#beyond the fact that i do not think that what makes them both so compelling to me

[thatswhatsushesaid]

the fool 🤝 jin guangyao being easily the most dynamic and compelling characters in their respective canons, likely for reasons that were substantially if not entirely unintentional on the part of their respective authors

[visenyaism]

top ten clinically depressed asoiafers

I don’t think anyone ever wrote out the Westerosi DSM but I’ll take a crack at it.

Honorable Mention- Mance Raider and Qhorin Halfhand. We don’t get enough to make a full conclusion because it’s not important to Jon’s story so this is just a vibe but I feel it strongly.

10. Rhaena the Lesbian- like one of two actually great fire and blood characters. Convalescing in Harrenhal for like a decade after her wife left her and her third husband killed all her girlfriends plus she was one dead kid and one dead mother down. Kind of epic. Should have survived long enough to be weird and bitter to Jaehaerys’ insane children.

9. Daemon Targaryen- hey speaking of killing yourself in Harrenhal. Him never being happy with what he had or knowing what he wanted beyond getting his big brother to be proud of him so he just had to constantly chase dopamine in the form of insane levels of violence grooming teenagers and getting his cop frat brother employees to like him for money. Chemical imbalance with a body count in the thousands for his last midlife crisis wife leaving teenager grooming riverlands murder suicide bender alone.

8. Rhaegar Targaryen- Hey speaking of making your clinical depression everyone else’s problem at Harrenhal leading to the death of thousands. Why do people keep letting them do this is the question. Could estrogen have saved her is the second realer question

7. Lysa Arryn. Free her.

6. Daeron the Drunken- what if you were HAUNTED by PROPHETIC DREAMS that were only BAD and spelled the death and doom of your ENTIRE FAMILY and you COULDNT ESCAPE THEM except through SUBSTANCES and you were also the HEIR and your DAD was so DISAPPOINTED IN YOU and you had to take your RUDE and disrespectful plucky BABY KING ARTHUR brother to the CIRCUS and he was TEN and BALD and picked up by the hedge knight you DREAMED OF because he is going to INSTIGATE TO THE ETERNAL MISERY OF YOUR FAMILY a little bit on accident because you are DRUNK. NO HOPE. also honorable mention to post-fratricide Maekar who just locks himself in summerhall for years and post-treason court hostage Daemon II Blackfyre. I hope he and Daeron got brunch.

5. Ned Stark- classic flavor original variant Father Depression. Things went wrong for him young that he will never explain to anyone ever and they form a veil that serves as a barrier between him and the world and everyone he loves. Poor Ned.

4. Stannis Baratheon. Never let himself enjoy anything ever. Melancholy from birth. Rude and extremely blunt with everyone. Smiles twice both at Davos. Anorexic. Bald. Who among us has not been there.

3. Alannys Harlaw Greyjoy- finding out that Theon and Asha have an alive mom who is a gothic horror attic wife who never recovered from the loss of her family to the point that she’s still asking when all her dead and missing sons are going to come home to her and then Theon comes home and does not visit her. Actually agonizing for me the reader

2. Jon Connington- I’m about to get real sincere with these last two because Dance was a really good book that hit at a pivotal time for me. Everything he is in the world to do is motivated by this deep and profound grief and repression that simultaneously makes him a worse person (hungry to commit war crimes) and his best self (dives into the river to save Tyrion contracting greyscale in the process, being as loving and supportive of a father to Young Griff as anyone really could possibly be in this series.) The fact that he is such a late-game addition but feels like a missing piece as a character because of the emotional weight he carries is really cool. I love all his chapters. Tried to grasp a star overreached and fell is so powerful.

1. Tyrion Lannister- I adore his dance with dragons chapters where after his big moment of patriarchal catharsis he is suicidal and misanthropic and an alcoholic and hurting himself and others. It is really compelling because sometimes people get worse. And yet this is interspersed with moments where he is confronted with real genuine danger or real genuine joy and he consistently chooses to be kind to others for no material gain. Like comforting Penny during the storm or tackling a Stone Man into the Rhoyne to to save Young Griff’s life. Arguably these moments do not outweigh all of the harm he is actively inflicting, but they do show that he is incorrect about his self concept that he’s a monster and is actually just a deeply hurt person who has been traumatized so profoundly and is struggling as a result of it.

[dmitriene]

okayyy hello hello gorgeous!!! i saw that you were taking rq's for arthur morgan sooo...

i wanted to request maybe something along the lines of the reader having an allergic reaction to something and her face gets all chubby/puffy and has a panic attack because they don't think they're pretty anymore but arthur quickly comes to the rescue and comforts them? (need him so baddd) <33

cw: allergy, many tears and comfort, not fully described panic attack, small smut at the end.

something is wrong with the dish that sits in front of you in a slightly uneven wooden bowl, something has changed in the taste, and you clearly feel it in the spices that are swirling around on your tongue, because usually, pearson's food is relatively bland, but not today, and either he was lucky with the dish, or he fell in love and instead of overdoing it with salt decided to try something new, but not daring to complain, you take a full spoon of potatoes with meat and place it in your mouth behind both rounding cheeks, full of food that warms your stomach and beyond.

your cheeks are tickling from the rolling heat, and you chose to attribute this sensation to the fact that the dish is freshly cooked, it's warm outside, so putting all this together, it appears to you that your body is most likely just slightly warm, not knowing that your skin is beginning to swell and become covered in small spots and rashes, pouty lips, with the broth pouring down them, becoming bigger, swelling, reflecting your face more and more, which you don't even notice until someone tugs on your shoulder with a delicate squeeze, compelling you to lower your spoon into the practically empty bowl and turn to the side.

abigail looks at you with a hint of concern in her own brightly piercing eyes that have been softened in concern, you know something is wrong, of course, but you're not quite sure what it is, until she leans in closer and dares to touch your cheek with the back of her hand, the delicate knuckles of her fingers giving you a slight chill, making you realize how surprisingly warm you really are, scalding hot, as your own hand comes up to feel over your face, breath catching in seizing panic at the unfamiliar texture of raw, uneven surface of once clean skin, before you leap up from your seating spot.

arthur jerks his head into direction of the sound, finding you with a wide, worried glint of a sharp gaze, and before you can turn away with your whole body in time, he notices the state of your face, but you already flee from your place with a dull, choking sob and run towards the mansion, stumbling and gasping raggedly, resisting the way your chest aches in uncontrollable panic, clutching and mashing on all the insides and fragile bones, as you finally reach the doorway of the mansion and stumble down the narrow hallway to your room, eventually pulling the door in your direction and dashing inside, grasping at the rusty key stuck in the lock, turning until it clicks sharply.

only then do you allow yourself to calm down, get your erratic breathing under control, approaching the old bedside table on wobbling, newborn fawn unsteady feet, a small mirror resting there reflects enough of your face to make you sob out in a manner of a wounded animal, disgusted by what you see, a swollen, unattractive reflection that has obviously had an allergic reaction to something, and is gradually getting less puffed, but you still turn the mirror away and slump on the edge of the bed, gripping the hem of your dress with shaking, twisting fingers, body bowing forward, crumpling in a vulnerable curl, as your back ripples with the force of brimming hiccups.

the door trembles under the pressure of someone else's weight outside, and the handle twitches once or twice, causing the old, nearly rotting wood to shake and almost fly off its hinge to open the way into your room, you can tell that arthur is outside, hear it in the uncontrolled, worried swearing mixed with the growl he lets out under his breath, the faint sigh he uses to soften his own voice before asking, purposefully softly, as if approaching a doe

“darling, please, open that door for me”

you don't want to, not at all, and it's so stupid, the reason that you can't even voice is stuck like a lump in your throat, forcing you to sob again, shuddering when another attempt to open the door is getting mixed with the pitched sound, arthur loses patience, because he's worried, but you can't even find the courage to ask him to leave, to convince him that everything is fine, because it seems to you that your current appearance is nothing more than a torment for any eyes, all chubby from swell, covered in strange spots, ugly, and not at all the charming you that he so frequently compliments.

before you can utter anything out, the door is yanked open, smashes, hits the wall, and barely holds on it's place, now hanging slightly towards the side of the doorway where arthur's figure fills the space, you gasp, sharp and wet from all the crying, body moving back to the headboard and pressing against the scratched wood, almost as if you're trying to hide, it makes arthur feel like a villain, almost, because everything falls apart to the very dust the moment he sees your distressed face, your eyes wide with fear, tears frozen in, darting gaze avoiding direct contact with his, and arthur's chest aches, heart bleeds at the sight of you in such blatant anguish, as his long strides carry him towards you.

your body jerks to the side as his hands reach out to cup your face, running his calloused thumbs over cheekbones in a genuine, tender way, but it feels like empty comfort, how can he even still feel the same love for you when you're so ugly, and before he can finish his cooing, quiet question, you're crying, the truth spilling out, throat tightening, eyelids fluttering as you voice what you believe to be the truth without even knowing what arthur truly thinks, the way worry floods every muscle and nerve inside him, your eyes flying open as his forehead graces against yours, long, wide fingers coaxing your chin up.

one kiss presses against your temple, then moves down with a slow, gentle caress, then touches your damp, suffusing cheeks, leaving another, and another, until you start to sigh at each one, suppressing both laughter and tears, and the same oppressive inner uncertainty that slowly thaws, leaves the body in which it cannot get enough of weakness, because the light whisper of laconic, consoling compliments fill your ears with the viscosity and sweetness of honey, warming and chasing away all harmful thoughts, chapped lips pressing upon your quivering eyelids, taking away all your sorrow, kisses littering every delicate curve of the face, your pouting lips, and you sigh, going limp, nuzzling against his firm chest as close as you can.

maybe it's his fault, arthur believes, perhaps, he didn't express his love for you enough, it doesn't matter how you look, he's far from men who are interested in appearance, a dog who reaches out for any kind gaze and caress, and you, who once gave him the first genuine smile and sheepish look of adoration, will always be the only woman he paid attention to, his love is kept under lock and key so that other people's cruel eyes won't take it away, jinx it, or hurt it, you shouldn't even question it.

he will show you how much he actually cares, as many times as you'd like, by nudging his bristly face againts the tender, malleable inner part of your thighs, smudging slow kisses, chasing a patch up to where you throb, ache at the very attention, pulsing with oozing slick that leaves a sheen all over your puffy folds, as you look down at arthur with hooded, hazy gaze, fingers combing, gripping at the mussed strands of his hair, hazel brown strands seeping through your twitching digits, while the pungent taste and smell of you floods his greedy tongue, blue green eyes glossing over.

main masterlist. quidelines.

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

I don’t understand the fandoms love for Daemon, by all rights he should be as hated as Joffrey was. Not only did he do almost everything Joffrey did, he also did worse. Even Tywin wouldn’t hold a candle to his cruelty. I understand liking a villainous character, I do too with Cersei and Tywin, but I’ve never went out of my way to whitewash their characters. I love them because they are villainous and practically irredeemable, if team black stans liked Daemon for his villainous actions before and during the Dance of Dragons I wouldn’t have any problems with it. But the fact that they go out of their way to defend him killing Rhea Royce because “he was forced into a marriage he didn’t like!!!!” As if she wasn’t too. And the fact that they defend him sending Blood and Cheese to psychologically torture Haelena and kill Jaehaerys due to “a son for a son it’s only right” when they despise Alicents moment of madness when her son was denied justice, makes me want to hurl.

