#and there's nothing inherently wrong about relating to him either

[five-of-cr]

here's the thing about matthias: he isn't the honorable, reformed hero some of the fandom seems to see him as.

yes, he was raised by a tight-knit family of comrade soldiers and decides to betray them in the end. of course that took incredible strength. i don't deny that. but we also need to recognize that the drüskelle are not just some rogue cult. they are a core part of the fjerdan government, who is trying to wipe out the grisha because they are seen as dangerous. that's literally just genocide. however indoctrinated someone is, this is something that is evil from every angle, even if the character can't or won't see it.

and look, i love a good redemption arc, but matthias is such a passive actor in his. he falls in love with nina against his will. she changes his attitudes toward grisha because she's beautiful and kind so all grisha can't be bad, right? this a classic example of the trope of separating the "good ones" from the rest, where you cherry-pick specific individuals to point to as exceptions to a group's nature, which is still implied to be evil. you have to do a lot more than fall in love to truly unearth and address the roots of bigotry.

tbh, this is my biggest critique of the books as a whole. i loathe the "love conquers all" trope that pairs together a character from the oppressed group and one from the oppressors, letting the one show the other through the power of love that being bigoted is not nice. it puts all the responsibility on the former to prove their humanity, and gives all the credit to the latter's ability to be persuaded to recognize it. and then it inevitably leads to forgiveness, because the character has "earned" it by changing their views, once again making the victim seem like the villain if they don't absolve the oppressor of their past "mistakes". also, it's incredibly unrealistic for someone to fall in love with a person who actively hates them and considers them sub-human. in real life, people have to work on their bigotry before that happens, not use the relationship as a plot device for character development.

i think the idea of writing a character like matthias is neat. i think portraying someone's struggle to throw off the suffocating, hateful dogma they've been fed all their life is a story we need more of. i think personal growth of this variety should be celebrated, because otherwise people would never change. but i don't think the people, fictional or real, get to do this without facing profound consequences. it is not enough to feel sorry. it is not enough to apologize. it is definitely not enough to fall in love. and i think writing that lets people off the hook like this grossly oversimplifies power and oppression, and ends up being a feel-good way to romanticize people who cause a lot of harm.

a last note: my opinion is 100% influenced by my being bipoc. matthias is a classic aryan supremacist, even if being aryan isn't the thing he's being supremacist about. my gut reaction to that type of character is always going to be mistrust, both because people in real life have given me reason to be mistrustful and because characters like these are often written in a way that makes you sympathize with oppressors. i don't think matthias earns that trust, and i don't see why i owe him my affection as a reader.

[zeroiridium]

Underlying misogyny in the Mega Man X fandom

Maybe I'm coming across as "too woke" here or reading into things too much, but I'd like to talk about the misogyny surrounding the mmx fandom as I feel it's an overlooked issue .

My first example is the treatment Iris gets in the fandom.

Ignoring the blatant sexualisation she's gotten over the years, Iris is either forgotten (which I don't fully blame people for actually), treated decently or hated and bashed for.......kinda nothing honestly

You see, Iris suffers from this thing called "treating writing flaws like character flaws." A.K.A. hating characters for what is clearly an out-of-universe problem.

The most common example is that characters (usually female) are poorly written, and fans of the media hate the characters for it. It's made even worse when male characters suffer from the same writing mistakes and get little to no negativity.

You can probably see how this relates to mmx. Iris is very much not a well written character. She barely has a role other than "extra trauma for Zero boo hoo," but then again, X and Zero ALSO aren't well written. They just seem better because you see more of them, but truthfully, you only need a maximum of three words to describe any of these characters as they're all shallow.

Fandom misogyny also applies to other female characters, especially in the oversexualisation or complete ignorance department. Another great example of this would be Layer.

In-game Layer is a reserved, calm, collected woman who only really breaks out of that when Zero is around, in which she seems to get awkward, no doubt due to her hinted crush at the man. Even then, she doesn't act all that different. She almost has Garnet energy to her.

In a lot of fanon interpretations though, Layer seems to be sexualised and even demonised despite her barely contributing to the games. Granted colourisim also plays a part in that, not only in fanon content but in canon media as well. Layer is the only black character in the X series, and she is by far the most sexualised, which also contributes to her fanon depictions.

Another character I'll mention in relation to underlying misogyny in the fandom is one you might not expect.

It's X.

Yeah

X suffers from this thing in male characters especially, benevolance, a desire for peace a dislike of violence, or any indication of emotions really, are seen as weak, soft, or you guessed it, feminine traits.

These types of characters are then often infantilised, fetishised, and generally misrepresented in fan made media.

(It's at this point I would like to state there is nothing wrong with soft or weak or feminine male characters on their own.)

X very much suffers from this, as despite fighting several wars, people still portray him as a wimp. Even in the Zero games, which is honestly kinda absurd to me? Seriously, a man who ran an apocalyptic nation for a century would not act the way some people seem to think.

Speaking of the Zero games, this post is about mmx so I'll keep this brief, but there's also a lot of weird stuff when it comes to female characters in that fandom aswell, mostly sexualisation. For Fairy Leviathan, even though I don't like it and think it sucks, I can at least somewhat understand it. She does seem to have the maturity of a young adult and is almost flirtatious in her appearances. However, I can not say the same about certain depictions of Ciel, who is a confirmed CHILD. She's 14 in mmz 1, and she's 16 in mmz 4. No excuses.

Well we've come to the end of this rant where I'd like to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with OOC depictions of characters. People are allowed to have fun and play around with characters they enjoy. That's not at all my problem.

My problem is when fanon is treated like canon, to the point where fan made content is treated as official information, which ofc leads to a lot of confusion and misunderstandings, and it's honestly just plain annoying. Especially since a massive part of megaman series fans haven't actually run through the canon material

There's also problematic aspects like misogyny, racism and others, which I mentioned previously. To anyone with half a brain, it should be obvious why those are bad things.

Anyway I saulte for making it the end of this, thank you for listening to my ultimately not that clear way of presenting topics

[strawberryraviegutz]

Part of me starting to have second thoughts about sinners. Not the movie itself but more or so the fandom…

From ppl completely disregarding and ignoring the movie’s themes about racism, to ppl watering down Remmick through a black and white lens either comparing him to the Klan(even tho the Klan hated Irish ppl back then)or saying that he did nothing wrong and uplifting him more than the black cast(apparently it was confirmed by someone who worked on the movie that Remmick isn’t racist. I forgot his name tho), along with ppl going after others for…finding a VAMPIRE VILLAIN hot??(and or anyone talking about Remmick in a positive light in general.)

I literally just saw the film yesterday and I’m already being put off by the way a lot of yall are acting.

While what Remmick did was certainly by no means any better than what the very oppressors he hates are doing(cuz at the same time he did sorta use his whiteness to his advantage when tricking those 2 klan members into letting him in), I think it’s just disingenuous to ignore what exactly LED HIM to that mindset which was the Catholics colonizing his home along with forcing Ireland’s ppl into famine.

Like I just dont get it…For as long as vampires and villains have been super popular and beloved in media for decades and even centuries , how are yall gonna act super surprised when ppl find a hot villain vampire character attractive/appealing??

Plus I thought it was common sense then ppl can like villains but not agree with their actions. No one here thinks that Remmick was in the right by forcing other black ppl against their will into assimilation into vampires(at least I hope not).

And again assuming it’s only white ppl who find him hot(which isn’t even inherently a bad thing. It depends on the context) and writing smut of him while completely ignoring/erasing all the black women/afabs and or black ppl in general who are thirsting for Remmick in the tags along with telling ppl to die over shipping Remmick with ppl…and also thinking that there’s only Remmick x reader fics when…no?? There’s A LOT of other x reader fics with the twins(smoke especially), Bo Chow, Annie, the twins, Sammie, and Mary within the tags.(also can we NOT call Remmick’s actor ugly please? That’s just flat out mean.). Speaking of which the way yall are treating Mary and Annie is just deplorable..

I literally had someone comment on my last post related to the shipping of Remmick and Sammie and I couldn’t even respond to them cuz they blocked me??(idk how to feel about the ship but I’m not gonna get onto other ppl for liking it since they’re both adults from what I can tell and as long as they aren’t erasing or ignoring the themes/message of the movie)

How are u gonna comment on my post and then block me when I was just trying to further explain my opinion that you had no intention of listening to in the first place??

According to these ppl I guess I must hate my own race now for thinking that Remmick is hot/sar

Way to make ur own ppl feel isolated from their own community as if that doesn’t also go against the message of Sinners at all../sar

Edit: meant to say the British not Catholics, my mistake

[dunmeshistash]

Do you know where the “mithrun is the most grizzed masculine elf take” comes from. All I think about is the changeling thing but no one calls Marcille the most masculine elf for being ripped as an orc compared to Tade. Or that he trains a lot, which is also not an inherent masculine thing. To me Mithrun doesn’t really look different to any other (male) elf we see. Is it from the extra’s or something?

