#I'm not liking the trend of the characters not acknowledging what others go through

[has-brain-rot]

FINISHED SEASON 4: my takes time

SO I actually finished season 4 (after this I’m going to go binge season 5) and most of my notes are in the last post BUT the rest of my thoughts shall be below

LOTOR MY MAN you can’t just kill your friend/loyal coworker just because you think they’re a spy. Especially like. idk just saying that you had 3 other people (plus the cat) and you went for the blind person. seems odd :/

LOTOR ALSO BECOMING A CRIMINAL. Trying to sneak over onto the voltron side and you know what I’m down for that. The drama we’ll see. Will he be accepted? not?

They really just got rid of keith for the whole season and re-introduced him by having him just kinda in the background before he does some things. It’s especially odd since there was so much focus on keith in the last season?

Keith was out there doing epic adventure stuff where he could have died a ton while the rest of the voltron team were doing performance shows. hmm.

Shiro whyyyyyyyyyyy do you not get help. please this man needs help. Yeah sure he didn’t nearly die or go through something horrific this season but still there has been NOTHING about his trauma so far. In season 1 and 2 they touched upon the impacts of trauma and how it can mess with your mind but now that Shiro has another year’s worth of captivity testing and general horror, he doesn’t have any symptoms? HMM

also they completely dropped whatever plot was going on with Shiro in the last season. That’s odd right?

Can’t wait for Lotor and Keith to meet PURELY because I think it’d be neat if Lotor like, reforms some and becomes a mentor like figure to Keith. Teach him the half-galran ways without judgement. They can bond over poor childhoods and being broody. I think it could work.

WAIT maybe Keith gets the scar by Lotor switching on them and trying to kill Keith? That’d be dark but is a possibility? All I know is Keith gets the scar at some point but I still have no clue when aelrkgm

Slay Pidge, Slay Hunk <- I enjoy these characters. they deserve good things. They haven’t really gone through any development anymore though :/

Lance’s personality is a pendulum. who is this man. why is he there. why is he sometimes a silly guy and sometimes the only one that can give advice and pep talks. I find myself in the most hilarious position of being confused by his presence but finding him an otherwise meh character. idk my brain keeps going to him and being like “hey.. why are you here”

It’s cool to see them all get used to their lions again, but I’m kind of disappointed that they broke the character-lion symbolism. Red was passionate and ran with instincts first which matched keith. Hunk’s is grounded and tough, Pidge’s is lithe and connected to nature (which as the show said means the green lion is more connected to the base knowledge of the world, aka smarts) and the black lion is leadership and trust issues. With the shuffle they kind of lose all that.

I vote they should change the colours of their uniforms to match their lions. That’s what they did at first so why not now? /lh

BLADES OF MARMORA LETS GOO!!

Haggar exists and that’s chill. Love how she wants to kill her kid that’s very girlboss of her <- do not do this IRL. it is very bad and very NOT girlboss

Overall the season feels more similar to season 1 and 2 in terms of plotlines and general vibes. The comedy moments are good and funny but sometimes feel like they take away from the story? The story is at least more intact than the previous season but it doesn’t have the same level of building-towards-the-climax as the first two seasons. It’s good, plus it has Lotor and he’s cool.

LOTOR!!! Lotor would be an interesting person to go out and get ice cream with and ask him about his thoughts of the world and interests. NOT a date, I just want to study him like a scientist does a particularly funky octopus and I want to know what sort of ice cream he’d eat. Plus learn his hair care routine lmaoo

OKAY SO I know that Shiro gets married to a man at some point but I don’t know all the details. My theory is that it’ll be Matt. Matt and Shiro already have known each other for a while and after living together on the ship and fighting for the cause together they destroy the previous boundaries they had in the previous field of work and get closer. Plus they’re the only adult characters i think??? So it’d make sense. And then Pidge gets a cool older brother

Reason why the above won’t happen: Matt is straight I think -_- Shame on him /j

I NEED TO MENTION MY FAVOURITE SCENE. THE CLIP WHERE VOLTRON IS DESCENDING ONTO THE PLANET IN THE FOG AND SLOWLY GETS REVEALED. THE HORROR THE MYSTERY THE SUSPENSE. I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT SCENE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It twists the version of Voltron we’ve come to know and show that HERE IS HOW THE ENEMIES SEE VOLTRON. I love that scene so much I went feral seeing it :3

TIME FOR SEASON 5 LETS GOOO. I’ve officially watched half the show and it’s really cool, I absolutely adore every single artist and animator that worked on it. They did an incredibly job, especially after learning they didn’t have much time to do it all

[vickyvicarious]

Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away.

Looking at this through a lens of "hey maybe they aren't all racist stereotypes and actually would like to help". Admittedly the laughter and deliberate ignoring makes it harder this time around to interpret their reactions as anything but mocking. But it's that last line which I find most compelling. Resolutely. It can imply a sort of effort being put into turning away, that it might be very difficult to do. Like they find it genuinely painful to have to ignore someone screaming and begging for help. But they know they do have to.

Who knows what the hetman said. The laughter makes it seem like a joke, though a mean-spirited one. But maybe this is more of that black humor the coach driver showed on May 5 when he made jokes about Jonathan likely meeting many fierce dogs before he sleeps. He "looked round to catch the approving smile of the rest" with this line, and I think that making macabre jokes is a very human reaction to being force to deal with/live under the rule of Dracula. To a certain extent, what else can you even do but try to laugh about it? So perhaps the hetman says something along the lines of, "The Count's beloved guest is not so excited to continue his stay," and everyone laughs because yeah, you can say that again. But they all stop looking at him right away, because he is the Count's beloved guest and they know what that means. If Dracula wants to keep him then trying to help in any way would only bring danger down on their own heads. Also, by trying to ignore him, they're trying not to acknowledge that they are leaving someone in this situation.

If we go with the "the guy last time genuinely tried to deliver Jonathan's letter but Dracula took it from him by force" interpretation then perhaps one person has already been harmed or even killed for trying to aid this 'guest'. Maybe they've been warned about him prior to their arrival, even, told specifically not to acknowledge him. Who knows. Meanwhile, from Jonathan's POV, of course their laughter feels mocking, of course their avoidance is painful - not only because another shot at hope is slipping away but because they seem to be playing right into the view of them which Dracula himself worked to predispose Jonathan towards: loyal to Dracula and not caring about his plight.

But I personally like this interpretation much better. Not only is it less of a caricature, but it reinforces the trend of people/side characters for the most part being basically good and wanting to either help or just do their jobs, but getting used by/unable to stand up to Dracula along the way. Also, the disconnect between them feeling deeply uncomfortable and cracking jokes/avoiding looking at Jonathan to try and deal with that - but as a result of these actions being read by him as showing evidence of genuine amusement/lack of care - is honestly really good tragic horror to me.

Especially when it comes after this line: "With joy I hurried to the window..." I'm pretty sure that's the only time Jonathan has used the word 'joy'. Even despite his failure last time (and despite using some racist/insulting descriptions of them), he was initially delighted to hear and see other people. And then it all came crashing down, once again. The impact hits even harder if you choose to believe they didn't want this either, I think.

[darkcircles4lyfe]

labor of love

Thinking back on the books and shows that have captivated me most over the years, I’ve noticed that a significant part of my enjoyment comes through glimpses of the creator themselves. The human, fallible, subjective, personal, and unique perspective that bleeds through. I'm forever trying to see things from the other way around instead of as the audience. As I become more familiar with a person’s work, I almost imagine myself as the close friend who can see bits and pieces of their loved one in everything the write. 

When I deal with fandoms or read and listen to media criticism, I inevitably get slapped in the face by the absence of this habit in other people. Maybe it’s because of concepts like “entertainment” and “consumption” making art into a product we spend our money on, and therefore we feel it owes us something. Maybe it’s the trend of pretending arbitrary differences in taste are actually somehow a basis for objective criticism. Regardless, even though I see plenty of reminders all over fandom spaces encouraging people to just enjoy things without worrying about whether they have some sort of intellectual merit, I don't see much acknowledgement of the creator’s point of view here. 

So let’s talk about creative work as what it is: somebody’s dream, which brewed in the dark and solitary chambers of their mind, real but invisible to the outside world. By some miracle of good fortune and incredibly hard work, that dream is made accessible to us, the audience. It’s difficult to express how surreal that really is. Not all media is like this, of course. But sometimes you can see when a story is made with love, that the creator is so in awe of this miracle that they bring all of themselves into it. When that happens, I too fall in love, and preference no longer seems to matter. It’s not, “I enjoy this thing because it’s so ME,” it’s more, “I enjoy it because it’s so THEM.”  

I worry sometimes that I have rose-tinted glasses on, but here’s the thing. We seem to over-associate criticism with logic, and praise with delusion, when in reality they are both limited. What I’m talking about here is neither. Sorry if this sounds cheesy, but I think “to love,” means “to know.” It’s where flaws and strengths blend together into a whole that is understood as it is cherished. 

All these various observations have been tumbling around in my head more and more since I’ve gotten into this funny little thing called Boku no Hero Academia. It’s so popular, so polarizing, it draws in such a wide range of opinions from so many different kinds of people. I find it fascinating to watch, but, like I just said, it also tends to slap me in the face. Not out of personal offense, mind you. More than anything I’m stunned by how disconnected a lot of people are from this human element, whether they are being negative or positive. Even if they know enough to invoke the name of Horikoshi, they treat him like more of a figure than a real person. 

