#also even if she was why would that be so terrible? a lot of creators make ocs who are just them but a bit to the left lmao

[valtsv]

Annie is clearly a self insert oc lol she looks exactly like you but with cool powers and a tragic backstory

are you... sure about that

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I have been thinking a lot about blood bending lately and why the writers decided to go with the storyline of it being banned. I personally do not think it should have been. Like any bending form it can be used for awful things or it could be used for great things (my first thought is always in a medical sense but I’m sure there are other uses). And then I started to wonder if part of why they did that is bc that storyline was connected to Katara more than anyone else, and maybe this was a way to sideline her/focus more on Korra and the new gang instead of exploring with the older characters along with the new ones. But I was wondering if you had any thoughts on it!

hi anon! Sorry for getting to your ask a little late. I was at music camp (okay it’s a professional development program for musicians but I think of it as music camp in an effort to remind myself to have fun) and it was a big challenge since I’m chronically ill and needed a whole apothecary of meds to get through it. (I’m fine now! But needed to pace very carefully before & after and therefore stayed away from Tumblr)

It’s absolutely weird to me that bloodbending is singled out in a world where people can literally steal breath from one’s lungs, but it’s even weirder to me that they had a whole “ban bloodbending” storyline and sidelined Katara, because like…in what world would Katara feel strongly enough about bloodbending to ban it, yet do nothing to enforce the ban? The only explanation that makes sense is that she banned it because she was so ashamed, and stayed away from all the stuff around Yakone et al because she couldn’t bear to be reminded of what she’d done. And like all interpretations of canon Katara in LOK, that is just horribly heartbreaking.

I don’t begrudge the creators for wanting LOK to be about the new generation and I don’t mind seeing the Gaang play second fiddle. But I do object to the creators putting Katara in these situations where she could something in her wheelhouse, that’s in-character with her skills and ambitions, that is in line with her cultural impact as a role model for girls…and then sidelining her. Yakone is a big example, obviously, but so is Katara’s lack of involvement in the Civil War, the Red Lotus kidnapping, etc.

Like you said, bloodbending is useful in terms of the medical implications, but I also think it’s a humane tool in battle as long as it’s only used to incapacitate and not control. I can’t think of many better ways of incapacitating an enemy without causing serious damage (it’s even more efficient than chi-blocking!). If a bloodbender can stop encroaching enemies in their tracks with a flick of their wrist — well, that actually seems more humane than freezing them into ice cubes, which is the go-to waterbender move. I mean, Katara stops Hama with bloodbending in The Puppetmaster; she doesn’t actually control Hama with it. It’s terrible to override people’s bodily autonomy and make them do things they don’t want to do, but that is a very specific use of bloodbending.

I do think, though, that Katara is not the type of person to recognize all the other potential uses of bloodbending unless someone prompts her, and unfortunately that person is not going to be Aang. It doesn’t help that Katara’s first experience with bloodbending is being stripped of her own agency; similarly, it becomes her go-to weapon when she encounters (she thinks) the person who made her feel the most powerless in her life. To Katara, bloodbending is about taking power from someone else…and on her own, she’s not likely to see other applications. Katara is an excellent fighter with a lot of raw power, finesse, and creativity, but she’s not actually all that in-tune with her element, and I think that’s another reason she was never very interested in healing in canon (Katara and waterbending could be a whole other meta). Katara would’ve been an equally excellent bender no matter which element she wields, unlike Toph and Aang, who are uniquely suited to their elements. Katara borrows a lot from the more aggressive forms of bending (fire and earth): grabs people with water tentacles, hits them with ice disks, overwhelms them with big waves. For all that waterbending is about going with the flow and using the opponent’s strengths against them, Katara doesn’t exactly exemplify that philosophy (unlike Aang, btw, who is more intuitive as a waterbender than she is; that is why he picked it up more quickly at the beginning). She addresses all her problems head-on and is more likely to meet them with raw power than anything else. If I were to guess her astrological placements, she’d be an Aries Mars, minimum, if not an Aries Sun as well (she’d be a Cancer Moon though…I have Thoughts on ATLA astrology lmao).

Anyway, all this to say: I don’t think Katara would’ve thought of the healing implications of bloodbending on her own, when she’s already been traumatized by it, and that’s pretty tragic tbh. I like the Zutara interpretation of Zuko inspiring Katara to think there are other uses for bloodbending (as a wielder of a potentially destructive element), but I think Toph could’ve had a conversation with her about other uses for bloodbending as well, since Toph is really creative with earth. Actually, I think Zuko or Toph or Sokka could’ve all had a conversation with Katara about coming to terms about doing things that one is not proud of & moving past them, but I guess Katara can only follow the rigid moral code of her Do No Wrong boyfriend. Anyway, LOK’s despicable treatment of ATLA’s female characters is nothing new, but Katara’s is the most obvious and egregious because she’s actually there. We have no idea what happened to Suki or Azula or Mai or Ty Lee, and what we do see from Toph is not great either (in what world would she retire to be lonely in a swamp when having her friends meant the world to her…). All the boys got to have cool fulfilling lives and all the girls who aren’t lost to history are sad sacks, thanks Bryke! On a non-sarcastic note, thank you anon for such an interesting question!

[pyroy3]

Compiling additional proof against Wilbur into one, easy to understand list.

I'm making a simple list that anyone can refer to when faced with doubts about Shelby's and other victims claims. I don't know if this will reach the right audience, or reach anyone at all, but i'd like to get it off my chest.

Why do I care so much? Because i've followed Wilbur since his day on the Jacksucksatlife channel. He had a great influence over me as a teenager, and it sucks that he was an asshole all along. I want to see him fail, that's all.

Main points are all in Shelby, Nikki, Minx and other creators' videos on him. These are just small details that are easily missed.

Wilbur being abusive towards his friends

The first video in particular really highlights the amount of power that Wilbur holds. "Tell them about how awful I am to you" seems like a dangerous thing to say as someone who is actually abusive, but it's likely that he knows he can get away with it. He doesn't expect anyone to call him out on his behaviour.

I think she has also mentioned the biting a few other times. This is pretty obvious proof that the biting was happening, and atleast got to the point of causing bruises.

A clip talking about how Wilbur threw Niki because she playfully said she was big and strong. His quick sentence "you were saying you were stronger than-" could either be him misremembering, deciding to ignore that detail, or literally saying that he interpreted her actions as claiming to be stronger than him. He says it was a "consensual throwing" but we already know how terrible he is with consent. TLDW: Niki said she was big and strong so Wilbur threw her "to assert dominance" (and show that he was stronger than her).

In Tommy's disneyland vlog, there is a short clip where Tommy playfully unties Wilbur's shoelaces and gets his hand stomped on. Thing like these flew under the radar because of their brotherly bond. You'd expect two young brothers to react like this, but not a grown man and his teenage friend. Tommy tells him that his finger got cut, and instead of apologizing, Wilbur says it was because Tommy was gonna untie his shoelaces. He essentially says that Tommy had it coming, that it was his fault he got hurt.

The biting behaviour wasn't exclusive to romantic partners. This is a clip of him biting Tommy's hand "for content", despite Tommy repeatedly shouting no. The biting isn't bad here, but it once again proves that this was something he genuinely did.

The story starts at 0:38. Here, Wilbur tells the story of how he helped Techno pick apples by gently throwing them so Techno could put them in the basket. Techno says that Wilbur is very bad at throwing. In response, Wilbur says that he threw an apple as hard as he could, aiming for his stomach. Instead, he accidentally hit the shoulder that his surgery was on. Anyone who's been hit in the stomach should know how painful it is. If Wilbur were to throw an apple has hard as he could at his stomach, it would seriously hurt. But he laughs it off. Wilbur once again claims that the person he hurt deserved it, because techno made fun of his throwing ability. I've heard that Techno's dad yelled at Wilbur for doing it, but even then, he still laughs about the story.

Wilbur's music and separating it from the artist

It's completely natural for a musician with a history of bad mental health to blame himself in his music. One of Wilbur's biggest inspirations, Crywank, have lots of songs about being a bad person. A symptom of depression is to believe you're a bad person. But as far as we know, Wilbur's music actually told the truth.

I can't find the tweet, but we also know that one of wilburs old friends(?) came out with the info that Lovejoy's song "concrete" was based on their experience, and the song explains Wilbur's neglectful behaviour.

You should know what Lovejoy's music is about. A lot of it is based on toxic relationships, being cheated on, being abused. It is a complete mockery of the people that he hurt. "Call me what you like" is clearly about being in an abusive relationship where his partner takes advantage of him and cheats on him. She forces him to "bump his head into every doorway she sees suitable for them to go through". Not that he knows what the song he wrote is about though, since he couldn't recall a single thing about the song during the genius interview. Yes, he was high, but he may as well had someone ghostwrite it for him.

Singing "you claim your ex-boyfriend's a policeman, I say you need better standards" in the song Perfume is crazy when his standards are allowing abuse to happen.

When listening to Scum, you repeatedly hear him admitting to being scum and waste. Concrete is about how he's a piece of shit. Consequences should remind you of the actual consequences of his actions. I already explained what's wrong with "your sister was right". His parody songs are direct reflections of his real personality.

However, if you still want to listen to him - spotify has a feature where you can put local files into your playlists. If you have his music downloaded, you can listen to it on spotify without giving him money or views. Just saying.

Why he can get away with it

Look at him. He is an attractive white man in the UK, And pretty privilege is a thing, no matter how you look at it. He's popular and has gotten empathy from impressionable teenagers on the internet. A lot of people have put him on a pedestal after he showed support for the LGBT+ community and BLM, singing about being against capitalism. People feel bad for him because of his history with mental health problems. They excuse his actions because he was depressed during his relationships. He also has a pattern of exclusively targeting those weaker than him. Tiny women who he can pin down, throw or bite to show he's stronger than, and teenager Tommy who believed they had a brother dynamic. You will also notice that the only people who have shared their experience with him have been women who didn’t feel strong enough to fight back against him. He is a manipulator through and through.

