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Because I'm procrastinating on writing about the history of RPGs, I'm going to actually do a little analysis on that "accidental mind control" scene. Specifically, I want to look at it critically as a text and not as a bit. Why? Well, because I can, but also because it's a really interesting moment that somehow actually fits wonderfully into the narrative.
When it comes to who got mind controlled by Sam, it was just Evan and Jammer that got hit with it, whereas K managed to dodge it fully. And here's why that's so interesting to me, narratively; K is the only one of the three hit by the spell who has refused to let go of their burden. Whilst K has had it pointed out to them that they cannot do everything by themselves, they have still refused so see that possibility. They still end up taking things on by themselves, which has only been further proven by their experience in the hospital. Yes, it was fun for them to live in a fantasy for a moment, but isn't it very interesting that K chose to be a doctor and to specialise in the field they had earlier horrifically failed? Yes, it was partially a gag by Erika, but goddamn does it not fit K's character. In a world where K can be a saviour, a healer, a fixer, they decided to be specialised in a field in which their previous mistake had cost them their friend's life. Erika is excellent when it comes to subtle character traits and flaws peeking through, and this "gag" is proof of that; K feels an incredible amount of guilt, but they try to handwave it off when it's brought into the light - "Just messing around in a hot tub!" - because they cannot process their failure. Because if they failed, then what is their point? If they cannot help people, then what are they even doing?
A thing that will never leave my thoughts when it comes to K, is how we were first introduced to them; with Erika describing K as being "chronically online", fighting with people on social media and engaging in social justice. And I have no idea about you all, but I remember being very much the same as a teenager. Of thinking that every problem in the world was mine to shoulder, and thus piling on issues that were never mine to hold. I see the same happening with K, but K hasn't let that mentality go. They have only gotten worse. They have an Atlas Complex: they take the whole world on their shoulders, convinced that they alone can save it. They cannot let go of that desire to help, that desire to fix, that need for control. They were always like this, since the moment we first saw them; they just channelled that into the rest of the Misfits during the events of the first season.
But in this season? They've been alone for a while, with only Teddy for company and as a voice of reason. K has spiralled into thinking only they can save magic, and it's causing fractures that we - the audience - are only just starting to see the consequences of. Their attempt of healing Evan - which I discussed here - was a natural progression of their guilt at what happened to Magic and the Magic World, as well as their guilt for Evan and themself splitting up where the former clearly got into a lot of trouble without them. K falling into the fantasy of the hospital was them, for a moment, experiencing success, instead of the ever-present guilt that is their current adventure. K could exist within that world, not because they let up on their need for control, but because they embraced the need for control in a world that was familiar and predictable.
Which then leads into Sam's incredible feat of magic, and K's ability to sidestep being controlled. Whilst yes, it was the roll of the dice that decided their fate, I also think any other option would have maybe been less impactful: both Evan and Jammer have begun to realise they can depend on others and let go of their need to control everything, but K hasn't yet. K has begun to admit that it is a problem, but has yet to admit that it is something they must change. That they should not be carrying this burden for themselves. They started to open up to Jammer, but they still have not talked about Itsy and what their work truly entailed. They're still hiding some parts of themself, not allowing others to help with their problems. They don't know how to let others in - at least, not anymore - and so they end up refusing to let up control. They cannot give themselves in to Sam's spell, because they have to solve everything on their own. They're slowly opening up to letting others help, though; Sam was not only able to get K out of the hospital, but K also included Sam in their plan to find the source of the amplification magic. They're just not completely ready to surrender fully to letting others help. Not yet.
But hopefully, soon.
Anyway. This episode was so fun, and I loved the look into everybody's character as they were faced with the challenges of The Trope Hospital. I can't help but want to dig my teeth into what all of these islands brings out of the characters, and how the narrative unfolds. I could go on and on about Aabria's worldbuilding, and about the cast and how they play their characters. Just. Ugh. Misfits is so good, y'all.
#text_loke#meta from loke#Misfits and Magic#Mismag#Mismag 2#Misfits and Magic 2#Misfits and Magic Spoilers#Mismag Spoilers#K Tanaka#Dimension 20#D20#D20 Misfits and Magic#D20 Mismag#anyway. i love these characters and the way they interact#also sorry if this is incomprehensible. i am StrugglingTM with doing my research and uh. brain gone
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[EDIT/OMMENT. This is kinda half baked. There’s a lot more to this topic that isn’t addressed here. Also, i didn’t see the material that started the convo so it’s not exactly about that. FWIW.]
