#analyzing their own actions to understand what they do/don't feel and why and what the cause of it is and etc. etc. etc.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I think the hardest thing in writing for me sometimes is the like “show don’t tell/let people communicate through subtext/Normal People don’t just walk around openly explaining their motivations for everything That’s Unnatural” thing because like.. I literally DO walk around openly explaining my motivations for everything, that is how I talk, I am an analytical detail oriented over-communicator who explains everything as thoroughly as possible and and will give a fully detailed 2 minute long answer to something simple like “how are you doing today?” .. like it’s hard to make things sound Natural and Normal when you yourself are inherently unnatural and abnormal in your methods of communication to an extent lol

[spacelazarwolf]

saw a post that gave me an eye twitch so i’m gonna break it down and analyze it bc i feel like it exemplifies a lot of what’s wrong with gentile discourse on i/p rn.

1. yeah, it is awful that zionist institutions and leadership use jewish trauma to justify why diaspora jews should unquestioningly support the current state of israel, regardless of the atrocities it commits against palestinians.

2. "israel is not your bube who survived the shoah" i don't know how to explain to you how fucking callous this sentence is.

3. for better or worse, israel did save jewish people. nearly a million jews from the swana region and 24,000 from ethiopia fled there after experiencing extreme violence and discrimination. you really think america or europe would have taken in a million black and brown jews? have you seen the current state of immigration?

4. "how do you argue with someone when their idea of israel is so rooted in their family trauma?" you don't. you validate their fears, make them feel heard, and then you offer them alternatives. the vast majority of diaspora support for israel is based in fear of persecution and eradication. if you offer real, legitimate solutions for the safety of diaspora jews, i guarantee you will be a thousand times more successful than just screaming at them and telling them "who fucking cares about your holocaust survivor bubbe????"

5. "how do you possibly tell them that the holocaust isn't relevant?" you don't, because it is. nearly 500,000 holocaust survivors moved to or were sent to israel after the shoah. some did not have a choice of where they were sent, some tried to go back to where they were living before but had no money and gentiles had taken their houses and belongings so they had nowhere to go, many faced violence upon trying to return to their hometowns in the form of pogroms, several countries turned them away. you cannot say the holocaust is not relevant to the current israeli population because gentiles in the diaspora are the reason they're there.

6. "i'm so tired of centering jewish identity in discussions over a nation state." are you stupid? genuinely, are you stupid? do you really not see how jewish identity and the history of the jewish people factor into a state with a fucking star of david on the flag that was founded after a genocide of 6 million jews that the rest of the world didn't want to deal with? seriously? no, jews in the diaspora are not responsible for the actions of the israeli government. we aren't more loyal to israel than we are to wherever we're living. but to say that israel has nothing to do with the jewish people is frankly laughable.

7. "how do you say that without sounding invalidating? like that just sounds horrible and antisemitic." that's because it is. you are being horrible and antisemitic.

edited to add: NUCLEAR SUPERPOWER?????????????????????????????? HELLO??????????????????????????

so please for the love of fuck educate yourself on the history of the jewish people and the history of the state of israel before making stupid ass posts like this. israel didn't manifest out of nowhere, it didn't come from "jewish supremacy" it came from hundreds of thousands of jews who were at their wit's fucking end with antisemitism in the diaspora, and from britain's colonization and imperialism paired with it's complete and total disregard for anyone who wasn't racially and culturally white. the monster that is modern day political zionism is a creation of the world's own making. people have been posting a lot about hamas being a response to 70+ years of israeli occupation, violence, and apartheid, but don't seem to understand that israel is a response to 3000+ years of persecution, expulsion, and genocide. the massacres and terror committed by hamas don't take into account the wellbeing of palestinians, and the oppression and violence perpetuated by the israeli government don't take into account the wellbeing of jews in israel or in the diaspora.

nothing will change if gentiles in the diaspora do not take responsibility for the rest of the world's role in the creation of israel. research your country, learn about how they treated their jews (not just during the holocaust but from the moment there were jews in your country), talk to your local jewish population, ask how you and organizations you are part of can help keep the diaspora safe for jews. because as an american jew, i don't want to move to israel. the government is borderline fascist, non ashki non orthodox jews are often seen as second class citizens, i don't speak the language, and my life is here. a lot of diaspora jews feel this way. but every time i see another group of nazis at a rally or get another bomb threat at my synagogue and look to see which country would be safest to move to as a trans person and as a jew, the only answer is israel, which is exactly what zionist institutions and leadership are counting on. if you want that to change, you and your community have to change it.

[traumasurvivors]

Here's a link to a blog post on my personal website on a topic that I think is very important.

I've also put it below the read more for people that don't like external links.

When it comes to healing from trauma, there are a lot of emotions an individual may feel. One of these emotions is anger. Anger is one of the emotions I see invalidated the most. For example, I’ve been told that being angry is “letting the person who hurt me win.” I’ve been told that I’m only hurting myself with my anger and that it’s holding me back from healing. All of these assumptions were wrong.

Anger is often viewed as a bad thing because it can drive a lot of unpleasant behaviours but it can be used for good. While anger can hurt you and others, it doesn’t have to. There is a difference between destructive anger and constructive anger. Destructive anger is often expressed in a way that causes harm to yourself or others whereas constructive anger can be used to better understand your situation and figure out your needs. Constructive anger can be a way to show respect for yourself.

For example, if you’re in a situation with a friend where they do something that makes you angry (for example: cancelling plans, forgetting an important date, etc), constructive anger may involve you stepping away from the situation to figure out the cause of your anger (for example: you feel their actions imply you’re not important to them) so that you can then sit down with your friend and communicate in a calm manner. This may allow your relationship to grow and build with a better understanding of each other. Destructive anger in this situation may involve you yelling at your friend and insulting them, which will likely damage or destroy the relationship. If the hurt your friend has caused makes you want to re-evaluate your friendship, this is valid and there are still constructive ways to end a friendship that will cause the least amount of hurt for all involved. It is also important to note that ignoring the anger and bottling up is likely to cause a bigger blow up down the line or cause “overreactions” to other circumstances.

If anger is bottled up, it can end up coming out unintentionally. You might find you’re getting much angrier at everyday annoyances and disagreements than you might think reasonable. People might push you away or respond badly to your anger, because they feel they do not deserve it - and looking back later, you might feel they don’t deserve it, either. However, because of the anger you’re holding back, you can’t see that in the moment. This is why it is important to think and consider your anger, and listen to what it’s trying to tell you. I have found asking questions of myself to analyze my anger can help, such as in an anger inventory like this one.

While many people see anger as an emotion that causes people to lash out and destroy things, anger can also help to motivate people to create new things. Marches to “Take back the night”, or for “gay pride” have much of their motivation based in anger at injustice and oppression. New laws to better protect survivors of domestic abuse or otherwise help society are often driven by people feeling a huge amount of anger. Properly harnessed, anger can help to take action to change things for the better.

On a more personal level, anger can also be a motivator to improve one’s own life. Many people have used the anger they felt at those who put them down as a motivation toward success. That success might be completing schooling, winning an international athletic competition or publishing a novel. One thing all of those have in common is that they are rarely possible to do with only a little time or a little effort. They are time-consuming tasks which usually require months if not years of work. They can be easy to give up on without motivation - and for many, anger is a big help to keeping that motivation.

It took me years to feel anger. For the first while, I felt ashamed, guilty and like I deserved the abuse I’d endured. Feeling angry at the people responsible for this was a step in my healing. I began putting the blame on those responsible and not myself. I was realizing that I did not deserve to be treated in the harmful ways that I was. This was huge to me as someone that had spent years thinking I deserved my trauma and as a result, future trauma and abuse as well.

There were instances where my anger was destructive, mostly to myself. I engaged in self-harm as a way to vent my anger and it also caused problems in my relationship at the time because I held my anger in and would get really frustrated and project my anger onto my relationship which was not fair to my partner.

Over the years, I’ve learned to cope with my anger more efficiently. What works for someone is largely dependent on them and their needs. For me, it was a literal punching bag to vent out frustrations and journaling. It was sitting down with my anger and treating it like a friend trying to protect me (because it was in a way). It was listening to it and finding the cause. My true anger came from those who hurt me, and in a way, took a part of me. My anger largely came from grief and betrayal. Understanding where it came from did not make it disappear, but it did offer me perspective and allow me to better manage it.

For some, anger is a cover up for other emotions. It becomes a defense mechanism against feeling the sadness, hurt and other emotions that a person does not want to feel. The anger is just the first layer and understanding where that anger comes from, and that the anger is a cover up is a great step in moving beyond it. Feeling the emotions beneath it will play a big part in moving beyond the anger.

Anger is a valid and understandable emotion when it comes to healing from trauma, even if your trauma does not have a specific person to blame (natural disasters and death of a loved one are examples). If the person who hurt you did not mean to or did not know better (like another child), anger is still a valid emotion. You’ve been hurt and you should not have been and it is reasonable to feel angry at this.

For a lot of us, anger plays a part in our healing. And that’s okay! You’re allowed to feel angry. Anger becomes an issue when you allow it to consume you and hurt you or others. The feeling itself is not inherently bad, and it can actually be a good thing. Your anger can be used to help you. It’s what you do with your anger that decides whether it’s helpful to you or not. When I was first told that my anger was “letting the other person win,” I believed that and felt invalidated. I have since realized that my anger has been an important part in understanding my pain and my needs. My anger is not letting someone else win, but letting me win, by helping me to heal.

[skywheeldate]

Analyzing the Skywheel Dates

Unable to wait patiently for the Ultimania releasing next month, I wanted to provide my own analysis of the Skywheel dates between Cloud/Tifa and Cloud/Aerith.

By analyzing Cloud's behavior on these two dates, which are explicitly more romantic than the other four, I aim to understand why the dates played out the way they did and what was going through the character's heads during them.

Tifa Date:

What sticks out in most player's minds during the date is the kiss Cloud gives Tifa while riding the Skywheel, and it's easy to see why! It's the first time Cloud has kissed a woman on screen, after all. But I have seen fans state that this proves Cloud likes Tifa more, and while I hate to get myself involved in any shipping war, I feel there is a more interesting conclusion we can draw based on the timeline of events throughout both remake games.

First, I want to direct you to this caption from the Remake Ultimania:

When Cloud gives Tifa the flower, he wants to "Show off a youthful image of what he himself wants to be like"...

I think this caption is very important to helping us understand why Cloud was able to be so bold as to kiss the girl he was always too shy to befriend as a child. And I think it's linked to his new "ex-soldier persona."

