#Traumatized character forgets where they are and lashes out

[rosegoldenatlas]

Careful footings, precise movements, flickering gazes; the steps were to a dance he had been born into, movements he had been forced to learn. Because you can't miss a step in this dance, if you trip- if you loose sight of your partners blade- its over. There isn't a second chance. There isn't a hand held out to help you off of the dirt you fell into.

Just the dirt and your own blood. Forged by your mistakes.

He was never without at least three of his implements. Despite his recklessness, he wasn't keen on dying.

The heavy battleaxe he kept wasn't all that practical to use alone. It was too heavy and slow. But its weight on his belt was what reminded him that he wasn't defenseless, that he had a chance.

The sword he kept on the other hand, was the best weapon one could have when forced into close up combat like the situation he was in. It was muscle memory for him to spin the blade around his hand like one would swing a butterfly knife as he fought. To remember not to press to harshly against another's blade for too long before swinging at their shins or their sides.

His opponent was strong, they weren't afraid to press him whenever their blades clashed and sparked. They were well trained as well, even as he switched which hand he held his blade it, they didn't falter.

It was exhilarating, the thrill of the fight, the way the pain of his scrapes was dulled by pure adrenaline. He knew he was grinning that grin he was told made him look insane. He knew he was getting tired, they had been moving for hours. He knew his mind was drifting, he couldn't focus in the fight when all his mind was stuck on was how much he had missed this feeling. He knew he was relying a tad too much on instinct, on waiting for the small shifts in the air to tell them where they would strike.

But he kept on going, letting himself forget where he was in the room. Not noticing as the other was moving him slightly back at every strike.

In one swift motion, his sword was flung out of his hand and he was being tossed to the ground, the back of his head brushed the wall as he fell. Panic took over.

Before he even knew where he was, before he could register his own thoughts or figure out what had happened, his hand was snatching a small blade tucked into his boot.

He gripped the persons jaw, palm over their chin, and flipped their positions. Slamming the others head to the floor and digging the blade against their jugular.

He was panting, he couldn't see, all he could do was feel the person try to move and he dug his nails into their jaw in retaliation.

The person said something, he can't hear them.

He doesn't care to.

They tried to... They...

He can't remember.

Where is he?

It doesn't matter. He's not dead. He just needs to live.

Suddenly a hand has his wrist and is yanking it off of them. The attacker scurries away from his grasp.

Fuck he is so dead. His axe isn't going to do anything, he's shaking, he'd did op it in seconds. He's dead. He's dead. He's going to die. He's going to-

A hand on his shoulder.

He flinches away and keeps his head down. Maybe they will let hin- if he just does what they say- it will all be okay if he just-

"Look at me." The attacker says, their voice is calmer than he expected, he thought they would sound angry.

He looks up and the castle crashes around him.

It was just Gem. She is bleeding from her throat, badly.

His head flings from side to side to look around the room.

Fight club. He was just in their stupid fight club. He wasn't anywhere else.

He just hurt Gem in a sparring match.

He was about to kill Gem in a sparring match just because he forgot where he was.

Idiot. He was a fucking idiot.

"I.." His breath catches and he realizes he's breathing too fast.

Gem knelt down next to him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded frantically, "Are you? I'm so fucking sorry I didn't mean to hurt you like that I just-" he swallowed "I forgot where I was for a minute."

She huffed, but looked pained as the action strained the large cut on her throat, just to the side of her jugular and artery. She pulled a potion out of her pocket. "Nothing a healing potion won't fix." And slowly drank the thick, sweet smelling drink.

Her wounds stitched themselves back together. He relaxed slightly. He wasn't killing anyone.

"Where did you think you were?" She asked.

He barked out a laugh, it was heavy with a bitterness to it. "Anywhere but here, Gem."

She looked puzzled at that.

He evened his breath. "I'm not exactly the guy people like to keep around. Kind of why I don't do this often.. hanging out with people I mean."

The redhead held out her hand to help him up from the floor. "Well. Start getting used to it. You're stuck with me now, you got that?"

He put away his weapons into the chests. "Yeah. Okay, why not?"

[merwgue]

Sarah J. Maas: The Queen of Broken Women and Savior Men — A Deep Dive into Internalized Misogyny and Bad Writing

Sarah J. Maas is often hailed as one of the most popular fantasy writers of our time. Her series A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) and Throne of Glass have millions of devoted fans, and it's not uncommon to see her name thrown around in discussions of "strong female characters." But when you take a closer look, a disturbing pattern emerges: almost every female character in her books is traumatized, broken, or impoverished, and it’s always the men who swoop in to fix them. There’s an underlying current of internalized misogyny that not only seeps into her stories but actively shapes the narrative. What’s worse? She can’t seem to write a truly independent woman character. Let’s break down why Maas’s writing is, at its core, problematic, unoriginal, and deeply flawed.

The Argument: Internalized Misogyny Wrapped in Fantasy

First, let’s address the root of the problem: Maas seems to believe that a woman can’t be strong unless she’s been torn apart by life in the most brutal ways. In her books, trauma is a prerequisite for strength, but only if a man is there to help the heroine overcome it. This trope is not only tired but also harmful. Maas constantly reinforces the idea that women need to be broken down to their lowest points in order to be "worthy" of a male savior.

When you strip away the fantasy elements, what you're left with is a pattern that closely resembles an old-fashioned, patriarchal narrative where women must endure suffering before being saved by a knight in shining armor. The "knight" might take the form of a High Lord, a warrior, or an assassin, but at the end of the day, Maas's female characters can never truly save themselves.

Feyre Archeron: The Poster Child of Trauma and Savior Worship

Let’s begin with Feyre Archeron from ACOTAR. She starts as a poor, broken young woman who sacrifices everything for her family, only to be thrust into a world of fae politics and violence. Feyre's trauma begins with the infamous “beast” Tamlin, and continues under the thumb of Amarantha, who tortures her in unimaginably brutal ways. But as if that weren’t enough, Maas ensures that Feyre's psychological scars run deep, so that Rhysand can swoop in and heal her. Oh, and let's not forget her trauma-induced depression after being trapped under the Mountain and made into High Fae against her will.

Sure, Feyre finds strength eventually, but only after Rhysand pulls her from the brink of despair. He doesn’t just help her heal—he remakes her. Feyre's arc quickly becomes about how Rhysand’s love, protection, and endless patience help her find herself. It’s through his intervention that she becomes powerful. Where is the agency? Where is the true independence? Feyre is never allowed to rise on her own—her entire arc is built on the shoulders of a man’s intervention.

Her “strength” is conditional, tethered to a man’s support. Without Rhysand, who is Feyre? Apparently, no one of consequence.

Nesta Archeron: The Angry, Broken Woman Who Needs a Man to Save Her

If Feyre’s story wasn’t enough, let’s talk about Nesta Archeron, who is possibly the most obvious example of Maas’s inability to write a truly independent woman. Nesta starts off as angry, bitter, and deeply traumatized by her experiences. She’s lashing out at everyone, and in A Court of Silver Flames, we see her spiraling into self-destructive behavior.

So how does Maas handle this? By sending Nesta off to be “fixed.” Cassian—ever-patient, ever-ready to rescue the broken woman—steps in as her savior. He helps her train, helps her heal, and becomes the crutch she needs to finally face her demons. The message here is clear: Nesta cannot save herself. She needs a man, a warrior, a male who can handle her anger and tame it.

What’s infuriating is that Nesta is never allowed to be strong on her own terms. Instead, Maas reduces her arc to one of forced rehabilitation, where male intervention (and sex) is the ultimate cure for all her pain. Cassian’s constant hovering, watching her every move, isn’t empowering—it's infantilizing. Once again, Maas reinforces the tired trope of the broken woman who needs a man to show her the way.

Aelin Galathynius: The Assassin Queen Who Still Needs Saving

Now, let’s shift to Throne of Glass. Aelin Galathynius is arguably Maas’s most “powerful” female character. She’s a queen, an assassin, and one of the most skilled fighters in the realm. And yet… Maas can’t seem to let her be powerful on her own. Aelin spends much of her time in Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms either being captured, tortured, or emotionally crippled by the weight of her destiny. For all her strength, she’s constantly needing Rowan—her male savior—to guide her, protect her, or just plain save her from herself.

In Kingdom of Ash, Aelin is literally chained and tortured for months. And while this is meant to be a testament to her resilience, it’s just another example of Maas putting her female characters through hell so that men can come to their rescue. Rowan is once again her knight, her protector, the one who will fight to free her. Even when Aelin saves herself, it’s with the help of a man or because of the love a man has for her.

What happened to the assassin queen who was capable of taking down armies? Oh, right—she’s been reduced to a woman who can only triumph if a man is at her side.

Bryce Quinlan: Party Girl Turned… You Guessed It, Traumatized Heroine

Bryce from Crescent City is another classic Maas creation. She’s a party girl, carefree and wild, until trauma strikes, and she’s forever changed. Cue the entrance of Hunt, her male protector who steps in to help her navigate her grief, her trauma, and the dangerous world she now inhabits. Bryce may have a sharp tongue and fierce attitude, but Maas makes sure that she is broken enough to need a man to save her.

Hunt becomes the anchor in Bryce’s life, and once again, the pattern repeats itself: Bryce cannot face her demons alone. She cannot be strong without a man by her side. Her trauma is the driving force behind her character development, and Maas wastes no time in ensuring that Hunt is always there to steady her when she falters.