PEACE LOVE & FiCTION
Chiming in on the objections to Tombur, teenbur, etc.
Guys. RELAX and quit shaming each other. Be nice.
Teenagers have sex. Teenagers also think about sex. Published YA novels are full of it — sometimes first-time stuff, sometimes taboo age gap stuff, sometimes even incest or really icky stuff (looking at you, VC Andrews).
In fanfiction, first-time fics in particular are super normal and often involve minor characters. Why minors? Simple. (1) Your first time kissing or having sex or whatever is interesting, and your 65th time is boring. (2) Many if not most people have their first sexual experience before age 18.
There is nothing aberrant about writing or enjoying erotica about teenagers. [EDIT: Within reason. I’m really only contemplating stories where characters are doing things that are reasonable for their age, not younger characters or incongruously explicit material. ]
People are somehow cool with rape/incest/etc sex involving adults—gross and totally illegal in real life— but shame people for teen sex fics.
It should also be noted that enjoying or writing erotica involving teen characters is not pedophilia. Pedos are people who prefer pre-pubescent children. Post-pubescent teens have secondary sex characteristics and it isn’t at all deviant to find older teens attractive in certain contexts.
Adults exploiting or having sex with minors is obviously illegal and not okay. Writing sexually explicit scenes about any age characters for minor audiences is not okay.
Fictional erotica and sexual exploitation of minors are entirely different things.
Label your stuff for 18+ audiences and write whatever you want. Post it in places where proper guardrails can be applied to prevent young readers from stumbling upon it. If you find something icky— don’t read it.
(Not totally sure what my position is on fan art involving explicit drawings of teenagers. I find it super gross but not necessarily immoral or illegal, as no kids are harmed. If it’s labeled properly people can avoid it. Opinion on this not fully formed.)
[***These are my opinions- reasonable people can disagree.]
PEACE LOVE & FiCTION, friends.
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Something I like about Leo is that he’s honestly really chill? It’s easy to remember the moments where he’s being obnoxious or excitable but I feel like most of the time he’s incredibly “go with the flow” and has an overall affable demeanor.
#rottmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rottmnt leo#rise leo#Genuinely speaking I feel like said demeanor is incredibly useful for when he has to charm and/or persuade people into listening to him#I have a whole post talking about Leo’s charm and how he consistently gets people to hear him out even if he’s annoyed or upset them#like they’ll still listen to what he has to say in full#his charisma stat is real and utilized quite often in this series I swear he’s not just a loser cringeboy all the time 😭#if he wants to persuade and/or charm then he honestly sooo often does#me listing the 400th reason why Leo grows up to be the worlds best ninja and a good 365 of those reasons are Leo’s various subterfuge skill#Like most episodes where he’s not the main focus (and even many where he is)#he’s a voice of reason who notices things quickly and is often the one taking point to talk down situations#something interesting I found between Leo and Mikey is that#Mikey tells people what they need to hear#Leo tells people what they want to hear#not only out of his own agenda either#when bullhop was wrecking their home leo was the one that negotiated to make the situation go smoother#even if he would have rather bullhop left#meanwhile Mikey is the one who bluntly tells things as it is#small character moment that means a lot to me#Mikey is an honest boy who is upfront about his feelings#Leo prefers to let people make their own decisions he wants them to through steering the convo in that direction#but he is easily cowed by guilt#regardless leo is a people person - he knows how to talk to them and how to manipulate/persuade#and I like that his bros know this and often push him forward to do the talking if they wanna charm someone into doing what they want#I think Leo’s hope speeches are also an example of this - he’s saying what people really want to hear (and often it’s ALSO what they NEED)#the further the series goes on the higher Leo’s inner stress rises and he just keeps that chill aura anyway#there’s a reason!!! he wanted to go to a SPA so badly!!#literally the first thing he does when he gets in is rest#no joke meditation would do him good? like- it’s a Leo thing and I genuinely think rise leo would be no different here
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’Andrew never did anything wrong’ ‘Kevin was a coward’ ‘Seth deserved to die’ WRONG. They have done things wrong and they have also done things right because they are not 2 dimensional FUCKING characters.
