#the-hypocritical-critic

[orionebulart]

Guys. I've noticed something.

The way Stolass` glancing at Blitzø in the "Mastermind" right before execution (as he thinks):

Is it just me or... is this expression full of loathing? I am failing to see some love, reassurance or sorrow right here. All I see is nothing but pure hate.

This look doesn't say "Don't worry, Blitzø. Everything's going to be alright. Take care of yourself. Goodbye." Noooooohohoho!

What this god damn look DOES say is "That's how I'll punish you for not reciprocating my feelings, stupid imp. I'll make you regret this. Now I'm dying because of you. It's all your fault. So you should blame yourself for the rest of your life."

You know what sucks even more? Stolass will TOTALLY guilt-trip Blitzø by this in the future. It's going to be like "But I've done so much for you, Blitzy! How dare you be so ungrateful?!" I have no doubts. He will do this. And the standom will defend him for doing this. And it won't be called neither manipulation nor emotional abuse (as it should be). It will be called "miscommunication" and "not quite being self-aware enough at times". Just as usual.

[vinndas]

the two worst and irredeemable men make each other miserable for years and make it everyone elses problem, hundreds dead, a courier struggling

[gilmores-glorious-blog]

can’t stop thinking about dorian being jealous of beau. imagine the gay man you’re in love with starts talking to a married lesbian about her workout routine and your first thought is wait no he has to know that i’m ripped too!!

[orionhelluvaranting]

Brutal honesty vs Soft hypocrisy

Why they could never make me hate Stella:

Why they could never make me like Stolass:

In fact, I never had a problem with the characters who are assholes while the narrative treats them like the ones, without attempts to justify or whitewash. Bad guys exist for a reason, they play an important part in the plot.

But I can't stand the characters who are assholes while they're totally woobified, portrayed as misunderstood heroes / perfect victims, and their misdeeds are constantly downplayed / ignored by narrative.

This is the situation I have with Stella and Stolass.

On the one hand, Stella is a rough ridiculous caricature of what an abuser supposed to be. From such she, essentially, got only the name and a few basic traits (breaking stuff, yelling, etc.) so you could project on her whatever you want. I'd assume she acts more like a bully than an abuser. But what exactly prevents her from being believable representation of such a serious, complex topic?

Honesty!

Stella never* pretends to be good, neither lies about her intentions nor tries to increase attachment in her victim. She proudly hangs all her red flags out and screams at the top of her lungs, 🚩 "Hey, I'm abuser!" 🚩 And... probably, people like this do exist (people are different). Although they're minority for one simple reason: honesty wouldn't let them fool anyone and escape punishment. (Add to this Stella's lack of magical skills, power, brains, and then you'll see her writing is complete nonsense.) Oh, and don't you dare spread the "It's Hell" excuse on me! I've made a whole list of reasons why this point doesn't have any sense.

On the other hand, Stolass is much more subtle. He speaks civilly, stays calm (most of the time), tries to make a good impression. Stolass tells you how flattered he is that you invited him to the party; he treats himself to a drink and sings on a stage with you. So you'd think everything's fine… But as soon as you turn away, the owl will hide in a corner and bitch with himself about how petty your social event is. And despite this we're supposed to SIDE with Stolass because allegedly he isn't as petty as anybody at the anti-Blitzø party since he came there purely out of ✨politeness✨! Yeah, it's sooo polite to show up and act like a hypocritical jerk! Apparently the dumbass never heard about the polite refusal option.

Conclusion: Choosing between obvious asshole and woobified asshole I'd prefer the first one. At least in that case nobody's trying to force me into sympathy for a hypocrite.

*The ONLY truly manipulative moment from Stella's side was the fake hug in "Mastermind", and even that was pulled out of nowhere and then thrown into nowhere immediately. I guess that was made so people would compare Stella with Mother Gothel while they have nothing in common (sadly).

