#Major props to the writers for this one because it's IMPORTANT

[that-ineffable-devil]

I really appreciate that, in Charles' wrap-up of "the pennies dropped" he specifically uses the word "murdered" in reference to Niko. Because she was murdered. She didn't sponteously die. She wasn't killed by accident. She was murdered. It was intentional. Esther threw that bolt with the intention to kill whoever it hit. It doesn't matter that it was meant for Crystal.

Words are powerful. Words have meaning.

And of course he would use the right word. After all, both he and Edwin were murdered. Maybe the boys who murdered them didn't have that exact intention, but their intentions were no less lethal and no less malicious.

[theblogwithoutfear]

karen page is so annoying in the show...is she better in the comics somehow or is she just like that

So I've actually wanted to talk about this forever, but I kept forgetting to make a post about it. Your ask is a perfect opportunity to write down all my thoughts. Brace yourself, because I have a lot to say. Sorry in advance lmao

I actually prefer Karen in the show. To be fair, I have not finished all the comics, but so far I think her TV counterpart is a lot better (I still like her a lot in the comics tho, don't get me wrong). The NMCU version of Karen Page also has a lot of Kirsten McDuffie (another comic book girlfriend) in her, which is great in my opinion.

A lot of people find her annoying, but to me it's her flaws that make her such a fantastic character. She isn't a caricature, stock-girlfriend character pulled from a box of tropes; she's a well-rounded individual, extremely realistic, a mirror of Matt Murdock, and a woman with real agency. Her actions have major consequences on the plot. In my opinion, a lot of superhero girlfriends (in comics, movies, TV, whatever) are written more like props than characters, and they don't have any agency or actual plot relevance. Which is why, when a lot of them die, their deaths feel so cheap and inconsequential. That's where fridging comes from. It's been a problem with superheroes since their very inception; and a problem in storytelling at large. So often in fiction, women are flat and unrealistic.

So to me, Karen's heavily-flawed character is refreshing. She is extremely impulsive; she's deeply intelligent, but makes such stupid decisions; she can be hypocritical, self-destructive, and petty. Sometimes she manipulates people, even unintentionally. She's very well-meaning, but constantly makes mistakes. And it's these mistakes that move the plot forward, and reveal important things about both her and Matt. Her actions have real consequences for the story, and she undertakes her own journey throughout the narrative. She is almost as much a protagonist as Matt is, in terms of her character development and growth.

For that matter, every one of the flaws that I listed are things that Matt does too. They are almost perfect mirrors of each other; people who are immensely concerned with justice and compassion, people who care for the truth, and people who want to make their city a better place. However, as they go about it, they stumble and make mistakes and endanger other people. They're hypocritical and contradictory and impulsive. They constantly have to call their own moralities into question, because they almost never live up to their high ideals.

(Also, as a side note, I think many of Karen's flaws—as with Matt's—come as a direct result of all the trauma she's been through: her mother's death, her brother's death, her alcoholism and drug addiction, her dad cutting her off, being framed for murder, almost getting murdered in prison, etc. So I think it's fair to give her some grace.)

But what makes both Karen and Matt so lovable, imo, is that they keep trying. No matter what mistakes they make, they get back up and try again. They do everything they can to atone for the blood on their hands.

I think also (and I'm not accusing you of this, just a certain subset of people in the fandom) that people are more willing to accept Matt's flaws than Karen's—because there's a lot of misogyny built into our society, and there's this ingrained idea that women have to be paragons of virtue. Women, both in fiction and in reality, tend to be put under a microscope and dissected, while men can get away with a lot more. So Matt and Karen have identical flaws, but only Karen gets hate for it, which makes me very sad.

It may be the writer in me, but imo flaws are what make a character—and a story—meaningful. A well-flawed character can take a ridiculous, implausible story and make it feel grounded and real and impactful. A well-flawed woman even more so. I love Karen for the same reason I love Jessica Jones and Wanda Maximoff; or, to go beyond Marvel, for the same reason I love Jo March and Katniss Everdeen and Miss Haversham and Katherina Molina. They all elevate their respective stories beyond the initial premise and plot. Flawed female characters are realistic and impactful, and therefore empowering.

Obviously, to each their own. Some people just find her annoying and don't like her personality, and that's fine. But for me, that's what makes her feel real, and that's why I love her.

[ipushedthewrongbutton]

Imma do this final vent and then I’ll shut up about it.

This was a dumb move, from every possible perspective.

In the og goodbye video, they really made it sound like they were doing the streaming service because they wanted to go bigger, make cooler videos, really see what they could do and let their creative vision take the lead.

Growing as an artist is what you do when you Already Have The Money To Do So. You don’t tell your audience “give me money and then I will use to it to make cooler bigger things”. That’s not a streaming service, that’s a kickstarter.

They didn’t have the numbers to pull a streaming service off either. “We think we’re ready for television quality content” no you don’t. Sorry, no you do not. Television quality content means 30-50 crew per project, means at least 4-5 production being worked on at the same time, and at least 4-5 productions being broadcast at the same time. Watcher has maybe 2 series they upload simultaneously and they have 25 employees TOTAL. Not even CLOSE to tv levels of content, who the fuck do you think you are???

Did they really think all 3 million of their subscribers were going to follow them on this? Including kids, whose spending is dependent on their parents? Including the casuals, who only subscribed for the occasional video? Including people for whom $6 dollars on another streaming service just isn’t an option? Why DIDN’T they poll this, was this being a surprise really that important??

AND why would you completely cut off another revenue? Even if YouTube is restrictive, it’s still another source of income. Cutting that off completely is… bold.

Especially since in the apology, they let it slip that no, actually, it’s because Watcher is on the brink of having to close up shop because they’re not making enough money with just the patreon, the merch sales, the ad reads, etc.

So… one of those is a lie. Or at least part of the truth.

But let’s assume they are in financial trouble, then this was still the dumbest they could’ve done.

Welcome to the entertainment industry where we follow 1 giant fucking rule: Kill Your Darlings.

Fellas, pals, amigos, bros, dudes. If your projects spend more than what they make, it’s time to downsize. Not upscale. Cut the shit that’s spending the most money, start concentrating on how you can conserve without having to fire your crew. Put the projects where you have to fly out and buy new stuff all the time on the back burner, you can get back to them once you actually have the money for them. Work with what you already have. You have a MASSIVE studio space, fuckin use it. You HAVE sets, you HAVE props, you HAVE talent and you have ideas. Start workshopping all the crazy and shit ideas you thought weren’t gonna work and start thinking how you could make them work with the lowest possible budget you can have. Your audience is there, they’ll watch whatever you throw at them. Now is the time to go crazy and see what sticks. You HAVE viewership. Collab. CONSTANTLY. Get it the fuck out there that you exist. A lot of people had no idea a patreon existed, mention it ALL THE TIME. To the point that it becomes annoying. Do it!

If your studio is becoming too expensive, get rid of it. Sorry, kill your darlings. Move some shit around in Steven Lim’s tesla garage, put up some green screens, this is where you work now until you can afford a studio in LA again, you dipshits. Editors can work from home, sound designers can work from home, writers and researchers can work from home, meetings can happen in someone’s kitchen or living room.

And finally: be transparent. Be honest to your audience and communicate. “We’re sorry to put Ghost Files on hiatus, however we can no longer justify the cost of traveling to locations.” The majority of your audience will understand and show patience. The part of your audience that matters will wait and enjoy your other wacky shit in the meantime. Hell, they might spontaneously start their own kickstarter because those who can, will want to support you financially, if you’re just hONEST WITH THEM.

As a business, you constantly have to choose between your financial stability and that of your employees, your vision and the future of your company and what you Want to do with it, and your integrity, the trust between you and your audience. (Especially that last one, businesses can’t pretend they don’t have a relationship with their audience, that’s not how business works, guys.)

