#recent discourse was kind of funny though

[starryjkoo]

i think we should be allowed to be a hater more, i think we should called out people for making mistakes and being dumb more, i think we should be free to be SOMETIMES a person with flaws and bitter more... its UNHEALTHY to be understanding, positive and good vibes all the times.

being a hater is not about being jealous with someone, hating something or someone is not always about envy cause not everything in this world is about this feelings... sometimes you just hate something or someone cause its not good, the person is not talented, not charismatic, dont have an ounce of something worth of being famous and we should be allowed to not like it.

and im purposely seeing a hater and not an anti cause anti are just vile people, that dehumanize others, i dont do that. i will never go to places saying what i think about certain idols or groups where i know they can see.

if kendrick taught me something is that hating someone and being loud about it can be cathartic in a way that will take me places. that its healthy cause its a normal feeling.

we should be allowed to called things that we dont like in our spaces more we are not saints, we should be allowed to feel ugly things too not just the beauty of life

LOL yeah I totally agree with you!! tbf I think the main problem is that so few people can ever be normal about their hatred/dislike of something in this fandom. Especially if you’re part of whatever fandom faction where that hatred usually gets extremely amplified. So I get why people are really touchy about certain things.

On the other hand it’s weird how you’re not allowed to have normal human thoughts, opinions or emotions around here sometimes either. You can’t dislike or be disappointed by something, sometimes you can’t even be anxious or worried. I think there should be less scrutiny over having negative emotions and more on how you choose to handle them.

The whole recent discourse was funny because some people were making it seem like you were more OT7 if you… multi-shipped? And that disliking certain ships made you a bad ARMY? Another example would be the whole Jeju debacle where even the jkkrs who were being non-toxic about their disappointment were jumped, judged, and shamed so harshly. That kind of thing is so weird and unnatural to me. We can’t even have a bias or a favorite duo/dynamic now? Because of woke?

ARMYs always do this thing where there’s a problem in the fandom and then they over-correct to the opposite extreme so it’s just weird and toxic in a different way. This is where critical thinking is important because it’s good to understand /why/ something is bad so you can fix the actual problem instead of just mindlessly reacting to everything associated with it.

Anyways as someone who is big on haterism I feel this lmao. I have plenty of hater opinions that I share with people (and sometimes we even debate about it in a friendly way) because they’re also just not that serious and it’s pretty general commentary about things going on with BTS content or with other groups or artists in this sphere (even western ones). It’s the same way I approach and interact with any fandom I’ve been in or any content I’ve consumed, pretty normal stuff. Sometimes we also just, you know, dislike stuff.

Art is also supposed to evoke a reaction so if you’re really just having the same lobotomized response to literally every piece of content… isn’t that kind of unnatural? It’s good if something evokes emotion, even if it’s negative (that’s why I really like and am excited about how Jimin isn’t afraid to do something polarizing — and no I’m not saying there’s anything wrong if you genuinely never have a negative emotion around any of this either lol)

Sometimes people also just need to vent and learning how to manage your negative emotions constructively is always going to be more productive than just repressing everything to fit in. It’s better to have ARMY spaces where you can freely talk and work through your thoughts, share conflicting opinions and emotions rather than constantly shaming people (and I’m not talking about toxic echo-chambers).

i will never go to places saying what i think about certain idols or groups where i know they can see.

I think this is really the key here. Haterism is not about harassing or trying to hurt or publicly shame artists or join in on hate trains, it’s just about expressing personal opinions in your own spaces with friends or on relatively contained spaces like Tumblr that will not reach the artist. This is not in defense of or supportive towards the way that a lot of people online are just incredibly mean, cruel and nasty towards these artists and the mass harassment that’s been going on, nor is this advocating being obsessive over your hatred or dislike or something either.

It’s just nice to complain or vent or be shady about inconsequential stuff in your own space sometimes and to do that without certain ARMYs breathing down your neck looking to pounce because they get off on feeling superior to other fans over stupid stuff like fanfic preferences or having never ever disliked a BTS song. I just don’t think anything good comes from toxic positivity even though I can understand and empathize with some of the defensiveness, especially in certain spaces or around certain topics.

Also on calling people out, tbh it’s just a slippery slope. But I definitely don’t get why some people get a pass in this fandom. If we held people accountable maybe some of the toxicity wouldn’t have grown so large and some of these antis wouldn’t have such huge platforms. The way that some people get mad when you point out they interacted with or are following an anti instead of just thanking you and blocking is super weird and telling tbh.

[prokopetz]

In recent posts I've complained that a lot of tabletop RPGs which toss around the term "fiction first" don't actually understand what it means, and I've been asked to expand on that complaint. So:

In my experience, there are two ways that game texts which want to position themselves as "fiction first" trip themselves up, one obvious and one subtle.

The first and more obvious pitfall is treating "fiction first" as an abstract ideology. They're using "fiction first" as a synonym for "story over rules" in a way that calls back to the role-playing-versus-roll-playing discourse of the early 2000s. The trouble is, now as then, nobody can usefully explain what "story over rules" actually entails. At best, they land on a definition of "fiction first" that talks about the GM's right to ignore the rules to better serve the story, which is no kind of definition at all – it's just putting a funny hat on the Rule Zero fallacy and trying to pass it off as some sort of totalising ideology of play.

A more useful way of defining "fiction first" play is to think of it not in terms of whether you engage with the rules at all, but in terms of when they're invoked: specifically, as a question of order of operations.

Suppose, for example, that you're playing Dungeons & Dragons, and you pick up the dice and say "I attack the dragon". Some critics would claim that no actual narrative has been established – that this is simply a bare invocation of game mechanics – but in fact we can infer a great deal: your character is going to approach the dragon, navigating any inclement terrain which lies between them, and attempt to kill the dragon using the weapon they're holding in their hand. The rules are so tightly bound to a particular set of narrative circumstances that simply invoking those rules lets us work backwards to determine what the context and stakes must be for that invocation of the rules to be sensical; this, broadly speaking, is what "rules first" looks like.

Conversely, let's say that your game of Dungeons & Dragons has confronted you with a pit blocking your path, and you want to make an Athletics check to cross it. At this point the GM is probably going to stop you and say, hold up, tell us what that looks like. Are you trying to jump across it? Are you trying to climb down one wall of the pit and up the other? Are you trying to tie a rope to the halfling and toss them to the other side? In other words, before you can pick up the dice, you need to have a little sidebar with the GM to hash out what the narrative context is, and to negotiate what can be achieved and what's at stake if you mess it up; this, broadly, is what "fiction first" looks like.

