#I do have justified choices of why for all of these btw :)

[ohbrightnewday]

Mean Girls food preference hcs

I have a fun time making silly mundane hcs. I copy and pasted these, then changed a little, from the discord server.

Cady: Enjoy chicken wings so much more than anyone would assume she does. They’re so messy, but they’re so good. Other than that, she mostly enjoys anything. Preference for meat with a meal and really likes cake, not the biggest fan of vegetables of any kind, but will eat them if she Has to. Hates buffets. Fucking hates buffets. Also loves the most random insane candy Janis can find for her to try, unless it’s sour, won’t eat sour food.

Janis: Favourite food is burgers with everything on them, really likes salad vegetables on the burgers and sauces. She loves diner-style food, so milkshakes and fries too. Enjoys very sweet drinks, says she likes black coffee but her favourite is frappes that barely have any coffee in them. Probably drinks an excess of monster energy too. Also cannot cook even a little bit. Unless it’s noodles.

Damian: Loves pizza but will mostly eat anything. He and Janis go to a specific diner all the time and it’s theirs and they always order the same thing. He’s similar in preference to Janis with drinks, but doesn’t like coffee and chocolate together. Often has candy bars or granola bars or little bags of candy in his bag at any given time for either himself, Janis or Cady.

Regina: Canonically likes cheese fries. These are the only things she’d eat in school. Mostly sticks to salads when she’s out with other people for a long time until she’s more comfortable. Enjoys yoghurts but not Greek yoghurt because it just doesn’t taste right. Drinks iced coffees with occasional sugar free vanilla syrup. Enjoys frozen fruit over non-frozen fruit as a little treat. Struggles a lot with eating enough and never has good food in the house because of her mom.

Karen: Very sensory seeking when it comes to foods and loves things that have texture to them. So she eats a lot of salads with iceberg lettuce, baby carrots etc. Enjoys candy a lot too, but nothing that’s too sticky or sticks to her mouth like caramel. Hates pastas that aren’t al dente or rawer and cannot stand lasagne ever at all. If the sauce is too much, she won’t eat it. Doesn’t really enjoy coffee or any hot drinks, but sometimes might drink a milkshake.

Gretchen: Really loves pasta. Loves pasta so much. She especially loves white sauces over marinara type sauce and eats it with garlic bread or breadsticks. Gets cesear salads often, but isn’t actually the biggest fan of them, she just eats them. Not a big drinker of sweet drinks and coffee makes her more anxious, but she still drinks it if she has to. Probably enjoys iced herbal teas when she gets around to trying them. Snacks mostly on plain nuts and bland chips, foods with too much flavour make her feel too much sometimes.

Aaron: Bland. He eats soups a lot, they’re easy to make and easy to eat. As well as grilled cheeses, sometimes some plain pasta and cheese, and he orders lasagna when he’s out. Quite good at cooking, but not great at baking, but he will make chocolate chip cookies sometimes. Mostly drinks water and occasionally coke or hot coffee, doesn’t drink it cold. Much like Gretchen, too strong of flavours make him feel too much. Sticks just to crackers if things are really bad because other food will make him nauseous.

Idk why I haven’t posted these before, it’s not solid hcs, it’s just the general vibes of what they enjoy. Feel free to ask for elaboration!

[tocomplainfriend]

I am mad

Yup!

Bro shut up, she is white - being Latina is not a race, is an not the same as color skin. And she is a second generation immigrant too. So like... this isn't like a Salvadorian person doing a cartoon, is a daughter of Salvadorians... That grew in the USA. Being Latino doesn't mean you aren't white, you can be any race and Latino. Still wouldn't make up for the lack of representation or the existing racism. In the piece of media that's "diverse".

Salvadorian is not a race, LMAO. That's crazy- you think someone from Argentina who is white, is not white cause of their nationality??? Being Latino and having that culture does not equal a race. It's in itself a racist thing. This Latino = Race is terrible, It also comes from the idea of the "You are not Latino because you are not brown", assuming all people from Latino America are brown by default. You know how much has that happen to me? -AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE.

(I'm Latino btw)

I already have an older post about it, but - you can really see the lack of diversity in the show a lot. (Will talk about it even more other day).

Again the main thing you get is MEN, hypersexual skinny queer men (cis). You won't get to see female characters being well written, thought all the season 1 and all the episodes we got rn of season 2. All characters are skinny and similar body types and repetitive design choices. Funny enough, shows that lack of human characters still have better race-coding that helluva. (and well in hazbin you'll get POC characters that are gray, lack all ethic features... even when they are humanoid. So that is great.)

Bro you could, you imagine a character being black and having different textured hair, and you go to hell... AND EVEN THO YOU ARE HUMANOID- your hair became straight and spiky, and you are now a light gray? If you build a world like that... it just seems like the perfect racist excuse to delete ethic features out a POC character because you don't want to draw them. "Not going to a single hint of their race/culture unless it revolves on their death"... If the character became a fucking coin with dot eyes, maybe (not really, shows with no human/humanoid characters still are capable to race-code their characters). But all of these characters are humanoid- why do none of them have their different characteristics? Also, this is about a real person in the real world choosing how to design a character.

This tweet also implies that a black character when they were a life they had ethic features, but lose them when they go to hell. Which is even more fucking stupid.

If a white person with straight hair goes to hell, and their hair remains straight (assuming it has nothing to do with their death), why wouldn't there be black people with textured hair? This is dumb. This goes back to the fucking thing of "No black people in fantasy media", In the same way, it's stupid for fantasy stories to revolve around white people characteristics in fictional species and people in that world- not including all the rest of diverse human characteristics POC people have it's crazy. The biggest problem here is why the fuck all Viv's sinners characters (main characters designed by her) that are supposed to black (or mixed like Alastor) have 0 characteristic. THEY ARE HUMANOID, THEY AREN'T EVEN ABSTRACT OR AN ANIMAL OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. She didn't want to draw that nor change designs, and wanted to justify the whole concept of Alastor even using Voodou.

HOW ARE ALL THE ANGELS THAT VIV WANTS TO BE BLACK (black voice actors specified, or are race specified) HAVE NOTHING??? LIKE HELLO THE 'I'm such a nice angel character girl' HAS SPIKY STRAIGHT HAIR??? SHE IS AN ANGEL AND BLACK, WHY DIDN'T YOU DID HER HAIR TO BE CLOUDS- It's THE EASIEST SHIT YOU COULD’VE DONE.

BOOM! A FUCKING TROLL FROM A KIDS MOVIE WITH DIFFERENT HAIR. BOOM! THE FUNK TROLLS ARE SO EXPLICITLY BLACK CODED.

---

-

Bro, you know this whole thing of people with textured hair have to forcefully straighten their hair or wear wogs to a job... because people consider it ""Unprofessional"" cause racism? The erasure and discrimination of POC people and their features is a problem. That's why it is important to people represent all of those things:

(Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur)

The only reason of why Alas tor is even mixed is purely cause Viv used the Voodou symbols because she thought they were creepy and edgy. It's sucks that all the angels and sinners that are supposed to be black have nothing.

[cjrights]

Ight then here we go. And dw I promise I’m not feral like aloras anons. (Btw I made this while eating Mac n cheese at like 10:30 at night).

This could be really bad so read at your own risk (I’ve never written x reader)

Paige Bueckers x Softball! Player reader! (Hcs)

Content: mentions of an injury/description of one happening, Overall just fluffy stuff.

This is my first time ever writing something like this (pls don’t make fun of me 😭 I’ll cry and probably never log back in)

Starting off with a little about yourself:

-You’ve played softball for quite a while (obviously your good if you’ve gotten to UConn) around 14 years

-You’re a catcher- and a damned good one at that. You catch for just about anyone if needed and play quite a bit.

-One thing your most renowned for are your speed and base running abilities. Very few times is someone better or faster than you on base.

-however you are on the smaller side, barely 5’4 (you give yourself an extra inch though). Many players thought your height would impede your abilities and that you were too small to be a catcher.

-but your basically the ballsiest player in the league and hate losing so you don’t go down without a fight.

Ok now that we know about you let’s get into Paige.

1. Prior to the season she likes helping you clean your bag and gear out.

“Babeeee look what I have.”

You look up briefly confused, only to burst into giggles at the sight of Paige in your catchers gear. It obviously didn’t fit- not surprising with you at 5’5 and her at 6’. The white shinguards barely reached 3/4s down her legs and the chest guard left half of her exposed.

“Paige, why are you trying on my gear?” You ask over your shoulder, turning back into your bag to grab your batting gloves and helmet out.

“I gotta make sure my girls safe!” She protested, desperately trying to put on the to small helmet. “Can’t have you getting hurt! And why’s this helmet so small?!”

“Probably cause you’ve got a big head.”

“Who wouldn’t have a big head dating someone as sexy and skilled as you,” she smirks, lightly kissing your neck as your crouched over the bat bag.

