#but i am Hating the western push so much

[princebeomgyu]

maybe a hot take but i think hybe should just let txt write and produce their own music from now on because it’d be better

[ironmanstan]

.

[spacerockfloater]

Being a female viewer and hating Criston Cole is deranged.

I have to get this off my chest. The blind hatred that Criston is receiving from women is insane and I’m going to explain why.

For context, I am talking about Show Criston, not Book Criston. Comparing two standalone versions of a story is silly.

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that so many women, who are the primary victims of utilitarian relationships, would ever come together and shit on Criston for enduring such a situation.

I’m sorry, but how many of you have been used by men? How many of you have been reduced to one night stands, situationships and placeholder wives? How many of you have been deemed “not good enough” to be an exclusive partner? I log into tiktok and I see NOTHING but stories of broken women who are just used for sex, money, care and whatnot by men, and then they are tossed away like worthless trash while said men continue their pursuit of the ideal woman. Being used by men just for sex and being denied the status of girlfriend, let alone wife, is probably one of the worst plagues women are experiencing in the western world because the MOMENT we were emancipated, men understood that they don’t owe us shit anymore and instead of treating us with respect, they decided to grab whatever they can and give nothing back. Do not tell me that there are women out there that are fine with this arrangement because the multiple “GWM while I tell you about the guy that was with me for 12 years and then married someone else” tell a different story, one of multiple women’s dignities being trampled by hungry men. My heart breaks for every woman (EVERY woman, cis, trans, EVERY woman) who has been called by a man she loves just for sex, for every woman whose man never wanted to be seen in public with her, for every woman who had to hear that her man is not ready for a relationship only to witness him getting engaged to another woman 2 weeks after. I hope you overcome this and become stronger and I am glad that we are finally supporting one another.

How can we then, the women who are helping other female victims rise up and speak out against this kind of abuse, push Criston down and tell him to suck it up and accept being Rhaenyra’s plaything? Have we no mercy? Are we so hungry for revenge against men that we’d want them to endure the same humiliation that we did, as if one fictional man’s suffering would bring us justice? Are we so jealous that Criston didn’t sit down and just take it like the rest of us, but instead spoke up and removed himself from that situation? Or are we so gullible that we accept what the screenwriters shove down our throats and unknowingly support the patriarchic view that if you’re being used by someone you should just accept it?

I can hear some of you arguing that “Oh, this is different because Rhaenyra is royalty!” as if being used and tossed by a powerful person somehow makes the situation any better? Would it be okay if a rich person wanted to constantly use you for sex while he keeps looking for a better woman to be by his side, just because he values his wealth and status more? Rhaenyra straight up sneered at the idea of a simple life with him. She straight up told him that HE is not worth as much as her crown. OUCH. Even though I can’t even begin to imagine the pain of being told you are not enough by your loved one, it was Rhaenyra’s right to choose what her priorities are, but WHY would he have to accept being her sidepiece? “These were different times”: does this make it any less devastating for the victim? And he was a victim because Rhaenyra still used Criston and misled him by constantly complaining about how she HATES her duties for YEARS and then luring him to break his oath. Do you think he would have still slept with her if he was aware that moments ago, Rhaenyra was begging on her knees to be fucked by Daemon and only turned to Criston because her first option was no longer available? Like, the man was contemplating having sex with her and resisted her for a good fucking while, so imagine how quickly he would have turned around and walked out that door if he had that information beforehand. You know why? Because he loved her. He loved her to the point that he broke his oath for her, the oath of a station he FOUGHT FOR IN A WAR. He shed blood and sweat and risked his life for the mere opportunity to gain that position. This was ALL he had, he came from NOTHING and he was still willing to toss it all away for Rhaenyra not once, but twice. It wasn’t just sex he wanted because we never see him have sex again after that. He became vulnerable and gave up everything that he was to be with Rhaenyra. He was willing to abandon his whole identity for her sake. Is this not what the ideal partner is? Ready to abandon everything for your shake? Everything he fought for, tooth and nail? Was he unreasonable in thinking that Rhaenyra was willing to do the same for him? Was he crazy to think that because he was ready to put everything he FOUGHT for aside for her shake, Rhaenyra would also put aside a duty she was handed and actively seem to hate for him too? Fuck no! After hearing her constant talk about how she hates her father, her duties, her refusal to wed other men, how she is trapped as a princess, how people have no idea how much it SUCKS being her, why would he not assume that she’d be willing to give it all up for him, as he’d do for her We never see Rhaenyra even TRY to be a ruler, just complain about it. Of course it would be a fucking shock to him hearing her say “Lol dude, I actually do kinda want this”.

