangiku could have had with Gin’s betrayal) creates a very subconscious reaction that can hardly be fixed by suddenly finding out it was necessary for a positive cause, which is why healing from trauma requires years of therapy. Because *in that moment* you didn’t have that knowledge, the pain remains in your memory and it’s not a matter of logical reasoning. Now, I’m not saying Ulquiorra’s interactions with Inoue were numerous or productive enough to properly process the trauma he caused her — the canon info is ambivalent on how comfortable Inoue was around him towards the end of her captivity because there’s both scenes like the famous slapping one *and* her seeming more light-hearted towards Ulquiorra in Unmasked, plus no one has any idea of which came before which. All things considered, I think repeated discussion and an attempt at mutual understanding does a better job at elaborating something traumatic than one single piece of information on why what traumatized you was justified. And note that the *only reason* the understanding between Ulquiorra and Inoue could have been mutual is because Inoue was exceptionally patient, empathetic and willing to face discomfort, way beyond the base level or what should be expected from anyone. Even if it was a *small amount* of *not very productive* discussion, it’s better than one act in my opinion (which most of the people who had some sort of issue with Gin didn’t even directly witness). Which of them is *morally worse* depends on how you draw the lines and define morality and that’s not something I feel qualified to decide.

So, in the end;Ulquiorra:-working towards enemy goals overtly-motivated by curiosity, which can be considered self-oriented-gradual improvement-not fully conscious of the emotional impact of his actions-Inoue considers him an ambivalent presence but “Isn’t afraid”, in her words-half-succeeded, as in: failed the goal of killing Ichigo but sated his curiosity

Gin:-working towards enemy goals on the surface and soul society goals covertly-motivated by attachment to Rangiku and/or revenge, less self-oriented but still focused on close acquaintances -long-running façade of being a terrible person followed by a sudden twist towards the good side-completely aware of everything he’s doing, plan laid out hundreds of years in advance-Gotei 13 don’t interact with Gin throughout HM arc, consider the traitors a lost cause-failed to kill Aizen

Instead of this encyclopedia I could have just written “Gin isn’t irredeemable, I just said he did bad things before”, but I thought too much about it. And I might go through spelling mistakes once I wake up.

[lillyjen]

1. This is hilarious

2. I would like to add to the chaos by pointing out that we sometimes also use pounds and ounces for weighing not-people

3. If anyone is interested in why (or possibly looking to make some sense of the chaos) the key is "old or new" ("is it imported" is also useful for this).

You see, we used to just use imperial, then the EU decided that standardisation was king and it would be really helpful, actually, if the UK, as part of the EU, joined in with the rest of modern europe and switched to metric. (I'm sure it was a little more complex than that in reality, but it works for the purposes of this explaination). The Brits, being their infamously stubborn selves, decided "fine, we'll teach metric and change our signs and packaging and things, but we're not going to toss our old measuring system either", and thus the chaos was born!

This old versus new explains beer and milk: the weights and measures on packaging were changed to metric (although both measurements remained written out) but most beer is poured at point of sale and measured by size of glass so no such change was necessary (although I think some attempts were made), and milk was also often delivered direct from farm to door in sized, not marked, bottles so also managed to keep it's old system. (Weighing people is also old, hence stone and pounds, but writing weights and measures on pre-packaged goods is fairly new, so it got modernised.)

"Is it imported" more accurately explains dairy vs non-dairy milk: non-dairy milks were/are invented/popularised/made overseas and then imported, and are therefore in metric. (They also have no actual correlation to regular milk other than the name. They are more like juice, which is in litres.)

"Is it new" and "Is it imported" explains the jogging: apps, etc, that track your progress are a modern invention, and therefore use modern measuring systems. They are also frequently imported/internationally available, and thus use internationally recognised measuring systems. (Plus, it does make more sense to know how many kilo/metres you've gone, since no-one really knows how to subdivide a mile beyond 'half-' and 'quarter-'!)

Of course these questions may only seem helpful to me 'cos I already know the 'system'..... (the system is: there is no system!)

