#(and don't even get me started on how badly you all misinterpret the shit that happened with him and the founder)

[hooved]

nothing makes me block someone faster than them writing paragraphs about how much they hate odo in the tags on my posts about him

[bougiebutchbinch]

It baffles me that some people think the only reason people talk about the awful things Ed did in canon is because they hate him

not because he's... y'know..... a SUPER INTERESTING CHARACTER

Redemption arcs are freaking delicious, man. But in order to have one, you need to actually have done... bad shit.... to begin with??

Like how Izzy was a bossy bastard to Stede's crew in S1? Then stepped up to protect that crew from Ed, when Ed turned on them all and Izzy started to see 'the kids' as his crew?

The redemption arc of Ed - a man who's done genuinely bad abusive shit that was certainly influenced by his atrocious mental health - would have been even more fascinating. If it had been handled well.

As anyone who suffers with severe mental health issues knows: this shit is fucking ugly. It's not about pretty sadboy aesthetics or quirky 'teehee so chaotic' bouts of hyperactivity. Sometimes you fuck up. Sometimes you fuck up, badly. Sometimes you hurt people. You lose friends and push away family and may even end up isolating yourself through cruelty to others as a form of self-harm.

Before the inevitable bad faith actors wilfully misinterpret what I'm saying: Mental health problems don't cause abuse.

But they can be one of many contributing factors. If you have a disorder like my own (which I certainly headcanon Ed as sharing!) where you are incredibly sensitive and reactive to any hint of negativty or rejection, you have to expend genuine time and energy on learning techniques to control yourself, for the sake of others. When that doesn't happen... well, I was excited to see the consequences depicted graphically on screen.

But no matter the cause, you still have to take responsibility for the harm you perpetuate?? And I want to see that on screen, too!

If you were physically mutilating a guy repeatedly over whom you held power as his captain (and no, Izzy did not 'deserve it'; get your victim-blaming bullshit out of here), and you kept everyone else in a perpetual state of fear in the hopes that one of them would snap and kill you..... you still did that? Even if you were motivated by suicidality?

If you forced two people who deeply cared for each other to fight to the death, because your mental health was so awful that you couldn't believe that love was real......... you still chose to hurt them in such a deeply personal way?

If you chased a guy around with a knife For Funsies and made him constantly break down in tears because you were so engrossed in your own issues that you genuinely didn't realise you were traumatising him... You still traumatised him!

Exploring what comes next is incredibly interesting. It could have made a great plot about accepting accountability for one's actions - but also understanding that even people who've done terrible things can change and heal (although obviously, their victims owe them nothing).

Like. Excuse me for wanting to explore such a complex, fascinating, multi-faceted storyline centred on mental health issues near and dear to my heart for one of my favourite characters? And for being disappointed that the show and half the fandom took the simple & boring way out by pushing all of The Atrocities under a rug, because they struggle to love a character who has done abhorrent things?

[paradoxcase]

John 5:4

THE TOWER HAS BEEN REACTIVATED

So I guess that is for "Earth" and then "Alecto" and then "Harrow". It's interesting that this little secondary story does not actually tell us anything about where the name "Alecto" came from. Was it a name that John gave to her? Or one that she gave herself? Given John's obsession with the name Gaia, I would have thought he'd pick that

You've proven over and over again that no one should trust you with anything, dude

Harrow mentions "waking up" as being a separate thing from resurrection again later, but it's not clear what this means at either point

Are you telling me that John made them forget everything just by doing something physical to their brains and Mercy the anatomy expert who definitely figured out what Harrow did to her brain after only a few months never figured this out in 10,000 years? I cannot believe that

This makes it sound like the other planets were already populated before John destroyed everything. So how did those people die? Did just killing the planets cause that to happen? Did John kill all the people on the planets in addition to the planets? I figured that at least the technology to make the other planets habitable had come from after the start of the 10,000 years, but apparently not even that was invented during John's regime, the whole society has just been completely static the whole time. This is straining suspension of disbelief here

There's no way they decided they wanted to do whatever John did with Alecto, because until the end of Harrow the Ninth, all of the Lyctors thought Alecto was just someone that John resurrected who came back wrong, they didn't realize she was Earth, and they definitely didn't realize she was John's cavalier, that was the whole point of the reveal at the end of the last book

So confirmed that John only created the Lyctors so that they would be roped into fighting the resurrection beasts for him. And then he talks about ripping his fingers from his hands and throwing them to the resurrection beasts, but what he really means is sacrificing his friends so that he can continue on

Oh my god, I don't think I've ever been this mad about someone misinterpreting a bible story before. The whole point of the flood story was that God said, oh, no, this was a terrible mistake, I'm so sorry, I promise I will never destroy the world again no matter how bad it gets. The point was not that the world was evil and needed a "fresh start", the point of the story was that destroying the world just because there are some evil people there is wrong. And like, this isn't a one-time lesson in the OT, either, it comes back again in the Sodom and Gomorrah story when God wants to destroy the cities because there are some bad people there and Abraham has a big argument with him and argues him down to agreeing to spare the cities if there is even one good person there other than Lot and his family. This was like, character development for God, he went from someone who destroyed the whole world because of some bad people and he is learning and relenting and getting some perspective from Abraham. And then later you have the story of Jonah, where now it's Jonah who wants the city destroyed, and God is lecturing him about why that's not right. Like, to the extent that the OT, which was written by like four or five different people with very different ideas of who God was and then frankensteined together by an editor hundreds of years later actually has a coherent narrative and consistent themes, this is pretty consistent. How does someone who grows up with these stories fail at understanding them so badly? How is it possible for someone who probably has advanced degrees to have such shit reading comprehension? This is the most infuriating thing John has ever said in these entire last two books

So this is what she meant by "where did you put the people" at the end of the last John chapter. I would guess the answer is either that he actually consumed all of their souls for power somehow, or that their souls are somewhere generating power in some way. I guess this probably won't be answered until the fourth book

The "tower" that's been menitoned... but it doesn't seem like this is meant to be Canaan House, as people have indicated on previous posts, and at least in this case it seems to be something that's in the River, or maybe she is just travelling through the River to get there?