This is not all the proof there is

If you need more convincing, watch other creator's videos on the subject. Shelby, Niki, Minx, Alicenyannyan. There are also more small things that he has done that add up, either violent behaviour, yelling, or ignoring people's boundaries. You will also This man is undeniably abusive.

Thank you to anyone who got this far, I hope someone will get use out of it. I'm happy to finally get what I wanted to say out there.

[kanejbr3kker]

Okay I need to vent. This morning I saw this on my fyp:

(btw I'm choosing not to reblog the original post and instead just post screenshots because this is definitely a rant and since the creator and I clearly have different opinions, so I decided it's just better to leave them out of this)

Anyways, I saw this and I got pissed. Very very pissed. And so I spent 2 and a half hours writing a whole three page essay explaining everything wrong with this.

So here it is. (:

First of all, the Darkling does every single thing listed here for Nikolai, excluding cutting people’s fingers off, but he does commit mass murder, which I personally consider to be worse than cutting off someone’s fingers. 

Anyways, let’s first just address Nikolai’s reasons for doing each of these things and then the Darkling’s reasons for doing the same things.

Cutting the fingers off a man: Nikolai was a teenager who wanted to help his incredibly war torn country. He felt helpless, and even once he became a privateer, a lot of people still disrespected him because of his age, so he proved his ruthlessness by injuring one person, so he could help save his entire country. 

Usurping the throne: First of all, Nikolai was second in line to the throne, and after Vasily died, he would’ve been first. Also, the current king was an ignorant rapist who let the rest of the country go to waste to fuel his own luxuries. Nikolai wanted to rescue his country from war and a ruler that was doing nothing to stop hundreds of people (many of them kids) from dying in unnecessary battles.

Lying to Alina/hiding information from her: All Nikolai did was hide his identity from Alina to get her safely away from the Darkling who had just kidnapped her for the second time in less than a year. Kissed her without her consent: Okay, let’s just preface this by saying Malina was what got me hyperfixated on the Grishaverse, so seeing Nikolai kiss Alina did upset me, but he did it spread hope to the Ravkan villagers. They were also already spreading around a fake engagement, so while it was wrong, it wasn’t like he was trying to manipulate her. Nikolai was just trying to make their marriage more believable. (I’d also like to address a scene later in the book where Alina actually wants Nikolai to kiss her, and he says no, knowing that she just wants a distraction and isn’t really in love with him).

And now for why the Darkling did all the same things. 

Trying to usurp the throne: The Darkling hates the king, but not because he’s a terrible person, but because he’s ignorant and the Darkling knows he could be using the Fold to expand Ravka’s power. The Darkling usurps the throne so he can try and take over the country, not because he wants to save it.

Lying to Alina/hiding information from her: Unlike Nikolai, he wasn’t trying to protect her. The Darkling lied to Alina so she would believe that 1) he was in love with her and 2) he wanted to save Ravka. We know this isn’t true. When Nikolai lies, he does it to protect Alina, but when the Darkling lies he does it to manipulate her.

Kissed Alina without her consent: The Darkling tried to convince Alina he was in love with her so she would be easier to manipulate. Alina even says she doesn’t know how he feels about her, and that she doesn’t believe he loves her, but that she wants to be wanted by him. 

And now for everything else the Darkling does:

Mass murder: He destroyed an entire town just to prove a point. 

“Gifting” Genya to the Lantsovs, and then allowing her to be continually raped by them

for years. More than anything else, I feel like this proves just how terrible he is.

Killing his own mother: No explanation needed, that’s just awful.

Threatening to kill Mal to make sure Alina stays in line. He enslaved Alina. He put an unremovable collar around her neck that forced her to do whatever he wanted, and then promised to kill her boyfriend just in case that wasn’t enough.

Using kids as bargaining chips. Using grown people is bad enough, but kids. Sure, they’re Grisha, but they aren’t strong enough to fight back, especially after seeing their captor kill Ana Kuya, who helped care for them while they were in hiding. (Also just felt like adding that Nina was one of the students who he used as a bargaining chip. That’s honestly pretty unimportant, but if you needed another reason to hate him.)

Killing Alina’s mother figure: Again, he did this just to prove a point. He wanted to show Alina that he could hurt the people she cared about, and that was his only incentive.

So that the first 75% of my rant, but I also made the mistake of looking at the comments on that post and added a whole extra page responding to those.

Saying that the same thing can be applied to Kaz is so fucking disrespectful. Kaz is a traumatized teen. Is he violent? Yes. But he only hurts people who have hurt him, his friends, or other innocent people. Oomen nearly killed Inej, as well as the other crows, so Kaz hurt him because he cared about his friends and was mad that they were almost killed. When the Darkling kills people, it’s out of greed for power and the fact that he knows it’ll get a rise out of Alina.

And then this. Kaz calls Inej an investment because he values her. She said four words to him and chose to pay off her indenture. She ended up being not only an incredible spy, but an incredible friend as well. Kaz didn’t need to pay off her indenture, but he did because despite everything terrible that he does, he’s still a genuinely good person, and didn’t want to see a woman being exploited the way she was. An investment is something you value, which is why Kaz calls her one.

Also, Kaz makes a big point of Inej not belonging to anyone. He didn’t force her to get the Dregs tattoo, because he didn’t “want to be the one to mark her again.” He recognized that she was an independent person, and by not making her have the tattoo, he was giving her the freedom to leave Ketterdam when her indenture was paid off. Also, when Inej tells Kaz she wants to leave Ketterdam, he literally buys her a boat so she can leave. That’s not how you treat your property.

And as for the Darkling, he used Alina’s power to start a civil war. What he does is beyond redemption. The Darkling exploits and manipulates women. He abuses and assaults them to reach his own goals, most of which involve destroying the rest of the world so that Ravka stays in power. Comparing him to two kids who just do what they have to to survive is so disrespectful, and clearly you misunderstood the messages of the books if you think that Kaz and Nikolai are the same as the Darkling.

So that's my little anti-Darkling rant. I've already tortured my frienda with this, so if they didn't think I was insane before, they do now lol.

[lovegrowsart]

the argument i keep seeing that the choice qimir gives to osha to leave the island in episode six isn't a "real choice" because in the real world it'd maybe be realistically logistically/physically difficult to cross that body of water is driving me up the wall because it's such literal thinking when star wars has never been and will never be concerned with what's realistic or logistically plausible. there's fire in space in the first episode of the show, because fire needed to be there to give osha that moment of flashback to the trauma of her childhood and help further establish her character - it's entirely in service to the story, doesn't matter that that's not how it works irl.

the reason the ship is there is because it needed to be in the distance to facilitate the visual storytelling - osha looking back at the ship, her chance to flee/escape the underworld, then looking back at qimir walking away off screen and making the choice to follow him. that's literally (heh) it. he even suggests waiting for low tide if she wants an easier time of it if we're gonna be that concerned about how oh so terribly hard it'd be for osha - who is an adult ex jedi and a mechanic that does such dangerous jobs on space ships that the republic legit made it illegal for anyone but droids to do them - to manage a bit of a difficult swim :(

ymmv on the qimir being manipulative angle, but i think it'd benefit a lot of people's understanding of the dynamic between osha and qimir in episode six to remember that star wars is fairytale - it is metaphorical and psychological mythology. it is not realistic or grounded in reality, nor is it meant to be read with realism in mind, because then you're simply analysing/critiquing from a position that the story isn't operating from.

you don't have to take a creator's words into consideration when developing your own interpretation, but such things can be helpful and valuable. leslye headland's made her intentions re: osha and qimir's dynamic pretty clear - that it's not meant to be manipulative, that one of the purposes of episode six was to explore qimir's "lighter" side and osha's "darker" side (hence the wholly unsubtle costuming choices, him in natural-looking off-white and osha entirely in solid grey). while qimir isn't being wholly honest with her right off the bat (cause why would he be?), he also isn't deceiving or tricking her about anything re: who he is and what he's about - how could he? she knows his face. she knows entirely what he's capable of and what he did in episode five. he can't play the master and the fool the way he did with mae, he can only be as honest as a man like him can be if he wants her to listen to him. i don't think she's naive about him at all, and i think people struggle with understanding that - that she doesn't have any illusions about his morality or lack thereof - and understanding that she still has the agency and desire to listen to what he has to say. you can believe it isn't "good" for her to listen to him, sure, but that doesn't mean she's being maliciously manipulated maliciously.

[arhapsodyofwords]

About the "two" Claudias

I was watching a yt video where the creator was asking questions about plot holes in season 2 of Interview With the Vampire. One of the "plot holes" in question being Claudia's inconsistent characterization between seasons 1 and 2 (having nothing to do with the actress change, but instead inconsistencies in the writing). The major difference being that Claudia was a ruthless and conniving vampire at the end of season 1, but cowed and vulnerable in season 2.

I don't completely agree with the premise that Claudia's characterization is inconsistent, I think a lot of the changes were natural responses to the trauma she experienced at the end of the first season, as well as the trauma she endured in Europe during the war. I don't deny that the difference can be a little jarring especially when binge-watching the show, and it got me started down the path of trying to figure out why she changed like this. (This is all just my interpretation by the way!)

Someone commented that maybe Claudia was inconsistent because memories are inconsistent, and I like this idea. I think Louis' memories of Claudia while narrating the planning and death of Lestat could have been influenced by Louis' feelings about the whole situation. Louis deeply loved Claudia, but I do think that he had some resentments towards her specifically because of Lestat's "murder," resentments that he pushed deep down. The feelings did bubble up though; like when he put his hands on her for the first and only time when she tried burning Lestat's body, or when he had Dreamstat call Claudia a mistake. Even when he yells at her about choosing the coven over him, a blow he would've felt after following Claudia to Europe and then realizing he wasn't companion enough for her ("sit in your choices, sister!" projection much?). I'm not trying to take Claudia's rapaciousness (in a good way) away from her, but it's possible that Louis described her being as predatory as he did because of this subconscious resentment.

