#I am actually very smart

[nightlyteaandpaper]

ACOTAR Vs. Racialize Stereotypes

I am not going to speak on TOG because I have not read it and have no plans to read it; I do not care. At all. However, some things in this series kind of...turn my stomach around and I really need to let them out before I spiral.

I understand that Prythan is located in what would be the UK, so I am not mad about the number of white people displayed, especially since this is a traditionally published (1) fantasy (2) female-lead (3) young adult (4) turned to adult (5) novel written by a white woman (6) from upstate New York (7) who has never seen poverty a day in her life (8, and I read her biography, so I know that for a fact.) I'm not mad about that, because in my own story, despite it being very diverse (and I mean very diverse), the majority of people are black or half black, with there being some Indigenous people and South and Eastern Asian people (and very little white people.) However, while I am not mad at what is being portrayed, Im annoyed about how it is being portrayed.

In this series, we meet our first person of color in the form of Alis, the maidservant. At the time, we didn't know she was black or black-coded. Still, we quickly find out because, for some fucking reason, the glamor Tamlin gave his people also changed the color of Alis's skin, and this was because he didn't want Feyre to freak out... so, either Tamlin is a racist or Feyre is (this is a joke, please laugh.) However, what is not a joke is that Alis is depicted as the magical negro-troupe, where she gives sage advice and aids our disastrous main character. This being one-off , would not have been an issue, but for some reason...it is not. Within the same book, we meet the shadow twins who are still coded as people of color with tan skin despite being underground for fucking 50 years. If Rhysand, for some reason, is pale as a fucking ghost, everyone really should be pale, but the maids were people of color. In the first book, all the Help were people of color.

This, combined with the depictions of the Ilyrans, who are pretty much thought to be middle eastern men, as aggressive, backward people, is CRAZY. It is INSANE that the mostly white, NC is the progressive court of all the fucking land, but they refuse to do anything about the situation literally within their borders. They do a lot of grandstanding when it comes to feminism (which is another topic) but...do nothing to stop it. Instead, they just shit on the Ilyrans and call them backward and aggressive, and it is not lost on me that the two full-blooded Ilyrians who escape, shit on their ethnic group whenever they get a chance, and the one who is even remotely proud to be a bat-thing, is also depicted as aggressive and cocky and so very much obnoxious. It is also not lost on me that the three bat-dudes who escaped, all found their sanctuaries in the arms of white women. Of the women in the IC, none of them are people of color (I thought Amren was Asian and Morr was biracial, but that wasn't the case, in fact, she wasn't even related to Rhys on his mom's side.) And it is also not lost on me that the "objectively good" and feminist bat-boy of the trio is also half-white.

We have two POC High Lords in the series (good, I guess) and both of them get a raw deal from the author. Helion is a man who does not know he has a son (I also don't understand why Feyre is the one to figure this out when she has only been in this realm for, at most, a year and had literally just met Helion three days prior. Lucien has been alive for almost 500 years, and NO ONE, not even Helion, figured it out? They half to look a lot alike for her to put it together that easily.) Helion (also the bisexual High Lord) is a fucking hoe who has a child he does not know about in a completely different zip code. No one else has that issue, which would you think would be the case since some of these have been alive for...almost a thousand you.

And now we have my darling Tarquin. He is the youngest of the High Lords at 86. It is known that he would have given the literal shirt off his back if he could be friends with ANYONE, and he wanted to be friends with Rhysand because he saw something in that guy that he liked. And instead of asking "Hey, can we...can we see your book" and then, if Tarquin said no, they steal it, they just steal the shit. Then they had the audacity to consider sicking Amren on them because Tarquin, who was betrayed, gave them blood diamonds, but they never have this energy when it comes to their white counterparts.

Here is what gets my goat--there is something so insidious about a white-coded woman telling a black-coded man what to do in his own house. Tarquin had every right to want to kick Feyre and Rhysand in the teeth and throw them out, but instead, he calmly bitches for a few seconds and then tells Feyre to leave. Upon this, Feyre refuses to exit this man's house, while choosing to approach knowing damn well that his entire life is destroyed because of the butterfly affect her shitty (war criminal) actions in the Spring Court had on his court. And when he looks at the man who he wanted to be friends with and says, "take your mate and leave," Rhysand says "She is the High Lady of the Night Court; she can do whatever she wants..." the amount of entitlement that seeps through those pages made me sick and made me look up a few of SJM's controversial takes. The real-life implication of this entire scene is...crazy. Not to mention that it makes it seem that being the High Lady of the Night Court was more important than being the actual ruler of the current kingdom they are standing in.

