#actually now that i think about it its just /another/ double standard people have when it comes Viren

[judelaw]

I finally watched season 4 of The Dragon Prince and what the hell is up with that Reyla plot. The show spent three seasons constantly explaining how revenge is bad and how it creates this never ending circle of violence and how we need to break out of this circle — but then Reyla wants to get revenge on Viren for “killing” her parents and the crew is like ‘yeah, that’s perfectly fine and reasonable’. Like Callum was more then happy to give an entire speech about how revenge is bad when his own and Ezran’s lives were in danger but then Reyla tells him she needs to go to get revenge (by also risking her own life, which in itself should have been reason enough for him to say something) and he’s just like ‘I know, see you later bby’??

[spacerockfloater]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I wholeheartedly agree with your recent post. It really bothers me how the fandom, especially those who are supposed to be green fans, are turning on Aemond. Don't get me wrong, I loathe the way they handled his character this season, but it's really interesting how for the last two years we had to listen Aegon stans complain about him being ruined by bad writing. Yet, they never turned on him. He was just the writers' victim, according to them (which isn't untrue). However, those same people (you saw it in the replies) are unwilling to extend the same courtesy to Aemond when he's being treated even worse by the writers for the whole f**king season, all that without having a decent amount of screentime or an actual POV (unlike Aegon who actually got a much better material this season). I guess these fans only "liked" Aemond while he was what Aegon thought of him, "a loyal hound he could set against his foes and who knows his place". Double standards much? Let's get this straight, I hate what they did with RR and Aemond burning Aegon is another dirty trick of the writers in order to divide the green fandom. Apparently, TG fans are unfortunately eating it all up. Nevertheless, it's not the reason the greens are in a bad situation because we saw that Aegon and Sunfyre wouldn't be of much help in battle anyway. Sunfyre could go against dragons like Vermax and Moondancer, but that's it. And Aegon is not a great warrior or a leader. Therefore, just like you said, Aemond can't fight alone so him asking Helaena to join with her big ass dragon isn't unreasonable. Yes, she isn't violent and doesn't want to burn anyone, but nether is Rhaena and I can bet she'll get the Nettles arc, ride the dragon and burn things.. So why does everyone treat Helaena as a little fragile house pet? Aemond is right, she can't defend herself and they would tear her apart. But no, he's also in the wrong here (showing him being violent towards Helaena is so OOC I won't even comment on it). And don't get me started on Alicent. She practically betrayed her faction twice, in ep 3 when she let Rhaenyra go. And she could have ended the war there and then, even before RR. Now she goes to Dragonstone to tell Rhaenyra she'll open the gates for her and this is framed as a good thing because her son is awful and she just wants to save her daughter? Yeah, no. However, Alicent is also defended, it's all on Aemond now, he is the evil villain ™. Aegon can be forgiven , Alicent can be forgiven, but Aemond can't? It's ridiculous. The worst thing is that I'm saying this as someone who has loved Alicent and all her children since s1.

THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH FOR THIS!

You’ve done it, you’ve said exactly what I have been thinking!

I wish I had something of substance to add to what you said, but I don’t. This needs to be a post of its own.

Aegon was treated horribly by the show. I am a huge fan of his. But now they’re doing the same thing to Aemond and he doesn’t deserve that shit.

Aemond is all that left of the Greens.

This show has butchered every single TG character.

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey everyone. It's been a while once again. And it's going to remain a while, because I've decided to actually leave.

No, this is not a joke. The fact that it's already been over a month since I last posted should indicate that I'm serious about this, and that this is not merely another two week hiatus. I didn't post about it until now because after the last hiatus, I didn't want to repeat my words from that again. That and because I didn't think it was worth it, cause it's me we're talking about. Eventually though, I felt conflicted over leaving people in the dark about it, so here I am finally clarifying for anyone who would want to know for some reason.

But I mean... what is there to say that I haven't said a hundred times before. I've tried to keep going. I've really tried. But I just don't have it in me to keep posting for the sake of it anymore, with the way things currently are. I have no motivation.

The Sonic discourse and the negative effects it's had on everyone, myself included.

The growing alienation as the vast majority of the current direction and especially the neverending SA2 milking which is guaranteed to keep going so long as it continues to get the initial hyped reactions they're banking on, as seen with the SXS animation and manga gives me little to latch onto, all while the few things of recent that I have had real, unironic interest in have been declared by the vocal majority to be either worth basically ignoring, or are actively considered Bad Actually.

The crisis of faith, as dramatic as it may be to refer to it as such, as I see everyone around me continue to cheer on Eggman's character assassination, and insisting that I'm actually just a gigantic moron who doesn't understand nuance for not seeing the infinite IQ chess going on that isn't fucking there because the execution continuously contradicts the supposed intentions on both Flynn's and SEGA's parts.

The endless and often way too personal abuse in private, and occasionally public, that I'm forced to deal with for not having the so-called right takes, and the unspoken expectation that I just have to suck it up because "it's what Sonic would do".

The struggle to start discussions for other media I'm invested in (ie: Spyro, Paper Mario, etc) during this Sonic alienation, because I'm apparently hopeless at starting them on here.

The constant frustration I feel towards the numerous double standards on the site, and how no one ever learns from them despite how many times they have egg on their face for it.

The internal hatred I feel towards myself for aspects about me beyond my control that are usually painted in a soul crushing light when brought up in discussions one way or the other (ie: autism), especially when it's evident they know nothing about it and thus overcompensate by pulling the "umm ackshully it's the worst thing ever and is a burden on everyone else around them, happy to help!" card.

The fear eating away at me that my writing isn't enough, that I have no place in the community anymore, and whether I really had a place to begin with. All I have is me... and me isn't enough. Doesn't feel like enough, anyway.

I've said all of this so many times. I'm sick of saying it so many times. But nothing changes. Nothing ever fucking changes. I go away for a couple of weeks, come back because I lie to myself that I should, and the cycle repeats. I want to be the best person I can be on here, but I can't do that if I keep having no motivation and only feel apathy or irritation. I don't want to let all of this turn me into someone worse.

So I have two options. Either I continue to endure this miserable cycle, I grow more disillusioned and unhappy still, and I risk making an arsehole of myself due to yet more stress and fatigue... or I get away from it all. I know which one sounds healthier. Some might call it giving up. Letting the people that hate me win. But I don't know what else I can do in my situation. I can't keep doing this for its own sake. I can't. I just can't. Not when I only serve as the resident grumpy killjoy.

We'll see if I have a reason to start again when the Year of Shadow is over. Until then though, I'm out.

See ya.

[vidyagamereference]

I have so many feelings about touchstarved character design pt 1 Kuras

So! First lets talk about how his whole outfit is just.... yassified priests garb. Like... the collar, the long sleeves, the "tabbard" straps, the gold. Its all very.... 3 peice suit high fashion is eating a catholic Fathers robes and a protestant Preists robes at the same time. Like the whole suit to me drips power.