It’s alright to like villainous characters, it doesn’t make you a bad person if you like them. But you know what makes you a moronic person? Whitewashing everything that makes a character compelling because you want to like them without seeming like a ‘bad person’. Your opinion on a character does not determine your own morality, it doesn’t make you better or worse than someone who hates them. But what it does, when you erase their entire identity as a rouge to make them more palatable to you, is make you seem moronic, stupid, and lacking any critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.

Rhaenyra is a compelling character because she is entitled and spoiled and lacks any political experience, she shows how badly Viserys fucked up when he tried to compensate for his guilt of murdering Aemma. Alicent is a compelling character because she is a mother who is trying her best to protect her children from the reality that if Daemon took the throne for Rhaenyra, he would kill all of them because they are a threat. She is even more of a compelling character in the books because of her ambition and cunning and want for her family to rise far above the ‘station’ of being a noble house in the Reach (as if house Hightower aren’t the oldest house in Westeros who could trace their lineage back to both the Garth Greenhand the high king of the first men and the Andal Kings that came afterwards). Daemon, for all that I dislike him as a character, is compelling for his ruthlessness and shortsightedness in his pursuit of the throne. He didn’t raise an army for Viserys because he thought he was a competent leader, he did it because it raised his own standing within Westeros, he groomed Rhaenyra not because he loved her, but because having him in her good graces means that he stood a better chance of being king after she was named heir. His ruthlessness is compelling. Taking it away to make him into a ‘malewife’ or a ‘loving father’ or a man who is lacking any ambition beyond wanting a valyrian wife is taking away his agency. It makes him seem like a Gary Sue who only wants the throne because his brother said Rhaenyra was heir. It makes it so that he is so completely white bread like that not even I, someone who loved the more morally bankrupt characters in ASOIAF can find him agreeable in any way shape or form.

Daemon is a fundamentally morally bankrupt character and he should stay that way. If you like him you should acknowledge and accept that he is one of the ‘bad guys’. Just as Cersei fans acknowledge and accept that she is fundamentally a morally bankrupt person who is selfish to the extreme. We like morally black characters because they are morally black. To make excuses for their actions is to take away their agency which makes them unlikable and very hate-able.

Daemons actions aren’t justifiable, blood and cheese would never be justified. A son for a son is akin to the visceral disgust the fandom had to Alicent when she asked for Lucerys’ eye, yet I bet when season two comes out and Blood and Cheese happens we’d see Daemon fans applauding and trying to justify it as ‘not that bad’ and ‘team green deserved it because of Aemond’s actions’ when little Jaehaerys, a boy of 6, was as far removed from the incident as can be. It would be akin to Team Green saying that due to Jaehaerys’ death, Aegon III or Viserys II deserved to have their head cut off in front of Rhaenyra.

Let morally bankrupt characters be morally bankrupt. You aren’t morally bankrupt because you like said character, it’s a fictional story loosely based on Empress Matilda. It’s not that deep. Like the characters you like without trying to justify their actions. They might be monstrous but you aren’t because you like them. It’s not a measure of your own character because you like said character. But it is a measure of your intelligence when you try to change said character’s entire personality to make it so that they are more digestible to you and everyone else.

[lucien-lachance]

Okay, what's the Gortash propaganda? What's The Deal? I haven't encountered him yet, so I have no clue about his personality, and I Can't See It upon first glance. What's the appeal?

- @supervillain-smut

That’s totally valid! Honestly, Gorty can be…a bit of an acquired taste? He’s not your Stereotypically Hot antagonist, but he’s expressive, charismatic, and a compelling, nuanced character with perfectly human idiosyncrasies once you look beyond his emo hair and silly shoes. And that makes him incredibly magnetic imho. Full disclosure though, the big nose, under-eye shadows, and smug bastardry really hit my buttons from the start. The emo rocker look is a huge bonus. You can take me out of Hot Topic, but you’ll never take the Hot Topic out of me.

But yeah, this turned into a bit of an overboard character analysis? This pixel man is one of the most polarizing pixel men on the planet. Nobody I’ve seen has said, “Oh, Gortash? Yeah, he’s ‘meh’.” Ten seconds on screen, and you’ll want to throw your undies at him or decapitate him on the spot. (some of us gorty girlies would probably do both, tbh). He’s done despicable things in the name of survival, power, and simple pleasure; he’s a domineering, tenacious, S&M-loving Hot Topic enthusiast laced with parental angst and religious fanaticism, and grandiosity. Ruthless and cunning, he's a genius unafraid of flaunting his power and wealth, but who, behind a cultivated veneer of resilience, dominance, and villainy, is also incredibly damaged. Also, he probably has anxiety (bear with me there). I’ll try to avoid big plot spoilers here while still being thorough about his backstory etc.

Oh. Did I mention he’s voiced by Jason Isaacs? Because that…Does Things. sorry this is really long but i literally cannot shut up about my grimy greasy raccoon man. if you want my personal headcanons about anything hmu

So. To start, Gortash grew up in Baldur's Gate as the prodigy son of abusive parents. They describe him as a brilliant but “hateful little wretch. They sell him to a warlock to pay off what they called “world-ending debts”—which, for a terribly abused child, would only compound the confusion, anger, and hurt he’d stewed in for years. As a slave in the Hells, he endured still more abuse. If you break into this devil’s house, you learn that his parents’ “world ending debts” were actually paltry sums. The jailer there admits he liked to “bruise his knuckles” on his “sniveling face,” too, which could account for some of the blockiness in his features and the fact that he doesn't much look like his parents (see repeatedly injured boxers/fighters etc).

Now, those are pretty disparate descriptions of the same child. I side with the jailer, tbh; he has no reason to lie, where Gorty's parents do. Even if he was unruly or disrespectful to them, the fact that he was initially so distraught in the Hells tells me he wasn’t born a monster. He was made a monster by circumstances and his own choices. I like to think he wanted to be loved just as any other child does, but his restless intellect, curiosity, and perhaps a quick, inborn temper clashed with his mother and father’s parenting abilities/styles. They may not have wanted him and resented his existence. Considering his heartless upbringing, it’s obvious why he became what he did. Abuse was all he knew. Desiring, let alone showing, any care was asking to be beaten or ostracized. Nothing came freely. If he wanted something, he had to earn, create, or take it, and everything had consequences. In the Hells, he realized that if he wanted to survive, he couldn’t risk being an abused victim. He had to become the abuser.

And become the abuser he did. He escaped the Hells (probably sometime in his mid-late teens, imho) and became a prolific gang leader, slaver (hello irony), and arms dealer. He also took to the Banite religion, which is a natural fit for a budding tyrant desperate for control, power, vengeance, and personal security. He became the Chosen of the lawful-evil god Bane, a post that gave him more power, resources, and perceived safety than he’d ever known. If he was a blunt fist when he escaped the Hells, the gangs and Banite religion forged him into a knife capable of both precision and outright butchery.

A few game docs imply that he treats sex as a currency like gold or social favors. He had an affair with a prominent noblewoman in his youth, likely for her money. Love this gold-digging, burly-armed raccoon (screencap from the bg3 wiki)

There are some...shenanigans about a now-retconned letter between him and a guy named Franc Peartree, especially since there's some speculation that he didn't actually write it, so I won't get into that here. Hilarious though. Anyway, he’ll threaten and kill anyone that resists him or falls short of his expectations. Lives are meaningless unless they enrich him somehow; they’re tools and a literal currency, just as he’d been a currency to his parents and a tool to the devil that enslaved him. After becoming a lord, he sells his bodyguard—who is described by an NPC as being the only thing that “kept him honest”—to an archdevil to advance his schemes. In my opinion, it was also to rid himself of what he believed was a thorn in his side. He liked and trusted them in his own way, and he saw that as a weakness that must be purged for his own safety and to please his god. He’s a human who cannot afford to be human. He has to stay cold. Detached. Powerful. Mechanical like his weapons and automatons.

As Bane’s Chosen, he killed, connived, and seduced of his way to supreme power in Baldur’s Gate (also with the help some spoilery magic I won't detail. He uses this same magic to torture and enslave two npcs you can meet in act 3. Cold blooded, oof). Yet despite his hunger for control, he doesn’t want to rule alone. He’s completely honest about his offer to ally and share power with. Possibly, he just wants someone close to witness his own glory. Maybe he sees that a loyal partner could help him conquer wider lands. Maybe the heart of the beaten child he’d once been still aches for companionship, even if he can’t consciously acknowledge it anymore. Or it could be that he’s stumbled head over heels for your character. Any and all of it works, imho.

On the topic of the player’s character—if you play as the Dark Urge (aka Durge, Chosen of Bhaal, another evil god allying with Bane), he treats you differently. The man’s stern, knifepoint stares and smug smirks get spiced up with tender smiles and the biggest, wettest puppy eyes you can imagine. The difference is almost jarring. You have some different dialogue options and responses from him, too. The narrator even says he misses teasing Durge and doesn't think you should just submit to him. He’s playful, in his own way. You can side with him as Tav, too, of course, but he and Durge had a pre-canon relationship. Whether it’s romantic, sexual, or platonic/professional is up to you, though lots of in-game hints lean more toward the romantic/sexual angle. That’s where I camp, tbh.

Exhibits A, B, and C bottom two are mods from one of my files. Astarion's VA did the mocap for Gorty as well, and their mannerisms/expressions translate perfectly.)

Now, Durge canonically does some really fucked up things as both religious worship and fun (including cannibalism and necrophilia, big gross) and would arguably be the kinkiest being in Baldur's Gate. So, if you interpret their relationship with Gortash as romantic/sexual, this man would be kinky af, too. Tbh, he probably would be anyway after enduring years in the devil’s house (you'll understand when you get there in-game). He also just had to be literally and figuratively flexible enough to exploit anyone’s appetites for his own gain.

Larian maintains that he's too busy for kisses etc. I doubt any of us really buy that lmao. But however you view their relationship, he’s smitten with Durge, and Tav earns his respect through their strength, tenacity, and victories. Local tyrant actually has a heart locked up in that hairy chest? It’s more likely than you think! We can’t fix him, but he can make us worse. In any case, he's not mindless about his attraction/respect to Durge or Tav. Openly opposing him or breaking your alliance with him triggers him+his Steel Watchers to attack you. People are just tools, remember. RIP he’ll literally hang your corpse over the river for everyone to cringe at.

As I mentioned earlier, Gorty boy is a genius. He’s got a knack for engineering and I’ve seen lots of arguments classing him as an artificer. He designed a mech army of Steel Watchers that he vaunted as soldiers of the future, and a means of policing and protecting the city without losing human lives. It’s all a charade, of course. The Steel Watchers’ invention earned him a lordship and they’re deadly, yes, but they’re not simply the bloodless army with which he vowed to protect everyone. They’re his key to enslaving the city and enforcing his/Bane's tyranny. He also likely designed and fabricated his crossbow, as well as other weaponry. In a modern setting, you know this guy would be that billionaire inventor that eats Bill Gates and Musk etc, then usurps their tech empires.  

