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flower-boi16 · 9 months

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Lily Orchard's Takes on "Racism" in The Owl House Are Garbage and Here's Why

Hello. You may know me as the guy who made two whole posts debunking Lily Orchard's takes on Hunter. Although those posts are not perfect and I do think there are some things I could add or change about them, they still hold up as I still stand by every single point I made in them.

But to say that Lily's bad Owl House takes end with Hunter would be a lie. There is this particular narrative about both TOH fandom and the show itself that she tries to paint that really pisses me off, that being the whole "Racism" narrative. I talked about it briefly in my second Hunter post but this narrative has so much objectively wrong with it that it's best to make a whole post refuting it. Here I'm going to go over Lily's takes on three characters that she primarily uses to push this whole racism narrative; Amity, Hunter, and Luz. Without further ado, let's begin...

NOTE: This post is LONG. Like, very very very very long. Its the longest post I've ever made and the longest essay I have ever posted on the internet. If you don't want to read all of that then just skip to section 7 where I have a TLDR for those who don't want to read an 8375-word long post that takes at least almost a full hour to read. So...ya, let's begin.

1. Lily Orchard's Takes on Amity are Garbage and Here's Why

I'll be covering Lily's Video "An Incoherent Discussion About Main Characters" mainly TOH segment as its the video where she talks the most about Amity. This is where the problems with Lily's narrative begin, that being; Lily saying that white characters are popular because of white favoritism rather than the fact that they are actually well written characters.

Oh, you thought Hunter was the only character Lily accused people of being racist for liking, ya, no. In the beginning of the TOH segment, Lily tries to argue that there's no reason for the fandom to love Amity so much because she (supposedly) has little depth as a character....

"At this point, Amity had no depth outside of being the bully, It's only until a month later that that would change. But the fandom latched onto Amity the moment she was introduced and hyped her up incessantly. with only a few clips where her ego is bruised and nothing else. And the thing is, Amity had nothing to her at this point. It's a common complaint from people that the fandom reduces Amity these days to just gay panic and shipping, but as of season 2, that is what she is, love interest, abusive parents, and that's it"

"Amity is a one-note character, and I don't say that as a bad thing characters fit the role that they were made for and there really isn't anything wrong with that. Amity is an obstacle for Luz to overcome and then her love interest and then occasionally gets a few moments of depth."

This is...objectively incorrect. Note I was not in the fandom at the time season 1 was airing (I only got into The Owl House when the show had already ended) however, Lily tries to act as if Amity is a character with little depth and that the fandom has no reason to like her so much. This is likely done so Lily can gaslight you into thinking she has a point so she can paint the TOH fandom as racist. Amity does go through character development throughout the show, as in season 1 she gradually becomes a better person and even makes amens with Willow after cutting her off during childhood.

She has a lot of moments of depth in episode Convention, Lost in Language, Understanding Willow, Escaping Expulsion, Eclipse Lake, and Reaching Out that develop her as a character. These aren't just "a few moments of depth". Amity is a developed character, the fandom has a reason to like her. And maybe people latched onto Amity because they liked the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance?

Again, I wasn't in the fandom at the time, but Lily doesn't consider any of these reasons that people may like Amity so she could try and paint Amity as a 1-dimensional character when really people like Amity for being a well-developed character and Lily's arguments that she is one note are just objectively incorrect. She's a girl raised in a prestigious and high-class family who has to meet high expectations from her parents and bullies people she can't feel any weakness, and was forced to cut off her childhood best freind because she wasn't strong enough for them.

However, throughout season 1 she becomes a better person thanks to Luz, makes amens with Willow and stands up to her abusive mom in Season 2, and in Season 2 Amity still has episodes developing her with conflict with her parents, she's not just Luz's girlfriend. This is a well-developed and three-dimensional character here, and there's a reason why Amity is a fan favorite in the fandom. But Lily ignores all of that depth and character development in favor of painting Amity as one-dimensional so her racism narrative could look like it holds more water than it actually does.

And for the "abusive parents" stuff Lily says this:

"Amity's relationship to her parents and her perfectionism only ever come out in the third act of any other episode with the exception of Escaping Expulsion and Eclipse Lake. Amity's abusive home life is a plot device more than anything else, something another character pulls on to get the story going, and the solution is almost always insultingly easy, and she's only ever brought into an episode because Luz drags her into it"

Once again...this is objectively incorrect. Amity still has a lot of episodes exploring her character as I already stated so the first sentance is already false. But then Lily says that Amity's abusive home life is a...plot device? Um, no? Its not a plot device, its an aspect of Amity's character that the show is dedicating episodes to exploring. And "the solution is almost always insultingly easy"??? What do you mean by "the solution is almost always insultingly easy"?? Lily doesn't give any examples here, she just says something critical and you're supposed to just accept that.

And now...we get the moment you've all been waiting for:

"So why do people get upset at the idea that Amity is just reduced to love interest when that is literally her role in the plot? Well, (and if this gets posted on The Owl House subreddit then uhh please cover your ears you delicate little flower children) white favortism"

And now we have Lily trying to paint the TOH fandom as racist for liking Amity.

"It's been a common refrain for a while that the show has a white and the fandom makes it worse. Amity was the first instance of that"

Ok so 1. The show doesn't have a "white favoritism" problem, this is something I'll get into more later but the reason why Amity gets focus is because she objectively has more importance than to the plot thank Willow and Gusm being Luz's love interest. And I already talked about the real reasons the fandom likes Amity that don't have anything to do with racism.

"When she first appeared in I Was A Teenage Abomination, the fan base instantly started hyping her up as the greatest thing since Eda the owl lady. They immediantly projected every fucking thing on the sun onto her, and Lumity was birthed from this"

What if people just again, like the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance between her and Luz? And I don't think I've seen ANY ONE project things onto Amity, again there are clear reasons to like these characters. Then Lily says this:

"That was all it took. It's by sheer fucking luck that Dana was going in this direction with them anyway because there was zero basis for any of this. Amity was a minor antagonist at best, and Willow was the main spotlight of I was a Teenage Abomination"

"Zero basis for any of this"? Again, Lily is acting as if there aren't any reasons to like Amity when as I already explained there clearly is. And if she means no basis for Lumity then...Lily, Lumity was clearly being set up a lot throughout the first season. Its not exactly hard to see that.

"There's no reason for people to go absolutely this crazy over her when Willow was right there. Hell throughout season 1 Willow had more grounds for a romantic relationship then Amity did. But Willow was chubby and Korean and Amity was not and not"

I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure a lot of reasons for people liking Amity more than Willow is because they find Willow and Gus to be less developed than Amity, which is a perfectly fine opinion to have. Once Again Lily ignores reasons people may prefer Amity over Willow in favor of just jumping straight to racism instead. And there also isn't as much of a hyper-fixation on Amity as Lily says there is, yes she's a fan favorite character but characters like Luz are still very popular.

The rest of the segment really is not worth talking about. Basically after this point Lily just keeps on trying to reinforce her objectively wrong narrative of "Amity is liked because of white favoritism", her saying that she thought Eda was the main character instead of Luz, and she also talks about Luz and Hunter here but that'll be covered in their respective sections.

So Lily's whole narrative about Amity being liked because of "white favoritism" is wrong, there are real reasons that people like Amity, Lily simply chooses to ignore that because that would break her narrative. Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the next character Lily uses to push this whole racism narrative (and the most obvious).

2. Lily Orchard's Takes on Hunter are Garbage and Here's Why - PART III (...kind of)

Again, I've already made two whole posts debunking Lily Orchard's critiques of Hunter so go read those if you want the full analysis on why Lily's takes on this character are completely wrong, but in the second section of Part II I talked about Lily's whole narrative about Hunter's fans that she tries to paint, that they are racist and only like Hunter for being white. She does basically the same thing she did for Amity; ignore the reasons why people may like a character in favor of painting the fandom as racist, and she also tries to act as if Hunter is only liked because people push headcanon's onto him. I'll just paste this piece of text here since I already refuted it in my second Hunter post;

"In her video talking about Hunter, Lily says that the fandom only likes Hunter in spite of how he's written, which is basically her saying "if you like this character you actually don't like him...or your just racist". Ok so, I don't want to talk about this that much here, however, it's worth noting that Lily constantly calls people who like Hunter racist purely for liking a character she doesn't that also happens to white, which is a major yikes, as there are reasons that Hunter is well-liked in the fandom beyond his race. But Lily's response to that is "If you like Hunter you only like him because you push fanon ideas onto him when he's really a shallow poorly-written character".

Let me tell you why people like Hunter; he's a boy who was indoctrinated and raised his whole life into believing he was doing the right thing and that Belos loves him, and for his whole life he was had to prove his worth to the EC or he's just worthless, and a lot of people also see Hunter's arc as him realizing he was being abused. None of this is stuff that the fandom is making up, these are literally things that are communicated in the show itself, Lily is just choosing to ignore that just so she can paint this narrative that TOH fandom is a bunch of racists because they like Hunter, completely ignoring how people can have different tastes and opinions than each other. Oh ya, and someone did point this out to Lily once in a tumblr ask...Lily responded by saying "no" and then went on another rant about how the fandom is racist for liking Hunter and sidelines Gus and Willow, and says that if Hunter was black, people would ignore him like they do with Gus and Willow...that speaks for itself. I could not find a screenshot where Lily said this, but I do know that she did say that in response to an anon poking a hole into her narrative, which just shows how she reacts to criticism."

Like with Amity, Lily constantly acts as if there aren't any reasons for people to like Hunter, and the reasons people do have are just things that people make up through headcanons, when this is objectievely false. There are clear reasons for people to like Hunter, but Lily ignores that in favor of painting this narrative that Hunter fans are racist. She even calls than misogynistic and homophobic in her video on Hunter without showing any evidence of that. And NONE of the anons she showed say anything like Lily described.

She keeps on reinforcing the narrative that Hunter fans only like him in spite of how he's written rather than the idea that he is written well, which is objectively false because again, there are reasons to like Hunter as a character, and all of Lily's takes on him are just objectively wrong. This is just Lily treating her opinions like they are facts in a very narcissistic and smug way.

But again, I've already refuted this point so let's get into the other point about Hunter that Lily tries to use to push this whole racism narrative; that being that Hunter overshadows and sidelines the non-white characters and gets too much screen time.

"Season 2 only made this worse with the introduction of Hunter, who as a character has an effect on the fanbase comparable to Audo and Ren. Overshadowing every other character and causing white girls to squee about how much of a good boy he is, even though he definitely isn't one"

I already talked about how Hunter doesn't take up as much screen time as Lily likes to think he does in my first Hunter post, but I'll just put some comments that I got from my first Hunter post as they debunk Lily's whole take her pretty well:

"Hunter having dynamics with the rest of the cast is a good thing and while him, it’s not being “stapled” into them, he’s just interacting with them in a fucking episode. He parallels all of the main four teens in some way so it makes sense. Plus, he’s only in half or less of the season 2 episodes and wasn’t in season 1, he didn’t get the luxury of low-stakes filler episodes so he kind of has to make a mark during the episodes he’s in. Which is why he’s usually the focus or at least major in them, that’s understandable and he’s compelling enough to justify it."