Lets count off the different things that imply power to his outfit

Gold and stark white fabric (hard to clean and hard to find)

WELL TAILORED suit (high fashion)

J E W E L E R Y

Religious leader symbolism (Christian)

Fucking EPAULETS???

The hair (weird one but in animated/drawn mediums royalty tends to have longer hair)

If yall told me there was 1 person from Hightown (rich people land) and everyone else was from somewhere else and ONLY showed me the character lineup I'd pick Kuras as the hightowner tbqh.

More analysis under the break

Lets look at his "circles"

I dont have anywhere else to put this so... epaulets look like wings sleeves also imply wings. Makeup = crying gold. Gold bodily fluids = ichor. Ichor = divinity. that is all

A list of imperfect/broken circles/halos on kuras

There's attempted circles with his belts (inturrupted by his buckles and almost always at least two [i'll get to the one on his chest]). The buckles around his thigh in particular remind me of slashed circles.

There is an attempted circle on his chest (implying a flase homesty if you like the theory that veres chest is open bc hes more honest and kuras's is covered because hes more of a lier) that is left open by way of the empty preists collar. Like something religious was taken away. Its highly decorated so i think were ment to see it

The epaulets have some shape language of wings and halos imho and they also continue the trend of doubled up circuits (these are too angular to be circles but square triangular halos were in fact a thing)

His earrings are rayed halos (halos that have sunlight/sunbeams coming off of it) but even they somehow seem inturrupted by his ears when looking at how theres never a perfect circle. Another example of doubling round things

The golden cords on his hip (princely) are also imperfect circles and doubled up round things

What do the doubling up of round things (and honestly most things in some way or another. Makeup, vials on his chest, aprony tabbardy strappy things) mean? I dont know for sure but I'd wager its hinting at a few things

Broken halo

His Angelic body structure (see also: belt talk below)

A duality to his nature

Actually on the topic of halos he seems to imply a lot of shapes of halo! He obviously has the thin circular outline ones (for old testament prophets, angels, saints, Mary, and the symbol of the four evangelists according to Wikipedia), the triangle (less prominently) which is for The Holy Trinity (god jesus and the holy spirit),

and somewhat also (weirdly) square halos. Which was for.... *checks notes* celebrities who wanted to be painted like their blorbo jesus and friends... dont beleive me? Look at the fancy "not a belt buckle" thing he has and if its NOT giving painting frame I'll eat it.

Looking at the belt buckle square halo thing again it has been crossed out which makes me think that maybe kuras hates the rich and idolitry (komrade Kuras)

Another word for halo is glorihole. That is apropos of nothing i just had to learn that and yall do too now. Youre welcome

Anyways back on the topic

His too many belts moment at the hips really makes me think of the standard idea of a biblically accurate angel. Yknow. Rings of eyes around a central flame are a common depiction, the hidden rings on the inside are studded to look like false eyes to me. Especially so hidden behind a decorative false belt

The hiding of so much black (another dye reserved for royalty) under such pristine white makes me think hes lying to us, or at best putting up a facade.

THE ABOVE BEING SAID he only has two stripes of true black, the rest is a humble brown. And the belts look like theyre holding something in. I think theres a third layer to him

Layer 1: The Good Doctor Kuras Of Lowdown. Friends? You mean people im around so nobody suspects I'm not human! Yes i am human man and i eat human food!

Layer 2 possibilty a: MWAAHAHAHAHAHA I AM EEEEVILLLLLLL A FALLEN ANGEL!!! THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED ISNT IT?!?! [Edgelore noises] [terrified screams of those who just realized this edgelord could kill us all]

Layer possibly b: this is the [insert accurate adjective here] of a killer bell- I MEAN MC. emotions. Like 300 gallons of them in one sitting. Possible 0 sum game. More likely hes a living nuke and will Go Off somehow

Layer 3: hey I'm feeling less catholic guilt can i still go sorta wild ish and not be eeeevillll? And also maybe kiss? Also I'm not actually baby I'm just unsure of how to be myself in this new way will you help me figure it out [happy ending noises]

So yeah tell me if i missed anything :]

@hollana

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

”why not raise the criteria needed to be part of the first division and then force teams to meet a higher standard in order to be eligible?”

…i feel like that would make it unfair. I know WSL only has twelve teams but they are more closely contested. Plus a lot of those teams are fully pro so they have jobs and probably can’t just move it another team farther away. I know everyone hates a salary cap but sports leagues use them for a reason when they first start. Having 5/10 of the best women players in the world and wondering why everyone else sucks and expecting them to just get better is unrealistic. You’re asking people who don’t care about women’s football to care and that just isn't gonna happen.

yes, but it's not like barça just signed a bunch of star players like alexia, aitana, and mapi in the last two years and now are successful overnight. barça had stars players back even when they were losing regularly, but their success is directly in correlation with the investments the team made starting in 2019.

and we didn't sign players when they were fully formed stars, but a lot of our stars today were nurtured and developed. why do we have so many home-grown local talent like aitana, ona, alexia, and the la masia kids? it's barça. it's the brand. it's the style of play. it's the storied history. and what took them to the next level is the investment in the team itself.

plus, barça doesn't even pay its star players all that much compared to other teams and leagues (according to relevo, alexia was making 350K/year and she's a double ballon d'or winner!). and the very talented la masia youngsters are making peanuts. so they are not coming to this team for the money.

alexia, aitana, and others would make a lot more money if they go to other leagues, so i don't think a salary cap would make a difference because it's not like aitana would go play for levante because the coaching and infrastructure is not there. she would go abroad. plus, it just would never happen realistically in liga f.

16 teams in liga f is too much. the schedule is untenable. a lot of these women's teams were set up so the men's teams could pat themselves on the back and then forgot about them, so you don't have the development pathway like la masia or even the staff to nurture up and coming stars in the first team. if there are criteria for the other teams to stay in the league, then there would be incentive for teams to actually spend a little more on investment.

[epickiya722]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

Thanks if you want to answer....

I'll tell you, all my fics are special to me and most of the time, I find myself having fun writing them. Writing isn't just a hobby, but a way for me to release pent up feelings I have or express an idea that came to me.

To name a couple...

Beware of the Bunnies - It's the first fic I wrote for "if Miruko was Midoriya's mentor". It was fun writing that fic, especially when it's a fic for my two #1 faves. I honestly didn't expect the amount of attention I got for it!

Not Red, Black - I sometimes like branching out from writing warm-hearted, funny fics and this is one of those times. Another AU idea I had, but if Miruko and Midoriya were eldritch-like creatures and related. Unlike its prequel, this one stepped more in horror imagery and I think the direction the fic took.

Forbid a Woman from Being Great - Yes, another Miruko fic and one I actually wrote out of spite. When it comes to this fandom (as with any), is how double standard they can get. With Miruko, I have seem people hate her for being "too aggressive" or "too mean", but praise other characters for those same traits or even give excuses for their behavior. Or with fanservice, the same people who complain about it also thirst over the male characters getting bloody and shirtless. I don't hate characters like Dabi, Shigaraki or Hawks but I can't stomach how their fans act when it comes to Miruko or any other character really. It was actually a Hawks fan that irritated me enough to write this fic as well as get me out of the writing funk I was in.

