#(a fact which was *not* handled well in the show itself don't get me wrong. but uhhh the fandom absolutely was not any better EL OH EL)

[miharuhebinata]

sorry to sp0p discourse in 2024 but there is no way i just saw someone say entr*pta looked significantly younger than the rest of the main cast when that is just. blatantly not true??????

[idyllic-affections]

invisible disability? it's rather visible to me.

summary. baizhu knows the struggle of maintaining a job while being chronically ill; as such, he is willing to offer an accommodating work environment for others who struggle like he does.

trigger & content warnings. angst (at first... it gets better i swear /lh), ableism, etc.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. hurt/comfort. baizhu & chronically ill!teen!reader, qiqi & reader. 1.7k words. they/them pronouns for reader.

author's thoughts. he's out of nonplayable prison ygs!!!!! can't wait to see his character stories for..... personal reasons..... anyways i want to specify that i am chronically ill. i am constantly fighting with my genetics to be healthy, its ridiculous LMAO

imagine baizhu employing a chronically ill, visionless teenager.

baizhu can easily say he's known their family for a long time, so he of course knows that they have trouble keeping a job. they often mention little things like that about their life during their visits with him. never once has he found anything wrong with them; they're always in virtually perfect health.

that doesn't change the fact that they're very clearly struggling. he's observed just how much they overexert themselves in a desperate attempt to actually keep a stable job, simply to help support their family, but all the exertion only seems to make their invisible issues worse.

also... they've been in his care for heat stroke more than once in liyue's warmer seasons. the heat is just far too much for their body to handle if they aren't careful.

"What the hell is wrong with me?"

Their voice was so quiet and whispery that if Baizhu hadn't been attuned closely to them at that moment, he might have missed it. They half wished that he would have. Based on the brief glance he spared in their direction, they knew he was listening. Oh well.

"I mean... really. This is ridiculous," they murmured, knees drawn up against their chest. "Everyone thinks I'm just dramatic. I'm not. I do fine for the most part, but then it just... gets bad for no reason at all... how am I in perfect health?"

By that point in their rant, his undivided attention was on them. Though his gaze was thoughtful, musing, they interpreted it differently and winced slightly.

"...Sorry. I really shouldn't be complaining like this in front of someone who's chronically ill."

"No, it's quite alright. You shouldn't minimize your pain. Your struggles are as valid as mine. I find your trust, your ability to confide in me, quite endearing, even," he reassured, unbothered, to which their shoulders seemed to lose some of the tension they harbored. "In fact... I've been thinking about this for quite some time now. Chronic illness may show itself in a variety of forms. Sometimes it may show itself in the form of your symptoms. Would you like to learn how to manage your energy better?"

the liyuean doctor basically hired them right then and there, but they don't really realize that for the first few weeks.

in the beginning, they're just... spending time at bubu pharmacy, learning how baizhu manages his own limited energy and applying those techniques to their own life (it works shockingly well). that's all!

it slowly turns into them helping out where they can—packaging herbs, learning what exactly each one of them does, delivering prescriptions to those who cannot physically get the medicines themselves... even when people start to question if they've found a new job, they remain oblivious.

it's one day while helping mince herbs that they realize they're basically a junior herbalist.

A soft hiss left their lips when the knife nicked the pad of their finger. They were quick to put pressure on the little cut, pulling their hand away from the countertop to prevent any blood from dripping onto it.

"It's best to get rid of those herbs," Baizhu reminded, stepping away from his own work to gently bandage their wound.

A small pout graced their lips. "I didn't get any blood on them, though..."

Amusement and the vaguest hint of fondness twinkled in his gaze. "We don't know that for certain, do we, now?"

"...Wait a minute." Their eyes narrowed suspicously at him, drawing their freshly-dressed hand back once he was done. "This isn't about energy management anymore, is it? Have I been... I've been working here this entire time. These tasks are very employee-like."

"Come, now. Don't look at me like that. You were looking for a stable job, and I am more than willing to accomodate your needs."

"You could've at least said something to me. I've been doing free labor all this time, and as a child, no less! Hmm... now, I do believe that is illegal in this part of Teyvat~ It'd be shame to get Ms. Yanfei involved~"

in the spirit teaching them to manage their energy, he often takes them on house calls with him, starting off to just homes in liyue harbor and later to homes all the way in qingce village. it's a good way for them to gain stamina and get a better understanding of their job.

baizhu has a tendency to smile through his own pain for the sake of his patients.

this habit slipped by unchecked until [name] came around.

whenever they feel like he isn't doing very well, they'll take over for him regardless of what he has to say about it.

herbalist gui is very thankful for them—baizhu hardly ever listened to him, but he does take better care of himself for [name]'s sake.

(he swears that baizhu is oddly parental when it comes to them, but he wouldn't dare mention the doctor's blatant affections to his face.)

"welcome to bubu pharmacy," they'd greet with a kind smile after unceremoniously shoving baizhu towards the back of the pharmacy where he could rest undisturbed, "unfortunately, dr. baizhu is currently out of commission, but herbalist gui and i would be glad to take care of anything you may need."

sometimes changsheng can be seen wrapped around their arm! usually it's their dominant arm, which is terribly inconveniencing. still, it would be an honor to be Chosen™ by their loved one's pet... if only she wasn't so mean to them.

"Hmph. You're terrible at cutting herbs. It pains me just to watch."

"Okay? Go back to Dr. Baizhu then? I'm not holding you hostage, Changsheng. You came to me," they huffed. "Also... maybe I'd be able to cut better if you weren't strangling my dominant arm. Just saying."

It's a few moments later that they're sulking, murmuring curses as Baizhu disinfected their fresh snake bite. Changsheng completely neglected to apologize until Baizhu had prompted her to.

(They would complain that he found that incident a little too funny if anyone were to ask them. It really hurt, you know!)

changsheng bullies them lovingly <3 she bites them affectionately <33

(not that she'd ever say that, though. baizhu knows. he just chooses to let her believe he doesn't know.)

qiqi becomes very attached to them very quickly, i think. she'd like having a nice older sibling around and would address them as such without even thinking about it. "jiějiě," "gēgē"... she can't really tell what gender they identify closer with and doesn't remember to ask, so she tends to bounce between the two terms of address.

she has an entire page in her journal dedicated to little things about [name] that she deems to be important. she notes down things they seem to like, things they seem to dislike, their birthday, other important dates, defining features...

she also keeps important warning signs related to health episodes of their's jotted down, like how when [name] stands still a little too long, qiqi should urge them to sit for a moment because they're probably either dizzy or having vision issues, or how when their hands begin to tremble, qiqi should share a sunsettia with them.

she does miss these signs sometimes... she does her best, though! qiqi only wants to help the sweet junior herbalist that braids her hair and accompanies her on her herb-picking trips and hugs her and says "i love you, please stop this task, you might get hurt" with so much genuine affection that it often overwhelms her :(

it's rare, but sometimes, there will be a customer or patient that has little tolerance for their disability-induced weakness or slowness.

because their illness(es) is(/are) invisible, very few people take their struggles seriously.

some people take this as an excuse to verbally and even physically abuse them.

baizhu does not take kindly to people abusing his employees, especially not his chronically ill teenage employee. especially not them.

"Is there an issue I can help with?"

They didn't mind being the only one at reception during the days Herbalist Gui was out, Qiqi was herb-picking, and Baizhu was otherwise occupied. It wasn't a big deal, really.

At least... not until someone particularly impatient decided to make their job difficult.

Baizhu never took kindly to such incidents; this one was no different. Based on his tone of voice alone, it wasn't hard to guess that he was livid, golden irises alight with rage. Even Changsheng had hissed in their defense at the sight in front of her eyes.

He'd come back just in time to see them flinch away from the raised hand of some foreign adventurer.

"This one—"

"And who said I was asking you?" he scoffed, sliding behind the counter and checking them for wounds. They were shaking, he noted, gingerly supporting a fraction of their weight in case they were to collapse. "I was asking my herbalist, [Name]."

Baizhu was a man of patience and, really...

He wasn't all that confrontational. Despite that, any semblance of the supposed cowardice he harbored was gone in an instant.

His scarred fingers drew soothing shapes on their upper arm as he led them into the back of the clinic, guiding them to sit on one of the beds before their legs could give out.

"Are you alright?"

baizhu takes very good care of them after stressful encounters because he knows very well that such high-stress emotional experiences will take a toll on their body.

whenever a wealthier patient comes in, they've learned to overcharge them on purpose even if it's for the most ridiculous of ailments; oh? you say you have been sneezing quite a lot and are having a hard time breathing? no, no, it's not springtime allergies, who told you that? it's quite dire, in fact, and the treatment price will be awfully expensive... oh? you'll pay it? wonderful!

^ herbalist gui says that baizhu is a terrible influence on them sometimes.

in their defense, they get hefty bonuses every time wealthy people pay ridiculous prices for typically rather inexpensive herbs (like a certain ginger harbinger did one time! they still giggle at the memory of him paying so much for so little). the more wealthy people pay, the bigger their bonuses (fatui harbingers are very wealthy...).

simply put, they make more mora than the majority of their family put together because of this morally dubious behavior.

baizhu, gui, qiqi, and [name] are a chaotic found family but yk what? they all make it work <3

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[spiritstein]

spirit albarn has histrionic personality disorder, change my mind

i often see people ask what the hell is wrong with spirit, which is a great question. that guy's got issues. here's my take on explaining some of them!

notes: i have HPD myself so some of the evidence/examples i'll give will have personal anecdotes (although i've avoided projecting to the best of my ability for this post.) this is based mostly off the anime, as i have not finished the manga.

full post under the cut as it's ended up both very long and image heavy

one of the major traits of HPD is dramatic and exaggerated behavior/expression of emotion, which spirit displays nearly every time he's on screen. (typically in regards to either maka or his past and potential future romantic pursuits, we'll get to that later.)

this is typically played for comedy, but i don't think that discounts it as evidence at all-- kid's OCD is often used for jokes but that doesn't mean he doesn't have it.

these outbursts often involve very sudden shifts in his demeanor, and almost feel like an internal switch is being flipped on or off. this can make how he acts seem shallow at times, which is also characteristic of HPD. (emphasis on seem-- i do believe he's expressing his true emotions to the extent he feels them. the exaggerated self-expression of individuals with HPD is often tied to feeling those emotions far more intensely than the average person, at least for me.)

note how quickly he returns to a "resting" or "default" expression in the second gif here. he's kind of got a resting bitch face, honestly.

another defining trait of HPD is excessive flirtatious and sexual behavior, regardless of the person's attraction to whoever they're making advances on. i'll be using manga screenshots here since dialogue is important, but this is the symptom spirit shows most obviously by a long shot.