What made me even more upset was that...even after all that, Tarquin steal forgave them and helped...

I don't think I need to explain why that is problematic. We are all smart here.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Introvert adoption

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[buggachat]

can't stop thinking about how Félix was seen as "a cold, calculating, intelligent character. yes, he made some weird decisions (how did shoving cheese under adrien's pillow fit into his plan? why did he bully adrien's friends when all he was there to do was shake gabriel's hand? etc) but, ignoring that, he definitely carefully considers all his actions" and then Emotion dropped on us "uh yeah so Félix is actually deeply emotionally unstable" which is both counter to how everyone saw him and actually perfectly explains his character in ways the fanon version of him couldn't

[mishy-mashy]

Bruce is actually really attractive, and I have enough reasoning to make a list

He's:

Tall (. Tall enough to hit his head on the vault doorframe)

Long-legged

Has a straight nose bridge

Has high cheekbones (more noticeable in 2nd pic below)

Has a strong jawline

Sharp eyes, but they aren't small (plus eyebags if you're into that)

Overall, he has strong, attractive facial features

Has broad, refined shoulders. You can tell he works out (or he did, when he was alive)

Even has a thick, muscly neck

He has MUSCLE. Is SCULPTED. NOICE. VERY NOICE. (nice arms. Nice shoulders. Nice neck. Nice legs. Nice butt-)

(There are actually panels where you can see some of his muscles. Other than those already shown here, he's got bricky thighs-

-and in the panels where we first get his name dropped, he's got those shoulder blades too-)

The one time we see him smile, and he actually has a scary one

Has small, kinda sharp pupils, and his eyes remind me of a cat. We only ever saw him tense or defensive, so his resting/listening face is really cute

Other than the physical appearance stuff, he also:

Takes shit without batting an eye (patience, knowing it's just how Kudo is, etc)

Kudo being all "Cut the crap Bruce and give it to me straight", after Bruce tests his blood and is rightfully Concerned because they just faced AFO

Put up with Kudo's experimenting and testing over Yoichi's transferable Factor

Did ya'll see the look on Kudo's face when he realized he had Yoichi's Factor/will? Kudo was going to start in nonsense and Bruce just dealt with that.

Also something I noticed when looking back at the images here; Bruce has bandages on his arms in the void. But not when he faced AFO in the sewers.

Were he and Kudo cutting their arms open in their experimenting over Yoichi's theory? Is this why Kudo has two gauntlets instead of his one? Why we never see his bare arms in the void? That he always keeps his arms down so there's no slip?

Is smart enough to run blood tests, plus has enough common sense to pick Shinomori as his successor

He picked a guy who avoids society, has an Ability to detect danger so he can always stay away from AFO, is also a coward so he's never going to go throw himself into danger, even without knowing instinctively he stands no chance, etc.

Meanwhile, Kudo chose Bruce, who he played Hot Potato Yoichi with; but he did also trust Bruce, and put the only pure combative Ability in OFA through Bruce.

These two made their choices based on what they valued and saw the Factor needed.

Is logical, analytical, and calm.

He tried advising Midoriya on their Abilities in One For All, especially his own.

Midoriya then tried ignoring him about using Fa Jin for the first time, but found he was right, thinking: "Dammit!! I had [Lady Nagant] right where I wanted her, but... ugh! The Third was right. My parallel Quirk processes are all screwed up!" (ch. 314).

Plus, when Midoriya fixed his processing mistakes, Bruce was analyzing the way he reached his new conclusion. Pure facts, no bias, very calm, just saying it as it was.

We never see him panic. When he's caught by surprise in the sewers by AFO, Kudo, and Yoichi's little bubble event, he immediately reacts. He doesn't falter, he just knows he has to do something right now.

Was more willing to listen than Kudo to Yoichi's beckon, and probably was just following Kudo's rejection of Midoriya

While we don't see Kudo's face, we see Bruce's eyes when Yoichi calls on his heroes. Bruce was more open and receptive, or at least more impacted.

Bruce was also the one to start talking, while Kudo just kept quiet.