Despite calling himself and the other Chosen “servants of [their] gods,” he also seems to hold designs for godhood—and godhood for your character, if you ally with him. He wants to rule all of Toril together as gods. He wants to be “a roaring sun”, not the ravenous darkness normally associated with Bane. Some, myself included, interpret this line as him chafing under his own subservience to Bane, and thus his own weakness and endangerment. He wants to become his own god and truly, truly be free of all others’ power and exert his own. Interestingly, his 80’s rock opera edgelord outfit is covered in Bane’s iconography and colors, yet his Steel Watchers’ armor is notably engraved with light-symbolism. His crossbow also grants the wielder two light/radiant spells. Which is an interesting contrast for sure. So is it all purely a show? Something to symbolize hope in a dark time and better manipulate people? Undoubtedly! But it can also be more personal and hint at his long game. Again, it’s up for personal interpretation.

But amidst it all, he has a bit of a childish streak, too, if seen only rarely or by Durge. If you attack him at a certain point, one of your dialogue options will prompt The Tyrant of Baldur's Gate not to punch, slap, stab, or shoot you, but to kick you in the shins and taunt you like a cheap schoolyard bully. Amazing.

I’ll end with another quick note on his clothing. The Cloth of Authority, as it’s called, makes the wearer immune to emotion-altering conditions/spells, gives you 1+ armor bonus, and gives you an advantage in intimidation and insight checks. So, you can't panic etc and it lets you more easily detect lies and talk shit without getting hit, so to speak. Are these effects simply useful for a man trying to take over a city or run criminal enterprises? Hell yeah. But they’d also be pretty damned necessary for an abuse victim subjected to slavery and horrific living conditions, likely became anxiety-prone, and who is probably terrified of becoming a victim again. I like the idea that both ideas are valid. The stupid messy lace job on his shirt is A+++, too. Indifference, not knowing how to lace it, an intentional shade of sluttiness, who cares? He somehow makes it work despite being the most powerful guy in the city. Bonus points for the shameless chest hair tease and unabashed crotch bulge.  

So, uhhhh, yeah. I hope that sort of makes sense and flows okay. In conclusion, he’s terrifyingly amoral, intelligent, and the left hand of an evil god, but under Jason Isaacs’ voice and all the fancy clothes and horror, he’s still Just Some Guy, and I just think he’s neat.

[valtsv]

What you find compelling about VAL is easy for me to intuit; I'm curious about what you find compelling about Shrue with regards to pairing them? I love them both as characters; I just remain perpetually confused as to pairings. Your writing is great btw; just interested to hear you talk about Shrue.

first off i need to confess that i shot myself in the foot a bit by using fandom shipping terminology to come up with the "VALshrue" portmanteau, because i don't have any desire to ship them in the typical romantic sense (or even sexual tbh, but that's an essay for another ask or post). in the best case scenarios where they aren't abusing each other and making each other worse it's still extremely aromantic - in fact any amatonormativity tends to contribute to the (unavoidable) toxic elements and make them more miserable and that is by design.

anyway! the anathema formerly known as adjudicator temerik shrue. my silly rabbit. i don't often talk about them in as much depth as VAL (which is truly a failure on my part) but i do absolutely adore their horrible ass just as much and want goodbad things for them. the easy answer to why i find them compelling is that a weaselly, hypocritical alcoholic public servant complicit in some of the worst abuses and exploitations the societal values they uphold are built on, contending with an impending inevitable divorce that will seal the nail in the coffin on their profound loneliness by drowning their regrets in more liquid shame, and denying their hand in their own and others' misfortunes at every turn - until their back hits the wall and there's nowhere left to run - is just such a fun character for me to play with. what if harry du bois was even more of a pathetic loser and a massive (but extremely funny) cunt about it too.

the slightly more thematically coherent answer is that i absolutely love a character whose hell is self-made and who can never balance the scales of that suffering, or their complicity in it, and has to understand that in order to ever develop as a person. the potential there is an absolute goldmine to me. how can you stand to live with yourself? why should you? why shouldn't you? and as much as i think their canon ending is beautifully written, i love to explore what might have happened if they didn't get an exit, and still didn't get what they wanted. if they had to put their money where their mouth is and try to build a better world, despite being cynically convinced that it probably isn't possible and that most people, them included, don't deserve to see it. honestly a huge part of the appeal of VALshrue to me is that not only are they absolutely awful people who've sacrificed everything that might have made their lives worthwhile to a heartless, insatiable cycle of violence that will never love them back, who less "redeem" themselves than succeed in recognising that the harm they've done has no justification and no meaning beyond feeding the same system that will eat them without remorse in turn when its use for them runs out - which is far more interesting and important to me than pure fantastical heroism - but they're immensely pathetic and selfish and self-sabotaging in very ugly, human ways about it. and that's SO much fun to play with as a fan creator.

also personally i think that they have a bit of a repressed sadistic streak that, while very much the result of the way they're constantly degraded and manipulated by everyone around them, is still incredibly destructive and maladaptive and extremely fun to unleash by poking them with sticks until they snap about it. and even more fun when VAL is the one poking them, intentionally or unintentionally ^_^

[aventurineswife]

Not an AU I promise!

But think about the Astral Express having a reader who's world suffered from a Stellaron. The effects being a blighted rain (recently finished playing Ender Lilies) that killed and mutated people.

But the kicker here is that not everyone suffers this fate. There are those that can withstand the curse. And on this world where religion runs rampant you have the reader who underwent an initiation to become an Inquisitor and succeeded.

Queue the serious mental and physical trauma reader went through as they did their churches bidding whether that be slaying abominations of the Rain or hunting down "heretics".

You have March who does her best to make the reader smile, to be that little ball of warmth for the reader.

Dan Heng who teaches the reader some meditative techniques to calm their mind and relax their body.

Welt and Himeko willing to be just be a shoulder for the reader to lean on if they need it.

And of course the Trailblazer who's intent on making readers life so much better any way thry can.

(If Sunday is on the Express then maybe that'd make for some awkward conversations that shift to something more comforting, then confiding in one another about what they faced and went through)

Number one thing I'd want to focus on is how the curse extends readers life and has a healing factor. Not to the extent that Abundance offers, but what would be serious (not lethal or dismembering) wounds are trivial to them and their age is easily in the centuries.

I def want to do more of this but I'll break it into bits lol

The mix of tragedy, resilience, and slow healing (both literal and emotional) is compelling. The Astral Express is the perfect place for someone like the reader—a weary soul who has seen too much yet still endures.

The idea of the blighted rain is terrifying. A force of nature turned curse, reshaping bodies and minds alike. The fact that some, like the reader, can withstand it while others succumb must have shaped every part of their life—especially in a world ruled by religion. Becoming an Inquisitor would’ve been both a blessing and a sentence. They’d be revered and feared, pushed beyond human limits, and molded into something that barely feels like a person anymore.

Then they board the Express.

March would be the first to break past the reader’s defenses. She’d find their reactions—or lack thereof—heartbreaking. The way they barely acknowledge pain, how they hesitate at kindness as if waiting for a hidden cost. She’d make it her mission to make them smile, whether it’s dragging them into silly photos or shoving ice cream into their hands. At first, it probably wouldn’t work, but March isn’t the type to give up easily.

Dan Heng, calm and steady, would recognize the weight they carry. He wouldn’t pry, but he’d offer methods to ease the tension in their body, show them breathing techniques to ground themselves when memories claw at them. Maybe he’d even share a little of his own past, not in words but in the quiet understanding of someone who also knows what it means to be burdened by things they never asked for.

Welt and Himeko would be the silent comfort. They’ve seen enough to know that healing isn’t just about offering solutions. Sometimes, it’s about sitting in the quiet with someone who doesn’t know how to ask for help. A warm cup of coffee left beside them, a simple “you don’t have to carry everything alone” when they look particularly lost.

The Trailblazer? Oh, they’d refuse to let the reader believe that suffering is all they’re meant for. Whether it’s stubbornly including them in the crew’s antics, offering a hand without expectation, or outright telling them, “You deserve to live, not just survive.” The Trailblazer is proof that there’s a life beyond destruction, and they’d do anything to help the reader see it, too.

And Sunday… oh, that’s where things get interesting. Two people, shaped and scarred by forces beyond their control, trying to navigate the aftermath. Their conversations would start awkward, a dance of wariness and unspoken understanding, before turning into something real. Sunday, who hides his pain behind sharp wit and irreverence, recognizing the same shadows in the reader’s eyes. Maybe, in the quiet hours of the night, they’d talk. About what it’s like to lose yourself to something bigger than you. About the cost of faith, of duty, of choices they weren’t truly given. And maybe, just maybe, they’d help each other find something after it all.

And then there’s the curse itself—an extended life, an unnatural resilience. The reader might not even know what to do with that. Pain is familiar, but healing? Living beyond their purpose? That’s terrifying in a way they don’t know how to name. But on the Express, they’re not alone. And maybe, just maybe, they can start to believe that a life beyond suffering is possible.

[shinidamachu]

Do you think Kikyo should’ve been nicer to Kagome and thanked her for all those times she saved her? Some of the fandom even thinks she owed her Spiritual training as well, what do you think?

To me, the thing about Kagome and Kikyo's rivalry is that it felt very one sided. Obviously, they both had extremely valid reasons to hate each other's guts at first — reasons that go beyond Inuyasha —, but Kikyo was the only one actually acting on it.

And she kept doing it even after Kagome has proved, time and time again, that she can be trusted and that she is in no way deserving of Kikyo's hatred.

I think that was a great dynamic because Kagome and Kikyo parallel each other so well: while Kagome was strugling with her own feelings in order to understand Kikyo's and accept her as a part of Inuyasha's life...

...Kikyo was fighting to do the exact opposite and hold on to her grudge. You can tell it by the way she can recognize what Kagome's true intentions were but still belittle her for it and refuse to say anything nice to her face.

It's a extremely compelling "yin and yang" sort of thing that worked very well at the start. What happened was that, at a certain point, Kagome has done so much for Kikyo that any ressentment towards her just felt a little ridiculous.

And I'm not even saying Kikyo should've been nicer and thanked Kagome. I think it's perfectly okay for a female character to dislike another. They don't have to be friends just because they're women, especially when there's so much bad blood between them.

In fact, I don't think there's room for a canon friendship there without it feeling awkward and forced — even though Kagome was obviously trying. I also think Kikyo being nice and thanking Kagome would be out of character and honestly a little underwhelming.

After everything that happened, a simple "thank you" doesn't even begin to cover. And as much as Kagome deserved to hear it, she didn't do anything because she wanted to be the better person or for Kikyo to be in debt with her. She did it because she's a good person and therefore will always do the right thing.

In my opinion, it wasn't exactly to Kagome that Kikyo owed anything, but to the narrative, as a way to earn her so called redemption by being held accountable for her actions, which she never really was.

Rather than Kikyo being nicer to Kagome, I think it would've been much better for both characters if Kagome was allowed to tell Kikyo off every now and then without it being an illusion.