Criston was actually the only person in the series that wanted Rhaenyra for her, not her money or crown. I’m not saying she had to follow him, it was her right to refuse him, but his willingness to lead a simple life with just her has got to mean something. And don’t give me that “he only wanted to redeem his honour by marrying her” crap, because first of all Criston nutted up and admitted everything to Alicent and was ready to face death without EVER blaming Rhaenyra for anything, and second of all, oh no, how dare a human being have ethical values and desire to live with dignity in society’s broad light rather than move in the shadows as the princess’s secret boytoy! Bad, bad Criston for feeling you have to atone for your sins. Maybe we as people have become so corrupt that we envy those who wish to walk a virtuous path in life. Or maybe y’all have become so fond of the unhinged unapologetic character trope because it feels “original” (even if it’s ridiculously overused nowadays) that you’ve actually forgotten what characters with good morals are. Like, picking your fave war criminal and rolling with them because you enjoy good drama, especially in a show that’s meant to provide entertainment, is one thing, but passionately stating that Criston had to submit to that humiliation is something else entirely.

Finally, let’s ditch the Criston being a misogynist bullshit because he had NO issue obeying Rhaenyra before their affair or Alicent. And he is ALWAYS true to himself and his values, because even after everything he endured, he did not use Alicent’s anger as an excuse to take revenge on Rhaenyra and harm her children. Criston never betrayed her, Rhaenyra used him and he walked away and he went towards the only person who seemed to spare him some sympathy and understand him and not condemn him for his crimes even if he hated himself, which is typical victim mentality. And don’t get me started on the Joffrey incident because y’all tore Cole to SHREDS for it. Joffrey had it fucking coming. You don’t go up to people’s faces, especially ones you don’t know, threaten them by telling them you know their secret, a secret that SHAMES them and burdens them to the point they’re ready to commit suicide, and all but directly call them a whore. What the fuck did he think was going to happen? They’d shake hands? Piss off. Let this be a lesson to anyone that doesn’t know how to keep their mouths shut and their noses out of other people’s business. Also, mocking his suicide attempt makes my stomach turn. Just take a moment to consider all the young women who just like him, reluctantly surrendered their virginities to men only to find out they were nothing but sex dolls in their eyes, all these girls whose trust led to their secret being spread and them getting ridiculed and slut shamed for it: how many girls have taken their own lives because they found living with such a burden unbearable?

For the love of everything you hold sacred, please wake up. The narrative that you can be used by someone powerful and you have to accept it because that’s the way things are is a man’s construct. Do not let them fool you.

[palant1r]

my boy Six!

He's got amnesia about his personal life from the gunshots but has other memories he can piece together to get an idea of his past. He's from the Western Shoshone nation, which is currently intermittently at war with the Legion, though that war has eased up as the Legion focuses its efforts on the NCR. He left home because he wanted to see the world, and being a courier allowed him to be a messenger between a ton of different tribal governments. Tribal governments after the war tend to use beads as currency, so he's got two very simple beaded necklaces as emergency funds.

He's a real smart cookie and has a silver tongue, and prefers to get out of situations without fighting if he can help it. This did not work out for him while trying to deal with families on the Strip, where despite fully intending to solve things peacefully, him and Veronica ended up having to beat their way out of both Gomorrah and the Ultra-Luxe.

Between his speech, lockpick and science skills, his ass is NOT being kept outta anything he wants to be in. And he loves being in locations and safes and systems and situations. Hates minding his own business.

He loves making friends, and started off his adventure just wanting to get his delivery back and then get back to his job, which he loves for the chance to meet new people and see new things. But the people he met along the way, from Boone's firsthand experience with Legion brutality to Cass's suffering at the hands of the current economic titans to Veronica's struggle to get the Brotherhood's head out of his ass, made him realize how much was at stake, and when he found out just how much power he had...well, Arcade's views on independence were the nail in the coffin, and Six has been fumbling around trying to figure out how the hell to overthrow three different governments and start a new one ever since.

He just joined the Followers of the Apocalypse, and is currently on fairly good terms with the NCR, though given how much they're dedicated to replicating settler colonialism there's no way he's letting them push past the Colorado.

He's a chronic junk hoarder, which has been made worse ever since he got the option to store shit at the Lucky 38. There is so much mac and cheese. So much armor. So, so much Sunset Sarsaparilla.

He's currently trying to use that Sunset Sarsaparilla to woo Arcade, and loves helping Arcade with his research.

hes my sweet cheese my good time boy and i am taking questions

[tangibletechnomancy]

Neural Nets, Walled Gardens, and Positive Vibes Only

the crystal spire at the center of the techno-utopian walled garden

Anyone who knows or even just follows me knows that as much as I love neural nets, I'm far from being a fan of AI as a corporate fad. Despite this, I am willing to use big-name fad-chasing tools...sometimes, particularly on a free basis. My reasons for this are twofold:

Many people don't realize this, but these tools are more expensive for the companies to operate than they earn from increased interest in the technology. Using many of these free tools can, in fact, be the opposite of "support" at this time. Corporate AI is dying, use it to kill it faster!

You can't give a full, educated critique of something's flaws and failings without engaging with it yourself, and I fully intend to rip Dall-E 3, or more accurately the companies behind it, a whole new asshole - so I want it to be a fair, nuanced, and most importantly personally informed new asshole.

Now, much has already been said about the biases inherent to current AI models. This isn't a problem exclusive to closed-source corporate models; any model is only as good as its dataset, and it turns out that people across the whole wide internet are...pretty biased. Most major models right now, trained primarily on the English-language internet, present a very western point of view - treating young conventionally attractive white people as a default at best, and presenting blatantly misinformative stereotypes at worst. While awareness of the issue can turn it into a valuable tool to study those biases and how they intertwine, the marketing and hype around AI combined with the popular idea that computers can't possibly be biased tends to make it so they're likely to perpetuate them instead.

