#and honestly thinking about the morality of the situation is kinda boring

[trustrage]

I was gonna self reblog something but apparently I turned reblogs off on it. So I'll just copy and paste it here, including the tags:

"lo/k/i put himself in jail, it's his fault!"

it's more nuanced than that, this isn't to say he did nothing wrong per say, but the nuance is there was coercion involved. it's difficult to say where his lucidity begins and ends. the mind stone definitely influenced him and he wasn't 100% himself.

it's difficult for me personally to say what sort of consequence he should've faced when his sobriety for lack of a better word is compromised. if anything I think it would've been much better for him to receive some kind of rehabilitation or therapy than to be locked away, isolated for the rest of eternity. like you really want to take a man who is mentally and emotionally unstable and isolate him? thus further exacerbating his issues?

idk the people eager to punish him and see him get kind some kind of 'just dessert' get me# yes he's made many poor choices tho being abused by thanos was not one of them ofc.# I don't think he would've done all of this if thanos hadn't gotten him# this wasn't a mutual agreement or w.e# and this also isn't a his hands are clean but# just because he may have some guilt or bloodied hands in the matter# doesn't mean he's any less worthy of compassion.# thank you for coming to my ted talk

[fudanshidoublevision]

“Nostalgia”.

(A Double Vision x Reader fanfiction for Children's Day.)

⚠️ C. W: Mentions of unhealthy and abusive relationships, abusive households, neglect, implied (but not toooooooo described) bullying and harassment, depressive thoughts, LOTS of reminiscing and reflection, death, dubious living conditions. It's implied Reader has only a PRESENT mother and a family. With who Reader ended up with is left ambiguous on purpose and up to you but I'm letting you have the “sweet good ending” with whoever you end up with. Swearing but not too heavy. Talks about suicide. Emotional dependency and such. If Reader posses an ability isn't discussed or even implied.

It's odd how so much can change in what seems...nothing, out of nowhere. The fact that so many time has passed is scary. Some things in our lives had changed, evolved, stayed the same or just died.

I never thought that I would become an adult, I never had so much expectations in life, honestly.

I never thought I would make this far.

Even if I was only rotting in one place and doing nothing, something my mother said that it couldn't be even considered “living”. I was just trying not to do something I could regret forever instead of digging up too much in my thoughts, I just laid there not thinking or even feeling anything.

I think she never realized that I wasn't living, that we weren't living rather that i— we, were surviving.

But for some reason you always stayed.

Even when I stopped acting like myself. Even when everyone I used to care for just, disappeared from my life because I wasn't putting an effort into taking care of our relationship. Even when I became the worst version of myself. Even when I didn't deserved anything or anyone in my life.

You always stayed, Vernon.

You were my ride or die since the fateful day that I saved you.

Well, I didn't do much really, I didn't really saved you, I just prevented something that any other living being with morals would want to avoid to happen, right? I was going through your same situation after all... Hah, we both had to endure all of that until we finished school together. I know so well how it feels to be hopeless, everyone ignoring what they are doing to you, everyone watching, yet no one doing something about it.

I always thought that you would never had ever wished or even desired to make others feel like that. But, for some reason, you ended up being just like them.

I believe that I'll never understand why you changed so much or if you were always like that, I was aware of your strange behavior and dependency on me but I never thought much of it because that's how you always behaved around me. Heh, I ignored every single red flag and warning that was thrown in my face just for the sake to hold onto you, because you were someone dear to me, someone that always had been there for me.

You were the highlight of my childhood and my teenage years, even if we kinda drifted away in the latest. You were even there when I was the grown, sad and miserable version of the kid you used to know.

Is it bad that i still hold dearly and warmly those moments we had as kids? Like the days were everything in my household...just was horrible and I didn't know where or to who run to, somehow I always ended up in your house, you always opened the door to me, no matter what or why.

Your own home seemed so cold from the outside and on the inside but...when we were together, everything just felt warmer.

...Or the times were you used your abilities to save our asses or just to escape to somewhere, anywhere, when I was locked down in my own room and you were so lonely and bored in your cold and empty house.

Go to anywhere we wanted, as long as no one of our parents got to know that we were running around the streets like not-so-sneaky rats. Hell, even your very-dangerous use of your ability saved us from being late to class. We could have done better things with it but we were young and really, really stupid.

When I used to ride my bicycle, you had to steal my seat and I had uncomfortably sit on the center bar but quickly forgot about that because anything with you just felt right, your presence used to make me so happy and I tended to forget everything, we used to have so much fun with such mundane and stupid things. When we used to drive that crappy bicycle to a concerning speed just to feel like we were flying like those heroes we used to adore and we used to imagine we were.

The times me and my family celebrated your birthday because you were like another member in my family. You were like a brother to me.

Or the times you bought me any silly or meaningless thing that I wanted to me for my birthday because you knew how much that day it used to meant to me. And how much you it meant to me your presence...and your gifts, hehe.

Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

In times like these, i look fondly at the times that you were there by and with me, even when I was talked down, thrown, dragged and abused to my core when we were “living the best and important part of our lives”.

Even if you were being neglected by the ones who were supposed to be protecting us and left alone by your own devices, money being thrown at you like that could compensate the hole they left behind.

We could only hold each other in silence because talking about it brought so much pain to our little hearts and heads.

I'm glad the two of us made it out, together. I will always be grateful of that but nothing good seemed to last in our lives since we started to became more mature.

You changed or more like, you just became the true version of yourself.

Maybe it's an exaggeration but whoever was talking to me with your voice, while using your clothes, saying things only you could only ever knew... That wasn't you, i refused to believe that was you.

Someone else stripped you down from your humanity. Of what made you, you.

But, no. That was you, with the same stupid face, the same idiotic and cocky attitude of always, your signature dimples and that mole in your face but you insisted, no, forced me to call you “Double Vision”.

For some reason, that silly and simple nickname i used to call you by stopped to came out of my mouth.

“V”.

Vernon.

Now, you were only Double Vision and nothing else, the person I used to know, gone and forgotten to do things I never thought you could be capable of doing. Not like I was innocent or had a squeaky clean historial, we were partners in crime, after all.

I was scared and just wanted to, stop. You were more erratic, territorial, temperamental when it was about me. You didn't wanted me to engage with anyone, even if it seemed that you trusted the other members of the Night Crew.

You didn't, you never did.

When we argued in front of everyone because you wouldn't let me go, that day someone died, because of me, because of my fault.

Seeing you taking the life out of someone that just wanted to be on my side, for you to let me go and being unable of doing something because I...just didn't know what to do, I was scared.

I had to force myself to accept the so-harsh truth.

The person I used to know.

You.

Was long gone and he will never come back.

Or just the the version I used to know, I'm not sure if you were genuine with anything about yourself with me, since we were kids.

Was it everything a lie? Were you just holding back until the day I was completely alone and with no one or nothing but you to drag me down with you, no matter what or who tried to get in between?

Even if you did all of this out of the selfish desire of having me all by yourself, some part of me can't quite forget you or stop thinking about you.

Since the day I could escape from you and stay with someone who felt...love for me, I began to forget little by little of you but for some reason, a part of my me doesn't want to forget you.

It hurts me deeply, to think of you. I feel a heavy pressure in my chest and my heart, when I remember you. That you exist and that you used to mean so much to me.

Things could have gone better, right? Is it wrong for me to think that things could have been different, if something, anything, was slightly different when you weren't trying to cut an arm, a finger or take one of my eyes just to have me by your side?

I wish I could only save and stay with the happy memories we made together but the person in those memories doesn't look like you at all, that's not you.

I miss you my dear bestfriend, sometimes.

But I wish we never had met each other.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・。.・゜

AUTHOR'S NOTE???

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO PUT AN AUTHOR'S NOTE......? Doesn't matter, right?

Thank you so much for reading! And happy children's day! Even if you don't celebrate it today or don't, at all. I hope you enjoyed it! Any type of criticism is welcome...but, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't be so hard on me, okay? Be gentle, please.（┬┬＿┬┬)

English isn't my native language and I mostly write only for myself all these years and never shared my writing but I'm trying to learn and get better everyday! Don't think so lowly of me. ᶘಠᴥಠᶅ

I kind of wanted to write something fifty percent wholesome and fifty percent angsty. So, I just had this monster in my head nagging me to write something about childhood, memories and the horror of growing up. And, woah! What a day to post this. Plus, ABOUT DOUBLE???? SIGN ME UP, BELOVED MONSTER IN MY HEAD!

