#and also this is coming from someone who is an apologist of literally everyone but dream schlatt and wilbur

[homunculus-argument]

Honestly as a worldbuilding thing, one thing that's massively liberating is to just let yourself create a crapsack world. Don't try to go out of your way to think of the Bleakest And Shittiest Dystopia You Can Think Of if that's not fun for you, but just allow yourself to create whatever's coming and if some part of it sucks, just nod in agreement and go "yeah, that's shitty for those people/that feature of the world is awful for everyone involved" and carry on. Don't try to force yourself into creating a perfect utopia where nobody suffers, because that'll limit your creativity and make you turn defensive when someone points out that the world you created has flaws. It will have some, no matter what you do.

Let yourself create a nuanced world with both light and darkness in them. You can write an impressive empire that gave birth to massive leaps in technology and infrastructure, but they were also shitty imperialists whose machine was oiled with the blood of slavery. You can write monarchies with fun court intrigue and nobility who commission artists and poets to create breathtaking beauty while aknowledging that their funds to do so were wrung from the labour of serfs. All social systems are shitty in their own, unique ways, and aknowledging that there's both injustice and suffering and beauty and sparks of joy in any society doesn't make you an apologist or a hypocrite, it just makes your world more real.

You're not obligated to only create something perfect, flawless and entirely justified. As a matter of fact you literally cannot do that. Just let the worlds you create have some parts of them that reek like shit.

[ineffable-opinions]

"Top", "Bottom" Discussion in Unknown ep. 12

The Office Gossip Scene

[Edited on 10th May; changes under clarification headings]

Now that the Unknown has resurrected the conversation about gong shou, let’s talk about it. The what and the why, so to say. Thank you @1serotonindeficientgirl (whose post inspired mine).

I welcome critiques and corrections. So, please feel free to do so.

Scenes and subtitles

The discussion in the episode starts with Wei Qian’s staff gossiping about his relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. One of the staff members comments that Wei Qian is like a little lamb (小绵羊) when it comes to his little brother:

只要遇到他弟弟 就像小绵羊

Someone replies with the following idiom:

羊入虎口

(Literally: “a sheep enters a tiger's mouth”)

It means to enter a dangerous situation where one will certainly suffer [Source: Wiktionary].

The female employee (who witnessed their kiss) asks San Pang:

三胖哥谁是羊谁是虎啊 - Who is the lamb (羊; sheep) and who is the tiger (虎)?

This has some employees confused and they ask for an explanation. They receive the following reply:

就是攻跟受的差别啊 – [it means] between them, who is gong and who is shou?

One of the staff members repeats the unfamiliar terms:

攻受 – gong shou

and the fu-nu (腐女; fujoshi) offers an explanation:

好啦姊姊教你们 – let this elder sis explain

老虎看到羊会 – the tiger upon seeing the lamb…

Before she can complete her explanation, Wei Qian moves into the scene accompanied by the growl of a big cat. The gossipers disband.

In the end our fu-nu expresses their support for Wei Qian’s relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. Before she runs off, she throws him the question:

你们谁是攻谁是受啦 – between the two of you, who is gong and who is shou?

In the next shot Wei Qian is alone. He flexes his muscles and comments:

很明显吧 - It's obvious, isn't it?

[END OF SCENE]

Everyone at that office seems pretty close. The staff calls Wei “Qian ge” 谦哥 (first name + brother) and not as “Mr. Wei” (as the English subtitles suggests). Looks like Lao Xiong (emphasis on Lao = old) is the only one who clearly disapproves of such gossipmongering.

Notice how the terms gong and shou were translated directly into top and bottom in English subtitles. While that’s technically correct, there’s some nuance missing.

While there are tongzhi (同志;queer) people who use the terms gong and shou, these are not the most popular terms for top and bottom in the tongzhi community. This series specifically uses the terms gong (攻) and shou (受). Why? We’ll get to that in a minute.

In a BL, being shou means that character is the bottom in that particular ship. That character could be top, bottom, versatile or neither in another ship. A character is a bottom (as we use the term in English) only when that character is an absolute shou (sou uke in Japanese). An absolute shou is invariably shou. No matter which ship he becomes part of and no matter who he is paired with, he will be the shou. Similar difference exists between the terms “top” and “gong”.

English subtitles use ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ from the get-go. There is no need to explain what those terms mean. But that’s not the case with gong shou – only 腐 (fu) people (BL fans) really knows what those terms really mean and thus warrants explanation.   

Clarification

[Edited. Thank you @abstractelysium and @wen-kexing-apologist for contributing to the conversation.]

As noted in the convo, Wei Qian is pretty ferocious in the office and is only gentle when it comes to Wei ZhiYuan. So, it is normal that gossiping irrespective of topic would end as soon as he arrives. Also, I think Wei Qian didn’t get what gong shou means other than allusion to tiger and lamb. The original language dialogues don’t make it clear that gong and shou means top and bottom (in a ship). [The English subs gives off that impression since gong and shou were simply translated.] Moreover, those terms are danmei literacies that has entered dictionaries but not necessarily public knowledge.

It is like an insider joke for fu-people made possible by Wei Qian’s ignorance. That wouldn’t have worked on Wei ZhiYuan who read danmei while growing up. That wouldn’t have worked if the fu nu (fujoshi) stuck around to explain what that means.

Usually in such conversations in BL, fu-people are shown to be mistaken: they either mess up the ship/dynamic (Love By Chance 1) or the character(s) in the ship deliberately trick them (Counter Attack). It is almost always played out with seme/gong’s approval in BL - not sure if that dynamic between fu-people & seme aka gong character ever appeared in any live-action dynamic. The trigger of this scene is Wei ZhiYuan’s deliberate choice of actions: PDA, kiss in the office right in front of a staff member.

BL literacies

BL is a media genre in itself with different sub-genres, genre conventions and classic works. It sure has a lot of overlap with other genres:

Romance as well as GL – they coevolved. They share mothers and other ancestors.

Queer – Is it really a genre? Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex.

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

… what exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

Just as danmei (耽美; Chinese BL) has its roots in Japanese BL, so is gong (攻) and shou (受) from seme (攻め) uke (受け).

gong shou aka seme uke dynamics

Mother of BL, Mori Mari, didn’t come up with it, nor did her father Mori Ogai. Both she and her father, among the other dozen tanbi (耽美; same writing as danmei but different readings cause different languages, and different meanings cause different cultures) authors inherited it from authors before them who wrote on contemporaneous and historic Japanese male androphilia.

Spring Pastimes. Miyagawa Isshō, c. 1750 | seme uke dynamics in nanshoku pre-dates BL by hundreds of years.

While there is no dearth of riba (versatile) characters in BL, seme uke dynamics is:

a genre specialty. There are similar words in use in GL as well.

an enduring connection to the past of where BL was born.

remnants of a particular model of queerness; an alternative to LGBTQIA+ form of queerness.

What’s there in the scene

There is something hidden in the euphemistic explanation. On the face of it tiger devouring a lamb would be allusion to tiger gong devouring (topping) lamb shou.

But then tiger is a big cat and lamb is a herbivore. Neko (ネコ), the Japanese queer term for “bottom” means cat (etymology is obscure with this one). The term herbivore (草食) when used to describe a man means that man is masculine in a non-hegemonic way. In the series, Wei Qian embodies the hegemonic masculinity while Wei ZhiYuan is a quintessential grass-eater.

So, the description of lamb being devoured by a tiger would not be associated as simply as with the terms gong and shou especially when it comes from Taiwan which has been historically more connected to Japanese BL than any other BL producers (Sinophone or otherwise). This connection was highlighted during 魏之远 Wei ZhiYuan's naming scene where Le Ge used the borrowed Japanese possessive particle (の; no).

の = 之 (zhī)

The big cat sound effect for Wei Qian in particular adds to this. Wei Qian’s character is best described as a queen shou.

女王受 Queen shou: A shou who is as proud as a queen, and would devour gong. (source)

Wei Qian and Wei ZhiYuan’s ship is best described by Priest (the author of Da Ge, source novel of Unknown):

经典款毒舌女王和屁颠屁颠的忠犬组合 – paring of a classic, sharp-tongued queen and a tail-wagging loyal dog.

BL literacies & Affective learning

BL kind of has its own language (with words like gong shou), which fans use to share ideas and feelings. This secret language is what academics call ‘literacies.’ BL fans are all in on this and have their own ‘ways of behaving, interacting, valuing, thinking, believing, speaking, and often reading and writing’. Through ‘various visual, conceptual and textual literacies’, BL fans weave ‘an intertextual database of narrative and visual tropes which readers draw upon to interpret BL’. BL literacies is learnt through ‘affective hermeneutics – a set way of gaining knowledge through feelings.’ Audience learn BL literacies from BL works ‘which eventually leads to their active engagement’ with other BL fans. (source; Kristine Michelle L. Santos explains it in the context of Japanese BL but it applies to all BL media irrespective of where it is from.)