This problem only gets magnified when introduced to my mortal enemy-

If I never see this FUCKING dog again it will be too soon-

Content filters.

Theoretically, content filters exist to prevent some of the worst-faith uses of AI - deepfakes, true plagiarism and forgery, sexual exploitation, and more. In practice, many of them block anything that can be remotely construed as potentially sexual, violent, or even negative in any way. Frequently banned subjects include artistic nudity or even partial nudity, fight scenes, anything even remotely adjacent to horror, and still more.

The problems with this expand fractally.

While the belief that AI is capable of supplanting all other art forms, let alone should do so, is...far less widespread among its users than the more reactionary subset of its critics seem to believe (and in fact arguably less common among AI users than non-users in the first place; see again: you cannot give a full, educated critique of something's failings without engaging with it yourself), it's not nonexistent - and the business majors who have rarely if ever engaged with other forms of art, who make up a good percentage of the executives of these companies, often do fall on that side, or at least claim to in order to make more sales (but let's keep the lid on that can of worms for now).

When this ties to existing online censorship issues, such as a billionaire manchild taking over Twitter to "help humanity" (read: boost US far-right voices and promote and/or redefine hate speech), or arcane algorithms on TikTok determining what to boost and deboost leading to proliferation of neologisms to soften and obfuscate "sensitive" subjects (of which "unalive" is frequently considered emblematic), including such horrible, traumatizing things as...the existence of fat people, disabled people, and queer people (where the censorship is claimed to be for their benefit, no less!), the potential impact is apparent: while the end goal is impossible, in part because AI is not, in fact, capable of supplanting all other forms of art, what we're seeing is yet another part of a continuing, ever more aggressive push for sanitizing what kinds of ideas people can express at all, with the law looking to only make it worse rather than better through bills such as KOSA (which you can sign a petition against here).

And just like the other forms of censorship before and alongside it, AI content filtering targets the most vulnerable in society far more readily than it targets those looking to harm them. The filters have no idea what makes something an expression of a marginalized identity vs. what makes it a derogatory statement against that group, or an attempt at creating superficially safe-for-work fetish art - so, they frequently err on the side of removing anything uncertain. Boys in skirts and dresses are frequently blocked, presumably because they're taken for fetish art. Results of prompts about sadness or loneliness are frequently blocked, presumably because they may promote self harm, somehow. In my (admittedly limited) experiment, attempts at generating dark-skinned characters were blocked more frequently than attempts at generating light-skinned ones, presumably because the filter decided that it was racist to [checks notes] ...acknowledge that a character has a different skin tone than the default white characters it wanted to give me. Facial and limb differences are often either erased from results, or blocked presumably on suspicion of "violent content".

But note that I say "presumably" - the error message doesn't say on what grounds the detected images are "unsafe". Users are left only to speculate on what grounds we're being warned.

But what makes censorship of AI generated work even more alarming, in the context of the executive belief that it can render all other art forms obsolete, is that other forms of censorship only target where a person can say such earth-shaking, controversial things as "I am disabled and I like existing" or "I am happy being queer" or "mental health is important" or "I survived a violent crime" - you can be prevented from posting it on TikTok, but not from saying it to a friend next to you, let alone your therapist. AI content filtering, on the other hand, aims to prevent you from expressing it at all.

This becomes particularly alarming when you recall one of the most valuable use cases for AI generation: enabling disabled people to express themselves more clearly, or in new forms. Most people can find other workarounds in the form of more conventional, manual modes of expression, sure, but no amount of desperation can reverse hand paralysis that prevents a person from holding a pen, nor a traumatic brain injury or mental disability that blocks them from speaking or writing in a way that's easy to understand. And who is one of the most frequently censored groups? Disabled people.

So, my question to Bing and OpenAI is this: in what FUCKING universe is banning me from expressing my very existence "protecting" me?

Bad dog! Stop breaking my shit and get the FUCK out of my way!

Generated as a gift for a friend who was even more frustrated with that FUCKING dog than I was

All images - except the FUCKING dog - generated with Dall-E 3 via Bing Image Creator, under the Code of Ethics of Are We Art Yet?

[livelaughghoul]

Logan Sargeant - Birth chart Analysis

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only, nothing observed or taken away from this should be considered fact. As a reminder, I know fuck all about Formula 1, I just like fast cars and have a dumb amount of knowledge of astrology and tarot. 

I need Logan to release his birthtime right now. I am on my knees, begging and screaming, for an accurate birthtime and location. I feel like his chart has a lot of balance to it, even with the dominance in the southern hemispheres. There is a lot of balance between the eastern/western hemispheres, which is a nice change of pace! He does have two planets in retrograde at his birth, which isn’t a big deal, but it’s Saturn and Jupiter that are retrograded, which I think can bring some challenges to the overall chart and lifetime. 

