#also he has... a very sexist attitude

[tinyspringtrap]

it’s always awkward when my mom relays that once again my grandpa is bothered by the fact I hardly go upstairs

like. maybe if he could tone down the down racism, homophobia, and generally shitty attitude about most things... maybe I would be more inclined to visit upstairs?

Can’t really say that though so yknow...

[torchwood-99]

There's a lot of discussion about Tolkien's work and feminism, is it sexist, is it feminist, how does the fact that Tolkien's work held feminist themes make sense with the sexist views he expressed in real life, is this plot point regarding a woman sexist or feminist?

And I think the key thing here is remembering that feminism isn't a state of being or a personality trait, it's an action and a thought. A person can both be feminist and sexist. They can hold sexist attitudes and do sexist things and they can also hold feminist attitudes and do feminist things. After all, feminism is complex and the rights of women is a fight on multiple fronts, a war made up of multiple battles.

Tolkien was an upper class white man raised in a time of great sexism, and lived and worked in a sexist environment. He also had a very strong bond with his wife and lived in a time when women's rights and the role of women were undergoing massive changes. His works have far less women in them, and his women often get side-lined and their characterisation/plot relevance are often influenced by sexist tropes (passivity, existing to be a trophy, role defined by make relationships).

At the same time, his female characters can show great heroism, competency and power, and perform feats of heroism in ways that have traditionally been seen as "masculine", showing that a woman being a woman doesn't inherently make her incapable or suited only for certain jobs. And not only that, his characters, like Eowyn, outright call out sexism (all you words say, you are but a woman....you have leave to be burned in the house because the men will need it no more). He also has an in-universe female character speculate on how history has overlooked women, the history he wrote.

Tolkien's attitudes and beliefs would have been influenced by the attitudes and beliefs of his time. He would have grown up in a sexist environment and internalised rigid views about women and femininity and their proper role. He would have also; perhaps subconsciously or despite himself, taken in the feminist arguments women were making at the time, or even noticed himself some of the injustices that women suffered. The man himself didn't need to identify as a feminist to have expressed feminist views. After all, "I'm not a feminist but...." followed by a statement that is definitely feminist, is something we've all seen at some point.

There's also the badass, wonderful Haleth, who was originally conceived as a man, only to be changed into a woman by Tolkien later on. Perhaps he himself noted, as his own characters did, that women had been overlooked in his work. Just as the world around him changed and attitudes towards women adjusted, it is possible that Tolkien's did too. There would have been a difference in what was conservative in the year he was born and what was conservative in the year he died.

So, are Tolkien's work sexist? Yes. Are his works feminist? Yes. Are his female characters sexist? Yes. Are his female characters feminist? Yes.

We can read Tolkien's work and find feminist messages and be uplifted by them. We can also read Tolkien's work and criticise the sexism that is at play.

[ystrike1]

I hate doing this but there's drama in the horror webtoon community and I have to vent.

Do NOT support Hanza_art

If you don't want to be spoiled/involve yourself in a toxic situation do not read further.

My Deepest Secret was infamous for its overly miserable plot twist ending. The main character turned out to be "crazy" and "delusional". Somehow that protagonist was capable of living a normal life and being a serial killer at the same time. This character never got real professional help, and they were left to suffer in their delusions.

The horror community is often wary of authors that portray mentally ill people as unsalvagable or monstrous. Personally, I was horrified.

The backlash was horrible because the plot twist made no sense in general. In addition the story was marketed as a romance and by the end nobody had paired off. I felt my time was wasted, and I was disgusted by the way the "true villain" was discarded for the crime of being mentally ill.

When Hanza returned with a more level-headed protagonist and a more violent psychopathic villain....some readers gave the author another chance.

I don't blame them. Paranoid characters like Rozy are very interesting! Especially as main characters!

Hawa, the secondary female lead, grows out of her "naive victim" stereotype as well. It's very satisfying to watch. It was tied together nicely by the handsome villain, Adam.

Adam is extremely evil and irredeemable. When the story begins he is a serial killer who targets "innocent, sweet" girls like Hawa.

Rozy is overprotective and she doesn't trust men. In fact she's a known man hater. The characters are all adults, so their character traits and desires aren't just quirks. They are all deeply flawed people.

It was a very promising start.

Plus, it wasn't marketed as a romance so I was sure it would be written better! The weakest part of My Deepest Secret was the romance (by the end I mean) so yay!

Or not...

I do not keep up with TGU on a regular basis. The plot slowed down considerably and I noticed a worrying trend. Frankly, I'm not shocked by this immature behavior in the slightest.

Every single male character in TGU is a sexist abuser who harbors violent thoughts about women.

Hanza is very good at writing scary, irredeemable, sexist pigs that belong in jail...but it was a worrying trend all the same.

Adam was a smart, handsome serial killer who liked to hide in plain sight. By about chapter fifty he was alot dumber, and I cannot stress this enough.

Every male character that associates with Rozy or Hana turns out to be a stalker or harasser. The kind that would get charged in real life.

That kind of hatred towards "all men" is worrying in a thriller comic, and it was very annoying.

I wanted Rozy to outsmart Adam.

I don't want to watch her and Hana be abused by multiple men (mostly former friends!).

I came for the girl boss mystery, and I got alot of sexism instead. What a slap in the face.

Past a certain point I was only checking in to see how bad the story had gotten....and...yup....the male police officer helping Rozy is also a weird guy.

............first of all that's boring.

Second of all it's insulting.

Hanza hates toxic romance, and it shows, and that's perfectly ok. It's not for everyone, but Hanza has built their entire career on top of sexy murder men...so their attitude is extremely hypocritical and annoying as heck to watch.

"I hate toxic romance but I'm also going to sell suit merch of Elios and Adam."

Like, what did you expect?

Hanza is an adult creator, and they do know who they're catering to.

At this point they are absolutely insulting the fans that pay their bills, and that's unacceptable.

Authors are public figures now. They have been since the Facebook Era. Random internet trolls should not influence how you speak to your fan base. I understand that working for Webtoon is brutally hard, but Hanza is a popular artist despite their fumbled first story.

It's like watching somebody blow their nose on a golden ticket.

TGU was their second chance. A very generous second chance, that got great reviews in the beginning.

I'm astonished that Hanza somehow managed to concoct another dud plot twist. Their rude attitude has to be the nail in their coffin. They should not get a third generously funded chance.

Don't interact with their posts.

Don't review bomb the webtoon.

Don't give them any more attention.

They've made more than enough money off of fans they clearly don't respect.

Every creator worth their salt knows trolls and super perverts are only 0.05% of any given Fandom.

If Hanza wants to spit on the 99.95% fine.

Just don't give them any more money or support. That's the only punishment fans have the right to inflict.

Why am I so upset?

Well, as you can see Hanza posted spoilers. They spoiler bombed Twitter because they don't want to finish TGU.

That's right. On top of insulting everybody who paid for this comic they also don't want to finish. Despite the fact that the story reached its climax recently. The girlboss alliance is finally forming against Adam but...too bad I don't wanna write it (suckers).

The sibling plot twist is just abysmal as well.

Shame on you Hanza.

You damn well know that this sibling plot twist is completely out of left field and unexpected. (and boring. I am convinced you are trolling your fans.)

The shipper trolls and the edgy Rozy/Adam fans had no idea it was coming before you randomly spoiled it.

For the record I don't ship anything in this lackluster comic, because I know better. Again, My Deepest Secret was marketed as a Romantic Thriller and then there was zero payoff. Sure, this one isn't a romance, but I don't think anyone signed up for every guy on the block being evil. Just the guy upstairs. Since the story isn't even about love I never imagined so much drama would come out. It feels very pointless and petty. Every time I hear about this artist it's a drama issue and I can't help but think they're part of the problem. Their recent behavior on social media hasn't left me with any other options.

Hanza, you are being manipulative and childish on purpose because you don't want to finish what you started.

You pandered to horror and toxic romance fans on purpose just to get money.

You spoiled a story millions of people have been reading regularly just to satisfy your childish need to bully your own fans.

You took their money.

You signed your contract.

Nobody made you do it.

If you really are super conservative and you think romance must be pure LEAVE US ALONE, and go write pure romance.

Nobody is stopping you, but you wanted to milk more money out of people you don't respect.

It's sickening, and I'm happy that TGU will never get a physical release.

You don't deserve a dime of that money.

Shame. On. You.

[thefrogsennaneverfound]

I ask this question from a curiosity standpoint, and don’t mean to seem rude or anything, but why don’t you like Daniel Ricciardo? Am I missing something?

He’s far less offensive than a lot of the other drivers. He has a tendency to awkwardly laugh rather than say “that’s a shitty joke. Not okay”, which is frustrating, but not even in the same universe as something like Lance Stroll physically assaulting his trainer.

Like all F1 drivers, he wants to be WDC and talks a big talk, but he’s still nowhere near as obnoxious as a lot of the other drivers, who all think and say the same.

Maybe my understanding isn’t correct? As far as I know, his only really shit time as a driver was with McLaren in 2022, and words like “scapegoating” and “sabotage” get thrown around a lot. In 2021, he gave McLaren its only win in over a decade, and it wasn’t team orders based, and he hauled Renault back up into the podium as well, for their first time in almost a decade. I don’t think he should have left Red Bull, and I don’t think he’s necessarily an Alonso or Verstappen level talent, but he also made those Red Bulls and Renaults that he drove look a lot better than they were.