It’s true none of us can actually truly know him. However, I think that while the author/audience relationship is a somewhat parasocial one, it’s worth acknowledging the mutuality of it as well. Let me take you all on a little journey to bring “the creator” down to Earth. 

First, a few plain facts: Before bnha, Horikoshi was able to get two other manga into serialization: Oumagadoki Zoo and Barrage. The former lasted 37 chapters from 2010 to 2011. Barrage lasted 16 chapters, in 2012. Juxtapose this with Boku no Hero Academia, which as of writing this, has been running for over 370 chapters spanning 8+ years since 2014. Horikoshi is currently 36 years old (born in 1986). 

Now let’s go back even further. His first one-shot was published in 2007, when he was 21. It’s called Tenko, and you can read it in English here. Most obviously, we can see that this Tenko character was later adapted to the Tenko we know in bnha, with a similar power, backstory, and appearance. But I actually think there are a few other ways we can draw comparisons from this genesis of Horikoshi’s career, all the way to the present. 

Here is the intro that prefaces the 2007 one-shot:

^I get chills looking at this, and it makes me grin, no joke. Please take a moment to read all the little tidbits. It sounds like the intentionally foreshadowing first scene of a famous person’s biopic, but no one had a clue back then. I just find that so hilarious and moving at the same time.

So think of the Tenko one-shot as a window into who Horikoshi was as an artist and a storyteller pre- pro industry, with the assumption that certain aspects of his work are probably simultaneously a bit more upfront but also underdeveloped. You know, like a kid. There’s both honesty and naivety there. I can also think back to being around 21 myself (only a few years ago lol), about the stories I was writing in school, the workshop classes I was in with other people my age, what they were writing, the things that were important to us that we discussed informing our work. It’s a formative time, right?

One of the primary things I notice about the Tenko one-shot is that it centers themes of power, heroism, and trauma, and has a resolution which involves bridging misunderstandings. 

It’s all very ideological, but also full of raw emotion. I read somewhere (sorry can’t remember where) Horikoshi saying that in formulating his idea for the ending of bnha, he has kept asking himself, what does it truly mean to be a hero? It seems he started asking that question way back in 2007, through this little story about swords and their wielders. The Tenko one-shot acknowledges that people and power are morally complicated, as is the idolization of heroes. The ending is hopeful, and looks ahead to times changing for the better by the will of progressively-minded and determined people. 

This reminds me of the current arc of the bnha manga, and how the whole story might eventually end. Horikoshi has shown us that the villains are worthy of sympathy, that they are a product of society’s willful ignorance, that “heroes” have also done abhorrent things. But he has also embraced the pure optimism of youth. He seems eager to ask the big questions about right and wrong, and present us with both ambiguity AND certainty. The final fights are not at all a contest of strength, and there are no winners and losers. I’m very curious to see how far he takes this. I’m sure it will ruffle some feathers, and leave some people unsatisfied, but that’s probably a good thing.

The other major thing I notice in the one-shot is the character Hana. Now, as she shares her name with one of the main characters in Oumagadoki Zoo, and they are also similar in personality, that could be where the comparison ends. However, that’s nothing to say Horikoshi didn’t continue her themes elsewhere. The Hana in the Tenko one-shot is primarily preoccupied with her goal of becoming a warrior, and she was inspired some time ago by a warrior who saved her. This other warrior, conicidentally, turns out to be a brutal, a-moral, self-proclaimed demon, and he actually doesn’t take Hana seriously. In some ways, this reminds me of Hawks with his own idols, Endeavor and Lady Nagant, and more generally the idea in bnha that someone you look up to might not be all you imagine them to be. Like All Might and his hidden suffering. Or like Ochako looking up to Izuku up until his solo arc, after which she proclaimed, “special powers are one thing, but there’s no such thing as a special person.” 

Speaking of Ochako. Hana’s primary source of angst in the story is that since she is a woman, her “masculine” ambition is laughed at and dismissed. Her dialogue with other characters is very direct about this, which I find pretty interesting. 

You can really feel her frustration and see the blatant misogyny in how she’s treated. Even though things are stated kinda bluntly, it feels genuine, ya know? Note that she also wears men’s clothes, and nothing about her appearance is catered to the “male gaze.” I mention all this because to me it contextualizes Horikoshi’s more recent female characters. We can infer that he carried this perspective on, but in subtler and more nuanced ways that might not be immediately noticed. They may sometimes look like shonen stereotypes and be influenced by a misogynistic world, but this is likely an act of parody and/or criticism on Horikoshi’s part. For example Ochako’s fight in the sports festival illustrates a similar point to Hana’s struggle as Katsuki is the only one who takes Ochako seriously while other male classmates see her and other female opponents as inherently weak or potential love interests. 

Hana remains ambitious, fostering her own motivation beyond her previous idol, and her ultimate goal is to help people. She reminds me so much of Ochako’s recent convictions. Ochako is fully herself now, and I’m confident her fight with Toga will show this even more, in a way that is much more direct. Since ch 374, I anticipate we may be getting confirmation of things pretty soon, so I wanted to restate that ASAP. 

I’ve said this before, but it really does trouble me how a lot of people assume so much about bnha based on other shonen, disregarding the fact that Horikoshi is his own person. This either leads to undo criticisms or expectations that will likely not be delivered on. It makes me sad because I want people to enjoy this story for what it is. I hope this is a reminder that although it may seem on the surface like Horikoshi is rehashing the same old thing, his work really is a labor of love, of knowing. It is an homage, which both celebrates and deconstructs. Please remember that for the day when folks will be scrambling trying to figure out how we got here. Ironically, the signs were there all along, from the start of Horikoshi’s career, if you only care to look. 

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ppl who can't just enjoy an evil character, and think it's a moral failing if anyone else likes that character are exhausting, and I'm pretty sure slept through any lesson about literary understanding.

Yeah. I mean, it's fine not to enjoy evil characters, or any kind of character, for any reason! But... Yeah, while I don't love that trend of groups accusing each other of lacking media literacy because I feel like it often obscures the core disagreement and any difference of perspective people may bring to the table while both having genuinely interesting points to bring up, it does become pretty exhausting to be morally scrutinized about extremely tame opinions about extremely tame characters.

To me, liking Ganondorf is like... barely above liking Bowser in terms of moral despicability? Not to equate the two at all, as they are very different beasts, but we are talking about a videogame villain made to vaguely scare off children/give them a thrill about feeling like a hero. At the end of the day, this is the purpose Ganondorf serves in the story: being the fairytale evil king that you can defeat and still feel good about yourself (then Wind Waker arrived etc etc but even then, he served that purpose and extremely well even in Wind Waker).

But I don't want to underplay the weight of what I'm generally saying on this blog either and I don't want to hide behind "lol it's just a game for children" when it's an argument I hate to see deployed to undermine other people's feelings about the series. I do come at this character with loaded language and pretty heavy terms, and I'm not sure I would have gotten this kind of hostility if I had just twirled my hair like the rest of the (much more reasonable and less invested) internet, and kept some terms I have used (justifyingly so imho) out of my virtual mouth. It can provoke. It's meant to. I understand these feelings can take some strange shapes when they lash out undigested.

THAT BEING SAID.

Okay, sure. You want me to acknowledge the evil bad guy is evil? Okay! Let's do it, right now. Ganondorf commits atrocities. He does weirdly specific and horrible things to the gorons. He kills people and he kills half-gods. He is tyrannical. He is a conqueror and a warlord. He is a thief. He is self-obsessed and entitled. He beats up kids. He practices necromancy. He terrorizes his followers. He lies and manipulates. If you look closely he is even associated with, like.... the devil....? like maybe there's even "demon" somewhere in his title card?

Okay. Very bad. Evil. Horrible nasty man. Weird eyebrows. Arguably weird name. One star. Blocked and reported.

Okay.

...now what?

Like, what do we do from this point on? What did we learn? What did we ponder upon? What touched us, or moved us, or made us see the world in a slightly new light? Are we reassured? Do we sleep any easier at night?

I know it doesn't always have to be the point of art, to question everything constantly. You can go to art for reassurance and simplicity and easy, comforting thrills --and Zelda is great at doing this as a series, it's a huge part of why I love it. It feels safe, and that's such a nice thing to rely upon! And you can stop there!!! It's allowed!!!!!!

But if you go out of your way to shame people investing and questioning this piece of fiction they love in their own way because it threatens your moral safety and the simplicity of your relationship to that media (and/or the world at large)? That becomes a you problem my (gender neutral) guy, and by that I mean: you becoming a problem for others to deal with, regardless of Circumstances.

[thecruellestmonth]

Hello!

I saw your fic recs post (Jason Todd fics 2022)!

Aaaaand I saw Bloodstains Won't Make It Matter there. The fic about Jason resurrecting Stephanie and going for revenge in Gotham.

Do you know any other Steph fics? Maybe with Jason and Steph. Because... this one is great, but very biased and some things are VERY different from canon. Kinda like the writer didn't really read War Games and consequences. Which is sad, because it's a story that is placed right after the War Games and have Stephanie as one of two main characters.

have a good day/night✨

I made a Steph & Jason fic rec list a while back! "Jason and Me" and "Just Another Kid" are some of my top fics ever for Steph and for Jason, but I think everything there is solid! "Bloodstains Won't Make It Matter" is over here too.

Anyway, more random Steph fic recs!

"What's So Amazing That Keeps Us Stargazing" by Cerusee - Batman doesn't take another Robin after the second one, and Spoiler is effectively his third kid sidekick. Bruce has an actual heart in this fic, and he uses it to connect with Steph.