I did not go into the aspects of his chart, mainly because I ran out of time, but this is something that I plan on looking into on my own time. His chart is honestly really interesting in terms of logic vs. emotion. I got a lot of joy out of his chart, I feel like without knowing anything about him, I have a better understanding of some of the things I do read or hear about him. 

THE PLANETS:

Sun - Capricorn 

They could never make me hate you, Logan. You are a beautiful, Florida Man, and goddamn I will defend you in the trenches. Capricorn is one of those signs that screams ambition, practicality, and genuineness. It’s a sign that wants to be the best and push the limits. I think that no matter what is accomplished, it’s not going to be good enough. Logan is going to continue to strive for more because he feels that it is not enough. Most Capricorns are usually incredibly intelligent and super dedicated, they also love to plan ahead. I have this idea in my head that Logan has goals for certain ages, like this is how he is measuring success, ya know? Capricorn is super influenced by Saturn, so I'm pretty certain that Logan struggles with overthinking a lot he wants to make the right choice and take that responsibility, but he gets too inside of his head. Capricorns are almost always super funny, so I have no doubts that this man could make me snort because I’m laughing too hard. Either way, I love this placement, even if it’s prone to overthinking spirals. 

Moon - Pisces

Maybe it’s because of my toxic moon sign, but I truly do not like a Moon Pisces, at all. When the moon is in Pisces it’s usually telling of a compassionate and loyal person, but it’s also this incredibly indecisive and confusing nature that becomes frustrating. I absolutely can see this having a heavy influence on Logan and how he handles and addresses his own emotions, it’s an incredibly emotional placement, and the moon carries heavy emotional implications. It’s such a heavy emotionally focused placement that Logan reacts on emotions more than anything else, and he is probably overwhelmed by his emotions too. 

Rising - Aries

Now this is a placement I can get behind! I think that it brings a lot of balance to the over-emotional moon sign, so it’s easier to cope and handle those emotions instead of letting them completely overwhelm him. I love the almost abrupt nature of this rising as well because it’s one that speaks its mind, and doesn’t always mince words. He’s going to have a hard time biting his tongue. The downside of this placement is being accident-prone, which really does not bode well when your entire career is driving at ridiculous speeds. 

Mercury (Planet of intelligence) - Capricorn 

I am convinced that Logan would be a fantastic member of any strategy team. A Capricorn Mercury is almost methodical in its approach and almost calculating. There absolutely is a struggle between logic and emotion, because his chart has so much emotion to it, but I think that there is a lot of rational that comes into this placement.

Venus (Planet of love and pleasure) - Aquarius 

This is honestly one of the most gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss placements a Venus can be in, I hate it. It’s definitely loving and kind, but it’s also detached and there is such importance on the self and maintaining a sense of freedom and individual identity. It’s also one of the more jealous placements in my opinion, and considering how emotional his chart is, this has gotta be off the wall. 

Mars (Planet of physical energy) - Scorpio 

I think that this is one of the more understated Mars placements because its physical energy is more in the way that it is presented instead of brute strength. The Mars energy comes through in the ambition, the determination, the desire to be the best. When we pair this is the Venus placement, I think that there is an almost explosive nature to relationships. It’s got a strong emotional bond that almost plays into the physical nature of the relationship. It feels overwhelming, physical touch is important, and it can be borderline almost possessive. 

Jupiter (Planet of luck, optimism, and success) - Gemini

This is so funny to me because this placement emphasizes adventure and travel. I get the feeling that there is luck in terms of the career when it comes to traveling, but the career would be better somewhere that requires more communication or even intelligence. Yes, he absolutely is a great and undervalued driver, but I think that focus needs to shift elsewhere, still in the field, but maybe not necessarily driving.

Saturn (Planet of responsibility)  - Taurus

I usually don’t like when Saturn is in an earth sign, because it becomes almost dangerously stubborn. Logan does not know when to call it, he needs someone else to step in and remind him to calm down and take a break. He likely has a tendency to overwork himself to try and meet the standards that are being placed on him, and it’s causing more damage than benefit at this point. 

I want to wrap this man in a shock blanket, give him baked goods, and force him to take a fucking break. 

Uranus (Planet of change and originality) - Aquarius 

This is such a wonderful placement for Logan. I get the feeling that he has a lot of creative and almost challenging ideas that he wants to try and bring into reality. Some of these ideas don’t work out, like at all, but when he is able to properly implement these plans, they’re incredible. I do not believe that he is being utilized in any capacity, like, let this little Florida Man try his funky ideas! 

Neptune (Planet of mystery and illusion) - Aquarius 

I think that this placement is really interesting, but it could be that I don’t know anything about Logan. I think that there is a lot of focus on others than the self with this placement. I think that a lot of his placements and behaviors are indicative of sometimes bordering on selfish behavior, but Neptune almost completely changes that. There is a selfless nature to this placement, and I think that Logan likes that mystery of things. 

Pluto (Planet of death and rebirth) - Sagittarius 

This placement is one of the quicker placements for Pluto, so its influence isn’t massive. I do think that there is a huge importance for truth, loyalty, and the whole story. I think that Logan appreciates the truth of things, even if it’s something that he doesn’t want to hear. 