See, the ex-soldier persona Cloud crafted is modeled after a person he admired and wanted to be like: Zack. Although making this new personality for himself was an unhealthy response to his trauma, I think there are good things to it, as well. For one, it allowed him to take action again and thereby begin his first steps towards recovery. In addition, it gives him courage to do things he never could before, such as strutting his stuff on the dance floor:

I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say that this extends to him giving the flower to Tifa.

So this, in my mind, explains how Cloud had the courage to kiss Tifa and why some fans might think it felt a little sudden or out of character--it's because it almost is, in a way. But let me reiterate, I don't think that's a bad thing. I think Zack's influence on Cloud is somewhat natural and, frankly, having the courage to do the things you want and have fun is never a bad thing. I truly believe Cloud is exemplifying being Zack's "living legacy" by becoming more confident and outgoing. It's a good thing!!

And let's not ignore Tifa in this scene. Before the kiss, Tifa brings up that she feels she and Cloud have become closer, but frets that she's rushing to conclusions again. She's giving Cloud a clear opening to prove his feelings for her--and frankly, after all this build up? Giving the flower, all the tiny touches they've shared? Cloud is more than ready to prove it to her, and he does. It's so easy, and he does it the best way he knows how: with a kiss. In that moment, the boy became the man he's always aspired to be.

Aerith Date:

Conversely, the Aerith date isn't quite as simple--at least to me. It's hard to understand what's going on in their heads, and I think they comparatively have more obstacles in the way of their romance.

The biggest obstacle is that Aerith has seen through Cloud's persona, and almost calls him out on it during the date. She tells him she's looking for the real him, and that she wants to meet him someday.

I believe this stops Cloud, subconsciously. While the persona he built around Zack gives him more confidence, it's still a persona. It's not who he really is. By giving into that persona at all, he is not giving Aerith what she wants. Being confident and bold with Tifa was important, because she needed proof he liked her, but here? What's important is being the "real" Cloud, whoever that is. It must have stumped him.

Aerith gives him an easy out though: she asks Cloud to let her snuggle up against him until the ride ends. And that much, at least, Cloud can manage. And he goes even further than that when he interlaces their fingers together. I think this is his way of showing that he'll be there for Aerith--not just till the ride ends, but after. He's showing her that he does, in fact, care about her, and that her selfish request isn't as selfish as she thinks it is.

I also want to bring up the lyrics from No Promises to Keep here since I think they're extremely relevant to the Clerith relationship and the hand-holding symbolism seen throughout the game:

Till the day that we meet again At our place, just let me believe In the chance that you'll come Take my hand and never let me go Take my hand And believe We can be Together evermore

The hand holding symbolizes their shared desire to be "together evermore" and the belief that they will be. The interlocked fingers display a powerful, mutual bond that cannot be so easily severed. I think this imagery is both simple and extremely beautiful.

In summary, although they are not at a point in their relationship where they're ready to kiss yet, I believe this scene is meant to show that there is still possibility for their relationship to grow and get to that point.

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。• *₊°。 .❀

Thank you for reading till the end! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts. Feel free to use or reference this post if you found it resonated with your own interpretations of these scenes. And if you have your own interpretations to share, I would love to hear them!

[furiousgoldfish]

Does anyone else keep getting into this frustrating situation where you're trying to complain to someone about getting hurt, and the person you're talking to, instead of consoling you, sides with the one who hurt you?

They go ahead and analyze in complex detail what arbitrary issues might this other person have and explain away their behaviour by rationalizing it and dismissing it with ''they just have their own issues" or "why don't you try to understand it from their side", they'll even act superior for having the understanding and empathy for this other person in these trying times!

Then they expect from you that you go and be compassionate to a person who has just hurt and upset you, as if that's your job, like that is now expected of you. Don't take it personally and go help resolve this person's issues.

But that is completely insane. If someone hurts me, how is my job to now go and fix them? How is it my obligation to show compassion and empathy to someone who explicitly saw nothing wrong in hurting me and taking their anger and frustrations out on me. I'm supposed to reward this behaviour? I'm supposed to show them that not only it's okay to take it out on me, but I'll return it by being compassionate and extremely understanding? What exactly will that do, will it stop them from taking their shit out on me? Of course not.

It will send them the message that it's completely okay, even rewarding, to take their issues out on me the second and the third time because not only they will not be held accountable for hurtful behaviour, they'll be rewarded for it. They'll be seen as the 'victim' and someone who needs extra compassion and understanding, as a result of them hurting someone else.

What drives me even more insane is that if I'm complaining about someone hurting me, then it's not about the person who hurt me and their feelings, this is about me and my feelings! I'm asking for understanding and compassion, not for a lecture in how I'm supposed to be more compassionate to people who hurt me! The person you're siding with is not even there, they're not affected by you taking their side, they will not be grateful or reward you, you're not resolving their issues, you're standing in front of me and telling me that my pain doesn't matter and this other person's issues come first. That hurting me will only inspire you to also ignore my pain and focus on the perpetrator as someone who deserves compassion more than I do.

If hurtful and abusive actions are the only ones that inspire compassion, while being victimized inspires lectures about morality and empathy, we are never going to stop victim blaming.

[dragonworshippersblog]

Can someone explain me why team green supporter have this strong belief that Rhaenyra will kill her half-siblings once she takes the throne? Analyzing the show rhaenyra never did something that might suggest that he would have killed Alicent's children, the only moment where she speak against one of them is when she had been accused of something that could have led to her death and that of her children; but for the rest of the season if somebody of the green did something questionable against her she just say nothing and endure. I saw a post weeks ago (so I don't remember the author since I didn't save it) claiming that this fear came from the killing of vaemond, but it sounds nonsense; vaemond litterally call the heir to the throne a whore and her sons, in line to inherit the throne, bastard. What she was supposed to do? What you all expected her to do? To have him get away with a cut tongue after she had been humiliated of front of all court ?

"But she publicly disobey the king's order, he said a tongue was the punishment so she made it clear that she would override the king's orders, she feels empowered to do everything "

Is not just what alicent did at ep. 7? Didn't she override king's order and tried to mutilate a five years old boy where the king publicly said that the matter was over? And yet I didn't see rhaenyra plan to kill all of the green because they could be a threat to her, she understands it to be an isolated case.

"rhaenyra is not the problem, daemon is. He would surely kill the pretenders to the throne even if Rhaenyra forbade him to do so."

Despite the fact that daemon, even if represented as impulse in the show, was never seen to be violent against his own blood (only the scene with rhaenyra but that was after the usurpation). He loves rhaenyra and viserys too, there's no reason to think he would have hurt Viserys' children in any way, despite his dislike of Alicent. In fact in the book he act against them after an usurpation, the death of her daughter and her stepson. I think he waited a long time to act, didn't he? If he had been so determined to eliminate Alicent's children, why didn't he act sooner to prevent possible usurpation? He was able to send killers into the castle in the middle of the war, why didn't he find a way to get rid of them sooner? To have them killed and make sure that suspicion did not fall on him? like poison or something similar? Because he didn't want to hurt viserys' kids, he didn't like them but neither want them killed.

After this huge introduction, rhaenyra would be the regnant queen so daemon would be a consort, nothing more. Yet why are the green convinced that daemon would not listen to rhaenyra’s orders? The answer can be safely found in their actions. The green disobey to the king's order for like more than eight years, attacking Rhaenyra, plan to deprive Rhaenyra's son of his inheritance, plotting a usurpation and all the other stuff. They are convinced that this is normality (disobey the king's order and get away with it, in fact after alicent cut rhaenyra's arm she said to her father that viserys may punish her and his response was not to worry bc he wouldn't do anything).

"the realm wouldn't accept her / her bastard. People would have looking for aegon to be king"

Rhaenyra was supported by 53 houses, and four big house (stark, tully, arryn, greyjoy) against 28 house and two big house (lannister and baratheon) of aegon; if the realm had not accepted her nor her sons, how do you explain the fact that she has nearly twice of the supporters as aegon? Also, Rhaenyra's eldest sons were beloved and demonstrate themselves to be valid claimants to the throne. Cregan and jace arrange the marriage between cregan' son and jace's future daughter, lord manderly want joffrey to be betrothed with his youngest daughter. Lord borros, one of the most misogynist men quoted in fire and blood (had four daughters and yet spent all his life wishing to have a son to succeed him, and claim that a son is more important than a daughter) ask lucerys which daughters of him he will marry in exchange for his support. It doesn't seem like people avoided them, quite the opposite. Not to mention, jace is the only person in fire and blood who is defined as a "worthy heir to the throne" also by green supporter themselves. And in the book their kinship is only speculated, by none other than Alicent and his children and no one believe this gossip after their eggs have hatched. Also when aegon became king, he didn't declare them as illegitimate, the author himself recognized them as laenor' son.

If aegon wouldn't directly challenge rhaenyra's throne, the house that support him wouldn't start a rebellion; they would literally not have had the material to win, also because the dragons would have flanked the far superior armies. This is just an excuse used in the attempt to justify that the scheming of team green divided the realm, not the ascension of a woman.

In conclusion if the green stayed on their place they would not have played as important a role as before, otto for example, but they would all still be alive.

"As you make your bed, so you must lie in it", and the green are the only one to blame for their downfall.

[treasureofmammon]

💚 Rational Satan (headcannons) 💚 (3/4)

👥️Characters: Satan x gn!reader

⚠️Warnings: Mainly fluff, but there is spicy stuff, so I recommend that minors and ageless don't interact (MDNI).

🔎These are some headcannons that I have about Tan, mostly based on my own interpretation of how he is with us.

📝Note: I have written one of these for Mammon and another one for Levi. I won't do all the characters; in fact, this is the third one out of four. See Mammon's here & see Levi's here. Simeon (4/4) coming soon.

✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️

• Rational Satan, who, when introduced, is instantly attracted to you; his gaze shows complete surprise, and he glups, trying not to get carried away by his feelings right off the bat. After all, first comes logic, not impulses or feelings, and he keeps that facade for as long as necessary.

• Rational Satan, who sinks into his piles of books, trying to find a logical solution to whatever vision he had when he met you before: your figure engulfed by a radiant light emitted by your pure soul. That's not normal. It must have a logical explanation, right?

• Rational Satan, who finds himself ogling you behind his book: your beautiful and unique features mixed up with your bright soul is making his heart race. "Stop looking, Satan! Focus on the book. Tests are coming soon...", he tells to himself, unsuccessfully, because he's gazing you seconds later.

• Rational Satan, who thinks you're intriguing and interesting. Although he tries to keep his "healthy" distance. He definitely has been observing you.