Mostly though, I think that Claudia is depressed and lost in season 2 because she started to realize that Lestat was probably right. Claudia and Louis spent miserable years during the war not being able to find any other vampires except for Daciana, who immediately immolated herself, leaving Claudia devastated. When Lestat told Claudia and Louis about Magnus throwing himself into the fire, Claudia refused to believe him (s1, ep6). Watching Daciana do the same thing probably had Claudia remembering what Lestat said; if he wasn't lying about Magnus then maybe he wasn't lying about European vampires rejecting her.

She was happy when she found the coven in Paris, but then was immediately hurt by them too, literally the moment she joined them. Making her play a child night after night, being referred to as a bird. Possibly recalling what Lestat said about the European vampires viciousness? Lestat: "If you find them [other vampires], which you won't, they would shred you to strips, because you are built like a bird..." (s1, ep5) Santiago: "You'll be their little birdy for the next 50 years." (s2, ep3)

Lestat was correct about Europe and it's vampires and I think this shook her.

Claudia was also very hurt and angry at Louis too. Louis chose Lestat over her again, because by not burning Lestat's body, Louis left open the possibility that Lestat could take his revenge on her. She was stuck in Europe with the man who betrayed her and she had no choice but to stay with him because she still loved him, she just knew that he would never put her first. I think that Claudia also picked up on Louis' resentment towards her, at least in his extreme grief for Lestat, and this would have made her feel terrible. This is why she was so desperate to join and stay in the coven despite their abuse.

In short, Claudia's confidence was completely destroyed by Louis' betrayal, her inability to find community for a decade after leaving New Orleans, and by realizing that her evil Dad was kind of right.

(and this is why finding Madeleine was the best thing that happened to Claudia but well...)

[cheemscakecat]

Y’know, I don’t usually talk about ships I dislike, but this is one I haven’t seen criticized.

So the Gravity Falls fandom is riddled with bad ships, ranging from “Ah yes, let’s ship the victim with the demon that abused them” to “Incest between 12 year old twins is so great”.

Which would explain why all the effort of criticizing ships is going to those infamous ones and not any others that might be less ugly by comparison.

Heck, that note to Mabel in journal 3, saying Bill would have thrown Dipper’s body off the water tower was probably the creator’s way of saying “Stop shipping Dipper with the demon Dorito.” She’s terrified of that thing from trying to get Stan over his fear of heights, and Bill ended the letter by asking if she wanted to join Dipper at the bottom.

StanChez is the lesser evil ship I’m talking about specifically. But keep in mind, I’m a Gravity Falls fan, not a Rick and Morty fan, so my knowledge of that show is from video essays and osmosis.

It’s not on the same level of awful as saying Ford and Bill should be a couple after watching the man get chained and electrocuted.

Or well drawn incest between the two main characters, who are based on the show creator and his sister.

But StanChez is toxic. And I’d like to explain why on Stan Pines’ behalf, because he deserves better. And I also don’t think they’d get along for more than a few days.

Reason 1: Rick is a different level of Criminal

People seem to gravitate towards this ship because Stan and Rick are both criminals and bad influences on those around them, but it’s more surface level than you’d think.

The most we know about Stan’s kill count is that he killed a llama and Bill. And in his words “that llama had it coming”. Other than that, his main crimes are swindling and conning, with tax evasion through false identities.

But if a state full of angry people goes after him, his response is to run away and start a new fake identity. Not attack the people he conned or the police. And even though his bad products gave people rashes, they never crossed over into something truly heinous.

He also tries to befriend other criminals and attacks them out of self defense, and not intent to kill. Stan knows how to fight, but his intention is very rarely to kill, and that’s a healthier mindset to have.

Rick is in the habit of ruining versions of earth with his experiments, and then running off to take his own place in another dimension instead of staying to try and help. That’s not running away from a minor con like Stan, that’s leaving billions of people to die, over and over again.

Rick is also in the habit of killing people who are an inconvenience to him, whether they pose a real threat or not. He’s so used to killing on sight that he doesn’t bat an eye at making Morty take someone’s life.

Stan is a different kind of bad influence than Rick that isn’t as heinous. Not by a long shot. Dipper and Mabel may have to go on a character arc where they stop swindling people, but they’ve never been taught to kill or maim. They’ve never watched Stan murder people and ignore their distress when he does it. Or been forced to bury a body.

Dipper and Mabel may become worse because of Stan, but it’s nothing so serious that they’ll never recover. But Morty? Morty is in a very toxic situation where he’s been traumatized and started to go numb inside.

Reason 2: Stan’s self esteem

Stan has a lot more in common with Morty than you’d think. He was always “the dumb twin” and “the screw up”. Sure, his Ma tried to negate his father’s terrible words, but one of his parents still made him feel hated and useless.

For goodness sakes, it was Filbrick kicking him out as a high schooler, telling him to come back when he made a fortune, that set him on the path of greed!

It’s also Filbrick’s terrible parenting that made Stan try to be tough with Dipper and favor Mabel, the way Ford was favored.

Stan’s self esteem is much lower than it looks on the surface, and prolonged exposure to Rick would only make it worse.

You see, Rick doesn’t explain what dimension they’re going to, what to look out for, and what’s safe before bringing Morty on an “adventure”. They’ll get there, Morty will start asking because he doesn’t know, and Rick will drunkenly call him an idiot and barely explain. But Morty is supposed to be the stupid one for it.

Rick also favors Summer, Morty’s sister over him. Even though he’s been dragged along on these traumatic adventures much longer.

Say what you will about Stan being a bad influence, but at least we know he does it out of generational trauma and still cares about Dipper. Instead of being harsher on him for no reason, Stan sees it as teaching him to be tougher by making him do chores.

Rick is just playing favorites. And he’s also well known for talking down to Morty’s dad Jerry for being stupid. To the point fans only recently started to see through it and respect Jerry as an embarrassing but happy normal person.

If Stan started hanging around Rick, he’d be talked down to and compared to his smarter twin once again, but this time by the “smartest man in the multiverse”. He doesn’t need another toxic influence to stomp on his self worth.

Reason 3: Think of the children

Stan never replaced anybody. Yes, he had the wax Stan, but he wasn’t calling it Ford. My theory is he was practicing what he’d do with Ford once he brought him back, and the wax funeral was him remembering that Ford might have died.

Stan is known for letting the kids go off on their own, but he also tried to convince them that the supernatural wasn’t real to protect them.

And when he saw they were in danger, he fought the undead to protect them. Most of the time, he just doesn’t see that they’re in danger because they’re off on their own.

He cares about Dipper and Mabel and Soos and Wendy. Heck, he even gave Gideon a pep talk in the shrink ray episode. Do you honestly think he’d be okay with cloning one of them if they died? Or worse, stealing some other Stan’s family in another dimension?

He was looking for his Ford, not a random one from some other timeline. If Dipper was thrown off the water tower, or Mabel snapped away by Bill, Stan wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. And he wouldn’t be able to replace them. The same goes for Ford, Soos, and Wendy.

So imagine him finding the Morty cloning facilities at Rick’s Citadel. And Rick trying to gaslight him into thinking it’s better to leave the evil Ricks to clone and kill as many Morty’s as they want, because it keeps them distracted. Or finding out about Rick replacing himself in other dimensions without telling the family?

Y’all remember that Dipper asked Ford how he knew Bill, and he said:

“I’ve encountered many dark beings in my time, Dipper.”

I bet the reason why Ford was erased with other memory tubes is because he found out about the cloning and got angry with Rick. Because despite his issues with Stan, he still remembers the little boy getting mistreated by his father.

Needless to say, Stanley wouldn’t be approving of all this either, once he knew Rick was a monster. But if Rick wouldn’t listen to “the smart” twin and erased the interaction, he’s way less likely to listen to poor Stan. Because he’s well used to talking down to people when they confront him or disagree with him. And if he’d do it to his own family, he’d sure as heck do it to Stanley.

So yeah, those are my reasons why StanChez is a bad idea/doesn't work. This isn’t going to become a series or anything, I just thought it was worth explaining.

[master-ray5]

My Response To “Why I love the Toxic Romance of Sailor Moon”

I came across this video online: 

My short response: I disagree. 

My long response: Buckle UP

     It should be noted the video isn’t presenting the argument for just the 90s aspect of the Usagi x Mamoru relationship but is lumping Crystal and the Manga into the argument and insisting it's a toxic romance. The creator of this video breaks down their argument into pointing out three different aspects of the Usagi X Mamoru relationship: 

The age gap and the power dynamic is causes

The lack of choice in the relationship 

How Seiya offers Usagi choice

     Let’s tackle all three of the points and see where the argument breaks down. First off the age gap…sigh…

The Age Gap

     At this point I’m sick of even going into this aspect of the argument. Frankly over the years it comes off as far too personal for many individuals and they can’t separate these feelings when they enter into fiction. If you can’t get over the aspect Usagi is dating an older (4-5 years) man and are uncomfortable with the power dynamic this presents in a relationship then this isn’t the show for you. 

     Still, can people stop acting like it's a huge age gap? This isn’t like the age gap that comes like Bunny Drops (that series really took a turn later in the manga) so can we all stop acting like Mamoru is riding around in a van offering Usagi candy? Moving on…

The Lack of Choice in the Relationship

     The video argues even if you look past the reincarnation element of the Mamoru x Usagi relationship, the introduction of Crystal Tokyo and them becoming King and Queen causes the relationship to become toxic. With this expectation to reach this status, the two are pressured to stay together whether they are ideal for each other or not. This lack of choice is described by the video as being toxic. 