And rather than Kikyo thanking Kagome, it would've been way more natural and meaningful for her to die saving Kagome's or Inuyasha's life instead of Kohaku's. It would've shown more regret and gratitude than any words ever could. Everything would come full circle — since she tried to kill them both while they were only trying to save her — and her closure would feel actually earned.

As for the spiritual training thing, I see where people are coming from and in another universe I think it would've been totally cool for them to have a dynamic like Aang and Roku had in Avatar, but again: it doesn't really work in canon.

More importantly: it goes against a theme that was introduced very earlier in the show, which is Kagome being her own person, doing her own thing, aside from Kikyo.

We literally see her trying to channel Kikyo's powers and failing...

...Then just being herself and succeeding:

If anyone was obligated to train her, that's Kaede, but particularly I like the idea of Kagome being self taught and making the moves up as she goes even better. I think it adds a lot to her character, I just wished Takahashi had explored it properly.

Plus, let's be honest: Kagome was doing a fine job on her own. Kikyo was the one making her life a thousand times harder by coming up with those nonsensical plans. In the end of the day it wasn't Kagome who needed Kikyo to defeat Naraku, but rather Kikyo who needed Kagome.

That being said, if Kikyo were to be nicer and thank someone, I think that person should've been Inuyasha and I will die on this hill. He was risking everything he had because she guilt tripped him into thinking he owed it to her.

"You came for me, that is enough" was not a thank you nor an apology. I can understand her reluctance when it comes to Kagome, but I can't justify her treatment of Inuyasha. Not when she was supposed to love him.

[anghraine]

It's not really related to the other conversation I was having about it, but I was already thinking about "The Conscience of the King" again (as one does), and the particular significance of the Kirk-Riley plot.

When I was first watching it, I thought Riley was super doomed, and we'd end up with Kirk as the last survivor standing to up the stakes of his decision. So for me, Riley's survival was very unexpected and intriguing. Even now, I feel like Kirk and Riley both surviving, and how that survival is handled in the episode, are much more effective and compelling for the narrative than the expected story line. I think the handling of Riley's survival shifts the stakes and dangers around the finale in a way that is far more resonant for Kirk's characterization and for what "The Conscience of the King" is really about than killing off Riley would have ever been.

To begin with, Kirk initially has no idea that Kevin "I'll take you home again, Kathleen" Riley* is one of the other surviving eyewitnesses. This ignorance is actually quite believable to me, given that both Kirk and Riley were children at the time, with Riley the younger of the two. Even if Riley had happened to mention his last name while they were trying to avoid starving to death or getting murdered by their own government, it's not exactly hard to believe that thirteen-year-old newly-minted genocide survivor James Kirk had more on his mind than remembering the full names of eight other people. The episode does make it clear, at any rate, that Kirk doesn't remember most of the other eyewitnesses' names, and specifically, had no idea that his mostly-upstanding crewman Riley is one of the other kids from Tarsus IV.

(The only other survivor Kirk definitely knows is Dr. Tom Leighton; Kirk is good friends with Leighton and his wife Martha, but not close enough to know much about Leighton's professional life or reputation.)

It also seems like Kirk hasn't ever tried to find out who the other survivors were, or what became of them later, despite having easy means of doing so. Rather, he has preferred to accept the official account of Kodos's death and to distance himself from the past as much as possible.

For most of the years between the genocide and the five-year mission, it seems like he found more comfort in philosophies and books and starships than rooting himself in any specific place or persona. In fact, there's a lot of reason to think he pretty drastically overhauled his entire presentation of his personality at some point in his 20s, and throughout TOS, he adopts and sheds different personas with what seems like ease—there is a control and performativity about him coupled with deep philosophical convictions that makes a lot of sense for someone repeatedly subjected to unfathomably traumatic, depersonalizing atrocities. Regardless, Kirk wanted to believe Kodos really was dead, and nothing could be done, and the only way forward was repression putting it all behind him (while still able to remember Kodos's speech to those slated for death, word for word).

It's only when he has reason to ask the computer for a complete list of the surviving eyewitnesses that Kirk links Kevin from Tarsus IV to the Lieutenant Kevin Riley of his own crew. He promptly asks for confirmation that they're the same person and receives it, which changes everything.

At that point, Riley's physical safety becomes a significant and unique concern for Kirk, above and beyond his usual preoccupation with the welfare of his crew. He has Riley demoted and separated from his peers to protect him—without explaining his motives to anyone, including Riley himself. He doesn't even acknowledge to anyone else that he knows Riley is the other eyewitness.

Meanwhile, Kirk maneuvers his way into trapping the Karidian players on the Enterprise with no escape route, so he can pursue his investigation into the murders of the other eyewitnesses without any serious impediment. He has very good reason to believe one of the players is murdering the eyewitnesses, most likely Karidian himself, but Kirk wants to be very sure about identifying Karidian as Kodos before he pulls the jaws of his trap shut.

This is all very understandable, but we end up with a cold, scheming, almost detached Kirk who is privately struggling to navigate the complexity of the investigation, the weight of the accusation he may have to make (but with it, the opportunity for justice at last), and the danger surrounding the serial killing of the eyewitnesses. Trapping the Karidian players on the Enterprise—that is, trapping the murderer on the Enterprise—puts himself and his crew directly in harm's way, a choice he rarely ever makes outside of the mandates of the five-year mission.

In fact, one of Kirk's most absolutely consistent qualities throughout TOS is his intense concern for his crew and general prioritization of their welfare as far as the mission allows. But there are a few occasions when he's forced to react to some kind of monumental, horrific event that has directly touched his own life, and in those cases, he tends to get consumed in dealing with The Horror and acts in ways profoundly unlike his usual self.

This doesn't only happen in "The Conscience of the King," but it's most conspicuous there. Kirk admits that he doesn't even know if he's after justice or vengeance, and when he says of his conduct around the investigation, "I've done things I've never done before," we can easily believe it.

Throughout much of this investigation, Kirk doesn't really talk to McCoy, a good friend. Kirk is prickly and standoffish towards Spock (something he almost never is in TOS), and as mentioned above, he tries to protect Riley by demoting him back down into engineering to keep him out of physical danger. When Spock correctly points out that Riley is a good officer who will take this as a punishment, Kirk brusquely shuts him down, and it's not completely clear if this is deliberate misdirection or genuine if displaced anger. Maybe he's cutting himself off from the person closest to him rather than face the emotional stakes of the genocide and more recent murders, or maybe it's a still more calculated (and highly unusual) attempt to keep Spock at arm's length.

Neither motive is sustainable, though. Spock's interpretation is later justified by a brief scene focused on Riley. Another officer jokes over the intercom about what Riley did to fuck up, and Riley admits that he has no idea what he did wrong, but finds it lonely and depressing to be so alone. The other officer half-jokes that Riley's heart is sore, and Riley asks Uhura to sing over the intercom so he at least feels like he's "not the only living thing left in the universe." Hell of a sentence in this context.

So at this point, Kirk's fixation on purely concrete, physical threats has led him to functionally isolate both himself and Riley. The fact that he and Riley share such a horrific experience and are now the last direct eyewitnesses to it still alive, yet Kirk's approach to this whole thing leads to Riley feeling completely alone in the universe—probably not the first time Riley has felt that way! all things considered!—pretty clearly signals that there's something wrong with how Kirk is thinking about this and approaching it.

It's not wrong in the sense of being directly immoral. Kirk's desire to protect Riley is both righteous and sympathetic, and his fear that Riley is in danger is quickly justified. Kirk has every right to try and stop the murders of the eyewitnesses (even if he weren't one of them!), and he's definitely right to pursue the justice that they've been denied for 20 years. But that's not all that's happening. Kirk leans on his professional power to get away with this, he calls in past favors, he generally jeopardizes the entire career/reputation that defines his fundamental sense of himself as a person, as well as leaving Riley convinced that his own career is in jeopardy as well, all to get the moving parts of these schemes in order. And Kirk does all this without explaining anything to anyone, including the other person most concerned.

Like, his way of handling this is just profoundly unhealthy for both of them. There's a reason that Kirk vacillates between "I don't want to rashly accuse this man of atrocities against sentient life with my sterling reputation backing whatever I choose to say, unless I'm really super ultra sure" and "maybe just fucking murdering this monster on the spot will let the dead sleep at last."

He acts this way here for the same reason, I think, that his response to Tom Leighton identifying Karidian as Kodos and desperately reaching out to him ("Jim, four thousand people were butchered ... Jim, Jim, I need your help") is indignant denial and effectively running away, yet he also can't resist the impulse to pick up the investigation anyway.

Kirk promptly starts researching the major figures involved via the powerful computers on the Enterprise; he reverses his decision to turn his back on Leighton and beams back down to join Leighton's cocktail party, seizing his chance to observe the Karidian players; with Karidian himself out of sight, Kirk zeroes in on Karidian's nineteen-year-old daughter Lenore as the obvious weak link and begins one of his most purely cold-blooded flirtations in the show, quietly maneuvering and/or extracting information every time they interact—and he initiates all of this before Leighton is murdered. And we'll see that vacillation repeat at varying points throughout the episode. Again and again, Kirk will resist truly engaging with the enormity of the genocide's legacy for him and others, but at the same time, we find him so clearly unable to move on, constantly shifting between avoidant uncertainty and this calculating, inexorable pursuit of justice/vengeance.

He's not the only one stuck, either. From almost the earliest moments of the episode, we see that Tom Leighton has built a successful career and loving marriage over the last 20 years, yet after his murder, his widow confides in Kirk that Leighton never really found peace. The rest of the episode makes it evident that this is equally true of Kirk himself. He has been very successful in his profession, like Leighton. He has built close relationships, most importantly with Spock, who has an intimate enough understanding of him to recognize the signs of danger and figure him out, like Martha. And like Leighton, Kirk has never found peace (something confirmed again as late as S3). And I would argue that in the end, it seems that Riley, too, has never really found peace.

Speaking of Spock! As all of this is unwinding, we repeatedly cut to Spock picking up on Kirk's dodgy behavior and investigating him. McCoy is reluctant to connect Kirk's ostensible interest in Lenore Karidian to the unexplained demotion of Riley or to whatever happened with Leighton—he really wants "Lenore is hot" to be the only explanation. But to Spock, all these disparate oddities are plainly related, and it frustrates him that McCoy refuses to see that or ally with him in breaking through to Kirk somehow.

Spock also correctly guesses that Kirk's pursuit of Lenore is actually about her father, even before discovering the genocide. When he searches for some underlying connection between Kirk's odd behaviors, he looks for common history between Riley, Kirk, Leighton, and Anton Karidian. At any rate, to Spock's analytical mind, the demotion of Riley is obviously part of the puzzle and obviously important. Of course, the Venn diagram of red flags that only Spock sees leads him to discover the actual common history no one is talking about.

It's this silence and isolation that ultimately makes Riley vulnerable to Lenore's murder attempt. The fact that he was lonely, and kept the intercom on to listen to Uhura sing and talk to his friends, is the only reason he survived Lenore poisoning him. He was able to call for help in time because he'd already reached out to other people. And it's in the wake of Riley's near-death that Spock is finally able to browbeat McCoy into (sort of) backing him in getting through to Kirk, their mutual friend, even if they relate to him in different ways. Spock's sharp question to Kirk just cuts through all the silence and scheming and bluster:

Why do you invite death?