4. Reasons to make fun of American measurements:

Cultural differences: Brits make fun of everything. Satire and Banter (both friendly and pointed) are part of the way we interact with the world. It's not always meant as an attack, often it's neutral, sometimes it means we like you. (Obviously intent doesn't always translate to text).

Mutual belief in our own superiority: the UK and the US have a common flaw where both countries believe theirs is the best, most correct, possibly only, way of doing things.

Wasn't us guv'nor: most posts I've seen making fun of American measuring systems have a heck of a lot of Canadians on them (it's always easier to see your neighbours' flaws), although people from all over the world, native and non-native English speakers alike, join in.

(My two-penn'orth: many Americans seem to believe their measuring system is either the best or the most confusing. When you live in a country that uses multiple measuring systems interchangeably, you can easily see that neither of these things are true. Thus it's amusing when someone staunchly insists they are.)

[roachliquid]

Had a conversation with a friend about the intelligence and language capacity of Pokémon the other day. He brought up that there seem to be a lot of inconsistencies between the different universes (games, anime, PMD, etc.) that make it difficult to tell just what Pokémon are even like. Are they comparable to regular animals? Do they have humanlike minds? Are they capable of learning languages or not?

So I thought it might be useful to share how I tend to resolve this shit. And that is mostly by assuming that a given work's take is canon for all universes unless another universe explicitly contradicts it.

(Disclaimer: This is just how I've decided to do things, personally. I'm not saying you have to do it this way, but you are free to do so if you find it useful.)

For example, there's the classic rule that "Pokémon are theoretically able to learn human speech, but most of them don't make the effort/don't have that extra ability". People will sometimes tell you that this rule only applies in the anime, which (somewhat inexplicably) has exactly one talking Meowth and a bunch of other Pokémon who just say parts of their own name. (This latter bit actually does contradict the games, where Pokemon just make animal noises - sometimes there are genuine inconsistencies.)

Now, the rule does apply in the anime, but that doesn't mean it's the only place it applies. For example, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon universe has no humans in it at all - we have no way of knowing if the Pokémon in it can speak human language or not. And in the games, we mostly just don't see Pokémon speaking human language - the only exceptions being Chatot, and one bizarre incident where Bill got himself turned into a Clefairy but was able to speak just fine. This might seem at first blush to imply that Pokémon are incapable of human speech, but if the skill is as rare as the anime implies, then this is pretty much what we would expect to see - a whole bunch of Pokémon not doing it.

Another, related question that tends to come up is "What kind of intelligence do Pokémon have?" Are their mental skills similar to the animals they resemble? Or are they more similar to humans? After all, the anime implies that at least some of them (see again, Meowth) are able to understand human social mores and interact with them, while the games mostly portray them as just Animals Who Like Fight, right?

Well... no, actually!

In my opinion, the trick to understanding Pokémon is to first realize that they're not all the same. They're all pretty clever, as animals go, but their personalities and lifestyles can vary widely. Some Pokemon are gregariously social, others tend toward solitude. Some are aggressively protective of their territories, others are friendly and fearless of outsiders. This is apparent both in the anime, which really did a lot to show the personalities of different Pokémon species, and in various Pokedex entries and game mechanics.

But one thing that they all have in common is they can all be "tamed".

Regardless of species, any Pokémon can learn to appreciate human companionship, and learn how to interact and even cooperate with humans for their mutual benefit. This is shown over and over in the games, and especially in Legends Arceus, where we see formerly wild Pokémon volunteering to live with humans in exchange for care, and very quickly picking up on what tasks the humans need them to do.

So is that humanlike intelligence? Well, not necessarily. But it's definitely a demonstration of sophisticated social awareness, creative problem solving, and an ability to make conscious choices. And that at least makes them similar to chimpanzees, octopuses, and some birds - plus a few skills, like adapting quickly to human life, that you normally only see in domesticated animals. And that's definitely enough to get you to the humanlike behavior that we sometimes see in the anime.

I could keep going on, but you get my point - there's a lot of things that people assume are true about different iterations of Pokémon that either aren't as strongly implied as they assume, or don't hold up under scrutiny. There's a lot you can work out just by looking at what's said outright vs. what's just implied or taken for granted, and it can definitely help smooth over a lot of the perceived inconsistencies.