“Well I suppose I am quite skilled and sexy…” you agree lifting your head so she can kiss more easily.

“And all mine.”

“And all yours.” You agree happily. “And yours alone. Now back to work bucko!” You state lightly patting her on the chest and nudging her off kisses. “No time for that now.”

Paige resumes trying to put on the helmet, still struggling immensely, as you go through the pockets of your bag. You snicker at her troubles with the helmet, before grabbing it and sticking it on your own head. “I’ll be fine.”

“But what if-“ fine then Paige, you thought. Guess I’ve got no other choice…

She’s abruptly cut off by you smacking your helmeted head into a wall lightly then staring at her, entirely unmoved by the feel of it. The noise of it had been stronger than whatever pain it had caused. She stands there shocked for a moment, staring at you gobsmacked before reluculantly starting to take off the gear.

“Ok fine. You’re safe in this I suppose.”

You turned away from the blonde and resumed your sorting, now satisfied.

“Erm babe? could you help me out? I think I’m stuck.”

2. Her trying to carry your bag and failing miserably.

“Why the hell do you have a body bag?!” Had been her first reaction to it, which admittedly may have been justified.

But you couldn’t help it! All catchers needed a bag this big…even if it was almost your size. But with cleats, bats, gloves, your gear and everything else you needed a bag like this was a must. Even if it was probably twice your body weight.

You just shrugged and said catchers always had big bags, then started dragging it off to the UConn fields.

Now you were getting ready to board the bus for an away game in Ohio and you’d just unpacked the car. Azzi had came along to see you off alongside of Paige. You went to grab your bag, only to have Paige abruptly get in the way.

“Allow me m’lady,” she mimics, grabbing the bag handle before you can stop her.

“Baby, I love you, but you know damn well you’ll drop that.” It was true, she’d tried multiple times, and crushed multiple toes.

“No! I’m big and strong and perfectly capable of lifting my girlfriend’s bag!” She huffs and chuffs determinedly, as she drags it towards the bus, carefully lifting it up into the open back door.

Your teammates give her half weirded out-half amused look, not quite sure if they should intervene or let her learn the hard way.

Even Azzi rolls her eyes and sighs, “should we stop her before she tears another ACL?”

You sigh, Paige was one stubborn motherfucker, as much as you loved her. “Maybe that’s how she’ll finally learn not to lift a catchers bag without help.”

After a long time, filled with much painful wheezing and a red faced girlfriend she manages to get it on the bus. “See…” she wheezes, “I can so lift your bag!”

You laugh and walk over to her, stretching up on your tiptoes to kiss her lips, which she eagerly accepts gently cradling the back of your head.

“My hero,” you tease, resting your forehead against hers, relishing in the warmth of her ice blue gaze.

3. She sees you get trucked defending the plate for the first time and almost has a heart attack.

It started off as a simple play and should’ve remained simple. Then you blew it and missed the block on a wild pitch. The runner on third saw her opportunity and took it.

Thankfully you’d been quicker on your feet than the pitcher and grabbed the ball guarding the plate from the incoming runner. Normally a base runner would get tagged out on a run, or try to veer away at the last moment.

But not the Alabama girl. Nope, she’d already known you were on the smaller side- and that you never backed down. So she did the only sensible thing.

She lowered her shoulder and smashed into you at a full sprint. To your credit you got the tag and kept on your feet, just staggering slightly from the impact. What you weren’t expecting for the lights to go out a few seconds after she collided.

You didn’t remember what happened after that, next thing you knew, three coaches, the athletic trainer, and about nine concerned teammates had formed a protective barrier around you, as if they were animals guarding a hurt cub.

According to your pitcher, the Bama girls helmet had smacked with yours and with the combined effort from the rest of her body, knocked you out. Thankfully it was only for a half minute or so, and nothing was that badly hurt.

you were fine apart from having the wind knocked out of you and a thorough bit of bruising on your shoulders, chest, hips, and neck. The whole incident hadn’t even phased you that badly and after a quick test run, you were cleared to resume catching and hit a double the next inning, directly over the Bama players head, as though to say it would take more then that to bring you down.

Turns out the one more affected was your blonde girlfriend who was sitting in the bleachers

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“What the fuck was that!” The blonde all but screamed at the top of her lungs, unaware of the looks fans from both sides were giving her.

A dad who was sitting next to her gave her a look before chuckling. “That’s called trucking the catcher. Don’t worry though, she’s a tough little thing, she’ll get back up fine in a few seconds.

Paige shot him a look before glaring at the back of the Bama girls helmet, about ready to go out and beat her up herself.

“It’s called downright bad sportsmanship and dangerous! I mean she could’ve been hurt!” Her anxiety fueled the anger she was feeling, especially after seeing you wobble before your body passed out. Had it not been so crowded she would’ve been on the field herself.

The dad glanced over at her. “Seems like you care quite a bit about this catcher.”

“M’course I do. She’s my girlfriend, my baby, and it’s my job to protect her.”

He nods in understanding, glad the blonde was a bit calmer. “Don’t worry about it, she’s tough as nails. Look she’s already up again.”

She looked down and true to his word you were standing on slightly wobbly legs and doing an experimental squat to see how badly the girl had damaged you.

A breathe she didn’t know she’d been holding escaped, “thank god…” she whispered, not taking her eyes off you.

Now with you alright and her new softball dad friend she could watch the game (albeit she still growled under her breathe when the Bama girl came out). She was ready to spoil you rotten by the end of the game.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Baby, I appreciate the gesture but you don’t need to worry this much…that happens quite a lot.”

“Nope! My baby deserves all the spoiling tonight.” She stated walking in with a freshly microwaved heating pad, full bottle of water, ibuprofen, and some chocolate. “Now come on movie time.”

You couldn’t resist smiling as she climbed into bed beside you, gently draping you over her lap.

“I’m getting thrown out for starting a fist fight the next time you play Bama.” Paige mutteres suddenly.

“Paige Madison! You will not!”

“Yes I will, that stupid shortstop deserves it!”

You roll your eyes, your girlfriend was sweet, but overprotective like a damned pitbull.

“No Paigey, no fighting.”

“Fine….”

You end up dozing off before her, but not before feeling her planting gentle “feel better kisses” over every one of your bruises. And that’s why you fall asleep smiling.

Enjoy! (Also I have many more of these if wanted)

-🦦

hi this is SO cute???? i love????

you did this so well im gagged asf

more more more

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven! Hope you're doing well, and I hope you had a great holiday, if you celebrate, that is.

I hate to clutter your ask box with something like this, and you don’t have to answer, you can just read this with an open mind, but I feel you're the only one I could go to with this without being straight-up attacked. It's also why I'm asking anonymously.

But, what's your stance on the whole war between the JP and EN versions of the game? I'm not asking you to pick a side or anything, I just wanna know your thoughts.

Obviously, I'm an EN player, and idk if you seen, but there's some hateful things out there about us, and honestly, it's hurtful and disheartening to every time I get up here. And it's always on this we as players can't control. Mainly the dialog translations and it's changes.

I've seen people calling us dumb and weak, saying we water down everything because we can't take it, etc. I've seen people saying we don't know how to really correctly and analyze characters and that we're not even playing the same game. They say we've ruined the game, the fandom, and that they wished it was never localized. I've also seen quite horrible things, but I don’t wanna repeat the things said, but yeah.

And the kicker is, it's only the JP side I've seen post this stuff. I've seen more hate come from that side more than anything, and of course not all, like you. You're my fave btw.

So yeah, thoughts?

Hello, hello! ^^ I’m not really a super big celebration person but I’m hunkering down for a cozy hibernation this winter ❄️ I hope everyone had/will have a good 2023 holiday season~

Before I provide my response to the question posed in this ask, I want to make sure we're all on the same page for this discussion first:

Please be advised that my perspective is coming from that of someone who started off playing JP in March 2020 and then picked up EN when it came out in January 2022. I have played on both servers since their initial launches.

When I refer to TWST JP and EN fans in this post, I am only referring to the English speaking fans (as in, English speaking fans who play JP and English speaking fans who play EN).

For the sake of simplicity, I will be disregarding “hybrid” fans (English speaking fans who play both JP and EN) as a separate category and will lump them in with “JP” fans (English speaking fans who play JP). This is because I assume most mixed fans started off with JP and then adopted EN later on.

I am not talking about ALL English-speaking JP and/or EN fans here; I am only talking about the ones Anon described in their ask.

As the Anon said, I ask that you go into this post with an open mind; do not assume that I will bash JP and/or EN, take sides, defend or condone toxic attitudes, or that this post exists just to “stir the pot”. That is not the purpose of my response. The purpose is to have a meaningful and constructive discussion about TWST’s fandom culture, particularly as it pertains to English-speaking fans. I hope that in talking about this, we can better understand “the other side” (however you may personally define that) and work toward making the fandom space more welcoming for all.