[dilapidatedanchor]

“They insult themselves.” oh BROTHER

[daeneryscel]

continuously intertwining rhaenyra with alicent was fine in season one, where they were directly at odds with one another, but trying to paint alicent as sympathetic to rhaenyra’s plight while rhaenyra is at the funeral of the son who was murdered by alicent’s is asylum worthy.

rhaenyra is grieving, jacaerys is grieving, joffrey, daemon, baela, rhaena, rhaenys, corlys are all grieving; alicent is NOT. she doesn’t care about rhaenyra, or she wouldn’t have waged war against her, raised her children to view their sister as the enemy, and usurped her throne. she especially doesn’t give a shit about luke, the kid she wanted to maim in revenge years before and the boy she viewed as both beneath her and not even as a true loss because he wasn’t human in her eyes. she thinks aemond is justified in lashing out, because he never received an ‘apology’ (i wouldn’t apologize either if i was a seven year old who thought my brother was going to have his head bashed in).

honor and decency were thrown out the window last season when alicent’s cause started murdering innocents over preconceived slights that SHE, personally, laid the groundwork for, and luke’s death is the result of that. she might be upset about her coveted ‘peace’ no longer being an option, but she doesn’t care about rhaenyra, her dead child, or the anguish that she is suffering through currently. he’s just an easy out for her to claim penance from her utterly idiotic decisions that keep killing people.

[titanofblood]

Campaign 3 is so good when you dont have an annoying bitch in your ear telling you how evil every character is

[amplexadversary]

Dice stacking returns to Critical Role*

Matt: "What have you been doing over there? Wow."

Robbie: "he started it."

*(It's been a little while since someone succumbed to the Urge)

[familyagrestefanblog]

What Marinette claims:

"Revealing a secret is the right thing to do when not doing so would put the victim in fatal danger"

What Marinette DOES:

"I would rather risk grieving Adrien than risk facing any kind of personal consequences for my own actions and choices. I will not ask for help despite having numerous people I could involve to find a different solution here than breaking Adrien's literal source of life. But I wont. That could risk people being mad at me and that's more important to prioritize preventing than Adrien's death"

[arson-09]

Tamlin is actually such an underrated character in acotar. Because of feyres very biased narrative she forces readers to ignore the complexity of his character and man. its sad

Tamlin is a character who is genuinely GOOD at his core. He changed so much of the spring court for good, eliminating slavery within the spring lands and mortals having more protection. Hes a morally good character that made a few mistakes and is boiled down to just those mistakes. Locking feyre in the house and the magical/emotional blow up, which are both pretty decent fuck ups (i dont think siding with hybern fully counts as he was a double agent all along and tamlin was decently justified in thinking feyre was being kept against her will. lets be fr here) and even after he’s extremely fucked over by the nightcourt, his lands and court burned to shit, he still saves rhysand. Saves rhysand and tells feyre to be happy, even when he has every reason to NOT do that!

Hes a character that clearly holds himself to a higher standard. throughout acotar he puts lucien and feyres safety above his own, even sending feyre away when she was the only one who could save him. Even though what he did to her wasnt great its not completely irredeemable, rhysand did much worse things to feyre and other people but hes living his best life while Tamlin seems to find himself unworthy of being a person (acosf wheres hes been in beast form for roughly over two years) hes a perfectionist who now doesnt even think he deserves anyone because he accidentally hurt the people he loves most.

Sjm accidentally created a beautifully rich and morally righteous character who is so extremely fucked by the narrative. Which doesnt even work half the time as sjm cant seemingly commit to making him a full villain (seemingly by accident again she gave him quite a reasonable explanation to everything he did ‘wrong’ but still chooses to make him a punching bag)

If Tamlin was genuinely a morally evil character he wouldnt have NEARLY the amount of fans as he does. Hes a character that requires the minimum amount of media literacy and comprehension to understand and i LOVE him.

[formulanni]

I’m genuinely getting so angry and upset at the comments and dms I’m receiving on Instagram being like “oh so when musicians and actors endorse Kamala it’s fine but when the president of the Fia endorses Trump it’s a problem?”

Like wow. It’s almost as if all art is a reflection of current events and culture as well as the feeling regarding them and can in fact be used as an act of protest. It’s crazy that any artist would express opinions about a current world shifting political event!