THE HOUSES:

Second house (house of Possessions) - Saturn 

I like this placement a lot actually, because there is a lot of patience here. Logan has a lot of patience, but can sometimes feel frustrated with how slowly the possessions come in. I don’t think that he is necessarily materialistic, but there is an appreciation for things when he feels comfortable enough purchasing things. He’s also definitely a gift-giver, like that, and physical touch has got to be his love language.  

Third house (house of Communication) - Jupiter 

Logan is a golden retriever, 100%. He is incredibly optimistic while maintaining a level of realism. I think a lot of it comes down to needing to keep busy to keep his mind busy, if there isn’t something happening, he might get agitated and become short. Travel is hugely beneficial as well like it brings a lot of benefit to the career and self.

Eighth house (house of Death, regeneration, and legacies) - Mars 

The eighth house is interesting, it’s one of my favorite houses but also one of my least favorites. Logan is passionate and incredibly hardworking, but I think that there is some danger to this. I get the sense that he tends to be taken advantage of.

Ninth house (house of Mental exploration) - Pluto 

Logan wants to know everything out there, he wants to know more about everything out there and deepen his understanding of the world, his career, and everything. He wants to know as much as he can to further himself and his career. He probably really enjoys being able to have deep conversations with those around him, like FaceTime with this man and let him go off. 

Tenth house (house of Career) - Sun and Mercury

WE LOVE TENTH HOUSE SUN, we love it. It’s the dedication to the career, to further the self, and overcoming obstacles in one's life. It’s a natural affinity to excel at the career of choice (even though I think there would be benefits from a career change). Mercury furthers this idea that I have that he would be better in some sort of strategy or commentary position because there is such a natural talent for communication and speech. 

Eleventh house (house of Hopes, dreams, and friends) - Venus, Uranus, and Neptune

Venus tells us that he has no trouble making friends, at all. He can draw people in with a cute little smile, and just forms connections with those around him. I do think that there is an overwhelming need to be accepted and liked by everyone, but I think that is largely due to Uranus. Uranus forms fast and strong bonds with others, especially if there is a mutual interest. Neptune is definitely a really good third placement here! It’s seriously such a good placement because I know Logan is a great and compassionate friend, he is so understanding of what his friends need and shows up for them. 

Twelfth house (house of Secrets and self-undoing) - Moon 

I don’t think that this is ideal at all, because his chart is so emotional, this just furthers that. I think that there is a lot of insecurity and hurt there. He may try to mask the hurt and harm from others, but it’s there and it isn’t always masked. I think we see the cracks in the mask more than he would prefer, but I think it’s beneficial. I think that these cracks make him more human.

[alpaca-clouds]

How Isaactor became my OTP

I am one fanfic away from having more stories on Isaactor than Trephacard. And I think that would be a good time to talk about how Hector and Isaac became one OTP over basically everyone else.

Okay, technically there are still a lot more Trephacard stories, because I have several stories with just two of the three characters in them.

Still, I by now do like Isaactor more by now. Which is kinda ironic, because while Trephacard was something I started shipping, as soon as I saw the show (it just is a very obvious ship), I was like: "Sure, I can see Isaactor, but I do not have strong feelings about it."

I knew though from the very beginning of writing The lesser Evil, that it would end up with Striga and Morana returning to Styria. And from that came the idea that Striga could try to get the two forgemasters to hook up. Which lead to Five Games of Chess.

But the more I was writing about them, the more interesting did the dynamic become.

What makes them so interesting to me is that they are morally complex. Like, sure, most of the cast in Castlevania has more than enough trauma (which makes for delicious hurt/comfort), but they are also morally somewhat simple.

But then we have those two, who participated in what was meant to be an absolute genocide. Kill all the humans, because for differing reasons the two of them have come to hate humanity. Something that in Isaac's case had like really good reasons. Like, duh, the man survived slavery. As a child non the less. Yes, he has all the reasons to be angry at the world.

Still, Hector was the character who I identified with most. Because he is autistic and a survivor of parental abuse. So, yes. I can very much identify with his anger at the world.

None of that however makes genocide in any way or form justified. (Duh.) And that is, what makes the two so interesting. Because this realization is something they are going to have to deal with sooner or later. That they did something unspeakably bad.

And among that realization there really is only one other person who can understand them: The respective other. Because they both were part of the genocide. They both served Dracula. In a way for different reasons - but still those reasons were somewhat similar. And only the other person really will ever understand.

And yes, of course it should be mentioned that everything else also makes them such interesting characters.

Isaac easily is the best written character in all of Castlevania, where the input by Adetokumboh M'Cormack (the voice actor) really, really shows. Especially as the way the show deals with Isaac's religious conflict is so well depicted. Something that a ton of shows just struggle with - or do not show at all. I mean, how many well written Muslim characters are there in western media? And I mean, let's face it. Most western media does not even know that Sufism is a faith that exists.

Meanwhile I find Hector interesting, because he very much gets pushed into a role that normally female characters will be shown in, given he literally gets sexually assaulted within the show. I mean, for most of seasons 3 and 4 he is very much a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. Something we usually do not see with male characters.