It's not just about what a driver's like on the track; it's his attitudes off the track too and Ricciardo has really bad form. As for dragging the Renault into the points, and the Red Bull when it was underperforming - that's his job and the cars weren't that bad. If he'd swapped with one of the back markers at the time, they'd likely have performed just the same. Plus, if he made the Red Bull look better than it was, why wasn't he the one winning championships in it? Why did Vettel get all that action when all Ricciardo got was a handful of race wins?

Anyway, here's (just some of) why I firmly believe that Daniel Ricciardo is every bit as obnoxious as the most obnoxious drivers on the grid. If you don't read right to the end, and I wouldn't blame you, please at least take in the part I've highlighted in red; it pretty much sums up the type of character he is and why I - along with many others - really do feel that he's most definitely obnoxious.

“I don’t watch the news and feel better about my day so I choose not to watch it.” Just one direct quote regarding his complete and shameless ignorance about the extreme humans rights abuses prevelent in some of the countries F1 travels to. What it amounts to is that the “drama and negativity” (his own words) of news reports on out-dated and abusive attitudes to women and LGBTQ people is a buzz kill so he’d rather not know about it, thanks all the same.

His attitude to the sexist objectification of the (now thankfully defunct) Grid Girls: "It's kind of like part of the attraction of the sport, fast cars and fast girls,". In his opinion, because it’s a male dominated sport it’s “a cool thing” so “let’s keep them”. If that's not obnoxious, I don't know what is.

On “Your Mom’s House” (a lowest common denominator podcast aimed at pathetic little boys who think they’re men) he laughed along with deeply sexist, misogynistic ‘jokes’ about women. There are plenty of drivers who would, at the very least, have kept their reactions neutral, making it clear they didn’t think it funny, but not Ricciardo; he was more than content to chuckle away at their vile comments about women.

Tricking Yuki Tsunoda into trusting him to come closer on a boat so he could throw him overboard, because it’s funny to force someone to face a very real phobia of sharks by throwing them into a body of water that’s widely known to contain them. I don’t care what Tsunoda’s reaction was to it (it's common for the victim of bullying to make light of their ordeal) or that Ricciardo threw himself into the water too; it’s still an appalling way to treat someone when they’ve been brave enough to be in such close proximity to one of their greatest fears. It’s the behaviour of a bully and Ricciardo is the worst kind of that particular species – a charming bully. The reason he gets away with so much of his crappy behaviour is because so many people are taken in by a cheeky smile, a twinkle in the eyes, and the friendly disclaimer that it’s just a bit of fun; they’re just trying to lighten the mood and make people laugh. It’s always at someone else’s expense though.

Given he was in a highly competitive Red Bull for all those years, he won precious few races, and left because he wasn’t getting the attention he thought was his right. I know athletes have to have an enormous amount of self-belief but to have looked at a racer like Verstappen and sincerely felt that he was his equal? That’s delusional. But is that really how he felt? Or did he – like so many who can’t face real competition when they know someone else is going to come out on top – jump ship because being a big fish in a small pond is preferable to being outperformed and therefore second best? I don’t know which it is but if he really, genuinely, sincerely thought he was on the same level as, first, Verstappen and then Norris, surely he’s just not very bright?

Monza 2021 absolutely was a team orders win for Ricciardo. Have you listened to Norris’s radio? He was faster; he wanted to pass; he asked if he could pass; he was told to maintain position. Either the team were concerned that the two might take each other out (although I am absolutely certain that Norris could have made that move with ease so was it more a case of Ricciardo taking Norris out if he tried to overtake?) or Ricciardo’s ego was so fragile by that point (Norris had been wiping the floor with him) that they decided he needed the win to boost his confidence and get a few more much needed points for McLaren. Either way, Norris was robbed of his maiden victory because he’s a team player who obeyed team orders rather than saying “screw this; I can win and I’m damn well gonna win”. I respect him for playing the team game but I hate the fact that Ricciardo got an undeserved win at his considerable expense (that’s not hyperbole; a driver’s first F1 win really is huge).

You're probably sorry you asked now.

[gffa]

I saw your post defending the way Jedi adopt the children/accept them into their culture, and I absolutely loved it! It was so well-informed, and you are right: It is all there in the original content!

I find it very ironic that many people spew these lies about the Jedi when that’s exactly what the Empire did. Iirc, this argument of Jedi being “kidnappers” was actually fueled by Emperor Palpatine and the Empire in their campaign against the Jedi. They wanted to discredit them and make the people turn against them so that they could erase them all more easily. So I find it very ironic that these lies are now being upheld by some people as the truth. (Really, have people forgotten the Empire was created bases on the Nazi’s and their own racist strategies?)

You are not inmune to the Empire’s propaganda.

Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not as good at pulling examples and proof from all the SW content as you are.

Hi! Thank you for the very sweet ask! Navigating stuff in fandom like this can be difficult at times, because there has to be room for compassion and tolerance for disagreement, like it's fine if people disagree with my views, I'm not your mom, I'm not telling you want to do or say, especially since this is fiction, these are made up space stories. But there also has to be room to understand that sometimes our commentary on fictional stories are echoes of reflection of real world attitudes--we can't just go around spewing racist, sexist, homophobic commentary and be like, "It's just fiction, you can't get upset!" There's no easy line for any of this, no single hard set in stone rule for when it's truly just fiction and when it's an echo of a real world attitude, especially in Star Wars, which often draws influence from a lot of non-Western sources and traditional Western sources. (My general rule of thumb is: I think it's fair to criticize those things through the influences they have, but if your criticism is then ended with, "So that's why we shouldn't have or acknowledge any Buddhism/Black people/queer people/women in Star Wars!" then fuck right on off with that.) And I also understand a lot of the anti-Jedi attitudes (or at least what I've personally experienced of them) because I've talked a bunch of times about how I started out as pretty Jedi-critical myself! I did the whole, "They had grown stagnant and refused to evolve with the galaxy, so they needed to be wiped out." thing because nobody had framed it explicitly as what it was: a genocide. It wasn't until a friend and I were talking and they mentioned that lens of it that it just sort of crashed down on me, oh, that's literally what it was and genocide is never justifiable. I did the whole, "The Jedi failed Anakin and taught him to repress his emotions." thing as well, because I saw it all over the place in fandom and just automatically folded it into my view, until I went back and actually watched Lucas' movies and Lucas' animation (first six movies + first six seasons of TCW) and read his interviews, which blew me onto my ass when I saw Obi-Wan being supportive of Anakin, when I saw Anakin not listening to the advice he was given, when I saw that Jedi were expressing emotion all over the place, when I saw they were respecting other Force traditions in the galaxy. I can't speak to why so many people think badly of the Jedi, there's probably a thousand reasons and I'm only vaguely aware of like half of them, but I do think that it's often unpopular to promote the idea of emotional regulation already being achieved, instead of something to be struggled with. I think we're all primed by a lot of mainstream media saying that an explosion of anger is what will save the day. I think there's so much anger in the world today that we're all angry and being told to let go of it feels really insulting at times. (But, as someone who has lost years of my life when I was younger to anger, I gotta say, I am so much better off having let go of as much of that shit as I can. It was poison in my veins, carrying that anger around. I lost so many friendships and opportunities and just time to being miserably mad about stuff.)

I'm getting off topic of the kidnapping aspect about the Jedi, but a lot of it starts to swirl together in what I've experienced (especially people who try to put this stuff on my posts--thankfully, that's died down/I block the people who won't respect boundaries) and so I kind of bounce from one aspect of it to another.

I do think it's good to talk about these things--both from "it's fun to analyze the content of the story on a meta level" perspective and "here's how this echoes into and from the real world" perspective, like I enjoy saying, okay, here's what's actually said in the movies/TCW, but also I think talking about how the Jedi are Buddhist influenced is important because that means they're going to have values that are meant to be reflected in that and Western fandom has a really big problem of being derisive about non-Western influences or automatically saying they're wrong. (I come from anime/manga fandoms, let me tell you, it's a big problem.)

And, yeah, in a way where it's really awful, but I think one of the most well-done things Disney's Star Wars has done is that it's really focused on showing that the Empire was a fascist one and the propaganda they used about the Jedi are ones that are super relevant to the conversation.

[joys-of-everyday]

The more I think about it, the cultivation world and academia are similar. High drop out rates? Reverence towards the people who 'make it to the end'? Meritocracy but not really? Age old 'talent' vs 'hard work' vs 'privilege'? Possibly just side effects of being learning institutions but yeah. Anyway, headcanons for peak lords as professors.