     While the aspects of destiny are prevalent in Sailor Moon, it is important to distinguish the difference between fate and destiny. Fate are the events that will happen when someone doesn't take responsibility. Destiny is what can be achieved through growth and one's own actions. Usagi and Mamoru are shown to be willing to fight for their goals and each other. Usagi wants to be a bride. She wants to be Mamoru’s bride. Mamoru wants to have a family with Usagi so he never feels alone like he did when he was a kid (the movie Sailor Moon R: Promise of the Rose shows this in detail). They support and nurture each other and fight against the forces of evil in the process. 

     It should be noted despite knowing their destiny they still have moments where they need a reminder they need to keep fighting. Usagi has to be reminded at the end of Sailor Moon R to continue the fight. She is reminded of her need to step up by talking with Naru who has no idea she is Sailor Moon.  

      This doesn't just apply to Usagi. Mamoru, upon seeing Usagi with Haruka, feels jealous and is shown to be depressed by it. Only by working together on a project not related to fighting evil but something as simple as helping Chibi Usa with an assignment are they able to reconnect. 

     Also the future they are shown isn't terrible or apocalyptic. The two are shown to be happy, have achieved peace, and are still in love. Why wouldn't they work to achieve it?

The Illusion of Choice With Seiya

     A recent argument I see a lot of Seiya x Usagi fans using is “Seiya offers Usagi choice. Something Mamoru never did.” While it can be argued Seiya is offering Usagi a choice, it is not necessarily a good choice. Look at the hard facts of Seiya’s mission: they are dedicated to Princess Kakyuu and planned on leaving the planet as soon as they found her. Under these aspects, the choices Seiya is offering are not in Usagi’s favor.

At best, Seiya is offering Usagi to leave the planet so they can be together, meaning Usagi would have to give up all her friends and family just so she could be together with Seiya. At worst, Seiya is asking Usagi to engage in a long distant relationship to be together. Considering how critical Seiya was about Usagi engaging in a long distance relationship with someone who was supposed to be on the same planet, the idea of even suggesting such a thing to Usagi makes Seiya a hypocrite. 

In conclusion:

Here are a few examples of ACTUAL toxic relationships in anime: 

Gundam Seed: When Fllay uses sex to keep Kira focused on fighting the enemy forces to exact her revenge. 

Death Note: Light Yagami intentionally manipulates Misa’s feelings to use her as a tool to exact his plan for bringing his version of justice to the world. 

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Akio romancing and bedding Utena for his own purposes while at the same time sexually abusing his sister Anthy.  

Fruits Basket: Shigure slept with Ren (Akito's mother) as revenge for Akito sleeping with Kureno.

These are Toxic relationships where people are legitimately being hurt by being a part of it. Though the future Usagi and Mamoru witness is imposing, their interactions are actually supportive in nature. In summary, I don't agree with this video and continue to express that Usagi and Mamoru have a relationship others can and should ascribe to obtain.

[theceolacanther]

Ranni IS canonically trans.

because if she is trans it reframes her entire character arc giving her so much more conviction and depth. my understanding of rannis arc is that shes a demigod, child of renalla who discards her great rune as well as her body and turns her back on the fingers to take control of her own destiny. this makes sense if she is a cis woman, who worships the cosmos instead of the erdtree and wants to usurp the throne and put her own ideologies into power.

HOWEVER if shes a trans woman who is actively working to dismantle the system that oppressed her and refused to let her express her true self, that makes a lot more sense narratively and makes her character arc a lot more satisfying imo. it also creates a parallel to (my understanding) of mohg and morgotts character arcs, about being outcasts and denied the light of the erdtree. however mohg and morgott were actively denied the light of the erdtree, but Ranni was told that she could have as long as she wasnt trans. so instead of hiding who she is, she discards her body and great rune divorcing herself from who she was and actively turning her back on the erdtree and marikas rule stating "i am a woman. i will always be a woman. and if you will deny me my birthrite because of that then i do not want it".

This also means that when ranni gives you the key to scale the tower of liurnia and collect her great rune it means SO much. she is trusting you with who she was, letting you take the power that she discarded and trusting you with the knowledge of who she is (im not saying that being trans is a terrible secret, or that people who are trans are cosplaying, just that after facing a life of discrimination of course she would want to keep the fact that shes trans close to her chest). when you find her body as well its a dried out corpse, the only defining feature is the dress that its wearing. the one thing that ranni left with that body is its feminity, refusing even after she discards it to let it be masculine or androgenous. she makes an active choice to keep her old body feminine even after she discards it.

you can also see her transness reflected directly in her dialogue aswell, as when you have the final conversation with her before the ending, where she is telling you what she wants this is what she says:

I take it thou'st noticed? I shouldn't be surprised. I thought I might expound a little further... Upon the order I envision.

Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night. I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet. As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at great remove.

And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch... All become impossibilities. Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order. Wouldst thou come to me, even now, my one and only lord?

the line "life, souls and order are bound tightly together but i would have them at great remove" is saying that she wants to allow people the freedom to do what they want with their bodies. because under the reign marika the body is a gift given by the erdtree, so to change it would be heresy. and i wonder why she would want to unbind life, soul and order. the line "wouldst thou come to me, even now, my one and only lord?" is her asking if you accept her for who she is. shes laid her soul bare and shes asking to be accepted by you, and then you do!

ranni being a trans woman also greatly deepens her bond with iji and blaid. the two were gifted to her as consorts, made by the fingers. however when ranni wishes to turn her back on marikas order, on her great rune and on the fingers, blaidd and iji follow her. if she was cis, this would be sweet, like they love her so much that theyre willing to turn against their creators to follow her and try and help her instate her religion. however if shes trans this changes everything. theyre no longer following her because just because theyre loyal to her, they're also saying "i accept you". theyre seeing the injustices that shes facing, and theyre standing up for her. they see how shes been persecuted for being trans, and theyre saying this isnt right. they believe that it isnt right so strongly that they turn on the beings that created them! that wrote their personalities and constructed their bodies. thats how much they care for ranni. theyre willing to burn the world down because of how its treated their maiden, and i love that so much.

so like. ranni is trans. it deepens her convictions and relationships and also shows that marikas reign is one that has to change.

this post started because i was like "hehe ranni is trans because she discards her body and literally becomes a doll" and then i thought about it for 1 more second and was like. wait a sec. also im not super in the elden ring fandom so idk if this is like. common knowledge and im just late to the party

if a terf interacts with this post i will use their vertebrae to play air hockey 👍

[bestworstcase]

I have a question about some of your Salem thoughts

If Salem is 110% certain that she can take down the Gods (assuming that's her goal since we don't actually know), why wouldn't she communicate her plan to Oz? Especially if she truly doesn't want anyone to die like you say. Oz would jump at the bit if Salem said "Hey I want to stop fighting" since that would mean their shadow war would stop. I really don't think Oz likes the Gods either, and even if he's afraid of them, if *Salem* is that confident she can stop them (she's far from an idiot), I'm sure he'd at least hear her out (which would tell Salem a LOT).

If she's that confident and truly doesn't want to fight, why wouldn't she tell Oz her new plan? And why would she kickstart her plan by attacking the kingdoms/Academies? Surely she could find a way to steal the Relics without flat out attacking them (like sending in double agents to take the Maiden powers)? Like... she would've known she'd get people killed, including children and innocent people. Even if she did damage control (which I think is just strategic, why bother going after people if she's focusing on the Relics? She's not gonna waste precious time and resources), she surely knew people would get caught in the crossfire.

Don't get me wrong, I like what you bring to the table!! Your posts are thought provoking and unique. But I can't see Salem being somehow secretly good. I don't think the show is setting her up that way, and I think she's a fantastic villain, so from my own perspective, doing that kind of twist would be a disservice to her character. I don't think she's inhuman or a complete and total monster who should go, but she's definitely not a good person especially if she can't communicate that she supposedly doesn't want people dead. She seems to be an "the ends justify the means" kind of person, and the show I think has stated that that isn't a good mindset i.e. Ironwood.

Sorry, I rambled and completely strayed from my point 😅 I don't mean to be mean if I come across that way. I hope my ask is interesting or thought provoking though :P

my position is that salem is right, not that she’s secretly good—that is an important distinction. i think she sees the gods clearly for what they are, thinks the divine ultimatum repulsive and unjust, wants remnant to be free, and believes that humanity is transcendent over their creators; she also, quite plainly, does not have any compunction about doing whatever it takes to achieve her ends and while i do think she is still fully capable of and driven by love, she is so TERRIFIED of being hurt again and so CERTAIN that no one could ever care for her that when she does care for someone else it comes out in very, very twisted and often cruel ways. she’s not good, she’s not nice, she’s just right.

equally the heroes are good but not right, because they have yet to really grapple with the premise of the divine mandate (that humanity as it exists right now does not deserve to exist) or their own role in upholding it (their immediate goal is survival, but when they envision the ending of this war they imagine salem driven back and the relics squirreled away again in hope of at best everlasting stalemate). the point of structuring the narrative this way is that neither side can get to the proverbial good ending alone; they need to work together, salem’s ends with the heroes’ means.

like. she’s evil. lol. that’s not in question and i think it goes without saying that she is doing evil things so i don’t feel the need to make a “but she’s still evil though” disclaimer every time i try to tease out what’s going on in her head. notice how my reaction to salem razing vale was OH GLINDA LAYS SIEGE TO THE EMERALD CITY, WE’RE REALLY IN IT NOW and not, like, shock or dismay that salem would do such a terrible thing. brgdfjs

(i DO think she has mostly been trying to avoid ozma and not reciprocating the shadow crusade against her prior to about fourteen years ago and that she isn’t about wanton destruction or killing for the sake of it; and in that sense i think she’s not as bad as the general fanon reading. but that comes with the territory of thinking she has actual reasons for doing what she does as opposed to being, like, a genocidal lunatic.)

anyway. to your questions. the short answer is she’s just as scared of oz as he is of her.