• Rational Satan, who thinks you're nosy and yet, you are so valiant and refreshing. Why is that?

• Rational Satan, who is honestly surprised by your selfless good deeds for him and his family: "That surely makes no sense whatsoever. What is their real purpose?", unable to understand that you are simply a kind soul.

• Rational Satan, who was angry that you didn't want to make a pact with him (OG) to bother Lucifer; but in fact, feels a sting in his heart because you rejected him without a second thought: "What is this feeling? Is my heart... hurting? Why would it be?".

• Rational Satan, who finds himself thinking about you in-between books: "N-no. Satan, Avatar of Wrath, CANNOT fall in love with a human", until the next morning comes and you hold up his gaze with a candid smile, all logic gone at that moment: "Fuck!", he thinks, "I'm in love", finally giving in to his emotional side.

• Rational Satan, who first tries to hide his feelings for you, but then decides it'd be better to seduce you. The only logical way? With beautiful words and kind actions.

• Rational Satan, who sees you as a person with needs and dreams, and acknowledges yourself as that: a wonderfully flawed human.

• Rational Satan, who analyzes you: you working hard at school to succeed with all your might in a strange place, and he can't help but admire your hungry seek for knowledge.

• Rational Satan, who realizes your potential in all ways possible and supports you constantly and unconditionally. He's proud of you.

• Rational Satan, who knows he must teach you and guide you at those moments in school that frustrate you, but can't help himself from thinking or even doing "improper" things: "I must focus on the task at hand. They're counting on me! I must be a good teacher... It's just that they are so gorgeous!", he thinks. Maybe his hand sliding mercilessly up your tight, you bite your lip and let him continue, how far would you let him go is up to you to decide.

• Rational Satan, who finds his very real and really strong feelings for you way too illogical, and that scares him: "Losing control is never a good thing, right? The only rational path is to feel as little as possible... right?", the last word he says hesitantly, now unsure of his ideas of what is logical or not.

• Rational Satan, who sees you right next to him with smitten eyes, a dumbfounded smile, he loves you so much that it hurts him. Something like that shouldn't be allowed because whatever hurts like this is not good, and yet, he doesn't let you go away.

• Rational Satan, daydreaming about your pretty face and sensual body, about your kind heart and your gorgeous personality..., way too enamored to think straight. His grades might be lacking a little, and he can't let his mere thoughts of you distract him. After all, knowledge is power, and power is something he needs to make you happy in the near future.

• Rational Satan, who is willing to give you everything that you want, even if it makes no sense. That's just how much he loves you.

• Rational Satan, who melts at your touch, ready to give himself to you, completely. He knows he's stupid for loving you like this, and he knows you could take advantage of him, and yet, he can't stop himself.

• Rational Satan, who understands that your love is not logical and neither is his. He makes peace with the fact that he can't be rational when it comes to you: his heart just pours completely for you, no matter what, even when his words can't convey his feelings: he has said "I love you" a thousand times and that will never be enough.

✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️💖💛✨️

[Notes: The character(s) depicted here belong to the mobile game "Obey me: shall we date" and are owned by Solmare Corporation. The text here was made by me, meaning these are fan-made. | GN!Reader | English is not my first language, so there might be orthographic and syntax errors. I urge you all to interact kindly with this post].

📌 Masterlist

[dollypopup]

sorry, still on this soapbox but

we have really, REALLY done Colin a disservice in this fandom. we spent so long viewing him primarily as a Love Interest and not as a Character. But when we see and analyze him as a character, so many of his actions make sense, and it becomes almost ridiculous, the dynamics we've imposed on this couple (yes, I'm talking about the 'Colin fucked up and needs to prove himself to Penelope' narrative) when there's so much more nuance and beauty to their pairing than we give them credit for

we as the audience focus so much on Penelope's perspective in their relationship, of course, because we have so much of her perspective in the show, and so our frustrations with Colin stem from that, but we get more insight into him than Penelope does. The 'I would never court her' scene that we've been livid over for years is considerably softened when we actually look at Colin as a character, and the circumstances around his actions.

Colin spends season 2 SAD. He is straight up not okay. We leave Colin in Season 1 freshly heartbroken and running away to Greece to heal. In Season 2, we meet him again, considerably more somber. Colin doesn't participate in the dances. He even says 'I'm just a spectator'. Colin talks about how he started a conversation with himself, tried to understand what he wants and how he feels. Colin offers Benedict shroom tea, and for a moment, JUST A MOMENT, we see the facade slip. His mask cracks. 'Are you quite alright, brother?' and then it's gone. Then he's cheerful again. Calm Colin. Nice Colin.

Colin who is okay.

But Colin is *not* okay. Colin completely isolates himself from women. Colin doesn't flirt, doesn't entertain female attention. Colin is heartbroken, trying to be better. But he views Penelope as a friend, a sacred relationship, a worthwhile relationship, and he can't bear to lose her. To him, Penelope is arguably his closest friendship. His best friend. And in an entire town full of people who don't listen to him, he thinks Penelope does. Unlike the typical dynamic of the ton, in which men are ONLY speaking to women by viewing them as potential sexual partners, Colin views Penelope as a whole person. She doesn't just exist as a romantic option to him, but as a vital connection in his life. That's why the 'I am a woman' 'You are. . .Pen' is so important to view as an act of love- Penelope is NOT just a woman as the ton sees her, good for marriage prospects and little else, Penelope is a complete person. Yes, she's a woman, but more importantly, she's PEN. She's a full human being. And he values her as such. We cannot say the same for the grand majority of men in his society. Tell me any other male-female friendships like that in the ton where that level of respect is given?

But for Penelope, it's hurtful, because she WANTS to be seen as a romantic option in his eyes. That's a fair feeling, though we as an audience should recognize that it can be both upsetting to Pen, and also deeply beautiful as a sentiment. Because of Penelope's hopes of Colin as a romantic prospect, she does not see that he is hurting. Because of our connection as a fandom to Penelope, we do not see it, either. But he *is* hurting. In all of Season 2 he's hurting. That's why he throws himself into the Jack mess. He wants, NEEDS a distraction. He wants to find a place in his world, his society. Honestly? He needs a win. He has spent the last year losing and losing and losing. Who can blame him for being sick of it? His engagement blows up, he finds out his family pays no attention to him, that no one cares about his agency, and he's publicly humiliated. If he invests, if he makes money, he might make more male connections. Might run in more important circles. Like his brothers do. Might prove himself. But Colin isn't friends with the men of the ton. We don't see ANY evidence that he has strong friendships with any of them. Because he isn't like them.

He is 22 years old. Treated like a child in his own family. When he talks about his travels, no one listens. Everyone dismisses him. 'Remarkable, yes, in the sense that I have many remarks about it'. Colin is invisible. He is trying to slot himself in his community, but he does not fit neatly into it. He connects with Will, a man outside his community, and Penelope, a woman also outside his community, because *Colin* exists outside his community. He's the foolish boy who fell headfirst for a woman who lied to him. He's the 'green' baby walking in his older brother's footsteps and unable to fill them. He doesn't behave the way other men of the ton do. He doesn't talk like other men of the ton do. Hell, he *apologizes* to women. We have men NOW in the MODERN ERA who don't even apologize to women.

His own *mother* doesn't even notice he was dating someone for several months in season 1. Colin is a pretty, empty ghost wandering around Mayfair, and so of course he's thrown into a locker room conversation with a bunch of guys who have never once seen a woman as a person, and doesn't relate to them. Colin's not joking and having fun with these men. We very purposefully do not see his reaction after he delivers the 'I would never court her' line.

Colin is uncomfortable around them, but he needs their help to make it up to Will, someone who was kind to him and who he looks up to. He has the mask on so firmly in that scene, it's physically obvious to see. If you compare his reactions around Penelope to his reactions around Fife, it's stark. With Penelope he's open, his eyes are soft, his expression is curious and kind, his shoulders are relaxed. Around Fife he's closed off, eyes hard, muscles tense. Who can blame him? He's acting. He's acting just like he's acting around Jack.

When we look at Colin as a whole character, we get insight into his actions and they make SENSE. The things he say that hurt Penelope are things that are actually defending her- Colin saying he wouldn't court her to those men in particular, is an act of caring. He is defending her in that scene. When a debutante is only good for being 'wed, bed, and bred' in their eyes, Colin saying no, that Penelope is worth more than that, that his connection to her isn't forged on wanting to fuck her, or exploit her, or treat her as a sexual object, is radical. Because anything else, ANYTHING else that he says that isn't an outright denial, puts Penelope in danger. He can't let them believe that the woman he cherishes so deeply he cannot even ENTERTAIN the idea of not talking to her is out here being ruined by his hands.

And when we see it that way, we see that, in reality, of all the men in the series, Colin is the one who has been kindest to his love interest. Colin is the one who has defended her, the one who has stuck his neck out for her, the one who has cared for her with absolutely no expectations of sex or romance in return.

Colin's relationship to Penelope is beautiful, and sure, she can be upset that it isn't in the exact shape she wants it to be, but I think if she takes a step back and looks at it more objectively, if WE take a step back and look at it more objectively, Colin has only ever gone into it with a big, earnest heart. Not PERFECTLY, of course, he isn't perfect, but with the best intentions, and with as much honesty as he can.

And I don't know why we don't celebrate him more for it

[gffa]

The latest ending of Ahsoka really made me realize one of the big problems with Felony's writing and why so much of the Masndo-verse and Felony's modern writing falls flat compared to OWK and Andor. Shock value. A BIG twist cliffhanger that leaves us all mouth open and HYPING up the next episode in hope and filling the forums with discussions in anticipation. Understandably, he can't write what we wrote in our heads for 7 days and top that. 1.

2. But once that shock is gone when the story has moved onto the next big thing, or you watch it again when you know what it pays off in, or watch the whole series or season again, it just doesn't hold up. It's empty. Vapid. Because it's all about the shock. The twist. The discussion. The hype fodder. It's not saying anything or adding anything. OWK and Andor was a lot better at that, without the use of the nostalgia baiting that Felony relies on. 3. It becomes an endless circle of low lows and high highs, while OWK and Andor both slowly built up to the crescendo of discussions and speculations and both have stayed in the fandom consciousness alot longer thanks to that. And because they have something to say, both to the world and to the viewer. While with the Felony and the Fraudrou verses, it's just a constant barrage of oh wow, moving on, what's next? ehh, it's over, let's move on.