"I'll never understand the criticism of a character taking screentime away from others, if this character is considered by the writers to be more important than others, then they have to feel like they really do matter, that's normal."

The reason why Hunter gets a lot of focus isn't because of racism, its because he's an important character and he doesn't even appear in that many episodes so he kinda of needs to make a mark in the ones that he's in, especially in season 2B where the show got cut short so the show needed to try and dedicate as much of its time to developing the character it just introduced in the first half of the season as much as it can while still developing the other characters and progressing the plot.

Also, here's a fun fact; as two comments on my second Hunter post pointed out, Hunter is a character that can ONLY work if he's white, because he is a clone of a 1600s witch Hunter. Just a little tid-bit I thought I'd mention.

Hunter doesn't sideline characters as much as Lily likes to think he does, in Hunting Palisman, Hollow Mind and Thanks to Them he gets paired up with Luz, the main character who is also a black girl who gets an equal amount of screen time with Hunter. This is an extension of the whole "Hunter is stapled onto other characters" criticism Lily has, where she complains about...Hunter being paired up and interacting with other characters. Again, I already covered this stuff in my two Hunter posts, but Lily's whole problem here is simply that Hunter is in an episode, regardless of the reason.

And we all know that Lily is entirely biased to hate Hunter purely for being an "angsty white boy" so I think I'm done here. Again, go check out my two Hunter posts if you want to see go more in-depth on this whole "Hunter takes up too much screen time" criticism.

But in short; Hunter does not take up as much screen time as Lily says he does, and the reason the show focuses on him is that he has more importance to the plot than Willow and Gus, and because he needs to make a mark in each episode he's in, and once again there are reasons for people to like Hunter that are not related to "white favoritism". Again, go check out my posts on Lily's critiques on Hunter if you want me to go more in-depth. But now, let's get into the final character that Lily tries to use to push this whole narrative, and that is...

3. Lily Orchard's Takes on Luz's are Garbage and Here's Why (short version)

Let me just say, Lily's takes on Luz, specifically her trauma...are awful. They are almost as bad as her takes on Hunter, and I'm actually planning on making a whole post refuting Lily's critiques of Luz like I did with Hunter, but for now, let's just talk about the whole narrative she tries to paint with how Luz's trauma is received; this time I'll be covering the Luz segment of her fandom torture video.

But lets cover the Luz part of the Discussion of Main Characters video first before get into that. Don't worry, this will be quick. Here Lily constantly tries to argue that people want to ignore Luz in favor of Amity and Hunter but they can't because she is the main character

"But the thing is, while Amity and Hunter caused Willow and Gus to be completely sidlined, (and even their episodes in season 2 have generally just been them playing second fiddle to one of those two) neither of them have managed to sideline Luz. Amity's entire role in the story is to be a supporting character to Luz everything she does is to help and further Luz's goals and Hunter is an antagonistic force in Luz's story, trying to stop her efforts because they interfere with the goals of emperor Belos."

"Amity is the supporting character and love interest, and Hunter is the villain. And I imagine that is something that probably sticks in the craw of the Amity-Hunter hype train, they fact that they can't just ignore Luz like they clearly want to because the characters they like come with Luz attached as a default."

Not only does Lily not give ANY evidence to support her narrative, she's also just... objectively wrong. Luz is a beloved character in the fandom, there's tons of videos about her that get a shit ton of views, there's a lot of fan art and fan works around Luz, etc etc. People who like Amity and Hunter probably also like Luz a lot too. Just look at the Luz Noceda Tumblr tag and you'll see that it has more followers than either of any of Hunter and Amity's tags do.

Lily does not give any evidence to support her whole narrative and acts as if the TOH fandom really wants to ignore Luz, but as I already said Luz is still a beloved and fan-favorite character within the fandom, its not exactly hard to see that. Just because people like Amity and Hunter doesn't mean they secretly dislike Luz or something, that's just stupid.

I could go on and on about this but you get my point; Lily's entire narrative that she tries to paint that People want to ignore Luz is just straight-up false and she does not support her claim with any evidence whatsoever.

But now, let's get into the real meat of things; the narrative that Lily tries to paint in her Fandom Torture video. Again, Lily's takes on Luz's trauma are just as awful as her takes on Hunter but I'll only focus on the racism narrative she tries to paint, that being that the fandom likes watching 14-year-old black girls suffer I'm not joking. This is the narrative that Lily actually tries to paint;

"But the truth is...ya fandom does love this shit. They love watching characters' angst forever. They love their three thousand-word slow-burn hurt with no comfort fix. They love watching characters suffer especially if they're women, and especially if they're black, and Luz is both."

.......Lily, fuck you. This is a lie, a straight-up lie. Lily is trying to trick you into thinking that the TOH fandom are sadistic monsters who enjoy watching 14-year-old girls who are also black suffer, and not only is that objectively incorrect, it's also just...so unbelievably gross given the real reasons why people like Luz's depression arc.

Do you want to know why this pisses me off so much? The actual reason why people like Luz's trauma arc isn't because they enjoy watching children suffer, its because aside from it being a realistic and believable depression arc, it also resonates with a lot of people. No joke, apparently there are a lot of people who relate to Luz and see themselves through her. Dana created a depression arc for a character that ACTUAL PEOPLE WITH TRUAMA AND SELF-LOATHING ISSUES CAN RELATE TO.

NOT TO MENTION the fact that a lot of people in the fan base actually sympathize with Luz her and her self-loathing issues. Luz's trauma arc is well-received because it was able to resonate with a lot of people, and the fact that Lily chooses to ignore that in favor of painting the TOH fandom as a bunch of racists who enjoy watching black women suffer is just...disgusting. Fuck you Lily, and I mean that very sincerely.

Oh wait, cuz I'm not done with this! Hunter, a character that has gone through just as much trauma as Luz, and whose trauma is also well received by the fandom as well, Lily just ignores. So its bad when Luz gets traumatized and people like it but when the same happens to Hunter it's ok? Oh wait, I forgot, Hunter is a white boy and Luz is a black girl, that's the difference.

Lily, I'm so fucking sick of your double standards. So its bad when a fandom likes a black girl getting traumatized but when it's a white boy you don't complain and don't go and call them racist? That's stupid.

You probably already get my point by now so I'll just end this section here; Lily's whole narrative of the TOH fandom liking Luz being traumatized because they are sadistic monsters who enjoy watching black girls suffer is both flawed and disgusting, so is her narrative about the fandom wanting to ignore Luz in favor of other characters which is also objectively incorrect. But wait, there is one last video of Lily trying to push this narrative that I have not mentioned yet...

... it's the white favoritism video mentioning Hunter

4. The White Favoritism Video is Garbage and Here's Why

So for this post I decided to go ahead and watch Lily's white favoritism video, specifically the Hunter segments. I went into this video with very low expectations, expecting it to just be Lily repeating the same points she already made over and over again. And...holy shit. This video is AWFUL. Like I knew it was going to be bad, but I was not ready for the amount of bullshit Lily was going to spew. I was left completely shocked and speechless by the end of the second segment at what Lily just said in those two segments.

Time for me to tear apart both of these awful segments. Let's start with the first one, and only 16 seconds in after reinforcing her whole "Hunter is only liked because of fandom shit" narrative, Lily already starts talking bullshit:

"Even his rebelling against an abuser in the canon is undercut by the fact that it's basically a preordained destiny because every golden guard has betrayed Belos."

WHAT????! Hunter would have never betrayed Belos in the first place in if the events of Hollow Mind had never happened, hell when Luz and Hunter saw the memories of Belos doing evil things Hunter constantly tried making excuses for Belos and spent most of it being in denial. And we don't even KNOW anything about the golden guards, maybe they could've eventually realized on their own that Belos was evil, that doesn't undercut Hunter breaking from his abuser!

Then Lily says this:

"Furthermore Hunter ended up being the vector for a lot of people to start caring about Willow, Daruis and Camila, insofar so they could be used to bolster Hunter's character with romance and adoption respectively before this point these characters were ignored or in some cases vilified"

I don't really know about Willow but for Darius and Camila this is just wrong, from what I've heard Camila starting getting popular once the episode Yesterday's Lie premiered, and the reason Darius was vilified before Any Sport in a Storm is because...in he was a villain in the show until this episode showed us he may not be. This isn't racism, Darius's last appearance before this has him as an antagonist, that's why he was "vilified" before Any Sport in a Storm. The rest of this segment is not worth talking about, its just Lily reinforcing her broken narrative about Hunter only being liked because of fandom stuff when that's literally not the reason why he's well-liked as I already explained so now let's move onto the second section...

....the second section is actually worse than the first one. The amount of bullshit Lily was speaking during that three minutes gave me a stroke. So Lily actually starts off by acknowledging the accusations she has been that she only hates Hunter for being white and would've liked him if he was black (which is an undisputed fact), since she constantly complains about him being a boring white boy. How does she respond to this? Does she try to refute this in some way?

....No. Instead, what Lily says next left my jaw wide open as I tried to process wtf I just heard. This is what Lily says:

"When I started criticizing Hunter it came around the time I became a lot more vocally invested in non-white characters and some people in a prime example of desperately trying to give me what they think is a taste of my own medicine came up to me and said with whole pussy "If Hunter was black, you'd like him" with a very simple truth, "If Hunter was black, you wouldn't" "

Holy shit. When I heard this I was at a loss of words. Do I even need to explain why this is awful? Not only is Lily once again accusing Hunter fans of being racist to further her narrative, not only does Lily not even TRY to refute the idea that she dislikes Hunter for being a white boy, but she also even says that if Hunter was black, people wouldn't have liked him...even though Luz, a black girl, is a beloved character in the fandom. Lily cannot gaslight me into thinking otherwise.

Lily then continues to push this idea that if Hunter was black, people wouldn't have liked him:

"If Hunter was black the fandom would not have ignored every skleazy thing he does, like his supposedly best episode according to fangirls that established Huntlow as a ship where...he uses the power the state to kidnap several children and force them to join the magic Gestapo. They would not view this action equally if dark-skinned and stop writing that well actually comment you will not convince me that they would. "

Hmm gee Lily I love how you ignore...

The fact that Hunter meant well and didn't know what he was doing was wrong as he thought that he was doing his friends a favor by getting them into the emperor's coven because of his indoctrination so thus he doesn't exactly know any better.