An Absolute Menace - This is a fun little fic. It's part of a series of Class A and occasionally B partaking in antics. With this one, writing Koda as this troll was new, but fun.

Let's SK8 Over the Rainbow - This is actually a SK8 series that I wrote and it's still one of my favorites. It started off as a headcanon (Reki allowing Koyomi to paint his nails) and then spiraled into a collection of short stories themed around colors and I love colors so much. One of the fics, You're Lime Green Jell-O, I dove into expanding a character that only appeared once in SK8. Her name is Miki and she has green hair and I remember seeing her and going "You, you're getting some personality, a story, etc." Best decision ever. I just loved writing Miki and I think it was the first time I wrote a whole story for a character that only had two lines in canon.

Tu es le Moment Auquel J'appartiens - Another series I adore. I wanted to write some jealous Vanitas since I don't think I had seen a lot of Vanoé fics where he was the jealous one while Noé was more oblivious. Not at the time, I don't know about now since I haven't read a VNC fic in a long time. The title translates to "You are the moment I belong to" which is a line of lyrics from the anime's first ending song that I love so much.

It's the Pink Hair, Isn't It? - Do not get me wrong! I do love the AUs I see where Sukuna and Yuji are brothers, but the idea of this fic came from what if they were identical strangers and not related in the slightest. Even funnier, in the fic, Kenjaku and Suguru are siblings that look like twins, but Kenjaku is older. My favorite scenes probably have to be Kenjaku and Yuji interacting and Sukuna and Yuji meeting. I've also been cooking up a sequel so I can write more of Kenjaku and Suguru being siblings and Yuji's brothers and I do mean all nine older brothers. (I relate to Choso so much.)

Your Heartbeat Is My Comfort - Ever see a beautiful piece of fanart and you want to write a fic about it? That's what happened here. I saw this FushiIta art post here and it was like BAM! I had to write a fic. It was also another I didn't write something comedic, but more somber, bit of tragedy yet comfort in there.

Maybe Someday We'll Meet Again - I'm all for the Teacher Geto AU! However, this fic came from a what if scenario had Suguru and Yuji had met when they were younger and I always how Kenjaku was even aware of Suguru's technique. So I put both ideas together and thus this fic was born. It isn't dark, but little less comedic than others and I tried my hand at focusing on more of Yuji's strangeness and innocence here along with Suguru's character before he became a curse user.

You Are My Special - Again, another time I went for less comedy and fluff and tried with something else. I actually don't know how to categorize this one in terms of genre. SPECIALZ was stuck in my head for a long time and it got when I really started thinking about the lyrics and decided why not try writing something from Kenjaku's POV about Yuji? It may have took forever to write, but I'm glad I did. I actually wanted to write a companion piece of sorts but from Sukuna's POV about Yuji.

The Pink Sky and Cherry Blossoms - I actually just posted this fic and I'm glad I waited to answer this ask because of it. I was rereading the manga and came to Uro's fight with Ryu and Yuta and instantly fell in love with her character and thought about how would it have been like if Uro met my other favorite, Yuji? They have some similarities going on there and it was eye-opening writing those into this fic, especially with Uro's character. I wasn't around when that arc came out, so I didn't know how the fandom acted towards her, but for me, I just felt there's more to her than the surface. She's the Miruko of JJK to me as Yuji is the Izuku. Just as I would love for Miruko and Izuku to be a duo in a big sis-lil bro/mentor-mentee way, I love the same for Uro and Yuji.

The Craving That Paints Your Lips Red - The last fic I wrote for 2023 and a sequel to another fic, I wanted to try my hand at the horror again. But more tame, but still "Oh my gosh". I'm writing a post about it, but I have thoughts about Yuji and Sukuna's relationship and sometimes I have this feeling that Sukuna wants to corrupt Yuji, kind of like shape him to be the next him almost. Not for certain, but it's an idea that kind of struck me. For this fic, I wanted to explore a more horror fic side of Yuji housing the King of Curses. The best part of this fic for me is how I unintentionally stuck with the idea that Yuji keeps getting back up no matter how many times Sukuna tries to break him.

That list got longer than intended, but again, I have a lot of fics I have enjoyed writing! I'm glad to have talked about them and I thank you for asking! 💜

[13thdoctorposts]

The way 15 has been crying in damn near every episode he's actually in, running away consistently, abandoning Ruby all over the place (including to fuck some stranger in the latest ep), is annoying because its very not Doctor behaviour and because 13 was unjustly accused of all of this shit and absolutely raked over the coals for it but somehow when it's a male Doctor who is actually literally guilty it's all cool. Not even getting into people creaming themselves over the Doctor being canonically maintextually queer like 13 doesn't exist. I am done with this show and fandom, the misogyny is galling.

The hypocrisy, and the complete lack of the acknowledgment of the hypocrisy is insane.

With the crying, I think this is frustrating a lot of people, because it’s been every ep except 73 yards, which he basically wasn’t in. And while I do think its fine for the Doctor to cry and I think it’s good to see men cry on screen to normalise it, I feel nothing when he does it now because I know it doesn’t need to be that deep to make him cry, basically it’s just lost any impact. Like it should have had more of an impact at the end of Dot and Bubble and while I understood his frustration the crying didn’t have the impact it would have if I hadn’t seen him cry almost every episode before. You’ve seen everything, lost everything, and you’re crying every adventure. Clearly it’s doesn’t need to deep to make him cry so it doesn’t pull at my heart strings. No like that 1 tear that slips down 13s cheek after talking to Yaz at the end of Flux, because I know for that to happen, 13 is really feeling something and her mask has dropped for that moment and she’s being really vulnerable.

We haven’t heard the end of the 13 locking spiders in a room with 6 months worth of food and water (Jack Robinson tells us this when they are in the room) but it was fine for 15 to send the Bridgeton bird aliens to another dimension? Also perfectly fine to kill a whole ship of goblins?

Also perfectly find that Rouge kissed the Doctor and stole and hit the switch so the Doctor doesn’t have to… but 13 was horrible when she let someone else hit the button in TTC and LotSD.

Honestly at this point the people who claim 15 era is amazing but are still bashing on 13 era I think are more disingenuous than the right wing pundits because at least they are consistent about what they hate in the show and why, so despite being terrible at least aren’t being hypocritical.

There is a very clear double standard between the female doctor and the male doctors but they completely refuse to acknowledge it because then they would have to admit their misogyny and they don’t want to admit they are they problem they want to demonise the woman and make her the problem.

[purgemarchlockdown]

...the more I think about it the more I actually do get bothered with the Amane voting discourse on the end of the guilty voters.

Not even cause their voting guilty. Like- I don't care too much about that really, vote how you want and stuff, but how...accusatory a lot of them can get.

Not to heavily generalize a group of people, but one of the reasons why I didn't talk about it too much was cause I'd go into the tag and see another complaint about Inno Amane voters being on their moral high horse and being unnecessarily aggressive.