Yes that take comes from the changeling transformations of both Mithrun and Senshi. The joke is the Senshi is the "most femme dwarf" and Mithrun the "most masc elf" in contrast with how they look in their original forms

I do think the joke kinda got out of control in the game of telephone that fandom is, instead of a fun observation of how we might perceive Mithrun more feminine than he is and Senshi more masculine than he is due to our own biases based on their races it got taken way too seriously as "the only true and correct interpretation"

I don't think Mithrun is especially masculine or feminine when it comes to his personality, I understand some people have been peeved by others making him maybe too meek/girly compared to canon but I feel like the response of making him way more aggressive/manly than canon is just as inaccurate and it's kinda upsetting when I see "fandom vs (my interpretation of canon) canon" as if they're any more right for going to the extreme opposite

We don't really know if Mithrun is specially "masculine" for an elf either, the only elf that we know is especially "masc" is Otta, and we only know cause her bio says even elves mistake her for a man (I think for most of us she looks as androgynous as the others)

Here's a post discussing elf gender presentation more in depth if you're interested in the subject but all we know is that Mithrun works out a lot and is very muscular (which signals 'manlyness' for us but might not for elves) there isn't much that point out to him being especially manly or especially feminine compared to other male elves. He also has lost most of his desires and doesn't express his preferences much so I think it's safe to assume he doesn't really pick how he presents himself (clothing and such).

Other than that and being stoic (is that a super manly trait?) Mithrun is pretty average I think. He's also still super cute even as a tallman (as if looking manly would stop you from being cute)

But another trait of him that seem to make people read him as "super manly" it's that sometimes Mithrun is scary and aggressive, I'm not even going into why that's bad (correlating aggressiveness with manliness is uh…. not great….) not even to mention he only acts that way when he's triggered by wanting to take revenge on the demon, otherwise he seems to avoid hurting others.

Related to the "Mithrun is a super manly elf" take I've even seen people argue that drawing him looking too "cute" and small is incorrect (probably just because of his tallman self) but that's how Kui draws him herself.

I don't understand why correct others for drawing him the same way his creator does, he's designed to look this way, there's nothing to "fix" about his original design either (nothing wrong with drawing him in a way that appeals to you more tho, fanart is fanart just don't harass other people)

Anyway just to stress the point that he is very average let's compare him to Lycion and Pattadol

The average height for elves is 155 for males and 150 for females Mithrun is 155cm, Lycion is 170cm and Pattadol is 160cm, they're both taller and have a sturdier looking builds than Mithrun

Kui often draws Pattadol specially with a sturdier build than Mithrun actually

So no he's not the most buff biggest elf ever in any sense (although he IS a muscular elf), and I don't think the changeling transformations are too objective since they're magic. For example Pattadol as a human is pretty average even tho she's big compared to other elves (not to mention Senshi half-foot who has a huge beard that half-foots don't seem to be able to grow)

[verdantwyrm]

Anya, The Virgin Mary or the Vengeful Bitch

Or, shorthandedly, the Anyalysis.

I'm going to be occasionally stealing some points from my Curly thread over here, which you should absolutely also read. And also some segments from here, my small analysis of Jimmy and him being a monster vs choosing to be.

This analysis will be going over partially some of how she's treated in-game, but also how she's treated outside of the game as a representation of sexual assault and abuse victims, which is to either make her a mournful, bleeding heart virgin Mary, or a vengeful, final girl that's a violent, hysterical she-bitch. Which she is neither.

I think it's perfectly fine to orchestrate fictional characters killing their abusers, there's nothing inherently wrong with just that, it's more how people actually write it.

Just like any other trope, there are ways to go about it that are extremely harmful and ways that are generally inoffensive. As a victim myself, I personally see so many issues in wishing harm against your abuser, and there is nothing wrong with acting that out in characters you feel comfortable and relatable towards, but there are ways to do this that don't end up doing more harm than good— which is where most people fail. It's an objectively hard topic to address, because it requires nuance and understanding, possibly even lived experience to truly understand why someone would want this. Grieving, the absence that comes with being a victim, is not straightforward or black and white, it's an uncomfortable topic thats often on a spectrum of anger, grief or sadness that most people do not want to engage with because they have a very nearsighted opinion on how a victim should react– the perfect victim.

No one actually likes her as a character, they only like her for what she represents.

The Sexism of the Final Girl

I am sick and tired of people making up the realities in their heads where Anya overcomes Jimmy and kills him,

The trope of a "Final Girl" is not the feminist girl boss you want it to be and is incredibly misogynistic. The definition, as told by Wikipedia

"the final girl in many movies shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, and avoids the vices of the victims like illegal drug use. She sometimes has a unisex name such as Avery, Chris, or Sidney."

There are feminist ideals and intentions behind it, but it is not inherently feminist as a concept and is often very misogynistic despite its intentions to display the woman of the group to be strong, better or uphold moral superiority for declining sex, drugs or any of the vices mentioned forehand. It is a sexist trope, and all it does is ridicule women for "falling" for said vices as if that inherently makes them inferior or deserving of murder or assault.

On the surface, the use of the final girl trope may seem like a progressive portrayal of feminist strength and ideology. It can be satisfying to see a strong, independent "girl boss" overcome an otherworldly predator or rapist. However, upon further examination, it is clear that this trope perpetuates prejudice and reinforces societal expectations for women. The final girl is typically portrayed as a straight, white, morally superior woman who abstains from "immoral" activities like drinking, drug usage and sex. She serves as a voice of reason and represents the ideal woman in our society.

Most importantly, she survives while those who deviate from societal norms face violent deaths. This trope is a subtle commentary on the expectations placed on women in our society - good girls will prevail while those who do not conform will suffer a violent and brutal death, usually at the hands of a man. Ultimately, it seeks to shame women for behaving in ways that are not considered "ladylike."

The film industry as a whole has a history of using females as vessels for pain and suffering. Hollywood loves to profit off of female suffering. These male directors may believe they are earning brownie points with audiences by having female survivors in their films, but in reality, they are simply using feminism as a disguise while indulging in the fetishization of female pain.

It is rather exhausting seeing who we are being reduced to one note Virgin Marys with bleeding hearts, scorned mothers or wounded victims of assault who will never recover, never love or never will have sex again. I do think Mouthwashing does an excellent job of telling the story of a rape victim, but how other people treat her beyond that, it's almost impossible to even have a character like Anya or even Angela from Silent Hill 2 without people stripping them and violating what their character is and instead of focusing on what they represent, a victim.

But back to Anya specifically, she does not even exert any interest, desire or want to murder or harm another person. People dehumanise her the same way Jimmy dehumanises her. They strip her of everything she could be, everything she wanted to be and make her out to be a perfect victim, a bleeding heart, a weak and pathetic woman.

How about Anya has a nice day, how about Anya smiles, and she's happy and safe. What about that? Huh? Or do you only like her when she's a victim. People care more about Anya being a victim they can save, a victim they can nurture and heal and rescue than anything else. They care more about her being weak, sad, frail and miserable. Always the mother, always the victim, always the virgin Mary and a sacrifice but never ever a woman and most definitely never a person.

It's even worse when I see people continuously writing and "re-imagining" Anya being Raped just so Curly, Daisuke, Swansea or even a self-insert reader situation to save her. I totally get that you want her to be happy, and to be rescued and for that to never happen but you severely miss the point of the story that there was no one there to save her. And constantly rewriting it to put a man in the favour of the situation comes off as very shallow and misogynistic the way you're all so ready to have someone rescue her like she's some distressed maiden in need of a big strong man, it also takes the point away from her entirely.

The horse that bites

Jimmy's constant dehumanisation of Anya affects how other people perceive her character as well, that she's weak, small or a crybaby in some sense because of how she responds to situations - emotionally, which is then amplified by Jimmy's pre-existing hatred and lack of respect for her.

Jimmy tears her down every chance he gets, makes her feel little and even compares her to Polle in his hallucinations. And Anya knows that he and Curly have a very lengthy history, so her caution and anxiety about even mentioning the incident, let alone saying the word “rape” is borderline impossible for her. It’s a manifestation, it’s a verbal acceptance and confession that it’s even happened. Something she has been trying to avoid coming to terms with.

And when she does eventually tell Swansea what happened, as much as you want to think she told him- she most likely told him to not do anything, to try and keep the peace for as long as possible.

Again, her vagueness is not her fault, nor is it her responsibility. It was Jimmy’s responsibility to not abuse and rape her.

It’s also very present that Jimmy is verbally abusive to her, putting her down at every opportunity by ignoring her very talented medical skills by saying Pony Express only hired her to cut corners in an attempt to reduce costs because she failed Medical School and that she’s not a “real nurse” because of that, and how he constantly questions her skills despite keeping Curly alive for such a long time in such a state.

After being insulted by him multiple times, she fawns to get him to actually do something beneficial because she knows he responds well to praise, and he complies, all while still insulting and belittling her for being "weak" and "sentimental"

Anya shows a clear fear of Jimmy and has consistent fawn responses around Jimmy. She is extremely careful not to make him upset and praises him to keep him amused and compliant to a degree.

Just like Anya says, our worst moments don't make us monsters. It's one thing to fuck up, and immediately suffer the consequences and acknowledge your mistakes— But it's another thing entirely to purposefully make it so you never have to deal with the repercussions and then make yourself out to be the victim. Jimmy takes every opportunity to blame everyone around him. All the time and Anya is no stranger to this.

Curly genuinely saw the good in Jimmy, in the same way, Anya sees the good in others and possibly even tried to see the good in Jimmy despite the pain as one of the key important things about how everything went about is that Anya never directly refers to her rapist as Jimmy, nor does she ever actually insult or talk badly about him, she only expresses her disinterest in talking to him because of his reluctance to cooperate with her. They both believe that our worst moments don't define us, and Curly had his own interpretation all of how we're defined by our past, but not slaves to it.