Also, since this is the last John chapter, I have to ask, for poll-making purposes: Is it ever clarified in this book or elsewhere which country was the one that hired John to puppet around their dead head of state?

[kogetaikid]

TW! UTY pacifist Spoilers!!!

Before people think I’m turning into a reblog account, here’s some of my misinterpretations of UTY pacifist before completing the game (there’s only two but Vera with me

1. Ceroba wanted to inject Kanako with INTEGRITY.

(Drawing unrelated, but you’ll know why I put it later)

When playing the pacifist, I thought the Ceroba misunderstood Chujin’s final message before he died, and convinced Kanako to get injected. However, during the Ceroba fight, in one of her memories, we see this:

(Cutting through some emotional dialogue)

Through some of the dialogue I skipped (wasn't originally planning on making a post about this), Kanako offers herself as a subject for her father's (Chujin's) work. Ceroba shows hesitation as it goes against her husband's wish but goes with it so she doesn't ruin his legacy. It made me feel bad for both characters. Kanako was just some dumb kid who didn't know what the hell she was asking for/expecting. She was just grieving her dying father and felt it was her fault for his demise. Ceroba was grieving too, and therefore couldn't think straight, but made the awful decision of giving into her daughter's demand of being injected with INTEGRITY.

2. Clovercide (TW!!!)

(Image also unrelated)

(TL;DR: Due to traumatic reasons, what was just a just sacrifice from Clover seemed like suicide to me.)

Just a heads up! I'll put a "keep reading" (if you wanna well, keep reading) under this because this may get a little personal...

This is still okay to reblog as long as you put the right warnings!

When I first saw the game in general, I though the screenshots I saw of the pacifist ending were the neutral ending. I though Clover got badly injured, or fell ill causing their end.

When I found out the wasn't the case, and watched a short clip (with no other context) of Clover giving up their life in the pacifist, I thought nothing of it. It was when I was listening to the soundtracks and saw how badly everyone was grieving Clover, then going back to places like tumblr talking about how they were just a kid that I started to get the wrong message.

I started to think Clover was probably miserable and indirectly asked for an assisted suicide by Ceroba and it broke me. Especially as someone who was suicidal/had dark thoughts as a kid. (I haven't felt like ending my own life for four years and have been clean for over one year) I've also had to endure the sob stories of mentally unstable people. This all tying back to the very few things I new about the pacifist ending, I felt kinda bad, sad and a little angry at Clover. This is what I would think:

WHY DID THEY DO THIS!!!???

SOME OTHER FUCKING DUMBASS KID COULD'VE TAKEN THEIR PLACE BUT NO!!! IT JUST HAD TO BE YOU, DIDN'T IT CLOVER!!!???

How miserable are you...?

Waiting for that fateful day where I could finally complete the game felt like preparing for a flu shot. I almost didn't want the game to end. I was so mad at the people saying "It was just a sacrifice", and shit.

...and as it turned out, they were kinda right. (still not giving them full credit) I didn't get the best screen shots cuz my computer crashed, but it was Clover going through all their memories in the underground, and realizing that they can't just hide away in the underground forever as a human. Monsters have been trapped for centuries and no matter how many of the monsters cared for them, they needed to do what was would've possibly happened from the start: give up their soul.

What I then got from the ending was that Clover felt to guilty to stay alive, and in the end, the wanted to do what's right. It's kinda getting sad again now that i think about it. Any who, this concludes my post. Enjoy the random screenshots at the bottom that I could fit into the post without it proving my point /hj. I'm currently debating whether or not I wanna go back and do the genocide route. Even though it's a fangame, I don't wanna fuck up the timeline.

[just-a-shark333]

Time frame: Post Golden Wind

Pairing: Giomis (Giorno/Mista)

words: 715

Notes: idkkkkk I did basically this last night (except I panicked and so we haven't talked about it yetttt) and I'm trying to get my mind off of it, so I wrote this!

also, kinda ooc btw

Summary:

While Giorno and Mista talk about dating Giorno accidentally reveals something about himself that he didn't mean to. Fluff and feelings ensue.

It was fuck knows hours of the night- or morning, probably morning at this point - and Giorno and Mista had been sitting in Giorno's room talking for hours.

Neither of them had been able to sleep. Mista had planned to go downstairs to the kitchen and get some water and melatonin gummies, but on his way, he saw Giorno's bedroom light on and decided that he had to make sure Gio wasn't overworking himself again.

That led them to where they were now, Mista draped across the end of the bed, rambling about some girl he had tried dating a few years ago while Giorno sat towards the head of the bed, hugging a pillow in his lap as he listened.

"-Yeah, but I don't know. I just don't think dating girls is right for me right now." He turns to look at Giorno "Like, wait a year or two and then we can talk."

"Wait, really?"

"What?"

"What?" Fuck. Fuck he had just messed this up so bad. How do you even misinterpret something that badly!? Shit. He felt his body start to shake and he grips the pillow he's been holding harder. His face feels warm, and his eyes feel heavy, but no tears fall, he just sits there shaking and hyperventilating.

