#The second things that piss me off is MEN having problems with female characters...

[themushroomofdeath]

trafalgar law x original female character eliza x law, absolute filthy, possessive!law, kid being a dick (as usual) me walking in like an absolute gremlin carrying smut. yes yes come see, my fellow ellaw appreciators, i bring the gift of the nasty. @kikouku @sunfloworcs @eelnoise @shiningqueen @crimson-hybrid pss pss pss

MINORS, BE GONE. 🔫

He was furious, positively livid about this current situation. Law didn't often think of himself as a man to easily fall prey to pesky feelings such as jealousy, he trusted and had enough confidence in his partner to not be bothered by mindless emotions. But one summer day was enough to throw his mind into a loop.

As if this alliance wasn't bothersome enough, apparently Kid had somehow picked up on his relationship - perhaps noticing how he tended to follow her with his gaze whenever she was around such strange territory, like an instinct of protectiveness over a loved one. Most of the Straw Hats seemed to have picked up on it too, as their knowing smiles told him everything, but even then, it changed nothing on the behavior of the Kid Pirate’s Captain and the damn Cook - as Zoro-ya would say. If anything, it only made them more annoying (Eustass) and competitive (Blackleg) for her attention.

The last straw to this ongoing problem came in the form of a very warm day, the ocean breeze doing nothing to help the pirates from feeling the heat wave, forcing those who couldn’t as easily go for a swim to change into something more comfortable - and minimal.

Eliza wasn’t one for revealing attires, but the weather forced her in favoring a black tank top and shorts, a wet hand towel fixed in her shoulder to help cope with the temperature and clean the constant sweat rolling down her face. 

The last thing she wished was to leave the infirmary of the Polar Tang, probably the only place refrigerated in the whole submarine - as many medicaments stored should’ve been kept in regulated temperature, to not be altered in any way. A fact that she and Bepo used to their advantage, spending most the day cooped inside that room, always suffering by the time they had to leave for their respective rooms or to go on an errand for their captain.

And it was one of those insufferable moments that had her leaving the ship in search of her partner and crew’s leader. She needed his approval for a new research, and he just had to be outside in a meeting with his new ‘friends’, forcing her to walk through scalding sun to reach the Thousands Sunny (what a fitting name too). 

By the time she reached him, she was a deep shade of red, sweating from every pore and positively livid. She didn’t even bother to greet anyone in her path, just moving towards her captain's side and poking him with the clipboard to catch his attention.

But what truly had caught the attention of not only him, but most men sitting around, was how pretty she looked with her chest heaving, face and neck flushed, sweat dripping through her protuberant cleavage in that (now wet) tank top, and oh, how that shorts hugged her thighs and ‘assets’. He could feel himself growing hot under the collar, immediately sensing how many pairs of gazes were doing the exact same, pissing him off to no end. “What?” Law glared at his second doctor on board (and lover), not only bothered by the interruption, but by the situation at hand. 

Not surprised with how she didn’t mind the bite on his speech, already used to his temperament as she was. She just rolled her eyes in disapproval, not really in the mood to deal with whatever was going through his mind at the moment; he just needed to sign the damn paper and she’d be gone, won’t be a bother anymore. “Just take a look and sign it if it’s to your agreement, captain.” She could hear the snickers from the other pirates, but chose to ignore, just as much used to the typical childish behavior of the group.

In truth, the doctor hadn’t paid attention about the tension going on around the meeting, imagining it was already at hand when she walked in, but she did noticed, at the moment she was going to hand the pen and clipping board to her captain and boyfriend, how the pen was magnetically pulled away from her hand, causing a frustrated groan to escape her lips. Both Heart Pirates glared at Kid, already knowing it was his doing - as he didn’t even bother to hide it, fingers still in the air and shit-eat grin consuming his semblance from his little prank. 

Any other time, she’d have given him a piece of her mind - perhaps even called him a manchild clown, as she usually liked to refer to him. But with the sun burning her skin and no patience to stay even another second with those rowdy creatures, she chose instead to click her tongue at his childish antics and move to grab the pen from the floor. And that was exactly what the ginger man expected of her.

From somewhere near the kitchen, a loud moan like whimper erupted from the Straw Hat’s chef form, nose bleeding in a fountain of crimson red fluid. Eustass Kid with all the audacity contained in one chaotic man, had pulled his chair enough to thoroughly run his gaze at the heart pirate girl’s chubby thighs and cheeks peeking through her shorts, a knowing smirk directed at her lover (like a menace that he was). “Well, ain’t that a nice view.” Even Killer was heard clearing his throat from behind his mask, not able to hide how his neck flushed in different shades of red. From the people attending the meeting, only Zoro and Luffy seemed displeased and confused (respectively) about what was happening.

And if Law was clearly infuriated before, there was no doubt about it now. Eliza didn’t really had the time to chastise the other captain for the nonsense, before her partner was up from his chair, pushing it back with such force that everyone around the area of the reunion had stopped to stare at the situation in a diversity of expressions - confused, amused, surprised. 

But there was no time to question his actions, before she was dragged away from the Straw Hat’s ship, absolutely bewildered by his actions. Even from afar, they could still hear how Kid hollered in laughter, absolutely victorious in being a little shit

Papers and meeting forgotten, he pulled her back to their own ship, barely contained rage clear in the set of his shoulders, in the tension around his clenched jaw and how firm he held her wrist. How he wished in that moment that he wasn’t in an alliance with those men, how good would it feel to take their eyes out of their sockets and pop it out in the sea, never again would they bother to desire something that wasn’t theirs. 

He ignored the confused glances from their crewmates, not stopping his furious pace till they reached his office, letting go of her then to close the door behind. Both of his hands coming up to bang against it in a release of pent up anger energy, slow inhale and exhale leaving his body as he still had his back turned to his partner, frustration clear in his posture.

And she could only stare, utterly stupefied. She couldn’t remember a situation where he acted so impulsively before, couldn’t understand how a simple prank from Eustass could’ve infuriated her partner so much, as she had no idea of the ginger man’s true intention in using her shapely forms to pick a fight with her boyfriend for the sake of it. And how close he was to actually give in to the temptation of mayhem Eustass Kid and fuck up his entire plans with their alliance in a moment of fury and possessiveness.

Before she could even ask why he acted in such a way, he was moving again. Both hands grabbing her face, intense look on his semblance, forcing her to look back at his blazing amber iris. “Do you not understand how fucking provoking you are right now?” To her confused look, he continued. “Those fu-” A furious exhale. “They were all fucking you with their eyes!”

She waited for him to finish exploding before rolling her eyes affectionately. For such a smart man, he was so very easy to aggravate  “They are bloody morons, Law. They are toying with you, don’t let them.” Hands coming up to grab at his slender ones, she took her time kissing each of his palms, caressing his knuckles between her fingers in a soothing manner, before speaking again. “And you know you are the only one that can have me, anyway. I’m Yours.”

Clicking his tongue in false mockery, he allowed her to soothe him. Entire body relaxing under her ministrations, gaze softening at her mellow eyes. He knew she was right, but it didn’t help the sense of indignation to consume his brain - it had only calmed his heart enough to push those thoughts bothering him to the back of his mind, and focus on what was important; remind himself that yes, she was only his. 

They could only wish to graze their lips along her jaw and neck like he currently was, leaving goosebumps in its wake. They could only imagine how it would be to taste the saltiness of her skin, to nip and suck at it, marking the column of her neck, eliciting such a delectable gasp from her mouth. How good it felt to run his tongue along her pulse, feel her heart beating so fast and rhythmically under it, having her so obedient and docile, whimpering quietly in pleasure as she allowed his possessive acts to continue. Mine. All mine.

He took his time in marking her, kissing his way back to her face only when he was satisfied with his work. A soft whisper of his name was her answer, as he thumbed her lower lip and deciding it should be mark it as his just the same, nipping and tonguing it, before giving in to the feeling of molding their lips together, sparks of pleasure running through their body from the simple act. Addicted to her taste.

She melted in his arms as he explored her beyond the barriers of her clothing, tattooed hands grabbing at her soft hips and sides, reaching up her spine till he could feel the hooks from her bra, expert fingers unhooking it to free her heavy breasts of their confines, making the shy woman pull back and look at him in a inquisitive manner. “La- Ah, Law. It’s too early, people will hear us.” 

He only smirked down at her, reaching for his own shirt and pulling it over his head in a little show of sexy appeal - flushing her skin further, before giving her an answer. “Don’t worry, they won’t hear us. The office is sound proof, why do you think I brought you here?” ‘Oh’ is all she could answer, before he stalked after her with a predatory glimmer in his golden eyes. He had already planned his actions from the moment he got up from his chair in fury, and he would see his plans executed by possessing and marking her - making sure no one forgets who she belonged to. 

And she didn’t seem to mind, licking her lips in nervousness but anticipation. No matter how many years they spent together, she never got used to how handsome her boyfriend was, all lean and ripped muscles, tattoos and tanned skin shining with sweat, enough to make one want to lick it clean for him. She could already feel heat pooling between her legs, mind fogging with need - and he had barely touched her beyond blemishing her neck and shoulders, just now reaching to finish taking her upper garments from her body, observing all skin being slowly bared to him like a starved man uncovering his favorite meal, grinning wildly at her shy reactions.

In her daze, she didn't realize they were moving, till the moment her legs hit the back of his office desk. Neither she had the time to react to it, as the moment her shirt came off, he had both his hands squeezing her voluptuous chest together, thumbs rolling her sensitive nipples, sending bolts of pleasure through her body direct into her core, making the woman clutch into the desk for support, eyes closing to focus on the sensation. 

A shocked cry as she felt the wet muscle of his tongue circling one nipple, followed by the suction of his lips around it, humming around it before he gave the same treatment to the other, nipping the nub and biting the meat of her breast, just enough to have her jump in surprise and bring her attention back to him, eyes half lidded and pupil blown wide. 

God, she was gorgeous, he mused. It was no surprise that others would pay attention to her curves, but never would any of them have the view of her all flushed and excited like this.

Taking the last offending piece of clothing from her body, he appreciated how damp she felt as he fingered over her undergarments. “So fucking wet… All for me, hm?”  Her whimpers didn’t stop his teasing, only grazing his fingers over the thin material of her panties, making her bite back a moan and close her eyes in bashfulness, all contradictory to her actions of thrusting towards his fingers for a real friction. “Tsk. If you want it, you have to ask, ‘Liz.” Holding her ample hip with his free hand, he stopped her movements. It seemed he had decided to be a bastard about this, and she could feel the smirk on his lips as he came closer to speak by her ear. “Be a good girl and say it.”

She could only bite her lips in answer, face flushed from lust and embarrassment. And she knew he was absolutely getting off on it, eyes taking in from the way her legs closed together in sudden modesty to her bright eyes glistened with absolute need, fighting a battle against her own shy nature. But it was the way his index and middle finger slipped inside her panties and teased her inner lips that had her moaning an answer. “Mhm. I- Please. Please, Law.”

“Please what?” What an infuriating man! 

“Please. Please, touch m- Ah!” He didn’t waited for her to finish before easily sliding his fingers inside her folds, taking advantage of how wet she was and chuckling at her surprised gasp. He could tease all he wanted, but he was just as much aroused by her actions. Intensely staring at the way her body curved to accommodate more of the length of his tattooed fingers, by the way her full breast bounced as her hips rolled against his large hand, dripping all over it. How pretty she was, letting go of her reservations to moan so unabashedly as his thumb joined the friction, rubbing expertly against her clit as his finger curled and thrusted inside. It was truly a spectacle for his eyes only.

Joining the stimuli, his free hand grazed her perky nipples once again, pinching and pulling. He could feel how close she was to climax - velvety walls spasming and contracting around his curled fingers, mouth hanging open with pleasure. And to push her further into sweet release, another finger joined - E, A and T pushing deep inside her core, ripping a half scream half moan from his lover as she rode his palm. It didn’t last much longer after that, rapid movements and diversity of stimulation leading the woman to a powerful orgasm, holding tight at the desk behind her for support as her toes curled under her, legs shaking as she screamed his name over and over again..

He let her breathe for a moment after that, stepping back to appreciate the wreckage he caused. Absolutely proud of how she looked, a deep flush from her cheeks down to her heaving chest, sweat and arousement dripping down her body - pooling down her legs. Her semblance of thorough contentment as she stared back. Gorgeous. Divine. All his.