When you’re in financial straits, one of those has to go. Watcher chose the latter, they should’ve picked the middle. Their grand television quality ideas can fucking wait, if money is a problem.

Look, I’m an artist too. I had a vision too. But it was either my creative vision or being able to afford food and rent. Creativity can wait, creativity will always be there once I can support it. Living comes ALWAYS first. Asking my audience to fund my huge artistic dreams though, with only the promise of something cool, NEVER even crossed my fucking mind. That’s what donations are for, that’s what the patreon is for.

They apologised. And good. But this was a dumb decision from the goddamn start. There were like 500 steps in between and they skipped all of it. And for what? For money? For grand ideas? For greed or for hubris? How many of their original subscribers are actually gonna come back? How much money did they lose with this stunt? If they really are in financial trouble, this MASSIVE risk -which is what it has always been- might just be their downfall. And it’d be 100% their own fucking fault.

[cosmics-beings]

okay so finally my unpopular opinions on the starscream es episode.i liked the starscream episode as you know, because it was nice and important for his abuse to be validated. and it was even more libearting to see a Steve Blum voiced starscream get his justice because of how poorly tfp starscream was abused and it was made into a joke and seen as something he 'deserved'.

but I've been wanting to also just share my critique on it for some time! it's a little critical, so just putting that out there if you don't like earthspark or starscream critique you should skip over this. I've spoken a lot of positive things about the episode so these are just my thoughts. so warning, heavy critique.

my main issues are fandom's treatment of hashtag, and people using the episode to perpetuate the 'perfect victim' mentality on starscream and forget that he's flawed and nuanced.

starting with hashtag, i really don't like how a lot of fans make hashtag "mother" starscream and act almost as if she's supposed to be his caretaker, when she is a minor, who is facing her own trauma. i think she was needed to validate starscream and to make him feel that his own abuse is real and that it isn't his fault for getting abused.

but i also think people took that and decided to a.) make hashtag his mother figure and b.) use it to excuse the way he treated and was borderline abusive to others (i.e him kicking his trine mates when they were on the ground, and since they were female character no one actually cared).

i think hashtag was needed as a completely neutral source to make starscream's own trauma's validated and to show the viewers that his abuse isn't funny, and that just because megatron is 'good' doesn't mean that it's excusable and that starscream has to like him. moreso, it's important to show that children can also call out and understand abuse. that was why hashtag needed to do it. it doesn't matter how much megatron was a part of her family and practically an uncle figure to her, he still abused someone and she still recognized that.

BUT at the same time, i don't like the idea that the fandom props his emotional trauma and responsibility on HER. in a lot of fics, aus, etc, hashtag is usually made to be starscream's caretaker without any sort of care for her or her trauma. and i think people forget hashtag is a child, shit some people ship them (ew) because they like to make her the one to care for him. Hashtag is a child, and is completely innocent and he own trauma should be validated and honestly, discussed as much as starscream's. People don't really see her or let her exist outside of Starscream. Her trauma is at large, ignored by the fandom and if people care about it, it's only to validate what starscream went through, and never to have him actually caring about her. that's why i like to write fics where HE helps her, because she is still a child and he is an adult.

ths isn't talking about fan content where starscream is literally hashtag's father figure, which i enjoy. i like when content portrays hashtag being a kid, and starscream being a parental figure to her, but that tends to be a small majority of hashtag and starscream content.

and this brings me to the perfect victim mentality that is harmful in fandom spaces but i see it's impacting starscream.

the perfect victim mentality is this idea that in order for an abuse victim's abuse to be validated, they have to be perfect and innocent. they can do no wrong and even their own actions need to be pacified or excused because if they are one bit of flawed or problematic, then that ruins their victim status.

this is why tfp wasn't seen as a victim, because he was evil, he was abusive, he was dangerous, and the writers made a choice to perpetrate the thought that all abuse victims MUST be perfect and if they aren't, then they deserve their abuse.

this is what's happening to es starscream, but the opposite way.

starscream isn't responsible at all for the abuse megatron put him through, and no amount of think pieces are going to change that. but hashtag telling starscream that his abuse isn't his fault, isn't an excuse for how he's treated and abused others. he was a fascist, a war criminal, committed multiple genocides, and in various continuities abused others both before and after he met megatron.

again he was even physically kicking his trine mates and that implies that it's a common occurrence and it's happened before. hashtag also pretty much confirmed it. i know BCS skywarp and nova are women you guys don't really care about them, but the way starscream was treating them wasn't okay.

he is still an abuse victim, but that doesn't excuse his treatment of others.

A lot of people tend to use megatron's treatment of starscream to excuse Starscream's abusive action toward others. Meaning there is this idea that because Megatron abused Starscream, then we can't really hold him (starscream) accountable for his actions toward others, and that is false. Yes, Megatron abused starscream but that doesn't give him a slap on the wrist or an excuse for things he did! And if you are trying to excuse Starscream's actions because of how megatron treated him, then you are also saying that we can't hold megatron accountable for how he treated starscream.

because megatron abuses starscream in response to his own trauma and abuse. and even if he does, he still needs to be called out for it. JUST as starscream should be held accountable for his actions.

Starscream still is a villain, he still did terrible awful things that i hope earthspark addresses. He still caused genocide, because he could, he still killed, because he wanted to! again, it was implied that he was abusive to his crew, if hashtag didn't call him out, he would've been abusive to her because he was going to use her as a hostage. earlier i saw someone trying to explain and excuse that starscream wasn't a problematic person because 'the other seekers are following him' but they had no choice. and then this person really tried to act as if him being 'toxic' to them isn't problematic and that's the issue. you can't cherry pick what is and what isn't abusive because it's a character you like, even if that character is a victim.

the perfect victim mentality skews people's perspective on abuse and makes it seem like you have to be innocent to be an abuse victim. and it scares me because a lot of people have tricked themselves into believing that starscream is a good person who doesn't need redemption and hasn't done anything wrong. and I'm terrified because when he actually starts to act like Starscream, fandom is either gonna turn on him or try to excuse his villainous actions.

So that said, those are my main two critiques with the starscream earthspark episode.

hashtag isn't starscream's mother but it seems the majority of the fandom went with it. and ties her worth and her importance to him.

and likewise, starscream is an abusive victim but he isn't perfect, and that's okay. abuse victims don't have to be perfect to have their abuse taken seriously and i don't think that's realized enough in fandom spaces.

[qprstobin]

I'm getting really tired of all these posts complaining about stobin being too codependent and unhealthy. Not because i don't think that sometimes they are written as too codependent, but because the posts always seem to be because some of us write them as ya know, being each other's most important person and making life decisions together.

I'm an arospec person who views and writes stobin as a Queer Platonic Relationship. I really don't appreciate people claiming I and others who see them the same way are making them too "codependent" by writing them doing things together that would be considered normal and sweet if it was a romantic relationship.

Part of it is that qprs are actual relationships! That's literally what a qpr is, it is having a committed relationship with someone platonically, to the extent you might live together, make life decisions together, etc. You can still date outside of that ofc if you are inclined to romance and it's agreed upon, just like any other relationship, but it is just that! A relationship!

Another part of it is that in my experience, despite all the fandom jokes about them, a majority of fic only really has their friendship included as a way to prop up one of their individual storylines, or they are there to be a wingman. It is basically impossible to filter fics in a way to find anything friendship centric for them. Ive also closed out of so many fics because writers will fuck up their friendship just so one of the characters has a reason to spend time with their love interest.

So rarely do you see canon friendships that genuinely read like they could be qprs, that it makes these posts even more frustrating. They canonically spend so much time together, and are clearly very committed to each other.