Please read the entire post and think about your own choice of words before commenting and/or sending in an ask about this topic, should you choose to.

To the Anon that submitted this ask and to anyone else that plays EN and may have had similar thoughts: I’m sorry to hear about the negative experiences you’ve had in the TWST fandom. I hope that this post brings you some peace of mind, if not at least some catharsis for what you may be feeling.

Firstly, it’s important to understand the mindset of both JP and EN fans. As such, I will delve into the background and the development of each side. It is NOT meant to justify either side, but rather to inform you on how each perspective originated and grew to what it is today.

The animosity and opposition to an official English version of TWST has been present for a while. An English version of TWST has always been contentious, even long before the localization was announced. Some wanted it to happen for accessibility reasons (as some people find it tedious to hunt for translations) or were supportive of the idea because it means a larger fanbase and thus more potential to make friends or to discuss the game. Others were more apprehensive of the quality of a localization (as much tends to be cut or censored to make the content more palatable) and/or claimed that expanding the fanbase in such a way would bring in more “bad apples”.

When EN first came out, it did, in fact, expand the fanbase. However, many were quick to notice the many (and I do mean many) errors and short sightings present in it: frequent spelling and grammar mistakes in the game and on official social media posts, inconsistent phrasing, incorrect translations, game-breaking glitches, frequent censorship, half-hearted promotions, etc. EN also became infamous for its absolutely brutal pacing of content in the early days, particularly related to the limited story event schedules (including back-to-back Halloween events). This, in combination with EN’s constant pushing of paid gems (which occurs far more frequently than in the JP server) has left a bad taste in JP fans’ mouths. To them, TWST EN did not make a good first impression and continued to misstep again and again. This is especially true of the many dialogue changes to make the TWST localization more “culturally appropriate” (which is the definition of what a localization is; there is a reason why TWST is not called a translation, which would be a more accurate/“faithful” or direct translation of the dialogue).

The claim that “EN fans are weak/can’t handle the real story” likely arises from how EN has removed or altered details which may offend western audiences. This includes things like the term “master”, the mention of Azul’s weight, Kalim’s “30-40” siblings, etc. These are conscious decisions made on the part of the game localizers to make TWST more broadly appealing and appropriate for a western audience, where such topics are contentious or considered taboo. This is adapting TWST to a new culture so that it can (in a dry business sense) perform well. However, I also want to mention that some cultural changes EN made do significantly alter the story/characters (such as Jamil no longer stating his family will be on the streets if they defy the Asims; in EN he only says his parents will be mad at him), particularly if you are viewing through an EN-only lens. Unfortunately 😔 as much as I can point the nuances of localization out, there will always be fans who still oppose any sort of censorship. This is also true of the anime and manga community in general, and this post isn’t large enough in scope to tackle those issues. I only mention this here to help you, the reader, better understand the changes from Disney/Aniplex.

A lot of the original negative feelings that were there before EN was announced were then confirmed by the official release, and this strengthened the dislike of EN on the part of JP fans. These JP fans may then become hostile toward EN fans who defend the localization (whether or not they have the context of TWST JP) because, in the eyes of the JP fans, the localization is not as good as it could be. Ultimately, it seems like their intense feelings stem from passion for what they love and not wishing to see it “desecrated” rather than an actual hatred of fellow fans. JP fans are upset because they fear EN fans are not getting the full scope of the characters and a story they enjoy, and they want others to appreciate those aspects of TWST as well.

Of course 💦 the fact is that EN fans are not responsible for the localization. But EN is there and that is what is the easiest and the most time efficient for English-speaking audiences, so most people will go with that rather than alternatives (ie hunting down fan translations). The issue is that some JP fans conflate simply consuming the localization as being bad or the “wrong” thing to do, and thus, by proxy, extend this frustration to EN fans themselves (especially those those are EN only and have zero prior knowledge of JP) and not just the product. Again, this is because they tend to see JP as the “full” version, without the changes or censorship present in EN. This inevitably leads to discrepancies in understanding between JP and EN, whether due to staggered release of new content or how the characters are presented differently between the two servers. To those who say “the versions are basically the same except for minor changes”, I disagree. There are several dialogue changes that appear small in isolation, but because TWST’s narrative is told primarily via dialogue, those “small” changes are actually very large and can drastically modify how one perceives a character or situation without explicit knowledge of JP to balance it out. When Jamil is made an “employee” rather than a “servant” and worries about his parents being mad at him instead of his entire family literally being on the streets for defying the Asims, it takes away the bite from his motivations. When Cater inserts a #WOW that wasn’t there in JP while Riddle is breaking down sobbing, or makes him come off as far more insensitive than emotionally aware. These are just a few examples, but they are very prominent ones that can change how an EN only fan sees things. The idea that “we aren’t even playing the same game” can ring true to some JP players because of this.

It cannot be helped that EN fans would interpret the characters and stories differently when the localization is their only or primary source of TWST content. Not everyone has the time or the desire to look for more accurate fan translations (not all fan translations are the same quality), as some JP fans have suggested. If EN fans want to, that’s great! It’s nice to expand one’s knowledge and to be cognizant of the changes between the versions. There are many blogs out there dedicated to educating people on these matters, and many EN and JP fans alike flocking there to be informed. But that level of engagement shouldn’t be demanded of anyone. To deem those that don’t engage in “further research” as “lazy”, “dumb”, or a “fake fan” is not acceptable, not in the name of love or otherwise. The expectation to “do homework” only puts pressure on EN fans to be a certain way or else be rejected by the fandom, and that only breeds more hatred and negativity. It makes EN fans feel “not worthy” of being a fan unless they study up, when the truth of the matter is that no matter how much we like TWST, it’s… media at the end of the day. People are free to consume their choice of media however they like, and that includes casually or at their own pace. It’s not fun to be in a fandom where others are breathing down your neck and policing everything you do, especially since these spaces are meant to be a temporary escape from reality. If JP fans meant to gatekeep in an effort to make others recognize the “real” greatness of TWST, then it’s failing because this kind of attitude only serves to drive new fans away.

Among EN fans, there is this idea that “JP fans are stuck-up”. I can understand where this thinking comes from, as I have witnessed hatred for EN myself which comes unprompted and has killed many conversations. Admittedly, some points are geared toward the company themselves (and those are valid), such as rushed and/or inaccurate translations or the pushing of paid gems, but I’ve also seen my fair share of nastier, invalid comments directed at EN fans. There are JP fans who actively hope that EN will shut down or who outright dismiss EN fans because of the version they play, thinking of their thoughts and opinions as “lesser” or doubting their media literacy skills. It’s true that this behavior is out there in the fandom, and that is unfortunately a sad reality.

That being said, JP on EN hate is not the only form I see, and nor is it the majority. It goes both ways (and I would say about equally for all, although this is just based on anecdotes and not objective data). There is plenty of JP on JP hate (particularly when someone spreads mistranslations around as though it were the truth) and EN on EN hate (arguments over what is and is not appropriate to ship, differences in headcanons, harassing fans that fall outside an “acceptable” age range, etc). There is also EN on JP hate which feeds into a dangerous back-and-forth with JP on EN hate. I briefly mentioned before that EN fans tend to believe JP fans are elitist, and this leads to assumptions being made about anyone that critiques EN and sometimes lashing out about it. I myself have previously been accused of “hating” EN because I often make posts commenting on the changes made between EN and JP (which ones I think work and which I think don’t). This preemptively defensive behavior drives another wedge between JP and EN fans, making JP fans reluctant to engage with EN fans, which then fuels the belief that JP fans think they’re “better” than EN fans (when really, some JP fans may be intentionally distancing themselves for their own wellbeing). Additionally, a lot of behavior deemed more acceptable in western oriented fandom spaces (such as moral justifications, taking pictures without crediting, callouts of other fans, and incorrect use of fandom tags) are not so for JP spaces (or those familiar with JP spaces). There have also been times when EN fans harass the actual Japanese-speaking side of the fandom (be it Japanese fans or the devs themselves) and demand (not ask, but demand) content that caters to them or free translations of fan comics they make. When EN fans fail to observe such “basic fandom etiquette”, it leads to JP fans thinking them rude or entitled, which makes JP fans reluctant to interact with EN fans and, again, feeds into confirmation bias. It’s a viscous system.

What is “ruining” the fandom is not just one side. There has always been turmoil present in fandom spaces. It just appears more visible now that TWST’s popularity has grown to this scale. Right now, both sides (JP and EN) are antagonizing each other because of a loud minority that’s attacking the other side. That minority then gets extrapolated and assumed to be behavior of the entirety of the other side, and that is what keeps the hate going.