I feel like one day I'm going to do a longer analysis on why exactly Filoni's writing feels weak to me (where I try to be more fair than I'm usually feeling about his writing), because I don't think he's without a lot of talent and there's certain things he really does get about Star Wars, but I think so much comes back to that he's a writer who is caught in a difficult position--playing in someone else's sandbox but has to now establish his own new corners of that sandbox and I'm not sure he's strong enough to be a big picture kind of guy when he works better in smaller focus. His work on TCW and Rebels is content that we do come back to again and again for analysis, during my rewatches of both those series, those shows hold up! But I think they're ones where he had stronger guardrails up, and he was forced to stick to things in one place. I think live action has been bad for Filoni's writing because of the way so much is structured, that there are multiple series going on and I feel like his writing doesn't have the patience to actually tell a story in a single space, that's why we get Grogu's story being split between The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, that's why we get Mandalore's story being splintered across Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and now Ahsoka. We still haven't even seen half of the events that happen in the Mandalore bigger story! And you're right that he and Favreau both lean too hard on the cameos and echoes/rhymes for nostalgia's sake. And those reference points are often extremely fun in the moment! And I'll grant that the Luke episodes are ones I go back to fairly often, because I think there's some really good content in there about what attachment actually means. But I don't think it's that surprising, looking back, how quickly the Favroni shows fell apart for us and how it doesn't feel like they're establishing anything that can support a bunch of books and comics. I suspect that Disney's not allowed to have books/comics/etc. based on Favroni's shows because they want creative control over those characters while they're still actively writing for them, but also I look at the OT and the PT and look how much was built off those movies+TCW as a foundation, I look at how much you're able to still watch those and find new things to analyze, and I just don't feel that with Filoni's writing anymore, not since Rebels, not to that level, anyway. (I'll grant that I've been a lot more excited about the Ahsoka series and what we can say about it/find in analyzing it than I expected, I expected nothing but shitposts like we did with Mandalorian s3, but I've had fun with serious meta in Ahsoka! I was genuinely excited to come on-line after episode 4 and talk about themes and structure and how well Filoni did with that there!) Ultimately, I think Filoni (and Favreau) both have a lot of talent, but I think they're being pushed too hard to make too much too quickly and that it shows that they're making this up as they go along, rather than that they had a vision they've been crafting for years and any kind of idea of where they want the end goal to be. Like, yeah, Lucas wrote some stuff on the fly, he changed his mind about things along the way, but he had an end point in mind for his story, so the echoes/rhymes felt more resonant for me. Favroni don't feel like they have any idea where they're going and so much winds up feeling like shock value and self-reference for nostalgia bad for me instead of something that's Going Somewhere.

[mjjune]

How to be a Good Beta Reader (or: the difference between critique and beta)

This post is a follow-up to my ORIGINAL POST HERE "How to Have a Good Beta Reading Experience" [link embedded] so I recommend reading that one first for more info.

But I wanted to follow up because I've gotten some questions about it and I figured there was enough to make another post.

WARNING: this is SUPER LONG LOL

DISCLAIMER: Again, I want to clarify that this is based on my own experiences and what I personally look for in alpha/beta reading. Other writers/readers may disagree or have different tastes!

Topics Covered Below:

Critique vs. (Alpha &) Beta Reading

The Purpose of Beta Reading: Mindset

What Comments Should Look Like

How Much Should You Talk to the Writer About It? (Spoiler: it depends)

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Critique vs. Alpha/Beta Reading

I want to start with this because so many times (as a writer) I have asked for beta readers, and basically gotten a critique (or "crit" as it will be called from here on). A crit can look a lot like many different things depending on the reader, but in general, here's the difference:

Critique: grammar, style, clarity, often line-by-line

Alpha/Beta: story structure, character arcs/development, plot, and overarching themes and ideas

And I say this because some writers might want both. Some want all these separately, and some want them all at once.

Generally, crits are harsher, and can resemble "tearing apart" a manuscript. They can certainly offer great feedback, but it depends on the writer and their needs.

Some writers, especially for those who have had critique partners in the past and this isn't their first story, may not want these comments at all. I generally prefer not to have them (unless it's something stark that draws you out of the immersive reading experience) because when it comes to grammar, style, and flow, these are things I can edit myself. I have had enough good critique partners in the past that I can handle that and don't need betas to do it for me.

However, some writers might not feel that way! But I definitely know I'm not alone here. Especially when manuscripts have already been critiqued and you specifically ask for a beta, it can be disheartening to receive this style of feedback (especially in large quantities).

Examples of critique-style comments:

Word choice and/or grammar edits

Line- or scene-specific comments like breaking down or giving advice on dialogue, action sequences, worldbuilding, and the writing itself

E.g. "this needs more visual description" or "this description is too long/drawn out" or "action sequences require faster pacing" etc.

Examples of alpha/beta style comments:

Character arcs/dev: "I liked this character's journey, but I didn't feel connected to them during XYZ parts of the book." or "I don't understand why this character chose to do this."

Plot: "This scene is what I consider to be the part where the plot really begins" or "I don't understand how ABC scene connects to XYZ scene."

So what's wrong with that? Nothing!

But you can see where if someone asked for an alpha/beta but the reader's comments are 90% crit-style, the writer might feel like the reader didn't like or connect with their work. If a reader is crit-style commenting x5+ per page, then they likely weren't engaged with the story so much as analyzing the writing style. And for alpha/betas, you want to be as immersed in the story as possible and analyzing the story.

Particularly if the manuscript has already been critted in depth, and is a polished draft (which, is certainly debatable, but that's a topic for another day) ready for betas, it can be frustrating to receive crit comments when that's not what you asked for. A lot of the times, for well-edited and mostly-polished drafts, these crit-style comments come down to personal preference with the reader editing your work to fit their personal taste. Which is not making the story better, just different.

But, to emphasize: if you were unclear in your expectations and the reader doesn't know that manuscript is already critted/polished going in, they might think you want these comments!

Also, some readers might be awesome critique partners, but terrible betas—and vice versa.

This is why I'm going to drive home my Big Takeaway from my first post: communication is key! Both writers and readers need to be clear on the type of feedback that's desired.

Of course, most readers probably do a mixture of both of these styles of comments, and this is fine! The important thing is to keep what the writer wants in the back on your mind. If you know the writer asked for a beta, then try to keep crit-style to <50% (or maybe even <25%) of your total comments. And vice versa, etc. etc.

TL;DR: A critique analyzes the writing. An alpha/beta analyzes the story. Many readers will look at BOTH, so it's important to discuss this beforehand and provide the feedback desired!

The Purpose of Alphas & Betas: MINDSET

So this piggybacks off of what I just discussed: if someone has asked for an alpha/beta, you should keep the GOAL of being an alpha/beta in the back of your mind. Especially if you're prone to crit-style comments, this will help you.

The goal of BOTH alpha and beta readers is to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE the writer. I know that's obvious, but so many times I have gotten comments or questions about why some readers' comments seem rude/inconsiderate or not constructive. And, at least in my experience, it's because the readers went in with the wrong mindset—a mindset more appropriate for crit, rather than alpha/beta.

So what is the goal? To me, the goal should be to figure out what the story is the writer is trying to tell. Maybe in some cases the writer is upfront about that, or maybe you're going in blind. But when I go into a book as alpha/beta, this is the question I try to remind myself throughout the journey:

What is this story trying to tell me, and how could it be stronger?

But MJ, what does that mean??

Because no, I don't mean the genre, or the plot, or even the character arcs or writing style. I mean:

What theme is this writer exploring / what is the message they're sending to readers?

And from there: what about the narrative/writing/plot/etc. interfered with my connection with this message?

Side story: let me use avof as an example. This is an urban fantasy with vampires and werewolves and shifters (oh my!). I had some shitty "betas" for this book years ago which really threw off my groove as I was editing because I didn't know they were bad betas. But the truth is they weren't betas at all. They were critiquing it, and from the mindset of "this is vampire romance book." They went in critiquing my book for something that it wasn't. They completely disregarded that it more aligned with adventure, not romance, and the themes explored were self-discovery, self-acceptance, the impact of immortality on psyche, and gender & sexuality & identity - and because of that, they critiqued the book without engaging with the book. If they had asked themselves "what themes are being explored?" they (hopefully) would've seen it wasn't romance, and likely would've engaged better.

So, to continue on with this main goal, there are other things to consider—what kinds of mindsets you should avoid!

Whenever I have gotten insensitive (and sometimes, full-on offensive) comments, these were contributing factors. Regardless of critique, alpha, or beta, these are true:

You are not the only reader. There are going to be multiple people giving comments, and your comments are all of equal weight. You may be the only person who can't visualize that fight scene. You might be the only one who thought a plot point was too predictable. In most cases you will never know if other readers agree/disagreed with you, which is why it is the writer's decision whether to take action on your comments are not.

You are not an expert. I don't care how long you've been reading, writing, or beta reading. I don't care if you've read 100 published books in this genre before. You are not the expert on this book. The writer is. You do not know what is better for the story than the writer does.

You are not here to decide whether the writer is a good writer or not. You should not be making statements that imply that the writer is inexperienced or new to writing. You should not go into reading a manuscript with the mindset of "I have more experience than this writer and I should share my knowledge & teach them something." (But if the writer has expressed this, then it might be okay in some instances to give advice.)

If a specific minority group is being repped on the page that is not ownvoices and you are part of that community, you could offer insight that can be helpful, but should ask the writer if they want that kind of feedback prior to giving it. If you are not part of the community, you should not comment unless the writer has requested it (unless ofc you're complimenting it lol)

When betas go in without these ideals, it can lead to at best, unhelpful comments, and at worst, condescending and hurtful comments. These are the comments that make writers feel like failures, or like their book is bad, or that they are bad writers. Or, for experienced writers who know you went in with these (toxic, imo) mindsets, it can hurt relationships, break trust, and/or make a writer roll their eyes and disregard all of your comments.

That isn't to say that you should only compliment and not have any negative feedback or ignore flaws you see in the writing, narrative, character development, etc... but it is best to go in with the mindset that you are here to give them insight so they can make their story stronger, not to teach/give advice or change the story.

A note on sensitivity, authenticity, and expert readers: In my opinion this is one of the only cases where direct education/advice should be given. I also recommend having at least 2 sensitivity readers per any group that's repped that's not ownvoices, because even two people from the same group may interpret your story differently or see different weaknesses/strengths. That said, it is important for readers who are not of the repped groups to hold their tongue. It doesn't matter if your partner or sibling or parents are part of a group repped on the page. If you are not a member of that group, you are not an expert. If you have an inkling that the writer has not had sensitivity readers yet, you can politely suggest it. But it could also be a case of you having different life views, ideals, and/or opinions than the writer and the group being repped, and that is why you are not a sensitivity reader. I can't tell you how many times I had cis/het betas say my representation of an identity or repping gender as fluid was inaccurate/offensive when it was ownvoices, or when I'd already had 3+ sensitivity readers for the group(s).