He actually communicates a lot

When Yoichi called them to support Midoriya, Bruce started talking to paint a picture of why they thought the way they did, so Yoichi understood where they were coming from.

(Though he seems to beat about the bush sometimes, since Kudo spoke up to be direct on how they couldn't just put their trust in some starry-eyed teenager. Plus, when Kudo tells him to just tell him what's wrong [double Factors])

When Midoriya first used Fa Jin against Nagant, Bruce came out just to tell him he knew what he was trying, but that Midoriya wasn't ready; and Midoriya found he was right. Midoriya just didn't want to listen to him then.

He asks Kudo for clarification after finding Kudo had two Factors in him after the sewer incident ("Just to be sure, All For One didn't touch you, right?") Kudo knew him well enough to go "stop beating around the bush and tell me", so Bruce was probably gonna start with questions, theories, and trying to understand everything in general, before saying "yeah you have two Factors. Don't know why".

Is strong-willed and loyal.

He followed Kudo, even to death, carrying on the cause he started until it ended with him.

Plus, when talking about how AFO needs a strong will to override OFA's own, we first see Bruce, Kudo, and Yoichi.

AFO couldn't steal OFA because the will was too strong for him, and that was back during Banjo's time. Since Shinomori never actually tried opposing AFO and just hid, we can assume the first Three (Yoichi, Kudo, Bruce) already had an accumulation of strong willpower that made OFA un-stealable. Those three are a strong enough foundation, and the main wills, that the other users just become bonuses.

Kudo, also saying that Midoriya needs allies with the same will and drive as him... hey Kudo, you're talking about yourself and your old allies, aren't you? That's why you look at Yoichi and Bruce when you say this.

Not only is Bruce attractive, but he's got good character. THE END.

[kayvsworld]

sorry to be doing mcu throwback complaints again and EXTRA sorry for it to be about cacw and aou, sorry, i just am thinking again that if marvel had. in aou. committed to letting steve rogers see that captain america graffiti calling him a fascist with his own two eyes i would have forgiven many of their subsequent deeds and crimes

[piplupod]

btw artists you should maybe stop posting your art on pinterest if that's something you've been doing, i know a few ppl who have been sharing their art there

i'm not sure if this section has been updated at all or if it's always been this way but I was taking a read through their soon-to-be-implemented update to their TOS to see if they'll be adding anything with the increased usage of AI and this looks like perhaps this section exists (at least in part) for that reason 🤔 [thinking emoji]

unfortunately their report function for art theft/reposting has historically been less than stellar (an understatement) and I don't really see it improving any time soon but perhaps they will improve it with this update to their TOS and privacy policy! one can hope at least!

link to the preview of the new TOS: https://policy.pinterest.com/en/terms-of-service-preview

alt text for the screenshot below, as well as linked in the embedded image description feature:

A screenshot of a section of Pinterest's new Terms of Service. The subsection heading reads: "How we and other users can use your User Content". The highlighted text reads: "By providing any User Content on the Service, you grant us license to use, store, publicly perform or display, reproduce, save, modify, create derivative works, monetize, download, translate and distribute your User Content. Nothing in these Terms entitles you to any payments or the right to share in any revenue from any monetization of User Content."

Image description note: If you want to read the full paragraph, please visit the page I've linked in the post.

[riacte]

so hey guys i finished dungeon meshi yesterday and i'm still thinking about it

[cak31ssuperi04]

Barbie movie fanart dump 4/4(END)- Misc

[luolii]

since its midterm/final season i wanted to talk about how sashisu would deal with it

i think gojo would be the type to be really talented when he was younger so he's used to goofing off in class and dozing off since he assumes he understands all the information, but when it's time for midterms he's staying up late making study guides and looking through quizlets to cram. he does not know how to study. at all. (he has a reels folder full of study reels but never looks at them) i still think he does very well on his exams though

getou's used to having to work for his grades i think, so he kinda understands the basics of studying and what type works for him. he's very competitive with gojo and will work to get to his level, which is why they often set up study dates. whether they actually get work done during these dates or not is irrelevant. he's totally one of those study with me pomodoro timer fiends

shoko is naturally brilliant, and is one of those students with pull allnighters before the final combining red bull with five hour energy. she definitely falls asleep during exams but somehow ends up doing well anyways, and refuses to get more sleep at night instead of having to snooze during the exam. she's the type to stockpile old textbooks on her subjects instead of using online study options, it somehow works.

after exams are over they fall into a pile on the bed and sleep for 4 days

[tanjir0se]

You could convince me to watch the *checks notes* loser rangers anime? 👀

SKCNCJSKSK!!!!!!