"The Unseen Garden" by Nokomis - Steph has a lot of emotions about the baby girl that she placed for adoption. This fic might make you a bit misty-eyed.

"Birthday" by CrimeAlley1048 - Like the last fic but softer.

"she’s like a shine on your shoes (or hearing the blues)" by Anonymous - The Bruce-is-Steph's-bio-dad fic that you didn't know you needed. A series of disembodied vignettes with hilarious comedy, mean-spirited pranks, and heart-melting moments.

"Have I Told You About Minnie?" by Hinn_Raven - Funny and sweet Malone family shenanigans.

"hit 'em up style" by TheResurrectionist - Really silly comedy. Bruce's perfectionist dad instincts lead him on a quest to buy the best menstrual hygiene product ever.

"Crepe Suzanne" by Cerusee - Steph deserves waffles and to tell Bruce that she hates him.

"little matchstick girl, asleep in the snow" by lifetimeoflaughter - NOT A HAPPY FIC! Revisits Bruce's abusive treatment of Steph and her alienation from a support system in canon.

Fan fiction replaces the biases of canon with different biases, and that's to be expected as a rule. If I want to engage with canon, then I read canon or talk about canon. I do bring in Doylist and Watsonian perspectives about canon events, but I try to exclude fanon and non-canon apocrypha. But when it comes to fan fiction and other fan-made content? I freely enjoy things that absolutely contradict canon. I'd definitely say my fic tastes do stick much closer to canon than most Batfandom/Batfic trends, but you can find some aggressive and gleeful butchering of canon in my fic recommendations.

About "Bloodstains Won't Make It Matter"... I'm not sure what you mean that it is "biased". I think the fic does a good job of portraying how Steph and Jason descend into terrible cruelty, violence, and grief, while also acknowledging them as victims of unresolved injustices. And just looking at canon only, without bringing fanon into the discussion at all, I believe War Games is part of a long deconstruction of Bruce Wayne/Batman in comics that continued all the way through Final Crisis. As a fan fiction, "BWIM" obviously does take some liberties with fudging canon, but I don't think the story is unfairly biased in favor of the Dead Robins or of Batman.

[utilitycaster]

re: your actual play post, apart from critrole are there other actual plays that are doing the whole "bad guys/neutral but not up to the mark" that you mentioned?

for cr, it's interesting and i guess kind of inevitable that we've gone from traditional heros -> reluctant heros -> neutral heros(?) caught up in the storm

i don't watch a lot of actual plays other than the popular ones, but it is very interesting to see the general trajectory the actual play space is moving in

I feel like the Mighty Nein are not really part of this trend - they're not as publicly acknowledged as Vox Machina, and they do take an unorthodox "not up to the task" (or more accurately "too traumatized right now for the task, we need to work through some shit first") route for a while, but they are pretty unambiguously working towards a heroic cause by the midlevels (and VM started off pretty scrappy too; we just didn't see them until they got respectable). Bells Hells do feel a little closer to this, though still leaning heavily towards the heroic. I think it's possible for them to decide to pull the ripcord, as they said, after their current mission; but I doubt they will, so they flirt with the theme but I don't think will go all the way. Which to be clear is the norm.

I mentioned a few things in my tags, so:

Candela Obscura chapters 2 and 3 flirt with this. In 2 the circle other than Sean is imo heroic, but also working a little outside the lines. Sean does make a turn that I don't think makes him the bad guy - it's pretty clear it's an act of misery and desperation - but does position him in a place that a lot of TTRPGs won't go. Chapter 3 is complicated because to be honest we don't really see the logic of Candela's actions in the final episode and some don't entirely follow for me, but Rajan and Elsie's discussions do cover this territory: as monsters, what side are they on? I think Candela Obscura is a game that really supports this should someone wish to push it there.

Trinyvale (side campaign for NADDPod) explores this in that the characters eventually develop into absolutely toxic assholes while still saving the world; however, this is a very very silly campaign in general so it's played for the humor.

Similarly, in Burnt Cookbook Party (spoilers - I'm not totally caught up but this spoils a pretty major aspect of the show that comes up pretty early), two of the characters go fully evil and the party fractures. HOWEVER, this campaign is set in a time loop, and so the consequences are lessened since we know the results aren't permanent (and indeed the big PvP moment is when the time loop restarts).

I feel this is something that Burrow's End (D20) sort of wanted to explore, but Last Bast was so obviously a police state that it was pretty clear the characters' desire to disrupt an existing stable society was in fact good.

This is all really speculative on my part - I watch/listen to a lot of actual play but there are plenty of major shows and infinite minor ones I don't follow at all or even know about. Obviously Critical Role or D20 are going to have more a footprint here than, say, BCBP. But I think people are trying to tell stories that interrogate whether, just because you met in a tavern or whatever, you should be tasked with saving the world, either because you're not actually that great of people or because you're not sufficiently competent in this particular situation, and that's really interesting to me. I think the reason I don't have any terribly clear answers is because it's really hard to do this and then find what that party should do instead.

[mymarifae]

hey it’s the writing anon from a while ago ^_^ read your thread on akito and kashika and i’d like to say THANK YOU for recognizing that kashika doesn’t have to be read so literally when looking at akito as a character 😭

it is genuinely a little jarring to see people go “oh he canonically wants to die hahaha” and leave it at that when he’s really been on a path of healthy growth for a while as of burn my soul … please!! he’s found a way out of the mindset of survival and desperation, he’s grown to love what he’s doing without so much of the fear of being left behind and his storied “future” is more within his grasp than ever, because he’s let his partners in and is more willing to lean on them, growing alongside them

i’m not saying we should disregard what he’s gone through in the past but i’ve also noticed it’s a bit of a trend within people interpreting akito to attribute his past actions to his current self— like i STILL see people bring his actions in main story and use that as their baseline for how he is as a character when it’s…. just not that true anymore. yes he’s kind of an asshole but he’s also learned that he has a place within vbs and that he loves his groupmates and they love him :(

anyway thank you :) your thread was a very good read!

omg hi again !!

yes it really seems like a good chunk of the prsk fandom struggles with like... acknowledging character development. i'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's insane to see how many people treat these characters like they're static figures. it's one thing to revisit past events and explore avenues colopale didn't take, and build upon the things they neglected (or just re-build entirely where they fucked up). it's another to look at everything akito is doing Now and respond to it with "he's about to overwork himself and go into another long spiral isn't he. oh look he got a line in beyond the way with the word 'die' in it he must still be suicidal and struggling with his inferiority complex oh no 😱" LIKE

akito has come so, so, SO far. his development means the world to me !!!! it has been so amazing to see this scared, self-conscious, bitter, traumatized kid grow into someone who is Confident and Passionate and Excited and Bright. he's grown!! he's learned!! we see him reaffirm multiple times in other events that he's not going to go down the same path he did in SBD - other characters will see him still practicing or about to go for a run or whatever and check in on him and he always tells them he knows better now. because he does! he's not just saying that !!!!

it took him some time to adjust, but he knows vivid bad squad has his back. kotaro has his back. ken-san has his back. ena has his back. hell even arata and tsukasa fucking tenma have his back. he knows he has a support system now ! these are people who want him by their side, and no they're not going to leave him when he stumbles and falls behind; they'll simply pull him back up and they'll just keep moving forward. Together.

and citing kashika as confirmation that he's (still) suicidal is crazy because that's not what the song is about? it's about him reflecting on his past and all the shitty things he went through that caused him to develop that bitter inferiority complex he struggled with for so long. and how he's starting to feel ready to move on from it all. even from haruryo's perspective, in which all the lines about wanting to die are literal, kashika is still a very, very, very positive song !! it's still about moving forward and allowing your love of music (or [insert personal Love of choice here]) to help you through dark times. it's not a song about wanting to kill yourself; it's a song about wanting to live.

idk this all is just super important to me because i am all about stories about growth and healing and recovery. and it's frustrating to glance at the prsk fandom and see people squandering these beautiful stories for... i don't even know what or why 😭

[minstrxll]

What RP trends are you so over and can’t wait for it to die?

munday (accepting.) // @melodicbreeze

&& really over speed-running development and jumping through hoops just to get immediate satisfaction. and shipping calls, lowkey. yeah, i wanna ship too. buuuuut have you seen who i write? i understand that not everyone wants that, and that's fine by me. but for me, all the gratification comes from how painstaking it is to get past each layer of one's heart, to let in a little trust like cracks in a dam. i know my characters aren't easy to love, i'm not trying to make them that way. but i want them to be anchored in a realistic way that i can accept.

i might be biased because i'm demi? and awkward, among other things. and i completely acknowledge that.

i'm not saying that my way is the right way. there is no right way to write something, but there is the acknowledgement that what some people want may not necessarily match up with your own desires. and sure, sometimes i want to flip on my horny/shippy brain too. it happens. but i've gotta be in a comfortable space for that to feel like i can go there with someone. as in, i want to know my muse's history, trauma, issues, thoughts, etc. will be respected both before and after the ship begins.

i care about the time i put into my characters, and i respect the time people put into theirs. i want to value the hard work they've put into their character too, and take my time doing so to get my crabby-ass muse to see what i see in another character.

[cartoon-buffoon]

Decided to write a bio thing because I'm bored + I wanna establish some boundaries here so uhh- here's some stuff about me Cartoon Buffoon aswell as other things if you wanna know!

Who am I?

Hello! I'm Cartoon Buffoon and I write stuff and like cartoons, there's a chance you've could of read my stuff if you read one shots on AO3 that feature Oswald The Lucky Rabbit since I have a tendency to write fluffy content relating to him, and angst on occasion (some of my stories are 18+ tho yet more on that later). I'm simply a buffoon for cartoons is all. I love old animation from the 1920s-60s yet I also do indulge in more modern stuff as well.