(not pictured: many, many more examples of this...)

he tends to flirt or otherwise get involved with women regardless of if the situation calls for it, and often to the detriment of his relationship with others.

the most blatant example of this detriment is his divorce with maka's mother and maka's subsequent dislike of him. no images provided since i presume you're familiar with that if you've gotten this far.

notably, he appears to feel guilty about this trait, yet does not or cannot curb it. one could easily read this as spirit needing the attention and approval from these women. excessive desire for these things (along with a more general need to feel liked or loved) is a major driving force behind other HPD-influenced behaviors and is a symptom in and of itself. while there is no concrete evidence behind this explanation for his provocative behavior, there is one person we know he desperately seeks approval from-- maka.

while nearly any parent would want for their child to love them, spirit wants for maka to merely pay any attention to him to a degree far beyond average.

in all of these examples, he's upset by her not even acknowledging him (or the thought of it) as opposed to hating him. the thought of her loving or admiring him appears to be a far-off fantasy to spirit, to the point of barely being able to handle it when she interacts with him positively:

...to the point of vomiting after this, which i won't show because that's gross.

maka is by far the person spirit's most shown to value the attention and approval of, but he still likely seeks it from others in more subtle ways. inversely, he reacts very strongly to both perceived and actual rejection, which is another HPD symptom. he assumes the worst when lord death calls for a meeting of all the death scythes, and is shocked when he finds out he assumed wrong.

people with HPD also tend to be gullible and easily influenced, which is most obvious in spirit's interactions with stein. he allegedly didn't catch on to the fact that stein was experimenting on him until his ex-wife pointed it out, as well many examples of stein just sort of fucking with him over the course of the series.

this could also just be that spirit's a dumbass, so take this part with a grain of salt.

that's everything that i can directly tie to HPD symptoms, but i'd also like to note that alcoholism is common in histrionics and they're at higher risk of divorce. as well as these manga screenshots of spirit being Just Like Me Fr as someone with HPD that i couldn't find anywhere else to put.

i hope this wasn't too clunky of a read and possibly gave the 5 spirit fans something to consider in their characterization of him! thank you for your time ^_^

[infinitelyprecious]

An autistic person's view on the scene where Aylin decided to open up to the group.

2 disclaimers: 1) Aylin is not confirmed/canonically autistic (afaik), however she heavily reads as one to me, hence why I'm writing this specifically from an autistic pov. 2) I am just one singular autistic person, I do not speak for all of us as a whole, if you're autistic and have different view on this, that is valid.

Part of all this is teenagers being teenagers and I don't expect them to have the knowledge or life experience to handle situations like these particularly well, so this is more me getting my own thoughts and feelings in order. Maybe it can be educational in a way. I'm withholding judgment on how the show itself is handling Aylin's story until the show has finished airing.

Aylin goes to talk with the group, bless her brave heart.

Ton, the smart-ass, asks why Aylin acts like an alien when she knows her loved ones don't see her like that. I get that the writers wanted her to explain at some point why she identifies with aliens specifically, but please, for the love of all that is good, do not say something like this.

This question only shows that her friends in fact, do see her as an alien. They don't accept her like she is, they ask her why she is the way that she is. It keeps boiling down to "Why is she not like us?"

She might be different from the rest of the group, but she is normal. There's nothing abouts her that needs to be fixed. If she wants to learn more social skills for example, that is completely fine. However, it should not be a requirement. And if she wants to learn, patience is important.

Social settings with neurotypical people tend to be overwhelming and use up a lot of energy for autistic people. It's important to go slow and respect her declines if she doesn't feel up to socializing. The last thing you want is for someone to feel like they have to mask or for them to experience a meltdown as a result.

Aylin answers that humans being unfriendly is the reason she 'acts like an alien'. She's been made to feel like she is not welcome, like she isn't just another human worthy of love and respect. It's very understandable for her to then want to remove herself from her human identity and look for friends in other-worldly beings. They don't bully.

It's interesting to me that the whole group stays silent when Alpha asks who did something to her. Did they forget about Aylin shoving a plate in Ton's face or do they think she was in the wrong there?

Because she wasn't. It was visible in her body language and verbal declines that she was uncomfortable and yet they pushed her.

It tends to be harder for autistic folk to handle unexpected situations. Reactions like that are very normal if you get an autistic person into a situation that is overwhelming. They'll go into their fight or flight and things go wrong. That is not their fault.

Aylin goes on to explain what happened and Mawin finishes her sentence for her. Or rather, speaks his conclusion before Ailyn is finished talking. I think this is pretty common decency, but don't talk over people when they are trying to tell you something, especially when they are being vulnerable. Even if they talk slower (which Aylin didn't do, but it's something I've experienced a lot). Please bite your tongue and let people finish talking.

Ton, again, says something he shouldn't have, but thankfully Luna steps in this time.

Then Sun. "Do you know that those who bully and harass people are not actually humans?" The main problem I have with this sentence is that it feels belittling. This might just be a me thing, but the way she says it comes across as if she's pointing out that Aylin's perception of the situation is incorrect.

But they are humans, shitty ones, but still humans and Aylin has every right to view humans as a whole as untrustworthy, because that has likely been her experience. The thing I would've preferred here, would be to jump directly to saying those bullies are garbage. That would've come across more validating.

After this, the friends exchange a couple sentences about how to handle bullies. Which is lovely, except, they talk about Aylin as if she isn't there. She just bore her heart - comfort her. Talk about how to handle bullies later, don't let her swim in the discomfort of vulnerability.

Then Sun goes to touch Aylin?!?!? Again, Aylin is visibly uncomfortable. Please, please, if someone is uncomfortable to be touched, do not touch them. Also, ask! Ask for consent. Again, probably a common decency thing, but the amount of times I've had people go like yeah no worries, but then still touch me is high up. A casual hand on the shoulder is still touch, a handshake is still touch.

Related to that is personal space. Some people's, like Aylin's, personal space is big. They need a good distance from other people in order to be comfortable. If there is one thing I can ask of you it's to try and be observant of that. So that if someone takes a step away from you, you don't step closer again, but allow them their space.

I've had conversations with people about personal space and somehow it blows people's mind that I am most comfortable when there is a significant bigger amount of space between us than they would initially think. Please try to leave space between you and other people. For some people physical closeness is severely overwhelming and it makes it significantly harder to navigate our daily lives.

I do love Ongsa specifically saying Aylin can hangout and eat with them. Often times when you've spend your entire live being non-verbally rejected, it's very hard to feel like you are wanted somewhere. You're always looking for signs that people don't want you there. Having it specifically confirmed that someone does want you there, can be very assuring.

Ton. I would like for Ton to not talk for a while lol. On the surface it might sound nice that someone wants to start a club that is a safe space for other bullied kids, but it is a very look-at-me-saving-people thing to do. It's not treating someone as your friend, it's making a charity project out of their hardship. I get the thought process, but please don't.

I don't really have a conclusion or anything, so I'm going to leave it at this. If you have thoughts you want to share or a conversation you want to start, feel free to. Keep it respectful, but other than that go wild.

[pastelwitchling]

The Missteps of Bridgerton Season 3

I love Bridgerton, I love Polin, and I enjoyed the first half of the season fine... but as someone who'd started watching Bridgerton only because of Polin, who'd read the book, and who had been looking forward to this particular season from the very beginning, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by what we got. Not because it wasn't good, but because it wasn't as amazing as it could've been.

And no, I will not be tagging this as 'anti.' I've gone through the anti tag, and it's some very vile bull from people who genuinely hate the show or hate the characters (or hate other fans), and I love them. I just have some criticism of a few choices made.

So. If you can't handle any critique to the show at all, then please don't read the rest of this. Otherwise, grab some tea and a snack because I have quite a few thoughts.

I don't even know where to start.

I think the most frustrating thing for me in the beginning was how many other plotlines they tried to shove into this season. I don't want to sound mean, but I don't care about Will and Alice's business, I don't care about Benedict's boring relationship with another dArInG wOmAn WhO dEfIeS sOcIeTy'S eXpEcTaTiOnS (more on that later), I don't care about Cressida's redemption.

In fact, let's start with her. This was such a bad fucking idea. Not the redemption itself, though I don't know why some storytellers think there are no unlikable people in the world, why every woman especially has to be redeemed and forgiven. Some are just awful, they exist, it happens. It's okay to have scenes of our characters just reacting to these people and navigating kindness and forgiveness in spite of them. But anyway, working on Cressida's redemption in this kind of story doesn't freaking work. Why? Because we've seen this character put Penelope through endless shit already, and her season is not the season to work on her bully's redemption. Because Penelope already lost her best friend to this girl, and trying to redeem her now isolates Penelope even more, because instead of Eloise getting to properly realize how much she's lost in giving up Penelope as a friend, we're getting her genuinely bonding and getting closer to someone else. Most importantly, redeeming Cressida now doesn't fucking work because you have her and Penelope competing for the affections of the same guy.

You can't pit the girl we want to see win and root for against her bully for the affections of a man, and try to make us sympathetic for the bully. Are we not supposed to want Penelope to get him? Are we not supposed to root for Penelope? I get the idea of complex characters and relationships, but for the love of the gods, Penelope has been crapped on over and over and over in this series. I don't know about anybody else, but I got so excited when I saw her with Lord Debling in the promos because I thought, "Finally! We're going to see Penelope actually be pursued and cherished by someone else!" And instead? We have her embarrassing herself in cringey and awkward conversations against the bully we're also supposed to sympathize with? This was the show's chance to finally give Penelope someone who values her, but oh no, we have to show how tough things are for Cressida, so we have to make her actual competition who actually connects to Debling as well. So which is it, writers? Are we supposed to root for Penelope or Cressida? When Penelope wins, which is already unfair because she's had to bust her butt to get this guy so it's always her in pursuit, how are we supposed to be happy for her when Cressida is in the corner all sad?

Don't get me wrong, when Cressida chose not to gossip about Penelope at the ball, I was really touched. But the problem in trying to redeem her is that it works, which then creates a whole other problem when her and our heroine are then competing for the same guy!

Speaking of that guy; Lord Debling. I'm conflicted on him because I like how much he comes to learn about Penelope (arguably more than Colin does, but we'll get into that later), and I like how genuinely kind he is. But I hated seeing Penelope have to embarrass herself in front of him. I hated that we had to watch this girl who already feels like less than everyone else not even properly get this guy's attention for half the time we know him. Why did the writers think that would be fun to watch? I thought a majority of the time with him would be spent with Colin's jealousy, but even in those brief moments when Colin was jealous, it was from a distance, and we knew that in reality, those conversations Penelope was having with Debling were awkward and kind of degrading to her character.