I will also remain of the opinion: Was Isaac white, the two of them would be the most popular ship of the show. Because they just have this rivals to enemies to lovers dynamic that fandom normally goes of to salivate over.

For myself, of course, there is also just the aspect, that Hector does have quite a few canonical hints that he is still very much kinky. Which makes for fun kinky sex scenes. ;)

But in general I just think the two of them are the most interesting characters and the most interesting dynamic in the show. And I just wished more people would write and create art for them, :(

[callmearcturus]

Regarding the reception of Ilsa's death, what personally upsets me about it is that by refusing to interact with it on a story level (ie blaming McQ's misogyny, saying that it's just fridging), people completely miss out on the thematic richness of the movie, and how much that death influences that.

It's a pity that people aren't giving them any credit for the story because they focus on that part of it, so thank you for talking about it!

(Sorry, not really a question!)

(heads up this is gonna be a bitchy post!)

Yeah I am to a point that I'm becoming actively annoyed at the discussion around DR1 because I walked out of that movie both times like "I cannot BELIEVE what they're doing here with the IMF, with the ethos of the movies, I can't wait for ppl to get over their shock over Ilsa's death and actually think about the point"

and that has just not happened and it's so boring. To watch DR1 and go "i hate this movie bc Ilsa's death was pointless" and to keep thinking that even after you've cooled off is imo a media literacy failure. like, DID WE FUCKING WATCH THE SAME MOVIE?

did anyone else see Ethan's introduction to the movie, where he gets to play an elder member of this organization basically inducting and welcoming someone into the fold with a distant kindness?

did anyone else see how the Entity affects the entire western intelligence community and cements them as the villain while the IMF are fighting to maintain basic free will?

did anyone notice the purposeful contrasts, how everyone swayed by the Entity's potential power exist in flashy ultra modern sets while Ethan's team live in the warm shadows of old abandoned buildings?

how about the return of Kittridge, the spectre of history and obligation cast over everyone?

HOW ABOUT REFASHIONING THE MYTHOS OF THE IMF INTO A "CHOICE" EXPLICITLY MAKING ALL OF THESE PEOPLE SELF-SELECTING AGENTS OF OUTRAGEOUS ALTRUISM. I'm sorry but how the fuck are people not losing their fucking minds over the fact Christopher fucking McQuarrie has been building on this IDEA since Ghost Protocol, that Ethan Hunt doesn't believe in the trolley problem, that if you present him with a trolley problem he will try to kill himself pushing the trolley off the tracks, there are no acceptable losses even in the face of nuclear armageddon, and they made it fucking CANON

and then they made Luther and Benji go "well yeah that's the IMF, we all chose to be this kind of batshit fanatical to the preservation of life"

Ilsa died OPTING INTO THAT. she was never IMF, she was a loner who occasionally fell into the orbit of Ethan and co, and rather than leaving it up to Ethan to make a choice, she walks open-eyed to save a woman she doesn't even know because why would that matter do you get it yet, we're talking about themes here

I'm just. I get it. Or I got it. For the first few weeks after DR1 came out, ppl were sad that Ilsa died

but now that we are this far out from it and people are still saying "her death was pointless", my patience is done. you failed to read the movie. which pisses me off because i am super into what this movie, this franchise, is trying to say!

anyway yeah my name is arcturus, i love ilsa faust, and i love that she died because her death fucking meant something /jazzhands

[decafdino]

Wip Wednesday!! Shoutout to the tarlos haven discord for helping me keep on top of my writing with sprints. Here's a little preview from my most recent sprint:

And TK had had some trust issues after that, but he worked hard to get over them. It was easy to push his uneasiness around strangers away when his dad came back a few months later, badly wounded and left changed by something very few people could understand. TK had wanted to be strong for his father, to show him that while something inside of Owen's mind had shifted, his son would always be the same, strong young man he could one day pass the crown onto. It didn't matter if his parents stopped talking to each other for days on end. It didn't matter that he began to drink himself to sleep every night, just to quell the voices in his mind telling him of all the horrors on the other side of the castle wall. It didn't matter that he started feeling more like a statue on a pedestal than a person, that he was always more admired than seen. As long as his parents had hope in something, had hope in him, all would eventually go back to being right.

Then, he had met Alex, and he had finally felt seen. Alex told him he was beautiful and impressive, and it validated everything TK had strived for so long to achieve. He told TK he was strong and brave and special. It was everything he had ever wanted to hear, especially when his mother and father had been too busy to say it to him themselves.

And then one day, Alex had changed. He met Mitchell, and it turned out TK wasn't so special after all. Suddenly, it was abundantly clear to TK that the image he had strived for so long and so hard to cultivate of a strong leader was nothing more than exactly that: an image.

And when those emotions had taken over all his rational thought, when he was useless and broken and half-dead from drink somewhere in the middle of the Western Woods, TK had given up. He decided then that he would never be a good king, much less a good mage or even a good person. He would never trust his heart to anyone else again, if only to spare himself the pain.

But that's not all there is to the story, is there? the little voice of hope pushes. It isn't over. Something changed.