#andrew minyard#kevin day#seth gordon#all the foxes actually#not even getting into nicky#Yes this is inspired by the ‘is Kevin day a coward’ debate#‘I think he was a coward’#‘I think he wasn’t a coward’#I think he was a teenage boy who was doing what was best for him in an abusive situation#Also Andrew has done a bunch of things wrong#(Which makes him a more interesting character)
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man... rhoam's "redemption" in aoc really sucked, huh?
like botw SHOWED us, several times, how much pressure rhoam put on zelda to unlock her powers, despite her telling him, several times, that it wasn't working. he got angry and banned her from doing not only something she saw as useful, but something that she was clearly very interested in and passionate about because she "wasn't dedicating enough time to her prayers." yes, his diary expresses regret for it, but at the end of the day, if zelda saw that it wouldn't mean much to her. the actions rhoam took, and the way zelda grew up under so much pressure that she nearly died as a child in one of the springs (this is in urbosa's diary, iirc) mean so much more than his regrets and his intentions. it took him nearly 10 years to realize that he fucked up, and by that point it was too late. the calamity had returned, and rhoam had lost any chance he had at making things right with zelda.
meanwhile, in aoc, all that's there is some half-hearted scene in the temple of time that's supposed to make everything better? yes, aoc had a very different and arguably better outcome than the calamity that led to botw, but the damage was still done by rhoam. it's still the same hurts and abuse and trauma that he put his daughter through all because of the prophesized calamity.
#legend of zelda#breath of the wild#hyrule warriors age of calamity#sorry i just. i don't know what nintendo meant to do with rhoam#i guess they were trying to make him into a guy who did bad things for a good reason but still#i think the action matters more than the reason because the action is what impacts others the most#when someone is hurting and they lash out what people remember most is them lashing out#that scene in aoc really felt kinda empty and half-hearted (even kohga crying during the scene kinda felt forced)#yeah i guess they were trying to make him into a stern father who we were meant to sympathize with because he didn't want to do#what he had to do. but it kinda... fell flat?#i don't think he was a good king either. he wasn't a tyrant for sure but also what kinda king puts the fate of his entire kingdom#on the back of like 6 people. 4 of whom are considered kids or young adults by their society's standards#(urbosa also mentions this in her diary and she hates that she and daruk are the only seasoned warriors of the champions)#(her diary is full of worldbuilding gems because of her relationship with zelda and its worth a read if you have the DLC)#don't think i forgot about link in all of this either. he was like 12 when he pulled the master sword and he wasn't much older than zelda#if he was older at all. and he was already a knight as a teenager. he was a child soldier who rhoam personally appointed#because he was able to wield the master sword#and maybe revali has a point there. maybe he didn't deserve any of it but not in the way that revali thinks#i don't think that's a writing mistake. revali is a very flawed character and he's young and brash and impulsive. he's very harsh on link#because he thinks he's being overlooked for his skills while link gets all of the pomp for doing the bare minimum#which isn't true but there's also not really anyone proving otherwise to him. link himself doesn't talk a lot#BUT I DIGRESS this post is about rhoam not link and revali#yes i have sat on this for 3 and a half years. what of it#i think rhoam could have had a redemption if he didn't like. deliberately lie to link at the beginning of botw. several times.#like.... these are flawed characters and it would take a LOT for rhoam to shift his world view like that#if he had come to the conclusion he did earlier and listened to zelda maybe things would have been a bit different#but he didn't. he missed his chance to speak with his daughter and tbh the fact that it took him about 10 years to realize this#says a lot about his character i think#post brought to you by the copious amounts of hades i've been playing (zagreus and zelda are an interesting point of comparison in my mind)#(like yeah rhoam and hades are two completely different parents but they both had similar outcomes with their children)
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I feel like I liked yakuza 5 a lot more than most people for some reason
#like a lot of people seem to not like it or think it’s mid#idk man but it was one of the games I enjoyed most and I really liked the range of characters you get to play#love me a murder mystery too#idk I think people seem to not like how disjointed the plot is at first and trying to keep up with everyone’s seperate plot and characters#and etc. but I personally really liked how it was all disjointed and the further you get into the game / the more characters you play the#more shit starts coming together and forming a full picture#like don’t get me wrong it’s not perfect and I do have qualms with some. choices. (mostly having to do with majima and#mirei) but overall it’s one of the games I’ve enjoyed the most and that’s kept me interested in the plot the most#fantastic to get a more in-depth look at haruka and to get to really know her by playing her and seeing how she interacts with people and#choices she makes and etc. I don’t think she was a fully fleshed out character prior to that#loved her with all my heart already don’t get me wrong but she just didn’t have much time on screen especially as a teenager to fully get#her personality across and some of the issues she deals with (mommy issues. abandonment issues#etc).