Villainous Women: The Ones with Power Get Punished

Let’s also talk about the women in Maas’s books who do have power—Amarantha, Maeve, Ianthe, the list goes on. These women are almost always villains, and what makes them villainous? They’re powerful, independent, and don’t need men to define them. Amarantha, for all her cruelty, is a ruler in her own right. Maeve, a queen, is feared and respected. And what does Maas do to them? She tears them down, punishing them for their independence, for daring to claim power in a world where only men are allowed to hold it without consequence.

These villainous women are never given depth beyond their cruelty, and they’re almost always defeated by men. Maas’s treatment of powerful women in her books reinforces the idea that a woman’s strength, when unchecked by a man, is dangerous and unnatural. It’s not just lazy writing—it’s deeply misogynistic.

Conclusion: Sarah J. Maas, the Fantasy Author Who Can’t Write Women

So, what’s the takeaway? Sarah J. Maas is a writer who consistently undermines her female characters’ independence and autonomy. Her female leads are traumatized, broken, and only find true strength when a man steps in to save them. The pattern is clear, and it’s damaging. Maas’s world is one where women are only allowed to rise if they have a male savior by their side, and any woman who seeks power independently is punished for it.

This is not empowerment. This is not feminism. This is internalized misogyny at its finest, wrapped up in a pretty package of fae magic and romance.

Maas’s inability to write an independent woman character is a glaring flaw in her work, and it’s time we stop praising her for perpetuating harmful, outdated tropes. If she ever wants to write truly strong female characters, she needs to stop leaning on trauma as a crutch and allow women to find their own strength—without a man’s help.

Until then, Maas���s writing will remain a problematic ode to broken women and their savior men, with little room for genuine female empowerment.

Inspired by @extremely-judgemental , I loved their post!!! Please check it out meringues❤️❤️

[annalacerda17]

I've been thinking about the fandom's attitude toward trauma, and I find it deeply problematic. I'm going to ramble a bit about it.

Here's the thing, either people completely dismiss the element of trauma in the story, or they turn it into a free-pass that can excuse any future shitty behavior from the character.

Specifically, when it comes to Wei Wuxian, I see that his childhood trauma from losing his parents and being left to beg on the streets, and from being made a scapegoat by Yu Ziyuan - who was extremely abusive towards him, both physically and emotionally - to the war, the trauma of being thrown into the burial mounds, and everything that happened from the moment he created the ghost path of cultivation until the first siege of the burial mounds and his death, can all be minimized or all together dismissed by certain parts of the fandom when analyzing his actions in the first life. That's part of why I hate takes that portray Wei Wuxian as oblivious to Lan Wangji's feelings or too emotionally unintelligent to understand the romance, when, actually, there was a ton of shit going on in his life and he absolutely had no energy left to think about romance, of all things. The trauma also becomes progressively more relevant when we look at Wei Wuxian's actions towards the end of his first life - because traumatic experiences kept piling up - and when we get to the battle of Nightless City and later the first siege of the Burial Mounds, it's basically impossible to separate Wei Wuxian's actions and reactions from the trauma he'd endured up until that point.

On the other hand, the certain parts of the fandom really emphasize Jiang Cheng's trauma way beyond the point where it would be relevant to do so.

Yes, Jiang Cheng had an awful childhood because his mother was abusive towards everyone around her. And I can excuse his poor temper when he was a child based on that.

And it's true that losing his parents and sect was traumatic. However, the problem is that in Jiang Cheng's case, his trauma has frequently been used to justify and, in fact, to excuse, all the atrocities he went on to commit in his adult life.

Wei Wuxian, despite his trauma, never became the abuser. In every instance where he used violence, it was either during the war, or he was provoked first. He never took the initiative to be violent or to hurt others otherwise.

Jiang Cheng was completely different. He lashed out because of jealousy and a desire to satisfy his own ego, he betrayed Wei Wuxian and the Wen Siblings, knowing that he owed them his life. And yet, his stans will insist that his past trauma is enough to excuse this behavior. I'm not going to go into how Jiang Cheng's actions were entirely voluntary in this post. Suffice to say that the book makes it quite clear that he turned against Wei Wuxian not because Wei Wuxian's prominence hurt his ego, and the other sect leaders exploited that. But the Jiang sect wouldn't have been in danger had Jiang Cheng chosen not to turn against Wei Wuxian.

I suppose my point is that at some point, trauma can no longer excuse bad behavior. And in this case, when a sane adult chooses to commit genocide, that choice cannot be excused by anything, not even by a traumatic past. When his stans say that he was a victim, they forget about his victims. Sometimes, a victim goes on to become the perpetrator.

In the novel, several characters have extremely traumatic pasts. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Jin Guangyao. Most characters, really.

MXTX draws very clear parallels between Wei Wuxian and several of those characters. Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao both have a lower background in a world that bases a person's value on their birth. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both lived with Yu Ziyuan for several years, they both watched Lotus Pier fall, they both lost Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang both came from a lower social background, they were both street kids at one point, they were both victims of societal injustice.

And yet, Wei Wuxian chose to break the cycle of abuse. No matter how much abuse he endured, how traumatic his past, he didn't go on to become the next monster, the next abuser. On the contrary, he actively chose to be kind and just and nurturing. He was only ever violent when he was forced to be so - when he had to defend himself or others. Even in Nightless City, after he'd just lost Wen Ning and Wen Qing, he wasn't the first to attack.

On the other hand, Jiang Cheng, Jin Guangyao, Xue Yang, and many others chose to continue the cycle of violence and abuse. And at some point, the trauma in their pasts can no longer excuse their later choices. Those three characters, for instance - I know there are others but I'm not going to list every single MDZS character with a traumatic past who went on to become shitty people themselves, otherwise I'd be here all day - ruined many lives themselves, often those of people who were completely unrelated to their own traumatic pasts.

And if their actions are excused because of trauma, then what about their victims? What about the Wen remnants, who were old, disabled people, and a toddler, all innocent of Wen Rouhan's crimes? What about the people Jiang Cheng captured and murdered under the suspicion of the being demonic cultivators, on the off chance of them being Wei Wuxian? And the book doesn't even confirm that those people were actually demonic cultivators, they were taken because they were suspected of being such. And nowhere in the book does it say that any of those people did anything wrong at all. And what about Qin Su and her child? What about the entire clan Jin Guangyao framed for murdering his son and exterminated under such an excuse? What about the people of Yi city? What about Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan and a-Qing? What about the nameless, innocent victims who didn't get justice?

A traumatic past can never excuse the trail of victims they left behind.

[trexiejan]

Some Toxic Dickbabs moments that happened in canon. (LONG POST)

so i saw a dickbabs shipper talking crap about dickkory saying they're the most toxic nightwing ship? and they also claim dickbabs is the most healthiest ? it's ironic considering I've seen many dickbabs comic panels where dickbabs is being toxic towards each other plenty of times in the canon comics. Looks like Tom Taylor wants to brainwash people and make them believe that Dickbabs is such a perfect healthy loving couple since day 1, when that hasn't been true at all before he was put in charge of the nightwing comics to write dickbabs wattpad fanfiction in the book every single issue, this ship has done nothing but damage both characters even in tom taylor's run Dick is turned into a happy go lucky himbo who is incapable of accomplishing anything on his own without being monitored and babysat by barbara 24/7.

Anyways let's proceed with dickbabs history of being a toxic couple.

Remember those times where Barbara physically and verbally assaulted him when he was only trying to be nice and polite. She yelled at him, called him stupid, a crybaby and beat him up.

Also they keep calling Kory a victim blamer for something that happened once in over 30 years ago but ignore the fact that Babs has victim blamed him and slutshamed him multiple times in the modern comics when he was sexually assaulted and raped by Tarantula and when he got shot in the head by the Joker.

Dick just got raped by Tarantula and was traumatized by what happened but instead of comforting Dick, she has the nerve to mockingly say Dick likes his rapist. her jealousy always clouds her judgement.

I'm sorry But Barbara is canonically a victim blamer and a slutshamer. Don't forget how she also insults and slutshames other women like Helena when she gets jealous of the other women in Dick's life. She called dickhelena a cheap one nightstand even though Dick clearly told Helena he doesn't do casual sex and and she mocked Kory and refused to help her on a mission when her people were dying.

so yeah let's get back to her history with victim blaming Dick. She victim blamed him again after he got shot in the head and had an amnesia and when his memories was restored, she lashed out at him for forgetting about her when he had an amnesia.

And remember that time when Bludhaven was burned down and Dick lost his apartment, he came to Barbara to ask if he can stay at her place but she kicked him out of her apartment the next day. She's totally fine with him being homeless but dickbabs shippers claim babs has always been very loving and supportive towards him while calling Kory a slut.

Even in elseworld stuff she treats him like garbage. Aside from cheating on Dick with Batman and getting pregnant with Batman's baby in the BTAS universe, she's also very emotionally abusive to him in comics where dickbabs shippers brag about them having a kid in it like in whiteknight.

Barbara was always out there acting like a toxic judgemental domineering bitch in the modern canon comics, Barbara behaved like this consistently for more than 30 years but Kory is the one we should crucify over something that she did only once from 30 years ago 🙄 Did they crucify Barbara too when she was ableist to Cass and called her stupid because she can't read.