She is scared, she is terrified at this point and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that nor should we rush to change that. Her being scared is realistic, she is a scared lady in a very scary situation with an even scarier man who constantly switches between dissociation and lashing out depending on what's going on around him. And she is not that person to fight back, to be violent or to hurt him and that is perfectly fine. She doesn't need to be a girl boss feminist and fight back, she can just be a scared and quiet woman stuck in her own terror, and trying to infer that one Is the "better" option downplays victims who freeze in their own terror and makes them out to be weak or a hapless damsel because they're incapable of "standing up for themselves"

She has every single right to be absolutely terrified and that is in no way a bad thing. I actually really, really dislike the interpretation that Anya is angry, resentful or has any revenge towards Curly, or that she has to be this, hysterical mad woman sent out to kill or hurt Jimmy. I don't believe she's either of this. Anya deserves peace, and I think it's extremely important to understand just how similar she is to Curly. And I'm full of the belief that if Anya had actually done something to Jimmy (hurt him, kill him, whatever) she would be demonized and the misogyny she already faces in the fandom would be worse tenfold. Do not lie to yourself.

Not to even mention one of the many, many reasons as to why Anya OD'd in a room with a lock in the first place. It was to make sure Jimmy could never touch her again? Or do something awful to her body, even when it was lifeless and cold? It was to keep the gun safe, to protect Curly, to protect herself, to take control of the situation, to finally not have to worry about him ever touching her again. And Jimmy still violates it, even after she's dead.

He touches her, drags her body, and props her up in that chair. Even after death, she is never free from him. She thought she was going to finally be free of him, his rage, his desires, his touch, and she died thinking this, that he would never ever be touched or hurt by him ever again. She died thinking all was well, that it would all work out in the end, it had to. She died thinking Daisuke and Swansea would somehow make it out of there, tell her story, and make Jimmy face the consequences of his actions, it was the ultimate sacrifice, it was the greatest thing she could ever do.

Jimmy ruined her life, and he ruined her death, her sacrifice. To keep herself safe, to keep Curly safe, to keep the gun away from him, it all meant nothing.

Thinking outside the Ship

Anya is fun, she is enthusiastic, loves to make jokes, draw, play board games with Daisuke, read, and teases Swansea about his love for sweets which he doesn't even bother to object to and Swansea hands her a note so that she could give it to Curly during his psychological evaluation,, implying that they're casual enough for an exchange like that to occur, and even has what seems to be a budding relationship with Curly himself, taking to his comment about being fit to fly in her eyes like it's a common exchange of flirting between the both of them and she even teases him at the birthday party to "hop to it" in terms of the cake. She is at ease around him, her walls have dropped, and she feels safe to talk to him, and even attempts to try and get him to open up more to her.

She reads psychology books, she is extremely determined having applied to Medical school on total of eight different times and obviously has the skills and interest to keep doing it despite failing and only joined Pony Express so she could make money and keep trying to get into medical school.. She also has good taste in music, one that Swansea and Curly enjoy very much. She also seems to get along well with Daisuke and even allows her emotions to show with anger when they play games they seem to have much of the same sense of humour, judging by how Daisuke is genuinely worried about her when she locks herself in the Medical, they seem to have a positive relationship. We don't know much about her relationships with the others beyond what the wiki can provide.

She seems to have the best relationship with Curly, although. And after the crash, she can't bear to give Curly his pills due to him being in visible agony and her own trauma of forcing him to do something he very obviously doesn't want to endure, likely due to memories of her assault being triggered by both the act of forced insertion and the sounds produced by Curly during it.

Anya also spends most of her free time studying. She runs to clear her head. And when she really needs to destress, she binges on the worst reality television and fast food. She is a very free-spirited woman who is eternally doomed to be reduced to nothing but a hapless, miserable victim.

Final Comments and Thoughts

I don't have much to say here unlike my last analysis, but the situation on the Tulpar is not as straightforward as people would like, I understand it's extremely cathartic to think of a situation where Jimmy gets what he deserves but it isn't realistic, and thats what this game is trying to say. Abusive corporations, exhausting capitalism, this environment breeds Abusers like Jimmy and victims like Anya and Curly. There was nothing that could be done. Pony Express is what doomed them all, they're the catalyst.

Anya deserves to be written and viewed as more than just a representation, a victim or a vengeful hysterical bitch. She deserves to be happy!

Thank you for reaching the end of the thread, please don't be scared to share your thoughts in the tags or in my inbox, I'd love to hear them! good job! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

[sha-brytols]

what do they do with mythal in datv that makes her a very very bad fucking case of misogyny?

aside from completely dropping her whole divine retribution plotline that's been hinted at for like 3 games (and tbh i could accept that as like. just a symptom of the other plotlines that were dropped due to the dev cycle) which many many maaaany people view as a significant whitewashing of her character to soften her for her new role in the story a la fiona.

the way she was used as a prop to take all of the blame of solas' actions off him and then proceeding to coyly hint at a maybe maybe-not relationship with him was. look when you're writing a super popular male romance option, you know how fandom is going to receive outside """competition""" and nothing will eeeeever convince me that wasn't a deliberate choice on bioware's part. she's both a convenient scapegoat to preserve solas' moral purity for his fans, and also the designated 'bitchy ex girlfriend', but ALSO not really ^_^ their relationship is ambiguous and based the ancient elvhen social norm where love was a freeform thing that didn't adhere to the same boundaries we understand today. no need to feel threatened! he didn't actually love her like he loves you

all of these as like. individual elements on their own aren't inherently bad or necessarily even misogynistic in their execution, but the more you stack together the less coincidental it seems to become. and this is after the popularity of baldurs gate 3 where there's this HUGE culture of misogyny and vitriol towards mystra that people feel vindicated in because of her unhealthy relationship with the popular male love interest gale. it just doesn't at all feel like they just Happened to hit every single point that people want from a female character to hate in order to justify a male character's bad choices, especially when almost every single one of her character traits have been altered from what we previously understood about her and how her motivations were presented. to me it was very clearly a very lazy attempt to appease solavellans by playing on fandom misogyny so they feel less bad about the weird shift in his characterization and his relationship to the inquisitor. i also go into more about this here if you're curious

and i could be paranoid about the above just out of a general cynicism from fandom culture in general. but then there's also the way they softened her by downplaying the justice angle of her god persona in favor of making her represent "benevolence" instead. it not only does not line up at all with 1) how we understand her character from previous games, 2) how she is interpreted by the dalish in their tales (yes the dalish were wrong about many things, but from a doylist perspective we know that the purpose of these stories is to establish a vague underlying framework of who these gods might have been and what their roles were. it's an extremely clumsy retcon) and 3) it doesn't even line up with her brand new characterization in the game itself. it just seems like a very sloppy attempt to water her character down into something less harsh than she was initially established to be, while also simultaneously trying to give her the veneer of complexity and depth through her mistreatment of solas specifically so he seems less cartoonishly evil for everything he does in datv.

at best it's lazy, at worst it's a deliberate appeal to fandom misogyny. either way it was a VERY poorly handled character choice that reduces a female character to her relation to a man and how she serves his story

[phantosss]

some changes i would have made to the characters storylines in tua s4

disclaimer: i am no writer, it's just fun to think about the possibilities. btw anyone feel free to use any of these ideas for fics idc

lila doesn't cheat for starters. instead she and diego have both been secretly doing vigilante missions and keeping it from the other because they think they'll be mad. on one of these missions the two run into each other and rekindle their spark. basically the five and lila story but with diego and lila instead thanks. maybe one or both of them almost die or their kids are put in danger, and they decide to find a much less dangerous hobby, because while its thrilling in the moment they realize they wouldn't sacrifice their family for it

luther is shown to be much more depressed about sloanes absence (if there really is no way for her to come back) but he's trying to hold it together to be there for his family. would be nice if he bonded with characters like klaus, viktor or allison who have also lost their lovers. diego and lila shenanigans means they need luther to babysit a lot and luther finds happiness caring for his nieces and nephew. maybe he also finds a fulfilling job where he can meet a lot of people and help others.

five still finds the time subway but without lila. we get more time exploring the alternate timelines and seeing different ways the apocalypse has happened including ways the other sibs have ended the world. his PTSD and reliving his trauma is also explored. he eventually ends up in the five diner where he's told that they end the world every time but instead of excepting defeat and making everyone sacrifice themselves he finds another way (what exactly that is im not so sure) and becomes the first and only five to successfully prevent the apocalypse forever

allisons relationship with claire and ray are explored more heavily as well as everything she did in s3. i like the idea that she takes care of klaus because 1: hes the only sibling that will still talk to her and 2: because of the guilt she feels after getting him killed. i just wish her arc focused on something OTHER than saving klaus because thats basically all she did this season. would be nice if she spent more time with viktor and luther the two people she wronged most heavily in s3.

i would keep viktors confrontation with reggie but alternatively i would make this reginald umbrella reginald so it has much more weight to it. either that or have viktor express that even though he said his piece toward this reggie he will never actually get closure with their real father and nothing will remove the pain from his childhood. the rest i would keep pretty similar. reginald wants to kill ben and viktor wants to stop him at any cost. viktor knows what its like to be "the bomb" and doesn't want the same thing that happened to him to happen to ben. instead of working together to find ben however they're more in a race against eachother. maybe allison joins him and they make up on the way. i would have liked for ben and viktor to have had a heart to heart in the beginning of the season, maybe about how ben felt like a monster sometimes because of his powers, and viktor relating. idk how this would work with sparrow ben because he doesn't seem to hate his powers the same way brelly ben did but it would have been nice to show another reason why viktor is going through so much trouble to save him. and the ending where he trys to talk him down would be more impactful i think.

for klaus i would keep everything pretty much the same up until he runs into that quinn guy. instead i would have him travel to the subway with five in lilas place. five and klaus' powers are the most mind boggling out of the bunch not to mention time and death are inherently intertwined and this needed to be explored. also, you're telling me klaus literally has the power to talk to GOD and this never has any plot relevance???? klaus should have been involved in finding the solution to the apocalypse imo. also we needed klaus and ben interactions. idk how or when but it NEEDED to happen

ben and jennifer being the catalyst for the apocalypse is making it very hard for me to figure what to do with him tbh. i just wish he had more time with the other sibs and didn't turn into a horrific blob monster at the end 😭he felt less like a character this season and more like a plot device and he deserved to have some scenes that actually fleshed him out. it would have been cool if the reason he causes the apocalypse was actually because of his powers and not just because he happened to be the one to make skin contact with jennifer. i really thought that the twist was gonna be that the squid that jennifer was stuck in was the one that ben summons and that was why they were connected. not the fact that they both just had reactive magic particles in them that anyone could have set off. like what if jennifer being cut out of the squid was what killed ben?