This forces Kirk into an honest conversation about his plans and motives and what's going on with him. He's actually ambivalent until McCoy suggests letting it go, even if Karidian is Kodos—an option Kirk and Spock both sharply reject throughout the episode, but especially here:

MCCOY: What if you decide he is Kodos? What then? Do you play God, carry his head through the corridors in triumph? That won't bring back the dead, Jim. KIRK: No, but they may rest easier.

Apart from McCoy's struggle, the main implication here is that Kirk is considering not just a formal accusation against Karidian vs holding back due to insufficient evidence, but the third possibility of just straight-up murdering him. This would destroy Kirk's life as he knows it, of course, but he's at least considering that it may be the only way to make things right.

That choice wouldn't make him another Kodos by any stretch of the imagination, but it would reduce his existence to something entirely shaped by Kodos, by the genocide, by the genocide-apologia murders—by people who repeatedly suggest he's subhuman. Kirk has spent two decades crafting a life and personhood that isn't defined by what was done to him and Riley and Leighton and thousands of others, and he's on the edge of torching it all.

I think this is the real fundamental tension of "The Conscience of the King." The whodunnit of "Karidian is Kodos, but the murderer is Lenore" is far less central and compelling than what psychological path Kirk is going to take. He might choose pathological caution, demanding an impossible level of certainty that will let him avoid making the call and keep running; he might choose justice, making the accusation that all evidence in front of him as well as his own memory tells him is true, putting himself through reliving it as the older surviving eyewitness, but also living to see Kodos held accountable; he might choose vengeance, murdering a now-unarmed, elderly war criminal on the spot even if it means losing everything else that matters to him.

He's still hovering between those options as McCoy leaves the dispute. Spock, however, stubbornly stays with Kirk and keeps pushing. Because of that, Spock hears the hidden overloaded phaser that would have taken out the whole deck. That's what gives them enough time to evacuate the deck and safely dispose of the phaser. If Spock had noped out and gone back to the bridge or science labs, Kirk would have died. But Spock cares too much about Kirk and understands him too well to do that. Kirk survives because of his relationship with Spock.

It's the nearly-realized threat to Kirk's crew combined with the murder attempt against Riley that angers Kirk enough to abandon his schemes and just confront Karidian directly. The implication that Kirk is considering murder becomes explicit:

KARIDIAN: Blood thins. The body fails. One is finally grateful for a failing memory. I no longer treasure life, not even my own. I am tired! And the past is a blank. Did you get everything you wanted, Captain Kirk? KIRK: If I had gotten everything I wanted, you might not walk out of this room alive.

While all this is going down in Karidian's quarters, Riley has recovered in Sickbay from the poisoning. He happens to overhear McCoy's medical log mention that the motive for poisoning may be the possibility that Karidian is Kodos.

Riley, younger and more straightforward and impetuous, isn't afflicted by Kirk's indecision. He slips out, steals a phaser, and sneaks backstage to the Karidian players' performance, hearing enough of Karidian's speech to recognize him as Kodos and try to avenge his family. But as soon as Kirk receives reports about Riley's disappearance and the theft of the phaser, he knows what Riley has set out to do—the very thing he's been considering.

He orders Riley found and restrained, but seems to know this won't succeed, and rushes to the theatre himself. At this point, the stakes of the Kirk-Riley drama crystallize. Kirk's fixation on Riley's physical safety has always been short-sighted. The deliberate isolation of either himself or Riley has been a mistake from the beginning. The greatest danger to both Kirk and Riley has always been that either of them might self-destruct and assassinate Kodos, closing off the possibility of moving past him and what he did to them. Their lives would never be free of him.

Erin Horáková's famous "Kirk Drift" essay argues that the person most wholly defined by Kodos and the genocide at Tarsus IV is ultimately Lenore Karidian. Obviously, Kirk and Riley are in no danger of becoming the next generation of space Nazi genocide apologists. But they are in danger of their fundamental, autonomous, full personhoods—personhoods explicitly placed into doubt by both Kodos and Lenore—becoming reduced to monuments to Kodos, as Lenore's is. And I think that's a very fair reading.

The solution isn't for Kirk or Riley to kill him, nor for either to detach himself from the full horror of what happened. It's for Kirk to save Riley by personally finding and stopping him from reducing his life that way. I'm not sure anyone else alive could have gotten Riley to back down, nor that Kirk could have if they weren't finally in the same physical space. And I think the point at which Kirk stops Riley is the point at which we feel certain that Kirk isn't going to go down that path, either. It was for me, anyway!

I think it's also significant that the backstage conversation between Kirk and Riley is what triggers Kodos's attempt to confess to Lenore and express any kind of remorse for what he did. Like so many other like him, he thought he could unleash atrocities in his official capacity and then switch it off and have a normal family life, with an impermeable wall erected between the atrocities and his supposedly pure and innocent loved ones. But that was never going to happen, and Kodos is forced to face the reality that everything he touched was going to be tainted. Taking the shot intended for Kirk isn't redemptive; it's his only way out.

And that ultimate confrontation only happens because Kirk finally understood that protecting Riley meant more than keeping him alive.

-----------------

*Yes, I know this role was not originally written for that Riley. Irrelevant to the end result!

[justvora]

An appreciation post to Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain body reading skills and why they should be the top tier in martial arts

Hello there :)

I recently saw a post that talked about Cassandra and Lady Shiva's analytical reading skills should not be a compelling reason to say they are the best martial artists as there are such things as feints, grappling and other 'techniques' as such….. So I do this not just as an answer anymore, but to explain why, in theory, this skill that both of them have is much more than it seems (and what actually ends up being represented in American comics).

Let's start with what I just mentioned: Within American comics generally hand-to-hand and martial arts fights are usually represented poorly when it comes to talking technical and realistic, but in terms of spectacle they are usually a delight, so this is mainly one of the reasons why this skill that mother and daughter share is not usually delved into, and neither do they go into the terms of grappling and so on.

Next up: Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva are not only the best martial artists in their universe for that skill, but for their position, potential and narrative.

Cass general fighting performance

When talking about Cassandra Wayne (Cain) we have to take into account that she is still young, so she has a lot of potential for improvement to evolve... And yet, since she was born, she has received specialized training to become a great professional assassin (within the Post-Crisis continuity, she was trained by the entire league of assassins, including among her many trainers the Bronze Tiger; however, in the New52/Rebirth continuity she did not go to the depth of all this). The fact that she was raised and trained to kill means that she does not perform so well in non-lethal combat, since she is omitting and restricting an arsenal and naturalized instinct to fight against her own impulses, notoriously limiting herself - and this is something that has already been commented on several occasions.

Why Cass and Shiva are at the "top" of the martial arts tier list due to their narrative / and the powerscaling stuff from martial arts in comic books.

In this section I will not only talk about why I think that mother and daughter are at the top of the best martial artists, but also about how stupid it usually seems to me to do martial arts power scaling with characters that are very evenly matched.

To start I would like to attach the following screenshot from "LetsTalkLadyShiva's" "CuriousAsk", which I consider, in my opinion, deals with many quite relevant and interesting points about why these characters are above average beyond their own feats (although later there will be characters like Karate Kid whose martial arts are a power in themselves that take him to a level of literally cosmic surrealism).

Now, moving on to the topic of martial arts powerscaling… It makes no sense. It makes no sense because it's not something that can be quantified, and because many comic book characters present a dissonance between the hype, the statements, and their own feats. I think it's not a new complaint to say that many of us are fed up with reading "And he's versatile in all existing martial arts," when it's nonsense without logic due to the nature of these things.

The most that can be quantified in a general way around skill is usually: The number of martial arts that a character knows, and the level of skill around said martial arts - Their years of experience, which is what allows them to develop Battle IQ - And the win rate.

Beyond that, many characters exist for and by the hype, and by their own position within a universe. Lady Shiva was introduced in The Question comics as an alien force of nature, one who broke away from the material world to prove to Sage that he was just a fish in the big pond of his world. There she has narrative power, one as one of the most skilled characters by being a technically insurmountable barrier for combatants. And that's what matters: Not her feats, but who she is.

And... Cassandra? She is The One who is All.

Another thing I consider necessary for martial arts power scaling is the fact that many people try to do the typical:

"[x] character beat [y], who is extremely powerful and skilled And [z] beat [x], so he is even more skilled…etc"

All hand-to-hand combats that can occur are unique, and in many cases there are completely circumstantial situations that define the winner. These circumstances, such as the way and objective that someone seeks, the desire to fight, or how the fight began are defining, and may not mean that someone is, really, more skilled or a better martial artist than another.

In addition, there is a thing called "compatibility", where "A" can beat "B", and "B" can beat "C", and "C" will beat "A". And what is this due to? To the compatibility between styles, where striking can beat judo grappling, and judo can also beat a grappler specialized in BJJ who is capable of beating a boxer, but this will not happen vice versa.

Now… Let's finally get to the interesting part of all this…

The true potential of Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva's analytical body reading ability.

In this case, and now, I will focus on talking mainly about Cass.

Cassandra was born and raised not to understand verbal language, but body language. In this way she would understand every micro-gesture produced by the human body to interpret it instinctively and naturally in order to understand people… And to predict what they are going to do.

There are several panels that explain this in depth, in short Cassandra reads body language, which is what we often do unconsciously, without realizing it, and this is something I have to highlight because it seems that there are people, both in-universe and IRL, who do not fully understand how this works and confuse it with telepathy.

Nightwing and Jason Todd, on one occasion, have believed that by acting erratically, and without knowing what they are going to do, they could surprise Cassandra, but this does not work like that. As much as they try not to rationalize their movements and keep their minds blank, Cassandra is not reading their thoughts, but the gestures that their bodies make, indirectly and involuntarily. These are micro-gestures, expressions and so on that even reveal some things that people do not know they do or feel.

Another thing I'd like to point out (as a rejoinder to everyone using her fight against Jason as an anti-feat) is that Cassandra wasn't fighting Red Hood - She was communicating through combat. She didn't want to defeat him, but rather explain a situation to him… While he was fighting bloodlusted —this is also a perfect example of how circumstances really matter in a fight—.

To give an example of what I was talking before: "Through telepathy you can read a mind, but when it is blank, nothing can be done. However, with body reading, you can read what the body, unconsciously, will reveal."

Secondly… This ability of Cass is based on an existing concept of martial arts known as "sensen no sen" (which I will call pre-initiative as it is practically the same thing to simplify it). What does it consist of?

Sen sen no sen (先々の戦, before the attack), or sensen no sente (戦線の先手, anticipate the movement), is a concept and a technique of the martial arts of Japan that consists of adopting a preventive behavior towards the opponent and, at the slightest trace of aggressive attitude, a defense technique is performed. That, however, does not simply mean that it is enough to act before the opponent or that you will act at any moment, but it means that you must be aware of the opponent's posture and, only when the blow is made, do you intercept his movement to obstruct his force.

Cody, Mark Edward. Wado Ryu Karate/Jujutsu (en inglés). Bloomington: AuthorHouse. p. 82.