"Giorno? You ok, man?"

No. No he wasn't at all, he had just fucking ruined his relationship with his best friend. There's no way he can come back from this. Even if Mista somehow doesn't care or is able to look past it, they'll always have the knowledge that this happened. Both of them will have to live forever with the knowledge that on this night Giorno had practically confessed his love for Mista. How the fuck was he supposed to come back after that?

"Hey, Giorno?"

"Sorry." It was all he could think to say- the only thing that could have any chance of making this situation better. "Sorry, I- I'm sorry let's just...Let's just pretend this never happened, ok?"

"Giorno..."

"Mista"

"Giorno, what's wrong?"

"What?''

"I don't understand. What happened? Why are you so upset all of a sudden?"

oh

oh

He had made things worse, hadn't he?

"Nothing happened. Don't worry about it."

"Giorno. Tell me what happened. Please."

"Mista...I just told you that I have a crush on you.'' His voice was barely audible against the room, silent aside from his own heavy breaths and the other's calm ones.

Mista didn't respond immediately, making a thick tension in between them.

"Look, Mista I'm sorry I- I'll just-"

"Giorno." And his mouth snapped shut, staring at the other boy, who looked like he had been thinking the hardest he had in a while. "I think," he started, pausing for a moment before continuing, "I think I feel the same way."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I knew you wouldn't-" wait. What did he just say? "What?"

"I said that I think that I like you too." Mista's face was bright red, but Giorno was sure that his was redder.

"Wait, really?"

"Yep."

"But I though you said..."

"Well, maybe I was wrong," He dramatically turned his head away before immediately turning it to look at Giorno again, "Also.. I did say that I don't think I should date girls right now, technically I never said anything about boys..."

"Oh yeah...I guess that's true."

"So..."

"So..."

"Are we...Y'know...boyfriends now?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Giorno said, less hesitantly than most of the other things he'd said that night as he laid his pillow back in its original spot and patted the spot on the bed next to his, signaling for Mista to crawl up next to him.

And the other did just that. Tucking himself into bed next to his best friend boyfriend, said boyfriend doing the same next to him.

So, the two lay next to each other, staring into each other's eyes somewhat continuing their dumb ramblings from earlier, but most conversation died off as sleep took over the two. They'd work out exactly what happened tonight when they woke up, but for now, they were content with putting that off for later. And if Mista heard Giorno mumble a soft 'I love you' before he fell asleep, he didn't say anything.

-end-

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

this took way longer than expectedddddd

So, uh, this is my little fantasized version of what happened with me and the girl I like last night. I don't know if she understood what I meant with my response, but I'm certain that she doesn't like me soooooooooo idkkkk now we just hope for the best, I guess?

anyway

Have a good day/night/whenever you're reading this! Eat something, drink some water, get some sleep, take care of yourself! Love youuu <3

[onstoryladders]

oh god yeah don't get me started on how badly some people in the fandom (and most youtube reactors too tbh) misinterpret kawi's character or simply refuse to look past the surface.

"him being lonely and a 'loser' is all his fault so he should stop feeling sorry for himself and just DO things. socioeconomic issues? I don’t know her. also, getting out of a negative mindset and becoming more confident and outgoing after years of NOT being that is so easy, u guys. just DO IT. why is kawi not just DOING IT?? like I said, completely his fault his life sucks"

"oh, he's being mean to his eventual love interest? what a dick, he's so annoying. huh? you're saying the guy he only just started interacting with like 2 days ago (bc he has no clue what happened during the 10 years he's missing from one time jump to another) suddenly kissed him and then proceeded to aggressively shake him and yell at him so it's understandable he felt negatively about it and therefore acted accordingly? sorry, nope, he should be nicer, and it shouldn't take him any time to get there. that's what KIND people do."

🙄🙄🙄

Sometimes it feels like certain people are just looking for a reason to hate this show when it's actually good so far.

Yep, exactly! It's such an unkind way to look at his character. Like they're allowed to dislike him, we're not the fandom police, but at least they could try not to misunderstand him?

Kawi is not perfect by any means, and I get if someone finds him annoying. He is. But saying that it's all his fault that he's lonely in the future is such a superficial way to look at his situation. His choices brought him there, but not because he wanted to. He's just wired in a way that makes it very hard for him to get close to other people. If others can't relate, well, GOOD FOR THEM, but I can, and it sucks. It's not as easy for everyone.

And sometimes life is just a bitch, you make one (1) bad choice and everything goes to shit and you don't know how to get back on your feet and then even more shit gets down and you feel even worse and it goes on and on until you give up.

Kawi spent twelve years blaming himself for everything. He suffered the loss of his only parent who left him ALONE. He had to carry on ALONE without being able to rely on anyone else. Years and years trapped in a life that was just work work work and regrets. He basically lived through his memories of university, in an alternative universe when he did the right thing and didn't chicken out at the last minute. He was so wrapped up in this absurd fantasy that he honestly believed he could've fixed everything by giving Pear the lamp as a wedding gift TWELVE YEARS LATER 😭

Also YES ABOUT THE KISS! Like yeah, Pisaeng did nothing to make Kawi feel unsafe in the uni timeline, but that kiss was-- intense, and Kawi couldn't process it with the base of a friendship of over ten years because he didn't live those years!