It's why I try my best whenever I talk about it to be clear I don't think guilty voters are bad people or anything. I'm not going to base someone's sense of morality on what they vote on the interactive anime mv series, I just won't.

However...I am starting to get bothered about how defensive and even hypocritical a lot of the discourse can get on the guilty voters side.

Firstly: A big argument I tend to see get thrown around is that "she can actually hurt people stop treating her like she's harmless" which...yes, from what I've seen a lot of inno voters (Including me!) agree with that and just find that:

1. There's an exaggeration of the actual danger and the security of a guilty verdict.

and 2. Find that there's a double standard here, where Amane is being treated as more dangerous even though other characters are equally, if not more so, than her.

(A Lot of these people point out that she killed an adult and I'd like to point that it's Highly Likely she used the Taser, or uh stun gun actually and that the attack had the element of surprise, two things that are not present in T2.)

Second thing: Positioning yourself as more reasonable than inno voters because unlike them your looking at the issue objectively and without attacking people...is a moral high horse! That's literally the definition of a moral high horse!

If I'm on a moral high horse for pointing out that her situation with the audience uncomfortably parallels with her abusive situation then guilty voters Should Also Be Considered To Be on a moral high house for believing that I'm downplaying the amount of danger I'm putting the prisoner in by doing so!

It's not like both points are bad anyway! If someone presented me with information that Amane could genuinely hurt someone in a way much worse than I anticipated then I'll accept that. I'm voting her inno Knowing about the possible danger. Not blindly believing she's harmless (which a lot of these guilty voters say inno voters are doing!)

Third thing: Sorry I will actually be Really pretentious here. Throw tomatoes at me now- How come when we reach the 12 year old abused child that's when people start acting like Milgram ISNT commentating on social issues?

I swear this is a thing- when we reach Amane people start talking about how the inno voters are taking it too seriously or are being too aggressive or again, are on their moral high horse when half the time its...engaging with the themes. Yamanaka said in an interview he wanted to make the audience be apart of the story and everything!

The Interview in Question:

Yamanaka: That's a difficult question... I'm always conscious of emotional control in my work, but in “MILGRAM”, the content has more live feeling to it. So the story progresses realistically based on the presence of the audience. I think I used a different brain than I have been using to create works up until now, I see it as necessary to think very three-dimensionally. I'm currently trying to turn the audience into characters in my work.

It's like pointing out the uncomfortable themes in her story when your an inno voter is the same as calling yourself "smarter" than guilty voters. Which is Weird when those themes Are such a big part of her story.

Or, alternatively, somehow, pointing out those themes means your disrespecting Amane since she didn't want to be treated like a child even though, again, those themes are such a major part of her story!

I was really trying to engage with this in good faith and now I'm fucking pissed that I spent a month worrying about being too aggressive and mean without realizing that a lot of the guilty voters I was hearing this from were doing the Same Fucking Thing!

[natasha-in-space]

'Why do you love rika. I love rika myself as well. Tbh for me its like, the more I stay in mysme fandom the more my love and appreciation for rika grows. It initially started as me being angry at the double standards of the most asian media fandoms in general cuz i realised that rika would have been more well loved if she was a man, people would use the male!rika's trauma to justify his actions and this thought has made me angry and made me "appreciate" rika out of spite. But it eventually has grown into a genuine appreciation for her. Idk how to explain but something inside me makes me want to protect her and save her from everything happened to her leading upto the current situation. And more hate she gets more i feel the desire to defend her.

Actually my no 1 is another character and he has a place of his own which no one could take (its yoosung btw) but rika...i think she might be a close second fave i guess - anon'

I accidentally messed up your ask, so I'll be replying in this way instead!

Thank you for the question, dear anon! I'm always giddy to chitchat about these things. I do want to prelude this by saying that this is not really a proper analysis, but more of me just writing out my personal feelings. I might try my hand at actual analysis one day, but, for now, I'm just sharing my own interpretations!

Mystic Messenger is probably the only fandom I have been in since... well, since it has formed, basically. It's wild to think about sometimes. Things are very different in our little space now, compared to how it was before. Public perception of Rika is one of those things. I can totally resonate with your frustrations on that front, unfortunately. I know many folks miss the time when the fandom was bigger, but... personally, I don't. Especially as a Rika fan. It was borderline exhausting trying to curate your fandom space as a Rika fan at the time. Hell, we had full blogs dedicated to solely hating on her, a fictional character, and people who expressed their love for her. And that's just here on Tumblr. People used to full on write hate comments under every single seasonal CG with Rika in it. It was terrible, and very, very disheartening to see. Especially since most Rika fans I've met over the years are the sweetest people. Granted, there is a case to be made for practically every mm character, and how the fandom may have misinterpreted them in one way or another, so it's not just a Rika problem. Just that she was majorly disliked.

If anything, I'm very happy Cheritz still continued to include Rika in the seasonal events despite it all. Props to them on that front.

Right now, thankfully, things are much more peaceful and respectful. Rika is definitely not the more popular character, but now you can openly express your love for her in the fandom space, without fear of being harassed. I'd say that's a great win for us!

That being said, as to why I love Rika... Hm, it's interesting to put it into words. I didn't have a strong opinion on her until V's route came out. I never really shared the collective hatred of her, but I didn't love her either, you know? V's route came out during a pretty rough patch in my life, and I think that helped me get personally invested in what it had to tell. Rika actually feels like a fleshed out character with many nuances, and that instantly made me interested in paying close attention to what they wanted to do with her.

Rika is complicated, to say the least. She always was, but, with all the added content to her story that Cheritz have put out over the years, her complexity only evolved further. I love that about her. I love morally dubious characters who's mind you have to carefully study and pick apart piece by piece in order to understand them. I love how she is not really a villain in a traditional sense. She is not actively pursuing harm on anybody, not in her eyes. It is fascinating to me how different her view point is, compared to those around her. How skewed her perception of the world around her grows over the years. It's both scary and captivating.

So, it started with fascination. Appreciation for her character and a desire to delve deeper into what makes her who she is today. I think... my appreciation has grown into love when her Behind Story came out. I know many folks have very complicated feelings towards it, especially since it came out alongside V's After End and its unfortunate push for forgiveness, but I never really viewed Cheritz establishing Rika's past as an attempt to wash her of her sins. It just came out at a very bad timing is all. If her Behind Story came out a bit later, I think public opinion of it would have been different. It's a shame that their huge mess up with the message in V's After Ending sabotaged it like that.

Thing is, Rika wouldn't be as compelling and interesting as she is, if she was truly innocent. That being said, I... relate to her struggles on a deeply personal level. Not as deeply as I do with Saeran, but her story and her struggles do make me choke up to this day. Because, in a way, I see my past self in her. Being able to read through her story, her thoughts, and her feelings have really made me form a genuine fondness to her. Her religious trauma, her painful path of learning to survive in an environment that actively tries to harm you at every possibility, her fears of being the devil everyone says she is, her inability to accept and love herself, because all she has ever known is pain, danger and hatred... It hurts. I think, everyone has that little voice inside their head. Telling them that they are bad and undeserving of the love people close to them are expressing. That everyone actually hates them. That there is something inherently wrong with them. It's heartbreaking that, in Rika's case, this voice has eventually consumed her to the point of no return.