In short: It consists of anticipating and obstructing an attack before it happens. Do you know that they are going to attack you with a straight attack to the face? Well, before it happens, you have already carried out your counterattack perfectly - It is done before, at the right moment, and not when the other movement is already being carried out, all to produce an overtaking effect with which the opponent can be cornered.

Within the Kengan Ashura and Kengan Omega manga, this is one of the skills that only true masters can use… And Cassandra Cain possesses it in a naturalized and instinctive way. So with this she can anticipate any feint that she can predict by reading her opponents and understanding what their intentions are. Is someone going to try to counterattack a punch of hers to throw it with a judo-throw? Well, she will predict it by anticipating and counterattacking in the most optimal way not only to surprise the opponent, but to punish him.

And this goes for grappling as much as anything else.

Again I refer to the nature of comics… This ability is so powerful in H2H, but it's often poorly represented, so characters like Cass or Shiva are never really given the credit to recognize the level of something like this.

[newlondohollow]

I FUCKING HATE RINGS OF POWER

On fuckass adaptations (i like the castlevania anime) (heavy ranting below)

This is ASTRONOMICALLY random as it’s barely about Castlevania and more about something i normally don’t post about but I’ve been keeping this topic inside me for far far too long. 

I fucking despise, as much as i am humanly capable to bear pure hatred, Rings of Power. I always see people complaining about the “Netflixvania” adaptations being terrible, and I do agree that they’re not accurate to the games, but heavens gracious those people have NOT seen what an actual bad adaptation is like. Sure, Castlevania got an inaccurate adaptation, but at least the adaptation, considered as its own piece of media, is decent. good even. Not the greatest thing ever written or that I've ever seen but it was, objectively, well written and animated.

Unlike that jackass shit filled abhorrent abominacion by goddamn Amazon DestroyingArtPrime that is Rings of Power. I don’t mean to hate on people who enjoy it, not at all, but to those who do, I am begging you please raise your standards, honey you deserve better than that. So. So. SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER MAN.

Every single thing about that series pisses me off in ways I wasn't even aware I could be pissed off until my parents forced me to watch it with them because “well it’s lord of the rings!!”. I did enjoy spending time with them (though i was literally, physically coerced to do so) but i so fucking wish we had spent it watching something better cuz the whole experience was beyond frustrating. The fact that it no joke is the most expensive series ever made? Are we being for real?? One. Goddamn. Million. of dollars went into creating that fucking insult to not only Tolkien’s poor dead ass, but to cinema and the art of moviemaking itself. Every single scene is so obviously, clearly edited and oversaturated with after effects and I could count on one hand the scenes that were recorded without a greenscreen. The costumes seriously look like Halloween and Carnival props a single mom on a budget would buy to her kids and I’m not even exaggerating I so very mean it it’s true just LOOK AT THEM VRO SOME OF THEM HAVE PRINTS ON THEM PRINTSSSSSS THEYRE SO OBVIOUS AND THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE HEAVILY INSPIRED BY MEDIEVAL CLOTHING DAWG I CAN'T DO THIIIIIIIIIIS. Do you think it ends there? NO IT FUCKING DOESNT IT GETS SO MUCH WORSE. If the visual aspects of it were the only thing bad about it i wouldn't be here dumping a textwall but good god merciful above the writing is genuinely enraging. Like its not just personal pet peeves or small stuff level of frustrating, no it’s ENRAGING. Every character is both incredibly arrogant and rude and fucking stupid, yes even the good guys, EXPECIALLY the good guys, actually. The plot is as compelling as one of Jeff Bezos’ shit stained ass hairs and the dialogue is so dogshit and senseless i dont even know how delusional and self centered you have to be to sit down, write that, hear it being acted out and think “ah yes this is a great script”, that goes for the making of the whole series as well.

I won't sit here and explain why exactly it all sucks as i said cuz there’s plenty of youtube videos that do so (sadly some of them are fucking filled with bigotry i want to shoot myself) and i will instead move on to what pisses me of the most.

Some lunatics are actually, seriously saying that RoP has the same vibes as Peter Jackson’s movies.

Yes the same movies that are considered a cinematic masterpiece and classic, the same movies that won awards over awards over awards, the same movies that inspired every single fantasy movie that came after them. I’m well aware they aren’t accurate to the books either, but again, like Castlevania’s first anime, they are GOOD. They are great in fact, and no one can say otherwise without being objectively wrong. That trilogy’s vibes will never ever be reached or equated again, for the very simple reason that art and passion are fucking withering away in today’s world. The costumes for that set of movies were hand manufactured and weathered by the actors themselves CLIMBING UP MOUNTAINS. The weapons used were REAL. REAL, METAL FORGED WEAPONS. VIGGO MORTENSEN ALMOST GOT AN ACTUAL DAGGER THROUGH HIS FACE BECAUSE THE ORC’S ACTOR MISSED. AND YES HE DID BREAK HIS TOE BECAUSE THE HELM HE KICKED WAS REAL, EVERYTHING THAT COULD BE REAL IN THOSE MOVIES WAS. BOOKS, MAPS, EVERYTHING. ALMOST EVERY SCENE OF LANDSCAPES WAS SHOT IN NEW ZEALAND, A REAL PLACE. 

Tolkien hated the idea of someone adapting his works, yet i am certain that if he would have seen the Peter Jackson movies, knowing that they were made out of sincere passion and love for his works and as a tribute to it and him, he would have appreciated them. He certainly is rolling in his grave because of RoP though. It’s not just bad, it's soulless. Completely hollow. Filled to the brim with sfx and fake props, even the musical score composed by the same composer who made the Lotr trilogy’s score just sounds plain, not because it’s bad but because it so clearly belongs to something better than that. RoP wasn’t made out of passion for Lotr it was made for mere profit. One of the directors fucking made fun of a Silmarillion fan who simply asked a question about the goddamn Fëanorian crest, in public, for everyone to see. Those people aren’t Tolkien fans, they're soulless evil corporate pigs, they’re everything Tolkien, and I personally, despised and despise. 

It genuinely makes me so sad that, as badly recieved as it was, many series and movies AND HELL EVEN BOOKS AND GAMES are eerily like RoP these days, the death of art we’re witnessing is soul crushing and concerning.

[musicalmoritz]

I would ask more but I forgot the numbers so uhm?? Every other number I haven’t asked but for TBHK??

Hehe ask and you shall receive😈🔥

the character everyone gets wrong

There are so many…Teru is a big one, most fans fail to see that everything he does is self-sacrificial and he is far from pure evil. No, Akane is not a sexual assaulter/harasser, and he has a personality outside of Aoi. No, Nene is not flawless nor a pick-me but she’s not intentionally awful either. Hanako is meant to be sympathetic, he’s not just a killer or a “yandere.” Aoi is more than her ships, that goes for both Aoinene and Terukaneaoi. Hakubo is NOT a groomer and yes he has emotions. Mitsuba is one of the kindest, most empathetic characters in the series. Kou is increasingly becoming more selfish and has quite a few faults. Sumire is her own character beyond all the characters people compare her to. Tsukasa has many selfless qualities and is not just an abusive murderer. Sakura is more emotional than people give them credit for. Natsuhiko is not purely silly but he’s not totally heartless either. Mei and Shijima are not the exact same, and they both have personality traits outside of yuri shipping. I could go on forever tbh

compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

*picks up sand and lets it fall between my fingers* I haven’t touched top/bottom discourse in so long…how have I lost the freak part of my brand…I’m the same person who wrote a fic for every day of Bottom Dazai Week. There aren’t many characters to pick from for this one since tbhk is set at a high school. I think I’m gonna go with Yako, I cannot see her topping because, well, look at her. That is a bratty bottom if I’ve ever seen one

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Already answered

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

Already answered

worst discord server and why

I’m not in any discord servers

which ship fans are the most annoying?

Already answered

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Already answered

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Hmmmmm…I think I’m gonna bring up the Kou mischaracterization again, so many fans will die on the hill that he’s never done anything wrong in his life and I hate it. He canonically wants Mitsuba to depend on him to the point of being useless, and we’ve also seen him hold Mitsuba down and attempt to force-feed him. I’ll also say I don’t like the way the fandom handles the Sousuke vs. Mitsuba thing, they either view them as entirely the same or entirely separate when neither are true. They share a soul, but are different people

worst part of canon

I know I should say the twincest bait but I have a personal hatred for the scene where Hanako possesses Nene. Obviously the twincest thing is bad too but at least that has some plausible deniability yk. And they kinda stopped doing it at some point. Whereas Hanako SAing Aoi and Nene at the same time is an undeniable thing that happened on screen and was never addressed again. The fact that Kou didn’t help bcuz he found it hot also made me cringe. Idk I just wish the scene hadn’t been included, it was very odd. Felt like an excuse to throw in some lesbian fan service without committing to having lesbian characters

worst part of fanon

Already answered this

number of fandom-related words you've filtered

A total of 29 for all fandoms combined…I don’t have many squicks but the ones I do have are intense. It’s pretty much all just ships I don’t want to see. I have some ship tags that I unfiltered because I ended up liking them (TsuMitsu, Tsunene). But my current count is 29

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

FUCKING HAKUBO I love him to death. Tsukasa too but the Hakubo hate makes me extra irritated because it’s very obviously racially motivated that fans are unwilling to see him as an actual character and instead just shove villainized traits onto him in order to justify their hate. It’s as though nobody read his arc, or more like people did in fact read it but nobody even attempted to understand it because they subconsciously didn’t want to care about a black character. While he isn’t the only character to be called abusive, it has very different undertones with him due to the stereotype about black men being violent. Yes he does act violently in certain scenes but fans overlook why he does that, and the fact that he has very strict morals with him refusing to kill children.

