#I know that one doesn't undermine the other I just don't know how to properly tell the difference between the two

[salmondot]

okay so, I know there are alterhumans who are into petplay - and the two are (pretty much) wholly separate from one another. A moose therian who's into puplay, for instance. Being a moose is who they are but being a dog is sexually gratifying (forgive my oversimplification).

I've been questioning my alterhumanity for a long time and have been on the fence on whether or not I'm more draconic or feline. Recently (I am about to overshare about my sex life, fyi) I've actually tried petplay and really like being a cat in the sexual sense but also feel a feeling similar to species euphoria - I'm not sure how to know if the two are linked or not?

Maybe I was just a dragon and now, as a "human" so to speak, I like being feline? Maybe I lucked out and I'm a cat who gets off on being a cat?? Very much crying into the void right now.

[vincord]

Borderline Kotoko and why.

(I'm not a psychiatrist, a specialist, or anyone else. Everything that follows is just my own vision of the character as a person with bpd. I like to headcanoning to my favorite characters what I have, especially if I see similarities with their feelings/behavior/relationships. I don't headcanon to the characters and my kins what I don't have myself and what I don't know much about. It's just a hedcanon and you may disagree with it, if you want.)

Since her second MV has been released, I can finally put all my thoughts together and write this post. (thanks to my mutual who told me to post this here. Without her little support, I wouldn't have done it)

I would like to start by saying that it is obvious that Kotoko divides the world into black and white, good and evil, allies and enemies. This is one of the main themes that can be traced throughout Kotoko's narrative. There is no middle ground for her, It's either this or that. This hinders Kotoko in her relationships with others, it hinders her in her relationship with herself and the perception of everything that is happening around her.

A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by extremes between idealization and devaluation.

During all this time, it has been shown how Kotoko is able to idealize people or just treat them well, but then push them away from her if they do or say something that undermines her trust in them. She takes a defensive position, because an opinion different from hers is equated with a threat and danger.

"Lucky"

Kotoko treats the rescued girl quite well only as long as she doesn't read the news.

_ Kazui

The 1st trial. Question 6.

"Who's the prisoner you have the most interest in?" Kotoko: It's hard to say. As of now, if it's about whose character I can't quite grasp, it'd be Kazui with his strong sense of intellectual curiosity.

The 2nd trial. Timeline (2022/08/05)

Kotoko: ……Mukuhara Kazui. Thanks to you, I wasn’t able to properly serve justice to those who did something unforgivable. I’m currently acting as an agent for our prison guard Es. Don’t get in my way next time. Kazui: Oi oi, don’t be silly, Yuzuriha-chan. There’s no way I could just look away from your outrageous display of violence. Anyway, even disregarding the fact violence against those voted guilty isn’t a part of Milgram’s system, what you’re doing is just acting recklessly based on a broad interpretation. As long as I’m free myself, I’ll stop you. Kotoko: ……what a pointless argument. Hmph. Since Es forgives you, I have no choice but to forgive you myself too. If you to keep to your words, then you’d best do what you can to keep being forgiven. If you’re not, then next time you’ll be one of my targets.

She is interested in him and communicating with him. They really have common topics to talk about and maybe they could even get along. But he does something that she doesn't like and is directed against her and her ideals. Kazui stands up for those whom Kotoko planned to punish, thereby turning her against himself, despite the small number of common themes that seemed to make her a little more loyal to him. This act alone is enough for her to instantly begin to see him as an enemy, not an ally. _

Es

Kotoko's idealization and disillusionment with people are best manifested in her relationship with Es. In the beginning, she offers them cooperation, seeing that Milgram is somewhat similar to what she adheres to, only to push them away when her opinion was not agreed.

The 1st trial. Voice drama.

Kotoko: Some scenes.. you can only see it in a cell. Because you and I are the same, always observing the other prisoners.

Es: Kotoko. A person like you.. What have you planned? Kotoko: Heh. Me, I want to be like you. There's no way I can tolerate sin.

Kotoko: To be honest, I don't know your true intentions. And I don't know whether you are a similar person with similar thoughts. Who knows, maybe it's just my delusion of wishful thinking.

The 2nd trial. Voice drama.

Es: Listen to me. You're wrong. Kotoko: What? We've decided to work together, so i've become your fangs.

Es: That's enough. We have different views on it. I'm not continuing to work with you.

Beginning. They make it clear to her that they disagree with her and consider her wrong.

Es: Kotoko. I will not do what you say. I will determine the way i see both sin and punishment as i want it. It may seem wrong from your point of view. And that's understandable. I'm pretty aware of it.

Kotoko: How ridiculous... It's always like this... All of you weaklings always act like this... All of you enjoy seeing someone getting hurt...

Kotoko: You keep asking for it, but as soon as it happens near you by your own choice, you all start complaining and evading your responsibility... You're always like this... Always such idiots!

Kotoko: You have no power, and yet you make no effort to gain it! You're talking about justice, but it just doesn't make sence! You're invested in people's disasters, yet you take a position of "i have nothing to do with it"! You can't even face your true selves!

Ending. After they disagree with Kotoko, she instantly forgets everything she said before. Now they are no longer similar people with similar interests. Now Es is the exact opposite of that. _

It is also worth recalling that since her birthday in 2022 to birthday in 2023, Kotoko has never contacted any of the other prisoners. She isolated herself from her surroundings for quite a long time, only to then offend them all. She didn't trust any of them before, but now, when she sees that no one agrees with her, she has done everything to build a barrier between them and herself.

Most people with BPD react sharply to rejection, disagreement with them, actions directed against them, and so on, which they can interpret as betrayal and something that threatens their own safety. Sometimes it doesn't matter what a person has done or said. The reaction to this can be strong and vivid. ___

Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.

Here I focus only on paranoia and stress. Kotoko doesn't trust anyone, she's always tense and wary. Even in simple conversations with prisoners, she may feel threatened and something directed against herself. Actually, there is already a post that would fit this point and which is a little more detailed. It says more about PTSD, but still.

The 1st trial. Timeline (2020/05/30)

Mahiru: Hey, Kotoko-chan. There’s something that’s really been bugging me, so do you mind if I ask? ……how do you style yourself so well? Have you always dressed like that? But it also looks like something you’d wear for training. Do you play sport? Ah, or maybe some kind of martial arts? Kotoko: ……you really are carefree. Everyone in here is a “murderer” right? Is this really the time to be asking questions like that? Mahiru: Hmm, I guess so. That’s what they said. But nobody here seems particularly scary or anything, right? If I had to pick someone, then maybe you’re the scariest! Ah, wait, do you do like yoga or something? Kotoko: ……I can’t tell if you’re making fun of me or are just an airhead.

The 1st trial. Timeline (2020/07/09)

Kotoko: Kazui, you do martial arts right. ……what type? Judo? Kazui: Ah, my main is…… judo, and kendo. I also know a little bit of karate. You must have some martial arts experience too, right, Yuzuriha-chan? I can tell by looking. Hmm… probably a combat type…… I’m guessing not karate…… is it Taekwondo? Kotoko: ……I’m not telling you. Stop ogling me like that. It’s gross. Kazui: I-isn’t that a bit unfair?

+ Literally this moment.

___

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights) +

Emotional instability in reaction to day-to-day events

or

or

In both of her MVs, from time to time there is a sudden transition to wolves, the red moon and Kotoko's inner world, during which she gives free rein to her emotions. It's like emotional outbursts and outbursts of aggression, the appearance of which you cannot predict, which is why they cause damage both to the one who has them, and, perhaps, to those who are around.