At this point I know some people are thinking "wait, hold on – both of those examples were from Dungeons & Dragons; are you saying that Dungeons & Dragons is both a rules-first game and a fiction-first game?" And yeah, I am. That's the second, more subtle place where game texts that talk about "fiction first" go astray: they talk about it as though being "fiction first" or "rules first" is something which is inherent to game systems as a whole.

This is not in fact true: being "fiction first" or "rules first" is something which describes particular invocations of the rules. In practice, only very simple games spend all of their time in one mode or the other; most will switch back and forth at need. Generally, most "traditional" RPGs (i.e., the direct descendants of Dungeons & Dragons and its various imitators) tend to operate in rules-first mode in combat and fiction-first mode out of it, though this is a simplification – when and how such mode-switching occurs can be quite complex.

Like any other design pattern, "fiction first" mechanics are a tool that's well suited for some jobs, and ill suited for others. Sometimes your rules are fine-grained enough that having an explicit negotiation and stakes-setting phase would just be adding extra steps. Sometimes you're using the outputs of the rules a narrative prompt, and having to pin the context down ahead of time would defeat the purpose. Fortunately, you don't have to commit yourself to one approach or the other; as long as your text is clear about how you're assuming a given set of rules toys will be used, you can switch modes as need dictates. However, you're not going to be capable of that kind of transparency if you're thinking in terms of "this a Fiction First™ game".

(Incidentally, this is why it can be hard to talk about "fiction first" with OSR fans if you're being dogmatic about fiction-first framing being an immutable feature of particular games. Since traditional RPGs tend to observe the above-described rules-first-in-combat, fiction-first-out-of-combat division, and OSR games tend to treat actually getting into a fight as a strategic failure state, a lot of OSR games spend most of their time in fiction-first mode. If you go up to an OSR fan and insist that D&D-style games can never be fiction-first, then attempt to define "fiction first" for them and proceed to describe how they usually play, they'll quite justifiably conclude that you have your head up your ass!)

[raqi-marr]

About Affinification

I normally don't bother getting into quote-unquote "HDG Discourse", but I was recently falsely accused of doing so on anon on Ao3 (which was funny as fuck) so I figured why not take the opportunity to *actually* discoursepost, since this is a subject I have some pretty strong feelings on

My stance on affinification is it should be allowed & not discouraged. Right now it is allowed but heavily discouraged, and I think this is both unnecessary and unkind- particularly to members of the community who have affini headmates. I've seen some arguments about affinification being bad because it undermines the disability narrative at the heart of HDG, but, imo this is only true if you take a very limited view of the capacity in disabled people VS abled people.

Disabilities come in all shapes and size, ranging from things like being unable to walk and needing a wheelchair, to having autism in a world that isn't suited for autistic people (google 'social model of disability' if this doesn't make sense.) However, "disabled person" =/= "person who can't do anything at all", it just means "person who can not do/struggles to do some things."

I get that the general take here is "the affini are The System and disabled people are never part of The System", but disabled people are actually - very fucking occasionally - able to become part of the system.

The US has a non-zero amount of trans representatives and presumably at least some of those are disabled; likewise, I have no doubt there are disabled non-trans representatives that I'm not aware of.

I think, basically, affinification is fine if your character has to work for it in a story. It is true that yes, you cannot overcome physical disabilities irl- but it may well be possible in some cases to still do a job you wanted to do, or get a position you wanted to, with enough hard work anyway. I do recognise this is not always possible, but to be clear I'm approaching this from a mental disability perspective anyway because that's what HDG means to me personally, and things are a bit different there

To be clear, I fully acknowledge trans people/disabled people/other minorities should not need to work to get this kind of recognition. They do, though; that's how life currently is, and it's fine for people to want to explore that in HDG stories. It Takes Time is on some level about my self-insert wanting to fight to be accepted and seen as an equal by a bunch of people who are more able bodied than her, even if she isn't capabilistically their equal (or it will be when I get to that arc in 50 million years lmao).

The reason it's about that is that, as an autistic person who has spent their entire life being thought of as stupid, inept, and incapable by the people around me, but is not actually, my life has been all about fighting to get people to stop viewing me that way. This is also why ITT isn't an actual affinification story; I don't need my self-insert to physically become an affini to feel validated, I just want to be treated as equal to them in the ways that I care about (which is not in the ability to micromanage 50 vines at once.)

so yeah there's my 5 credits on affinification: basically I think you can write it without undermining the disability narrative if you do it properly. also I am not at all trying to say "disabled people should just work harder to get what they want" no one should have to work if they don't want to: I just so happen to be the type that naturally enjoys having responsibilities and being in charge of stuff and I would actually be okay being in the social role that the affini have within the compact (which I realise separates me from like 99% of hdg's reader demographic already lmao)

I am merely trying to acknowledge that some disabled people - such as myself - do willingly go down the torturous path to trying to at least sort of "fit in" in society, and having a way to represent that in HDG is good I think

[ride-the-mindway]

Heya, I’m not dead. Funny that I keep finding myself back here even though I haven’t contributed much art lately due to online schooling…also, if it’s not apparent by now I’m back on a weird Resident Evil kick lately. I’ve actually been a RE fan for a long time, but I kept a bit quiet in the community for awhile and I had to avert my attention elsewhere outside of social media shit.

Well that is until RE3R Carlos came along. I was pretty surprised by his recent glow up so this dude has been living in my head rent free for a month and a half and probably has so many ladies and gents knocking at his doorstep the moment he existed… I wasn’t that big on OG Carlos admittedly, but gotta respect to the OG anyway. I initially started off as a Jill/Chris and Leon fan, but weirdly Carlos won me over with his looks and kinda of cheeky charm. Keep in mind, I will not tolerate discourse about his hair lol...

I drew numerous Carlos stuff cuz I wanted to get used to drawing him often and maybe the other denizens of RE that I really like. I’m not 100% sold on a style I want to commit to yet, but I do enjoy drawing him…I just really hate drawing his tactical vest haha. I’m tempted to make a daily Carlos account kind of inspired by the Leon one as an excuse to expel my suffocating head canons.

[peerless-minty-cucumber]

SVSSS Liu Qingge is an ace icon in a porn logic plot. In this essay I will…

Okay so, I want to preface this with some clarifications. I'm going to assume most of yall know a baseline definition of asexuality as "when you don't experience sexual attraction." Without getting too into the nuance here, take note of the following:

Being asexual does not mean you hate sex. Some asexuals like sex. Some asexuals have sex.