I do think some people are prejudiced about Kawi only because they dislike Krist and so they find excuses to shit on his character... but honestly no one needs to do that, just say Kawi's face makes you wanna punch him, no one will mind 😂

Also guys I can feel it in my bones that Kawi will give us some other reasons to shit on him, just wait for those so we can all agree 😂

[raazberry]

people on twitter have been pissing me off so bad lately like holy shit how are these people so. i don't even have the words for it like why is everyone arguing all the time about Nothing!!!! i know that that's like 90% of the internet and is also Very present on tumblr but genshintwt specifically is so ANNOYING

like other than the obvious trolling it's so. frustrating watching people wholly misinterpret the things that hyv DID get right about sumeru, whether it's culturally or just generally.

for example, nilou. there are a lot of things wrong with her design, but there's also things that are good, things that honour persian tradition & culture. here's a nice thread about the same.

anyway - i keep seeing nilou as a character being trashed on for 'fanservice' which is just straight up untrue because she... never fucking does anything of the sort? if your definition of fanservice is having romantically suggestive dialogue with the traveler, she literally doesn't have that. she's also often reduced to a 'belly dancer' which... yes, that interpretation has a lot to do with the orientalist parts of her outfit - but she's canonically not a fucking belly dancer she's just a girl who loves theatre and art!!!

her character is so important, especially considering the circumstances and way of living in sumeru. in a country where logic and research are given superior value and prioritised above all else & the arts are straight up neglected/banned, she showcases a different form of wisdom - her character is LITERALLY the embodiment of cultural/artistic expression. how do you play the archon quest, watch nilou & zubayr theatre struggle to put together the sabzeruz festival over and over again, and say mindless shit like that!!!!! like seriously are you playing the game with your ears and eyes and brain closed?

even in her story quest - i played it quite late (like, two patches after its release) because i was kinda burnt out from the game, but i kept seeing people on twitter call it fanservice. and then i played it for myself and ?????? like what the fuck are these people calling fanservice im starting to think that you guys don't know what that word means. like it's just a lovely story about a girl's love for her theatre and misinterpret it so BADLY

in the archon quest, she literally joins the plan to overthrow the akademiya officials without a second thought, despite the fact that she might get jailed for it -- because she wants to fight for her god and for her theatre to be respected for once!!!! i keep fucking repeating myself but how are you getting "this is a fanservice character" from ALL of this. i would even go as far as to say that after nahida, she is one of the most well-written characters in the sumeru cast.

this pisses me off especially because it's always the people who claim to "call out hyv on their racism" saying shit like this. it's like... if you're gonna be (rightfully) angry about the orientalism in the game while still playing it, at least don't put down the bits that hoyoverse DID get right?

[transpanda-1]

💗💞 and uhh ⭐️

🌗Same rules as before, rolling a D7 between the fictives!

"💗 What helps you feel closer to your source (in a positive way)?" with 🌋Helen and 🎹Kadie

Helen is interesting as she's a fictive of our own OC, so there's no fan content to help boost her self esteem :(. We try to give her plenty of attention and care from her role in her story, Thank You For Existing. People love her when we talk about her! Especially babysitting Owen eventually in 4/1/3/2 💔

Kadie will tend to need to go to big brain smart people to talk to about in relation to DR (Oh my god, like the person who messaged us! 😱) cause we don't trust everyone there LOL. We're considering getting a pin for her maybe some day.

"💞 What's the biggest similarity between you and your canon self?" with 🎩Jekyll and 🌗Pandora (Me bitch!)

Jekyll is refined, refined, refined. They're a great organizer and enthusiastic about their sense of detail. We know they just radiate a strong sense of charm to others (multiple people have said they find them hot?? lol) And we know people love canon Jekyll like that lol

Me again, Pandora! I like to make my clothes pop and my stride confident. I'm like a Junko that isn't a horrible despair pit. Good for me bitch!!! I also have a shit ton of alters, just like Junko!! Plural bitch!

"⭐ Is your fiction-based identity spiritual, psychological, or something else?" with 🧵 Smoothie and 🦋Patches!

How do we even describe our weird, fucked up relation between us and Tsumugi? How could Smoothie alone?? The character that made us realize we're plural? And partially because we misinterpreted our own OSDD so badly we assumed we were a bad person lying to others? The plain girl with so many more sides to her bubbling under the surface? She's a mirror propped up to us but the opposite side of the coin in so many ways. She's plural she's trans she's obsessed with fiction she has a Junko fictive she's a liar she's boring she creates she destroys she's obsessed she's immortal and she's dead all at once. She's me. We made this image because this might be, on some level, our only way to describe our full body experience: (irl name spoilered cause DUH)

And we'd like to say Patches is more normal, but maybe not! Patches is a fictive of a fictive! Patches from the Uendo Toneido system is a fictive of the rakugo character Ippachi! They're a fictive! And ours is a fictive of a fictive! A copy of a copy! They feel like an extension that isn't supposed to end, the middle point of a line farther than they can understand yet. Where does the line end, because it doesn't even start at Patches Toneido!

[ryouverua]

Saimota is a fantastic ship that only improves with age and their respective maturity. Right from the get-go we see this in canon, too! They have a tumultuous first clash at the end of chapter 1 which is immediately turned on its head, and the subsequent growth and development of their in-game relationship really stands out that much more because of it.

This is a long one, so strap in!

Kaito realizes his mistake in his approach after punching him the night before and rectifies it immediately the next morning when he notices Shuichi hasn’t come to breakfast, rightly guessing that he’s stewing in his own grief and misery. And then, being the emotionally intelligent guy he is, he follows up that night and drags him out to exercise (which, y’know, releases endorphins and is scientifically proven to help with mood boosts and even depression) - a move which Shuichi says in chapter 5 saved his life.