(And most importantly) The fact that Hunter realizes what he did was wrong and not only takes full responsibility of his actions but also goes out of his way to fix his mistake and get his friends out a situation he put them in AND risked his position as the golden guard AND ALSO was willing to take a lethal strike from Darius just so he could fix his mistake, something that is pretty selfless if you ask me (go check out this post if you want a more in-depth rebuttal to this bullshit claim. It's not directed towards Lily but it basically addresses Lily's whole statement)

Ya Lily I love how like all Hunter critics you just completely ignore that. Now Lily is trying to push this whole "racism" narrative even further, not even trying to give a counter argument to the rebuttles Hunter fans give and just calls them racist by saying "If Hunter was black, you wouldn't be defending him". That's not a good counterargument Lily.

THEN LILY SAYS THIS:

"Furthermore the main issue with Hunter is that the story spends a lot of time with him but spends no time developing him outside of making goofy faces for the internet"

hiuodshuviusdhfiudhfiudshfiuhqweqweqwe HUH?!?! The show doesn't develop Hunter as a character?!?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?! ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME SHOW!?!? Either Lily's is THAT illiterate of she's deliberately lying. The show DOES clearly spend time developing Hunter, especially in Eclipse Lake, and the very episode that Lily criticized earlier, Any Sport in a Storm where Hunter goes through development and learns to make connections with others and has real friends.

HE GOES THROUGH AN ENTIRE ARC OF BREAKING FROM HIS ABUSER!!!! And no Lily you are not going to gaslight me into thinking that was all just fanon, because its not, its literally communicated within the show, you're just fucking lying. Do I even need to refute this point anymore? Anyone who's watched the show would now this is completely false so lets just move on to the next thing Lily says:

"Making him black wouldn't fix these problems, it would exacerbate them, because now you have a black character you are doing nothing with yet proudly displaying you are doing nothing with him, and that's a problem because its now the third time you've done that"

Shows a picture of Gus and Skara

Ok, so...

The show is clearly doing things with Hunter, I already refuted this stuff in my two Hunter posts

Oh, I'm sorry Lily, didn't you say that Hunter being black would make him more interesting?

Skara is a MINOR CHARACTER that doesn't have any real importance to the plot, yet you want to show to focus on her just because she's black? What???

Also, remember the Skara thing for later btw.

"But all this distracts from the real problem, Hunter is only allowed to get away with being such a nothing burger of a character, despite taking up so much screen time because he's white and male. This is the only element of his character that people like and everything else is fanon that they made up. What little there is to his character is just ideas that were stolen from Luz and Amity and yet Hunter eclipses them both in popularity"

Do I need to explain why this point is garbage? This whole narrative that Lily tries to craft revolves around the idea that Hunter is flat and boring and has nothing to his character and nothing to him and isn't interesting and everything that people like about him is just fanon, and ANYBODY who watched the show would know that this is completely objectively wrong.

Lily, will you please stop trying to fucking gaslight people into agreeing with you? Hunter is an abused boy who was groomed and indoctrinated into believing he's doing the right thing and then breaks from his abuser and ends up finding real friends. This is not fanon, these are things being directly communicated within the show, you can not gaslight me into thinking otherwise Lily. The fact that Lily just straight up says that Hunter is only liked for being a white male reinforces the already broken narrative she has about Hunter fans. And once again Luz and Amity are still incredibly popular characters, I don't think I need to talk about this further. This point sucks, lets move onto the next thing Lily says:

"Ironically The Owl House goes to make Hunter a useless non-character because all of his acts of rebellion end up being underwritten by the fact that every golden guard has turned on Belos in the same way. So Hunter isn't even operating on his own accord its just gut instinct"

Lily, can you go five seconds in this video without saying something extremely stupid? Like I already said Hunter wouldn't have betrayed Belos if the events of Hollow Mind hadn't happened because he wouldn't have a reason to, he wasn't just going to wake up one day and say "I'm going to betray Belos for no reason at all!". Also, I'm sorry Lily, wasn't one of your complaints about Hollow Mind that Hunter was in denial for most of the episode??? HOW TF could you THEN turn around and say "Hunter's acts of rebellion were just gut instinct" like??? Hunter spent most of Hollow Mind IN DENIAL of the idea of Belos being evil, just because the other golden guards betrayed Belos doesn't mean its just "gut instinct", their genetic clones, not reincarnations.

And like I already said, we don't even KNOW anything about the golden guards, maybe they could've eventually realized on their own that Belos was evil, that doesn't undercut Hunter breaking from his abuser. Sigh let's just move on...

Now Lily's talking about Skara yaaaaaaaay

"Meanwhile if you like a character who isn't a white guy just because you vibe with them your expected to answer for it. Hunter stans can freely fawn over a character just because he's pasty and blonde as long as they invent pages upon pages of cope. But If I like a character just because their VA is cool and I vibe with their energy I'm expected to justify that like I'm in fucking court. I quite like Skara because her design is cool Kimberly Brooks is one of my favorite VA's and I like this little quasi-recovery arc she's got going on in the background. But butthurt Hunter stans angry about my criticism of the character and always throw that back in my face because those shallow surface-level traits of the character are things I call them out for focusing on"

So now Lily is addressing the whole Skara allegations except she didn't mention what people like me are accusing her of; liking Skara for being a black girl. Call it uncharitable, but Lily has constantly complained about Hunter being a "boring white guy" and explicitly stated that making him black would make him more interesting, and when asked how to fix Skara she basically said to make him a black girl, and since Skara (a black girl) is a character that Lily heavily hyper-fixates on AND straight up replaced Hunter's name with in the season 2 round up video AND since IN THIS VERY VIDEO Lily complains about Skara not getting enough focus despite the fact the show has no reason to focus on her because she's a side character with little importance to the plot, Lily has not beaten the allegations that she hates Hunter for being a white guy and likes Skara for being a black girl.

I'll admit in my second Hunter post I was a bit too uncharitable towards Lily since she has now at least given actual reasons for liking Skara, however Lily has still not beaten the accusations she's getting over liking Skara for being a black girl. There's so much evidence that points towards that and Lily hasn't refuted it at all. Also remember when Lily complained about Skara being another black character who the show did "nothing with"? Well, now she says this:

"This ignores the fact that Skara is a tertiary character and is therefore allowed to be mostly surface level. Hunter is a main character with the exact same level of depth as a background character."

So you admit that Skara is a tertiary character and thus doesn't have much importance yet earlier you complain about the show not focusing on her more??? What????

"You can argue that this is because the show was canceled but when you spend eight episodes doing nothing to progress a character the problem isn't that didn't have enough time"

I'm sorry EIGHT?! Hunter's arc throughout season 2 spans over the course of five episodes, not eight. And once again Hunter isn't doing nothing here the show is developing him as a character every time he appears, but again I already refuted this in my first Hunter post.

After this point, Lily stops talking about Hunter and goes on about how female and non-white characters are nit-picked and people act like you the weird one for not caring about their nitpicks and continues reinforcing her already broken narrative...and also makes a star wars comparison, so the rest of this segment isn't really worth talking about because it's based on points and arguments that I've already refuted. Besides this section is getting long enough already so I'll just end it here.

Good GOD that video was awful. Like, I already had low-expectations going into it expecting to just be Lily repeating the same shit over and over again...and it was, but it was also Lily making some of the WORST critiques of this show I have ever seen. Lily, how do your takes on Hunter STILL suck? The whole narrative Lily tries to build is based on points that anyone who watched the show and payed even a little bit of attention to it would know is completely objectively false.

Literally every single thing Lily says here has something wrong with it, I was NOT ready for the bullshit this video contained...

But ya, you probably get the gist now; this video is awful, and I've now gone through every single point Lily has made about racism in The Owl House and refuted each of them...

...But I'm still not done. Because there is a certain trend I've been noticing throughout these three videos, especially the first and third one...

5. Gaslighting

These next few sections are probably going to be a lot shorter since this abomination of a post has gone on for long enough already, so sections 5-7 will hopefully be quicker. Anyways, a common tactic I've seen Lily use during these videos is gaslighting. This is a manipulative tactic that she uses to try and make it sound like she has a point but when you really look at it, she doesn't.

We can see this with her insisting that Hunter and Amity have no depth where she boils them down to simple character traits (or just straight-up lies) to make them sound shallow. She especially does this a lot with Hunter with the entire narrative of "Hunter is only well-liked because of fanon stuff" which anyone who watches the show would know is objectively wrong. Then there's the whole "spite-based enjoyment" she tries to paint with him, where Lily says that Hunter fans only like Hunter in spite of how he's written. And in her Hunter video she...says this:

"There are a lot of Reylos in Hunter's fan base who are obscenely racist misogynistic and homophobic. And I sure as fuck am not counting them In who I'm talking to today. Hunter is a magnet for fandom racism and misogony, but today I'm talking past those people to people with a very sincere love for the character. You don't love this character for how he's written. You love him in spite of how he's written. And you should be upset that his potential is routinely squandered in favor of just making more shots about him moping and sulking. You should expect better. Everyone would have BETTER if did not waste time on this character doing fucking NOTHING."

Typing that as I listened to Lily's video pissed me off. This narrative is entirely broken once you factor in how all of Lily's takes about Hunter are complete garbage, but even worse, Lily is trying to gaslight Hunter fans who are going to watch her video by saying "If you like this character, you actually don't like him cuz I said so"

Fuck right off Lily. There are real reasons for people to like Hunter that are not fanon things that are being made up, stop trying to gaslight Hunter fans into agreeing with ffs.

Lily also does this a lot with Amity too, insisting that she's just a one-note character with little to her and there is no reason for people to like her so much, when that is not true at all. There are actual reasons people have to like these characters that are NOT being made up unlike what Lily is trying to gaslight you into believing her. This is an incredibly manipulative and condescending way to frame your arguments, that if YOU like a character you actually don't and you should stop pretending that you do.

Fuck off Lily. The show DOES clearly use Hunter to his fullest potential, anyone who watches the show would know that, stop trying to gaslight people with your terrible arguments. Again, read my posts on Lily's takes on Hunter if you want the full context of why none of her takes on him are good, but needless to say Lily really likes to gaslight people into agreeing with her here and that is a VERY manipulative way to frame your arguments.

Oh wait, I'm still not done...because now its time to talk about...

6. "Dana has a white favoritism problem" & Lily's Hypocrisy

Yes, you read the title of this section correctly. In Lily's TOH season 2 round-up video, she says this:

"I know we're all being very charitable to Dana but I think we all need to address the elephant in the room is that The Owl House fandom has a big white favoritism problem and SO DOES DANA"

"Dana is not doing anything to help if anything she's actively making it worse and I feel somebody probably needs to probably sit her down about that and just be like "hey Dana, stop""

.......there is no other way to look at this. There is no other way to interpret this, Lily is accusing Dana of being racist. Now, complaining about a show focusing on white characters too much despite any other reasons a show may have for focusing on these characters beyond racism is one thing, but to accuse somebody of bigotry for focusing on two white characters, ignoring any reasons the show may have for focusing on them beyond racism is just...