Asexuals can get crushes and fall in love

Being asexual doesn't mean you have sexual trauma or are a prude or w/e

Also:

I am asexual and I think by online discourse logic that means I'm right about everything I say in this essay.

You're free to respectfully disagree honestly I'd love to hear other takes on this.

This headcanon contains a lot of projection. You've been warned.

So recently I reblogged this post that joked something along the lines of "We still don't know if Liu Qingge knows what sex is." And I thought that was a) hella funny and b) kinda true. Do I think he literally doesn't know what sex is? With that sister?? Yeah no I think he knows. But I imagine he doesn't really understand that sex is just kind of a big deal for most people and expected in typical relationships. I mean, I doubt sexual attraction really often discussed amongst cultivators anyway, so if one doesn't experience it, it a) wouldn't make one too much of an outsider and b) one would just assume this is the universal norm. In my reading of canon, he definitely has a crush on Shen Qingqiu, but I don't think he has the sexual attraction. To the contrary, I imagine that he finds the thought of sexual contact with his crush very unbecoming. Perhaps it even contributes to his dislike of Luo Binghe and the BingQiu relationship. I could even spin this into a whole thing where he could be coping with internalised homophobia because he doesn't want to have sex with men so it's fine, right? We know that in general, Shen Yuan is a pretty unreliable narrator when it comes to observing other characters' reactions. But I did find some of his thoughts about Liu Qingge during the Succubi extra very interesting. For those who don't know/recall - in this extra chapter, SQQ and LQG investigate a Succubus hideout and LQG gets affected by what is essentially an Aphrodisiac. SQQ notes that LQG is visibly distressed, but also shows absolutely no signs of desire to act on it in any way – almost as though he doesn't have experience with sexual desire. He's also clearly uncomfortable and angry with his body's reaction – not an uncommon reaction in (particularily sex-repulsed) asexuals experiencing libido. I really like to imagine an AU where LiuShen happened and they're just cute and cuddling and maybe get in a few kisses and after a few months Shen Qingqiu is like "… So are we gonna fuck or like…?" And LQG would be FLOORED because surely that's not a thing people actually do – right?! That's a thing for forbidden porn ballads and demons! I also like to imagine they actually try it and he ends up kinda liking it and unpacking his baggage but he still doesn't get the attraction.

Yall were seriously starving for this essay so I hope I at least kinda delivered. I felt like I had more to say about this but *gestures* stuff happened and my brain isn't super on top of things rn.

[demigods-posts]

Hi 👋👋

I dont typically send asks, and especially not without being anon. I am a mostly silent participant on tumblr and I have been for years. But I have to say something

It is so refreshing seeing big pro pjo posters able to criticize Riordan. I am not sure if this is just in my little corner of tumblr and maybe other people can tell me if it is the same for them but as far as I can see, you and lilislegacy are the big pjo posters on here. Is that just my dash? But I feel like mostly everyone in the tumblr fandom knows you guys, though I have known about you for longer. And when the book came out and I saw all the issues I fully expected everyone, especially you guys, throwing your full support behind the book and Riordan. So I cant tell you how happy I am that you are calling him out. The post you made today about not understanding why he is making Percy dumb again is so true! It’s not ok because self deprecation shouldnt be glorified. When he wrote Percy has a powerful hero, nobody was upset about it. Adult readers loved how much he had grown and kid readers looked up to him and found it exciting. In the last PJO book and in all Heroes of Olympus Riordan made Percy strong and heroic in addition to kind and funny, which made people happy. It made kids want to be like that. But now these kids are reading about him being so mean to himself. This is not okay! This should not be the example! Kids should not be reading that it’s ok for your friends and loved ones to treat you like an idiot. Riordan should be continuing to write about Percy growing up and maturing and becoming a good man who is content with who he is, not becoming more immature and more self deprecating and treated worse by his friends.

Sorry, I didnt mean to go off. But I just think its refreshing and brave how you are calling him out, no matter how much you have praised him and his books in the past. This fandom is dangerously loyal to him, and it quickly can become toxic and problematic when no one can criticize the author himself. So thank you for what you are doing. I admire it a lot and I hope you keep it up to some extent because we need it so bad

@lilislegacy if you want to add to this, feel free <3

Thank you so much for reaching out, and for being so kind! I hold the series in such high regard, so critiquing it makes me so nervous, especially since my blog is fairly well-known throughout the fandom. I really do love the series and I stand by the fact that there is so much good to come from the recent books, but with that comes some not-so-good. The consistent mockery of Percy's intelligence, the satirical characterization of Percy and Annabeth, and the seeming erasure of certain character and story arcs in the recent books are disappointing, and I enjoy having the space to express my opinion. While I have such love the series, I am open to having respectful discourse about Rick's recent writing choices, and I will engage in more in due time. Thank you again for your kind words and support!

[centrally-unplanned]

I have been doing a binge on more partisan right-wing discourse around the election, trying to get a grasp on the various motivations. And you can get some of them! Obviously being mad about inflation is the lodestone, voters punish incumbents as a default behavior regardless of it will help the problem (and that isn't even insane, consistently done it creates logical incentives - I authentically get this). Immigration is just, well, you are in what camp you are, sure. Other big ones are mass level The Elites Are Lying, 1/6 was fake, the 2020 election was stolen, and so on, you know it - it is built on sand but again if you ignore the sand the pieces slot together on top.

But a shockingly big one that emerged recently - and it is a little sad how much you can see the "top down" nature of the system in how individuals take their cue from the campaign - is how Kamala Harris is too stupid to function as president. It is funny because A: it is obviously not true. Kamala is not going to be the smartest politician ever or anything, but she is completely normal, and the evidence they link is all pathetic. It almost entirely is examples of her dodging questions poorly, like she doesn't want to answer about why she flip-flopped so she just kind of ignores it and spouts boilerplate. A weakness, she isn't great at this! Obama was way better for example. But it is obviously just politician bullshit - she can answer that question, she just doesn't want to. She can hold day-long meetings working on problems and give 2 hour speeches, she is fine. You can't really buy that the person saying this believes it.

Especially because of B: they are supporting Donald Trump as the alternative! And while Trump is a moron that isn't what I mean here, like Trump is an awful thinker and growing senile, but he has his strengths; he is a moron in some ways but decently smart in others. But your argument for supporting Trump just cannot rest on his ability to cogently and intellectually answer questions. Like wtf. He literally built his career on just ignoring what everyone else is saying and ranting about his own bullshit. That is his entire appeal! You explicitly love the way he just fucks off onto his own threads!