SQQ (SY) The chill professor everyone loves. Is often absent for months at a time doing field studies but comes back with loads of cool stories. Has a tendency to veer off course and everyone's grades may suffer because of how little time is actually spent on examinable material, but at least you'll enjoy yourself. He says he's only there for the fun and doesn't do much research, but you've spied a number of very big names going to him for advice. If you manage to make him drunk, his personality does a 180 and he complains extensively about everything, including his latest webnovel obsession.

og!SQQ (SJ) The salty professor everyone hates. Obsessed with rankings and citation counts, has a constant rivalry with LQG, and does the absolute minimum when it comes to undergrad teaching because he thinks it's a waste of time. He's convinced there's an agenda against him because he didn't get funding for the third time in a row and takes it out on the students. But damn does he know what he's talking about, and you've heard he's actually a genius, albeit one with complicated background. The few phd students he has are utterly enamored with him.

SQH Everyone forgets that he's not a student, including himself. When he teaches, it feels like he's giving a presentation and waiting for feedback. He answers questions with questions. Nobody knows what research he's doing, including the other members of department. Both Shens and LQG alike think he's a waste of space. But he seems to have some mysterious connections to a very fancy research facility up north.

LQG Absent professor. Literally cannot teach. Reads off last year's notes (written by other people) and calls it a lecture. But he's got many fancy awards under his belt for his research and the rest of the department talk about him with awe in their voice. If you take work to him, he will undoubtedly rip it to shreds, but not in a mean way. Half the students hate him. Half the students make him a meme. A few of them worship him like a god.

YQY The nice one. He teaches amazingly, heads a healthy research team, and has some banging papers under his name. The students know him as the best teacher, but behind the scenes he is literally keeping the department together. Wrangles with management and does a lot of outreach stuff on top of all of this. The students are convinced he literally lives on site because they keep seeing him at weird hours of the day. This is half true.

MQF The Professor. When you say 'professor', MQF is the person who comes to mind. The students think he is actually a robot, because they've never seen him do anything other than his job. His teaching is adequate but without personality, and he is extremely mild mannered. Unbeknownst to them, he is known as the 'mad scientist' of the department - he has a bizarre attitude to safety and often goes utterly crazy with experiments which are only just toeing regulations. A pioneer of his (somewhat niche) field.

QQQ Social justice warrior. The one who actually strikes when there's a strike on, and organises all of the diversity events. The student have mixed views on her. She struggled against a very sexist department back in her day and still gets a lot of hateful feedback, so she's learnt to take zero fucks. Which is cool but also means a lot of valid criticism gets taken as personal attacks. With all the drama, everyone seems to forget that she's actually a really big name in the field, receiving some fancy awards around the same time as LQG. Her phd group is surprisingly chill.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

would you ever be interested in writing a more masc reader? i kind of got it by know you write fem!reader exclusively, so i've been wondering if you'd write something along the lines a manly gal.

like the type that sees könig do his pushups, she must also immediately try to catch up to him? she sits manspread and wears manly clothes and makes everything a raunchy sex joke and has no shame and is kind of a muscle mommy and a total gremlin? something like that? and it disarms könig completely cuz he's used to damsels in distress, but this one can do everything herself but somehow wants him?? like an equal partner?

also can u pls tell each of your königs i love them with all i have? pls? 🥺 they're like my reason for living this past year i wanna give them a big sweet kiss and pet them

🤲 here, have an offering as gratitude. ignore the arms lol

Maaaan your offering 😭😭💖💞

And yes I have a habit of writing König with helpless maidens and sassy fairies don’t I 😂

So… König with masc!reader…. (Lol this turned out very rivals to lovers but I hope you enjoy!)

König can be a little off-putting. One would think that a man of his size wouldn’t get so threatened by a girl with some muscles on her... But you catch him mansplaining guns to you more than once, showing off his new rifle and then snapping his mouth shut when you fire a round of 5 bullseyes with a calm, stable breath and perfect posture.

“It’s nice,” you give it back to him, “but I’ve seen better.”

Knowing that you just threw his own words back at him – he’s always boasting on the field – König just blinks and grabs his rifle from you.

“...Where?”

“In my safe,” you shrug, trying to keep a neutral face.

And you’ve seen him during sparring, knowing already that he likes to one-up everyone. König is skilled and fierce, but he’s also competitive to the point of petty, which is why you’re amused when he suddenly turns gentle, even hesitant when paired with you.

At some point, it starts to get on your nerves though. It’s slightly insulting, even sexist, that he’s trying to treat you like a gentleman when you’re supposed to hit each other. So, you snap a good right hook through his guard and watch the man see some stars. Hoping that it would fix that attitude, you do it again, and again until he stops giving you the princess treatment.

But even after that, you see he’s holding back. The more you try to get him to attack properly, the more pissed off he gets, refusing to strike you even when you bring him down – a man twice your size – and gloat over him. His eyes are flaming because he just lost for the sake of some weird “I don’t hit women” policy, and it shouldn’t bother you. The man’s an asshole, what are you to do?

Still, it’s giving you a headache. Did you win the match only because he allowed it? You almost smack him in the head again. You already dealt with these kinds of idiots at the training program, and now you have to take shit from pros too? While you’re the pro? Jesus.

Determined to give him hell for the rest of the week, you make a lousy joke about the size of his gun when you go on a mission. It’s a bit unhanded, because this lame ass fool actually gets bothered by your quip, and you mentally beat yourself up for messing with your partner’s head before an important hostage rescue.

He barges through the door like a bull, and you purse your lips under your balaclava – on the other hand, is it even your fault if he gets killed because of some stupid Freudian joke?

This guy is simply too much fun…

So what happens is that you can’t keep your mouth shut. It’s horrid, what comes out of your lips when he’s trying to save lives. Things such as:

“Do you have your gun in hand?”

“I’ll keep an eye on your six while you take the women”

“Did you see their faces when König rammed himself in?”

The innuendos are obvious and rampant and so bad that König is surely blushing under that hood before you even board the plane. On top of everything, he rubs the barrel of his gun up and down in the plane because he’s so nervous. He does it absent-mindedly; the poor guy probably doesn’t understand the outrageous amount of Freudian jokes that could be cracked about that…

You try to pull yourself together after that because otherwise, people would start to suspect you’re having a crush on him. Army humour is army humour but you’re taking this shit a bit too far… Your jokes have never been this bad before, they certainly never induced such crazy behaviour from a guy.

...Because it turns out that you’ve awoken a demon.

At the gym, you see König watching you do pull ups – you’re the only girl there, yes, but you don’t wear some sculpting, seamless gym pants and a suggestive sports bra. You only have your old sweats and a tank top on, but the man's looking at you like he’s dreaming of either killing or fucking you. He's smashing the plates around like they've just personally insulted him, and glares at your way again, then lifts more than you’ve ever seen anyone lift before. He never talks to you: just stops and stares when you’re doing a set, then does his own, then glares.

You don’t know if it’s some kind of an awkward challenge or if he’s trying to flirt with you – menacingly – but you’re a mess after that gym session.

Next time during training, König personally offers to spar with you: he even pushes away the guy that had been assigned as your pair. And this time, he doesn’t hold back. He’s serious, and rough, and fucking frightening.

“That’s it, big boy,” you’re panting before half a minute has passed, “You finally found your groove?”

“No talking during sparring,” he grunts, and almost manages to land a blow – almost, because it ends with him on the floor. The takedown is something even KorTac’s best would be proud of, but he doesn’t allow you to gloat this time. Oh no: he rolls through it: actually, he rolls so that he lands on top of you, then smashes his whole weight on your chest to keep you down.

“Right where I want you,” he says, so brunt and brief that you’re not sure if you just imagined it.

“Is...that...so?”

You try to fight him in vain: he only presses you further into the mat and forces even your face to the side with his own.

“I thought you liked girls,” he pants into your ear, so low that the others can’t hear.

“That’s funny,” you whisper through clenched teeth, fingers curled around his shirt. “I thought you liked girls.”

You hear him draw air right beside your ear, and then – it’s unmistakable, the throbbing pulse against your thigh.

He’s getting hard.

The fucking moron is getting hard during a sparring session with you–

“There’s no need to crush your partner,” the trainer instructs, to everybody grinding on the mat in general, perhaps, but you have a feeling he’s directing the words König who’s currently choking you with his entire body.

“Is this what you want?”

He lets you breathe, only enough so you can turn and have another staring competition with him, this time with his mouth only a hair’s breadth away. Those eyes are hard as steel and as beautiful as snow, and that stare still wants to either fuck or murder you…

“Hm? You want to get crushed?”

“...Why do you think I joined the army?” You laugh breathlessly, eyes glimmering from mirth. He’s such a sight when he’s angry and confused.

Your cheeky answer only makes him more perplexed. Poor man – it’s so easy to tease him that you almost feel like a bully.

“That's right... Take your time getting up, there’s no need to rush,” you breathe, and watch the snow melt into a bewildered cerulean sea.

It sets sooner than you thought, his lids dropping as he settles to watch your lips, the heavy pulse on your neck.

“Oh I’m up already.”

[lolotheparagon]

Helluva Boss is Hella Sexist to Both Men and Women - Part 1

Just saw a video about Helluva Boss and whether its sexist or not with portraying its female characters and that got me thinking:

Are Helluva Boss' writers misogynists?

No. No one INTENTIONALLY writes misogynistic material unless you're Bruce Timm or Blizzard but what they're writing DEFINITELY COMES ACROSS AS SEXIST because the writers are so busy juggling every plot thread and character arc at once, they forget to write the main fucking characters apart from Blitzo. ESPECIALLY its female characters like Millie, Loona, Stella and Octavia.