I used my own headcanons to write this thing, that's why Reader calls “V”, referenced to my first post ever. I double (HEHE), triple, quadruple checked if this had any mistakes, so wake me up if there's a mistake I missed, thank you very much.

I have 13 drafts about Double that will stay in that cold and deadly place.....

Anyways, I stayed up all night writing this because of that horrifying monster... I NEED to go to sleep.

Double haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????? I love you!!!!! ♡ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ

[whywasthissohardtomake]

argh. I have another Jason Romance thing to talk about. Which is why are all of his like on screen confirmed gfs booorrrrring!!!

okay, they’re not. Im exaggerating. HOWEVER. the two he like actually dates (I am excluding Dawn and any flings he has, including the hookups during his sex week) are Cassandra, Asya, and it looks like a third could be Zarah.

Now, Cassandra was fine. She starts out slightly naive but is over all very sweet. However, that’s mostly what we get from her: sweet. Her and Jason have a sweet but not very deep relationship. This makes sense narratively, but we also don’t get to see many sides of her. Thus, I categorize her, in comparison to other women we meet at this time like Danielle Geller and Farrah, as kinda boring.

Asya, again was pretty alright. More interesting than Cassandra with her background with Jason. She also had confidence and morals and was doing her best. But I feel that she stood out more before she started dating Jason. Also, I can’t remember how quickly she died after they started dating, but I don’t think we got very many scenes of them as a couple. Their dynamic was very similar to Jason and Cassandra’s, though I do think it was more solid. However, once more in comparison to other characters around Jason (Dawn, Farrah again, the other Asano (why can’t I remember her name?), Erika, Yume, Anne(abeth?)) she’s a little bland. Obviously some of those above are absolutely not romantic options for Jason, but again, are more interesting and with more interesting dynamics.

Finally we have Zarah, who’s dynamic with Jason is the most fun and has the most depth. But, I can’t think of any way to really describe her. We don’t actually get many scenes with her in them. We know she can be reckless, and clearly cares about her friends. She’s honestly very similar to Jason in many ways. But most of what we’ve gotten of her is second hand and a conversation she had with Corinne when she first joined Storm-Cutter (I wanna say that’s their team name). I weirdly have more of an idea who Corrine is and her dynamic with Jason than I do about Zarah. So, she’s bland in the manner that we don’t know enough about her. We haven’t seen her in enough situations and interacting with enough people.

I guess sorta where I was going with this is that Jason’s like confirmed (ish Zarah isn’t confirmed) love interests are just a little boring in comparison to all the other women in the story. And I think that’s a little unfortunate. Of course if anyone absolutely fucking loves one of these characters, I have no hate to you. I don’t dislike any of these women, I just wish that their characters had been pushed a little more and that we’d seen more of them to be honest.

Okay, semi related to that: why is Jason so horny for Zarah. It’s confirmed that essence users don’t get those urges anymore and it is literally just for Zarah. Like genuinely it feels off? Like it keeps being brought up and Shade wondered if something was wrong with Jason. Idk it’s just really strange to me, and I think the story’s going somewhere with this but I don’t know where. Potentially though, this could lead to more interesting stuff with Zarah! Cause again, I don’t dislike her, I just think she needs to be a little bit more. Or maybe just that we need to see her more.

Hopefully this one’s alright. As always, pls no spoilers!

[theharmonious13]

297 - Night Service for Insomniacs

Y'know what? I'm vibing with the idea of Yanagi providing service for Monomoko, underrated duo all of a sudden

Monomoko finding Yanagi strange makes sense lol

I love Monomoko using any pronouns, makes me feel better for referring to them as a they rather than she/her like the rest of the fandom

Trying to win Monomoko's favour this way was almost a 4D chess move

I like the way Yanagi says 'indeed' in this episode

"Are you trapped?" Omg that actually struck a cord with Monomoko, silence if deafening yooooooo

298 - Crisis Report

Monomoko has sympathy now aaaaaaaaa

Not being able to teleport out of the killing game/science place definitely is a telltale sign of being trapped...

Dr Kan better not find out or I will cry

"You're like me, we're like them." Monomoko pop off

299 - Extreme Measures

Where are they?

OMG HE'S HONOURING KAMIMURA BY CLEANING THE CRIME SCENE

Hasegawa sounds so done with life

Ojima you're so sweet but one moment too late, everyone had SO much time to attempt cleaning crew version 2 😭

Ken is asking ALOT of good questions, it's all just really unfortunate timing

300 - Extra Credit

Class Time, Yooooooo

Can Wada rejoin the student council now that Okazaki is gone? If not Wada will be the peak student... if he doesn't fall asleep in class haha

Watari and the 100 Pencils ✨ - would make for an awesome story lmao

"Yes. Shut Up." I need that Hama line for the soundboard I don't have 😂♥️

I should've known the lesson wouldn't be something traditional, Yokai is very neat and up Hama's alley

Anyways did somebody say YOKAI WATCH-

I just realised this episode will mostly be Hama info dumping, between him and Hasegawa (not in canon) talking nonstop I'm having a great time listening to Tetro all of a sudden (I love both of their voices A HECK TON, they're both unique to me and pleasing to listen to in a way I can't describe/understand)

"But honestly, I kinda think we oughta beat the shit out of them anyway" Hama what happened to your moral compass bro? 😭😂

Poison the river LOL

We're getting the vice versa scene now that Watari got scolded for stealing pencils, Watari scolding Hama for thinking about poisoning the Kappa river 😂

Bro if I were in the cast I'd go to everything I was invited to as well, maybe that's why I got Wada on the personality quiz

~~~

"We even have a teacher" Watari

"Hi" Hama

God to think these two used to be lower in my ranks 😂😂😂

~~~

The Watari begging begins <3

Wada is traumatised by Okazaki... poor baby :/

It's kinda good no other students showed up to class so Hama and Watari could talk to Wada/let him be vulnerable without judgement

Bro this is making me remember when I used to have crying breakdowns in high school/work to do with grief I NEED TO STOP RELATING TO WADA SO BAD

301 - 73.4

Poor Wada... he sounds really rundown

Eating issues are somewhat relatable to me... this episode hits hard despite not being able to relates to Wada's exact situation

Tsuno's death is that impactful... I'm thankful Yanagi apologised to Wada before mentioning her to make a point

I can't even imagine hating food... this is rough

Does the number 73.4 relate to anything specific? I tried a quick google and couldn't find anything relevant

"I want Tsuno to be proud of me." WADA STOP BEING RELATABLE TO ME GDI

Student Spotlight: Watari Nishino

Damn the sass war has already begun 5 seconds into Watari entering the room LOL

I love how easily Watari gets bored

THE EDITING OF WATARI'S SPRITE MOVING AROUND 😂

I love her cackle, she's learning theatrics from Okazaki haha

Love Watari answering Monomoko like she'a in a courtroom lol

Watari knows about the pizza question omg lmao

"I'm fine" Watari don't lie to yourself 😭

She can't even say Okazaki's name... oh the pain, this voice acting is so cruel

I love her attitude of wanting to have someone she can have fun with, and not be thinking paranoidly about the killing game 24/7

Oh my god she blames herself from splitting up from Harada and then not stopping Okazaki's madness somehow... this interviews going to be rough I'm only a fifth of the way through

WHO ASKED THE MARRIAGE QUESTION WHAT?

Guys I'm screenshotting everything Watari says about Mai I love this rarepair so much

I love/find Watari's unintentional commentary about stereotypical gender roles and how she personally would navigate them interesting, idk it itches a weird part of my brain in a good way

I now wonder how many siblings Watari has, until now I had just assumed there were two only, the brother that Watari mentioned pushing into the pool for fun and the sister who whines about Watari using her computer during her introduction video

Poor Watari is so overworked...

~~~

I'm writing Sibling notes here for me:

Seita - Oldest Brother

Nagisa - Younger Sister

Oto and Kai - Younger Toddlers

Unborn Baby

Watari really is being a caregiver/mother jeez...