If I’m being entirely honest 😔 I don’t think these tensions will realistically ever die out; the fandom is too large to “stomp out” what has already been established in its culture. When both sides are fueled by something so strong—a passion for TWST—it’s hard to seek out and/or to consider alternative perspectives. We become fixated on their own negative experiences and fail to think about where the “others” maybe be coming from, and then close ourselves off from discussion. That promotes isolation and contempt rather than friendliness and cooperation.

If we want change, then it starts at an individual level and in smaller TWST communities. We shouldn’t assume the worst of “JP” or “EN” fans; we are all TWST fans. Let’s keep open-minded and welcome other fans and their diverse schools of thought. And if you don’t feel comfortable with that, that’s also fine! You’re allow to keep a distance and curate your online space as you like; just please don’t go out of your way to disparage others, you have your own lane and others have theirs. Don’t encroach on other lanes.

Maybe we don’t necessarily agree with each other or we think may hold different opinions—but that’s good, isn’t it? The freedom of thought and the open exchange of ideas promotes flexible thinking and can lead you to see things from a new angle, or perhaps develop a new idea of your own. If we all thought the same way, then life becomes boring or it can cultivate an “us versus them” narrative that sparks online wars.

Let me put it this way to close off the post: isn’t this the message that Twisted Wonderland itself is trying to teach us? The true value of attending Night Raven College isn’t just about receiving a good education. Countless times it has been stressed to us (and often by Lilia, the oldest and wisest of the core cast, someone who used to be resistant to opening up to outsiders) that it is vital to understand other people in spite of how different we may be. Let’s take a page out of the students’ book and try to live up to that ^^

[fefairys]

it is so tricky recommending people read the homestuck author annotations because on the one hand there is a lot of really genuinely insightful stuff in there that helps you perhaps peer into the intent and the process behind some of the choices. but on the other hand sometimes hussie likes to get ironic and satirical with little signaling of when that is happening. sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between when they’re being serious and when they’re just being obtuse and bullshitting or just making a stupid joke.

i saw someone tag one of the quotes i shared as “wow i’ve never seen hussie criticize vriska before” no no he does it all the time! but the thing is they OFTEN do it in a backwards way where they state something bad vriska did and then commend her for it. like. as a “joke”. this is especially true when tavros is in the picture, where they will also bash tavros for being a loser and “deserving” what vriska does to him. in *my* view, this is all satire, making fun of the way some overzealous vriska stans feel on the matter. they like vriska as character, and then they fall into the trap of looking past her transgressions and putting her on a pedestal and therefore putting tavros on a like… reverse pedestal where he sucks and is the worst for no reason. and hussie likes playing into this in the annotations.

but a lot of times, when tavros isn’t on screen and it is say, vriska and terezi, or vriska and john, hussie will actually get real for a second and drop the act and actually talk about how fucked up vriska is.

hussie doesn’t like vriska because they literally excuse her actions, they like vriska because she drives the story and stirs controversy among both the characters and the fans. that’s also why they like to pretend to excuse and even support her actions: it’s controversial. they love to get a rise out of people. but they state this in the notes CONSTANTLY that vriska is their favorite because of the controversy she creates.

this is also how hussie tends to talk about themselves in the notes. they state a writing choice that was maybe awkward or not well thought out and then bend over backwards to justify it and say how great they are, actually, for making that choice. “and you’re stupid if you thought it was a bad choice btw. i am always right.” like come on. that’s funny. they don’t actually believe that, they’re being FUNNY about writing decisions that they second-guess in retrospect.

another thing that makes it hard to recommend the homestuck author notes is the incest jokes.

but looking past that, the annotations genuinely offer a lot of insight about certain narrative and character choices and are, on a whole, a very good and interesting read. you just have to be prepared for ableist “jokes” and weird comments about incest :/

[radiosummons]

Maybe I'm the dumb one or whatever, but ... I like Anakin because he's the worst.

I know some of y'all really love him for reasons and for some of you those reasons mostly just involve doing a bunch of insane mental gymnastics to somehow "justify" his heinous af choices (i.e. trying to blame the Jedi for literally every dumb little thing he did, but whatever).

But, guys ... come the fuck on. The reason Anakin's such a great character (please note I said *character,* not a *person*) is because he's a selfish piece of shit that ruined the lives of everyone he loved and then made the entire galaxy suffer for his mistakes.

My guy, that is tragedy and hubris at its fucking finest. That is some A-grade quality shit right there.

I'm really starting to doubt if some of y'all have ever read/experienced a piece of media where the main character isn't a paragon of all things good and moral. You don't have to flip over backwards to justify liking a villain.

Personally, I never want Anakin to change. I want him to keep making shit choices, I want him to keep hurting people and being a selfish butthurt dictator prick. I like that he's a piece of shit that abused the trust that his loved ones put in him because it fucking hurts to see him become the monster he is.

It hurts to see a character you care so much about actively making the choice to turn themselves into their absolute worst. It's downright heartbreaking to see them hurt their loved ones and it's all the more tragic when their love transforms into selfish obsession and possession.

Yes, Palpatine did manipulate Anakin. BUT-Anakin still made the choice to kill Mace, to burn down the Jedi Temple, to rob the 501st of their autonomy (something a former slave should never have been okay with btw), forced his men to participate in killing fucking children, killed his own wife and endangered the lives of his own unborn children, attacked and attempted to kill his brother/father figure, and then continued to subjugate and destroy the lives of millions, if not outright billions for nearly two whole decades.

(He also tortured his son and daughter, their friends, their allies, etc. And like ... maimed his own son 'cause like why the fuck not? Fuck, I haven't even gone into detail about the absolute horror he put Obi-wan and Ahsoka through. Fuck me).

Anakin is the worst. And he's an amazing character. Both of these facts can exist at the same time.

Tldr: y'all are really out here acting like Anakin wasn't a big boy who didn't make big boy choices. Let him be a prick.

[bonefall]

Hi Bones!! Thank you for you hard work on this project and for sharing it with us!

I've seen your posts about weird representation of society (regarding the "natural order of things") in xenofiction, especially in lion king, so I wanted to ask:

could you recommend any xenofiction media that has all (or most of the) animal species sapient? Or is the only solution to make just one or two species sapient while the others (especially prey) are plain animals?

Really sorry if you've seen this ask from me before - my account had a weird laggy period when I couldn't send or receive messages and asks, so I don't know if you got the previous one! I just know that now it's fixed so I double all the asks sent haha

Honestly I'm not totally sure! If any 3rd person has some good recommendations for "every being is alive" xenofiction types, feel free to weigh in.

If you want to jump in with me though, I am following the webcomic Africa. It updates every Wednesday. Africa is about a mother Leopard on the verge of a great ecological disaster, the relationship between her children and the animals around her, and the strength of both instinct and choice as the characters face an uncertain future.

Since it's ongoing, I still don't know how it's going to end and can't judge it as a full work! But it's absolutely fascinating and I think the author is doing a fantastic job so far. Bonus points for the way it portrays humans, btw.

No more spoilers though, if you're interested, it's on Webtoons.

(I'm also planning to read Oren's Forge soon. Ask me about it again in a few months over on Bonebabbles and I'll give you my thoughts)

As an aside though, funny you mention it because like... ever since I was a kid I've had a story I want to tell with the premise. It's a scintilla I've kept close to me for well over a decade but haven't done anything official with. So this is actually a theme I've thought about a lot.

It's rare to see it done well though because like... its very premise butts heads with reality. The "natural order" that an animal follows is not something it moralizes. A tiger doesn't have the capacity to think about how fucked up it is to kill to stay alive, the deer doesn't know that if its population isn't controlled it will destroy the forest.

They're animals. They don't HAVE that agency. Your dog does not care about being sterilized. A snake doesn't differentiate between a pinky and an adult mouse except in terms of if it will fit in its mouth. But the minute you put human morality in there... they have the ability to reason, create and agree on the rules of a society, make choices about MORALITY.

If nothing is going to change about their world, you just end up putting human arguments about "natural order" in their mouths and, well... start telling a parable justifying this "natural order."

(Genuine) Does what I'm saying make sense? Animals DON'T rationalize or negotiate. HUMANS do.

So the minute you're approaching a world with that logic, like it or not, you are invoking those "arguments from nature." And you're putting them in a being that is not fully an animal or a human, but an anthropomorphic mix which CAN rationalize but WON'T make an effort to change their world.

(Which is why tbh the best examples i know of are works with a theme of "change.")

OH WAIT I also remember another that's interesting!! Leafy: Hen into the Wild actually has a fascinating take on it. It's not interested in "moralizing" or really being about an animal society. It's a very emotional sort of movie, and it's about joys in adversity, the freedom that choice gives you, how bad things are going to happen and you can never completely prevent them.

INTENSE movie emotionally, the ending will wreck you (especially in the English translation which leaves out a really important theme making it feel abrupt x_x) but it's really good. Check that one out.