You can use good faith arguments until you're blue in the face, but the truth of the matter is treating ALL of their main female characters as vehicles for the male characters' development with little characterisation beyond that IS misogynistic.

Lets start with Millie.

Millie is the most egregious case since she's one of the main employees at IMP yet we barely see Millie do anything other than be Moxxie's wife or a killing machine. And the fact her only s1 episode "where we see her family " plot getting sidelined for a Moxxie plot is unbelievable. Millie is by far the show's most promising character you can write mountains of stories about. But instead the show makes her a crazy lovable girlboss TM without any goals or aspirations and only exists as Moxxie's support system. Shes fine if shes meant to be a side character but shes in a main ensemble cast and you CANT have one of your main 4 characters be just the cool badass wife who can benchpress a tractor. That's fine for a tumblr art post, not for a character in a professional episodic animated tv show

Loona is supposed to be 21 or something yet she acts like every surly teenager who abuses her adoptive father Blitz, who's done nothing but love and cherish her. Yet she always beats him up whenever Blitz is merely in her vicinity. And so far we havent got an episode or even A SCENE where Loona and Blitz just sit down and unpack everything. That one flashback of Loona being from a hellhound orphanage/pound wouldve been so interesting to explore as a full episode, but it was only set up so Blitz can have a panic attack. So, much like Millie, Loona's character arcs and plotlines get shifted aside for more dumb scenes and Brandon Rogers references. Loona doesn't even change her attitude towards others throughout the series so far and remains as sardonic and bitchy as ever, cos heaven forbid we have our characters develop. Fans wont buy our overpriced merch of our furry waifu otherwise.

Octavia only exists in the story to make Stolas look like the most wholesome dada so the fans will completely forget hes in an unhealthy power-imbalanced relationship with Blitz, a lower class imp, purely for sex but then grows romantically attached to which Blitz adamantly refuses to see it that way. (Stolas also has imps as servants which he treats with apathy or contempt so already sets a bad precedent) but circling back to Octavia, Stolas claims to love his daughter very much but we've never shown that often BUT STOLAS DOESNT EVEN CARE ABOUT OCTAVIA UNLESS SHES IN ACTUAL DANGER COS HE GETS DISTRACTED BY HORNY BLITZY OR IS TOO IMCOMPETENT TO DO ANYTHING PROACTIVE

In Loo Loo Land, he learns to be more considerate of her feelings and comforts her after ignoring her throughout the whole episode. What happens in the next Stolas and Octavia episode? Octavia gets dismissed by Stolas AGAIN, this time by his ex-wife, when she asks about a star event THEY PLANNED TO GO TO, so she runs away to the human world to see it for herself. And yet who consoles her at the observatory scene? FUCKING LOONA OF ALL PEOPLE! WHY CANT STOLAS GO UP THERE, FINALLY FINDING HER AT LAST AND TALK TO HER? YKNOW THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT WHY STOLAS IS IN THE HUMAN REALM TO BEGIN WITH??! HE'S WAITING AROUND IN A SITCOM AUDIENCE WHILE BLITZO DOES HIS FAILING ATTEMPTS AT COMEDY

Octavia's own feelings about her relationship with her dad, how her parents divorce has affected her, her relationship with her mother Stella, ITS ALL SIDELINED for more self-indulgent Stolitz shipping. I feel so sorry for Octavia, she deserves better. She should be adopted by Blitz, he's more an actual father figure than Stolas.

And finally, Stella. Stella is an interesting case cos I have no qualms with having a bitchy abusive wife villain for Stolas to fight back against. Im totally fine with Stolas standing up to Stella and finally divorcing that bitch. But I really wish Stella had more presence throughout the first season, constantly bringing up tension and stress to piss off Stolas, since she likes tormenting him so much. Cos piling all of her insults and cartoonishly over the top bitchiness in one episode (The Circus) was too much and with how that episode woobified Stolas already, it only added to the problem. Nothing inherently wrong character-wise with Stella, shes established as a unrepentant bitch and stays that way. She is ultimately a vehicle for Stolas' character development but shes not a main character so its fine. The story is not about her.

But I find it pretty rich that the show treats being Loona being abusive to her father figure for no good reason like a joke, whereas Stella's abuse of Stolas about to slap him is portrayed as a serious, shocking moment.

So in conclusion, Helluva Boss DOES push several negative stereotypes of women. The one-note girlboss wife who's plotlines always get shafted in support of the male characters (Millie), the teenager who's desperate for paternal love from her father, leaving her bored and neglectful but the father in question does some bare minimum effort and that's suddenly okay in her eyes (Octavia) and the double standard that abuse is funny when a woman is hitting a man (Loona and Blitzo). Except when it isnt (Stella and Stolas)

This show is a fucking mess: part 1

(I will elaborate on the male characters treatment in another post. If I forgot anything or made a mistake, let me know, im always open for feedback!

And yes, I'm aware I omitted Verosika Mayday from this list because she's ultimately harmless as a character and only exists as a rival to Blitz. Also she only appeared in two episodes so I dont have much to say about her.)

[bittersweetarts]

Little Lamb - Aemond Targaryen x Reader (Chapter 6)

Aemond Targaryen x You –  Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5

Word count: 3160 word

Summary: As a maiden of a noble house, it is your duty to wed well. But how will you manage to, with a curious and possessive Prince in the picture?

WARNINGS: Angst, misogynistic behaviour (quite sexist), minor violence, dubious consent

Spotify Playlist – AO3 Page

Chapter 6: To Be Alone

You have grown to detest the Red Keep, King’s Landing, and yourself for being a coward, for allowing yourself to be kept here without struggle. You once found comfort in the Keep’s halls, seeing the Seven-Pointed Star constantly, but now, each you see the holy symbol, it mocks you. It reminds you how skewed your faith is. Every day you pray to the Seven, praying to hear from your family, for someone to come and take you away, but your prayers for onto deaf ears. You find it easier though, hoping that is, rather than trying to do something about it.

Since your conflict, some moons ago, Prince Aemond Targaryen has kept his distance. At first, it was difficult. He would not leave your room after your fight and kept you there with him as well. You would not talk to him and he would not let go of you. That is, until you asked about the letters. You were almost certain that he had read them, for he was too guileful not to. But he would not answer you. You pleaded, begged, promised to forgive him, but he would not. At dawn, as the two of you laid in bed awake, you thought he would finally divulge when you kissed him, trying to please him, but he did not. Instead, he pulled away after pressing his lips onto your forehead, and left the room wordlessly, finally leaving you alone.

After that, the one-eyed Prince did not seek you, nor did you him. He no longer frequented your quarters and its hallways, or so you assumed. Your chamber door was barred from the moment you returned from supper, and you forced yourself to read until your eyes were heavy and exhaustion overwhelmed you. Sometimes you wake from nightmares, expecting someone to be there, holding and comforting you, but you now always found yourself alone. Being alone no longer suited you as it once did.

Your anger at the one-eyed Prince transmuted into petulance, and you found yourself short-tempered and unpleasant to be around. While you remained courteous to the Targaryens and other court members from noble houses, you found yourself cruelly snapping at maids and servants for human error, and even found yourself irritable around the Helaena’s children at times, such as when Princess Jaehaera ripped her new dress whilst trying to play with her brothers. You could not even conceal your annoyance whenever you found members of court staring at you, especially Lord Larys Strong, who you caught watching you a few too many times.

This new bitter attitude was also spurned by the fact that your twenty-fifth name day was approaching in weeks and you felt stuck in time, left behind by those who were meant to love you. You were a lonely, resentful woman now, with no place to call home and no family to turn to. You considered to attempt finding a husband again, but the sickening memories of Jayse always came to mind, and you felt yourself deterred (Jayse Wylde had been taken out of the Keep’s Infirmary some time back, after making very slow recovery, and last you heard, he was still unconscious and brought back the Rain House, to be cared for by his family).

That is how you found yourself here, humbly beseeching Queen Alicent to grant you leave for Storm’s End, while drinking tea with her.

Having tea with the Queens was a regular occurrence for you, as they enjoyed your company. The Queens had tea everyday together, some peculiar concoction brewed by some Maestors, as it was supposed to support health and fertility, the latter which Queen Alicent had once joked was unnecessary. Invited to this intimate affair, you would tell them about interesting things you had recently read, such as the story of The Long Night and how mothers smothered their babies to save them from suffering, in addition to harmless tattle that had spread throughout the Keep, like how the visiting niece of Ser Tyland Lannister had an odd affinity for adding salt into her morning tea, as told by the Royal Kitchen maids. This had garnered a disgusted face from Queen Alicent and a curios nod of the head from Queen Helaena.

On this day however, you found yourself alone with the Queen Alicent, and horribly yearning more than usual. It was a lovely day at King’s Landing, and pleasant cool winds took hostage of the city, like the orange hawkweeds infest gardens. While walking through the Royal Gardens with the twins and Maelor earlier, you could not help but imagine how it would feel to walk through your homeland, famed for its tempestuous winds on even the warmest day. So, when you found yourself at tea with Queen Alicent, you could not stop yourself from speaking.