A couple days pass and a body drops. Kaito supports him through the investigation knowing that Kaede had been with him last time and that there’s a danger of him relapsing. In the trial, too, Kaito makes every effort to let Shuichi know that he isn’t alone and someone does have his back if he fumbles. This is the real moment that Shuichi chooses to depend on Kaito and is rewarded for it, and while Kaito does get plenty of ego-feed out of it, he believes in Shuichi and his talent wholeheartedly (enough so that it’ll come back to bite him later). But despite it being framed as a ‘hero and sidekick’ relationship, it’s not just for Kaito’s self-worth - it’s to take some of the mental load off of Shuichi, who really, really doesn’t want the pressure of everyone’s lives solely on his shoulders, and is now dealing with the guilt of two cases where uncovering the guilty party hurt him.

(quick chapter 2 interlude! while this is where a lot of the big hero-worship begins for Shuichi and happens to be where I also did his first FTE and got to witness this:

this is also the chapter when these moments happen, post-breakfast and post-casino scene respectively:

and this happens in the very next FTE:

mmm yes, the duality of man. Suffice it to say, while Shuichi has definite rose-coloured glasses on for a lot of the game, Kaito is definitely not an invincible, untouchable hero in his eyes)

Interestingly enough, despite Shuichi still very much leaning into their friendship (and vice versa), they don’t spend a lot of time together in Chapter 3 after he brings Maki out to training that first night! While Chapter 4 is their real ‘break’, Kaito spends a lot of time in his room in the second half while Shuichi gets to know Maki better. And while Maki is a much, uh, meaner investigation partner (love you girl, but that tongue is sharp), they make a great team. Shuichi also starts poking at Kaito’s reason for holing up in his room, incorrectly guess that it’s just related to the occult being brought up. Most importantly, Shuichi is able to do an investigation on his own independent of Kaito just a week after the end of Chapter 1.

Chapter 4 and its immediate aftermath in 5 is great because it showcases Kaito’s flaws and insecurity, and what conflict between the two of them look like. It’s because Kaito respects Shuichi so much that cracks in his own confidence start appearing - and while Shuichi can be obtuse and awkward at times, he shows signs of wanting to broach some more sensitive topics with Kaito; if you do FTEs with Kaito in Ch 4, he even has an inner narrative in which he notes that Kaito had said his stomach hurt before.

He’s not so self-absorbed as to not worry about his friend (but narratively we gotta save that juicy plot point and subsequent reveal for the end of the trial) but hey, Kaito wants to chill and just shoot the shit - so why not have some downtime with his friend in the murder school. Btw, their FTE availability ends here - so if Shuichi has completed them with Kaito, he’s already had his canon-saimota thoughts at this point. While I have given Shuichi the side-eye for his ‘I can rely on Kaito for anything’ spiel, he is fully able and willing to stand up to Kaito in the Chapter 4 trial despite his canon feelings for him at that point. By the way, it’s been a week and a half since the end of Chapter 1 at this point. Shuichi and Kaito have had an arc together where they become fast friends in a pressure-cooker situation and bonding over shared grief for Kaede (even if Kaito’s is less obvious), Shuichi starts as dependent on Kaito’s emotional support but learns to stand on his own two feet, and Kaito is forced to confront his own weakness and hero persona, all while classmates are dropping (including Kaito’s own ex-hero figure, a stark reminder that ‘heroes’ do have flaws).

So the beginning of Chapter 5 is wild to me because of how it’s so often misinterpreted as Kaito immaturely giving Shuichi the silent treatment despite the entirety of the game preceding it explicitly showing that Kaito will tell you, loudly, when he’s angry at you, and that’s purely because we’re in Shuichi’s perspective and he thinks that’s what’s going on - but that’s a bit of a tangent. What I like about it is how we get to see what happens when Kaito (as sick as he is at that point) feels badly and embarrassed with someone he is close to; he withdraws as opposed to lashing out. And while Shuichi is really, really bad at reaching out too without an inciting incident (tunnel escape), he does try and broach the topic when push comes to shove. He’s not lost in hero worship, not even close - he is rightfully upset that the person he’s closest to at the school is upset while still maintaining to himself and the others that his actions were correct. He doesn’t waver on this, despite his attempt to offer an olive branch at the window of the hangar’s bathroom. He truly stands by his own choices in the last class trial and know he won't back down on that if push comes to shove, and that's important - he won't yield the point just to appease Kaito. Shuichi then manages the investigation on his own, leads the trial on his own, faces off with Maki (and who he thinks is Kokichi) on his own, because he has *reached* a point where he can be independent. And to bring it back to how we get a look at ‘saimota in conflict’, Shuichi and Kaito both make amends with each other by the end of the chapter. Even if it’s spurred by it being their final goodbye, Shuichi gets to say his piece, Kaito lays out one of his own vulnerabilities so he can make peace with Shuichi - and even if I’d love to have had them delve into all of Kaito's various issues, there is a very murderous robobear overseeing this which makes time a factor - and I firmly believe that if they had more time, they could’ve resolved even more of the issues that would come up for Saimota. The groundwork wasn’t just there; there was already half the structure in place. And that’s what makes saimota even more appealing to me, tbh. We get to see them build a relationship, run into a big issue, struggle through it and resolve it by the end of the game - and it means that there’s precedent for them to do it again as more interpersonal challenges come up! It’s a goldmine of ship exploration, and they care about each other enough to work through it.

… By the way, at this point they are 2 weeks past the end of Chapter 1.