When you are an abused child, who knows nothing but the hostile world they have at home, it will follow you into every crook and cranny of your life. Even when you're not home, even when you're 'safe', your mind and body will still be on high alert, as it's natural to try and keep yourself safe from harm. Rika's fear of the world around her, her deep inner self-hatred is something I have experienced as an abused child/young teen. It's debilitating, and it's heartwrenching to think that so many people have to suffer like this.

I think the beauty of her story to me is the sheer tragedy of it. It's a tough pill to swallow, but people are not born evil. She has done horrible, immoral and unforgivable things, and yet, in some twisted sense, her heart was not filled with malice as she did so. She believed she was saving Saeran, she believed she was providing her believers the safety and love they couldn't get elsewhere, she believed she was trying to show her old friends the truth by taking them to her side. Of course, none of those things are actually true. Her real intentions were selfish, albeit not evil. A desperation to be loved and not abandoned. That dichotomy is both beautiful and tragic to me. (Some of these are very bad quality bc I can't screenshot stuff right now)

Of course, there's also the whole V/Rika debacle. Personally, I never put all of the responsibility onto either one of them. That takes away the beautiful tragedy of their shared bond. V - or, Jihyun - genuinely cares deeply for her. He is heartbroken at all the suffering he sees her go through during his route. Of course, it's not just his care for Rika at play, but we're not talking about him right now. While, for Rika, he was her only anchor, her light, the one person who saw the real her and accepted her instead of forsaking her. At least that's what she thought. Rika and V are two very hurt and troubled individuals who have met each other at the worst possible time. And that makes it so sad to me. Neither him nor Rika truly wanted to harm one another. Whether there was any romantic love between them or not, they did care for one another deeply. Too deeply, even. Clinging to one another in order to satiate the emptiness they had inside, each in their own toxic way. It was not healthy. But it was genuine.

And I love tragic bonds, be it romantic or not. There is something compelling about two people who do want the best for one another just causing more harm than good. It's also painfully truthful. Not to such an extreme, but the struggle of doing what's best with no direction is one many can relate to.

I guess, to conclude this all, I'd say I love Rika for her complexity most of all. There are so many layers to her, and her story is truly a heartbreaking one to behold. But, God, is it beautiful, too.

Also, may I just add, her voice actress is absolutely amazing? She puts her all into playing Rika, and her story wouldn't be as moving if it wasn't for her breathtaking work. Her voice acting made me cry a whole lot of times.

[yooniesim]

I think one of the things that makes it so hard to find new creators (that are free) is how insular paywall/early access cc creators are. I literally can't remember the last time any of them used their massive platforms to support newer creators and they only seem to reblog content that features their own stuff or other creators they're close with. They are literally only concerned about their "brand" instead of actually participating in the community that provides them with their livelihoods. If you're looking for content, you're going directly to these creators first and maybe you'll look through finds blogs if you're more invested. To a point, I understand that's how popularity works, but they could be doing so much more.

Plus, since the early access model is so popular, I do think there's a push for new creators to switch to that. You get an initial burst of engagement when you first post and then another when your content is free, instead of just posting once and getting what you get. Also, I do think there's an unspoken rule that "early access creator" = "professional". So, if you want to be taken seriously, you'll imitate what the "professionals" are doing.

I'm sorry you're discouraged trying to find new creators. It's actually insane how much damage the popularity of paywalling has done to this community.

Hey nonny, thanks for sending this and also for your sympathy! I agree with everything you said, and I'm just gonna ramble a bit in a semi related way.

I think the point you made about professionalism is especially poignant. Creating cc is less a hobby now and more a setup for your own "business". But in this marketplace, there are no standards or regulation whatsoever- and many people here are just bad at what they do in various ways. It seems as if they either have the aesthetic & business model down, but are terrible to their customers and/or make terrible product, or they make a good product but can't quite grasp how to play the "game" to work the system to its full advantage. Sometimes you get people bad at all of it, yet they still charge. Because the only consistent thing about this community at the moment is that everything absolutely has to have a price, no matter how shitty it is. And there's absolutely zero consequence for being a gigantic douche nozzle.

This is a mostly disconnected side note, but when I think about these creators, it's just unbelievably depressing. I have thought about what it would be like to try early access a few times over the years, and honestly even the thought gave me such a burst of anxiety I immediately dismissed it. Just releasing cc for free is sometimes an anxious feeling for me, I just can't imagine having to base a business around it. The thought of possibly disappointing people and not consistently providing a quality product that is worth their money is a shameful thought for me. I have gotten a few $1 donations to my patreon over the years and even then i feel bad for not being able to create cc for a while because of my mental health, and not being better at cc making in general. And yet there's people that provide the most lazy, shit items I've ever seen without blinking. Stuff they never tested that doesn't work in game, two second conversions, no hat chops, no lods, gigantic poly, etc. They don't even know how to make cc and admit to that but still charge. I think I would die of shame. I'm sitting here thinking about, do they feel guilt over it, in the back of their mind? Does the stress and the anxiety gnaw at them like it does me? Even just uploading to curseforge for me, causes a bit of anxiety, even though no one pays for it directly. But CF is just another tool to be used to most- now people use patreon, but once its unlocked, the download link leads to CF so they can double dip. So it must not be bothersome to them at all. It's difficult for me to wrap my head around.

...I've gotten so far off track, again. Here's the part where I re-read your ask and try to get back on topic lol. Sorry, my mind runs a lot these days.

I'm glad you mentioned the part about how insular paywallers are. But I think there's even more to this than just popularity. They do not break from their circle, except in the very rare case someone new becomes very popular and they want to do a boring collab with them, and even then it seems limited. I'm pretty sure they have a server (or multiple) where they share people's urls for the purposes of chain blocking them. They also, without a doubt, share people's personal info to one another in order to ban their accounts from their patreons (at the very least). I have witnessed this multiple times. There are several doxxing rings besides the ones that were exposed, at least one exclusive to early access creators. They don't allow new people in/trust others easily because of this. This is why I don't trust paywallers as a rule; not because I think custom content should never be monetized under any circumstances, but because the lack of standardization and consequences for privacy violations makes it unsafe.

I've read through your ask again, and it made me think of something else, so bear with me haha. But the point about how you find newer creators, and how some will go to finds blogs. The fact of the matter is that popular finds blogs have the potential to be compromised as well. I have been blocked by mmccworld ever since EA temporarily banned paywalling and I reblogged a post that had a list of people intending to continue paywalling after that, and they happened to be on that list. They were one of the more popular finds blogs in the community, but I obviously won't be reblogged by them like I was in the past. Now, this isn't that relevant anymore since they're definitely not as highly regarded as they once were, but think about tumblr's lack of algorithm & what you said about how people find newer creators. If you aren't reblogged, you aren't found. And it makes me wonder how many other creators are blocked at a finds blog's discretion. I mean, this isn't necessarily a bad thing; you can filter people how you like, for example I don't reblog from paywallers on mine, or known bigots etc. But it's something to think about, and I think is a smaller example of how simblr works. If you don't play the game and fall in line, if you question the wrong person, you won't get exposure. And to most, in our current system, exposure equals money. Of course you're going to toe the line- no one wants to be publicly shamed, or worse, have a drop in potential income.