I don't even know how to even say it, it's just gross. Once again, there are reasons why Dana chooses to focus on Amity and Hunter as I've already explained, but Lily ignores those reasons and just casually calls Dana racist. Oh, and I'm sorry Lily, but if Dana supposedly had a white favoritism problem, why tf would she make a black Latina girl the main protagonist??? And also develop st. black latina girl a lot throughout the series making her a three-dimensional and well-developed character that a lot of people love and relate to?

Lily ignores all possible reasons that Dana may have for focusing on Amity and Hunter just calls her racist. Wow, as I couldn't have hated you more Lily. Oh wait, but I'm not done with this section, no no.

Now I'm going to be discussing Lily Orchard's hilarious hypocrisy here. I find it incredibly funny how Lily constantly accuses the TOH fandom and Dana of racial bias when she literally hates a character (Hunter) for being a white male. And when she constantly fetishizes black people and explicitly stated once that Hunter would have been more interesting if he was black. I can guarantee you that if Amity and Hunter were black and Luz, Willow and Gus were all white, Lily wouldn't complain about them taking up too much screen time like she currently does, you can't convince me that she would.

Lily so desperately wants to convince us how racist the TOH fandom and Dana are yet she hates a character for his skin color and gender and constantly complains about him being a "boring white guy". This comment from my first Hunter post sums it up best:

"Lily really just desperately needs a character to channel unjustified negativity into so she can act better than the fans who like that character. She found reasons to hate Amity that way too in season 1. She gets obsessive about how the series "could be better" (i.e. the series should do the specific thing that SHE wants even if it's not the creator's vision) and when things don't turn out that way she gets... weird.

Like she shipped WilLuz and was butthurt that the fandom mainly saw Willow and Luz as just friends and recognized that Dana was emphasizing Amity crushing on Luz ... but Lily was like, "How dare they ship Lumity and not WilLuz! This is the racist fandom hating PoCs!!!" without self-awareness to see that no one was being racist but her for assuming that people only shipped a thing they liked because one character looks Caucasian.

She'd get on her high horse and accuse Dana of "white favoritism" for having Amity be important and making the fandom like her... like, the leaps and bounds Lily will go through to turn herself into "the most noble person" in a fandom is shameless. She also would rip on Amity for being derivative of Malfoy or the spoiled girl from Little Witch Academia... when that character trope is what Amity was subverting by showing that Amity had depth beyond her snobby/type-A first impression since after her first impression she almost immediately started to show layers to her character.

I feel like Lily only stopped being so negative to Amity because even she had qualms against crapping on Amity when a) she realized that complaining about Amity being a bully long after Amity had since stopped and atoned for that behavior was getting really old, and b) shitting on one half of Lumity when it was probably one of the biggest, most wholesome LGBT couples in modern animation would be a hard sell for Lily (who as an LGBT person should be less harsh on earnest representation from an LGBT creator).

Along comes Hunter and Lily can't exist without having a designated hate-sink so she projects all her dislikes into Hunter for merely existing. His design being light-skinned and handsome was enough to repel Lily. Him being a genuinely good person who had a troubled life but still perseveres to protect the relationships he's forged... he's pretty much a perfect addition to the cast that kind of adds a missing quality to the series (like how Toph in Avatar the Last Airbender was kind of the special spice that elevated the series for the better by being added to the cast). But ignore all the good his character brings because he's a caucasian-ish character who used to be tricked into being on the bad-side. I'm also sure Lily was furiously spewing venom when she saw that Willow was paired with Hunter, since Lily wanted Willow to be with Luz."

Lily, if you constantly accuse people of being racist for liking a character you don't and also accuse the creator of being racist as well, but solely hate a character for being a white male, then I'm sorry, but nobody here is being racist except for you. (I could also mention her star wars fic but this post is getting long enough so let's just end it here)

7. Conclusion

TLDR for those who don't want to read this entire post:

There are clear reasons why people may like Amity and Hunter that have nothing to do with racism at all

There are also clear reasons why the show may want to focus on these characters due to them being important to the story

Luz is a beloved fan-favorite character and Lily does not give any good evidence to suggest otherwise.

Lily's take that people like watching black women suffer and that's why Luz's truama arc is well-received is completely false as it is well-received due to being able to resonate with a lot of people.

The white favoritism video is fucking awful

A majority of Lily's arguments are just her trying to gaslight you into agreeing with her

Lily complains about the TOH fandom and Dana having racial biases when she is racially biased herself

Lily Orchard remains my most hated YouTuber. She's a shit critic and an even shittier person, and I sincerely hope that one day, Lily's entire channel gets terminated and wiped off the face of the internet, because people like her do not deserve a platform. She has not improved and I don't think she EVER will. Thanks for reading this entire post, and...bye.

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muffin-man-marq-lynch · 1 month

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The thing about that post-match promo is that it's absolutely brilliant but kind of hilarious too

1001% a fantastic angle to take on Swerve's character as a whole as well as the Wembley match, I was talking about how Hangman's arc as the only one to call out that the emperor has no clothes is great, where MJF had a bit of the same thing when he had his heel turn again but Swerve? Swerve is on another level. Generational Champ level. Make the crowd chant Swerve's House as you break into someone else's house. Make the crowd chant 'Yes' for you while you beat the snot out of Wheeler Yuta when there was a famous Ramp up of people screaming for Yuta as the fan fave almost overnight as the underdog. Beat fan fave Ospreay. Snap arms as a finisher. Drive the OG beloved mascot of the Franchise to Insanity, obsession, and near heel status. Swervemania just grows by the day. They just love you more.

Is it the song? Nana and the dance? The athletic skills and variety in the ring? Attention to character detail? Just the killer swag and (let's be real we see it) massive dick with accompanying BDE? Whatever the star power we have The Derangement and they're playing with it.

MJF and Hangman and others have made the audience the villain this season. It's great. We've ruined things, but they need us and our approval so they're stuck. But where does that leave Swerve?

I have this thought, this recurring quote from Rick and Morty actually: "Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer." I'm thinking about the inverse of that effect. How if nothing you do is now tied to any threat of social failure or success... You start building your own metrics for success, or you have a meltdown when you realize that the void is meaningless.

Jericho and the Young Bucks are having the time of their lives revamping themselves as Heels doing whatever they want as often as they want pretty much. Swerve has spoken about how he came in and identified Hangman as the main character of AEW, now living without conflict after resolving his arcs, happy and loved by all at the Top. Bryan is at the end of his career as possibly the GOAT, preaching his 'i'm just here having a good time, so mentally healthy, proud of my kids and #grateful for every moment' philosophy.

If Swerve understands he can do no harm, or cannot fail / be killed in any way that truly matters... That's boring. There's no fight, no challenge, no real opposition no matter who steps up that week.

So if there aren't any storebought, make your own.

Breaking Hangman psychologically until he becomes as mutually obsessed as Swerve was, then more so when Swerve reverses on him to ignore him when he comes back, desperately screaming that he lost Everything to Swerve for no reason, and we love Swerve for it... Yeah. He's right.

Now we're taking another legend that can't be bothered with more than just phoning it in despite what he says, whom the audience can't turn against in any way that really matters, absolutely just fumbling around until we finally flick that switch in Bryan's brain from '#blessed' to 'i am no longer having a Good Time, call PETA and have them revoke my lifetime membership already because I'm going to beat you up and down this road like the 4H cow placing last at the country fair on the way to the slaughterhouse'. He's been full on Vibing all night, and suddenly the pale blue shirt isn't just Dadcore for cheering Yuta on but doing that thing where his Icicle Eyes are full blast.

And I'm recognizing this switch is hot AF and intense and I am Much more hype for Wembley, but also I'm just thinking about everything from Swerve's POV and laughing because so many things about this evening and promo are just a little ridiculous:

Yuta just being Jobber for the stars but man he isn't allowed to do much more than be pathetic

Hey babe I heard you and your gang like complicated intense submission holds that hurt like a motherfucker and you're still pretending not to notice me when I stand in the corner and flex my tits at you every 15 seconds so I invented one that's so complicated and cool looking the announcers are flabbergasted into stopping interrupting the match with exhausted repetitions of the PPV card at the bottom of the screen. You like it?

'And you know Yuta's tough he's no Punk' Tony I can't tell if that was a CM Punk joke or a genuine comment lmao

The walk back to medical taking so long

Claudio is in the building and Swerve said he wanted to feast on the rest of the BCC but he's already booked with Okada for Cardiff so they locked him in that same room Will Ospreay was in and he couldn't come out and watch or help carry Yuta

Yuta isn't allowed to say things he's 100% in dead cat mode and you can see him fighting it in the promo while they walk down 8 halls or something which is supposed to build tension but is like two aisles too many

Danielson shooting the cameraman the dirtiest look before he starts talking and ending with 'now get the fuck out out of here' like damn what did the cameraman do

Yuta slowly crawling off the cot on hands and knees as soon as Bryan is talking exit stage left

Actually I'mma headcanon the cameraman was Prince Nana sent to get a statement that's funny

Once again 'he's like a son to me' yes ok Bryan you were cheering enthusiastically and encouraging Swerve to beat the crap out of your 27 year old son at ringside you're sending mixed signals here

'CHECK. What happened to the last person who broke into my house.'

Love it. So we're still in the 50/50 space but it's been escalated to 'Retain / Peak Insane Automatic Violence.'

I don't have a comment here I just love that this is how he has always spoken and that he followed through.

Imagine being the other guy. You get back to your gang of likely other felony warrant holding criminals, and they say 'Where's the loot? And where's Sosa?

And you have to turn to them and deadly serious say 'I think Daniel Bryan killed him. I wasn't stopping but I could swear I hear him whispering something about cowardice, his kid, and cardiovascular health into his ear before Sosa's eyes closed.

#aew dynamite #monty mouths off #all elite wrestling #aew #bryan danielson #swerve strickland #daniel bryan #hangman adam page #aew wrestling #aew all in #long post #editing and reblogging a version with a Read more because i was Ranting last night lmao

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goatpaste · 1 month

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Here to start drama, what do you believe are the worst jojo ships?

lollll i love dramaaaa

UH hmm, idk if i can say worst but hmm

Im such a hater for anasui with jolyne or weather lol. Jolyne im like, it just doesnt make sense to me it feels like a camp performance. And with weather i dont get because im like, lol weather is 40 and would be so sick of anasuis thirst trap posting ass bullshit.

I dont get the popularity of prosciutto ships lol. He sure is some nasty blonde rat

UGH, Kira (jjl/p8) and Josefume? I really cant get into that one im sorry yall. their soooo sibling coded to me. these are doomed brothers.