Imagine if they had more time. Imagine if Shuichi, who is absolutely dogged in pursuing an issue once he catches wind of it (despite how he can get wrapped up in his own head), who cares a lot for other people, who doesn’t just find runaways as part of his detective talent, but follows up with them after because he cares about more than just finishing the job, had the chance to spend years with Kaito and realize he uses his hero persona to protect a much more fragile sense of self. Imagine Shuichi forming that initial friendship with Kaito without the albatross of Kaede’s death hanging around his neck; about how he’ll still look up to Kaito and his fantastic positivity, passion and excellence in his chosen field, and that would only be matched by Kaito’s own admiration of Shuichi’s skills as a detective. Imagine if Kaito, who repeatedly shows the ability to reflect and change his mind when presented with evidence against his viewpoint and was able to express his own insecurity and jealousy to Shuichi in the end, was given the breathing room and space to get more comfortable with doing so. Imagine how difficult and emotionally mature they were to navigate as well as they did in a life-or-death situation that took place over a couple of weeks tops, and how much more they could grow if given the time and space for it.

... And this was nearly going to be where I ended the post, until Ira reminded me of TDP and sent me this wonderful Saimota event (which takes place before the final graduation/training trio event):

Oh hey, Shuichi picked up his catchphrase! It's quite cute how he's finishing Kaito's sentence here - he's spent a couple of years being friends with Kaito at this point, and has even taken up exercising on his own for stress relief. I wonder whose influence that was?

Anyway -

Shuichi has figured out at this point that he does need to firmly extend that helping hand to Kaito rather than worry and keep it to himself. On the other side, Kaito has learned that it is okay to accept that outstretched hand, even if he doesn't need it right now - that he can admit that some day, he might. He's being blase, sure, but it is a far cry from his in-game 'I don't/won't need help'. Good for you, Kaito - you've grown a lot! And that's the most important thing their TDPs show - their capacity for growth not just as individuals, but in a relationship. Of course there will be bumps along the way - it’s very rare that any relationship won’t have them! - but they've proven that they can work these problems in the worst of circumstances. This is by far one of the strongest ships with canon foundation in the entire series, and my goodness do I still love it years later.

[bluewinnerangel]

I just want your opinion on this one: you know THAT lyric from habit.. “come so far from.. heeeeeeell” lyric.. I still don’t understand why Louis put this into the song, he knew larries were gonna scream to death while singing this lyric. I watch Louis’ shows, and every time this lyric comes up, there’s a very loud crowd singing PRINCESS PARK, and unfortunately, it makes me a bit uncomfortable, because I feel like Louis might not like that we are singing Princess park so loud, i have insecurities about louis’ behaviours to larries, I know it’s so dumb, because I know he never treated badly NEVER, but I still feel that way, and I get shy singing princess park on top of our lungs. But at the same time, im like, HE KNEW this line will get larries crazy, and he put it still, just like “Larry, call a load of smoke in” lyric. Because of my insecurit, I feel cringy when I see people screaming princess park, I HOPE this feeling will go away, when I see Louis’ face lighting up while we sing those lyrics Xxx

Halfway through reading this I was about to write out well he did choose to cover a song starting with "Larry" LITERALLY but you already went there lol. Yeah I think it's his choice when to aggressively larry and I get a bit uncomfortable too when anyone who isn't them go larrying in front of them. But with singing things at a concert I don't think that's part of that, there's a lot of instances when they have reacted positively to signs and flags and all that. And sure some might make him a little insecure possibly but I also think he's been exposed to shit that could have made him insecure during 1D loads so like... he's seen some shit. Whatever gets thrown at him is mild in comparison. And singing some lyrics louder that you can totally brush off as "it's a 1D easter egg they just like the easter egg" - I know NOBODY THINKS THAT and I don't either, but still, you can, and he did, and he'll probably continue to do so, so even though we're all like WERE SINGING THIS BECAUSE WERE SUPPORTING YOU AND HARRY BITCH he can still play dumb as always and go OMG I LOVE THAT BECAUSE ITS A 1D EASTER EGG LOL like plausible deniability is his friend and here he can totally just hug him tight and it won't change anything yk.

The only thing with larries (and people in general) I think bothers him is when someone tries to bait a reaction out of him. When he's in a position where he has no choice but to respond like in a one on one conversation. There's this one clip where a dude's like I GOT THE ANCHOR TATTOO WHAT TATTOO OF YOU SHOULD I GET and he goes for the arm with the rope first right? And then the entirety of larryvile went HAAAAA HE WENT FOR THE ROPE AUTOMATICALLY. And then the next day at another signing a girl comes up to him with a camera in his face and is like WHATS YOUR FAVORITE TATTOO IS IT THE ROPE and I take his reaction as being annoyed and going for Bus 1 deliberately giving her the opposite of what he thinks she's trying to get out of him and then says "I felt like you were digging", and I might be misinterpreting that, he might say "I felt like you would dig it" or something, but like... I do think he's aware of ~~~everything~~~ and it gets uh sassy once you put him in a spot where he HAS TO respond while there's a phone in his face (or in the middle of an interview, because interviewers aren't any less annoying with the poking really), so no I don't think screaming certain lyrics louder over others or holding up signs or whatever he can choose whether to respond to is too much really. I think it's a good way of showing support directly and yet not too in his face.

idk how i managed to ramble this much about this lol but here you go.

[thetaoofbetty]

P1. I'll admit I'm a pretty casual viewer. I checked out of the fandom mid season 2 but still watch and gloss over the eps, but anyway how is it that Betty is getting more hate about this from both B/J fans and B/A fans and Archie is getting very little??? She made a mistake. It wasn't vindictive or to punish Jughead, I don't really know why she did it but I can see it doesn't come from malicious intent. Archie was happy to fool around with Betty if she had agreed and that is so super gross.