This has gone on far, far too long, so let me stop lol. But thanks again for sending this and allowing me to ramble in response, nonny... not that you had a choice 🤣

[mask131]

I have such a love-hate relationship with the Eddings fantasy series. I tried to explain it in a post... But it turns out either into an insanely long dissertation, into a completely unhinged rambling that sounds like pure chaos. But it is a good reflection of how complex and frustrating it is to deal with these series.

So for now I will just say that these series have so many good things for them, and have a key part in the evolution of fantasy literature... And yet have just as many things to be hated for, and so many reasons to be disliked.

I think the most important point is that the Eddings couple was good at two things. On one side, the subversion and twist of fantasy tropes - well, what WAS at the time fantasy stereotypes and cliches - and as one reviewer said, the Eddings would have probably produced better books if they were fantasy parodies or humoristic novels. On the other side, they are excellent at character concept, basic worldbuilding and iconic scenes... but fail when it comes to complexity or plot-building/narrative-flow. Which is why, as I said previously, the Eddings would have been excellent at writing campaign scripts. Just take the Malloreon: it feels SO MUCH like a campaign manual rather than an actual novel series...

Note: By the Eddings series, I refer specifically to The Belgariad, The Elenium and The Malloreon. I do plan on reading the Tamuli at one point, but I am NOT speaking about The Dreamers because I went through more than half of the first book and its shit. Pure shit.

Back to the topic... Yes, the Eddings series are so frustrating as a whole.

They are funny, but very dated. They have cool concepts and ideas, but they have typical 80s-American-prejudices and vaguely pedophile tones (not so much The Belgariad, but the Elenium and Malloreon have... worrying stuff). They subvert Tolkien's work and changed the game in fantasy literature - but then repeat themselves in a drab and dreary way, robbing their own inventivity. They are weirdly positive and weirdly negative at the same time.

And if the books themselves weren't complex in their over-simplicity and problematic in their strange worldview, there is also the big problem of the audience/fandoms literaly not understanding what the books are about. Like people missing out completely that the Elenium is supposed to be "dark fantasy", not "high/heroic fantasy" like the Belgariad ; and there's also something to be said about a very interesting double-standard people have when it comes to the use of "races" in these works - but that will be for another time.

For some, the Eddings series were a "gateway fantasy" to have a short and simple introduction to archetypes, plot beats and the general ambiance of "typical" fantasy. For others, they are a "comfort read" to enjoy something while shutting your brain off. And I agree that this is what these series ultimately are: they were never meant to be high or great literature, and they are very simple and dated, and I personally used them as "waiting reads". Because these are books I can easily get in or out of when waiting for my computer to start, for my train to arrive, for my class to begin. It's a "snack-read". I did feel involved in The Belgariad because everybody agrees that it is the best of all the four series - when the Eddings really struck something good. But by the Elenium and the Malloreon, I literaly was not as invested and I just read it because. To see the characters, and the ideas, and the concepts. Because no matter how poor these series can become, they are always a BIG source of inspiration for fantasy material.

Even The Dreamers, which is pure shit, had one of the most interesting concepts of a fantasy "big villain" thrown to us in the first pages, and this is why I even stepped so far into the book, before giving up by realizing the rest was just... garbage.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

pretty much just echoing what other anons are saying about the absolute lack of nuance that armys have fostered where anyone who has a negative opinion about anything the members do is just an uncultured hater who wants the entire wrath of stan twitter to fall on x member.

while i do think black armies are absolutely correct about the virtue signaling and pearl clutching that white armies tend to do when it comes to sexual references in hip hop/rap outside of bts and agree that it is largely based in racist stereotypes. i think the “bora glasses” are causing them to miss the point of a lot of the uproar. its not about lyrics being sexual bc this (for the most part) did not happen with latto’s verse. in addition, a lot of them hate to admit they find this language attractive bc its the kind of stuff we have been socialized to expect from men since we are little girls. i am latina and grew up around reggaeton (heavily influenced by rap and hip hop) where a min. 80% of the music is extremely degrading and objectifying of women. even as a queer adult woman in her late 20s while i acknowledge this issue with the genre (and have heard much more explicit things) a lot of that music is extremely nostalgic to me. so i understand the cognitive dissonance but i cannot accept that from men i expect better from (not JH obviously lol).

and yes, i do think this is a bad look for JK even if he didn’t sing or write that part bc either he’s aware of the meaning and has no problem with it or is that oblivious to not even know what someone is saying on his own damn song. the fact that an alternate version even exists with this collab tells me that the check cleared before someone in a board room went “actually maybe not”.

despite my deep respect for BTS throughout the years, at the end of the day I will always acknowledge that they are men. they are not some sexless unicorns raised in a place with no misogyny or gender roles, they are men and like most other men they engage in behavior that often betrays the respect of most women whether consciously or subconsciously. we simply may not see it bc they are celebrities with pretty curated online personalities. now, that doesn’t mean i think they’re secretly chauvinistic pigs but despite my respect for them i always keep a degree of distance bc they *could* be.

i will add that the “bora glasses” are a hell of a drug. the double standards when it comes to the members vs other celebrities is insane (and i dont even like most celebrities lol). i know not a single one of these armies would think twice about talking shit about a song like this if it were from anyone else and that’s what really disappoints me about what our spaces have turned into.

I really appreciate your perspective on what the previous anon said , given your own personal experiences and culture. I'm obviously not the best person to speak on this subject.

I agree that the "bora glasses" are a real thing. It seems to me that even "normal" Armys are complaining a bit about the song, however, which is good. But I don't know that the solo version exists simply because Hybe foresaw the original would upset people. They likely wanted to recreate with 3D what they did for Seven - two versions counting as one, or at least another version to boost streams apart from the instrumental. Since it didn't make sense to have a clean and explicit versions again, and because maybe they knew some fans hadn't liked Latto's verses or Seven being a feature, they used the same strategy they applied to TXT's Back For More recently, and recorded a solo version.

I also agree that BTS are men, so, like all men, they're probably a lot more insensitive and ignorant to sexism than we imagine, and say or do a lot of things that would disappoint us (though I don't believe they're secretly chauvinistic pigs at all).

Anyway, thanks for your fresh take!