Caesar and Joseph is nothing to me lol. I dont get the hype around it. Like beyond being a whamseph fan (which idk how thats not more popular as its the main character and his main anatagonist who beat the shit out of each other and are also married like... come oonnn) but Caesar and Joseph have no chemistry as a couple. they are just annoying and worse with each other and Joseph seemed more interested in Caesar after he died lol.

Jotaro and Kakyoin also similar to the last reason, i just do NOT see the chemistry between them. there is just nothing here that interest me like idk, kinda just giving very classic yaoi fangirl dynamic ig.

also Shipping Rohan with Jotaro?? i dont understand that one like, lol Jotaro would NEVER. this is the only post that got the dynamic

but with all this said, i be like 'i dont get it the appeal what are ppl seeing here' but then my ass over here making ship art of Hato and Gwess so i really have no room to talk lol

#i see a perfectly popular pairing and go #what if i enjoy the one that more obscure and no one else enjoys #my whamsephq enjoying ass over here

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chrkrose · 6 months

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Hello. I've seen you answer an ask about Lyanna Stark. It's rare to see people point faults in her. Usually, they say Rhaegar is to blame, and Lyanna's age dismiss her actions. Even those who say she was rickless still go back to say anyone who points out her mistakes is misogynistic. What do you think of this say? Should we really not talk about it? Is Elia having negative feelings toward her that taboo and un-adult like? I have mixed feelings. I read many posts that defend her and that as long as you are young/child, you don't get blamed, but the thing is, I feel that it's not the actual reason. I feel that they just want to reject her mistakes and use the age and gender as an excuse to make the opposite person feel like an asshole for pointing out that a young girl carries some responsibility. And in a scenario where she and Rhaegar lived, I feel she would still be with him, and that just feels selfish and inconsiderate toward Elia. Is it really that bad to dislike a young person? Was all she did because of naivety? Because to me, she wasn't naive in that aspect (love doesn't change a man's nature). What do you think of her? I really don't understand how she is liked that much as nothing but victim. Sometimes, it feels forced other times self insert or uncare. I feel it's all to the hype George gives her from being remembered to having a rare flower as her motif to being jon's mother and Arya's aunt and being Rhaegar's love. Or am I being too emotional about what I see as justice? I wish to hear your thoughts.

I do think that Rhaegar bears more responsibility than Lyanna, both because of his age and because the exact circumstances around how she left with him remain unclear. But honestly, I feel far more sympathy for Elia in this entire ordeal. She was a woman of color who suffered greatly because of this situation, and a far more interesting character if you ask me. That matters to me more than what people assume about Lyanna's motivations, especially the idealized "fanon" version.

If Lyanna went willingly, her youth can explain and justify some of her decisions, but I find it unfair to excuse all her choices as a result of her age because fans certainly don't extend the same generous view to Jon (14 years old), Daenerys (13 years old), Sansa (11 years old), Robb (16 years old), Myrcella (10 years old), Arya (11 years old), etc, all of whom struggle with difficult decisions around the same age or even younger. I think it’s disingenuous to absolve her of the weight of what happened when these characters and many more aren't afforded the same grace.

Lyanna fans and Lyanna/Rhaegar shippers face a dilemma. Either she went and stayed willingly even after knowing about what was happening – making her a hypocrite for running off with a married man after her whole discourse about Robert and a pretty selfish horrible person given the brutal murder of her brother and father, never mind the civil war that followed it – OR they must accept Rhaegar held her captive once her initial feelings changed after knowing about her brother and father/ Rhaegar lied to her and never told her the truth about what happened because he knew she would leave his ass. That destroys their idealized image of a loving prince, and destroys the perfect impossible predestined love story they made up about these two. They can't have it both ways, but they sure try.

But this is all beating around the bush. Let's be real here about why Lyanna (and Rhaegar/Lyanna as a couple) have a somewhat significant fandom for the amount of development they have in the actual text. The reasons are: 1) she's white, and 2) she's a blank slate for self-projection. Far more interesting characters and couples (cough Nettles and Daemon cough) exist with similar levels of textual development and don't get nearly the same attention. That speaks volumes. Lyanna and Rhaegar are a blank slate where they can paint whatever they want, as long as they can ignore the more uncomfortable parts and the ramifications of their story.

This bleeds into how Elia is treated by much of the fandom. It boils down to racism. Were the racial dynamics reversed, the fandom response to these women would be fundamentally VERY different. Just look at how Nettles/Daemon are treated compared to Rhaenyra for further proof. What's the difference there in the dynamic? A married prince meets a girl and falls in love with her, abandoning his wife and children for her. You don't see fandom contorting themselves into saying that Rhaenyra deserved it, that she had it coming, rejoicing in her death, gloating about how she went down. And Rhaenyra was actually a terrible person. Elia was nothing but a good woman, who was married off to a prince and paid a brutal price for his lack of care and abandonment, suffering until the end of her life and dying in one of the most horrible ways I've read about in this series. And yet she's demonized. Again. Racism.

The truth is, her fandom project their own desires onto Lyanna. They love the "not like other girls tm" idea of her, they love the pick me girl energy of her story, and she fits the bill for their self-inserts. The misogyny runs deep even among those who considers themselves her fans or shippers of the couple, and they don't even realize it.

My dislike of her is a lot influenced by her fanon version, because the truth is that there isn't enough material for me to actually care about canon Lyanna outside of the tragedy that was her life. Canon wise she might be interesting and maybe a character I would enjoy, but the truth is that there isn't enough there. And if I have to care about characters who have that little textual development, I find other characters such as Elia, Ashara Dayne, Nettles, etc, much more interesting, engaging and worth of my time

#anti lyanna stark #anti rhaegar targaryen #anti rhaegar x lyanna

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myteavsricochet · 7 months

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jeez guys, 10 asks on the same topic that basically all say the same thing is too much for me and my Italian brain that can't write in English 😭 I'll try to throw everything I think in various steps here, I don't know if it will make sense but it's the best I can offer. Then we will put a stone to rest on this subject, okay?

1. It's not true that the rwrb fandom is not supportive of the boys' projects and work and would like them to simply remain attached to the film their whole lives. It's a somewhat immature thought and you know very well that it's not like that. I use both this social and twitter a lot and I see how much hype and support there is for Mary & George from the people who madly love rwrb and have been talking about it for months. Everyone is so enthusiastic and excited about what Nick is doing. But we are also all human beings and I see absolutely no lack of respect in dreaming and wishing that the boys, despite their work, talk about a film that none of us were able to experience with promos, premieres, red carpets and everything else and exactly for that there is so much desire for it because we haven't heard much about it from them, not as it should have been at least.

Dreaming of hearing about a film that meant so much to so many people cannot be a sin or a shame. The feeling is so strong for many precisely because there wasn't everything that was supposed to be there for that film and it doesn't mean, I repeat, that Mary & George isn't respected or that Nick is expected to only talk about rwrb while doing promo for that project. Really no one thinks such a thing, no one is so delusional or disrespectful. Don't worry. But let people still be excited about rwrb, they don't do anything bad, they don't hurt anyone, Nick will carry on with his job anyway and nothing will change for you and him.

2. the podcast: I reiterate that context matters. I can understand if for some it may have seemed like a cold and detached response at first glance, especially if they only read quotes from the audio and didn't have a realistic idea of the interview. It's ok if you felt sad for a second, don't feel guilty about it if you didn't react badly against nick.

But let's definitely clarify what is said in the podcast: The interviewer talks to Nick about the impact of rwrb as fame and success after the film, he replies that the thing he is most interested in is how it opened doors for him to other opportunities job and the possibility of working on the projects that he really wants to do.

He meant that: more than fame he is happy that a film like that gave him this great chance to now do what he wants like an actor which is exactly what all actors want in their career.

He never said that that was the only thing that mattered to him and that was the only reason he made that film. He never said it.

Taylor also had a great chance with rwrb and we say it constantly, it opened so many doors for him, he will get new projects because of that movie, we see him now doing things he loves because of the success of that movie and he would say the same thing too.

In the podcast the question was specific and he answered specifically. For the rest we know how much Nick loves Henry. We have interviews where he talks about him and the film and Taylor with his heart on his sleeve. We have Matthew saying he protected Henry and knew him better than anyone. Better than him and Casey. We have Nick who in his first post after months says how hard it was not to talk about Henry. We have Nick who during the strike liked all the possible fancams on Henry because it was the only way he had to show that he was there with us. And many other things so it's absurd to think now that this has changed because it hasn't. We will have more interviews in the next few days where it seems clearly they will also talk about rwrb and we will hear more from him there.

One thing you constantly forget about is how different Nick and Taylor are in the way they approach things. Nick is more introverted, we'll probably never see him jumping and dancing while talking about rwrb like T does, but that doesn't mean he cares any less or doesn't have the desire to talk about it. Even during interviews for M&G he is always quite nervous and even embarrassed despite the fact that he is talking about the project he is promoting and of which he is very proud.

3. the sequel: I no longer have the strength to deal with this honestly, it's clear that until they give you the announcement you will never believe anything and it's easier to be negative than to put all the pieces together over these months and understand that you just have to be patient. Nobody today would do these constant teases about the sequel if there really wasn't the possibility or one of the lead actors wasn't interested. Taylor wouldn't keep saying he hopes for a sequel and it would be great to do so if he knew Nick wasn't on board or that his co-star hated that project. I swear to you, he's not that desperate, trust me.

The cast of rwrb is very close, all of them, even with nick and you see it constantly and there's really nothing more to say about this.

4. the haters: Those solo nick stans didn't need another reason to throw taylor and rwrb under the bus yet they found another excuse because people are stupid. The fact that they think he can actually say something like that about that movie with that intention and be happy about it shows how much they don't understand shit about who they follow. That there are also strange accounts solo taylor stan who always have to complain about something is equally true and they should all be collectively ignored and left alone because the reactions do more damage than the actual controversies.

I have nothing else to say and I don't think I will say anything else, thank you for getting this far and I apologize for the delirium. peace and love ❤️

#nicholas galitzine #taylor zakhar perez #rwrb

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littleweowmeow · 26 days

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I see you repost a lot of pro zuko post in the last weeks and I wanted to ask, have you notice how much more anti zuko post have been posted in the last months ? I don’t usually mind zuko metas but the last ones I’ve seen are sooooo full of bullshit, they’ll claim things that didn’t happen in the series or misinterpreting things, to make him appear more villainous or more unredeemable ? kind of weird.

i do understand that the sudden rise of zuko’s hate comes from fanon zuko who’s basically a whole ass new character and certainly not canon zuko, but it’s seriously annoying. like I feel that this happens also with Aang. he also gets shit on by soooo many people for the wrong reasons, always citing things that didn’t really happen (or at least not like it’s usually cited) and… is the atla fandom seriously regressing ? how is it possible to misinterpret things like that in a children show. ofc atla is pretty mature for a children show, but it’s also not some Faustian bible with hours long needed interpretation to understand something.