#and her and uncle akiyama are a very nice unexpected duo!!!#the different settings were fun too. overall I think the whole thing just felt like more of a streamlined story in a way with drastically#different viewpoints depending on the character#also shinada’s a gift. bless him#daigo feels three dimensional and emotionally present in a way I didn’t see much in other games- even when he’s literally a boss in 4. tbh#the only other time I think he feels really solid as a character is in fuckin dead souls. I think it’s cause it’s SO rare to see daigo in#non-serious situations or vulnerable with people on purpose. dead souls has the first thing and y5 has a bit of both#and I could complain more about how y6 SHOULD have made daigo more present instead of sending him to fuckin jail the whole time but. I do#get that that was kind of important to the plot. I mean to have that power vacuum. don’t think all three of them should’ve been put in jail#but I digress. anyway I got off topic point is I enjoyed yakuza 5 it is very unique in my opinion#y5#rambling#ALL THESE TAGS AND I FORGOT TO MENTION KIRYU BEING ANGSTY AND GAY AS HELL. THE BEST PART OF YAKUZA 5
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im trying to wrap my head around why i dont get enthusiastic about reddit style fiction (not a dig but a descriptor) like scp and shit like that, bc its not that i can’t enjoy them but i think its like… when stuff is framed as if it were real, but its fiction, its like, well KNOWING its fiction eliminates a huge element of the intrigue, but also, crucially, i like character-driven stories, or at least stories WITH characters. but i also like it when things are interesting for said characters to experience, like, i want the ghosts and monsters and conspiracies but i want the characters to be character-ing, yknow? not that i dont enjoy slice of life and… what would u call the first thing, non-character specific horror? idk? but i prefer when its both. its like i love kirk and spock but also i do enjoy watching them Experience Situations when i watch star trek. i enjoy the idea of spooky national forest monsters that arent real but experiencing it alongside a character would be better, and i want more trans and gay characters whose lives are clearly trans and gay but i want a plotline to unfold too
#i dont think im saying anything different or interesting im just#listening to a wendigoon podcast thats one of his things just#explaining a classic reddit horror story#and ig i enjoy the concept of this one more#but it leaves me thinking like#ok so why do i not wanna hear about this that much….?#and also why i dont rly give a fuck about scp at all when my friends tell me about it#or the mystery flesh pit thing#and its the same reason i didnt give a shit about 2017 IT but loved the 1990 mini series. connecting to the damn characters!!!#i guess i ought to give shit a try again i mean i did read creepypastas once when i was a teenager and enjoyed it#i had a similar thought thw other day when they announced another new star trek aos flashback movie#not that it explicitly said anything about this sort of stuff but like#i just remember hearing some ppl in a college course i was in talking about aos and like ohh the flashbacks to kirks childhood!!!#but in that ‘discussing superheroes’ way of like ‘oh this is good bc it checked the correct canon box!’#like idk dawg i do enjoy fact gathering about characters i love but thats not why i love them?#ok that rly was a tangent i just dont vibe w scp. but if you put a mulder and scully situation in there with it. boom. id be there. ok????#its almost like theres a reason this formula has proven to be so successful over and over and over again
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Bro, I'm so tired.
#he's not SEEN as creepy he IS creepy!!#it's okay for a character to be creepy!!!!#and it's okay for you to still find them interesting or even like them because they aren't real!!!!!!!!!!!#he is 'regarded with deep suspicion' BECAUSE HE IS SHADY AF AND REFUSES TO BE A REASONABLE FUCKING PERSON#you would NOT be saying this if this character were a woman#In the Vents#'I don't see people as individual people with their own interiority unless they are personally connected to me' THAT IS NOT AUTOMATIC#NEURODIVERGENCE MY FRIEND#you will never get me to feel bad for this man. I simply cannot care. sorry.#also if the implication is that he has face blindness. why the decision to SEE EVERYONE AS GAME PIECES. aka 'things you exploit#for personal gain/entertainment'#it's not like. random blobs or fuzz or a singular generic look it is SPECIFICALLY. TOYS.#HOW WAS THAT NOT AN INTENTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION CHOICE. THIS IS A SMART SHOW. COME /ON/#also the fact that he can differentiate between men and women. and men all look the same vs women all looking the same but in a different#generic way. which like. hmmm. HMMMMMMMMM.#also he can differentiate between his promoted and un-promoted coworkers like this does not read as 'I literally cannot tell the#difference between any person.' it comes across as 'I do not care about people or see them as people and find it boring/pointless#to bother trying to differentiate them in the first place'#also lmao at this article trying to convince me the teenage girl shoved into a court role against her will is some how more dangerous than#this man. like I literally cannot make this shit up.