Hello you cinnamon bun! 

I mean, sexism. 

That’s it. Maybe people don’t like hearing it. Maybe people think they’re not acting that way. People are biased. People prefer Jughead. Sometimes I think there’s a small section of shippers who love Betty because Jughead does so she’s already fighting a losing battle of standards she’s almost always incapable of meeting because she’s got their fave’s heart in her hands. 

I have ships where I prefer one over the other, tbh. I have ships where I love them equally. I have ships where I can multi-ship one and not the other. It’s just one of those things. 

So, hey, I’m not here to police how people ship. Everyone can do what they want. But it’s pretty clear by the rewriting of history over the last few weeks that women can’t win for losing and Betty is no exception.

There’s a lot of other thoughts in there I have that I’m sure people would love to misinterpret but they’re allowed to feel how they feel, I’m not in charge of them.

I think B/A fans are always going to rationalize their ship. I’ve seen some say that Jughead is degrading to her (Feminist Icon Jughead Jones? I mean, I’m being a little facetious but let’s be real, that’s A Take™ on Jughead’s character to insinuate he’s ever been like that towards Betty) or that he’s the reason for her “darkness” among other things. 

It’s easy to rationalize your opinions when you put yourself in an echo chamber of people always telling you they agree and that you’re right. So, they’re constantly reinforcing each other (the way all shippers do tbh) how right they are and how it’s true love, etc, because Archie looked at Betty while she was speaking in a scene. The mark of true love, I hear, is to look at someone while they’re talking. 

They’re being pretty selective with the part where Betty says she thinks a part of her has been in love with Archie for the last 10 years from what I can see too. They’re definitely leaving out the part where Cheryl calls Betty out about it being untrue. Which is their right. They can ignore the context if they want, I’m not trying to insert myself in their ship. 

I do take issue with the idea that Betty seems to be Archie’s reward for being A Good Boy™. That’s...gross. Their fave doesn’t get the girl they want for him because they think he’s better than Jughead (that seems to be the consensus for some, they don’t like Jughead. Can’t relate but to each their own). There seems to be a bit of “Betty had a crush on him, she should get him” as well. Which, yeah, that sounds like a big dose of “I didn’t get what I wanted so I’m going to project” to me but whatever. 

Also, who the hell gets every crush they wanted? I sure as hell didn’t. No one I know did. My first big huge crush was my first big heartbreak so, like, sometimes shit just doesn’t go to plan. 

But yeah, Betty’s getting the worse end of the stick on this one and Archie did come off badly. It really did read like he was ready to start messing around with Betty while they’re both dating other people. Even the song sort of implied it, with the whole “give me tonight” thing. 

And I agree, I wouldn’t be interested in someone with a significant other and I wouldn’t romanticize it in one of my ships either. In the immortal words of Lizzo, let us all join hands and sing: I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be your side chick. 

[bondsmagii]

Think I got a weird spirit thing for ya (food spoiling in college dorm anon)

I just had a dream that scared the shit out of my about all the lights/power in my room going out. Very realistic with small details that only after thinking about sitting here for 30 minutes make perfect sense, like someone asking if there was hand sanitizer by any outlets since the school asked us to bring a lot and it is probably the only flammable thing in this room in retrospect. I feel pretty sick tbh. Haven't checked the food again.

The reason it's so scary is that this was an issue for me back home. I have always been unreasonably terrified of the dark, and I can only sleep with light and some kind of noise. I thought it may have been fallout of some kind of childhood s*xual abuse I can't remember since I had clear signs of that kind of ptsd and shit (don't wanna get into it too much, but it's pretty bad). The reason I mention this is that I thought I was afraid of the dark because I used to wake up with my clothes off, inside out, backwards, or both, and I had a tendency for my stuffed animals to be lined up at the bottom of my bed (I slept with them) when I woke up that I found out in later years wasn't my mom like I assumed.

I also was a creepy kid always scaring the other kids with ghost stories and my mom getting phone calls, and used to "talk" to this thing using magnetic ball (it would stay away from me when I rolled it for no, and come back to me in a weird squiggly circle with no obvious pattern for a yes. Friends watched me do it as a kid, and it still makes no sense. Plus it was always right) because I was lonely, followed by some incidents of phones/electronics losing power at full battery until I/friends stepped outside of my doorway and friends blacking out and talking to me about problems they didn't know I had and not remembering. Plus other weird technology hiccups, that's been a trademark warning sign for me in the past.

I also used to ask the magnet things (it would never tell me what they were, but I've had incidents over the years since I used to directly chat with them). One thing I remember asking for was to be the only student at this program so I had a better chance of starting fresh and making friends because I thought another student might go with me and I was bullied. I think it's worth mentioning that the magnet assured me I would go alone. The other kid then had some irremediable scheduling conflict and didn't go, but I ended up being bullied worse at the program, it shutting down due to an abrupt lack of funding because of some sort of embezzlement charge, it was the year I lost all my friends and started having psychological breakdowns and lost my identity or whatever as a smart kid which is how I got into that program, AND I ended up dating that same kid later on who ended up making my life hell in the worse way, stalking me after we broke up for months, and transfered and now goes to this uni with me. Basically, everything related to that program ended up going badly for me. I think this may have been the case for other things I asked, but it's been so long and I don't really remember the others.