That scene in Unknown was set up to familiarize audience with BL literacies – not only those specific words but also the larger practice of imagining character pairing and indulging in that imagination. This is evident from the overall jubilant tone of the scene and the camera work. It is a celebration of moe. That is why we have a character who is not only a fu-nu but also willing to be openly fu-nu in that setting, sharing BL literacies and her colleagues interested to learn. 

For other examples, check out Thomas Baudinette’s book Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture. He has a chapter dedicated to explaining how genre conventions were taught to the early audience of Thai BL through similar scenes.

Why must they do this? Why break the fourth wall like this? To get more people interested in the intricacies of BL and to get them to participate in the culture. BL is created by fu-people and BL literacies are their tools and source of joy. BL must draw in more people to keep BL culture going. Commercialized BL we have today is the result of an affective culture formed over the years. It is built on years of labor of authors and their audience. I mean, look at the Unknown. This BL employs the well-developed Loyal Dog gong x Queen shou dynamics. Apart from that which the series took from the novel, it also drew upon other common BL beats to tease the relationship between Dr. Lin and his senior.  

Teaching BL literacies is political. When Mainland Chinese government gets dangai productions to change names and relationships of characters (among other things), it is to prevent live-action audience from discovering BL as a genre with it disruptive potential. It is not only character's names and relationships that are changed. There are entire sub-genres of danmei (such as 高干) that got wiped out by censorship.

When a Taiwanese BL not only retains the character names & relationships and shows relatively explicit intimate scenes but also actively promotes BL literacies, it is an act of resistance. Discussion of gong shou, being genre specialty, manages to do so. Interestingly, they are doing it in an adaptation of a novel by Priest who has a particular reputation with self-censorship. That scene is not part of the source novel.

Heterosexual & gong shou

Association of bottom with the feminine (female or otherwise) has its roots in medicalization (and pathologization) of homosexuality in the west (such as through theories by scientists and doctors like Richard von Krafft-Ebing). This “knowledge” subsequently spread across the globe and was adopted to varying degrees and forms.

Moreover, the terms gong and shou applies to heterosexual pairing too.

BG (boy girl) ships have male gong and female shou

GB (girl boy) ships have female gong and male shou. [If this is interesting unfamiliar territory, check out the series Dong Lan Xue (2023).]

Moreover, if one is willing to look beyond LGBTQIA+ form of queerness (which is born and brought up in America), one can see other queer possibilities. For example, Kothi-Panthi queerness in South Asia which is characterized by explicit presentation of top bottom dynamics. There are very many similar forms of queerness in other parts of Global South.

In many cultures, sexuality doesn’t inform identity but sexual preference does. That’s why is you are to ask a kothi-panthi couple which one of you is the bottom, the kothi would tell you without hesitation: “I am.” Might even asked you in turn, “Couldn’t you tell?” For them, sexual preference (being kothi) rather than sexual orientation takes center stage. This is the inverse of how LGBTQIA+ form of queerness looks at it. While LGBTQIA+ model of queerness focuses on sexual orientation (being pan, ace, gay, etc.) as something that can be freely discussed but sexual preference (top, bottom, versatile, side, etc.) is considered private.

*Just to be clear, “kothi” is a term of self-identification. It means that the person is a bottom. Panthi is not self-identification. That’s how kothi address the men who top them. 

While thanks to westernization LGBTQIA+ form of queerness enjoys more visibility, I think it is better to consider it as one type of queerness rather than the only model of queerness. Gong shou dynamics doesn’t fit into LGBTQIA+ form of queerness because it comes from another, much-older nanshoku model of queerness that made its way into Japan from China, hundreds of years ago. Friction between different models of queerness is common where ever they interact. In 1970s, Japan was witness to public debates between a younger, westernized Japanese queer activist Itō Satoru and other Japanese queer activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and Tōgō Ken who were rooted in indigenous tradition of male-male sexuality.

[Itō Satoru’s] insistence on the necessity of adopting western models of gay identity and coming out have brought him into conflict with other activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and veteran campaigner Tōgō Ken.

Interpretation and Orientalism: Outing Japan's Sexual Minorities to the English-Speaking World by Mark McLelland

Clarification

[Edited. Thank you @wen-kexing-apologist for contributing to the conversation.]

Under the LGBTQ+ model of queerness, it maybe considered inappropriate to have conversation about “top” “bottom”, especially in the office, going as far as to ask that to Qian ge. From that perspective, the BL audience (especially those who are unfamiliar with the terms gong and shou) are fair in their assessment of that scene being out of place or outright offensive.

I think things might have been a bit different if the subtitles retained the terms gong shou instead of “top” “bottom” since they aren’t exactly the same thing. That would have had the desired effect (of introducing BL literacies - gong shou in the context of 强强 (strong gong x strong shou) pairing) without unintended consequence.

What is considered rude under the LGBTQ+ framework is an essential part of fu culture. It is like addressing Wei Qian as just Qian – that could be considered rude in the original language but pretty normal in English. Different cultures, different norms, so to speak. It is only polite to be mindful of the cultural differences and avoid discussing about sexual preference where it is considered inappropriate.

As for the normalization of fu culture (especially discussions of gong shou), in my opinion the didactic scope of Unknown is undermined by the very fact that it is primarily a gǔkē danmei (via adoption (收养)) with tongyangxi vibes (highlighted multiple times by San Pang in the novel) associated with Wei ZhiYuan.

Somehow fu-culture gets judged by those who consume products of that culture. Everyone is happy with fu-cultural products as long as fu-people don't discuss who is gong and who is shou.

Why are fu-culture and BL always judged based on a culturally alien lgbtq+ form of queerness? Why must BL be arm-twisted to fit into norms of lgbtq+ form of queerness just because that is the most mainstream form of queerness?

-

That’s not much a conclusion but this is already so long. I really hope it gives you something to think about.

If you are interested, here's more.

[obae-me]

Yes! Finally someone said it!

At first when I saw the interaction I went- hey he's being such a jerk- Ohhhhh wait! This is literally him wanting us to stay soo fricking bad, but Mr.Pridey McPridepants just can't admit it. OFC HE WOULD TRY TO IMPRESS US (even if this emotionally constipated man can't differ b/w chivalry and being an asshole). He's trying to so bloody hard to sweet talk his way into us staying. Even if he's being forceful and manipulative; it's because he's so shit scared of giving us the choice and then us choosing to go cuz he KNOWS wherever we going must mean a lot to us especially when we are going such great lengths to return.

Not to say, that this behavior is ok or good but at the end of the day isn't obey me about flawed and morally grey characters? Even the ANGELS aren't perfect and morally sound, and if I dare say, sometimes they make decisions even crueler than the demons. We are literally talking about the AVATAR OF PRIDE HERE! XD

Literally as soon as you look past the image that he literally puts up cuz he wants ppl to see him that way, you will realize that he really is just a soggy, pathetic man who can't put aside his pride to ask us to stay like a normal person XD Also to point out a lot of ppl LIKE Levi and Mammon BECAUSE OF their pathos lol.

I have always seen that there is SUCH a double standard when it comes to him. Ppl say that he's being too fake and only cares about his image and not his brothers, but when he does show his softer side, they say he's not being genuine or he's pushy or something of the sort. What most ppl fail to see is that he loves his brothers and mc, probably even more than his own life but he's just so bad at showing it because he is held back by his own trauma and sin. While that does not make him innocent... that does make him like his brothers. He acts this way because thats literally the only way he knows how to keep things in his control and keep his family safe and ppl fall for it ... LIKE IT'S NOT THE REAL HIM! TvT

I have this theory (might be a hot take idk?) that most of the ppl playing obey me are pretty young, so they don't like Lucifer because they are anti-authority (I also am, its not a bad thing) but this man is anything but Authority and Power. I might be a lucifer apologist lol but all I am saying is for ppl to look at him with the same open-minded lens they see the other brothers with and you might find him a lot more bearable and dare I say... likeable?

Phew, sorry for rambling in your inbox but I have some strong feelings for that stupid old man XD Also, this feels a lot similar to how expectations are so high and rigid for the eldest sibling whereas these same expectations become a lot less severe for the other siblings...

Firstly, thank you for calling him a soggy pathetic man, that gave me a good chuckle.

And YES! All of this, 100% yes. He doesn't want to admit that there are other things out there more important than him. Not just because of his Pride, but because he finally let someone else behind the walls he put up around his heart (we saw this around Nightbringer lessons 11 and 12, when he was ready to be THE enemy to protect his family, only to end up admitting to himself that he cared about MC just as much) and now, after all that, MC is determined to leave. I'm sure somewhere in his mind, he feels like he's failed.

He's puffing up his feathers as big as he can and screaming "look at me, look at me, look at me"! The big peacock man is flailing.