A moment was all he allowed her, before stalking back towards his ‘prey’. He wasn’t nearly done with her, consumed by lust and sheer possessiveness, he needed to leave this office without a doubt of who she belonged to, mind filled with nothing but him and the pleasure he provided. “Look at the mess you made…” Smug grin filled the pirate’s semblance as he approached her lips with his juice’s coated hand; a display of erotic glistening tattoos. “Why don’t you lick it clean, hm?”

Already too far into it to feel timid, and perhaps a tad defiant of his domineering act, she gazed back into his amber eyes before grabbing his wrist with assertiveness. “Fine.” And he had only a second to inquisitively arch one eyebrow, before she did just as the tattoo on his fingers were telling her: e-a-t. 

Looking right back at him, as she licked her way from the soft pad of his palm to his middle finger, humming as he pushed all three slender fingers inside her mouth, licking each individually as it was the most delicious meal, mix of her own juices and drool running down her lips and sliding down her plump chest.

“Fuck.” If he was turned on before, now he could swear to be losing his damn mind. Not bothering to completely take his bottom garment completely out if body, just using a free hand to unzip and pop his jeans open, shoving it down enough to reveal his lengthy cock, up for attention and already glistening with so much pre-cum. Neither had him the mind to worry about protection, as he knew today would be a day to fill his girl to the brim, primal need to mark her insides as much as he did with her body.

Anticipating his line of action, she could already feel herself opening her legs to accommodate his figure, biting her lips and whining shamefully as he took his fingers from her mouth to clean the desk behind her. He would be busy cleaning later, but he had half the mind to care as he shoved away everything he had around his desk, making room to lay her body for him, grabbing her hips and maneuvering her into pressing her chest against the wood surface, tantalizing ass up in the air for him. 

He had no mercy for its paleness, as his hand firmly spanked each of her cheeks till it became feverish red, soothing it with both hands, running his length against its folds and watching with satisfaction as his lover moaned and whimpered for him. “Shhh… Need to mark it well, ‘Liz. So no shithead can think they can have it.” 

Making sure to take a firm hold of both chubby cheeks - enough to leave a handprint, he easily slipped his shaft inside her soaked cunt, smirking at the satisfied moan leaving his girl’s mouth as he filled her. “Yeah…? Wanted this cock that bad? It’s yours, baby. Take it.”

From being close or from feeling aggressively excited, Law didn’t bother easing his way into intercourse, immediately setting a brutal pace that filled the room with the sounds of skin meeting skin, the gushing wetness of his length bullying it’s way inside her dripping pussy and the heavy office table scratching against the floor with his vicious thrusts. Her moans and pleas surfaced around it, mind fogged with so much lust as he continually plunged his long shaft against her sweet spot. 

Harsh rhythm of his hips and her screams taking over, till he could feel the hot need for release on his lower stomach. He stopped then, earning a frustrated and questioning glare from his partner. But it didn’t last long, as she felt herself being manhandled into turning around to face him - marveling with how gorgeous he looked, sweat dripping along defined muscles, an intense expression with blown wide pupils. He looked as much wrecked as she felt. He pushed her back towards the table, grabbing both her legs against his chest, ankles locked around his shoulder as he slipped himself back inside her lower lips. 

It was so much better this way, all his length now pushed inside, balls deep inside her pussy, and knowing she could watch who fucked her into oblivion. He resumed his hammering pace, grinning watching as she rolled her eyes back into her head, mind completely gone into pleasure and overstimulation. Knowing he was the one to do this, the only one. She could already feel herself closer to orgasm yet again, his name falling from her lips between incoherent pleas and moans. “Law, LaaAA- F-Fuck. Ple- Law, please please please-.” 

“That’s fucking right. Say my name, baby. My girl, my pussy, fucking mine.” He growled as he didn’t stop his fast pace even after her orgasm crashed into her, a loud moan of his name and walls clenching around his cock, entire body shaking and grabbing for any part of him she could find. If only, his hands held more firmly against her thighs to keep her in place before he could feel himself reaching his own climax - incoherent string of ‘take it’ with one final and long thrust inside her folds before he made sure to fill it to the brim with his cum, fucking it back inside a few times to make sure not a single drop escaped. 

Eliza was sure to be seeing stars, as he finally released her legs - crashing limp against the desk. Breathe coming in long drawls, as she tried to come back from such a high. Who could have thought that Kid’s stupid prank would cause such a strong chain of reactions? Not that she was complaining, arms already open as she realized her boyfriend was reaching to hug her body against his. She nuzzled his sideburns as he kissed her shoulders, quiet affection after such a rough session of love making.

Both breathed together for a moment, relaxing into each other's embrace, before she felt herself being carried into his arms for a few feet so they could both crash and cuddle in his soft office’s sofa, a common spot for moments like this. It was quiet for a moment, only heartbeats and breathing sounds between soft caresses and lazy kisses. Law was the first one to break silence, after a while. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“No, don’t worry,” Kissing his scruffy chin in reassurance, she continued with a smirk, “My bum might be burning a bit, but it was very worth it.”

Snorting a laugh, he reached both hands to caress her ample backside, in a false soothing move - as he immediately squeezed both cheeks in his hands. “It’s your fault for being so appetizing.” He smirked back, playfully biting onto her neck, earning a squeal from his lover and smack on his arm.

It was clear that there’s one thing no one but him could ever have, besides her body; the absolute love and adoration shared between them. Life partners bundled together without knowing where one starts and the other finishes, playfully bantering and kissing till fatigue was able to take over their minds, to a land of dreams where they would be meeting once again.

[mishkakagehishka]

Honestly the joke with the new Barbie movie is the fact that its core message is just such a lukewarm take. It could be boiled down to "Women sometimes face hardships because they are women and men hold power over them. Sad emoji." and yet this was enough to majorly piss people (men) off. Which would be absolutely hilarious if it weren't just so sad.

Like, we have two problems here. One is that man = default. Men are so used to everything catering to them, that they honestly saw a movie titled BARBIE directed by a woman, starring a woman as the titular character, a movie adaptation based around dolls famous for marketing to women, a doll line whose pathetic male-bodied doll was always treated as an accessory sold separately to the female-bodied Barbies, who was always "the boyfriend of Barbie". But because it's a movie, movies are expected to cater to men, right? Because it's cinematography, because it's for adult, mature, refined (male) audiences, it should cater to them, right? And all the pink and all the "he's just Ken" and all the most girliest marketing this movie sent out did not manage to make them think "Hey, I think this movie is for women". No, instead, they said, "Why didn't this movie about a doll line for girls cater to me, an adult man, enough?" You saw it with movies like Star Wars (the one that introduced Rey idk i don't follow sw) and Captain Marvel, but I could even excuse it there. Because it's cool space samurais and it's comic book superheroes - media traditionally marketed to men. Sure, I could see them getting all hormonal and hysterical about a girl?!?!?!?!?@?@?!??@ in THEIR manly men doing manly men things movie?!?!?!?!?!?! and she's NOT just a love interest or damsel in distress or someone's tragic backstory?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!? whadda hell. But Barbie... Barbie? Are girls not even allowed Barbie anymore? What I'm saying is, the first problem is that men are so used to being catered to, that a movie that doesn't even act like it's catering to them got them so upset, because how dare everything not keep them in mind? Right.

As I very cleverly inserted the topic above, female characters in cinema are so often shown as one of three things: a love interest, a damsel in distress, someone's tragic backstory. That's all you got. Oftentimes, movies will critically miss female characters At All (lord of the rings lol), and this is something normal and realistic. In Barbie, first thing you notice is that every major character is a woman. Barbie, Sasha, Sasha's mom (forgot her name, but she IS named, this is important), the many other Barbies who carry the plot in the climax, and so on. Background characters in Barbie Land (why didn't they name is Barbie World...)? Also women. There is a lack of men in this movie, and it hurts their egos soooo bad it's honestly beyond pathetic. Who are your male characters? A handful of Kens. The main Ken is the only one who has some sort of impact on the plot. Allen is comedic relief. The Mattel board guys are comedic relief. Sasha's dad (who i'm pretty sure is unnamed) shows up for two scenes. As comedic relief. They're all irrelevant save for beach Ken.

The second problem is just how absolutely lukewarm the feminism in the Barbie movie is, and despite that, men are treating it like it said women should start castrating men for looking at them wrong. I've seen posts on here talk about it - Barbie also says "the patriarchy hurts men, too" unironically. Could you hold men's hands any more? (In this way, even Barbie is a movie that actually did cater to men. That actually did try to speak to them, too. Because Ken's growth is almost given a bigger spotlight than Barbie's, but whatevs). Barbie's take was that men still oppress women, but just hide it better. That's it. That's enough to anger men worldwide, apparently.

It was just so simple and so stupid in its simplicity. Barbie World is ruled by the Barbies (women). Every night is girls' night. Ken's feelings are hurt because the girl he likes doesn't like him back (a male character whose entire character revolves around the female character he likes - how bout that!). Barbie gets all fucky-wucky and has to go to the real world. She feels objectified and unsafe because men keep leering at her (omg guys did you know... women........ get harassed sometimes😱). Ken feels respected for the first time in his life. Shenanigans happen, Ken goes back, Barbie stays and then goes back. Ken invented the patriarchy in Barbie World. Everything sucks !!! The Barbies take advantage of the fact that men get jealous and possessive over women to distract them so they can reinstate the matriarchy. Barbie goes "um but wait, we were mean... let's be equal :)" etc etc. Tongue in cheek "Kens will have as much power as women in the real world do :)" line. The end.

Sasha? Let's talk about Sasha. Sasha is the Gen Z. You know this because she uses buzzwords. She is, like, the opposite end of the feminism. Or something, she's a bit more radical. She hates Barbie bc of the body image problems, she calls her a fascist and a bimbo, she tells her dad he's doing cultural appropriation by learning Spanish, and she's also shown as a hypocrite because she calls Barbie a nutjob before very quickly correcting herself to say something that sounds more, quotation marks, politically correct. (I think it was "reality-challenged", i wanna emphasise that this really is buzzwords). What I'm saying is, a character that has more radical views than "we should all just get along" is shown as bad for having such views. Its core message is not just lukewarm, it is actively saying, "Don't be radical like lil ol' Sasha, bc that's her character flaw! Let's all get along!".

And this, one movie that flipped the script on them while still keeping up a semblance of catering to men and going "oh, but we're not like those fun-hating women who actually want to be free from the patriarchy, we just want equality", hurt them bad enough that they're writing think pieces about how Barbie is killing traditional values and making women stray. You show men the most castrated and marketable form of quasi-feminism, and they still fight it kicking and screaming.

I don't know where I was going with this. I have no conclusion. Barbie made me laugh a lot, I enjoyed it. The feminism message was somehow both hamfisted and very much limited to "let's acknowledge the daily lives of women". Ken had an entire growth arc about learning to be his own person instead of only Barbie's pursedog (when do you see a female character get that growth...). And it still made men angry. There have been breakups over this movie. You know what I mean? It's all just so meaningless to try and get them to understand.

[alistairssock]

Every day I grow increasingly disappointed and mad that the body options in BG3 are so limited when it comes to their bodies

I complain a lot about all the male companions having rippling abs (first off: why??? second off: the hell¿¿¿). While most the female companions have hourglass shaped bodies with uber perky tits facing the sky. Except Lae'zel and Karlach. Lae'zel being weird and lanky yet strong, gitting her being githyanki and a warrior. Check. It's good, I really like that about her, it makes her interesting and unique. Her tits are even slightly diffrent than the others. Karlach? I could never slander Karlach. She's perfect. Hope she can continue to piss off whiny gamer boys who are afraid of muscular women taller than them. Or awaken something in them. Either option is fine.

But the main thing that bothers me is that we're living up to this insane beauty standard that is so implimented into our society that it's so to speak impossible to un-stick from video games. It's a sick and twisted cishet gamerbro fantasy, rubbed into our faces. It's lazy and boring, and lacking of flavor and I'm so so tired of it. And don't get me started how unrealistic most their bodies are compared to what they do and how they've lived and who they are. That could easily be a whole other wall of a text post.