I think it is one of those points where you can tell the proponents kind of don't believe their own statements. It is like the Musk stuff all over again - the way they say it is so boilerplate, there is no emotion behind it, no "authentic reaction". Just doing one's duty. Which in a election isn't a shocker or anything to see; still amusing when you see it though.

[slowlysointernet]

I recently came across a character analysis about Char and his various relationships which tickled me funny. Why? Because the author of this analysis claimed that Nanai and Char were not in a sexual relationship and that the women he's been involved in were platonic.

I'm making a post about this because this isn't the first time i've come across these opinions amongst the fandom and how Reccoa wanted Quattro's d and that's why she defected to the titans blah blah blah. I've also seen the occasional ''Nanai and Char are not in a sexual relationship'' if you would believe it.

Let's start with Reccoa and Quattro in Zeta:

How does the viewer know that these two are lovers/in a relationship/a couple/ whatever you wish to call it ? Well the director (Tomino) doesn't tell me outright that ''THESE TWO CHARACTERS ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP'' in neon lights. He's not obliged to this. He can do what he wants, so he shows it though character interaction and body language.

Quattro enters Reccoa's room, which is her own personal intimate space mind you. He sits on her bed (again an intimate space), briefly takes off his sunglasses and pulls her to him and hold her hips. Reccoa reciprocates this intimacy by leaning onto him and putting her hands on his shoulders. This, dear people is a depiction of two people who are intimate with each other sexually. The director isn't going to depict someone like Captain Henken or Kamille in this way because neither have that kind of relationship with Reccoa.

Aaaand let's not forget that they kiss after:

(Zeta Gundam Episode 32)

Gundam Zeta Define is much more explicit in showing their physical relationship for people who are still under the assumption that it's one sided or that nothing is going on:

'Char' and Nanai in Char's Counteratack;

Again you see the same body language here just like with Reccoa. Touches her hand, holds her by the waist, puts her in his lap etc. Other Zeon soldiers don't act that way towards Nanai or 'Char' and this is a way to show two people who are in a romantic/sexual relationship.

This same scene UC Engage Char's Counterattack is slightly longer than the movie but it's conveying the same thing:

'Char' and Nanai are also shown in a room wearing gowns hinting that these two characters just did the deed👍. This is from Char's Counterattack movie :

Here is another scene in PS1 Char's Counterattack cutscene showing 'Char' and Nanai ''platonically'' sleeping together 🙄:

Annnd a cute scene where 'Char' is hinting to Nanai to join him in the shower. You know non-sexually and all that 😉. Char's Counterattack Beltorchika's Children manga Chapter 10. :

High-Steamer Novel Volume 3:

Char's Counterattack Beltorchika's Children Novel:

Some things are inferred via tone of voice and body language and some things are explicitly shown and a outright explicit example would be with Flay and Kira having sex in Gundam Seed which is not really the norm in anime form in Gundam.

So here we are. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out and but i do think there are disingenuous and self centered reasons when it comes to understanding Char's relationships with women. Like i said in this post the male fans/dudebros/incels tend to dislike female characters that act like Reccoa and pretend she's crazy just because Quattro doesn't bed her or you have the female fans/yaoi shippers/fujoshi's who don't like the idea of the fictional male character they are attracted to having a woman love interest.

So my entire point here is that try not to view a piece of media through your own lenses otherwise the analysis/discussion/discourse becomes about headcanons and fanons. It's the story and the characters that are interesting not you. I'm not that interesting tbh.

(I use inverted commas on the word 'Char' in my posts because the name is a mask and not his true self.)

[thankskenpenders]

Crazy how Fang's been plucked from comic and game obscurity lately, right? When you were reading issues with Fang/Nack like the stuff where Sally knees him in the groin, how do you think you would've reacted to the news that this guy would not only eventually be getting his own comic miniseries in the future, he'd also be a major antagonist in a mainline Sonic game as well as being the main character in the prequel comic and animation for that game?

It's been really cool to see! Fang's a fun character and I'm glad he's getting used again. We love a somewhat bumbling gunslinger mercenary who can either be more of a serious threat or more of a comic relief villain based on the needs of the story. Who doesn't love Hol Horse

It's funny as a comic reader, though, because to me it can kind of feel like... Fang never went anywhere? He went like 25 years without a major appearance in any games, but during that whole time he's been appearing in the comics semi-regularly. He'd pop up in the Archie comics every couple years, and then as soon as IDW started doing Classic Sonic comics he came right back because of how much Ian likes him. And of course he's always been present in fanart and fan games and all these other things. So his recent comeback has been surprising to me, but not a total shock.

This is kind of an example of how being neck deep in ancillary Sonic material and the fandom can kind of give you a warped view of the series. Sometimes this can be a bad thing. (90% of Sonic discourse feels like people making up their own perfect version of the franchise in their heads and then getting mad when the real thing is different, or when other fans want something different.) But these days being a comic reader makes it feel like I've got an advanced preview of ideas that are being kicked around. To me, Fang feels like a well known character, and him appearing in the games again and getting comics of his own feels like a natural result of Ian's push to keep the Hooligans relevant. But to someone who's less immersed in all this stuff, he's an obscure villain from a long-forgotten Game Gear game and giving him the spotlight in Superstars was a WILD move

[mermaidsirennikita]

frustrating levels of discourse continue happening on twt ugh https://x.com/lara_e_brown/status/1839303817256645101

Lol yeah, I've honestly just given up on reading takes like that because once you've seen one, you've seen 'em all.

It's an extremely shallow reading, using things like "pale", which you can in fact be while having a darker complexion, with both examples relating less to a physical appearance and more to his aspect in the moment (his face is "white" because he's scared; he's "pale and effeminate" because he's in a wan and weakened state). And I say "both" because you tend to come up with faaaar fewer examples of the text relating Heathcliff as pale than... not.

I also find it funny that this user uses Heathcliff marrying Isabella as an example of why he MUST be white, when Heathcliff and Isabella literally run away together because nobody wants them to be together, PARTICULARLY her brother, and this rips the Linton family asunder. Almost as if.......... it was............... breaking a taboo......................

Like, yeah! 18th century Yorkshire wouldn't have accepted that marriage. And if there's one thing we know about Heathcliff—if it's not accepted, he's not gonna do it.