Which brings me to my biggest pet peeve in this whole thing. The changes made to Penelope herself. Look. I'm not a stickler for accurate adaptations, okay? I don't care if the adaptation matches the source material so long as it's entertaining, which is why I enjoy the Percy Jackson movies more than the actual show. How I see it, we get two different, very fun and likable versions of a beloved story. So I didn't come into this season hoping it would be like the book, I just hoped it would be a good time. However...

Something I did appreciate in the book, and in the past two Bridgerton seasons, was Penelope's wisdom. She was hopeful with Colin, but realistic. She knew she would probably never be with him, but she was determined to be happy anyway. Lady Danbury even calls her something along the lines of the cleverest person in the room, and that's why she takes such a liking to her. Penelope is supposed to be clever, witty, amusing, and wise enough to know that even if she may not get everything she wants, she has her best friend and a guide in Lady Danbury and the small joys of being alongside the Bridgertons, and that was enough for her. Colin saw her for that wisdom and wit, saw the love and joy and pride she had in her work, saw that her priorities were the people she loved and the craft she'd perfected, and fell in love with her for it.

Here? She's the butt of every joke, she's a subject of mockery and dismissals, she's someone to be pitied, not appreciated. Yes, she was a wallflower in the book too, but she had at least a few supporting figures who she admired and helped her be happy where she was. I don't care SO much that they switched the scene of him finding out she's Whistledown, so much as the fact that they changed the meaning behind it. Her and Colin honestly spent so little time together because the show was trying to shoehorn in all these other plots, and so when he suddenly decides he's going to stop her marriage, it feels like he just does it because he's horny! In the book, he's impressed with the strong, talented, and passionate woman she is. In the show, I technically know that he wants to be married to his best friend, but the scenes I was most looking forward to with Colin and Penelope properly talking more and getting to really know each other aren't even there, so based off what friendly interaction had he suddenly learned to see her differently?

Finding out she was Whistledown was a shock to him, and it pushed him over the edge of his feelings for her. Not to mention, him finding out she was Whistledown told him so much about her as a person. Really think about it; what does Colin Bridgerton in the show know about Penelope? Nothing! Lord Debling knows more about her interests and what she enjoys better than Colin does! Knowing about Whistledown also gave him access to a secret part of her that no one else was privy to! Taking that away means that when they get married, Penelope knows everything about Colin and his travels and what he enjoys, and he knows next to NOTHING about her! So we spent the season with her being a joke to everyone, her having to compete for a guy and fail for a good long conversation, and then her ending up in a relationship with a guy who never bothered to get to know her? Fun.

In fact, why don't we talk a little more about Colin, too. Um. What the fuck was he writing? I don't care that it's sexual, but him describing Greek beaches and Scottish pubs in the book and interactions he's had with people shows exactly how grown he really is without him even knowing it. In the book, Colin hated being known for nothing but his charm. He even resented it and turned bitter when Penelope brought it up! He wanted to be more than that, he wanted to have a real purpose and be taken seriously and even be perceived more like Anthony. Writing about the landscapes he'd seen on his travels and his interactions showed that he wasn't just travelling to sleep his way through Europe, but that he was actually learning about new cultures and experiencing new worlds and lands. Here? He's just writing smut! In itself, it would be fine, except that he CLEARLY had a problem not having a purpose in his conversation with Anthony and Benedict and when Penelope praised his writing, so he does want the same thing Book Colin does, except... doesn't just writing erotica completely undermine his whole thing of wanting to be known as more than a charming flirt??

Not to mention, Book Colin ends up publishing his travel journals, so how's this version going to do that? You can tell us he's doing it at the end, but it will ring hollow because we all saw what he's been writing, so if they try to divert at the end to Book Colin's ending, it won't make any sense when we've already heard what he's written. In that time period, how the hell is he going to publish that? AND Book Colin ends up giving his stuff to Penelope to read once they're married because he wants her opinion on it! How the hell is that going to work, giving your wife your erotica with other women to test read? I know it could be done, but the charm of the book version is then gone because it feels like you've reduced a cultured man to a rake who just wants to gloat about how many foreign women he'd gotten to sleep with. Doesn't even that then undermine the whole flirty act he put on in the first episode when even Lady Whistledown could tell he was just pretending to be someone he wasn't??

I'm so tired, so I'm going to end this with a few final notes:

Why does arguably the most charming Bridgerton brother, Benedict, always get the most BORING storyline? I hate the woman he's with, there's absolutely nothing original or charming about her, and I am SICK TO DEATH of these so-called "quirky, strong women who don't care what anybody else says because they're edgy like that," it's just so cliched, and I need that archetype to die already. I thought they were going to do something with the fact that she's clearly a lot older than him, but they don't address it at all, so there goes that interesting concept.

Francesca's fickleness was getting on my last nerve, and I was so bored with her storyline until she met that guy. Their relationship is a cute and unique one, but before he shows up, nothing of what she wants is clear. She doesn't mind meeting a guy, but the second someone actually tries speaking to her, she backs off. She wants to talk about music, but when someone tries to speak to her about music, she backs off. I just couldn't get a reading on what she wanted.

I really don't care at all about Will and Alice's business. It's the same storyline every freaking season.

Eloise's whole "It's not nice when Whistledown writes about you, is it?" is very stupid because Lady Whistledown has written plenty about Penelope's family before that point (and in the book, about Penelope herself). You can't have Colin acknowledging that Whistledown outed Marina in the first episode, and then have Eloise forget that Penelope threw her own family name under the bus to protect Colin.

The carriage scene, I'm sorry, was cringey and came a little bit out of nowhere. And I really didn't like that Colin was backing away until, again, Penelope put herself forward. She's always the pursuer, and I'd hoped for something different this season. I also didn't like that she had to be dumped first. Like, yeah, let's really not give her a single break until Colin deems it time to actually do something for her.

That's all I've got that I can think of, at least in terms of negative criticism. I'm sure more will come to me later, but this was the big stuff. And I don't want to hear anything about, "But Rin, the season's not done yet!" Yeah, but half of it is. No matter what happens in the last four episodes, this was how they started. I guess when the cast said it was their most graphic season so far, they meant the most graphic for everyone but the main couple, and isn't that what you wanted to see?

[chaifootsteps]

Okay, so jumping here. I've been thinking and imo the 'Lilith' is Eve in disguise and Rosie is Lilith theory still holds true. This is brought to you by me going "We know Viv is a shitty writer, so from the writing already available, where would she lead the plot NOW?" and by my tinfoil hat.

We know Lilith is somewhere in Heaven (maybe even in Eden itself). Unless she pulls the weirdest explanation out of her hat for why she took a small vacay for 7 YEARS abandoning her daughter (with whom we know she had a good relationship with, IF that part of the pilot is still true. She never stopped to explain what parts of the pilot are still true, ffs.), Lilith would never. I don't even think she:

1) Would be allowed in Heaven, even by making a deal with Adam.

2) Adam's pride is too big for him to simply accept such a deal and Lilith's pride would be equally big imo. This interaction would never work.

So that has to be Eve. And Adam *has* to know that that's Eve. Or he doesn't, idc. Point is, it's far more likely by normal logic for that to be Eve. By Viv logic...? Not so much.

Which brings me to my second point! Rosie and her character. I did kind of feel the Mary Poppins vibes a bit, ngl. Horrible redesign, but oh well... The way she reacted to Charlie, her going "yeah, singing totes works here, in the *cannibal* colony!" and her giving that love advice + "we all did things we aren't proud of" + the fact that she's a "hellborn"? She has to be Lilith, sorry. Also also I feel like cannibalism isn't even such a big deal??? In the show I mean. It's literally so cartoonish it simply becomes a hellish quirk for some inhabitants. Sure Alastor, you're a cannibal, boo-hoo. I don't feel threatened by any of them, is what I mean. And even irl, I feel like yeah, it's gross and most likely getting yourself sick, but what makes cannibalism truly bad is the act of *killing* that person, ye know? In Viv's Hell that can't even happen, they'll just respawn, no problem.

And my final reason issss: Viv just ran so fast past 4 seasons worth of plot that imo she backed herself info a corner. The only things keeping the plot going are...Alastor's deal and who he made it with. It's probably Roo or Eve (or Lilith if Rosie is just Rosie), but I have a feeling like it can't be so simple with her, she has to pull a super complicated sayan explanation to make it seem like she just had us all guessing the wrong things, she's suuuuch a literary genius. And she loves musicals a bit too much (Adam is literally just Beetlejuice minus everything interesting about him), so pulling a Sweeney Todd sounds very in-character for her.

Now, speaking of Alastor....I haaaate how she destroyed his character with all the swearing and the petty edgelord-ness. She's not smart enough to write a smart chaotic presence/maybe potential villain. There, I said it. She should open a psychology book or some shit (she should've hired psychologists to coach her about writing about topics such as SA, addiction, sadistic/criminal personalities and so on, but we know she never put such thought into her work). Or at least a sensibility reader for her plot, smh. The overall tone of the show is jumping around faster than a bunny on electrolytes.

And as always, Alastor and Rosie have more chemistry than Charlie and Vaggie literally the "main" couple. They seem like a 30s married couple, tbh.

Also also super confused about Alastor's microphone and how she can hand it over to Charlie??? Why would he do that??? Are we supposed to understand he now cares about her? Handling his (presumably from the Adam fight) source of power to her just like that?? TWICE?!?

I understand his final lyrics are supposed to be "holy shit, I almost died for these people, what is wrong with me???" in a nutshell (+ that part about the contract), but we were never SHOWN how he became more attached to them??? We just have to believe him based on the talks with Rosie and Niffty respectively. What a joke. (Niffty got partially restored in my brain, at least).

-idk, Broadcast🎭 anon- (I know I DMed u, but yea)

Honestly? Even if this leak never comes true the way Viv planned it back then, I for one am having a great time speculating.