Thing is, I wouldn't mind this as much if the 'standard' bodies were just one of many options. If these body types were just one of many and not the default on every single character model. There could be a custom option/sliders to adjust the character's bodies to your own vision and preference. Though, I do wish it would come with a lot more diverse bodies to begin with (baseline for npcs, and that isn't much to ask for, they clearly have the power, but are not willing to wield it). Hell, even a height slider would be good. Not all player/non-playable characters abide to the standard set body options; that is simply ridiculous when you think about it.

It does however bother me extra much because it's such a cowardly trap both Dragon Age - and probably also other fantasy games (and let's be real, most video games in general) - and now Baldur's Gate fall into. Men are square and burly, and women are hourglass shaped and dainty in comparison, no matter the race option (cough, cough I'm looking at the dwarves mainly). Dare i say The Ideal Male Body and Sexulised Version Of What Most Women Look Like. The only two genders. They do have given us muscled options, for which I'm grateful. But they are mostly just "would you like to be bigger and taller?", and that's it. Essentially same body, just streched out and slap some muscle in it, no problem. But seeing as it's in a fantasy world very much like our world (as in...people are people, living their people person lives), there should be a lot more bodily diversity. Fat people should exist, and they shouldn't be limited to antagonistic characters. We all see why that is wrong and fucked up, right?

It is progressive in it's ways, of course. The fact you can mix and match genitalia to body is a huge plus in my book. Pronouns are also super epic. Not much to complain about on that front, not many gives us these options. It's a small step for gaming, a huge step for humanity, or whatever.

It might be a lot to ask for to have options that include and embrace every aspect of the human experience. I do want more disabled characters in all shades and colours, I do want more fat characters in all shapes and sizes, I do want better and more hair for poc characters. The list goes on forever. So while I'm grateful for what we have and know and acknowledge and mourn it's not a perfect game by far (by wishes and just as a fact), I do appreciate what has been offered us so far. I just need to get this all off my chest, air out some thoughts

[discluded]

Hi, what is your pov on some of these comments about mileapo fans being “delulu” and naive bc it’s “just fake bl fanservice”?

Because idk if I’m going crazy but like as a gay person this shit seems borderline homophobic? On the one hand I kinda get where they’re coming from with like the concert “plot” (idk what else to call it 😭), but otherwise seeing how they interact with each other in off-screen/stage moments and their chemistry and the huge ass difference with the entire cast, how they interact with each other vs others, the side couples energy with each other, it’s not that big of a leap… and to imply that it’s dumb or naive for ppl (lots of them queer themselves) to perceive that smells like homophobia to me… idk

I’m not even trying to be mad abt the mileapo thing bc frankly i don’t give a shit what people do or don’t believe about two actors but it’s the dismissive tone of such comments that pisses me off, and I was wondering if maybe you or any of your followers have some thoughts about this too.

Hello friend.

Thank you for trusting me with this delicate ask. Hopefully I can do a good job with it.

I'm hearing a couple of things in your question, part of which I'm guessing is just being able vent (glad to provide the space!) but the crux of which is commenting on the irony of homophobia in Kinnporshe / BL fandom. And yeah. You're not imagining it.

CW: Homophobia. I'm serious, this is your only warning. Some of this really upset me today and I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing.

I saw this after I got your ask and already spent some time thinking about how to respond, but these comments were in response to Tong coming out at KPWT Manila on Tiktok. I hate looking at them, but I'll embed them in case the tweet ever gets deleted as a reminder that EQUALITY IS NOT REAL IN THIS WORLD.

I won't lie, this hurt my feelings a lot and it's not even about me. I spent half a second being mad before just being sad about this for hours.

I've been into BL for so long, I am tired of this round-about argument we keep having over women, many of whom are queer or questioning, enjoying queer stories where the characters are male. There are culturally-adept literary and queer studies scholars who do research on this.

That being said, a not-small proportion of the fan base is made people who are genuinely homophobic and use BL as their fantasy. Just like watching lesbian porn doesn't make straight men allies, neither does watching BL make straight women allies. I am too exhausted to explain why they do but it's basically a mix of misogyny in not wanting to see other female actors opposite an actor you like but also using queer men as placeholders for your fantasy. Sometimes in fiction, but other times in reality.

I'm with @mirrorofprinces, we need to attack more homophobes for this. 😒😒😒 no more fighting over gay rights, time for KPTS-inspired gay wrongs and gay violence on the gaygenda.

The "delulu" and "it's just fanservice" comments are...indeed kind of homophobic. I respect people who don't want to comment on or interpret their relationship, like you said, or interpret it differently. And it kind of sucks to be like "well some people will be homophobic and you have to share a space with them" in fandom about a queer story, but how do you confront people, some of whom are happy to be openly homophobic, about homophobia that is more nuanced?

But I think one thing that undermines MileApo's authenticity is that BibleBuild do so much fan service despite also claiming not to. Fan service is a Thai BL industry standard with other actor pairs. And as a reality check to myself, I have looked at some of those pairs interacting and yeah. Definitely brotherly or fan service there.

The other part of the problem is young people, especially after the pandemic, genuinely do not seem to know what normal human interaction looks like, including the difference between what's fake and what's real AND what's platonic vs. what's flirty or romantic affection.

As for what my friends/moots think, here's @mellowroxy and @cookiedoughfiesta's thoughts from August about Mile saying he was in love with Apo about the "delulu" comments. (Though let's be real... sometimes the fandom is also... a bit much 🤣🤣🤣)

When I talked to Yams (@mellowroxy) about this earlier, here's what she had to add on to the point:

Me: fans were freaking out when Tom called Zendaya 'my MJ' on his birthday wish to her, and that's way more subtle than what Mile and Apo are doing

Yams: There wouldn’t be this much push back if it was a guy and girl. Most people would be like “oh another on set romance” and call it a day. On the Zendaya and Tom topic, if this was decades back when interracial couples were taboo as fuck then they wouldn’t come out as well.

A conscious reminder equality has always been hard-fought for.

But trust me, this paradox of people who watch BL who are homophobic have not escaped Mile and Apo's notice either.

"Equality isn't real in this world."

Apo's comment at KPWT Bangkok day 2, which many people have noted was likely about complaints over them reenacting Kinn and Porsche's first kiss live. I'm not going to look for it but @soft-husbands mentioned she saw a fancam that blurred the kiss out on Youtube 😑 (Why did you watch KPTS in the first place then.)

"People say that they are open minded, But they are actually not."

And isn't that the crux of it.

As I always say, you haven't have an opinion on the truth. So in the end, no one's opinions on the situation matters except for Mile's and Apo's. But it does suck to bear the brunt of people's negativity doesn't it.

Hopefully this didn't make you feel more sad... but you're not alone in noticing it at least.

[mademoiselle-cookie]

I read volume 6 of Moriarty the Patriot.

The rest of that. I'll start with the simplest.

The French Revolution

I am French. I'm not going to talk about it.

This is going to piss me off.

(Here to understand)

The legend of the Lord of Crime

Is the Lord of Crime already known? Oh? Since when ? How ?

This is what I wanted to see when reading this manga. To know all the facets, strategies and consequences of Moriarty's plan. There is no slow evolution of the public becoming aware of its existence, it just appears all of a sudden.

How was this legend “born”? Has anyone noticed that awful nobles often get attacked? Are people just getting excited over what could be simple coincidences? Was it Moriarty and co. who propagated this idea in the press?

There are already bets on who will win between Sherlock (a person who exists and who has novels about him) and the "Lord of Crime" (a mere rumor). It's one thing to ask the question as a joke, it's another to gamble with money.

This is the point that makes me say Sherlock is here too soon. The time given to him should have been given to the creation of the 'Lord of Crime'.

Especially since the author does nothing except humiliate him to highlight Moriarty. This character is better than that.

Moriarty's death

The bad guy loses. In almost every story, this is how it works.

This is why it is very difficult to call them Mary-Sue even though they are very powerful and competent. First, because the threat must be credible, and second, because they are destined to fall from their pedestal. Mary-Sues don't fall.

Am I dreaming or the author made Moriarty's death a victory on his part?

Moriarty loses to Sherlock. In his arrogance, he does not suspect for a second that Sherlock could do something he had not planned, which is to say kill himself.

And Sherlock survives! Not Moriarty.

Except that here, it will no longer be a defeat. It will be a choice, a victory and a sacrifice (generally, when Mary-Sues die early, it is through sacrifice, very rarely anything else).

The manga basically buried any chance of Sherlock beating Moriarty. All he can get are meager victories.

(It's technically possible to add stakes by turning the tables, but the author has shown that he's not ready to tarnish Moriarty, especially for Sherlock.)

It's stupid that the manga sells us a duel while already revealing the winner.

Irene

So Irene Adler was just all full of bluster...

Ok. Great for our major female character I guess.

She ultimately got beaten by Sherlock Holmes - as I predicted (and as in the majority of adaptations where she appears) - BUT only after it was revealed that she was an amateur. Not even by William, but his brother.

The worst of the three options I proposed rolled into one. The only ones who emerge with their image intact are Moriarty and his gang. Again.

And really, for her to then be manipulated by Sherlock, who has been far from brilliant up to this point, just after being completely led around by the nose by Albert Moriarty and letting herself be completely dominated by him, makes her look like a huge idiot.

From the beginning, Irene had no idea what she was doing and accidentally screwed up all by herself, and the resolution is given to men who don't have a paternalistic attitude towards her at all. Very similar to the original story where 1) Irene does not create the problem 2) solves the problem on her own.

And then finally, she puts herself at the service of Moriarty. Second cliché associated with Irene which makes no sense. The only one she escapes is the romance with Sherlock, but I see that more as the author didn't want Sherlock's attention to shift away from Moriarty and the Lord of Crime.

This Irene really is not “The Woman.”

"The Woman"

Let's talk about it. This Irene does not deserve this title. It almost seems like a mockery, but given the rest of the author's work, he probably has no idea what he's talking about.

The original Irene obtains it by beating Sherlock intellectually and morally, masterfully without him realizing it.

Here, Sherlock understood that she was trying to manipulate him - he just wasn't competent/clever enough not to get trapped (even though his brother had warned him. How can such a genius not make the connection between his brother's strange warning and his next investigation? He doesn't know how to add 2+2?). He’s even the one who “saves” her*.

In the original, Irene doesn't need Sherlock to be there to make sure she's okay. She manages on her own. She creates her happy ending all by herself. Yes, she has her husband. But she doesn't need him, she loves him. If he wasn't there, she wouldn't die.

Whereas here, Irene needs Moriarty and Sherlock.

Speaking of which, from where does William Moriarty talk about “The Woman”? What does he know about them? He's a seer? He's stalking Sherlock? It's just ridiculous that he knows the impact Irene has on Sherlock. Especially since it's not deserved since she's only an amateur and not the exceptional genius like in the original.

*Sherlock is technically useless, we know that the Moriartys are nice and that Irene is safe. And seeing as Moriarty and co. knows everything Sherlock is going to do (even the fake cops) and it's not even a revelation (it's said before that they expect it), Sherlock looks stupid. Especially since he himself admits that Moriarty is stronger.

Alternately

What if Irene Adler was a neutral party after beating Sherlock AND Moriarty at their game? Both would underestimate her because she is a seemingly naive and frivolous woman. Whether they wanted to use her or get something from her, she was actually the one who used and manipulated them, and they don't find out until it's too late.

Even better if both used her to compete with each other. And in the end, both lose. It would also have had the advantage of reminding them that they are not unbeatable (ESPECIALLY Moriarty).

We could have taken the opportunity to address the problem of the place of women in the society of that time (and perhaps a little aside on theater actors because that wasn't crazy either).

We could have addressed the image of women, violence against women, sexual violence against women (the only mention in the manga is to show that the nobleman responsible for this is horrible, but it says nothing about women or the crime itself). It may be horrible, but it's a manga where a child goes out his eye with a spoon and then gets decapitated with his little sister.

We could have talked about the feminist movements that the government sought to fight and destroy.

We could have had Sherlock and Moriarty, although defenders of equality, underestimate Irene BECAUSE she is a woman, and learn the lesson at a high price.

We could have had Irene be the most intelligent character in the series, even if in the background because it's none of her business. (In Miyazaki's Sherlock, he himself says that Mrs. Hudson is the most intelligent character in the series. So it would not be a first for a side AND female character to be more intelligent than the main characters.)