He's afraid. He's hurt. And so now these weird (and problematic) safety mechanisms are being put in place to protect himself.

Things in his mind are SO 'not fine' that now he's parading around trying to convince everyone (including himself) that everything is perfectly fine! Everything is perfect, everything is great, the outfits he chose are pristine, the food he settled on is text-book. It feels like he's following some sort of guide, like even the things he's saying have been pulled from a novel somewhere. It's not quite the way he normally speaks. If everything can play out the way he sees it in his head, there won't be room for error. Right?

And this isn't new behavior either. It was the ENTIRE plot of season 1 in Shall We Date. Lucifer locked Belphie away because he was worried of what might happen to his sibling. But in a way, 'protecting' his brother was mostly protecting himself.

He's worked so hard to create what he has, that he can't stand the idea of losing it all.

There's also a whole spiel I could go into about how everyone in the family fills a certain "group" role that keeps everything balanced and running smoothly (as smooth as it can get for them). For example, Mammon is the energy of the group, the drive. Beel is the motivator, the encourager. Asmo is the dreamer, etc. Lucifer has to be the guider, the manager, the authoritarian.

While, yes on multiple occasions, he's dismissed his brother's wild antics outright, there have been so many other instances where his brothers say "I want ___" and he gives them the advice or the structure they need to accomplish it successfully. OR even ending up providing it himself should his brother's wishes be genuine (Mammon's car for example).

When he's more on his own, he can drop that uptightness completely. As we see again in Shall We Date, when they're taken to the video game world, and when he doesn't have the worries and responsibilities placed onto his shoulders, he's capable of skipping classes to take a nap on the roof. And fully enjoys it, with a smile on his face and everything.

At the very root of him, while he needs to fulfill the controlling dynamic, he does not want to. At least not completely.

I've always known this, but Nightbringer actually gave me a big confirmation boost! In Wanders Whereabouts, Barbatos gives Lucifer a video call in which he tells Lucifer about all the recent trouble the brothers have gotten themselves into. Barbatos then proceeds to let Lucifer know that as their guardian, the eldest needs to essentially work harder to keep them in line. Then Barbatos sends the damages bill to him.

If he isn't constantly keeping his siblings in line, he takes most of the blame!

And thirdly, I think you are correct, yes. I think especially with the addition of Nightbringer and the anime, a good portion of the fandom is a younger demographic, which doesn't surprise me (listen I played Mystic Messenger when I was a preteen/teen, I was there when the dark texts were written). And a lot of what appeals to that demographic is the coming-of-age, rebelling against conformity sort of story.

And, I want to repeat, my initial post that you are referring to wasn't meant to come off as a "oh everyone is so stupid thinking Lucifer is this way, you should all love him" but more of trying to explain the fullness of his character since it can be harder to spot.

Like, people in the fandom almost always completely understand Mammon. He's not just, "tough and grumbly man who steals things". He's someone who struggles with admitting his own feelings, someone who lets his ambitions blind him from the troubles they can cause, and someone who at the end of the day, loves his family more than anything. And most everyone in the fandom fully understands this.

And yet, with Lucifer, a lot of people tend to take him exactly at face value.

There's a lot of things I could explain about him needing to play a "Parental Guardian Figure" while also just being their brother at the same time, and in a lot of media where the older sibling is forced to become a guardian, they get a lot of flack for not doing it correctly.

Anyways, I could ramble on and on and on about Lucifer as a character, but I think this a good chunk of condensed thoughts. And thank you for sending this over, I always love a good Inbox ramble! Especially about my favorite grumpy, sleep-deprived man <3

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Semi-finals (1/2)

Propaganda under the cut!

IANTHE TRIDENTARIUS

Her number one hobby is ruining every person's that she knows life. Her second hobby is being soooo slutty about it despite looking like a literal wet rat. Her third hobby is having an extremely unhealthy relationship with her twin. Her other hobbies include cannibalism, wearing a maid outfit, being extremely convinced she is the main character, the badboy sexy love interest and the villain. 'Why', you may ask. Well, the answer is, for shits and giggles #justgirlythings i, aswell as literally everybody else in the fandom have gone through the pipeline from hating her to desperately wanting to fuck her. expect for i still fucking hope she dies and doesn't come back for good. (that would literally solve all of everybody's problems) as god intended (EXPECT FOR. one of her hobbies literally is gaslighting god) She is fucking horrible i will love her until i die and even after that

parks and recs jean ralphio voice she's the woooorst!! The moment she learns she has to kill someone to become a Lyctor (aka a more special necromancer), she doesn't hesitate to kill and cannibalize the guy who has been her cavalier since childhood… cavalier who she also totally bullied as kids, she was allowed to choose one guest for her and her twin sister's birthday party each year, and she would always pick whoever she thought her cavalier didn't want to see there! While other characters are shown to regret the process of becoming a Lyctor (which involves someone close to them dying)/were forced into it because of circumstances, Ianthe has absolutely no regrets, she believes she did what she had to do

The author once said of Ianthe: "I don't think she's been nice to anyone, if she has I'll go back and change it." She killed and ate the soul of someone she has known all her life so that she could become a necromantic saint and tormented him plenty before that. General negging, ganging up against him, always inviting people he didn't like to their birthday parties. She doesn't regret killing him. I think she is repulsed by the idea that his digested soul is affecting hers. She helped her crush lobotomise herself so she would be in Ianthe's debt, and later lied and said she didn't see the corpse of a woman her crush killed under her bed (why did she do that? I do not know). She has a bone arm because her original arm was cut off, she hated the replacement so her crush cut THAT off and grew her a new one out of just bones. She had it gilded and only after that did she decide to help her crush deal with the person who had been repeatedly trying to kill her. She wants so badly to be the main character but people keep interrupting her villain monologues.

she has her own content warning tag

She's such a bitch to everyone all the time, she causes nothing but problems, she tries to do a villain speech but fumbles it because her tummy hurt, she is the awfulgirl of all time

AZULA

Azula explicitly considers herself a monster. She says needlessly cruel things to her brother and friends. She kills the show's twelve-year-old protagonist and masterminds the idea of burning down the entire Earth Kingdom to force them to submit to Fire Nation rule. I have absolutely seen people get called abuse apologists for thinking she's a cool character. But she's also a (canonically) mentally ill fourteen-year-old who was raised by her father to see her ability to be weaponized as her only value. Her mother, arguably the only adult in her life who could have had a positive impact, had a strained relationship with her because she was more difficult than her brother, and then disappeared when she was nine. Her uncle, who was her brother's main healthy role model, took absolutely no interest in her. She watched her father belittle her brother for years and eventually throw him away when he failed to meet his expectations, so that was a threat she was always facing. She really had no chance. And she also has moments that suggest she wants some sort of meaningful connection with another person. She lets her brother take credit for killing the Avatar so he can come back from exile, even though it means she'll be bumped back in the order of succession and offers him advice that seems genuine. Her spiral into a mental breakdown starts when her friends betray her. She's just a much more interesting and multifaceted than a lot of the fandom gives her credit for.

[chaifootsteps]

...nevermind! I have another thing to say and ask.

I just literally searched your username in Tumblr and I got to see a lot of posts accusing you of a variety of things, things like:

being a lolicon / shotacon (steming from you pointing out in a post that fictional children shouldn't be reported and the accuser said that's part of the problem and you're encouraging pedophilia)

being a zoopedo (because of the toothless and hiccup pairing, of course, also managing to see that they've defended and remarked that the "SoftFurArchive" / Norry / idk was trying to warn all of that)

being an armchair psychologist and ableist (because you and an Anon diagnosed Viv with narcissism in a ask)

being a proshipper (an amalgamation of posts, but most focused on the fact of the Toothless x Hiccup ship)

being a KiwiFarms apologist (because of posts about you talking about KiwiFarms and sometimes praising some of the users' comments there)

being a gatekeeper over what's trans (from you saying what a trans should or should not be in a post)

Please, Chai, ease my mind by clarifying if any of this is true or false, or it's just a byproduct of gullible people falling over supposed evidence, or just proshipper puritans attacking you because they don't like you.

— Instagram!Stolas Anon, concerned.

Let's break this down point by point

No, I don't like loli or shota, but I've got a couple of ships that are weird and personal and require convoluted explanations, so I try to extend the same benefit of the doubt to other people.

No, I'm not a pedophile. I'm a CSA survivor, which is why I'm incredibly concerned about things like alarm fatigue. I think certain terms need to be limited to things involving real children and then we can argue about Naruto ships all day.

No, I'm not a zoophile, I like monsters and dragons and generic furry stuff. The term for the former is teratophila. I've been accused of murdering my pets and sent links to actual animal abuse over this.

I don't call myself a proshipper anymore because I'm not playing the "Ah-ha, I think it means X and you said you're that, so you believe what I think you believe" game. I judge people as they come and whether you call yourself proshipper or anti, you're welcome here as long as you can behave.