[rontra]

I have never played persona so I wasn't sure if I would understand your failteacher comics but I just looked up the characters for a little bit of context and I'm 👀👀👀👀 at it now xD

Without being too spoiler-y, why would you say they'd have a messy relationship? (Besides the fact of Becky taking advantage of her client's loneliness)

HAHAHA yea i think the like dramatic irony enjoyment of knowing (even just roughly) what's going on with becky is very strong so good on you there (obviously toriumi has no idea what's going on with her and becky is doing her best to Handle It, but it contextualizes her behavior for Us...<3)

it's yummy isnt it... its yummy

anyway, the rest of this very long post is just me analyzing a fictional situation i myself engineered, so if that sounds boring please dont click the Read More LMFAO <- cursed to put a lot of thought into Character Stuff

basically they have great potential for mess, which they're Currently keeping a lid on, but would exponentially increase with time. teehee.

as for what WILL happen, im not spoiling anything concrete of course… (winks at the Knowers who already know my Vision….

well, this AU isn't ever going to devolve into a "super destructive toxic nightmare" mess or anything, just to get our working definitions of 'mess' sorted out at the top of the post. not this time. atm (as of comic #3) it's shaping up more like a "this seems . inadvisable and absolutely Don't Try This At Home, but i guess it won't…kill you" mess (LMAO)

to assess their situation at present… there is one half who wants money (and can't ever make enough of it to satisfy her extortionists), and one half who wants intimacy (and is scared and unable to get it on her own). on its exterior face, it's simply a lonely person hiring a professional to keep them company, which is a fairly common thing n not rly super noteworthy; the parentheticals are what make things a bit uh thorny for these characters

the "problem" here is not the transaction itself; they're both willing to supply their half of the trade just fine, and neither party is doing anything wrong by engaging in it. but for these two specifically, there is also a mutual willingness to bend the rules of their transaction—because they're both cornered in some way, and desperate for what the other one is offering to trade

to elaborate on "rules", i mean, first and foremost, that their relationship is not "real"—these people Don't know each other personally and intimately, and they're Not Supposed To. their relationship should never be "real"; they're not friends! (or lovers, for that matter!) they're in a conditional exchange of money for services. right now, these characters are participating in and maintaining a kayfabe; they should operate under a tacit understanding that A) this is not real, B) they both fully know it's not real, and C) following the script is the comfortable way to get what they both want without causing undue risk to either party. creating and then maintaining a fake "reality" together is regulated by a contract between them, and it ends when their booked time ends (and not a minute over time!)

but to return to the earlier point, they're also both cornered and desperate, which drives them both to go beyond what might be considered appropriate. i think this is compelling; it's probably unnecessary of me to add this paragraph but i want to underline (just in case) that i don't think either of them is like "at fault" or w/e (there is no "villain" between them). they're showing Signs Of Mess that could snowball into something much more messy, but it's not something they're doing to hurt each other; they're making decisions based on skewed risk/reward estimations that might not be healthy, and could realistically have harmful consequences for both parties, but they're not, like, Evil (lol). two women getting wrapped up in each other's personal graveyard spirals…it's yuri, isn't it?

with that squared away, and putting it plainly;

toriumi should not be asking her to "break character" when the character itself is what she's paying for; this nudging of their little kayfabe, if indulged, could easily snowball and erode the professional boundaries between them (what she calls "distance" in #3). she is paying 'becky' to 'be here' (paying kawakami to conjure 'becky' into existence by pretending to be her), but she isn't really being mindful of the type of role that this necessarily demands of her in turn. the built-in emotional walls between them are there to protect both of them, but she doesn't fully respect them (despite instinctively sensing their protection in how "safe" becky feels to her). in the end, toriumi is bad at "staying in character" herself, and she can't help but try to root out the actual person behind the mask—despite the fact that no one wants this erosion to happen! possible dire consequences for her wallet aside, losing sight of the line between "transaction" and "investment" (pardon the pun) is a one-way ticket to a very messy place where one or both of them is likely to get hurt...

on the other end, and not helping the situation at all, kawakami identified toriumi as a soft target pretty much immediately, and is actively trying to elicit sympathy and endear herself to her (she is being quite choosy about what vulnerabilities she "lets slip" in #2) in order to make her keep booking and paying. of course some amount of "salesmanship" is part of the job—#grindset always be plugging smash that like button comment n subscribe—but the major difference here is that she's overtly attempting to foster in her client the exact kind of dependency/personal attachment she should be discouraging (for, frankly, both of their safety). like not only is she out fishing to get toriumi hook line and sinker on purpose, but it's also alarmingly reckless behavior on kawakami's part; there's a lack of regard for her own wellbeing involved here on top of it all. again, a messy place where someone, maybe everyone, gets hurt in the end

crucially though, as comic #3 finishes setting up, they're both willing to endure these shenanigans from the other half. at this stage, toriumi does realize that kawakami has her unilaterally wrapped around her finger, and nonetheless agrees that she'll call her again; while kawakami knows very well how this kayfabe is supposed to work, but is indulgent (even rewarding) towards toriumi for her clumsiness. that mutual willingness to keep playing this game would—if the AU continued on these tracks uninterrupted—probably compound until the situation they've made becomes super confusing and unclear for them emotionally...

of course "taking advantage" is sort of a loaded phrase colloquially… but i would say in many ways they are "taking advantage" of each other, yea. the "we both benefit, so it's okay" logic was already vaguely raised as justification in #3; if elaborated a bit with the above in mind, their situation is one where "even if they're both overstepping what is considered appropriate for their arrangement, they've also both decided the benefits outweigh the costs by a wide enough margin to make it worthwhile"

it's got the marks of a sort of symbiotic relationship... their individual motivations for being involved w each other are totally unrelated (cue the "hold on, does. kawakami even like women???" question), but they both feel they benefit enough towards their priority goals to be OK with the other one taking something "less valuable" from them (toriumi even calls out the “sales pitch” becky is doing in #2, but ultimately decides that’s fine because she’s willing to buy). i think each and every moving part here has great capacity to go "too far" and ruin things (perhaps even causing Severe damage in the collapse), but if the situation were to continue in this same rhythm, without that kind of dramatic change, i would say "they're both evaluating the scenario with their own personal goals in mind, and are extracting what they want from one another relatively(?) peacefully(??)". like it might ultimately be a selfish game but they're adults they'll figure it out probably idk its none of my business what they choose to get up to. wouldn't get into that type of shit myself though LOL

women are playing kind of dangerous games with each other but i forgive them because it's interesting to rotate in my mind...<3

another thorn to consider for their future bonding endeavors from here on ofc is that without being "cornered" the way they are, they would not be running this type of "risk math" in the first place. it's hard for either of them to fully back away at this point because they're already cornered in their personal lives; toriumi is incredibly isolated and lonely with a pretty insecure lifestyle even when she's NOT actively sawing through the branch she's sitting on, and kawakami famously MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, NEEDS A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW because she's being extorted by an unrelated third party. looking ahead it does kind of start to look like an ouroboros of "taking advantage of each other" bc it's hard for both of them to leave their individual situations; it's kind of like, if they weren't here with each other they'd be ... well, they'd be here—just with someone else...

they didn't put each other in this jam—it was unrelated personal circumstances and sheer coincidence that pushed them together—but now that they've committed to each other, it's hard to reverse back out, if that makes sense. i think that kind of thing is interesting too, because it makes me want to see them recognize this, connect, and help each other pull out of their Greater individual personal messes. you know? we can make it if we try... just the two of us... 😔

(unfortunately step 1 of that is ofc to make a genuine personal bond that isn't wrapped up in all this for-pay roleplay stuff. drat!)

tl;dr they're both simmering under high pressure and don't try this at home, but they do already have a sort of tacit agreement forming that this level of messy play is OK between them—as long as the rewards continue to outweigh the risks. at the end of the day, it's a delicate balance ultimately hinging on a money-for-services transaction, so if either of them stopped feeling like paying their half was worth it, it would rapidly come apart. i guess it's kinda like the ways you can tell if animals are genuinely beefing or just playing rough—are they willingly coming back? 💀 ...

no lmao where's that post thats like "this would be terrible if it was anyone else, but considering the people involved this is actually the best option" HRBHJDJG that's kind of how it feels. like if they're gonna be stuck with Somebody (and they would be), its probably good luck that they got Each Other. at least the narrative can sustain the balance of this one and maybe even solve it down the line. heart

to round this post off i would say if i had to nominate one of them, kawakami is probably the most "in control" atm—since she figured out very quickly that she was dealing with an easy mark and moved in to make her a regular customer (quite successfully i might add per the end of #3 lmaoo). i think that's been kinda fun, since in her SLink she's immediately on the back foot due to being unmasked by the inciting incident. we know she will lie and attempt to play to the listener's sympathy, so unleashing her with her Mask Still On has been fun 😭 for her part, toriumi is not only taken with the funny maid (& emotionally invested in her IRL situation to boot), but also very clumsily trying to obtain something she's scared to have, which makes her very impulsive/erratic in her rulebreaking compared to kawakami's much more intentional plays...

play of the game 🧹 (<- there's no maid emoji idk its housekeeping)

of course, my future plans will immediately jostle this entire dynamic into something else and make this whole post obsolete, but i don't wanna lay that out ahead of time. smiles.

anyway, otome dissection on the playlist or whatever

[marimeeko]

Just for fun I ran to my desktop to aid me with Google translate, which isn't perfect. But given that I don't know Japanese myself....

Here's what I found; on my own, with only translate and my existing language skills.

This is wrong:

This is CLOSER, AND MORE INDICATED OF THE CORRECT SUBJECTS OF THE SENTANCE. :

While it isn't one to one, Japanese has a lot of feel and implication, from what I understand. There's a lot of context.

So I tried scanning the fan translations a few times just to see what it said on my own. I broke it down into parts:

AITSU: him, that guy (in this case, Izuku)

The "Nuguenee" part seems to mean "can't wipe it" or "to wipe away"

Kocchi- here

De nuguu - means something like 'take off with "

Eventually, I felt like it wasn't scanning off the screen well enough, and I actually WROTE THE KANJI in the translation of the panel out on paper, which was very interesting bc again, don't know or write Japanese.

But I scanned that:

(The word "if" is covered by the icon)

"IF YOU CANT WIPE IT OFF

I WILL WIPE IT HERE"

Shows that the verbiage used is "wipe," or "to wipe away," but it is SO MUCH CLOSER in spirit to "I'll step in for what he can't handle" and also the use of Aitsu indicated he is talking directly about Izuku.

I GET that the official translator's job is to try to capture the dialogue in a way that FLOWS for the new audience, since Japanese is a very differently constructed language than English.

They are supposed to find a way to translate certain things with keeping the mood and intent of the dialogue.

"OFA couldn't keep you in the ground, but we'll finish the job and then some"???

Where the hell did they get that???

I didn't dig any further back bc it might take a while but everyone has also pointed out that the original dialogue is a direct reference to the apology scene(I know it is in the fan translation but I think it is also being indicated that it is the same in Japanese as well? Pls fact check me of you desire)

So bc it was originally referring back to that scene, there is an added STING that comes with this official translation

And the ADDITIONAL BLOW that is katsuki once again being kind of...pigeon holed into the aggressive, more self-focused kid that he once was...a caricature of his former self, instead of his emotionally upgraded, self assured, "needing to help Izuku or he will perish" self.....instead of letting this moment be a crazy cool declaration about how HE is the one you fuck with when Izuku needs help.