Irene could be a tasty in-between Moriarty and Sherlock. She doesn't kill but has no problem being extremely manipulative and can enter into very dark areas of society. Publicly, she could give her money to artists and causes she wants to support, and in the shadows extract and exploit the powerful for her goals of equality.

Narratively, she could appear to help or give clues to the heroes without involving herself.

We could even use it for the Lord of Crime mystery:

Irene doesn't know who he is, because Moriarty uses the fact that he failed with her to hide his identity. So his embarrassing defeat isn't entirely an embarrassing defeat and there is potentially a second person who can discover his secret without him choosing to reveal it.

She knows (even if it is never explicit) because Moriarty was stupid enough to underestimate her and even if she is not interested in revealing the truth, she is a potential danger and cannot be manipulated/used like Sherlock, so Moriarty hesitates to kill an innocent woman. It would make a good moral dilemma.

It's really frustrating to see the potential of this manga being squandered at every turn because the author hasn't thought beyond “my favorite characters must be cool”. Even if it means butchering other characters

[thecatsaesthetics]

someone said this about Rhysand "like being an abusive bastard who hides medical information, bullies a depressive man and doesn’t do anything for 2/3 of the women in his Court" and honestly I was so tired to answer them about the pregnancy plot because we've been through this conversation and this is just ignorant behavior and hating for the sake of hating.

But the second part is where it made me stop. "don't do anything for 2/3 of the woman in his court"... listen I read these book morethan a year ago so I must be wrong. Wasn't he the one who removed so many of Illyrian tradition and made them illegal?

The pregnancy storyline is so fucking awful, I cannot blame the in universe characters. This is an authorial issue, bc she did not write the storyline with the intention of making us thinking anyone was wrong to do this. I’m not sure how nobody at Bloomsbury told SJM “heyyyy I don’t think this will go over well with your female centric audience”. I mean the editors were brave enough to tell her doing a threesome with Az Cassian and Nesta was a dumb idea (especially if Elriel is happening) but not this.

Also this “Rhys has done nothing” isn’t true within the canon. He changed the inheritance laws and he has banned wing clipping. We do know that Cassian would have brought Emerie’s father to justice but he was dead. It seems like a lot of the NC did what they wanted UTM and that had to do with the IC being forced to stay in Velaris.

We simply do not know a lot of what Rhys or Feyre is doing in ACOSF but from ACOFAS we know that they are actively trying to improve the court. But they are not suppose to be seen as doing nothing for their court.

Also on wing clipping because this is a subject that pisses me off, again this is an authorial issue. SJM clearly meant for it to be similar to both FGM and Foot binding, the problem is she has men play huge roles in enforcing wing clipping she historically practices like this are done and enforced women, by mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins etc. I wrote a whole paper on foot binding in college and it’s shocking to learn how active of a mothers played in foot binding. Men hardly had any role in it women would bind and break the girls feet and from what I’ve read about FGM it is similar. Men are not going and holding the girl down, it’s the mother and other female relatives.

It’s hard to grasp but it isn’t done out of wanting to punish your daughter it’s done out of love. Which is fucked up and really tragic that women believe they need to do this things to get a good marriage or have a good life. To explore a topic like this you would need to include this subject and SJM would rather just blame the men.

That’s her whole problem, it’s like how she wrote about a concentrate camp in CC2 but we never saw that again or what happened to those prisoners.

SJM needs to focus on what she’s good at, romance and characters. The more she tries to expand her stories the worse they become.

[lordeasriel]

What don’t you like about the tv show version of Marisa

Well, it's not Marisa, for one thing. It's a very crude and poor attempt at bringing her on-screen. Talking about what I dislike about her means this gets intrinsic with the show's greatest flaws, because they are a big part of what is wrong with her portrayal.

First issue I have is that she is a very washed down version of what Marisa is. She's soft, purposeless other than "Lyra is my daughter" and overall she is a dull character. Had Book! Lyra ever met her, she would have found Show!Marisa boring.

Marisa's lack of purpose is deeply tied with many narrative problems, such as shallow worldbuilding (the non-women scholar bullshit from season 2, for one, and the lack of daemons) and even with Boreal, they played it very safe and boring. When Marisa deals with him in the books, she is power-playing and very strongly too; he isn't a nobody. In the show is very meh, Boreal is almost on even grounds with her, which makes her scheming silly and uninterested. Worse than that, she whines and cries so much in front of him (in episode 5, season 2 specifically, and this is where I left the show and I do not intend to come back lol) that it makes no sense. Marisa's vulnerability is only seen in specific moments of the book — with Asriel at the bridge, then later at the abyss, once with Lyra in the caves. There is a reason why she is vulnerable in those instances, and only then. Making her open herself to Boreal is utter garbage, plain and simple.

Second issue I have is how they set the tone for her to be a scorned mother. The show plays, again and again, the "I've always wanted you Lyra but--" card. They make it seem like Asriel stole Lyra from Marisa's throbbing chest and disappeared into the night, and oh! how desperately she has looked for her beloved child. Honestly! All the fucking books, even TBOD, show how she didn't want Lyra then and when she finally did, it was out of self interest and vanity. Only later, in TAS, is when she finally warms up to Lyra. They erased her character development for the sake of some motherly tears and I loathe it.

This pair's with Sami's latest post which just proves what I've been saying since season one: they took a great, leading character female character and they made it all about motherhood. It's insulting. Marisa is so much more than a mother. She never wanted to be a mother.

Third issue is the "She is bad because of how oppressed she has been" issue. Northern Lights, chapter four - Lyra dines with the women and the master and you have a whole discussion on female scholars and how Lyra felt pity for them and so on and how Mrs. Coulter was very different. Like, anyone who had actually bothered reading the novels could tell you that Lyra's world is a patriarchal world, but the women still find their way around, as they have since forever in our world.

Now for the show, this pisses me off on many levels, but my main issue is with how they try, so hard, to have Marisa say - and this is important, it's never shown, it's only ever said by her - how men get the better end of the deal, how she had to work so hard to get where she was and blah blah blah. Honestly, this is very true for the show; they bothered very little to write meaningful women into it, the one change I would have appreciated very much, but as in regards to the truth of the character, it's just nonsense. This whole shenanigan could have been fixed with Hannah Relf's presence, because she alone would prove that Marisa's cruelty and malice are innate traits, not a byproduct of her world being sexist. It makes no sense.

If you're looking for more insight into that, I recommend Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss which is an analysis of episode 5, season 2 and this patriarchy business on the show. It's very good and insightful and more reasonable than I will ever be discussing the show lol

There's no excuse for Marisa's poorly written character. It's a waste of Ruth Wilson's acting and a damn shame for a studio that so often claimed to have learned from the movie's mistakes (which they, very very obviously did not as Marisa from the show and the movie are very, very similar). That's why I've only stuck with books since season 2, because while Philman sometimes does stuff I don't entirely agree with, he has a great grasp on the woman he wrote, which is why I leave you with Madame Delamare's own words about Marisa, something the show writers failed utterly to understand and therefore could never truly bring her to screen:

"Delicately and subtly," she mocked "Marisa would know how to show some force. Some character. She was all the man you'll never be."

[princessazalea17]

I read Shatter Me. Here are my thoughts.

I’m back after a long hiatus. This was book of the month for my dying book club on Fable with 19 members who probably aren’t even active on the app. Nonetheless, social media made me read it. This book is both widely criticized and praised on social media, and I can see both sides. Let’s get more into the details.

One thing we notice is that Mafi really likes to utilize strikethroughs— I can assume these are used to represent the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Juliette. In fact, this book uses a lot of purple prose, with an overall dark, gloomy tone. Juliette is seen to some as annoying, whiny and depressing (but I have heard similar complaints about a lot of protagonists in YA books, mainly those who seem to suffer from depression or mental health problems). I personally did not care for the purple prose, as I am someone who reads for the plot and for the adventures and experiences the book will take me on— this is why I gravitate toward action, adventure, dystopian, and fantasy books (although we need more diverse books, I am tired of reading about Caucasian protagonists with their POC sidekicks/love interests).

Where the book pisses me off is with the plot. There are “spicy” scenes in this book that some may view as borderline or flat-out sexual assault, mainly with Juliette and Warner. The love triangle resembles the one I have seen in Shadow and Bone. If it weren’t such a huge aspect of the plot, I would be chill with it, but the fact that it made up a large chunk of the plot made me lose interest in the book. In fact, some have described this book as a romantic dystopian advertised as a dystopian. I would enjoy this book way more if it were written similarly to Cinder— I have high praises for that book (we rarely get to read about female POC cyberpunk protagonists, since the genre mainly caters to Caucasian men and occasionally women). I do not mind a good love triangle or romance subplot in a book, it all boils down to how you write it. If your romance subplot is written like the Wattpad novels I read back in 2016, most likely, I’m not going to enjoy it (I’m going to save this for another post).

People are saying that it gets better in the second book, so I will consider giving this series a chance. However, with books like these, I have to learn to stop depending on social media for recommendations, because many of the books that are recommended on booktok and bookstagram I end up disliking.

[hislittleraincloud]

...

...

...

...Yes, I realize I'm late to ranting about this (I've been BUSY),

but fucking no.

Kinda funny that the crit for this is a lot similar to that of MG..."it could have been, but..."

They better not be touching my Misery, even if it's a "loose remake". The Weeknd already ruined his acting cred with the cringe-inducing The Idol. His ego is so...huge yet there's nothing but hot air there, and those stroking it (Trey Edward Shults) needs to take a second look at that crap show with his bad acting.

Misery's another pop culture thing that I've been devoted to for over 30 years. I have the book in several iterations (French 🇫🇷🥖🫠 is my favorite) and I keep finding Misery VHS tapes around the area where I live (it's just yet another weird phenomenon that I can't explain). I have three, floating somewhere around this garbage dump of an apartment, even though I don't even have a VCR.

My baby dog is named after a character in the newish, successful prequel to Misery, the second season of Castle Rock. The backstory on Annie was phenomenal, and Lizzy Caplan was robbed of all the awards for her portrayal of Annie. Fucking ROBBED.

(Also, whoever made this decision here was a fucking genius...bringing to mind the final shot of the original Psycho movie was brilllllllliant.)

So Misery has a very close place in my heart (not to fucking mention that it came out around the time I had my own goddamn stalker...that is part of the attempted murder thing I've yet to post). It was the last movie my father took me too, as well (he's still alive...but like Cairo, I have very selfish parents).

Do I have faith that our girl Ortega can do it? Of fucking course I do. She plays Crazy pretty well. But it would be trusting the material to a child (ha ha) who, from the looks of past cringey work, is just driving another (mid) vehicle for Ortega to get hurt in the crash. Too many people LOVE Misery, and Annie Wilkes is beloved. She's a most iconic villainess, and just about anyone who plays her gets accolades (Laurie Metcalf in particular was fkn great in the stage play). I don't see Ortega dropping the ball on any iteration of Annie Wilkes, but I see people looking at the Weeknd after The Idol and laughing (as well they should).

Plus, there's this factor:

Who is Ortega's agent? Isn't she getting fucking sick of re-doing everything from 30+ years ago? What's fucking next, a remake of Gremlins with her as Gizmo?

...

...Actually, I'd pay to see that. I WOULD PAY.

But seriously, she wanted to become a scream queen of sorts and now she's fucking stuck doing the same shit other people did before her, and within the memories of people who were alive when the originals came out. Maybe if 50 years had passed between everything, sure. Maybe she should try remaking more stuff from the 60s and 70s. But then again, this is happening with Burton (and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, which I still kinda feel is perfect for the barely 5' foot tall Ortega 🤣) and I still feel it's just doing the same thing over and over and over again when there are literally thousands of original scripts out there that aren't getting a second look. There's also thousands upon thousands of books that haven't been adapted.

Or, if she really wants to remake something so badly, something that would be completely controversial: Anne Desclos's The Story of O. A new take on it, one that will confuse the Purity Culturalists just as it pissed off feminists in the 1970s before Desclos, a woman, was revealed to have written it in the 90s. Much like it is today, people get pissed off when female characters are written by women as anything less than 'more' (perception-wise, ofc) than the men around them/young women can never be written as willingly submissive or horribly deranged. Can't write Cairo to be the crazy stalker Adrian Forrester was. Can't write anything where a woman willingly throws herself at/or is submissive to a man (because that never happens IRL, right 💀).