[rpbetter]

hello! so... i'm mutuals with this person who writes the same muse as i do. they don't roleplay with my version, because i haven't told them about my multimuse, so i don't think they even realize we write the same muse in the first place. lately, i've noticed them calling their muse "my son", and saying things like "i own him now, everyone else go home", and it hurts my feelings. but i don't know how to bring this up without sounding bitter, possessive, or competitive. can you help me?

Oh, no...

First, let me point out the irony of you being concerned about coming off as bitter, possessive, or competitive while they're saying that kind of thing as a RPer.

Because those are all, unfortunately, normalized things to say from fandom, a lot of people who write fic, do art, write a lot of meta, or just really vibe with a character say these things regularly. It can be funny there, but ultimately, it does actually express those things. It is a statement made humorously to convey bitterness about the way a character has been treated in canon, possessiveness because you're so annoyed with canon and/or fandom's treatment of a character that's important to you, and even competitiveness - your take on this character, even feelings about them or similarities to them, is better than the shit that annoys so terribly.

The difference in venue is extremely important, though. All of those things can be pretty damn valid in non-RP fandom, even when they annoy the hell out of us coming from fans we feel are the ones mucking up the character. It's ultimately that it's valid because it's a way of expressing ourselves, and our frustrations, without being nasty to the creators.

But in RP, you're talking about other RPers when you say this, too. Not just canon content creators, not just fans out in fandom who might express the same things. No, other people who are also engaged in portraying this character as their muse. That makes it hostile, no matter how much joking is wrapped around it. Especially with the prevalence of RPers being intolerant of "duplicates."

Secondly, I'd like to assure you that you're not being any of those things! Furthermore, that it's incredibly valid to feel hurt by this. If it was a random RPer you ran across, it might be a non-issue or an eye roll, but when it comes from someone you interact with, it's hurtful. In a way, especially when they do not know you write that muse. If they knew, would they simply feel this way without expressing it? Would they continue to express it? Is their point the usual, normalized behavior and reasons for it, or do they actually have a case of "duplicate anxiety?"

(Which, for the record, I hate both the word "duplicates" and the phrase "duplicate anxiety." No one's muse is a duplicate, they're the same canon character with different portrayals. They're variations on a common theme, not identical sets. I think where actual anxiety over portrayals of the same canon character exists, this sort of thinking helps that along. But my experience with "duplicate anxiety" is hostility, and not just anxiety-born hostility as a defense either. In most cases I've seen and directly experienced with my own canon muses any of the following would be better descriptors: "duplicate jealousy," "duplicate intolerance," "duplicate hatred." However, they're familiar terms, so that's what I used.)

But yes, unfortunately, it is likely to come off as such, particularly as this person does seem pretty possessive of the muse. And I'm not saying that nastily, we're all kind of possessive, in some way or another, most of us have had negative things with our muses' canon or fanon. It's just when you're being nastily possessive and defensive toward other RPers that this is an issue. If they're inclined to be defensive like that, it's very possible that anything you say is going to come off badly.

All you can do is try your best and remember that it isn't actually about you as a person or your portrayal. It's about them. It doesn't say anything real about you. If it happens, please, don't let it make you feel bad about yourself!

Are you writing-mutuals or just mutuals?

If you write together, this is almost certainly going to be easier. There's an established connection with you that is positive. If you are mutuals who do not write together, it might be a little more difficult. I know that I feel positively about my non-writing mutuals, I enjoy them so much on my dash and in OOC conversations, but for some people, there is a sort of distance that exists there.

I think in either case, bringing it up is the most difficult part. I mean that as in...sending a message in general. If you're writing partners, you've already spoken, maybe you even speak fairly regularly, and it's not going to feel fully out of nowhere to come to them with a concern.

If that is the case, try something like:

Hey! I hope this doesn't stress you or anything, and you don't need to rush to get back to me, I just want to talk to you about it whenever you have time. I know you're not meaning it hatefully, but when you say things about owning -muse name- it's kind of hurtful to me because I write him as well on another blog. It's maybe silly, but I think you'll understand because you do love -muse name- so much too!