Oh, of course I noticed. Actually, I used to be a fan of reading canon/fanon Zuko comparison posts, but then I realized something. The people writing such posts (mainly Azula Stans) just took advantage of the hype around canon/fanon Zuko, and the one they call the "canon" Zuko is actually not Zuko from the series at all. Seriously, Zuko is much cooler than all this. In fact, this is just a covered-up hatred in order to expose their favorite (Azula) better than she really is, because of incorrect characteristics and other bullshit addressed to Zuko. In general, the tag "anti Zuko" is blocked because I will not tolerate this diarrhea in my feed, but it continues to appear. This is not a criticism or discussion at all, so it's not worth paying attention to.

It seems to me that Atla fandom has sunk to the point that when I see a person saying the right and ironically obvious things, I almost idolize that person because damn it, is there really a person with brains here. What is happening in the fandom is either a special incitement to hatred for God knows what reasons, or people are really degrading at the speed of light. I know that a lot of hatred for Zuko stems from the ship wars (it's just ridiculous), but there is another point. Due to Zuko, it is easier to put your favorite in a more favorable light (it does not matter what specific example we are talking about) For example, this idea that Zuko is a bad firebender is a lie hammered into his head by his abusive father and the show actively refutes this idea. Some people just benefit from picking it up, it's something like "woooo Zuko is a prince and he's had the best teachers all his life and he's still worse than the "character name". Although this is a complete discrediting of the facts and not a desire to take into account the fact that Zuko's mental problems had a strong effect on his bending. And of course this nonsense about him being bad because he's not a child prodigy. There are many such examples, some of them have become considered canon. For example, that he is bad at firebending and stupider than the rest. Now there is really a lot of mischaracterization and humiliation of Zuko, but this is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to make their favorite seem better. It's just not worth a drop of time.

About Aang, I don't often see content with him, but my God, the reason for almost all of Aang hate is the ship wars. I may be wrong, because I have never participated in ship wars, so this is just a look from the outside. I'm sure that Aang hate reasons are almost the same as what I said about Zuko.

#atla fandom bulshit #prince zuko #pro zuko #atla #aang #pro aang #anti azula stans #all my posts about ships are related to the protection of Zuko not the protection of ships #leave the boys alone #zuko's protection squad #there may be mistakes here as English is not my native language

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beauspot · 2 years

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why can’t black women have a romance holy shit. every person who hates sydcarmy is talking about some “why can’t men and women ever just be friends” like that’s not all we’ve been allocated for decades. i understand that a lot of women particularly 👋🏻 women want stories that don’t revolve around romance, and hey i like those stories too! BUT black women have not had the same oppurtunities to just be love interests in the same way y’all have. We’ve been relocated to undesirable best friend roles or oversexualized booty calls. Y’all swear we have so much representation and yet can only name like 10 shows spanning over DECADES to prove us wrong like if there’s so much romantic content with black women as leads why the fuck are you talking about the flash and the walking dead?

and then we have the marcus and sydney brigade. the ONLY reason y’all want marcus and sydney together is cause they both black, they have zero chemistry. prove to me otherwise, quickly. I understand that people are tired of seeing interracial relationships (which is not really a problem but that’s a post for another day 😒 y’all swear that “the media” is trying to trick black women into marrying out or something stupid like that when we all know black women marry in their race more than any other demographic. imma just say black women should go where they are loved and fuck the noise) but y’all do this with nearly every show. Pairing characters together cause they’re the same race even though they have nothing in common. Nonblack people love doing this which i know why but again not the post.

But what REALLY pisses me off is calling Chefs Kiss a mentor/mentee relationship and then proceeding to ship sydney and MARCUS???

like you can’t be serious. carmy so clearly sees syd as his equal proven by the fact he wants to revamp his BUSINESS, his LIVELIHOOD with her. someone he’s known the least amount of time.

We’ve discussed this before but we know why Jeremy is probably wary about romance because of how hypersexual his previous job was and i get that, but I have yet to see a sydcarmy fan who wants them rawdogging on the kitchen floor. Idk it’s strange the way this show is edited and the music choices, and the script is written if they intended to go no romance for them. I’m really interested to see what their dynamic is like next season if they’re going to change it moving forward to dissuade fans from shipping by separating the two(like stucky vibes) it won’t work but that’ll be very annoying.

The WORST thing the show runners could do is insert a new love interest, that would piss me off to no end and i would stop watching the show. In the latest article they said(writer or show runner don’t remember) they wanted a show with no romance plot so they better fucking stick to it. I don’t want carmy to get to a later season and they’ve introduced a palm colored love interest for him. i swear to god i will turn the show off.

Now I personally will continue to ship them i’ve done so with other ships with far less, but that doesn’t mean i’m not a little annoyed. I hope they stick to their word if that’s the case.

ALSO we need more black women as romantic leads so go read the brown sister novels (chloe brown, dani brown, and eve brown) and hype them up so we can get movies( or in a perfect world a TV SERIES 🤭) based on them

TLDR: it’s dumb to hate sydcarmy cause you personally hate interracial relationships, if they mean no romance they should do no romance, that article was dumb and didn’t need to come out when we’ve already heard from both lead actors they don’t like the ship. we got it the first time. also read the brown sisters and spread the word so we can get a tv show about them thanks.

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butterfly--empress · 4 months

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....About that Attack on Titan Series...

Well, well, well......I wasn't going to make this post, but fuck it, we here and I feel like ranting into the goddamn void, it's been a WHILE.

If you enjoyed this series from beginning to end and don't have the emotional maturity to understand that I don't fucking LIKE THIS SHIT. DO NOT REPLY

I don't have patience and I will block you on sight! As we fandom old's say: Don't Like? Don't Fucking Read!

Anyway onto the rant...

it's June 2024 and I finally after so many years, watched this show because it was recommended to me and I brought into the hype because I had NO IDEA just how derisive S4 and the series finale actually was back in the height of it's day.

I had always meant to eventually get around to watching the show and maybe even reading the manga alongside it, but as the years passed, I just never found the urge to pick it up.

And now that I have, after believing the show was great from beginning to end...

GOD, I sure wish I could get back the time I spent watching the entirety of Season 4, that Finale, and feeling utterly annoyed that a writer chose to end their story on such a nonsensical plot.

In fact, I sort of wished I never bothered at all to be quite honest.

The short of it: Seasons 1 to 3>>>>>>Season 4 and that awful ass Finale.

Very unfortunate too. This is just another case of 'great ideas, bad execution'.

And I'm not sorry but the more I think about it, the more I just cannot turn my brain off, suspend my disbelief and gaslight myself into accepting season 4 and that fucking finale as peak writing.

That shit was awful, the fact that seeing the latest interview from the creator himself, just reaffirms how strong the author's intent was when writing this last arc!

It wasn't the fact this was bad on accident, or that the creator ran out of ideas, OR the story got too complicated and complex, OR that he couldn't commit to what he already established in earlier seasons.

If his words are to be taken at face value from that interview:

It's not that this guy is a bad writer, Attack on Titan's last arc's messy writing:

-Plot holes and too many subplots that go nowhere

-Last minute ass-pulls and Deus Ex Machina that make no damn sense.

-Adding time travel-esque powers out of the blue, and it amounts to nothing in the end.

-Never giving an actual satisfying reason why Eren *couldn't defy his fate*.

--We not gonna talk about his mom...

-I'm not gonna bitch about that Ymir subplot about her loving her abusive ass slave master/husband, after what was already established before this point was fine by itself...nope, not going there...

-That god awful confusing asf 4yr time skip. (listen, I don't know NOR do I care at this point, if this time skip was elaborated on in the manga. This was just a poor attempt to hand wave away the obviously inconsistent switch OR lack of development to the characters I followed since ep 1.)

-The stagnation of already established characters we were with since the beginning and basically being replaced by new characters: the MINUTE the Marley characters took center stage, something in me just KNEW, the original crew were being replaced but hoping to GOD I WAS WRONG. --Turns out my gut feeling was correct and it makes me dislike these character more than I already did.

--Yeah, I really did not care AT ALL for the Marley crew. There's just something about shoehorning in new characters that I have no attachment to and telling me, they are now the real protagonists (who get sudden plot armor and make it alive by the end, with no real consequences...in a series that had no qualms about killing just about 90% of the characters I actually gave some fuck about and knew since ep 1 feels very contrived.)

-The unnecessary death of fan favorites that amounted to NOTHING

--I'm not...I'm just going to leave THIS ONE ALONE because I'll be here all fucking DAY and boy I'm doing enough ranting as it is.

~If You Know, You KNOW!~

-I'm not going to rant about the female characters because 1. we'll be here all day, 2. to be fair: most of the characters sort of fell flat regardless of gender anyway. (But I def get that the female cast in particular was done so dirty in the last arc. It's one thing for shounen writers to write one dimensional female characters...you have to be some kind of SPECIAL to create two-dimensional, even three-dimensional female characters only to downgrade them to their lowest common denominator. THE AUDACITY, THE INSULT TO MY FUCKING INTELLIGENCE!)

-I'm not going to bother about the shipping: it's obvious that a certain ship was going to be canon but god, do I really need to bitch about the utter lack of meaningful development to get it from point A to B?

--Then again, maybe it was supposed to be toxic? Lord knows it fits well into the clusterfuck of the last arc of this story.

--Honestly, I was more into a non canon ship that developed thru friendship naturally onscreen anyway, so I have no horse in this race.

-The BIG ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM of mixes messages, that maybe, certain extreme ideologies are correct and justified.

--Yeah, we gonna leave this one alone too...Honestly because this is actually the one thing I don't think was intentional, even if the blatant implications of it are there...and I don't want to make assumptions of the man's politics and what he believes, and his worldview (outside of his personal feelings about himself), I don't know him personally.

--I will however, rant to high hell and I do think he utilized and underutilized the allegory he borrowed from real life history; which led to the unfortunate 'Fantastical Racism' that happens in AoT.

--The slaughtering of poignant thematic themes, period!

--That bad ending (not that it's tragic per se, but just thematically bad).

~~Are you starting to see a pattern??~~

ALL THIS TO SAY:

He didn't WANT to allow his story to progress 'naturally' in the direction it 'wanted to go'.

Isayama didn't want to commit to anything he established. The story is the way it is, because he INTENDED it to be this way.

Eren fails to be a great hero OR antihero (depending on how one sees it) because Isayama doesn't think he, himself is a great person even if others tell him he is. (Ring a Bell?)