The problem is, people love Crazy/unhinged. We fucking love. It. WHEN IT IS DONE WELL. We need substance behind it, especially if it's a new take on a beloved, completely and utterly unhinged character like Annie Wilkes.

Jesus Christ, can't I just sleep for the next 20 years and skip all of this crap?

[givemeasword-callmequeen]

My dad: is a new hulk movie coming out? I saw a trailer with hulk & a... female hulk

Me: it's a Disney+ show

Dad: ah okay... But now they're overdoing it, aren't they?

Me: overdoing what?🤨 (knowing exactly what he means & that his answer will piss me off

Dad: that they (marvel) making hulk also a woman. It does not even make sense.

Me: *pissed of. Even when I saw this coming*

Me: she also exist in the comics & her name is Jen & she is Bruce cousin

Dad: & how did she got these powers?

Me: she needed a blood transfusion & Bruce gave her blood...you can put the puzzle together

Dad: ah okay.

[perlukafarinn]

finally watched avengers: endgame and i have thoughts. nothing i’m about to say is new but i just need to get this out so i can stop thinking about this movie

this movie is so ugly to look at. so much of it looks like a video game cutscene; you can feel the weightlessness of the cgi and it makes you feel less invested in the action. 

the action is also poorly staged. i’m no expert by any means but a lot of it was confusing and difficult to watch, not helped by the screen being so damn dark. the lotr trilogy pulled these epic battles off much better 20 years ago, there’s no excuse.

the characters are massacred all around. since the characters are the only thing that ever drew me to the mcu to start with, this is a problem.

even tony, who is treated with a lot of (imo) unearned reverence, still gets screwed by poor character continuity. he’s had to learn the same lesson about how being a hero requires selflessness/sacrifice in like three separate movies now. it doesn’t help that this is rdj’s worst performance in any of these films so far, you can really tell he’s looking towards the exit

i can’t think about steve’s ending without getting pissed off. i think this might be the worst way they could have possibly ended his story? and they sloppily try to justify it by completely rewriting his character trajectory in this movie. just bad decisions all around

nat’s death was stupid and they should feel bad. clint was so very much the obvious choice to sacrifice himself for the soul stone, if we even had to have that stupid plot point. even if they wanted to do the bait and switch ‘oh you think one of them’s gonna die but it’s actually the other one’, you could have had nat arguing more passionately that she’s doing this so clint can reunite with his family and then have clint beat her to the jump with a whole ‘redemption through sacrifice’ moment (because he needed to be redeemed after the first half of that movie and he isn’t really).

the stupidity of nat’s death is even more obvious when you show the characters talking about her after and it’s just a room full of men. really drives home why she was considered the most expendable avenger

thor’s story i feel like could have worked if it didn’t rely so much on fat jokes. but i still think the trajectory they took in infinity war, effectively erasing all the good work ragnarok did, was stupid in the first place. 

the time travel plot felt like an excuse for cheap sentimentality and fan service. when they had like three characters meet dead loved ones in quick succession i wanted to laugh. and they literally just reshow some well known shots from older movies, no new footage needed.

all of the mcu women gathering on the battlefield felt like a cheap ploy for some unearned praise. you know, since they’re so progressive for including so many badass female characters in their movies when most of them haven’t been developed beyond being side characters in men’s stories.

the way ‘five years later’ faded in one word at a time pissed me off so much i groaned out loud. you could feel the decision making process behind it, the gasps they were hoping to elicit from the audience. you know when scorcese said these movies aren’t cinema, they’re theme park attractions? he might have been talking about this exact moment (i don’t agree with that take but endgame was doing its best to convince me otherwise)

you know, the reason it took me three years to watch this movie is that i was so burnt out on the mcu after infinity war that i didn’t feel like watching another marvel movie. so i didn’t, until now. and i probably never would have gotten around to endgame if not for my mission to watch every movie from ‘1001 movies you must see before you die’. now that i have watched it? possibly the second worst time i’ve had watching a movie from that list (nothing is topping saló). 

[bakugohoex]

Are you going to make part 3 of jeans this isn’t a date?

part three: “this isn’t a date jean, we’re undercover”

pairing: jean kirschtein x female reader

cw: fluff, angst, season 4 spoliers, major character death, kissing and comfort

word count: 2700+

a/n: the poll went for fluff ending but i still added some angst, originally i was going to kill you off so yeah this is what you guy’s are getting, a moderate sad ending with jean’s comfort

summary: in which the time for fighting has begun and with the success of eren and the capture of zeke, the long journey ahead back to paradis seems to be your only concern, until the arrival of an unexpected warrior creates turbulence with jean realising his only goal now is to protect you

part one | part two

↞ back to attack on titan masterlist

The shock and horror stayed on the Marleyans faces, the sound of Eren chewing Lord Tybur up as if he meant nothing and then there were you two. Jean gave a nod as you both parted, his hand being the last thing you felt on your own, a sign of the love you both held for one another. The way they all ran away in fear as Eren marched towards the Marleyan soldiers, he had murdered so many people in an instant. But you knew worst of all you were about to do the same thing to them all. 

It all became a flash of thought, the way the war hammer titan’s bright yellow light rose up from the sky, you had begun flying closer to where the real action was. Leading a squad to easily infiltrate and kill the Marleyans, but even with these people by your side a sense of duty settled within you. 

Soaring through the air past the buildings and rubble until you finally saw the scene first hand, the white war hammer already hurting Eren and the signs of canons hitting him. You knew what was to come just as the War Hammer titan began thinking she had won, the one indestructible force arrived. Mikasa swung with ease as you watched in the air, shooting and using the thunder spears, you shot up from the air with your own squad. The way you all at ease began using the spears to kill the soldiers with such ease. 

“Good work guys.” You muttered slowly through the flames, moving closer onto where the canons were. You notice Jean a small smirk seeing you finally fighting after these past couple of months. He shot at the men who hadn’t been harmed, watching as you did the same. It began easier to swing with actual buildings and rubble, shooting at those who were fighting back, the fires and explosions that occurred bringing a sense of relief that you weren't the ones being murdered. 

You and Jean swung through the air, seeing as he grabbed a man to get up to the roof. “Grab my hand.” He whispers as you easily get swung over onto the roof. Both you and Jean leave heavy breathes at all the blood on your hands. “Those morons.”

You both had seen the flash of another explosion, Jean more pissed off that normal, “Jean.” It was only a mere whisper, but he was pissed at Floch’s shooting. 

“Hey! You gonna burn the whole zone down?!” What part of keeping civilian casualties to a minimum don’t you get, Floch?” You easily chased after the brunette, who began shouting at Floch as usual. 

Floch turned to meet you both, staring at the scene in front of you of fires and explosions. You didn’t care for his words, but you saw as he began shaking his hands violently. You moved away from the two of them wanting to see the action and if any Marleyan soldiers were near to kill. Floch continued rambling onto Jean as you the cold hard truth had been brought to light. This was a battle to kill, the only ones you needed being Eren and his brother, revenge was the main cause of this all. Your people’s revenge. 

“Y/n.” Jean softly whispers as you watch the fire, the men around you dead as you both begin waiting for the rest of the squads to meet here. You could already see the beacons of lights appear throughout the city, knowing the plan seemed to be working. 

You turn to face Jean, even with blood across your fingers and clothes, he still looked at you as if you were the prettiest woman he had ever met. “I did promise a date if we got out of this right?” He touches your cheek softly, fire blazing across the ruined zone. 

“You did but remember what I’ve said many times.” You paused as you urged him to think. 

“This isn’t a date Jean, we’re undercover.” He mocked giving a sign as you playfully pushed his arm. 

You see a Marleyan soldier in the distance, gun up ready to shoot you down. “Yeah, I do say that a lot, but move.” You shouted the last part, Jean in an instant moved to the other side finally seeing what you saw as you quickly shot the man down with the gun that had been at your side. 

“Look at you saving me.” He mutters softly, if you haven't seen the man, they’d have gotten shot, he knew he’d have to keep protecting you but even then, he knew you could handle those idiot Marleyans yourself. 

You both saw Connie and Sasha in an instant, Connie the first to say, “Jean, Y/n, we stalled the reinforcements.” 

Jean went to the ground checking on the thunder spears as he turned to face them both, “and the lights?” You questioned. 

“They’re all-in place.” Sasha spoke.

“Are things going well?” Connie questioned as both you and Jean looked at each other hesitantly. 

“For the time being.” Jean almost whispers out as you turn to face the two of them properly. You all see Mikasa sore through the air as Jean continued, “as long as we take that thing out in time. But who knows? Anything can happen at this point. What’s to come when this battle is over? For us to know, we have to survive.”

The feeling that the last part had been directed at you felt unsettling, you would survive. You had to survive and be with Jean if that was the last thing you ever did. Mikasa shot the War Hammer Titan in the eye as you went to grab some thunder spears yourself, it felt like everything had easily worked in your favour with minimum casualties. Another flash of yellow leading to Eren’s Attack titan being seen with the hard form of one of the Tybur’s ready to be eaten. 

“Come on Eren.” You softly whispered looking at the scene at hand, the way Eren was just about to eat it when the Jaw titan came out of nowhere. It seemed like you had spoken to soon, the four of you in shock as the Jaw titan bit into Eren’s neck until the blades hitting the enemy titan was heard from humanities greatest solider with murder on his mind. 

The sound of guns shooting through the air made you startle until both you and Jean swung through the air. Ready to shoot at the Cart titan, Jean moved through the air, but it seemed the guns had become too much as both of you landed in a building. “Y/n.” Jean shouted bringing you behind a table as you heard the gunshots occur, he held his body around you as you cowered into him before it stopped. “I’ve got you.”

Instead the whole building rumbling at the sight of another titan coming, both you and Jean looked out through the broken window seeing it, “the Beast Titan.” Both you and Jean flew out from the building seeing the two other men follow in suit, before those around you got killed as well. “Jean, we have to stop them both.”

“I know.” He mutters before flying into a building with you beside him, the sounds of rubble falling from the broken-down rocks that the Beast Titan had thrown at you all. “Y/n, you okay?”

“I’m fine.” You mutter from the ground, the sign of a much brighter light occurred, and you knew exactly who it was, Armin had transformed destroying the ships. Swinging through the air as Levi quickly dropped the Beast Titan in a matter of seconds. Distracting the Cart’s titans weapons seemed easy enough but with the mass amounts of weapons you couldn’t tell and that’s what allowed Sasha to easily shoot one of the men down. The Cart titan began moving towards Sasha, Jean in an instant appearing putting a spear right in the eye as you and the men watched before the command was heard. 

“Now! Fire!” It was all you all needed to shoot down the Cart titan in a matter of seconds, fire blazing as you had won against the titan. Flying away from the scene with ease with the other members of the Survey Corps, you stood on the roof watching the men shoot upwards towards you Jean and the rest of the group. The sight of the airship surrounding the air brought a relief to you, you could finally go home, leave Marley with a victory. 

“It's here.” Connie spoke just as you flew onto the roof where the rest of the guys were. 

“Yeah. Right on time.” You bent down to meet Jean, a hand on his shoulder as he gave a soft sign knowing that you were safe. 

A victory had been won, the gain of the War Hammer titan and Eren’s defeat of Reiner’s titan seemed to come with no cost to your friends. “I’ve run out of gas.” You whisper to Jean. 

“Grab onto me.” He holds your waist as you put your arm around his neck, both ready to finally go home. He grabs onto the ship, your body still on his own as he shouts, “protect the airship from the enemy below.”

You couldn’t do a lot in this state, but victory had occurred, and you could finally go home. Being helped up by Connie and Sasha you could finally feel safe, before helping Jean up himself. Both lying beside each other with a heavy breath, Jean finally spoke, “who’s here?”

“We’re still waiting for Squad Lima in the front.” Connie speaks watching how Jean's hand had moved to your own as the two came closer to you both. 

Sasha spoke of the death toll, before the excitement of Floch and the rest of the corps occurred over a successful victory. Jean whispered some words that were barely audible and that’s when he felt it, your arms wrapped around him, he kissed the side of your head allowing his arms to wrap around you as well. Connie brought Sasha along with him to elope himself onto the two of you, it felt just as it had in your first years as a Cadet. One happy family was brought together again. 

It brought a smile to your face, but with Jean there always seemed to be a problem, “that hurts, idiot. Don’t hug people with that lump of iron on.” He watched you all leave his side, but his arms almost missed your touch. 