One of the entire points of his character is that he lives against law and taboo and societal norms (while at the same time being deeply aware of the fact that his existence doesn't gel with them). In that thread, that user references the Byronic hero, with the name drawing from Lord Byron and his own literary fascinations. Byron was obsessed with taboo, lived to break them (most famously the taboo of sleeping with people of the same sex, and probably the taboo of incest as well... COME TO MY TED TALK TO DISCUSS HOW THAT COULD RELATE TO HEATHCLIFF, ALSO). One of the reasons why more recent scholarship (and I don't even mean super recent) surrounding Wuthering Heights has come to terms with the interpretation of Heathcliff as a man of color is that he does embody the taboo even more.

And obviously... some taboos (the incest one) exist for a reason. But the book also seems interested in questioning how much we really gain by treating someone (someone like Heathcliff) as other and wrong simply for existing. Again, we go into the cycle of abuse.

I also find it rather belittling of people to refer to general 18th and 19th century values when discussing how people "would have" seen Heathcliff, or interpreted the text. Because, for one thing—yeah! A lot of contemporary readers did not in fact Get It. Perhaps in part because they did have the biases that people like that user seem to believe would have prevented the author from exploring Heathcliff as a man of color.

... But if Emily Bronte thought exactly as the detractors of her novel (who condemned it as wicked and aberrant) did, she never would have written the book, I think. Who's to say, though? It's difficult for EITHER side to make leaps about what Emily knew or thought, because she is someone who didn't live very long, has been portrayed as an eccentric (and perhaps even maligned by Elizabeth Gaskell's portrayal of her) and definitely had something of an offbeat upbringing. We just don't have much directly from HER. So it's a bit rich to me to make assumptions about the kind of limited worldview she may have had on topics like race, when we really do not have a lot of definitive information about her worldview, but DO know that the book she wrote, which some theorize to be about a man of color, REALLY upset some conventional readers.

Like... why would you contextualize that book within a purely conventional reading when the entire reason why Wuthering Heights matters is that it defies convention?

I do shy away from using the word "canonical" to describe Heathcliff's race, because while I know what people mean when they say it (and I'm sure I've said it at some point) it's just a word choice that people like that user will latch on to. Like I've said before, there is no way to prove with 100% certainty Heathcliff's race either way. Which isn't to say that you have to do so to state that he's a man of color. It's just the kind of pedantic strategy people will use in threads like these.

And I'll notice, too, that she omits Nelly's line wherein she speculates that Heathcliff's mother could be Chinese or Indian. I mean, what's her take on that specificity combined with the lascar speculation? No mention of Liverpool relating to people... not... from America or Spain...?

I do worry sometimes that people see someone's major concentration (say, if someone has a BA in English or something, which for the record I don't) and go "Damn, that's end-all, be-all" A) it's not, there's more to research than getting a degree B) you could also use literal wikipedia footnotes to kickstart your own deeper dive into this, there are tons of people who've made careers discussing books like WH debating the issue C) having a degree of any level never kicks your bias.

To go back to my own degree... I knew old art historians who saw nothing gay at all in Michelangelo's work. You can know a lot about a lot, and it doesn't mean you have an open mind.

I think anyone can read WH, do some research about the era and Emily, and drawn their own conclusions. And you are just going to have to make your conclusions based on your own assessment. There is no smoking gun here, and there never will be because the smoking gun would be a living Emily Bronte willingly telling you what she meant.

And I didn't read Heathcliff as a person of color from the jump, for the record. I was thirteen when I read that book for the first time; I'm white; I picked that book in the context of it being a Great English Classic, and as far as I knew, those were all about white people. Because... that's what you were taught about WH at the time, at least where I was.

But when I was first introduced to that interpretation some time later, it was a literal "OH!" moment. Because like... yeah. There isn't a smoking gun for Dorian Gray's sexuality (and yes, we know a lot more about Oscar Wilde than we do about Emily Bronte; but the absence of knowledge of Emily's interests and attitudes doesn't mean we can assume she DIDN'T have an interest in writing Heathcliff as a person of color) but The Picture of Dorian Gray makes way more sense when you interpret his queerness for what it is. Wuthering Heights makes way more sense when you interpret Heathcliff's race for what it is.

[sukunasweetheart]

//just me venting about sukuna haters sorry

Not me seeing so much discourse about whether sukuna is a well written villain or not... he essentially has no backstory shown as of yet and we barely know anything about him but he is still one of the most naturally interesting and compelling characters in the whole damn series bro 💀 buckle up bc its about to get lengthy (im just glazing sukuna in this post ngl so 🧎‍♀️)

so many whiny ass mfs are weeping about how he "doesn't have any personal goals or a proper reason to be a villain" when that is the whole point???? He lives on his own desires and satisfactions and does whatever he wants to, because he is capable enough to do that. Mfs want "real villains" but cant even handle sukuna 💀 ive seen too many shit ass threads and poorly articulated "critiques" on his character that dont make any valid points. If you can't even separate your personal dislike of a character from your analysis of their writing, dont even bother posting that shit please 😭😭😭 the fact that we haven't even gotten any information about his background yet and people are jumping the gun about him being "poorly written" is already saying a lot 🤨

The fact that yall are so bitter and angry about him that you can write 500+ words about how oh-so-terrible of a villain he is kinda proves that he's doing his job well tbh 💁‍♀️

What also bothers me to no END is how people compare him with villains of other series, who had compelling sob stories that made people empathise with them. Thats nice and all but why should all villains have grand ideals and be subject to feelings of empathy/sympathy from their audience?

Part of what makes sukuna so interesting is how he's not tied down by morals, rules or long term goals in life. He doesn't limit himself, which is what makes him an unpredictable character. He's completely left behind what it means to be human in many ways, and he's clearly not a character written to be empathised with. He is very purposefully inhumane and distant from everyone else, and that feeling transcends from within the series to real life as well. There is a clear lack of understanding bc most of us can't comprehend what its like to just live without being goal-oriented.

Sukuna is a true anomaly in the sense that he doesnt really fit in any kind of box within the series. He's born from man, but its clear that he separates himself from humans (and nobody else considers him human, either). He's not a cursed spirit. He hovers between life and death. The narrator referred to him as the honoured one, whilst angel referred to him as the disgraced one.

These little contradictions in his character make him all the more complicated and interesting to think about. And even recently, he's been shown to waver a little bit momentarily in the manga, questioning his own irritation at yuuji. He's capable of self reflection, and though sukuna does whatever he wants for the most part, he doesn't blindly go into things without some thought first, he's a constant thinker and analyser, and an intelligent one at that.