OH and also You Are Umasou. That one has more pitfalls imo (it does try to moralize a bit) but it's super unique as a movie. And is about dinosaurs.

[snapscube]

hihihi ok. so i’m in my last of us fixation mode and i’m being extra silly about it but i NEED to know what’s ur current opinion on the last of us hbo?? also i logged onto tumblr and saw a lot of rly good points defending joel’s final choice and i remember during the last of us pt1 playthrough u had differing opinions so i wonder if u think the show’s differences affect that at all? btw i LOVE ur stuff and cannot wait until u do last of us pt 2 wehehehehe!!! anyway besides all that i just want u to know that u are one of the things in my life that makes it easier to get up in the morning

I still feel exactly the same about the final events as I always have! The show didn't change it for me, and actually being able to remove myself from being in control of the situation in the game and actually just watch the events play out in show format solidified that further. The connection I have to Joel as a player when I play the game really helps me understand his perspective more and stomach the goal a bit more easily, but without that immediate intimacy it puts into perspective for me how kinda monstrous the whole thing is from every angle. Obviously I don't ever lose that sympathy for him, and I never stop understanding why, because the whole point of the conflict is that no one is in the right. Ultimately I think the damning thing for every single person involved is that they removed Ellie's agency from the equation, and I still stand by that. They all should have talked to her. They should have told her the truth. All she wants is for her immunity to matter, and I believe that they may have been surprised at the lengths she's willing to go in order to make a difference, whether it's ultimately the right call or not.

I don't know what arguments you've seen exactly in defense of Joel's choice, but personally I don't really agree with one I see a lot and I'd expect will pop up again now that the show is over, which is the whole "well who's to say a vaccine would have worked anyway?????" angle. I think, while reasonable from a meta standpoint, completely ignores the intended framing of the story in order to more conveniently justify a protagonist that the story through its entire runtime is trying to tell you is a little bit of a piece of shit. It's pretty clear and safe to assume that the ultimate intent here is that... yes, the vaccine WOULD have worked. Maybe not in the sweeping way they hoped, but Ellie's sacrifice absolutely would have done something. The whole moral dilemma of the situation really does not make any sense unless you give them that as fact imo.

So then, assuming that is true, you have to wrestle with the idea that Joel is willing to take down the entirety of humanity for Ellie. And not really for Ellie, because none of this is what Ellie wanted. The game AND the show QUITE LITERALLY SPELL OUT for us that Ellie really really really does not want to go back to Jackson without finishing what they started, regardless of the cost. Joel's reasons for saving Ellie, while understandable, are ultimately selfish and rooted in his own trauma and having just seen the light at the end of his grieving over Sarah. Again, incredibly sympathetic, but it's selfish. I know we like to joke as much, but Ellie IS NOT his daughter. They share a similar bond after everything they go through, but by the end of the game you can already feel Ellie pulling away from that notion because she's starting to realize Joel doesn't have the same commitment to the idea of her immunity being meaningful as she does, they're only a few miles away and he's already asking her to give up and go back to Jackson with him.

Then, of course, I think what ultimately damns Joel in my eyes on a poetic/storytelling level is his decision to lie to Ellie after it's all over. That's the nail in the coffin for me. It would be one thing if he said "they were going to kill you on that operating table without even telling you what was going on and I couldn't let them do that", but instead he lies to her to make sure she's still able to see him as the father he desperately wants to be again. It doesn't change anything. He tells her her worst fear has come to pass: her immunity, this unexplainable thing that has taken so many of her loved ones from her, is completely useless. Not only that, but now even more people are dead. Including Marlene, who's known her since birth. The only thing his lie changes is the fact that he's responsible for it all.

Anyway, part of what I love most about The Last of Us Part II is how it follows up on these threads and you may be pleased to know that I actually just started streaming the game last night after the HBO finale premiered cause I was so pumped up I couldn't wait any longer haha. So you'll be seeing VODs for that soon :)

[the-badger-mole]

The Villain and Hero Switch...🙄

On my Maleficent salt again. If anyone ever wants help understanding my hesitance to give live action remakes a shot, look no further. I honestly did want to like the movie at first, but them just taking the story and switching the villain and non-villain roles felt like a cheap cop out.

The fairies thing really pissed me off. In the first film, they were immortal magical beings who had trouble doing things the mortal way. Did that make them imperfect guardians? Sure! But they did their best successfully for just under SIXTEEN YEARS. Then the curse caught up with them, because of course it did. It had to. There wouldn't be a story otherwise. That wasn't a good enough reason to make them criminally negligent in the live action version in order to make Maleficent look like a hero by comparison. I love the fairies from the original movie. They made mistakes, yes, but all good heroes do. AND they SAVED THE DAY!!! Phillip would've frikin died without them, and so would've Aurora!

...huh...I think I'm realizing that maybe my hesitance to give remakes, live action or otherwise, of my animated faves might have a root cause...

Anyway, I do understand that adaptations should change some things in order to justify their existence. After all, a shot for shot remake is also lazy and boring. However, a lot of the time, the remakes just make lazy choices. Like Maleficent being turned into a thinly veiled date-rape allegory and switching the hero and villain roles instead of...I don't know... giving Maleficent a deeper motive for her villainy besides being snubbed for a party invite while still letting her be the fabulous villain we all love. Or instead of focusing on Maleficent at all, they could have focused on giving Aurora more of a story. Maybe showing us how out of place she felt growing up, and what finding out who her real parents are meant to her. Also expanding on her relationship with her "aunts". Have the fairies learning to be mortal a more pivotal part of their experience. Making Maleficent a hero at the expense of villainizing King Stephen, making Queen Leah even less of a character, and Flanderizing the fairies feels...well, lazy. Aurora was one of the few Disney Princesses with two loving parents. Why remove that distinction instead of expanding on their story? They had to give up their only child in order to save her life. Not only is there conflict for them as her parents, there's conflict for them as monarchs. I think a good writer could have made that a compelling story. But no...they just had to make King Stephen evil, for...reasons...

Look, it's not even like I'm against taking the villain of an original story and turning them into the hero. I just want there to be a good reason for it. For example, I love the story of Wicked. I think making Elphaba the hero worked really well, because in the original movie (I didn't actually read the books...sorry. But in my defense, I feel like most Wicked/Wizard of Oz fans probably haven't either? We're all Judy Garland trash) In the original movie the titular Wizard is enough of a morally grey character that you could argue that he could have been a villain actually, and the Wicked Witch of the West was such a one dimensional character that you could take her in so many directions and keep her recognizable (btw, I'm not saying it's bad the 3W is one dimensional. It worked for the story, but it gave the fanfics author something to build on). Also, I feel like Wicked the novel doesn't remove all the moral greyness from Elphaba's character, and it makes her interesting. There's a story to tell there! I can dig it! It's when adaptations completely switch the role of hero and villain so completely and abruptly that I get annoyed.

What they did was less a retelling than making up a completely different story altogether. Stephan and Leah were minor characters in the original story, yes. But they could've remained loving parents to Aurora, and Maleficent could've remained the villain and still been part of a great, expanded story.

Then maybe Maleficent could've still turned into a dragon instead of giving her stupid pet bird that moment.

[mikeellee]

Let's talk more about Kudou - the fucking idiot commander - who's bright idea to save Japan in THE LAST OFA USER is to Kamikaze himself and sacrifice OFA to Shig?

...Ummm what? Am I meant to buy this guy commanded anyone?! 🤣😂🤣

He must have killed his whole squadron then if his plans are normally this level of idiocy.

All this realistically would do is power up Shig even more to make him UNSTOPPABLE and in the process doom both Izuku with Japan as a whole.

Hi @doodlegirl1998

Ok, first let´s all agree here Hori just wants to end this damn manga. So before I go into detail about this shit show, let´s talk about one good thing he did: He was nice to Yoichi. No, there was no gain for Kudou to be nice to Yoichi he did bc yes...granted maybe Kudou was bad to Yoichi in some form and we didn´t see, however, he can´t match AFO. He didn´t even know about ofa so him saving Yoichi was selfless.

That is his only good trait. He was nice to Izu 2.0

Now, let´s shit on this moron: He held a grudge against Izu for no reason, and some people TRY to justify "Ah ha DFO" which first off, Kudou was killed 200 years ago...how HE would know IZU IS AFO´S SON? Which btw, Izu is not AFO´s son and makes the whole justification lame ...this fandom will go beyond to protect any Bakugou, hm?

This MF wanted to buff with a kid who is fighting something WAY beyond his pay raise. Never mind how this MF refuses to work with the only hope to end AFO...for reasons (even if DFO became real, I don´t think his defenders realize how this makes him pathetic "He is fighting with a kid who has no idea of who is his father" like, my guy, Kudou and BRUCE is being incredibly stupid by beffing with Izu, regardless if afo is his dad or not. Again, fandom stop trying to defend this bozo)

It´s so unfair Izu to be saddled with the second coming of BK. Look, while BK may not be related to Kudou bc "AFO MURDER HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AND ALL WOMEN KUDOU EVEN SAID HI" I do think they are related spiritually, which honestly? This makes it worse.