And they call Kory a sexual assaulter? Because she kissed him when they first met. Did they forgot that Kory was an alien, she was clueless about Earth laws when she first came to earth, she didn't know that you're actually not supposed to kiss someone without their consent, she had no clue that it was considered inappropriate and she kissed him not to sexually assault him but for her to learn english. Her people can learn other languages through kissing and Kory didn't learn anything about Human law until she officially joined the teen titans, so you can actually excuse her for her behavior what's not excusable is Barbara who is a human being who studied law for years, but still has the nerve to commit a sexual crime. As always, She violated Dick's personal privacy, she put a spy camera on his apartment so she can enjoy watching him naked without his consent. Look it up on google the crime is called voyeurism. Barbara would be considered a creepy criminal by human law. I'm not surprised considering I always think of her as a type of gf who has no respect for her partner's personal space especially when she's Oracle, She never respected Dick's privacy even in tom taylor's run, she keeps monitoring his every move in her computer, she always invades his personal space. Dick is trapped in this relationship. It's not a good relationship if you constantly watch your partner's every move and if you keep following your partner around like a dog wherever he goes.

Many people think Dickbabs is such a healthy couple because of Tom Taylor's run. I think for someone who is a huge dickbabs shipper like tom taylor it's expected he's gonna try to convince people to believe that to sell his favorite ship but in reality even in Tom Taylor's run Dickbabs relationship is pretty toxic and forced. It's toxic when your partner doesn't respect your privacy, when your partner constantly stalks and keeps an eye on you on every single thing that you do, when you wanna talk to other people but she's there lurking in her computer listening to your conversations with other people, when she puts a camera on your mask so she can always see what you see and hear what you hear, as if you're not a real human being who needs your own privacy, and constantly follows you around like a dog, like Barbara does to him every single issue. It really is a sign of an abusive relationship when there is no respect. How is Tom Taylor's Nightwing good when the book keeps destroying Dick's independece by having Barbara stuck to him like a leech 24/7 . The book is called Nightwing but Tom Taylor turned it into a Nightwing and Batgirl fanfiction series where 90% of the time Dick hasn't done anything on his own and where his IQ is chopped off in half to prop up Barbara as the smarter woman in their relationship. Dick can't even handle his own missions without constantly being babysat by Barbara in her computer like a sidekick who needs to be watched 24/7.

Poor Dick he became Nightwing to stop being Batman's sidekick and be independent only for Barbara to take away his independence and treat him like a sidekick again. Dickbabs has always been a toxic ship in any kind of form.

and don't forget Tom Taylor himself is a toxic misogynist slutshamer. He keeps throwing shade on Kory on twitter by liking comments that slutshame her on twitter

You know what would be the best way to fix dickbabs? is by letting them move on from each other! Let them grow tf up and move forward in life outside this relationship.

Babs is an anchor that brings him down whenever she's too involved in his life and same with Babs because do dickbabs shippers even care about Barbara. I haven't seen any barbara fan complain about barbara not doing anything on her own other than chasing dick around like a dog in his comicbook every single issue.

[lune-moon-nuit]

I feel deeply uncomfortable seeing how misunderstood Mike is—not just by the general audience but especially by some fans within the "Byler" fandom, who are supposed to be the ones who understand him best. They are incredibly harsh toward him, wishing for his death, for him to be beaten and humiliated, all because of his behavior in the last two seasons, particularly towards El and Will. This is largely due to his repressed homosexuality and internalized homophobia, but also because of his mental health, which is, in reality, utterly miserable yet so widely ignored.

These Byler fans, many of whom are teenagers or in their early twenties and some even part of the LGBTQ+ community, show little to no empathy towards him. They fail to realize the level of violence that existed against homosexuals in the United States during the 1980s, amidst the AIDS crisis and under Reagan's presidency. I strongly encourage you to conduct in-depth research because it is evident that you vastly underestimate the extent of the widespread, normalized, and, most importantly, violent homophobia of that era. Even people who could have been open-minded were wary of gay individuals out of fear of contracting AIDS, fueled by widespread paranoia and mass hysteria.

I believe Season 1 already paints a clear picture of this atmosphere—through Joyce’s words about how Lonnie referred to Will and through the slurs Troy and his friend used at school. These lines and characters were not included merely for storytelling purposes; they subtly highlight the pervasive homophobia present in the town (and the country) at the time.

Countless gay individuals of all ages in that period preferred to reject the mere idea of being homosexual—along with their own feelings—and would even become homophobic aggressors themselves as a form of self-preservation. At that point, it was pure survival instinct. To avoid being bitten, you bite first.

Now, let’s remove the supernatural trauma from Mike’s context and consider his reality:

We have a child who has been bullied throughout his school years in a small American town during the 1980s, a time when the AIDS crisis was at its peak. His best friend is bullied for appearing/being gay. When Will goes missing, the town—including his own father—suggests that it was expected because he was gay. The only plausible explanations, according to them, were either:

He was kidnapped and murdered by a “queer” (and let’s not forget “sexually assaulted” because one of the most dangerous stereotypes about gay men at the time was that they were pedophiles).

He committed suicide by jumping off the quarry because he was gay.

Everything related to being gay at the time was synonymous with death—whether from AIDS, suicide, or murder for simply being gay. And this violence, hatred, and fear were widely accepted and validated by society.

Now, imagine placing all of these subtle yet deeply ingrained messages inside the mind of a 12-year-old child.

On top of that, Mike’s emotions have always been ignored or minimized by everyone in the series, especially by his parents (even if they mean well). So what do we have? A traumatized child who has been humiliated and relentlessly bullied all his life, who has been made to understand that expressing his emotions and feelings is pointless, that no one listens to him, and that he should stay silent.

Even from the beginning of the series, Mike has always had a bit of an "attitude"—which, when he was younger, was endearing to the audience. But that’s mainly because he is extremely sensitive and deeply caring, yet he struggles to express himself and be heard, as most people don’t listen to him—especially when it comes to his own emotions and feelings. So what does he do? He bottles everything up. He internalizes every emotion until the pressure builds to the point where he explodes—just like in Season 2 when he lashed out at Hopper after being emotionally exhausted and pushed to his limit upon learning that El had been alive the whole time without his knowledge.

Mike’s situation is incredibly complex, with countless factors influencing it: his repressed homosexuality, his internalized homophobia, survivor’s guilt after El saved him, guilt over hurting both El and Will, his complete lack of self-esteem, his unresolved trauma from being bullied, supernatural traumas, the quarry scene (he was suicidal at 12—I repeat this because it still doesn’t seem clear to many people), his fear of losing Will or El again, the massacre at the lab where Bob never returned… I could list dozens of examples.

But do you realize the sheer emotional and traumatic weight he has never "unpacked"?

The only reason people are so harsh on him is that, for the past two seasons, we have had zero insight into Mike’s perspective. We have no access to his thoughts, emotions, or inner world. All we can do is observe him closely, piece together what we know about him since Season 1, and logically connect his behaviors, facial expressions, and words.

But here’s what’s truly baffling: these Byler fans who are so cruel to Mike are supposed to already know everything I’ve just explained. They should understand it. Yet, despite this, they show a complete lack of empathy for him. It’s as if, to them, Mike isn’t allowed to make any mistakes.

Yes, his behavior is frustrating. Yes, he has made mistakes. Yes, he has said hurtful things. But isn’t that what being human is? It doesn’t change the fact that he has always been a kind-hearted person with a huge capacity for love.

I mean, if we’re really going to judge a character’s worth based on their mistakes, should we condemn El for making Max fall over out of childish jealousy in Season 2? Should we blame her for violating Mike and the boys’ privacy by spying on them? Should we hold it against her for outright denying and dismissing Mike’s pain when he said, “I’ve been bullied my whole life,” and she simply replied, “No, you don’t”?

Of course not. We acknowledge that those actions were wrong, but we understand the context and underlying reasons behind them. So why is there such a glaring lack of understanding when it comes to Mike?

Yes, his behavior is frustrating, but ask yourself—would you do any better in his situation?

I’m sorry, but I find it incredibly hypocritical that people normalize insulting and hating this character while completely ignoring the context.

Mike always apologizes to Will when he messes up, which shows that he does reflect on his actions (even if he only does this for Will). He is willing to put himself in danger—even risk his life—to save and protect those he loves. He has a massive heart. He does not deserve the sheer cruelty I see directed at him on Twitter. His actions can be criticized, but he does not deserve to be hated or insulted.

Because the reasons behind his actions in the past two seasons are, in reality, deeply tragic.

Mike is profoundly miserable, and I am convinced he is suffering from depression—especially with the clues subtly left in Season 4, which many fans have picked up on.

I sincerely hope that in Season 5, they finally reveal what Mike has been feeling all along—shedding light on the internal struggles he has been battling silently for years. Whether through Vecna or some other means, Mike needs catharsis to finally heal. He needs to suffer—not for the sake of suffering, but because it is the only way for him to face his traumas and emotions instead of repressing them.

He has been running from his own feelings, burying them so deep inside that they are eating him alive. He is reaching his breaking point.

And that is heartbreaking—not only because it speaks volumes about how poorly mental health was treated in the ‘80s (and still is today) but also because even now, the audience continues to ignore it.

Instead of blaming Mike for his behavior, ask yourself: Why is he acting this way? Why has he changed? Why does he say the things he does?

The answers confirm that, more than anything else—besides therapy and being happy with the man who loves him—Mike needs to heal. He needs to understand that he matters, that he has worth, and that his emotions are valid.

And believe me—if he felt safe enough to express them, he would.