And I think it's a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. Your time was wasted theory crafting, giving the creator the benefit of doubt, all for him to basically say, because he suffered from a serious case of 'Imposter Syndrome', you are an idiot for ever thinking this story was great, was suppose to be more than it is, and that his success isn't earned because he doesn't feel that way and you have to feel that way too.

The creator wanted a nihilistic, myopic, depressive ending. Worldbuilding, lore, cohesive storytelling be DAMNED, because he let his negative feelings about himself bleed way too much into his work.

He wanted the message if there was one at all: there's no point in putting hope in humans because 'we're all just trash anyway', people will always fight, good people shouldn't sacrifice their lives to help humanity or put any hope into humans evolving to change our ways, so why try to find another way, and maybe 'Hitler was right'.

It gets worse when the creator HIMSELF, out of his OWN MOUTH, stated; if he WANTED TO, he could have given the story a better proper send off. He knows what he wrote, and he knows that the natural, better progression of the story he created would have been better received by the fans and critics alike, if he allowed it to go in that direction, but he didn't want that.

Granted: I'm all for writers doing ultimately what they want with their stories, for better or worse.

But that's not what he wanted. And that's what I take from all of this.

However what pisses me off, is that he should have been HONEST about the story/themes/message he wanted to portray from the start.

I don't have a problem with tragic, depressive tales and it's themes, if it is done right. This was not done right and we know it wasn't, because you can look at past and even present discussions and arguments throughout this fandom and see that people have valid reasons to be very upset. (No one likes for their intelligence to be insulted when the story takes them out of the immersion to the point, that the critical thinking jumps in, and now a person is starting to realize that a lot of writing choices that they ignored before, because the story was still good, are now flaws. Stories don't have to be PERFECT, but once those flaws can't be ignored, people begin to see them as the red flags that they are. We might be hopeful, that these flaws or plot holes will be course corrected at some point, but we will not ignore, when we see the trajectory of a story's plot going downhill to the point of no return. AoT's story went beyond the Point of No Return...ON PURPOSE!)

What grinds my gears about this entire situation is that, we have a creator here, who purposely build up a story, world, characters, and themes that the audience expected would follow through and make sense, given what we have of the story.

Only for the creator to fail spectacularly by trying to fucking subvert the audiences' expectations, and seeming to really not give a damn that it's what he wanted to do from the start.

Despite whatever issues he feels or has about himself, it sours whatever sympathy I may have for the guy, because in a way, what he decided to do of his own free will, seems very jaded and quite narcissistic...

I SAID WTF I SAID

It's the audacity for me.

People were lead on, lied to, and wasted their time for nothing.

Character motivations, deaths, sacrifices, the themes, worldbuilding, all of it, amounted to NOTHING.

We were idiots to put good faith into the author. We were idiots to think, this story was worth it. For some of us, it felt like a slap in the face if you were an original fan since the story's inception and honestly, your resentment for sticking with it til the end for ten plus years for an unsatisfying bullshit finale is very valid.

TL:DR: AoT's ending is trash because the Author wanted it to be trash, and that's really, unfortunately what it all amounts to.

Soo, yeah, I don't think I can really say much more than that.

Man should have just stuck with Keeping It Fucking Simple Simon and just ended the story where literally everybody dies from fighting giant ass flesh eating zombies called titans.

Okay NOW I'M DONE WITH THIS!

Edit: GOD, and here I thought I finally fallen into another great shounen on the same level as FMA:BH after the constant disappointment, that is MHA's last arc.

...Maybe I'm getting too old for anime, at least 'shounen'....idk...anymore

At least Spy x Family can't hurt me...

#attack on titan #anti aok #anti snk #aot critical #anti Hajime Isayama #anti attack on titan #as the kids say #this show was mid #it was great #until it became mid #at the start of season 4 #i wish i could #turn my brain off #but there was just so many #things i couldn't ignore #not to mention confusing as hell #at best i was just bored #at worst the story just got increasingly annoying #and then the epilogue from hell

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nuvoloso · 1 year

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I'll be there.

Oikawa x masc reader (he/they)

Support is something I just know that silly little volleyball captain craves from a s/o. This is about somebody who tries their hardest to give him that, even if sometimes it's a swing and a miss.

This one's in first person, y/n is the soccer captain at seijoh, dating Oikawa, yeah yeah you get it. the little ~~ means change in view or time, it'll make sense as you read.

[Side note: I play soccer, so if I write in another sport, it's always gonna be that until somebody tells me to do something else so yeah slay]

Word Count: 4233

Spring was always a busy time for me, but especially so this year. The captain of the volleyball team, Oikawa Tōru, and I had (to the dismay of his many fans) started dating. Not only were they devastated because surprise! He's gay, but now he was also taken. I loved it though, they'd swarm him and I'd infiltrate their ranks, my lovely Tōru only embracing me, not giving those girls a second glance. Sometimes I'd play with them and flirt with him loudly, just to see how long before they got so jealous they had to leave. Honestly such a fun game to play.

Anyway, spring was crazy this year because Tōru had a ton of volleyball shit going on, and I had soccer tournaments too. We'd made each other promise when we got serious that we'd make it to each other's games whenever we had the chance. Of course we both understood the importance of keeping grades and appearances up since we both wanted to go into the athletic field post-grad. However, we also understood the importance of supporting each other, so we really did try our best.

Sometimes for me that meant if I knew I had a game the same day or I wouldn't be able to be there for whatever reason, I came to practices leading up to it or took him out to dinner afterwards.

When I could make it, despite not totally understanding everything, I cheered louder than anybody else when Tōru was up for serve or if he did something especially dazzling.

Today, he would be playing against Karasuno, which he was especially excited about. He had been telling me all about it yesterday, I guess there was this Kageyama kid that he went to junior high with that he'd be playing against for the first time. He said that during a practice match they'd had not long ago, Kageyama and some other kid had done some kind of super fast move that had upset a lot of players on the team. He was really looking forward to cracking down on them, it was almost scary.

"You'll be there today right?" He asked me, shutting the door to his locker. I was leaning up against the others next to his, thinking about my schedule today.

"I should be, unless something comes out of the blue. I'm not anticipating anything getting in the way though." He grinned at me, his smile infectiously making its way onto my face. "You better not be lame." I threatened, but he brushed it off and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the cafeteria so we could get lunch.

"I'm never lame, and this game is gonna be fast paced so even you will find it entertaining, I can almost promise it." His hand gripped mine tightly, like he always did when he was excited or determined.

I smiled at him as we made our way down the stairs, "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it later."

As we got our food and looked around for a place to sit, a few others from the volleyball team were furiously waving us over to them. Tōru dragged me over to them, despite my wanting to sit with guys from my team.

"Y/n! Are you coming to the game tonight? Gonna watch us kick Karasuno's ass?" Iwaizumi asked, I guess Tōru wasn't the only one hyped for this game.

"I should be, I've got nothing on my schedule for later. Is everybody so excited for this thing? I thought Karasuno wasn't any good at volleyball anymore." The team all shook their heads, everyone started talking at once about different people on the team and what they could do, a lot of the conversation based around the freak duo.

The team continued to chatter away about the game and everything they were looking forward to, I just quietly listened, catching every third word. Tōru's games were always in the evening which was nice because it meant they were usually just after when I finished up at practice. But, it also meant I had to either shower and change in a massive hurry and bolt to the gym, or I had to just go in my soccer stuff, I did a healthy balance of both.

My mind had drifted to thinking about what drills we'd be doing today, hoping that it wasn't going to be a push day since I wanted to get cleaned up before the game later. I felt a hand on my shoulder, lightly shaking me which brought me back to the present.

"You in there somewhere, y/n?" Tōru asked, I cracked a smile and briefly apologized for spacing out. "Do you really find my favorite sport in the world so boring?" I couldn't immediately tell if he was joking or not, so I decided to play it safe and assume he was serious.

"Of course not, I was just thinking about the plan for practice today, I might try to convince coach to let us have a rest day so I can have time to clean up before I come watch. I'd never think volleyball was boring, you play it after all." He seemed to like that answer.

Soon enough, the bell had rang and we parted ways with the rest of his team and went back up to our classrooms. I walked with Tōru to his and lingered with him until I really needed to get to my own. He pouted as I left him, but I just laughed at the stupid look on his face and made my way out.

When I got to my own class I found a few of my teammates talking to each other, greeting me as I entered.

"Hey captain! Excited for later today?" One of them asked, I naturally nodded, assuming he was talking about the volleyball game later. It looked like he was going to say something else, but our teacher entered and they quickly dispersed getting back into their seats.

The later half of the day went by slowly, but eventually we were released. Alongside my few teammates that were in my class, we headed down to the school's main gym so we could get changed before getting out to the field. My team had an interesting energy today, it seemed like they were all pretty pumped for practice even though it was a regular day.

I didn't say anything though, and focused on getting changed and making sure all my stuff was good to go in case I needed to get out quickly to catch Tōru's game. Needless to say, I was very determined to make it to this one. I hadn't been able to make it to one of Tōru's real games in a while since they nearly always lined up with my own, or I had practice matches with other teams during them.

I knew Tōru was always a bit let down that I couldn't watch him play as often as he wanted me to, and I honestly couldn't blame him. I, of course, loved it when he came to my games to support me but never really affected me when he wasn't there, at least not as much as it did him. Since I couldn't honestly remember the last game I had made it to, I was absolutely going to make it to this one. Plus, Tōru was beyond excited for this match and I wanted him to enjoy it as much as he could.

When I made it out onto the field, the coach greeted me and I helped him finish setting up cones and getting the practice jerseys and water stations set up. Soon enough practice had started and things were pretty normal for the first half, it was when we were taking our larger break that I noticed something different.

The managers were handing out our official away uniforms, as if we were going to be playing a game. It was odd enough that we were getting our uniforms, but to be getting the away ones was even stranger. Generally, if we hosted a match or practice match, we got to wear our home jerseys, and the other team would compensate for that and wear whichever of theirs differed from ours the most.

It's not as if I didn't like our away jerseys, I liked them better than the normal teal and white ones for sure. The away's had to be decently different from the home's so they were mainly black with white and turquoise details.

As our manager handed me mine, I thought to ask her what we needed them for.

"I thought we weren't having any practice games today, why are you handing out the uniforms?" She gave me a weird look.

"You don't remember? Coach said that Date Tech would be coming over for a practice match today because it was the only day that worked for them. He sent out a mass email about it a few days ago, don't you check your emails?" God why? Of all the days they had to surprise me with a practice match it had to be today?

I sighed, "I guess I must've missed it, thank you though." She looked puzzled at my lack of excitement towards the match, but didn't ask about it. "Hey coach?" I called, getting up to meet him before I got changed.

"Yeah, what's up--is something wrong? You look a little distressed." I nervously wrung my jersey as if it wasn't already bone dry.