“but he’s the good one!”—think about this from her perspective for a minute. set aside your opinion of her and oz, presuppose for the moment that i’m correct on her motivations, and consider what everything ozma’s done in the last few thousand years looks like to her.

she knows that the gods were monsters. she witnessed them slaughtering the whole world and she saw how little it mattered to them after. she was alone for millions of years, and then hated and feared for thousands of years because she didn’t look human. all that suffering because the gods are punishing her for praying to them. yes?

then ozma returns to her, somehow. he doesn’t explain how or why—maybe he tells her he just doesn’t know—but that’s alright. what matters is that he’s here. he asks what happened to her, and she tells him the truth: the gods ended the world. cursed her. killed everyone. she was alone for so long. (maybe not the whole truth: there are things she’s afraid to say, because the gods did it all to punish her, and it’s her fault, and she’s so scared that he’d despise her if he knew everything. the only reason for her to fear ozma would reject her is if she blamed herself. you don’t hide things out of shame if you don’t feel ashamed of them.)

they learn each other again. fall in love all over again. things are finally okay. they fix up her house. they’re happy together. one day ozma tells her that he’s worried about how divided people are. she wants so badly to make him happy; she would move mountains for him. salem herself has no interest in ruling over people as a god—if she did, she wouldn’t have been living alone in a rotting shack in the middle of nowhere—all that enthusiasm is for him. to support what he wants.

they build a following, found a prosperous kingdom, start a family. four children! how long do you think they were married—ten years? twenty? and the whole time, the whole time, ozma was keeping these secrets from her. that the god of light, who’d condemned her to eternal suffering for praying to his brother, who’d shown utter indifference to the deaths of millions, had sent him back to redeem humanity FROM HER SINS, from what SALEM did. that the point of all this is cleansing humankind of her defiance and inviting THAT MONSTER to remnant to judge whether this world deserved to be subjugated under the brothers’ tyranny again or else be put to death.

imagine how she must have felt when ozma finally told her the truth, knowing that the first thing she told him was that the gods ended the last one. imagine the sickening realization that their whole marriage is built on a lie, because she would never, ever, ever have agreed to help him unite the world if she had known what he sought to unite them for, and ozma knew she never would. that he deceived her! manipulated her into serving the will of a god she knows to be a monster!

and even then—even to the very end—she loved him enough to try. she was willing to forgive all of that and figure out a way to move past it together, and the only thing she asked was that he walk away from his task of submitting this world to the judgment of THAT MONSTER. and he wouldn’t do it.

there’s a gap we don’t get to see, in between ozma backing away from her and salem catching him leaving with the girls, but we can infer that ozma walked out of that room and salem didn’t. imagine how she felt. ten years, twenty years, however long it was, and he was lying to her through it all, and he left her with hardly a moment’s hesitation when she refused to help him enact THAT MONSTER’S retribution against herself. because that is, ultimately, what this is all about; humanity is found guilty by association with her.

imagine how she felt. used. worthless. duped. like a fool for ever trusting him. did he ever love her at all, or was that a lie, too?

when she caught him in the hallway later that night, they both attack each other in the same instant. ozma remembers her attacking him first, but their volleys meet in perfect symmetry and right before salem throws her first bolt of magic, her eyes flicker down in surprise as she tracks the motion of his staff (which we see in the previous shot)—salem remembers him attacking her first.

because they were both so tense and scared and angry at each other that they snapped in exactly the same moment.

their battle is so intense they blow up the castle, and when the smoke clears, salem is a pile of ash. ash! he incinerated her! imagine how enraged you have to be to burn someone to ash. that level of fury, of absolute hatred of her, is literally burnt into her memory as the last thing he did to her before she managed to kill him, inextricably twisted around the guilt and unbearable grief she feels for her children.

he’s dedicated all but a handful of his lives since then to getting rid of her. finding a way to destroy her. (how far is he willing to go? what would happen if salem tried to move on, find community and solace somewhere far away from him? would he come after her? would he follow his god’s example and go after the people she cared about to punish her? is she willing to risk that he might?)

do you think salem understands why ozma did any of this? she doesn’t. she doesn’t get the luxury we do of jinn narrating his side of the story and showing us the anguish he felt, wanting so desperately to be with salem but eaten alive by terror of dooming the world for his happiness. she doesn’t know.

all she knows is how he treated her: the secrets, the deception, the manipulation, the immediate and absolute rejection when she told him no, the explosively violent anger at the end, then centuries upon centuries systematically erasing her from history and enforcing her exile whilst searching for the relics he needs to summon his god for the final judgment. which she knows will inevitably end in the annihilation of the whole world and yet more torture for her with no hope of reprieve, because if all of this was not enough to satisfy the god of light’s grudge against her for, again, just praying to his brother, nothing ever will.

salem feels about ozma now the way blake felt about adam. why did he lie to her, why did he use her, why does he keep coming back, why won’t he just LEAVE HER ALONE, hasn’t she suffered enough, hasn’t she been punished enough, when will it be enough—and intertwined with that, she is being EATEN ALIVE by the conviction that no one could ever truly care about her or feel for her or want to help her or think that she deserves help or even just see her as a person, because if ozma—ozma, the one who saved her from her father’s tower, who knew her and loved her before all of this happened—if ozma thought her so worthless that he would rather serve a god who ended the last world and promises to condemn this one too than suffer her to exist at all in this world, why the fuck would anyone else be any different?

thousands of years later, she still flies off the handle when anyone lies to her. (except cinder. but cinder is always the exception, to every rule.) there’s a reason she recruits the kind of people she does—desperate, broken, angry people starving for something she can promise to give them if they make themselves useful to her—and it’s because she does not believe that she can get anything better than strictly transactional relationships with people who have literally nothing and nowhere else to turn. and when she actually cares about someone? she fights herself tooth and claw over it because she desperately doesn’t want to open herself up to more heartbreak. look at how erratic and cruel she is with cinder.

it’s not rational. salem is smart and very, very tactically shrewd but she is making all of her plans and all of her choices from the assumption that she is and will always be alone in this, because she is unlovable, because she is worthless, because she is the reason this world is damned. and she’s terrified of ozma because to her everything he does suggests that his conviction and dedication to the god of light has never wavered. she cannot see his doubt. she cannot see his misery. she cannot see how much he misses her and desperately wants to make amends. all she can see is that he’s zealously guarding the relics and spreading his god’s word and training children to fight and die in the name of keeping her exiled.

why doesn’t ozma just go to her and tell her he wants to make amends? because he’s terrified she’ll never forgive him and terrified that he’ll damn the world to annihilation if he follows his heart. they’re the same. they’re exactly the same.

but this is also what makes it so possible—even easy—for salem to undergo a villain-to-hero arc, because the only thing that needs to happen is a spark of real hope. that someone, anyone, could really care about her. like. the things she says in her soliloquies about the transformative power of hope? “even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change,” and “it’s true that a simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the hearts of the weary…”—that’s her. one small reason to hope. that is all she needs to change.

she doesn’t want to be razing kingdoms to the ground or cutting a bloody path through children to get those relics. she is willing to do it because she truly, genuinely, from the depths of her soul believes that it’s the only way to free herself from the torture she’s been subjected to for millions of years. she’s driven to this by desperation. she won’t keep doing it if she’s given a reason to feel less desperate.

but she does need to be given a reason, first. she’s hemorrhaging. this is why the winnowing of her inner circle and the split between everyone else in vacuo versus salem + cinder + summer in vale is important; Those Two are the ones she cares about—technically we don’t know for sure regarding summer yet, but the level of trust she has for the lieutenant holding beacon is suggestive—and that being reciprocated is what ignites her hope.

[helluva-dump]

At this point, the hazbin/helluva critical community has fallen flat. And when I say that, I mean that it lacks potential. Like, I thought we were criticizing about the characters and the show itself. I thought we were talking about it's issues and what Viv could approve on it. But now, these people are just targeting fans of Viv's show who are just going on about their day, taking screenshots of harmful posts and posting it on the critical blog just to shit on them. You can't even consider that "critical" now when you're just being an asshole. They wonder why Viv and her fans think the critics are so bad. On top of that, these people love to make assumptions about Viv harassing Gooseworx all because she's a "terrible person" like please stfu. "She probably did this" and they don't even have any proof. Maybe consider that Viv actually enjoys tadc and it's success? What is all of this "viv is mad because the amazing digital circus is more successful than her shitty shows"? I dunno, man. That critical community is just so fucking dumb and stupid. They're not even talking about the shows anymore. They just bitch and fuss about everything.

For real, I had never seen such a critical community this much of a train wreck as the fandom is.

I mean hell, I engaged with the SVTFOE community before (and that show has the EXACT same problems as Helluva boss) and the critical blogs were very chill.

I feel like what didn’t help is how immature and unprofessional Vivziepop acts publicly. But at the same time…. I can’t really blame her for getting defensive when these antis dogpile her on everything.

And yes, the screenshots making fun of harmless posts of fans were red flags to me. Like dude, we have rabid fans and Stans do that to us, why the hell are you stopping to their level??? (I’m not gonna include the voodoo controversy because that to me needed to be talked about. A lot of POC fans and criticals had every right to discuss that and Viv should had given an apology or explanation over that. With closed religions that always got stereotypes due to colonizers, you need to be careful when writing about them. )

Oh God don’t get me started on the whole Vivziepop and Gooseworks relationship assumptions… that actually annoyed me too and I’m sure there’s no bad blood with them. I get she had bad blood with Tracey and possibly Ashley, but I don’t think it’s fair to assume she’s like this with every indie creator.

Honestly, its both of their fandoms that are acting unhinged. But I even seen hardcore fans of Viv like Dani praising TADC and Gooseworks, so I doubt the whole fandom are planning to sabotage them. TADC isn’t a rain full of sunshine either, they too have so much bad apples there.