[cold-r-ain-in-june]

so a few weeks ago @steadfast sent me an ask wondering how i manage to gather the pieces of media for my web weavings

unfortunately,  it just happened that when you sent me that ask i was one foot in the grave with a fever and ever since i got better i've been procrastinating writing you a reply since i wanted to give you my best answer

double unfortunately, tumblr decided to delete the post and your ask when i was almost done, so i'll try to write it again even though i'm frustrated over the original getting deleted so bear with me

so to start off, i happen to suffer from the horrible condition called sometimes-i-feel-things-so-strongly-i-want-to-cut-open-my-skin-to-let-them-out. a horrible illness really. things like anger or missing my ex or chronic sadness. sometimes, rarely, it happens to be love, though much less often then i would like.

basically, i bottle things up to the point in which i cant help but see them everything. i see a random poem on my instagram feed, i listen to a song on the bus and one of the lyrics clicks like it never had before, a scene from a movie a watched 3 years ago comes to haunt me at night when i cant sleep.

so i gather them, sometimes, i make new folders for them, other times i am so lazy and messy i just let them get lost and rot with the other 10k of screenshots i have on my phone.

obviously, i also have to outright search for things, but i dont even do it for the sake of creating a web weaving post at first. i just feel one thing so deeply i have to look up proof that people have been also feeling this thing for thousands of years and theyve all dealt with it. i mostly search them here on tumblr and sometimes pinterest. words like "friendship", like "medea", like "toxic siblings", they can all open doors to pieces of media you have never heard of before, but which contain a three line dialogue youd kill for from the first time you read it. this all very tricky, evidently, at times, things simply dont match with the way you actually feel, no matter how much you search for them, but stitching them together can give you this almost perfect thing that mirrors your soul.

i also happen to be the kind of person who screenshots everything they think its relevant. and its good that i have really low standards for relevance. thats how i end up diving in my screenshots pile, when i feel like my web searching is failing, and sometimes i get lucky enough and i find a line i collected 2 years ago that matches exactly how i feel in that moment.

you've also mentioned the question of whenever i memorize book passages, and the answer is somewhere between yes and no. while, when i read i heavily annotate my books, im not a big fan of memorising outright passages (my brain is mush lets be honest, i cant fry it even more with overloading), and i dont write them down or anything, but i do however manage to memorize the overall idea of passages that stick to me. liek i can tell that x book has some quote about y thing even if i dont remember it outright. then i try to look it up, i use goodreads mostly (which is a bitch on mobile but you can work your way around if you search shit on web AND THEN you open it with the app) and google books when it decides to be helpful every once in a while, and if neither of those work, THEN, i open my edition and try to look for it because im lazy like that.

another site i really like, and its obvious in my web weavings is gentle.earth!! which, now that i say it, i actually havent visited it in a while but since i remembered it exists ill probably stalk it for the next few weeks. it's an anymous site on which everyone can confess things that hang heavy on them and some of them get to be displayed on the page after the entires are curated. its a really pretty thing to look through

now that i covered the bases of obtaining the materials for the web weaving, which i think i can boil down to 1. hysterical search mission and 2. hoarding every piece of media you come across, i will also add that at least for me personall, putting them in order for is a pain in the ass (which is also the maine reason i havent made a web weaving in almost a year even though i have the materials ready). i dont know if other people who do this kind of things are as press as i am about the order in which each post go and the way the different shades of the same idea interwine and bullshit bullshit or if im just mental. but yeah its also a really important step for me, its basically the polish of the post ig

also the biggest problem with the hoarding strategy is spending 2 days looking for a source because your past self was too lazy to also screenshot the source. thats also a bitch

anyway, i honestly i have no idea if youll find anything helpful here, or if i just used your ask to moan about my struggles but its 3 am over here and honestly this is the best ive got. thank you for the ask though, i do love getting ask even if it takes me two decades to answer them <3

[tumblingxelian]

James Ironwood & Anakin Skywalker

Gods not to continue to harp on about the character (V9 can't come soon enough) but it occurs to me that one could find a lot of comparisons between Ironwood and Anakin. They aren't the same character of course, but they reach similar points through similar but distinct journey's and garner similar audience reactions from many.

I could probably articulate this better, but the broad sweeping point I am aiming for here, is that they are both characters who spend much of the series on the heroes side, but continually show flashes of personality traits, or otherwise make decisions that reflect major character faults that will lead them down a grim path while still thinking they are in the right.

Both for instance often claim to respect, seek out or want guidance, but when said guidance isn't giving them the thing they want right now they often go ahead and just ignore it. Anakin with the council and his master, Ironwood with Ozpin, they want approval and agreement, not actual feedback and its a struggle to make them listen at the best of times.

They are prone to arrogant/'bold' behavior, such as Anakin's constant devil-may-care attitude and Ironwood just going balls to the wall by flinging his military at everything without thinking about the consequences or methodology. They are rather cavalier with either the use of violence or the will to use it, "Anakin casually murdering a guy cos it was the fastest way to solve a problem, Ironwood saying he'd have shot Qrow for his behavior, then later shooting people."

Both show a general disdain for stuff like democratic norms and the will of the people, Anakin thinks people should just be made to agree and has no compunction about lying even to his spouse and allies or the public, but lashes out when he's lied to for the same reasons. Ironwood dislikes the prospect of there being enough people on the council to check him regardless of who they are, is constantly being pulled back from just trying to force everyone to do what he wants in V7, lies to the council and obscures his embezzlement of Mantle's good from RWBY 7 Co. But then he flips his lid when in trying to help him, Yang & Blake went behind his back, one rule for him, another for everyone else.

They both have a strong penchant to think they know best in general, but more to the point also show an underlying moral weakness in which all their standards and bonds will be cast aside if their most precious thing feels threatened. IE, Anakin turns o the republic, his family and committed genocide on the vague hope that Sidious could help him save Padme. Ironwood withdrew from Mistral when it was threatened to protect Atlas, left Mantle to die the moment he felt Cinder was threatening Atlas and continually doubled down on this decision across V8 in order to 'save' Atlas, sacrificing everyone and everything to the point of endangering them both and lashing out in anger when he felt unappreciated... Oh hey Anakin did that to Padme too.  

So yeah, there's actually a lot of similarities between them.

[flightfoot]

Soooooooooooo

people are now back again with the double standards, blaming Adrien and making him out to be stupid and oblivious because he has troubles believing that Ladybug suddenly loves him for real when we had the development of 4 seasons of Ladybug rejecting Chat Noir, making him understand that she is not interested in him which had its last finale episode in s4 Glaciator 2 where LB angrily chucks CN into a trashcan, throws him up on a roof in it and then kicks him out of it. She said she needed him to understand and accept that she doesnt love him and he did make that effort for good.

I find absolutely shitty that people are giving Adrien crap for being "oblivious" and "stupid" when he is doing exactly what Marinette asked him to do for 4 seasons: Not immediately interpreting every bit of affection from her as a romantic chance. Wasnt that EXACTLY what the discussions in- and out of universe were about? That just because Ladybug shows (flirty) and genuine affection doesnt it mean its supposed to be read by him as her suddenly having changed her mind entirely, that she suddenly loves him now?

I dont like how the fandom, encouraged by the show to a certain degree, just pulled a 180 here and its exactly what I expected to happen. That the moment Marinette changes her mind absolutely NOTHING about the prior rejecting of 4 seasons gets to matter anymore as if the rejecter is the only person in this whose feelings and emotional development has any importance. Chat told Ladybug at the end of Determination that he has discovered his true feelings (for someone else) too and sees LB and himself as the best partners in the world...