OH! what if jennifer was an eldritch horror from the same dimension that bens tentacles are from and for some reason she wants to kill the brellys/end the world and because bens powers are linked to her she can control his mind ???? c'mon i feel like i've got something here

a have a couple of other ideas but don't know where they would fit in rn so yeah.

[altaiiriss]

"Is something wrong?" Chuuya asks, noticing the pile of clothes progressively pooling at his feet.

His blue eyes travel from the book in his hands to a seemigly distressed Dazai. The brunet is standing in front of the mirror—has been for the past hour—, groaning occasionally as he emptied his side of the closet on the bed.

He straightens his shirt, then his hands fly to either side of his waist. Chuuya can't see his face from the bed, but that's not necessary when Dazai's body language is screaming all kinds of negative emotions.

"I don't like how skirts fit me today." he states. His voice is cold and analytical, as if he's trying to detach himself from his words.

He's wearing a cerulean button-up shirt, which accentuates his broad shoulders and hugs his waist smoothly, and a dark cotton skirt that goes all the way down to his ankles and definitely emphasizes his slender figure.

"You look pretty." Chuuya offers, trying to act cool but immediately getting betrayed by the subtle pink shade on his cheeks. He's rarely vocal about his feelings, for he'd rather show support through simple gestures, but he can tell Dazai could use some encouragement right now.

At least Dazai isn't looking at him.

"I don't."

Chuuya hums. "Perhaps it's a pants day today?"

"They don't fit me either." the brunet explains. His shoulders slump in defeat, as if he's trying shrink and disappear. "... Maybe it's me who I don't fit the clothes rather than the other way around."

Chuuya climbs off the bed, reaching for Dazai in the middle of their bedroom.

He stops right beside him.

"What's the matter?"

Dazai takes a deep breath.

"I don't know. I don't..." he gestures at himself, "Like the way I look."

"What do you look like?" Chuuya asks, genuine.

If he wants to understand, then he has to get in Dazai's head first.

"A woman," Dazai replies, clutching nervously at the fabric of his skirt, "It's the opposite with the pants. They make me look like a man."

Chuuya presses his lips together. "That's the social perception of clothes. No piece of clothing is inherently masculine or feminine, though."

"I'm aware of that. Sometimes it's not enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Clothes don't equal gender. However, they dictate the way the world perceives you, and at the end of the day people perceive you as either a man or a woman."

Chuuya silently nods, even though Dazai can't see him.

"Society does perceive me like a man," Dazai goes on, voice firm yet filled with uncertainty, "How can I prevent that from happening? The only option would be to transition into a woman. I don't want to be a woman though, but I'd rather be a man than a woman."

"You feel like there's no escape." Chuuya suggests.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's a feeling. It's simply the truth. I can't escape a society that makes such a hassle about a part of me I don't care for in the first place."

Chuuya meets Dazai's eyes in the mirror; he catches a glimpse of a smile on his lips, but he can sense the emptiness in his amber irises.

"It took a while for your trans journey to make sense to me. You feel your male identity so much—you and pretty much anyone else on this planet, whereas I feel like I'm colourblind."

"Yeah, I'm a man and definitely feel like one." Chuuya agrees.

"And there's nothing wrong with that." Dazai clarifies, finally turning around to face Chuuya, "I simply don't get the gist of it. You're just Chuuya to me."

"And you're just Dazai to me." the redhead reassures, reaching out to cup Dazai's face, "An insufferable ungendered mackerel. The genderless bane of my existence. The—"

"Okay, okay, you got the point across."

"Seriously though, you know you have my support regardless of whether I relate to your experience, don't you?"

"I do. They're cool about it at the Agency as well. I guess I got caught up in my head today."

"It happens and it sucks," Chuuya concedes, grabbing Dazai's hand and heading towards the bed, "But we can hide in bed until you feel good again. No one is going to perceive you."

"We need to go grocery shopping. That's what started the whole clothing ordeal." Dazai reminds him, eyes landing on the pile of abandoned clothes.

"It can wait. We can order takeout or make some pancakes."

Dazai's eyes glint, a newfound excitement painted across his face, "I'm voting for pancakes."

The detective hides beneath the silky sheets, relishing in the comfort of Chuuya's soft mattress. The redhead throws two controllers on the bed and joins him soon after.

"Taking advantage of this moment of weakness and inner turmoil to beat me at Mario Kart? I didn't think you'd ever sink so low, Chuuya."

"I'm a man full of surprises." Chuuya boasts proudly, turning the console on.

He would soon discover that his controller has been mysteriously remapped.

[fumifooms]

I have a question about Falin vs. Hien, like if Falin had actually accepted Shuro 's proposal and moved to the Eastern lands, what would the relationship between Falin and Hien be like, does Hien only like the idea of Shuro, similar to how Shuro loves the idea of Falin instead of Falin herself?

Hien’s very professional & capable and her job’s everything to her, so I think she’d treat Falin like she treats her other bosses, with respect and fulfilling their demands as efficiently and cleanly as she can. After all, Falin would then be becoming the head of the household’s wife, the lady of the house. And as we saw with Hien becoming very detached and professional with Toshiro, she doesn’t have a hard time putting feelings and interpersonal issues or dynamics aside when it’s best. There’s also something to say about how there’s no personal-life work-life separation for her, she lives with her employers under their watch and her job is a status, not a contract. And unlike the others, Hien was born and raised there, not just bought and brought young, that’s all she knows. The other retainers, the ninja girls, are under her watch, they’re roommates, they’re peers but they’re also not— by being their manager and leader there’s another line drawn in the sand between her and the others. There are no relationships outside of work because there is no life outside of work. Toshiro was her childhood friend but he’s also always been her boss’ son, so she pushed him to be more worthy of his title like how she was, don’t cry etc etc, she’s always treated him a bit with that "remember our positions" attitude, so it’s no wonder that growing up their relationship just sort of naturally and wordlessly shifted into just that. Capability and good behavior is required from her, it’s her default and the way she was brought up.

Now, as for her feelings about it… Well, when she talks about it during canon she does seem to be bothered for one reason or another, or just struggling to conceive the idea- not unlike how she struggled with the realization that her and Toshiro weren’t happening.

One notable thing is that the relationship she’s imagining isn’t really- desirable? Explicitly it’s because of Toshiro’s father and Maizuru’s affair that Hien thought that she’d become Toshiro’s mistress, as his closest servant, and they don’t exactly paint a happy or honorable picture. It’s not desirable, it’s expected. That’s how Hien expresses it too, that’s what she expected, not necessarily wanted. But now that the expected didn’t happen she wonders if that’s because something’s wrong with her- if it’s because she didn’t fulfill her role properly. And that bothers her, the way it’d get to someone for who being good at what you’re assigned at is your whole life and purpose, the way that’s what you base your self-worth on. It’s unsettling, the way a clock that was supposed to hit the hour on time but didn’t is, the way an unspoken law of the universe being suddenly broken without consequence is. Honestly I do relate a bit to the specific situation of Hien, because I had a guy childhood friend growing up and I thought just by that token something might happen. Nothing happened and I was never in love, but it still felt like a very real possibility at one point just because, because of what people say and what shows show— either way, I think it’s fitting to say that Toshiro was an idea to Hien, the idea of family heir, boss and also childhood friend potential lover, without necessarily attaching feelings to any of those ideas inherently, mostly a sense of duty and that those "ideas", those roles assigned to people are very important.

So yes I think it’s mainly a self-worth issue if anything, and I think it’s something she’s mostly moved past, especially with being able to talk about it and reaffirm her confidence despite it and being praised by Beni, etc etc. Although like I mentioned in my Hien analysis, I don’t really think she’s self-aware in general. I think it just healed itself vaguely the way things you don’t think about slowly get digested and processed over time. So yes I don’t think Hien ever really loved the idea of Toshiro, in fact she sometimes calls him unfit for leadership and criticizes him, but I think it became a confidence and like, ‘my 5 years life plan just changed drastically because this didn’t happen’ thing. But yes maybe Falin popping up and being so unfit to be a Nakamoto heiress would clash with Hien’s need for rules, the very freedom Shuro likes about her being the thing that makes her a black sheep there— the type that the Nakamoto house stifles, where freedom and whimsy goes to die and be ripped out of you etiquette lesson after etiquette lesson- "Obey the rules and your curfew or a ghost demon will chase you with a knife" after "You still have so little feats to your name, are you really the great warrior Toshitsugu’s son?" I would love to see Hien’s suppressed resentment or sense of entitlement bubble up in ways not even herself fully understands, and like most things like that, she vents and hashes it out with Benichidori :3c Idk I wanted to give more alternate ideas and brainstorm but this is pretty much it to me I think. I could definitely see Hien being passive agressive and very critical with Falin, microanalyzing and voicing every little thing to "fix", if allowed.