Identity

I'm bisexual🩷💜💙(leaning towards men) and aromantic 💚🤍🖤.

My gender is uhh... Complicated? I don't know what I am although I currently identify as gender fluid although I do refer to myself as trans as well🏳️‍⚧️.

Pronouns are He/She/They/anything else really! Toon is usually the nickname I'm most comfortable with online.

One last thing I should note about myself is my horrid mental health and terrible anxiety, I do struggle with emotions and such so I have a tendency to be vulgar and "edgy" although I always try to be polite to anyone I meet. I suffer from a cataclysm of other issues mentally as well although I still try to be nice and funny to make up for this.

Things I'm into/fandoms I'm in.

My interests lie in old cartoons however I do dabble in other stuff, my interest and hyperfixations go in the following order:

—In The Dark comics/Skitzo the 1920s killer bear

—Oswald the lucky rabbit

—Felix the cat

—Rubberhose animation in general

—the furry fandom

—Trevor Henderson's creations

—FNAF

—FNF/Newgrounds and it's culture in general

—Sonic The Hedgehog

and some other stuff although I can't really think of more currently yet those are my TOP interests

Hobbies

Although I'm horrible at all these things I do enjoy the following activities

—Writing fanfiction

—Drawing

—collecting plushies

—over analyzing media

DNI LIST

Gonna make a DNI list because I don't wanna interact with weirdos. Pretty basic list as well, if you're any of the following please kindly leave me alone.

—pr*shippers

—Z**philes, p*dophiles, anything of the sorts

—people who promote hate speech like N*zis, homophobic people, transphobic people, anybody who in general hates anybody for their sexuality gender orientation, race, etc (I'm apart of the LGBTQ+ community and I'm not white at all, this shouldn't have to be said that I don't wanna interact with someone who hates me)

Final Things

I suffer from a lot of stuff as such I use fiction to cope, quite a few of my writings are a bit self indulgent in the angst sad to say. One such thing I suffer from is hypersexuality and I do write 18+ fanfiction involving my favorite characters to cope (I write smut, to put it bluntly) although I do try to be a genuine writer and a few of my works demonstrate some sort of semblance of competency. For obvious reasons I'm not gonna talk about my non-respectable NSFW works on here although they do exist on my AO3 and I feel like I should at least acknowledge them. In my writings I also like to capture the magic of old cartoons in their humor so if you read my stuff you'll notice a trend of me trying to write or mimic rubberhose gags through words and detail.

I'm also a multishipper and a giant simp for fictional cartoon characters and technical self-shipper. I'm making note of this as some people are uncomfortable with this for some reason? The characters I simp for also align with my interest in rubberhose characters like: Skitzo the 1920s Killer Bear, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, Felix the Cat, The Cartoon Cat, The Cartoon Dog. Anything that's black and white and has that asthetic is something I'm interested in, and each of my interest holds a character I'm attracted to like FNF/newgrounds having the Tankmen, or Super Sonic from Fleetway's run of Sonic comics.

The ships I like are usually gay in nature but I do like straight ships too, I'm also a big fan of crack ships aka characters that wouldn't logically be together although I look at canon and say "nuh-uh, I can make this cute". I ship Oswald with any and nearly every toon (expect for Mickey for obvious reasons) and I'm the proud captain of the SkitWald ship aka Skitzo the killer bear and Oswald.

To sum myself up: I'm mainly a lover of the obscure or forgotten while trying to create works or content to bring attention to my favorite things while also just trying to keep myself together physically and mentally.

[absolutely-esme]

Venting about a trope I hate and a fic that passed me off

I really, really hate it when a character decides to make whoever they're interested in jealous. The rant is under the cut so you can decide whether or not to expose yourself to it.

This plot line is annoying, and I hate it. I'm going to list some things that bother me about it in ascending order.

First off, let's talk about how stupid it is. It seems to me that engaging with other potential suitors and not them is a very clear way way to convince someone that you are not interested in them. If they are a decent respectful person, they will decide not to try and pursue someone who clearly doesn't want that kind of relationship with them.

Second, it's manipulative and awful. Instead of talking about their feelings and sorting things out with their desired love interest like reasonable people, the character decides to pull some ridiculous mind games to try and manipulate someone they allegedly view with fondness into altering their behavior. They claim to value this person, and yet they try to control them through underhanded means instead of sorting things out between them like equals.

Third, it's fucking cruel. The character that pulls this bullshit is deliberately making someone they claim to care about feel hurt and upset for their own purposes. That's not okay. On top of that, they're involving other people in this bullshit. What if one of the people they flirted with actually liked them and was happy for the attention only to then be crushed when it turns out that the interest was fake?

Fourth, stories that utilize this trope frequently do not acknowledge just how fucked up the behavior is. Even the ones that treat it as bad, tend to gloss over just how awful it actually is. You can't trust someone who pulls shit like this. You can't feel secure in a relationship with them. This isn't a "be annoyed but forgive them quickly," type of offense. This is fucking toxic and a massive red flag. If someone pulls this BS on you, you need to get out.

Fifth, it perpetuates the incredibly harmful idea of playing hard to get. The first thing annoys me, the rest make me want to punch someone, but this is the one that burns in my gut like a hot coal. The concept of playing hard to get needs to die. There is a disturbing trend in media to portray very clear and unambiguous refusals and signs of disinterest as signs of interest or calls for the rejected suitor to try a little harder. It needs to be a truth universally acknowledged that no means no.

...

Now I'm going to rant a bit a bit about the fanfic that pissed me off. I'm not going to name it because I don't want to aim hate at someone's work just because I don't like it. I do understand the etiquette of simply not engaging with fanfictions I don't like. Just because a fanfic isn't my cup of tea, doesn't mean the author deserves to be blasted with negativity. In addition, fanfic has different standards and expectations than other forms of media, so I don't think it's wrong to put this trope in fanfiction, the same way that I don't think it's wrong to put a lot of things in fanfiction that I wouldn't want to see in professional works. I do not fault any fanfiction writer for writing whatever the fuck they want.

I just need to get this off my chest.

I thought I was reading a cutesy little story about two oblivious idiots getting together. It was a JayTim fic. Jason and Tim were roommates. Tim was happy that they had come so far from where they started and got along so well now. Then Jason starts looking for someone to date. Tim tries his best to be a helpful and supportive friend because he wants Jason to be happy. He gives advice on date outfits when asked, helps him find good places to meet people, and even plays wingman.

Eventually, it becomes uncomfortable for Tim because he's starting to realize he might have feelings for Jason, but Tim tries his best to keep the jealousy under control and not be a jerk about it. After all, he wants Jason to be happy, and it seems pretty clear by this point that Jason isn't interested in him. He's been actively looking for a partner and has even gone on a few dates. Surely if he had any interest in Tim as a potential partner, he would have said something, right?

Then, Jason suddenly blows up at Tim out of the blue. Tim doesn't understand why Jason is so angry with him all of a sudden and asks why he's mad. Then Jason gets even angrier about and tells Tim that he's cutting him out of his life and storms out of the apartment. His parting shot on the way out the door involved telling Tim that he loved him for the first time in the same breath that he told him he didn't want anything to do with him any more, and it's all Tim's fault for not reading his mind.

I was upset for a lot of reasons.

I thought, up until that point, that I was reading a cute story about two oblivious idiots coming to realize that the love they were looking for was right beside them all along, only to realize in the next to last chapter that it was one oblivious idiot and one asshole playing cruel mind games.

(I want to emphasize that I do not believe the author was wrong to write the story they wrote. People have the right to write whatever kind of fanfiction they want. My misunderstandings are on me for misinterpreting the earlier chapters. My emotional response to a work is not the end all be all. This is just me venting feelings that needed an outlet so they could quit bugging me.)

Additionally, the fact that Jason wasn't willing to tell Tim he loved him to start a relationship or just make someone he loves feel loved but was willing to say it as part of a verbal barb on his way out the door was infuriating. Just abominable behavior. That would have pissed me off no matter which characters were involved.

Beyond that, it felt so unfair to Jason to portray him this way. Jason Todd has done fucked up shit, but I don't think he would be a cruel and manipulative lover.

(Again, I want to reiterate that I fully understand that fanfiction writers can write what they want. Fic writers can make characters do whatever they want because they are writing for fun. I am not saying they shouldn't. This was just a quick vent for emotional regulation purposes. I was describing feelings I had, not thoughts on what should or shouldn't be allowed.)

The last chapter wasn't up yet. I don't know if Jason will apologize, or if that really was the end, or, worse, if they'll have Tim apologize for not responding to the manipulation tactics in the way that Jason wanted.

Maybe it's my fault for misinterpreting something, but I was so disappointed to have a fun read suddenly turn into something unpleasant.

[goodsewp]

Thoughts While Reading

Thank you #NetGalley for the sample arc of Overemotional!

Start time 2:43pm - Reading while working

Don't judge me.

Already love the queerness

Wait is this supposed to be juvenile fiction? Holy smokes that's a lil graphic

Oh okay it's YA, we're good

2:52pm -

Got interrupted, let's go again

Something about it being British while he's freaking out about kissing someone and their head blew up is just.. really funny to me. Is that bad?

Hah. He said the name of the book

"my body was exhausted .. but my mind just doesn't want to stop" MOOD

Wait does he feel all emotions and has all the powers or just one emotion makes him have power?

Why does this feel like he's making it up? Is it just him experiencing this? How long has this been going on? Confusion.