“Jean don’t be mean.” You chuckle as Connie begins mocking Jean’s unsuccessful beard. Sasha began questioning about food as you began remembering the days when the three of you would have to hear Sasha go on about the next meal occurring. 

“We’re finally going home.” Jean mutters looking at you as he stands up to meet your gaze fully. He grabs your waist with an ease before giving you a soft kiss on your lips, he stopped caring about those around you both. Watching as melted right into his touch. “I love you.” He whispers through it all. 

You grab his hair to bring him down, his tongue flicking inside your own as it entangled with your own. Before finally taking a breath of your own away from him, Connie and Sasha’ eyes go wide. “I love you too.” Jean held your hand softly before you both turned to your two friends. 

“I fucking told you, didn’t I, you owe me meat when we get back.” Sasha happily spoke to Connie, as you both went beside them listening to the hurray’s of victory. 

Sasha had whispered something to Jean making the boy let go of your hand to shut the people up, “Hey, quiet down!” You moved to the side to let him past, feeling his hand on your back to make them all be quieter. 

You continued hearing the celebrations, Connie asking about Lobov as you were just glad that all your friends seemed to be safe. You stood on the other end of Jean beside the wall, leaning against it as you almost wished you could have the same innocence in this celebration that the others had. 

The sound of a child behind you made you all startle, seeing a girl with her gun raised, “Sasha.” You shouted but the bullet had already been shot right into her chest. You were unable to move, eyes widening as you easily caught her just before she was about to hit the ground. You slowly let her down, eyes widening at how blood seeped onto your clothes and hands, she stayed in your arms, her head against your knees as tears formed in your eyes. “Sasha, come on, you...you’ll make it, come on.” 

Just as Gabi was ready to shoot again, Jean put his gun out, but the other cadets got at her and the boy first. Connie came running towards Sasha, hand on her cheek, “stay with us!”

“Pl...please, don’t leave me.” You whispered, feeling her head become heavy on your, blood continuing to seep out.  Jean knelt beside you as he saw the tears drop down your face and fall down your own. “Sasha.” You wept out. 

She began speaking about food, her breath heavy as Connie pleaded for her to continue, with her last words being the one thing she truly loved, Connie watched as he got bandaged up, your body encased in blood as tears continued to drop down your face with no end. She was your best friend, and you couldn’t do anything, Jean could barely even look at her near dead state, his gaze ending up on the two children after Floch had called him.

You tried to suppress your tears, you did but every time you faced your friend, more and more formed. Your breathing irregular as it became harder and harder to even speak a word. The sound of the child's voice shouting about devils and other shit, made your tears turn into anger, in an instant you went right up to her face ready to punch her yourself. “Y/n.” Jean gave a soft whisper, “take them with me.” You continued to be filled with rage as you walked them down to where the rest of your friends were. 

Armin was the first to notice the blood across your body and the puffed-up eyes, but the two children had brought about more confusion instead. Their eyes widened at the sight of Zeke, you didn't care for their confusion, instead Levi asked who they were. Unable to speak, you let Jean speak until the very end, “this girl shot Sasha.” Tears welled up in your eyes again, “it...it doesn’t seem like she will make it…”

Armin and Mikasa ran past the two of you, you could barely move to run with them. Your legs felt heavy as you sobbed at your words, tears continuing to fall down your face. Standing in the corner, your hands at your eyes as you sobbed quietly, you prayed she would be okay. Hoped for a miracle to occur where everything was fine, and she never actually got shot. But that’s when you felt the blood on your clothes, the blood on your face and hands. The blood everywhere, Jean began shouting at Yelena, you ignored all sounds as all you wanted to hear was your crying.

The sound of the door opening made you move to see who it was, Connie appearing with a horrified face, as you and Jean both stared at him. “Sasha…” He paused making your head think she was okay, that she was alive, “she’s dead.”

Your whole life crumbled in an instant, you felt your knees go weak as you fell to the ground, Jean catching you as he felt with you, his arms around you. You sobbed into his shoulder, wailing with no end. Your friend was dead, the girl you had grown up gone in a matter of seconds, dead because of a stupid little girl. 

Jean’s eyes widened as tears formed his own eyes as he held you close. He stopped caring about the mission, stopped hearing others, only seeing you. He couldn’t let what had happened to Sasha occur to you, he couldn't. He would protect you with his last breath, and now with you in his arms a crying mess, he’d keep that promise he made to you when you had just met at 12, he’d keep the promise. Never wanting to see you cry like this ever again, because you were always going to be his, and he’d be damned to let anything happen to you. 

go back to part two

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[michaels-reality]

jsaghka whats wrong with ok ko?

Okay so I will spoil the whole main plot of the series with it but there are 3 main problems I’m gonna get into with this series and it’s problems with character design, jokes on child neglect, and ableism with system caricatures. And this is coming from someone who enjoys the show before anyone thinks I’m just hating to hate on it. But again, these issues are so big for me that I would not recommend this show to anyone skjhskjf.

1. Issues with character design

Alright, so first off, please look at this picture of the majority of the women of the show and tell me what’s wrong with it?

Yeah! Almost all of them have the exact same body type! I’ve seen people praise ok ko with its diverse character design but if you boil it down, almost all the women have the same cinched waist and big hips. And for the characters the characters that do have different body types, it's almost unfair to compare them to the rest of the characters, like you can’t compare Carol to Rippy Roo because Rippy Roo is an actual animal. And you can’t compare Dendy to Enid, because Dendy is a child and Enid is a teenager. And for the Ladies that have an actual difference in body type, that’s like 6 characters out of how many? And to those characters that have different body types, the Hue Troops only show up for 2 episodes and even then the main focus isn’t on them so they barely get any screen time, Punching Trudy shows up for one episode to fight Punching Judy, Pheobe shows up for 7 episodes but she’s a background character and I don’t ever remember her speaking, and then there’s Foxtail. Foxtail is probably the only female character that has a different body type that has an important role in the story and shows up for more than just background appearances.

Compared to the men in the show, there is way more diversity but even then, there is a lot of making the upper half of them bigger and giving them tiny hips and legs. 

There is also the issue that kinda pisses me off is the racial ambiguity of everyone. Like most of the characters aren’t even human so whatever, but there are characters like enid that have darker skin but she has straight purple hair so what are we supposed to get from that? I mean, I guess there is some wiggle room for anyone that isn’t white to claim her but then you start to see that all these darker skinned characters seem to always have straight hair and that’s also a problem. The only character I can confidently say is black is foxtail and she has straight hair. And the only character that is said to have curls and an afro is RADICLES who is BLUE and an ALIEN! Like it makes me mad that our curly haired and black coded character is designed like this. Like, I get it, he’s an alien, he’s blue, he’s not human, BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE THE ONLY ONE? WHY CAN’T THERE BE ANOTHER CHARACTER WHO IS DARKER SKINNED AND CURLY HAIRED? 

It’s so ironic given that ok ko has one of the BEST racism metaphors I’ve ever seen in episode 28. Dendy says kappas don’t need pow cards to be heros but it feels nice to be appreciated but this show is not making me feel very appreciated right now sjglksjgds.

2. Jokes about child neglect/abuse

OKAY! BOXMAN! I LOVE BOXMAN BUT WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay, so in the show, Lord Boxman has robot minions that he is constantly annoyed with the performance of and punishes them and yells at them. AND I WOULDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS IF BOXMAN DIDN’T REFER TO THEM AS HIS CHILDREN! It’s shown in the show that Boxman raised them as baby robots and they call him daddy and they have a very familial relationship. But it’s constantly joked about with Boxman saying how they never make him proud not taken seriously in the show. Like, in the second episode, one of the first things we see Boxman do is put Darrel in the furnace and Darrel says “I deserve this” BUT DON’T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY CUS DARREL IS A ROBOT AND HE’S BACK 2 SECONDS LATER! The robots get emotional over any sense of approval, like at the end of “Villains Night In” Darrel and Shannon literally fall apart after Boxman gives them shirts and says to “keep up the good work”, and the end of Plazalypmics, Darrel, Shannon, and Raymond get participation trophies and are really happy with that. Like, this isn’t normal.

The whole relationship between the robots and Boxman is actually pretty toxic and kind of bothers me sometimes. The robots seem to have a very intense sibling rivalry but it’s over the affection of Boxman, which is unhealthy but most of the time it’s just played off as funny joke for the tv. And it becomes even more apparent because episodes without Boxman, like Rad likes robots, it shows them getting along fine and even worrying about each other. And in season 2, Boxman comes back from the sun and Darrel stands up to him and says he doesn’t need him anymore, but one “I’m proud of you” from Boxman and Darrel is back to wanting his approval. LIKE ITS ALMOST NEVER FRAMED AS A BAD THING OR TAKEN SERIOUSLY! I AM NOT A FAN OF HOW THEY TREAT THIS! Like, I can admit it gets better after Venomous comes into the picture and Boxman has that realization of “oh I should be proud of my kids achievements” but to me it looks like this whole forgiving your abuser plot line and I fucking hate it! And Boxman still admits to incinerating his robots after the company switches over to his and Venomous’ ownership when discussing what to do to punish them and he says “I usually see improvement in my robots after I incinerate them.” 

And even if it got better, it’s still played off as a joke in all of season one and normalizes terrible behavior. Child neglect in tv shows, especially in children’s media, played off jokes and funny are never good and can be insensitive to children who are in these situations seeing it played up for laughs. You can argue that being on the villain’s side frames it as a bad thing but that kinda loses meaning in a show like ok ko where you start to see the villains as regular people and not necessarily bad, just “evil”. I just feel like this could have been treated so much better and not trivialized like this.

3. System Caricatures and ableism

Let me start off by saying, I am a singlet and I don’t have as much authority on this type of thing so feel free to correct me on anything I get wrong or add on in anyway. 

With that said, KO and TKO along with Shadowy Figure and Professor Venomous are terrible system caricatures. KO is 6-11 years old is prime age to develop a system, so when shadowy figure comes into KO’s life and traumatizes him, he splits. And so we begin our little “evil alter ego”(quoting the show! using this phrasing is terrible and should never describe a system like that) stereotype.

I’ve talked about OK KO with my friends who are systems and it makes them mad that this show had so many moments to be good system rep and then it turns around and fucks everything up! Like TKO could have been written well. TKO is very clear on stating he isn’t KO and is his own person but everyone still refers to him KO and treats him like a bad thing because he isn’t KO. And when TKO acts out due to being referred to as KO and rightfully being upset, they act like it is some evil act against them and they need KO back! Like, the show misses its own point so much!!! If they treated TKO like a person (which he is!!!!!) then half the problems they have wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. And TKO has done nothing wrong other than wanting to front! KO even talks about TKO as another person but they address him as such! 

The way people talk about TKO in this show makes me so mad, like when Dendy does tests on KO in “Mystery Science Fair 201X” to bring out TKO, TKO finally comes out to deal with the feelings KO can’t deal with and then they almost do it right when Dendy realizes she was the one that fucked up and then SHE APOLOGIZES TO KO INSTEAD OF TKO FSDGHSDFJ!!! And they always treat TKO as a threat as if he’s a danger! Like TKO’s a kid just like KO and acted out when the people around him upset him! Like a kid! And the last time TKO shows up in season one in the finale, TKO actually SAVES everyone in the plaza and leads the battle away from the plaza but because “oh but TKO is the evil” they go and try to stop him from saving them? Like yeah he got a little reckless but he only ended up hurting people in the plaza when Rad and Enid interfered. They treat him like a problem because they MAKE him a problem! 

Also, the moments where everyone tries to bring KO back by saying “you are loved” and all that, that’s actually really manipulative! Like, they’re using positive triggers to kick TKO out of front and that’s actually a really rude thing to do. They’re trying to bring to front who THEY want to see and it’s not fair to TKO who is fronting. It also goes the other way around when Dendy is experimenting on TKO to try and get him to front.

And then even KO treats him terribly, locking him in a cage, then keeping him in his head all the time, and then when he finally lets TKO out and TKO acts out from being locked in his own head for so long, KO then traps TKO in his subconscious. Which is terrible! TKO should be allowed to front and should be treated like his own person! It’s so weird how the show almost gets it right but then does shit like this that makes it terrible again. Like KO has a headspace and he creates things in his headspace and he talks to TKO like another person and they communicate their feelings but then the show turns this all on their head when KO locks TKO away and blames him for destroying everything when he’s the one trapping him in his brain. 