Tbh I have beef with that interpretation of Falin-Shuro. Half because not even Laios and Marcille listen to Falin well, and because people underplay how much time they’ve spent together and the genuine significance of her to him. Toshiro only fell for her after a good while of working beside her, when she did something that reached to his feelings, and as shown by the little Laios-Shuro compilation in their fight chapter he did spend time with her, tried to take her on dates. Let’s not forget she had to save Toshiro from his nightmare the same way Laios did with Marcille, that’s already a lot of material to feel a connection with someone, showing that much vulnerability— even if he forgot his nightmare.

I’m not saying he knows her superrr well, but he did show genuine and consistent want and drive to get to know her better, did show genuine interest in her and who she is. Hell, "the way she thinks" is one of the reasons he lists for why he loves her! When she turns his proposal down, he accepts it with a smile saying "you can’t tie down a dragon", after all- that freedom is what he likes about her. He admires it and is happy for her leaving to travel around and finding herself, and really what a beautiful selfless caring love. The selfless love in letting go.

It’s not that the idea that Shuro loves his idea of Falin has no merit, Falin is pretty much pushed into an ideal by everyone close to her, but in their case it’s something I hear all the time and often pushed to extremes based on vibes. And honestly there’s an argument to be made for the reverse as well, where he’s the one who perhaps sees her the most, who doesn’t treat her as a little kid or a little sister to protect and talk over because you know what’s good for them better than they do, fighting over who gets to decide her future. Toshiro gives Falin a choice with his proposal, she turns it down, and that’s okay. That’s a whole other thing to get into but what matters here for this is that in early canon he was the only one present who loved her who was also willing to let her go for her sake, the man who rushed into the dungeon neglecting his health with inadequately prepared equipment, with his team he BEGGED TO HELP HIM, ASKING SOMETHING FOR HIMSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE—

Who now instead of clinging to her and his attachment to her, who instead of scolding her and shutting her down for her decision to sacrifice herself, accepts it and wants her body and soul to rest, to be at peace instead of transformed and controlled against her will by magic— He is able to show the love in letting go, the care and strength in it. And that’s something Laios did have to learn, with its climax in how he killed Falin after the rabbit curry. Something Marcille had to learn, being ready to accept her death in the final chapter.

If you look at it any closer than "wow he fell in love like at once instead of slowly?" everything is stacked in the favor of his love being true and caring tbh. Even if she’s idealized, doesn’t make his love any less genuine than Marcille’s and Laios’ who do too. No shade intended and I don’t meant to read in any more in your words than what you intended, I just hope this illustrates well the differences between Hien->Toshiro and Toshiro->Falin imo! Either way it IS a very interesting parallel to draw. -Eyes suddenly shot open as I lay in the dark in my bed, haunted- The love in letting go, wait, like Hien letting go of her notions of what her and Toshiro should be… The self-love in that too, too, especially in her case. There’s something here…

[jackattack20writes]

This might totally insane and I might just need to rewatch the whole show but the more I think about GQuuuuuuX as a whole piece, the less I think Nyaan had feelings for Shuji or at the very least had feelings for Shuji that paled in comparison to her feelings for Machu.

Now back when it’s first got revealed it was understandably a bit of a WTF moment but it was also after we find out that Machu has come to Nyaan begging for her to help save Shuji. Id also argue that it’s set up to be seen as romantic because of Machu’s reversal of Nyaan asking her if she loves Shuji more than anything Nyaan’s shown herself and we know now that the show is very careful with how it has Nyaan reacting to things and her entire character arc is learning to reach for what she wants and learning she has an inherent value and doesn’t need to justify her existence, that’s part of why Zeon was bad for her, sure she was this prized orphan but she still needed to either use the yogman’tho or get a degree for citizenship, she didn’t have inherent value for being a person. And her arc is about discovering that no she is equal to Machu m So it’d be strange for her to suddenly be capable of reaching for what she wants with Shuji in ep 7 without any of her arc and then regressing back, like she couldn’t express her wants before that either ep 7 is an extreme outlier. Same with why she wanted and was so excited to see the Kira Kira she felt lesser and seperate from Machu and Shuji because she hadn’t experienced it, even though Machu and Shuji didn’t see her that way. That’s how she felt which is why she feels bad when Machu freaks, she sees it as trying to be their equal upsets them. Its why the scene of Machu telling her she never did anything wrong and asking her to be her MAV is so important, she’s telling Nyaan that no she shouldn’t have felt bad for “taking the Kira Kira” or “losing” Shuji or even firing yogman’tho and that they were equals. That’s the summit of Nyaan’s arc.

But feelings for Shuji don’t fit into it. Shuji, other than being Machu’s other closest person and the person Nyaan failed to save isn’t relevant to Nyaan’s arc. He is in relation to Nyaan as people keep saying a plot device. Her need to see Shuji doesn’t start until she’s tasked by Machu to save him and then when she fails that she runs away, wistfully looks into the stars for Machu and tries to save Shuji so all three can reunite to complete a promise she’s surprised Machu even remembers and I’m pretty confident that reuniting with Shuji isn’t the part Nyaan assumed Machu would forget.

You could swap Shuji out for the red Gundam and almost nothing would change with Nyaan. Whereas with Machu, Shuji’s wants and needs as a character are central Shuji’s motivation to go to earth strengthens Machu’s, Shuji’s search for the rose becomes Machu’s, Machu defends Lalah because of what she’s learn from the Lalah’s and Shuji, she finally learns how to talk to Nyaan without barriers because of Shuji, her understanding of Shuji is the thing that saves the day. Now with this sort of contrast between “romantic options” you’d expect the show to at some point comment on it and sure there’s a line about what Shuji would want in response to Nyaan using yogman’tho but as we learn in ep 12 the reason Nyaan wants Shuji back is so they can all be together again. Not because she has special feelings for him. In fact after ep 7 the idea of Nyaan having any romantic feelings for him is never brought up again, just that she wants to save him which explains the sudden outburst in ep 7. Nyaan’s desperate and trying to get Shuji to leave with her without the RX-78-02 or the GQuuuuuuX so she can do what Machu asked of her, the thing that she “failed” and feels the need to be forgiven for at the emotional climax of both her arc and the show. Whereas if she wanted to save Shuji for herself why would she need absolution from Machu? Like sure you can’t give absolution to yourself but the show explicitly shows her receiving it from Machu, she tells Machu no she let everyone down, she did something terrible and Machu goes no that just means you survived alone but we can be together now (rough paraphrasing) and that’s the happiest Nyaan ever gets in this entire show.

Machu telling her that they’re equal and can be together is the emotional climax for her and the happiest Nyaan ever gets. That’s kinda gay if you ask me, and that’s my point Nyaan’s feelings aren’t for Shuji they’re for Machu. Nyaan doesn’t want to save Shuji so they can be happy, she wants to save Shuji so Machu’ll be happy and she can be there with them. Nyaan doesn’t acknowledge her own wants and needs throughout the show, they’re always secondary she doesn’t have any wants to share with the delivery driver, she doesn’t want to go to university but she’s told she has to anyway, she didn’t want to do her job or even talk to Shuji but that didn’t matter. It’s why she’s so messed up over Machu being upset at her and is all stone cold when she asks if Machu loves Shuji. She wants so badly to at the very least be by Machu and Shuji’s side to see them happy that her own feelings don’t matter as long as she can see Machu happy. Which is why Machu finally to her face telling her they’re equals and going to be together is the happiest she gets, she doesn’t care about Shuji romantically and even if she does it’s minor compared to just continuing to be by Machu and his side.

Like the best example of Nyaan not seeing Shuji any different to Machu is the line about cooking dinner, Xavier asks her if she can have some of the food she coooked and her response is basically no cause I’m not your girlfriend but who does Nyaan want to cook with? Machu and Shuji. So based on that combination of lines plus everything else Nyaan either has romantic feelings for both Shuji and Machu or she has a spark of attraction with Shuji and an inferno for Machu.

But also like I said at the start I might just have to rewatch the show.

[taragreenfield]

How to be an anti, or the main species of the anti-Darkling discourse

During my stay in the fandom, I've noticed some bizzare patterns among those afflicted by the Darkling Derangement syndrome. They can be roughly divided into three categories:

The screeching banshee brigade. They appear out of nowhere and are easily recognizable by their unique writing style: they type as if capital letters and commas became a paid feature and try to fit into one post as many misapplied buzzwords as humanly possible. If amidst peaceful, well-argued conversations you see something like this: "how can you defend him hes an abuser groomer he manipulated every woman in ravka including those who died before he was born whats wrong with you be ffr bro", that's definitely one of them. I don't know what they are trying to achieve, but if it's exposing themselves as ignorant clowns, they absolutely succeed.