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I believe that IF Silver IS a descendent of Sonic/Shadow/Amy/anyone else, he's a descendent via adoption because the only Sonic character that I accept having kids is Vanilla.
honestly part of the reason im not a fan of the ideas of silver being a descendant of other characters we already know is because i just dont see why its necessary for them to be related ..? idk i just dont think anything that could be gained from him being shadows kid or sonics descendant or whatever is worth losing part of whats already compelling about silver and also making things super confusing. plus none of the pairings of already existing characters people have suggested as silvers bio parents make any sense, usually because its impossible from a timeline perspective but also because theyre always picking characters who would NOT have kids either in general or with the specific people theyre being paired with
#i also just kinda have a hard time imagining most sonic characters who arent already parents (so. most of them) wanting to be parents#it just does not feel right to me#i guess part of it could be an age thing . being a parent is an Adult thing and most sonic characters are not adults#so imagining them doings things that only adults do by in universe standards just feels strange and foreign to me#even though these scenarios would obviously take place a couple decades into the future#but also even when specifically thinking about it through the lens of ''would this character want to be a parent when theyre older''#the answer is usually no or idk#because there are a lot of characters where it just doesnt feel like it fits them?#sonic and rouge are a couple characters i can name off the top of my head who i know for sure would not have kids.#shadow im not so sure about either. yet he is the most common choice for silvers bio parent. pain#thing about shadow and silver is i think a timeline where shadow is actually around to meet little silver and is like#a mentor/older brother/guardian figure of sorts does kinda have potential to be interesting but i dont really want that to be made canon#but shadow straight up being his dad? idk man. not really into that. shadow being his biological dad? ABSOLUTELY not into that .#people having the present version of shadow whos a teenager barely older than silver being a dad to him?? weird as hell. no#asks#also part of what bugs me about the shadow as silvers dad stuff is people pretending its anything more than a baseless headcanon#like im not saying all headcanons have to have proof behind them but people act like the shadow as silvers dad thing#is an actual plausible theory that could be true and has tons of evidence? when it really doesnt ??#i feel the need to specify that im not trying to police what people do or aynthing just sharing my opinions
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hcs on the brain
#thinking about my trans holic hcs again#some of them are just kinda random but im VERY firmly in trans woman yuuko trans guy shizuka and nb tanuki#the shizuka hc is cause it just kinda checks out with his lore kinda like scara/ryo to an extent but also he just radiates trans energy#also rou isnt real if i manifest hard enough#yuuko is just *points at her* you think someone that serves that hard is cis????#also this is neither here nor there but i simply do not see the modern holic art where yuuko is like 5foot#this isnt relevant rly i just remembered it and got pressed again shes the tallest woman of all time dont lie to me#anyway she gives off vibes#tanuki is just 'youre a fav i relate to a lot so you get to wear the non binary hat '#but also thats a lie cause he gives MAD repressed energy repression is his entire THING#his gender expression is really fucking interesting and also just fun and even without the trauma hed probably be at least gnc#and its a KNOWN FACT that he shoves all his feelings deep down and refuses to address them or addresses them way after the fact#we've seen how he shoves down his feelings whos to say hes not pulled a me as a teenager move and shoved down feelings of gender stuff#it makes sense to me that with all his character writing and development in canon he'd be the EXACT kind of perspn to be a late bloomer#idk i was so a lot of that comes from personal experience#but this repressed mf is packed to the brim w gender#his gender is ?? and nothing and idk and drunk girl crying in bathroom to sunmi music and gay and#his gender is basically the xxx placeholder in xxxholic like its just kinda ___insert word here___#im insane but my brain is huge
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every so often i remember how much i hate they both die at the end and it consumes me for like an hour
#doesnt one boy die from exploding stove?#which is objectively kinda hilarious and also like why all this emotional buildup to such a lame death#the characters were shallow and annoying and i didnt like them#i stopped reading after rufus called mateo 'too good' bcus it made me cringe so hard i died#i dont remember any plot details and that says smth bcus i tend to remember those#the romance buildup was kinda lame and rushed like#ok ur teenage boys abt to die why dont they just fuck like thats accurate to teen boys#give me 2 teen boys who r attracted to each other n tell em its their last day alive. they dont wanna die virgins ill tell u#im so mad that theres now a PREQUEL thats basically the SAME STORY#with DIFFERENT GUYS (one of them w my name no less smh) in the SAME STORY#and it doesnt even promise to expand on the actual interesting aspects of the story#which is the worldbuilding#like how does deathcast know when ppl die and why do they call u#how abt exploring a culture where death is so prominent and in ur face where u know any day could feasibly be ur last#but no its jsut the same things w two new guys
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I think I figured out a while ago that the part of being raised Evangelical Christian that fucked me up the most was the aspect that your thoughts are constantly being monitered by god. A close 2nd was the very commonly expressed idea that giving your life to god would make you very happy, with the underlying idea that if you were unhappy then god did not love you.