Also my big issue with this community I’ve noted some critical blogs that claim they wanna make an original series (well one already made a webcomic) but they NEVER stop bitching about Viv and go on and on how they never do this to their project… unmmm dude? If you constantly compare your project to Viv’s, your gonna lose your audience this way. This can make you come off as an a logger and a very petty person to others. Trust me, this is NOT going to make people want to be interested in your original projects.

It’s also very unprofessional to do this publicly. I get looking at bad writing motivates you how to not to things… but the constant comparing is going to make you look like a very petty person to your outside audience. And they feel like your project won’t have agency on its own without being “better than Helluva/Hazbin.” I say this because I too am working on an indie project I want to make to a webcomic. And I REALLY don’t wanna ruin my reputation that way.

That’s what Zeartist did when he made his shitty ass books and would constantly hitch and whine about twilight on his life journals. And he would always bring up his original series and how it’s “better” and how he wouldn’t write such garbage like Stephanie Meyer.

And guess what???? His books are just twilight 2.0 but even worse 😂😂😂 he ended up doing the exact same thing stephanie did, bitches out over criticism, and yeah a huge hypocritical asshat.

That’s why constantly comparing your project to another person’s to seen as better is NOT a smart idea. Please have some self awareness there if your actually planning to make a webcomic or an original series.

Also… I’ve noticed people that have beautiful startled would waste it on blind hatred. Like that “I HAtE VIVZIEPOP” blog. Like godamn, their art is beautiful but they had an unhealthy hate obsession with Viv… why waste your energy on that when you can make something better?

I’m not talking about rewrites, AUs, or redesigns because to me those are like fanfics and for fun. The stuff I do is mainly just for fanfic fun and a writing/world building exercise for me. But also a little bit of self indulgence since I sitll admire Viv’s characters. You can enjoy something without giving your support to the actual creator. I’m trying to show my support to the team behind it.

(I’m even planning to buy fan merch from one of the clean up artists on their shop. To me it’s the ethical way of getting Hazbin/Helluva merch without directly giving it to Viv but to her artists instead. )

[inconspicious-random-thoughts]

I just had a wild thought. What if Alastor's goal to become the one "pulling all the strings" in Hell isn't about overthrowing the other Overlords or even Lucifer? What if the one he wants to overthrow is Roo? Whatever or whoever Roo truly is, her status as the Root of all Evil makes her Hell's version of God. She's the ultimate power of the demonic realm of Sin, beyond the Deadly Sins, beyond the Morningtars. Her malignant web spreads to every corner of Hell. There's no station higher than that for a demon. Maybe the reason Alastor is trying to groom Charlie to come into her power more is because he thinks she may somehow have the power to destroy or at least overwhelm Roo, which will put Alastor in a position to steal her godlike abilities for himself.

In short, I believe Alastor's ultimate goal is to become the new Root of Evil, which will effectively make him the unofficial ruler of all of Hell.

Hello old pal!

Sorry for the delay, I'm having bit of a bad luck streak. I had no power for nearly a week. Which was terrible as this week the temperature spiked 20 additional degrees and given little time and preparation for to accumulate to the heat. So I had no fans to help cool me down. Nor food as everything spoiled in my refrigerator and freezer.

On top of that my pay got severely messed up. I was also assaulted while I was out working. It was completely random, wrong place wrong time type of situation. But I live in pretty much the safety state as well the safest areas. In a neighborhood that one would least expect to get assaulted and attempted carjack. So, I was completely off guard when the woman attacked me. She came to me in a panic for help which I was attempting to do, but it rapidly change to her becoming angry and attacking me within a minute. The change was so quick, I nearly suffer whiplash from it. Luckily, I didn't get hurt much beside bruising. But I was shaken up tremendously.

But back to your question

I honestly, don't think Alastor motives are power hungry and rule Hell. I'm sure, he purposely design by the creator to guess his motives and imply he wants to rule Hell.

I think the only reason why he wanted power to begin with so no one can control him or boss him around. There's freedom when one is powerful. Which is what Alastor wants. Free to indulge whatever whim that catches his fancy. When those same whims he was was force to hide while alive. Who going to stop him if no one can enforce their objections?

But its semi implied that his power was given by his owner of his soul, considering they can restrict his power. So, while Alasor made a deal with them to gain power and "freedom", but in the long scheme of things, the freedom became a lot more restrictive with a collar around his throat and the freedom is given how generous his owner willing to slack the leash.

So, I don't think ruling Hell is Alastor personal objective.

However, I will admit...I really love your idea and honestly, I can vision it for it to be possible.

It be the reason why Alastor was willing to make a deal with Roo. While, Roo having his soul isn't ideal when one planning on overthrow their owner. But maybe there's a clause that Alastor will retain all of Roo power if for whatever the nearly impossible possible, Roo cease to exist. Or something along those lines. Or perhaps Alastor is "under cover". Just trying to keep his enemy closer by serving them to gain knowledge and find weaknesses. Roo would be less guarded around Alastor when all she had to do is yank his chain or threaten to rip his soul if he got out of line. Alastor is one that play the long game.

I know there's people who think Alastor wants to rule Hell. Which is fine, he might be. I just don't think so. But everyone concluded that Alastor wants to overthrow Lucier and take his place. But your idea...I love...it reaches further then that. To the embodiment of Evil itself. Reaching out into every dark nook and cranny in Hell. Its beautiful, really. Alastor wouldn't be one t o reach and dream small. If he acted out it would be go big or go home, and he would go BIG. Not be the top of the food chain of hierarchy of Hell. But Hell and the very idea of evil.

In short, I believe Alastor's ultimate goal is to become the new Root of Evil, which will effectively make him the unofficial ruler of all of Hell.

I love the idea Alastor wanting to embody the concept of evil. It also probably grant him more power, freedom and entertainment That can reach beyond Hell.

I don't think this would make canon but I am giddy with the idea.

Tho, I am a very big sucker of terrifying monster/demon/creature being a soft marshmallow for that found family.

Maybe the reason Alastor is trying to groom Charlie to come into her power more is because he thinks she may somehow have the power to destroy or at least overwhelm Roo, which will put Alastor in a position to steal her godlike abilities for himself.

He definitely grooming her to reach her power. At the moment, he only nudging her to point her down a direction he wants her to go on, but I think he have to start poking the bear or proddle harder to get Charlie to open to use her powers. Become the strongest being by accepting that power she refuse to use.

I think Charlie is key to the final arc between Heaven and Hell. Her heritage is of an angel and a sinner, yet she a product of Hell. She a demon of Hell but she never fallen or sinned to be placed in Hell. She seem to be a product that can connect to all three realms, Heave, Hell, Earth (living).

On Top of that, Charlie never really shown any evil intentions. Or seem lured by anything that is evil is disguised in. So, Roo going to have little to no influence of her. (Roo, taking advantage of the rest of the residence is another story) Charlies overwhelming optimistic pure good and kind influences (singing! Fight for love!) is going to overpower Roo.

Now, I think of it. I don't think Alastor ever tempted anyone to indulge in their darker whims. Or convinces them to follow a darker path. I know, he has little screen time with the other residence but I think he does nudge the residence to follow the better behavior. If they fail, it would be entertaining, but maybe, even he doesn't believe in redemption he wants the influence of evil to lessen? It's why he station himself at the hotel. The hotel contains the best ammunition we can use against Roo. Where her reach and influence would have a weaker hold against Charlies hold over the fellow sinners. It's an interesting thought, and I think it be a interesting fanfic if someone choose to write it.

[mixedup-sideblog]

To (a very vocal minority of) ‘Original Trigun Fans.’

I’m going to preface this with - obviously you are allowed to not like the show. Obviously there are valid criticisms of it especially if you’re viewing it through the lens of it being a reimagining of something you’ve already loved. I acknowledge and respect that.

BUT what I can’t respect is the clear blind hate pushed onto Stampede by some. Some who haven’t even watched half an episode of it, who decry it as a terrible show without even watching it. Those are the ones that are pissing me off.

Just because you ‘got there first’ doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone. Just because either by chance you came across it first or the person you’re talking to wasn’t old enough to read or watch it the first time you did doesn’t give you some special superiority over the plot or the characters.

If you don’t like Stampede fair, but why spam hate reviews? Why sit and talk constantly about how much you hate it when you have all the original stuff right there in-front of you! Stampede is helping others discover it! Be happy so many people have started Stampede then immediately consumed all other forms of Trigun because of it!

There are some criticisms I’ve seen like people refusing to watch because there is no Milly but I would argue we don’t know if she’s in it yet she could appear we literally know nothing. I have also seen criticism re pacing - unfortunately they don’t know if they’re getting a season two I assume that is why it’s got to be quick.

I’m desperate for season 2 which is why I get so mad seeing people putting others off or trying to get people not to watch simply because it’s not the original…it’s so so simple if you don’t like it maybe comment once and move on and don’t watch it. Don’t go on some long-ass tirade acting like it’s the worst thing to ever exist, like it’s your mission to prevent others from watching and enjoying it!

Studio Orange have put a hell of a lot of effort into this it’s so so clear that they care about the show they’re creating, hell it’s even approved by the original creator and if you want to talk having the right to gatekeep then if it’s anyone’s right (which it isn’t) then it’s him that has it!

I’ve seen so many original fans vocalising their happiness, their joy that Stampede is bringing new fans to the franchise, that new content is being made, that they can scream and shout about the characters again! I try to focus on them, but the ones spam hating are really grinding at me at the moment, please OGs if you like/are happy about Stampede tell us!

Sorry for this long rant I needed to get it out. For those who hate it simply for existing please re-evaluate yourselves. For those who love the original AND stampede please be vocal about it please be the vocal majority and drown out the other hate!