Pseudo-intellectual Bardugo's devotees. These believe that their favourite author can do nothing wrong and everything she says should be taken as gospel truth. Six of Crows is the best masterpiece that was ever written, and that fantasy as a genre probably didn't exist before Shadow and Bone was written. They are going to rave for hours about how Crows are such complex and relatable characters, Kaz is the blueprint of "a morally gray" character, and Kanej is the only example of romance where the leads cannot touch. They usually defend anything Bardugo wrote with religious fervor: "it's her characters; she can do whatever she wants with them!" That's like telling a restaurant guest they can't complain about terrible expired food, as it's your restaurant and you can serve whatever you want. They lament the lack of "media literacy" and "reading comprehension" when people refuse to see the Darkling as the evilest evil that ever eviled, even when Bardugo specifically brought him back in the later book to lecture the readers about how terrible he was. Bad news, but "media literacy" doesn't mean swallowing up everything the author shoves down your throat. Real media literacy invites questioning, contextualizing, and interpreting texts—not simply parroting authorial talking points. They enjoy pretending that the books give a good representation and exploration of such themes as abuse, grooming, power imbalance, and manipulation, and if you don't think so, "you didn't get the point of the books". I get the point; I just think the author did a shitty job conveying it. You may intend to write a character who will be the best surgeon in the world; you can even have other characters praise him as such. However, if the said character was never shown performing a successful operation and all his patients keep dying due to his negligence, there is quite a possibility that "the point" might be utter bullshit.

The moral posturing crew. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody appointed them as the moral police. Nobody asked them about their opinion. But they keep reading sermons like it's their holy mission to protect the fandom from moral decay. You know all their arguments: if you like the Darkling, you are either a silly, naive woman who thinks with her lady parts and will inevitably fall prey to a dangerous, powerful manipulator in real life or a terrible misogynist who would rather defend an abusive guy than his poor female victim. Some of them tone the crusade down a notch and generously "allow" you to like the Darkling if you repent your sins publicly flagellate yourself on the central square denounce his crimes and acknowledge that he's evil. The biggest irony is that their own behavior - insinuating that women can enjoy a controversial male character only because he's hot, implying that women are inherently more susceptible to manipulation and brainwashing, insisting that female characters should always be seen as victims who never did anything wrong in their lives, and making assumptions about a woman's personal life and experience based on her fictional tastes—are glaring examples of benevolent sexism or raging misogyny. The calls are coming from inside the house.

[cleverstudentcheesecake]

Since I either consider Shen Yuan to be reincarnated Shen Jiu or Shen Jiu's brother/twin/son, I hate it when people describe him to be awkward, spineless, dumb, poor, broke or unattractive in the modern world. In the SVSSS world, in fannon he is often characterised to be too easy, trusting, damsel-in-distress who is easy to manipulate.

Let me tell you, a reincarnated Shen Jiu or Shen Jiu's close kin would never be any of the above. Even if we consider him to have absolutely no relation with Shen Jiu, he can never be any of the above.

Now let's be realistic why.

Poor, broke and unattractive?

Shen Yuan is clearly stated to be a 'Second-generation rich kid'.

This is the definition of 'Second-generation rich kid' given in the extra notes of book 1:

SECOND-GENERATION RICH KID: A child of a wealthy family who grows up with a large inheritance. “Second-generation” in this case refers to them being the younger generation (as opposed to their parents, who are the first generation) rather than immigrant status.

Have you ever seen rich Chinese kids or heard about the term 'Crazy Rich Asians'?

Do you know what their lifestyle, fashion senses, academic profiles and extracurriculars are like?

Iykyk...

According to me Shen Yuan in modern world used to be that absolutely breath taking, elegant, overachieving kid who grew up reading the hardest of litetary works and then proceeded to burn himself out in University.

He must have known how to play atleast 2 musical instruments and have been well versed in multiple languages. He was also a chess genius as well as a great networker with his silver tongue and natural knack for flattery. He had been privately tutored for everything above.

If you ever found Shen Yuan outside his house, you would find his spine to be pin straight, without a hair out of place and effortlessly dressed to kill.

I believe when he was reading PIDW he was taking a break after both his mental and physical conditions declined due to social, academic and familial pressures.

He was good at everything but never as good as his elder brothers. He used to be a prime example of 'Jack of all trade, Master of none'.

He had no ambition of his own after being overshadowed by his brothers who were also physically more fit than him, all his life. He was existing until one day it all came breaking in.

Why did the length of the break even matter when he would still have a huge trust fund even if he achieves nothing in life? He just had to make sure to not do anything shameful that could have possibly harmed his family's reputation. The trust funds were sufficient to sustain his introverted ass for a lifetime.

So, he became a shut in.

He was always a closet otaku but now he could completely indulge himself in his otaku tendencies.

He went and read every trashy web novel that ever existed until he found his 'The Read'.

From the comfort of his home and behind the screen he could be his true gremlin self (someone who could completely tear down your confidence down with his verbal attacks without a huff).

He no longer needed his silver tongue to appease people, he could laze around all day aimlessly and shit talk essays on the web novels' comment sections.

The rest is history...

Why do you think he was inherently adept to pretending in the SVSSS world? Why was it so effortless for him to pretend to be an extraordinary immortal scholar? — because all his life he had been pretending.

If he was awkward he wouldn't have been able to collect potential suitors like pokemons.

He is polite, endearing and a flatterer but never awkward.

Excuse me if he was easy to manipulate and too trusting, he would have never escaped Zhuzhi Lang.

Spineless you say?

Prove it that he won't castrate a person then and there if they even try to look the wrong way at his disciples?

Assure me that if had gone through the same circumstances as Shen Jiu, he wouldn't have turned out exactly like Shen Jiu?

Tell me that Shen Yuan isn't capable of pulling a Nie Huaisang if his Jiu-ge is skillfully murdered in front of him?

A damsel-in-distress, tell me he isn't capable of fighting and standing up for himself.

How can he ever be dumb?

His aimlessness and laziness doesn't account for his lack of intelligence. I agree that he may not be much emotionally adept but he is book smart and quick on his feet.

Sometimes, his obvious denial of affection makes me feel that they don't actually stem from being in a Villain's body or obliviousness, but rather from his own self-doubt and hatred.

He purposefully denies what is right in front of him which makes him biased and an unreliable narrator. He sees himself as an unkind person throughout the story but we all know the truth.

He also considers himself old and unlovable but we know he is a pretty bitch who everyone has a crush on.

Believe me Tsundere Shen Yuan needed a Yandere Binghe in his life so he could realise that there exists someone who loves, trusts and believes him unconditionally. All his life he had lived feeling useless, he needed someone who wants him desperately and also makes him feel wanted.

We say Shen Yuan helped Binghe, trust me Binghe did the same for Shen Yuan. Binghe fixed something in Shen Yuan that he never realised was broken. They are co-dependent freaks who absolutely deserve each other.

[salarta]

I'm deliberately not tagging this because this is so much of my own typing out thoughts and not wanting to cause problems for wronged people that don't want to be put out there in relation to what I'm saying.

One of the things I learned of overnight with Neil Gaiman is how he completely ripped off Tanith Lee for Sandman and gave her no credit. He brazenly took her creativity not simply as inspiration but wholesale without proper attribution. And it's only now getting a lot of recognition, decades later, after Tanith is already dead. There's also been points made of how Gaiman's given credit to male authors as inspiration, but not women.

Sandman is a comic book series. And as I was wrapping my head around that this morning, I remembered another situation within comics.

X-Men, House of X, Jonathan Hickman, and the multiple lives concept for Moira.

When the issue with that concept came out, an author publicly noted that the concept was eerily similar to a book they had published. Hickman gave no attribution to that author, no note of having been inspired by their work. If I remember correctly, Hickman denied any such connection. The author never said they were going to sue Hickman, or dragged him on main, or anything like that. They just left a passing "This is eerily like my work that I got published."

Now, I haven't looked at that author's book for comparisons. I don't know how similar they actually are. Depending on the level of similarity, it's not like the basic concept is impossible for someone else to also think of.

But here's the real thing that's getting me most right now.

I used to post on CBR. This all happened in 2019. And you know what I saw as the reaction of the vast majority of people on that board?

Badmouthing and smearing the author for daring to suggest that Hickman maybe hadn't been a special perfect boy who came up with the idea all on his lonesome.

There were people on CBR claiming the author was just looking for an excuse to get money from Hickman. People claiming the author was just trying to "ride his coattails" to get name recognition. People were going to the author's Wikipedia article just to make horrible edits attacking their character, and sending abuse their way.

All of this, because as hardcore X-Men and comic book fans, they were so, SO desperate, to bury this other author and ruin their reputation to "protect" Hickman and his plans for the X-Men comics.

And Hickman didn't condemn that behavior. To my knowledge, he still hasn't. He let it ride.

As a Polaris fan, so much of my focus has been on how Polaris, specifically, has been wronged by Marvel, and by male writers and editors in particular. The inherent sexism of how she's been treated across decades, the resistance to any actual, real, meaningful change toward the positive. The deep-seated need by editors like Jordan White insisting Lorna only won the X-Men vote because of Gifted, or Tom Brevoort going out of his way to try and remove Polaris from the Magnus family before the Axis retcon on Wanda and Pietro came down.

I've said before that Marvel is incredibly regressive and sexist wherever they can get away with it. They put spotlights on characters like Jean Grey, or Storm, or Emma Frost, or Captain Marvel to be able to say they're progressive and great, while sticking characters like Polaris into the role of supporting character for Havok and other men. Often depicted as incompetent about things she learned decades ago. Or incapable of protecting herself so Havok or some other guy needs to rescue her. Or just plain cutting whole swaths of her history out wholesale, like pretending she wasn't a victim of the Genoshan genocide.

It's an issue not just applying to editors either. When Beau DeMayo made X-Men 97, he took everything about Lorna as a survivor of the Genoshan genocide and handed it off to Rogue, while relegating Lorna to "Havok's girlfriend on X-Factor" and nothing else.