And honestly, he is always such a joy to watch and read, his personality is so flavourful, and the way he carries himself is very attractive. He's not afraid to get messy or of getting hurt, theres so much chaos in the way he does things and yet he also has a huge element of gracefulness to him, which shines through the poetic way he speaks. Its undeniable that sukuna simply oozes charisma...

And this isnt talked about enough but this man is genuinely so effortlessly funny (in a kind of sinister way i guess?) Like yes he is an old ass man having real beef with one FIFTEEN YEAR OLD for very little reason, he accidentally healed yuujis arm and somehow expected him to be grateful for it despite how he literally ripped his heart out afterwards, then he proceeded to sit on him after kicking him down likeeee 😭 what kind of behaviour is this sir

His facial expressions at yorozus yapping 💀 THE WAY HE COMPARED YUUJIS FACE OF DESPAIR TO THE HARIMA STATUE 😭😭😭💀😭💀💀😭 omg that was so foul but i was fucking losing it ngl

How he randomly compared gojo to a fish and started talking abt his scales... thats a very unique and descriptive comparison, isnt it? Even in the recent leaks, he was 100% ready and squaring up to a literal child talking abt "youre starting to get annoying" LIKE HELPPP 😭 HE FR SAID "fuck them kids and fuck you too"

I saw someone saying that sukuna has no passion, like are we talking about the same character....? This man is a literal jujutsu NERD 💀💀 he truly recognises talented sorcerers and the only time hes seen to be having genuine fun is when hes fighting a mf... is that not passion? This is literally sukuna when it comes to jujutsu: 🤓

Anyway im done here now, im pretty sure i missed a lot of things i couldve talked about as well but ive done enough yapping

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

What your favorite Devil May Cry game says about you:

Big Disclaimer: These are mostly jokes/assumptions mixed with what I have seen. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I’m not counting any of the anime since this is mainly focused on the games. I’m also excluding crossovers like Marvel vs Capcom.

Devil May Cry 1: You are one and/or three of these things: You are an older fan who has been a lover of the series since this game’s 2001 debut. You may also be a Resident Evil fan, considering that the beta version of RE4 would eventually be the reason Devil May Cry exists. Finally, you may also be one of the more quiet or chill fans. I will also assume that you were one of the more old school PS2 players that have done some sick combos. And you’re a Limp Bizkit fan who was blown away by the Netflix Devil May Cry intro. You also love to look back fondly at this game alongside RE4 with nostalgia.

Devil May Cry 2: First of all, you are a rare fan that has not said that DMC2 sucks. But secondly, you’re probably one of the very few Lucia fans that think that she deserves WAY better. I will go as far as say, even though DMC2 is not my favorite DMC game that I tapped out from, I love Lucia’s character and her design, and if DMC2 is your favorite DMC game, you might agree with me on that. You may or may not have been one of the few people that talks about how different and even edgy Dante acts in this game, but in a good way. Or you probably made the theory that DMC2 Dante could be Vergil. Even though I don’t think that would be possible due to the fact that Dante’s Devil Trigger is still Dante and he still uses his guns, but I digress.

Devil May Cry 3: Be honest. The cover art of the Devil May Cry 3 case made you simp for Dante. Not only that, but this was also the game that turned you into a Vergil simp. You also maybe felt great POWER playing as Vergil once you unlocked him. I will also assume you were one of the few people that decided to actually play the game in the expected order (DMC3, DMC1, DMC2, DMC4 and DMC5). In the game DMC5, you already knew what the plot twist whenever you played as V.

Devil May Cry 4: Despite the game being unfinished, you still enjoyed playing the game and you came out of this game a Nero fan. You were excited to play as Lady for the first time and wish she was playable again in Devil May Cry 5. You’re also very curious as to who Nero’s mother could be. You are also probably one of the many artists/writers who made their own take on who the Lady in Red could be. Oh and before I forget, you also want the “Nero is a deadweight” joke to stop because it wasn’t funny the first time, and it’s not funny for the 16536th time. Like the DMC3 fans, you also already knew what the twist with V was in DMC5.

Devil May Cry 5: There is a chance that you have played Metal Gear Rising and jammed out to Devil Trigger and Bury the Light. You’re also one of the many fans that is also tired of the “Nero is a deadweight joke” and your eye probably twitched whenever Dante says that line at the beginning when you replay the game. Also, chances are, new fans have played THIS game before playing the previous games. Myself included. I promise to finish one of the previous ones. The chance is made higher with the recent Netflix Anime where newer fans will go to this game specifically.

DMC Devil May Cry (DMC Reboot): You will defend this game with your whole chest. You’re also tired to seeing the same negative comments about DMC reboot whenever you go on here or anywhere else. You may also prefer the aesthetics of this game over the original. Despite all this toxic negativity towards the reboot, you are the chillest fan in Devil May Cry’s fandom. You are also civil in your conversations and arguments when it comes to discourse about the Reboot and do not resort to name-calling or any childish tactics most toxic fans would do, like some of the loudest DMC Reboot haters. You’re kind of like that misunderstood edgy kid in school people like to resort playground insults if you say an opinion they don’t like or express yourself however YOU like.

Devil May Cry Peak of Combat: You’re the average Gacha player who was devastated that this game got shut down, before moving on to another Gacha game for it to suck the money out of your wallet. That’s all I got, lol.

[swordfright]

thank you for answer my reliquary/(ex)catholic dream ask! i also don't particularly think that any of them are full-on Catholic catholic but the little mention of even thinking of it As a relic is so fascinating to me

the reverberations of religiosity in dsmp are so interesting to me (but i'm currently studying religion, so it's kind of a revisitation with a new lens? :P)

there's so much about dsmp (that you say, is fundamentally baked into the story) that plays with/reiterates/refutes typical religious understanding (at least—i mean likely all of them are coming from christian/new greek mythology (for lack of a better word, idk, post-pjo) religious background, so playing w that space at least) and i just find it so fascinating, especially as you say, there are many god(ly) characters (+ religion that happens To people!).

i think what's especially interesting to me is that, like, none of these religious elements are really 'necessary', like the whole prime church thing grows out of a joke and becomes a real thing. and then, of course, catholic tommy (+ on people drawing catholic with a bigass crucifix, people—increasingly?—drawing c!quackity with a cross, esp (afaik) in the las nevadas fanarts. what does that imply about him!!).