Not that I can say anything about symbolism, I don't think i understand it. But since this is my post and my headcanon, I can interpret what is happening the way I want.

For all its secrecy and unsociability, most of Kotoko's outfits are quite open, compared to the outfit with the red jacket. When she's in this outfit, she's either in her inner world, or with an emotional outburst, or hurting someone. Wearing a hood is an attempt to protect yourself from the outside world and the people around you, to keep all your emotions to yourself, which are already suppressed. Kotoko, with her hood up, is cold and aloof from everyone. She builds a kind of wall between herself and the others. When she removes the hood from her head, she breaks down these walls, allowing a bunch of different emotions to break out and mix.

I would also like to mention how she sounds in her second voice drama and second song. She goes from emotion to emotion and pretty quickly. The way she quickly goes from laughter to intense anger, from intense anger to utter despair and is on the verge of tears, only to then return to anger again, and then suddenly quiet down. ___

Identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self +

Chronic feelings of emptiness

+

The 1st trial. Question 1

"Just who are you?" Kotoko: Yuzuriha Kotoko. Someone who plans to fight for your sake. Well, that depends on you too, though.

Kotoko doesn't perceive herself as a person, but rather as a tool to achieve a particular goal. Someone who will do the dirty work that others won't do. She has a first name, last name, age, and that's all. Her whole definition goes through her own ideals, which she desperately clings to and clings to. Kotoko's views are radical and in most cases don't imply compromises. She's either a hero or nobody, so she always needs a reason to follow her ideals and do everything according to them.

Otherwise, there will be nothing left of her. ___

What can I say at the end? Well, this is my headcannon and that's it. I could have forgotten something, made a mistake somewhere, or not completed it. It's hard for me to keep track of it.

Kotoko is one of my favorite characters and some of the things related to her evoke a strong response in me, even if these things show the negative side of the personality and cause a pang of guilt/dislike. It's like you're being shown those disadvantages of yours that you're trying to ignore.

I like to think that she crushes a lot of emotions inside herself, trying not to let them escape. I like to think that sometimes she's afraid of herself, and sometimes she's not. Her cooperation with someone is both a feeling of being needed, and avoiding loneliness, and a moment of socialization. But she can't stand it, because any little thing or the wrong word triggers a survival mode in her head, which is why she builds high walls between herself and the environment again.

I have a lot of thoughts about her. I just wanted to pour at least a small part of these thoughts out of my head into a relatively structured post and that's all. Thanks for reading it. I've been carrying it all in my head for quite a long time and I don't want to wait for the release of her answers to the questions, you know...

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Unattainable | 7

"Ah my little Schnucki! It's good to see you not through a Webcam! Are you sure you want to do the whole school thing?"

"Noiz! We already talked about this!"

That feeling of family warmth overtook your heart as you watched your brother bicker with his husband. Pulling on eacother's ears and cheeks as they went back and forth on the familiar subject.

"We can't keep them locked up for ever no matter how much we want to!"

"Why not? We have the means and Schnucki doesn't get along with others anyway."

"SHHH don't say that in front of them! (Y/n) we think your plenty capable of making new friends!"

"Well don't lie to them! They're better off staying home. It worked for me I'm sure it'll work for them too!"

"You were locked away for years and hardly knew how to talk to people!"

"And look at me now! It would suit them best to stay-"

"Don't. Undermine me, mister!"

Haruhi huffed at the sight. When would she stop baring witness to men acting like children? Idiots, all of them. She loudly cleared her throat, smiling cheekily when they turned to her. 

"Nice to see you two are as energetic as always."

The strawberry blonde chuckled holding his husband by the waist. 

"It's the only way I can keep him happy!"

He winked as Aoba hit his suited chest with a blushing face. Haruhi resisted the urge to gag turning to you. You were  staring at the seemingly bottomless container of your (f/t), pouting at the sleepiness that interrupted your joyful reward. Noiz crept beside you poking his forehead into yours as he looked down to sample your view. He looked up, identifying the tired glaze over your eyes.. Holding in a giggle he put a hand on your head, keeping firm as you looked up at him. Guiding you into his body he held you tight cradling your back as you hugged him.

"I see you found my 'secret' compartment!"

"Not much of a secret when the design is so obvious."

He feigned a stabbing pain in his heart, "Well leave it to my kid to see the idiosyncrasies of my engineering." 

"Sorry." The monotone voice would have come off sarcastic to anyone else. But Noiz knew. He knew that you meant it and you just didn't know how to say that without offensive social cues. He knew that your attempted eye contact was you're insecurity about reacting properly. And he was proud you were even trying.

""It's all good Schnucki!"

He let his hug reduce to an arm around your shoulders as he turned back to Haruhi and Aoba who seemed to be finished whispering about something. And he couldn't help but be a little petty.

"What're you two whispering about? Making fun of how much cuter the two of us are?"

Aoba quickly scowled before flashing a smile as he copied Noiz. 

"Not cuter than us I bet! (Y/n) will you judge us real fast?"

"Sure. They are the cutest."

"Gagh! How cruel! Turning my own child against me! But I'll do you one better!"

He pulled you along with his left arm while he reached for Aoba with his right. Firmly grabbing his husband's waist he looped his finger into his belt loops before cheekily holding him in place. Squeezing you both as tight as he could he turned to Haruhi.

"How about now aren't we just the cutest trio you ever did see?"

The reluctant host club member paused, taking in the way you playfully pretended to struggle while Aoba began to scold him. Pushing down an ugly feeling she let a somber smile spread on her face.

"Yep I can guarantee I've never seen anyone cuter...picture?"

She pulled out her phone while Noiz enthusiastically nodded. After a few seconds she tucks her phone in her pocket and Noiz finally releases his hold on Aoba. Doubling down to cuddle into you as you fruitlessly protested. 

"Send that to me Haruhi."

Looking into the golden hues of the Serigaki head she nodded, holding back laughter.

Aoba was truly talented.

She hadn't seen anyone be so threatening without meaning to at all. But Sharks aren't exactly aware they're considered frightening. Not until you were their next meal. 

Haruhi Fujioka had no intentions of being so, instead she'd consider herself a lesser threat. More like a feeder fish. 

Because she likes the remains of the initial attack. The remains of the defeated are exactly her type.

"Oh Haruhi, are we having the fish you like with those friends of yours?"

"I think we should. They've never gotten to taste it the Serigaki way. I think it'd blow them out the water." 

_____________

Schnucki - "Sweety" according to Google translate

[crystalrainfall]

Dear Izumi Curtis,

Maybe stranding kids on an Island, with no survival tools other than a knife and forbidding the use of alchemy, their only real reliable source and means of survival to make things easier, since these are children, might've been a mentally deranged decision.

I do not care that an employee was there to take care of the children, if said employee's only purpose was to fight the already weakened, and vulnerable, hurt children and steal recourses, such as hard earned food, from them in order to "train" or "toughen" them up...

The real risk of that wound Ed obtained from a WILD fox is nothing to scoff at.

The wound could've been infected if not treated properly, which I don't think a couple of children could've done easily, regardless of if they are geniuses or not ...

It's still highly irresponsible.

That's not to mention the diseases that fox could've carried.

This scenario could've ended in such tragedy which is only caused through pure negligence.