Now, why Kudou start a revolution against AFO? The fandom preaches "EVIL EMPIRE" But no one ever talked about it, which if his empire was SO EVIL...I think we could see echoes of it. NOPE. All we see is AFO killing people (BAD, let me make clear it´s bad)but most of his killings seem to be out of the moment. Like, I know people want to see AFO like this smart and manipulative asshole "I killed this random Joe to further my ultimate goal" when in the canon is more like "LOL I´M EVIL"

Like we see AFO in a penthouse, for sure he killed people to get the penthouse, but while IS BAD, could this action result in LE REVOLUTION? Like, imagine if Kudou is rich and AFO random killed makes Kudou lose his money it´s a fair reason to hate him...but KUDOU HAS AN ARMY. Why do people follow him? Did AFO kill their loved ones and or steal money?

Hori: BK is the best in all forms.

Kudou didn´t get a single win! He was murdered by AFO, couldn´t protect Yoichi...and FOR SURE PEOPLE WERE MURDER UNDER HIS COMMANDER.

Now, his plan is to give his quirk to SHIG...Bc OFA has all suicidals morons (Nana included, sorry) and Izu is saddled with this(a choice Hori made, remember Chapter 1?) that wants to Kamizake, don´t forget En wanted to be the sacrifice bc Smokescreen is a useless quirk (I agree, hence why in my fic I want to change his quirk, I feel a smokescreen is smth Mei could create with her gadget)

The idea is to fight Shig inside Shig...So Izu, rip your shirt sexily and look like a demon...you will have sex now!

Bc apparently Shig has a hate feeding him, literally. He has a lump on his head...(Star is touched by Baby Tenko´s sadness...I mean, she doesn´t know Shig is Tenko so this makes sense) This makes me think of cancer or tumor....and Izu needs to fight Shig inside Shig...All this is based on a moron´s plan who has no INFO TO BASE THIS DECISION.

Remember when Izu analyzed quirks, he stopped bc IT WAS CREEPY (insert bemused emoji) and now we have Bk3 doing this, and Izu going ok with this. HE IS GIVING UP HIS QUIRK BC BK3 SAID SO (this is equally bad if Izu had given ofa to Bk)

I made jokes on the server about Izu and Shig having sex...but I still hate the chapter.

Also demon!Izu looks like Tanjirou from Demon Slayer.

[y3kdollz]

Where can I find a dark MC dark Sebastian corruption arc falling into darkness and madness together type Bonnie and Clyde fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Art by Nipuni source: twitter @Doloplokos_)

Spoiler alert ⚠️

Please ignore the following if you haven’t finish the game.

I’m totally having this endless brain rot ever since beating the game because I chose the “evil ending” for my MC and didn’t get the satisfaction to see her actually turning dark.

There are so much potential left unexplored. Like digging deeper into all the situations the MC been thru with Sebastian it’s so clear that they care for each other deeply but also there are always more complicated motives and power dynamics going on. Through out all the choices we got with Sebastian the MC is actually the manipulator ( like if you want to get Sebastian to teach you dark arts you choose to say things that he would want to hear) and inevitably becomes the enabler In Sebastian’s path to darkness.

This is also the reason why i didn’t choose to turn Sebastian in because it just wouldn’t make sense and would make the MC a double standard hypocrite since the MC had used the unforgivable curses in numerous occasions and I find it hard to justify. Or the MC is just purely evil by putting Sebastian in Azkaban after he provides no value to the MC anymore since all the unforgivable curses are taught. Anyway I might have just been over analyzing and making it too complex for a game. But just saying the MC definitely would not have the moral high ground here and it would be interesting to see if the MC has the ambition and plan to rise to power in the Wizarding world (since ancient magic wielding abilities alone is so OP already)and what part would Sebastian play in the future.

Btw I don’t even think that the MC would necessarily be a Slytherin to turn dark per say. I think in this specific plot line of Hogwarts Legacy it would be interesting to have a ravenclaw turning “evil” if you consider that Isidora is a ravenclaw and how the MC could share a lot of similarities with her: unmatched talent and magical power, intelligence and empathetic personality etc. and also it would be so cool to see a mastermind who is not becoming “dark” to just gain power but self-perceived as doing good for others. Totally make sense honestly and every house actually has the potential to turn dark.

[dangermousie]

Farscape rewatch: 2x05 The Way We Weren’t

One of the best eps and so wonderfully Aeryn-centric.

If I didn’t love Pilot already. I would have fallen in love with him after this ep. The scene where he says ‘but I so desperately wanted to see the stars’ to justify to himself his prior course of action, really breaks my heart. You know, one of the biggest reasons I wouldn’t try Farscape for years, not until S4 in fact, was the ‘muppets.’ No way could I watch a scifi show with puppets. But that’s the thing. I forget Rygel and Pilot are puppets. They are complicated characters, like the rest and their arcs and their emotional heft is no less than that of human characters.

Another thing that I was thinking about with this ep, is how Farscapian. There are no true innocents here. Not really. Farscapian universe won’t let them be. Anyone who starts out innocent is forced to lose it, sooner or later. Crichton and Pilot are both innocents we see lose it. Pilot’s actions led to the death of the previous Pilot, he compromised to serve Peacekeepers. Crichton started the show out as a wide-eyed idealistic pacifist and look what he became end of S4, strapping a nuclear bomb on himself, offering the Universe to Scorpius for a mere chance to get Aeryn back. Pretty much everyone has some breaking point, some driving obsession that can override morality (I mean, Pilot wanted to fly badly enough he agreed to work for evil, in s4 John promises to give wormholes to Scorpius and thus bring war and destruction to untold innocents, to save Aeryn.)

No one starts out evil, or damaged, or guilty in FS. Even Scorpius, much as I loathe him, we really find out later what made him who he became. But (and that is why I love Farscape), not only does the show stick to “an explanation is not an excuse” belief, but there is always a possibility of grace. Of moving on, damaged and tarnished, and making new happiness and actively trying to find peace and goodness. Aeryn gets a chance to rediscover herself away from the brutality of PKs. She gets a chance to be a full-fledged human being (but also how much do I love that her deadliness does not diminish one bit.) Pilot gets the bond with Moya. Crichton, messed up beyond any recognition by the end, gets a chance at family, peace, and rediscovering innocence through his child.

So much of this ep is about choices and past and that’s another thing I love about the show. It’s not big on ‘fate.’ Aeryn and Crichton is my huge, huge, unrivaled OTP but they are not ‘destined,’ ‘fated,’ or any of that junk. They met at the time there was a possibility and their relationships developed from there. If Crichton did propose to Alex and she accepted and they stayed on Earth, I can see him being happy. He’d never have hit his full potential for feeling (or for suffering) but he would have been a happy guy. And for Aeryn, the moment was right. She loved Velorek but she couldn’t really allow herself to express it or to feel it fully, in PK society. Ironically, it’s her experience with Velorek, combined with her experience with her mother telling her she is special, that was that little push that prompted her to take to Crichton’s words of ‘you can be more’ in the Premiere. It’s actually so interesting to me btw that Aeryn has a type - techie with a core of steel but a soft soul and someone willing to buck all norms for what he thinks is right (Velorek, even Larraq to a degree) and John is basically the apotheosis of the type, but that Aeryn is so far from John’s default type prior to her - blond, easy going, chill. 

I really love the scene where he comforts her after she’s had an exercise session and her hands are raw from the punching bag. He just holds her, as she cries. And she cries messily, unprettily, very real. 

I love that so consistently, no matter how deadly he gets, he is the soft one in the relationship, the emotionally more open one, the one who wants to talk. She started out as a machine and discovers the beauty of vulnerability and humanity as the show progresses and he starts out as a vulnerable soft sweetheart who has to armor himself to survive - being with him restores to her, oh so gradually, the humanity that he society stole from her but later on having her is what keeps in him the humanity that is being so brutally and thoroughly ripped from him. He restores her soul and she restores him after the universe does its best to destroy that in them. They meet somewhere in the scarred middle and the equality of it is beautiful. (But also, achieving their full potential is riven with loss - John would have never shown all this drive and devotion and capability as a scientist on earth but he would have also not been tortured and driven to madness; Aeryn paid for her soul by loss of everything she knew.)

And that shot of them sitting across the PK symbol from each other, as she quietly tells him about the past, and they are not touching (I love that he knows it’s not the time for cuddling, that she needs her space to collect herself) and it’s so symbolic: that red stripe between them.

One of my favorite quotes occurs there, actually:

It’s just the way they say it. Quiet.