There is a thread of sexism that still runs very rampant through comic books. My focus when talking about most of it has been on treatment of fictional characters. Lack of respect for a narrative when a woman like Polaris is the one who has it.

But the sexism problem is much bigger than just character treatment. And it transcends any one company. Gaiman's sexism with Sandman happened through publishing Sandman at DC. The X-Men fandom sexism in attacking an author for DARING to suggest Hickman took someone else's idea without credit happened with Marvel.

There's a reason ComicsGate was the second most successful of the bullshit abusive male led "gate" things that went on a decade ago. I saw those assholes try to sneak their sexism and misogyny into other areas, like horror films and the metal music genre. They failed, because both saw the attempts for what they were and gave a hearty "fuck you" to the assholes.

ComicsGate garnered the level of success it did because the biggest players in the industry are sexist as fuck, and so are the hardcore fans of those biggest players. Though they take pains to create myths for themselves of not being sexist because they have specific women and female characters they're willing to do some good things for.

I never really got much into comic books until I learned of Polaris. And I think I know why. Even though video games have their own horribly sexist and misogynistic problems, there are TONS of developers and publishers that are big and successful. I'm able to avoid Capcom content and still enjoy video games cause there's other options besides Capcom.

But comics? DC and Marvel are the two biggest players in the field. You have to put a lot more effort into finding work you like in comics outside of those two. And the sexism and misogyny is very deeply ingrained. Even when they say they're doing stuff to be progressive, they then try to play on nostalgia for decades ago push very regressive views and treatment of characters to play on that nostalgia. At Marvel, moreso for X-Men than any other property.

I think that wraps up this post.

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

Why the Llama Incident works

The noodle incident is a trope done in A LOT of shows (PNF has a whole TV tropes page dedicated to its noodle incidents). Technically getting disowned and raised by ocelots is a noodle incident in pnf... we never do know what gets him officially disowned and how he ends up in the care of the ocelots). The noodle incident is meant to just showcase that this character has a history of some sort.

Generally speaking, explaining a noodle incident is a bad idea because the unknown has infinite potential. The intrigue is part of what makes it interesting. People can come up with ideas that are absolutely out there themselves. Usually, coming up with something that will live up to the hype is impossible because the hype of the event has built it up to impossible levels.

Emphasis on the usually.

They literally called it a llama incident. They knew what a noodle incident was, and were purposefully playing with our expectations that it would be an unrevealed event. And, as I said before, PnF has already dealt with its fair share of noodle incidents that go unexplained.

And as a noodle incident it served its purpose. Generally a noodle incident will provide context on what the status quo is without spelling out the details. In Rollercoaster the Juggling Monkey's noodle incident tells us that this is not the first time Phineas and Ferb have had a Big Idea (in fact we never do get what Phineas and Ferb's first Big Idea was). In Milo Murphy's Law the Llama incident tells us that Milo and Melissa were getting into Murphy's Law shenanigans long before Zack came into the picture. Showing us that they're so familiar with each other that situations that might require more context to another person doesn't.

Now bear with me as I go on a bit of a tangent that I promise is related.

The main cast of Milo Murphy's Law is a trio, and one of its members is defined by being the new guy. Zack is kind of an audience surrogate. Melissa is Milo's childhood friend and Milo has lived with this all his life. Generally, they don't need to explain anything to each other, nor do they need to explain anything to their class who is already at least passingly familiar with Milo. But they do to Zack.

I don't necessarily think MML NEEDED the audience surrogate character per se. Quite frankly I think audience surrogate characters are rarely necessary. You can always just start with a group of friends and fill in context via implication. I think it's just significantly harder, because you run the risk of alienating your audience by not allowing them to get settled in what is going on or having your characters talk about things like they don't already know what is going on.

But I don't think its at all an inherently bad storytelling method. I personally find outsider POVs delightful, and a good audience surrogate character is an outsider POV, at least at the start. Zack being new to the whole Murphy's Law allowed him a story about choosing to engage with the hazardous kid, winning him loyal friends and a set of skills he never would have dreamed of before. We get to see him grow, and we wouldn't have seen that if he was Milo's friend the whole time.

On the other hand he also has a bit of a wild background, as the former lead singer of a locally famous lumberjack themed boy band. Which gives Milo and Melissa the chance to join a band. Or for Milo to have a real birthday party. A change in status quo provides opportunities for growth and change, for the whole cast, which is useful in more overarching stories... like MML. It's not NECESSARY of course. Zack could have been a classmate that had always kept his distance before he accidentally got tangled up with Milo and decided he was cool. But there's nothing wrong with him being straight up new either.

And at the most basic level, Zack's complete unfamiliarity provides a nice contrast to Melissa's familiarity and Milo's day to day life. Zack is starting from 0 while Milo has been dealing with this every single day of his life.

So Zack isn't going to know what the Llama Incident is. And while noodle incidents being unexplained is fun for the audience, it isn't going to be so fun for someone who is constantly living with people who know what this Llama Incident is. Of course they could have told Zack the noodle incident off screen, it would have made for a good gag to cut into the story with Melissa and Milo finishing telling Zack the story. But instead, we are treated to an episode that has Zack really beginning to slot into his life as Milo's friend.

Back to the main point.

MML is one of the only shows with enough sheer chaotic energy that it could actually pull off making a group of seemingly unrelated references into a cohesive genuinely interesting story. The whole show is things that could feasibly be noodle incidents, which makes it easy to get a baseline for what could have happened. Milo uses stuff in strange ways all the time, getting tangled up with weird animals and ending up in strange situations. There's no REAL reason to feel like we're missing out on too much. It sounds like a normal Milo situation, just with only him and Melissa... and the fact they keep bringing it up.

And really, if you think about it, its just Planned in Advance Meapless in Seattle. Meapless in Seattle was meant to be a bunch of unrelated clips meant to be a noodle incident of sorts. We wouldn't know what exactly would go down in that fake episode. But they managed to bring everything together into a really fun episode that made sense and honestly lived up to the hype. (At least for me). I mean. They somehow made it work. That's a feat in of itself.

The episode "Llama Incident" starts out implying a completely different noodle incident. We never learn how the kids end up on that branch. That's not important. That stuff happens all the time. Is the Llama Incident more interesting than the other stuff Milo gets into? Not particularly, but it DID involve him using more stuff he didn't normally use.

And the Llama Incident is told in the format of a story. Changing up the format of the episode is always a good way to make an episode feel fresh. I mean, look at The Remains of the Platypus. It's just an episode told backwards but its delightful chaotic fun. Or Delivery of Destiny. Really the only difference is the day follows the perspective of a delivery guy, but we get all our normal plot beats. But both are some of my favorite Phineas and Ferb episodes. If you remove their gimmicks they're pretty basic. Phineas and Ferb build a cheese themed amusement park, and Doofensmirtz's plan is only slightly more novel with brainwashing Perry. Phineas and Ferb building a ride and Doof juicing city hall are pretty typical of them, but Paul's semi-outsider POV (and being one of the closest characters we get to having the full picture of the story we the audience see), makes it feel fun and fresh. It makes the Llama Incident feel special. Even if it isn't my favorite unique episode format, it's still something fresh and fun.

So Milo and Melissa sort of tell the story a bit out of order, because they forget what pieces Zack would and wouldn't have context for or would or wouldn't find interesting. And, again, it's told as a story to Zack, so he asks questions. It's told while they are hanging from a branch, where they cut back to every once and a while to remind us that hey, the group is in the middle of a whole other Murphy's Law incident. We're getting two for one today.

But through the episode we get a bit of a Zack character arc. We've already established that Melissa and Milo are used to this, even if you weren't aware the way they were casually rating it at the beginning of the episode should tell you all you need to know. But Zack isn't completely used to this yet, so he's just nervous. He spends the episode using the story as a distraction, but being genuinely invested. In the end, the story acts as an inspiration to Zack, and he's able to help the group get out of the situation. AND for his trouble, he gets his own mysterious incident to reference. After half a season, he's truly part of the group now. He will continue to grow of course, trying to become braver and cleverer, and he's already made strides since the first episode. But even if Zack isn't really any less part of the group before or after its still a significant moment in Zack's character arc.

And then the Llama Incident comes back the next episode. The date was memorable to Milo, even throughout all of the other chaos in his life. And sometimes that's just how life is. And he uses his knowledge of the event, the way it stuck in his mind, to save him, Dakota and Cavendish from Pistachion's in Missing Milo. What we thought was going to just be a noodle incident, a running gag that functioned to establish just how used to this stuff Milo and Melissa were, turned out to be a plot point. To be fair we didn't NEED to know what the Llama incident was for Milo to choose to go there. We didn't need to know about the Llama Incident to know it was typical Murphy's Law shenanigans. It could have just been more out of context llama stuff. But now we the audience are in on the joke, so when Cavendish and Dakota express confusion, we can revel in the fact we know something they don't. Especially about two characters who themselves were slow revealing information about themselves to us... sure by that point we know their deal but at one point they were as mysterious and out of context to us as the Llama incident. And now we know what the Llama Incident is, and what their deal is.

The Woodpecker incident also is vaguely referred to later with the woodpecker whistle. We may not know the full story there, but it is still satisfying to see Milo's adventures giving him the skills and tools to deal with bigger, actually hostile, threats.