"I got brave again," he says to himself. He spits at the floor when too much bile rises in his mouth. "Which means I got stupid. Thinking I could go anywhere in this kingdom, as long as I had someone who cared for me so much always by my side."

He can picture Carlos' wounded look in his mind. His small frown and wrinkled forehead. Do you hate me for giving you that? The ability to live freely? he says.

TK rubs the small few tears he has left to give on his shoulder. "Of course not, my love," he answers truthfully. He doubts he ever would have been brave enough to leave home in the first place without Carlos stepping into his life.

Then live a little longer. He imagines Carlos' warm breath on his cheek, the small, loving pressure of a kiss to his lips. I am coming for you. I swear it.

thanks to @whatsintheboxmh @heartstringsduet @lemonlyman-dotcom and @emsprovisions for the tags!

[maxwell-grant]

So I saw that Street Fighter tier list, and I noticed that C. Viper was near dead last. I'm not too familiar with her, but I was under the impression she was pretty well-liked by SFIV standards--any reason why you dislike her so much?

I don't actually dislike her much as a character, I put her at the bottom because of how much I hate Viper's playstyle. That wasn't really a tier list for the series in general, more so about the prospecting of those characters returning (ex: I don't hate Necalli, I wrote the biggest semi-defense the dude is ever gonna get, and I still know he needs to fuck off). In Viper's case, I find her uniquely grating to watch because she spends so much time spamming feint Seismic Hammer to condition control over the opponent's jumps or canceling Burning Kick in the air to mix up her landings, and it makes it she's always doing that ringing sound all the goddamn time, at least El Fuerte's squeaky shoes and running animation are funny. Yes, it kind of is sublimely perfect that the CIA agent's playstyle consists of overtly psychologically conditioning and electrically torturing your opponent into opening up, but that lands her into a firm "fuck off forever" for me because I never want to sit through a Viper match in SFIV and MvC3 alike, or ever again. So unless they did something about that, I don't consider it a loss if she's never playable again. She probably will though, if not in 6 then in 7, but that's a headache for later.

I mean, SFIV standards were abysmally low so you could say Viper was comparatively well-received next to the other new characters, but she was never really that popular. In fact even at the game's launch Ono was surprised that players weren't latching onto Viper, despite Viper being custom-made for Western audiences

“With all due to respect to him (Abel), he’s a great character, but honestly we thought Crimson Viper would be a big hit here,” said Ono. “We got a lot of marketing data and a lot of advice from our US branch in creating that character. She was kind of custom tailored for the States and we thought people would like her.”

People did start playing her a lot more overtime because she turned out to be a competitive scene monster, but I mostly remember people being baffled and cynical when she got picked for MvC3. C.Viper was a popular moveset, but not so much a popular character, and it wasn't at all difficult for Juri to completely eclipse her, despite how hard they were trying to push Viper at first. I think you can very easily point to what Ono said as a reason why she didn't catch on that much. She is blatantly designed to appeal to American audiences and that made her more of a gimmick than a character. She is Angelina Jolie as a secret agent spy in an extremely tight-fitting pantsuit who also has superhero powers that nobody else has and that she achieves with technology. I already don't give much of a damn about most of the military/government affiliated characters in the series, but they tend to have other things going on that Viper really doesn't.

The KOF ladies she's ripping off have distinct fighting styles (and those games get to play much more loose with character design) they get to provide an interesting take on by doing it while dressing fashionably, but Viper is defined by her reliance on gadgets and gimmicks. She is a very generic videogame protagonist lady who plays like one of those hodpedodge World Tour characters, and she's not even a bad design on her own, she's just not really pulling her weight as a Street Fighter character. She represents nothing, and I don't think she has anything going on really justifies her inclusion over another character.

All that said, I actually do think Viper is a useful character to have around. I'm against her ever being playable again but, like I said, she probably will, and fine, she has a allright enough niche as a character. I am exceedingly generous to a lot of SF characters I'm otherwise not a fan of and she's a character I can talk myself into appreciating more, as I'm doing now. She's a decent POV character to drive stories around in her IV and V appearences, given her job forces her to play detective around the characters, but she actively doesn't want to fight, so she's always going to run when the going gets rough and leave the fighting to the actual main characters. Her priority is to do her job so she can go home and be with her daughter and that's all she cares about, she has neither time nor patience to care about this and she finds it frankly ridiculous that people call her gadgets unfair, when she's just trying to get the fight done as quickly as possible.

They get some good mileage out of the fact that she stands for nothing and that she is intruding somewhere she doesn't belong, that she's just punching the clock on a job she was given, that she really doesn't have any kind of beef with these people and just needs them to get out of her way and really has no stake other than survival for her family's sake, and that all the fighters detest her, whether it's because she is blatantly cheating, or because she's a pain in the ass, or because of how viciously she brutalized Cammy (not sure if that whole movie is canon still), that kind of thing.

It could be very possible that Juri ls lying, and the illustration is definitely exaggerated, but I enjoyed the reveal in SF6 that she and Viper have basically become partners in crime, that Juri considers them "cut from the same cloth", and that she has the same goal as a greedy career criminal who kidnaps people for evil organizations (which was the same thing C.Viper was doing undercover). I enjoy them mostly dispensing with the pretense that Viper is supposed to be a good person and I enjoy the series letting one of it's government/military agent characters be a bastard/ honest about the job they have.

