#I feel like it’s unnecessary even if it’s from the default

[quibbs126]

Actually you know what, I think I like this costume better than the default, I’m gonna try and pull for this so I can just use this

[hazeltongzhi]

thoughts on religion? I was raised in a christian household (lol big news from random tumblr user) and i fucking hate that my father uses the bible to "predict" the direction everything in the world is going to, and just general doom and gloom about anything and everything, I feel like my father is not the only one and this is a pretty big issue preventing people from trying to make a better society.

I'm athiestic by default but when someone tries to proselytize to me i become polytheistic.

anyway.

What's there more to say than religion, specifically organized religion, is the opium of the masses. Yet another tool at the bourgeoisie's disposal to mislead, misdirect, and channel revolutionary energy into the divine and supernatural. The bourgeoisie take everything from you and then tell you heaven is where you're dead. To many lost in religious dogma, it becomes unfalsifiable to them and indeed, religion is setup to be an unfalsifiable dogma. All criticisms can be hand waved away as divine intervention because it is, at it's roots, immaterial. But that's also not to say that religion can't play a progressive role. Far from it. Liberation theology exists and even in present and former socialist states, there have been intriguing interfaces between socialism and religion (see God Save the USSR for an example).

Marxism, being materialist, generally does not reconcile with religion. We recognize it as a social condition, meaning it is a reflection of the political-economical superstructure. One's material conditions change first before one's social conditions. What that means is that as the material conditions improve, more people find religion an unnecessary part of their life since there becomes less of a need to cope via. the supernatural and they gradually move away from it. Eventually it will be relegated to the status of personal morality (inherently immaterial) or even discarded entirely at which point one's social condition in the arena of religion matches their material condition. This is the process of change for social conditions.

[genericpuff]

Are there any things you like about LO? Or is it all shit to you. Personally, I think it could be a great storyline with the right execution, but a lot of the stuff and plot is unnecessary (I.e. Hades being thousands of years older than Kore and making characters fall in love with people they are racist/classist towards 😨😨)

Oh there are LOADS of things that I liked and still enjoy about LO despite all the shit I've thrown at it. I love love LOVE a lot of the older art-

Like, damn, that shit is so charming! I swear I had that Tower 4 panel as my phone background for like, 2 years LOL

Rachel had a really strong understanding of shape language, composition, color theory, and expressive linework in a way that was really appealing and unique at the time, but along the way it was just lost, undoubtedly due to her taking more of a backseat in the character art process and leaving it to her assistants.

That said, there's a lot of... not so charming, too.

I think, on the one hand, there's a lot to appreciate in the old art that shouldn't be rejected as we criticize this series. At the end of the day, as much as we riff on it, many of us did love this series at one point in time, so we shouldn't cringe at what it used to make us feel or pretend like we were ever above it when we were very much lost in it for ages before it went down the tubes.

But there is a lot to be said about the effects of rose-colored glasses, and how LO was never perfect. The reality is that much of Rachel's work is exemplified by the odd beautiful thing that sticks in our memories, but when we actually go back to relive those memories, we find they're all strung together by some not so beautiful stuff that makes us go 'wait what???'

Case in point, with LO we remember beautiful compositions like this:

But then within those same episodes we get:

And it's like oh. Yikes.

Aside from the art, there was also the SA plot as well as the Act of Wrath. The SA plot felt really special to me at the time because I was someone who was once in Persephone's shoes, being pressured into sex that I wasn't ready for but wasn't capable of saying no to. I can appreciate what Rachel was trying to do with that plot, but over time it became clear that she wasn't committed to seeing that plotline through and so I kind of just dropped my expectations for it entirely.

That said, it wasn't the SA plotline that set me off. I had good faith in that one still that it would be addressed eventually. It was the Act of Wrath plotline that did me in. The premise of it was totally my cup of tea in the way of "quirky character has a dark evil backstory!" which is shit that I absolutely LOVE, but then when the "twist" happened that Eris was the one to give her wrath, that was literally when I had my almost "canon event" moment of realizing "wait... I don't think Rachel knows what she's doing." And then it was just all downhill from there. The S2 finale sealed my fate LOL

All that said, as much as my brain is often defaulting to "ew! gross! bad!!!" in all honesty I do still appreciate what LO meant to be back when I still enjoyed it. It meant enough to me that I just couldn't let it the fuck go when it started to go downhill, so much so that I started making my own version of it! And that's something that sets it apart so much more from other comics I really don't like anymore (or comics I never liked to begin with) like Down to Earth, The Kiss Bet, Let's Play, etc. where I really can't even be bothered to think about them let alone talk about them to the extent I do about LO. I may be full of beans when it comes to LO, but I'd still rather be talking about it and all its failings and what it used to mean to me than about any of those other works. I loved it enough to still want it in my life and that's what Rekindled has accomplished for me.

[morhido]

I've been lost in the owl house sauce for about three years and as a result i've mentally compiled a list of the characters' speech patterns and body language. Then i realised i should probably do something with that information and decided to jot it all down :>>

This is just gonna be the hexsquad for now since my lists for other characters are fairly sparse but additions/requests are welcome! Mayhaps i'll add to it in the future sjdkshskj

(The 'other' category is for general quirks, or things that just didn't fit the other categories)

LUZ:

• Happy/excited: stamps feet with high knees, squeaks/makes high pitched sounds, makes fists and brings them to her chest/face

• Sad: will initially deny if she's upset, whether she fesses up is up to circumstance. Lowers her head, can become unresponsive, becomes tired, voice will generally remain quiet and flat even if something cheers her up, empathetic crier

• Stressed/overwhelmed: repeats phrases over ("no no no, you're belos, you're just belos!"), falls to her knees or puts on hood when overwhelmed, acts overly casual to compensate for her panicking ("yikes, my dude"), protective of others when in physical danger (usually holds amity's head). More comedically, can often make unnecessary/dramatic gestures (e.g. spinning, cartwheeling, flopping to the floor) when stressed

• Angry: gets louder, sometimes unwilling to hear the other person out, becomes very physical, loses volume control (often to her own detriment), sticks her elbows out to look more intimidating. More comedically, will sometimes make animal noises/gestures (e.g. hissing and clawing)

• Other: often prematurely assumes that people will react poorly to her ("she's gonna embarrass herself, i can't watch!" / "if amity sees this, she'll think i'm such a loser!" / "what if the palisman doesn't like me?"), can accidentally be inconsiderate of other people in favour of her impulse, resorts to violence quickly and generally doesn't try to make peace with adults, very easily becomes rambly with strong emotion and can repeat words and phrases, can become loud and panicky during combat if her goal is self-preservation but becomes much more focused if fighting with/protecting other people

WILLOW:

• Happy/excited: becomes very active and touchy, very straightforward, taps toes, will be oblivious if others are intimidated by her, voice pitches up when excited

• Sad: draws herself in, becomes quiet, looks down/closes her eyes, isolates herself, can become less responsive, talks to herself

• Stressed/overwhelmed: loses control of magic, covers hair, voice pitches up when extremely nervous, very rarely acts on impulse even when scared, high-pitched squeaks/screams when startled

• Angry: vines grow from the ground beneath her, shows vocal disdain for whatever is upsetting her, can become very sardonic ("you want me to give up? You want me to admit how stressed i am?"), can go from high and stern when upset ("you just met them, give them a chance!") to low and loud when fully angry ("what advice could you POSSIBLY give me??")

• Other: denial is default coping mechanism, very often does the gag of pretending to be intimidating and then doing something sweet/cute, will be oblivious to the other person's fear when this happens, love language is physical touch, makes her feelings known unless she's specifically not trying to upset people, can speak pretty formally ("enchanting!", "how dare you?"), talks to herself in second person when hyping herself up, takes offensive role in combat

AMITY:

• Happy/excited: voice can get louder, smiles with teeth when extremely excited, becomes more impulsive with what she says and does

• Sad: raises voice when trying to make a point, voice cracks, becomes quieter with remorse, remains very quiet and calm when comforting/confiding in someone else

• Stressed/overwhelmed: s1 amity would get extremely defensive if any vulnerability was exposed ("help? All you're doing is prying into your friends' lives!"), rambles when flustered, holds hem of skirt when she's nervous/doesn't know what to do, also generally moves hands a lot when nervous, attempts to leave situations that are upsetting her, high-pitched screams when startled (does this less throughout the series as she becomes more on-guard and impulsive)

• Angry: often gets louder and more animated (e.g. her trying to break out of the dome in clouds on the horizon), face turns red, pushes away the source of her anger, doesn't usually stay angry for long, moves her body forward (e.g. pointing, gesturing, or actually stepping forwards), will often stick her arms straight at her sides

• Other: generally uncomfortable leaving her comfort zone but extremely confident in fields that she already excels in, extremely accepting of change in other people, arguably the second most impulsive of the hexsquad (especially regarding luz's safety) and uses fire to solve a lot of her problems, will take control of a situation when she knows she's in the right ("you're gonna listen to me for once"), usually very perceptive to others' emotions

GUS:

• Happy/excited: draws fists up to face, big gestures (especially with hands/arms)

• Sad: self-blames/depricates ("yeah. It's all my fault"), curls up with his arms and head on his knees, usually very vocal about being upset with something, "you've done it again, augustus" (in the context of being tricked by someone), can remain in this state for a long time, draws in on himself but doesn't push other people away

• Stressed/overwhelmed: loses control of magic (finds it difficult to discern reality from illusions), often hides behind willow when scared, laughs/smiles nervously when anxious or flustered, can get tunnel vision on the thing that's upsetting him

• Angry: stays level-headed and doesn't often raise his voice, speech becomes more emphatic, can become snarkier ("hey belos, remember me?"), remains distant from the subject of his anger, usually stays in a stance

• Other: very eager to prove himself whenever he has the opportunity (love language is acts of service), most willing to resort to violence ("nobody's dying" "not with that attitude", usually in a joking manner), most annoyed by his friends' shenanigans but always willing to tag along, makes big gestures (especially when emphasising something), sometimes repeats phrases when feeling strong emotions ("gus? Nickname? HUMAN nickname?? GUS???" / "wait × 6, is this really what you wanna be doing with your life?")