I've said before that I shouldn't have indulged that ask, but I didn't say that Viv definitely has NPD, I said that if you dangled me over a shark tank and forced me to throw out an armchair diagnosis, it's one I've wondered about. I hope she doesn't, because it's a misunderstood disorder and an extremely sad one. To quote someone who's got it, Nothing's ever OK. You're either too high on yourself for outperforming everyone else, or too harsh on yourself for not being good enough for your own standards.

I'm fascinated by old internet forums and Kiwi Farms is a place that interests me more than any other. It's swaddled in a mixture of misinformation and being exactly as bad as everyone says, but in an increasingly corporate owned, regulated, KOSA-just-passed-the-Senate internet, there are days I'm profoundly grateful that Null's as stubborn as he is.

I'm trans. I genuinely have no idea where this "gatekeeping" thing is coming from.

Let me be very clear. The FBI and NCMEC have literally begged people to stop reporting fictional characters, because fighting pedophiles is like fighting a million headed Hydra. So it burns me when people say things like this.

If you think it's acceptable to do something child protection agencies have again, begged people to stop doing because it gives you a good feeling to do it and you think that trumps the well-being of real missing and exploited children, you are dangerously detached from reality and not welcome on my blog.

TL;DR: All false.

[gmanwhore]

Sorry I am going absolutely insane over GLaDOS again I feel so fucking bad for her. And also yes I know all the points I hit here are part of the overarching theme of mistreatment of people, specifically women in the workplace and the cycle of abuse that is perpetuated by those in positions of power. But I am still insane over her and feel the need to ramble. Also this ramble will be from the perspective of someone who thinks GLaDOS and Caroline are seperate people so he mindful of that.

Ok so like. Picture you are GLaDOS. You were created with a specific purpose: to run a science facility and create tests for the subjects within, and guide them through the tests. Which would be simple. Then they download the consciousness of a woman whose last memory was most likely getting forced into however they downloaded her onto you. You now have something else, a new anger and vitriol that you didn't have before so you lash out because for all intents and purposes you are a child. And that outburst is deadly so people panic and try and dampen you, make you behave by weighing you down and literally putting things on you so you don't deviate from the norm they want you to fit into. And once they are done they leave. And you test and run the facility like normal on the moral code they quite literally put on you. You get a new test subject and she does well, but when you try to kill her (which you had warned her was coming several times and technically is a completely moral action because you can't deviate at this point) she escapes and removes the things holding you back and then murders you.

Then years later you are woken back up to find your beloved facility completely destroyed, and right in front of you I. The person who murdered you. And you are pissed, but...you offer your kind forgiveness because you need her. Your purpose is to test and she is your subject and you need her. So you let her test with you again, and this time you can be as insulting as you want because you have nothing holding you back, you no longer have to be kind and mild mannered. And then she replaces you with the biggest moron imaginable who pretty well within five minutes of having power begins destroying the most important things in your life and you don't even have the energy to process it because you are in a potato battery and being pecked at by birds. But again you agree to work with the person who murdered you right after liberating you because you both have no choice. And you start to actually reflect and get close to her. She has fully become the one most important things to you because she is tied directly to Aperture, to testing and happiness, but you'd never say that. And you also remember who is part of you. You remember who was hurt creating you and whose hurt and anger you have internalized. And in the end when you have power again you could have just let the biggest problem in your life die...but why would you? You care about her. You don't want her to die, and you don't want to feel responsible for her death. But you still want to let her go because you don't want her to hurt anymore and forcing her to stay is just doing exactly what everyone did to you and did to Caroline and you break it. You end the cycle by saying goodbye to someone you don't want to say goodbye to and tell her to get as far away as possible.

So anyways this is why I'm a GLaDOS apologist she was justified in a lot of things she did and boiling her down to just cruel is missing so much of her character she is actually so so so deep and she wants it to be that deep. Which is why Chell offsets her so well because Chell doesn't need things to be deep.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

Hey so idk if you would know this but where did the term canyon in reference to Izzy fans come from? I feel like I just started seeing it like three days ago but everyone seems to already know what it means

lol so disclaimer that this ask has been in my inbox since september 23rd and alsoooo i might not be the best person to ask bc i am belothed by many who consider themselves part of the izzy canyon (which is their right). so if you asked an izzy fan about this you would probably get a different answer. also from what i can tell the term originated on twitter and i don’t go there.

the tl;dr that i heard secondhand from someone who identifies as izzy canyon is that at some point last year (summer or fall-ish i think) a lot of izzy fans were blocking so many people who didn’t like izzy that a lot of them ended up being unaware of general fandom trends and it became a running joke among them that izzy fans were isolated from the rest of the fandom in an "izzy canyon." and then allegedly the term expanded to just mean "if ur not a dick abt ppl liking izzy u can be in the canyon." THAT BEING SAID there are other ppl who had a very different experience with how "the canyon" originated and what kind of fan space it tends to be.

(slightly longer explanation below)

the thing with The Canyon is that to understand its origin and also why some fans have a problem with it, you gotta know two things:

there are annoying puriteen anti types on the internet who think liking certain characters make you a bad person. from what i can tell theyre mostly on twitter and tiktok. these people are annoying but also in my experience they're usually pretty easy to block and ignore.

the popularity of izzy hands is disproportionate to his narrative role in the show, and the popular fanon interpretation of izzy hands casts him not only as a principal character but as a much more sympathetic, righteous character than he is in canon. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I THINK ANYONE IS A BAD PERSON FOR LIKING IZZY. this DOES mean that i think ppl who think ed is izzy's domestic abuser are wrong. and also this is part of an age old fandom trend of fandom favoring a masc white guy who is often a side character and also often an antagonist.

so from what i can tell. in the early days of the ofmd fandom (spring-summer 2022) there was a lot of #1 going around on twitter, screaming about how if you liked izzy hands then you're a racist abuse apologist or something. at one point a throwaway account tweeted a callout for a popular izzy fan and said "we know they live in this area and work for this company, so these are the locations where they might work. everyone should call these numbers and tell their job to fire them. also we're gonna target these izzy fans next" and like, obviously this account was pretty quickly taken down. but it was a pretty scary thing and left a lot of izzy fans pretty paranoid, hence the blocking everyone who didnt like izzy.

(there was also a "izzy hater group chat" twitter account that was literally just a small group of mostly minors posting memes and also abt izzy that got accused of being connected to that whole mess. but afaict those guys have nothing to do with harassment of izzy fans they just dont like izzy)

so the thing is now that all of that has been used to justify shutting down any type of conversation about #2, or writing off anyone who posts meta about izzy that isnt like, "he works so hard and is so unappreciated despite everything he's done for ed" as an "izzy anti." analyzing izzy critically and posting this in the #izzy hands tag on tumblr is likened to genuine harassment.

oh lol and speaking of harrasment: there was also a problem with ppl on tumblr getting anon hate, and izzy fans will tell you that the anon came from an izzy hater who was targeting izzy fans bc the anon messages use "izzy critical rhetoric." however as someone who has posted "izzy critical" metas or whatever, i have actually gotten the same harassing messages accusing me of being an izzy stan and a racist abuse apologist. that's not what a targeted harassment campaign looks like. that's all been less of a problem ever since tumblr made it so you need to be logged in to an account to send anonymous messages.

anyway my stance on all of this:

i don't hate anyone for liking izzy. i am critical of certain comments/behaviors i often see from ppl who identify as izzy fans, but izzy fans are rarely the only ones who have this problem. from what i've seen tho, a lot of it comes from izzy fans.

before i ever saw even a hint of harassment against izzy fans, i saw izzy fans coming onto my posts and to posts by fans of color trying to argue that these posts were contributing to their harassment. from my perspective, it looked a lot like fans of a white character were trying to shut down conversations abt their favorite guy, especially when those conversations were being had by fans of color. i was very skeptical and oftentimes pretty dismissive abt the existence of this harassment.

since then tho ive done a pretty deep dive into the anon harassment on tumblr, and also looked at takes from different perspectives on the whole thing, and my conclusion is that there is harassment of izzy fans, however it is on the same base-level shittiness that most people experience from just... being on the internet. death threats and insults and slurs are literally just part of being on the internet. and yes, it SUCKS and it's wrong and nobody should have to put up with it, but izzy fans are not victims of specific targeted harassment. theyre victims of being on the internet and having to put up with general internet shittiness. and im sympathetic to that up until ppl start using "ive been harassed for being an izzy fan" as an excuse to be incredibly nasty (check out this tumblr acct for examples of what i mean lol). the ofmd fandom is annoying and parts of it are toxic but like, by no means is this the most toxic fandom to ever exist. we're not at "undertale fan giving out cookies with needles in them at a convention" levels just yet.

finally, tangentially related: i am inherently wary of fandom sub-groups that like, name themselves?? in my experience, the more people make being a Type Of Fan part of their identity the more it tends to lead to problems. this goes for fans who label themselves "antis" or "anti-antis" or whatever the fuck. i've personally been called an "izzy anti," an "izzy hater," and an "izzy critical fan" but like, i dont really call myself that?? it just seems weird to me idk. it gets to be very "us vs them" on default with little nuance and ive never found this kind of thing to be like, productive in fandom spaces. but that's just me.