....this is a little cheesy.

All of this kind of feels like the author is catering to a specific generation instead of letting the book be a book. Maybe I'm crazy here but it's too often that people who write don't write from their own passion, they tend to write with a specific person or audience in mind. It's great, but then it also takes away some character. Am I crazy? Probably.

3:23pm - Moved upstairs, reading now

Okay cool so they are the only person and they discovered it themself. Got it

Oh god what the hell

This is very tell not show

I don't think I can keep reading this...

Final review:

Yeah, I wound up not finishing the arc. It was only a few chapters anyways, I believe. I thought that it would be a fun read and maybe it just wasn't for me.

The story is really interesting, I like the idea of a teenager struggling with their emotions in a more... magical way. I think it's a little funny to read about this kid going through this but it also just feels kind of awkward in a weird writing way not a weird average teenager way. The book, from what I read, was very tell not show and it kind of took me out of the experience.

The other issue I had with this book was that it almost seemed to be catering to a specific audience. It felt like bits and pieces were plucked from trending terms or societal acknowledgements made by Gen Z and plopped right into the story for relevance. I feel like doing things like this isn't the best way to get an audience. In fact, I think that it's depersonalizing and almost a little offensive as someone in generation Z. Maybe it's my own bone to pick, but it was a little silly and cheesy.

Now, would I purchase this for myself? Probably not, no. I would not buy this book but if my library had gotten a copy I would check it out and read it. It's good, and I like the premise, but some things just aren't worth it to me.

[itsclydebitches]

Why do people get hung up on whether a gay person in media is a good or bad representation of them? I'm gay and I can tell you we aren't all the same? Being gay is our 1 common trait. So as long as they're gay then you've done it. Gay people can be kind, mean, racist, open, kinky, reserved, shy, outgoing, sexist, and literally anything else under the human experience.

Because I am perpetually hungry, let's tell a story about cookies.

You are a bright-eyed, optimistic, baker in the making. Your goal is to wow the world with your culinary skills, so of course you head to The Best Baking School for your degree. Over the course of your studies you learn how to perfect a thousand different cakes, an equal number of pies, and more versions of brownies than most would even assume exist. But cookies... oh, cookies are your passion! You can't wait to learn about the wealth of cookies you can make too. Then, sure enough, that part of your education finally arrives.

Funny thing is though, it's just chocolate chip.

Surely there's been some mistake? The cookie experience is vast and nuanced! Why in the world are your instructors — supposedly the best in the world — reducing cookies to a single class about baking chocolate chip and chocolate chip alone? Hell, why are cookies so sparse in the curriculum as a whole? You're never asked to bake them as a demonstration, or practice with them, and they're definitely not a given across everyone else's baking experience. Cakes, pies, and brownies... they're the default. Cookies are comparatively rare and when you do get to study them, everyone is super focused on the chocolate chip.

Then you graduate and head out into the world, only to find that pretty much everyone is as cookie-blind as your school. A few years back you never would have found cookies in the average grocery store and yeah, the fact that there's a cookie section now is great, but it's, uh... all chocolate chip! Many bakeries still don't carry cookies at all, but when they do it's - again - chocolate chip. Chocolate chip out in restaurants. Chocolate chip at the bake sale. Your friend invites you over and proudly presents a massive sweets tray that includes a single, sad looking, chocolate chip cookie. They beam at you in pride. Isn't it so great?

"Uh..." you say. "Well..."

Every once in a while someone will switch out milk chocolate for dark chocolate, or add nuts alongside chocolate chips. One bakery was even crazy enough to exclude chocolate chips entirely! Crazy according to the press, anyway. Because for years now you've been shaking your head, wondering what exactly is so progressive about realizing that sugar cookies exist. You've found other bakers interested in cookies and, by god, there are thousands. So many flavors! Gluten free and allergy conscious! Someone even made a sweets tray that was predominantly cookies, can you believe it? The problem is, almost none of them are mainstream. Your friend baking cookies out of their personal kitchen is doing fantastic work, but their baking doesn't have the impact that those grocery chains and established bakeries do. Their work isn't going to fix your school's curriculum. Too many people still think that cookies are exotic somehow. They're not the default. And when they do acknowledge their existence, it's chocolate chip over and over. Until one of them adds those nuts and suddenly the whole country is losing its mind about how inspired, creative, progressive their baking is. Meanwhile, you're ready to scream because that baker doesn't even know that something as "exotic" as a gingersnaps exist!

The worst part? Most of these cookies are... bad. Like they exist, yeah, but good god most don't taste good. And that's the whole point of a cookie?? What is the point of buying cookies if the cookies themselves are awful? You go to these bakeries, these restaurants, your friend's house, and you try the very limited cookies on offer, only to find that they've been sloppily baked. Doesn't anyone care that the baker burned their cookies to a crisp? That another straight up forgot to add sugar? This one dropped his on the floor and still tried to serve it to you! But the overall sense is that you should be grateful for getting any cookies at all. "That cookie is an offense to my taste buds," you say and people shake their head at you, disappointed. "I liked the taste of it," one says. "If you don't like it, go buy a different cookie!" Well... easier said than done. "It's not that bad," another says, shrugging in defeat. "I mean yeah, I don't really like it, and the baker stopped making them two years ago... but I'm just happy to have had any cookie at all, you know?" You do know, but that doesn't mean it's any less frustrating. You look at the hundreds of cakes available, these bakers spending decades perfecting their recipes, and wish cookies had even a fraction of that work put into them. You find people who agree with you, absolutely, but there's this this prevailing sense that a cookie is a cookie. Any cookie will do. Supposedly.

Except go long enough and you feel like you're ready to lose your mind. You take some poor person by the shoulders and go, "Doesn't this bother you? Doesn't this make you furious? There is more to the cookie world than these three flavors, 90% of which is chocolate chip! And we deserve well-made cookies, not the crap they've been upholding as the next culinary masterpiece!"

But this person just shakes their head. "Well of course there's more to cookies than three flavors. There's a huge variety of cookies! I know that."

"Yes, but the world isn't selling that variety."

"Of course they are! Just last week I had an oatmeal raisin. That's amazing!"

"Yeah and how many years did it take you to find that?"

"Well..."

"And how did that oatmeal raisin cookie taste?"

Your prisoner pulls a face. "Ugh, not good. Oatmeal raisin is definitely not for me. It's hard as a rock! I really don't understand why someone would want to eat that on a regular basis."

"But it's not supposed to be hard as a rock!" you cry, waving your arms. "That's the problem! Oatmeal raisin is so goddamn rare and then the one time we get it, it was badly baked. Of course people are turned off by it. Everyone who already loves oatmeal raisin is getting pissed because their favorite cookie is misrepresented, they're unlikely to see more of them now, and everyone is still serving the most tasteless chocolate chip cookies I've ever had, acting like this is the pinnacle of cookie baking! Do you even know that a macron exists?"

The person pats your hand consolingly. "Of course I do. My roommate's sister's boyfriend used to bake macrons, you know. I don't know why you're so hung up on this. Cookies can be whatever the baker wants them to be. Provided they're a flat-ish sweet cake, they're still a cookie!"

You hang your head, giving up. "Yes, they can be so many things, but they're not. Let me know if you ever find a bakery actually making the variety you keep acknowledging exists. Bonus points if those cookies are edible. My soul if they're delicious, as a cookie should be."

"You know," they say, still patting your hand. "There's a bakery making chocolate chip with dark chocolate next year. Everyone is talking about it. You should think about buying one before they take it off the menu!"

You contemplate just walking into the ocean.

Now, incredibly long metaphor concluded... switch out "cookies" for "queer rep"! The representation matters because no, just making them gay isn't enough right now. You're right that queer people can be anything under the sun, but right now media isn't providing us with that variety. It's not enough to acknowledge that such variety exists, it actually has to make it into our books and onto our screen. Taking just characters who identify as gay and putting aside the HUGE variety of other identities for a moment (of which we are mostly lacking in terms of rep), where are the gay asexuals? The gay people of color? The disabled gays? Trans gays? Did your gay character appear for just a handful of episodes? Were they killed off? Are they nothing more than a stereotype or comic relief? Is this the only gay character in your entire story? We need to ask questions like this because though gay people can be anything under the sun, our media landscape has only shown a miniscule portion of that variety.

Today, even in 2021, our representation of gay people is still pretty limited to:

You are only coded as gay and evil

You are only coded as gay and queerbaited

You are canonically gay, but a cis, ablebodied, white person

You are canonically gay, but were written terribly/killed off/punished by the narrative/generally making the real gay people watching you feel awful about their identity

You are canonically gay, but you're not human. Gotta other the queerness by making you an alien/robot/fantasy being

You are canonically gay and that's your entire existence. There is one (1) narrative of how you knew by the time you were four, never questioned your identity after that, suffered through a family that rejected you, and now all your major arcs revolve around being gay. You are gay and that is it.

Despite being a list of six, that's still incredibly limiting. Are there exceptions to such a list? Always, but that doesn't mean the list isn't still dominating. We can look at any individual gay character and say, "Of course they can be evil/white/killed off/a joke/etc. because gay people can be anything at all," but when we look at the trends, when we look at ALL the media together, we see that gay people aren't actually depicted as being anything... they're depicted as being these handful of things, severely limiting how gayness is represented. Bad rep. If you hit up the bakery and question why there's only versions of chocolate chip available yeah, the baker can go, "But cookies can be any flavor! Including chocolate chip!" They are not, technically, wrong. The problem is not that chocolate chip exists, but that chocolate chip dominates and other flavors are rare, ignored entirely, or baked so badly it's actively damaging to that flavor as a whole. Yeah, your gay character can be mean. Or kinky. Or murdered by the story. But when so many gay characters are mean and kinky and murdered by their stories — when you're not getting other versions to balance that out and gay characters are still rare enough that it's just 1-2 characters trying to carry representation for an entire franchise — you start realizing that the claim of "Gay people can be anything else under the human experience" is an easy way to shut down the conversation of whether that variety actually exists in our storytelling yet.