HUNTER:

• Happy/excited: extremely animated with his hands, voice gets louder, becomes very confident. Is very playful and arrogant when in golden guard mode and will usually try to show off or start relying on empty threats

• Sad: voice goes quiet and airy, voice cracks, can become raspier

• Stressed/overwhelmed: doesn't like to be touched when upset, is overwhelmed by affection and will often start crying, goes silent and dissociates when processing upsetting information, voice cracks, becomes extremely snappy and irritable from long-term stress, freezes under pressure, draws in on himself when panicking, goes silent when flustered

• Angry: becomes grumpy when things don't go his way, is extremely animated and expressive when actually angry, can become sardonic, raises voice, makes small movements (e.g. shaking leg or pacing small area). As golden guard, would try to physically intimidate the other person (e.g. looming over or walking towards them)

• Other: doesn't tend to self-blame and will either pass the fault onto someone else ("you got us trapped in the emperor's mind!"), or acknowledge when someone else was in the wrong ("you were tricked. That's what belos does, he tricks people"). Almost never initiates combat and plays a more defensive role, extremely theatrical/expressive and talkative (will have to actively restrain himself to not talk about something), squeaks a lot

[haladriel]

so now we know his backstory I’m going to make a case for why Saurbrand didn’t think twice about abandoning Diarmid to his death for his own gain, but for some reason, only days or weeks later, dove to save Galadriel.

We are shown in season two that Sauron is mercenary and super calculating; he sizes everyone up for the best way to use them to further his own aims. And the way he’s now treating everyone else shows how different he was with Galadriel.

Diarmid’s fate shows Sauron’s ‘default’ — despite all Diarmid’s done for him in giving him a new perspective and offering him a new direction, when the situation veers a hard left, he wastes no time adapting and thinks nothing of acting strategically and taking the pouch. After all, Diarmid’s conveniently dying, and unlikely to survive a shipwreck anyway, what else is there to gain in service of his goals and nature that’s worth as much as a royal persona to adopt?

When you set this against how he treats Galadriel (i.e. didn’t leave her to die, which he very easily could’ve done), you’ve got to ask: what’s going on in there?

Maybe he thought he could use her: she’s a lot more skilled and important than Diarmid. She’s certainly proven herself capable in the sea-wyrm attack, where he no doubt values skill and competence in service of creating perfection and order, and keeping someone as powerful as her close is a wise political move. He very likely thought he could manipulate her, although he didn’t know how, or to what ends, quite yet.

Maybe he was simply interested in her. A member of the Golden House of Finarfin, out on the open sea? Since when? He might’ve guessed at the reason why; knowing that she was in the right direction for Valinor. An elf who has turned down the opportunity to go home? Unheard of.

Maybe, it’s the beginning of seeing himself reflected in her, when she sympathises with him about all he’s lost. He found himself being honest with her, in a way that he later does with no other; their first exchange on the raft was the beginning of that pattern. Maybe he is attracted to her, in this way.

Maybe it’s because why the hell not. At this point in the (now filled in) backstory, he is down and out and taking chances. Because his plan is going so well. And maybe the sea (Valar) will reconsider obliterating them if he shows some sign of repentance, holds a hand up. Maybe he knows the storm is for him, and feels some kind of ire and vitriol — ‘up yours’ — towards the Valar (‘that’s unnecessary, you heavy-handed bastards’) that they’re taking her out, as a part of that.

Maybe, it’s all of the above. And also, maybe, it’s because he’s already seeing some of that light he’s so fascinated by. In her kindness, her offering of sympathy to a stranger. And also, at this time, finds that he resonates with things she’s saying as much as vice versa. ‘You’re running. Whether towards or from something, I haven’t yet decided.’ After all, at this point, he’s temporarily diverted from his own crusade to get revenge on Adar; possibly running to, or away, from the Valar.

‘The way I see it, it wasn’t elves that chased me from my homeland. It was orcs.’ Turns out, it literally was. He’s really pissed off with his old family at this point and potentially (even just a little bit) wondering if there’s a better way. When he tells her the enemy is in the Southlands… they are. His enemy.

When you were betrayed by your closest, and everything’s gone to shit, and you meet someone who feels so similar to you, but who radiates light instead… how could you not be fascinated?

When everything you irrevocably are can be used in a different way, for a different purpose?

So he dives to save her.

(contributors to this thought train @multifandumbmeg @scifitheywrote)

[blueybre]

Jacky93Sims' 4t2 Functional VR Headset - Bugfixes and New Features

So I have been playing with the 4t2 Functional VR Headset by @jacky93sims for a while now. While it is an amazing thing to have it at all, I immediately noticed some weird things going on in my game whenever I tried to use it. Initially I just wanted to get rid of these weird things, but this sparked a big makeover of the entire mod's functions, as I felt this object could do so much more with a bit of BHAV magic.

Most importantly, Sims can now use the VR headset autonomously, gain Science enthusiasm (because waaaay too few objects benefit that hobby) and Fitness through it, you are no longer prompted to take a screenshot whenever a Sim puts the headset on or off, and the headset will no longer kill Sims if you leave them unattended.

Note that the download link only includes the main object containing all the code! Please go to the original download page to grab the headset accessory and the child, teen and adult meshes, too.

DOWNLOAD

The complete changelog is under the cut, if you are interested in the other ways I have changed this object up.

NEW FEATURE: All interactions are now autonomous! All Sims can play or work out if they seek Fun, but Playful Sims are more likely to play with it, and Active Sims are more likely to work out on it.

NEW FEATURE: Sims now gain Science hobby enthusiasm when playing or working out, at a default of 120% the normal speed. (Requires FreeTime, but you can use this updated version without FT, too.)

NEW FEATURE: Sims now gain Fitness when working out. By default the rate is about 50% faster than working out on stereos, to justify the hefty price tag.

CHANGE: Slightly more Fun gain while playing (40/hour -> 50/hour). In turn, higher Energy (-5/hour -> -20/hour) and Comfort loss (none -> -20/hour).

CHANGE: Slightly more Energy (-10/hour -> -20/hour), Comfort (-10/hour -> -25/hour) and Hygiene (none -> -25/hour) loss. Removed the weird fixed -2 Comfort loss when putting the headset on. Active Sims now only gain 50% more Body skill when working out with the VR headset; other Sims still retain the base 150% skill rate gain. I feel like VR would close the skill gap a bit, so...

CHANGE: Made all the gain and loss tunable for those that know their way around SimPE and can change BCON resource 0x1000 (for playing) and 0x1002 (for working out).

CHANGE: Looped the "jumping jack" and "jog" workout animations three times, and slowed them down. Looped the "knee-bend", "stretch side" and "stretch toes" animations twice. It all looked quite odd being at normal speed.

CHANGE: Added a dialogue when a Body Skill point is gained.

CHANGE: Clarified that the object requires University through the catalogue, because it uses a SimVac animation. I also adjusted the catalogue values for Fun (N/A -> 10) and Environment (6 -> 8).

CHANGE: Added a German translation.

CHANGE: Removed some unnecessary resources.

CRITICAL BUGFIX: Sims will now stop using the headset if their fun is maxed or their motives are failing (same thresholds as with any other "Fun" object), so they don't play or work out until they drop dead. This is a similar issue to an unmodded Exercise Bike from FT.

BUGFIX: You are no longer prompted to take a picture when a Sim puts on or takes off the headset. Maybe @jacky93sims did this to create a bit of immersion, but I did not like it.

BUGFIX: Motive changes are now cleared after taking the headset off. Previously, Sims would keep gaining Fun and losing Energy and/or Comfort even after stopping to use the headset.

BUGFIX: If a Sim doesn't have enough room to play or work out after already having strapped the headset on, the "in use" flag and overlays will now properly reset.

[soullessjack]

ok so carried on from this post theres a specific tag i wanna elaborate on which says ‘[jack] isn’t a pacifist he actually has a very complicated relationship with violence’ in relation to how he’s usually (mis)characterized by the fandom.

so first, Jack isn’t a pacifist. pacifism is a total opposition to all war and violence, and a belief that it is never justifiable for any reason or circumstance. He might be averse to violence as a first response or reaction, and he’s frequently shown to want to help the person before anything else—especially people he finds sympathetic or similar to himself (ie Mia Vallens, Sylvia)—but he’s not averse to it altogether.

Jack seems to really only be against violence when it’s used against innocent or undeserving people, including himself. Like in S13, he has no problem using his power to force an angel to stab themself with their blade or going to war with Michael and killing thousands of angels in his army for roughly 6-8 months (and we must remember, it was an effective genocide before he decided, completely out of the original plan, to kill Michael and made it a war) but he still has a total meltdown over accidentally killing an innocent security guard and almost strangling someone who did nothing wrong like he’d assumed. In Ouroboros he states that anyone who could hurt/kill an innocent person is a monster, even if they’re human, which is probably the clearest establishment of his moral code the show could offer.