PS : While responding to an anonymous message reacting to this post, I ended up developing even more analysis and depth on this topic as I kept writing. So, consider this post as part 1, and feel free to check out part 2 here, which is even more detailed (and which I’m proud of and spent hours writing, haha).

[ghostify--2]

I will always personally like Hailey more than Drew

For me personally, I find that the character who's a victim of bullying is much more loveable to me than the bully is. Because we all have to admit, that despite headcanons, despite the fact Drew brought up some good points in the Drakeup, Drew is still a bully, and he has been since middle school. He's not an innocent angel, and he simply just decided to drop Jake once Jake became fully himself. Drew's judgemental and genuinely not a good person, and I think some people forget that. Of course, liking an antagonist or a character who's not a good person is completely okay!! The issue is when you try to justify the antagonists bad behaviour, and oh man, have I seen people do that with Drew. I don't care if he has family issues, is insecure, has mental health issues, or anything like that (in this context, obviously I would still feel bad for him if he was facing such struggles), it doesn't justify his behaviour. The bottom line is, bullying isn't okay in any context (unless it's like a p3do or smth... in that case go crazy!!)

And there's more to me loving Hailey than the fact she's a bullying victim. Contrary to popular opinion, but I love how Hailey is so sensitive. I know people say she has "y/n moments" and that she's overdramatic, but honestly, there's nothing wrong with being sensitive. Sensitive people always try their best to be kind, despite how exhausting life is, being the way they are. Being hyper-sensitive is like walking around without your skin on, and the littlest thing can hurt you on a big scale. So hypersensitive people will try their best to make sure other people don't feel as awful as they often do. Also, Hailey always makes amends in situations where she did something wrong, or situations where someone needs to be forgiven (unlike Drew). Not saying everyone has to forgive everything, but she's very mature in that sense. The day after arguing with Drew, after she was provoked and repeatedly bothered and lashed out as a result of it, she apologized to Jake for getting angry. What apology was offered by the Dromies for barging in and provoking Hailey? None. And in episode 10, Hailey was genuinely considering talking to him about what he'd said, because she didn't think he actually believed what he'd said. But then Zander (oh, so cynical and traumatized, I love him) convinced her to think otherwise. However, she still clearly wanted to make amends with Jake. And when she did, she said she didn't regret letting Jake into the club, and that she forgave him. SLAYYY SLAYYYYYY!! Also wanna add I see people acting like bullies when talking about Hailey. I get not everyone is snowflake like me but come on guys... did you miss the plot of the show?

Overall this is just an anti-bullying, pro-Hailey post. Thank you for reading :3!!

[ilikekidsshows]

I remember years ago when Ladybug the episode airing, there's so many people called Tom and Sabine as a bad parents... for whatever reason, and I was one that keep saying they're a good parents. Now though... it make me wondering if they are really as good as I thought they were if Marinette turned out to be this bad.

I saw some people say the reason why Marinette turned to be this spoiled is because she has one child syndrome, but Adrien is one too and ironically he become a better person than Marinette ever be. And the only one child who become spoiled is Chloé and Felix whose parents is also way too doting that they let the kid do whatever.

Today I found out the term "Helicopter parenting" A helicopter parent (also called a cosseting parent or simply a cosseter) is a term for a parent who is overattentive and overly fearful of a child's experiences and problems, particularly outside the home and at educational institutions. And I feels like its something that Tom would do, especially in Weredad episode. He doesn't want Marinette to feel sad so he will create a situation where she won't be sad, emotion need to be fixed or prevented, which... Track with what Marinette's tend to do.

I know I shouldn't put pshycological aspect into a cartoon, let alone a toddler show, but it just fit. 😅

---

The thing about discussing psychology when it comes to media isn't really about who the media is for, I think. The issue, as I see it, comes from using stereotypes of different conditions to classify characters in a negative way, regardless of what genre a piece of media belongs to. It's kinda how you would go about actually writing a story with these same themes: don't forget there are real people who deal with these things who won't appreciate being demonized or dehumanized, so treat the topic with compassion.

However, sometimes it can be useful for your self discovery to discuss whether or not a character fits similar categories as you yourself do. It can be a fun topic to discuss when it's done in a compassionate way. Sometimes small details just fit together way too well to not bring it up. Sometimes it can be good to be aware that the writers might be codifying their characters a certain way and what kinds of attitudes that codifying enforces.

Those people calling Marinette's problems "only child syndrome" when we can see her parents and their parenting techniques are definitely barking up the wrong tree. Only children aren't naturally spoiled, they might not be spoiled at all. But helicopter parents are common these days. A lot of modern parents are afraid of screwing up because we're more aware than ever of how parents can traumatize their kids, and that makes them easily veer into overprotective territory. I do agree with you that helicopter/cosseting parenting seems to be a far more fitting descriptor for what’s going on with Marinette.

Miraculous does often genuinely hit the nail on the head on what some types of parenting do to kids, which makes it so absolutely bonkers when they claim that it's not on purpose. It’s more likely that some of it was on purpose, but the writers then changed their minds about what they wanted to say about parenting. Like, Chloé’s issues get built up as being the result of being spoiled and neglected by her father and mother respectively, but then season five claims Chloé‘s just an evil hellspawn who was born that way.

The thing about Adrien is that his disposition also makes sense with his upbringing. His only friend growing up was Chloé, the epitome of a spoiled brat lashing out because she doesn’t get actual care from her parents, and sometimes Félix, another emotionally unskilled kid lashing out at others because he doesn’t have friends. Add to this Adrien’s emotionally immature father, who goes on a year-long magical rampage where he purposefully tramples on everyone else’s emotions in a misguided attempt to get his wife back with no consideration towards the son he also loves and who's actually still alive. Gabriel also doesn’t want to shield Adrien from disappointments, he often causes them and seems to have that attitude that it’s character-building.

But yeah, it makes sense that Adrien is emotionally astute, since his own emotional well-being relied on him developing the skills to work around the social bombs he grew up around. And then the series decided that, actually, Adrien being so attentive, often even to his own detriment, is a good thing because Marinette can benefit from it. Suddenly Gabriel’s behavior was claimed to not be abusive or emotionally damaging to Adrien at all and Félix is a caring cousin and a good guy. Considering there are still some throw-away lines in the post-retool episodes about how harmful Adrien’s fawning is to himself, it really seems like either there’s been a change in course or the writers disagreed on what the takeaway over Adrien’s family situation was supposed to be.

As for Marinette, ‘Weredad’ does, just as you pointed out, confirm Tom as an incredibly overprotective parent. I’ve also previously made a post about how Marinette exhibits a lot of signs of being an overly coddled child, which is the same thing as a child with cosseting/helicopter parents. Marinette can’t handle stress, because her parents don’t expect things from her, not wanting to pressure her. The one time her parents asked her to do anything for them in the show was handing off a cake to a customer in ‘Timebreaker’. The rest of the time Marinette seems to almost be a free-range child, with no mention of bedtimes or her parents expecting her to have her homework done. Marinette’s studies barely get mentioned, which is really weird for a middle school teen hero show where the characters spend a lot of time in school and classes. But Marinette’s parents are apparently completely unaware of what Marinette does with her day or what happens at school, outside of the letter/email they received in ‘Simon Says’ about Marinette’s repeated absences. Nobody keeps track of or expects anything from Marinette on a more casual level, so when things actually rely on her performance, she buckles under the pressure.

Marinette also can’t handle setbacks, because her parents refuse to voice out her failures and weaknesses so that she could accept them. In ‘Animaestro’, where Marinette starts badmouthing herself, her parents, instead of dealing with this self-deprecating attitude directly, insist she’s definitely not a klutz and totally gets to be a server. They also completely sideline her reason for wanting to be at the event because of this, which they know is to see Adrien. The instant Marinette’s lip starts wobbling, her parents will lie to make her feel better instead of discussing the situation with her. Basically, they treat her like she’s a toddler incapable of understanding that they have a responsibility to their client to not bring an untrained child to work as a server at a public media event with a lot of celebrities.

This lack of dealing with Marinette’s self-esteem problems is also related to Marinette’s past as a victim of Chloé’s bullying. Marinette’s parents are very unengaged with Marinette’s role as a victim; even when she gets expelled on what they think (rightly so) are false accusations, they leave things to the authorities and just tell Marinette she can work at the bakery. To a child, that preparation for the worst-case-scenario feels like the parents aren’t on her side at all. Of course, we don’t know if the parents are aware of the past bullying Marinette faced; even in ‘Origins’ they merely encouraged her to go to school and bring everyone pastries. In general, Marinette’s parents seem to know very little about her friend group (they think Sabrina is a close friend of Marinette’s in ‘Darkblade’) and social standing in addition to her daily activities, which lends credence to me deeming her a free-range child.

Marinette also can’t handle rejection, because her parents never deny her anything except for a single episode, ‘Simon Says’, where they told her she couldn’t go out with her friends until she stopped skipping class. They were incredibly gentle about this grounding too, and held each other's hands afterwards, like this was an incredibly difficult task they’d just completed, gently telling their teenaged daughter she had to stop skipping class for a week before she could be allowed out whenever she wanted again. Basically, it takes extreme circumstances for Marinette’s parents to give her any boundaries, and they clearly don’t like doing it, which explains perfectly why she has no boundaries when it comes to pursuing her attraction to Adrien.