Like are some of the jokes too far? Yeah that's fair, they can get a bit ridiculous. Are some of the HCS genuinely a bit unhealthy at times, even thru a QPR lens, and taking into account their trauma? Probably yes! But so are plenty of headcanons about their main romantic ships too.

It doesn't help that its honestly hard to engage with any actual posts about how the genuinely codependent jokes go too far, because so many posts with genuine complaints end up coming across as almost arophobic.

Idk, I'm just tired of being smacked in the face with posts about things being "unhealthy" because I am not prioritizing the romantic relationships over a platonic one.

[lover-of-mine]

This is "Let's Drown Buck, Giving Eddie a Shooting Moment and Triggering a Buck Breakdown: An Updated Season 7 Speculation Based on Exactly One Picture Posted by The Props Department and The Voices In My Head"

Okay, so, my Buck will drown in season 7 spec is in its 3rd installment, you can read installment one here, this one has the drowning work as a climax for buddie in a sense, a mid-season or season finale situation, you can read installment number two here, this one is a climax for Buck to break, and now I'm gonna type out a Buck drowning as a season premiere trigger. (You can go here to see all my Buck drowning thoughts)

So, this whole thing hinges on one thing: the fact that the show consistently mirrors Buck and Eddie's personal journeys, with Buck mostly being a few steps behind Eddie. I feel like we collectively got caught up in the way the lightning reminds us of the shooting, and we failed to notice the way the lightning is actually the well. The rain aspect, the night aspect, the team as audience aspect, the volunteering into the rescue that goes wrong over lightning, the way both of them are screaming, the moments of irrational action with the way Buck is trying to dig Eddie by hand and Eddie is trying to pull Buck up to him, the breathing thing with the way Eddie was about to drown and Buck's lungs weren't working, I think even the way Eddie saved himself and the whole concept of the coma dream can work here (here's a set for visuals).

We know Eddie didn't deal with any of his trauma until after the shooting, dude was very just move forward until he couldn't anymore. And one thing is true, you can draw quite a few parallels between the way Buck was acting in season 6 with the way Eddie acts in seasons 3 and 4. Up to the way you can draw direct parallels between Buck and Natalia to Eddie and Ana (here's a set for visuals), or the way he sounds like Eddie did with the just make the best of it, the way Buck is talking in the cemetery really reminds me of what Eddie tells him in kids today when he drops Chris off before the tsunami. And, well, let's face it, Buck hasn't dealt with any strong emotion ever and this man needs to break to move on with his life.

But, sure, how does any of this adds up to Buck drowning? Most of Buck's major traumas/near-death experiences involve water or breathing, the emergency tracheotomy on the first date with Abby, the blood clots in his lung, the tsunami, the well, the warehouse fire, the lightning leading to damage in his lungs (here's a set for visuals) also, Bobby nearly drowned in the plane crash, he got caught with Chris in a tsunami and then Chris falls back into the water, Eddie nearly drowned at the well, Maddie walked into the ocean, I think even the bathtub incident with Jee, creates this pattern of water hurting Buck or people Buck loves. So water is a common trauma factor here.

Why is this important? When you look at the shooting, there are a lot of things that make it as intense as it is: it happens by chance, it's a case of wrong place/wrong time, they're not supposed to be there but they are because Eddie got called there specifically, Buck has to save Eddie alone because they are there with another house and Buck doesn't trust anyone else, and it brings up a previous trauma for Eddie. I also wanna add the fact that, like it or not, Eddie is that attached to what's happening to Charlie because it makes him think of Christopher, at least on some level. So having Buck drown covers the previous trauma thing and it's very easy to make it happen by chance. So let's work out the rest of it, shall we?

Season 6 ends with Bobby and Athena finally going on their honeymoon cruise. I know I'm not the only one sitting here chanting *cruise disaster* because of that, because let's face it when does anything ever go right for anyone on that show. But the props department posted this picture of life vests. Also, one of the writers posted a picture of a script where you can read the word boats. The speculation of something is gonna happen in that cruise writes itself. Add in the fact that people don't know bathena are on the cruise to begin with and you have a GREAT season premiere disaster in your hands. (I don't really wanna bring up Grey's Anatomy here even though a lot of this has me thinking about 3 Grey's episodes, but if you've seen the show, think the ferry boat crash/Meredith drowning arc in season 3)

That means we have a whole ass ocean to drown Buck in while responding to that. Because what's another thing that keeps trying to kill Buck? That's right, city equipment.

Okay, so back to the shooting elements, wrong place/wrong time, they're not really supposed to be there, another crew, previous trauma, no one else they trust around. Not really supposed to be there/got called there directly can be cloudy, but it could just be a "we're going because it's Bobby and Athena's ship". So that's down. Another house, well, a call in that scale would have multiple houses, them getting separated is expected, so that's down too. Previous trauma, Buck getting trapped under something, Buck almost drowning, water, beaches as a whole, all cover that. Wrong place/wrong time, I keep going back to equipment malfunctioning in some way. Maybe they're lowering Buck somewhere and it gets loose, a harness breaking, the oxygen tank stops working, that's something that can happen by chance and create a situation that triggers a past trauma for Buck.

Okay, so we have a lot of elements at play here let's get to the actual vision.

At first, when I saw the life vests, I actually thought about this all happening while they try to save Bobby. They find Bobby, they get Bobby out, Eddie is working on him because he's the one with medical training, it takes him a moment to notice Buck hasn't resurfaced, then he dives back to go get Buck, mostly because that could have some fun implications on the dynamic between the 3, especially if we go to a situation where Buck could've gotten himself out but doesn't, a situation where Buck stops trying, also because I think Buck believes dying for someone he loves is the way to go, so dying for Bobby would be fine with him, but it wouldn't be fine with Bobby or Eddie, and Eddie not dealing with saving Buck's life again could absolutely redirect those feeling towards Bobby because he can't get mad at Buck for dying, so that could create some fun tension.

BUT, if we see Charlie as a surrogate for Chris, to have the situation be triggered by a stranger that reminds Buck of someone he loves, Maddie, Bobby, not Chris because then Eddie would also be irrational in the situation, Eddie is the one that gets reckless when children are involved, could be fun.

So vision: Buck and Eddie are paired doing water rescues or something, they spot someone, that someone brings a more extreme reaction from Buck, I will say he thinks the stranger is Bobby for convenience over the fact that this whole thing is happening on a cruise Bobby is supposed to be in, but it doesn't have to. They go through with the rescue, because again, the thing they went to do is done when Eddie gets shot, something goes wrong, Buck gets pinned down (I don't love the idea of Buck just stopping swimming, I like the idea of something he could get out of if he tried hard enough but he doesn't have it in him to keep struggling, so pinned down it is, also because that brings up the truck bombing), Eddie doesn't notice Buck didn't resurface for a bit (that can also be fun considering the way Eddie is always the last to know, he was the last to see Shannon in the crash, he only found out Buck and Chris were in the tsunami once they were safe, he was the last one to look up at Buck after the lightning, so fun implications all around) just long enough for us to cut back and forth to Buck struggling and Eddie, then cutting to Buck stopping, then Eddie noticing Buck is not there and diving back in. Then we have the fun little aspects of Eddie saving Buck, dragging him out, Buck being unresponsive, desperate cpr, "you're not doing this to me again", Buck finally reacting, sitting up and coughing up water, if we're lucky him dropping back into Eddie and a nice little "I got you, I got you" if we're even luckier maybe some forehead touching or Eddie burying his face on Buck's hair (let Ryan's emotional power out for a spin yk?).