I do not care that Izumi herself was trained in a much harsher scenario, she was clearly an adult during her training in Briggs and thus could probably asses the situation and consent.

Which children just can't, no matter how much a child thinks they know an 10-9 year old just isn't mature.

And I don't even think pinako, the legal guardian for the two boys at the time knew of this, because if she did she rightfully so wouldn't have allowed it....

I hate that this is played off as a joke, that the two were trained in an absurd way...It's so easy to forget that fma is an anime when it's usually very grounded in reality and tries to explore deep conflicts... But when similar serious topics get ignored, the handling of the other topics fall flat and almost ignorant...

Slapstick in 2003 doesn't work.

It doesn't when the show tries to tackle extreme topics and tries to take itself serious...

Edward fearing Izumi and being physically hurt by her isn't funny because it feels out of place in a show that's meant to tackle trauma...

It feels like these issues are ignored and undermined.

Like I get this part was supposed to be a joke but it just comes off as not funny... Because you're just left asking yourself "is this actually trauma or just a joke?"

Which I think is the wrong message.

Just that it unintentionally comes off as extremely manipulative, having someone who's supposed to be a maternal figure for Ed and Al show this much violence...

And mind you, this is exclusive to Ed and Al. No other kid has ever been hit or treated that way, yelled at?, sure, but even then it was mild. Tf kind of messaging is that? It's okay to harm the ones closest to you? You're doing it for their own good? As long as the person treats you good afterwards it's okay to be hit?

Like I know this is probably unintentional, because these issues just aren't addressed in the show, so it's not meant to be taken literally but damn did they miss the mark hard!...

Like this entire sequence just pisses me off, there's already a post on this site which discusses the harsh flinch that Ed had when Mustang approached him after Nina's death in the alleyway...

The 5th picture of him just expecting to be hit again and accepting it... Just is wrong...

Like is this kid just used to it? Being treated like dog shit by authority or adult figures in his life, by anyone that isn't his deceased mother?

And the entire scene is flat, no music no nothing... This is just painful to watch. The hug afterwards just comes off as empty, damage control, to apologize after hurting someone, but doing it again.

[katherinakaina]

I like how people are reacting to this post about Hbomb's Pathologic video both in the reblogs and in separate posts. The most common response is along the lines of 'yeah, I guess it's fine, but after actually playing the game I disagree with it a lot'. Same. I got the wrong impression about Daniil and about how difficult it would be. I probably have a dozen minor nitpicks here and there but they are just that, nitpicks. It's a good video.

What is notable to me about people's responses is that in criticizing the work for being inaccurate they tend to be inaccurate about said work. I suppose it's just easy to forget things. But like... You don't have to invent things that are wrong about the video. It kinda undermines your point.

Like, you don't have to kill Lika? Okay. Hbomb never said you have to. Weird that you got that impression. He literally just compares it to other video games where killing children is not even possible. Pathologic on the other hand provides you with incentive. Lika's got a shmowder on him. At this point you have no idea how many shmowders and panaceas you will have. You can always grind for them. It's not a huge loss. But it is an incentive. One of the strongest ones in the game. Not to mention the gun, that is nice to be able to sell on the first day.

Selling guns is also easy. When you get used to it. You can not appreciate how outside the box and uncomfortable that would be for a first time player who was not told all these hacks.

Speaking of. Hbomb oversells the difficulty, that's true. But also he told me how to play the game. How can I really say that it would be as easy if I had to figure everything out on my own? For example, in all the video I watched before playing there was no instructions on how to manage your infection level properly. I found myself almost dying from the plague (the blacking out effects the game has when you approach high levels of infection are pretty cool though, I'm glad I saw them) before I pieced together the perfect formula for infinite health.

And even then he literally acknowledges that the game is easy if you know what you are doing. He just marvels at the fact that it has this reputation. And I think it has it not because it's difficult but because it's tedious. Especially in the Clara's route where you have to just look for Albino without clues? Ugh. I like did it once and then I just looked up the map. And then it was easy. But I cheated though! If you've beaten p1 without using playthrough guides or advice even once and you still think it was a breeze then I bet you are in the minority.

Also ADHD? Makes it more difficult to concentrate maybe? Stop telling people that they suck at the game (that they've beaten btw) just because they found it challenging. It's mean and probably ableist.

Speaking of Clara. He does not underestimate her route. He said it was really satisfying. He's the only person I know to this day who got her ending. Which you can disagree with but he is allowed an opinion and he clearly thought about it. What else do you need?

He doesn't simplify the story. He says the game has a rich plot worthy of a novel with the equivalent amount of words to read. Other than that he just doesn't talk about it at all almost. Which is a shame. I also would have liked a story deep dive more. But also... Would I? It was so interesting to play pathologic even with all the spoilers because it is basically a book pretending to be a game. It is at least a thousand pages tome. I'm glad I experienced it for myself.

There are probably more takes out there but I think I made my point. Hbomb exaggerated a lot of things for comedic effect and it may be annoying. But you don't need to do the same? Or maybe you do? Well, then you can understand why he did what he did.

[ephemeral-roses]

Since it's been months, I am now forcing myself to be a brave little boy to post my process on my version of Ares, along with some art of Aphrodite. And sorry if the post is tagged weirdly, I still am unsure how to properly tag posts. I post every blue moon, so I don't think I still have an understanding of it.

These are my most recent and decent art of him, and I got a few notes on his design.

��� His first scar is the one on his cheek, but it wasn't from any war or battle. When he was younger, he was exactly what one would imagine Ares to be, very arrogant and proud, with fighting on his mind despite having never been to any battles. He would play a game where he and someone would spar, and whoever gets the biggest scar wins. Hermes lost, only because he was so good at it.

● The tattoos he has are from Thrace, where he is said to have been born and was his favorite place. The symbol on the back of his hand is a snake, relating to them being one of his sacred animals.

And here is some art of him I made a few months ago, based on some paintings I've found of him. My favorite genre of Ares art is when he is dorned with flowers, the Erotes are playing with his weapons, and he is very happy with Aphrodite. It makes me very delighted.

Speaking of Aphrodite, this is what she looks like. I got a few notes on her personality and design.

● Since she is Aphrodite, she is very vain, focusing on her physical appearance a lot and becoming emotional whenever someone undermines or doubts her beauty, with the ability to become wrathful.

● But, as a mother, she is able to self-love aside for her children, putting her entire attention to them. Before she gets with Ares, she has already had a handful of children with previous lovers. Ares doesn't mind, of course.

● Her design is, of course, based on her origins from the sea and her being a sea goddess.

● She emerged from seafoam but was then taken in by Dione.

● Despite valuing her appearance and the way she presents herself and encouraging others to do the same, she does have one little quirk she inherited from her years living in the ocean. She eats like a beast, especially when it comes to seafood. When it is in her sight, she is devouring it like a wildwoman. This is just being very silly and having fun. Don't worry about it.

● Her little, uh, braid thing (I guess, I don't know what you'd call it exactly, I'm not good with hair) is divided into 7 sections, for the 7 types of Greek love. I'm gonna be transparent here. This is me trying to sound clever and creative when I'm not.

● When she is upset, whether sad or angry, her body starts resorting back to water and seafoam. I still can't find out how to draw it, unfortunately, even though the visuals look cool in my mind.

I am gonna try to post more frequently, especially the designs I've come up for the other gods. So far, this is all I could bring my energy to post.