...

...

So for the fandom ignoring being rejected and being told that someone has feelings for another person is okay now when its the GIRL doing it? After 4 seasons of rejecting and enforcing the "no" means "no" message, THATS the morality we're going with now? Just throwing it out of the window the moment the BOY is the one saying "no"? Really? The fandom is actually going to give Adrien shit AGAIN, just this time because Marinette herself doesnt act accordingly to the situation at hand and her partners mindset regarding the topic she herself asked for to be like this.

I just... Marinette changing her mind is not even the problem. You can absolutely change youre mind in romance even after several rejections, thats not the problem and it was obvious from the start that it would happen at one point here in Miraculous. But the sexist double standard the fandom is pulling once again for a sorely Marinette-focused Morality as per usual is honestly ruining the Lady Noire and Mister Bug interactions for me.

Just let this boy live for 2 secs in a state where he isnt returning marinettes love the way she wants it without branding him oblivious, stupid and "not treating her right". How is this NOT the female equivalent of fuckboy logic the fandom is spitting out?

And for all it is, wouldnt it make MUCH more sense that Adrien IS noticing that Ladybug's approach to him has changed in the romantic direction, but he is interpreting it as "As I know Ladybug is currently emotionally totally overwhelmed because of everything that was thrown at her, she lost the miraculous, the entire team, she probably fears to date the boy she loves for real bc of her position as Ladybug and thought that I would leave her too because of how things stood between us. Ladybug isnt in love with me but she thinks she is because she is confusing her blooming platonic affection for me, as her partner who is still on her side and takes care of her, for love. When all of this settles down again she will be able to properly sort out her feelings again"

That is the most logical take for me right now for how Adrien approaches Ladybugs love. And that isnt offesive or infantilizing her, confusing platonic affection with real love is not uncommen for people in Marinettes position and emotional state. I'm pretty sure thats how I would approach the situation if I were in Adriens shoes. So isnt it GOOD that Adrien is not immediately taking Ladybugs love as face value, since that would basically be him taking advantage of her overwhelmed emotional state? Isnt this what we as a fandom should WANT him to do?

Dude, this FANDOM

I haven't actually seen Adrien getting any flak, but I'm pretty sure I've blocked or unfollowed people to the point where that just doesn't happen as much. Everyone I follow has just been squealing about how cute Adrien's blushing over Marinette is. So I can't totally relate to this ask? Like I can believe that there are segments on Twitter somewhere that are yelling at Adrien for supposedly being oblivious (especially the people who already hate Adrien, though the level of Adrien slander you're outlining here is very mild by those standards. Adrien salters are WILD), but it's not a take I have personally seen in the wild so far.

Anyway, I don't think Adrien deserves to be yelled at any for not grasping that Ladybug IS returning his feelings now - I mean, his relationship with Ladybug has always had a flirtatious element, and she's returned his banter flirtatiously often enough. Plus, like you talked about, she's made it pretty clear in the past that she doesn't view him that way. Of course he doesn't think she's changed her mind. Even just in Jubilation she was still denying her feelings for Chat Noir, how real that Gift would be, to his face when he directly asked.

And yeah, I'm thinking that Adrien's probably noticed the change in Ladybug's approach to Chat Noir, but personally I think he's noticed on some level that it's reminding him of Marinette more than anything, so he might just be thinking she's being endearingly sweet and funny.

[saturniade]

was brushing my teeth yesterday and thinking about dnd orcs / fantasy racisms.. wrote a lot and im not sorray!!

it’s wild and interesting to me that between the two races introduced in dnd as playable (in 5e books beyond player’s handbook), kenkus are the ones described (in Volo at least iirc) as literally cursed to not have any creativity and to be able to only copy (parrot!) whatever is around them -- which i think is flavored as Kenkus Are Great At Making Copies but should also imo mean that Kenkus Believe Whatever Everyone Else Says and Are Extremely Prone To Being Lied To And Biased bc NO CRITICAL THINKING -- while the orcs are like. made by gods to be violent or whatever? and they just choose to embrace the killing and hate and slaughtering apparently EVEN THO they can think and learn and change their ways? and some of them are literally explicitly exceptions to the violent brutal stereotype!!!

and yet ORCS are THE titular enemy of dnd. even tho they are a much more uh conscious/mindful/potentially civilised race than for example the kenkus. and i feel bad for them lol cause the orcs keep being traditional Disposable Evilguys in dnd beginning from ye olde adnd times (when honestly enemies were made in a simpleminded ways of random mishmash of folklore, media and whatever sounds cool) which were in turn inspired by lotr’s “orcs are like evil magic slop things or whatever dont think about it”. and now 5e is trying to be more inclusive and mindful about Killing A People Cause They Were Born GREEN!!! and tries to stray away from fantasy racism and “evil races” introduced to its core world like 50 years ago. but still it is IN THERE...

i mean for example it’s weird to me bc i recently played a published dnd 5e module where you fight orcs a lot of time. and in another published module which takes place in another world we play with a half-orc who experiences 0 discrimination :| and uuugh these for the lack of a better term double standards against A PEOPLE? is horrible the more i think about it lol.

i think that dnd (if not The Official Setting than the DMs in their own worlds) should either make orcs, like, either explicitly non-civilised/non-selfaware/non-conscious monsters with the intelligence of an ape at most. or do the opposite & get rid of ALL fantasy racial prejudices concerning the orc race... idk man... the kenkus have it fucking easy! i mean those guys are more than anyone sound like they can be like divinely/naturally “programmed” for evil cause they don’t have critical thinking as i mentioned. and i haven’t encountered any texts that talk about orcs being literally unable to change their ways because of divine/magical reasons or whatnot. theyre just evil just because!!

and i havent even started with the DROW and DEEP GNOMES and ALL THAT STUFF? and other "bad races” that exist solely to allow the players to be a little casually fantasy racist OR carry out a power fantasy of killing a person with higher cognitive functions and be praised or at least not thrown in jail for it. (and i mean, this scenario!!?? some people who play dnd really just want to have a smarter non-animal/elemental/monster/undead/etc enemy who makes the players come up with an actual Plan Of Attack or solve Puzzles or otherwise give the players the ability to demonstrate their tactical abilities / intelligence! and i think thats a fine power fantasy to have! i just hate that sometimes in these cases instead of coming up with wholeass villians with motivations DMs just go Uhhhhh Ok Why Should I Invent A Politically Correct Bike. Go Fight People That Are Of An Evil Race Sounds Good!!!)

and that’s what i thought and that’s where i would put my conclusions if i had anything smart or specific to say. but i think in the end the fantasy racism is something that started a long time ago and stuck around so much that it got very ingrained in dnd, or even the expectations that people have from dnd, that it’s hard to either tweak the “evil race” concept in a way which is not very dubious at best, OR turn the concept of orcs/drows/etc around that they are no longer evil at all. what do you think ?????? leave a comment down below!!!! LOL!