Implication of this for Buck, Eddie, and buddie could be fun. Because you can have Buck spiraling over the fact that almost died again and he was actually okay with it for a while there, kickstarting a breakdown era, because he thought dying was supposed to give him some peace because of Levi and the whole happiness convention thing, and some fun parallels with 5b Eddie. We can have Eddie spiraling over the situation because he had to save Buck again, and Buck is not dealing with it so he's not dealing with it because they don't talk about what it's like being the one doing the saving. And Eddie is already pulling back from Buck, to have this create a real gap between them is easy as hell. And since I'm a "the shooting was Eddie's oh! moment truther" and I'm a believer that Eddie is fully aware of his feelings and just thinks Buck will never feel the same, to throw that energy on Buck would interesting. Just have Buck dealing with having his oh! moment in a very inconvenient moment and with the fact that Eddie is pulling away from him while he spirals.

Do I actually believe any of this is gonna happen? No, no I don't. But I will share the thought on the off chance it does so can get the bragging rights lol.

I will tag @slowlyfoggydestiny because we were talking about this the other day and her inputs helped a lot while I was trying to work out how to make the drowning a trigger, and also because she's been here with me through the whole "let's drown Buck" conversation 🫶.

If you read this I love you 🫶🫶

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - YU-GI-OH!

PROPAGANDA

Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski

1.) Famously built up as part of a protagonist group during the first and second season, complete with her own tragic backstory and several duels she got to participate in (very important in yugioh), only for a change in the lead writer (who, in some of his other works, literally admitted "he's not good at writing women") to occur after the second season, turning her from almost a main character into a literal "benchwarmer" for her duelling team (one of the outtro sequences in the later seasons literally refers to her as that). Fun things included such as: Had special powers in the earlier seasons which she struggled with and learned to control only to lose them for no reason in season 4; went from duelling several times to duelling literally twice during the entire 3rd, 4th, and 5th season, one of which was a tournament duel she lost embarrassingly despite being set up as a very capable duellist before; painstakingly learned a special form of duelling (card games on motorcycles) only to lose the only duel she partook in in this format; was briefly put into a coma (and lost her powers directly after) shortly before two of the male protags GAINED power upgrades; went from an acceptable amount of screentime to a background prop; also, despite being canonically sixteen, standard overly sexy outfit design with lots of cleavage (big tits because of course), a very short dress, and stockings with garters.

2.) She develops psychic powers when she is 8, accidentally injures her father since she can't control them yet. He calls her a monster, abuses and neglects her, and eventually sends her to a dueling boarding school rather than actually care for her. Other fear her and her powers so she suppresses them and never really learns how to control them. Eventually a cult called the Arcadia Movement recruits her because they want to exploit her powers for their own gain. In the first season she is introduced as a strong duelist with psychic powers, a rival on par with the male protagonist. She also nearly beats the protagonist in duel when they go head to head. She only starts to lose because she starts to open up emotionally about her past and fear of hurting others with her powers.

After this she joins the protags and is a love interest for the main character. They NEVER bring up and develop her backstory and stuff after this EVEN THOUGH this is such a good and interesting backstory. Even though she is introduced as a competent duelist, they reduce her to a benchwarmer on the team. THEY LITERALLY SAY SHE IS A BENCHWARMER IN THE SHOW!! She doesn't get to contribute to the plot, partake in important duels, or develop her character arc after the first season despite the fact she had so much potential.

Her character could EASILY have been used to explore trauma and exploitation, major themes already present in the show. But sadly they chose to only explore how those things impacted the male characters instead

3.) My poor girl. Her story starts off great, good set up, good characterization. She has psychic powers and her parents did not know how to help her. She ran away from home and joined a cult of people with similar powers. All normal character beats. The main character shows her the power of friendship and shows she has a connection to 4 other 'signers' who are suppose to protect against the season antagonist. She starts leaving the cult, talking to her parents again etc because she now knows there are prople who care for her. But thats where her development kind of ends. She learns the leader of the cult was manipulating her but she never really gets to confront him.

By the end of the season, she and the other female signer get sidelined because they doesn't have the core mechanic of the series, how to play a card game on a motorcycle. Instead they are replaced by a character who was not originally a signer but by the end became one cause he helped.

Season 2 and beyond is shows not much more than that. Except for she has a whole episode dedicated to learning how to ride a motorcycle. The biggest thing about that is we never really see anyone else in the series learn or be uncomfortable riding and while it's realistic, it's only her. And in that episode there was like a couple of guys trying to make her fail like? I guess it's part of the episode of learning and overcoming challenges but why intentionally introduce the misogyny now? I think there was maybe 2 other woman who rode motorcycles in this show which is an overall series problem.

She went from a main character to background as the rest of the story focuses around the main character and his 2 childhood friends for the rest of the series.

Ultimately her story is wasted potential, she started out with interesting character and development but there was no strong follow up. We never see her work through how the cult used her or how it affects her after a first confrontation. She was just left hanging like every other woman in yu-gi-oh. And don't get me started on the manga. Iirc she gets introduced at the end for plot reasons and nothing else.

Aoi Zaizen/Skye Zaizen

1.) she's presented as a really strong dueller and is really famous for it - a duelling idol - and everything. she proceeds to have pretty much no substantial wins which wouldn't hurt as much if not for the fact that one loss in particular is just infamous for how dirty it does her. like alright. duels take place in the air in cyberspace, you with me? and when she lost this one infamous duel she fell off her board and faceplanted into the ground which would kind of be like fine whatever i guess but it's SUCH a visceral faceplant. like. if you haven't seen it you should go find the clip cause man. it was so unnecessary… besides that she also gets brainwashed (par for the ygo girls course) and falls into a coma (also par for the course). before i move on though the fact that she doesn't really win any important duels is made even more frustrating by the fact that she used one of the best archetypes at the time then changed for a worse archetype for basically no reason. her character has a lot of interesting set up from the start that's just never properly delivered upon but they trick you into thinking she's receiving good character development by changing the design of her duel idol persona and like sure the designs may slap but that doesn't excuse that she doesn't really get the cohesive character development they're meant to signify. not really

2.) Although she is supposed to be a strong and popular duelist in canon, she loses almost every single duel horribly. One loss is particularly brutal as she falls from a large height directly onto her head and goes into a coma (again. yes this was the second time). She has the least amount of duel wins out of all the other Yugioh female leads, save for one who never dueled one on one.

3.) In the show, she plays a trickstar deck. In real life, this deck became known as one of THE most overpowered decks you could use. Literally so strong they had to nerf it. You'd think this kind of overpoweredness would reflect in the show. No. Her biggest win comes from basically an AI child, a minor antagonist.

[cecekeating]

My 609 Jordayla thoughts and breakdown pt 1

So many things surprised me this 100th episode. Infact a lot of things did. However I am not going to go into that now. I am here to continue sharing my thoughts on Jordayla because despite how the 100th episode went, I thought it was the one piece of story that the writing got right. So let’s get into it.

In the beginning portion of the episode, Jordan comes to Layla’s room to check in on her. His initial reaction to the squeezed pieces of paper reminded me so much of episode 417 when he finds Layla trying to write her letter to Carrie. I thought that was a funny callback. Now before going further, we need to remember that Layla is still in recovery. For this recovery arc to make sense, we need to head back into season 2. 

In season 2, we saw Layla battle depression and eventually check into the rehab facility. By episode 209 she had checked out of the facility. The back half of season 2 actually focused on Layla and how she was doing in recovery. She could not get back together with Spencer because she needed to focus on herself. However, what she eventually did was to focus on work and making music. So throughout the back half of season 2, she was in work mode. This was when she was super keen on making music with Coop and all through that arc, that was her focus.  She never allowed herself to process the emotions that come with being in recovery. Remember this would have been around the time she started taking medications. Layla chose to throw herself into work and sort of suppress everything going on. She was also dealing with this recovery on her own and had no constant emotional support as she navigated this. So the writing has sort of established Layla’s tendency to distract herself instead of dealing with mental health issues headlong. Remember the aftermath of Carrie in season 4?