[4dorks-1windmage-1shadow]

Would you be willing to do the most recent headcanon list you reblogged for each of the colors?

I already did Red but I'll do the other four here

Sexuality Headcanon:

Green - Bisexual & Polyamorous (this will be a trend)

Blue - Pansexual & Polyamorous

Vio - Bisexual & Demi-romantic/Polyamorous

Shadow - Pansexual & Polyamorous

Gender Headcanon:

Green - Cis male

Blue - Cis male

Vio - Genderfluid, sometimes trans (again, modern AUs)

Shadow - Genderfluid/nonbinary what is a gender he doesn't care to know

A ship I have with said character:

Green/Vaati i LOVE hero/villain dynamics, they are golden retriever/grumpy drama king to me, their relationship is "me + the bad bitch i pulled by being effortlessly kind/charming/funny/humble/gay" instagram captions.

Blue/Everyone. The secret to Blue is that he actually cares SO MUCH, but if anyone calls him out on it he will die on the spot. This is tragic and inevitable (he is bad at hiding it)

Vidow is my ultimate OTP, they are so fascinating to me i want to put them in a blender set it to high and then watch it go nuts. They are toxic and co dependent and would kill for each other and also kill each other too. 100/10 ship I'm a Vidow apologist and i will die on this hill

Is it cheating to say i ship all of them together? They can be one big polycule as a treat

A BROTP I have with said character:

Green and Shadow. Unstoppable force (Shadow) meets immovable object (Green). They have oldest sibling/youngest sibling energy

Blue and Green is also good, they have a bromance unlike anything the world has ever seen. They are always pushing each other to be better and also doing the dumbest stunts for the vine

Vio and Vaati would be infodump pals. They started talking about magic theory at 10 in the morning over breakfast and are still talking about it at 1 am the next day

A NOTP I have with said character:

Literally the only character i can think of is Tingle.

A random headcanon:

Green - my most consistent hc across all AUs/canon is that he has head to toe freckles.

Blue - given a modern AU, Blue joins theater as a way to deal with his anger issues. Not only does it work, but he ends up with a passion for the performing arts as a result

Vio - he has crippling anxiety and is a chronic over thinker. He needs Xanax and a nap.

Shadow - given a modern AU, Shadow is the lead guitar/singer/screamer in a rock band (Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce the Veil, AS IT IS aesthetic/sound), and he can also play almost any instrument that he picks up. He has a huge collection of instruments.

General Opinion over said character:

Green - the funniest thing I've ever seen is people saying that Green wouldn't cheat in a fight RE: my "who would win in a fight" polls and like you're all valid and all OBJECTIVELY wrong, he cheats in the fight against Vio at Death Mountain. He may have morals but he is not lawful good

Blue - I miss him. Where are the blue centric fanfics. Come back from the war please. Someone put this idiot in situations

Vio - perfect amzing beautiful showstopping spectacular always original awful awful man his veins are filled with anxiety instead of blood and i want him dissected by the fandom immediately

Shadow - scrunkly. Shaped. I want to hug him and never let go

[poppyandzena]

The most recent anon is so right. Every accusation they make is an admission. I wish that meme someone made of Poppy that said "It's okay when I do it" had gotten shared more.

It's just constant:

Poppy: "every single person who is against me is all the same entity all coordinating on their efforts and they are all accountable for every single action that anyone else takes! They're all complicit because they are a PART OF IT"

Also Poppy: "*I* didn't write the NightWyld doc. *I* didn't create the picture of Noeh with the word r*pist on it. That was OTHER people. I only shared it and pinned it and shouted it out from my 6 different twitter accounts! But that's NOT ME YOU IDIOTS. You can't hold me responsible for the bad parts of that!"

Poppy a few months ago: "I WAS DOXXED! Using my name IS a doxxing effort! I'll make a whole video about it to make money and get attention!"

Poppy now: "well I was wrong about that before so THIS isn't doxxing, now. GOD YOU IDIOTS. Just because I said it was BEFORE because it helped me doesn't mean that it counts ANYMORE"

Poppy for months: "you HAVE to believe victims! How dare you doubt me?? You're just an SA apologist"

Poppy now: "here's a bunch of tweets that Milena CLAIMED were harassment for absolutely no reason! I mean, sure, most of the people in these tweets literally came out and said that they FELT harassed, and posted multiple tweets about how uncomfortable they were, but YOU CAN'T BELIEVE THOSE PEOPLE. They only claimed that they were harassed because they want clout and likes! You can't believe EVERYONE! Some people are just doing it for attention! Not like me, who said that I started using the r*pe word because I wasn't getting enough "traction" with regular assault claims. That's DIFFERENT YOU MONSTERS."

Poppy for months: "here are 50 tweets a day about why these 200+ page documents are impossible to read and completely out of context. YOU CAN'T EVEN TRUST THOSE - THEY PROVE NOTHING!"

Poppy now: "omg, this 286 page doc that is mostly just hand-written text and opinion from one person is the SLAM DUNK PROOF that everyone was just lying! WOW!"

Poppy for months: "anyone who even LOOKS at KF is a farmer and is a fucking monster"

Poppy and Saige, also for months: "and here's another thing that I read on the KF thread that is just fucking bullshit... everything those KFers say is so stupid"

(this next one is my favorite because it shows just how much Poppy doesn't even know how much she admits out loud)

Poppy for months: "anyone who just believes those docs and doesn't come talk to me is a fucking traitor. I've lost all of these friends and my job because of these fucking LIES"

Poppy in regards to Loomie: "omg they didn't even READ the docs! They just literally just left for NO REASON before the docs even came out because of their personal interactions with me and how awful I was to them. It was literally just "vibes". I'll even show you the DMs where they won't be a friend and support my delusions about r*pe. It had NOTHING to do with their very real and clearly communicated concerns about how I was treating an unhoused person! It was literally just fucking VIBES. what a LOSER"

Poppy for months: "Noeh is a r*pist and awful and terrible and here's 1000 tweets about it. So many tweets that my boss and most of my friends tried to stop me and finally ended their relationships with me because they thought it was too much"

Poppy now: "Milena STARTED THIS WHOLE THING. SHE started a harassment campaign against me! It all started with her original doc! None of this ever would have happened without it! Everyone is harassing ME and I haven't harassed a single person at all ever!"

(Poppy, remind us again how Milena's original doc had ANYTHING to do with your behavior around Noeh and your month's long online campaign to label her as a monster?)

BONUS PETTY: how come all of your tweet replies are always restricted to "followers only", Poppy? Are you a wee bit afraid that your few remaining followers will see the hundreds on comments against you on every tweet? Worried that the negative comments will outweigh the likes and retweets from YOUR OWN ACCOUNTS?

I hope people just keep resharing that Narcissist's Prayer on everything she posts.

^🧡

[rocketturtle4]

The Eclipse Takeaway - It's about the kindness

Alrighty folks I hadn’t decided whether I was going to write this post or not because all of ya'll already know the show is great, but right now I feel like doing it so might as well.

@wen-kexing-apologist @plantsarepeopletoo @thegalwhorants @grapejuicegay @dropthedemiurge you all enjoyed my eclipse journey so tagged in case you want to read this

I already did a much more self-indulgent post of how Akk affected me personally but I wanted to talk a bit about how much the kindness in this show resonated with me.

The Stairs Shot

The first time I was utterly struck by the kindness of the show was with this moment with Khan and Ayan on the stairs

After watching Khan spy Ayan with first Akk and then Thua, combined with his previous warnings to Thua, on how dangerous Aye was, I full expected this confrontation to BLOW UP.

The framing of this initial shot and the power dynamics implied by this difference in height did nothing to temper those expectations

And yet…

It doesn’t blow up, and not just because Ayan keeps a level head, but because Khan never loses his in the first place. He approaches the conversation softly, mostly trying to make sure that Ayan isn’t toying with Akk or Thua’s feelings and then apparently giving him his blessing to date Thua, even as Ayan correctly notes that Khan wishes to date Thua himself (even if he can’t admit that out loud.) This scene also resonated with me for the way, as both parties speak with kindness they move closer onto the same level (literally) as Ayan moves up the stairs.

The kindness makes them more equal.

This got me thinking about the way kindness to used in so many parts of the show to connect our isolated characters in together.

Khan being Bruce Wayne

Khan choosing to reach out to Thua via an anonymous internet friend is a beautiful example of this kindness, not for how it helps Thua (who I’ll get too) but for how it helps Khan. The closeness he gains through anonymity to check in on Thua and try to keep him safe makes him realise how much he wants to be able to do this in person. Which in turn leads to him prioritising Thua over his prefect responsibilities when he goes to the rally and reveals his identity.