If you've seen them post specific problems they have with the way the muse was done in canon or addressed by fandom that you agree with, it could be a great idea to add that. You want to show that you understand where they're coming from and do care about the muse, too. Think of it like bonding. It's hard to be irrationally angry with people when we're forced to see the ways that we're similar.

I can feel the same way. Every time I see them being -referred to in a negative way, made wildly OOC in these ways, etc. just be specific- it goes all over me! I'm like, no, no, no, I've kidnapped him, he's mine now! It's just that as someone writing a portrayal of the same muse, it can feel aimed at me.

Either way, revisit the issue and how you feel.

Like I said, I'm sure you're not meaning it like that and you were unaware that I write him too, but I know that I wouldn't want to make someone feel hurt expressing it that way, so, I wanted to talk to you about it. It can make me feel like, if you knew I wrote him as well, you might not want to write with me anymore or would feel negatively about my portrayal. I really enjoy your portrayal and writing with you, obviously, so, it's more hurtful than just some rando out in fandom saying that kind of thing. I hope you understand!

If you don't write together:

Honestly, about the same thing without the familiarity.

Either way, what you're going for here is understanding. You want them to understand that you don't mean this hatefully, you're not trying to tell them what to do or anything, but these things are hurtful to you. Getting them to understand why it is hurtful to you without seeming accusatory.

And some really careful phrasing can go a long way. Instead of "you make me feel" make it an impersonal "this/it makes me feel" or even an "I feel." They're not directly being hateful to you by intent, they're just kind of oblivious to how saying things this way could be hurtful to someone else. So, you want to make them aware while not feeling attacked over it.

Do not give them ideas of you being possessive etc. by stating any such words! I know the inclination can be to attempt covering bases by saying things like, "I don't mean this possessively" or "I'm not trying to come off as" or "sorry if this sounds like x, I don't mean it that way or feel like that!" But those inclinations imply the opposite, even if unconsciously so. Don't put the words there to bring up that association.

Keep the tone honest but kind. Let them know how you feel without putting that emotion into what you're saying. Tell them that it is hurtful, you might feel judged or suddenly disliked, without coming off as defensive, angry, or incredibly sad. It's probably better if you stay away from being too descriptive about what "hurt" means to you for this reason, or anything you've done when feeling particularly hurt, like having to avoid your dash on this blog. These things can trigger reactions of defense or guilt.

Things you're not saying are pretty important here. Don't try to give suggestions as to how to resolve it, for example. While that is often a great idea when we discuss problems with each other, in this case, it's going to sound controlling. Don't offer suggestions as to what they could say instead, or even state that they need to stop saying these things. That needs to be the natural take away from you telling them that this is hurtful to you!

If it isn't the natural take away and they continue to do it after this conversation (especially if they've expressed being upset about unintentionally hurting you and a desire to not do so going forward), then, this is not a good partnership. That might be really disappointing and even more hurtful, but if they don't care when you've expressed that something they're doing has hurt you, they're someone you shouldn't keep interacting with. Again, especially if they've said they wouldn't keep doing it and that they cared! That means that they're willing to express care and interest only as far as smoothing over a problem goes while continuing the problem itself, and likely, because they don't feel it's a big deal.

And speaking of that...

If they literally do tell you that it isn't a big deal? This is a good time to terminate the relationship with them, too. Maybe it isn't, but when someone tells you that you've upset them, it's a big deal to them. Coming to someone to tell them that they've hurt you is a big deal, it's not easily done. We all have had something that we genuinely feel is not a big deal that has hurt someone, and you know what? That's fine, things can be a non-issue for us but still hurt someone else...it's how we respond to being told that matters. So, if their response is telling you this (aggressively or passive-aggressively, as in "it's not a big deal but ok if it makes you feel that way") sort of thing, you're seriously better off getting away from them now, not later.

Should that happen, or the conversation otherwise become nasty? It's absolutely alright to say, "Alright, well, I don't think we need to keep discussing this, it isn't benefiting either of us. I'm going to just unfollow, but I hope you keep having a great time in RP!" And do that. Stop the conversation, go unfollow, don't interact anymore.