I think Jack’s particular aversion to violence or even general aggression/anger is also caused by the fact that he, at three days old, was told by Sam that he would need to be kept from hurting other people while his powers were still largely uncontrollable (and therefore, still making him a threat and “evil” if he couldn’t do that). He’s also seen for himself what his power/his overreaction inadvertently causes for other people–like throwing Sheriff Barker into the vending machine (which he apologizes for later)—and is blatantly scared of it at first, so I think it makes a lot of sense that he prefers nonviolent behavior as an initial or default response. However, pacifism is still defined by the belief that no circumstance or reason whatsoever can justify an act of violence, which directly goes against how Jack personally feels about and uses it.

Going back to Ouroboros, he personally defines a “monster” as anyone who would willingly harm or enjoy harming someone who doesn’t deserve it, even if they aren’t actually a particular species of monster. And going back to S13, he has no problem murdering Michael’s army or even torturing Michael himself (which he specifically does because Michael “hurt his friends, hurt his family.” Ergo, Jack does believe in using violence, so long as it’s only used as a justified defense, and I think that is also a part of why him torturing Nick so horrifically is meant to land on us as Something Ostensibly Wrong. Did Nick deserve it? Yes. Mary isn’t even upset about him being killed; she just halfheartedly tells Jack “not like that.” Nick deserved it, but he is still barely a threat to someone like Jack (which everybody knew)—and because he isn’t a veritable threat, none of what Jack does to him can actually qualify as a “defense.”

It’s violence for the sake of violence, with a personal grudge for motivation, and while it’s shown a lot throughout SPN, it hits a lot harder coming from Jack specifically because he, again, is generally averse to [ab]using his power like that—even against other enemies. He believes in necessary and defensive violence and acts accordingly, which makes the completely unnecessary violence he uses against Nick more disturbing; it’s not about defending his loved ones or even stopping a nefarious plot anymore (he literally banishes Lucifer within seconds of getting there). It’s just about making someone suffer and enjoying it. In Absence we also get the vague implication about Jack’s particular fears and insecurities: he’s afraid that he isn’t really loved or wanted for himself, but rather that he’s valued for being “the muscle to take out enemies,”—that he’s nothing more to the Winchesters than a pet monster and easily discardable if he’s no longer useful to them.

On the flip side of that, he’s also canonically very happy to be wanted, needed and helpful to his family/friends—which is to say, again, he’s perfectly fine using violence as a justifiable defense that serves his family (which is also why he chooses to burn Nick to death after Sam indirectly wishes it on him, and why he’s happy to murder all of Dumah’s targets under the guise that it would make Sam and Dean happy). Once he realizes the truth and horror of his actions, however, he tells Dean that he is a monster, by his own definition. But how exactly is this complicated, you might ask? Well I’m glad you did, because I’m getting to it. Throughout his entire short-lived life, Jack has had to be painfully aware of the damage he can and does cause, and what it means for how he’s perceived and the ever present debate about his “true” nature.

I can’t find it now and probably won’t bother looking, but i had another post about how Jack inwardly perceives himself and wants to be perceived in return, particularly when he’s perceived as a threat. To summarize: because of his particular moral code, Jack inwardly knows he would never [want to] use his power against his family or friends, and is therefore not a threat to them, and therefore does not want to be perceived as one despite the danger he still poses with the potential alone. The eggshells that people walk around him are solely based on the fact that he has immense potential and capability to hurt them, all prevented by his simple continuous and impermanent choice to not hurt them.

The only thing standing between them and everything he’s ever done to their enemies is the fact that he considers them friends and has no reason to want to hurt them, and that’s exactly what Jack himself personally lives by. It’s the same blind trust that Sam and Dean have built with Cas; they know what he can do, and they know when he would or wouldn’t choose to do it. It’s a mutual understanding that “I know you can hurt me but I care about you enough to trust you not to do that,” and “I know I can hurt you but I care about you enough to not hurt you and Im glad you trust me to not do that.” I also mentioned it in the post that in Last Holiday, Jack doesn’t deny it when Mrs. Butters says that he’s insanely powerful; he does, however, deny her saying that Sam and Dean should be afraid of him, because “[he] would never hurt them.”

Insanely powerful? ✅

Potentially dangerous? ✅

A threat to be feared? ❌

(This is also what makes Mary’s death by Jack and Sam and Dean’s subsequent actions exceptionally tragic on both sides; their mutual trust is inadvertently, yet still effectively, broken. Jack has also effectively gone against his own morality by harming people he loves and people who don’t deserve it, and now in S15 is struggling with the loss of said trust and the need to earn it back).

That, my hypothetical audience member, is the complicated part. Having to find a middle ground between necessary, defensive, justifiable violence that his surrounding community would approve or appreciate, and the completely unnecessary abuse or misuse of power (ie violence) that would register him as an evil monster and/or a threat to be put down for the justifiable greater good. There’s also the additional middle ground between presenting and maintaining the image of himself as docile and non-threatening (the behavior of which is hugely infantilized by the fandom), while also still being able to defend others with the same violence that could easily lead to him being seen as a threat.

in conclusion (1): Jack is not a pacifist but he has an extremely complicated relationship with violence and the fluctuating justifications surrounding it which he must meet in order to continuously be perceived as safe and trustworthy in spite of his capabilities.

In conclusion (2): this is the truest of jack true forms:

thank you for coming to my yap session, don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split you on the way out 🫶

[batsplat]

speaking of smallville now that was certainly a show. how many seasons did you manage and when is it best to stop? I am currently at s2 and already I would kill every other character for lex, wyd it’s only gonna get worse 😭

lmaooo okay so I got to. six. which actually kinda kills me because I swear I poured my heart and my soul into that stupid show, it drove me insane it left me a lesser person and I BARELY GOT HALFWAY

my basic analysis of the default journey with that show that I'm going to pretend is universal is like. it hooks you with something compelling in s1 and you still have enough naive faith to give it benefit of doubt that the writers actually know what they're doing, because you just wanted to have a bit of fun but, hey, these characters are actually more interesting than you expected!! then in s2 you're starting to get doubts but you're already kinda too deep. then s3 breaks your sanity and makes you scream and at this point you just see how far this shit goes. then s4 is.... mid..... but is also in a way the last remotely palpable season? and then at some point in s5 you're just like. wow I don't even enjoy the hate watching any more. and s6 is. yeah. eventually there was one storyline that is so insanely uncomfortable that it's just. enough. enough!

[mild spoilers to follow]

if s2 drives you insane on lex grounds then!! boy!! s3!! the thing about s3 from lex's pov is that. okay it's extremely angsty and does increasingly radicalise you... I have to say I started this show in a very innocent jokey 'oh ho ho I heard they have some good superman/lex luthor queerbait in that noughties show!!' and was ready to be a lex fan like. as a bit. and y'know my readiness to adopt morally dubious characters is pretty high anyway. but the first few seasons made me go?? okay but he genuinely isn't even the villain?? like I'm not even saying this for the bit, he LITERALLY is not the bad guy in this story?? guys??? and then by the end of season 3 I had been completely radicalised to the 'Actually Lex Luthor Should Turn Evil And Kill All Of You People And I Will Cheer Him On' stance. but what really, really, really kills me is that after all that, they still manage to bungle his transition to evil. like, they ignore all the very obvious reasons for why lex would turn evil after all that, and just come up with completely new ones? that have fuck all to do with this character you've been writing up to that point?

and the worst bit. the WORST bit. is that after all that, he literally does not even have fun being evil. like, you know that season one episode where he's being mind controlled and does his gay little swagger. this scene, yeah:

first of all, again, they ended up erasing lex's canonical motivation for turning evil, which is being so queer-coded he might as well be wearing a sign with slurs around his neck while he's stuck in a small town in fucking kansas. like "you think I don't see the way your parents look at me? the way half the town looks at me?" okay, great, love how this entire arc is eventually concluded by having the show say the entire town including clark's small-minded parents were 100% right to be suspicious of him, that there was something fundamentally defect with him basically from birth and he was always going to turn out to be evil. I feel like you definitely thought through the implications of what you wrote here!