This is a gender reversal in their relationship, isn’t it? She is the one who has problems opening up (Crichton is the only one she allows herself to be vulnerable with and it’s been a long hard process to earn it, for him). He is the one who comforts her, who wants her to talk.

He is the emotional one, the one with the heart like a carpet for her to walk on. She prefers action and it’s hard for her to navigate the emotional landscape. And yet, Crichton is never weak. He is never diminished because of caring, or being the emotional one. I like it.

I also love the attitude everyone has on discovering Aeryn has been aboard Moya before (which looks grey and dull, not the gorgeous colors of now). I love that the show doesn’t shy away either from confronting that no, she did have an ugly past, it’s not just the words, and the fact that ultimately what she is now wins over for her shipmates from what she was then. China is 100% on point when she asks did they all think she did nice things while the rest of Peacekeepers tortured and murdered; this is a question not just for the characters but for the audience - it would be so easy to sweep her past under the rug but the show won’t do so. And so Aeryn did horrible stuff and she has to live with it.

The thing with Velorek, the betrayal. I think the scene with her Mother when she was a child was so crucial for her actions post-Velorek. If she didn’t have that ‘differentness’ implanted, she could have become even more martinet like after Velorek. But instead, it gave her a sliver of an opening…And again. I love the show for going there - for giving Aeryn a horrific betrayal in her past - perpetrated by her to advance her career against a man who loved her and who she loved and who was doing something good - and showing she is not just a victim, she is a perpetrator and that if you live in a monstrous regime, are brainwashed by a monstrous regime, you have no chance but become a monster.

The grace and the hope is that when given a chance to take a new path she does (and it’s even more stark with Crais - who was many more times a monster but even he is shown to be warped by the regime and after enough time on his own he becomes if not good per se, then at least a real human being capable of doing good things.)

To get back to the Velorek thing - it is also such a theme that being good does not guarantee reward or a happy ending. There is no easy grace - Aeryn betrayed a good man, a man she loved (as much out of panic because she felt herself deviating from prescribed path as to get advancement - I don’t think she’d have become “more” even with her capability for it if her choice to return to default was not taken from her until she had some chance to reflect and transform, and that is so realistic, brainwashing and societal conditioning are pervasive) and he was executed and she has to live with it.

And how do I love that so much of this ep is turning defaults on their heads - from reminding us that Aeryn was a perpetrator not a victim but also with Velorek who first seems a peacekeeper psycho and then we realizes keeps his humanity as much as he can in that mad place. It’s like their sex scene where it starts and we assume he will try to rape her and then we watch and realize they are lovers, in love (and Aeryn is as always in charge, heee :P) and it basically screams at us - don’t go for easy defaults, look behind the assumptions.

Btw I love this show for allowing Aeryn romantic agency and history - she loved someone before John even if she was not ready to fully commit. And there is no jealousy in John, just a little wonder and just the fraughtness of discussing love with her.

Also - very true to the whole story that for Aeryn physical is easier than emotional and comes first (as Chiana points out to John in s3 because that girl gets relationships.) She is from a society where sex is easy and meaningless but emotions are terrifying and forbidden so of course. For her to admit that she loved Velorek shows how far she’s come; she’d have never been able to realize it in the peacekeepers (and the story of her mother in s3 shows how even people with capacity for love will eventually have it brutalized out of them so safest not to love, it’s self-preservation.)

Also, we see how far the characters have come from the pilot episode but also how far they have yet to go. Look at Zhaan here and yet less than a season later, she will give her life to bring Aeryn back, not just because of her love for John but because of Aeryn herself. (And also, the show is A+ for calling Zhaan out for hypocrisy but also the continuity was always so good!)

I could go on and on and on forever, but I’ll just mention two little things here. One is, I love the shot when Aeryn and John drop from the ceiling into Pilot’s den in unison. Two? The tag. First time I saw it, it killed me dead. When Aeryn and John are talking and she tells him that he reminded her of Velorek and he asks ‘And you say you loved that man?’ and they stare at each other and away with all the questions and answers they are afraid of saying, in their eyes. 

[petrow1tch]

Yeah so what are your thoughts on the dark ritual in DAO?

LOL ok so i'll try to give two (relatively short) answers, one is a gameplay one, and the other is how i justified in from the lore perspective with my HoF

(GAMEPLAY) The intro of the game where you gather the blood of darkspawn, yeah, the ritual of joining is shrouded in mystery, like "why we don't tell you what is the ritual? dont worry about it wink wink", so you think "hmm is there something wrong with it, what's up?"

So then you start the ritual and BAM you can die during it. One way or another. It feels like "damn ok i'm in it now, but i guess i can see why they kept it a secret, ok, now to play the game and be a hero". Suprises are seemingly over.

then BAM at the end of the game is another reveal that to kill the Archdemon you need to die with it, and, like, ok, it is a bit sudden to give that info to the player who already went through with the Landsmeet and had some plot expectations from it. It feels like a rug being swept from under your feet; and then BAM again here comes Morrigan and says "oh btw you can just not die, just let me have the baby", and, this whole part seems very rushed? Like, ok, there were supposed to be any stakes with choosing who's going to die to end the blight, and suddenly there isn't? (Thats if you're playing a male warden ofc, who can do so himself no matter who's he is in romance with, or you can try and force Alistair to sleep with Morrigan, which i'm not just a fan of. He's already eager to sacrifice himself if you say "i don't wanna die" to Riordan when he says you gotta die to kill AD so why would he agree to a ritual (that he doesn't benefit from) from an apostate (that he dislikes)? If you romance Alistair, then forcing him to sleep with Morrigan is the only choice you have to save your loved one and yourself, but again, would you force someone you love to cheat on you with a person he hates? For a ritual? That he would oppose?)

So, yeah, that whole "die to win" and dark ritual reveal was kinda badly executed IMO

now, to LORE part of why i actually don't mind using the dark ritual

People say that even from in-universe perspective it would be weird to agree to the ritual since the old god would technically still be alive and Morrigan is shady, but you know what? My HoF dgaf.

Now, let's take a look. My HoF is a male Cousland rogue, who was opposed to joining the Grey Wardens when Duncan arrived at the Highever, so that's the angle from which i'm basing my dark ritual choice. It'd be different for different origins methinks.

During Howe's massacre of the castle, Duncan presented the HoF with a "choice":

"Die here or i'll save you to conscript you into GW"

Now. I'm replaying DA2 currently, and this Duncan's offer very much reminds me of Arishok's "we give choice. they can choose to not accept qun and die or to accept the qun and live. #democracy"

So my HoF, who previously stated that he has no interest in joining Grey Wardens, feels very cheated by Duncan using HoF's life as a bargaining chip. It shouldn't have happened! First, Howe slaughtered his entire family, and now Duncan is using the moment to claim HoF's life for his own goal to add numbers to his "glorious murder-suicide" cult? That's fucked up. But HoF doesn't have much choice if he wants to live, so he accepts the offer, with main goal being survival to avenge his family and to live in spite of it all.

So, now we get to the joining, HoF meets Alistair, they gather the blood, meet Morrigan, and go back to the joining ritual. Suddenly HoF sees that you can die from the joining ritual, and from the Duncan also if you reject the joining ritual. what the fuck. Again, there's is no other choice than to accept the outcome that guarantees the bigger chance of survival. HoF goes through with the joining ritual, feeling even more disdain towards GWs.

Joining, Ostagar, saving by Flemeth. HoF and Alistair are the only GW survivors. This is where HoF was about to say "fuck it" and disappear, until Flemeth gathered his ass, after which he decided to wait with rush decisions.

While traveling with Morrigan and Alistair to Lothering, HoF had time to gather his thoughts. He learned that Alistair considered GWs to be his family, and HoF could relate to losing it all at one night, so his disdain towards GWs melted away a bit just for this one guy, who basically lived through the same experience as he did. HoF also found Morrigan interesting and could see reason in some of her actions and decisions, thus they started to form some sort of friendship.

While traveling with these two, HoF found to like Alistair not for just being someone with the same lived experience, but also for a person that he is. You could say it was love, but HoF knew that that couldn't happen, so the best he could do was to be a very good friend.

The longer they traveled, the more HoF understood Alistair's point of view on Wardens as a family, since the adventuring party themselves became some sort of found family to each other. Some of them may not like one another, but they still care for each other's well-being because at the very least, you need them to reach your own goals (committing the dark ritual; avenging the Cousland family; ending the Blight), and at best, they're the ones who you consider friend or even more.

So all this said, HoF found more and more reasons to stay alive, not anymore blinded by anger and revenge, but also for helping those he holds close to his heart. Ending the Blight transformed from being something that he was forced, almost ensalved to do, into something more of a favor for someone he loves.