[mosspace]

Dear PTJ, please develope your female characters

Someone complaining abt the way PTJ writes his female characters (truly, a never seen before concept); 1st Afilliate Arc and Cheongliang Arc spoilers (at this point, I think most people are up to date w/ the story, but I'm still gonna put this warning just in case)

Look, I don't take Lookism super seriously. In fact, I think I never did that, mainly thanks to the outlandish concepts it had since the beginning. I'm just here to have fun at this point, and to finally learn the truth about Daniel's 2nd body (omg, it's been 400+ chapters-).

I definitely wasn't expecting to find super well written female characters (even though I definitely should, it's 2024, for God's sake-), something a good number of fighting-related webtoons seem to struggle with. But damn, does Lookism waste its female characters in a way not many have done before.

Since the focus of the story has shifted primarly towards fighting and taking down the Four Crews and Charles Choi, I'm gonna focus on two of the characters most connected to these aspects: Mary Kim and Crystal Choi (ik Lua and Sally are also connected in this way, but I don't really have a lot to say about them and, besides, they've already been covered by another user here on Tumblr)

Mary Kim

The perfect opportunity to get her more involved came up not so long ago, in the ep just before the Allied vs 1st Afilliate fight properly started. We see Mary's reaction upon hearing Vin Jin tell her that Taejin Cheon is alive; we can see her anger asclear as day both in her expression and her words. She literally expresses how much she wants to kill this guy.

And yet, PTJ doesn't make her go and get her revenge. Instead, we have Vin Jin basically saying that he will do it for her because 'his hands are already dirty" (i heavily paraphrased his words, but you get it), which to me, at least, doesn't make sense.

Time and time again we see how close the two of them are in spite of the many jabs they throw at each other. Even without knowing the details of their shared past in Cheongliang (which comes up a couple episodes later), it's very strange that she would let Vin jin go to face him just like that.

By this point, it's already stablished that he murdered somebody, an act that even if deserved by the deceased person, takes a mental toll on the one who does it. Taking this into account, I don't see why Mary would just let who's basically her best friend go through the same thing again, alone. And I especially don't see why she would obey him and stay behind. Her, Mary, the person who never takes Vin Jin's bullshit and always calls him out.

Why not have them both go together? It would be a great opportunity to 1) deal with the last negative reminder of their past, and gain a little bit of closure once and for all, and 2) have Mary finally fight seriously and be able to demonstrate why she's called 'The Empress of Two Seconds' and why she's considered so strong.

We've only seen her take down minor opponents a very, very small number of times, all of which are altercations that don't ever last too long (i guess this last thing is to back up her nickname but, eh)

TLDR: Let Mary dirty her hands as much as Vin. Let them take down together one of the people who has brought them so much pain as the pair of strong besties they are. Stop telling us how strong she is and actually commit to showing it.

__

Crystal Choi

Oh boy, this character-

Like, you mean to tell me that the sole offspring/child of the Big Bad Guy tm the protagonist and his friends are meant to take down, who also happens to be friends with said protagonist, doesn't play a major role on the story? Absolutely insane

And that isn't even taking into account that she also has 2 bodies, which is something only one other character (Daniel, the PROTAGONIST), has and is a major plot point

I'd like to see her be more aware of her privilege as a rich person. Yeah, she was relentlesstly bullied and undermined for her appeareance (which is a horrible thing for anybody to go through) but at least she wasn't poor, too. Does she actually use her money or her status as the daughter of one of the richest men in Korea to change things or solve problems?

Jay literally bought an ambulance of the same type used by the 1st Afilliate so that Allied could sneak in, so why can't Crystal do something similar to help them, too? She helped them during the Gambling Arc by bringing Kouji

I'd like to see her realize and come to terms with the fact that her father's a horrible person. I don't think she knows everything that's going on behind closed doors, but she's definitely smart enough to have noticed that there's something shady going on with his bussiness.

Let her discover the truth. Let her pick either her father's or Daniel's side (the latter which I believe is the most plausible, since she doesn't seem the type to excuse murder, extorsion, etc.). She could act as an informant, helping Allied from the inside.

Heck, you could have her fight, too, if you wanted to. She trained with Gun, after all. And yeah, maybe she's not as strong as the other characters, but we know that she can hold her own against most people. We've seen it.

TLDR: how the hell do you set up a character with so much potential and don't do anything with it. Also, think abt the angst potential!

________________________________________________

Final thoughts, I guess:

I think that Crystal siding with Allied has a higher chance of happening than PTJ letting Mary fight. There's still a good chunk of the story yet to be told, so anything could happen.

I'm actually considering believing that the reason we rarely see the female characters is that they, also, are working secretly to take down the Four Crews and it's gonna get revealed in the last arc for the sake of my sanity

[decepti-thots]

Really enjoy your post about Optimus holding onto skewed views of his relationships. I think a lot about how soon he started calling Megatron a friend when they interacted maybe twice and said interactions weren't exactly pleasant. How he undermined Bee and treated him as just another politician while calling him friend. How we don't really see him have much of a personal or pleasant relationship with Prowl and he calls him friend. There's so much distance between Optimus and the people important to him, and we know he knows that, but he doesn't talk as if that distance is there most of the time. By the end of IDW1 it really felt like he didn't have any friends at all even though a lot of characters would probably say otherwise. The character we see have the most significant legitimate friendship with Optimus (in my opinion) is Senator Shockwave. And even he had ulterior motives.

This is EXCELLENT anon, exactly right IMO. A lot of the Megatron-Optimus stuff in particular I think is a peculiar byproduct of phase two writers (lbr, mostly Roberts) attempting to make IDW Megatron-Optimus into something that more strongly resembles the kind of dramatic narrative that exists in other continuities but realistically just does not make sense in IDW at that point; obviously the easy one to point at is TFP, but actually this also is a situation where Marvel G1 and G1 generally actually does also have that vibe, if you take into consideration the lesser-known prose stories for Marvel especially. And it has this fascinating knock-on effect in IDW of creating the dynamic you're highlighting here, which honestly is much more interesting than if Optimus had had those genuinely close relationships, and which I think Barber is able to kind of work with more deliberately in his later work in the comics. He's constantly trying to create these connections retroactively, to fill a gap because the gap exists in the first place. Hell, at one point in the exRiD/OP stuff he calls Soundwave 'old friend', and like. They are not old friends. But Optimus certainly would have known of Soundwave, and you can see how the narrative would get constructed, out of the need to have some kind of interpersonal continuity he would otherwise totally lack. It's like he so lacks strong interpersonal relationships he substitutes symbolic ones by way of the war, almost. It's all he has after a certain point! Those ideological touchstones, in place of actual connections, some of it self imposed, some of it externally forced on him.

A lot of the real tail-end stuff with Optimus in IDW is about constructed narratives and their power and how they can constrict the people trying to live within them, and I think it fits perfectly with this, honestly. IDW Megatron and Optimus weren't ever actually friends, but they both understand how they could have been, and in their own way they both try and create narratives in their post-war lives that allow them to explore that now they've made themselves into people who cannot properly connect to anyone around them. (I really dislike the LL 'Megatron goes off to the functionist universe' stuff for various reasons, but one thing I actually do think is potentially fascinating is the way it allows him to live out a fantasy of actually knowing Orion, just because it highlights how he never did in the way the audience might assume by default.) And even pre-war, the way Orion lived his life- essentially as someone who did not understand his own complicity in the downfall of things and the structures of corrupt power until it was too late- did not create any long-term interpersonal connections. He can mostly only imagine them. He wants them, but he can't find a way to make them, so he tries to turn those imagined connections into reality just by saying them.