The problem with all of this is that this should be a good ground for Marinette to grow from. This is a valuable topic to discuss. As I said earlier in the post, overprotective helicopter parents who are afraid that every single disappointment or setback will traumatize their child for life are a thing. As such, this is an important thing to teach to families and especially to kids who wouldn't understand what's going on in their lives unless someone brought it up. But this isn't what the show does, because the head of the showrunners is the most overprotective parent of them all for his fictional creation, so of course he isn't going to criticize himself.

[blade-liger-4ever]

Why I'm not big into TFP Arcee

Now don't get me wrong, TFP Arcee is the only version of the character I'll ever give almost 100% respect. However, I'm really tired of all the gushing and praise she gets, and that's not counting how much I ended up hating her in S2. Now, admittedly, most of my beef with her is in her treatment of Smokescreen, but in light of @chaoticcreatorgardendean's points about her characterization in S1, I'll lightly tackle her problems there.

No worries, this - shouldn't, I hope - be as bad as my dressing down of Jack.

So, when Arcee is introduced, we're told in pretty rapid fashion that she's 1 an aft-kicker in her own right, 2 has a traumatic backstory that left her with a procupine-like exterior to everyone, and 3 that she's very much not all that caring. Yes, I clearly recall her protective streak with Jack; however, that came after she ditched housesitting duty in favor of blowing off steam on patrol. Right here, we see a couple of vices to Arcee's character: she's arrogant in how her skills are used (further emphasized with her arguing against being Jack's guardian), and that she is irresponsible. Face it, she knows better than anyone in the audience that Bulkhead's got a spine made out of chocolate when it comes to kids or pressure of any kind that's not from a Decepticon. To leave him in charge with Miko, the single most strong-willed being in this continuity after Optimus and Megatron, is so reckless and immature that it borders on stupidity. No, she didn't realize that Miko would join the battlefield, but it's pretty dang clear that Miko is a force of nature unto herself. Butter spines + Bombs of willpower = the Butter spines losing. That's just a fact, and it tells us that Arcee, while pretty and bad-butt, has many flaws.

Then comes her saga of arcs with Jack. Not only is she shown to be immature and hypocritical when the race episode comes up, but she also chafes/bites back at authority, even from Optimus. Don't forget, anytime Airachnid or Starscream/revenge was on the table, she flew off the handle and went straight for the kill, practically giving the finger to Optimus numerous times while doing so. Heck, I don't think Optimus even grounded her at base for her insubordination, and while that's kinda respectable insofar as Optimus not being harsh to his pseudo family, it's a tactical risk when letting Arcee's wrath and hatred go unchecked or even unpunished. No joke, Arcee continually almost got herself and others killed when she was greedy for revenge or offended by a bratty kid; the fact that she's not really punished (I'm not counting the race episode because she still disobeyed orders to make Jack look good for the stupid chick) at all is a writing and military failure on everyone involved. Letting her get away with this and not learning from her mistakes, when even Miko (who was also filled to the brim with rage and grief) knew after killing Hardshell that it didn't change what she felt/what happened, is - I don't even know how to categorize it.

Yeah, it's relatable that Arcee is like this, but it's stupid that she doesn't learn, not to mention dangerous for those who try acting like her. In real life, there would have been severe consequences for her actions but, since this is fantasy land where strong females can do whatever and walk away scot-free, a blind eye is turned to Arcee.

Now we come to my biggest problem.

Her treatment of Smokescreen.

I understand that his attitude/personality at first is gonna grate on her nerves, but even slow Bulkhead gave him a better wakeup call by saying what amounted to, "Look at me, kid. You really think war is easy and that you can just go in guns blazing and jump us closer to victory?"

Pits of Kaon, that was literally more thoughtful and thought provoking than Arcee's demeaning points. All she ever did was make him the butt of her own sarcastic commentary, pick on him with various condescending nicknames, and then lash out whenever he was already kicking himself for messing something up. Smokescreen held himself to high standards, an issue that Bulkhead knew and empathized with due to his own insecurities, and tried to comfort him and lift the burden from his shoulders. Smokescreen wouldn't take it because he knew he'd been the one to fail, and felt like a failure and dead weight whenever his presence didn't bring something good to the table. He never wanted it to be all about glory, or fame, or really anything superficial. He just wanted to prove his worth, carry his weight, and do his part.

But Arcee never or wouldn't see that. Instead, she just saw a kid with a supposedly inflated ego and chose to read him the riot act when he was already doing that to himself fourteen different ways from Sunday. She didn't care enough about Smokescreen to actually listen and think "Okay, that's what's going on in his head"; she just wanted someone who would "take things seriously" and was gonna verbally abuse him until he "got the message".

Sweetheart, if you want him to mature, you help him by guiding his steps, nurturing his virtues, and helping him up when he's fallen. You don't do it by telling him how much he stinks for not grasping the state of things in the time it takes to blink, or by kicking him when he's down. All that tells him is that he's a waste of time for the people he's dedicated his whole life to helping, which in turn will make him self-destruct. Now luckily, Smokescreen was of a stronger constitution, and therefore shook off the doubt and fear of ineptitude when faced with bigger problems, but if he were anyone else, who's to say he wouldn't have eaten a bullet out of despair? Arcee would've then had the blood of an innocent life on her conscience, and nothing could have made up for that.

I do, objectively, like TFP Arcee, especially compared to her alternate counterparts.

I just can't stand how she got off so easily so many times.

Well, hope y'all enjoyed this, even though I'm pretty sure I did worse to her than I anticipated.

Til next time -

"Roll out!"

[majycka]

Megumi stans....we won, I guess? maybe just for now..

JJK 266 THOUGHTS AND SPOILERS AHEAD!

Aight megumi enjoyers, at least one of us has been in the trenches when Megumi was getting SHOVELED PILES OF SHIT ON for losing his will to live when he's a traumatized 15 years old boy having a valid reaction to a death of a loved one (aka who may I repeat, HEAVILY REITERATED in the manga is someone whose his entire desire to live hinges on). As of from the currents chap, I'm considering Yuuji's acknowledgement/understanding to Megumi's actions a W for us or idk maybe that's just me because he gives Megumi the empathy and understanding he needs in his crazy ass suicidal life, and it raises the question of whether this is gonna fully push Megumi for his comeback moment?

More yapping under the cut

In order to explain why the magnitude of this chapter is such an important development for Megumi, his trauma needs to be discuss first and, there's four people we need to go through to reflect his stages of life. Toji, Tsumiki, Gojo, aaaannd Yuuji! :D

TOJI, the dad who left for milk.

Although we barely see any interaction with these two (only one fight scene from them), Toji no doubt kickstarted the trauma of Megumi the moment he decided to left for milk and never return again. He's traumatized by the Zenin's which explains why he acted out in that way and abandoned his child. All he's life he's treated as the outsider for being the odd one out. He lashed out from it as he got stronger, calmed down when meet Meg's mom who then died, and went back to lashing out again, forgetting that he has a tiny son waiting for him at home. Big L for Toji.

I know that Gege reiterated in his interview that he wants to craft a story where there's no right and wrong people, but I'm gonna proceed to be harsher towards Toji here because he's the ADULT situation. Yes, a traumatized adult who's fucked up and not perfect, but I still hold him accountable in perpetuating Megumi's trauma because Toji proceeded to repeat the cycle of trauma that moment he decided to leave, thinking that turning over Megumi to the Zenin is the best option cuz he got The Ten Shadows Technique. From Toji's perspective, it seemed the better option because he was raised knowing his no cursed energy made him an outcast in his family. It's drilled to him that cursed technique was everything for Zenins, so of course, he thought that his son with a valued technique will make the Zenins, olympic gold medal holder of abuse, treat him better. But, heck no! Just look what happened to that Naoya, who despite being raised differently as Toji or Maki and Mai, ended up as a piece of shit. In the end though, I gotta give him the bareeeessst minimum because he kinda pushed Gojo to interfere with Megumi being sold off to the Zenins(which has another set of problems discussed for the later part of discussion).

I try to stay true in including Gege's intention in writing here, and also other nuanced perspective cuz that's the type of series JJK is that yes, Toji DID care for his son in the barest minimum and in his most emotionally stunted way.

However, the damage is done, and Megumi is left with no prime adult caretaker to protect/guide him with only an older sis to have any resemblance of it .

2. TSUMIKI, the manic pixie dream girl sister.

To define the term (as I've stolen from Google) , manic pixie dream girl (MPDG) means "a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist." They are often associated as love interest in movies, BUT I AM NO WAY SHAPE IN FORM ENDORSING MEGUMI SEES HER THAT WAY. Instead, I am using MPDG as a loose term to describe Tsumiki because like most MPDG, we barely know ANYTHING about her actually and we only saw her through the eyes of Megumi which is being pretty and dead.

Not essentially dead and not essentially just pretty because Megumi described her to be the model of a kind person and someone that Megumi wishes to protect, aka his greater purpose of life, which is yah, great, but we are stuck with this perception of Tsumiki. We don't know her, and I think the closest thing we got an unbiased perception of her is when she chucked a cartoon of milk to Megumi (she will call out his BS). This connects back with Megumi's trauma because who else are you gonna hinge your will to live on when the prime adults in your life failed you? He sees her in a brighter light in order to survive. A way of coping mechanism even.

AND YET, despite all his talk appreciating her kind traits and killing people in the culling game to get back to her, you would be surprised that instead of apologizing to her that he was all emo about, he was a dick to her when they reunited. 💀💀

And in fact, the narrative punishes him for this flaw.

