#Fandom flanderization

[prying-pandora666]

Azula And The Tides: The Most Misread Scene in ATLA

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

“The tides scene shows how irrational and spoiled Azula is! She got lucky! She endangered her whole crew for her pride!”

Or any similar variation.

The only problem is it’s not even remotely close to true. Let’s talk about that.

Here is the scene in question for reference:

Seems pretty straightforward, right? I mean, the Captain warned Azula about the tides and she put her ego before reason and made the crew take a huge risk. Horrible leadership and narcissism on her part, right?

Except for one little detail.

Azula was right.

Remember in “The Storm” when Zuko demands his ship chase after the Avatar and his crew warns him that it’s a fool’s errand because they’ll surely perish in the storm? Zuko stubbornly insists his goals are more important than anyone else’s lives, including his Uncle, and demands they drive recklessly into the storm. Sure enough, the crew nearly perishes in the storm, just as predicted, and Zuko is humbled enough to even rescue his Lieutenant that he disrespected earlier in the episode.

I bring this up so we understand how ATLA sets up and then demonstrates its narrative cause and effect. It’s rather straightforward as, after all, this is being written to be inteligible to children.

So what happens with Azula’s ship when she demands they dock right away despite her Captain’s warnings?

The ship docks without incident or injury.

In fact, they dock stealthily enough that neither Zuko nor Iroh see Azula coming and she’s able to surprise them. How would this be possible if the Captain had been correct in his assessment and Azula had just been acting out of ego?

I’ve seen some people argue that Azula just got lucky, like a drunk person driving home in a car. Not that I expect the average person to have extensive knowledge about docking a ship, but it demonstrates a severe gap in knowledge of the subject matter. When it comes to the tides you cannot half-ass it. Either the tides are in or they’re not. Either they’re high enough or they’re not.

And if they’re not, what happens? The rocks you can’t see beneath the waves will shred your ship apart and you will get stuck or outright sink. Best case scenario, if by an act of divine intervention you avoided all the rocks, you’re still screwed because your ship is going to get beached and tip over. Especially with a ship of that size!

You cannot squeak by here. Even with all of our tech and modern day ships, if you don’t respect the tides, you’re going to have a bad time. There is no avoiding this.

It boggles my mind why people assume Azula is the one in the wrong here and not the Captain who is later shown to be so incompetent that he spoils the mission. He was talking down to her and she rightfully put in his place. Cold and ruthless as her method may have been, she was making it clear that she is not to be talked down to or to have her authority questioned. An important skill for a young leader. Look at the comparison with Zuko who couldn’t wrangle his men. They were about to mutiny and would’ve if Iroh hadn’t intervened! Azula has no Iroh to fall back on. She has to manage on her own. And she does! In this same episode we are shown that Azula is a perfectionist who can’t tolerate a single hair out of place. But somehow we are supposed to believe she is also reckless and incompetent? I don’t think so.

We also know that Azula canonically attended the Royal Fire Academy for girls. This wasn’t some preppy finishing school, it was an intense military academy with survival training so deadly that Rangi described having to eat worse than rats to make it out alive. We know Azula excelled in school. Why wouldn’t she know something as basic as how to read the tides? That’s seafaring 101.

Combine that with the fact that all their best naval officers probably perished at the North Pole and it’s easy to glean that this Captain isn’t exactly their A-Team.

So what IS the point of this scene if not to show Azula being irrational, egotistical, or incompetent?

Remember our comparisons to Zuko? The point of this scene is to show how much better and scarier of a leader Azula is. It’s a simple way to convey to the audience that unlike Zuko, Azula *can* and *does* command like a true military leader. She is therefor a more frightening and dangerous opponent for our heroes to face than the already dangerous Prince they’ve been battling since the previous season.

I don’t think this misinterpretation would’ve ever spread so far if some fans weren’t dead set on trying to tear down Azula for the simple crime of being better at things than fan-favorite Zuko.

And I say this as someone who adores Zuko.

[annyankers]

while i do enjoy spike being a bit of a loser i get really annoyed when people lean too into it because like.... this motherfucker killed two slayers almost killed 2 more, knew enough occultism to pick the best spot for dru's wellness and where to find a cure, and found the gem of amara which is some truly indiana jones level illegal archeology. the man is a menace and a simp but he is not stupid nor is he incompetent. if you let him cook he can take out a city block with a car bomb.