There are many things to like about Hakubo, he’s one of the most well-written characters in the manga. First of all, his character design is very badass; I’m not into dudes but imo he should be the designated Adult Male Character To Simp For instead of Tsuchigomori (Teacher Amane is also valid). He’s got a sense of humor that fans don’t seem to pick up on, it’s cute to me how often he teases Sumire. His entire arc is marked with tragedy, the kinda angst fans usually eat up. He spent his entire life thinking he didn’t have feelings, and he didn’t realize he did until he was forced to kill the person who made him feel the strongest. I mean c’mon!! That is top tier angst. Arguably the saddest part of the manga. And the scene where he kills Sumire’s village to avenge her???? Easily one of my favorite scenes, it was so metal. He’s also got blorbo potential because despite being a literal god of death, he is ultimately Just Some Guy. Half the time just kinda stares at people. And also the dehumanization he went through at the hands of the Minamoto clan is my prime reason for hating them (aside from the main siblings and their mom). His story is so upsetting like this man has never had an easy life. And I just want to hug him. Guys please stan Hakubo he deserves all the love in the world

worst blorboficiation

I do not know what this means- ohhhhh wait it just clicked for me. Teru. So many fans dumb down his character due to him being “silly.” And don’t get me wrong, that is absolutely a side of his personality. He is very goofy and likes to tease people and canonically has an atrocious fashion sense. But some fans reduce him to those more comedic traits and ignore his flaws and trauma, and subsequently every other side of his personality. He is sadistic and charming and highly intelligent despite not being educated on domestic tasks. He may not be able to survive in like a regular house on his own but if the gang got stranded on an island together, he would be their leader. Multiple things can be true at once yk

that one thing you see in fics all the time

So not to come for my own gang but I’m a little burnt out on one-sided Aoinene, especially when Nene is fawning over some man instead. I know it’s more accurate to canon but since when do gay shippers care about canon??? We’re supposed to be the creative ones. I still enjoy those fics because people work hard on them but unrequited love is like my least favorite trope ever. Besides, we see one-sided Aoinene all the time. At this point, the trope is overdone. Let’s start focusing more on Nene’s side of things, I want to see her get flustered over her girlfriend. I also think it’s funny that Nene gets written as straight so often considering the fact that she canonically blushed at Sakura and called her a babe. Not to mention the queer undertones of her friendships with Mei and Aoi. She is more likely to be queer than Aoi so I find it weird that so many Aoinene shippers ignore that potential side of her character. Let Nene be the simp for once

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

I can’t talk too much shit here bcuz unlike with fanfics I am contributing nothing in this area. But I personally don’t rly like it when people draw fem!Kou as super feminine. That is my butch daughter

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

One-sided Terukane. Just like with Aoinene idc if it’s more accurate to canon, I just can’t get behind it. Akane’s dilemma over falling for someone who isn’t Aoi is such an interesting concept, even if he eventually picks Aoi I’d like to see it explored more in Terukane angst. But ultimately I prefer fanon Terukane over canon Terukane anyways. I want them to be healthily married husbands

there should be more of this type of fic/art

Horror fics and any type of dark romance. They’re only rly common in this fandom among incest pairings which I don’t especially want to read about. And even then it’s all SA which isn’t very creative in terms of horror. C’mon guys, this is tbhk, we need to make our fanfics more fucked up. But like fucked up in a good way. I’ve read a couple reallyyyyyy good fucky Aoinene fics that utilize Aoi’s temporary canon death, usually involving her haunting Nene or Nene hallucinating her, and I would love to see more of that with them. Also more Mitsukou kidnapping and/or cannibalism fics please. More toxic yuri fics please. I am so tired of having to write all of it myself😣

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

Aoimei!! We have semi-canon sapphics in this series and nobody gaf. Tbh Sakunene too bcuz they’re super gay. Usually fandoms go crazy over gay shit so whyyyyy aren’t we talking more about the lesbians??? Shippers in this fandom will bend over backwards to explain how Terukane and HanaKou are queercoded but when it comes to Mei and Aoi going out or Nene calling Sakura a babe, it’s near radio silence. Even the yuri shippers don’t talk about yuri that much. Do better/lh

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

Tsumitsukou…I know they’re toxic as hell but I think Mitsuba deserves two insane boyfriends, I think he would love that. Wait hold on, idk why I felt the need to give a disclaimer. Forgot who I was replying to for a sec LMAO

part of canon you found tedious or boring

There’s actually not much I dislike about this manga. I used to get tired of the Misaki Stairs arc bcuz I reread/rewatched it so many times but it ended up growing on me. I don’t think there’s any arc or plot point that’s bored me

part of canon you think is overhyped

…Can I say the Yugi twins lore?? Is that allowed?? I love love love the ppl in this fandom who analyze it because they are so smart but I’m personally not as invested in it as the rest of the story. Again, I don’t necessarily find it boring, but there are other characters I want to know about more (Sakura and Natsuhiko)

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

The way everything connects back to the Minamoto lore!! Nagisa being related to Misaki and Kunishige, then the Yugi mom going to that same shrine for help, Nene and Aoi both being kannagi, Hakubo and Sumire and Katakuri’s stories. It’s so cool to me how closely woven together the plot is

ship you've unwillingly come around to

TeruAoi. I was such a massive hater at first because they gave big “that is a gay man and a lesbian” energy but then I realized that two things can be true at once bcuz within fanon exists multiple AUs and outcomes. Yes sometimes that is a gay man and a lesbian, but sometimes that is a happy bisexual couple. Sometimes that’s a happy lesbian couple. So many options. I also love their dynamic in canon, I choose to read their little love triangle with Akane as a polyamorous relationship and no one can stop me. I also love Aoi to death and think she deserves all the love

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

This is another one where twincest is the obvious answer but I have some additional ones as well. Any themes of sex in the manga. While it is valid to criticize the sexualization of teenaged characters, some fans take it to the extreme of denying or shunning any sexual themes at all, which happen mainly with the adult characters (aka Hakubo and Sumire). And also the discourse surrounding Mitsuba’s sexuality and the canon status of Mitsukou, which shouldn’t even exist. Mitsuba is gay, Mitsukou is canon. End it discussion

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Already answered this

Thank you for this ask, I really enjoyed getting to give my hot takes without holding back!! If you disagree with any of these please do not be offended, these are all just my opinions. And ofc if anyone wants to see me do this with another fandom, just say the word <3

[peace-hunter]

You’re so right about the Autobot and Decepticon roles in One tbh. I don’t have the guts to invite that argument but you are not alone.

Honestly I’ve always found the original Decepticon “might makes right” philosophy to be a super compelling villain motivation, I’ve never understood why people like the Aligned stuff so much better?

oh god i don't want to start an argument either that's one of my least favorite things in the world but i needed to get it out my chest. i'm glad i'm not alone in this opinion tho!

and also same! i love "might makes right" as a villain motivation by itself and in this particular continuity you even get a very compelling reason for why megatron decides to take that philosophy for himself!! you can't even complain they made him evil for no reason, because the entire movie is the reason! you can follow his logic into falling in with the decepticons pretty well all things considered!

personally i think people like the decepticons and they like having a reason for liking them beyond just "they're cool". so if you give them a continuity where the decepticons are the underdogs fighting an unjust system (something audiences are primed to respond well to) people will latch onto it.

i think it's also part of the "villains are cooler than the heroes" and "the villains were the good guys all along" trend that's been going around for a while now. people like edgy things and what's edgier than a cool bad guy having a good reason to do all of that.

i've seen some people (correctly if i may say!) that it adds a lot of nuance to the franchise and the civil war beyond just "good guys vs bad guys". and it does! making both of your sides shades of gray instead of black and white is pretty compelling and i can see why people are attracted to it!

if anything i'm just. frustrated at the fact that it's just treated as a common fact that the autobots were part of or the oppressing faction and always have and always should be when that's a relatively new addition to the lore. i think TFA and Aligned may have had a hand on that too OTL

personally if i were to write an origin story for the civil war i would make orion and dee leaders of a single faction that eventually splits up into autobots and decepticons when their methods diverge too far from each other to be a single group. make them fight for the same thing at the start and slowly have dee lose his way and stumble into his "might makes right" philosophy through the conflict until he becomes megatron.

which. is pretty much what happened in TF:One, but also there's just so much that can fit into an hour and a half kids movie! the fact they made Dee very sympathetic, the Decepticons initially heroic and fit in a pretty good commentary on how young men can be radicalized by both their own personal struggles and outside influences is already pretty fantastic imo

also to people who say the movie fails at setting up the civil war may i recommend watching Overly Sarcastic Productions' Detail Diatribe: How To Start An Eternal War? it really encapsulates how well done the conflict in this movie was <33

but again to each their own ajshdska

[flower-boi16]

The Problems With Charlie As The Main Protagonist

I've spoken about my thoughts on Charlie as a character before a few times on this blog, but I think it's finally time to discuss why Charlie isn't exactly the best protagonist. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with her, she's likable and endearing enough and she's easy to root for. But...once you look deeper, the problems begin to rear their ugly head.

1. Charlie Never Grows

The first major issue with Charlie as a character is how she never really grows over the course of the first season. The show never really gives her much of an arc...? Like, by the end of the season, what does Charlie really learn by the end? The only thing I can think of is that she was right about sinners being redeemed and...that's it.

And it doesn't really make Charlie that particularly compelling as a character, she's entirely stagnant. She does have a conflict with her father, which, while executed fine, isn't enough to make her a developed character. She only gets small tinges of development and that isn't really enough for me.

Charlie doesn't learn anything or grow as a character, which makes her pretty underdeveloped as a character. The show never really gives her any real character flaws to grow from and become a better person, she's always portrayed as in the right anyway and never challenged once. Speaking of that...

2. Charlie is Always Right

This more or less ties back into the "Charlie never grows" point I've said before and I've talked about this several times before, but it's still an issue with Charlie's character; she is ALWAYS in the right. Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is never once challenged by the narrative, and anybody who does oppose Charlie in any way is considered as wrong by the narrative.

The reason why this is a problem is because Hazbin Hotel heavily preaches about being against black-and-white moralities, as seen with Heaven and especially Adam. Heaven is meant to be seen as bad because of its black-and-white mindset of "Sinners can't be redeemed and never will". This is put on full display with Adam, and his song Hell is Forever, to the point it literally includes lyrics like "the rules are black and white there's no use in trying to fight it".

You Didn't Know further pushes this with this line "the rules are shades of gray when you don't do as you say and you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again".

So the show wants to push a message of "black and white morals are bad", but...it's rendered moot by the fact that Charlie is purely portrayed as in the right. Charlie is completely correct, everybody can be redeemed, everyone even the most evil people who did the worst possible things can still be good, and anyone who opposes her is wrong cuz she's completely in the right...gee, for a show so heavily against black-and-white moralities...doesn't this all seem very black and white in it of itself?

Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is just as black and white as Adam's "nobody can be redeemed", they are both extremes leaning in opposite directions, that are also both wrong in their own ways, yet the show portrays Charlie's extreme as the right one and Adam's as the wrong one.

I've already talked about this before but Adam is a pure straw character; he only exists so Charlie can prove him wrong, he cant have any real character depth beyond being a generic asshole or have a real point because the show is so dead-set on making Charlie purely in the right no matter what; the narrative never challenges her and anyone who opposes her is portrayed as automatically in the wrong.

This is not the only time this happens btw. In episode 5, Lucifer is also portrayed as automatically wrong for opposing his daughter’s goals. He himself says that “Our people are AWFUL. They got gifted free will and look what they did with it!”, and the show…never counters this, despite what Lucifer is saying…being true. The people in Hell ARE awful and it's their own fault, many of them ARE deserving of death because…well, their shitty people.

Charlie is never challenged once throughout the show and its a problem because not only does it fly in the face of the show being so anti black and white, it also wastes an opportunity for the show to develop Charlie as a character; with her learning that some people can't be redeemed because they either are incapable or uninterested in changing.

That would fit more with the show’s anti-black-and-white themes and also have Charlie go through real growth as a character as she learns that not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. But sadly, we can't really have that.

So Charlie's ideals are never challenged by the narrative and thus it not only flies in the face of the show's themes it also wastes an opportunity for Charlie to grow as a character. Now it's best to get into the next issue with her...

3. Charlie is Barely Focused On

Another big issue with Charlie as the show's main protagonist is that the show doesn't really focus on her that much, especially the first half. Now, shows don't need to focus on the main protagonist at all times, obviously giving some screen time to other characters is definitely something shows should do.