Basically, as an alpha/beta reader, you are here to offer insight and immerse yourself in the story. It's also good to remind yourself throughout reading that "this might rub me wrong, but another reader might like it." Framing your ideas and comments this way will help you be more objective and less "this is wrong/right" because there is no such thing in writing.

TL;DR: The goal of alphas/betas is to engage with and understand the STORY, give the writer insight into how you interpret it, and help the writer figure out how to make their story stronger. It is not to give advice or teach. The writer decides what changes to make and is the expert on their story.

Ok, now I got the Beta Mindset™. So how do I comment?

Well, really this will depend on the person. Everyone is different and will notice different weaknesses and strengths in any given manuscript. And, as I said above, most people naturally will provide some crit-style comments, it's just in our nature to point out when a writing style doesn't mesh with our preferences.

From a writer's perspective, at least for me, these are the kind of comments that are the most helpful for me:

"I..." statements. For example: "I am struggling to visualize this fight scene." Instead of rewriting it or pointing out that the descriptions or actions are weak or explaining how to fix it—this is an open statement that leaves the decision up to the writer.

Immediate emotional reactions are awesome for writers to know. For example, if a line made you laugh out loud, say so! If you get to the end of a chapter and were so immersed that you forgot to comment, say so!

And on the other end, if you were immersed but then something happens that snaps you out of it, say so! But without "because..." or "you should..." advice. Just say "hey I was super immersed, but in this paragraph you lost me."

I also recommend holding comments until the end of a chapter/section (minus immediate reactions as above). Look at scenes, chapters, acts, as a whole rather than individual pieces. This will help you focus on the story, rather than the writing.

I would also recommend this post!! Excellent, and I agree 100%!!

Other critical examples: "this is my favorite character but this decision is frustrating/confusing me"; "I was bored and skimming through this chapter"; "I'm not sure what [insert worldbuilding feature] means"; "I didn't know that the magic system could do this and I feel blindsided"

Other complimentary examples: "This line of dialogue really resonates with me"; "this has been my favorite description so far"; "I didn't see this coming but it makes perfect sense!"

And here are comments I suggest you avoid:

Anything that implies that the story is unfinished, too long, too short, etc. This might be ok for crits or alphas or if the writer has said that it's unfinished, but probably not for most betas. If the writer is at the beta stage, then likely they consider their manuscript finished (minus any changes they make based on beta feedback). If you feel the need, you might say something like "this genre is usually 80-100k and yours is 150k" but avoid wording like "the story is overwritten/underwritten", which can be hurtful. (Once, a story of mine was on draft 8 and had been called polished and ready to publish by various other people, and then one beta said, "this is a good attempt at a draft of an opening scene." So yeah, avoid stuff like that.)

Wording things in a way that make them seem like Facts. As a reader, everything you say is subjective. Regardless of what you are commenting on, what you are providing are opinions. Especially for writers who tell unconventional stories/structures, comments like "this isn't the way this is done" are just annoying and are not even true half the time.

Unless you can provide sensitivity feedback personally, do not criticize the representation of a group you are not a part of. If you see something overtly harmful toward a group on the page, you can politely suggest sensitivity readers, and leave it at that.

Try your best to not give reasons or "because" statements. "This action scene felt slow because-" "I didn't feel connected to this character because-" Nope. Stop right there, unless/until the writer asks to elaborate.

Side Story: My Favorite Comment One of the single best comments I've ever received in a beta was when they noticed a character making a decision that didn't seem right. They pointed it out and basically said, "This feels out of character to me because I don't think this character would do this. They have done XYZ in the past, and I thought their motivation was ABC, but this decision directly conflicts with that." Why was this the best comment? Because 1) they didn't tell me how to fix it, 2) it was objective with evidence and nonjudgmental, and 3) they were 100% right. What they had actually found was a plot device I had used to push the character in the direction the story required. But because they pointed this out, I was able to see the source of the issue and rework the scene so that the character's motivation was consistent and they still ended up in the direction of the plot.

Since I foresee questions, allow me to elaborate on the last point: so often, a reader will say "this isn't working for me because of this reason" but actually, they're wrong about the reason. Like the comment above, this beta could have easily said, "this feels out of character because you messed up their motivation." But the problem wasn't motivation, it was me using a half-assed character decision to move the plot in the right direction! The issue was the scene, not the character development. The advice to "fix the character's motivation" wouldn't have fixed anything and might've even made the problem worse.

This isn't to say that advice should never happen in an alpha/beta, but I personally believe that the best comments are not those that say "you should change/fix this" but instead say "this is working for me/this isn't working for me." It leaves it open for the writer to figure out how to solve the problem, if a problem even exists.

I shall paste in a quote from the writing god himself, Neil Gaiman:

TL;DR: Basically, you aren't here to give advice, or fix anything, or change the story in any way. You are here to show the writer how their story impacts you, what you connected with, what you didn't, how their writing style works for you. Keep your comments open-ended and use specifics to show the writer what you connected with and what you didn't. You are giving the writer insight into how readers will interpret and understand their work, and it is the writer's duty to then grow their work.

And that leads directly into our final section...

How Much Should You Talk to the Writer About It?

This depends on the writer. Sometimes, writers will do 5+ betas at once (even on the same document) in which case they might not talk individually with the readers about any of the comments. Some writers (not me lol) will have an alpha as they write the first draft so it's not even complete yet, so they would probably talk a lot.

Personally, some betas I talk to for hours trying to brainstorm fixes (see: @jamieanovels and @wildswrites lmao tysm 🙏), and some betas I will just say "thanks for reading <3" and that's about it. It depends on how much you commented, the types of comments, and if I felt like you genuinely connected with the story (or not).

Side Note: I do want to clarify that by "misinterpret" below I don't mean that the readers are wrong, I just mean that they interpreted differently than what the writer had in mind. There is no misinterpretation when it comes to any form of art. But if a writer intended for the Main Takeaway of their story to be one thing, but the majority of readers took away another—that's important for the writer to learn in the beta stage. (Also, some stories are vague or open to multiple interpretations on purpose.)

For me, I talk in-depth with alphas, and maybe some betas, but there are also a lot of betas I barely talk to. I don't think there is a right or wrong here. Because as stated above, alphas/betas are here to provide insight into how readers interpret, relate to, and understand the story.

So once the writer gets that, there may not be anything else to talk about. Or, maybe the writer has questions about something you commented, and will want to follow up. For me, especially if you interpreted something way differently than I intended, I might want to follow up to see what in the narrative made you go that direction. Or, if you interpreted exactly as I intended, I may want more insight into which parts stood out the most to you, or what your favorite parts were. Or... I might not feel the need to follow up at all, for either.

In general, in my opinion, writers should be leading these interactions. Unless the writer has welcomed it, readers shouldn't be reaching out to writers to further discuss the comments they left.

(Note: this is not the same as hype/fangirling. Please come to my dms unsolicited and go hype about my book)

You have agreed to read it and leave comments, but the writer has not agreed to have full discussions with you about their own work. The writer doesn't owe you follow-up on the comments you leave, and whether they liked or disliked, agreed or disagreed with your comments doesn't really matter.

You may leave comments that are totally out of line with what the writer wanted, and that's fine. You might leave comments that make the writer uncomfortable, and that's fine too. We can't control these things, and there is no way to know how someone will interpret a story or what comments they might leave.

That said, If a writer doesn't follow up with you on anything, that doesn't mean your comments were bad. It might just be the writer's style to process and make changes alone. Even if you "misinterpret" their work, or even dislike it, all perspectives bring something to the table. Giving the writer insight into how one might "misinterpret" and/or dislike what they've written can be just as valuable as the betas who loved it.

Regardless, it's important to comment in a respectful way—respectful to the writer and what types of feedback they request, the story itself, and yourself as a reader. We are all growing and learning together, and miscommunication or writers and betas who have misaligned goals can lead to hurt on both sides. Hopefully this longass post gave you some insight into how/why that happens, and how to avoid it in the future.

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ANYWAY that was a lot. I hope you got something out of this, because it took a week to write this up lmao

–mj

P.S. I am considering doing another in this series focusing on writers and how to handle comments (good and bad). If you'd be intersted in that let me know <3

P.P.S. if you'd like to be tagged in this series, message me or comment below!

[suchawrathfullamb]

do you think an actor's opinion is 100% canon? if they say it then it's true? I ask this because Hugh took a long time to say that there was romance between Hannibal and Will but Mads didn't

I think we often forget that actors are real people. These people are flawed. They're not gods because they portrait characters brilliantly. With that being said, actors have biases. Sometimes, no matter how canon something is, if the actor, for whatever reason, doesn't like it, they might play it off or completely deny it when asked about it. Sometimes out of spite, because again, actors are just people, prone to normal human behavior.

I don't wanna say why I think Hugh played it off at first or why he thought Will had relevant feelings for Alana cause I have zero patience for the backlash I might receive. I'll say one of the reasons, the other I won't: I think, just like Will, because he internalized Will, he was in denial. But whatever because he came through after season three.

Sometimes, an actor likes another fellow actor, sometimes they hate or dislike them, and because they're human and their work ethics are much looser and less demanding, they can get away with a silent bias, meaning, their opinions are not based in canon but in their feelings about other actors they work with, and nobody will actually know it because the true reason is inside their head and the only thing we hear is an actor having an opinion that no one seems to understand why, as in "how are you not seeing this?", or when they try to force a ship that no one else likes and everyone is "why??".

We need to take actors out of the pedestal. Yes, they are living those characters and understand them a lot, but they're still actual people, and people (actually, most) cannot see themselves properly, they lack self awareness. So of course they can have an opinion that is completely wrong because although they're playing the character, they simply lack the ability to actually take a step back and analyze their behavior and actions.

I believe that like Will would 100% deny any romantic feelings towards H, because of what it represented about him, so would Hugh. Just because Hugh plays Will doesn't mean he sees Will in the same way we see Will, in fact, he 100% doesn't, just like you cannot perceive yourself in the same way others perceive you. Our perception of Will is actually manipulated by two lenses: Hannibal's and Alana's/Jack's. That's why the fandom is divided between people who love deranged Will and want to see him in his becoming and fully accepting of his darkness, and the ones who have the copagenda thing and see him as a wounded puppy.