[avelera]

Man, there’s all these little beats in OFMD S2 1-3 where people keep EXPECTING Stede to be upset or horrified about Ed’s actions and then he’s just. Not. In a way that reminded me of how a lot of fanon kept softening Stede into someone who doesn’t swear and is horrified at Ed for setting those ships on fire when imo to my eyes he was horrified for Ed because Ed was still so clearly distressed about it.

- Zheng Yi Sao asks Stede how he’s doing now that he knows Ed did horrible things to his crew and there’s this beat and Stede just pivots to, oh yeah, sometimes Ed is troubled. Like it didn’t occur to him to be upset on the crew’s behalf he’s worried about Ed.

- Izzy keeps trying to spare Stede’s feelings and cover up Ed’s spiral, but Stede clocked what was going on with Ed immediately and wasn’t the least bit intimidated or bothered. The knives brought the room together. Of course Ed’s trying to burn the world down or die trying. Duh. And I genuinely don’t think the STUFF in the Revenge mattered even a fraction to Stede as much as the signs of Ed’s breakdown broke his heart. It’s just STUFF, who cares.

- Lucius had to SPECIFICALLY call out Stede for not being surprised or bothered by what happened to him. What Ed did. Stede has to almost consciously remind himself to express polite concern. He just doesn’t actually care, instinctively or automatically, about what happened to Lucius. Part of it is he blames himself more than Ed. Part of it is he just doesn’t care, Ed is the priority.

They’re little blink and you’ll miss it pauses in some cases. Micro-expressions. The absence of a reaction. But honestly, I will scream it to the end of time, Stede is not some nonviolent creampuff scared or upset by Ed’s evil ways. He wants to join Ed in the atrocities. The man ran away to become a pirate. He asked if Lucius was taking notes during a murderous raid.

Stede’s at least a little on some kind of whackadoodle pirate comedy neurodivergence spectrum to the point where he actually really actually struggles to empathize with people, even people he cares about!, if their feelings conflict with his hyperfixation (piracy) and the love of his life (Ed Teach). He’s always, ALWAYS going to pick Ed over Lucius or Izzy or his crew or even his own feelings, if the option is there. He will literally throw himself overboard to get to Ed’s side. No pause. No consideration of anyone else or even his own safety.

Stede sometimes seems to have to consciously remind himself things like, oh yeah, the crew, I need to see to them. Not because he’s heartless or doesn’t care, but because it takes a bit of conscious effort for him to see beyond the laser-focused spotlight of what and who he does care most about, he has to remind himself of social niceties and other people’s feelings (just see him running away in the first place!) when he gets an idea in his head. It’s as if he had to train himself to consciously care about some things other people care about and as a neurodivergent person myself, that felt very familiar in a comedically writ large sort of way. I’d even argue that’s where all his aristocratic social niceties come from. They were his guidebook for how to do things “right” in a world that otherwise made no sense to him outside his hyperfixations. He practiced being a person through the aristocratic training because it was all so foreign to him from the start, including caring, actually caring, about the needs of others. Not because he’s consciously evil or consciously a jerk. The instinct just isn’t there unless he practices at it until it becomes reflex to ask how others are doing, because on his own his brain just doesn’t really notice or care.

I just… hope the fandom notes and has as much FUN as I do noticing all the little moments where even people inside the story of OFMD expect Stede to act in a normal way and instead he remains unhinged, laser-focused on Ed.

Stede’s not just an Ed apologist, he truly doesn’t blame Ed for any of it. He blames only himself. He doesn’t always voice this but he really really only cares about anyone else including the crew as a DISTANT second and he has to consciously REMIND himself to do so. He is able to rally to take action, to care about their physical needs like safety during the rescue, but he still struggles, deeply struggles, to remember to show empathy in a non-performative way for anyone except his special person, Ed.

Stede’s not a creampuff, not a nice guy, not some emotionally or morally perfect angel. He has to consciously practice caring about literally anything else but what he wants to do and his special person. And to me that’s a thousand times more interesting than shoving him in a box labeled “the blond, pacifist do-gooder good guy” in their relationship.

[let-roman-bite-someone]

“janus is so out of character, he’s not supposed to act like that!”

but it’s totally normal and in character for the literal personification of logic to dramatically break into a musical theatre song and serenade a jar of fruit preserve?