There is also the problem with TKO being the one with all the power and changing his appearance cus that all contributes to the system caricature. Also, TKO and KO integrating at the end of the series? ALSO VERY BAD AND HARMFUL CARICATURE! Alters are different people and they should be treated as different people and KO is not TKO all along THEY ARE DIFFERENT PEOPLE! And integration is possible but it’s usually not by choice. And even then, integration being the end goal of a story is a very ableist narrative and shouldn’t be written.

And it confuses me, why does shadowy figure have his own pow card but TKO doesn’t. Like, KO and TKO are established more as being different people than Shadowy Figure and Venomous so why doesn’t he get his own pow card? Like the end of season one, TKO fought the fight at the plaza and used his power to defeat Boxman jr but at the end KO ends up leveling up instead. And on the topic of TKO’s power, again, that shouldn’t be a thing. TKO and KO should both have access to the same power because they use the same body because that's how systems work! They use the same body!

And I know what the show was trying to do like “oh TKO is a manifestation of all the bad feelings that KO has!” but there are so many ways to do that without making a caricature of systems. Like if you didn’t make TKO a person then this would have been fine. Like if other people didn’t see TKO this could have been fine. There are ways to make a manifestation of your negative emotions without doing it like this. And the way this show did it is such bad writing, because you are meant to think TKO is this terrible manifestation of emotions but all you see is this scared kid who doesn’t know where he is and lashes out when he gets rightfully upset. BECAUSE LET ME REMIND YOU! TKO AND KO ARE BOTH 6-11 YEARS OLD! THEY ARE KIDS! THEY’RE SITUATION SHOULDN’T BE TREATED THIS WAY

And my guy shadowy figure...... bad. Shadowy Figure and Venomous’ is not only a terrible caricature but also very inaccurate. With KO and TKO, their system developed at the correct time as a child, but with Shadowy Figure and Venomous, they developed after Venomous got his snake disease. And, Venomous doesn’t even know about Shadowy Figure and that can be a result of dissociative amnesia but it’s really unfortunate. And again! the end of the series! Shadowy Figure and Venomous integrate into one entity and it’s terrible! Because they aren’t the same person and shouldn’t be treated as the same person! And again with the whole “evil alter ego”. Like Shadowy figure only exists to traumatize KO and make him split and create TKO. And the fact that they turn out to be KO’s dad??? Yikes??? Like again, these are terrible caricatures and are harmful to systems and should’ve been treated better in the show.

---

Like, I love OK KO, I used to hold this show very close to my heart and made me very happy to see this show with the amount of LGBT rep but looking back it was very bad in many ways. Like that racism episode I mentioned, that shit resonates with me! And I appreciate characters like Dendy and KO and I still love the boxbots and venomous, I just wished this show lived up to the potential that it had.

TL;DR: OK KO has a problem with misogynistic character design and colorism, normalizes child neglect, and has put out an ableist narrative with system caricatures.

[celestialholz]

Celestial Live-Reacts: STP 2.1, 'The Star Gazer'

(SPOILERS AHEAD, as you might imagine! Read down at your peril)

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- Uhm I'm sorry is this the opening to Ctrl+Alt+Del AND A Good Day to Die at the same time, HAVE YOU READ MY FICS CBS 👁👄👁

- This is a James Bond opening sequence

- He's so proud he knows Romulan, bless him ❤

- Oh, HE is dead! The more you know

- ... Yeahhhh, no. What *is* this romance nonsense? When has there EVER been anything between him and her?

- ... Awkward...

- Baby!card! 😍 All adventure and adorable

- "Why have you chosen to be alone?" "Idk queen not sure where my immortal husband's at rn"

- I love how English his mother is 😂❤ Really sticking with the theme there of being the most English French people ever. Also I love her and she's a girl boss 😍

- Earl grey, cold 🤣

- What *is* Laris talking about, that this has been building for a while? From WHERE exactly, pls explain

- THEY GAVE ELNOR A THING 🖖 Bless up, king ❤

- Hologram Rios! Seven! Beautiful folks everywhere 😍😍

- Is that the AGT phenomena?

- No synth ban; only progression

- Oh hey Agnes, it's once again hugely ambiguous to see you

- Soji's hangout is glorious, my god

- Rios is a captain again???? Like, an official one????? Bless him, he got over his shit 😍

- ... Anyone else forget that these two had sex?

- Sulu reference!

- 'Chancellor of the Academy', much wow

- "You two are so damn self-sufficient, happy to travel the stars..." 🤔🤔🤔

- Elnor has gone from confident young adult to overly tall child lmao

- "Live a little" 😂 I love him so much ❤

- Raffi/Picard friendship is gorgeous.

- Stargazer!

- 'Cigar in the captain's chair' is a VIBE 😍

- "Help us, Picard"????? ... Is that the fucking Continuum?

- BIG MOMMA G 😍 Welcome back Queeeeen ❤

- This bar music is a jam 😍

- "But you'll always be 'captain' to me" - amen ❤❤❤

- "With you pushing a century and me pushing several, I don't really think that at our age we should be reserving anything" 😂😂

- El-Aurians only age 'if they want to'? That's lore, kids

- Another beautiful male/female friendship! They can do it!

- "It's not as if I haven't loved before - I have, sometimes quite deeply." "But always with those that would only be temporary." "That's not entirely true -" "- So you'd never have to fear any of them taking root."

...

"The problem isn't time, it's you."

...

"You've been on your own for nearly a century - why, what's holding you back?"

Okay so a. this is hilariously Qcard and b. a beautiful character piece ❤ Fascinated by whatever this is alluding to, too?

- Oh hello, Admiral Great-Hair 😍

- ... Are you trying to tell me that the Q want in to the Federation, what in god's name

- Picard @ Laris: aight imma head out babe 🖖

- Borg stuff?

- IT'S THE BORG. OHHHH. Never mind my dumbass theories then... they want to join the Federation? Are they sick of getting their arse handed to them by Janeway?

- Nice bit of looping back to the beginning

- "We wish for peace", they say, walking in like the cyber fuckparty from my most vivid vodka nightmares

- Doc Ockto-borg????? That's a new take...

- Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

- "We're out of options" - swear Rios says exactly that in Ctrl+Alt+Del, and Picard definitely blew himself up for Tapestry Day... and I had a bloody countdown... just call me Benjamin mes amis, I'm a prophet out here

- "Noooon, je ne regrette rieeeeen" 😂 Come on slut, get in the damn frame already 😍

- That was quite the flash... bit pissed off, are we mon dieu? Of all the men in the universe to kill, they have to kill yours huh?

- WELCOME BACK SLUT 😍😍😍😍👁👄👁

- "Oh dear, you're a bit older than I imagined - let me catch up." HAHAHAHA yes! Absolute perfection ❤❤😂 He de-aged just to age, that is phenomenal, and exactly what I wanted - just making a mockery of the whole concept

- "You've been talking a lot about second chances - well, my friend, welcome to very end of the road. Not. Taken." ... Fucking HELL 😍❤👁👄👁

Dear. Sweet. God ABOVE. What a fucking start lads 😍

Celestial rating: 7/10.

Relationships out of nowhere, some great leaps of time more or less waved away though still mostly nice to see, but a deeply fucking compelling narrative, and those last fifteen minutes? Wow.

... I have high hopes, dears...

[serenadeonacanoe]

Honestly, I'd piss him off on purpose. (Namjoon x OFC)

Pairing: Namjoon x Original Female Character

Genre/Warnings: Smut, Angst, Fluff, too tired to beta

Tags: Artist!Namjoon, Yoongi and Tae are the best flatmates, Enemies to Lovers I guess... more like brats to making out in the storage unit, OFC is an idiot.

Summary:

"Wow. Is that that grumpy artist behind you? Jesus. He really looks like a bit of a dick. And you are right. He really is hot..." Oh no. Speakerphone. Namjoon was standing behind me and was staring at me. Then at my phone. He let out a little laugh, then raised his hand to wave at Tae and Yoongi outside who were now also staring at him as if frozen, before turning around in unison. As if that would help. As if he couldn't see them. Or better even... couldn't hear them.

[...]

Mister Darcy has nothing on Kim Namjoon - that new and upcoming artist you probably already heard of (You haven't? How dare you? At least have the decency to pretend you have!). He is cold, serious, and rather good at making other people believe he is a prick. Especially Elizabeth Bennet - uh... Charlotte - is about to lose it because of him. Maybe in a good way. Man, I'd literally piss him off on purpose.

More chapters on AO3

CHAPTER 1

Even the sound of my own nails rhythmically tapping on the top of the counter was annoying me. To be fair, it didn't need much today to blow my fuze that had never been particularly long in the first place. But after a week consisting of being belittled by old white men and endless hours of unpaid overtime I about had it. Welcome to the art world. You know well before you enter that the hours are horrible and the job market is more than frustrating, but you love art and you have good organisational skills, you are resilient, charming when it counts and tend to romanticize things even when you know you shouldn't. It's too late to turn around now.

"That is why I don't use an agenda or notebook. If something is important enough for me to attend I simply won't forget. I know you youngsters are all about the bullet journaling and expressing yourself by mapping out your life but it really is just another way to procrastinate instead of getting to actual work." For a second I considered throwing my damn notebook in the buyer's face, but that probably wouldn't have helped my CV and the new job I would have to look for starting tomorrow. At least I should have screamed at him a little. Mainly, that I didn't care, that I was on my period and my shitty shower in the shitty flat i shared had broken and no dry shampoo in the world had fixed my hair this morning and that god damn it, how the hell was I supposed to remember every phone number, every call my boss had to take, every art handling transport I had organized if I couldn't write it down somewhere. Instead, I smiled. Died a little on the inside and complimented him on the gift of his exceptional memory and asked whether he would like another cup of coffee.

"What a dick." Samantha murmured, more to herself than me, after the guy had finally left, which made me snort under my breath. She usually didn't say much but when she did it was usually pure gold. In the end, it didn't matter that he was. Didn't matter that everyone at the gallery thought the art he had bought from us over the last couple of months had neither been smart nor impressive purchases. Mainly expensive. And flashy.

"Doesn't matter now." I said in a sigh after a quick glance at the clock. It was Friday night and we were about to close. Since it was my birthday on Monday I had taken two days off, about the longest break I had had this year and I was looking forward to being the lazy slob for a few days I was maybe always meant to be. In silence we answered a few last emails, tidied up the desks and counters so that potential buyers that would come in over the weekend wouldn't have to suspect anyone was actually working here. - A white desk. A huge Imac on it. That was all they needed to see, folders and pens and apparently especially agendas to be hidden away in drawers.

At five to eight I threw on my coat and Samantha just gave me a tired smile. Probably happy for me, just exhausted. "Have fun then? Don't get too wasted?" "Oh..." I said with a huge smug grin on my lips. "You have no idea... gonna take a bottle of Moët with me from the bar and drink it in my bathtub after eating a huge pepperoni pizza by myself and dancing to only the finest of 90s Euro Trash." I couldn't help it, apparently, I felt it necessary to give Sam a little demonstration, waving my arms up and down while swaying my hips in a way that I'd probably would not have if it hadn't been for a bit with an audience of a single person. Or maybe two?

A quiet scoff behind me and I quickly turned around, slowly lowering my arms, Sam biting her lower lip at the sight of me standing there like an idiot in front of HIM of all people.

Men didn't have to be old to annoy me. Or white. Yes, those were the ones that pissed me off most usually, but no one had managed to do so as much as Kim Namjoon recently. And now he was standing there, looking me up and down and stopping at my hair. The crazy too-much-dry-shampoo-because-the-shower-broke-hair. "Nice." He just commented and then looked over at Sam. "I'd like to take a last look before Sunday's opening if that is okay?" I stood there, my shoulders dropping, completely ignored.

"Uhm, actually, my babysitter has to leave in about an hour and I will have to be home before that." Samantha replied and I was impressed by how calm she stayed. "Of course." Namjoon said and gave her a slight smile. "Anyone else still around? Chris maybe?" Of course Chris hadn't been in today. It was Friday and unless important guests had announced themselves the owner of the gallery wasn't around on Fridays... "I am afraid not. But maybe Charlotte has a few minutes?" Well. Thanks. Thanks a lot. I felt a little betrayed. "Wouldn't want to keep anyone from their important Moët-Pizza-Dance Party plans." Namjoon replied before I could say a word. His voice once more dropping to a hushed, deep disapproval and his hands buried in the pockets of his rather expensive looking coat. Silence for a few moments and then he just walked off towards the room his exhibition had been set up all week. Showing without a further word that I would have to stay anyways if he wanted it that way.