~~~

The one change question was answered so quickly with being an only child... man I feel bad Watari's childhood was taken away from her too early

Omg if Wada can be apart of Ojima's family please let Watari be apart of Hama's

Really high expectations from her family too? Oh my lord this lore drop keeps getting worse and worse

There was the Tsuno pamper day in canon, we need that for Watari OR myself/the fandom needs to make fanart of Watari going on that life of an average teenage girl package that she's always dreamed of pursuing (going on phone in bed, going to the mall/hanging out with friends, painting nails)

Watari gets to ship people? Yayyyyyyy

Know I'm also screenshotting every single thing Watari says about the romance question

Bro she's accidentally alluding to TSUNO, TSUNO COULD'VE BROUGHT OUT HAMA'S SWEETER SIDE WE WERE SO ROBBED IN CANON

Wait she's trying to set Hama up? LOL

"Hayashi is taken in my heart." Slay queen 😭♥️

Hama x Mai being a bromance sends me lmao

Hiroaki has a major boy crush on Hama? 👀

Watari a Wama shipper, no wonder Von was gunning for requests of them hard this week lmao

Hasegawa x Kamimura in every sense of the word, thanks Watari lol

Hiroaki x Ojima, or Hiroaki x Yanagi - man she's wasting no time with speculating on sexualities lmao

"Tamba will get cooties if she dates a boy" LOL

~~~

Watari pitches her romantic crush fanfic

Monomoko: What?

Absolutely sent me 😂😂😂

~~~

The thinking about murdering question was a really good one for literally any student, thank you so much to whoever submitted that one

She understands Sasaki's reason for killing, we stan two queens

OOOOOO WHOEVER ASKED THE FOX REINCARNATION IS EVIL AND I LOVE IT

Aww Watari... such complex feelings about Okazaki

This whole episode was an emotional rollercoaster, I'm extremely grateful that Watari got 1) An interview and 2) The literal best time for her to be interviewed

302 - Bruise

SHE WAS TEN WHEN SHE GOT KIDNAPPED!?

THAT WAS SO LUCKY THAT THE ESCAPE TIMING LINED UP, HOW DID SHE SURVIVE?

Ojima looking up to Mai just like me fr

"I didn't want my whole life to be about what he did." ...I need to plaster this quote on my wall holy shit Tetro and so many of its characters are deeply relatable/inspiring to me...

UNCLE!? THREE!? OJIMA HONEY COME HERE AND GET A MILLION HUGS WTF

Not being believed was also incredibly fucked

HE'S ONLY BEEN A YEAR FREE???

Not feeling like you belong in your body is something I occasionally relate to... gdi Tetro

I think this has become one of my absolute favourite episodes

303 - Oyasumi

(The Title is) Like Wada's outfit! Goodnight everyone! (jk jk)

Guys I'm gonna say what all the YouTube comments are saying inhales IS THAT CHIBA'S BOOK!? It's a perfect metaphor for her life before and during the killing game

Also obligatory I love Hama's voice to an unhealthy degree and celebrate whenever he gets to talk alot mention

Okay it mentions climbing it HAS to be the book there's literally no way it isn't, suppose it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out though, hah

NOOOOOOOOOOOO I WANT TO HEAR THE END OF THE STORY

Block off the dining room? Can't you take Wada back to his? Or yours? You're strong Hama lol

Also my head canon is that Wada fell asleep in Hama's lap for shipping purposes

304 - Communication Attempt

Lord I'm not ready for this (I'm assuming it'll go badly), I'm writing this comment before I see how long the video is

Quite short... see how we go

Wait omg Yanagi was literally overthinking it, Mai just wanted him not to be a self sacrificing idiot

It's mainly a dynamic struggle to do with independence and emotional attachment styles (even platonically) in a way... I find it very relatable and I love it

Mai softly apologising to Yanagi too ♥️

Hayashigeki jinxing it with "I want to go home" and "We'll make it" 😩

I love how satisfying the pay off of this episode is

I'm a sucker for self inserting, but I often reference irl how I'm a duality of things, I'm cold but I'm kind for example... I love how we see emotion vs logic between quite often between the two of them all the time

I've been relating to Tetro way too much since it started I really love the serious episodes and can't stress that enough

Please I'm begging you let them go on the Azumino trip together

"I'm glad you're hear" MAIIIIIIIIII (I love moments like that also ship is shipping we are so back)

305 - Refuge Post Mortem

KAMIMURA DRAWS!? God he's already my favourite character but this update makes me happy

Hasegawa amused at their height dynamic aww 🥺

Hasegawa having this moment to talk about Kamimura in this context (after his passing) is so heart wrenching to me, especially to Hama who is now learning about Kamimura after he was gone

Hasegawa being proud of Kamimura 🥺😭

The malice and begrudgement in his voice when talking about Okazaki... I absolutely love it

Ken has actual depression now, stop being so relatable king 😩

306 - Corrective Approach

Can we kill Dr Kan somehow? Lol

I don't want Monomoko to die 😩

So did Monomoko get to leave or not? Lmao

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

So ALEXIS. Before I start, I get that when you really like something, criticism can sometimes feel like a personal attack. But, come on. It is audio roleplay my love. You'll survive. Just because someone critiques Erik does not mean the world is going to end. It is how art develops. Through critique, not yes-men.

I have no opinion on her tbh. She's just kinda there. But I've seen so much hate about whether someone is an 'Alexis supporter/ apologist' or not, and equating that to supporting rapists. Hello? Are we on planet earth right now?

1. I'm not massive into the Solaire plot but I'm sure as hell she didn't do that and 2. People interpret characters in different ways. Alexis isn't super developed. There's room for growth there. But people get so hateful and vindictive over someone doing something as small as saying 'Alexis redemption arc?' or writing a fic about her that isn't calling her a stupid bitch (because daddy Sam hates her, which is understandable, but christ). Are stories just endless fluff, all filler no plot to you people? You're boring as hell if so. Yes, so fun. Everyone has clearly defined morality with no nuance or opportunity for change. Yay! Don't interpret the medium!! Media literacy!!!

Alexis has a weird double standard around her too. If unconsensual turnings are meant to be a sexual assault allegory (which is so fucking badly handled if so), then where is this energy for William? Or Fred, even? Hell, or Sam, who let Fred turn Bright without their consent? Ik Sam outright said no to Alexis, but to say it's different is to say that Bright and Vincent don't count, basically because they grew to 'like it'. See where the allegory becomes very problematic, very fast? It would also imply that Sam, in this case an allegory of a sexual assault survivor, watched another person get sexually assaulted in front of him and did nothing. Hm. Let's not use that argument perhaps.

Also, I think it's very likely she just panicked. Honestly, who the fuck is calm and rational after a CAR ACCIDENT? Still an immensely fucked up thing to do. And, idk cause I've obviously never been in that situation, but I think a lot of us would've done what she did if we saw someone we loved mangled and dying in front of us and we had the power she had to save them. Is it moral in any way? Absolutely not. She didn't listen to him and that's obviously terrible. Yet, it's remarkably human. But no, Alexis is a stupid bitch. You support her?Kys. Delightful guys.

She's a prick, sure. Clearly not a great person. Yet you still simp over people like Vega? You know damn well he would've wiped Caelum's tiny ass of the map if Gavin and Freelancer didn't intervene. Different standards again. Or Blake?

I just think you all need to chill. She's alr, I guess, and entertaining when she's on screen. Just calm down and go touch grass. She's not real.

.

[fluffydice]

I'm bored so I'm bothering you. Do you have any Saiki K psykickers headcannons you feel like sharing? It's ok if not 🥰

What have you done,,,

I don't have any specific headcanons, but I can talk a bit about their dynamics because I've thought (and written) about it more (and we'll inevitably get headcanons mixed in!)