(+ fwiw, on catholic relics/its uses, i was recently doing a reading on discourse on resurrection esp. in early (medieval) christianity, and there was a discussion on whether or not saints' bones constituted the whole or only part of a body—on the one hand, the saints had to be entirely enshrined within the part, otherwise the divine energy (for lack of a better word) would be nullified. but also, resurrection requires the whole body, reconstituted. so, there's a funny kind of unintentional parallel there too; stagger!dream on the one hand has faith (ha) that resurrection works, but the relic also constitutes the whole. and then he throws it into the lava, much to the disappointment of all the dsmp!catholics, im sure)

sorry for this hilariously long ask lol. the wording of 'relic' is just so full of implication that it just sent my mind spiralling (in the way that great fanfiction gives the space for!)

(context: earlier ask)

YESSS i love this ask i'm sorry it took a couple days to get round to answering it!! i love the way you phrase it as "reverberations of religiosity," and i think you're definitely right about how most of that religiosity is likely theologically and aesthetically inspired by christianity and uhhhh "post-pjo" understandings of greek mythology. probably american protestant christianity specifically, based on what we know about some of the most vocal CCs and their backgrounds; at least, i think that's a reasonable assumption and we can definitely point to those influences in the story. there are also places where religiosity/religion in dsmp looks a bit like the divine patron system in D&D and some other ttrpgs to me, though idk if i would argue there's a direct connection. it's possible, i suppose!

none of the religious elements are "necessary" to the story in a strict sense, but i do think they're sort of a natural next step for a story that's about A) what it means to build something, and B) what it means to have power. my thoughts on this are pretty disorganized but monotheistic concepts of God as ultimate creator/builder and ultimate power-holder are really playing into why introducing deities to a story like dsmp just...makes sense? (actually, maybe one of the most interesting angles here is that the dsmp doesn't use a monotheistic system?? idk, feel free to weigh in!)

another thing i find really interesting is that a machinima style/computer game-based story doesn't need a concept of religion in order to feature resurrection as a plot point, because even though we tend to associate the two IRL, a video game already has built-in revival mechanics. so resurrection on the dsmp never had to be religious, and the fact that the CCs made it explicitly religious anyway is really interesting.

as far as stagger's concerned, i arrived at that scene (and at dream throwing the knuckle bone into the lava after reviving tommy) because i was trying to work backwards from what we know dream knew about revival at the time. the only part of the fic that could be considered canon-divergent is the premise, which is that the bulk of the stagedduo revive book experiments happened after dream's incarceration, rather than before. we don't really have confirmation either way about when the experiments canonically took place, but dr3 has made some very convincing arguments (and also some bits here) that they likely happened prior to the prison arc. speaking personally, the only reason i'm still kinda on the fence about when those experiments happen is that there some things about dream's behavior in prison that reallllyyy make it look like he doesn't know much about how the book works, especially in retrospect after we've seen more examples of what revival looks like in canon. the main resurrections that we actually get to see (aside from vikk and lazar) are tommy, wilbur, and dream himself. when punz revives dream, he does it long-distance. he doesn't have a physical corpse, he doesn't have a ghost, and he's not in the same location where dream died. this means you apparently need NONE of those things to revive someone; you can revive anyone from anywhere with just the knowledge of the revive book! this new info totally recontextualizes dream's resurrection of wilbur from a year or so earlier: if dream could've brought wilbur back any time with very few restrictions, why did he wait so long? why does all of the dialogue in wilbur's revival scene lead us to believe that ghostbur has to be in the same room with dream in order for him to be resurrected? that scene is very much framed as opportunistic: dream reviving wilbur because ghostbur happens to be there, because tommy was stupid enough to bring him along, and dream takes this opportunity to demonstrate his power (and why they shouldn't kill him.) imo, in light of the new info about how revival works, wilbur's resurrection reads as having happened that way because at the time, dream thought he needed to be in physical proximity to a person's ghost in order to revive them, and only later discovered this wasn't the case. which to me implies that the revive book experiments hadn't happened yet. so, working backwards from all that, i tried to picture what may have been going on in dream's mind when he was thinking about reviving tommy.

IF (because we don't know for sure, but if!) tommy was really the first person dream revived, or one of the first, then dream wouldn't have had much experience raising the dead yet. we know for sure that he didn't know you don't need a ghost to revive someone yet, which can also serve as an explanation for why he waits a couple days before reviving tommy — he may have been waiting for tommy's ghost to appear. when he realized there wasn't going to be a ghost, i think it's fairly logical to assume he may have gone for the next best thing: the physical body. considering all this, I don't think it's a stretch to say dream could conceivably try to resurrect tommy using a body part (knuckle bone, in my fic) and when the revival works, he assumes it's because you need a body or a ghost, and only much later finds out that you don't need either of these things to make a resurrection work. the reason i wrote dream hiding tommy's knuckle bone was because i kinda doubt the warden would let dream sit in there with the corpse for all that long (what if the prisoner whittles one of tommy's femurs into a javelin! oh no!) so that part was extrapolated from what we know about sam's neuroses during this arc of the story.

you mentioned you were doing research on relic discourse in early medieval christendom and for the record i would love to know whether there was ever any consensus reached on that btw! like, did the church come to any sort of conclusion on whether the part constituted the whole, or no? ngl it is extremely funny to me that my fic accidentally replicated centuries-old theology beef 🙏🥴 HILDEGARD VON BINGEN I'M SORRY FOR MAKING YOUR RELIGION ABOUT MY MINECRAFT TWINKS PLEAE FORGIVE M

[barabaitcharactergenerator]

scotty-scott of howl fame

ah yes, my icon. my muse. my silly rabbit.

favorite thing about them - his tits on a meta level, i think what i appreciate most about scott is that it feels as though he was bio-engineered in a lab to be specifically catered to me. hairy, bearded, muscular, jockish, funny, kind, endlessly optimistic, stupid as hell, AND has canonically committed multiple atrocities as a big, sexy werewolf? be still, my beating heart. i feel like the monster prom creators stalked my social media circa 2017-2018 and collectively agreed that they were gonna make a dating sim ro that would make this one specific gayboy so, SO happy.

least favorite thing about them - also on a meta level. look. im not a nasty little hater (except when i am), but i have to admit that the writers are CONSTANTLY shoving him to the side in favor of the rest of the cast. even in his own game, Monster Roadtrip, a majority of the events tend to lean on polly being the center-focus with scott acting as her sidekick. this was esp apparent in the End of the Road ending where Polly was basically the main character while Scott was also There (sort of). ill admit i partially understand this since polly is generally a more active character while scott is more reactive, but still, id love to see my boy get his kudos

favorite line - there's so many good ones but im just gonna with one based on a recent screenshot i took: "I really like macaroni, but I'm not allowed to boil water by myself, so I just eat the noodles raw."

brOTP - DA PRANK MASTERZ BABEY!!! Scott is my fav MP character and Polly is my second fav, so you it's only natural that I'd be obsessed with their dynamic. canonically bimbo and himbo besties.