Flash forward to this episode and she is back in recovery after a major breakthrough. Now even though she has had a major breakthrough, she still needs to work through that breakthrough and get to a place where she is completely healed. Mental health recovery is a work in progress. So we see that her recovery in season 6 is very different from season 2 because this time around, she is going through it with a loving partner, Jordan. Now Jordan is also not passive in this journey. He is very active and he knows her so well. So when he asks about therapy and she begins to talk about party planning, he clocks that she likely deflecting, reverting back to her old patterns. This is similar to what happened in episode 607 and it was something Jordan saw first hand in season 4 with the aftermath of Carrie. In episode 607, instead of booking the appointment, she focused on work and trying to expand the lounge. And in season 4, she built her walls and threw herself back into work. Remember again that Jordan knows her very well. Props to the writers for honing in on the key part of the Jordayla dynamic : Jordan being able to read Layla accurately. 

Jordan lovingly reminds her that she needs to focus on therapy. In this moment, you can see Jordan trying to walk that fine line between letting her know the truth and also respecting her autonomy. Jordan is a brutally honest character. If he is not comfortable with a situation, he lets it be known and this makes him the perfect partner for Layla as she needs someone who can tell her the truth and point her to what is really important. Layla agrees but also misinterprets the scenario as him pulling back from her. 

Why would Layla misinterpret the situation? 

We need to head back to episode to 608. In this episode, Layla bares it all for Jordan even to the point of explaining what happened in her parents’ marriage. This level of vulnerability is a lot for a very guarded character like Layla. Aside from the therapist, Jordan is the only human alive that knows this aspect of Layla’s life. So for Layla, this level of vulnerability would be something that makes her very uneasy and cause her to jump into conclusions. Add the fact that she is coming off her medication and her emotions are all over the place. In her head, she is beginning to think maybe Jordan is pulling back because he knows it all. She also asked him for more time. Maybe her asking for more time is making him pull away from her. This is not fact though,  it is all in her head. We also see from the short note she tried writing that her biggest fear in marriage is ending up like her mother. 

I think the “fear of ending up like her mother” in this scenario is the fear that Jordan will lose his spark with her, become tired and leave her.  Episode 608 highlighted this fear and this episode is us seeing Layla work through that fear. 

So with all these in her head, we see her with Charissa. Charissa makes a comment about Jordan and her (Layla) being distant. Layla’s fear is sort of coming to pass (In her head). Now you may be wondering why Charissa was able to get into Layla’s head so easily. Well, there is all these thoughts about Jordan pulling away but there is also a fear of her and Jordan ending up like Charissa and Greg. Remember episode 606? In that episode, we saw Layla being worried that she and Jordan fighting might mean they are becoming like Greg and Charissa. Jordan did his best to assure her that they are fine but by the time they got back home, Greg and Charissa had broken up. At the time I watched the scene, I felt there was more to it especially as we didn’t see Jordayla discuss it again. That fear was sitting somewhere in Layla and this conversation, especially with Charissa mentioning Greg triggered the fear again.

So, Layla decides to get married to Jordan in a surprise wedding. That will save the situation. Olivia is not comfortable with this decision at all. However, we see a massive contrast in how she handles this situation as opposed to the Jimone surprise wedding in Vegas. She takes it easy and thinks things through - even calling her mother for some guidance. This is a massive character development for Olivia as she can sometimes barrel her way through boundaries to fight for what is right. Layla and Jordan are two key people in her life, and she approached this with a lot of care and thought- wanting the right thing to be done but also respecting the boundaries of Jordan, Layla and Jordayla as a whole. She lets Jordan know that he needs to speak to Layla before heading to the lounge. 

The next time we see Jordayla, it is at the Baker house in Layla's room. I talk about that in the second part.

[lolliputian]

Figuring out Dammon in the story.

Been mulling this over in my head since I started writing the recent chapter of Time and Again. It was out of sight, out of mind until the resurrection ritual for Reasons. But, now that I'm at the point where Heartforge is happening, I'm having second thoughts.

In the end I have my decision for how I'm handling it, but I need to word vomit some feelings about the whole thing. Spoiler warning for the fic and cw: Fr*zer.

We're a bit away from the blowup with Fr*zer. A lot of the fandom's heavy focus on Dammon has moved on, as it does, but the impact of what FB's said and done still lingers, as it also does.

I'll be upfront here: My enjoyment of Dammon as a character has always been that he was a vehicle for Karlach and HER story. And I was okay with that, because, damn, I LIKED that the female character was the important one and a male character was her prop. How often does that happen? And, although I loved Heartforge a lot, liking that ship was ALSO because of Karlach. In Dammon, we have a character whose function in the game is to further Karlach's story; without his involvement, he might as well be any of the other Tiefling refugees who fade into the background for the majority of players. (And, if Twitter is to believed, DID despite him being the reason Karlach's engine worked the way it did.)

I've said to people before that I didn't care much for Dammon until I started writing him, and then I liked the voice I came up with for him. I liked the angle of someone going through the stages of grief over the potential of a person. It led to some fun moments and more that were slotted into a "let's write this later as a companion piece to the main story." I like him developing a friendships with Rolan and Zevlor, and the mostly off screen friendship with Lyric. I really liked my voice for Dammon, and, frankly, getting to explore feelings I don't often get to in writing.

Now, to sidebar slightly: Fr*zer. If you've looked at his social media or Cameos at all, you'd know how heavily he pushed for Heartforge, and how much he DIDN'T want Dammon in other ships. Heartforge was very much the actor endorsed ship, which, at the time, didn't really bother me, since I liked it.

But then, of course, everything came out. And, although many people can still enjoy the character outside of Fr*zer's involvement, many others had trouble with Dammon despite that, and even more so in their ships. At the time, I was more focused on what was happening with the community rather than addressing him in my own writing, and so I put it out of my mind.

Then, of course, we reach the chapter with the resurrection ritual, which I had been building up to for months. And, as I was writing it, I realized a few things:

To me specifically, writing Heartforge felt like it was ultimately rewarding Fr*zer. And, while I have the capacity to write it in such a way that would make it work still, I don't like the ship enough to put effort into it. I'd rather spend that effort on the ships I love in the fic.

The way I had written Dammon's reaction to Karlach's death and his focus on her in his grief sets him up for having very high and potentially unrealistic expectations for her and the relationship. Same with her in response: They built up this idealized version of each other in their heads, and now they have to face who the other person is.

Fr*zer's weird obsession with Heartforge can be translated pretty easily to Dammon having a weird obsession with Karlach.

And, at the end of the day, I'm much more interested in writing things I feel that others aren't exploring. Writing an awkward breakup and figuring out how to navigate that sounds both fun as a writer and cathartic for me personally (to let me sort out my own feelings). It may not make me popular with Heartforge fans, but, let's be real: Fans of Time and Again aren't reading it for Heartforge. ;)

So, Dammon's strange feelings that something was off and the fact that Karlach thinking about returning and not immediately focusing on Dammon were purposeful decisions, and I'm excited to write where that leads.

[usergreenpixel]

MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 18: EL ENCARGO DEL MAESTRO GOYA (2021)

1. The Introduction

Hello, my dear Neighbors! I’m finally back with a freshly made review in tow!

So, this particular book (available on Amazon and ebook websites but only in Spanish) first came to my attention me due to my interest in Napoleonic era and, as of recently, Francisco Goya’s works. Naturally, this book caught my attention right off the bat because it’s a fucking jackpot!