The Pyskickers are interesting characters all on their own, but when you put them together, you get a mess that really shouldn't work as well as it does. Which is. The same for most ND friend groups asdfghjkl

A big thing that's important to me about them is that they have to be able to work without Saiki. Maybe not be functional, competent humans—especially because, like all of Saiki's friends, the more they group up the more braincells they lose—but they need to work as a friend group. Saiki, unlike with his other friend group, doesn't always feel the need to babysit the Psykickers. Toritsuka, maybe, but he's in a weird spot since he joined so early. Saiki and him were the only ones for a while, so he's kinda an in-between. But for the most part, Aiura and Akechi are usually actively helping Saiki with something. Toritsuka, too, even if 7/10 he's being threatened and/or bribed, 2/10 he's trying to help but failing—him succeeding that 1/10 already puts him in a separate category than most of Saiki's friends.

I went on a tangent there; point being, Saiki isn't constantly mother-henning and helicopter-ing them. Ergo, Saiki can't be the only reason they stick together. I don't want Saiki to be the only reason they stick together in my writing, mainly because I do like reinforcing the fact that not everything is about him—even if it's subtle. Things happen around him that Saiki is not always privy to, and this includes his fellow and honorary psychics' dynamics.

Akechi and Aiura are easy for me. Funnily enough, despite likely having the best relationship, even including Saiki, I have little to say about them. It's likely because they lack a lot of the complexity the others have: they're just really fucking cool with each other, and get along swimmingly. Honestly, when I write them, it's often with at least a hint of a romantic undertone. They're comfortable with each other physically and emotionally. Akechi trusts Aiura's judgement on when he should keep it short out of necessity, not because he's being annoying. Aiura thinks Akechi is wicked as hell, and also trusts his value judgements on people and situations.

From a literary standpoint, Aiura as a character tends to get in over her head and overly emotionally-invested in things—Akechi can provide a good counterbalance to ensure things can remain on track in the story, as well as help avoid any potential mini-conflicts that might arise from characters clashing due to simple communication incompatibility.

Speaking of communication incompatibility, Toritsuka and Aiura are full of it. Despite them seemingly being the most similar on the surface-level, their motivations, intentions, and moralities conflict. A lot. Take this scene I wrote of them, for example:

“Of course they were mad! You can’t just act like you don’t have emotions whenever you feel like it. Or, if you do, you can’t get depressed when they start treating you like it.” “If you don’t shut up,” Aiura hissed, grabbing a fistful of his sleeve. Toritsuka yanked his arm away to no avail, then settled for glaring at her. “I’m gonna—"

Here, we have Toritsuka actually making a good point about something; it's his wording that muddles it up. Aiura is quick to defend against him because she's protective of her loved ones, and is also aware that their beliefs differ sharply. Neither are quite in the wrong here; or, neither of them are any more right than the other. Aiura is right to assume the worst because that's typically what Toritsuka shows. Toritsuka is right to point things out about the situation. These are the mini-conflicts that Akechi smooths over by being essentially a bridge between their ways of communicating:

“Wait, Mikoto,” Akechi piped up. His fingers were in front of his mouth, his thumb cupping his chin, in a classic sign of thinking. “The wording was harsh, admittedly, but Reita is, in fact, not wrong.”

At the end of the day, though, they are friends. Aiura might be a tiny bit more willing to admit it, but both her and Toritsuka do care about each other. When they work together, big things happen. They just need a bit of oil to help smooth things along between them. Most of their dynamic, however, comes from their utility in stores:

From a literary standpoint, Toritsuka helps balance out Aiura's optimism to a reasonable point. Saiki's cynicism is often a big contributor to conflicts in my stories—he's unreliable, both in dialogue and in narration. Toritsuka is a milder version of that cynicism (albeit rough around the edges). Aiura can't always be right about the way of things, but Akechi is too prone to taking the middle ground; essentially, pointing out all the benefits to her way of thinking while also providing the downsides. Sometimes, though, it's necessary to just have someone completely shut it down, and fast. That's where Toritsuka comes in.

Also, Toritsuka and Aiura often act as the representation of the doubts and hopes of Saiki, respectively. They're essentially foils to each other, which is helpful when your main character is a hot-and-cold tempered little bitch. A sort of good-cop bad-cop for him, if you will. By having them verbally duke it out, it helps guide the reader a bit about what's true about Saiki's view and what's distorted by his way of thinking. Chances are, if they manage to agree, it's a lesson he's going to have to learn.

And finally, Akechi and Toritsuka. Though they're comfortable with each other to an extent, they lack the romantic undertones I put in for Akechi and Aiura. Akechi makes Toritsuka uncomfortable: it's hard to argue with him, for one, and he often calls out Toritsuka in a way that's hard to hide from. Akechi is the most successfully mentor-like to Toritsuka out of the rest of them—Aiura is too automatically competitive and Saiki can smother. There's also the fact that Toritsuka can sometimes trigger his trauma in certain ways, so Saiki tends to lash out. Akechi, however, is patient and steady. Anything Toritsuka says rolls off of him like water. Akechi is hard to catch off guard with words or actions, and deep down, Toritsuka really does need stability and an unwavering personality to help him grow as a person. I think Toritsuka is fascinating to Akechi as well, as I don't think Akechi is a naturally sexual being. He's not averse, but the kind of brain-rotted attraction and horniness that Toritsuka often exhibits can teach Akechi a lot about other people. The biggest thing that Toritsuka offers Akechi is a better understanding of other people. His down-to-earth nature can help Akechi connect his practical knowledge about psychoanalysis and anthropology to actual people.

From a literary standpoint, Akechi acts as a milder reign for Toritsuka. Aiura may be right to disagree with him, but sometimes a defter explanation is needed than Aiura's often emotion-driven responses. This is where Akechi comes in, especially because Toritsuka's language and laziness can make it seem as though he's not to be trusted as a rational view. He is, and Akechi helps uncover that.

Also, Toritsuka can sometimes act as the audiences natural reaction to Akechi's tangents. Akechi obviously likes to ramble, but Aiura won't interrupt him and Saiki won't confront people. Toritsuka cuts through a lot of that easily and naturally, which helps keep them both in character while still allowing the story to move on.

Overall, it's kind of easy to see what utility I get out of these characters. Akechi is an intermediary who bridges gaps of understanding, both between characters and the audience and the happenings of the story. Aiura is the outgoing one, the one to get things started. She provides a force against Saiki's heavily biased world-view and acts as a moral compass for her group. Toritsuka helps cut through a lot of bullshit and acts as healthy dosage of reality these personalities need to keep their heads on straight.

Plus, I think they're in an unofficial QPR. So.

[everytimeigetmoody]

You stated all my thoughts about White. Up until this point he has no stakes in this story. They better do something with his character quick because there are only three eps left and I could not care less about whether he lives or dies right now. I even want Fluke’s selfish crazy ass to survive more than White at this point.

they just aren't giving us anything about white. as far as we know, he's just boyfriend. he has no ties with non and has done nothing to harm him or the investigation. he just doesn't have many ties to the main story with non. let's be honest. it makes him a little boring and bland. i kinda care about him cause he seems nice. he's innocent. there's nothing wrong with his place in the story and i feel like he does have his seat at the table even if he's not involved with non. he plays detective with phee and tan and he does his best with trying to contact the outside world. we see how fluke is going crazy through how he interacts with white. we get to see tee fleshed out a little through white.

i just don't think it would be satisfying to leave him as final girl. i mean, it's just too cookie cutter to leave the "innocent" one alive. this doesn't really seem like a story that's so rigid in its sense of morality. a lot of the characters we see are very much not black and white. you have phee who cares very much for non, but sleeps with jin and, at least the way i see it, kind of likes him too. he's on his mission to seek the truth about non or kinda get revenge but he gets distracted and veers off course. we have tee who is a major bully and does fucked up things to non which could have landed him in jail and did land him into deep shit with his uncle, but he also ultimately asked for mercy for non and tee is dealing with a lot of shit at home. i mean, he has the health of his dad on his shoulders (if i remember correctly) and his uncle was stepping on his neck threatening him with money or the lack of it. i am a tee hater but when i really think of his situation, i can't help but feel bad for the guy and everything that he's going through. and i love phee, but man was it fucked up to sleep with jin without knowing the full story.

with all of these complex and interesting characters to really dig into and analyze, white just seems bland in comparison and i feel like that's probably the point of his character. i mean, maybe i just haven't caught onto any foreshadowing, but white isn't going to turn out to be some great mastermind or part of the conspiracy with phee and tan in the end. that would feel like such shitty writing. i think this is more or less confirmed by white getting the hallucination of boils on his skin. he's not in on the plan and he didn't use this to throw off suspicion like tan did.

i think he works best as a tragic death. he would work best as collateral in the end. he has done all that he can and that is still not enough sometimes. you can do all the right things but circumstances get you sometimes. that's just what life is.

white is not final girl material. this story ultimately isn't about him, and i think that's what seals his fate. no part of seeing him coming out of the woods bloody and crying would be satisfying as an ending and would honestly create the most basic ass theme. it would make me actually angry if the "innocent" one got out alive. in a show that works so hard at being morally complex, that is such a slap in the face as an ending. it sends the most basic theme of "if you do bad things, bad things happen to you, and if you do good things, good things happen to you." the story would say nothing interesting. it is such a tired theme that doesn't take into acount the cemplexities and nuances of life.

i believe dff will do better than that. i think it will give us a story that leaves all of us speechless and satisfied. white being the final girl will not give us that.

sorry anon that i unloaded all of this on you. i never really got into it in my original post, and i still didn't fully get into it here but this was getting long.