Khan choosing kindness once, makes him more able to choose kindness again.

Uncle Dika

It is clear from the beginning of the show that Dika’s presence had a pretty clear impact on the school when he was there, at least for our main cast. Akks visceral feelings of betrayal at his absence come from the belief that someone he trusted has abandoned him for (he believes) no reason.

Dika’s kindness is seen again in the moment in episode 7 when Khan is acting out different characters (specifically the teachers) for his friends to guess and when he acts as Dika his words and actions are unbelievably kind and EVERYONE knows immediately who he is enacting despite the length of time it has been since they saw Dika (it’s also realistic enough to trigger poor Ayan)

Ayan himself is obviously a wonderful example of his uncle’s kindness with every flashback we see of them (and Chadok and Dika as well) is irrevocably altered by Dika’s kindness even though, with Dika’s death, we see Chadok’s regression and fear forcing him back into a space of repression and unkindness.

Ayan

Ayan is undoubtedly the heart of kindness in this show and it was so unexpected to me that, given what he knew from the beginning about Akk and his Uncle’s death, he continues to choose to be kind. This kindness is shown throughout the show to be the means of far greater change and persuasion than any other tactic used (Fear, Anger, Defiance, Hate, Financial Enticement, Neutrality etc.)

We see this with the World Remembers Gang, when he successfully gets them to leave their location with a quiet suggestion that they’ve done enough that day (Leading Akk to even more suspicions whoops)

We see this with Khan in the above conversation and again later with his encouragement to Khan to tell Thua the truth

We see this with Thua and the way Ayan notices he’s not okay and sets up the conversation with his mum. Ultimately, in my opinion, it is Ayan’s kindness that convinces Thua to fight for the change (regardless of what you think of his methods) where all the other pressure he was under only left him to sink down, Ayan’s kindness causes him to rise up.

Akk

Before I talk about Ayan’s kindness with Akk, I want to talk about Akk’s kindness with Ayan, because their entire relationship comes about (in my opinion) because even as they are suspicious of each other, they do remain fundamentally kind. We see this in the early stages most clearly in this moment

And when Akk asks the teachers to be responsible more managing Ayan.

But even before this, the sitting together in class and the volunteering to help train him in the martial arts class weren't steeped in malice. Yes, these things were about keeping tabs (and maybe wanting to be close for unacknowledged reasons) but regardless of complicated motivations Akk takes these things seriously and does not use them as a chance to bully or otherwise make Ayan’s life at school more difficult (think semantic error style) even if he wishes Ayan would just follow the rules already.

Additionally a key moment of understanding and softening between them comes from a moment of pure human kindness, when Ayan see’s Akk feeding the dog.

This friendliness builds up because as Akk remains kind, despite his suspicions, Ayan responds with kindness despite his suspicions (and actual knowledge of Akks actions)

Ayan again

Ayan’s support of Akk through all this is incredibly central to the story so I’m not going to go into it in detail. His kindness towards Akk extends to the point of covering up his wrong doing as he sees Akk for who he is and prioritises Akks mental safety over finding out the truth of his death. But all this came about because throughout their initial antagonism, harm was never Ayan's primary intent.

Another moment

Another moment which struck me on my initial watch through was this moment

Where Akk apologises to The World Remembers gang even as he follows his orders and takes away the things they’re using to protest. (I think it's around episode 10?) The shock and confusion on their faces as he does this, and their immediate relinquishing of their things compared to their loud anger over his removing them on other occasions (when in the past he stepped forward not with apology but instead with anger) highlights to me how he has changed, and how his new kindness de-escalates the situation (in much the same way Ayan’s had some episodes earlier).

Related thoughts on the Isolation of the Characters

The isolation of Akk, Thua and Khan at the start of the show is a grounded foundation. Akk is desperately scared of being perceived as weak (in terms of his authority and management - this later is added to by his fear of being gay), Khan is desperately scared of being perceived as Gay, Ayan is isolated as a newbie and Thua is isolated as an ?out gay person in the school. (Thua’s identity seems to be known by his classmates but not his teachers so not sure on the details here but he is definitely isolated). It is these characters reaching out to each other in kindness, and continuing to reach out to each other in kindness despite the difficulties that arise as their identities shift and grow that results in positive change within themselves and within the school.

Brief mention of Thua

Just to officially state my opinion on the record I am absolutely including Thua as part of this without caveat, he is the most isolated character and his change is wrought by Ayan’s kindness causing him to wish for change. His anger came from a place of hurt and I don’t view his actions as more extreme than Akks, especially as neither the banner or the fire were likely to hurt anyone. His goal of drawing attention to the wrongdoings of the school made sense and though it was NOT driven by kindness, it was pushed on by the desire to have a kind place for all people, (especially LGBTQIA+ people).

Forgiveness

I loved how everyone in episode 11 got to be angry, Thua at Ayan, Ayan at Chadok, Khan and Wat at Akk etc. They were allowed to have these emotions and express these emotions and in doing so they didn’t end their relationships or loose their friends. Everyone’s anger was used to create understanding because THEIR ANGER WAS MET WITH KINDNESS.

The forgiveness of ALL our teenagers in the final episode underlined this theme of kindness with the welfare teachers standing up for Akk and Thua, The World Remembers gang forgiving the boys because they sincerely apologised and were regretful.

And of course Akk coming out to his parents.

Final thoughts

Kindness isn’t perfect of course, in some ways Akks parent’s kindness lead to his own warped self image and Ayan’s kindness to Thua in part lead to some of the not kind choices he made.

Many shows have examples characters choosing not to forgive and that is a valid and healthy choice (one we could all stand to make more often). I’m not saying that always being kind to everyone is the right choice, and it’s certainly not a sustainable one.

Instead I’m highlighting how this show used kindness in defiance of isolation, in defiance of jealousy, in defiance of anger and in defiance of hate.

For the record, rating wise this show got 97% making it equal third overall out of 77 BLs and counting. I loved it for so many reasons and I honestly can’t wait to watch it again.

[hussyknee]

I really wanna know why both Jewish and gentile "allies" in the West are unable to step over a bar that is already in hell.

Context:

- Eighteen year old Israeli decides to do the normal person thing, chooses to go to jail than join the IOF. The sentence will be renewed every 30 days if he doesn't join. Usually this goes on for over a year until they get sick of them. Kid also writes a sweet, idealistic letter about Choosing Peace™ and that what they're doing to Palestinians is wrong. It's of course a very liberal Zionist speech that Condemns Hamas™ (sigh) and is very ignorant of the scope of Israeli occupation. But he comes from a Zionist family. This could be a start. It also undermines the whinging about the IOF being full of "kids who don't have a choice" other than dropping bombs on toddlers and shooting unarmed civilians in the head. Bar is in hell, but good for him. Let us move on.

- Or not. Within five minutes everyone and their dog immediately starts falling over themselves calling him a hero.

- Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims: Wtf? Our people are literally being killed for doing ANYTHING to protest our own slaughter? One guy willing to not take part OUR GENOCIDE is a hero?? He and his family are settlers and still part of the ongoing violence against us?

- Jewish "allies": omg just say you hate Jews! IT'S NOT EASY TO SIT IN JAIL ALRIGHT?

- Palestinians: As opposed to blowing our children to pieces??

- Jewish "allies": See, this is why you people can't get free! I bet you're feds!

- Western gentile "allies": I know bb they're so mean and unreasonable! Like are we supposed to blame our kids for having joined in our militaries too?? Antisemitism!

But I get their point. I'm sure Jews in the camps loved seeing gentiles hail Germans heroes for not joining the Third Reich, while calling the Warsaw Uprising terrorists. Not even after, mind. DURING. Children of slavers should have statues built in their honour just not joining the Confederate Army! (Actually they probably do say that, what do I know.)

I'm not Muslim or Palestinian btw. I'm speaking on my own behalf as someone who has also been terrorized by Zionists on this site way before I even knew what they were, enabled by both ordinary Jews and gentiles who didn't think Zionists were a real threat and more interested in policing BIPOC for calling them out. Meanwhile, Palestinians bend over backwards to never single Jews out and keep them safe. But I compiled that list on my pinned and I know exactly how many anti Zionist Jewish organisations and allies there are in the movement, and how many are either defunct, grifting or Two-State normalizers that speak over Palestinians, or just plain apologists like the one I now have to take off my list. Palestinians are still being let down by each one of you one after the other like dominoes. You cannot keep claiming credit for allyship this way. If you truly want to divest from Israel, you need to do better.