Like the thing you have to consider here is that Muhammad Ben Sulayem has consistently made a point to highlight that “politics have no place in this sport.” He has gone far enough to threaten to punish Lewis Hamilton for speaking out about BLM and also threatened Seb for speaking out about Pride. It’s also worth noting that the artists who endorsed Kamala are separate from the corporate entities and are speaking as individuals. MBS is speaking while he is the acting president of the FIA, an organization that represents ever y race creed and religion of the drivers. By endorsing Donald Trump, a rapist fascist and war criminal, and by posting a photo of them shaking hands in front of the McLaren Logo he has isolated his drivers! He has acted out in representation of the fia! He cannot separate himself from his role as FIA president because as long as he is on track or in the paddock he must be that.

Obviously this is a deeply complicated issue but acting as if MBS suddenly bring politics into the sport he has time and time again insisted “has no place in politics” isn’t deeply selfish, irresponsible and as if it hasn’t spit on everything some of the drivers, namely Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have taken stands for. It’s very clear that politics are only allowed when it benefits his agenda but it’s very, very disappointing.

[actuallyjustabiscuit]

Fuck it

I think I just need to say it

This whole scene to me…

Didn’t come off as flirting

Ok, I promise I’m not doing this to put down any FunnyGummy shippers.

The ship is fine. I like it

But just hear me out on this take, because there’s a specific reason I’m making it.

And to do that, I gotta do a quick analysis on their interactions.

So here’s the deal, it feels weird to call Pomni’s behavior towards Gummigoo in ep 4, namely all her clumsy stuttering and stumbling, as anything resembling infatuation.

The reason she’s failing to play it cool is because she’s suddenly reunited with someone who, not a couple days ago, was previously blown up right in front of her.

Like, I’m pretty sure she was struggling not to just immediately go “holy shit, you’re alive!?” as soon as she realized who was standing on the other side of the counter.

Let’s try walking in Pomni’s shoes for a bit. Imagine seeing someone you just befriended…suddenly get killed…in a pretty violent fashion…and then pop back up again with absolutely no warning.

You’d think the first thing you’d talk about upon reuniting would be something related to that.

But nah, they just waltz in wanting some breakfast like the average customer in this little fast food simulation game that you are being forced to play in.

Now, let’s go back to ep 2

Gummigoo had accidentally stumbled onto the other side of Caine’s curtain, making him question his entire existence. Leaving Pomni the only one available to explain and to effectively shatter his worldview by revealing that he, and everyone he knows, is an NPC. And his reaction to all of this was naturally negative. He goes from panicking at the discovery to being completely dismal over the loss of the reality he knew.

To say the poor guy was going through it would be an understatement.

Gummigoo was pretty much in a hopeless state. Being burdened with eye opening knowledge is a very lonely experience. Especially when it seems you’re the only one to be made aware of it. It’s not hard to see why Pomni took the time to help him. She was forced to suddenly comprehend a different reality just the other day.

“Feeling like your nothing is kinda normal.” is a wild way to try to relate to someone, but she decided to take a seat next to him because it’s probably the most normal thing she’s heard since she’s been there.

And what’s important to note about their conversation under the map is that with every attempt that Pomni initially makes to help him feel less alone, Gummigoo’s quick to brush it off because none of it is enough to diminish the fact that he’s not a real person, and therefore does not get to exist as a real person. Believing that his friends care about him the same way he does for them is pretty much cold comfort when their roles have been literally coded for them.

Even when she offered him a way out of his situation, he wasn’t immediately keen on taking it. His question, “how does this benefit you at all?” is the kind of question someone asks when they place no real value on themselves as a person. He was so quick to accept that he is nothing, because from his understanding that’s what he would essentially be reduced to once the adventure is over. This is what fills him with dread, knowing his life ends when his purpose as a character is complete. And it’s only when Pomni finally gives him a new role, being her friend, that he begins to respond positively.

He goes from a fake bandit to a real friend, giving his existence some validity.