To the point that when Sukuna took over his body, he "killed: Tsumiki in his hands which didn't just left Megumi the guilt and shame of being a dick to his sister before she dies but also the impression that Megumi was the one who "killed her." This makes Megumi an active participant to his own tragedy, and it serves a big slap on his face that he's also at fault here.

3. GOJO, the traumatized bro who tried his best.

This is definitely the raging hot debate of the fandom which is their dynamic, and my take breaks this perception of the uwufied Gojo a lot of the fandom seems to like. Yes, I do see Gojo as another perpetrator to Megumi’s trauma, another adult that failed him but not in such of a black and white way thinking of Gojo’s the wholly bad guy here. Believe it or not, he’s still a part of the chain of generational trauma, being a "chain" as in he's a victim AND perpetrator of the system. I called him the traumatized bro who tried his best here because as much as Gojo knows how cruel the jujutsu system is for the kids, he still unintentionally passes over the core mindset of such cruel system to Megumi since Gojo still did grew up in this system normalized in his eyes.

"Jujutsu Sorcerer is an individual sport."

I say "unintentionally passes" because no, Gojo doesn't have the same intention as Zenins/majority of the system who drills "strength is everything" in the most fucked up way possible. Yes, he enjoys Megumi’s company and treats him nicely. Yes, he sticks his neck out for him. Yes, he wants them to be strong so they can change the system. But this isn't about Gojo. It's about Megumi who still undeniably suffered from the accumulation of the few adults in his life failing him which includes Gojo. Gojo offers protection to Megumi. KEYWORD: Offers. It’s in exchange for Megumi working under Gojo as a jujutsu sorcerer. Now, for smol Megumi here, who truly going through the horror show of abandonment from his dad, agrees to it because apparently, according to Gojo, it’s the only way to protect his sister.

"I'll take care of things! But you're gonna have to work extra hard. I'm countin' on ya."

Annnd thus the cycle repeats! Although it wasn’t as bad as Zenin’s abusive environment Toji was raised, Megumi is still pushed in the same cutthroat environment of the jjk world that Gojo believed he can survive just because Megs has a valued powerful technique if only he himself fullfills his potential, like Gojo’s Six Eyes. BUT Gojo, who delights in his power, forgets a crucial part that…..Megumi isn’t like him!

Check out what Megumi has to say. (aka bud doesn't want any of that sorcerers shit and just wants a domestic life)

So the thing is, was Megumi ever asked his input in choosing to be a jujutsu sorcerer? Well, yah….and all it circles back to just protecting his sister and people like her. There’s a set of problems that comes with this mindset though that Gojo was valid to point out and that is Megumi doesn’t think about himself enough. “It’s ok to be selfish!” Gojo said in the context of being a stronger sorcerer.

But at the same time, he also gave Megumi the idea to that if he doesn’t work as sorcerer, then he won’t be able to protect his sister when he was a mere 6-7y/o boy.

You know that circulating meme of Megumi pulling Mahogora for minor inconvenience? Well, guess what that tells his suicidal tendencies in protecting anyone but himself. Kid got no sense of self-preservation because his self esteemed has completely tanked itself due to his abandonment issues, and now that he’s expressing how it emotionally and physically paralyzes him, he has every valid reason to do so.

Why, yes, Gojo was 19/20 at the time he first met Megs, still a kid, doesn't know shit, and has unaddressed issues being treated as The Strongest Weapon(here’s a dedicated gojo-centric meta I wrote previously about Gojo and his issues cuz he's one complicated fool). I describe this whole situation as an unaware traumatized kid taking in another traumatized kid which is not a fun mix to have, and I understand that Gojo ain’t exactly prepared for that kind of job.

HOWEVER, I’m way harsher to point out Gojo’s failure as an adult in Megumi in the later part of the series because at this point, Gojo's a grown adult, he waxes poetry in being responsible for the next gen , and we get to see his priorities throughout the series especially with the Sukuna’s fight, like seriously he had one legitimate fun fighting someone on par with him.

Gojo DELIGHTS in power no doubt, he chooses kids with most potential, he gets excited finding those kids, and this is the type of the closest dependable adult Megumi has in his life.

Yes, financially supported but Gojo isn't around much when he's working and on demand sorcerer almost 24/7. That's why growing up sure do sucked ass for Megumi especially when no one’s really there to guide and to keep an eye on your development AS A PERSON AND NOT JUST A SORCERER which the latter part is what unfortunately Gojo’s more eager to do.

4. YUUJI, the guy who just wants Megumi to know he matters to him as a person.

Yuuji and Megumi were definitely the highlight of this chapter because in the bleak world of JJK where everyone seemed to be succumbing to the repeated fuck ups of the previous gen (like that Yuta-Gojo situation), this chapter actually offers that THERE IS HOPE that the new gen can do better like what Yuuji just did that the adults in Megumi's life are too emotionally stunted to do. Yuuji take the time to listen to Megumi's emotional thoughts, what he feels as a person, and not just listen, but to understand and empathize. It even took lots of attempts for Yuuji to make Megumi open up.

He responds to Megumi's vulnerability with care and love, and Yuuji understands the pain Megumi is going through from losing his sister. With someone in pain like that, Yuuji knows he can't just go around saying "just live" to someone who's practically suicidal.

The treat of this all is when this scene comes next. Yuuji also shows his vulnerability and expresses that Megumi matters to him!

"It's lonely without you..Fushiguro."

This scene clearly parallels Gojo and Megumi's first meeting, so I'm gonna try to throw my two cents here and explain why Gege choose this direction. Remember what I said about Yuuji giving us the hope of the new gen escaping from the shackles of generational trauma? Well, I think this parallel is a way in saying that what Megumi needed when he was so young was someone to see him and his pain who's just a kid abandoned and forced to fend for themselves because the prime adults decided to to dip out. This is Megumi we are talking about here who's unaddressed issues stays hidden beneath all the pressure of him being The Ten Shadows Technique. He's valued for his technique. That's why Gojo showed up to meet him in the first place. That's also what the jujutsu system looked after for their child soldiers. Yuuji tries to break this chain of trauma their mentor unknowingly repeats. He'll show up for Megumi again and again because he's his dear friend even if Megumi's being difficult to be pulled out of Sukuna. And the beautiful thing is Yuuji didn't had some grand inspiring speech or grand offer to convince Megumi, he wasn't even sure Megumi will be up for it. Yuuji simply want to say that he matters to him. That understands him. That he's important to him so much he'll be sad when he dies, and it mattered.

"This is...Fushiguro Megumi's...!!"

And now that Megumi is showing signs in taking his body back, it's now his turn to save himself. Yuuji did his part, and for someone whose future has been controlled by everyone but himself, this time Megumi gets to decide what comes next.

[fallingtowers]

the fact that buffy goes through All That and comes out still pretty and blonde and with perfect makeup can, of course, be chalked up to bog-standard misogynist beauty norms. female characters on tv were, and largely still are, groomed and beautified to a level frankly unattainable for any real person, buffy maybe more than most. sarah michelle gellar was an official spokesperson for maybelline during the shows run, and buffy's appearance was geared towards bringing in male viewers; of course she was never going to be anything other than unrealistically beautiful.

and yet, somehow, in the context of the story, it works! look, far be it from me to ever, EVER say a female character design is better without scars, and if any other character went through the kind of shit buffy regularly goes through and didn't end up with a scar or two to show for it, i'd call it stupid and cowardly. hell, i'll call it stupid and cowardly in the case of buffy too! certainly her lack of physical scarring wasn't primarily motivated by attention to story or theme. all the same, it manages to dovetail really neatly with those things in a way that imo adds to the character.

in-universe, we can confidently assume the reason buffy isn't covered in scars is that she has that slayer healing factor going for her. she gets hurt, but even major injuries heal quickly and don't leave a trace. good thing, too -- the show already has a hell of a time selling the idea that she's somehow keeping her identity as the slayer a secret, and it would be that much tougher for us to suspend our belief if this purportedly normal high school girl was walking around with the marks of violent conflict on her face.

the fact that she doesn't -- that she is outwardly normal -- ties into the thematic aspect of this. because we know buffy isn't normal; she's the slayer, and she's got plenty of psychological scars to prove it. at various points in the show, she lashes out from post-traumatic stress; she goes catatonic; she spends an entire season depressed and engaging in self-harm. in short, my girl is fucked up! crucially, though, she only ever makes this anyone else's problem when things reach a boiling point and she can't keep it bottled up anymore. she's the slayer, and that, to buffy's mind, means shouldering the burden of being the slayer alone. she maintains a double facade: an outward one, for the benefit of the wider world, where she pretends to be a normal girl; and the one she puts up around her friends, where she pretends to be okay. she's fucked up inside, but she doesn't show it. scars on the inside, but none on the outside.

in fact, we do see buffy with a scar once -- her wishverse counterpart in "the wish" has a prominent facial scar. not coincidentally, that version of buffy is a lot less concerned with appearances ‐‐ in terms of clothes, hair, and makeup, as well as in terms of behavior. wishverse buffy has been through the wringer, but unlike real-world buffy, she makes no attempt to hide it. she's hardened, cynical, jaded. she wears her scars on the outside.

it's also worth nothing that wishverse buffy's behavior is very reminiscent of faith's in a way that is likely intentional. that entire season is all about contrasting buffy with faith, her shadow self who represents her selfish impulse to cut loose and cross all the boundaries she's set for herself -- which would include her need to keep up appearances.

so: a line can be drawn between the doylist unnaturalness of buffy's appearance and the watsonian unnaturalness of her behavior. her proximity to, and emulation of, faith results in a thematic move away from that unnaturalness. this is in a season that's noted for its homoerotic undertones, wherein the show goes out of its way to establish parallels between faith and buffy's big dumb hetero star-crossed lover angel. hmmmm!!!