“My Queen. I am so grateful for your kindness and generosity, so please do not consider me ungrateful, but may I ask something?” Setting down her saucer whilst smiling, the Queen Mother took hold of your hands, her hold radiating warmth.

“What is it, my sweet girl?”

“May I humbly request leave, to visit my family?”

The Queen looked at you with sympathetic eyes, yet her smile vanished. You could feel your heart begin to sink, which you hoped did not show. Sighing, the Queen Alicent squeezed your hand before responding.

“Darling child, I wish that I could say yes, but I cannot. I do not believe it is my place to grant your request.” Looking at you with sad eyes, she finished. “Though I horribly wish I could. I am very fond of you and wish you no unhappiness.”

This was the moment you realised she knew. Of course, how could she not? She was the Queen Mother after all, and she is the one that held her children and the Kingdom together. You never doubted that the Keep’s walls had eyes and ears, yet you could not help but feel humiliation seep in.

Another unexpected development began as your name day approached.

After a particularly exhausting day, one which involved being cupbearer for a dull, hours-long meeting involving the imposition of trade levies (which the Prince, you avoided, attended as well, as the King’s confidant), you returned to your chambers to find a parcel by your bedside.

Perplexed, you opened the packaging, a paper slip slid out. Picking up, you see three words written in cursive. I am sorry. You immediately accepted this was from Prince Aemond, for who else could it be. Rolling your eyes, you crumble the paper and toss it aside, and pick up the object that was packaged. A beautiful gold detailed ring, one which complimented the necklace you stopped wearing long ago. The sight of the beautiful ring infuriated you, and you proceeded to shove it into the back of your wardrobe, where your gifted chain had laid for weeks as well, collecting dust. You considered that to be the end of that matter.

The gifts, however, did not stop. Most evenings, you started finding parcels laid out on the exact same spot on your bedside table. You wondered if it was the Prince who entered your chambers to leave them, or a servant at his behest. It did feel like a violation of your privacy, but then again, was it really? This place is as much yours as King’s Landing is, which is not at all.

You used to open the parcels, and found varying items, such as books, more jewelry, packaged sweets. None of these came with anymore notes though.

The last parcel you opened was a hand-carved wood piece of a dragon, which you both admired and loathed. You disliked this gift the most, for it reminded you of the wooden figures you used to play with during your childhood, and you wondered whether this was a mere coincidence, or if he knew this. Unlike the rest of your gifts which were sequestered to the back of your wardrobe or hidden corners of your room, the wooden dragon sat by your bedside, and before sleep, you would find yourself tracing its carvings. After this gift though, you stopped opening all new parcels completely, shoving them in your wardrobe immediately upon entering the room.

Before you knew, it was your name day, and you wished to disappear more than ever. It was the first day of the first moon of the 131 AC, a holy day for the followers of the Faith, so you found yourself unoccupied on the day. The Queens, Prince Daeron and the children were visiting family in Old Town, for the holy day, and you were left behind. While the Queen Helaena expressed that she and the children would sorely miss you, she did not want you to be spending your name day in service to others at a foreign place and asked for you to stay. The Prince Daeron, on the other hand, quipped that their cousins, Martyn and Lyonel, would fall in love with you immediately and not let you leave the city unwed. Though a jest, you could not help but suddenly wish you were going, and every Targaryen laughed when the Prince Aemond had elbowed the young Daeron in the stomach (that is, except for you).

Your nameday began as usual, with you setting out the dining table for breakfast. The spread was much smaller, as it now was only for the King and a Prince (you opted to have a quick meal at the Kitchens, avoiding the inevitably awkward affair). Afterwards, you spent the day roaming around the Keep’s grounds. You found yourself at the Library for the first time in a while, and decided to borrow a title, which after much perusing, ended up being a book about the War of the Conquest. Though you were familiar with the topic, this specific book you had never read and it appeared interesting.

Heading to the Gardens, your only sanctuary at the capitol, you decide to stay, particularly due to the pleasant breeze which wafted. The Gardens were empty, as most were at septs worshiping, or busy with other matters. You had gone for morning congregation after breakfast, so had no need for worship anymore.

Setting out a tapestry near a grand tree with beautiful amber leaves, you sit and read your new book for hours, until interrupted.

“My Lady.”

A familiar voice catches you off guard. Startled, you look up, to see the one-eyed Prince, dressed in his dragon-riding attire, appearing slightly flustered, as if he had just come back from riding. A slight charred scent attests to this.

“Your Grace,” you greet, as you stand up, bowing while keep your head down. You avoid his intense gaze.

“The weather is rather pleasant, and I find myself lacking company. May you join me for a stroll?”

Still keeping your stare down, you leer at the book in your hands. “I apologise, your Grace, but I was just about to leave.”

“Then let me escort you. Where are you off too?”

Your mind goes blank, for you were actually intending to stay at the Gardens until sunset, with no intention to leave. Comparatively, your chambers were suffocating and seemed as appealing as swine manure. Watching you remain silent, the Prince suddenly grinned brilliantly.

“Ah, I see. I am happy you can keep me company then.” He holds his arm out, which you lightly take hold off, sighing as you set your book onto the tapestry.

At first, the two of you walk in silence. You try to concentrate on the flowers currently in bloom, but struggle. The Prince’s warmth radiated, and you could not help yourself from flushing, something which he notices as he watches you.

“Happy nameday,” Prince Aemond says, starting conversation. You thank him politely, but still avoid his stare, keeping your eyes to the ground. This slightly irritates the Prince, who felt as if he had been practically begging you to look at him.

As you turn a corner, away from a Gardens, you feel yourself abruptly overturned, your back against a hidden blocked passageway. The stonewall felt cold against your back, your dress’s light fabric doing little to shield you. As you looked up at the roguish Prince, you do not feel frightened nor threatened, and this acknowledgment ironically vexed you.

You were finally looking at the Prince as he wished, but this time, it was he who was distracted. His fingers trace your bare décolleté, which most days, you opted to cover with a highline dress, but not today, as you were intending to spend the warm day out. His fingers burn against your skin, and your breathing becomes heavy. He keeps trailing his fingers around your chest area, satisfied with your reaction, and as if in search for something.

“I miss you.”

You remain silent and drop your gaze, ignoring his admission. The Prince stops suddenly, and tilts your chin up, but you stubbornly keep your eyes down. Consequently, you are now forced to stare at his mouth.

“I know that today is your day, so forgive me for being selfish. But please, just say something. Anything.”

“What is there to say?” Your words are harsh, and you feel guilty for a moment.

“You can say anything. Scold me, curse me, berate me, slander my name. I do not care. I just want to hear your voice again. Directed at me.”

“If I was to say what I would like, my head would be on a pike.”

“I doubt that very much.” The Prince smiles, still staring at you adoringly. Honestly, you did realise that you were exaggerating, but that did not mean that he would not ensure that someone else’s head would be on a pike because of you, so you say nothing.

You feel your left hand grasped, and the Prince traces your fingers.

“You do not like my gifts.” He speaks rhetorically, in a sudden saddened tone. Without meaning to, you look at him and are taken aback by his enchanting purple eye. This brings his smile back.

“I like them just fine.”

The Prince proceeds to caress your cheek.

“You can tell me the truth; I will not be offended.”

Inhaling, you answer.

“I did not ask for any of it.”

The Prince proceeds to lean close towards you, the two of you sharing each other’s breath.

“Then ask me, tell me what you want… I will give you anything, you must know that.” You knew that this was a tender moment, and that your next words would end it all.

“I want to see my family, to visit my home.”

The Prince flinched as you spoke, and pulled away, shaking his head.

“No. This is your home, you are home.”

“No, it is not, you know it. My home is at Storm’s End, where I grew up, where my family lives.” The Prince shuts his eye, as if he did not hear, which only fuels your adamancy. “It is you that said ‘anything’, please.” You step forward to him, grasping hold of his hands now.

“My Prince, I have no need for things, no matter how beautiful or interesting. I am not lacking in any regard, except one.”

“No, I cannot. You cannot.” The Prince speaks disjointedly. You knew that you were testing precarious boundaries, but you could not stop yourself.

“You are the one who will not give me their letters or tell me its contents.” You say, cupping his cheeks. “Please, my Prince– Aemond. If you will not tell me their words, let me hear them myself. I miss them.” You press yourself against him, and his breath hitches.

“I know that it is you that gets to decide, so I am pleading. Just as you say anything, I will do anything. I just want to go to my home.” The Prince’s eye darkens as you finish speaking, and his ruthlessness returns.

“Anything?” You nod in response, nervous.

“Wed me.”

Your eyes burrow in confusion, and now you pull away, shaking your head and turning away from him. “That is ludicrous, absurd.” You feel arms wrap around you and his body presses you from behind, his mouth nearing your ear.

“Wed me. Have my children. Be with me until the end.” You shake your head, unbelieving of what is happening.

“There are only two things I will let have me. Death, and you.”

You shudder at his declaration, truly not believing what is happening. Turning around to face him, you finally respond.

“My Prince, Aemond. You know that we cannot. We are not the same, you are a Targaryen Prince. I am a nobody from a House most forget.” The blonde interrupts.