Which like yeah, in itself is a little bit agrandizing, HOWEVER it is literally also serving as a vow or a completion of his vow earlier in the story that he will take on what he can't handle!

It's super important for Katsukis arc! It acted as not only a THREAT to anyone who give Izuku a run for his money and tests the limits of his OFA, but a VOW to Izuku that HE HAS HIS BACK.

He just YELLED ABOUT IT on a battlefield, while Izuku is probably still staring at him with heart eyes.

And ultimately, there is NO REASON THE ORIGNAL TRANSLATION, WHICH PLAYS OFF THE OFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF THE APOLOGY SCENE CANNOT BE USED OFFICIALLY.

It reads properly, and packs a HELL OF A PUNCH EMOTIONALLY. More so than essentially "I'm gonna put you in the ground bc Izuku CAN'T"

It seems like the fan translation kept the literal meaning but added the flavor to make it flow, such as "stepping in" "to handle" and calling Izuku a Nerd. But the official translation just tweaked it by too much to where it just reads differently and most importantly, doesn't carry that punch.

In conclusion, I did a little bit of independent research and decided that YEAH it doesn't make sense why they translated it so wildly different. Other than just wanting Bakugou to remain a frigging caricature, even in the Finale.

[iceheap]

plssssss more aarmau / aaron head canons i will eat em UP

Hmmm I have one I thought up a few months ago but it might be a bit meta.

So basically you know how Aaron doesn't have a personality at all in both nystreet and MCD? I think it's pretty obvious that the fact he has no defining characteristics or traits besides being a former lord and him hating Zane is obviously the fault of Jess and Jason, not Aaron's. But I do think this is interesting from a limitation perspective.

See, I don't like completely rebooting a story concept, I like to work with the limitations of the original source material to create depth, not something brand new. I've been doing the same for Zane as well, though we can talk about-face him another time. I like to use the peices that are already there in a story and add everything else around it. Sure, I will do canon divergences here and there, but if I can use something in the original canon and keep certain events as close as possible, I will.

So, Aaron's severe lack of personality. It's obviously because of bad writing. But what if it wasn't?

Shad is a very interesting character. Mostly because we don't get the exact details of WHY, exactly, he turned out so... Twisted.

Like as a creature itself, Shad is weird. He used to be a good person. I genuinely believe that Shad was never evil, just assigned a set of abilities he couldn't really handle. He kind of reminds me of Chat Noir because of the way he and Irene's magical dynamics are so similar to Marinette and Adrian's. Irene was the light, and Shad was the darkness.

Now, sure, we have the absolute shit-show that was MCD season 3 and Mystreet season 6, and the ensuing retcon that has Irene kind of be a terrible person? Which, I have a headcanon about that retconed version of the story that I might write and post on AO3 one day, but for the sake of my sanity I consider the original story of Shad's betrayal canon. The other male members were in love with Irene and stabbed Shad in the back.

Thinking about it, though, where was Irene in all of this?

What, exactly, made Shad into the Shadow Lord? Irene would have reasonex with him. If Shad had come out of the altercation alive, he could have been reasoned with. Yes, maybe Irene's communications skills were lacking due to centuries of immortality and maybe she caused a misunderstanding that led him to the dark side, but Shad was not a BAD person. Temperamental, traumatized, tired and emotionally disregulated, sure. But he was not a bad person.

That's if we're assuming Shad lived.

I think he didn't.

I think the other male divine warriors killed him.

Of course, Irene would not have been okay with this. And they probably would have had to do it behind her back. Maybe they chose a time they knew she would not be there. Maybe they told Shad Irene agreed with their plans for his death.

But Irene loved Shad. She maybe didn't know how to show it anymore, but she LOVED him. She would have never let him die.

Shad probably didn't know that though.

So he dies. And somehow, Irene finds them. The others try to explain, at first, but it's moot point because for the first time in multiple lifetimes, Irene emotes. She shows an emotion. She feels something.

She tries to heal Shad. She's a healer after all. It's what she does. She tries.

It doesn't work.

She tries again.

It doesn't work.

She tries and she tries and she tries and she tries and--

And Shad comes back.

But it's not right. There's something WRONG. Irene fucked up. Because Shad is dark, and Irene is light, and they're not supposed to MIX.

So Shad comes back as an angry, furious, broken shell, twisted and dark and evil and angry. And they fight him and they win, and Irene locks him away, and the Irene looks around at what her companions have TAKEN from her and she can't STAND it anymore and so she locks herself away and sleeps, because she doesn't feel ANYTHING and she wants to FEEL and--

Anyway, we know this story. So what does this have to do with Aaron?

What if Aaron isn't Shad? What if Aaron is a PEICE of Shad?

Because light and dark aren't supposed to mix, but when they do, they create something unstable. And like any chemical bond that does not want to exist, it explodes. And what did it explode?

Shad.

And what part of Shad did it explode?

His soul, of course.

The heart of darkness. The Shadow Lord. These are PEICES of Shad's soul. He was fractured.

And that's why Aaron has no personality besides things like revenge and being a lord and helping raise Lilith and loving Aphmau and nothing else. He was the peice of Shad that carried Shad's humanity, but NOTHING ELSE. He doesn't have the Shadow Lords Passion and anger and rage. He shows glimpses of it, but only enough any other human would show. That's why he's blank and distant and doesn't emote. His heart is gone, and with it, all the deeper complexities of emotion.

He has no hobbies or interests. He just fights and eats and sleeps and drinks water and functions from a creatures instinct, because he's human, but he has NOTHING ELSE.

He's also probably the only peice out toghether enough to reincarnated. But he's missing things and that's why he's so bleh.

Anyway, yeah, that's my hc for Aaron's lack of character development. And I think it's super interesting that Irene would have fractured Shad without realizing it. She was probably too desperate to bring him back to realize how much damage she was doing.

So yeah! Aaron is a peice of a whole and that's why he's WEIRD AF thank you for coming to my TedTalk WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[viviennelamb]

The whole thing with representation has always weirded me out. Mostly because it comes off to me as people trying to attribute other's success to themselves bc they share a superficial trait with them. So they want to see their group bolstered up to lift their confidence because they don't personally do anything that would inspire confidence in themselves. To see someone say they have low self esteem bc women's brilliance isn't represented or valued, it confuses me because what does another women's brilliance have to do with them anyway? That's somebody else's work, skill, genius, art, etc. When I see someone say something like "I'm so proud to be XYZ right now" whenever one from their group gets recgonition for making some contribution to this shithole world, it rubs me the wrong way for this reason. Plus half of the time when people talk about representation it's just wanting to see themselves being lusted over. They want to watch a TV show or movie where someone who looks like them gets hit on and fought over by the kind of good looking people who never hit on them in real life, to give them a taste of what they've been "deprived" of. This topic always becomes about beauty standards (my least favorite topic of conversation) and what is funny to me to is that people think the media is trying to control who is found beautiful and who isn't by who they show on tv, but the media only shows people what they want to see bc they wouldn't watch it otherwise. Then people want to act like there's a conspiracy to deprive them specifically of the softcore porn they call representation. And they never want to watch themselves be lusted over by someone who looks like them, it always has to be someone who fits the criteria of the beauty standards they claim to hate.

Most people have a collectivist mindset and a win for others is a win for themselves. This can be a good thing if an individual needs support, but in most cases, people who need support walk a thin line. If they do anything that those who support them dislike, they will get shunned, abused or killed in extreme cases.

People with this mindset reveal that they have been accepted and given validation based on that particular trait, which is why they are fixated on upholding it. The false self needs to see this aspect of itself to conform that it's doing well. Every label is another source of dopamine, mostly because the Ego cannot handle the fact that it is alone. The collective is one and vice versa. There is truth to the “everybody is you pushed out,” except most individuals are egotistical, so if you're not an egotist, that is also not true.

People who need to their nervous system regulated by other people, have a dependent personality, which is one of the most common personalities who are body-conscious. When they see bodies that are similar to them engaging in what they deem admirable, it makes them feel safe, loved, etc. It's an illusion because this feeling ebbs and flows. Only God can give you a permanently satisfying reflection, and people who reach Christ Consciousness purify their Ego through this awareness.

Essentially, it's all understandable when you know what level of consciousness an individual is at. Once an individual gets tired of trying to find themselves in other people and looks to God instead, that is when they will at least become aware of their soul and see others for who they are: souls who are working out their karma as well. If anybody thinks the feeling of somebody who looks like them accomplishes something worldly feels like you've overcome something, wait until you apply your divinity though individual will. You'll never want to go back to being body-conscious, it's lonely.

As for lust, that's part of why the quality of media is decreasing. It's not about the story, it's about being a fuckable representative. For this reason, artists aren't promoted due to their talent, but their appearance. You don't really need to be good at singing and dancing anymore. The only exception to this is acting where various looks are required to create a scene, but outside of that, there's very little talent because that is what people want.

So true that people want to be wanted by conventionally attractive people, but not by people who look like them. Most people have low self-esteem and care about stuff that has nothing to do with them.

[bi-bard]

Usefulness - Sonny Carisi Imagine (Law & Order: S.V.U)

Title: Usefulness

Pairing: Dominick "Sonny" Carisi X Reader

Word Count: 1,135 words

Warning(s): discussion of people-pleasing tendencies

Summary: Sonny's interference in an interrogation that (Y/n) was leading ends in a serious discussion about what the true intention behind his actions were.

Author's Note: Carisi is a people-pleaser, tell me I'm wrong.

--------------------------

It all started with an event during an interrogation.

The interrogation itself was going fine. The guy was confrontational, but that wasn't anything new. I felt confident, comfortable. No matter what the guy was saying, I had control over the room. It was good.

Then, he made some off-hand, disrespectful comment.

I didn't get a chance to respond before the door into Liv's office opened.

"That's enough."

I looked at Sonny, who was now leaning through the doorway. In the hopes of making it look like we were on the same page, I stood up, following him out.

"You had no right to do that," I muttered once the door shut.

"We were getting nowhere with him."

"Yes, we were, that's why he was getting personal," I replied. "And then, you pulled me out. We are back at square one."

"I was trying to stand up for you."

"I know, I know," I nodded. "But... this is my job, Sonny. You can't do that kind of thing just because a suspect pokes fun at me."

"I was keeping you safe."

I didn't have a chance to talk back before Sonny walked out of the office. I just took a deep breath before turning to face Liv.

"I can't go back in, can I," I asked. "Guy wouldn't hold any respect for me. All progress... gone."

"Sonny means well," she replied.

"I know, I know. I just... I feel like there's something more going on."

She nodded.

I didn't get a chance to talk about it with him until we got home.