(also, lest we forget season 6, which buffy spends flirting with the temptation to drop the pretense and indulge in her own selfish desires, a temptation which is embodied by another shadow self, who has -- wait for it -- a prominent facial scar.)

in conclusion, a cool facial scar, an hour alone in a rage room, and getting fucked right by a girl might not have fixed buffy summers, but it couldn't have hurt. discuss

[magicaii]

The fact that when tsukasa tenma experiences something highly traumatic he instantly zeroes in on what he did wrong to end up in that situation, drills into his head how to avoid experiencing something like that again in the future, and immediately tries to forget the event ever happening because it’s not only a reminder of his failure but the memory would also cripple his self value enough to hinder his ability to be the person people expect him to and move forward with a new lesson learned to avoid being traumatized again. The problem with this is that you can’t forget your trauma, because then you’ll never be able to fully process what happened to you and recognize what effect it has on your life and outlook. Tsukasa is never able to do this because he does his damndest best to completely erase the memory. When someone has trauma, it’s a completely normal response to come up with a strategy or solution to deal with the damage you’ve been dealt, whether it’s simply withdrawing from those feelings inwardly or acting outwardly in a way to make sure it can’t hurt or affect you again. The problem is that these aren’t healthy patterns, and you’re supposed to get help so that you can acknowledge what happened and move PAST it. Tsukasa is so adamant to pretend shit never took place that he is stuck in this horribly unhealthy phase with terrible mechanisms to get through it all, and since he never processes his trauma has even taken it to the next level by piling it on and on every time something new happens. Saki forced herself to smile because of me? I can never disappoint someone again. The audience didn’t enjoy our play? I said I wouldn’t disappoint people anymore, so I can’t believe I did it again, I have to double down now. The troupe broke up and it’s my fault? I let them down as a leader, I need to take on every burden by myself so that I’m the one solely responsible for everything and I will make sure nothing goes wrong again. Thing is, all these feelings are valid to a certain extent, there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to disappoint people and feeling remorseful when you make them upset. It’s just not good when you’re basing all your worth as a person on how well you live up to peoples standards. He’s so fixated on how well he “performs” that his behaviour becomes EXTREMELY erratic when he is faced with his own failure. Sometimes he straight up lashes out or retracts, both so different from his usual demeanour that people are utterly taken back to the point where even if they are concerned about tsukasa they find it hard to say anything because it’s almost like dealing with an entirely different person. I don’t know how to wrap this up but he’s so mentally ill and I feel that people overlook it a lot because he’s also a comedic character.

[gyrofenton]

Idk if I'm the only one, but I've seen posts where the "bad guy" in the relationship is Fenton, and I'm like: "Okay... didn't we all agree that Gyro is the most likely to pull a punch?" I mean, I love Gyro, but the truth is the truth

You might want to read this post and this post to get more context.

We all acknowledge that pre-Astro B.O.Y.D. Gyro is a mess, and most anti Fenro rants use this as an excuse to call the ship toxic because "Gyro would continue to abuse Fenton". While Gyro's behavior wasn't the best, we can't ignore his character development and how it translates to better relationships with himself and other people, especially Boyd and Fenton.

But what really annoys me is how biased those rants are, always focusing on Gyro's wrongs and barely putting attention to Fenton and the many times he truly compromised Gyro's integrity by ignoring his advice, to later be proved his reckless actions have negative consequences, like the creation of the B.U.D.D.Y. System or Waddle Duck. Of course, Fenton is actually a good person and fixes everything, what surprises me is how very little accountability he had to take on with Gyro or McDuck Enterprises.

So yes, you're absolutely right, Gyro is more likely to lash out first when there's a valid reason, but he's also capable of forgiving and moving on, proving that he's not an abuser like antis say.

I started the "Gyro deserves better" joke as a way to put a spin on this speech just to show how ridiculous it is.

At the end of the day, we forget that their dynamic was written that way for the sake of comedy, and it's under that light that we should ultimately judge them. None of them show a traumatic responde for what they lived together, quite the opposite, we see how in the end of the show they actually turned into better versions of themselves and part of that comes from their interactions.

I love both of them, so I don't believe any of them or their potential romantic relationship is abusive, I just like to mess around and take everything light-hearted.

[mirageofadesert]

Give me more morally gray characters ...

Let me interrupt my regular program for a brief rant about Downton Abbey and Thomas Barrow… well, not really regular as I've been too busy to watch anything with subtitles for the past few weeks. Instead, I passively binged on Downton Abbey while working.

I love morally gray characters, be it Tantai Jin from TTEOTM or Spike from Buffy. One of my favorite characters is Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey. (Spoiler Alert, TW // suicide, homophobia, conversion therapy)

Thomas is everything I need in a character ... unhinged, angsty and gay.

I loved him from the first rude line to the last. He starts out as a delightful troublemaker with a cruel streak born of fear, hurt and the desire to be respected, fit in and belong. He is, as Baxter understands so well, his own worst enemy, having perfected self-sabotage over the years.

A supporting character for most of the show, the footman-turned-butler's story is usually prioritized over his character development - meaning the writers know where they want him to end up each season, even if it contradicts previous characterizations. This leaves the audience with a character who can be hard to follow at times.

The writing really got on my nerves at times. From conveniently forgetting his medical training when they want him to despair during his job hunt, to pulling any kind of cunning out of him when they want him to appear changed (and depressed), Thomas is always what the showrunners need him to be, but not necessary what would make sense for his character. I'm still annoyed that they made him go through medical torture in the form of conversion therapy and a suicide attempt, and then glossed over these traumatic incidents in favor of boring other storylines. Or how they portrayed his war injury as an act of cowardice rather than desperation.

What I love about him is that he was still a coherent character who remained a morally gray character (the last film aside, because they sort of forgot to give him any of his character traits back). Thomas would still lash out when he was angry or hurt, would still manipulate others for his own gain, and would still feel wronged by the world. Once the world has brought him to his knees, he understands that he has only himself to blame, and he tries to do better - which has its ups and downs. The Thomas we see in the final and in the films still wants to belong, is still a desperate romantic, but he is also so incredibly insecure in a rather endearing way.

Younger Thomas was rather stiff but dignified, trying to appear immaculate, trying to hide the fact that he felt he was anything but. Once the mask comes off, he goes from being a reluctant cat to being full of nervous puppy energy. As a neurodivergent person who has recently struggled with not being able to masks well, I can relate a little too much to this version of Thomas.

Most characters, that start out as villains, either change completely (like Tantai Jin), their behavior will be excused (like Mo Ran or Spike) or they sacrifice themselves for the greater good to redeem themselves (like Spike). Thomas stays more on less morally gray. We understand the reasons better, why he would lash out at others, and we can feel sorry for him. He had a harder life than most, but that still does not undo the harm he has done to others.

All in all, the last film was a bit of a disappointment for me, mainly because a lot of the characters felt a bit off. I had to watch the film twice to get behind the romance with Guy Dexter. What Guy meets is Thomas desire to be respected as a person, to be seen as worthwhile, to escape the life as decorative wallpaper and to finally have a romantic relationship with someone that is rather enthusiastic about him. A lot of their relationships seems to have developed off-screen, based on Guy knowing who Carson was during his proposal and understanding how uncertain Thomas still feels about his role in the household. I wish them well - but not at the expense of Thomas being excluded from the rumoured 3rd film. I hope it takes place in the USA and we get to see him again!

I really wish we would see more morally gray characters like this, even through a quick look into the fandom of Downton Abbey shows me, that not everybody can handle it.

[cassanda-aqualia]

Haruchiyo Sanzu,a psychopath,a maniac,a broken one,someone who deserves recognition,who deserves better. (A Character Analysis)

----------------------------------------------------

Sanzu Haruchiyo from Tokyo Revengers is often dismissed as "just a psychopath" — but I truly believe he's one of the most complex, heartbreaking characters in the series. His story is layered with abandonment, trauma, twisted loyalty, and the slow loss of his own identity.

Let me explain why...

A Broken Childhood: The Making of Sanzu

Sanzu was never just "crazy from the start." His trauma begins at home — Takeomi was a terrible role model for him, and Senju (though she loved him and he too) often blamed him for things he didn't do. Takeomi would yell at him, reinforcing the idea that Sanzu was the "problem" child and making him feel as if he wasn't enough. Then came the incident where he got his scars,the diamond shaped ones— and from that moment, something in Haruchiyo began to break.

It seems no one was there for him after that. No support, no comfort. Just silence and pain. It makes sense that he'd cling to someone — and for Sanzu, that person became Mikey,even if Mikey himself was the one to hurt Haruchiyo in such cruel way.

The Pain of Losing Shinichiro Sano

In the original timeline, we learn Sanzu was Shinichiro’s trigger. Shinichiro was perhaps the only person who truly cared about him and he died by suicide right in front of Sanzu. That’s deeply traumatic. To watch the one person you love throw themselves off a bridge…that kind of moment scars the soul, not just the skin.

And later, when Sanzu gains memories from the original timeline, he’s left confused, feeling "crazy" — haunted by lives he wasn’t supposed to remember. It’s only after talking to Shinichiro again that he begins to understand.