And again, it's definitely accidental, but it's weirdly fitting that the one other character he actually does have any canonical basis for an 'old friend' thing with... leaves. Which is Ratchet. It's weirdly fitting I think that Ratchet, who actually knew him in some intimate capacity pre-war, who is his old friend, is the person who is explicitly like 'no, I can't stay here anymore because there's no room for me' and leaves him, not unkindly, but definitively.

[majorbaby]

commander pierce is a low point for MASH, my personal least favourite episode and here's why:

Regardless of your position on the framing, which i'll get to later, the writing is weak.

It sets Potter up as being a competent, strong leader and Hawkeye learn that being in charge of the base isn't as easy as it looks (which makes no sense for Hawkeye but again, I'll come to that) but then when we cut to Potter at the very important conference he's meant to be attending with some other army brass, we see them getting drunk and later on, just chilling together. He only gets up to leave said conference when he catches Radar's drift that the camp is falling apart without him - we're to assume he would've just continued fucking around until whenever he felt like returning.

These scenes align well with MASH's earlier anti-establishment beat, but it doesn't fit in this pro-establishment episode. Is Potter a responsible leader who is simply misunderstood by the rebellious, immature Hawkeye, or is Potter shirking his duties while the camp suffers? Both, it would seem.

I enjoy Margaret's little mock-salute to Hawkeye because 1) he wouldn't care to be properly saluted (except ?? this episode seems to want me to believe otherwise lol) 2) when are you ever going to see her do a mock-salute otherwise.

But here's the thing, I dislike when this show muddles Hawkeye's distaste for the military with Hawkeye's misogyny. Hawkeye can be anti-establishment and even give her (and other pro-army characters) a hard time without going so far as to sexually harass her. Frank Burns was invaluable as that other "pro-army character", taking the brunt of Hawkeye and Trapper's ire.

Speaking of Frank (affectionate), in addition to saluting him, Margaret adds mockingly, "If only Frank Burns could see you now". He can't, because this episode can't achieve its goal if Frank is there to either applaud Hawkeye's efforts or laugh as he struggles. It would kill the episode's suggestion to the audience that military leadership is admirable or desirable.

BJ's "I don't know Commander Pierce! And I don't know if I want to!" makes me roll my eyes hardcore. I'm not sure if he's annoyed at how Hawkeye is acting or if he's annoyed specifically that he's being a bad leader. Seems like a little bit of both, but my read on BJ based on how he's written thus far and going forward is that it's more likely his pride is hurt when Hawkeye yells at him.

On that note, I could maybe buy that because Hawkeye is so stressed out, he accuses BJ of trying to "play hero" but I don't genuinely believe that Hawkeye's opinion of BJ could be so low or that he doesn't see how BJ dropping everything to save a life isn't, as BJ says, exactly what Hawkeye would've done in his shoes. We've watched Hawkeye do that on multiple occasions.

Or at least if Hawkeye is to be upset at BJ, then let it be for a believable reason, like, hey, BJ, what about all these other patients that came in after you left (altho even then, Radar points out that BJ couldn't have known it would happen), hey BJ, we lost 10 other guys while you were out saving one.

Instead, incredibly, Hawkeye complains that BJ left him holding the bag, and later that he undermined his authority. Generally I'm left with the impression that Hawkeye is at least a little upset that BJ thinks he didn't do a good job as a CO, when Hawkeye didn't even care for the title "Chief Surgeon" at one point, which more accurately describes his role at the camp and could very well describe a role he might eventually have as a civilian someday. To say nothing of s03e03 Officer of the Day which is the episode you should watch if you want to see Hawkeye Pierce in charge instead of a guy who only looks like Hawkeye Pierce in charge.

I said I would come to the framing: it sucks! I guess if you want to see Hawkeye give a shit about having military authority, this episode is for you, but it's hard for me to imagine that any audience member was holding their breath waiting for it to happen.

[its-to-the-death]

Bracket F thoughts:

Jesus flipping crisis, those fucking elephant calls in "Prowler's theme" are so terrifying. Also I really like how it's basically Miles' theme in reverse, both because of how it emphasizes the relationship between Miles and Aaron and because of...certain events in Across the Spiderverse.

"Candy Store" has that bitchy confidence, but "Mother Knows Best" is the emotional abuser's anthem par excellence. Like I could do a whole ask dissecting all the shit Gothel pulls in that one song to undermine and manipulate Rapunzel.

(She'd be one of my favorite Disney villains if she wasn't also a heaping pile of antisemitic stereotypes...)

I was liking "The Music of the Night," but then it tried to murder my ears with that organ(?) at the end, so I'll give this one to "What's Up Duloc?", which is also admittedly quite good.

One of these won the 1994 Razzie for Worst Original Song. The other is Rachel L Hughes playing a megalomaniacal dictator crooning about her space train (which she fucks) that definitely is not going to unleash Yog Sogoth ;). Vote for "Odin" right now.

"Dressed to Oppress" is delightful, but oh my god that reprise of "Good Kid" in "The Last Day of Summer" hits like a truck.

As people have discussed in the notes, "The Convoluted Reasons We Pretend to Be Divorced" is not that villainous--and frankly I didn't find it as much of a bop as some other PnF songs I've listened to. "We Both Reached For the Gun" is a masterclass is manipulation as Billy plays the press for suckers so completely he doesn't even need Roxy to speak for him by the end. Also the fucking puppet acting, wow.

...Ok it might not be the best villain song, but "Penny battle theme" goes so hard I had to support it. Sue me.

I voted "Someone Gets Hurt," but they're both great. That one was close.

"One-Winged Angel" is iconic and intimidating, but I personally prefer the energy of "Cell-Block Tango." The dancing is amazing, the lyrics are witty, and the chorus is an earworm and a half. I also like the use of visual symbolism with the red handkerchiefs to symbolize how each murderess killed her victim(s)--except the innocent Hungarian woman, who dances angelic ballet to their aggressive tango and is the only one with a white handkerchief.

Who doesn't love an unabashed villainess who destroys worlds in battle armor and sneakers? "I'm the Bad Guy" is a bop.

"Pieces of You" is a goofy and terrifying fever dream of a song, holy fuck. The visuals give this one the edge for me. Also, don't you want to support The Substitute? He's just a little guy :)

"A Freak Like Me Needs Company" ultimately just got kind of lost for me--it focused too much on villains in general and not on Norman himself, while "The Only Thing I Know For Real" is both a kickass rock song and a great piece of characterization for Jetstream Sam.

...I don't know, I like Zelena's actress' singing and I think it's funny that she's not cursed to sing in this episode and she's just doing this for shits and giggles. I voted "Wicked Always Wins."

To quote someone in the comments of the "Bloody Party/Welcome to Cake Island" video, "This is the most Disney-like bulshit [sic] I have ever seen in an anime, and I fucking love it." What the fuck is happening. Why are these people committing casual mass murder for cake ingredients. Why are inanimate objects singing along with this pirate lady. I don't know but it scares me.

"The Smell of Rebellion" really picks up in the end, and "Love For Peasants" felt a little too unfocused musically. Also, @thatsluttytiefling mentioned that the song gave them "war flashbacks to the choreo," so it is villainous IRL as well.