But the problem is that Charlie gets very LITTLE focus in the series despite being the main protagonist, and this contributes to the problem of her being underdeveloped. The first half of the show is especially bad at this; episode 1 Is the only episode in the first half that focuses on Charlie, but even then it's overtaken by the B-plot involving the other characters trying to film a commercial.

Episodes 2&3 are entirely dedicated to what characters like Alastor or Angel Dust are doing and episode 4 is completely focused on Angel and his arc. It contributes to the issue of the show not being able to develop Charlie that much as a character because she's constantly being overshadowed by other characters. The second half is better in this regard for focusing more on Charlie but still, for the first half of the show, it feels like Charlie is overshadowed by other characters which is embarrassing because, well, she's the main character, yet she feels like she's barely gotten any actual spotlight.

4. Conclusion

I want to love Charlie as a character. I really do. I mean, she's a part of one of my favorite character archetypes. I always LOVE over joyful optimistic characters because I just find them a joy to watch on screen, but sadly, Charlie doesn't have much depth beyond that archetype. She isn't that developed making her fail to be much of a compelling protagonist, her ideology is never challenged by the narrative wasting an opportunity for her to grow and contradicting the show's themes, and she's heavily overshadowed by other characters despite being the main protagonist.

So ya, that's why Charlie isn't that great of a protagonist...bye.

[hollow-lime-green]

What are your thoughts on/the reasoning behind sub Satoru in FIYM?

aye aye captain i shall yap about this

obligatory: this a subjective interpretation, these are character choices i am making because i think they are compelling and explore themes that i like. probably don't psychoanalyze real life people through their sexual preferences.

okay, time to psychoanalyze gojo satoru through his sexual preferences -

so, something i have seen and heard is that powerful people are subs. 'power' here can mean any type of power, but generally this is connected to a person's societal position. this is maybe somewhat true (here's one study on s/m specifically - note the diff between men and women, i think this makes sense due to m/f social positionality, but clearly there's a lot of nuance and variance here), but it's certainly not a definitive relationship. but whether it is or is not generally true, i think it's a very interesting way to frame characters.

d/s is about control. so what do our characters want out of 'control'? who wants to be in control, and why? in the case of powerful people being submissive, I see it as both a release (from responsibility, from expectation) and a taboo (acting improper, doing the forbidden). on the flipside, with weaker people being dominant, it's a catharsis (getting reparations/payback against the power structure) and also a taboo (daring to step out of line/wield power).

Why is Satoru a Sub?

gojo satoru is a submissive for all of the above reasons. his position in the gojo clan, the responsibility that comes with it, and the expectation that he is a distant, untouchable god - is something he resents. he goes against this directly by being brash and irreverent. he shows a lot of aggression (socially, also combat wise) and energy, but this is not a real substitute for closeness.

and of course, as an adult -

what satoru wants is an equal - someone to share the burden with, someone on his level, someone he can trust. geto is certainly that, in canon. geto is the only one he trusts to truly watch his back. later, he'll trust people like shoko and yuta with contingency plans. he trusts nanami and kusakabe to look after the kids, and he trusts the kids to prevail after he's done his part (or at least, he's made peace with the fact that he's done all he can for them).

but there is never anyone else who stands beside him.

now, to go a little further, I think that what satoru actually wants is someone he can defer to.

not only can he share the load with suguru, he can also take a step back and give it entirely to suguru. and he can do this because suguru is not only strong, he has very strong principles. the focus on suguru's philosophy in Hidden Inventory - to me - is an indicator that satoru really wanted suguru to be 'the strongest', so that suguru could lead and he could follow.

now, unfortunately, suguru got The Trauma and found a way to justify genocide, so satoru had to nope out of that. but that's my read of canon: gojo satoru has been forced into a role of ultimate authority since birth, and he desperately wants out.

(this is a big driver of the jujutsu clan politics side plot in FIYM as well)

one other thing i'll add on the physical side of things - satoru's oversensitivity could really go either way. either he wants to have very precise control over what he is feeling to prevent overstimulation (dom leaning), or (the road we are taking) he wants someone else to push his body beyond his instinctive limits (sub leaning).

Bonus: Why is Satoru a M?

in 2sorcs ch 13, I do also veeeeeery briefly gloss over my Gojo Satoru is a Masochist headcanon. this is because he is a freak with a battle boner. and also something something Six Eyes - touch starved - seeking stimulation even if it's not necessarily pleasure. being hurt is another taboo for him, first because he's the strongest and second because of infinity.

Bonus: Why is Suguru a Dom?

actually, he's not. (in FIYM)

suguru is a switch. (in FIYM x2). lettuce 🥬 return to the concept:

...with weaker people being dominant, it's a catharsis (getting reparations/payback against the power structure) and also a taboo (daring to step out of line/wield power)...

suguru is extremely societally weak in FIYM. his past is extremely bleak (homeless, abused, cut off connections to family), and his present is extremely precarious (no clan backing, controversial technique). so if you followed this, then suguru lends himself to being a dom, yes.

however, this only really makes sense when the weak person is domming a strong person. and in terms of the physical power dynamic between satoru and suguru, satoru is not the stronger one. physically, due to the six eyes and satoru's lack of experience, suguru sees satoru as extremely vulnerable, so there's no societal/positional catharsis. he's extremely worried about overstepping satoru's boundaries (which satoru doesn't even want to set, which makes suguru worry even more).

obviously, with suguru's past, he cares a lot about consent. but even when it is given, he's worried that satoru doesn't actually know his limits, and won't know when to say no because of his inexperience and his overenthusiasm/wanting to please suguru.

(and satoru is also worried about this from his end, because he is worried about the societal power difference between them (the uncertainty principle) making suguru go along with things even if he doesn't want them (2sorcs ch 14)).

anyway, all this to say - suguru is not particularly compelled to dom satoru - he is a switch. he is filling the role that satoru is asking for, but he would also be perfectly happy to give control to satoru as well. i don't think that FIYM suguru would trust anyone else enough to be a sub, but with satoru, he knows that he's not in any real danger of being emotionally/sexually abused/manipulated, so he's down.

actually, we will see a little bit of dom satoru later in FIYM. here is the tiniest of snips as your reward, kind anon (and anyone else who made it to the end) - thank you for letting me yap.

[no1frogfan]

In the wee small hours of the morning

Tsukishima Kei x gn reader

Word count: ~1k

Tags & warnings: fluff, a little angst but it's just soft pining Tsukki

Note: Idk it’s cold in the mornings now and that makes me think about him too much. Trying out a new header situation too, I guess?

“Tsukki?”

A confused rasp stills him as he’s pacing through the living room, down the hall, and back up again. Outlined by the flickering tv screen, he sees a nest of hair poke up over the back of the couch.

“Y’ok?”

The gravelly timbre of your exhaustion weighs down each syllable, the edges of each word melding into one another over the tinny sound of some cooking show rerun.

After weeks together, the two of you have finally grown accustomed to sharing space. The living room is evidence of that — his half-built lego set, your cups (yes, multiple cups) of water, his clean jerseys, both your books, they all lay strewn across its surfaces. Kei’s finally stopped cloistering himself in his room, and you, you’ve moved past the pretense, no longer tip-toeing around him or bothering to look “presentable” around the house (not that he ever cared).

Actually, he likes you better like this — mussed hair, ratty house clothes, unguarded, at ease. It’s a secret little sliver of you that nobody else gets to see and he wants to hold it tight against his chest.

Instead of answering you, Tsukishima rubs his bleary eyes.

He’s been drifting through the apartment a lot these days, mostly in the early hours. Restless. Cold.

His toes are freezing and the tips of his fingers are icy as he curls them into his palms. You keep the apartment too chilly for him, but he never touches the thermostat. Not when you always look so inviting, all cozy and bundled in an oversized blanket. Yes, inviting. Even now, when you’re clearly pissed that you’re still awake, and so worn out that your face is crumpled into a tight grimace.

Three days ago, he admitted to himself that he’s hurtled past the line of friendship with you.

If he’s honest, he passed it a long time ago, and living with you has only forced him to come to terms with that fact. He’s sprinted far beyond a passing crush, barreling straight into whatever this is. Whatever it is that has you swimming across the inside of his eyelids whenever he closes his eyes. Whatever it is that compels him to pace the length of your apartment at night, slowing his steps when he nears your door, lifting his hand to the doorknob before hastening away, only to spin around the next minute and do it all over again.

It’s not cowardice. It’s not. It’s just…

Tsukishima stares at your huddled form. There’s a hint of impatience in the tilt of your chin, but mostly, you look concerned. Beneath your joking barbs and prickly exterior, you’ve always been concerned about him. That’s why he’s even here, trying not to inconvenience you further while his landlord fixes the leak in his apartment. It was supposed to take a few days, then a week, but now it’s been almost a month with no news, and he thinks he should just find a new place to live. But even when he’s snippy and seething about the whole thing, you’ve been gentle with him, letting him stay in your office-slash-guest room without paying a cent of rent (though he’s tried to insist on it many times), and bringing home treats to share after work (“They were having a sale!”).

It wouldn’t be right to force his feelings on you when you’ve been nothing but generous.

(What he can’t admit is that he doesn’t want this to end, for you to shut the door on whatever this is, once and for all.)

Plus, he’s seen you with Tadashi and Yachi and even Kyoutani, and you’re like that with all your friends. It’s not like you’re sweet on him. You’re just sweet. But he’s not sure how much longer he can stand to be stuck in limbo, unable to tell you and unable to not tell you.

The heat finally kicks on and Kei’s reminded that he’s cold. Freezing, actually, and haggard from lack of sleep. But he also puts on a bit of a show, rubbing his arms and shivering theatrically (why, he’s not sure).

“You’re cold,” you state dumbly, after staring at him for too long. “Do you want…?”

There’s less hesitation in your voice than he expects as you sit up a little to lift the corner of the blanket.

Maybe exhaustion was the final push he needed. He rushes over — before you change your mind (before he changes his) — and slips under the blanket.

Stiffening, you utter a bewildered noise.

Ah, shit.

Shit. Maybe not. Did he- You were offering the blanket to him, not telling him to get in with you. Obviously. Obviously. Fuck. Should he double down? Should he back off? Should he-

You stir again, and the weight of your head drops heavy onto his shoulder. (Is this…?) Tsukishima hardly dares to breathe as you pull him close and cradle your hands against his chest. He’s lightheaded, giddy as he tucks in the edges of the blanket, making sure to completely cover you both. He’s careful with his ice-cold hands, too, avoiding your bare skin as he wraps his arms around you.

Your exhales fan hot against the crook of his neck, and slowly, slowly, they deepen.

Eventually, drowsiness overcomes him too. After the frantic pattering of his heart has subsided, and after the bright red flush on his cheeks has faded. After the feathery wisps of dawn unfurl from behind the curtains, he cracks his heavy eyelids open one last time to look down at you, nestled tightly against him. Your face is slack, your lips gently parted, chest rising and falling in time with his.

Kei knows that tomorrow, when you’ve both had a good night’s sleep, you’ll have to talk about this.

He tightens his hold.

Tomorrow, whatever this is, you’ll cross that bridge together.