#it's hard to explain but i feel like my early teen years were a constant cycle of 'giving my life to christ'#and failing to live up to it (because i remained unhappy and looked at material to do with sex mainly)#interesting sidebar- we don't really have Beatrix Sparks books in the uk but i have become kind of fascinated by them#due to listening to a lot of podcasts about them#oh fuck i meant beatrice sparks sorry#anyway it seems like her books follow a similar cycle of ambiguously or explicitely mormon characters#constantly doing sinful things followed by a return to the fold followed by another backslide etc on and on#i'm not mormon clearly but that cycle seems very familiar#also the characters are all teenagers and all the things they are interested in doing are 'sins'#some of which are portrayed as fun and attractive to do! so yeah#god i still remember the fucking christian rock concerts followed by the 'are you REALLY given to christ?' guilt ridden talk#fuck me :(#it's hard to shake off these damaging ideas especially as evangelical christianity massively rewards credulousness
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Animating this season like you can't have the slightest bit of jest and god forbid jesting about yaoi
#can't even jokingly say slurs like saying fag instead of drudge wasn't The joke#like ciel took his earrings out at school right he was trying to be normal at normal boy school and they are all using slurs in their...#...everyday social setup their whole social world within the school at least relies on every important guy having a guy who will do...#...anything for him which is literally ciel's entire bit but normie#anyway whatever i am not going to explicate every joke at play here but what really annoys me about the shojo sparkles joke getting cut...#...is that it's being used in different places like vincent got shojo sparkles yesterday and ciel's at the beginning but like that is...#...supposed to be the joke-y indicator this is NOT normie shojo school so why did these have to get animated so FLAT#like you mean you can't imply any subtext about ciel bc it would be problematic. this is a story that is literally ABOUT people playing...#...at who they are not. the whole series and every character is set on that premise. and you're going to cultivate an environment where...#...viewers accept that any kind of subtext at all is inherently problematic and needs cut from the story#like they could have cut more and i am interested to see how they're going to handle things like ciel getting carried off of the field. but#it's more uncomfortable to me to be like no being a gay teenager is inherently problematic actually he can't be gay but he can be...#...straight engaged to his cousin in earnest even though the narrative has established how that is fake too.#and not dipping into the whole sebastian thing fully but then you have a setup where you have made it unacceptable to tell any gay story...#...that might be slightly problematic even though here it genuinely is a lot of subtext you have to understand that there is subtext to get#and there is the element here with them too where they are liars and they are playacting. that's part of what makes the story so complex...#...and interesting!! is trying to decipher who is lying and why the world they live in makes them have to lie to survive#it's doing a massive disservice to this story to approach it from the angle of someone might think on that too hard and think it's...#...inappropriate :( let's be the yen press and tweet something about sebastian being a mom so no one has to question what they're looking a#in a STORY THAT'S ABOUT QUESTIONING THE TRUTH OF WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT#i don't even care about shipping this is just cultivating a massive media literacy problem where you are being encouraged to take a story..#..at face value and you can't make dark jokes and you can't make stories about problematic gay people#it also bothers me bc this story has been really popular in japan for like 20 years without the mass public being in a constant state of...#...is this demon his boyfriend or dad :( like they're just fucking watching it ahdjrf#that also bothers me bc it's like you guys can't engage with any grey area relationship in a story where it doesn't fit into a box#but anyways why can japan engage with it to make it as popular and long lasting as it is and not everyone else don't say bc japan is...#...full of freaks who only like freak stories. this is also symptomatic of things i have complained about elsewhere on this blog that us...#...dub culture has cultivated an environment where us normal cool americans are going to tell freakish japanese people how to engage...#...with their counterculture cartoons in the Right way without ever having to engage with another country's culture or a story in general.#my kuro posts
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There’s something I love love loveeee about Laios and how badly he wants to be cool.