Just because you brought up an issue does not mean you're obliged to be treated badly until they're done with it. Let them respond, and if it's hateful, you only owe the respect that you've been shown. Try to end it on a polite note for yourself - the way we feel about and engage with our muses is a touchy subject (reasonably), it's not ridiculous to assume that it could cause some drama addressing this, so, don't give them anything that feels like justification to proceed with that kind of thing. You'll at least know that you behaved like a respectful adult person.

I really do not envy you, Anon! This is a tricky situation! But I do applaud your maturity in wanting to talk to them about it. A lot of muns out there would just silently stew in their hurt until it became something aggressive, or would just block them. Though difficult, I think this is the right thing to do, and I wish you all the luck in the world!

Hopefully, they'll be like I would be...a bit mortified that I'd made someone feel hurt with commentary I felt was merely throw away statements.

[aftgonice]

I'm not sure if this is weird but maybe story time I guess. There was this anon that bashed one of my fav authors.. Said that they wondered why author was so well liked when said author is self centered and doesn't really have good work. Several minutes later, messages came pouring in. Author's mutuals defended said author and well of course, said anon's an asshole and all that (to be continued) - 💙

I’m not close with fav author and I know that anon is asshole but when I saw the comments from author’s mutuals, all I could think is how much envy that anon felt after.. And maybe it’s because I’m not a mutual to the author, but I empathize with the anon more.. (to be continued) - 💙

I saw myself then and there, how shitty I was and how I lost respect from potential friends/peers and how much it sucked that said anon just being bashed by other’s when really that anon might be a lonely person who just wants someone to talk to.. (to be continued) - 💙

And it just made me want to reach out and say these things, support them, tell them on their bullshit without telling them off that they’re the worst human being ever (because really human’s are flawed and that said human probably just need a friend.. That.. Or they really are an asshole.. I wouldn’t know haha but it just.. It stung my feels so hard… - 💙

Sorry if this is becoming an angst fest hahaha it seemed like a weird thing for me I guess soooo yea I just shared.. Anyways have some 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙 - 💙

Hey Blue Heart Anon!!! (I love that you sign your messages)

Okay, first of all, thank you so much for these messages! They’re really personal so I want to thank you for opening up and most of all trusting me with these.

Secondly, I need to make it clear that something similar happened in my circle of mutuals (and I think it’s likely that you’re referring to exactly the same episode I witnessed). I don’t know why I feel like I should point it out but I guess it’s a disclaimer I want to have here in case my mutuals think this episode touches them personally.

Okay. Now. 

You, dear Blue Heart Anon, have a great heart and a very sensitive soul and I appreciate it a lot. And let me tell you, while reading your messages I could see my own thought process and I could see myself writing the exact same things. Are you actually me?

You see, when people find a way (here the way is anonymity) to be needlessly mean like that anon was (from here on: Mean Anon), it means they’re envious and jealous. So when they say: “your work isn’t good enough”, what they say is: “I’ve never written anything in my life and I’m jealous that you’re writing something and are so successful”. 

It’s perfectly fine not to like someone’s work, and depending on what type of content they create there are ways to let them know. For example, it’s essential to the book industry that published books get honest reviews from readers. But books are something you pay for, and there’s a whole market behind them, and the reviews don’t go to the authors themselves (unless they do decide to read them, but reviews are supposed to be for other reviewers/readers and for the publishers).

When dealing with fanfiction or fanart, obviously everything is very different from what I described about the book industry. First of all, any criticism (unless the author/artist asked for it, usually in the form of constructive criticism) should be kept to yourself. That’s because content creators are giving you something for free, they’re often exposing themselves in a way they would never do with their friends and family, and you’re just a witness to what they chose to let you see. And unless they gifted their work to you specifically, you chose to click on their work and could have stopped consuming it at any point. So, unless the author asked for criticism, you simply leave, maybe even unfollow them, but that’s it. 

(Sometimes a fic/work is very offensive and it hurts a group of people, that has happened in two of my fandoms and that’s a whole other thing to deal with, but I wanna try to keep this as short and as in-topic as possible.)