Now, Mads is the exact same, actually. His perception of Hannibal is flawed sometimes. For example, he says Hannibal is happy, a lot of times. Of course H isn't happy, we all know this, but Hannibal himself lives in denial. He crafted a mask of refinery and charisma, to keep that deep rooted depression in check. So it makes sense that Mads would think H is happy, in fact, he needs to in order to play the character in the best possible way, because in this manner, he's not pretending or lying, he's truly in Hannibal's shoes, deluding himself as a happy, satisfied, person.

The actors who think too much or rationalize their characters too much are often the ones we forget about. Actors who engage less in overanalysis often provide responses that appear less intricate compared to fan-generated meta, as they authentically embody their characters rather than engaging in extensive rationalization. This is because the actor is just being, instead of trying to be. They're not rationalizing their own behavior because people, although they think they do, they don't, at most, we judge our own behavior, but that's different than actual rationalization or complex analysis (some people do, of course, me included, but it's not the norm, not the default).

I believe this answers your question.

[anohai]

A big issue with Seyka’s character arc in Burning Shores...

*clicks tongue* Fuck it. 

I debated over writing this out and posting it. Decided I might as well for not only my personal catharsis, but because it's been over 3 weeks since Burning Shores came out, I have had the time to mull things over more, talk with some friendly people who came to the some of the same conclusions I did, and really analyze everything. I’ve seen a sprinkle of other people expressing something similar to what I am about to cover, but I felt this deserved its own topic of conversation. 

And forewarn, there be spoilers. 

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Of course, we're back to Seyka. I promise I'm not trying to pick on her. She actually has loads of potential, and I don't think she's a bad character. It's just she deserved better than what was shown in her overall character arc.

Last time, I wrote about the Seyloy romance, and why it is difficult (for some more than others) to feel good about it. This critique isn't going to be about that again in case you are wondering if I'm simply yelling louder in the echo chamber, but there will be some correlation to it. The more I played the DLC, the more I realized that while I still wasn’t sold on the romance, it wasn’t the root of why something felt off with Seyka’s story to me. So once the adrenaline of having a new shiny DLC to run around in wore off and was able to properly take my time soaking things in, this was the conclusion I came to: 

The biggest issue with Seyka's entire character arc is that they tried way too hard to make her near-exile situation comparable to Aloy's when it very, very much is not. 

In any capacity whatsoever. As to why? 

Seyka tells us at one point that she loves her tribe, her community, and has always felt she's had a place in it until recently. The reason she's in any hot water at all when we meet her is because she ran off and stole a diviner's focus. Seyka is a marine, not a diviner so we know this is considered a huge taboo among the Quen. They are a sovereign tribe with a classicist system where the people are allowed to know only what is deemed necessary based on their role and/or rank. Should rules be broken, we are left to assume based on our conversations with Alva and even interactions with the Ceo & Overseer Bohai in HFW that the royal family and those in charge are imposing & unforgiving enough that normally there are severe consequences. 

Luckily for Seyka, this isn't the case. 

The first time we follow her back to Fleet's End, we're met with those who are referred to as Compliance Officers who are wanting a nasty word or two with our new friend. We are brought to Admiral Gerrit, the real person in charge, and he is....actually quite understanding of Seyka's actions. He gives her a quick verbal slap on the wrist but proceeds to give her full permission to continue her search for her sister and their other missing people with the stolen focus on hand. He's humble enough to tell Aloy in a private conversation afterwards if you choose to talk to him that their faction of the expedition has been spread thin enough as it is and Seyka has already proven herself to be a valuable and skilled member. Enough so that he admits he’s become increasingly reliant on her regardless of only being a petty officer in title. This assessment is fair and kind. It’s more than I would have expected out of someone with such a high position among the Quen of all tribes. 

Seyka is given a huge safety net thanks to this swell guy. The compliance offers themselves can't do anything, and from what we see in the side quests, they are seemingly nothing more than a few school-yard bullies without any real authority to their position. They are annoying & petty at worst. All bark, no bite. As far as the rest of the Quen go, most individuals we come across seem either pretty cool or neutral with Seyka. It's not until later that we get any indication  there are some who are calling for her exile afterall, but we only know this because we hear it from Seyka instead of seeing it happen. People are talking, as they will, and she's furious about it. 

But really....the threat still isn't there. It never was. At least not to the extent I think we are supposed to believe it was. 

All things considered, Seyka was placed in a very privileged, advantageous position amongst those in her tribe. Along with the lack of visible threat, there is never any real tension shown minus a few grumblings expressed in the background when we first arrive in Fleet’s End. And despite how Aloy perceives her, Seyka isn’t exactly a black sheep here. Especially when you consider she never had any personal turmoil with the rest of her tribe until not long before the events of Burning Shores and happily tells you herself she has always felt like she’s belonged. She's pretty much allowed to do what she wants without much pushback, and I found myself rolling my eyes during the final scene where she says she's unsure of where she stands with her tribe. Seyka is not an outcast, and I, for one, was never convinced or afraid she was at real risk of becoming one. 

Which makes this all the more confusing when Aloy says she's an inspiration. An outcast in all but name. I'm willing to chalk some of this up to hormones talking and Aloy's growing infatuation taking a choke hold as most first time crushes will do. Except the problem here is that the writing clearly felt like we were meant to connect Seyka's strife with Aloy's on some level; carry the same sympathy for her that Aloy expresses, and see more of where their similarities hold up. 

And yet...

I felt more for Kotallo who was kicked from his initial clan because his leader saw him as a threat and then later, might as well have gotten demoted for losing an arm because his tribe sees him as near useless for it..

And Zo who lives among the most pacifist, peace-loving tribe and was admonished when she not only went to fight back in the Red Raids, but wanted to do something about the blight and their broken Land Gods..

And Talanah who had to fight against blatant sexism that many carry in her tribe and an actual attempt for her murder all because she wanted to move up in the Lodge and make things better..

And Aloy, herself, who was outcast at birth for simply being born without a mother. And spent her entire life with only the man who raised her for company. In one small valley. For 19 years. Because there was no choice for her. 

But somehow, we're supposed to see Seyka the same way Aloy does? Like no one she's ever met??

I...Really? 

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this rebel fighter, near-outcast ploy here. And saying she's unlike anyone Aloy has ever met feels like a slap in the face to not only Aloy, herself, but to some of her companions we have come to know & love in the first two games. Most of whom I'd argue have been through more hell because of their own tribes long before they even met her. Seyka's plight is trivial, inconsequential in comparison and no where near as crippling as Aloy's was or her friends. It's honestly frustrating that it feels suggested it is. 

What's worse is that this plotline is used as one big narrative tool to bring Seyka and Aloy closer on standing grounds outside of ability and personality. This essentially means Seyka and her entire character arc were written for the sole purpose of the romance. A character built for Aloy to quickly fall head over heels for and add progress in her own arc. I wrote last time that I can see this growth as an opportunity to explore romance further for Aloy with a pre-established character or two in H3. If I’m right & that happens to be the heart-wrenching, long-term, master plan Guerilla is going for, they have my applause (and my stress). Great for Aloy. In my opinion though, being created to be a love interest (lasting or not) for the main hero is a bit unfair to Seyka. 

She's clever, she's badass, and she isn't afraid to take action without permission and help where she can. Next to Aloy, however, she stands as a self-reflection of her. A spotless mirror as to who Aloy could have been had she grown up under a community as well. I would love to see Seyka break out on her own as an individual character that isn't in the context of romance if ever given the opportunity. 

Heck, if Guerilla wanted to in the eventuality they will be finished with Aloy's story, the Quen have easy potential to have an entire spinoff game revolved around them. We have a whole side quest in BS where a small group of Quen want to sneak focuses to non-diviners for the sake of knowing what's usually kept hidden from them. Hello, is that the beginnings of a rebellion, I see? And the world of Horizon has yet to be explored in places outside of the North American continent. Other tribes, different machines, more Old World locations, etc. Loads of potential everywhere. And guess what!? We practically have a budding main character on a silver platter: Seyka! She obviously has big enough main character energy. Might as well utilize it outside of a DLC if you can, and I don't mean for the next game. 

It's hard say for sure whether or not Seyka will remain a DLC character. No matter what fans say, the ending was left ambiguous. Not only because of the romance but also where Seyka's future lies. She knows about Nemesis, yet she tells Aloy she's unsure of what she wants to do after her faction reunites with the other half in San Francisco, whether it's going home or something else. I would think if Guerilla had solid plans to include her in H3 while they were developing Burning Shores, they would have written the ending where she either offers to stay behind in Legacy’s Landfall for a time like Alva does or Aloy asks for her aid to help fight against Nemesis. Something to make it more clear she's here to stay. We don't though, so as far as anyone outside of Guerilla is currently aware, Seyka is not guaranteed to play a big part in H3 if any at all. And remember, DLCs are meant to be an extension of the main game and are primarily optional. They are typically not a requirement for playing the next big installment as far as understanding the story goes. 

If she does show up in H3, the only thing I dread is the idea of her coming up and saying she's basically denounced her tribe because she still feels out of place and doesn't think she can belong afterall. Not to mention she has her sister, and after what happened with Kina, it would be a really bad look if she just decided to permanently leave her behind when her tribe isn't or never was trying that hard to push her away in the first place. And Seyka said it herself. She’s “not some weak-kneed sailor who abandons ship when the seas get rough,” and I’d like to believe she means it. It'd be one thing if she actually is forced into exile, but after the events of the DLC, she has too good of a repertoire for that to happen now. At least while she's outside of Quen homelands. 

(Btw, don't even get me started on Aloy's convo with Kina over "remember Seyka's been through a lot too" as if we didn't just rescue this poor girl from A CULT and nearly groomed into becoming this centuries-old dude's image of his dead wife. Like honey, I know you're in love but have some thought & tact here.) 

That’s about it. I will reiterate that as a character, I do actually like Seyka. As a self-imposed outcast? No. As Aloy’s love interest? That…needs some serious work. But as an individual who loves her tribe but will fight for what she believes in even if it means going against the royal, societal grain? Absolutely! And special kudos to Kylie Liya Page for bringing her to life. 

Also, if you want to read a review that summarizes everything I just ranted about better than I could manage, along with everything good and not-so-great when it comes to the DLC, I recommend this essay here by ariseis. 