When I walked in, Sonny was already home. At least he seemed to have more straightforward hours than I did. He had changed and was sitting at the table, hunched over the next case he was working on.

"Hey," I said.

He stood up as soon as I spoke. "Hey."

I grinned at him as he walked over and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"How was your day," he asked.

"Funny that you ask," I replied. "I was gonna ask to talk about what happened today?"

"The interrogation thing?"

I nodded.

He let out a sigh.

"Sonny, I know that you meant well, but you can't do that," I explained. "It undermines my authority in the room, sets back progress, and it looks like the A.D.A is trying to steer the case, which is not your job."

He looked down.

I bit my lip and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I was just trying to help," he mumbled after a minute of silence.

"And I appreciate that, I do," I said, stepping forward. "I... I just want to understand why you felt the need to do that."

"What?"

"You're protective," I explained. "And I adore that. I think it's great. However, there are times when it's almost like you're overstepping. And I don't think you're aware of the fact that you're doing it."

His eyebrows furrowed. "So... you think it's great, but it's upsetting you."

"Sonny," I sighed. "I think you're protective and helpful streak is honorable. It's sweet and it shows that you care and it's one of the things I first noticed about you when I started getting feelings for you. However, when you storm into the interrogation room because a suspect is getting a little too aggressive or rude, it's overstepping."

Sonny looked down.

"I was trained to handle those situations, just like you were. I know when to step out. And when you interfere like that, no matter the intentions, it's not going to look good."

He didn't speak up.

"Why did you do it? Honestly."

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. When he looked up again, he still didn't meet my eyes. His gaze was still shifting around the room.

"I... I'm supposed to take care of you," he admitted. "We're... We're a couple. I am meant to take care of you. Protect you. It's... It's my job now."

I almost wanted to cry.

He scoffed like he was trying to convince me- maybe both of us- that it was a joke. "I mean, you're not gonna keep someone around that you can't trust to protect you and help you. That's not useful."

The last sentence left me stunned for a moment. He truly thought that the reason I was with him was because of how useful he was.

My hesitance made him want to backtrack. "Y'know what, I shouldn't have said anything about this. It's not your job to worry-"

"Sonny, Sonny," I touched his upper arms as he tried to wave the whole thing off. "Hey..."

He finally looked at me, a clear frown on his face.

I stepped forward, leaning in to peck his lips. "You don't need to fix me or save me in order to convince me that you care. I love you. No conditions attached. I promise you that."

His face softened a bit. "You love me?"

I paused for a moment. I hadn't said that out loud before. I had thought it for years- even before we started dating- but saying it... that was a new monster.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You have nothing to prove, Sonny. You never did. I don't need you to hold me together."

His smile could've melted my heart.

"What I want," I continued, "is for my very handsome, very tired partner to lie down with me. If that's what he wants."

Sonny slowly nodded.

I stepped back, taking his hand and leading him out of the living room. I was stopped in the doorway by Sonny. I chuckled as he pressed his lips to mine. My back hit the doorframe, digging into my spine as his hands cupped the sides of my face.

"Sonny," I placed my hand on his chest, pushing him back enough to speak. "Lie down with me. Nothing else. Not tonight."

He nodded again.

I pecked his lips again.

Sonny didn't speak up until we had both curled up under my covers.

"I love you too."

It was so quiet. Whispered as one arm wrapped around my shoulders to hold me closer and his other hand cupped the side of my face. His thumb ran along my cheekbone.

My eyes already felt heavy as I hummed back to him. He made me feel so safe. It was just so easy to fall asleep with my head resting against him.

"And you said I was tired."

"Stop being such a teddy bear then," I grumbled.

"Oh, never," he mumbled. "Wouldn't get to hold you as tight as I want if I did that."

"You can hold me as tight as you want, Carisi."

I had to bite back my smile a bit as I felt his arms tighten around me.

It was about time he focused on what he wanted.

--------------------------

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[jadethest0ne]

You mentioned not liking how Mikey and Leo’s arcs are usually handled and trying to make something more suited in your once human au. I was curious what you do/don’t like about the all the brother’s arcs in general.

Oooh that is a good question actually... I think the simplest way to explain my issue with any of the character arcs in the TMNT franchise as a whole is that - I like my TMNT media to give equal narrative weight and screentime to all turtles, and my issues with Mikey and Leo's arcs boil down to the fact that Mikey is often side-lined and given no character arc and Leo is focused on way too much to the point that it gets tiresome and overdone.

And that's probably why I like Donnie and Raph so much because they do get fairly balanced moments of growth and screentime in most versions that they appear in.

It's sad to me that one of the few versions that I've seen so far that gives equal screentime to each character is TMNT 1987. Which is a fun version, don't get me wrong, but since the story itself is moreso geared towards villain-of-the-week type scenarios, there's not necessarily "arcs" for the characters that much. So it's frustrating to me that other versions, which do give deeper development to the turtles, don't do so equally. It somewhat defeats the purpose to me of the TMNT as a team, as a family, if they don't grow together.

That's the TL;DR of it, but for more character-specific info, read on:

So, let's break down each character and what I like/don't like about their arcs. I'm gonna go in (rough) order of who I think gets the most attention by the writers/creators, from least to most.

Michelangelo

It is unfortunate to me that Mikey seems to get sidelined the most. I haven't seen a TMNT version yet that gives him an actual arc (granted, I haven't seen ALL versions all the way through, but this is a general observation I have). He seems to be relegated to "comic relief" or "baby brother" in a lot of versions. I love him, don't get me wrong, but what I'd love to see in any version is maybe that wide-eyed optimism, friendliness, and jokester attitude challenged in a real way by the plot or by some villain. I think you could really get something deep with that, and I think such an arc would work well for his character. The closest I've seen to Mikey getting some deeper development is the original Mirage comics and Rise of the TMNT, but even then, I feel like the focus often stays on the other three. The one positive part of what he does seem to do for the narrative as a whole, is it often seems like he's the glue that holds the group together. When things get dark, Mikey is there to brighten things up in his own way. This boy deserves more love and attention by the writers on a whole!

Donatello

Donnie is another one to often get pushed to the side a bit and fills the niche "brainy/techy" role. However, his character is often less of a "joke" than Mikey is sometimes made out to be. He gets a lot of good moments in a lot of versions. He's given a lot of angst as well (looking at you 2003). The amount of screentime he gets seems to be largely dependent on the version. I believe the 2007 movie barely gave him any lines/scenes, but then you've got '87, '03, and Rise that gives him TONS of awesome standalone episodes. The main thing I'd change for him, is the same thing with Mikey and that is that this guy needs a bigger plot role as well and an actual character arc. He almost gets one in Rise of the TMNT - and I think it's a good one about feeling more self-worth, getting deserved recognition, and also allowing his emotions to show beyond his "bad boy" facade. Unfortunately, even in Rise, I feel like some of his growth is overshadowed by Raph's and Leo's (and Splinter's, too, actually) (side-note, kudos to Rottmnt for actually giving Splinter a character arc).

Raphael

Out of all of the turtles, I believe Raphael has the best balance when it comes to screentime, focus episodes, and character growth throughout ALL versions. A lot of versions give Raph the growth of having to overcome his anger and attitude, and allow him to work more cohesively with his brothers. I'm a personal sucker for the "tough on the outside, soft on the inside" character trope, and Raph is basically this to a T in most incarnations. I like it when his arc is often allowing that soft side of himself to show and allowing him to have a closer connection to his brothers and the people around him. As well as allowing him to be less angry at not just others, but also at himself. It's a solid character arc in my opinion, and one that doesn't take away from the others around him, but instead enhances them because his arc is often how he treats/works with others. Rise gives him a different version of that - he needs to work with others better, not because he's too tough, quite the opposite in fact, but because he needs to learn to trust his family just as his family trusts him. He needs to learn to let go more, which I think is a similar, yet unique facet to his character and I appreciate Rise for that. I have very little negatives to say about any Raphael arc. He could stand to hit Mikey less in '03 and '12 tho. That bugs me to no end, but is a frustration for a different time.

Leonardo

Ah yes, the golden child. The favored son. The one everyone (both inside and outside the narrative) likes. In fact, that's exactly what bothers me about Leonardo. Leonardo is pretty much ALWAYS given a huge arc that ties in with the main plotlines of the story, and it almost always is tied to his role as the leader. I feel like lots of versions of Leo give him the leader role and make him the "best/most skillful" ninja without him earning that title. He just is. He's the "eldest" son. He's just good at what he does. He's just Splinter's favorite. And I think there's something wrong with that when they're supposed to be a family and it kind of sucks to see the narrative, and by proxy, Splinter, play favorites. And often the narrative seems to present Leo's judgement on things as correct, even when sometimes he's wrong. But because he's the LEADER it's presented by the narrative that he is almost always right. It feels like the writers have to create a conflict that Leo needs to overcome or a decision that he has to make, and decide from the get-go that he's going to make the right decision, without really figuring out the nuances of said conflict first. So to me, a lot of his "leadership arc" falls flat, because I feel like he is written as Leader first and Character second. So it's a similar frustration to me with Mikey's (lack of) character growth - his role in the group/narrative is what defines him more than his actual personality. Rise of the TMNT is the only one where I feel like his growth was actually earned, and that is because he was starting from a much lower point. He needed to learn responsibility and heroism in a way that other Leos just have from the get-go. I could actually see Rise-Leo being leader because that growth was set up - not just his leader-like qualities, but also his skills with his weapons, and his ability to plan. I'd like to see more of that from Leo rather than just a guy that we're supposed to respect from the very beginning, just because the narrative says so.

So there you have it, my general take on character arcs in TMNT. I feel like what might help this sort of unbalanced narrative issue that TMNT has is maybe do something like what Ducktales 2017 or Teen Titans did - and that is give each character their own focus-season. In both DT and TT, each main character got sort of a season to themself that focused on them and followed their general arc. You could do something similar with TMNT - give each turtle their own season. And idk, if it goes further than four seasons, then idk give April, or Splinter, or Casey their own focus season, or one that ties everyone together for a big send-off. That's one idea. Either that or actually just plan out an equal-ish number of episodes and plot threads for each turtle.

Overall, my issue is with the balancing rather than the arcs themselves.

[wildissylupus]

Ok just saw this;

And first let me just say, I'm excited.

Now let's get into what I usually do, look to far into things.

First let's start off with where everyone is located;

The Junkers are obviously in Junkertown

Ana could probably be anywhere and we don't get many context clues from the background other than her fighting Omnics.

Hammond is at the Horizon Luna Colony, it was advertised with the initial announcement of the new short stories.

With Jack and Sombra it much of the same as Ana, not many context clues. My guess is that it takes place in Dorado or Cairo.