[finsterhund]

Talking about Labubu I guess (god help me)

So I'm the type of boy who primarily lives under a rock. But I'm also a stuffed animal fiend and toy collector. I've had many things to say about beanie babies and their craze in the past, so I imagine there's some interest to hear my thoughts on these guys.

First off, shut up about how they're "just stuffed animals" because stuffed animals are cool as shit and there's losers who blow all their money gambling or recreationally consuming rotting sugar in this species so I think stuffed animals are comparatively fine.

Second off. The UK incident with the knives. Y'all have really gotta stop blaming whatever trend or situation is involved when it comes to the UK and knives. It's a shithole with a government so hellbent on shoving violence under the rug wherever possible but doing jack fucking shit about the systemic issues causing the violence that you should EXPECT that no matter the situation there's some fuckshit with a knife. Think American gun violence. It's the culture of violence not whatever scapegoat the governing powers that be want to shift the blame to because they're too lazy to actually do anything. That's just the UK it has nothing to do with whatever trend is "to blame" like Pop Mart or whatever.

Now these guys are interesting. Little keychain monsters. There's a blind box/gambling aspect (because of course there fucking is) but they're a very solid product.

Personally though I don't see myself getting into them because while there's a lot of things I like about them, they just don't appeal to me in an art style/species biology perspective. They're too much like little humanoid dolls in the face area and I find the ear style boring af. I'm honestly more excited that this toyline seems to be bringing back the 1950s plastic face trend that many people find "creepy" these days with a new light.

And I think this is why I differ from Labubu fans. Because I don't inherently find the old rubber face style "creepy" but rather find the Labubu face style generic "cutesy" and not that interesting.

The plastic face of an otherwise furry stuffed creature is very compelling to me. From both a customization standpoint and a general appeal. I've been hoping the plastic face style would make a resurgence due to the increasing accessibility of 3D printing, with the ability to create molds and cast things in plastic, resin, etc. injection molding is hard to do as an individual but resin is comparatively way easier. I've seen some smaller artists do custom work where they cut up a thrifted toy and give them an air-dry clay face, but I'm not the most excited about that for a whole variety of reasons. Mostly is that these cannot be washed and like all fragile materials can easily break. I've been hoping for the "art doll" culture to expand more into the main toy market if this makes sense. More accessible products for those of us who bring out friends all over the planet alongside us. Like these little keychain monsters!!!

Anyways...

I kinda wish I did find the Labubu more compelling but unfortunately I am a picky little fuck. And I think on this case it's the art style.

What I'm really hoping for, is knockoffs with different face designs. Maybe give them actual snouts or more detailed monstery eyes or something. And more interesting ears than just generic rabbit. Horns, spikes, fins, etc. lean into the monster part.

In short I'm disappointed in the over reliance on the gambling aspect (which in turn drives the scalping and exploitative secondary markets) and wish that this trend pushes more into handmade and customizable alternatives.

The body shape and hug feel of these guys from what I can see is incredible. I just wish they weren't so, idk what's he word, milktoast? Wider appeal? Idk how to say it.

In short though, stop acting like a toy getting popular is some sort of moral failing. We're a social creature and 90% of the population can't responsibly afford to raise children so this is something that should be expected. We pack bond with literally anything and everything.

[fuutaprotectionsquad]

Yknow I feel like I should have a main post where I share my Milgram opinions/verdicts (thought of this bc i was writing my sister's opinion on the milgram characters). So I'll go character by character.

Will anyone read this? I don't know but its here

Haruka: I relate to him a bit (shitty mother, intrusive homicidal thoughts, neurodivergence). I def feel bad for him but hes still really guilty in my mind. I just think the whole killing for attention thing is a really dangerous mindset you can't just get out of, especially if you're being told you're not in the wrong. And it definitely seems like he doesn't actually feel bad for the girl he killed, just feels bad because people are mad at him for it. Idk. But I enjoy his dynamic with Muu a lot, even tho its toxic i just think its really interesting. But I wish him the best and he deserves a hug. His songs are mid tho (/hj i like them)

Yuno: I love her personality and I think shes so fun, but I honestly don't think about her a lot compared to the others. But I love her and specifically enjoy her dynamics with (obv mostly in fan content) Kazui, Mahiru and Fuuta. Her and Fuuta are such a good platonic ship (romantic is fun too). Innocent vote, obv. I like her songs, but Tear Drop moreso than Umbilical.

Fuuta: Oh my god I wonder what I think of him. In all seriousness he's a major hyperfixation of mine at like every given moment. I adore him and i think he deserves better and to be innocent. Like he feels so guilty for what he did and he didn't know any better, everyone around him was encouraging his behavior and praising him for it. But then it got too far and all his friends abandoned him and blamed him like. Poor fuuta :( and he's like 100% right when he says him and es are exactly the same. On another note, major fan of 0309 (romantically, but either way works), and also love his dynamic with Haruka, Yuno, Mahiru, Amane and Es. His songs are both in my top three (backdraft being #1)

Muu: Tied for my fav character(? Fuuta might beat her idk) I love her personality and vibe and everything just ❤️❤️ queen shit. And her queen bee design is gorgeous. Typically my favs are men but shes one of the first women ive hyperfixated on this much. Again, love her dynamic with Haruka, not from a like. healthy relationships could make the characters better standpoint, but from a story perspective its interesting. But yeah guilty. As for her songs, INMF is my #2 and i like After Pain

Shidou: Honestly I used to be kinda indifferent about him and just found him to be boring but then I rewatched his voice dramas and read some fics and I like him more now. I feel really bad for him bc he went through a really shitty situation which he felt he had the power to change and was stuck in a shitty moral dilemma bc of it. And in the end he did shitty things to save those he loved and it didn't even matter. He feels so guilty and doesn't deserve it. Innocent <3. Also romantic 0507 ftw (0506 is cool too). Him and Amane are silly too. As for his songs i like them, but they're not my fav

Mahiru: i like her, but im not too like. invested in her ig. But i feel bad for her :( she just wants to feel love and like. clearly she did something wrong but she didn't know she was. She never intended to hurt anyone. So innocent. Unless we find out she like. did something really fucking bad then maybe guilty. But in I Love You it implies it was a mutual toxicity so it probably wasn't something super terrible? But anyway. I love her with like all the characters cuz shes just so fun to see interact w others, but specifically with Yuno, Fuuta, Shidou, Amane and Mikoto.

Kazui: Hes so fun i love him. Like all he wants is to be honest and be himself but he feels pressured to lie and then finally he tells the truth and his wife fucking kills herself like- jeez- poor guy. Like following the gay theory, i get why she mightve done it (imagine being told the romance you built your entire life around for like 20 years was all a lie, and that your husband never actually loved you and just pretended to and every time you kissed or something he was just pretending like. that sucks poor hinako) but its so awful that he had to go thru that. But anyway innocent, kazui come out we accept you. And stan 0507. Song wise cat is easily #4 but. half is ok ig

Amane: Yknow i love amane but I also hate her and i think part of that might be the fandom? idk. I feel sorry for her bc she grew up in such a shitty situation but also i think shes beyond the point where we can uninstill those ideologies. Like shes 12, not 5. And amane says it herself that she has as much of a free will as everyone else and that her decision to kill/stay in this environment should be valued. Not that i think she should remain in this abusive situation, but she's not just some innocent kid whose being manipulated, she knows what she's doing. Hence, guilty. I don't think either vote will change her or anything so im voting with my honest opinion. As for dynamics, i love seeing her interact with all the other prisoners, but especially Shidou and Fuuta.