Oh my god how the fuck did "This is the Thanks I Get" get released in this state. The lyrics don't rhyme properly and are exceedingly awkward to boot. The chorus is bland as shit. The visuals are boring. There's no buildup from "I'm an underappreciated hero doing my best for the kingdom and nobody respects me enough :(" to "I want ULTIMATE POWAH through DAAAAAARK MAGIC" and then it suddenly just switches back to how it was before??? It's not intimidating and scary, it's silly for all the wrong reasons, it's not even particularly sympathetic, and it is reeking of trying to be hip and cool and/or being written by people with too little time and too few fucks to give. "Heaven on Their Minds" is very good in its own right, but I kind of already knew which one was better before I even heard it, because this song just...doesn't do its job.

I agree that the villain Phineas and Ferb songs aren't among the best the show has to offer.

[lemonhemlock]

I don't get why any team green supporter would want the "Aemond is the father" theory to be true. It would only serve to undermine team green and shit on Alicent. I've seen many team black people that like this theory and their reasons are: "it's an good ironic twist since Alicent hated Rhaenyra's bastards", "it would highlight team green's hypocrisy, "see, the bastard argument doesn't matter, etc." Basically, they want to use it as "gotcha."

I think this theory only serves to prop up team black and will ruin team green's depiction even more. And no, I'm not a "Helaemond anti." I'm fine if they want to make it romantic instead of platonic, but I'd hate it if they make the kids Aemond's.

i don't know what to tell you anon since i already have a ton of posts in my backlog cataloging those very points so i'm going to redirect you to my helaemond tag. although some stuff might be found under the anon wars tag or inbox antagonism as i got besieged at one point

i'm just going to say that the greens being hypocritical in one regard isn't the end of the world. i don't know why people are so against this, they're not meant to be perfect angels. and they're getting much worse as the story progresses. also this changes nothing for the actual plot.

the bastardy argument absolutely does still matter, because it's a different thing entirely to have plausible bastards you can pass off as trueborn. we all know that if cersei had fathered those children with stannis (lol), we'd be having a different conversation. how would this amount to a gotcha moment for rhaenyra? she doesn't know shit and can't prove shit. meanwhile her children are looking like harwin strong's clones. aegon has got himself very properly targaryen-looking kids.

there's no DNA testing, but people aren't stupid either. those working in agriculture and animal husbandry have been manipulating genetics for thousands of years to get better crops and food without studying chromosomes under the microscope. sure, their understanding was limited, but it's reasonable to assume they would, at the very least, realise that a Rhaenyra-Laenor marriage could not produce Strong features and find it Pretty Sus

but, you know, what actually really bothers us is that no matter how often we explain these things, it gets ignored and unaddressed. so people just regurgitate the same talking points again and again. it's hard to believe people are not doing it in bad faith at this point. not saying that's your intention, anon, but go to any helaemond account and you'll see that we've been over this already. many times. it's really like talking to a wall. and we still get "i don't understand why some people like this idea" type of questions even though there's a lot of ink spilled on the topic already

and these different asks from different anons:

Anonymous asked: I think people get so riled up about Helaemond and for what 😭 it’s a shipper theory. There are minuscule hints in season one, but like you said, the show could very well never do anything with them. That’s it! Why is it always such a big thing lmao

bingo. this is what it amounts to. the show's framing is there, it's implied as a possibility, yes, it's subtext, for the millionth time, we get it. why would any green sympathizer be interested in this? because they'd find exploring those particular themes interesting in a fictional setting. whether it be angst or longing or star-crossed lovers or dreadful secrets that eat you alive and consume you from within.

there are a hundred of different flavours to any ship. you may not like every one but do you even have to? people who hate this theory talk about it more than people who actually like this theory. is that normal?

Anonymous asked: You don’t have to answer, I know you’re done with ship asks, it just confuses me how people on all ends of the spectrum cry about how others are self inserting or wildly changing a ship. F&B barely gives the main characters a ton of attention, ships even less so. Why argue over something that gets one-two pages? It doesn’t seem worthwhile to me. The show is liable to change plenty of things, as we’ve already seen. The rhaenicent dynamic is so different from the book. The idea of them changing other things is incomprehensible? And “making up characterization/personalities/etc”- doesn’t everyone do this? Isn’t this the purpose of fanfic? I feel like I’m in an alternate universe sometimes where the idea of someone developing a side character is not only normal, it’s encouraged. Fandoms do it all the time.

hey there, i'm not ~done with shipping asks, as this is my blog at the end of the day and i can be as annoying as i want. :)) i see both sides of this issue.

one the one hand, it's sometimes baffling how much of a difference there is between the actual presentation within a text / on screen and the fanon interpretations. i think like there is a conversation here and it is sometimes indicative of some other issues. it's not always just innocent, self-aware changes made for fun, sometimes it's also a question of media literacy or personal / societal prejudices at play here.

a personal example from my reading experiences was the fact that i used to encounter a lot of fics where alicent was depicted as this awful mother who hates her children and sees them as tools. i would get so tired of seeing this take (which i consider bullshit for a number of reasons) that it was kind of a frustrating situation, since it seemed that was the (undeserved) way she was being portrayed all over the fandom. it would bother me bc it's also something so prevailing in society today, to demonise women who are trying their best as bad mothers and place the burden of child-rearing on them. for example, people would look at the scene of a distressed alicent trying to calm a continuously crying helaena and would claim that the baby hates her because she is such a horrible mother to her. anyway. many such examples. you can look up my opinions on lucemond, for instance. :))

on the other hand, most fics imply some sort of changes somewhere, whether they're a fix-it, canon divergence, a freaking coffee shop AU, a crackship or characters acting OOC. it's completely normal AND harmless at the end of the day. so, as long as people mind their own business and are not being arseholes to each other, to each their own. the people who want to make these changes should be free to write without getting hate for it and the people who are frustrated by interpretations they dislike can rant about it in their own spaces and that should be that.

it truly becomes an issue when people don't mind others boundaries' anymore, become so hateful with others and resort to name-calling, morality high-horsing and other forms of online harassment and bullying. for example, there are many people who write fics i don't care for or have takes i strongly disagree with, but i've never in my life went to their inboxes to disparage them, send them hate, dictate what they should post, leave comments on their fics, deride their artwork, tell them to kys or any such things. at the end of the day it's about having some basic manners, you know? it's ok to not like stuff and feel frustrated about it, but do you have to make it everyone else's problem? can you not just convey your displeasure in a more considerate way?

Anonymous asked: putting aside that self inserts in fic are as old as time and will never stop being a thing so it’s silly to complain (aemond/ofc has more fic on ao3 than alysmond, helaemond, aegond and daemond combined) I think people throw around that insult the same way they used to make fun of people for even writing fic. like it’s so silly and fangirly and dumb. But what most people are doing with literally any aemond ship is finding a dynamic they enjoy/find interesting and running with it. they expand on the characters because they have to, f&b is so sparsely drawn and the show had to cram 2 decades into 10 episodes. there simply isn’t a lot of source material. so using that as a foundation and crafting more rounded characters isn’t a crime, it’s simply fandom? i don’t relate to having prophetic dreams and marrying my alcoholic brother any more than i relate to being a hot goth milf who can do blood magick. both can be expanded on and played with because that’s what you do when you enjoy media!

this was in reference to a caustic anon that was accusing me of self-inserting into helaena. :)) OP is making some fair points here, i don't have much to add but thought it interesting as a general commentary on fandom