As the meme goes we’ve got two hands…

(Also as a side note I cannot fathom people hating on the visuals/CGI because it’s STUNNING)

[the-badger-mole]

There's A Difference

I think I've said this before- in fact, I'm almost certain I've said this within the last few months- but the reason I can't let Aang's actions be dismissed by his age is because his worst traits are never addressed in canon. The reason why I personally find him very incel-ish is because the grown men who created him and project onto him strike me as incel-ish (and yes, I'm aware that at least one of them is/has been married. Incel is more of a frame of mind than an actual state of being). Aang could have had a growth arc, but instead Bryke chose to either ignore his flaws or make them out to be virtues. I'm judging Aang as a character, not a child. Because Aang is not an actual child. An actual child might have been confronted on the things Aang did. Aang is a character whose creators want fans to think is perfect, even when they themselves introduce the idea he might not be (Aang's being a terrible father is not that surprising to me, but even then Bryke had to scramble to tell us he wasn't actually that bad 🙄)

I am a lot less harsh with Zuko because he actually faced the consequences of his poor decisions. He worked to make amends not only for himself, but for his family. I empathize with his losses and his personal tragedies because the narrative actually cared about how those things affected him in just about every episode, unlike Aang, whose devastating losses are only touched on when they're convenient to that episode's plot. Otherwise, he is the picture of unbothered to the point that I question if he even knew most of the time that he was in a war (the answer, it would turn out in the penultimate episode, was no, apparently not). There's not much I can criticize Zuko on that wasn't already touched on within the show. Why would I judge Book 3 Zuko based on Book 1 Zuko (who btw, I still think was a much better rounded character than Aang in any of the series)?

When it comes to Katara and the misogyny inherent in how she was treated in her canon ship? Well, I can only point to canon and aks to be proven wrong. Katara had very little to do with the development of Kataang during the series, and that little was usually prompted by someone or something outside of her own thoughts and feelings bringing the idea up. Meanwhile, we know from the beginning that Aang likes Katara (well, he likes how she looks anyway). His feelings matter to the narrative: Katara's not so much. Then the disastrous comics where Katara's character from the show is completely stripped from her and she ends up being the cheerleader girlfriend of the Avatar. I know some of that is walked back in the more recent comics, but we already know how it ends for Katara and her kids. Also, the post LoK scramble to give Katara more agency honestly just makes me think that my original assessment of her relationship with Aang was spot on.

Zutara, in my opinion, would have been a great relationship for them both. They would've been just about perfect together, because as hot tempered as they can both be, they also both get really good at communicating with each other, which is something that Katara never really has with Aang. That's why it doesn't surprise me to find out how dysfunctional their family is. Katara and Zuko know how to work together as a team. In a relatively short time, they got comfortable opening up to each other. They are both passionate to the point that they can be really hot-headed, but they are both also extremely empathetic and compassionate. They are a couple that would've helped each other grow, and would have been so much more interesting than anything that happened with their actual canon relationships.

I get that there are people who would rather believe that Aang could outgrow his selfishness. That's totally valid, and has made for some great stories. However, I don't think saying the way he was written in canon has shades of incel is wrong. Especially by Book 3. I could see that guy growing up to be a viciously obnoxious narcissist. I bet those of us who know an "Aang" IRL can picture that, too.

[gaysindistress]

When Night Comes - eight

Summary: Who would win in a staring contest? New York’s resident mob boss and master of the side eye Bucky Barnes or the daycare teacher who really wants to go home and smoke?

pairing: Mob!Bucky Barnes x reader

warnings: mob!Bucky, cursing, the feels, angst, mentions of past abuse (Alix is a terrible person)

word count: 4k

seven | masterlist

Tag list: @vickie5446 @cakesandtom  @buckybarnessimpp @hidden-treasures21​ @unaxv​ @mal-adaptive-dreams @elizacusi-blog

a/n: We’re jumping between 3 or 4 different scenes here so strap in and get ready. 

disclaimer: credits to original creator/poster of image/gif. found on Google/Pinterest

The first thing that flashes through her mind when she wakes up is Yelena with the kiss quickly following suit. Pulling the covers over her head, she creates a bubble to ignore the world around her. What the actual fuck did she get herself into? 

She isn’t allowed much peace when her phone goes off. Jessica made sure that she had her own ringtone almost immediately after they met, claiming that she was just that special when it was really because she wanted to make sure Sunny always answered her calls. 

“Hey girl hey!” She cheers through the speaker phone. 

“What?” 

“Ouch, what crawled up your ass and died?” “It’s been a long night. What’s up?” Jessica stays silent for a few seconds, debating whether or not to reveal her secret, “Well remember how I said that I wasn’t going to get back with Peter?” “I swear to god if the next thing you say is ‘surprise, we’re back together’, I’ll literally lose my shit.”

“Ye have little faith. No I didn’t get back with Peter but you also didn’t let me finish. I’m going out with one of Yelena’s friends Friday and I would love if you could help me get ready for it.”

“Who is it?”

“You don’t know them.”

“No shit,” Sunny says while pushing the blankets off so she can breath fresh air, “What’s their name?”

“Natasha.” “Oh a girl? I thought you didn’t like girls.”

Shuffling is heard from the other side, no doubt as a result of Jessica flopping onto her stomach on her bed, “I said I wished that I was so I figured why not give it a try? What’s the worst that can happen?”

“You lead her on and she gets hurt.”

“I would never do such a thing. I’m always honest about my feelings even if it hurts a person which reminds me, why is Yelena sulking?” “I’m going to need more info than that,” she huffs when the woman in question appears on her fire escape. 

“She’s been such a downer lately and I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with Mr. Sexy.”

“Why would I know the answer to that?”

“Because you’re like all she talks about.”

Sunny glances over at Yelena who is leaning against the window now, examining her nails and pretending that she can’t hear their conversation. 

“That’s interesting but no I don’t know and I have to go. Bye, love you.”

Jessica sputters in confusion at her quick hang up but manages to sneak in a “love you too bitch”. 

“I’m not sulking.” 

“I didn’t say that,” Sunny says, pulling her blanket back over her shoulders, “why are you here?”

“Ouch,” Yelena fakes being offended and drops herself onto the bed next to her, “You aren’t even a little bit excited to see me?”

“I didn’t mean it like that… It's been a long few days.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shrugs her shoulders and lets out a long sigh, “Not really. You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

“Checking on you, making sure you haven’t committed any crimes.”

“You’ll be the first person I call if I get arrested.”

“I’m honored that you’d call me before Bucky.”

“Well he would probably lose it on the entire police station so…”

“You could’ve just said “Yes Yelena. I would call you first because I like you a lot more than that douche bag.” I would’ve taken that.”

“Yes Yelena I would call you first because I like you WAY more than that man.”

Yelena’s face goes blank as she says, “Were you thinking about me when you kissed him?”

Jessica groans as someone pounds on her apartment door. The smell of wet dog invades her living room as the pounding grows louder and the person responsible grows less patient. 

“Jessica open the fucking door!”

“What are you doing? Are you trying to get the cops called?” she hisses at Alix who is soaking wet from the heavy rainfall outside. Alix goes to reprimand her for speaking to her pack leader that way but Jessica yanks her inside. 

“Stay here. I don’t want water and wet dog all over everything,” she tells Alix as she disappears to find towels and extra clothes. 

The sound of wet clothes dropping onto her floor comes from the living room and as she walks back in, she finds Alix in just her tank top and underwear, her jeans and zip up on the ground around her. 

“Give me that,” she demands, snatching the towel out of Jessica’s hands and starts to dry off her body and braids, “What do you have on the Strigoi?”

“Nothing like I told you last night. Y/N isn’t saying anything and I can’t get close enough to anyone else.”

“What about Peter?”

“Ghosted me.”

Alix raises one eyebrow, “What did you do?”

“Why do you assume I did something?” “Because you always do.”

Jessica wrinkles her nose at the insult, “I may have slapped a girl he was kissing.”

Alix stops wringing out her braids and closes her eyes while taking a deep breath, “Your only job is to keep tabs on Bucky and his group. How the fuck did you manage to mess that up?”

“No no you said to watch Y/N and to TRY and keep tabs on the others. I am doing my job just not the side tasks.” A growl rings through the small apartment, “So help me God, Jessica. The more you act out, the more likely your cover is going to be blown. Speaking of which, who knows about you?” “Peter and Yelena obviously but Y/N doesn’t.”

“Has anyone brought it up?” “Peter did but only to ask if it’s true that I turn into a wolf every full moon. I don’t think Yelena cares and Bucky or Steve don’t come in enough to notice.”

“We both know that Yelena cares but is just waiting to see what happens. What about Peggy?”

Jessica shrugs, “I don’t answer the door so I’m assuming not.”

Alix rolls her eyes before tossing the towel back at Jessica and brushes past her to raid her closet for dry clothes. 

“How close are you to going through with the plan?” she calls out. 

Jessica hums for a second, thinking about her progress, “It’s going to take longer than I thought. Y/N isn’t telling me anything so I can’t tell what’s going on with Bucky or Yelena.”

“But she’s close enough to them though?”

“Kinda. Juliette, that dumbass, had a meeting with him and Steve at the restaurant that we were at and she saw, assumed they were a couple, and dipped. She did go out with Yelena but I don’t think she’s going to give him the time of day again.”

Alix comes back out wearing some of Sunny’s clothes that she had left behind during late nights. She takes a seat on the couch, fully leaning back into the plush cushions, “I don’t really care who she gets close to as long as it’s one of them. All we need is an opening to take out the Rogers and Bucky so we can get her back to Fresno where she belongs.”

“Do you really think that’s going to work?” Alix’s eyes flash gold like they usually do when she’s angry, “Of course it is. She belongs to me. Taking out those bloodsuckers, who mind you have been trying to kill me for years, is just a welcomed side effect of bringing her home.”

Jessica rolls her eyes while taking her phone out to scroll aimlessly on tiktok. 

“Did you send the text that I asked?”

“Yes.”