The show has been doing a great job at establishing that Pomni is the kind of earnest person to lend a helping hand. But, considering how she failed to help someone the day prior, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was placing a lot of responsibility on herself to make sure this guy at least gets a chance to not feel like nothing. Helping him benefits her beyond feeling less alone in this strange new life, it was also a chance to redeem herself.

This time she wasn’t going to abandon someone who needed her.

And then he was fucking obliterated.

Once again, Pomni failed at helping someone. And not just a stranger, this time it was someone she called a friend. On top of that, she didn’t just failed, she practically led this lamb to slaughter. She didn’t know the outcome of course, but it was still her idea to take him to the Circus.

It was her insistence on bringing him along that got him killed

So now she’s talking to someone who may or may not be the same person because he sure damn well looks like him.

And if he didn’t really die, then perhaps she didn’t really screw up again, at least that’s what she’s hoping for

However, this isn’t the Gummigoo that got stranded under the map with her and needed consoling from his existential crisis.

This is just a guy who’s still waiting on his Sausage Bacon Jaffle Combo, and is super weirded out that the cashier girl is crawling around trying to get his attention.

And you can see all the hope in Pomni’s eyes die at that realization.

Additionally, her saying “I…don’t know” feels like it goes beyond the surface level “we met before…but you don’t remember me, so maybe not…”

Because, really, Pomni actually doesn’t know Gummigoo.

She never got the chance to know him. Sure she knows what he is, but who Gummigoo was as a person was what they both were going to find out together.

But this Gummigoo doesn’t have the baggage of knowing the truth, which is what ultimately led him to feel like nothing, and in turn needing the validation that he doesn’t have to be nothing. Here, he’s just a simple customer.

This isn’t her friend. And Pomni has to accept that it’s best that he doesn’t remember her. He doesn’t think he’s nothing, and that’s all that matters.

Alright, so why am I really going over all of this?

Why bother making a whole post analyzing these two just to pedantically point out that their interactions have been purely platonic?

Well to tell you the truth, it’s cuz I’m a little fed up with all of it.

I don’t mean people making assumptions that these two characters have feelings for each other.

Im talking more about the trend of when a girl is shown acting all nervous around a guy, people automatically conclude that she has a thing for him.

But when it’s two characters of the same gender acting the exact same way, you get some annoying commentary about how it’s for reasons unrelated to romance and how they “just don’t see it”

“It’s like people can’t just be friends anymore”

Does that phrase annoy you as much as it does me?

Now, thanks to Gooseworx, we are all in a collective understanding that none of the characters will actually get together romantically. So we are free to ship who we please, with the caveat that we are not to act superior over what will or will not be canon. And this is a good rule.

I’m too old to be making arguments against a ship because at the end of the day these weird little guys are public domain and you can imagine them being together in any way you please because they’re just characters.

So me saying that people viewing Pomni’s behavior towards Gummigoo in ep 4 as inherently smitten are misconstruing their relationship just sounds like I’m putting someone’s beloved ship down for no real reason other than just being weirdly contrarian about it.

And you’d be right to think that way.

But when you get people in this day and age who are so quick to label these interactions as romantic and then have trouble extending the same imagination towards a ship like ragapom, it starts to get a bit grating. That the awkward and nervous interactions between two women can be dismissed as platonic and anything more is just delusion.

Like, even people who sincerely ship them tend to make jokes about how delusional we are to do so. You don’t see that in people who ship FunnyGummy. And that’s a little depressing to me.

Now, I’m not saying you have to ship Pomni and Ragatha romantically. I’m not here to dictate anyone’s tastes or say anyone’s reasons for shipping are less valid than others.

I guess it just irks me that we don’t extend this platonic view just as readily towards straight pairings.

Like, I honestly feel that Pomni and Gummigoo’s relationship is appreciated less because of all the shipping.

Their story is so much richer than just another “love that could never be”. It’s the tragedy of losing a friendship only moments after its inception. Of having to come to terms that someone you wanted to be closer with, is better off living their life separate from yours. You wanted to be a positive influence on them, but it didn’t work out as planned, leaving you both to suffer as a result. And all you can do is wish them well as they leave you behind.