Okay, Goya is actually a fairly minor character but he has an extremely important role in the story. More on that later!

(Also, tomorrow I will reblog this review to add my song because I’m having headaches today… Those bitches are bothering me again)

Anyway, I loved this book even more than I expected I would, so let’s analyze it to the best of my ability! This review is dedicated to @that-enragee . Enjoy!

2. The Summary

This novel tells a story of three siblings - Mercedes, Salvador and Marta. They are on the way to the city of Santander in order to receive their late aunt’s inheritance. However, another reason for the journey is a task given to Marta by her mentor, Goya. She must make a copy of a painting so that the French don’t loot the real thing.

3. The Story

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the romantic subplots! And that’s really rare for me. But here the subplots are written MASTERFULLY and progress naturally. Yes, there’s more than one romantic subplot. In fact, there’s two (both Mercedes and Marta find love).

I also appreciate the lack of a villain in the story. The take on events is very nuanced and awful people are shown to exist on all sides, so the take is more or less objective, not unlike Goya’s etchings with the theme of war. This nuance makes the story that much more enjoyable.

The pacing is also very good, but sometimes there are annoying flashbacks. Luckily, those are not extensive.

On a slightly darker note, props to the author for killing off some of the characters and making it stick. I know it’s a war story, but some writers don’t have the balls to include this degree of realism.

4. The Characters

Since the narrative takes place away from the frontlines, we don’t really have historical figures as major characters. Even Goya is a minor character in the book and he only appears properly in the end.

I actually liked his portrayal because he truly doesn’t want the French to loot precious artworks but also has an agenda. See, the painting Marta is to forge is a depiction of Santa Casilda by Zurbarán (a painting that actually WAS stolen during the war historically).

This is important because, according to rumors, praying to this particular depiction can cure ailments, including permanent deafness. Since Goya went deaf due to an illness at around 45 years of age, he believes that this painting is his last hope to get his hearing back.

Although I am aware of the ableist implications of the trope of a disabled person seeking a “cure”, it’s important to note that the world back then wasn’t accommodating to the disabled at all and views ranged from them being innocent at best to burdens at worst. Besides, Goya historically would always portray the disabled as helpless in his art, so it’s safe to assume that he internalized the views of the time period.

(Spoiler alert: No worries, dear disabled readers, the author doesn’t pull a magical cure out of her ass and disabled characters stay disabled.)

Goya is also supportive and proud of his pupil, Marta, which is the sweetest thing ever, so we get to see that he truly cares about her.

Speaking of disability, we also have another deaf character, Marta. As one of the main characters, she is naturally explored in more depth than Goya and we get to see her realistic struggle with her own deafness. Unlike Goya, she was born deaf and therefore doesn’t speak, instead communicating with some signs and writing.

She starts out seeking this alleged cure too, but mostly because she is done with being coddled and treated like a child by her siblings, especially Mercedes. She is naïve and somewhat innocent due to being very young (19ish), but she is also kind, brave, compassionate and a bit mischievous, using her painting skills to help pull a prank at one point.

She also embraces her deafness as the story progresses, finds a man who loves her the way she is and learns to respect her as her own person and not the innocent deaf girl she’s assumed to be. There’s a lot of depth and nuance to her character, and I truly appreciate it.

Mercedes, the other protagonist and the oldest sibling in her family is motherly and protective to the point of coddling Marta and being understandably angry that Goya got her involved in a dangerous mission for the sake of some fake “cure”. Mercedes is also a widow and and more cynical than her siblings, but mellows out over the course of her story.

As an older sister myself, I can definitely relate to her wanting to protect her siblings so I enjoyed her character too. I also think that making her a widow instead of an ingenue is a somewhat bold choice for a romantic subplot, but it definitely suits her and gives additional context to her character.

Claude Cornulier, a soldier sent to Santander to try and curb the atrocities, is sweet and a philosopher. He also understands that war is hell and expresses true empathy towards Spanish people. He also falls for Mercedes but never forces her into a relationship. Instead, he is a true gentleman and treats her with the utmost respect so their romance is healthy and entirely consensual.

Then there is Lieutenant Alfonso Bustamante, a fairly young but retired soldier from the Spanish Navy who feels insecure about having scars and only one eye. His health is in the shit as well, but we later learn that he helps local guerillas and has a ring of informants in the area, so he too fights for his country in whatever way he can.

Bustamante is also a gentleman and forms a friendship with Mercedes while also, eventually, falling for Marta. Although he does make the mistake of coddling her somewhat, he eventually realizes that it’s not the best approach and cuts it out, leading to a healthy relationship.

Salvador is a passionate young man who is also fiercely protective of his sisters, as the only living family member.

At one point the painter David is namedropped in the book and the French troops also joke about Soult looting too many paintings, but those two don’t appear in person.

5. The Setting

The descriptions are wonderful and not too long, thank goodness. I really liked them and they helped me become immersed into the story.

6. The Writing

Reading in Spanish was a challenge at times, but I like the style. It has a nice flow, doesn’t feel inappropriately modern and is fairly easy to read for those fluent in Spanish.

7. The Conclusion

Overall, an excellent book that really captured my imagination and attention! If you are fluent in Spanish, I can’t recommend it enough.

Either way, this concludes the 18th soirée at the Malmaison Media Salon.

Stay tuned for future reviews and tomorrow’s reblog with the song, everyone!

Love,

- Citizen Green Pixel

[kmze]

I think no other regular cast/character had as much of a heavy season as Caroline did(setting the protagonists aside of course) in s6.In fact s2 gave Caroline an independent narrative together with Katherine Pierce, the only two women to have it that season while Elena had the brothers on each arm. I also liked the fact that she got her little arc with her dad in s3(good riddance though. Bill Forbes, you were a waste of space).Julie was most definitely behind it but I do think the writers knew going forward Caroline will not be expendable as far as her character is concerned which is why they created Caroline-like blonde characters who were essentially props. She even got a huge storyline in the form of motherhood albeit the execution flopped but I do think it had the avenue to be more character focused and interesting in a more complex way. Your thoughts?

My second question is when do you think the writers decided that it was time to give more serious narrative focus on Caroline and Stefan's relationship? Because you know it's TVD. The writers could have pulled anything out of their asses and done a Ca***nzo or they could totally disregard the romantic foreshadowing in s4-s5 and said that was the fans imagining it. We never had any such writers' room conversation. Or worse it could have ended with a drunken hookup. When do you think they knew they were going to be it for each other and anything that happens in between would just be a phase that wouldn't last?

Okay so first question, I absolutely think Caroline's S6 story arc and emphasis was comparable to the main 3 in terms of how much a season revolved around one character. In fact it only really compares with her S6 is Stefan in S3 and Elena in S4 I don't even think Damon got a season like that where it was almost a full season character study. I think Julie's love of Caroline is the reason she became more and more important to the plot but I also think Candice deserves a ton of credit for making the character so enjoyable that the GA and writers wanted to see her more. I also think if Candice hadn't got pregnant before S7 Julie would have wanted her to do a full season and she would have been way more involved in that season's plot.

Okay so I have a theory this happened towards the end of S5 after they had teased Steroline moving into a romantic light. There's a deleted scene in 5x22 where Caroline told Elena she had feelings for Stefan (Elena asked after witnessing her killing Luke for Stefan I believe). But Julie said they decided to move it to the following season and to me that signified that she knew this was going to be a major relationship. She didn't want the confession to happen in the prior season's finale where it would be overshadowed she wanted all of S6 to be about Steroline and their journey coming together.

[annabethchase06]

(Spoilers ahead, so please don't read if you haven't watched the show yet and don't want spoilers! Also some spoilers from Books.)