but never mind all that, my actual point is that lex is having fun here!! this is one of several episodes where they're 'foreshadowing' lex turning evil by 'having a paranormal reason to make lex evil for a few minutes' (some subtle writing, this), and he's generally having a lot of fun with it!! he's leaning into the camp of it all!! he's freed from all his nasty and completely unnecessary inhibitions like 'not killing everyone in smallville' which. good. and he's just having a great time. and then he becomes a villain and he's literally just miserable all the time!! it sucks!! like omg if you're going to butcher his writing and ruin the character then at LEAST let him have some fucking fun?? at least let him experience joy at his own depravity or whatever? like he doesn't even get to do any fun villain monologues at clark, he's literally just sad clark isn't his friend any more while clark is giving him the homophobic dog slur. and then also about twice a season something paranormal happens to clark and he physically assaults lex to the point where he like, almost kills him, and then after that everyone pretends it didn't happen and clark never apologises and continues to burst into his room demanding answers. like omg?? lex, they hate you anyway, can you please just attempt to shoot clark?? also, obviously the turn to villainy should have been in large part motivated by lex finding out clark's secret and going?? the fuck is wrong with you for not just SAYING this?? (plus finding out everything clark did to lex in season three to keep his secret like it's genuinely so fucked up #lmao) but. I hate to break bad news to you about where we're at with the whole 'does lex know clark's secret yet' situation at the point where I gave up. genuinely what is the point of all this building and perfectly interesting character work if you're NEVER gonna deliver

but quite possibly an even worse sin of the later seasons that genuinely broke my brain was the treatment of lex's father. like, not to give the game away too much here, but the show's philosophical stance on rotten apples ends up being.... well. it's interesting which characters this show feels is worthy of redemption!! also interesting when they retcon several seasons of writing for the show that already very much set up why a character would actually perfectly legitimately go insane and instead settle for 'well his father sure did know there was always something wrong with him'!! watching some season 3 and season 5 episodes back to back would leave your face scarred from the amount of whiplash in the writing. the whole thing's kinda incompetent and dumb but is also like?? actively a little bit evil when you really think about the implications of what they're writing here

anyway. it's a brave stance on superman to go 'okay but what is being a superhero really about if not a whole whole lot of gaslighting'. and I do love the clark stalking room!! but the problem is, they could've played the clark/lex dynamic in a kinda tragic 'wow clark really has been so blinded by his parents that he's gonna end up destroying his relationship to lex because he just can't be honest with him and lex really needed one person in his corner who actually trusted him but clark wasn't the right person to provide that' way. they could've played it in a sort of fun 'yeah this is kinda fucked up and weird and toxic how they simply cannot stop doing dubious shit to each other' way where you just kinda roll with how terrible the whole thing is. but they don't go for either of those!! they're so stuck with treating clark's parents as the moral centre of the universe, with their "marriage is SACRED, clark" schtick and all that (yeah, there's an episode where clark gets lectured about the importance of the bond of marriage, this is a thing that happens) that they're blatantly unaware of what story they're telling but ALSO just refuse to lean into the batshit insane elements and just have!! fun!! and it's one of those things where you really do feel like an idiot for even thinking about this stupid fucking show so!! much!! but I swear, I swear they had a dynamic that hit like crazy in season one... also some of the fic out there for them is CRAZY like it kinda does make it all worth it but still!! still!! this shit infuriates me!!

anyway, here are some bonkers plot bits I remember happening in this show for you to enjoy if you continue in this endeavour:

the lex luthor slut shaming episode

clark kent slut shaming lex luthor, which is conceptually funny anyway but becomes funnier if you just read it as clark being unable to figure out he is actually just subliminally attracted to his friend. like, okay, clark being disappointed at lex for sleeping with thirteen different women, I see you

like. multiple lesbian lana moments. she's constantly getting herself in lesbian situations. and I get this is some kinda weird fanservice-y shit from the showrunners but, sue me, I thought lesbian vampire lana was cute

which is a thing that happens

they get spike from btvs to tell clark vampires aren't real, which is the one funny thing they wrote in about a season

the native american stuff is always deeply uncomfortable but it becomes even weirder when they invent some native american prophecy *deep sigh* to explain how lex was always evil

clark steals a car from lex several episodes after committing like, one of the most obscene acts of betrayal it is possible to commit against a friend (lex is unaware of this and possibly never finds out? I think the writers maybe forgot about this.) and lex is just like. it's fine <3 I know friends sometimes have to do crazy shit for other friends!! you're my friend, right?? and clark goes... yeah. sure

I vaguely remember lex buying stuff the american football high school team at some point and showing up to the lockers to give a speech and it's just?? this is right after the friendship break up and it's basically lex talking right at clark and he's talking about the importance of fresh starts and it is so fucking funny

the one episode where lana is in paris. they had built up to this for ages as like a whole thing where lana finally frees herself from that miserable town and all the people in it (don't ask how the 'lana knowing clark's secret' situation develops. it doesn't) and then she's there for. one episode

martha kent tells clark how they can't harbour illegal immigrants at one stage?? she eventually changes her mind I think but what even was that all about

the papa kent goes into politics arc. shoot me

lex becomes like. possessed by zod. which somehow manages to make everyone involved more dull

silver kryptonite makes clark paranoid, which ends up being pretty funny because he genuinely talks the exact same way

lex thinks clark can throw him across the room because he's been hypnotised

lex starts capturing various clark super powered friends and delivers these gay villain monologues to them (like genuinely, in one of them he's got shirtless aquaman strapped to a gurney and he's like, leaning over him, teasing him with a glass of water) and they're some of the best bits of the show

clark discovers the clark stalking room, which I will say was very funny

chloe basically saying lex always sends clark these massive gifts as a way of keeping his affections which?? clearly true but I thought we were keeping that the subtext

clark gatecrashes lex's wedding high on red kryptonite

one of lex's old bullies gets killed by like, a statue falling from the top of the building they're standing next to and stabbing the guy and then some of the blood splashes on lex and he's just like ?? bleh. fantastic scene

and THEN there's several scenes with his father where lex is like 'well that sure was a nice shirt :(' and lex's father is berating him for his lack of humanity. or something

there's an episode where lex is split into good lex and evil lex and it's genuinely the only worthwhile thing the show did that season. like the writing is still kinda incoherent but, crucially. it sure is fun

the spirit of lex's mum tells him she thinks he sucks

worst show in existence. I'll never forget it

[rottenpumpkin13]

I think the biggest factor re: Seph being the only one who broke down so spectacularly is that he actually had the power to back it up.

Everything about how he was raised, what was done to him, and the perfect storm of Nibelheim just lined up perfectly with the fact that he actually had the power to back up his breakdown.

Like no one else is as strong as Sephiroth. Other characters whos only major kneejerk problem solving skill (violence) simply do not have his firepower. He has the magic, he has the physical power, he has the skill.

The games have power creep and all so its hard to see this, but Sephiroth in the lore was just totally unmatched except for Cloud in terms of what a single person could do. Zack is crazy strong, and Sephiroth had to have been sleep deprived and not eating for a week and mentally compromised for Zack and Cloud to just barely win and nearly die in the process.

Sephiroth has the biggest rampage because he has the tools to do it in a way that any of the other people on a violent mental breakdown bender simply do not.

I dont think, strictly speaking, the reason why he broke down like that specifically was simply because he was always destined to do so - I dont think he was destined to always go evil- but it was 100% only a matter of time before he simply couldnt take the strain of everything and had a serious mental breakdown of some kind. Eventually the untreated trauma just piles up so much you cant function anymore.

He didnt have to have chosen violence as his method of mental breakdown, but with the situation as it was, that is what he landed on. He could have just as easily chosen to take his own life or made a beeline for the brass and killed them all instead given other circumstances.

Without Jenova whispering in his ear, he probably would have chosen one of those, I think. In even fairly well adjusted people irl, discovering what unnecessary violating medical atrocities were done to you as a child secondhand off your medical records is often incredibly harrowing.

Theres just so many layers to why Sephiroth snapped and why Sephiroth behaved like that beforehand.

When characterizing him, I feel like people really undersell and underestimate what chronic trauma starting from childhood does to your sense of self, decisionmaking skills, emotional regulation, and ability to cope with shock.

Like without the way he was raised, he would simply not be the same person. Chronic childhood trauma becomes your sense of self when you experience it because your sense of self was forming when you were put through all of that. Its baked into your bones and how your brain is wired.

A Sephiroth who was raised in a loving family that wasnt medically violated or stuck in a lab or trained as a child soldier and set loose in war and put up as a carefully cultivated symbol would simply be unrecognizable. He would not act the same, he would not have the same preferences, he would not have the same insecurities or instability. He wouldnt be recognizably Sephiroth- not just because no cat eyes and white hair.

Because to be Sephiroth, he has to be incredibly traumatized by default.

Im not saying that his trauma of all the characters was the Most Awful and therefore he blew up the worst or w/e, but more that this multilayered complex trauma left Sephiroth unable to healthily cope with all the events piled on him during the events of Crisis Core.

I think the factor of how childhood trauma and continued abuse completely shapes how you respond to things as an adult is often lost in the discourse when people try to detangle Sephiroth's actions, so thank you for pointing that out.

Another thing, when talking about how Sephiroth's power is unmatched, is the Jenova cells in him (and how he later became one with Jenova) The only thing that took down Jenova was the Cetra because it/she was that powerful. So while he wasn't destined to break down, you have to admit that something was waiting to happen given what Jenova was.

[malrie]

what: vampire (and werewolf) jasipereo au. liper intimacy. unnecessary tropey world-building. you won't think about this again. wc: 1200

-

Piper drags a long nail over Jason’s bared throat, but it’s Leo who presses his mouth into a line and swallows. Jason is half-sprawled on the carpet of Piper’s opulent bedroom, his dirty workwear jeans a more theoretical worry than a real one. He has his head resting at the base of the four-poster, and Piper, laying on her mattress stomach-first, has to reach down to meet him.

The touch is gentle. It’s hard to imagine the two were on the verge of tearing each other apart when Leo had first met them.

Leo tries distracting himself with cleaning the crossbow on his lap. It isn’t his, but as the hunters’ designated armorer, he likes to get personal. The irony is that the owner will go out explicitly to kill or capture the kind of monsters Leo’s in the presence of right now. At that reminder, he loses most of his enthusiasm for polishing the gears. He wipes his hands from the grime and puts the equipment away.

Piper folds further down to whisper something. All Jason does is close his eyes, mouth forming a small smile. Piper gets back fully on the bed and drops her face straight into it, her long dark hair obscuring the entire top half of her body.