It's not enough for the baker to acknowledge that yeah, of course there are hundreds of cookie flavors and of course cookies taste great! They've actually got to learn how to bake them properly and fill up their store with them.

[defdaily]

GQ Korea Magazine June 2021 issue featuring JAY B: in transition

To prove himself, JAY B is constantly changing. Because he has so much to show.

Translated by defdaily

Your greeting from the video earlier was new. You said “This is GOT7’s JAY B and H1GHR MUSIC’s JAY B.” After GOT7 parted ways with JYP Entertainment, you told fans that you were a freelancer and I guess you’ve found your spot.

Yes. It has not been announced officially yet but I’m H1GHR MUSIC’s JAY B. I told fans I was a freelancer as a joke. I like communicating with fans as if we’re friends. But I was looking for a company at that time too.

How did you make your decision?

Of course I thought about it a lot. I talked with various companies, but when considering the freedom and synergy, I felt like H1GHR MUSIC fit me well. That seemed like the best decision.

What kind of synergy and effect are you looking forward to?

I don’t think “I’m definitely hip-hop!” just because I joined a hip-hop label. I think that through the label I can show R&B, dance and pop genres too. I want to attempt different things without any boundaries.

What did you talk about with H1GHR MUSIC’s CEO Jay Park?

From my point of view, it’s a new challenge so I was a little anxious. But Jay Bum hyung’s thoughts were similar to mine and said I could do music comfortably and didn’t wish for any certain colour, because if you keep focusing on one thing, you’ll slowly be locked in it, and said it’s good to try out different things. That’s what he told me.

Will this period of time divide JAY B of the past and future?

Of course it will. If previously it was a situation where I mainly received benefits from the company, now that I have the autonomy, I feel that I should do things myself and I grew a deeper sense of responsibility in that way. I think there’s a need to be more proactive. And I plan on prudently moving forward one step at a time with an appropriate amount of nervousness. Because this is the process of starting from the beginning, I am very careful about every decision.

What factors influenced your decision the most?

Feeling/intuition. I have a feeling of whether I think I should do something or not.

It feels like you have a pretty good sense of the direction you want to move forward in.

I asked Jay Bum hyung why he recruited me and he said that skills were of course a factor but that I seemed like I would work hard consistently. It’s a given to be working hard on your own things but the most important thing is consistency. I've been doing that for a long time, and I'll continue to do what I've been doing.

Do you have any values that you’ve held on for a long time?

I’ve always thought that it’s important to never forget the things that I’ve done and have been doing. I debuted as GOT7. I cannot just suddenly say “I’m not an idol,” and I do not want to disappoint the fans. I’m very thankful. While promoting as part of GOT7, I never forgot the fact that I started as a b-boy at first and that I’m a person who likes hip-hop.

People’s expectations are high because of GOT7’s achievements. On one hand, there must be people viewing you thinking ‘let's see how well it could go.’

I am mindful of that. But it’s just GOT7 JB that was that big, JAY B as an individual isn’t that great. To be honest, sometimes I think that I’m nothing. If you ask people my age which idols they know, even if many people know about GOT7, they might not know me very well. It’s important to be acknowledged for my music but I feel like I have to get my name out there first. There is someone called GOT7’s JAY B, H1GHR MUSIC’s JAY B. I feel like this is just the beginning for me.

It sounds like you are at a point where you feel the need to prove yourself. Do you not worry that fans might not be accepting if you do what you like and want to do?

Rather than being worried, I see it as something that could happen. For example, I could use profanity or harsh expressions if I feel that they’re needed for better musical completion. I can’t help it if some fans who used to like me as an idol hear that and turn their backs. I also don’t want to give up or lose my own standards because of such reactions.

I see you're very determined to make creations of your own. I heard that you're going to release a new song soon. How is it?

The title is Switch It Up. Should I say it’s close to Hip-Hop Dance? It’s a different style from what I have been making consistently under the name Def. You could say it is a little similar to the solo songs I’ve included in GOT7 albums before. I focused on the purpose of informing the public and the music scene that “I think I will do this sort of music in the future." I’m also sending a message to fans saying that I’ll be starting to promote actively again so look forward to it.

I'm curious. Is there any image that came to mind while working on it?

A sexy image. If I use Def. to freely express my personal stories in any genre, I made a distinction that JAY B does cool and sexy music. Regardless, they are both me, but JAY B is more like a fictional character who can show various sides of me.

What do you think are your strengths as an artist?

There is no such thing. I never thought that an artist should be a certain type of way. I think an artist is one who lives the same life as others, but feels differently, and knows how to express that well. As a matter of fact, anyone can do that. Even everyday office workers, when their stress piles and piles and they scribble down their emotions then toss the paper out, I think that can be a way of art too.

I like that. In any form, what do you want to talk about the most now?

That’s what I’m contemplating a lot right now. I think I’ve been pouring out too much. When writing songs, making the melody or arranging the music isn’t that hard but I don’t know what to write about. The same goes for coming up with titles too. No matter how hard I try to come up with an idea, I can’t think of one. I just think, “ I guess it'll just come out gradually.”

Not as JAY B but as Lim Jaebeom, what have you been thinking about or trying to do?

I try to think positively.

Ah not long ago, we saw you posted on your Instagram “Let’s try to think positively.”

I had quite a lot of worries and a negative mindset. A lot of people may live with unnecessary worries but I’m a little worse. I guess it’s my nature. So I try my best to relax my heart/mind and say “it’s good,” “everything will be okay.”

In introspection, what is something that you are most satisfied with?

That’s hard. No matter how hard I think about it, I feel like there's nothing I like about myself at the moment.

Why? Did something change?

No, it’s not that. Even with one thing, one day you could like it and another day you could dislike it. It’s natural to change your mind. So when I speak, I often use the terms “always” and “at the moment.” Anyways, it’s not that I think that my current self is completely bad, but I’m not satisfied to the point where I would go “wow.”

Then, among the various images that you embody, which do you feel is the piece of clothing that fits perfectly?

I think naturally, the clothing of the name Lim Jaebeom is the most natural and comfortable. Because I’ve got a good hold of the side that is most like me, there can exist Def., JAY B of GOT7 and JAY B of H1GHR MUSIC. Oh, I could explain it like this. If Lim Jaebeom is the earth, just as there exists oceans, mountains, and cities within it, there are various sides of myself that are making up my life.

What will happen to GOT7 in the future?

We probably will not be able to promote as actively as before, but the members and I are trying our best to do anything. I often look up and watch videos of when we were promoting and I miss the GOT7 from those days. The overflowing passion and energy as well. Looking back, it was really fun. It's similar to the feeling of reminiscing about school days.

What did you gain personally from the past 7 years promoting as GOT7?

Should I say, I think I’ve gained expertise? People around me say I’ve become much more relaxed now. But I still get nervous. I was nervous even before today’s shoot. But in turn, I’ve gained ways to overcome the nerves. I guess that comes to show that I’ve become experienced

What kind of person does Lim Jaebeom want to be?

I wish I could be endlessly kind and do only good things, but in reality, that’s impossible. As you live you could unintentionally make mistakes and cause disappointment. Nevertheless, I definitely do not want to become a shrewd person, I despise being scheming and fooling people. I don’t want to be that kind of person and neither do I want to be on the receiving end. But it’s still a bit of a mystery if it’s okay to say "I'm going to be this kind of person." Because as I mentioned before, my current feelings and thoughts change frequently just as trends do.

I guess those words right there can change too.

That’s right. That's why I'm cautious about doing interviews. If I talk about something, there will be articles pouring out that say JAY B said this and JAY B said that. Although we’re doing an interview today like this, if I was asked the same question tomorrow, I could have a different response.

How should we wrap up this interview for you to sleep soundly?

This was the story of Lim Jaebeom on May 4th, 2021. I think this will be okay.

Translated by defdaily.

[alirhi]

...goddess help me...

This fucking episode. *deep breath* This... This episode is where I'm expecting to get some serious hate. Let me just get this out of the way right up front:

I. Hate. Zemo.

I do not find him sympathetic, or funny, or charming. I find him creepy and annoying. I did not like him in CA:CW and I do not like him in TFATWS. If you are pro-Zemo, you are not going to like my version of this show from here on out. Just find something else to read and don't bother me about it. You've got the actual canon, so go enjoy that.

Got it? Good. Now, on to the main event!

Episode 3: The Power Broker

First of all, Sam doesn't let Bucky walk in there alone. No matter Bucky's (flimsy and nonsensical) argument, Sam's like "hell no. I go in with you, or you don't go in." The main reason for this isn't to keep Bucky from breaking Zemo out of prison (with decent writing, he would never do that) - it's so that Sam witnesses Zemo taunting Bucky with/about the trigger words. because Zemo is a piece of shit.

Since he doesn't know the full story, Sam is confused, but he files this interaction away to ask Bucky about later. He's listening to Zemo acknowledging that Bucky was "not conscious for most of [his] imprisonment" (which, yes, clearly refers to the time he spent frozen, but can also mean while he was under their control as TWS/"The Asset" - also, key word: imprisonment) and when he calls Bucky a means to an end, Sam scowls, looking ready to go off on him, but he waits. They've got more important issues.