[therayvensnest]

MORE!!! MORE!!!!!

WE HAVE MORE SIMPSONS STICKERS!!!! A BOUNTY OF STICKERS!!!!!!! They're all available for purchase! Please contact us if you have any questions!

Here is a one pound coin for size reference.

We hope you enjoy!

[coldboysconfessions]

Guys like Little and Collins didn't spend their entire lives acting like trembling chihuahuas. This isn't a huge deal, I know that, but the way most of fandom talks about Terror characters makes it seem like they haven't realised that we're seeing these guys in really unusual circumstances. That's the point of the show, that what we're seeing for the bulk of these guys' screentime are defining moments because all normality has been stripped away. But all the main characters get talked about like who they were in circumstances they've never faced before is who they always were, without paying any attention to the characterization we get before things go sideways.

Like. Edward Little is a man designed by nature for middle management. He seems competent and fairly confident in that role. Most of the time the audience sees him he's being asked to step outside that role, which is the whole reason he's so freaked out, but he gets talked about like he came out of the womb already trembling in fear dreading messing everything up. Collins also came off like a confident, competent guy who'd earned his place of relative authority before all his brainpower had to start going to dealing with anxiety and trauma. I get that seeing a 'haha he's always nervous' in the tags isn't the worst fandom problem ever but considering the source material is a very thoughtful show that trusts its viewers to be thoughtful about it, the way fandom as a whole reads that show just bugs me. Like a lot of fanon this stuff is so persistent that it just starts to get to me more over time.

.

[cheatsykoopa98]

https://youtu.be/8ZP3AXgdkq0

dad au queenie getting "angry" is just the secular version of this

Jax is sad because Queenie is the one who read him the stories

HELP ME BUY MY MEDS! COMMISSION ME FOR 1 DOLLAR OR DONATE TO MY PAYPAL

TADC DAD AU 41

read dad au | <<prev | next>>

[kiwisandpearls]

”Madoka’s not the protagonist of pmmm, Homura is!!”

extremely loud incorrect buzzer

“Sayaka only became a witch because of a boy!”

extremely loud incorrect buzzer

“The girls were stupid to make their wishes with kyubey!”

EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER

“pmmm is exclusively about madoka and homura’s relationship with each other—“

EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT FUCKING BUZZER.

[indeliblemarking]

jackie could be self centered and she was possessive and unaware of how certain things she said could be hurtful, even if unintentional. However, i think people take shauna’s rant in their fight before her death and apply that to scenes she has with shauna where it’s not applicable? jackie wasn’t perfect but she ultimately was kind and cared deeply about shauna. writing her actions off as simply being a shitty friend isn’t nuanced either she was just a teenager in a codependent friendship. and so was shauna for the most part.

things would blow up regardless because that’s not Healthy but the way jackie and shauna treated one another in the end wasn’t on the same level. shauna was self-destructive and even in the wilderness refused to communicate when jackie gave her every chance. she instead chose to (pre crash) sleep with jeff and then blame shift and insult jackie. and they were kids in an awful situation don’t get me wrong but i think sometimes jackieshauna shippers talk around it or act like they were on the same level when they weren’t. it doesn’t mean shauna was irredeemable in that moment or that she’d never deserve jackie’s forgiveness but it’s the truth and that’s part of the tragedy. it’s also part of the thematic “death is the kindest way to lose someone”.

[prying-pandora666]

Aang the Segregationist?

I keep seeing this terrible take regarding Aang’s role in “The Promise” claiming he’s some xenophobic segregationist.

Guys, I know we have our grievances with the comics, but this one’s kind of a stretch, don’t you think?

No, Aang wasn’t pro-Harmony Restoration Movement because he hated the Fire Nation or because he was a bad friend to Zuko or because he was brainwashed or whatever other arguments I’ve seen.

It’s because he’s the last survivor of a genocide. As he’s coming into his mid-teens, he’s starting to grasp the depths of what he’s truly lost in a way his 12 year old self couldn’t. He’s desperate to cling to his culture before it’s lost forever, and his fears are well founded! Air Nomad culture could well die out with him.

That’s why we get the plot point with the Avatar Aang fan club. They inadvertently offend Aang by appropriating and misapplying his culture (however well intentioned) and this triggers Aang’s fears of how his culture is being lost. All that will be remembered is a watered-down caricature.