"I just, didn't realize we had a practice match today. How long do you think it'll go for?" Coach was surprised at my question, usually I wanted these matches to go on forever but asking when it was over was new.

"Well, it all depends on you guys. We'll start as soon as they get here, but we're going to do a full match. It's what? 16hr right now?" I checked my watch, nodding. "Ok so we'll probably be done right around 18hr, maybe earlier but it depends."

I pursed my lips, sighing quickly but thanking him for humoring my questions. Tōru's game starts at 17hr 30m, and he said they usually last about an hour. I might be able to catch the last half or so if I hurry.

I watched the Date Tech bus pull in, and silently begged them to just go faster. I had no time to waste, I needed this game to start as soon as possible.

Luckily with everyone's excitement surrounding the match, they wanted to get going too, and things started shortly after the visitors offloaded their bus. We greeted each other, and play began shortly after.

When half time rolled around it was just turning 17hr, which meant after our ten minute break, we really would be finishing right at 18hr. I pulled out my phone to shoot Tōru a text, though I was sure he wouldn't read it since he was likely getting ready for his match.

Y/n [hey I'm not going to be on time to the match, I got blindsided by a practice game. I might be able to see the later half or so of the match]

I was going to just put my phone away after I sent it, but I saw that he had read the message, and the dots that meant he was typing.

Tōru [hope you can make it <3]

That was all I got. And I could practically feel the tribulation on his end through the simple message. I threw my phone back into my bag and put my palms into my eyes for a few moments, until I could tell I was being watched.

"You ok y/n?" Someone asked, I moved my hands from my eyes and looked up towards the voice. It was our goalie, and he was offering me a hand up.

I groaned, "I was supposed to go to Tōru's match that starts in thirty minutes, but now I don't know if I'll make it. I promised him I'd be there too, but I had no clue we had a match today." He gave me a very knowing look.

"Ah, yeah I get it. My girl's on the tennis team and our schedules never line up. Maybe these clouds will start doing something interesting and we'll get released early." I looked up at the sky and noticed that he may be right. The clouds were dark and looked about ready to dump some rain on us, I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it earlier.

I loved playing in the rain, I thought it was fun and challenging but the coaches definitely didn't feel the same way, they saw it more as a danger since it made everything so slick. We had a tent set up so our stuff was never at risk of getting drenched, but soccer was an outdoor game and the weather was unpredictable.

Play resumed again, and as we went on I could feel droplets of water setting on my skin. Just a little downpour, please. Just enough to let me get outta here soon. As if the sky was listening to me, the droplets doubled in size and quantity and soon rain was coating the field and everyone on it.

"Alright everybody, we're gonna stop here for today and we'll pick this up again another day! Get your things and get inside to dry off!" The coaches were yelling, everybody running to the sidelines to get their shit and leave. I was probably the fastest, checking my watch it was 17hr 50m which meant Tōru had been playing for at least twenty minutes, and I was gonna make it before it ended.

I grabbed my things and about as quickly as I could, changed out of my cleats and into an old pair of sneakers I only ever wore outside because I didn't care how dirty they got. I threw on my jacket and ran to the street in front of Seijoh to try to get a taxi so I didn't have to try to run to the Sendai City Gym.

That, was where my luck ran out. The streets were empty, not a taxi in sight which meant I had to call for one and wait for it to show up. Thankfully there was one nearby and it didn't take too long to show up but I was losing time. The driver handed me a towel she had on hand and told me to dry myself off as well as I could because she didn't want water all over her cab. I apologized profusely as I did my best to dry myself off.

We arrived at the gym a handful of minutes later, the kind taxi driver giving me a disposable umbrella she had, telling me to not get drenched again. I thanked her over and over while I gave her some cash for the ride, and ran as fast as I could to the gym's entrance. When I got there I quickly changed out of my disgusting shoes, shoving them into my bag and pulling out a cleaner pair of hightops to wear. I ran into the bathroom to take a look at myself, running my hands through my hair a few times and dabbing off some residual rain and sweat that I'd missed while in the taxi.

When I deemed myself mostly presentable I jogged through the building until I heard the sounds of volleyball. There were a few different sections that had teams going, and to my luck Tōru's was the last one I checked. I ran up the stairs leading to the bleachers, but didn't bother to find a seat, I just got as close as I could to where Tōru was on the court.

I looked at the score, it was the third set, and about in the middle from what I knew about the volleyball score system. I looked around the court, recognizing a few players on the other team from what I had heard, and noting the positions of everyone on Tōru's team.

To my joy, he was going in to serve next. I tried calling out to him, but the crowd of Seijoh supporters drowned me out. Luckily I caught Iwaizumi's eye, a grin appearing on his face when he realized that I'd made it. I couldn't hear anything he was saying, but as the team was quickly transitioning he got Tōru's attention and pointed up at me.

When his eyes met mine, I could immediately see a change in his demeanor, his eyes lighting up with a vigor unlike anyone else. He made a small heart with his hands as he walked back behind the court line, I returned the gesture, and Tōru started his serving routine.

The rest of the game flew by, it really was one of the most captivating volleyball games I'd seen. Both teams fought viciously; any bystander could feel the hunger between the two teams, but our team's skill was just higher than the other's. The match ended with Seijoh on top, 33-31, and upon their win I ran down to the entrance to the gym so I could meet Tōru.

I had been beyond crestfallen when I'd gotten the text from y/n saying that they had a practice match. It had been ages since they'd come to one of my games, so I was really looking forward to having him here, but I should've known that something would come up.

Iwa thinks that's why we lost the second set, because I thought y/n would have arrived by then, but ultimately didn't show. If I'm being honest, I had given up on them showing up, I knew he wouldn't abandon his team or a practice match just to watch my game.

To say I was shocked when Iwa yelled at me to look in the stands, is a major understatement. When I saw them there, waving and smiling at me from the stands, nearly falling into the court from leaning so hard against the rail, I knew my heart skipped a beat or two. He looked a bit crazy, if I had to guess it was raining and he just sped from his game to here without changing. They looked fantastic in their soccer uniform, the jersey being a bit snug helped show off some of his great features, plus his skin glistened from the rain and probably sweat that coated his skin. That is, not to mention, the look on his face as they watched me, pride and love just emanating from his eyes and smile.

I felt a new energy run through me after I saw them, and we battled the shit out of Karasuno, but they held their ground. I was almost happy for Tobio, he played...better than he used to. I wouldn't say well or great, but he was improving if ever slowly.

When the match ended and we thanked the fans, I didn't see y/n up there anymore, but I wasn't worried. I knew where they'd be.

As we wrapped things up, I half-ran to the entrance of the gym and saw my lovely partner waiting for me. They nearly tackled me in a hug, telling me how proud they were and how incredible the game was. It felt amazing to hear that, and to know that they actually had seen me play rather than had just heard me tell him about it.

I kissed him when he had paused, and I could feel him smiling beneath my lips. He laced his fingers together and rested them on my lower back, keeping me closer to them while my hands were on his face. We stayed like that for a few minutes, trading kisses and just enjoying the moment we had together that came so rarely.

Eventually, y/n pulled their face away from mine and watched my eyes for a handful of seconds before he decided to say anything.

"I told you I'd be here." They said, a slight smirk emerging on their face.

I rolled my eyes, "You said that you'd be able to watch the whole thing! You only got to see the last half of the final set!" He pulled his hands off of my back and put them up in front of him defensively.

"Hey it's not my fault! I checked my email again and I didn't see anything from anybody about a match today! I really did think I had the day off from practice matches!" I sighed as dramatically as I could, and let the topic drop.

Though suddenly remembering what he'd looked like when they'd got here I asked, "Why did you look soaked when you got here? And you're still in your uniform and your hair is..." My eyes widened a bit, and y/n laughed, coming his hands through their wet hair a few times, catching a snag or two from whatever had gotten it so wet and frazzled.

"We were still playing our match when it started just dumping rain, and the coaches canceled the rest of it. Since it was just Date Tech and they're not too far away, they didn't feel bad about canceling the match rather than trying to move it inside." I hummed, that made enough sense. "I had to call a taxi to get here though, and that poor driver was so mad at me for getting in her car soaked through, so she tossed me a towel and a disposable umbrella and I tried to dry off before I got here." They gestured to the somewhat dryer parts of their uniform, but shook their head chuckling in defeat. "I guess I didn't do a great job."

"Yeah you're gross, and in desperate need of a shower and dry clothing." Y/n only aggressively nodded, but claimed that all of their stuff was either still in his locker at the school or super dirty and in his bag.

I was trying to think of something to do when Iwa joined us, laughing at y/n's state. They joked back and forth about how gross the other looked, when Iwa tossed me my duffle bag. "You left this in the gym, I thought maybe you'd forgotten it. And dude," He said shaking his head at y/n, "You seriously gotta do something, you smell like shit."

"Thank you so much Iwa I had no idea, your input is so appreciated and valued and will be thought about heavily throughout the rest of my life." Y/n loudly and sarcastically proclaimed.

"Damn right!" Iwa sneered back, their bickering finally coming to an end. Iwa excused himself to help pack up the team's things, and it was just me and y/n again.

Looking down at the bag Iwa had thrown to me, I had an idea. "Y/n," I said, gathering his attention from his previous interaction, "I've got a spare club t-shirt and a pair of sweats in here that you can wear after you rinse off. I'll just put my jacket on and wear my uniform on the way back."

He tried to protest, insisting that I get changed since I just finished a game, but I wouldn't have it. Y/n was almost shivering and I could tell he was trying to hide it, they were barely dry from the rain, and they'd worked hard during the practice match not that long ago. When he'd conceded, I showed them where the showers were and left my bag with him, deciding to just sit outside the room and wait for him.

I pulled out my phone, and found that there were a handful of notifications from different social apps and my messages. I checked my messages first, seeing that they were nearly all from y/n, he'd texted me what they thought of a play every time it happened. I smiled, that was one of their more adorable habits. The other notifications were mentions from pictures that y/n had added to their stories or had just posted of me and the team.

I loved having y/n here to watch my games, I loved having their support and their love during these important times of my life. It meant the world to me that they supported me through all of this, even if they couldn't watch the game live. I could only hope to return the favor the next game they had.

Y/n emerged from the washroom, now looking much more put together, and also looking quite well in my clothes. They were a bit small on them in a few places, but I knew they wouldn't mind, and I certainly didn't care either.

"I saw your messages, and the stuff you posted, all very cute!" I grinned, him smiling back at me and taking my free hand, helping me stand up.

"I've gotta let the world know how proud and lucky I am to be with you." I felt my face flush, and he took the opportunity to land a quick kiss on my lips before pulling me towards the exit of the building. "Come on sunshine, we can't keep everybody waiting, they'll start making up stories."

I knew he was right, and together we went back out to meet everyone else.

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