If you made it to the end of this long rant, thanks for reading~ 

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

no more what ifs - a goro akechi meta

Inspired by a meta I reblogged a bit ago. It was really good and you should read it, as it serves as a good companion piece to this analysis, but it didn't analyze the song through the specific lens I personally believe it's meant to be seen through--that is, the Third Semester/Maruki's reality. Don't get me wrong, I think the song can be applied to Akechi in general, just that we can't truly understand the depths of its meaning unless we view it through the lens of what Akechi is feeling in the Third Semester. Needless to say, that's what I'll be doing here.

People come and they go Some people may stay with you though I am all alone tonight and I kept on Asking myself questions

Akechi has lived most of his life alone. People have come and gone temporarily, but no one has really stuck until Joker entered his life. (I don't think I need to make the case that it's Joker he's talking about when he says some people stay with you, I think it's pretty obvious it has to be him.) Joker, someone he can't comprehend, the only person he's let in. Akechi can't understand Joker, so naturally, he's constantly thinking of him, and why he's stuck with him when so many others haven't.

Conceited I was at time I never really doubted myself But tonight got me thinking about it all If I am the fool or what not

All Akechi can do in the Third Semester is think about his choices and his mistakes and wonder if he did the right thing and what led him here. He's been forced to live (for now) after everything he'd worked and lived for fell apart under him. He's reflecting on his past arrogance and how that blinded him.

"If I am the fool or what not" holds a double meaning. Akechi is doubting if he was a fool in the general sense, if he was made a fool for his plan of revenge. But he's also wondering if he was the Fool in the Persona sense of the word (something that will have a payoff at the end of the song).

I do not Regret with my choices I'm rather proud Ooh I know I won't change Anything Because I can only be me so

Akechi can't afford regret. To regret would be to admit that Maruki's ideal reality, where his choices were erased, has any hold on him. To regret would be to let go of the person he is and the person he has become.

Who Akechi really is is another topic that can be elaborated on ad nauseum, so I won't do that here. Maybe I'll do that another time when I finally write the meta about Akechi and agency that's been living in my head for a long while.

Suffice to say, Akechi believes his choices, his actions, his revenge, all define him. He refuses to let Maruki erase them just because they don't fit with his ideal reality. Akechi is fundamentally incompatible with everything Maruki stands for, and he knows it.

How can I be so sure? At a crossroads I'm afraid too But I can't let fear get the best of me Someone once said burn my dread babe

"Burn my dread" is a reference to a song from Persona 3. I haven't played the entire game as of yet, but Persona 3 is a game all about facing and accepting death. "Burn my dread" is a lyric that points to this theme, and the theme of facing one's fears head-on.

Akechi is dead. He knows this perhaps from the very moment he comes back to life. He certainly knows it for most of the Third Semester. He is dead, and to reject Maruki's reality, to embrace himself, is to face that death for the second time, and accept it. But Akechi can't let his fear of death stop him from making his choice. He will die on his own terms and "burn his dread."

Who knows what tomorrow holds? Just wanna live my life the way I want What fills up my soul is passionate Music that makes me want to sing

This is, yet again, Akechi asserting that he will be himself, that he will find meaning in life on his own terms, and that he will not let anyone other than himself define who he is or what he wants. Music is dynamic and complex, something that can express deep truths of one's soul. The Jazz Jin, a place of music, is Akechi's in a way very little else is. It's not Shido's puppet's, not the Detective Prince's, but Akechi's place of solitude and self reflection. It is the place he decides to share with Joker--in a way, he is baring his very soul to Joker. Letting him into his heart.

My story will be starring me just like yours ooh ooh Who knows when will it end What matters most is how you bring joy to life so

This is paying off the beginning of the song. Akechi is asserting that the world doesn't revolve around Joker. Goro is the Fool, he is the main character, he is not defined by anyone but himself and himself alone.

And the last two lines simply restate themes running throughout the song. Akechi is himself. He will accept his death when it comes, and he will not live by anyone's rules but his own.

No More What Ifs shows us the doubt that Akechi rarely expresses that runs deep to his core. Wondering if he made a mistake in isolating himself, wondering if Joker was right all along, wondering if and how things might have gone wrong.

But Akechi can't let himself doubt for long. He always comes back to that certainty that he can't be anyone but himself. He can't let anyone change him. He can't let go of who he is, not for anything. The song is full of him reassuring himself of his path--that no matter what, he will not regret. He can't afford it. He will not waver from his path.

Now, more than ever, after being faced with the consequences of his mistakes and being offered an out, Akechi has to assert his free will and defy Maruki. And that's what this song expresses.

[hellofeternity]

ORV transcends language | how ORV is kind to readers (1.1k words)

the difficulties in analyzing text are already numerous without a language barrier, the way one word can mean 5 things and when you put it in a sentence suddenly it can mean 50 things and put that sentence in a paragraph? go further and put that paragraph in a page? construct a whole world around it, weave it into the fabric, and suddenly you are painting with words.

ORV is a daunting text, it calls and references so many mythos world wide, greek, roman, indian, chinese, japanese, it plays with meaning and intent and uses gaps in our knowledge like weapons, making us extrapolate our own meaning between the sentences, it is a tome of knowledge when it comes to histories and philosophies it feels at times like I will never understand all these things inside it.

One of the difficulties of reading a translated text is that when we analyze a text the authorial intent weighs very heavily in our minds, sure we can immerse ourselves in the world but once we start picking apart at the threads we hit a wall pretty soon when we start asking ourselves "what did the author mean by this?" however in a translated text there is an obvious gap, a game of telephone, did the translator actually capture the authors intent? or are we just reading the translators perception? sadly I don't know korean, and I cant say I have the drive to learn it, as such I know there will forever be a side of ORV that I will never be privy to - however I am bilingual and had the pleasure of reading two translated versions of ORV, an English translation and an Arabic translation, I didn't finish reading the said Arabic translation but a couple things stood out to me when I briefly did ORV is very kind to readers, following along in other stories can seem confusing at times, the pacing might be too fast and you might miss some details in a characters actions, the wording might be too vague and ah damn 20 pages later you realize you don't actually know why the characters are doing what they are doing. A big writing adage that you will see a lot is "show dont tell" and it holds merit, but ORV doesn't subscribe to it, because ORV shows AND tells. ORV built a world around readers and reading, and it makes sure that there is clarity every step of the way on what is happening, first by starting out as a homage to the isekai genre, and not deviating too much at the start, making the readers feel at home in a worldview they are familiar with, systems, leveling, videos games etc, and when it starts deviating it explains things with clarity that no matter how bad the translation is you understand the general intent, and secondly by being VERY blatant about the names of things and having a built in "story" system that is built on common story tropes and names the themes for you! take for example "unbroken faith" and "Blade of faith" both of these are two translated versions of dokja's sword. I will never know which one is closer to the original authorial intent, but I can tell you something, dokja's sword is symbolism to the faith he is wielding. (CH386 vague spoilers) or the entirety of "the great war of saints and demons" being about the concept of good and evil fighting and how kimcom aren't just above being good and evil, they are both. By using story tropes that we are familiar with to explain the complexity of situations in a simple forms you no longer have to worry about losing you readers understandings through language barriers. Every story in the world in every language knows what good vs evil is, every language has the words to explain them. and therein lies the beauty of ORV. But of course this isn't to say translations don't matter, it does speak to the strength of an original texts clarity when it accounts for the big things by making them simplified, but when we get down to the nitty gritty it starts to lose form take for example

"Tell me, you fool. If I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?"

this person here has a great write up explaining the translators thoughts behind this specific line

but it has spawned a lot of debate in the English speaking fandom, as to the strength of its translation, I remember when I first saw someone claiming that its a mistranslation and "you fool" isn't part of the original, my first thought was "and so?" I do not mean to be dismissive to the original text, but I do not exist in a space where I can appreciate it in the original korean, I do not exist in a worldview where I can understand the historical implications of a lot of the characters, and even when I try to research it in English sadly the resources do not exist yet and its even more laughable to think of finding these things in Arabic. (Goryeos first sword doesn't have an English wikipedia page as a clear example) a lot of people have issues with the most popular English fantranslation of ORV - and I can understand why, being bilingual I have a lot of opinions on how a lot of things SHOULD be translated most of the time, and have done my own translation work but as I sit and think about this popular translation I cant help but just feel love for it, it might be lacking to some, it might be inaccurate at times to others, but its just enough for me to paint the gaps in the text with my perceptions, the words used are tied to my affections the Arabic translation of ORV is clunky, it is messy, it doesn't have as much grace as the English translation of ORV does, the words barely string together cohesively, but it has enough clarity, enough intent, and enough love for its readers, to catch their hearts, their attention and their energy

and so I want this to be the first post on this blog because, the author is dead here, not because I buried them, but because the tower of babel fell down a long time ago, and all we have is rubble and each other. a lot of the analysis on this blog will try to be respectful to the korean original wherever it can, however my words will be coming from an anglosphere perspective, and build on other English reader's perceptions of a text translation that a decent amount of people don't think is adequate, but just like ORV is kind to us, we can be kind back, I will quote the most popular version because its what connects us together, and while the authors intent might be lost, we can share our own meanings with each other, and build our own intent from the rubble.

[beanghostprincess]

I have a rant regarding Usopp in the live action, one thing I noticed (and infuriated me) is the many many new fans that inmediatly "clocked" Usopp as the Straight Character™ and are therefore like "well I don't care about straight characters, so im going to ignore him, teehee" and AHHHH FIRST OF ALL IF YOU KNEW THE BISEXUAL VIBES THIS MAN EXUDES, and I don't even want to blame the Kaya kiss because it was cute and they're lovely together 😭 (tho I also see the pattern of which Character the Fandom decides are Straight™ and therefore ignored...)

But I also feel like maybe the Live Action didnt really give Usopp enough moments to shine, here's hoping for more (San)Usopp moments in the second season, they really underuse him in the first one

Okay, first of all, if you think Usopp is straight you're definitely reading his character wrong because look at him. Just look at him.

Yeah, no. This guy doesn't care about gender in the slightest.

And people assuming a guy is straight because he,,, Has a girlfriend,,, Wow,,, A bisexual man who kisses a woman,,, Who would've thought that bisexual people could fall in love with anyone,,, As if that wasn't the literal fucking definition of bisexual. And you could also headcanon him as gay or any other sexuality! Why does he have to be the straight character for having a girlfriend in canon? You can do whatever the fuck you want with it. Fuck canon. People make my blood boil. Also, the whole "I don't care about straight characters" thing is something SO common and it makes me so angry because-- First of all, who said he's straight? He's a fictional character, do whatever the fuck you want with him. And second, it's alright to like specifically queer characters because they give you comfort and representation, but instantly ignoring a character just because they are not queer? Uh. Like, I understand, but it gives me the ick. It's just weird. Off-putting. Because there's a thin line between focusing on the characters you think are queer for comfort and reducing them only to their sexuality and ignoring everything that matters in the show. But you know? I don't think that's exactly the issue here and we both know what it is. Like. Between you and me, anon, we both know.