Anonymous asked: Even if you were engaging in ship wars and stoking flames (which you really aren’t, I don’t think any of your personal discussions have been inflammatory) it’s your blog. People can block and unfollow if they dislike the content? I can’t imagine asking someone to confirm more to what I want to see on their blog, as a fan.

yes, thank you, this was sent to me because i sometimes get requests from people asking me not to post something in favour of something else. this particular instance was because i answered other helaemond asks at the time.

is it fair? idk! some of those requests are worded v politely, so i'm not upset by them or anything, but, at the same time, shouldn't this blog be something that caters to me first and foremost? not to toot my own horn, but i should be my first customer in this regard. why else would i post if i don't enjoy doing it? i don't get paid for doing this, it's my own free time involved. if i have a day where i want to post shipping asks instead of something else, why not? if i have a day when i don't want to or can't muster up a coherent answer, i feel like it should be equally fine?

another thing that people don't realise - some might not like a topic or me talking about shipping wars for the 234th time this week, but others do. otherwise i wouldn't be getting so many messages about this. so, by trying to please 1 or 2 people, i might end up displeasing others. is that a good trade-off? this is why i don't even want to start considering my blog in those terms. "pleasing" everyone is an impossible objective, so i might as well just write about things if i enjoy them and not if i don't want to.

similarly, you're never going to find an account that caters 100% to your tastes, so i feel like trying to make it so by putting pressure on other people to post what you specifically want is an endeavour doomed to failure from the start. your first reaction when seeing something you're not interested in should be to scroll past, not to feel the urge to make people aware that you experienced a minor inconvenience and should, therefore, be accommodated accordingly.

[funnywormz]

the toshiro hate discourse is crazy on twitter and tiktok lately. not only they're hating on him for being a jerk to Laios but also having a crush on Falin. they're saying he was hypocritical for liking Falin's personality when she's very much the same to Laios, the guy he find annoying. and also for being in the way of Marcille x Falin ship.

now I love the Farcille ship but dear lord do you have to go this far just to hate on toshiro.

one last thing, this one I don't see alot but is so awful and is that some fans think toshiro is a slave owner (??) cus his family bought izutsumi and tade to work as fighters wtfff

YEAH i find the people who hate on toshiro because of farcille odd because he doesn't even get in the way of it? like he just has a crush on falin but she doesn't feel the same way about him anyways. it's also strange when people act like falin and laios are exactly the same and call toshiro a hypocrite for liking falin. falin is very gentle and kind whereas laios is definitely a bit more loud and abrasive at times. i think toshiro struggled to be around laios because laios was overstimulating and exhausting for him, whereas falin wasn't any of those things. they're two very different people so i don't think it's weird that he likes one and dislikes the other

i think maybe the "slave owner" criticism has a little more merit? because his parents do literally own them, and izutsumi at least had a curse put on her by maizuru which was meant to prevent her from escaping. so like....... they are literally slaves and are under the control of his family/maizuru. although toshiro doesn't own anyone himself and was just a kid when his parents "bought" tade, izutsumi etc., he's still complicit in the aspect that he still uses the labour of these people. he does know it isn't right, and has considered talking to tade about it, and lets izutsumi go when she escapes. but he doesn't make any effort to free them himself, doesn't ask maizuru to remove the curse on izutsumi, and overall just seems to view the fact that his family are slave owners and human traffickers as something mildly uncomfortable rather than the evil awful thing that it is.

i don't think toshiro is a bad person, and he does know what his family is doing is bad, but he's also a very passive person. he's so reserved and anxious about social interaction that it interferes with him telling the truth to laios, but also gets in the way of him properly criticising or standing up to his father in a way that would make a difference, or making a big step like actually talking to tade about how her situation isn't fair at all. so yeah while it wouldn't be accurate to call him a slave owner, i think he is somewhat complicit in the practice of it and deserves criticism for that

idk i don't think toshiro is a horrible person as some in the fandom paint him out to be, and there are a lot of ways people insult him that are just straight up mischaracterisation/projection/etc. but at the same time he isn't perfect and i think there are valid reasons for people to dislike him. but i definitely do agree with the first part of this ask in that most of the reasons people have for hating him are just rlly silly lol

(i hope i approached this topic properly btw, i know slavery is a very dark and sensitive topic for many people and the last thing i would want to do is undermine the severity of it)

[brightgnosis]

Personally I’ve always hated the idea of things like ‘Spoonie Magic’ and it's always felt infantilizing to me.

Spoon Theory is an incredibly useful analogy to describe my energy levels and how they're impacted by my various disabilities and neurodivergencies ... But I'm not "a Spoonie"- and I don't practice "Spoonie Magic".

I am a disabled and neurodiverse person who also happens to be a Pagan and a Witch. I practice magic that I must occasionally change to accommodate my disabilities and neurodivergencies depending on how I feel that day — just like I must sometimes change other aspects of my life to accommodate those same disabilities and neurodivergencies based on my individual day-to-day needs.

I also just don't, in general, like or agree with the overall idea of making magic and religion ‘simple’ or ‘easy’ for myself; I’m glad if it works for others. But for me personally it’s always just felt almost childish on a number of levels. And like a bit of a cop-out ... Kind of like you're missing the entire point of everything in the first place.

For me, I guess it’s kind of in the same vein of people saying “The Gods don’t care how you worship them” ... It’s a cute sentiment, but that’s ultimately all it is: A platitude meant to make you feel better. But it’s just a pleasant lie we tell ourselves to feel better about all the things we don't do; historically speaking, it’s not actually true in the vast majority of actual cases.

The actual reality is that most Gods and Spirits do very much care- and they care a lot. Otherwise we wouldn't have historical instructions on how to do it properly- even if those records are incomplete for us today because that's the way history goes a lot of the time. It still doesn't discount the fact, however, that there are so many rules and different roles to navigate in every tradition and worldview ... so much so that no one can truly say "they don't care" or have never cared at any point.

There’s really a lot to be said about the need for adequate accommodation for disability in religious settings, mind you. Don't get me wrong, there, at all; so much of religion is legitimately inaccessible in so many areas- but especially within Paganism. And especially to the disabled and the impoverished, the rural, and so on ... I know because I am all of these things and I have had to deal with this inaccessibility in Paganism in many forms of overlap for basically my entire life.

It's not fun. But it's also not because of things like lists that say "you have to have X" or "you have to do Y"; that's ultimately such a shallow and childish understanding of issues like gatekeeping, discrimination, and inaccessibility. And a shallow and childish understanding which ultimately completely minimizes and undermines not only the very integral meaning of these things- but also the ways in which we can even seek effective solutions to them.

At the same time, too, however? I also can’t personally forget that Religion and Magic aren’t supposed to be easy or simple in the first place ... They’re not meant to conform to you. You are meant to conform to them- and that is the point: To transform you. And that matters ... Or, at least, it matters to me.