"Well thank you for pushing me under the bus like that. Really appreciate it." "I am so sorry. But I was serious, I can't lose this babysitter. She got Jamie to eat vegetables. VEGETABLES!" Samantha suddenly seemed in a rush, grabbing her jacket and purse and showering me in promises she would make it up to me. Even though we both knew that wouldn't happen and wasn't necessary. Suddenly having to stay longer was normal. I just hated that it had to be today. And because of him.

I heard the door close behind Sam and I stood there for a second before putting my bag down again. Usually, I would have followed the artist, asking if I could somehow help, but nahhh... my ego was bruised up enough now, especially remembering the little dance. I closed my eyes. Fucking hated the guy. Always had. Well, not quite. I had thought he was cool for about five minutes when he had come in the first time. We had heard about him for quite a few months before, I think I had even seen pictures of him at some point, but those were nothing compared to him in real life. He came in all cheekbones and sharp chin and an all grey outfit, quick pace, observant gaze. Incredibly hot. He had also completely ignored me.

That's how it had started - a bruised ego. He couldn't know that it was my weak spot. Having studied art and its management and now feeling like a better secretary at times, when my colleagues and I were doing all the behind the scenes work while Chris worked very little hours and ended up with all the money and recognition. I was aware this wasn't the only field of work where this was the case, but it still frustrated me... I had imagined my life in the last years of my 20s to be a bit more glamorous than living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of the city... spending my Friday night waiting for some rude artist dude to leave so I could lock up.

But what I perhaps hated most about him... was that I admired him. - Purely for his art. Really. Even the fact that he kept acting as if I wasn't around every time he came in didn't mean I couldn't admit that. At least to myself. The stories behind his huge colleagues were clever and thought through, but even without context, the pure aesthetics were mesmerizing. It was the kind of art that touched something deep inside of you and standing in front of it I always had a hundred questions. Whenever he brought in a new piece I was the first one to sneak a peek in the back rooms before it was hung.

"I don't get why you have such a problem with him. He is just... quiet. I think he might even be shy... stop being so sensitive and just ask him out already." I had almost strangled Sam for that comment a couple of weeks back. Stop being so sensitive. What did that even mean? Comments like that made me want to cry and scream at the same time, which probably would have been perceived as even more sensitive, but when had insensitivity become something to strive for? I had only kept quiet because I liked Sam and I knew what she had tried to say. At least I thought so. That I might have given less of a shit if I hadn't been rather attracted to Namjoon. Even though I had never mentioned it, she just knew. She knew if I didn't care about something I didn't waste my time on it. But if something made me angry or upset there was usually more to it. I hated that she could read me that easily. But he was still a dick and I still wanted to go home.

He took his sweet time. After an hour I walked up to him, a little speech prepared in my head about how he could come back first thing tomorrow. But when he turned around he just raised a hand between us to keep me from interrupting and turned away again. I hadn't seen that he was on the phone. "No, it's nothing, just one of the gallery employees." I heard him say and okay... if I wasn't about to explode before I was now. I stood there for a minute, fuming, and then simply walked back to the office area, my hand shaking when I started turning off the gallery lights one by one. It wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped but still felt good. Two minutes later the only lights still on were the one above my head and the one in front of the door. I would at least give him a clear direction where to head, he seemed to need it.

When Namjoon appeared out of one of the dark corners he looked even more annoyed than usual. Looking my direction through squinting eyes and his tongue pushing against the inside of his cheek. "Seriously?" he yelled my way and almost walked into one of the little flyer shelves. Wasn't the first time I had seen that happen to him though so maybe that had nothing to do with the light.

I felt oddly triumphant. By the time I had put on my coat and turned off the remaining lights, ready to finally lock up, Namjoon had almost found his way, standing in the open door, still on his phone. A little groan from my side when he didn't even notice that I was standing behind me went by unnoticed. Or simply ignored. But instead of the appropriate clearing of the throat or the maybe less polite squeezing past him, I just put my hands on his back and gently pushed him forward a bit, until his feet hit the pavement and he turned around. Dropping his hand with the phone in it, for a second he looked like he wanted to push back. Or trample me.

"Okay, what the hell is your problem, Charlotte?" His voice was hoarse. His eyes dark. God, he was hot. I hated him so much. "You." I simply replied and stared at him for a second, then turned around and locked the two locks on the door before stepping over to the alarm system. I couldn't help feeling smug because apparently, he knew my name. I imagined him staring at the back of my head because he was flustered, but couldn't be sure. All I knew was that when I turned around again a minute later he was still standing there, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his lips pressed together forming a straight line and watching me.

"Do you always act like that at work around people who could get you into trouble?" He was right, he could get me into trouble. But I was too fired up now, my heart racing. "Is that a threat?" "An observation." "Only around the ones I don't like." "Cool." "Great." "Enjoy the dance party. Sounds shit."

And with those words he had turned around, coat flying open in the wind, unfortunately making him look really cool as he walked away and I ABSOLUTELY HATED HIM. I kept my mouth shut and just walked off in the other direction, realizing minutes later that my car was parked the other way, but I kept walking for a while before I finally turned around. It took a while to calm down and only cuddling up to my cat on the couch to trash tv finally did the job. But by then I had realized something I wasn't sure I liked too much. Yeah, I thought he was a prick. And yeah I should have just played it cool. Would have been much smarted in many regards. But I also had somewhat enjoyed myself in the most fucked up way.

Seeing that stern look, that intense posture as he was towering over me... man, I'd literally piss him off on purpose.

More chapters on AO3

[piracytheorist]

A ridiculously needed defense of Mia Winters

(and I say ridiculously because I don't particularly care for her as a character. But I care for Ethan, and I care that he went through so much shit to save her and never gave up or even thought to, so by extension Mia needs to make sense to me so I need to have a clear image of her in my mind to justify Ethan's ridiculously brave actions in re7, and his devotion to her in re8. But also because my experience watching the show Once Upon a Time and engaging with its fandom has taught me to not hate on characters when they're not fully fleshed out and their bad actions are not adequately explained, especially when said characters are women written by men. And considering that Ethan himself is not fully fleshed out in re7 either, it's no wonder Mia's character is suffering)

So. I'm not here to tell people they're wrong to hate or even just dislike or distrust Mia. That's not my point. But if you do continue to read after the title, you're checking in on your own accord. And my main gripe with people hating on Mia is that they seem to dislike her character when the game itself didn't give much of a good basis on her character in the first place. So yeah, being a woman myself and having seen how fandoms work, I do tend to get a little pissed when people (no matter their gender) are so ready to hate on female characters for no good reason.

Now, I'm not saying Mia is a saint, far from it. RE7 makes clear she holds a lot of the responsibility for what happened, and she even accepts that. But she's also been given redeeming qualities, if you're willing to look for them.

The first glimpse we get of Mia is of her sending a happy message to Ethan, then immediately after we see her admit her wrong and warn him to stay away from her. There's a reason we even get the second video, and that's called setting. The writers wanted Mia to be shown as protective over Ethan while also accepting responsibility from the very first moment - and it's something that repeats itself when we do find her. She apparently has no idea she asked Ethan to come, she self-harms in an effort to stop hurting him, and even through Eveline's control she manages to tell him to leave her.

(like idk why people take lightly the fact that she fucking banged her head on a wall, giving herself a concussion, all in an effort to protect Ethan from what she knew she had turned into but leave it to a fandom to underplay self-harm I guess)

But that's only from the beginning, and from the confused POV of Ethan and a first time player. In Mia's flashback, we see that she'd been given orders that should Eveline get out of control, she had to be eliminated. Now, Eveline had grown fond of Mia, and she was super powerful herself. Taking a powerful being on your side and using them to be on top? That's a super villain origin story if I ever heard one. But Mia doesn't even consider it, from the first moment that civilians are getting in danger, she's ready to eliminate Eveline.

And that's when the first holes start appearing. For what kinds of wars did Mia know that Eveline was made for? How long had she been working with The Connections? Was it before or after marrying Ethan? How did they approach her? How did they know she'd be okay with making a bioweapon to assist in wars? And as herself, how deep was she willing to go in terms of human experimentation?

That's all stuff we have no way of knowing, and frankly any answer, from one extreme to the other, can be assumed. For all we know The Connections approached her, and before she had even realized she was assisting them in creating Eveline. So in general I feel it's kinda unbased to jump on the Mia Hating Train so easily when there's so much missing from the whole story.

Though again, I’m not here to tell people what to like and what not to like. It’s just that I feel there’s a bit too much focus on how Mia is such a horrible person and the true villain of the story and like, it’s getting super tiring, entering fandoms and seeing people being so fucking pissed at some characters. Like, ok. You can’t like everything. But it feels like some people are trying to make that everyone else’s problem.

And the victim blaming is not helping, either. People say all of what happened in re8 is Mia’s fault because she didn’t tell Ethan the truth about what he is, and like. Are we fucking serious. Like I see people call Chris dumb for not explaining the story to Ethan from the beginning, and how it could’ve made things much more simpler if he had, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone call him the villain of the story (if anything because without him being cryptic we wouldn’t have had the story in the first place). He had his reasons to be cryptic, and if you pause your hate train for a moment, you’ll realize Mia had her reasons as well. We don’t know how long she knew that Ethan was all mold - she wasn’t even conscious during the moment Jack killed Ethan in the first place to see how serious the injury was. For all we knew she only noticed while being pregnant with Rose, or after she was born - so we can’t really blame her for not speaking up. If anything, considering she did realize it and still she stayed with him and knew he and his feelings mattered (”We matter, Ethan! You matter!”) is a big thing. She also seemed to want to tell him, but like, how do you even begin such a discussion? Ethan also saw that she was troubled; you can’t convince me that they were like this, with Ethan knowing she was holding something from him, and Mia knowing and knowingly having a child with him who would definitely be infected by Mold, for three fucking years.

Like at some point you start going like “They can’t have shown us such a fucking toxic relationship and expected us to feel sad for Mia at the end.” But like, people do believe that yes they intended them to be so toxic and Mia to be such a horrible person and for us to just shrug at it, so of course they would blame everything on Mia and not like, idk, Miranda, who was actually the one actively harming the entire Winters family. Or that Rose getting kidnapped was because Mia had been working with The Connections, and that’s how Miranda found out about her, and I’m like, y’all can’t separate butterfly effect from actual blame, can you? Ethan and Mia decided to have a kid two whole years after the Baker incident - when they felt they were safe, on the clear from whatever could be chasing them. They were on witness protection, the newspaper Ethan looks at in the beginning says that Ethan and Mia’s whereabouts are unknown; they were understandably feeling safe to move on with their lives, until someone from The Connections found where Mia was, and through them Miranda was able to learn about Rose. That’s an entirely different concept from Mia being careless or carrying the entire blame for Rose getting kidnapped or Ethan being self-sacrificingly determined to save her. But of course, let’s hate on Mia and then seriously ship Ethan with the villains because they have redeeming qualities and Mia doesn’t ig

I don’t know. Maybe I’m a bit too jumpy of people hating on female characters. But on the other hand, it says a lot that I don’t really care much for Mia or her character, so it’s not like I feel defensive because my fave is receiving hate. If anything, Ethan is my fave, he gets much more uncalled-for hate and I just shrug that off because who gives a fuck about them haters right. But with Ethan... I feel that the hate he receives is mostly because he subverted expectations; he’s not your average trained badass who knows what he’s doing and remains calm through anxious situations, he’s the exact opposite, and people hate on him for not being the former like... you’re missing the entire point of Ethan purposefully being clueless, panicking, saying cringy-ass quips, and honestly, your fucking loss lmao. With Mia, it feels like people choose to see the worst in her when there aren’t too many things to see. And knowing stuff about the world of gaming, it’s fucking telling. In the world of fandom, that’s just fucking annoying. I hate stuff too. But after a certain point you learn to not make your biases everybody else’s problem. Or at least you should. What would I know, being here hoping fandoms could be calmer places.