Mikoto: I love mikoto a lot but im so on the fence about his verdict. Ive been voting him innocent but theres still a part of me thats like. debating it. Bc he shouldn't have to be punished for John's actions, and it sucks that that's the situation hes in, but its that or more murders are left to occur. The main reason i say innocent is under the idea that John could go dormant or just stop fronting as much if we reduce mikoto's stress (like he says will happen i think). But hes so complex and fun i love mikoto. Specifically i love romantic 0309 but also his dynamic w the smoking group and mahiru. Also i love his songs.

Kotoko: I love her but also fuck her for hurting fuuta (and mahiru too but mainly fuuta). She annoys me bc she was so quick to almost murder several people based on a preliminary verdict that was made using little information. Like she knew this wasn't a concrete verdict, but attacked them anyway. I get her ideology of "kill people who evade justice to protect the weak" but only when they've actually done bad things (ie. the guy kidnapping the little girl). But when she doesn't know what they did and knows the person accusing them doesn't either???? Like bruh. But i like her character shes fun. I like seeing how she interacts with es and everyone she attacked. And songs, harrow is okay and i really like deep cover.

Whew im done.

[sugar-omi]

Ok Ik this might be kinda bad but hear me outttt what if it was the OTHER way around and mc cheated on baxter for cove 👀

I actually have a similar ask to this one which I'll write soon enough, but I've thought about the reverse in this exact scenario and I honestly could tell you it would not happen/wouldn't happen the same.

ofc imma go into more on the similar ask, but cove actually could not do what baxter is doing in the current angst au we have goin on lol (sorry baxter🙏, but cove's morals are very tight around here...)

you couldn't tell cove you want to leave baxter for him before you leave him.. he would never reciprocate in that situation bc he feels like he'd already be disrespecting your relationship n baxter just by talking about it and then getting together.

compared to if you leave baxter and Then tell cove you like him, he'd be shocked and ask to wait bc you just got out of a relationship and he just couldn't bring himself to date you after that confession

basically you'd have to prove you're ready and not just saying it bc you got bored of baxter.

so it'll be at least a full year or more before cove would even bring it up again.

it's not bc he was giving himself time to start liking you back or time to prepare himself to reject you, he just wants to make sure you aren't saying that for a little giggle and that you've had time to move on from baxter. even if you stopped loving him, you loved him at some point and shared your life with him.

in the angst au, I imagine baxter always loved MC and that's why he's just letting things happen like this, and that he thinks this is his only chance to be loved back..

so compared to him, cove would be very blindsided and I actually think he'd be angry if you confessed to him before or after breaking up w baxter (more so if you do it before) and he'd ask for some distance and it'd be another year or 2, in fact closer to 2, before he is ready to accept your feelings.

cove takes his feelings for you very seriously, he wants to make sure your mind is clear when you're dating and even if he wouldn't consider baxter a friend, he couldn't bring himself to date you n be "happy" knowing that baxter is watching you move on so quickly.

overall cove is very considerate this way <3

[parksprout]

Sprout Journal 11/28/24

Wow, what an emotionally trying couple of days. This has been a weird couple of days for me, so this post will probably be pretty heavily skewed in the venting direction after I run down what my day was like yesterday! Also oh my gosh I hope I'm more consistent about these soon, I'm STRUGGLING with using my time wisely since I got my computer. I haven't had a chance to just fuck around and do dumb stuff for a while, so I've been basking in the opportunity to play video games and watch stuff :3 yesterday I didn't have work or school for obvious reasons, it was thanksgiving!

I gotta clarify that I feel nothing but moral reprehension towards the typical concept of thanksgiving, but I do believe that even though the actual holiday is kinda wack that we should have an autumn harvest holiday regardless so... I try to think of it less as the pilgrims hell yea holiday and more like a medieval peasant celebrating another good harvest aksjdhfaksjdf chat does that even make sense?

Anyways! Since I already had my "thanksgiving" proper celebration with my family, yesterday I was invited over to my friend Jordan's house for thanksgiving instead! It's nice that I have a couple of friends I'm close enough with that they invite me to family events, it makes me feel a lot less lonely than I might otherwise. Honestly I wish that it was easier for me to spend time with my friends lately! I really need their support during this time, but everyone (including me) is always too busy. ANYWAYS that's not the point!! It was just very very very good to see my friend. Our dinner was simple and our hangout was super casual as well :3 we had turkey, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, rolls, and some pumpkin cheese cake afterwards!!! I'm glad that eating shitty is outta the way now ough I gotta get back in the gym tomorrow after work and burn off all this high calorie food I've had lately. I'm proud of the self control I have now though, I used to not really care about portion sizes but I've discovered that I can eat much less and still be plenty full at the end of the night. I didn't even realize I was overeating for a long time. ANYWAYS THATS NOT THE POINT!! The food was all very good. Here we go, another tierlist

The pumpkin pie is in the place of the pumpkin cheesecake!

Anyways besides dinner it was a really chill evening. It was a little boring honestly, but it was nice to get out of the house and talk about random stuff! Our conversations were kinda simple. We talked a lot about family history and I helped my friend better understand what his ancestry means. We talked a lot about history and immigration during that conversation.

Another thing was that The Bnuuy, my former partner and the person I'm actively trying to convince that we should date again, asked me to make sure I said hi to him. It's always a lil heartbreaking saying hi to my friends for them, but I still love doing it. I'm really happy that... even despite the fact that we aren't still dating, they still wanna say hi to my friends and family. Obviously everyone knows that I'm still talking to the Bnuuy - they all know that we're not together and that I'm actively trying to show them that I would be worth a second chance, but regardless of how much they know I'm always afraid that... they'll think I'm being foolhardy for not just giving up and moving on. Anyways, the bnuuy asked me to say hi to Jordan so I did. I was kinda expecting a bad reaction from Jordan asdfasdf he can be a bit like an older brother at times, brutal honesty and all. But... instead he was actually incredibly sweet about this. He said hi back to them and also said some really bitter sweet stuff ugh. He told me that... he knows I might be getting hurt right now in this situation, which I am, but that he also thinks that I'm doing what's right for me. He can tell that I'm very much in love with this person in a genuine way, that I want to give them the best and that I'm allowing the desire to fix things with them to motivate me to become the best version of myself he's seen. He also told me that the idea of me ending up with my partner again makes him somewhat sad because he knows I'd move away, but I reminded him that I was planning to leave eventually no matter what and that it'd just be a new chapter in life not an ending to old ones. I really appreciate my friends lately.. they've all been so supportive of me. A lot of my friends were here for my last breakup too, and all of them have said that... this one is nothing like the last one. This time they can all tell I'm actually in love and wanting to try, whereas last time I wasn't in love I just... didn't want to be alone. I think I'm okay being alone for now partner wise, I just... know what I want in the end.

Not tonight but probably tomorrow I think I'm going to write a big post about what all is on my mind regarding the bnuuy lately. We had a really big talk that... didn't end how I wanted but ended pretty positively? I kinda got rejected but... they also more solidly said that we've got a chance than they have at any other point. We're straight up in the "we'll see" phase which... feels better than the "I have no idea what's going on" phase we were just in for the past month. Now I know what's going on, I know that they think I'd be a good partner they just... have some pretty solid reasons for not wanting to try right now. I hope that they'll wanna try again sooner than later, but I'm okay waiting for them still. I'll tell y'all more about it properly tomorrow I think <33 I love you Tumbie, thanks for listening as always! Have a good night! Bye!!!!! <3<3

[leffee]

Ranking from little angel to little devil?