Sorry for the long ask, it may not all go through but no character limit right now? Idk but God I am so afraid

I am absolutely blown away by the fact there are suddenly no character limits tbh like gone are the days where I would have to manually copypaste everything from the other asks and it would never look exactly right!! 

anyway, holy shit, that is creepy as hell. I’m actually really yikes about the whole asking the magnet thing, like that sounds like a classic case of making a deal with Something. doing this isn’t always bad, but from my experience you have to be very, very��specific. you have to be absolutely sure that you can’t be misinterpreted, you have to close all the loopholes... it’s not an easy thing to do, because chances are there’s always something you’ll forget about or can’t even consider because it just wouldn’t occur to you. deals like this honestly need some kind of paranormal lawyer or something, I swear, because it’s so fucking dodgy. it seems in this case you got your wish, but you didn’t specify what the consequences of that wish would be. all you asked for was to be the only student on that program and you got it; you didn’t specify what kind of experience it had to be, or the fact you wanted to complete the program, or the fact you didn’t want to be bullied. I don’t think this was necessarily malicious on the entity’s part, but probably more of a case of chance + when you mess with the running of things, there are side effects. it could have gone well, but there was likely a slightly higher chance all hell would break loose. it seems you kind of got the extra shitty end of the stick, though.

it’s definitely something to keep an eye on now, what with the technology fuckery and all, but remember that sometimes dreams are just dreams. if the dark/technology messing up is something that frightens you, it could be a stress-induced nightmare -- our brains are pretty good at dredging up shit it knows scares us the most, and we’re not exactly living in stress-free times right now. but yeah, you absolutely have some spooky bullshit going on, my guy. if we’d known one another as children I think we would have probably opened some kind of hell mouth.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Okay WhatCulture, let's do this.

Good

6: Felicity Smoak

No. Next.

5: Showcased Lesser Villains

I will give you that. They're often the wrong villains, and they're mostly badly used and misinterpreted, but it does showcase them.

4: Oliver's Killing Streak

I agree in principle - Oliver should kill as he's starting out, it's the most logical decision. But, I'm sorry, Oliver's killing people is explored well? Do you remember that time he freely admitted he liked killing people before unnecessarily murdering three guys and then the next episode had Felicity saying that he wasn't a monster because he only did what he had to do? Do you remember the Huntress episodes, WhatCulture? Because I remember them.

3: The Lazarus Pit

I would like to point out that the title of the video is about Arrow's effects on Green Arrow mythology, which the Lazarus Pits have never been counted as (have they even shown up in a Green Arrow story?) but aside from that, how exactly have the comics not touched on the negative effects of the Pits? Their entire thing is that they're slowly turning Ra's insane, they're so bad that Batman, the man obsessed with stopping death, won't use them and openly destroys any he comes across, almost everyone who's resurrected by them is insanely fucked up (Nyssa al Ghul, Nora Fries, Cassandra Cain if I'm remembering that arc correctly, the list goes on) but suddenly Arrow is the one that suggested they're a Bad Thing?

2: Slade Wilson's Descent to Madness

I suppose that if you care about Slade Wilson his fall in Arrow is really affecting and touching. I do not, so all I remember about it is that it fridged Shado, who is genuinely one of Oliver's most fascinating villains in the comics, for the sake of Slade's arc, whereas Slade's arc in the comics involves his wife full on shooting him in the face. Forgive me if I can't help but feel this is a bit of a downgrade.

1: Introduced New Readers to Green Arrow

This isn't a valid point, by the way. Almost every comic adaptation has convinced someone to read the comics, just as every book adaptation has convinced someone to read the books. I know someone who only started reading the Percy Jackson books after they'd seen the films, does that mean the Percy Jackson movies are good now?

Also, speaking as someone who started reading Green Arrow after Season 3 of Arrow, is it really a point in the show's favour that people read the comics because they want to see the characters they liked in a story that doesn't suck? And, given the fact that 'comic fans' has become shorthand in the more insular Arrow fan circles for 'people who don't like the show', can this be said to actively encourage people who do like the comics to stay away from the show?

Bad

4: Butchered Black Canary

See, I agree with this on principle, but the shitting on Earth-1 Laurel is exactly the opposite of the point that you're trying to make. Also, no-one cared when she died? Mate, I wasn't even watching Arrow when Laurel died, and I can tell you that A LOT of people cared. Hell, people cared SO MUCH that well established DC comic writers were actively calling out the show for killing her off, and Gail Fucking Simone was praising Katie Cassidy's portrayal of Laurel. Ratings dropped dramatically and they had to beg and scrape to get her back. A lot of people cared.

3: Death is Irrelevant

I agree with this, both the criticism and the tangent about Oliver's death and rebirth (which I haven't gotten to, btw, but I'll get there someday).

2: Too Reliant on Lian Yu

Honestly my main problem with Lian Yu is that time ARGUS set up a extra-judicial prison there for metahumans. Does anyone else remember that? Man, that was fucked up.

Also the flashbacks should have stopped after Season 2, or at the very least stopped being serialised.

1: Arrow is just Batman-lite

And this, I feel, is the greatest flaw in Arrow, looking back on it. Because let me tell you a secret: when he's written well, Oliver Queen is nothing like Batman. He's rarely written well, I should say, but when he is Oliver Queen is a deeply flawed man who recognises and attempts to overcome his flaws. When he's written well he's someone who holds his fellow heroes to task, whether he's being hypocritical or not, because he's an asshole with a bow and arrow and people like Superman are supposed to be better than him. When he's written well Oliver is someone who makes mistakes, and surrounds himself with people who are unafraid to call him out on his shit, and he's someone who works to fix his mistakes. When he's written well Oliver is flawed, and messy, and probably problematic, but he's also intensely human, in a way most DC superheroes aren't.

Arrow's Oliver is not a good Oliver. He's just a badly written Bruce Wayne with a bow and arrow.