So in the past few days I've seen people getting really annoyed by how the writers have changed Sally's character. I personally think that the changes they did are really for the best, and add more to the characters as a whole.

Coming on Sally, I really love how they have portrayed her in the show. One of the major things people dislike about Sally in the tv show was that she stood up to Gabe, which actually enhanced Percy's character indirectly.

We all know Percy is 'impertinent'. Even though he's ADHD, he's more vocal about the gods than most demigods, which has been attributed to the fact that he's Poseidon's son, and that the 'sea does not like to be restrained.' Well, here's the thing. Children are influenced by their parents. Guess which parent was around while Percy grew up? Sally Jackson.

There are two ways to be disobedient – one is being a downright delinquent, and the other is being disobedient by standing up for what's right. We all know Percy is the second one, and where did he learn it from? His mother.

Sally standing up to Gabe's rubbish and to abuse influences Percy and makes him more strong willed. He looks up to her, he learns from her and he implements those lessons in his own actions. Percy stands up against what's wrong because he has seen HIS MOTHER do the same. So I feel like Sally being more strong willed explains A LOT of Percy's character.

Next thing, I really love how we see her being involved in Percy's life. She is the one who tells him about demigods and camp. She is the one who's helping him breathe while swimming. She is the one who has taught him so much about Greek mythology, even going so far as to teach Percy Ancient Greek.

This right here is one of the most important points. I personally feel that this is exactly what Sally would have done. She knows she can't fight her son's battles – but she's helping him prepare to stand up on his own. She's teaching him Ancient Greek because she knows it is very important that he knows it. She tells him about myths, while also giving him important lessons.

Remember, she says, "Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster." Yes, the first part can be applied for Luke. But the second part can also be used for him. In the end, Percy trusts Luke enough to give him the dagger because maybe, at that moment, it's Sally's words that echo in his mind – not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.

Her lessons and involvement in Percy's life really shape it out. Also, her noting Percy's nightmares was something we never knew we needed, but we did. Overall, I just love Sally in the show.

Props to Virginia Kull for being such an amazing Sally Jackson and really breathing life into the character that everyone of us in the fandom loves, adores and worships. The show is amazing, so is Sally Jackson. She truly is THE GODLY PARENT, guys!

[butmakeitgayblog]

I am newish to the Clexa fandom (<3yrs) and am totally confused be the tags on these sapphic polls saying Lexa is brown face?? Like, she's an aussie with a tan. How is that brown face? Where did this start, and who is perpetuating it??

*confusion intensifies*

Ugh I cannot believe we're still dealing with this in the year of our hell 2023. I'm not upset with the question or you, I'm just so fucking tired of this being rehashed constantly because some people lack the ability to learn and thus create situations where these things keep having to be explained when they've already been thoroughly dissected and debunked.

Long story short, it was started because some people are chronically online and live their lives one buzzword at a time. I'm convinced these are the same people who can't use the word gaslighting correctly to save their life and talking is "trauma dumping" and everything they don't like is "toxic". Just people who love talking about things they only have a tenuous grasp of because they think it makes them sound intelligent or like they're really fighting the good fight. And what really really pisses me off about the whole brownface/bindi (it was a Helm of Awe, not a bindi) discourse is that it's such a nothing thing when faced with all the actual real, harmful racism and xenophobic tropes that were in the loo. Racism and xenophobia that Clexas have been calling out since day one (the same xenophobia in particular a lot of these same people conveniently ignore or excuse to prop up their fave sweaty boy character but that's another convo entirely). The loo was rife with it, but ffs Lexa wasn't one of them.

Fact is Lexa was white. She was always portrayed as a white woman with a tan BECAUSE SHE CAME FROM A CLAN THAT SPENT THE MAJORITY OF THEIR TIME OUTSIDE. She's been confirmed as nothing but white by the showrunner, the writers, and fellow POC cast members who where immensely confused af when these very tiring people tried pulling them into their shit talking campaign. Case in point because it's the most blatant, Adina Porter. OG tweet was deleted, but it was @ing her asking if Lexa was white or a WOC. To which she answered

And when someone asked why that was asked she answered

Because,,, it's pretty fucking obvious Lexa was white. At no point in her entire story arc was it ever represented or insinuated that Lexa was anything other than a white woman with a tan. She's Lexa kom TRIKRU. The clan of the trees. Meaning she's outside, training and working and traveling in the sun a fucking lot.

Like, I just wish people would be able to use their brains and discern this

from this

Because the differences are real and they're important. Brownface is a real, harmful problem in media and ffs even some actual people irl using it to gain appeal and popularity. It's something that should be called out and addressed at every turn. Which is why it's fucking harmful to just toss the word around for any white character who isn't visually eggshell pasty white and instead just fucking tan

[orbmanson7]

So I don't know why I'm thinking about CLBG at 4am but it resulted in thoughts on Roman angst and how they'll probably have to eventually resolve the absolute mess that's been made over the course of the series

The answers can be found in the episode CLBG.

In the episode, Thomas and Roman act out various scenes to help him lie but the part to focus on is the role assignment near the start of the scene.

Virgil and Logan are pushed to the back, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing because both of them (left brain bros) prefer to be out of the limelight anyway, merely providing assistance.

Then Roman says that he's "basically Orson Welles" to explain his roles are director, actor, and writer. He's then guilted into giving Patton the director role, and this is what is significant!

Because in this particular scenario? Patton doesn't know much of anything about lying, he doesn't care for lying on principle, so Roman taking the reins in this one would have made more sense, but Patton snatches that top role away, thanks to he (and Thomas) guilting Roman into handing it over. And then what does Patton do? Mostly sit in the audience and enjoy the show, occasionally calling out when Thomas does something wrong.

Now it's hard to fully analyze this analogy because we, the audience, know that Patton is actually Janus in disguise throughout most of the episode. But I think Janus playing into Patton's part of an overbearing morality was so well done that the others didn't notice until so much later on, which just goes to show how (mostly) accurately he was portrayed.

The reason this is Roman Angst™ is because Roman is taking on the spotlight with Thomas all on his own. Patton gets big credit as director, sure, but Patton isn't the one on stage. It's just Roman, creating and acting his heart out just for Thomas. He gives literally everything, his whole being, all to Thomas to be able to do this. And, from his perspective, he knows he can't actually do it alone, he needs Virgil handling the stressful stuff, battling away the stage fright and dealing with the inner machinations of handling lights, sound, props, standing on your mark, etc. These put Virgil in a more prominent position in order for Roman to be able to do his job(s) properly, which is concerning because that's a lot of work for Virgil to handle, too, especially as Literal Anxiety.

And then we have Logan, relegated to being stage manager/dramaturg. While this role suits him well, his job is quite literally to keep everyone on track and make sure they are following the script. If something goes wrong, it's meant to be his job to delegate another person to fix it quickly and efficiently. The only major problem shown in this scene, though, involves Virgil searching for a missing prop, which Roman was the one who demanded its necessity for the scene, not Logan (probably because it wasn't actually necessary). In essence, Logan doesn't really fulfill his stage manager duty during this scene, he almost entirely fills the role of a dramaturg. And while it's important and nice to have one, dramaturgs are often considered excessive in productions, only there to provide tidbits of information, should anyone choose to need it. Not a great sign for Logan's overall role in the series, that's all I'm saying.

Next, we're onto Patton as director. Like I mentioned before, he guilts Roman into giving him the role but then hardly used it to do much beyond criticizing Thomas, which is about 1:1 how it works for the rest of the series. Patton is very strict with Thomas but he also doesn't fully understand why, creating contradictions, even all the way back in CLBG, that are hard for Thomas to follow, leading to inevitable failure. And who takes on that failure? Mostly Thomas' ego - Roman.