“I do not give a shit about Houses or the idle tongues of everyone else.” Grabbing hold of you face, he brings himself close. “Our children will be Targaryens, you will be a Targaryen.” He kisses you near your mouth gently. You only shake your head, frowning.

“Then why ask? You can do as you please, with no consequence. You can hold me prisoner, you can kill me, you can feed me to your Vaghar, with no repercussion from anyone. You can do anything you like to me, so why ask?”

“Because I want you to want me as I do.” He kisses you near your mouth again and you impulsively let out a quiet gasp.

“Tell me that you do. Tell me that you want me, that you are mine.”

You remember that awful night with Jayse, and how the Prince had asked you the same, and this rouses you to reality. You could not wed, for that would not be a life for you. You are nothing to each other now, and he already tries to possess you so adamantly. Anything more, and you might as well forfeit your life and freedom.

“I want to see my family.” You say stubbornly, which only serves to agitate the Prince, who groans in response, tugging harshly at his hair, turning his back to you. He remains deathly silent, not speaking a word. Only a cool breezes passes you both, and you bite your lower lip in anticipation.

“Fine.” The Prince practically mumbles, and for a moment, you believe that you misheard.

“What?” You say, your brows furrowed.

“I will not repeat myself.” Turning around, he takes a stride towards you, planting his hands on your waist firmly. “I will come with you, and perhaps Helaena and the children, if they wish it.” You feel even more confused, your crossed brows evidencing this. You attempt to protest, only to be hushed.

“Either you travel to the stormlands with me, with us, or not at all.” He says adamantly, his violet eye already plotting with schemes.

Whispering, you ask. “Why?”

“That does not concern you.” Beaten on the matter, for your desperation to see your parents and siblings triumphs all else, you accept, and the Prince embraces you in satisfaction.

Author’s Note: Keeping with canon, our war criminal is obsessed with an older woman (though not much, if I haven’t messed up counting, he should be twenty-one at this point). As always, I hope you enjoyed!

– Chapter 7

Tags: girl-obsessed-with-things 404slayer404 moonmaiden1996 rosaryos  roseanimelover jovialfanatic wishfulwithwine missusnora maat-the-prescriptive  @let-love-bleeds-red​ shnadaidas 

[ranahan]

I just read the Republic Commando: Hard Contact and Republic Commando: Triple Zero novels by Karen Traviss. Republic Commando is Legends now, but here are a few points that struck me about arguments I’ve seen go back and forth here on tumblr. Spoilers for the books!

Several mentions of entire batches of brothers “disappearing” for minor variances & clones being more afraid of the kaminoans than their training sergeants. Kal Skirata drunkenly breaking into tears over the poor boys. Very clear that in Traviss’s books, clones were being decommissioned.

Several mentions of clones dying in live fire exercises on Kamino before being deployed & the training sergeants standing by and doing nothing.

There’s a blurb of a retired commando, chronological age 23, biological age 60. Again, in Traviss’s books, the artificial ageing doesn’t stop when the clones reach adulthood. The main characters are also described as visibly ageing between the two books.

Pretty chilling description of the kind of brainwashing that you believe because you don’t have any reason not to when your entire life so far has lined up with it. I would completely believe these boys could execute Order 66 without the chips & all I could do would be to empathise with them.

Troopers telling their concerned jedi to not worry their pretty little head about what happens to dead troopers. Later a reinforcing mention of no bodybags needed in the GAR.

Vau nearly killing a trooper in training & making the troopers beat each other into a pulp in training.

So again, Republic Commando are Legends now but if anyone wonders where the fandom got the idea that these things happen, here’s your answer. They aren’t fandom inventions.

Other notes and personal opinions:

I mostly enjoyed Hard Contact. There were some bits near the end that fell a little flat, but overall an enjoyable military action/military science fiction novel.

Triple Zero on the other hand, not so much. The pregnancy storyline was just icky. Both in how Etain herself makes it her entire raison d’être, how she makes it the reason for why Darman now has a future, and the lack of consent on Darman’s part. She intentionally gets pregnant without ever discussing anything with him (they’ve been together for two whole weeks at this point), whether he wants kids at all, wants them with her, wants them in the middle of a war, or sees having children in the same light as she does. She’s had the most superficial of introductions to Mandalorian culture and has no idea whether or to what degree the clones or Darman as an individual share those notions—given that they probably have an understandably complicated relationship with Mandalorian culture and especially the notions of children, parents, and legacy. For all we know at this point in the series she could have completely misconstrued the whole thing. But there she goes, and decides that this is how she will fix everything and give Darman a future: a genetic legacy to outlive him.

The force-accelerated pregnancy reads like a bad fan fiction and the whole “go undercover to hide the pregnancy” reads like a Victorian novel.

Etain feels like an odd choice for a point of view character in a military science fiction story. She’s aggressively the-girl-next-door, pointedly unremarkable and ordinary. I guess the point is that readers could have a regular person’s point of view, with which to contrast the commando mindset, and to whom things can be naturally explained without infodumping. But it goes overboard and makes her seem incompetent and immature, so you start wondering what the hell is she even doing in the story or on a battlefield or what does anyone see in her.

There are sexist attitudes straight from the planet Earth. It’s in men and females, how Etain and other female characters are seen through their sex first and other characteristics second, and how they are always “other” in comparison to men. But it’s not just the women, it’s young men—the clones—too where I get this vibe. It’s very bioessentialist. There seems to be this underlying thread of pairing up and reproducing being the most valuable thing a person can do with their life. Which again, seems like an odd choice for a thematic storyline in a military science fiction novel. Like, this is not what it said on the tin.

Some of the tactical/counterterrorism side in Triple Zero feels inauthentic to me as well. There’s too much being bad boys for shock value and too little professional soldiering for my tastes anyway. But I don’t kick in doors professionally so what do I know.

No sense of numbers for galactic economy. Exhibit A: Qiilura.

Lastly, fandom: can we get more Corr? This is an EOD trooper who gets both of his hands blown off early in the war, gets stuck in a logistics centre duty while waiting for better prosthetics, still determined to get back into action to fight alongside his brothers, gets accidentally adopted by some commandos, and makes a career change from disabling fiddly explosives to kicking in doors. A round of appreciation for Corr!

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

ok i know the sex ed post was ages ago but I saw it in your most liked tab and it got me thinking, particularly with zukka, that even though they had sex ed they wouldn't have had gay sex ed. zuko grew up with sailors + the royal family in homophobic fire nation, and sokka got probably taught by gran gran about having babies. so all i can think is that if they decided to take that step when older, they are gonna have no clue what to do. queue sokka very very awkwardly shuffling up to bato who he knows is in a relationship with his dad and saying can I ask a question. promise not to laugh at me. except bato is less amused and more mildly horrified that sokka has chosen him to answer these questions

oh my god yeah. like, i'm not sure gran-gran's sex ed would've been heteronormative - depends on what you think the southern water tribe's attitudes are - but there's a very strong possibility that sokka, as a sexist teenage boy who thought he was straight, may have been like GRAN-GRAN EWWW STOP LALALA I'M NOT LISTENING

like the convo went: here's how babies happen -> sometimes grown-ups do this without the intent to make babies -> people can also do it with people of the same physical sex -> sokka running away screaming

he now regrets that.

for zuko, i think he might have. um. hands-on experience. y'know. on the ferry. with jet. does that prepare him for being in an actual relationship? probably not.

i'm not sure either of them would want to ask for guidance tbh. both of them canonically have experience with women (azula saying "mai seems to be in a good mood lately" had an undertone to it, sokka and suki in "the southern raiders") and zuko has some experience with men, so they'd probably just assume it's fine. figure it out as they go. it can't be that hard, right?

that said the image of sokka asking bato for advice on having gay sex is SO funny. bato knew he was signing up to be a dad when he started dating hakoda but he didn't think he'd have to give The Talk. also he has to be really careful about what examples he uses since his current gay sex partner is sokka's dad. (i imagine bato had some other relationships, but they all ended bc they realized he'd never value them above hakoda.) also sokka is asking specifically because he wants to have sex with the fire lord and like bato knew they were dating but he's never gonna get over how weird his life is now. "my stepson is asking me advice on gay sex so he can fuck the fire lord". truly wild.

meanwhile zuko has started spending time at piandao's bc he needs a father figure since iroh fucked off to ba sing se (plus piandao knows fire nation politics & can help him navigate being the fire lord) so he walks in one day and is like "yeah i have a question. not about politics but uhh. personal stuff" and piandao's like "oh what is it" and zuko tells him and piandao is like "i'm so honored you're asking me" and goes to his library and finds him a guide to gay sex that got banned in the fire nation but piandao managed to find a copy (he has a lot of illegal gay lit) and hands it to him like. go have fun kiddo. i'm rooting for you guys.

the other possibility is that suki (who is still dating sokka, they have an open relationship) finds out they want to have sex and knowing the state of their sex ed decides that they need a Lesson. it's a very good lesson because kyoshi island has very good queer positive sex ed but sokka has some interesting feelings about his girlfriend teaching him how to have sex with his boyfriend. not bad feelings. just interesting

ANYWAYS this is a fun topic and thank you for the mental image of sokka asking bato about gay sex

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

I think you could argue that Anakin is a character who is VERY complex in what he is supposed to represent and his story requires maintaining an incredibly delicate balance to pull off, but that the people writing him have not always managed this which can make him come across very differently than probably intended.