TL;DR so far: generally speaking, if something is free and you are somehow able to talk to the content creator directly, do not criticize. 

Let me go back to the comparison with the book industry a little bit.

I feel like there is this barrier we see between ourselves and someone we know is a published author. Even if you can talk to them via twitter these days, we still see them as automatically better than us.

This barrier doesn’t exist on tumblr. We see authors or artists interact with other people we follow or even our mutuals. Maybe we’re mutuals with some of them. We actually talk to them and share many of the same interests as them. 

So when we see their success (a bit like we’d see a published author’s success), it’s much easier to both identify with them and also to ask ourselves, “Why not me?”

If my mutual or this person I follow is just a “common person” like me, maybe even someone I have talked to, what do they have that makes them more successful than I am?

We aren’t envious of something that we know is almost impossible for us to achieve. To change metaphor a bit, we don’t send hate messages to, let’s say, the greatest pianist of our generation, because it’s very unlikely that we could have ever competed for that spot ourselves (unless we’re a great pianist too). 

We are most envious of what we could see ourselves achieving, and yet don’t.

We don’t because we aren’t brave enough to try, to put ourselves out there, and that’s okay! Not everybody needs to be writing or drawing, but the thing is: we see that there’s only one tiny step between Doing The Thing and Not Doing The Thing, and content creators on tumblr are just one step further than other tumblr users (the ones who only reblog and send nice messages and that we all love because we wouldn’t have an audience without them). 

That’s where Mean Anon comes in. Envy is normal and natural, and a healthy amount of it is actually what drives you to do better and put yourself out there, as long as you recognize it for what it is and put it to good use.

But people like Mean Anon aren’t able to take that envy and turn it into something productive, so they twist it and turn it to something ugly like hate messages (all as anons, of course, because they would never show their faces while saying those things). 

And you, dear Blue Heart Anon, are absolutely right. Mean Anon is probably unhappy IRL for whatever reason (@ Mean Anon or whoever identifies and sees themself as a possible Mean Anon: I don’t know you and I don’t want to make any more assumptions about you, but I hope you’ll somehow see this message and maybe it’ll help you) and coming on this site where creating and being successful is so potentially easy that it seems like everybody could do it must be really hard (and no, that’s not sarcasm: it really is hard to see others succeed while we simply don’t, no matter if it’s IRL or here).

It’s okay and it’s good for us to acknowledge that there are real people with real feelings behind these Mean Messages, because sadly they won’t stop coming, so we might as well try to understand why they act the way they do. True, some people are just pure assholes and that’s it, but I think when we’re talking specifically about someone attacking someone else because of their success, there’s always envy at the root of the problem.

And envy is one of the worst feelings ever. I talked about how Mean Anons are probably people who were never able to take that step towards creating something, but we all experience envy even if we create content ourselves. The same people who got hate messages probably envy someone else they deem more successful than them.

I envy some of my mutuals every day because they are faster writers than I am, or they write stuff that attracts more people, or whatever reason, and on bad days I need to take a step back and be off tumblr for a bit, but at the end I turn that into a way to push forward or tell myself that it’s okay if this is the best I can do. 

Their success is not your failure. There is a role for everybody and you just have to find yours. 

I don’t think it’s my place to tell people how to react to this particular kind of Mean Anons (the envious ones). I can’t blame people at all for treating them like the assholes they are, especially in the heat of the moment. The thing is, Mean Anons are bullies that, regardless of their reasons and personal history, want to intimidate others because that’s much easier than showing them support, because they have no one to properly vent their anger and frustration to, so they vomit all over you and your shit and that might give them a tiny bit of satisfaction right away, but believe me, they’ll feel like shit afterwards. Even if they don’t feel like shit about what they said, they just keep feeling like shit because living life this way only makes you more bitter and sad and there’s no way out unless you start loving yourself and others.

So, this turned into one of my longest rants yet, but I’m really grateful for your messages, Blue Hearts Anon. Keep seeing good in people even when they’re in the wrong and when they’re flawed, as long as you acknowledge that what they do is shitty. Maybe one of these Mean Anons will meet you or come across your nice messages and will feel understood and won’t harass anyone anymore.