I am white by the way and I'm not used to analyzing black characters in terms of how the fandom views them and stuff, but isn't it quite curious how Usopp is always the ignored character from the East Blue Crew, and he's often used as a comedy relief in OPLA? "He has a girlfriend and he's straight so we don't care abou-" Sanji has flirted with Nami. Visibly. In front of your fucking screen. And you don't say that about him. Or any other character, really. That's just an excuse and we know and everyone knows and you don't have to analyze shit to know this because it's obvious. And if somebody comes at me saying "oh! But it's just because his personality is softer and he's a coward and most people hate that in shonens so he's a boring character" I am going to fucking combust because everyone knows that if Usopp were white EVERYBODY would be calling him a baby boy and a soft boy and a cutie pie and he'd be one of the favorites (cofcof Koby cofcof) (<- I love him too btw but you know what I mean).

That being said, OPLA doesn't even give Usopp enough screen time to be a character because his personality there is used to crack a few jokes and have THE romance in the show. That's it. He's the comedy relief character and the one who gets the girl because Netflix would cancel the show first before not doing any romance. God forbid people read between the lines, oh my God (<- I love Usokaya and everyone knows btw I am not complaining I cried when they kissed. I'm just saying that that's quite literally all he does. But Usokaya my beloved).

His OWN arc in OPLA is stolen by the screentime used for the Marines and Luffy is the one doing the work. They don't let Usopp follow through with what he actually does in the manga and it's very frustrating not being able to see him shine IN HIS OWN ARC. They barely give him any important scenes in comparison to the other characters. It's incredibly infuriating. See? I am now infuriated.

And now a lot of people watching OPLA have said they prefer OPLA Usopp rather than Manga!Anime!Usopp or that the live-action has made them like him better. I don't know what bothers me the most, really. People literally don't care about the characters, they just want them if they're hot. Which, by the way, it's insulting because if you don't find Manga!Anime!Usopp hot ?????? Please, go to the ophthalmologist because I think you need glasses.

I really hope we get more Usopp moments (hehe and Sanuso moments. My beloveds. They got their four cute short scenes in OPLA and I was the happiest person alive) next season because otherwise, I am going to fucking lose it.

[linkspooky]

Hi there!! I really enjoyed reading about how you approach writing and characterising characters like Nanako, Mimiko, Nobara or Gojo so I’ve been wondering how do you go about writing someone as angsty and downright violent yet soft and childish at times like Megumi? Boy really had a cursed life for someone named blessing… so I feel there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to his character. Do you have any headcanons for him or do you mostly base his characterisation on what we’ve been shown in the manga? And how difficult or maybe easy you find writing him?

Megumi's actually the most complicated and well-written character in the manga (this is the part where @theanimepsychologist appears to high five me) so it's understandable you might have trouble writing him.

You don't really need to fanonize Megumi, because everything you need about him is already there in the manga. He's a jungian character who literally uses his shadow as his weapon to attack people, so the story delves incredibly deep into his inner world probably moreso than Yuji the main character.

To begin with though, this is my favorite way to describe Megumi:

Fushiguro had intended to just pay and leave but with his serious personality, his idea of leaving was dismissed by Itadori’s reasoning. However, his eyes that were as deep as the night that peeped out from the bottom of a deep ditch became even more lifeless. Fushiguro tried once more to switch off his self-awareness. Numbness was the safety feature of life. If he did not think of a way to protect his spirit, it would not be strange if a curse was born.

"Numbness was the safety feature of life", every behavior Megumi exhibits is an attempt to suppress his emotions, to numb himself down and feel nothing.

This is what makes him a Jungian character. His primary personality trait isn't being grumpy, or serious, or anti-social, it's being avoidant. Which is why it's funny people often compare him to the other black haired rival characters in shonen jump, because he's nothing like Sasuke.

If you wanted a character to base your Megumi characterization on, the closest comparison is Killua. The abused child who ran away from a family of assassins, who thinks absolutely nothing of himself while describing his best friend in the gayest way possible as pure light. Killua's primary character trait is also avoidance. He doesn't really want to be a better person at the start of the story, he has no problems with killing people, he just wants to RUN AWAY. Which is also why he takes the one sibling he likes from the abusive household and kind of just leaves the rest of them behind like it's none of his business.

Megumi's primary character trait isn't anger, or violence, even if he's both of those things it's avoidance. He wants to avoid both the people in his life and his problems whenever possible until it's too late. He doesn't want to analyze himself or his own actions, which is why I made the banner image of this post Megumi straight up saying "I don't care if I'm right or wrong." This is how you get the contradiction that is Megumi, someone who self-righteously lectures Yuji in the first few chapters that he doesn't care if a prisoner died because they hit someone with their car by accident, then one hundred chapters later in the culling games blatantly says "I'll totally kill people to score points."

Megumi's simultaneously extremely strict and lawful, but also does not think those laws apply to himself because he doesn't want to think about himself. He has no image of himself. This is where you get to the childish aspects of his character. His second biggest character trait is that he's basically an eternal child. He can't handle any of his emotions in a mature way like an adult would so he just doesn't. The reason he hides all of his emotions in the dark and ignores them is because he doesn't have the tools to deal with them. His own feelings are the leaky roof that he can't afford to fix so he just has to pretend it's not there.

Megumi also isn't really trying to grow up or grow past his mistakes, because he is stuck in survival mode. Megumi's a child because he has no proper adult role models in his life. Yes, this is including Gojo. If you want a real life metaphor for the way Megumi behaves, he's like a foster kid passed from house to house until he's eighteen who never connected with any of his parents and was probably treated as a renter by them instead. Megumi himself in story is kind of treated like he's more mature than others too, just because he has a more serious personality, and has been forced to carry a lot of responsibility at a young age (by Gojo).

Which finally, you have to look at the two adults in Megumi's life who are responsible for a lot of his behaviors. Toji is someone who abandoned Megumi, and not only that he took the money he gained from his jobs, and selling Megumi and practically gambled it away and blew it on stupid shit. He failed in his responsibilities to Megumi every step of the way. Yet, there's a strong resemblance between father and son. Toji is the way he is because he was abandoned by his family his entire life and cast out, and wound up doing the same to Megumi. Toji also, seemed to use Megumi's mother as the only good thing / the only good influence on him and when she died he practically gave up. It's the same for Megumi, he basically used Tsukimi the same way as the person who inspired him to be good. Without Tsumiki, look at the despair that Megumi falls into and how he stops fighting Sukuna entirely.

Then you have Gojo, who let's just ignore the child soldier aspect of the way Gojo treats Megumi for now. I think the worst influence Gojo has on Megumi, is he expects Megumi to be exactly like him. Gojo and Megumi were both born with their clan's strongest technique, they're both natural geniuses who learn whatever they try to learn quickly. My friend Psycho had this to say about it.

Isn't it ironic how Gojo is the one telling Megumi he doesn't know how to bring out his best? Megumi is your class "I'm so naturally talented everything comes easy to me, but I don't know that I don't know this, so I don't try or strive hard for anything."

Gojo and Megumi are similiar in a lot of ways, but if Toji represents Megumi's violent side and the worst of his trauma, then Gojo is Megumi's avoidance. Gojo is also someone who doesn't want to form connections with people, who is stuck isolated in his own little world and never really changes or adapts to circumstances because he's always been perfect at what he does.

Gojo tried to raise Megumi into another Gojo, but failed because Megumi is different in ways that Gojo doesn't understand. Megumi doesn't really want to strive to be the best sorcerer in the way Gojo does, because Megumi was forced into it by circumstances. Gojo was like, Megumi if you don't come with me and do sorcery jobs for the school then your sister will be abused by the Zen'in. THis is totally a choice I'm giving you. Gojo doesn't understand why Megumi would have so many mental hurdles that would prevent him from reaching his full potential. And I think the biggest reason for this is because Gojo basically treated Megumi as a miniature adult from the day they met onwards, instead of treating him like a child. Gojo didn't have to raise Megumi, but the bare minimum he could have done is realized that Megumi is a child and not an adult and can't handle the responsibilities or an adult and doesn't have the emotions or maturity of an adult.

Gojo doesn't realize that however. He expects Megumi to deal with the crushing responsibility of being an adult, because that's how Gojo was raised and look at Gojo he's doing just fine he's the strongest.

So, like to cap this all off Megumi is a character with a pretty deep internal world made up of all the emotions he's repressing.

I'd say to other people he comes off as quiet and unpleasant. He also keeps interaction with others down to as minimum as possible. If he's interacting with strangers, he tends to be respectful, because he's projecting the personality of someone more mature than he really is. He's also the one who by default tries to act responsible and make the plans for other people even if he's the youngest one in the group. All of these things are because Megumi 1) feels a crushing responsibility to be the adult in these situations, and 2) also wants to avoid that responsibility hence his quiet and antisocial behavior as a default.

Megumi is also a male tsundere, which is how he deals with even the people who's closest to him. A lot of his dialogue in regards to Yuji is just some version of "Shut up, Baka" whereas with Nobara he tends to just kind of ignore her when she's being annoying and let her tire herself out.

Megumi also has incredibly low self esteem so when you're writing his internal dialogue, you should have him basically describe people like Yuji in the gayest terms possible much like Killua, while at the same time insulting and belittling himself. He props other people up to make himself look smaller in comparison.

Megumi's also in general pretty self-loathing. That's another reason why he represses himself so much, because he just sort of hates himself. He thinks he's a shitty brat who can't do anything right. When Megumi tends to pull more morally ambiguous things like advocating for murder, or getting too violent in a fight, he tends to justify it as "I'm not a good person like Tsumiki and Yuji so it's okay if I get my hands dirty". Which isn't a good excuse but it's very sad that a sixteen year old boy is unable to see the good in himself and is constantly comparing himself to others and finding them to be better.

Finally, Megumi's kind of like a parentalized child, at least in the fact he's been treated as a mini-adult by the biggest adult caretaker in his life and is expected to function like one. Therefore, Megumi has an image of himself that he's more mature than the people around him and knows better when he doesn't. He also doesn't really seem to grasp when he's being childish or angry or immature because he doesn't see himself that way, he's the adult, he'a always forced to be the adult.

Okay, I hope that helped you even a little bit Megumi is a pretty complex character to grasp, if you want even more inspiration then just read Hunter x Hunter.