And at the end of the day, even if the Noodle Incidentness of the Llama Incident is ruined, it was immediately replaced with the Woodpecker incident. Which admittedly is never mentioned, but it doesn't need to be. The point of the Llama Incident was to draw attention to a specific incident to make a gag out of it. But they have incidents all the time. And we're privy to most of them. We sometimes get references to other incidents that we never fully get the context for. But we don't need context. We know how it'll go anyway because we have a whole show of effective noodle incidents.

[atticustimestwo]

do you mind sharing a bit more about your analysis of heart,,,

i'd love to!! (i assume this is about the heart critique piece i did a few months ago, but please correct me if im wrong!)

in terms of the "a critique on the treatment of hearts characterization" piece, i wanted to visually explore some frustrations i have had with how the fanbase seems to fall into some unfortunate patterns when it comes to hearts character.

frequently, i see heart infantilized - this either comes across as him being a kicked dog unable to help himself because he is too weak, a baby angel who did nothing wrong, or a feral gremlin child. i think flattening his character down to any/all of these is, for lack of a better word, a bit problematic?

; one reason being it just defeats the idea of emotions being a visceral, intense thing. heart is meant to represent emotion in its purest form; i feel woobifying him takes away from that concept because it shows having emotions as being inherently weaker or less mature. i think a lot of people kinda forget HMS aren't just tv show characters. they represent greater concepts that near everyone feels and feels uniquely - theyre more sensitive than your typical character. thats not saying treating them as characters is bad! everyone relates to them differently because they are so personal, they make them their own and i think thats really awesome!! ; but boiling them down to these really generic tropes and making heart a baby kinda defeats the idea that emotions are a real, visceral, multifaceted concept. ; another reason i think it can be problematic is that it sometimes unintentionally comes across really ableist? a lot of these 'fandom-y' tropes are already rooted in ableism in some way, which is bad on its own, but theres also the important addition that heart is frequently portrayed as blind.

ive seen people time and time again fall into stereotypes with heart that his blindness makes him weak/helpless/childish. truthfully I dont think people do this intentionally, but its still internalized ableism showing up. i recognize that a lot of the people who woobify heart tend to be on the younger side, so they dont really recognize that theyre flattening him down like that- not out of malicious ignorance, but because theyre kids who havent really had the life experience yet to grasp the full concepts of the album or realize they might be implying harmful stereotypes; that doesn't necessarily mean its okay, but i think its just them being uneducated cause theyre kids and they have yet to learn that stuff. ; all that being said, im not trying to police people on how they portray characters. im not any authority on this fandom/album by any means imaginable - im just a fan like everyone else here! like i said before, characterizing HMS is not inherently a bad thing at all ! its fun, and its what this fanbase is built on in the first place! its so great that everyone can interpret and relate to HMS so personally, i think chonny really hit it off with the concept for the album and the execution is stellar! seeing all the fanart and different interpretations of it and the characters is such a beautiful thing, no matter if its joking, lighthearted, or deep! ; at the end of the day, theres no wrong way to interpret this album, and theres no wrong way to characterize heart. more than anything that critique piece was built up frustration turned to a call to action for people to stop and think deeply for a moment about how they portray heart - to open eyes if someone might be unknowingly flattening or adding problematic ideas to their characterizations. and to just be mindful of that going forward! 💜 

[toh-aus-coven]

Philip's Story is an Adoption Story... Here's Why That Matters

A few disclaimers before we dive in...

Binary thinking is discouraged here; adoption and its themes are complicated and nuanced. Multiple truths can exist.

This is one perspective and this analysis comes from being in community with adopted/orphan people, research, and misc experience

"Adoption adjacent" includes adoptees/orphans/foster kids (these three groups often overlap in various ways that will be elaborated on)

Please engage with this post in good faith. I know non-adoptees can experience things listed in this post however, there is a different context that underlies the experience of those adopted/adjacent. And of course, I'm not trying to make generalizations either... It's just that the narrative is more complicated than a lot of people want to admit.

Sound good? Let's proceed. THIS POST IS GOING TO BE A BIT LONG!

At the core of Belos/Philip's story is an 'adoption' story. And it's all because of this particular line:

I know what you're thinking "But isn't being an orphan different from being adopted?" Yes, and within the media in particular, adoptee and orphan stories overlap heavily-- in fact, it's almost a circle (although due to his background and his time-period, he'd probably be taken in by someone given the boys' age of their arrival). It’s about the experience of parental separation which is what connects adoptee and adjacent people. So while Philip is not adopted, he is adoptee adjacent and that still matters. Concerning media and the way adopted/orphaned characters are portrayed, it's often presented in a very binary manner. Most people's knowledge of the subject comes from other people's perception of it rather than adopted/orphaned people themselves. And to a degree that makes sense... These stories are often ABOUT [adoptees/adjacent people ] without INCLUDING them. Adoption themes are incredibly pervasive throughout literature, TV/movies, video games, and other media. It's not inherently wrong to have an adoption-related storyline, plot, or character but most people don't do it in a way that is humanizing and avoids common pitfalls within the storytelling.

There's a quick impulse to call Philip 'evil' and 'irredeemable' without actually understanding his character... and when you view him through an 'adoptee-centered' lens his behavior makes a lot of sense. The fact the show treats this specific fact about the character as a plot device rather than something that could be explored is a tiny bit insulting. They only mention it in the exposition which kind of implies that this detail is meant to explain Philip's deep attachment to his brother. Which yes, it does and TOH leaves us hanging -- or actually they just tell us that this man is evil and call it a day.

Which leads me into one of the biggest pitfalls that the show uses for Philip-- he's framed as just evil. The trope of good/bad adoptee/adjacent character is a pretty common see -- even within the same piece of media. If we're going to use TOH we can look at King's character -- King, a young main protagonist who is the last living son of a god. King is young, cute, 'exceptional', has special abilities, etc (there are issues with King's portrayal as well but this post isn't about him). This is an issue because adoptees/adjacent people are more than a reductive good/bad label. Same with concepts such as 'gratitude' -- being grateful or not grateful when the real answer can be a lot more complex than that. It's a binary question that can be a complicated answer. We're the picture-perfect heroes or the irredeemable villains-- nothing in-between.

Taking this into consideration, when we look at Philip you start to see someone who's not 'evil'; you begin to see a man who is coping with separation trauma and abandonment issues. This is unfortunate to hear but research tells us that adoptees are 4x more at risk to 'self-exit', 2x at risk to have substance abuse issues, and generally more likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorders (obviously every individual is different but when talking about adoption many people tend to ignore these types of statistics in favor of more 'positive' ones). 'Negative' aspects that many adoptees/adjacent people experience or try to talk about are often dismissed or worse, they are gaslighted. When you look at Philip and his characterization you see these behaviors in a different light such as:

His attachment/abandonment issues (Caleb, this one doesn't need any elaboration; EDIT- gonna elaborate anyways lol). To be honest Philip shows a lot of symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. The hallmark of the disorder is a fear of abandonment — and BPD often stems from childhood trauma. Interestingly enough it’s not uncommon for adoptees (in particular women; there is a misogynistic component to this but i digress) to get a BPD diagnosis. And given that the show portrays Philip in a very stigmatizing way… you can see why this isn’t great…

Difficulty regulating his emotions ('the curse' seems to come out when he's emotionally escalated)

'Substance' use (the palismen; he seems physically reliant on them and they don't benefit him in any way besides sustaining his life. also, he looks like he's huffing something when he consumes one Side note: Some people think that Philip deserved to 'be cursed' (which is a side effect[?] of the consumption) since he “cursed himself”... super not great for adoptees/adjacent people we’re already a misunderstood group of people and it's not uncommon to get insulted or blamed when trying to have a nuanced discussion or share experiences.

His sense of self seems unstable... Most of his identity hinges on his brother, not himself (ex. being a witch hunter, the use of the gravesfield coat of arms for the emperor's sigil, the coat he wears, his name-- Philip Wittebane, etc)

There's a bunch of emotional stuff I would have to guess would be true but they'd more fall under theory or headcanon

It's not that he is 'evil' he is in pain and he is blamed for that. Obviously, he doesn't make productive choices and he does bear responsibility for the harm he caused and he is a creation of his environment. He had to hate to survive. This is where 'this and' can come into play... For many adoptees, we have feelings of not belonging -- even more so for transracial adoptees (those adopted/fostered into homes of a different race than their own). Many transracial adoptees are raised in environments that are racially / ethnically homogeneous (from their own race) so it can be harder to 'fit in' and it can also cause someone to have a complex relationship with their racial/ethnic background when one is essentially assimilated into a community that they stick out of.

edit: In mainstream society being adopted or 'orphans' is deemed to be a shameful thing, used as a comedy device, or through very rosed colored glasses... and there's a problem to highlight here: because adoptee/adjacent are often seen as source material for STORIES we often view their experiences through the lens of A STORY rather than someone's lived experience. It is easier to view a particular thing as a story for entertainment when for someone else it is reality. While Philip is a fictional character many aspects of his behavior are very real and deserve understanding and empathy for real adoptees/adjacent people. We deserve to be more than stories with black-and-white roles and deserve to be seen in color. As full complex people.

Here are some resources if you're interested in learning more about adoptee-centered adoption perspectives:

https://adoptionmosaic.com/resources

https://sidebysideproject.com/11-short-films

http://adopteereading.com/overview/

https://harlows-monkey.com/

https://adopteeconsciousness.com/

this tedtalk is good too: https://youtu.be/jL4lnvQ1wVU?si=HpYASjvvOXnY2faX

Edit: https://youtu.be/Rz3ME8K_zW4?si=CpEQarRbe8VAUqAR (this documentary just came out and you may hear a certain basilisk/gem featured!)