Let me preface with this: in general, I believe the harder you try to be cool, the less cool you actually are. The less you care what people think about you, if you’re “cringe” or “weird”, the more likely people will perceive you as confident and self-assured.
There are countless pieces of media where characters try to fit in with some group, change every part of themself to look/act like what they’re “supposed” to be, and end up miserable, often realizing the people they’re trying to impress aren’t worth the trouble.
I’ve experienced this in my own life too! Sometimes when I go out I wear a rainbow propeller cap! Cause I think it’s funny and silly and!! I ALWAYS get compliments!! I don’t wear it to be cool, I wear it because it makes me happy. And people overall have a positive reaction to it. it’s a huge contrast to when I was teenager and didn’t really put as much of myself into my appearance/wardrobe, and barely left any kind of impression on people.
So anyway, let’s get into it.
Laios… he’s been hurt so badly by people. He resented humanity for it. And yet, he still yearns for the approval of others. He wants FRIENDS!!!! and was angry and frustrated to learn his perception of his relationship with Shuro was so drastically different than Shuro’s!!!!
He KNEW that people were put-off by his love of monsters. Up until Falin got eaten, he deliberately suppressed how much he talked about it with others. He probably thought by not talking about monsters so much, it was working!! He was doing all the Right Things now! So Shuro confessing he always hated him was a huge blow.
But the reality is, he loves monsters. And most importantly, he loves cool monsters. He fantasizes about what would make the Ultimate Monster.
He feels very strongly about what he considers “cool” as well. He finds all aspects of monsters fascinating, but can still be HORRIBLY underwhelmed when they look too lame for his tastes.
He knows most people don’t feel the same way he does. He knows his “cool” is everyone else’s “weird”. It’s so tragically sweet how he latches onto Kabru the moment he shows interest in monsters, and takes every opportunity to infodump about them to him.
He wants people to find monsters as cool as he does!! But, he also wants people to think he’s as cool as he finds monsters.
Like!!! djkfghadkfjg IT DOESN'T EVEN BOTHER HIM WHEN PEOPLE HAVE A WRONG IMPRESSION OF HIM! He's FLATTERED by it. It's almost like, at this point, it doesn't matter to him if people don't like him. People can not like him and still think he's cool.
And my favorite thing is, it works. Laios IS cool as fuck. You KNOW he thought he looked so badass when he did this and he was RIGHT:
And yet, this is him trying very hard to look cool. But it's Laios's version of cool. It's almost contradictory, in that sense. Cause he knows people still don't get it. Like. He wants to be cool. He doesn't care about the "normal" ways to be cool. He thinks his cringe thing is cool. He does his cringe thing, that people very much do still think is cringe. So you would think that, since he wants people to think he's cool, he would not do the cringe thing. But he wore the pelt because he thought it was cool. And people clapped and cheered for him anyway.
is what he's doing really so different than this? ^
YAYYYYY WOOO GO LAIOS YOURE SO COOL!!!!!!!
#dungeon meshi#dungeon meshi spoilers#long post#photos#laios touden#I LIKE HIM A LOT!!!!!! HES SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER!!!!!
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there should be like a disclaimer hovering over my head to warn people that if they do something mean or fucked up in my vicinity i will not only use that for one of my characters but also will proceed to study them indifferently undeaneath a microscope
#and by studying underneath a microscope i mean also making one of my characters do said fucked up thing to understand the thought behind it#why are teenagers/young adult boys like that#also why cant i just force someone to do an interview with me to tell me all about why they did those things#thatd be so interesting hnn
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I think alot more people would enjoy the show if they learned to see Rhaenyra and Alicent as Unreliable Narrators, and characters who are supposed to have glaring flaws and weaknesses.