After gathering all armies, HoF traveled to Denerim where he finally had the chance to kill Howe. He decided to kill everyone who ever associated themselves with Howe, anyone who ever helped him to kill Cousland's family. Be it conspirators, merchants, or even his kids. (Keeping true to his promise, HoF later killed Nathaniel immediately upon learning who he was)

At the Landsmeet, HoF was determined to help Alistair in avoiding the throne, as he wasn't as concerned with grand political scheme as he was with the Alistair's feelings. Thus Anora was made queen, Loghain was executed and Alistair happily gave up any and all rights he had to the royalty. Seemingly a happy end, now to just go to Redcliffe and slay a big evil dragon and the friend's errand is done? WRONG

HEY

GREY WARDEN

WE WANT YOU TO DIE SO FUCKING BAD

HoF and Alistair learn from Riordan that to kill an Archdemon, a warden must sacrifice himself, dying in the process.

He survived the slaughter of his family, he survived the joining, he survived the Fade, Deep Roads, ancient curses and armies of undead, just to die anyways? No. Not gonna happen. HoF will not die killing an Archdemon.

...

"I'll do it"

Facecrack of the fucking century. The man who was the only one HoF could relate to, the man who he considered his closest friend, the man he loved and went all this way for. Alistair says he will kill himself to slay the archdemon.

Without even a chance to say his word, HoF gets shut out by Riordan telling them to get ready for march to Denerim tomorrow. Coming out of the room, he is on the point of breaking apart between his will to live in spite of it all and his desire to save Alistair. There seems no other choice than to forfeit his life and sacrifice himself, that is until he happens on Morrigan in the middle of his room.

And now, now we have this picture of Morrigan suggesting HoF a dark ritual, which would save the chosen warden from untimely death and help Morrigan herself with her goal.

Of course HoF would agree to the ritual.

Of course HoF would help his friend who he had no reason to disagree with prior, fully knowing she has her secrets, but still considering her family

Of course HoF would do anything to save Alistair, whom he loves. Had he known about what it takes to kill an Archdemon, he'd force him to become a king, but alas, the "glorious murder-suicide" cult wouldn't tell all it's secrets neither to him, nor Alistair.

So HoF goes through with the ritual, and when the time comes, he leaves Alistair to defend the gates of the city, much to his surprise. HoF has one chance to do it right, and he cant afford to fuck it up even in the slightest. Doesn't matter what Alistair thinks of him, "how could the man who only yesterday refused to die to archdemon, suddnly leave me here to fight lesser battle, and go to face the dragon himself, without me". It is not important. What is important, is that HoF gonna save Alistair, and that HoF is gonna live in spite of it all.

so yeah lorewise i think dark ritual is pretty neat

[dolche-tejada]

Since the show put this eternal debate about the validity of Joel's decision back on track, I wanted to talk about it and explain why Joel was right. Note that I'm not talking about Joel's reasons so don't tell me "yes, but Joel wasn't thinking about that so...", that's not the issue. The issue is his decision in itself.

Btw, I specify here that I talk about the show but considering its fidelity to the games, my arguments also work concerning them.

So... let's take a look at Ellie. Firstly, she was unconscious at the time. There's just no way to justify that. Marlene or the fans who defend the Fireflies can speculate all they want about what Ellie would have wanted, the truth is that we fucking don't know. We know for sure that she wanted to help produce a cure, but at the time, no one knew that this would require opening her head and killing her.

If Marlene was so sure of what she's claiming here, she would have woken up Ellie to give her the choice. But she didn't because she knows it's bullshit she's saying to convince both Joel and herself.

I'm sure I'll be objected that in TLOU 2, Ellie blamed Joel for preventing her from dying on the operating table and that given the fidelity of the series to the games, this will surely be the case in the next season. Yeah but that's irrelevant too, it's not the same Ellie. In a few years, especially during adolescence, we change a lot.

Then, since we're talking about Ellie's consent, I would like to remind you that regardless of whether she was conscious or not, she's a 14 year old girl. I have the impression that too many people tend to forget that, no one at that age can make the decision to sacrifice their life with full knowledge of what they're giving up and with the maturity to think about it properly. Especially when the 14 year old girl in question is victim of survivor's guilt after having seen several of her close ones die.

For those who have trouble visualizing what I'm saying, I'll make an analogy : If an adult slept with a 14 year old and the latter justified herself to you by saying that she was consenting and that it was her choice, would you find this relevant ? Of course not, because almost everyone knows that there are decisions that children/teenagers can't consent to !

Now that was just about Ellie, but what about the cure ? Because in spite of all the utilitarian debates about whether or not Ellie needs to be killed for the greater good, we're forgetting one essential point : What proves that the Fireflies could have made a cure ? Because whether it's in the games or in the show, there's no real evidence of that. Even the Fireflies don't know anything about it, Marlene and the others directly assume that they will be able to create a vaccine from Ellie's Cordyceps even though they barely had time to do some tests on her while she was unconscious.

Hey you know what ? Even Marlene implicitly admits that they don't know about it : "Our doctor… he thinks that the Cordyceps in Ellie has grown with her since birth (…) He thinks it could be a cure, Joel."

They literally had no plan or certainties, they didn't even take the time to conduct any in-depth study of Ellie, of her blood for example to find a way to produce a vaccine without killing her. They just chose the easiest solution out of impulsivity without worrying for a single minute about the opinion and safety of the concerned one.

Whether it was for the greater good or not, all of Marlene's justifications are based on biased assumptions and intellectual dishonesty. Joel hurt many people and was wrong about a lot of things but certainly not about stopping reckless morons from butchering his 14 year old daughter.

[lovelymoira]

i think the funniest things about the naruto franchise is that both the "morally right" characters and "morally flawed" characters follow the same ideal: that the end justifies the means. there's practically no distinction between the two. characters such as itachi will go as far as to commit genocide for the village, naruto never doing anything he promises as long as his village maintains power, tobirama enforcing the idea of child soldiers through his establishment of the academy for the village (portrayed positively) while characters such as sasuke wanting vengeance through killing for reforming the village, fuguku wanting a coup détat to get rid of injustices against his people, madara/obito ready for wars upon wars so they can achieve peace (portrayed negatively). there are many more examples btw. both the positively and negatively depicted characters have an emphasis in the idea of sacrifice for a greater good, in their own terms. this is why every character in the franchise is inherently flawed. even characters such as sakura don't give a shit about morality as long as they continue supporting the people close to them. the end justifies the means thing is everywhere. thats why it really pisses me off when people paint certain characters such as SAY madara as v radical, or hashirama (lets not forget this man was ready to kill of people close to him for the village) as "right". essentially all these characters would do very crappy things inorder to make sense of their world. there is barely a distinction made between how good of a choice "morally right" characters make and "morally wrong" characters make because at the end of the day, the choice/action doesn't matter. the distinction is only found between if a character supports Konoha's government, or if they don't.

[stray-tori]

tangential link click thoughts - is it wrong to be selfish if you have (a) power?

S2 finale spoilers ||

So, initially I was kind of in the boat of "oh LG is directly going against LC's initial themes" and was thus convinced that the show will have to make him fail, or it would break its own themes.

I still stand by that somewhat, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like this tied into thoughts of privilege and existence that I've been struggling with myself.

I felt like I had to help people because I could, even though I didn't enjoy doing the work. So I quit eventually, because I dreaded going to the volunteer work. Was that selfish of me? Is it right to quit doing something good because it's "uncomfortable"? Clearly the people I'd be helping have far bigger worries than discomfort, after all.

And to bring this back to Link Click - Time travel plots are often quite selfish in nature, but (the ones I've seen) are usually with smaller casts where "how many lives they could save" isn't really a focus, unless you think about it yourself.

Link Click doesn't have that luxury by virtue of it initially focusing so much on other people's lives. So, why would LG get to have things he wants but others cannot?

I'm not blaming LG btw or saying this is bad writing by itself; just that if the SHOW sides with him on this, that would feel wrong or need proper writing around it.

But then again, if you replace time travel with something less supernatural... like, in a sense existence is always unfair and some will always have the power to resist bad circumstances more than others (through power, money, etc.) and if you CAN live the way you want, is it your duty to give up on that because others don't have the same choices / is it your duty to help others just because you're in the position to?

If the plot was about LG having stacks of money that he could pour into saving CXS, would that feel wrong too? You could say that most people don't have enough money to help everyone, but it's not even like their time travel doesn't cost anything, it costs their own time. So they also literally wouldn't even have the time to save everyone (not to mention the time-based fuckery this would lead to). So should they just help no one? Is it fair to help the people you're attached to but not others you could help?

"it's not your duty to help anyone" is no comfort to the people who suffer. Is that fair then? What about them?

It's entirely my own recent thoughts here, but I think that Link Click, if it wants to have its cake and eat it too (with the LG plot), would be equipped (or at least set up) to tackle these sorts of questions and themes.

For context, I don't think they'd have to justify this plot if their initial focus wasn't so broad and humane and about moving on, personally.

I hope this made sense ;-;