Neither of them entertains the thought of breaking Zemo out for even a nanosecond. He does that shit himself. And literally the only reason I'm sticking with him getting out at all is because I want to address some truly egregious moments linked directly to him in the show. Zemo makes them think he's setting them on the trail when really he's just sending them to his motor pool. Bucky and Sam are confused until they see Zemo in his stolen guard uniform, then they're both angry and want to ship him right back to prison, but he strikes a deal with them: "My help for my temporary freedom. Creating super soldiers cannot be allowed to continue; let me finish my work, and then do with me as you will." He has no intention of going quietly back to prison, obviously, and they're not stupid enough to believe otherwise, but they believe they can keep him on a short leash, so they agree for now. Anything to bring down the Flag Smashers and whoever created them.

After the title, we cut to Raynor on the phone in her office. She's agitated, fiddling with things on her desk. "No, sir," she's practically growling, "it was disrupted. - Walker did! - It's not my fault your new attack dog got off-leash!" She pauses, huffs, and says more calmly, "No. Of course not. I'm sorry. - Well, I don't see how, with the new Cap strutting around barking orders! - What am I supposed to do? Tell Captain America in front of a dozen witnesses that he can't have his predecessor's favorite pet because we're not done reprogramming him? I didn't see that going over too well. I made a call. - No. No, no, no, we can still use him. The work's not finished, but he still trusts me. He'll be back." A pause as she listens. Angry again, she snaps, "What do you want me to do, shove a tracker up his ass? He'll be back, and we'll pick right back up where we left off! - Don't worry, sir, the Asset will be fully compliant and ready to use soon. I'll make sure of it. - Yes, sir. You, too." She hangs up and tosses her phone on the couch, grumbling, "Dick."

Cut back to Sam, Bucky, and Zemo getting going on their trip to Madripoor. On the plane, Sam wants to talk to Bucky about what he's learned so far, but doesn't want to bring it up in front of Zemo... until the notebook incident reminds him that Zemo already knows more about Bucky than he does.

After Zemo's line about the list, Sam angrily corrects him: "You mean people HYDRA used The Winter Soldier to hurt." When Zemo shrugs and his response is basically along the lines of "what's the difference" Sam is like "oh hell no."

"Those words you were reciting at him," he reminds Zemo, "what were they, Russian? They clearly meant something. They were supposed to do something. What are they?" "Sam, let it go," Bucky pleads, unable to look at either of them. "It's nothing." "You wanna drown in your guilt, that's fine," Sam snaps, "but make sure it's for the right reasons." He turns back to Zemo, who's smiling at this exchange because he's a monster and thinks Bucky's suffering is fucking funny. "I asked you a question, Zemo. What did those words do?" "They activate the Winter Soldier programming," Bucky grudgingly admits. He doesn't want to talk about it, but he's sure as hell not going to let Zemo speak for him. "Or, they did, before the Wakandans got all that shit out of my head." "It's a shame," Zemo says with a smirk. "Imagine the possibilities that come with perfect obedience." "I think you mean 'slavery'," Sam growls, "and I think you're in the wrong crowd to be looking so pleased about it. Remember that we can send your ass back to prison any time." "Of course," Zemo agrees, but with an arrogant smile that shows he doesn't believe for a second that these two have any real power over him. Still, he bides his time and sits back quietly, watching Bucky fidget with the notebook. Sam turns back to Bucky, seeing his discomfort; he won't let the topic go, though, not yet. He just softens his tone. "So, they 'activated the Winter Soldier'? What exactly does that mean?" Bucky shrugs, still not looking up. "Pretty much what he said - perfect obedience. What little consciousness they left me between cryo and the chair was squashed down, locked away. And I did whatever I was told, exactly the way they told me to." It finally clicks. He'd had his suspicions before, of course, but now Sam gets it. Visibly horrified, he stares at this quiet, broken man, and finally sees the truth of what he'd been through for 70 years: "They stripped away your autonomy. Shit, Bucky, they didn't even let you be a person. That's..." He swallows, looking like he'll be sick any minute. "That's awful, man. I'm so sorry." When Bucky tries to shrug it off and downplay it again, Sam gets angry. "Look at me!" He waits; it takes a few seconds, but Bucky reluctantly looks up and is surprised to see just how upset Sam is on his behalf. "It wasn't your fault. None of it. When Steve said you didn't have a choice, I had no idea... You really, truly had no choice; not even the ability to choose. That's horrifying." "I doubt it would make much difference to the people he's killed," Zemo points out snidely. "Or their families. Let's ask Tony Stark, shall we?" "You shut the hell up," Sam growls. He watches Bucky flinch and make that face - the face he's starting to really fucking hate - that says he agrees with Zemo. Bucky still can't see things the way Sam does; he still feels the guilt and shame, and even when he himself pointed out his lack of agency under HYDRA, it didn't click for him that Sam is right, not Zemo.

It's too much, too soon. Sam sees that and decides to change the subject, to give Bucky some time to process. He nods at the notebook, and they have their little Marvin Gaye debate, where Sam is over the top about it on purpose, because Bucky needs the distraction.

Of course, Zemo ruins it by opening his big mouth again and reminding Bucky of more trauma: his time fighting in WWII. That's why Sam latches onto the bit about Madripoor; to keep the focus not only on the task at hand, but off of Bucky's past that he clearly still can't cope with.

"James... You will have to become someone you claim is gone." Sam is officially ready to throw Zemo out a window. 😂 The only reason he doesn't jump to Bucky's defense again and basically tell Zemo to fuck himself (in a PG-13 way 🙄) is because Bucky's, as Sam pointed out in ep2, a grown-ass man, and because he's just learned how few decisions this poor man has been able to make in his life. Sam doesn't want to come across as another "handler," deciding everything for him, even if he does think this plan is stupid and needlessly cruel.

At the bar, when asked if he wants "the usual", Sam just casually waves the bartender off like "nah". Zemo already said they had business to attend to, so it's not like anyone would be suspicious that now's probably not a good time to be doing weird shots lol. (wtf even was that? I'm not sure I want to know, but...what part of the snake did he drop into that drink?)

Sam's not an idiot (I'm really so sick of this trend of turning intelligent characters into morons because the writers can't think of any other way to move their plot along) so his cell phone has been off this whole time. No sudden call from Sarah to put them all in danger. There was really no point to that, anyway; Sharon likely would have killed Selby for talking about Nagle with or without the excuse of "saving" Sam and Bucky. I mean, it's not like they know who fired that shot, ever.

"They cleared the Bionic Staring Machine," Sam still jokes, but he follows it with, "and they think he's a mass-murderer." "They think?" Sharon stares at him incredulously. "Didn't he kill pretty much everyone he's ever met?" "Wow." Sam glances back at Bucky. "She really is awful now." To Sharon, he adds, "You met Steve; do you really think he'd have defied 117 countries to protect someone evil?" "He did it for Bucky," she points out. "Let's face it - Bucky could blow up half the planet, and Steve's loyal-to-a-fault ass would still take a bullet for him." "You know I'm sitting right here, right? I can hear you." "Look, I don't think you're evil, Bucky," Sharon assures him. "But I know you killed a lot of people for HYDRA." "I'm not denying it." "He didn't have a choice," Sam snaps, glaring at them both. "But we're not getting into that right now. My point is, the government's afraid of Bucky, and they still pardoned him. All you did was steal something. I'm sure they can be persuaded to see reason." "The day the US government sees reason," Sharon quips, rolling her eyes, "is the day I sprout real wings and fly off into the sunset." "Careful, Icarus," Bucky mocks with a smirk, "the sun and brand new wings don't exactly go together." Then he shrugs and glances at Sam. "But she's not wrong."

At the party that night, it takes a few minutes (grumpy old man Bucky's not sure how to feel about the music lol) but a peek of pre-war Bucky comes out to play: they were told to "blend in", so he dances. At first he's just bobbing around alone looking stoic and out of place, but soon he's smiling and dancing between two attractive people - one male, one female. Sam is surprised, but before he can tease him for it, Sharon comes to get them all. Even she's a little "wait what?" at Bucky having a little fun lol. (recovery is not linear, guys. trauma doesn't mean "perpetually miserable, no fun, doesn't even know how to smile." in my TFATWS, Bucky gets his lighter moments; real ones, not humor at his expense)

When they find Nagle, Bucky's the one who notices and opens the secret door, while Sam keeps an eye on Zemo. Bucky catches Zemo trying to grab that gun; closes the drawer on his hand before opening it and taking the gun away. "Nice try." Nagle tries to get away while there's only one person watching him, but Sam catches him and forces him back into his seat. With a bruising grip on the back of Zemo's neck, Bucky drags him back over to where he and Sam can both keep an eye on him. Nagle is killed in the shootout as they're trying to escape; Zemo still runs off, blows shit up, and comes back with the stolen car so he's not totally useless.

I had no problem with Zemo being the one to kill Nagle; Nagle was the worst and def had to die, and Zemo has never had an issue killing anyone. Where I took issue with this scene was Bucky and Sam being dumb enough to let Zemo wander and get his hands on a gun. Nope. Not happening.

Anyway, shootout! Explosions! Funny banter! The seat thing, which is my favorite nod to CW ever lol... And then the conversation on the plane...