[dojae-huh]

hi huh 🫶 so many good news happened in just a span of one day yesterday, the reaction on X is chaotic so your blog is my safe space!

i love jaehyun's new song! it showed a new color of his vocals, and his lyricism (though i'm not really fluent in korean, i can't say much about it) and the chance for him to be creative and do what he wants. it was nice and refreshing 💛

do the ever supportive "co-worker", posting about every neo solo on his ig each time. it's endearing 🫶 has become a thing for jaedo, they really do have a special connection hehe

nct 2023 announced a few hours after jaehyun's solo, which i would admit a very bad move on sm's part. though i'm excited really, with the return of t7s unit and the upcoming nct concert. but i do notice one thing - where is nct japan unit??

i did my basic google search, lastart will be around 5 eps and this week is the 3rd eps. So 2 weeks more and we have the final lineup for nct's last unit. and it's just right before the nct concert and album release, so i was expecting them to be included in 😔 i feel very bad for these trainees, all these fans doomsaying and planning to boycott any nct activities is just evil they're innocent :( the fandom, at least on twitter is a whole mess, i can only hope that nct 2023 is as successful as the other nct albums. i feel it's safe to hide behind ask and say about this, and i love reading your replies so i hope you don't mind my thought dump haha

i'm also curious about your thoughts on riize? i've been actively following them and they're really good!! all the boys seem promising and i'm shaking with anticipation for new content haha. they just had their first ig live last night, it's cute how shotaro was suspected as the leader since he's leading the group greeting!

link for group greeting -> https:// twitter.com /riizepics/status/1688883426659872768?s=46&t=m039VaKV8OZmu71_7XkSMQ

hope u have a good day and thank u for readinggg 🫶

Hi,

X is like a busy market where everyone hurry, shout and shove others with their elbows, meanwhile small blogs are like bars with regulars.

I can't say much about Jae's lyrics as well. As English is not my native language, I can't even feel how off the English parts are.

Many pop songs don't have intricately crafted lyrics, they just rely on words of association, a few sentences that vaguely paint a scene or describe a feeling, therefore, Jae shouldn't be much worse than the average male singer nowadays, me thinks. He does try to be poetic, describe love taking certain moments in daily life, states of "being/existing" as a starting point (spending time alone in a room, longing; daily life on the road; yearning after parting), which is nice.

NCT2023 album will be released in less than three weeks, there is little time for promotion. If the shops are ready for pre-order, it is time to make the fans know. It's inevitable that announcements overlap, NCTLab is a side project, like SM Classics, not a solo album. Sm moving to NCT2023 doesn't mean the promotion of "Horizon" has stopped. "Forever only" was included in several articles with best songs, there was a remix.

The MV has Mnet 2023.08.03 stamp at the very beginning. Seems like the MV was originally scheduled to be released earlier, on the 3d and not on the 8th?

Fans are quick to say SM does something intentionally to undermine their artists, when oftentimes it's circumstances and SM's lack of staff to properly manage everything. Which should be fixed, for sure.

Let's appreciate that Jae's MV was shot in Italy, has the boyfriend vibe that will give the song a bigger chance to take off, and not in a studio with a few hung lights like Moon Sujin&Taeil's The Moon.

The last unit is scheduled (tentatively) to release the first solo at the end of 2023. The unit need to train together, shoot some promotional content (like NCT LIfe). Quite possible they will start with a showcase in Japan to launch them. It is Riize' time now.

NCT2023 will have merch. And you can't make one for NCT Japan while the members are still unknown. Plus, the fans will hate the new unit for "riding on the coattails". They haven't earned the NCTnation concert yet.

It's OK. SungTaro were accused of every possible evil as well. A couple of years later the same fandom was crying over their departure.

Every NCT album was planned to be boycotted. Didn't happen.

Riize group greeting

I've checked Riize IG and the first track video, I will observe their debut. I have a feeling they will become like WayV for me: I'll tune in only for the albums and won't follow closely. The concept isn't for me. I have no interest in bands and the garage group aesthetics. Seunghan and Shotaro are the only attracting factors, the new members didn't pick my interest. I might as well just subscribe to a Seunghan stan acc to not lose the sight of him.

[brainrotallthewaydown1312]

I've had several people in my replies ask why I think Lucy Carlyle is an unreliable narrator, and the reply box doesn't give me enough characters for a solid answer.

Firstly, an unreliable narrator is not only a narrator who is purposely and blatantly lying to you. It is any narrator who misleads the reader weather it is on purpose or because they misunderstand something. it often comes from immaturity, circumstances, and character flaws. Many unreliable narrators are only passively unreliable.

Lucy fits this in several ways. The most glaring example is how she never seems to decide how much she wants to tell us. the opening sentence of book one is "Of the first few hauntings i investigated with Lockwood and Co. I intend to say very little" yet she later details a few jobs before the Annabel Ward case, spending several pages on her first case.

Another example is the treatment of George so far. i have only just started the second book, so i know there is context i don't have yet but just looking at the screaming staircase, it's very aggressive. when she first meets him, her description is rude. and shortly after, when her only other mentioned interaction with him was talking about Lockwood being shady about his past, her reflection on the two of them is that she likes Lockwood and trusts him already and what was (in the ebook edition i read) over a page of roasting George for being gross, annoying, fat, rude, etc. she straight up says "his face was uniquely slappable- a nun would ache to punch him- while his backside cried out to heaven for a well placed kick." and she doesn't really get much nicer as the book goes on. anytime he says more than a sentence or two or enters a room and it wouldn't interrupt the action of the scene, she describes him in an insulting or undermining way. he is blunt and sarcastic, but when you really pay attention to him, he warms to Lucy and does not properly earn how rude she is to him. but he gets under her skin, so she tells us at every opportunity how annoying she finds him. yet Lockwood, who keeps secrets when he tells them they can't, who hides potentially dangerous details of the mystery and job from them, who is suicidally impulsive and unpredictable, she is sure to tell us how clever he is at every turn and how much she trusts him.

all of this makes a lot of sense, because at the start of the series she is a 14 year old girl. she is immature and naive and impulsive. she is both quick to judge and very stubborn. she feels intensely and struggles to logic around her feelings. as is appropriate for her age. this doesn't mean she is a bad narrator or a bad character. honestly, it's one of my favorite things about her character. there are other things i find a bit tiresome, but the way she pulls the narrative to her strong biases is interesting. it requires a closer reading to get a better picture of everything around her and i like that.

my only complaint about it is that some of it feels more like something that went unnoticed in the writing process. like my first example of her going against the opening line to tell us about her first jobs. it works, it just feels like it was an oversight and it makes one of her more central traits in my mind feel less intentional

[zalrb]

Hey Zal! I don’t know if you have looked at the Succession scripts but someone posted this sweet parallel between Connor and Roman from season 1 script to season 4 scene, and I saw you mentioning Connor being a father figure to the other Roy siblings! twitter.com/kendallhosseini/status/1661169287946547203

Also don’t know if you’re interested in this stuff about Succession so feel free to ignore if you’re not, kind of just sad (but satisfied!) about Succession ending soon so like to forward thoughts to you :) and do you think Connor is closest to Roman, or which Roy sibling? Or maybe about the same with each?

Oh, definitely interested so no worries :) So, this is an interesting question because in one way, I don't think Connor was really 'close' to any of them and I think the closest siblings are Kendall and Roman, for a while I wondered if it was Roman and Shiv and I think that might've been the case before but now I do think it's Kendall and Roman, at the same time, I think if I had to choose a sibling Connor is closest to, it's actually Kendall because they both take on roles of taking care of Roman specifically

like that anon showed that tweet/clip of both Kendall and Connor looking at Roman when Shiv talks about how Logan would yell at them when they played too loudly outside of his office

and then there are moments like this

and then you have Roman tell Logan the fishing story was actually about him and Connor and then tell Shiv he doesn't want to sign the letter undermining Kendall because he taught him how to piss properly so like even though Kendall erases Connor as the eldest and there's definitely friction there, I think because they both in some capacity have taken on caretaking roles, they would understand each other in a way that makes Kendall the closest sibling to Connor.