“Looks like we actually do have a lot in common,” Jason says, his eyes still shut, as though he was trying to sleep. The afternoon light filters through a sliver of opening left by the blackout curtains. “Same likes.”

It feels baiting. “Like what?”

Jason waits, as though he expects Piper to answer. When she doesn’t, he continues, “We like to bite.”

“Okay,” he says slowly. “So do fish.”

“We like to bite you,” Jason clarifies, making Leo flush all the way down to his collar.

On cue, Piper turns her head from the sheets just to speak. “Leo,” she calls quietly, almost sheepish, “I’m hungry.”

His blood is still rushing, which is maybe a good thing for the situation at hand. Distantly, in the back of his mind, Leo hears the warning of every hunter he ever knew growing up: Never let a vampire bite you. Just once is enough for them to stake a claim. Most operatives would kill themselves before allowing such a travesty to happen to them. What does it say about Leo that this will be the sixth time? That again, he’ll lie prone under her cool hands, allow her lips to kiss his skin, then break into his wanting flesh?

Leo can’t bring himself to care about repercussions anymore. Besides, Jason’s the werewolf. And he’s done worse to Leo than bite.

The bed creaks a little when he sits beside her. Piper rolls to her side, arms splayed out comfortably, peeking out from her fringe up at Leo. She looks as young as him, like she could be any other college-aged kid, even if that can’t be quite accurate.

“Sorry,” she says, almost at default.

Leo can’t actually say that it was okay, because it maybe isn’t. He doesn’t like to lie to her. Instead, he places his palms down on either side of her head and admits, “I like it. Getting bit.”

He can’t see Jason from here, but Leo hears him give out a short laugh. 

“Even if it hurts?” Piper doesn’t seem to believe him.

He bends down, parts the hair over her forehead and presses an upside down kiss to it. She smells like lavender oil. He wonders what he smells like now. Certainly not lavender.

He says, “I think I kind of like that, too.”

Piper gets herself to sit up, then gently urges him to settle against the backboard, a pillow behind him. Leo looks into her eyes, flashing an unearthly yellow, then red, then brown again, and can’t help the goofy smile that comes on.

“I thought you didn’t like making a mess in here,” he teases. His fingers flex in and out, anticipating. 

“We’ll just make the puppy clean it up,” she tells him.

“I’m so abused,” replies Jason. He’s still awake, but he also wouldn’t sleep through something like this. At least Piper stashed his glasses away at some point, just for fun. What kind of werewolf had shitty vision?

Instinctively, before she even starts, Leo feels the base of his neck, expecting mottled skin or scarred tissue from the times they’ve done this in the past. But what he touches is smooth, unmarred. The reason for this is what makes the moral quandary even more difficult: in order to heal beyond human capabilities of his own, Piper McLean feeds him her blood. 

The hunters—the only family he’s known since birth—would never stand for a vampire fledgling in their ranks. Even if he never became one of the night walkers, they might still kill him. He’s marked now. Stained.

Piper, seeing what must be some range of his emotions, cups his face in her hands, leaning close enough that all the world fell away around them like broken glass. For one moment, all that exists is her.

“Tell me to stop and I will,” she says, voice low, purposefully vulnerable.

It’s power she’s offering him, stronger than her own will-breaking compulsion or Jason’s ability to leap impossible bounds. She’s giving him the power to decide what their future would look like, with or without him in their lives.

Luckily, Leo has already made his choice.

He mimics the line Piper had drawn on Jason down her own throat, a trail he follows with his lips once he leans into her. Piper McLean is heiress to the most dangerous, ancient vampire brood in the northern hemisphere. Out in the world, she is daring, cold, and undoubtedly feared. Here, she shivers at his every caress, gasps at the way the heat of his fingertips ignite as they travel beneath her nightshirt. Then he does something else—something new.

Piper jolts, riding a sudden wave of shock. “Leo!” she cries. He didn’t know vampires could flush, too; her complexion darkens with embarrassment as she opens and closes her mouth, unable to form a coherent sentence. She barely meets his eyes.

“What happened?” Jason asks, using a muscled arm to raise a part of himself over the foot of the bed. He doesn’t say it with much worry, only like he’d been meaning to look all this time and was finally glad for a reason.

Leo falls over her silk sheets in stitches. Piper picks up a pillow to try to smother him, still completely flustered. She quickly gives up and slaps one side of her neck—the same side where Leo had left a perfect indentation of his dull human teeth.

“He-he bit me!” 

Despite her reaction, Piper still appears dizzy, and Leo only knows it’s because she’s considering what’s tied all three of them together. The link they have is made of chains and the only way they can lose Leo is if they saw him off. Jason comes to stand, large and looming and lovable, squinting at them on the bed. Almost recovered, Piper examines her already healing mark with fascination, and maybe a sort of growing excitement.

“Same likes,” Leo tells them cheerfully.

[puffskeeter]

Hey I’m such a big fan of your art and I very much enjoy watching your YouTube channel 🤍🤍

And I want to ask you why you don’t ship the ppgxrrb and I want to hear your opinion about it which I can very much respect.

Plus another question that what type of fashion you think your au of the Powerpuff, Rowdyruff, and your Original Characters fall into between I really love how you draw them?

OMG TYSM!! I think i've seen your comments on my videos and TYSM for those too!! :D

I'll make a seperate post for my fashions/aesthetics for RRBORN characters! this one is pretty long even though i wanted it to be short lolz

Why i dont actively ship PPGxRRB:

I'm scrapping my drafted essay post about this for now because its really uncalled for and unnecessary. IDK sorry to anyone who looked forwards 2 it, but i just dont think i illustrate my point very well and more than half of it is lowkey a biased vent post and pure rambling. Either way this is the TLDR for the post you'll never see LOL.

But actually, I do ship PPGxRRB, i've just drifted away from it over the years. I think one of the biggest 'problems' i have with PPG x RRB is mainly with the portrayal of it. My main issue is with how a lot of people mischaracterize the RRB/PPG and completely deconstruct them as characters so that they can be love interests for the eachother and nothing more. One of my points in my scrapped post was that; I have no idea how an entire fandom managed to gender-bend the Bechdel test, but it is rare that i find PPGxRRB media where the RRB have actual lives, interests, hobbies, and friends that have nothing to do with the PPG. Half the time they can barely have a thought if it isn't about the PPG. As i said, Gender-bent Bechdel test.

Another point was that: ppgxrrb has gained a horrible reputation for itself over the years. Back in its "Glory" days, Toxic fans of the ships had bulldozed anything that differs from their favorite empty dynamics. Those usually being The Reds, Blues, and Greens. Nowadays i still see almost nothing in the realms of variety between creators interpretations of the ships. Almost every time i see a PPGxRRB post, it can fit into a set dynamic that the ship is already infamous for.

I want to be able to see the creators love and passion for their ships. I want to know how and why these characters ended up together. If a story is to be told, i want to hear it. I know that the majority of PPGxRRB creators are, by default, amateurs (they dont get paid and its not on a professional scale), but after seeing the exact same badly written love story hundreds , maybe even thousands of times with little-to-no variety, I've gotten bored and tired of people devaluing my favorite characters to be nothing more than overplayed dynamics and shipping fuel.

A lot of people like shipping because of the dynamics, but ship dynamics don't hook me in, and ive noticed that most PPGxRRB stuff is purely ship dynamics and nothing more. Theres nothing wrong with loving ship dynamics or being drawn to ships for their specific dynamics! I just dont care about dynamics, i care about chemistry and story. But most amateurs cant effectively show the chemistry or write the story, a lot of them can barely characterize the 2 characters in their ships.

FYI this isnt about anyone specific or even many recent fans of PPGxRRB. I've been in/around the online PPG fandom since before 2016, and a lot of my thoughts/feelings on the matter have a lot to do with stuff that happened over the years i've loved this series, and more specifically, The RowdyRuff Boys.

To be clear: When i say that they are mischaracterized, i'm not talking about HC's. I'm just tired of seeing the PPG and RRB dulled down into one-note personalities with stereotypical characterization and almost always no tangible character development. A love story is still a story, and a lot of shippers seem to half ass the "story" for favor of the "love".

I dont hate or even dislike PPG x RRB. I'm just really tired of rarely seeing people do the RRB justice, and i want these characters to be treated with the full respect that i think they deserve.

WOW this post is way to long already... still a lot shorter than my OG post. Sorry for being insane about the RRB. it will happen again.

[joys-of-everyday]

Parallel and non-parallels: the skewed lines of SJ and og!LBH

Hey, hey! Don’t we love comparing Shen Jiu (resident meow meow/bristling stray) to Bingge (poor wet dog who deserved better from life)? But for fun, I wanted to explore their differences. 

The free and the unfree

SJ was a slave. LBH was not.

Okay, shittiness of life is not strictly dependent on class (e.g. by Confucian values, farmers were meant to be more valuable members of society than merchants, but there were plenty of rich merchants and poor farmers) but the distinction here is important because it changes how society perceives them, and how they perceive themselves. LBH was poor, yes. His childhood was tragic, yes. But he was regarded as a person, whereas SJ was property.

So some thoughts on how this fine but important distinction goes on to drastically change their worldviews down the line.

Warning: #PsychoAnalysingFictionalCharactersWeBarelyKnowAnythingAbout

This post is heavily injected with my biases and headcanons. Feel free to complain.

Moments of unnecessary kindness vs moments of unnecessary cruelty

QJL – as a master to a slave – was under no societal obligation to give SJ anything. Remember what he says?