He flat-out says as much to Katara! Saying that the reason the Nations need to be divided is because the stronger Nations will always dominate the weaker nations either through conquest or imposing their culture. Aang is afraid directly as a result of the terrible trauma he’s suffered.

Time-stamped so you can see for yourself:

To try to paint Aang as some kind of xenophobic segregationist is a pretty terrible reading of the text. Especially when the point of the story is that Aang learns he was wrong to try to force the colonies to separate, and that he can better preserve his culture by teaching it to others while he lives rather than keeping it away where no one can potentially corrupt it.

Let’s also not forget he was being advised by Roku, who was also deeply impacted by the genocide and war that followed his failure to stop Sozin. Of course Roku is taking a hard stance! He tried to be reasonable and diplomatic in his time and it led to the 100 year war and the loss of the Air Nomads!

Aang is 14 tops. He’s trying to make sense of an unfathomable atrocity that was committed against his people while the whole world looks to him to mend the rifts of a bloody 100 years of conflict.

To ignore how that’s impacted him just so you can paint him as a bad guy relative to Zuko or whatever is not only a pretty lousy reading of the text, it shows a complete disregard for a horror that, tragically, does happen in the real world too.

[that-gay-gal]

I need to rant about a problem I have with Rise! Raph

… ok, that’s a bit misleading. I have no problems with him, but I absolutely do with how this fandom can treat him.

Namely, the flanderization of his character. Specifically the part about him being the nicest iteration of Raph, because I see SO MANY people make him out to be the nicest softest most UwU-est boy when ITS ONLY PARTIALLY TRUE GODAMMIT AND IM TIRED OF IT.

HES ROWDY. HE LIKES FIGHTING. HE TRIED TO LIFT UP A BUS AND HE STILL. HAS. ANGER ISSUES!! HES JUST BETTER AT MANAGING THEM FOR FUCKS SAKE.

Please. I’m so tired of people acting like he never gets upset or angry and is the nicest person to ever exist in this godamn franchise.

Because yes, he is nice! And I love that about him, but some people are so extreme about his softness I’m going to blow a fuse if I see more of it.

Stop contributing to the flanderization of characters, guys. I love his kindness as much as anyone else but it’s NOT HIS ONLY TRAIT.

This won’t be getting a lick of attention but I just had to say it.

Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

I’m not trying to be mean by the way this is just all my opinion and it sorta just boiled over after I saw this happen again on some random post!

I don’t claim to know Raph better than anyone else, of course. But some people for sure don’t know him! And I won’t apologize for saying that because I’ve noticed mischaracterization is a huge problem for this fan base, and I think everyone should take a moment and reflect on how they portray these characters.

Ok bye guys have a good day/night/whenever!! Again, just my opinions :) I was bored idk (I could go on for hours about him tbh)

[masterj]

Watching SLOTLT:

....Okay... we need to talk about Sodor's Legend Of The Lost Treasure. Many TTTE fans love it and call it "the best special" and "the peak of CGI Thomas." But we need to face facts. It's far from everyone's favorite and actually the Most Controversial of CGI Thomas.

My stance? I say people who don't like SLOTLT are right- just for not for the valid reasons. Prepare to be roasted.

The movie heavily flanderizes Thomas and ruins his character development throughout the series. It practically takes everything that made him unlikable in the Miller era and turned him back into a complete, 100% irresponsible idiot. Take The Great Discovery, a special VERY similar in plot for example. After his trick on Stanley that demolishes the tower, he actually shows full remorse and tries to make up for his mistake.

In Lost Treasure, that is not the case. Here at the start of the movie he's just like, "I'm number one so I can do what I want!"

And it's not until THE DAY AFTER the Dynamite Incident that it finally sinks in and he's like "Aw it was my fault..."

Plus, he would've been mature enough by now not to let Gordon's teasing get to him. In Season 5, he literally tells Percy to just ignore George's insults and simply does just that.

Why are insults such a big deal to him NOW that he has to run of with Gordon's coaches and derail them??? This doesn't make sense! Yes, he is meant to be cheeky, but how the hell do we go from how he's written in Tale Of The Brave to this?!