A lot of people like to see this pairing as a tragic romance because their circumstances give them prime shipping material. That her having feelings for him would make their separation feel bittersweet.

But Pomni not being in love with Gummigoo doesn’t invalidate the heartbreak of her having to say goodbye to him.

And it shouldn’t. Because he was her friend, for the brief special moment she knew him. And in the end, she did get to do something for him.

She got to wish him a pleasant day.

[sapphic-agent]

Bakugou stans who hate Endeavor and Endeavor stans who hate Bakugou make me laugh.

Because when you get down to it, they both benefit from the same things: in-universe privilege, narrative advantages, and plot manipulation. Their arcs enable each other in a way, they're both abusers being given more exposure and grace than their victims. They're both constantly being propped and accepted by the other characters despite being horrible people.

Criticizing one and not the other is obtuse. They're cut from the same exact cloth, the issues with their characters are nearly identical. And the focus of both their characters contribute to the overarching problem of MHA; not only pandering to abusers but pandering to those born privileged and who knowingly abused that privilege. And neither had to face actual repercussions without being protected by the author.

The only difference between them is in the literal sense; Endeavor is a worse person morally while Bakugou is a worse character narratively.

They both still suck ass

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

The Hypocrisy of Vex'ahlia

Before you all come for me, I am a Vex stan and I will defend her until I die - she is my favorite Critical Role character and I'm so glad we're getting a deeper dive into her psyche.

The complexities of her character cannot be overstated. She has a lot going on under the surface, and the breadcrumbs of her deep-seated insecurities have been there the whole time.

I'm really excited we get to explore those in season 3 through her relationship with Percy, in a way different than what we've seen in the actual play streams. I want to commend the writers for being able to convey so much in so little time.

We are introduced to Vex as a sexy, confident woman who uses her looks and charisma to her advantage. She takes charge most of the time, being the unofficial "leader" of Vox Machina. She presents herself as someone who doesn't really need anyone else and does not care about anyone outside of her brother. Keyleth even comments on this in the first episode, "Vex and Vax only care about themselves".

This, of course, is a complete fabrication, a mask she wears to hide her insecurities. A mask, she wants no one to see through. The irony here is that she can so easily see behind Percy's mask - "Darling, take off the mask". It takes one to know one, after all.

She so badly wants to get underneath Percy's mask, for him to show himself to her fully. There's something inside of her that sees the guilt and shame inside of him and that resonates with her belief that she is deeply broken. Vex truly believes that something must truly be wrong with her. And why wouldn't she? Saundor, who said he knew everything about her, saw this, too, after all.

Saundor says plainly, "you will never be enough."

So it must be true, right?

Why wouldn't something be so wrong with her? It would make sense. Her father carries no love for her, her mother died, and Vax had to sacrifice his life for hers. She knows Vax loves her, and she believes he is the only one who does. Even Kamaljiori, an ancient and all-knowing Sphinx, fed into this during their test when Vax fell: "you have no family left who cares for you".

Her hypocrisy lies in the facade she built as a woman who does not need anyone or anything. She presents herself as someone who does not need the love of others, when in reality, she desperately wants to be loved.

Saundor saw this as well.

Vex longs to love and be loved. And yet, she cannot allow herself to give up her facade and let Percy love her and admit her love for him.

The last person to see through her walls was Saundor, and we know how that went.

What he said really cut her deep, as we see after the Kevdak fight when she brushes off Pike's inquiries about her experience in the fey realm.

As we see her relationship with Percy move from harmless flirting to physical intimacy at the beginning of season 3, we see her embrace the physical closeness to Percy but starts to block him out the moment he wants to cement their relationship. But she can't let herself tell him how she feels because that would mean admitting her heart is his - and that would be doomed to end in tragedy, as Vex admits later in the cave.

Putting up this emotional wall between her and Percy will not give Vex what she wants: love.

Love is that emotional intimacy. Vex loves to point out the importance of love between other people- in season 2, pushing Keyleth to tell Vax how she feels ("it always matters"), assuring Allura that Kima's love for her will help her endure after Vorugal's attack, and putting faith in the rest of Vox Machina.