Those failures are seen as fixable mistakes that Logan then attempts to remedy, by delegating or stepping in to assist, but because no one wants his help, he can only provide facts that the others rarely want to hear. This causes repeated failures because the problems aren't being resolved, which puts Virgil in a downward spiral, attempting to handle all the things going wrong, and feeling as though it's his own fault, when it's actually a culmination of factors that have led up to that point.

If Patton offered genuine direction (and maybe earned his role instead of demanding it) and explained what Roman and Thomas should try to do and not be so strict, constantly telling them what they do wrong instead of letting them feel out the space until they figure it out, then this would result in Roman's self-esteem improving phenomenally. He also should maybe relinquish a bit of that overwhelming control that he has, and allow not only Thomas but also the other sides to give their opinions more. Patton shouldn't be the only side with the final say, it should be more of a group effort, so he needs to learn to share and be more willing to listen to what others have to say.

Meanwhile, if Roman would allow others to have some input into his role of creating, acting, writing, etc. then he may feel less burdened and less helpless overall. He won't have to fully rely on everyone else (mainly Virgil) to help him complete his job, he could consult others and incorporate more ideas, flex his creativity without having to feel like it's an end-all be-all requirement. Additionally, this may improve his confidence, especially if he can earn praise from the others. He deserves appreciation for what he does for Thomas, and because of Thomas' choice in career, he is always going to have a very big part to play, but if he maybe shared that stage with a certain brother of his, he could better incorporate those new ideas and have a fellow creative to bounce his work off of, allowing him to meet new heights of creativity while also giving him a little less spotlight to stand under. He may not want that, since he enjoys his spotlight, but he genuinely needs at least a tiny bit less of that burden on himself. He needs to be able to take breaks, and if the others can play a more active role to better assist him, then he can finally do that.

Next, Logan needs more authority (and, really, more respect) than he currently has. His job is to keep them on schedule, but because of the chaos and unbalanced roles throughout, his job is nearly impossible to accomplish. He can tell them what to do, but he can't make them do it. If they listen to what he's saying and try to properly understand and incorporate what he's telling them, then things would absolutely run a lot smoother. Unfortunately, this would require Logan standing up for himself and maintaining a proper level of respect from Thomas and the other sides, which doesn't exist in the series at the moment.

But that's not the only problem. Logan is also not meant to have any spotlight, he's meant to delegate his tasks so that others can take up their roles when needed. Instead, because they are so busy, needed for other things, or just don't want to do it, Logan has been taking on these tasks himself instead of delegating, because it won't get done at all if he doesn't. So, he will need to stop micro-managing, giving up what little control he does have, but only if it is then properly replaced by the others listening when he speaks and taking on those tasks when assigned. If he gives up all control and the others don't take up the mantle to do their part of the job, the job will simply go unfinished and the chaos will become immensely worse. There's a lot of give and take needed for Logan's role to be successful, and right now, it will be a delicate operation to get it in working order.

And then there's Virgil, who is mostly left with all the operational tasks the right brain guys don't want to do, and since all the other parts of the production have already gone to hell, Virgil is in a constant state of stress, dealing with the aftermath. Virgil needs some order to be introduced, less chaos and mistakes, just so he can have a moment of reprieve to collect himself and then keep trekking on. He can fulfill this role, but it would probably be a lot easier if he wasn't required to do it alone. Having an extra hand or two to keep everything running smoothly would be benefit him greatly, and to not only keep an eye on how everything is running, recognizing if something has gone wrong (or how it might soon), but to help keep Thomas calm and less anxious - almost like someone who would put Thomas' priorities first, someone who cares about Thomas' self-preservation (and also maybe has extra arms), perhaps?

Additionally, Virgil needs to be willing to ask for help and be a little more forthcoming when he thinks something is wrong. He's gone into older habits more recently in the series, hiding away from Thomas instead of handling stressful situations, which is negatively impacting Thomas and the others in result. If the lighting guy were to make a mistake during a production and instead of fixing it and moving forward, he just disappeared where no one could find him, it wouldn't solve anything. The show would just be stuck until someone else tried to fix it or they found the lighting guy and tried to help him fix it, letting him know he can ask for help or rely on others to provide assistance when needed.

Virgil needs to be made aware that he has supports to lean on, but then he also needs to be willing to lean on them when the time comes.

This will help keep him (and Thomas) calmer and less stressed, while also feeling supported, and still fulfill the needed roles to keep things running smoothly.

Overall, the current production (aka Thomas' state of mind) is a torrent of chaos. If he's going to rely so much on his sides to help him out, he needs to properly listen to all of them, even the ones he would rather pretend didn't exist.

Tldr; in order for things to improve, Patton needs to be less strict, Roman needs to let others help him, Logan needs to be listened to, and Virgil needs to be made aware he is supported and then let others help him, too. Remus and Janus also need to be included in ways where they can help and not constantly be pushed away.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens, though.

[noretreatnancy]

I saw somebody give the cold cold take that Nancy is too much of a “femme fatale” stereotype because her “only traits” are that “everybody wants to date her” and she happens to be good with a gun. and like that’s such a shallow mean spirited read of her character imo. is it frustrating that her relationship status is used as a drama plot in every season? of course! but like she’s allowed to have teen relationship melodrama and still be a nuanced character…. El is! every season after season 1 involves the major subplot of Mike and El’s relationship drama, and there’s literally nothing wrong with that. it doesn’t reduce the importance of El as a character, or somehow nullify her development/character arcs/struggles/growth. Nancy is a main character and has been since season one. she has conflicts (internal and external) she makes mistakes, grows, and changes over the course of the story. She’s not a side character crammed in to look pretty, or a fan service character who serves no purpose in the greater plot (unlike some other character I could mention). just because you see her as an extension of Steve’s character (or Jonathan’s) doesn’t mean she is poorly written or that the writers are using her as a drama prop… it just means you’re not very good at interpreting media ://

[nances]

have you ever considered that maybe ur the problem…..like you wanna see two TEEN BOYS KISS on scren…you and all of you bylerinas need to seek professional medical help if you think that is okay.

At this point it’s not even about seeing two males kiss on screen, but narrative integrity and actual cohesive storytelling. introducing a certain storyline and not doing anything with it would be shit writing. chekhov’s gun is a common writing tactic - and in this case it’s the painting. it’s established that will lied to mike, and leaving that loose end untied would be really sloppy and unprofessional.

just like in breaking bad, at first you’re worried that the kid cycling is there just because. but later on he becomes an important plot point that actually furthers the main characters’ arcs and development or makes some sort of a point. like in the case of the other kid that was motorcycling in the desert.

will being the sad gay whose sole purpose is to suffer and serve as a prop for the het ship that’s being dragged on at this point and which majority of the cast and the GA hates would be lame and underwhelming. it’s not like we haven’t seen this shit before.

the duffers do a good job in portraying their fictional couples and writing relationships that feel genuine and real. lumax had one kiss 2 seasons ago, yet you’re able to relate to and empathize with them and see that this is both a strong bond and a romantic relationship.

however, with w/m possibly being confirmed, a kiss would be instrumental in removing any and all ambiguity that there could possibly be. far too often a show will portray an ambiguous, close male friendship and the romance aspect is confirmed at some podcast for brownie points (I Am Looking At You, Vincent)

the thing is, i like ambiguity, and i like the ‘show, don’t tell”-tactic both the duffers and gilligan have utilized in their respective shows thus far, and that being sad i can’t see the g word or anything that’s sort of ‘on the nose’ being dropped. however, in this climate and the history that predates it, when you’re writing a storyline about a gay character/relationship, and you’re a writer that likes subtlety, you still have to be clear about your intentions and eliminate the ambiguity in a way that feels right and natural.