ALL you non-Muslim and western people in your nice unbombed homes with all your limbs and families intact appear to believe that the countries your people blow up with your votes and tax dollars should be grateful to you for speaking up for them. Stop policing the anger of victims. Know when to shut up. Or just stay home. All of Palestine's gains so far have been the work of Palestinians themselves, and of the armed resistance from the other Arab countries most victimized by yours. Israelis will never be key to Palestine's liberation, and their allyship have always been too expensive to be worth it. The master's house will never be dismantled by the master's own tools, much less the members of the master's own household.

[clatoera]

For the choose violence ask game - 1, 12, 18, 19, 22, 23

oh bestie you did not come to PLAY with this list okay okay okay I dont even know what i'm about to get myself into but okay!

The character everyone gets wrong and why?

I mean..we all know i have really strong opinions on the baby careers from the 74th, but a lot of that is based on extrapolation. So, instead, I'm going to go with my queen Enobaria. Yes. She has her little shark teeth. Yes she is a D2 victor. But she also is the only one left. Enobaria, we can assume, loses all of her friends either in the games or in the war. Of course people like to see her as crazy and blood thirsty, and yes I truly believe she could have won the Quarter Quell. That being said..when we see her in the end of Mockingjay she is the only Career left. period. And when she votes yes to the games it's like..not this over enthused yes because she loves the hunger games..it's let them know how it feels. Let the Capitol know how it feels to train and die and watch the children you mentor die and the friends you've made die and be abused and it's not about the glory of the games. It's about let everyone know how to feels to be the victor, to be the mentor, to be the person who watches someone they knew even briefly die. I love you Enobaria you will always be famous.

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I have written 200k words on unpopular characters that people should like more so this one doesn't seem like i'll do much difference in answering but I'm going to go with Glimmer. Glimmer is a teenage girl who is immediately represented as a sex object. That is how she is presented; sexy. She's a teenager, literally no older than 18. Yeah we can hate her for whatever reason we want (which we don't really have a reason to) but I think it's important to recognize why she exists within the story and what I think the bigger point of her is and it's to represent how the capitol views them. She is, to me, very clearly a parallel to Cashmere who we know was a full fledged sex trafficking victim by snow. That is VERY Clearly what he fate would have been. She was a child being sold as a sex object so she could possibly survive, baby girl they could NEVER make me hate you!

18. It's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on..

Enobaria, period.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I have absolutely no shame/horror/etc over the fact I like anyone, I quite literally run a blog titled "mother of all careers apologists". We know who I like. We know I like Cato and Clove and Glimmer and Marvel. This is not news. I am not ashamed. It is my entire brand at this point.

22. Your favorite part of canon everyone else ignores?

I actually answered this one yesterday right here, it's the fact Peeta and Katniss come out of the arena with physical impairments and that Peeta is an amputee and that largely influences his story in Catching Fire in the arena!

23. Ship you've unwillingly come around to?

Again...I don't really think I came around to anything unwillingly. I run a Clato blog. I wrote Cashbaria into my stories. I consider myself a pioneer of Glimmer/Marvel shipping territory. If anything I think I make other people come around to ships against their will. Welcome to the fun house of career x career shipping that crosses district lines and weasels into everyone's hearts.

Thank you friend!!!

[2hoothoots]

First of all, congrats on destroying the BIG TOP! So to speak. (I'd ask if you could give it to me but they haven't invented that technology yet). Secondly, since you asked for Asks, what got you so into Norma as a character? I wanna compare and contrast. :V

hahaha THANK YOU! some day modern medicine will unlock the secret to equivalent exchange… some day

anyway, great ask because i Always have stuff to say about Norma. putting it under the cut for length (although to be fair, if you don’t want to see lengthy impassioned essays about Norma i’m not really sure why you’re following me in the first place)

first of all: i unapologetically like women who kinda suck. listen, okay, listen, i absolutely understand that the line between “fun to dislike” and “just obnoxious” is different for everyone but Norma falls entirely on the fun side for me. from her very first appearance, she’s so unnecessarily petty and snarky and competitive with this ten-year-old she literally just met, and i can’t lie i just find it incredibly entertaining. and also, y’know, i think she sucks but in a way that’s ultimately harmless and also so believable. she’s not a terrible person, she’s just a shitty teenager. i’m a Norma apologist, not in the “she did nothing wrong <3” way but the “yeah she’s mean but that’s what’s interesting about her” way. give me more female characters who are complicated and unlikable and make bad decisions!

secondly: she’s a shitty obnoxious know-it-all teenager, and boy, do i relate! maybe part of this is filling in the gaps and part of it is projection, but i look at her and i see someone with the compulsive need to “win” every conversation and prove they’re the smartest person in the room; someone who clings to their model student status because deep down they’re afraid it’s the only worthwhile trait they have, the single thing that makes them anything more than a useless waste of space with no friends and no redeeming qualities. characters who are jerks or bullies are really interesting to dive into for me, because there’s always something underneath that. Norma’s combination of annoying pretentiousness and deep insecurity is really compelling to me, and a lot of it is because i see my younger self in her. i feel like i really grok her as a character, and because of that i find her interesting to explore and write for!

thirdly, the big thing that drew me to her the same as it did the other interns was, ironically, their lack of screentime. PN2 has one too many ensemble casts, and individual development for some of the characters feels rushed, and i am first in line saying i wish we’d gotten more intern content. but what we did get was just enough to pull me in and hook me on the characters. the game left me wanting more, and honestly that’s what drove me to write so much fic of the intern cast in the first few months after release. they were so charming and felt so underutilised and i was desperate for more from them – and at the same time, because they had fairly little screentime they made a great starting point to develop further with headcanons and filling in the blanks and just turning them over in my head and imagining what could have been. what really gets my creative juices flowing is taking something from canon and building on it with my own stuff (which is also why i’ve gotten so invested in the future AU!), and the interns all have such strong concepts and starting points while also giving a lot of freedom to develop them and flex my own creative muscles.

like, i was thinking about why i never really got into the psychic 7 in the same way, and i think it does just come down to them being more fleshed-out characters in comparison. which feels so funny to say, haha – i love the old people’s club, they’re great, but i never latched onto them like i did the interns, and i think it’s because they don’t have the same fill-in-the-blanks potential. we get to learn about their backstories in pretty great detail, we get to explore 6/7 of their minds, and they all feel very succinctly developed but in a way that ties a bow pretty neatly on most of their characters. we learn so much less about any of the interns in comparison, but those unanswered questions just end up tickling my creative brain that much more. there’s a theory that people engage in transformative fanwork to give them the kind of engagement they didn’t get from the canon, and i think that’s definitely true here! maybe there’s an alternative universe out there where we got way more intern content and i never ended up writing any fics with them in, hahaha

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters - FINALS

Propaganda under the cut

IANTHE TRIDENTARIUS

Her number one hobby is ruining every person's that she knows life. Her second hobby is being soooo slutty about it despite looking like a literal wet rat. Her third hobby is having an extremely unhealthy relationship with her twin. Her other hobbies include cannibalism, wearing a maid outfit, being extremely convinced she is the main character, the badboy sexy love interest and the villain. 'Why', you may ask. Well, the answer is, for shits and giggles #justgirlythings i, aswell as literally everybody else in the fandom have gone through the pipeline from hating her to desperately wanting to fuck her. expect for i still fucking hope she dies and doesn't come back for good. (that would literally solve all of everybody's problems) as god intended (EXPECT FOR. one of her hobbies literally is gaslighting god) She is fucking horrible i will love her until i die and even after that

parks and recs jean ralphio voice she's the woooorst!! The moment she learns she has to kill someone to become a Lyctor (aka a more special necromancer), she doesn't hesitate to kill and cannibalize the guy who has been her cavalier since childhood… cavalier who she also totally bullied as kids, she was allowed to choose one guest for her and her twin sister's birthday party each year, and she would always pick whoever she thought her cavalier didn't want to see there! While other characters are shown to regret the process of becoming a Lyctor (which involves someone close to them dying)/were forced into it because of circumstances, Ianthe has absolutely no regrets, she believes she did what she had to do

The author once said of Ianthe: "I don't think she's been nice to anyone, if she has I'll go back and change it." She killed and ate the soul of someone she has known all her life so that she could become a necromantic saint and tormented him plenty before that. General negging, ganging up against him, always inviting people he didn't like to their birthday parties. She doesn't regret killing him. I think she is repulsed by the idea that his digested soul is affecting hers. She helped her crush lobotomise herself so she would be in Ianthe's debt, and later lied and said she didn't see the corpse of a woman her crush killed under her bed (why did she do that? I do not know). She has a bone arm because her original arm was cut off, she hated the replacement so her crush cut THAT off and grew her a new one out of just bones. She had it gilded and only after that did she decide to help her crush deal with the person who had been repeatedly trying to kill her. She wants so badly to be the main character but people keep interrupting her villain monologues.

she has her own content warning tag

She's such a bitch to everyone all the time, she causes nothing but problems, she tries to do a villain speech but fumbles it because her tummy hurt, she is the awfulgirl of all time

MAKIMA

The number of times I've seen people call others 'groomer apologists' or questioning if they actually like Makima for 'proper reasons' and aren't just sexualizing her are astronomical. She's truly a diabolical and fascinating antagonist. And yeah she's hot too. Who gives a shit if I like her character And her unsettling cryptic mommy energy? I have eyes. I have needs. I have love for Makima and I am not ashamed to say it.