What if that’s when Sanzu made a silent vow — to protect Mikey, no matter what — as a final promise to Shinichiro?

And let's not forget the irony of it.Sanzu was the only person to witness both of the Sano brother's death.Both Shinichiro's suicide as well as Mikey's.

The Obsession with Mikey — Love, Loyalty or Trauma?

People say Sanzu is obsessed with Mikey, and they’re not wrong. But I believe it’s more than devotion — it’s trauma-bonding. Mikey hurt him, and yet he loved him. It’s similar to a condition where victims feel attached to their abuser — not out of weakness, but because they’re desperate for meaning, belonging, and consistency in a world that keeps hurting them.

Mikey was the only constant Sanzu had.

And Sanzu knew about Mikey’s dark impulses — Shinichiro explained them. Maybe Sanzu believed that for Mikey to survive with them, he needed to embrace the darkness, not fight it. That could be why Sanzu wanted Mikey back in the criminal world — to "free" him, in a twisted way.

Mucho: The Final Betrayal

I refuse to believe Sanzu never cared about Mucho. They were close during Toman, and Mucho protected him.Sanzu even went as far as to tell him he thought of him as an older brother. When Mucho willingly went to prison with the rest of the remaining tenjuku after the death of Izana-that was likely the final betrayal that shattered what little stability Sanzu had left.Not only Mucho betrayed Sanzu's "king" but also Sanzu himself and their friendship.

When Sanzu killed him, he said he’d manipulated him all along — but I think he was just lashing out. Trying to protect what little pride and control he had left. Deep down? He did care.

Redemption and the Final Timeline:

In the final timeline, Sanzu is different. He’s happy. No scar incident. No trauma. He joins Toman as a founder, makes friends, and lives a better life. It’s proof that he was never doomed to be a evil — he just needed someone to believe in him, before it was too late.

Conclusion...

Sanzu Haruchiyo isn’t just a villain. He’s a victim of circumstance, a boy who never got the love he needed, who clung to the wrong people in a desperate attempt to find meaning. His story is a tragedy and that is indeed the sad truth. Haruchiyo Akashi was a kind soul but because of all the trauma he induced Haruchiyo became Sanzu and little by little he lost his sanity.

...however...

All of this does not excuse his chaotic behaviour in the Bonten timeline or at the final fight-the Tokyo mangi gang vs the Kantou manji gang fight.There are no other excuses other than him being mentally unstable but his unfortunate circumstances doesn't excuse his faults and wrongdoings!

Feel free to share your opinions. I'd love to hear what others think,especially if you see him as "just crazy."

[sixisnotaprettynumber]

Expanding on my Ben and “ESOEMOEHOED” lyric post because I genuinely have nothing better to do. (pt 2 in the “Let the Hargreeves siblings be flawed people” rants).

It always drives me crazy when people complain about Ben (and the others) “being mean to Klaus” or “not understanding his addiction” because they’re forgetting the fact that he’s been dealing with that shit for twenty one (possibly twenty two) years.

Notice how I didn’t say seventeen years. Because the thing is Klaus didn’t start taking drugs after Ben died. As early as s1, he’s shown to have been rolling joints under the dinner table when Five was still around - which means he was thirteen at the oldest when he started.

It’s also shown in the s4 Ben flashback scene that his siblings are the ones that had to deal with getting him ready for missions whenever he got all doped up or drunk or whatever unsober state he decided to be in that day (in that instance it was Allison but if you consider “Young Blood” canon in any way the implication is that it was usually Ben). And that’s a lot for a kid to deal with - both being the person taking drugs and being the person having to deal with someone who isn’t sober!

Either way, they’d all been doing it for a long time. And the thing is dealing with addicts is hard. The show goes out of its way to explain this! Ben just has to sit there and watch as someone he loves destroys their life over and over again. It’s so fucking difficult. Does that mean he should dismiss Klaus’ pain? No! Does it mean he should lash out the way he does? No! Obviously not!

But it does mean when he says “You’re always going through something!” or “How many rock bottoms do you have to hit?” it’s not coming from a place of cruelty - but exhausted experience. He’s done this a million times at this point. When he asks “Can you handle this?” he means “Am I going to have to help you pick up the pieces again and watch you destroy yourself when that fails?”

Ben’s being a dick. Ben’s one of the only people who hasn’t completely given up on Klaus. All the other siblings have (rightfully) drifted away from one another at the beginning of the series but Ben stayed. And we can go in circles all day for the reasonings on why he did that - fear, selfishness, love - but there was never a point where he didn’t think Klaus could do better. If Klaus wanted to get sober, Ben’d be passive aggressive and snarky and condescending - but he’d support him full heartedly. Because Klaus is better than that - and Dave knew it too. The people closest to him know that.

Now this isn’t a hate post on Klaus - he’s literally one of my favorite characters of all time - and addiction is hard. Reginald’s abuse was horrific and cruel and endlessly traumatizing. Klaus is shown to be empathetic and creative and kind and brilliant and loving! And that’s what makes it so tragic. That’s the part that makes Ben (and the others) so frustrated when Klaus screws up, that’s why they all want Klaus to get sober. Because they love him! And he’s better than that.

And they know he’s fully capable of doing it - Klaus just refuses to see that most of the time because acknowledging that would be the hardest thing he’s ever done. It’d mean giving up his one lifeline - the one thing he knows he can rely on - and admitting that it is an actual problem he has and not just a “fuck you” to Reginald. He was only ever hurting himself and his siblings - and at his core Klaus is a good person so he doesn’t want that.

Ben knew all that though. He didn’t handle that information correctly but he knew it. And that’s the most impossible and torturous thing in the world - knowing and being forced to watch Klaus piss it all away. The potential Ben sees in Klaus isn’t the same that Reginald saw - it’s far more important. He was an asshole but there was never once a point in the show where he didn’t love his brother.

Ben was stuck dealing with an addiction that wasn’t his. He was angry and tired and he loved his brother.

Those are all facts that can coexist.

[dreamchasernina]

Your opinion on "Love is a battlefield" comic ? I rly see some ppl on tumblr call a nice guy or incel cause of this.

I’ve been wanting to talk about that comic for a while so thank you for asking me this. So I got the lost adventure comics a month ago and I enjoyed them very much. When I got to this specific comic I suddenly remembered that everyone found it problematic so I was glad to finally read it myself to see what the problem was.

So if some of you haven't read this comic it's about Aang and Katara, where Katara pressures Aang into a training session to see him firebend. Aang thinks Katara wants to talk about their kiss right before the invasion, but is disappointed to see it’s not. Katara actively tries to avoid talking about that, so she starts attacking Aang so he would fight back. Aang locks himself in a rock like he does in the finale and tells Katara he doesn’t want to train, until he gives in, firebends the rock like a volcano almost hurting Katara. After which he just storms off.

I’ve read a lot of ATLA comics and some of them do have moments where the characters are not themselves. But, never have I seen a comic that mischaracterizes the characters as bad as this one. Genuinely, does Aang seem like someone who would get angry and lash out with his bending? Forget the avatar state, that’s when he is so consumed by rage he loses himself. I’m talking about Aang getting casually angry and actually bending in anger? Looking at the show Aang gets angry multiple times, in the great divide, in the finale, the chase, just to name a few…and never ever does he use bending in anger, EVER, except in The Desert because he is so consumed by his rage about losing Appa. The whole The Desert episode highlights how Aang is not himself, that’s why it’s so impactful, because Aang is a complete opposite of who he usually is. Outside of that episode, Aang never uses his bending in anger, ESPECIALLY at people he cares about.

And even more importantly, is this writer trying to tell me that after the storyline where Aang learns to fire bend and hurts Katara in his recklessness, he is so traumatized by that he swears off firebending completely, doesn't want to use it ever again until he discovers fire is not meant for destruction and he just needs to learn to control it...after all that YOU WANT TO TELL ME AANG RISKS HURTING KATARA AGAIN WITH FIREBEDNING BECAUSE HE GETS MAD???? WHAT IS THIS WRITER SMOKING. Talk about character assassination because what the hell is this? How was this ever approved? Two episodes before this comic is supposed to take place Aang tells Zuko “now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love”…he accepts Zuko because he admits he needs to control his bending so he doesn’t hurt anyone unintentionally…and you want me to believe 2 episode after this Aang almost hurts Katara unintentionally with the element he was afraid to use again for 2 seasons?? Truly, I do not understand how this got published.

Now, as obvious as it is that Aang is out of character in this comic a lot of people don’t notice that Katara is very much not herself either. BECAUSE THAT IS NOT KATARA PEOPLE! Katara, the most gentle and caring member of the Gaang, who has spent the entirety of the Bitter Work episode telling Toph not to put too much pressure on Aang and try positive reinforcement and a gentle nudge in the right direction to teach him…STARTS THROWING ICICLES AT AANG WHEN HE SAYS HE DOESNT WANT TO TRAIN AND IS VISIBLY UPSET???? She sneaks up on him, splashes water on him, laughs at him and then proceeds to attack him to force him to train. Oh yeah, that’s definitely Katara right there…this writer definitely knows the characters…

I don’t know who wrote this comic, I heard it’s a ZK shipper? If this was written by ZK shipper it suddenly makes sense because they wrote Aang exactly like Zuko would've behaved. Zuko is the one who’s known to lash out in anger and firebend at people he’s angry at, NOT AANG. Now, I can’t confirm nor deny this claim, again I don't know who this writer is, but I need them to sit their ass down and watch the damn show and never touch these characters again.