Vex understands what makes love so special, and how important truth and intimacy are to real, lasting love.

And while she comforts others and pushes them to be vulnerable and embrace love, her own fears prevent her from fully doing the same. It's ironic and sad, how one of the only people who can see through her mask is the one she's pushing away.

Trauma makes hypocrites of us all.

Image credits @blorbologist @aq2003

[orionhelluvaranting]

Stolass:

Also Stolass:

Riiight, this is so common when you think it's probably your fault and the person didn't mean to hurt you and then you just... call them a motherfucker... Multiple times... Publicly... from the stage... 😐

Don't you find it kinda ironic? Every fucking time Stolass gets close to assuming that MAYBE he has screwed up, he throws a pity party, or somebody reassure him he has done nothing wrong... or both this options together!

[unicoo]

Viserys neglecting his children is OKAY, but Aegon & Alicent doing it ISNT OKAY?…

Rhaenyra sleeping with a man who isn’t her husband AND having said man’s children is OKAY, but Alicent sleeping with Criston AFTER Viserys DIES ISNT OKAY?….

Rhaenyra & Daemon hooking up at Laena’s funeral is OKAY, but Aemond claiming Vhagar at Laena’s funeral ISNT OKAY?…..

Jace possibly cheating on Baela with Sara or Cregan is OKAY, but Aegon stepping out on Helaena ISNT OKAY?……

Daemon planning & plotting against literally ANYONE is OKAY, but Alicent, Criston, Otto, & Aemond plotting & planning ISNT OKAY?…….

Rhaenyra defending her sons & demanding Aemond be sharply questioned is OKAY, but Alicent wanting Justice for her son & an eye for an eye ISNT OKAY?……..

Baela & Rhaena being passed over for their BIRTHRIGHT is OKAY, but when it’s Rhaenyra who’s cheated out of her “birthright” it ISNT OKAY?………

Rhaenyra acts entitled & spoiled it’s OKAY, but let the Green kids act entitled & spoiled it ISNT OKAY?……….

Daemon pays to take young girls maidenhoods (most of them brothel workers who were TEENAGERS) it’s OKAY, but Aegon does it and it ISNT OKAY?………..

Daemon orders the death of a child & it’s OKAY, it’s JUSTIFIED, but Aemond takes RIGHTFUL REVENGE against a boy OLD ENOUGH TO FIGHT BACK and it ISNT OKAY?…………(idgaf what you say if someone bullied you then jumped you then took your eye & got away with it YOU’D BE PISSEED TO LIE & SAY YOU WOULDNT 😐)

Rhaenyra having “bastards” is OKAY, but Aegon & Aemond having bastards ISNT OKAY?………….

Daemon can allow for women & children to be hurt in all ways imaginable that’s OKAY, but Aemond taking ONE woman as a spoiled of war ISNT OKAY?……….…. (If Alys wanted to she could’ve ended up in various different positions yk being a WITCH & all)

Rhaenyra can lose nearly all her children & get compassion that’s OKAY, but giving Aegon & Helaena compassion over their son dying when he literally DIDNT DO SHIT ISNT OKAY??…………...

Visenya dies, being sad about that is OKAY, but being sad about Jaehaera’s death ISNT OKAY?………….…

Rhaenyra being a shit to children is OKAY, but Alicent being a shit to children ISNT OKAY?……….…….

Luke & Jace bullying Aemond is OKAY because they were younger, but AEGON bullying Aemond ISNT OKAY, because…?………………………….…

Because y’all are hypocrites! The whole point of this post is to showcase just how hypocritical the toxic fans (mostly team black) are. Rhaenyra & her side do it, all is fine & it doesn’t matter. Aegon & his side do it and there’s an uproar, they’re evil & deserve horribleness. Give me a fucking break honestly 🙄

If you see this tragedy and decide to make it worse by picking sides or not giving empathy, sympathy, & understanding to both sides then you need to grow tf up, mature A LOT, then look at the media again because somewhere along the way you missed the importance of this story and OUR WORLD is shitter for that!