In the Prequel films, I think that this is where AOTC comes in as a problem, despite how much I personally still enjoy the film. TPM and ROTS generally do their jobs quite well as the beginning and end of Anakin's story. TPM definitely gets across that Anakin is a good kid with some positive selfless and compassionate instincts, but who struggles with things due to his age and upbringing. ROTS gets across that Anakin is a generally strong and competent young warrior in his prime who nonetheless is sitting on a knife's edge due to secrets he's been keeping and those struggles from his childhood continuing to rear their ugly head until he falls off the knife. But AOTC needed to bridge the gap between the compassionate child and the more ruthless adult who ultimately fails and becomes a selfish, greedy villain. And it... doesn't entirely manage this.

I think there are some really great and interesting and unique choices that happen in AOTC for Anakin. I like that they stuck with Anakin being more of a whiny teenager and emphasizing that despite how powerful he is (or believes himself to be), he is still VERY young and it shows in his attitude. I think that this sells some of his choices in this film quite well. This doesn't make his choices OKAY, obviously, and they're definitely things he's supposed to have learned to control by now as a Jedi, but they're still fairly understandable and relatable given his age. I also appreciate the beginning of the parallels between Obi-Wan and Palpatine as respective father figures and the ways we see Anakin influenced by both.

But I think it falters in two VERY essential places: the Tusken massacre, and the romance with Padme. Both of these issues lie almost entirely in racist and sexist tropes that were already unpleasant back in 2002 and have only gotten more so with age. But these two things are ESSENTIAL milestones for Anakin's journey towards darkness and, personally, I think they failed here. The romance with Padme is unbelievable and the Tusken massacre simply took things too far too early.

So AOTC has a really great concept, but it just didn't quite stick the landing, and I think that creates a little bit of a dissonance in his character where you can pick up on what you're SUPPOSED to be feeling about Anakin, but what you're seeing on screen is making you feel something very different. If you're put off by the sexism and the racism, you're probably not really feeling the romance or the sympathy you're intended to feel and you lose the thread of Anakin's tragic downfall. And this has the side effect of making him harder to buy in ROTS, too, because the bridge that was supposed to explain how he went from compassionate to villainous just wasn't wholly there.

I believe TCW was, to some degree, intended to help fix that gap in the bridge. And one of the reasons people like it so much is because they feel like it DOES fix the gap in the bridge. They give Anakin a child to look after to help explain how he went from a reckless arrogant idiot to a more mature adult. They introduce things like the Deception arc and the Wrong Jedi arc to give him a few more incidents that could have driven more of a wedge into Anakin's relationship with the Jedi that would allow him to be willing to murder them all out of anger.

My problem with this is that, while it does provide more of a bridge between these two parts of the story, I think it sort-of vitally misunderstands the core of Anakin's story in a lot of ways. Anakin didn't murder the Jedi because he was angry, he murdered the Jedi because he was SCARED. This isn't a vengeance plot, he's just so scared of losing Padme that he's literally willing to do whatever it takes to keep her. It's a fear that's been there from the beginning, it's what causes him to stumble during his interview with the Council (he's scared of failing the test and earning their disapproval so he tries to lie about what he's feeling instead of being honest).

This is something AOTC actually DOES do better than TCW because it's made fairly clear that the reason Anakin's upset after the Tusken massacre isn't truly because he's angry, but because he believes he wasn't powerful enough to save his mother and he's scared that he might NEVER be powerful enough to save the people he cares about. It TERRIFIES him and that's what drives him. Anakin is CONSTANTLY seeking security blankets and validation in the form of people and when he loses people, he just replaces them with different people (Padme replaces Shmi and Luke later replaces Padme, for example).

So while TCW does provide a bridge between AOTC and ROTS, it's... the wrong bridge and it muddies the waters of the message of Anakin's story by focusing on the wrong aspect of his character. And it's ALREADY a little muddied from the sexism and racism in AOTC, so TCW adding extra cloudiness doesn't help that dissonance in Anakin's character in this time period. Is he a scared little boy who never figures out how to let go of the people he loves? Is he an arrogant angry asshole? Is he a righteous man who is just being held back by the authorities around him? It can be hard to tell because it sort-of varies from scene to scene depending on what you're watching.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

aita for kind of getting a guy kicked our of our college’s theatre program?

i (20ftm) have been doing theatre all my life, including at my local community college where i’m an art student. i’m openly trans and don’t pass particularly well, but i have a really good voice, so i’m usually able to swing pretty good roles.

last fall i played mr. green in our production of clue: the musical. mr. green is a very masculine role. there was a guy(21M) in our ensemble, who i’ll call A, who regularly said some pretty off-color stuff to me. he made several mocking comments about how i needed to wear a prosthetic beard for my costume instead of being able to grow my own, frequently pointed out how i always have to take the high harmony, and made a joke that it was misogynistic for someone to assume i don’t like sports (context: that person was saying i don’t like sports— which is true— cause i’m a thespian and artist. A was implying that i was a woman and so it would be sexist to assume i didn’t like sports).

all of those comments combined with the usual stress of shows really damaged my mental health during our run, to the point of having a panic attack backstage halfway through act 1 one night. our costume designer overheard a couple of these incidents and saw how it affected me, and spoke to the director about it. the director later pulled me aside and asked how i thought this should be dealt with. i told her that i didn’t know what the protocol in this kind of situation was, but that she should think about how A would handle being in our next show, RENT. i said that someone who has that kind of attitude towards me just going about my business might not be mature enough to be a part of a show that deals with such heavy queer themes. she agreed with me and said he wouldn’t be invited back to audition for rent, and he hasn’t auditioned for any other shows since.

the thing is, i really don’t think A was being malicious at all in his comments. i think he thought it was light-hearted ribbing and didn’t realize he was crossing the line. i had a conversation with him after clue closed and he had been talked to by our director, and he seemed genuinely apologetic and willing to learn from his mistakes. i don’t think he meant his comments to be as hurtful as they were, he was just uneducated and apparently unexposed to trans people.

on the other hand, he was also not a good actor at all, and an even worse singer/dancer lol. A is still a film student at our college (which is very closely connected to the theatre department), so i know that he’s still involved there (mostly directing, i’m pretty sure)

tl;dr: a guy i was in a musical with made some transphobic comments to me, probably without even realizing it, and he’s since been kind of shunned out of our college’s theatre program. aita?

What are these acronyms?

[hamartia-grander]

Hi, just wanted to ask a honest question because I've seen you post about it a few times and I genuinely don't understand where you're coming from when you say this. How is remake Leon a misogynist?

Most recently I saw you point out him calling Ada heartless, but I don't see how that's him being sexist. He says that in response to her telling him information on where to find Ashley, having previously told him to leave her behind (to presumably die or worse), and I don't think its misogynistic for him to make a jab at her for that. Especially because Leon's big motivation is saving people, of course he wouldn't be a huge fan of anyone telling him to intentionally leave someone to die if he's able to save them. (This is also not to say Ada's a bad person for suggesting that, I love Ada and her character but I also understand why Leon would be upset by such a thing)

If there's anything else in the remakes that I've missed you point out I'm curious to what else makes him misogynistic because I just don't see it.

Also like a sidenote I guess almost all of Leon's misogynistic lines are from original re4 but Luis also has lines like this, so I don't understand why he gets to be distinguished between versions and Leon doesn't when you talk about their characters.

"honest question" and yet, you seem to have already formulated an idea of my answer (and an opinion of me) based off of one post where I casually mentioned it, and you decided to look no further before getting defensive about it. Are you even asking? Do you even care to learn? Or will you just ignore everything I say? And asking anonymously is very funny to me. Literally who are you.

I talked about it here, kinda joked about it here, and I very thoroughly detailed it here, as well as reiterated in the comments. I'm so tired of repeating myself. It's 1am now bc I took the time to find these posts for you lol. Maybe read them before you try attacking a straw man.

But to the Luis point? I absolutely do separate og RE4 Leon and remake Leon… Like literally my entire POINT is that no, remake Leon is still sexist, just differently, and here is why… I really don't understand how you came to this conclusion lmao.

The main idea is, Capcom thinks they've written out Leon's misogyny; but because Capcom itself is a very bigoted company, they perpetrate misogyny in everything they make and they don't even realise it! They genuinely think the way they wrote remake Leon absolves him from the misogyny when it doesn't, it just re-contextualises it in a way that Capcom deems palatable. They still see Ada as an extension of Leon! They still see Ada's worth revolving solely around how Leon feels in response to her actions. It's ridiculous. And the way Leon is written to treat her, the lines he's given towards her, reflect this attitude, and becomes misogynistic when he treats a male character who has done worse than Ada right in front of Leon with respect and empathy.

[evesaintyves]

Ok long annoying question incoming: Whenever I read your remadora stories im always interested in how you portray lupin with his relationship with sex. I always got the feel that werewolves were looked as sort of sexual predators in the wizarding world. I mean the way greyback is written was very creepy, “specializing in children”, wanting to eat hermione because of her “soft skin”, yikes.