Were you a Power Rangers kid??? Are you over-saturated and bored by modern superhero media?? Do you long for a fresh take on the “dark side” of Sunday Morning cartoons that ISN’T grimdark and irony poisoned and lame?? Do you like absolutely incompetent cringefail losers and their hot murder girlfriends???!!? Then come on down to…

✨GO! GO! LOSER RANGER!✨

We’ve got it all! :

Protagonist that just fucking sucks at everything

Like. Really REALLY fucking sucks. At everything. Cant even figure out how to eat food. Hates everyone and has no friends. He’s just like me fr.

He’s like if Sasuke was the worst ninja ever like couldn’t even throw a kunai but still thought he was better than everyone else and kept the exact same pretentious attitude. I’m obsessed with him.

A fun, unique twist on the Power Rangers-esque Sunday Morning cartoons of our childhood that pokes fun at the 90s era camp of that genre of media while still feeling genuinely heartfelt and respectful to the spirit of the source material it’s satirizing

If villain bad, why sexy?

Hot Murder Lady

Genuinely just like a fun silly plot that isn’t too serious (yet) and can be enjoyed casually (or not casually if you’re a freak like I am) and really hits different if you were a power rangers kid like I was

Cool animation with a unique style that feels like a lot of love went into it

Did I mention if villain bad, why sexy??

HIBIKI SAKURAMA💅🏻💕💖💖🌸🌸

OOOHHHH YOU WANNA WATCH GO! GO! LOSER RANGER SOOOOO BAD

[astriiformes]

Had a really good conversation with my therapist yesterday that has left me feeling better about life & the future than I have in... months, honestly (which also has me feeling really good about her ability to help me continue sorting through things).

I was talking about my distress about the future and in particular what I'm going to do when I graduate, since grad school isn't the most stable option, and she pointed out that since I was spiraling over hypotheticals, maybe it made sense to simply make up my mind about the first step, since applying to grad school is hardly the same as committing to grad school. And she was so right. I am so good at feeling like I need to make the right, perfect decision -- especially after making mistakes with school in the past -- that I have been worrying myself into depressive spirals over what the "right" decision is here. But making up my mind to at least apply and find out what my options are is a decision, that will give me a lot more information in the long run than paralysis over if it's "okay" to apply at all.

It'll still take a lot of work, obviously, and l don't know if I'll even get in anywhere, much less actually commit to doing a PhD if I do. But it has taken such an incredible weight off my shoulders just to say "Okay, I am going to apply, what next?" Because it means I can put all that nervous energy to actual use! Instead of spiraling the next time I start thinking about my options in the future, I can go do research on different PhD programs (without feeling guilty the whole time, like I have been until now)! I can ask my favorite professors for advice! I can reach out to current grad students to ask what they think of their advisors! All of which is actually productive and will help me make the most informed choice I can if and when the time comes, instead of ruminating endlessly on what the "best" one is!

TL;DR -- my therapist is very smart and understands me and the things my brain gets stuck on in a big way, and her advice has dislodged literal months of extremely disordered thinking just like that. Because now I feel like I've made a choice and have something to work towards. And also like I can breathe.

[not-poignant]

Jesus H Christopher, Pia. Your writing load is insane.

Maybe you should cut back on how many chapters you release for certain stories? Like Stain and Palma (since these stories dont equal income) until UtB the other Underline stories are almost done. Just a thought

Because I feel burnt out just by thinking of writing that much, so I can only imagine how you feel. Please take care of yourself

Hi anon,

TL;DR: My brain is stupid, which is why I can't do this, even though it makes sense and is logical.

Unfortunately the fanfiction is what often makes the original fiction possible, or more enjoyable.

If I lock myself down into too much schedule and rigidity, or if I only focus on writing for money, I actually start to hate writing, even if I love the stories. There is nothing like 'will this earn money, do people like this, would people pay, what if they all decide to stop paying for this, why would they pay for this, would I pay for this, how much would people pay for this, is there any incentive for them to pay for this, actually if I wrote a ton of different tropes maybe I'd make more for this, but that's depressing, but I need the money, shit what do I do, what if I lose my income, what if it all stops tomorrow, I need to write more, I need to write more, I need to write more' that is actually very exhausting and makes writing not much fun at all.