If it weren’t for our family, you’d still be on the streets even now, playing a beggar and swindling for a living. That you don’t lack for clothes, that you can even read and write when you’re only pretender trash – who gave all that to you?

This is the lie that QJL constructs: that SJ is worthless, that he has no right to complain about mistreatment, and that anything above a beating is a debt to be repaid. And in-world, there is some truth to this statement. He could easily have kept SJ around as a ball to kick around and a playmate for QHT with no consequence. But he didn’t. He elevated his status and gave him skills that would later become fundamental to his power and privilege, setting him on the path to the kind of decent life which would have been completely unavailable to him as a slave. There’s kindness here, but it’s false kindness – a tool QJL uses to justify his behaviour and put SJ down.

Meanwhile SJ – as a peak lord – has an obligation to teach his disciples. And LBH has always held some rights (if severely limited by the fact he was poor) – his tragic past is more likely to illicit sympathy rather than an arrest warrant (1).  YQY shows (small amounts of) discomfort at SJ’s mistreatment of disciples and asks him to be more lenient. By default, SJ is expected to give LBH an access to a better future. Instead, he actively tries to squash his potential and ruin his cultivation.

So to summarise, QJL’s treatment of SJ is characterised by unnecessary kindness within default cruelty, while SJ’s treatment of LBH is characterised by unnecessary cruelty within default kindness. This screws them both over, but in different ways.

The urge to reject, the urge to protect

SJ firmly rejects kindness. To him, kindness is nothing but a knife in a disguise, a weapon to humiliate and degrade him. Even to those he cares about, SJ refuses to demonstrate a single shred of good intention. I don’t give a damn about all that loyalty crap, he says to YQY, despite demonstrating over and over that he does in fact give a damn. He gives many damns indeed. He also refuses to reveal that he helped LQG, berating SQH for even trying. (2)

SJ is even worse at accepting help – it is shameful he thinks, to regard women as saviours (3). It is interesting that in SJ’s most vulnerable moment, the closest he ever comes to demonstrating his feelings for YQY, he says:

I have vicious inclinations, I’m filled with resentment. Now Luo Binghe wants me to die a painful death, and I have only myself to blame.

This doesn’t feel like an evil villain speech. This feels like someone desperately trying to push the other person away so that they wouldn’t be dragged down with them. In his moments of care, he is unkind. Because kindness, for SJ, is never care.

Meanwhile, LBH returns kindness with kindness, cruelty with cruelty. And of course, that makes sense, right? The kindness that LBH has received in his childhood, either from his adopted mother or NYY, is scant against the backdrop of cruelty but it is genuine (if not effective at alleviating his suffering). And while he has a bucket load of issues, he doesn’t have the unique SJ brand of hating those he loves, or rejecting offers of help (even if it is from people who are obviously manipulating him for merit – looking at you, QWY.)

But this is og!LBH’s downfall. All of his self-worth is built on collecting and dishing out kindness (=women in Bingge’s dictionary) like pokemons, leading to this rather pitiful worldview:

Bing-ge clicked his tongue, saying disdainfully: “Who let him be so useless, that he actually doesn’t have a single woman.”

He is unable to bond with people beyond something superficial, ending up with a bloated harem on which his places his worth but clearly doesn’t make him happy.

The rejection of self vs the rejection of fate

SJ is (as SQQ eloquently puts it) a poser. He is characterised by a rejection of his past and a rejection of his self.

This is in part a necessity – he is a criminal, from the lowest levels of society. But SJ goes beyond just hiding his past. He puts on airs of an aloof immortal, an act which SJ picked up in the Qiu manor, perhaps even instilled in him by QJL himself. And it’s not just mannerisms:

Shen Qingqiu finally understood how the original flavor’s personality, where he flattered you in the face then stabbed you in the back, had developed. Most probably he’d picked it up from Young Master Qiu through osmosis…

And why shouldn’t he copy Young Master Qiu? Three years of his life has taught him that nobody will treat a slave with decency, but they will a young master, no matter how unpalatable (4).

A piece of shit can’t be polished, QJL tells him, and while SJ rejects this narrative (I’m human, he says) he always come back to it. YQY is a dragon leaping into the sky; SJ is a failure unable to attain his potential. YQY is a righteous sect leader; he is an evil piece of scum. He believes himself broken and worthless. He rejects what he believes is his ‘true self’ and covers it over with a mask… but he is always plagued by his past. He tries to cover up – to play the respected scholar, the aloof immortal – inevitably falls short, becomes bitter and jealous, hates himself for his ‘naturally evil tendencies’, tries to cover up… and so continues to trod along this downwards spiral to a bitter and bloody end.

Meanwhile, LBH rejects fate. Very dramatically in fact:

None of that is important. It’s enough to just do what I want. Fate either never existed at all – or it’s something I should trample beneath my feet.

(This is bingmei, not bingge, but it’s not hard to imagine bingge has a similar outlook on life.)

More concretely, LBH rejects being under other people’s influence. His entire life is a sandwich of great fortune and great misfortune, and importantly his misfortune comes from others oppressing him, his fortune comes from his inherent abilities and talents. Despite all his setbacks, he finds himself powerful and capable, with people (women) literally throwing themselves at him.

SJ never really tried to change LBH in the way QJL changed SJ. Instead he tried to destroy him (within the bounds of his role as peak lord). SJ found power in part by accepting what QJL had taught him. LBH found it by turning his back on SJ, firstly by learning demonic cultivation behind his back, then leaving him altogether (not by his choice, but still).

Whereas SJ desperately sought to maintain an air of civility (ironically upholding the systems he suffered under), the height of LBH’s blackening is a rejection of pretences… and thus a rejection of boundaries. (He literally brings down the system.) In an embodiment of this (interestingly at a point where his behaviour is arguably as close to Bingge as it gets), Bingemei says:

If Shizun sees me as no better than a beast either way, I might as well live up to expectations.

His misbelief is that obtaining power and crushing obstacles will make him happy, because relying on his own capabilities made him less miserable in the past. Of course that misbelief ultimately causes him to be extremely miserable.

The longing for connection

Both stories are a tragedy, but they are different tragedies intricately tied to their origins. SJ is the slave who stabbed his master in the stomach. LBH is the disciple whose master pushed him down a cliff.

But coming back full circle, SJ and og!LBH are united by a lack of substantial human connection. SJ because he rejects himself and thus pushes everyone else away. LBH because he rejects others and thus never opens himself up to anyone, despite there being ample people willing to do an awful amount for him (#UnderappreciatedOfficeLadySHL).

And on the theme of parallels, Bingmei is a Bingge who was able to believe that someone chose him, from the bottom of his heart. Meanwhile, a major part of SY’s arc was breaking free of roles such as ‘villain’ and 'protagonist'. When we accept others and accept ourselves, when we build healthy relationships with the people around us, life can be better.  

Extra

Yah know, I agree that any kind of SJ redemption (and I root for a SJ redemption) must have SJ learning to love himself (there’s plenty of wonderful fics in this vein)... but I also feel like a big part of his redemption has to be first understanding and then truly rejecting the narratives drilled into him by QJL/WYZ. I dunno, I think people should critique QJL more.

Footnotes

Okay, LBH past does resolve a lot around how he is bullied unfairly, by people more privileged than him, similarly to SJ. I will admit the parallels are probably bigger than the differences here, including their interactions with QHT/NYY.

Caveat, he also does this before his experiences at the Qiu manor, so if QJL did play a part in this, it was to exacerbate an existing personality trait.

Although this overlaps with his toxic ideas of masculinity as well. I will make a post of this… soon.

Rather tragically, this is misbelief. In SVSSS, QHT announces to the world that SQQ is (maybe) a freed slave and everyone conveniently forgets about it the next day. Even LPM doesn’t use that against him.

[orange-orchard-system]

One tip we learned recently is that if you're talking with your headmates (whether directly to them or alongside them) and there's something that you think you've said but that makes you uncomfortable to claim for an unknown reason... It's probably because you're not actually the one who said it. Like, if you hear/say something and assume it came from you specifically, but something about that idea just rubs you the wrong way (not because you disagree with what was said or anything, it just bristles your fur and you don't know why), that's a very strong sign you're not the one who said it, but rather, some other headmate. I'd recommend in these cases to assume that a different headmate said whatever it was until proven otherwise. Really cuts down on the amount of unnecessary discomfort.

I know for some systems, this is going to be an obvious tip, but we struggle with differentiating ourselves during conversation a lot, so this is something we needed to learn. You don't have to automatically claim everything that's been said in your head or by your system. And like, yeah, system responsibility and all that (not saying to abandon that or anything), but what I mean is that you don't have to treat yourself as the default speaker at all times, even if you're the host. Your headmates have their own voices (and I say this completely neutrally, because this is not an ego problem, just a communication problem). If something is said and it doesn't feel right to assume you're the one who said it, you don't have to ignore that discomfort and assume + act as though you did. Sometimes it's just someone else in your head.

(This is... probably one of those posts that's only going to make sense if you've experienced what we're talking about. But here it is, anyway. I hope it helps someone out there.)

[betterfettered]

Hey, I hope you’re doing well!

I noticed in your post about the brothers’ first red flag that you mentioned that Lucifer’s darling would still have been going to school at the time, but (both in that post and others) you have also mentioned kidnapping and some of the brothers wanting to keep their darling inside all day, which made me wonder about what darling’s schedule is supposed to be for each of them?