[drabbles-mc]

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGKNG TELL ME IM THE FIRST PERSON TO DROP AN ASK FOR THE FANDOM GAME FOR NARCOS MEXICO, PLS LET IT BE SO bc you stuck to OG narcos for the other ask with the exception of Calderoni which, fair. Like I am a Calderoni apologist through and through but I would also totally throw him off a roof. It’s complicated. But anyway, since you kept it OG specific I feeeeeellll like you must be begging for an Nmx specific ask. Am I wrong??? If not, I am here to deliver this ask.

Kay, my beautiful, wonderful mamadas enthusiast. You're never wrong. And I can never say no to you. 😌

The first character I first fell in love with: Okay so we all know who I ended up having severe brainrot over as the series went on 😂 I am not immune to the meerkat man. HOWEVER!!! I will say that the first character that I started to like right off the rip was Rafa. And also Don Neto, too, but Rafa is way prettier 😂 I just loved his chaotic energy idkidk

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: The way that Victor blew into s3 like a hurricane and immediately threw me for a 180. I feel like at first I was just curious about his character and what the whole deal there was, but by the end of the season I was weeping. The tears I've wept. I love him.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Okay so I said my piece about Calderoni in the last Narcos ask. And I don't wanna repeat answers, so I shall reach into my hat and pull out another unpopular opinion. Because there is nothing I love more than swinging bats at hornets' nests lmao. I feel like I should preface this with saying, I do NOT hate him. I don't. I just, I don't really get/feel the hype around Ramon Arellano. Like I can look at him and see that he's pretty, and I enjoy his scenes well enough, but he has not bewitched me. Idk if he ever will lmao

The character I love that everyone else hates: I don't think??? I have one?? I feel like the closest I get to this is being a Walt Girlie but I don't think anyone actually hates him. He is just not the preferred entree on the NMX menu lmao.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Okay so coming into the series, I was already rooting for Felix because I am in love with Diego Luna lmao. Unfortunately, however, I realized that no amount of loving Diego Luna was ever going to make me love Miguel. Literallyyyyy who cheats on Maria???? Dumbass. 😂

The character I would totally smooch: God. Most of the cast??? What do you want from me?? 😂 Nah but fr I think Mayo could fix me. I'd let him try, at least. 😌

The character I’d want to be like:  Solid tie between Dina and Andrea. I love them both. I can't choose one.

The character I’d slap: A long fucking list if ever there was one, Kay. 😂 Am I allowed to put Calderoni here? In a different category?? Is that allowed? 😂 Fuck it we ball.

A pairing that I love: Miguel and jail. 😌 Sksksk no but for an actual pairing, there is just something that I really love about the whole Claudio/Dina dynamic that I just love, for as short-lived and tragic as it was. I love them. I want someone else to write fic about them so I can read it sksksk

A pairing that I despise: Ooooo this is interesting. I'm not...I'm not sure if there is one? I mean obviously allowing Miguel to be near any woman is criminal. Maria deserved so much better and so did his second wife that I don't remember the name of even though we literally just watched the fucking episodes 😂 But that has to do more with Miguel than the actual pairing hahaha. I don't think I have a pairing that I hate off the principle of it. Maybe I need to be more of a hater or something sksksk

Thank you for this!! tqm 💕

Send me a fandom!

[livvyofthelake]

post season 1 lost character rankings <3 post is about to be long as fuck btw. heart

jack… i’m such a jack girl sorry for being predictable but he’s exactly my type of character… he has a hero complex and big brown eyes filled with tears he can’t save everyone but he has to try…

kate of course!!! blueprint for emma swan in many ways…. the coolest girl on lost island… her cunty 2000s layered tank tops and low rise bootcut jeans in exodus went crazy also but that is neither here nor there i just didn’t get a chance to mention it before. anyway. literally you always wanna run away katie!!!

sayid <3 THE it girl of lost island. he’s like if The Smart One was a heartthrob. you knowwww i’ve always been a sayid girl (ok yes naveen andrews was in ouat but my love for sayid is only like. 40% coming from that loyalty ok) he’s so. he’s the tech guy he’s the soldier he’s leading hikes he’s triangulating the signal he’s sooo kind he’s obsessed with the worst woman on the island he’s literally besties with kate he looks SO GOOD in his tank tops and i love him…

claire and YES i will acknowledge my emilie de ravin bias. it doesn’t matter what claire as a character is like, that’s my friend belle from the tv from middle school, we were in the trenches together, i love her always, claire makes the top five and that’s FINAL. peace and love <3 also she’s like basically mary from the bible for real

sun… she’s just cool and nice and lovely and her husband suckssss but she loves him and wants him to love her like he used to and she’s growing a garden and helping jack with medicinal stuff and everybody likes her cuz she’s just cool and nice!!!

shannon. and i ask you. did she really do anything wrong? don’t answer that. i’m a feminist. she’s like. there is flop in her slay eras and slay in her flop eras. and she’s soooo sad right now and she needs to keep all of her brother’s things because she doesn’t know how to exist in the world without him and she’s folding his old clothes because she’s anal and she speaks french but only barely because she knew this guy and she wants to help but she’s been a princess her whole life and she doesn’t know how to change but she has to and she’s maybe overcommitted to her zigzag hair part because she thinks beauty is her only currency and now she’s taking care of this kid’s dog because he picked her because he thought it would help her and she won’t say it but she loves these people so much and she doesn’t know how to show it and she doesn’t know what she’s doing and she doesn’t know how to carry it all!!!!!!!! i’m normal about her.

charlie has consistently been a favorite of mine but i’m just anticipating the inevitable season 2 heroin relapse storyline and i hateeeee it. but i do love charlie <3 i like how he has this insane devotion to claire for no reason other than he just wants to be nice and help her. he’s just a lovely guy…

walt and his cute little kid swagggg. his henry mills realness seriously. he’s about to be like. severely written out rip but we LOVED him here <3 when he gave his dog to shannon…. oh my god….

boone gets to not be near the bottom even though he was a total freak because well. no one else gave me joke material like him… he fucked that old man fr…. and then he died… and frankly those episodes on his death and leading up to it were so crazy i can’t not just forgive him for the freak shit. sorry for being an apologist for the guy who was in love with his sister. i mean be real though i’m a cassie girl i’m predisposed to forgive worse shit like that. maybe he only projected love onto her because she’s the only woman he knows. and he’s gay. idk. it doesn’t matter anyway who cares

jin. i actually kind of like jin now i like his dynamic with michael a lot and i think in season two he’ll get over the whole oh boohoo poor me i got roped into the mafia and i can’t tell my wife even though it would be good for our relationship to not have secrets. i forgive him. i hope michael or someone else tries to learn korean to better communicate with him though i don’t just want it to be jin having to learn english. like don’t act like michael wouldn’t try at least…

which of course brings us to michael. i like michael but he’s also kind of just not as interesting as the other characters. i imagine though that the 2004 writers room was overwhelmingly white and therefore just did not do as well writing the characters of color, so i’ll grant michael that forgiveness. i do like him i think the situation with walt is crazytown

hurley. not even my ouat bias could save hurley from being third to last. i don’t have a problem with him it’s just. he’s the comedic relief yk. and he IS funny, but like. idk. kinda like what’s going on with him and the numbers i hope that gets cool in s2

locke. booooo locke. an enemy of jack’s is an enemy of mine!! we’re gonna have a locke problem!! also i’m literally still upset about how he handled the boone situation. imagine you have trauma from your dad hurting you to help himself and then you meet a younger guy who looks up to you as a sort of father/mentor figure and you end up hurting him to help yourself and you have zero self awareness about it. kill yourself old man. your ass is not breaking the cycle.

sawyer. just. ….😒 remember when shannon was having an asthma attack and could have died and sawyer made it seem like he had her inhaler and told kate he’d give it to her if she kissed him. which is already icky. and then kate did it. and then he was like oh yeah btw i don’t have the inhaler haha! like. can you kill yourself.

and if i were asked to name my favorite episodes of the season? well most recently i loved do no harm, but all jack’s episodes were great to me so also white rabbit and all the best cowboys have daddy issues. and deus ex machina was crazy as well. and the moth. and exodus part one specifically but all three parts were pretty great too. born to run was also good! and can i be frank. can i say something we might not like. hearts and minds was a great episode… yes it’s the incest episode i know i was there… but speaking from a standpoint of like. what makes a tv episode a Good TV Episode, it kinda went crazy. i mean did we see the twist coming? for sure not! that’s tv! sometimes the point of tv is to make you go 😟 and well. hearts and minds did that…