Same goes with Ashe but considering she doesn't really leave America my guess is that it takes place around there.

Kiriko and Hanzo are either in Hanamura or Kanezaka.

From what I've heard Lifeweaver and Sym are in the Atlantic Arcology.

Finally, Orisa is in Nimbani.

Now what do I think the main stories are going to be about?

I think a lot of them are going to tie in a lot of these characters to current events. Most of these characters are rouged after all, the only exceptions being Jack, Ana and Hammond's story. Cause I think those three stories are either flashbacks and/or just showing us they're reactions to the Invasion storyline.

Now my prediction for each story;

Junkers: I think it's going to show them getting involved with the Invasion storyline, or at least they're reaction to it. It could also be about Junkrat getting let back into Junkertown.

Ana: I think this is either her and Jacks reactions to the Invasion or the first warning signs of Null Sectors attack. It could also be Anubis being released again.

Hammond: Horizon Luna Colony flashback, probably Hammond's own experience on the Colony, maybe even some moments of Hammond and Winston being friends.

Jack and Sombra: I think this is going to take place right after "Hero", probably a flash back to when after the situation with Alejandra, Sombra offered Jack a deal/alliance of some kind which he initially refused, but after the reveal of Reyes being Reaper we're going to cut to after/during "Bastet" when Jack contacts Sombra and accepts her deal.

Ashe: This one I'm worried about and I'll talk about why in a separate post but I think this is going to be a robbery gone wrong along with the answer of which side Ashe is going to be on, Talon or Overwatch.

Hanzo and Kiriko: Family drama, Hanzo dealing with the fact that he didn't just hurt Genji but he hurt Kiriko by leaving, Kiriko finding out that Genji is alive. They're also probably fighting the Hashimoto.

Sym and Lifeweaver: Sym is in her Vishkar attire so I think she's been tasked with bring Niran back, probably also stealing his Biolight tech. This could also be when she finally turns on Vishkar and joining Overwatch with Lifeweaver.

Orisa: Her recruitment into Overwatch and how she, along with Numbani itself, are handling Null Sector. Possibly a rematch between Orisa and Doomfist as well.

I'll probably make separate posts for more details on what I think each story is about but for now here are my thoughts.

[destinygoldenstar]

Why I Don’t Want To Talk About RWBY Again

Yes. She decided to show her face again.

And she will probably instantly regret it.

So, this isn't usually the media I talk about. However, I addressed it in my post 'Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character', where I talked about multiple media to gain a wider perspective on a solid critique point to figure out where this possibly came from? And in terms of the RWBY-related stuff I said there, I got... some honest, fair, completely non-personal attacking feedback. No personal attacks whatsoever.

I thought 'okay, maybe I am wrong' if everyone is so insistent that I am 'incorrect' and what they're saying is 'facts'. We all make mistakes. So I decided to rewatch the show in it's entirety and actually see Volume 9 for myself. I actually hoped that maybe I was wrong and they were right and I could see this show for the masterpiece that it is...

Uh, short answer: Not really...? For the most part, the points I made in the past are still how I feel. (I just didn't word it very well in that post. I'll take the L for that one)

I'm disappointed I learned nothing too. I really wish I did.

Okay, so for my background, I jumped on the train of this show just about a month or two before Volume 6 came out. I got it recommended from a classmate in school who was obsessed. And I thought it was... okay.

And then I got bullied and harassed by the person for the remainder of the school year. Cause I DARED not said it was a masterpiece.

(Yeah, this is a running trend for me)

But with every new Volume from there, I rewatched the show as background noise for homework, to the point where I've at least rewatched it 5-6 times, maybe 7 including this rewatch. But with every rewatch where I actually noticed certain details... the certain volume would get a little worse. (Except for one case)

Maybe it's because I'm a jerk. I've been called that more than once.

Maybe it's because Celtic Phoenix's rewrites of the show are a thing. But that’s also a topic for discussion here.

But I know the exact point when I abandoned the show for over two years. When Volume 8 came out.

It was... it was a miserable viewing experience for me. And for me, this was my last straw with the show and I fell to the dark side. There were so many production problems where I could see why it turned out the way it did. There were so many decisions with the plot that I did not agree with.

And the biggest reason why I left. And this is a thing that's been consistent anytime I engaged with the show in any way. And the reason WHY I don’t feel safe talking about this show.

The fandom is terrifying.

It's not as bad as the Dhar Mann situation, I don't think, but it's still a nightmare to engage with.

There are so many toxic entitled people online that feel the need to bully and harass anyone who says ANYTHING about the show that isn't 'I think this was handled perfectly'. You say anything even slightly neutral, or even hint that you may not think perfection, you will get cyberbullied.

And I MEAN THAT when I say cyberbullying, you get personally attacked, you get cursed at a lot, you get accused as homophobic and misogynistic, and you get double bullied and ganged up on when you ask for feedback towards you to be impersonal and focused on the work itself. There is NO breather to this.

People just really love to attack every single being they can find. Over a CARTOON.

If this was some real life documentary or something, then I would get it.

But this is a FICTIONAL SHOW.

It's very unwelcoming and it's miserable for people like me to engage with these people as a result.

NO, I AM NOT SAYING EVERYONE IS LIKE THIS. I'm sure there are still good civilized decent people in this fanbase. But the ones that are like that are the loudest.

There's also a 'hate-fandom' spawned. Which I also despise cause it's basically just the same thing but the opposite approach. And why are you even tearing apart something as sport? That's sick. Do something else with your time. Do literally anything else.

You have to pick a side.

Either you love the show, if you don't you're a horrible person.

Or you hate the show, if you don't you're a horrible person.

THIS is the real reason why I left the show.

And the fact that I'm even daring to say this guarantees that I will get backlashed.

At least I anticipate that this time. (But I'm just gonna ignore this behavior and I will only respond to people who keep things impersonal and just focus on the content. I don't care if you have a valid point against what I say, if you personally attack me or anyone else, and act like you know me, I won't listen to you. It doesn't make you better than me, it's cyberbullying.)

For the sake of this rant post, I am OPTING OUT of the idea that 'I have to love the show or hate the show'.

I'm a neutral saying my perspective as a neutral.

And I will say that as long as you're not a cyberbullying racist/sexist/homophobic piece of garbage, your opinions towards this show is VALID in my book.

If you think this is the best show of all time, that's VALID.

If you think this is the worst show of all time, that's VALID.

If you disagree with either of those two statements, then you can leave my post right now.

I am not going to take either side, as I really don’t want to. I am not the type of person to be openly happy all the time, as when I feel any emotion at all I will say it. And I am not going to hide my emotions to make other people happy. That’s not who I am.

But I also don’t want to be seen by the public as a hardcore complainer for that. Spending all your time whining is just exhausting and tiring and unrewarding, when you could be doing literally anything else, and healthier stuff, with your time. I should know. I used to criticize Dhar Mann videos. While those were worth critiquing it cause multiple mental health problems for me. So I stopped and did other stuff with my life.

So really, if I were to pick a side, either one, it would be doing injustice to my character. And the fact that people have to be split in fandom sections for a single show is insane. I’d be harassed endlessly no matter what.

And harassment like this over a cartoon is just not worth it. Even if you try to calmly explain yourself and defuse a fight, you’re not gonna be heard. They’ll just keep arguing until you reluctantly confess to their side. Which is gaslighting.

And this is a both sides issue. So you know. Again, I’m not picking sides when I say this.

This is not a ‘this side good ; this side bad’ issue.

At that point it has nothing to do with the show itself, or a rewrite of said show that some people made.

Fixing RWBY, that rewrite project on YouTube, is not immune to criticism. It’s not better than the original show. It’s not worse than the original show. It’s just a thing that exists. Like all rewrites do. This whole project is just a group of people approaching a story in their own writing style, like fanfiction tends to do. It’s really just a group of artists and writers coming together to play around and have fun.

So obviously that makes this project a crime against nature and a product made out of pure evil spite. /s

FIXING?! FIXING a show? HOW MALICIOUS CAN YOU BE?! YOU DARE IMPLY THAT YOU THINK THE SHOW ISNT PERFECT AS IS?!

Now, take note, I myself HAVE seen the entirety of this fan project. I have my own problems with it, and it certainly did not fix everything. But I can also safely back up that SOME PEOPLE are fat liars with their critiques on this project.

There’s being critical, and there’s lying.

That’s it. That’s all I’m saying about certain users. Because this isn’t really a ‘one person is entirely to blame’ problem so I don’t want to pin blame on one user.

And the worst part about all that is that it’s one thing to be a critic towards anyone’s work, you know, looking at their work and giving feedback. It’s another to act like this is personal.

It stops being about the show and more about throwing around accusations on people as though you personally know them.

News flash: ten to one, you don’t.

And it’s not just me. There are multiple blog users and YouTubers who said their peace on this and said the same things I’m saying. People will go out of their way to personally insult and harass neutrals to make sure their point sticks and they take it to heart. Because if it’s about the person and not the work, they have to change their mind, right? No one wants to be called a gross human being after all.

That’s not how that works. This is why if you go to my blog you see me more often than not making posts about other media. Not because I think these shows are better than RWBY (I’ve criticized them plenty as well, criticisms that I think are deserved), but because I feel more welcome in their fandoms…?

I’m not gonna pretend they’re perfect, every fandom has some nasty people, but at least I’m not gonna get barraded for every single opinion I have as though my opinions over cartoons are a judgement of my real life character.

Yes people have disagreed with me and given me criticism, but at least it’s focused on what I’ve written and the flaws in my logic of writing style. An IMpersonal critique towards me. That gets more through to me than personally insulting everyone and treating everyone that isn’t you like they’re pure evil.

Even when I try to look at RWBY related tags, it’s just this exact stuff.

You say an opinion that isn’t 100% positive? BASH.

You like something about the show? BASH.

You make art of a ship someone else doesn’t like? BASH.

You try to make an analysis post? BASH.

You write a fanfiction? BASH.

You like a fanfiction of the show? BASH.

You don’t like a fanfiction of the show? BASH.

You dare title that fanfiction ‘fixing’? BASH.

Then people really love to use buzz words fir extra power. ‘Sexist’ ‘Racist’ ‘Homophobic’ and all kinds of bad words. Without ever actually hearing an explanation.

You like a certain ship? BASH. YOU’RE HOMOPHOBIC. (Never mind nobody ever said they hoped their ship was canon or said they preferred that ship over a canon one)

You think a villain character is a well written and interesting character? BASH. YOU SUPPORT TERRORISM. (Never mind there’s a difference between agreeing with a characters POV and just liking them as fictional characters)

You like a character that so happens to be male? BASH. YOU’RE SEXIST. (Never mind that no one said they should’ve been spotlight characters or anything. And the least sexist people don’t even give a shit about the gender of the character)

You don’t like this character? BASH. CLEARLY YOU DONT LIKE THE CHARACTER BECAUSE THEYRE NOT STRAIGHT WHITE MEN.