Sunny goes still under her blanket and feels Yelena watching her every move, awaiting her answer. 

“How did you know?” “Aside from the fact that I can smell him everywhere, especially on you, a little birdy told me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Yelena scoffs and shakes her head in disbelief, “I should’ve known better honestly. He always does this.”

Sunny pushes off her blanket and sits up, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did.” “I don’t want to hear it. It happened and you can’t take it back,” Yelena sighs as she stands and puts distance between them, “I hate to do this but I feel like I don’t have a choice; him or me.”

“You obviously.”

“See I don’t believe you.”

“I promise, it’s you. Whatever I need to do to prove that it’s you, I’ll do it”

Yelena backs away as Sunny stands and tries to get closer. They give each other hurt looks as the other continues to damage the relationship. 

“I don’t believe you or trust him for that matter. Nothing could make me believe that Bucky wouldn’t try and pull something. I won’t be put through that. I’m sorry but I’ll get Bucky to find someone else to watch over you,” Yelena says over her shoulder before slipping back out the window and leaving Sunny fuming.

She wants to scream at the top of her lungs but she can’t risk her neighbors calling the cops so she settles for screaming into her pillow. Her phone distracts her and she’s scrambling to answer it but freezes when she sees that it’s Bucky. 

“Bucky what the fuck?” she growls into her phone. 

“Well hello gorgeous, how are you?”

“Fuck off what did you do?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific, what are you talking about?” “You told Yelena that we kissed.”

“No I definitely did not.” “Don’t lie to me.”

“I swear draga, I’m not lying. I haven’t talked to her since yesterday but she’s supposed to be meeting with me in,” he pauses, “half an hour. I’ll talk to her then, but I promise I wouldn’t have told her without first calling you.”

“Give me your phone.”

“I was just starting to actually like Y/N, did I really need to do that?” Jessica groans as she tosses her phone over to Alix. 

“I don’t care what you want to do” Alix mumbles while reading the messages between Jessica and Yelena, “Good job. Any internal conflict we can cause amongst their ranks, the better.”

She hands back the phone as she asks the question that’s been on her mind for hours, “Did she look like she enjoyed it?”

“It’s not like I had a front row seat. I was on the fire escape, how do you expect me to know that?” “I don’t remember asking for any attitude or did you forget who you’re talking to?”

Jessica lets out an over dramatic sigh, “No I didn’t. I’m sorry for giving you attitude.”

Alix smiles to herself at Jessica’s submission, “Good girl.”

Jessica bites her tongue to keep from saying something that will get her kicked out of the pack or worse, given how moody Alix has been lately. 

“I think she was high and you know how the saying goes.”

“Come on,” Alix says unimpressed with Jessica’s read of the situation.

“What? It wouldn’t be a saying if it wasn’t true.” “Drunk actions are sober thoughts? Don’t even try and convince me that her being high was the only reason why she kissed him. She kissed him because she wanted to.” “Alix I really don’t think she has any interest in him.”

Alix growls her warning to stop talking before it gets worse and reclines further into the couch. Regardless of what Sunny may have been feeling when she kissed Bucky, she still did it and that’s far worse of a betrayal to Alix than anything else. During their relationship, Alix had to constantly remind Sunny that she was hers even when that meant leaving bruises and marks.  Sometimes the physical reminders of her place were the only thing Alix to get to work. On numerous occasions, they were the only thing that kept Sunny from leaving the house and kept her out of trouble. 

“Just do what I ask and don’t question me. I am your leader, Jessica, and I’m done with reminding you.”

Jessica scoffs and takes her phone back, “You’re done? I’m the one who’s had to slum it with humans and Strigoi for the last few years.” “And you do it because I told you to. Quit with the complaining. I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

“Or what? You’ll send me back to California and then what? You’ll have no one here who is as close to Y/N as I am and you’ll be back at square one or even worse since I’m sure she’s going to find out that you’re here soon enough.”

Within seconds, Alix is off of the couch and has Jessica pinned against a wall, “What did you just say?” “I’m your only shot at getting her back.”

Alix’s hand comes up to grip Jessica’s neck and squeezes hard enough that she starts to gasp for air.

“I don’t need you for anything,” she growls with a deep anger, “I could care less about what happens to you so there is nothing stopping me from exposing who you are to Y/N or the Strigoi and leaving you to fend for yourself. Barnes and Rogers won’t like knowing that an rival spy has been working with that filthy demon spawn of theirs. Do you really want to test me right now?”

With the hand clasped tightly on her throat, she can’t say anything but barely nods and whimpers, something that Alix finds great pleasure in. 

“Good,” she loosens her grip just enough for Jessica to get the air she desperately needs, “Don’t fucking do that again or I won’t be so nice.”

Yelena and Bucky sit across from each other, both waiting for the other to speak first. When she arrived, she made an effort to not say a single word and to maintain her stoic face no matter how piercing his gaze may be. She figured based on his matching behavior that Sunny had called him to tell him that their kiss was no longer a secret. Steve had given them questioning looks when she came in but left nonetheless even if he was concerned for either of their safeties. 

“You know.”

Yelena scoffs, shaking her head as she glances around the room, “Obviously.” “Good then we can be adults about this.”

“Says the one who pouted and threw a tantrum when he found out that we went on a date.”

“I didn’t do either of those things.”

She settles her eyes on him for the first time since she sat down, “So what do you call dragging her into your office and then going to her apartment?” “The first thing is called a conversation and the second is called being a gentleman. I was checking on her.”

“With your tongue down her throat.”

“You did the same thing. I’d say you were throwing a tantrum by bringing her to MY club and kissing her 10 feet away from me.”

“She willingly went out with you, I can’t say the same about you. Also, why did you text me off of a burner?”

Bucky’s brows furrow in confusion, “I didn’t.”

She takes her phone out to show him the text that informed her of the kiss, “Yes you did.”

Bucky takes his own out to prove that he never sent her that text; she kissed me.

“Why would I text you from a burner phone?”

Before Yelena can say anything smart back, the door to his office bursts open. A fuming Steve throws the door open and all but slams his phone down on the table. 

“Jessica knows Alix.”

On it is an old picture of Jessica hugging Alix, both smiling like little kids.

Yelena squints at the image, “Where did you get this?” “Peggy found it. I’m not sure where but she just sent it to me. We need to get Sunny to a safe house immediately.”

They look to Bucky who is already half way out of the door. The one person he trusted outside of his people has proven to be the most dangerous person he could imagine. 

[feeling-high-with-pride]

TITAN Theory

I have a little theory that’s been swimming around my mind for the past few years, and I just remembered it now that I’ve been re-reading Ava’s Demon for the millionth time. I haven’t been able to get onto Michelle’s streams, and I dunno if anyone else has had this thought, but hear me out-

We don’t know much about TITAN; just that he’s some all-powerful entity with almost total control over the cosmos (a God in his own right, if you will). We’ve come to learn through Odin about the Gods and Goddesses that appear across the cosmos, fighting in the names of their creators. It’s clearly shown in the below panel that Wrathia, Pedri, Nevy and Tuls are considered to be Gods or Goddesses. 

So where does TITAN fit in all of this? If he’s so powerful, then it could be presumed he was a God all along, born from the violence of the four creators. But way back in the beginning, when Wrathia is explaining her story to Ava, we learn of TITAN taking her galaxies by force and holding them hostage overnight, which is unusual in itself. 

The part that sticks out to me is that Wrathia refers to TITAN as a ‘creature’, referring to him as ‘it’; therefore, it can be inferred that Wrathia had no idea who TITAN was, and was alarmed at the speed in which he had infiltrated and taken over the galaxies she has reign over. Just think about it, that’s galaxies, not just planets, that TITAN had taken from her. That requires a lot of power and strength, regardless of an army (though that is a large factor). So where did all this power come from?

We are aware that TITAN is very very good at manipulating his audience, utilising tactics of fear-mongering and propaganda (alongside brainwashing and indoctrination into his ‘religion’) in order to gain a loyal following from members across the cosmos. That can put some explanation into how he had such a massive army of Followers to back him up in this. And we haven���t even gotten into how the Silent Scavengers (who have clearly been around for a while) assist with keeping this social and political power in TITAN’s hands. 

I have a theory, however, about how TITAN came to be, and why he’s so powerful. And it’s regarding something mentioned by Wrathia...

A failure of a pact results in souls and bodies merging into one. Of course, Wrathia makes it sound like it’s this horrible ending, as I’m sure it is in her mind; if they fail, then Wrathia will never be able to rule over the cosmos or indulge in her vanity ever again. But we haven’t seen an example of a failed pact just yet. I know one of the most common thoughts was that Maggie was going to result in a failed pact, and we’d see whatever she turns into later in the story. But I believe we already have seen a failed pact. 

This is what is shown to us when Wrathia explains to Ava that her half of the pact is complete; the yellow side, Ava’s half of the pact, is solid and shining bright, emphasising that her end of the deal has been met (despite her protests). The cracked side is Wrathia’s half, not yet fulfilled since TITAN has yet to be decimated from existence. So, from here we can infer that a failed pact would have two halves of a broken heart, right?

Looking closely at the page on the righthand side, that looks awfully like TITAN, doesn’t it? And the heart above his body has two cracked halves, as if it were a failed pact. What if TITAN himself is a creature resulted of a failed pact? It would explain his sudden appearance, his vast amounts of power, and the lack of knowledge surrounding his existence except to the Followers, who are deeply integrated in his ‘teachings’. What if failing a pact isn’t as terrible as Wrathia makes it out to be? 

I know it can also be inferred that it is Ava’s key (I mean, it really does look like it so I might be reaching with this theory here) and the page is imagining the death of TITAN at the hands of Ava/Wrathia. 

Listen I could be totally off the mark here, but I feel like it would be pretty cool if TITAN actually was the result of a failed pact and is actually a monster born from the failure to meet both ends of the deal made between two creatures. 

What do you guys think?