Mandatory preface- There are Issues™️ with season 2 that are its own other ask- but the complaints ive seen about character assassination on both women kind of tells me ppl just wanted to see the two just GirlBossing around, not being tragic characters trapped in their own circumstances.
For Alicent specifically- she just isn't written to be Cersei 2.0, and while it was really interesting to see motherhood from cersei's point of view, its already been done!! I actually prefer seeing Alicent's mercurial clinging to and abandoning motherhood- its interesting!! She was made a mother at what- 15? An age where you truly arent mentally developed enough to raise 3 kids, AND be a child bride, AND be a queen, (AND be a lesbian).
Alicent is interesting to me because she's stunted at 15 years old, she's an adult woman who talks to and sometimes bullies her kids as if they are her peers, and is obsessed with her childhood crush(es). She hasn't built any new relationships* past the ones she was entangled with as a teenager, she's obsessed with both acting out to make SOMEONE see that shes suffering, (she's honestly pretty blatant for someone who prides themselves on being the Temperate Voice of Reason) but also to erase herself and reset to before she had to marry the king, before aemma died.
I think most of her 'bad out of character' decisions are just these two impulses winning out, her trying to force a reset, go back to a time where none of this had happened yet, when things were simpler and she had love and every day wasn't the worst day of her life™️.
She sleeps with cole, the man she thought was pretty at 15 (her last uncomplicated attraction just before it all went wrong and aemma died) -she doesnt seem to like it that much, but she does seem compelled to seek him out, esp when upset- shes obsessed with, and desperate to reconnect with Rhaenyra, her childhood best friend (and first love) and get back to where they were as kids, AND she still treats and asks her father for absolution as if he's still the only authority that matters to her just like she did at 15. Alot of her 'victim complex/bewildered they took it so far' behaviour in the plotting of rhaenyra's usurption reads to me like a teenager in over her head, she talked big game and now its real and shes panicking!! She's tragic BECAUSE she's still a teenager- so stunted shes unable to meaningfully grow up and learn to make healthier choices for herself, or move on and stop trying to grasp at the 'if i could just go back' urge.
As a mother, I think this creates an interesting dynamic as well, and I do like that in the casting even, she seems closer in age to her kids than rhaenyra does to hers. I think the contrast ppl are drawing with Alicent Protecting Her Kids in season1 compared to her giving them up in season two isn't bad writing to me, just massive differences in context. Sure she protected Aemond in driftmark, but we cant ignore that she probably felt humiliated by her husband choosing rhaenyra's side over hers in front of everyone, did it seem like a grown woman fighting for her son?? or a teenager furious with her ex winning one over her again? or both!! both sides twisted together is still interesting! When she protected Aegon from Rhaenys, is stepping in front of her son the king to protect him from the enemies dragon fire not the most romantic daydream of a deserving death a child bride could come up with?? Was it the impulse to protect the son she couldnt decide if she loved or hated, or was it to have the most heroic death possible to escape the reality that she sees coming. And if Rhaenyra hears about how Brave she was in the face of a dragons maw, and cries about it forever and feels sooo bad and regrets it til the day she dies, thats an added bonus. I think Alicent loves her kids, but is teenager selfish about HOW she loves and protects her kids, and is unable to be a mature, consistant, protective mother to them when she also sees them as having ruined her life. I think in season 2 when she 'gives them up' shes relieved, and once again following the compulsion of 'if i reset to when Rhaenyra was heir, i had no sons, and i wasn't married or queen, everything will be better'. I think theres complexity to it, i think she does love her sons and feels insane about it, but I think Alicent has been trying to Go Back in more and more Intense ways ever since she got married, and we might be giving her sanity more credit than it deserves when it comes to the need to wipe the board clean and go back to being 15.
hey anon are you trying to get married to me or what
#answered#anonymous#house of the dragon#hotd#rhaenicent#alicent hightower#EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT#every time we remember that alicent is a stunted teenager who married a man twice her age another angel gets its wings#even rhaenyra is nowhere NEAR as stunted as alicent who was popping babies at 15#her relationship switches from protecting mother to a sneering older sister to HER OWN KIDS#because shes emotionally stuck at the age her life went to complete hell#thanks again otto for the lifelong trauma
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