I'm glad you asked! Let's try going from angel to devil. All those lists are like a continuum scale huh? Great, I like a good continuum scale, it's like ambivert personality continuum scale mmm, anyway:

To no one's surprise on the heavy end of little angel is Penny Ling. She's just the goodest girl among them, what can I say? She still has her devil moments, don't get me wrong, but compared to the rest of them she has the least amount of them. Overall a good, compassionate soul, bless her. Follows the rules, likes helping others, but will sometimes use her nicness it to sway others her way (like in that one highschool ask I answered when I said that since she's so nice teachers really like her and if she asks for example to watch a movie that day instead of a normal lesson they will usually agree. A good few times when she really didn't feel like studying she was like "Eh, I'll just ask the teacher to postpone the test until nest week." and went to do her own things. Yes, she was just that confident about it, for a good reason too.) Closest to lawful good.

Russell - well, it's Russell. He's a good person too of course, but another big reason why he's here is his tendency to follow the rules and just overall good manners. He tries to take everyone's needs into account (like in the beggining of the Fun Russell episode) and does genuinely like helping, though more from a leader position. It gives him innumerable fulfillment to see something get done, the harder it was the better, no matter if it was for his or someone else's sake. However, he can be quite stiff when it comes to his rules, because he thinks his own internalized ones are the best. However, it doesn't apply to insitutions like museums or pools, he won't fight with whatever rules are there unless they are genuinely ridiculous, but to other things it does apply. Somewhere between lawful good and neutral good.

Minka - he's kinda in a weird place honestly, because I didn't get to the morally grey ones on this scale, but she juuust a bit is in this area. She can do things that are questionable, but she genuinely mostly does them out of just her easily-excitable personality, so things like violating others' personal space or being overwhelming for them. But as I said, it's not her trying to be rude or anything, it's just Minka being Minka. Besides, her goodness really overshadows all that in the end. She can genuinely be such a cute, kind angel, accepting towards everyone and doing that with fervor. Closest to chaotic good.

Sunil - he's a good person but damn, he can sometimes get really grumpy or impatient, just not in the mood at all to do the right thing. In those moments he just lets whatever is going to happen, happen. He doesn't make the situation worse but doesn't make it better either. That's only sometimes though, he can and absolutely will be very kind and understanding most of the time. He is a pretty patient guy after all, but will roll his eyes every now and then. Just, when he hears about someone's problem etc and from his perspective this problem is completely unimportant or very easily solvable, he will help but be sarcastic about it the entire time like, "Oh yes, I can definitely see why it's such a big problem that I had to abandon my lazy afternoon and get here instead." Somewhere between neutral good and chaotic good, closer to the latter.

Vinnie - now we're getting more into morally gray characters, at least in my headcanon. So you can see that Zoe and Pepper will be here as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. On a morality scale Vinnie is a pretty good perfect middle because he can be an absolute angel but also complete opposite. The main reason for it are his double standards. He looks completely differently at his friends or just people he likes and differntly at everyone else. For example: if Zoe was to date someone but break up with them for no other reason then that she was bored of them (so the person was not bad to her in any way) he fully supports it, you go girl, get the best for yourself, but if it was that someone breaking up with her for the same reason then how dare they and they should die. Ok, maybe not that much, haha. If something's not too harmful to others but beneficial to him or he just wants to do it then he will (i.e. cheating on a test or eating a couple of grapes in the grocery store). But at the same time he also is a good guy who will help strangers and seeing someone's wallet fall out of their pocket he will return it to them, no doubt about it. Honestly idk where to put him, I think he's the closest to lawful neutral but it's hard to judge with those double standards.

Pepper... oni - the thing about her is that generally she's not the most empathetic person and can care more about her own enjoyment than others' feelings or rules and often doesn't think about them at all. Straight up won't play by the rules, granted not necessarily because she disagrees with them, often she will do it just to annoy someone and see their reaction because it's funny to her. If she is to help someone and it will take a lot of time and effort then she has to at least feel a connection with them, she won't do it for a complete stranger. Still, the thing about her is that she does all that not because she wants someone to be upset, but because she wants to enjoy herself. If it has longer or bigger consequences she will feel bad, so she's not evil or anything. Closest to chaotic neutral.

Zoe. Zoe, Zoe, Zoeeee. Look, I say that with love, but she is kind of a bitch and that's why out of the pets she's my least favourite. I still love her, don't get me wrong, I just love her the least. Even in my 'softened' version she can be pretty arrogant and absolutely self-centered. If you play by her rules and admire the things she does when she wants them to be admired you're fine and dandy, but if you say that you disagree with her, or worse yet dislike her singing or anything else she will NOT be happy. And I don't mean disagreeing in a rude way, just simply having different opinion. Yes, that includes her friends, though to a lesser extent. As long as you agree with her she's a sweetheart. She's prone to revenge though. Not a bad person but out of 7 of them she's the closest. Also chaotic neutral. Also everyone from Vinnie to Zoe would genuinely enjoy seeing someone who wronged them suffer.

Idk how that took me two hours... Ta-da! I know nobody asked for the whole neutral lawful stuff but I couldn't help myself.

[loren91]

This blog is kinda new and I haven’t done a post like this before, but as someone who works with film, I have a lot of thoughts, and I’d like to go on a little filmmaking rant regarding Young Royals, or more precisely, the critique of Wilhelm’s character.

The past few years there’s been a trend in films to have the main protagonist be strong, flawless and morally perfect from start to finish. I’ve never really understood this, because that way you are actively blocking any opportunity for good character development. If you want a character to be interesting or undergo some kind of journey of growth, they have to start out in a somewhat bad place. As a viewer, I honestly find it a bit insulting too, because a filmmaker who doesn’t dare to take risks or write nuanced characters are essentially saying “I don’t trust my audience”, and that’s how you end up with boring films.

Now in regards to Young Royals and Wilhelm, I keep seeing critiques popping up across platforms, like “Wilhelm is selfish”/“he’s a bad person”/“he’s toxic”, even to the point of saying that the whole show is toxic. And in a sense, yeah, Wilhelm is kind of a bad person, and you can give all kinds of explanations for it. He’s a teen and a product of the environment he was brought up in. Considering the fact that both Wilhelm and August have grown up in the same kind of toxic upper class-elite culture, I’d be more surprised if he wasn’t at least a little bit of a douchebag (There’s a reason why they gave him an anxiety disorder, to make him more relatable and worthy of our sympathy) There’s a lot of expectations on him, from his family and his peers. And he’s terrified of the consequences if he were to break those expectations, that’s why he’s so complicit. But most importantly, his flaws are there for narrative reasons. 

If you want to figure out if a piece of work is morally questionable or not, you have to look beyond just one character. The million dollar question here is, are the characters rewarded despite bad behaviour?

Let me set an example here with 1984’s Ghostbusters (an odd one I know, but hear me out!) The romantic subplot between Peter and Dana is incredibly poorly written. When Dana shows up at their office, asking for help, Peter doesn't take her seriously and only attempts to flirt. He also stalks her and tries to pressure her into dating him, and despite her saying no several times over, he doesn't back off. Then at the end, when Peter and his team have saved the city from the big evil ghost, he thinks he deserves Dana as a reward. He kisses her (without checking for consent) and the film tries to frame this as romantic. Peter is rewarded despite his bad behaviour. I don’t care about anyone's nostalgia for this film, it’s gross af.

Now, let’s compare this to YR. Wilhelm is constantly going back and forth on his relationship with Simon. He keeps pushing him away, only to pull him in moments later when he’s too weak to resist his feelings any longer. Simon has a lot of patience with Wilhelm because he understands that he’s in a complicated situation. Also, red flags are difficult to see when you’ve got those rose tinted glasses on..

However, all of this is there really only to build up for one scene, the break up behind Simon’s house in ep 6. Wilhelm has hurt Simon several times over at this point, and he’s exhausted. But Wilhelm tries to ask for his reward anyway. 

“I’m really sorry, this was the only way. But, this doesn’t have to change what we’ve got. We’re still us.”

But Simon calls him out for it.

“You expect everything to be on your terms. You need to figure out what you want… You need to do it on your own, I don’t want to be anyone’s secret.”

Effectively telling Wilhelm that his days of avoiding responsibility and taking people for granted are over. Simon won’t stand for it anymore. Wilhelm is being punished for his bad behaviour.