"You okay?" "Yeah." Sam sighs. "Just thinking." "About how to get Sharon that pardon you dangled in front of her?" He shakes his head. "About how Nagle referred to 'The Winter Soldier Program" like it was some kind of after school club; like you weren't standing right there. And 'the American test subject' like... Like Isaiah wasn't even a real person." He turns to face Bucky, looking angry and weary. "Makes me wonder how many times... How many times are we gonna run around in the same circles before people learn? And how many people need to get crushed underfoot in the meantime?" "Did you really just equate me with Isaiah?" Bucky frowns, not sure how to react to that. "That man is a hero." Sam opens his mouth to say something, but his phone goes off and Zemo approaches at the same time, effectively cutting off their conversation.

When they get to Riga and Zemo tries to guilt trip them over Sokovia, Bucky deadpan reminds him, "Neither of us were involved in that fight." "I doubt you'd have been much help if you were." He shrugs. "Probably not. But I like to save my guilt for events I was actually present for. It's a thing." Zemo laughs. "Fair enough."

Bucky goes on his walk, and meets up with Ayo.

[obirains-archive]

Hello! I've just read your post about the TERF, and I just wanted to ask, what do you mean by withholding support socially as well? Not tagging or hashtagging anything related to the franchise? Not buying fanmade items nor crating content about it? I think I sort of get all of those. But, what about fanfiction, for example? Is writing/reading enough of a "private enjoyment"? I remember she used to be against fanfiction in the beginning (early 2000s) and that would be a good enough reason to read/write, but does that also give her trackable engagement points nowadays? I'm sorry, I know these are a lot of questions, it's just that I've been at war with myself for quite sometime and yours is, I think, the first post I've seen that acknowledges the very real emotional connection many fans have with the franchise and how difficult it is to just condemn the whole thing. I'm good with painting/creating/knitting my own merchandise, from me to me, for the rest of my life, but what about still reading about beloved characters in a beloved magical world, if it was masterfully written by someone thankfully not her...? Thank you.

Hi, Anon! I’m gonna try to be as empathetic and articulate as I can; forgive me if some of my thoughts are still tangled. 

You’re right that fanfiction is a little murkier than hashtags, fan merch, and other kinds of engagement. To my knowledge (anyone please correct me if I’m wrong), there’s much less of a corporate presence with most fanfiction websites (with the exception of Wattpad and maybe a few others). By “corporate” I don’t just mean advertisers; I mean people judging the extent to which JKR/HP is still a global phenomenon: the extent, therefore, of the demand for more content, which is basically equivalent to demand for Rowling as a public figure with a public platform. I’m sure archives like AO3 aren’t completely clean either, but I do think there’s a subtle difference.

(And let’s establish too that on Tumblr there’s virtually no difference between tagging fanfiction and tagging other content for the franchise, given that tags are fundamental to people seeing your writing. Reading fanfiction rather than writing it is still participating in and benefiting from that overall tag.)

The problem as I see it is that Rowling explicitly considers her fans both supporters of and participants in her TERF ideology - she’s the martyr giving a voice to the voiceless, sacrificing herself to the hoards of internet activists. “Fans” includes both people who monetarily support her and people who still engage in the Harry Potter fandom. To contribute to that fandom, even through content from which Rowling reaps no direct revenue, is to implicitly confirm her assessment and therefore her worldview. Even if most HP fans don’t consider themselves to be TERFs, they’re telling her that the series is more important to them than the ideology is heinous. So, surely, her worldview can’t be that bad. 

Tumblr both complicates and amplifies this issue. Unlike AO3, content creation on Tumblr is inseparable from content circulation. The reblog system spreads your content to as many people as possible, people who share your interests, by design. Unless you can go through the whole Tumblr HP fandom and individually block all Rowling sympathizers, your content (fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, etc) will almost certainly yield interaction from not just TERFs but people who don’t think Rowling’s so bad, people who might disagree with what she says but surely it’s not as harmful as people are making out, people willing to pay for movie tickets and new books, people willing to make her content trend. Even if you personally denounce her, there’s no way to ensure you’re not fueling the demand for Rowling as a writer and public figure, and contributing to her vast social influence. 

As a reader, rather than a writer - maybe you’re not actively providing content to potentially unsavory individuals, but you’re almost certainly going to be somewhere in their circles. If not within, then never too far away. 

I empathize with your struggle, Anon. Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood; I used to read and write fanfiction for it, too. At the end of the day, I think it’s something everyone needs to check with their own consciences. If you’re publically denouncing Rowling (and also!!! publically supporting trans people and especially trans women!!!!!!), and can say in good faith that the fanfiction writers you’re interacting with are doing the same - I can’t stop you. But for me, personally, my conscience will not permit me to engage in the franchise, whether that’s through pirating the new films, buying fan-made merch through third-party sites, or reading/reblogging free fan content. In addition to some soul-searching, I’d recommend seeking perspectives of trans people from all platforms and backgrounds, and then going to other fans you trust and know are in the same boat. 

I know this was maybe longer than it needed to be; I hope it made sense. And I truly do wish you the best of luck. 

[palmett-hoes]

how do you think this fandom deals with "measuring" trauma? i've seen a couple posts detailing aaron's reaction to trauma/nicky's reaction//seth's/etc and it seems like some people have a tier list of trauma responses in regards to the foxes? like what's "acceptable" versus what isn't, and who's trauma was "enough" to make their actions excusable versus others. this doesn't make much sense but i hope you get where i'm coming from?

no no i get you don't worry

i think it’s something i used to see more said explicitly than i see it now. like i definitely remember a point in the fandom when ppl were very openly mad at aaron for the way he acted in the books and especially him not being “grateful” enough for all that andrew had “done for him.” additionally seth used to be used as a minor villain or an abusive ex in fics a lot more than i see now. then of course there was a period of calling out these trends and reminding ppl that these are books about trauma, not books about ethics, and that you really really can’t read them without attempting compassion for every character. they’re not books about who’s right and who’s wrong, they can’t really be read in terms of theory or ideology. they’re about survival and recovery.

i haven’t really seen those sentiments in the past few years tho, at least not as openly as they once were, nor have i seen the old posts recirculating. at the same time, i think that there’s less meta and character analysis being written in general so there’s also less debate in general. i don’t see the whole fandom tho, just who i follow and the stuff from the tags that shows up on my tl. if this stuff is actively still going on idk about it, though i’d like to think we as a collective have moved on from seeing trauma as a zero-sum game

additionally, because of the discourse period over them it seems like aaron and seth in particular are treated with extra care not to invalidate that they came from abusive situations and were shaped by that. i’d say it’s now seen as bad taste to openly denounce what a character has been through as “not enough”

however

measuring trauma isn’t always angry, it isn’t always saying to a character “you didn’t go through enough” or “he went through more so shut up.” measuring trauma can also be dismissive. it can take the form of simply choosing not to include it. of removing character traits or actions or topics that make us uncomfortable or are maybe complicated to approach. by removing them or replacing them or avoiding them and simply writing like they’re not there, you essentially get to the same place as saying “get over it” but instead you write them as having, well, gotten over it

so i do still see people measuring trauma it’s just not as outright anymore. instead it’s paring certain characters down for ease and digestibility, and simply not engaging with their trauma and circumstances

i would say i see this most often with the upperclassmen, dan, matt, and allison especially (and nicky even though he’s not an upperclassmen) (ik i mentioned him but seth content is still pretty few and far between) (renee’s trauma has the “rule of cool” so it still gets in there). i’ve mentioned before how sidelined the upperclassmen are in fan works and some of the unfortunate implications of that, but another dimension is not acknowledging or considering their individual backgrounds. they all come from some pretty fucked up circumstances and more than that they’re all SHAPED by those circumstances

in the books, they are all wary isolationists with attitude issues.  they can be mean, they can be nasty, and they can be violent. they come from poverty, abuse, neglect, drug addicition, gang violence, and sex trafficking. they are treated with extreme suspicion by their school, the media, their classmates, and their fellow athletes, and they respond with suspicion right back. their relationships with each other are often on thin ice. they treat neil the way they do - tolerate his puzzle pieces that don’t fit together right without questioning - because they can all recognize themselves in him. and on the flip side, neil is able to relate to them for the same reasons, because they are also wary dogs used to being hit

but then i so often see the upperclassmen used in ways that mostly imply they’re like,, mostly normal, chill, often quite woke. goofy and cool. they all grew up watching disney movies and going to carnivals. they get used as a contrast for neil and andrew to highlight their traumatized behavior and the extremity of their circumstances, and if their trauma gets mentionted at all it’s in passing and it doesn’t inform the way they act. their trauma isn’t sufficient to inform their actions so it just,, doesn’t factor in or get mentioned really and they’re all nice, friendly, happy-go-lucky neurotypicals who are trying to teach poor traumatized neil how to be normal. tell me that isn’t measuring trauma

it’s annoying, in all honesty, especially since it now seems to come in a form that’s hard to call out because it’s no longer content that actually states a bad opinion so much as it is a lack of content or consideration for certain characters, pushing them further and further into the background and giving them increasingly more vague, palatable, and relatable characterizations.

in fact, it often comes off as praise, by ascribing them positive traits like nicky being a good guardian for the twins or allison being super knowledgeable about lgbt stuff or dan being a “queen” or matt being a “himbo” and because this is all good stuff it’s fine, right? it’s better than canon actually, right? except actually what it is is dismissive of their trauma and individual experiences. it’s a series of easily digestible filler words used to make the messy, ugly, complicated characters of canon softer and easier to swallow

also this is by no means restricted to the upperclassmen it’s just the one that slips most through the cracks. i definitely see this happening to andrew, too, but it works in slightly different ways and is a whole other discussion