Like, do they allow darling out to attend their classes, or do they hold them captive at home all day? Do they have any regular outings/events that their yan brings them along for? Are there things their darling is expected to do while they’re at home (whether the yan is there too or not), or do they sort of just wait around for their yan to tell them what to do?

I live! I love this question anon, it really had me thinking deeply about what I've written before 🧐

(Gn!reader x AMAB!yandere, please let me know if reader is gendered)(noncon)(violence against reader)(kidnapping)(18+ readers only please, mdni)(Please let me know if I am missing a TW)[This is fetish content and rape and abuse are disgusting and inexcusable in real life.]

Yandere!Lucifer is not likely to keep you captive. Even though what he really craves is complete control over you, he wants it to mold you into his ideal member of society. He wants you to be a good and obedient student, to be polite to Diavolo and Barbatos, to be temperate and well mannered in public, and most of all to listen to everything that he says. Keeping you locked away is unnecessary if you are behaving as he wants you to. I can imagine that on days when he's feeling particularly needy and doesn't want to bother with you hiding or making excuses or running one of the eight times he wants to fuck you that day, he might just chain you up in the basement for a little while until he is watching cum stream out of your bruised body and feels satisfied with how much he's ruined you.

Yandere!Mammon is also not likely to kidnap you, cause he's not smart enough to actually fool you into a situation where you're vulnerable enough to be held captive without you realizing it he would feel too bad about your obvious distress and could be talked out of it if you buttered him up enough. He would be okay with you going to school, but you need to be glued to his side the entire time. You need to hold his hand as you walk to school, you need to let him shove his tongue down your throat in the hallways when you run into each other, you have to sit on his lap and cockwarm him in the library when you two are both studying (though usually he gets impatient with that and tries to fuck you). If he's thinking about locking you up you'll be able to see it coming from a mile away, and you'll just need to reassure him you only have eyes for him to kick the can a few months down the road.

Yandere!Leviathan is absolutely going to kidnap you. He doesn't like to leave his room anyway and his self esteem is not good enough for him to believe that you don't start thinking about being with other people as soon as he isn't demanding your attention. Once you're in his room, he's the only person there, so by default he's the hottest, funniest, nicest, most interesting and, of course, the most fuckable. He has you mixed up in his mind with the overly horny girls who resemble you in the hentai he watches constantly, so he thinks if he's the only other person there eventually your lust will get the best of you and you'll be all over him. That's why even when he forces himself on you, he knows that it's okay because he's helping to satisfy your needs. You'd probably go crazy, he thinks, if he doesn't cum in you at least once a day, so he doesn't feel bad even when you cry. You're just getting used to it.

He's not going to bring you to anything outside of the room and will feel betrayed if you ask him to. When he's not there, he expects you to read manga or books or watch anime that he assigns to you. Sometimes they'll be perverted, but a lot of the time it'll just be things that he is obsessed with like TSL. That way you won't get bored and you can talk to him about it when he gets back. You can also cuddle and watch them together, which is almost his favorite thing to do with you.

Yandere!Satan will also eventually end up kidnapping you. He wants complete control of you similarly to how Lucifer does, but he doesn't particularly care about societal norms or etiquette. The important things for you to understand are how best to respect him and when to shut up, and he can teach you those things himself with his hands, a belt, and a switch. You going to school is a waste of your time because there is nothing about your life that will require a degree and a waste of his time because classes and school schedules get in the way of him studying you. He'll go to school if Lucifer makes him, but most of the time he wants to sit alone with you in his room, ordering you around. Sometimes he'll ask for ridiculous things or impossible things just to see how you react, and sometimes he'll pretend that he's asking you for things to see how you'll react so he doesn't have to admit that he is getting off on it. But you'll be able to tell -- when he asks you to sit on his lap so he can finger you, for example, you'll be able to see the hunger in his eyes as he watches your expression and know that soon enough he's going to pin you down and fuck you.

He'd bring you outside or to special events if you have been well behaved and you ask him nicely, perhaps with an explanation for why it would be beneficial for you to go. While he's away, he doesn't mind if you read books, practice your magic, or even open the window a little for some fresh air. He thinks you have the appropriate judgment to know what things are off limits - if you don't, the punishment you get will leave your skin so raw that you won't ever forget.

Yandere!Asmodeus is definitely not going to kidnap you, because he's way too delusional to think that you don't want to be with him whenever you have the ability to. Whenever he gets his hands on you, he says that he knows you missed him and you must have been so dejected without him. If you play your cards right, you definitely could spend enough time around him that you are satisfying his narcissistic view of you and making him feel like the most important person in your life, and all you'd need to worry about is being subjected to his constant lust. If you did not, however, he'd start paying attention to who you are actually spending time with when you're not with him and carefully orchestrate a plan to seriously hurt them (most likely psychologically rather than physically). Next he sees you, he'll point out how much it is your fault until you seem completely inconsolable, at which point he'll definitely "comfort" you as he sees fit.

It's only a matter of time before Yandere!Beel kidnaps you to "keep you safe", which I've talked about before. It would bother him that it upsets you, but he would still know that it's the right choice. He holds out a lot of delusion hope that soon you'll understand why he is doing this, which is the only thing that keeps him from feeling guilty enough to let you go. In the meantime, he'll bring you plenty of food to eat and lovingly feed it to you whether you want to eat it or not. Eating always helps! Most of the time he'll be as nice as possible to you and try not to force too much physical affection on you, but he has no self-control once his desire gets too strong, at which point he has no regard for your willingness or comfort. He'll fuck you roughly even though his cock is a little too big to fit without hurting you, grope and manhandle you hard enough to leave you sore for days and bite you to the point of drawing blood. Usually it starts with him convincing himself that he's just going to give you head, but the taste of your cum drives him into a bit of a frenzy. Afterwards he'd be sorry and try to help soothe you as much as you'll let him, but the both of you know it'll happen again.

He'll let you out if you can convince him that it will be safe and allow him to accompany you, and he doesn't have any expectations for what you do on your own when he's not there. He's the most permissive of the bros who would kidnap you, and might even let you have your cellphone or keep you locked in your own room instead of his. If you made him really jealous, only Belphie would be able to visit, but otherwise he might allow you to have supervised play dates with the other brothers. The more you abuse his trust, though, he less permissive he will be because you are jeopardizing your own safety.

Yandere!Belphie is sooo 50/50. On the one hand, kidnapping and keeping you from escaping is a lot of work and it makes him sleepy just to think about it. On the other, he does have a jealousy streak and is sick of the way you just give your attention to anyone who asks for it. In the end I think what would decide whether or not you get kidnapped is whether you manage to play his games without pissing him off. You sleeping in his bed nightly and letting him have his way with you or babying him during the day and enabling him to be lazy is not going to be enough to prove that he is really special to you. Instead, he wants you to accept the strange behavior that you bring out of him. If he lashes out at you and asks you why you're such a whore because you were studying with Satan, you should actually answer with a reason and then promise to be less of a whore in the future. As his obsession progresses, he will start to ask for more and more unreasonable things to make you prove your loyalty because in the end it is very hard for him to trust that you love him the way that he loves you.

Once he finally asks for something you can't comply with, it's likely that he will lock you in the attic to punish you. He'll be pretty cruel, starving you and not giving you water, blindfolding you and then releasing giant black rats into the room so you don't know if you're going to be bitten or attacked, and then also just plain hitting you. If you want him to stop or to bring you food or water, you'll have to suck him off first (and of course let him finish on your face or head) or ride him. If you do so, he'll stop whichever punishment he's subjecting you to and be affectionate and kind to you and let you sleep in the bed with him instead of on the floor. Once you're not reluctant to put out and you return the affection and apologize as many times as he feels like you need to, he'll let you go from your captivity.

Always feel free to send more asks :3

[fodenswhore]

Cobra Kai Season 6 PT 1

(discussion/rant???)

- seeing as i did a rant over cobra kai season 5 on here, it’s only fitting that i do the same for part one of season 6!

🐍- as only one half of the season has been released, it wouldn’t really be fair to form a stalemate opinion on what i’ve seen so far. i didn’t hate it, i didn’t dislike it, i didn’t love it - it was just fine. in my opinion, it didn’t have the same exciting vibe as the previous seasons, not sure what it was but it just felt like something was missing. i’m hoping part 2 will feel different.

pregnancy storyline - my opinion on this storyline has and will not change. i still find it unnecessary, i still find it predictable and i still believe the trope ruins any book or movie that it’s worked into. however, that being said, it’s been interesting to see johnny’s character development this season. he’s fully embracing the whole pregnancy and baby vibe and it is pretty sweet to see.

johnny - like i said, it’s been interesting to see johnny’s characters development this season. i really liked the version of johnny we got to see. he got a job!!, he and daniel worked well together (in brief moments), he was supportive of both robby and miguel and he encouraged and supported devon. it was nice to see him getting his life together.

kreese - he’s a wanted man. how did he manage to travel to two different countries? UNDETECTED????

mr miyagi - i was a little baffled by the mr miyagi storyline. it’s so great that they still include him and talk about him because he was such a vital character in the karate kid movies, but i’m not exactly sure where they plan on taking this storyline?? i wonder if maybe mr miyagi used to train/work with sensei kim’s grandfather? we obviously saw that he entered the Sekai Taikai tournament so maybe they entered together?

daniel - ugh he was low-key irritating. miyagi do is supposed to be a partnership between eagle fang and miyagi do, however it just seems like it’s purely miyagi do. i feel they could’ve merged the names and become miyagi fang? i get he wants peace but he was basically causing rifts with johnny for the most stupidest of things. hoping he does better in part 2.