And to deliberately break out of that headspace as much as possible, I write fanfiction. Because that headspace (the one I wrote about above), on its own, even if I'm only writing two stories, can and has led to burnout and depressive episodes. I don't recommend it.

In a way, one of the reasons I can write so many stories right now (ADHD meds aside) is that I am letting myself break out and just have fun with fanfiction, and remember that my original writing is meant to be fun too. But without fanfiction, I lose sight of that very quickly.

Fanfiction means that when an original story chapter does super badly, generally there are still excited comments elsewhere that keep me going. That's how I survived The Ice Plague, and that story would never have been completed without fanfiction, because that was my worst performer of any story I've ever written. It also means if a lot of subscribers leave at once, I don't feel like The Worst Writer In The World. So having fanfiction behind me was like...a literal safety net or my security blanket.

If I have to discard my security blankets or use them less often in order to keep writing the original stuff, I might as well just stop entirely, because my longest hiatuses from Patreon (i.e. one lasted 1.5 years, many have lasted 4-6 months) have been when I'm mostly just writing original fiction, and am not writing much fanfiction, or not deliberately finding time for it, and finally get so stressed out re: money I literally have to stop. I'm on a (partial) Disability Pension.

A long time ago some professional people told me I probably shouldn't be working at all because of my mental illnesses and then paid me money because of the severity of those mental illnesses. My dumbass brain be pretty fragile, actually, and keeps chugging away because I make bad business decisions and write stuff I enjoy instead of writing to market, or doing rapid release, or releasing more novels (or novels). Writing does ironically help when I'm stressed, but not when I'm stressed about making money because of writing.

I will cut at my income before I cut at my love of this job, and unfortunately fanfiction keeps me going in this job, which means I can't really cut at that first.

(Also from a business perspective, it's actually a very good funnel to the original stuff and then subscription. Most of you wouldn't be here if you hadn't read one of my fanfics first and then gave the original stuff a try - I try not to think about that too much because I need fanfic to not be about money, but the fact is, I would not have this career without fanfic).

I do have plans to take two weeks off in January from posting chapters (I can still post rewards in the second half of January) and that's not too far away.

And the reality is that I probably would have kept going okay if real life hadn't imploded on top of everything like the world's worst bukkake party.

[sssusuki]

In the story, Who Made me a Princess, Ijekiel Alpheus has his potential as a great character diminished by the way he was not only handled by the author, but those around him and the story. He is someone who has complicated relations with his family, who have only ever seen him as another tool in the family to achieve greatness and therefore uses his intelligence to bury himself in books to drown out that loneliness. Even if his father loved him, and says it later on in the story, it is never actively shown— and if anything, it is assumed that his father abandoned him after his mother died. He had his future decided the moment he was born and he had no control over his own life and that is why he fell so fast for Athanasia. Despite all his high walls and barriers, because she was something unachievable and, like her name, impossible for his father and himself to imagine. If he was given the chance to develop as a character rather than being a secondary love interest, they could've shown his complexities and— if anything, his quite gray morality. As he has shown that he will harm himself and others to get to his own satisfactory conclusion (as specifically shown in his standoff against Athanasius) as well as his more rivalry and forbidden relationship with Athanasia. In this essay I will

[limonjarritos]

Do you guys know how insane it is that Rody is biphobic and bi just casually in this story. Like imagine if there was less cannibalism (boo) and the whole game was just Rody fighting his bisexual demons.

(actually he probably kinda lowkey was with how much his mind strays back to Manon when speaking to Vincent, though he's also perhaps that down bad. But still, you know how people will subconsciously play up their opposite gender attraction when trying to fight the same sex attraction thoughts)

[blinkpen]

really quick last 'new' drawings you will see until like tuesday probably bc i am going to chicago food truck festival for the weekend yum yum i sure hope my frolicking is not impeded by inclement death weather ok byeeee

i may have pen n paper doodles when i get back tho yay

[robinsteves]

the best part about logan in season 4 is that tom wambsgans and his pet dog gregory hirsch are his allies. like thats so fucking funny. you thought your kids were annoying, logan? you haven’t seen anything yet. if he doesn’t die of health problems he’ll definitely be killing himself