Because of that reputation do you think lupin views himself as a sexual predator when he’s feeling just basic lust? Not even specific to tonks, like do you think he has trouble with his feelings of attraction to anyone. How do you think puberty was like for him? How does gender play into this, does he feel like he’s objectifying whatever person he’s attracted to? Would he even have sex before a relationship like tonks? Is he jealous of Sirius and James because they can be more free with their sexuality? Lol so many questions sorry

hi anon! not annoying at all, thanks for sending an ask! i'm always happy to get them, even if i'm not great about answering them in a timely manner (or at all)

tbh i'm not really a meta-writer and i don't usually fw headcanons too much outside the context of developing a story - but here are some thoughts based on the characterization choices i've made in my work. they are entirely speculative; canon has very little to say about how Remus Lupin uses his dick.

TW for sex, violence, sexual violence, wizard porn, endnotes, Moonchaser*, stuff i wrote at 4 am

so to start there are a couple of much better metas out there by other authors that you might like:

@bikelock28 has a really good meta on werewolves as sexual predators that covers this really well and explores lupin's struggle with it.

@ashesandhackles also has a great meta on the psychology of lupin's lycanthropy/marginalization called the gentleman monster

so yeah, i think you're dead on about the sexual subtext of greyback. in canon we first see people disgusted by and afraid of werewolves¹ and eventually we find out about greyback's notoriety as a child predator². Lupin obviously expresses occasional self-loathing in canon, and my take on that is that he's internalized some of the responses he gets from people aware of his status and some generally-held prejudices against werewolves—he pushes back against Harry's assertion that he's a normal person with a problem³, he refers to himself as "dangerous⁴**," he speaks of himself as having "tried to live amongst wizards⁵," which to me implies that he thinks of other wizards not as peers but as betters who tolerate him. i think his carefully neutral, people-pleasing, equivocating tendencies are his attempt to build a self around the rejection of whatever people might believe about werewolves.

do you think Lupin views himself asa predator when he's feeling basic lust?

my feeling is that, because of all these ideas he's absorbed about what werewolves are like, Lupin might pathologize and abhor some of his own thoughts & behaviors, maybe even normal/typical ones, and have a difficult relationship with urge, impulse, and desire.

How does gender play into this?

he's a boomer who hangs out with a bunch of bros, he takes a kind of patronizing attitude with Tonks in their confrontation in the hospital wing⁶, and he was written by an author who went on to make gender essentialism her whole entire deal as a person, so i feel like he's probably at least a little sexist. i think, just because it's part of the sexist background radiation we all receive, he probably understands women as vulnerable and passive-receptive in heterosexual relationships - so my thought is that he probably has extra hangups about hooking up with women. i think he'd probably have hangups about any sex where the power dynamic favored him, and there are a lot of things about penetration, exchange of fluids, etc. that seem like they might trigger any internalized ideas about himself as violent, sexually rapacious, diseased, etc.

Would he even have sex before a relationship like Tonks?

I don't particularly headcanon Lupin as lifelong-celibate before Tonks, but I get why some people do and it's fine. My personal instinct is that if he experiences sexual desire, he probably finds an outlet for it one way or another***. I think one of Lupin's specific hangups with Tonks is that she's asking for a relationship, she's asking to love him and for some kind of commitment on his part - I think he'd struggle with those more than he might struggle with casual sex. Not just because of the risks to which they'd expose Tonks; some of Lupin's behavior in canon is pretty self-serving - specifically, self-protective against conflict or rejection⁷ - and I think being in any kind of serious relationship might expose him to an uncomfortable kind of vulnerability. personally, i think that's probably a key factor in his apparent misery in the early days of his marriage and his eventual ditching of Tonks—yes, he was trying to protect her, but my suspicion is that he was trying to protect himself too: from the permanent commitments of family after a life spent moving between places and jobs and societies, from the guilt of producing a werewolf kid, and from all the risks of pain and failure that a relationship would bring.

What would puberty be like for him?

Lupin's relationship with his body seems like it must have been pretty fucked up at baseline so starting to grow face & body hair and get physically bigger (and thus harder to control during full moons at home) was probably kind of rough. early sexual feelings and the realization that sexual relationships are going to be difficult and fraught at best for him probably sucked too

Is he jealous of Sirius and James?

so there's that line in the extracanonical Lupin bio where he says of Sirius "he always got the women." i really hate the incelness of this line, but if you want to consider it canon, then sure. tbh i think most of the Pottermore stuff is kind of trash

there's no interaction i'm aware of between Lupin & Sirius in book-canon that would give me the impression that he's jealous, and Lupin always seems to warmly & fondly remember James so... i think it'd be fine if a writer wanted to try and build a case for this dynamic between Lupin and his friends, but it doesn't resonate with me specifically. honestly, I think it'd be easier to make the case that he had a little crush on James than that he was jealous.

if you've read this far, hi, and also i just wanted to mention that i have a fic coming out in July that explores some of Lupin's struggle with—and terror of—his sexuality so stay tuned if you're into that

*god i fucking hate ship names how about "Rames" "Jemus" "Pupin"

** obviously, a werewolf is dangerous at the full moon and it makes sense to be afraid of encountering one. as a reason not to be in a romantic relationship, though, it suggests to me that Lupin thinks of himself as violent/untrustworthy/impure in a general sense

*** ok new headcanon Lupin is one of those guys with an absolutely massive and meticulously-organized porn collection. i bet wizards could make a pretty dope fleshlight. like remember that care of magical creatures book that's just like a weird hairy animal mouth? okay i'll stop

¹ PoA, pp. 336-337

² HBP, pp. 334-335

³ HBP, p. 335

⁴ HBP, p. 615

⁵ HBP, p. 333

⁶ HBP, p. 615

⁷ PoA, pp. 345-346; OoTP, pp. 719, 721

[vineofroses]

A mistake I keep making:

Going on 911 OG Twitter.

The discourse around Tommy is so annoying. When he first showed back up, I honestly didn't remember him. But I just rewatched season 2 and remembered why I didn't remember him: he was mean to hen and chimney and I don't abide by that!

But also:

Across three episodes, Tommy goes on his own little character arc. It's pretty incredible because he actually doesn't even have that many lines. When Chimney joins the 118, the racist and sexist captain has a hold on the general attitude of the place. That doesn't excuse any of Tommy's behavior but it does explain it. I'm not even going to factor in season 7's knowledge that he's closeted here since he wasn't originally written in these episodes to be. But he does adhere to the hyper masculine atmosphere that captain Gerard has created. So he treats Hen and Chimney -- two minority characters in a very white, very heterosexual atmosphere -- like they are the problems. There is an added layer as Eli explains to Chimney that they don't want to get close to probies until knowing they can hack it. Is it an excuse? Again, no. But it is an explanation.

By the end of Chimney Begins, which takes place in 2005-2006, Tommy extends an olive branch to chimney by answering Chimney's questions he was asking Tommy in order to bond with him.

But it's hard to change your entire self over night. So when Hen shows up a few years later, Tommy still is following captain Gerard's lead in a lot of things. He doesn't stand up for or acknowledge Hen's presence in any meaningful way. But after Hen makes some remarkable saves and stands up for herself in front of the entire 118, something changes for Tommy. He actually goes up to her and commends her to her face. And while it's not explicitly stated, it's heavily implied that every member of the 118 complained about captain Gerard on Hen's behalf, including Tommy.

And by the time Bobby Begins Again happens, Tommy is more friends with Hen and Chimney than he is with Sal, who he was friends with first. Bobby Begins Again features a long montage of everyone working together, getting drinks together, and celebrating each other. Tommy, hen, and chimney are clearly fine with each other. The fact that an on screen "I'm sorry" is never uttered from Tommy doesnt mean he hasn't apologized. There are many years between these episodes -- he could have said it sometime off screen. But textually, he literally extends olive branches to both Chimney and Hen in their Begins episodes, and chimney and Hen both clearly take it as an apology. Plus, these three episodes take place over the course of about 10-13 years maybe ... That is a lot of time of those three getting drinks together and making bets together. They are friends. Or at the very least, friendly colleagues. Which is why chimney keeps in contact with Tommy, and why Tommy and hen are glad to see each other in 7x03. Sorry that you need explicit dialogue for character development to happen, but not everything is going to be written that explicitly. Stories have nuance and subtleties and sometimes "I'm sorry" isn't enough. Commending someone to their face, extending the hand of friendship, and advocating for someone says so much more than an "I'm sorry."

Now, taking into account that Tommy is actually gay, then his actions have an even more understandable explanation. He's hiding, playing into the toxic masculinity of the 118, and the best way to do that is to follow Captain Gerard's example in order to stay hidden. And when Hen stands up for herself, Tommy finds someone to admire.

Taking the scenes of him being a fucking dick (because he is! he's expressing racist and sexist micro aggressions to both Chimney and Hen) out of context by not also acknowledging the scenes we've gotten of all three of them being friends and Tommy apologizing is so annoying. It would be cool if there's an on screen conversation between the 3 of them since we did only get to see their commraderie in montages but not acknowledging the growth of his character just because he kissed buck and not Eddie is getting really tiring.

xxx