Wilhelm is the main protagonist of the story, meaning we see the story progress mainly from his perspective. It’s really important to remember though, that just because a character is the protagonist doesn’t mean that they’re the hero. Wilhelm is certainly not a hero, but it’s still his journey of growth and self discovery, that’s what makes the story interesting.

We get to see just how much these boys love each other and how happy they are together, but their situation is too complicated and they are terrified, which leads to Wilhelm making some questionable choices. The script however makes sure that the characters pay for their less than ideal actions, and not just with Wilhelm. 

-When Simon attacks August because he refuses to pay, Rosh makes sure to call him out. 

-When Sara finds out he’s been seeing their dad behind her back and lying to her about it for months, she calls him out for it. 

-When August kisses Sara in the stables, Felice breaks up with him.

-When Wilhelm finds out August recorded the video, he disowns him.

And so on.

All of this stuff is really crucial for their development as characters. Learning through their mistakes. That’s why the last hug and love confession outside the church is so damn important, it’s concrete evidence of Wilhelm’s character development. He’s far from done, but that’s why we’re getting season 2! It’s most likely gonna be a rather bumpy ride, but the boy just needs more time. Who knows, maybe he’ll end up being the hero of the story eventually.

YR is so well done and I could go on for hours about this kind of stuff, but that will have to do for now, bye 😅

[about-faces]

What do you think of a Harley/Harvey romance? Or do you think they won't just fit and better left as friends or antagonists? Do you think Harvey would be a good fit as the 'token dude' among the Gotham Sirens (Harley, Ivy , Selina)?

Honestly, I don’t know what kind of dynamic Harley and Harvey should have. You’d think they’d have some common ground to build on, between their names and their taste in split fashion! But beyond that, they’re a pair of characters I can never quite figure out when it comes to them being together as anything but antagonists, which is boring to me.

(Note: when I speak about Harley, I’m taking about my own personal understanding of her, as I prefer the character. She’s been so inconsistent ever since she became the Sexy Elmo of the DCU, to the point that she’s more a vague merchandise concept than a character. For all intents and purposes of this, I’m thinking of her as Arleen Sorkin’s Harley from BTAS for the most part)

The big fundamental difference is that Harley is all about fun, while Harvey is all about pain. The guy literally wears his agony on his face, and is a big wet blanket for any irreverent antics Harley might want to commit. It's not even a Bert-and-Ernie situation where there's a wacky character and a stoic, straight-laced character, because Harvey is just TOO serious and TOO tormented to be any fun for Harley. There's little room for give-and-take between them. There's just Harley trying to be wacky while Harvey stares at her like someone who has entirely forgotten the concept of fun.

Now, that's not to say that Two-Face can't be a fun, wacky, flamboyant character for Harley to play with! But we'd have to go back to his late Golden Age characterization, where he was entirely focused on outlandish crimes based around the number two. I could possibly imagine a Harley who encourages Harvey to be that kind of Two-Face again, doing something like... oh, let's say, robbing a circus while riding on two horses at the same time. Harley might have a great time with THAT Two-Face!

Now, one might thinking about going the opposite direction. That, instead of encouraging his worst criminal instincts, there's some potential for Dr. Harleen Quinzel to actually be a healing influence on Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, I can't stop thinking about that comic where Mark Russell had Harley "cure" Harvey of needing to listen to his coin, which not only overlooks the core reasons why the coin is so important to him (Russell just kinda treated it as an obsessive quirk and no deeper), but it also shows how Harley's professional care only resulted in making for a more deadly, unpredictable Two-Face:

(Sidenote: brilliant as Russel is as a writer, you can tell he doesn't understand Two-Face because Batman doesn't refer to him as "Harvey.")

I'd love to see Harley as someone who truly empathizes with Harvey Dent, someone who actually understands his trauma from abuse and his internal divide, but it seems impossible to consider how both characters are usually written. It would require a Harley Quinn who actually does fundamentally care about helping people and a Harvey Dent who is written as both a good man and a victim.

Which is where Stjepan Šejić's Harleen was so fascinating and frustrating alike. Harvey is a major character there, and he's miswritten as a hardline dickbag who is all about being Hard On Crime, just for the sake of clashing with the tragically-empathic Dr. Quinzel.

This Harvey Dent is not sympathetic. He's a moralizing prick who straight-up advocates for a fascist police state, including releasing Arkham inmates to show Gotham in order to unleash martial law. It's a perversion of the subplot from the 1989 comic strips, where Harvey wants to resign for unwittingly almost aiding a plot to do exactly what he tries to do in Harleen. To top it off, this Two-Face is willing to re-flip his coin to get a desired result, which is just Bad Two-Face 101.

And yet, despite ALL that, Šejić makes an impressive stab at showing how his compassionate take on Harleen is two-of-a-kind with even this jerkass Harvey Dent.

Even now, I don't know what to make of this, nor do I know what it could possibly mean for either characters. But I remain intrigued by the potential implications of two tragic characters who both lost everything and became "monsters" all in the name of trying to help others. Two irreconcilable people, bound by fate and ideals and "Ha Ha."

So no, I don't know what kind of relationship these two could ever have. I'm even more doubtful there could ever be romance between them. But in other circumstances... who can say? Maybe in some AU, there's a tormented, scarred crime boss driven by revenge and punishing the Haves (Halves?) on behalf of the Have-Nots, and he surprises even himself by bonding with a whimsical, colorful, tortured, and tragically unstable mischief-maker in pigtails.

Maybe. Just maybe that'd work.

[kitausuret]

#and his BORING resurrection 🙄 sent me into space

Hey MC! I know this ask is like over a month old, but it's in reference this post re: Flash Thompson's resurrection and I'm still thinking about it.

So, like, since Flash officially came back from Klyntar-hive-limbo in Venom (2018) #34, there really hasn't been much exploration at all on how he's been handling it.

(Venom #32, #34; Cates, Coello)

He's been around, yeah, with a small part in Amazing Spider-Man #900, a cameo in Dark Web #1 (which unfortunately did NOT include him beating the shit out of Norman Osborn), and of course fairly heavy involvement in Savage Avengers and Extreme Carnage... But even in the latter two, it feels bland? Like how is this man just so chill about what's happened? He was dead. He was fucking. Dead.

I'm thinking about it because I recently started reading the fantastic Iron Man (2020) run by Chris Cantwell & Cafu, et. al, and it DOES actually address Tony coming back from the dead and how he's going through this big personal crisis. It's really wonderful and it honestly has me a little bit salty that we've had Tony and Flash in the same room and neither of them have mentioned the fact that they were both dead during the same period of time. Like, y'all are just not going to mention it? At all?

More than that, his reunions haven't been much to write home about. The best one so far was definitely with Andi Benton in Extreme Carnage, the one with Peter in #900 was laughably bad (ntm Flash kinda looks like a discount Eddie Brock which is, uh, jarring to say the least), and even though he had this big conversation with Eddie in Venom #33, they haven't crossed paths even once since then.

(Top: Extreme Carnage, Bottom: ASM #900 and Dark Web #1)

On the note of Dark Web, it is actually kind of legitimately upsetting to me that we haven't gotten really anything about Flash's reaction to Harry dying while Flash was still, you know, dead. This is the second time Flash has had to endure the loss of one of his oldest friends, and we just get nothing? At this point we're going to get to Harry's next resurrection before Flash says anything about it.

I will, actually, give this to Savage Avengers. There's a little bit of.. hmm.. shall we say, reading between the lines for it, but there's this little insight from Deathlok (Miles Morales... it's a whole thing) about Flash and how he kind of jumped headlong into his dalliance with Dagger (Tandy Bowen). It's not much, but it's something, and it does do something nice as far as explaining why he would do something kind of impulsive after having been, you know, DEAD.

(Savage Avengers #5, #9, and #10)

Anyways, I think that for Flash's resurrection, he and Tandy and Ty should have a threesome. It would be fun. Rivals to lovers or something.

(Savage Avengers #8)

Overall, I've been disappointed by the Flash Situation since his return, and while I'm glad he's back, I do sometimes wonder if a few more years in the ground wouldn't have hurt. At least let there be consequences to his return! I also wouldn't complain if he stopped being Anti-Venom, but that's another rant you can read here.

Thanks for the ask and giving me an opportunity to go off about something I've been thinking about for almost exactly 2 years!

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.