tory - the way no one ran after her when she walked out of miyagi do?? not even robby, her boyfriend?? everyone knew her mum was the only family she had (besides her brother) so i cant believe they just left her to fend for herself and grieve alone. honestly i don’t blame her for joining cobra kai again. it’s hard to say whether she would’ve won the female captaincy if she stayed at miyagi do but she definitely would’ve ended up hurting sam during the fight. i loved the friendship she and sam were forming so hopefully she comes back to miyagi do and they become friends again.

hawk - no WAY did the former all valley male champion not get into the final six for the Sekai Taikai on default. i was so shocked when hawk didn’t get into the group automatically with tory, sam, miguel and robby. and then he only got a place because tory quit like whatttttt! he’s one of the strongest fighters in my opinion, miles better than devon and demetri.

demetri - irritating. never stopped yapping about MIT. thinks he’s the shit. i usually like him but not this season.

kyler- nice to see character development from kyler because he was an absolute prick in the other seasons. he’s still cringe but was cool to see him getting along with miguel and the others.

devon/kenny - devon was annoying, i get the Sekai Taikai is a once in a lifetime opportunity but practically begging for a spot isn’t a good look. she needs to believe in herself and needs to stop worrying about how good others are around her. and the cheating to get into the tournament! like if she can’t win fairly at the challenge to get into tournament, how is she gonna be decent at the tournament at all. kenny deserved that chance to go to the Sekai Taikai, he’s a much stronger and aggressive fighter and it would’ve been perfect for him to show his real potential. i can’t believe the writers made him shit himself and look like an idiot.

so overall, i liked the season so far but i wasn’t overly amazed with it. as always the karate fight scenes were amazing! and this is not hating on the show or the actors this is just me giving my opinion.

find my season 5 rant here :)

[ryuichirou]

who do you think out of the twst boy tops is the meanest to their bottoms? (ok it’s probably the leech twins combined but i’d love to know how you think the tops would bully their bottoms for pleasure of course)

Sorry for the late reply, Anon!

First and foremost, I think you’re right, the Leech twins are the meanest, but that would be quite an easy and short answer. And now that I think about it… a lot of these boys are pretty mean lol but I guess they are villains so it’s natural for them to be not-so-wholesome, especially considering my own bias towards this kind of dynamic. So uuhh, let’s examine all of them! And rate their level of meanness from 0 to 10 while we’re at it, we love scaling stuff in this household…

Ace – around 6-7, he is pretty mean. His default option is to tease his Deuce (or Riddle, if this is a AceRid situation) and to bully him a little bit, mostly by touching him in a way he doesn’t expect and commenting about just how much he likes it. It’s always a game of never-ending bickering with him and Deuce, and Ace always wants to get the last laugh… He also loves to tease Deuce for being loud and talk about how they’re going to get noticed.

Trey – if he was true to himself, up to 8. But he has to be in a very comfortable place in his relationship to actually stop holding back lol He knows that his desires are unhinged and is very afraid of scaring Riddle away. He is not mean at all when he is with him, as if he’s going to break him if he does anything remotely uncomfortable. With other potential bottoms (Idia? Vil?) he allows himself to be a liiiitle meaner, mainly because they are more aware of his “true colours” and wouldn’t be as shocked by the contrast. If he didn’t hold back at all though, I feel like he could be pretty intense: verbal degradation, spanking, forcing his bottom to eat or drink semen…

Cater – normally around 3, but could go up to 6; it depends on a situation, but I can picture him getting meaner than one would expect him to be because the arousal partially shuts off the part of his brain that forces him to be friendly and cute all the time. Especially if both of them are into it to some degree, Cater could get carried away sometimes. I guess taking pictures/videos and forcing his bottom to act for them and then look at them later or asking if he should post it would be on brand for him lol

Ruggie – he usually minds his own business and doesn’t do any of the mean stuff, but honestly around 4?? There are moments when Leona gets on his nerves, so if he has an opportunity to be a bit more mean, he always uses it lol Mostly in a physical way though, like tugging on Leona’s hair and tail, biting his ears, even smacking his butt if Ruggie is lucky. And Ruggie enjoys these moments tremendously… but it’s not like he is naturally inclined to be mean by default.

Jack – good boy, not a meanie :( But he is also a tsundere who could say mean stuff every now and then, so I guess that’s a 1. It’s not like he doesn’t have potential to be a bully, it’s just way too embarrassing and feels weird and unnecessary for him. That being said, despite being such a gentle giant, he loves being physically rough and can’t control his own strength well, so if we’re judging by the level of “damage”, he is higher than a 1 lol

Azul – horrible. Definitely around 7-8, and on a good day could even jump up to 9.5. Azul thrives on dominating his partner, this is one thing he loves the most about having sex. Being better that everybody around you academically and a successful young entrepreneur is one thing, but overstimulating your partner to the point when you can see his body aching for your attention and his brains get all foggy? This is priceless, Azul’s ego is orgasming. So yeah, be it Idia or Jamil, Azul loves overstimulating them and then preventing them from reaching an orgasm, and he ALWAYS accompanies it with verbal bullying. Because he knows that Idia is going to grind his teeth and sigh in arousal and annoyance unable to talk back (finally!). And he knows that Jamil is going to get snappy at him because he doesn’t have all the time in the world to play Azul’s stupid games (how impatient~).

Jade – like we already agreed, the tweels are the meanest, so 10. And in some sense Jade is the worst out of all of them? There is no point in having sex to him if there isn’t any bullying involved; I think to Jade sex is just a pretext lol Otherwise he isn’t all that into it. And to him the bullying part starts before sex and continues after sex… so a lot of mental mind games, confusing his bottom about whether he wants to have sex with him or not, gaslighting him before AND after about what actually happened between the two. But other than that, he also teases a lot, degrades verbally a lot, and threatens a lot, but always in such a sleazy way as if he is slowly putting himself under his bottom’s skin. He also does a bunch of physical stuff too, like feeding funny mushrooms, playing with needles and choking. He also made Idia feel like he is going to kill him during sex once, and Idia genuinely believed him and almost died due to being scared. Of course, that made the orgasm stronger for both of them.

Floyd – also a 10, obviously. In a way, he is better than Jade because he actually does enjoy having sex, and sometimes he just wants to have a good banging session, and he might even be somewhat passionate and sensual (not gentle though lol). But when he wants to bully, he is much less premeditated than Jade?? He just does the first thing that comes to mind. So sometimes he just tugs on Riddle’s underwear and playfully blows on his sensitive ear in public, making him moan in surprise… but sometimes he threatens to do horrible irreversible things to him while he fucks him, licks his tears off and steals his phone to make it seem like he’s calling his mom. And then throws away his clothes so he has to come back to his dorm naked.

Kalim – barely a 1, he isn’t mean at all. Even when he gets playful or capricious, it’s never really a desire to bully or be even mildly sadistic. All the mean stuff that he does is kind of unintentional?? I think to some degree Jamil would prefer him to actually be mean and degrading than to do whatever the fuck he does when he suddenly decided that they need to change the position once every minute or so.

Rook – another weird one. He isn’t malicious and wouldn’t consider himself a bully, so it feels like he would have a very low number… but similarly to Kalim, he does stuff unintentionally, and he is kind of much worse than Kalim. The thing with Rook is that he enjoys the thrill and enjoys his partner feeling all kinds of complex emotions while having sex with him, it’s like seasoning a good meal to make it into a great meal. So while he wouldn’t call Vil (or any other of his partners) a pathetic slut, he would ask weird and invasive questions, hint at things, make his lover’s mind go straight to conclusions about Rook being unfair and cruel. If Rook can make his partner hate him with passion while also fiercely, actively and desperately enjoying his dick even for a minute or two of confusion, Rook is happy~ Also, does chasing someone in a forest count as bullying?

Ortho – in general he is around 4-6, you know, more playful and mischievous than mean, but he has the potential to be a lot meaner. Especially when he gets carried away… He gets a lot of ideas from the internet and gets experimental, especially with Idia. The more sex they have, the meaner Ortho gets because bullying provides new reactions, new sensations and new data. And it could be both verbal and physical… well, we have an entire post about just how mean Ortho could potentially get lol

Lilia – 8-10, he is one of the meanest ones for sure. And if he was his younger self, he would definitely be the meanest. We talked about him being sadistic a lot of times, in this reply for example, but these days he mostly teases his bottoms verbally, pranks them, makes them do embarrassing kinky stuff that could easily get them caught and overstimulates them. You know, like asking Silver not to wear underwear, forcing Idia to meow while he is being fucked or even saying that Malleus seemed way too happy about getting attention and therefore should show how much he wants him to continue fucking him (although the last one is very dangerous; Lilia is very careful with Malleus lol). Similarly to Rook, he thinks it’s just him being playful~

Sebek – as things always are with Sebek, it depends on who he is with. Because if it’s Malleus, he wouldn’t dare to be mean to him, at least intentionally, so that would make him a 0… but with Silver or Idia or anyone else I can see him getting very cocky. Despite how physical Sebek always is, he is surprisingly into verbal degradation, so Silver is going to hear a lot of comments about him not being able to handle Sebek and his legs being shaky because of them having sex, and Idia is going to hear a lot of... all kinds of mean stuff about how pathetic he is to be honest lol But Sebek also gets overstimulated easily, so he’ll either start spouting nonsense or will proceed with physical bullying – hair pulling, smacking and stuff. So either 0 or 8 for him lol