OTP - Scott howl x ME!! i like him and brian a lot, i think they're cute. im a sucker for jock x jock and golden retriever x constantly tired so the two of them manage to hit a sweet spot for me.

nOTP - the game keeps trying to push scott x vicky or scott x amira and like, im sorry, but trying to get me to ship Bara Icon Scott Howl with women? im calling homophobia. besides im more of a vicky x vera and amira x damien guy so on all fronts those ships just dont really appeal to me

random headcanon - for reasons i cant disclose this has been canonically refuted but i always pictured scott's grandma as one of those very classic horror movie werewolves- all fangs, all carnage, very little sexy (unless you're into that sort of thing, in which case, hey. you do you). she used to be the alpha of the pack back in her day and was an absolute menace to monster society, until she got a little older and settled down. still, she secretly craves the old days when monsters could be monsters, and keeps trying to convince scott to embrace his more animalistic side, even though he keeps telling her that murder isnt actually really mean and you probably shouldn't do it.

unpopular opinion - the monster prom fandom doesnt really have that much discourse so i dont know whats an unpopular opinion vs what isnt. uuuh i think scott should have won that popularity poll back when monster prom was still getting updates and gotten the new secret ending instead of damien's "punch the sun" ending

song i associate with them - this was on a scott howl playlist and i like it so uh. through and through by khai dreams

favorite picture of them - obv my pfp pic is one of my favs but here are a collection of Certified Scott Images

and some fav outfits:

[lady-phasma]

It’s me again 💝

I’ve been in the Hotd fandom since the show first aired but got really into it once adult Aemond showed up . I’ve dabbled in a bunch of what I call creator content, fics , imagines even editing videos … I just don’t seem to find my people or I have people and they talk for awhile but then ghost . I try not to stress cause I get it we have lives and that shit comes first but it’s just idk sad when I try so hard and I’m lost in the crowd if you will. I’ve reached out to people via dm and I usually try to comment and give my opinion to get some interaction . Perhaps I’m making a bigger deal than I should . I would love to come off anon and dm but I just don’t wanna be judged and I say this even though I know people reading this will think pathetic . It is what it is

Hi 💝! Thank you for writing again! First, no negative self-talk on my blog. 😊 It's not a rule exactly, but I don't support it. Maybe you follow me, that's irrelevant, but I doubt that the demographic of my followers will think anything about this is pathetic. Outside of them, if they think that, they can block me and then we don't have to worry about their opinions, do we?

Now that's out of the way, don't worry about coming off anon. You don't have to or you can decide later. I answered another ask and said this and it bears repeating:

Feelings are valid, but they are not always truth.

Maybe it is a big deal to you at this point in your life. It has been to me at other times (not on Tumblr because I was on a near-10 year break from it). I don't like to give advice because I'm not in your shoes. I can only offer an ear to listen and my honest opinions.

Keep creating!! Whether it's in a fandom setting or not. I only write what I want to write. I only make gifs of what I want (or need for a fic). Make things when you feel inspiration or even if you don't. Drop your imagines in here if you want. Especially (but not limited to) excitement you have during the second season! There is going to be so much lovely chaos during the second season. We are all going to have thoughts!

As for your experience on your blog, follow more people, reblog with comments/discourse (if it's kind and not hurtful). And try not to compare yourself to others. I know it's difficult when notes on a post feel so damn good, but they aren't always immediate. And be yourself. I don't mean any of this as advice - it's just how I behave on here. Try not to try, just be.

I am so glad you've been in the fandom since the start! I stared my HotD experience on AO3 because I had been on there for years. Then a conversation in the comments in October 2022 got me on Tumblr for the first time since 2013/14. I'm so glad it did! There has been drama (I took a hiatus from Jan 2023 until March 2024) but there has been more joy and fun than that for me. I do that on purpose.

As I've said before, there were about 9 million viewers for the season 1 finale. That's a lot of people. More than I can imagine. So, if I were to offer advice it would be this: this time around for me I have been looking at the tags I follow more often than I used to. I look at posts that are like-minded: kind posts, funny posts that don't make fun of any part of the fandom, and posts about niche characters/elements. Then I look at that blog further, check out older posts to see if they have my same values (or close), and if so, I give them a follow. People don't always follow back, that's okay. But I get to see their positivity or inclusivity and that enriches my experience. The Nettles community is one of the best out here and I am so glad I get to be a part of it. We don't always agree but it's so fun to find a part of another aspect of the fandom. I throw my net wide because there are so many of us.

Lastly, like I said in a recent answer: what do you do to make others feel heard? Do you comment on posts when people express that they are lonely in a fandom? Do you give them a hug emoji or a "hey, I see you" kind of reaction? I do these things when I see those posts because what we put out comes back to us. Treat others how you want to be treated. That's not to say you haven't been doing this but if you haven't, maybe think about why - are you shy, judgmental, unsure how it will be received, or other motivations to keep scrolling?

I want everyone to have a great time in this or any fandom. This fandom in particular needs more positivity and inclusivity. I didn't get the nickname auntie for nothing. 💕 But it's never forced or fake. Come back to my inbox any time and as often as you like. We don't have to keep discussing this unless you want to! Is Aemond your favorite? Which episode do you dislike the most? Are you excited about something in particular for season 2? But there is no expectation or obligation.

[thats-the-biz-babe]

this seems to be unpopular on here but i am decidedly soooo not looking forward to the hiatus / this season being over.

like i genuinely get so much enjoyment out of this show and i love watching live every week, discussing theories etc. i think because it's like THE hyperfixation for me at the moment so it's hard for me to just turn it off and go enjoy something else for a while.

this past week has made me kinda get it though, the discourse has been pretty stressful recently so i do feel like a break might be a good idea. i just know when i don't have the thing to look forward to and occupy my mind every week the depression is gonna kick in lmao.

and it's funny because the recent news (thanks oliver) makes me realise that i really should be done with the show. it doesn't care about it's characters or it's storylines and giving them any kind of consistent developments and logical conclusions. recently i think it has disapointed me more often than not and i'm just finding it hard to stay optimistic enough to feel like keep going is worth it. and despite all that, i can't move on because this bullshit is what my brain has decided to get stuck on.