So much dumb shit happens that could've and should have been easily avoided. The accidents Thomas cause would've have been stopped in a heartbeat if they ACTUALLY REMEMBERED drivers and firemen exist. When Thomas falls into the cavern? HOW THE HELL are they so unaware of the workmen shouting trying to stop them?! How do they not once look where he is going and see the signs?!

They're not even trying! Look at them in the cab! Up until the accident happens they're practically just chillin'! You're not fooling anybody! Are they high on crack in there??? Are they paying rent in there??? Do they just spontaneously go blind and deaf??? Hello?!?! Wake up and control your fucking train!!!

Let's cut back to the coaches. WHY is Thomas shunting Gordon's coaches when that is NOT his job anymore now that he has his branchline?! That's the whole reason the big engines went on strike and Percy was brought to the railway! Topham has HOW many shunters now? And you're SERIOUSLY gonna tell me not a single one could've done it instead? Look how empty Knapford is!

What about the Diesel Boxcab introduced this season? Why isn't he in this movie to do that instead? Did he die?

Overall, SLOTLT is just a pointless Great Discovery rehash sprinkled with stale RWS references, (which help set up this movie's god awful plot in the first place) returned characters, and cinematic visuals and music pretending it's actually a good movie with a likeable plot. Not only does it take the three-strike formula and fail miserably at making it good, (The three accidents Thomas causes) it can't even remember the show's continuity properly for God's sake! For a what's supposed to be a tribute to the RWS, this is not a good look at all, Andrew Brenner. You did not cook.

What's even worse is that for all these years everyone in this fandom just blindly glazes over everything this movie does wrong and then act like it's illegal for someone not to like it and it's disgusting. This movie single-handedly damaged the entire TTTE fandom for 10 years. 10. FUCKING. YEARS.

We already had a special that did this kind of plot so much better in every way. WHY are we doing it AGAIN??? Why wasn't The Adventure Begins enough for this year???

We did not need this. We did not need any of this shit. Just skip to Season 20 and you are not missing too much, I promise you. Peak CGI Thomas my ass. HALF the CGI specials are the least bit more deserving than this shitshow.

This movie sucks. We do not speak of it, I'm done talking about it, it's not canon, it doesn't deserve to be, it never existed. It's dead to me.

All it's got going for it are the visuals, voice acting and music, Donald, Douglas, Alfie and Oliver, Max, Monty, and Daisy returning, and the Miniature Engines introduced. That's it.

Just because a movie looks 'cinematic' does not automatically make it good.

[rasin-c00ldude]

we so back

icp fanart... evil emoji. ive also never drawn dogs so they jus look like big cats...:3c

bonus simpsons doodles under cuttt xp

drew these like atleast a week ago. dont care 4 some of them but ya

[flowerbloom-arts]

To be made an Other.

-

I was looking at an old post and a certain line still hits me so I decided to make it a dedicated comic.

[luthwhore]

possibly controversial opinion but people who think the sum total of superman’s personality can be distilled down to “he’s nice :)” have at best a surface level understanding of him and at worst have absorbed the entirety of their view of him from random tumblr text posts.

[soullessjack]

sometimes i'll read hypothetical fics where cas "takes jack away from dean for being a bad husband/father" and while some of them are interesting it... feels like they're kind of infantilizing jack? like. jack has literally left dean, sam, and castiel on his own when all of them were being 100% supportive in tombstone, i think if cas tried to force him anywhere (while being under the assumption that he should listen to cas bc cas is his dad. which. lmao. jack absolutely has disobeyed cas) jack would get pissed and stay.

like am i crazy or do you get what i'm saying

omg i didn’t even get a notif for this im so sorry if you had to wait 😭

ur def not crazy and Yes jack is way more rebellious than he’s ever shown to be. it’s just a pattern being followed in that whole department—jack never really being a person, even if he’s kept the same age, bc he never makes his own decisions or has his own perspective on anything going on, and always needing to be “saved” or protected or defended from a one-dimensional dean impersonator because of course we can’t have him being capable of anything ever

on another note i also think it tends to ignore cas’ flaws as a parent.? like no exaggeration cas is the only one of the 3 that jack ever has full-blown arguments with — and ironically enough most of those arguments are specifically about jack wanting to make his own decisions and cas wanting him to not do that*. i love cas but he’s far from perfect in terms of parenting lmao

*i know he means well and just wants to keep his promise to Kelly to protect her child but he can be so suffocating about it unfortunately 💔💔💔