Completely ignore if the person who says the opinion actually explains WHY they don’t like the character. Completely ignore if they don’t even mention the race, sex, or sexuality of the character once in said explanation. Completely ignore if they even said they like other characters that fit those same categories as the one they didn’t like.

Completely ignore actually checking out the persons blog to see if they like other characters in anything, not just RWBY, that have some sort of diversity to them. Maybe even love those characters and praise them.

Nope. Doesn’t matter. You don’t like one character, clearly you just hate women.

CLEARLY everyone who doesn’t agree with you are dares to say why and how they personally would’ve done it is a PURE EVIL HUMAN BEING GOING OUT IF THEIR WAY TO SPITE AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY. Don’t even bother hearing the person out or letting them say WHY they feel this way or WHY they changed it, (like the FRWBY writers DO in streams btw) NOPE. PURE EVIL. SOLELY BECAUSE YOU MADE A REWRITE.

It’s not like rewrite fanfiction as a concept is all about people reimagining someone else’s work into their own vision, and multiple fandoms do this with varying intents, whether it’s out of fixing a critique they had or trying a different tone or ‘what if’ scenarios or whatever. And again, multiple fandoms do this. (Hell, I did it with Total Drama’s Season 2. I don’t think that show is perfect, either. Far from it.)

But I don’t even trust myself to word this all right, so I’m case you don’t trust my word. I’ll link some people who have said the same things I’m saying but in more detail than I could ever. That way I can avoid plagorism.

Judgemental Critter and Twilight Guardian go VERY in detail of these problems. They go in depth about certain users I don’t feel comfortable talking about myself, they go in depth about how this is a both sides issue, and so much more.

Go look at both of these.

It’s all so unwelcoming and I just… can’t.

I can’t take that.

No one deserves that level of harassment over something so not worth it at the end of the day.

It’s just a show guys.

This isn’t real life propaganda.

This isn’t Election Day.

This isn’t school.

It’s a product designed for entertainment purposes.

You can feel whatever way you want to about it. You don’t deserve to be shut out for however you feel.

I am not a perfect person. That much, I will admit. I will admit to my mistakes when I recognize I make them and try to improve myself. Just like the rest of you, I’m just a normal human on the internet talking about stuff I find interest in. But I will also admit I need to get better at defending myself when I recognize something is just plain bullshit.

So… yeah. I did a poll on the possibility of me doing commentary posts to expand my blog. I already decided I’m starting that experiment with The Amazing Digital Circus’s one episode right now. But I do have a set poll for shows people want me to do commentary on. And RWBY is one of the options. If that wins, then I’d have no choice but to explain all my opinions of the show in as much detail as I could.

No one deserves to feel this unwelcomed and unsupported. Maybe I would talk about the show more if I wasn’t this scared of harassment. But nothing is worth it if it’s accompanied by that amount of bashing. It has nothing to do with the show. It has to do with the treatment of said show. That’s the worst part.

And I personally don’t want to be a part of such an unsupportive and unfulfilling environment. Especially when I can do other stuff with my life.

Maybe I will try to talk about RWBY again one day. Explain my opinions fully. As honestly as possible.

But I KNOW no matter what I’m gonna say, I will NOT be welcomed with warmth, instead with guns pointed at my head.

And to that, I’ll just say, ‘Hit me with your best shot’

*sigh* Welp, if you excuse me, I’m barricading my windows for the mob that I know is gonna come at me for the sins I have committed here.

[linettefox]

Otona finale spoilers! Image to hide them better.

So like Otona has ended. What are my thoughts? Messy. Lemme share my thoughts on the episode itself.

I loved the fight scene, I am a sucker for fights involving a lot of cures and having all of the OGs there was great super exciting. It also made All Stars canon which is great but a bit confusing. Anyways, fight was the best part.

Why weren't the sinister flowers affecting the other cures? If they were counting down so people could stop a disaster like Nuts suggested at the end then what was their purpose in making Nozomi faint for a whole week leaving her friends to worry. It doesn't feel that well thought out to me, kind of just there to cause drama.

I liked hearing about Cure Black and Cure White's future although I would have liked it to be shown to us. Apparently they both travel the world doing activism stuff now which is incredible. It kind of messes with a fanfiction I was writing on their future but I guess it's not important....

Nozomi married Coco... 😥 Girl that's your middle school teacher, it's weird. But I guess I can't do anything about that it's apparently a popular ship in Japan. For my own sanity I'm just going to pretend he is the same age as her somehow.

I thought Saki and Mai were going to kiss in that goodbye scene. Crying and hugging and saying they'll think about each other every day and send stuff. I forgot Saki was even in a relationship with a man. Also the montage of the cures helping to save the environment around the world, very sweet.

Those were my thoughts on the episode, what do I feel about the series as a whole?

I love Precure, it is my main fandom and has been for almost 5 years now. I enjoy every second I am watching it. However after the fact when a show or movie has ended is when my inner critique comes out. Otona Precure as an entity is a rollercoaster. The animation was fine for the most part, there were some great fight scenes but then they had poor CGI monsters and that low budget crowd shot in the final episode where everyone was shitty CGI, that was not great. The story was fine, it was great seeing the characters as adults and how their lives are going, their emotions and struggles were very well portrayed and relatable but other things seemed a bit crowded like the subplot with the time flowers, Coco x Nozomi, the amount of characters made it not the greatest. Don't get me wrong I love big casts but it felt like they were substituting plot in exchange for more iconic characters and nostalgia bait. Worked on me, it got me hyped seeing everyone but even I must admit could have been handled better.

Could it be fixed? Give it more episodes so it is less rushed, give the time flowers/sinister flowers more time in the oven, if you're going to give Saki a boyfriend let us see more of him instead of ignoring him, foreshadowing Nagisa and Honoka's appearances more would help a little I understand they wanted a dramatic entrance but they felt so forced to be there.

Remember these are my opinions, that is all bye!

[plenary-indulgence]

Okay so I know it was just a lil meme/joke, but out of curiosity if he WERE to get sent to silent hill what sort of emotional baggage wouldve sent em there and how well would he handle it?

first of all i HATE that u asked me this on anon b/cuz the fact that you a) looked at my post at all and b) took the time to ask me about it is making me insane and i want to send you a handwritten thank you note all tied up with like a ribbon and stickers and shit

anyway i definitely haven't thought about this at all clearly

ehehe had to get that out of the way it makes me laugh every time i look at it even though it's my own joke (i am one of like 7 people in the world who actually liked sh4)

i love the idea of silent hill aus and using them as a creative tool to really explore what makes your wol/oc tick in all the ugly ways but i personally feel like im not really clever or creative enough to do it well myself (kind of like konami after they fucked over kojima and made homecoming/downpour AM I RIGHT FELLAS!!) i can say with some certainty he wouldn't handle it WELL, there would be a lot of running away and panic and hiding and praying and swinging a lead pipe EXTREMELY INEFFECTUALLY because that's just how he handles things outside of silent hill too, by running away and hiding and praying. not so much the lead pipe maybe, that's a contrivance. :)

but i think primarily coconeja's biggest problem is his insecurity and his inability to really self-actualize and believe in himself as someone who matters in the world and how he just wants so badly to be what he thinks everyone else wants him to be, instead of just accepting himself for who he actually is. i think then some of the manifestations would be twisted versions of himself, or rather all the coconeja's he wishes he were but fails to be. and since it's a flawed premise to begin with, there is no "ideal" coconeja, they would all sort of be half-formed, misshapen things. pathetic grotesqueries. but with flavors!! the coconeja he thinks yshtola wants, who is clever and worldly - but physically weak and has to drag itself along the ground and oozes ink and has all the answers - but can only speaks backwards in riddles the coconeja he thinks thancred wants, who is quick on his feet and graceful and confident - but has no substance, and barely exists, and can only sort of shift ineffectually in and out of existence miserably the coconeja he thinks his parents wanted, which is just a sad little shadow who sits in a dark room full of dead fish all alone and counts, endlessly

you know!! stuff like that!! so on and so forth. a whole bunch of fucked up little coconeja ghoulies, so messy, so miserable, so gross.

oh and yea i guess there's the wedge thing; but joke photoshops aside he really deep down truly does not see wedge as anything other than good or as something that could ever hurt him. he loves wedge, and all the pain and the longing and the loneliness - all that baggage comes from inside, from him. he doesn't blame or resent wedge at all!! so if wedge did show up i don't think it would be as a monster i think it would be more conceptual. like something coconeja's searching for, or trying to reach, but can't. haunting this particular narrative in a way even though he's not dead.

although the more i think on it - while wedge himself is not at fault coconeja is REALLY AFRAID AND AWARE of how his status as the wol affects others, especially people he cares about, and how it can get them hurt or put them in danger. and i mean thats literally what happened with omega. compounding factor here that he thinks confessing or pursuing wedge in the way he wants WOULD hurt him and is wrong and like, not even doing anything but knowing he WANTS to - the shame and the guilt really do be eating him up.

mm like he really internalizes the fact that it's him, wanting wedge as something inherently wrong and hurtful and something to keep secret and locked away. in reality its BECAUSE he cares so much and would never do anything to hurt wedge, but has such a low opinion of himself and is terrified of the idea that just by having these feelings at all he's already ruined everything. idk im going in circles here. this particular aspect of coconeja is very stupid and hard for me to articulate lmao

i also think it would be dope as hell if there were just like, a giant godzilla sized flag. i mean you could make it relevant and say like "ohh well the giant godzilla sized flag is a representation of coconeja's inability to connect with people, his best friend is an animal because he's afraid of how he thinks real people won't accept his perceived inadequecies or whatever" and i guess like give him 3 heads and rusty muzzles and fucked up antlers that are just like a constantly twisting mess of human hands grasping at nothing hell throw in a bunch of rotting lunar tears all over him so i can even shoehorn the nier raid stuff in there and that's sort of coconeja's pyramid head figure, always just sort of looming off in the distance, watching, being a physical reminder of his fear and self-loathing and doubt

and of course as far as the actual silent hill itself, gotta go with the CLASSIC foggy town. or not so much a town, but the streets of uldah completely devoid of the hustle and bustle that defines it. it's cold and it's empty and it's rotting and it's quiet (aside from coconeja wailing his fool head off as he's running away from himself and swinging a rusty lead pipe at nothing)

anywho, thanks again for the ask!! thank you!! thanks!!