She can love her daughter as much as she wants and even have decent enough interactions with other characters, it's not going to make her not a CIA spook who beats up and tortures people with electric gauntlets on the clock. It isn't even that unbelievable that she would wind up on good terms with Juri, not just because they're both cheating with technological assets, or because they were both working for the same guy and biding their time to backstab him, but because they both exist to break the rules everyone else is mostly abiding by, neither strong enough to attrack too much attention as villains nor weak enough that they can't match the heroes when push to comes to shove. They both had personal revenge stakes to get through (Juri with her parents, Viper with her fallen partners), and with both of their targets gone, they get to just be themselves: cockroaches trying to make off with the prize / turn a profit in a space they view as largely dominated by suckers.

Much like Mel Masters in the 6 comic, I think it's good for Street Fighter to have characters that have an agnostic/adverse relationship to the concept of street fighting, and to her credit, there is something really funny about her position. She is a James Bond in a world full of evil organizations and villains to fight, but the only way to get to them is through fighting tournaments, and all the actual heroes of the world fighting said people hate her guts for cheating and refusing to put in the work they did in martial arts that are, apparently, the most important thing in the world I guess??? She is a hypercompetent superspy who wishes she could be out there doing regular espionage stuff, and instead has to deal with superpowered fighting bozos flushing years of careful investigative work down the toilet. Born to blow up islands full of henchmen and arm South American coups, forced to step into the ring with Ryu from the Streets who doesn't even pay taxes.

[amberofember]

controversial opinions: lgbtq edition

you cannot be friends with extremely homophobic/transphobic people and then call yourself an ally. you’re lucky that you have the privilege to not be affected by their comments/beliefs but your queer friends sure as hell don’t.

we need to better acknowledge how much queer culture (slang terms, fashion, etc…) is appropriated from black culture.

on that note, i am not a person of color, so please please correct me if i’m getting anything wrong, but the media representation of the queer experience is so white and western-centric. every race and culture has queer people, and we need to represent that. the experience of being queer is extremely different across all cultures.

religion is the actually dumbest excuse for queerphobia. just because you interpret your religion to say something doesn’t mean you have to push it on others. you don’t want to live that way, fine, but you have no business telling others how to interpret/follow your own personal beliefs, and neither do you have the right to openly hate people who do.

the erasure of asexual people in the queer community is actually insane.

people (usually specifically straight white women) who use the “gay best friend” stereotype as an excuse to treat gay people as an accessory instead of real people are disgusting

this is already talked about a lot, but the wlw vs mlm representation in media is so incredibly disproportionate.

saying this as a queer woman, queer women shouldn’t be allowed to sexualize women the way men do on the basis that “we’re not men so it’s ok”. it’s not.

cis white gay men are some of the most privileged people in the entire queer community and yet some seem to think they can speak for the experiences of every queer person ever.

queer people who don’t support trans people are so confusing to me. it’s obviously nowhere near the same experience but you know how it feels to be oppressed because of something you can’t control and often feel like you have to hide.

coming back to my first point, jokes at the expense of lgbtq people are never funny. again, you have the privilege to laugh at it but many don’t

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

Hello and I hope you are well.

I am a Norwegian-American, and the news in both my countries is filled with what basically amounts no pro-Israel propaganda and I despise it. I hope I don’t come across as ignorant or uneducated, but is there a single reason why the world leaders seem intent to ignore the genocide happening in Palestine? I’ve been reading as much as I can about the situation but I haven’t found a definite answer. (Of course, no “reason” would ever be enough to excuse standing by whilst children and innocents are slaughtered, I just can’t comprehend how anyone with a heart could watch this happen and do nothing.)

My heart weeps for the people of Palestine, and I will do everything that I can from my place in the world to aid you.

🇵🇸 ❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸❤️🇵🇸

Hello, first of all you shouldn't be afraid of coming off as "ignorant" or anything. I said before that my inbox is open for people who are looking for answers that aren't here just to be racist or hateful.

The most definitive answer here would be racism. It's so easy for Israel to share propaganda and get people to believe it, because it's so easy for westerns to fall into the "barbaric violent brown arabs" propaganda over and over. It's become so easy to label someone a terrorist for their ethnicity, it's even easier if they're Muslims. Another thing, Israel paints this as a "war" between religions, it's not. They try to show it as a fight between Judaism and Islam to get people's sympathy. When in fact, Palestine is one of the most diverse countries in the middle east. It has a huge population of Muslims, Christians and guess what? Jews. There are cities in there that are exclusively Christian such as Bethlehem. But the world believes the lies about it being Islam vs Judaism, and that Muslims are out there to kill every Jew and commit violence. Why is that so easily believed? Racism.

And you have to keep in mind that media coverage plays an important main rule in this genocide. If not for media coverage many of people outside the middle east would've never heard about gaza and Palestine. Which is why Israel spends million of dollars on pushing the narrative on social media alone. It was revealed that lots of international influencers were offered thousands of dollars if they announced their support for Israel (which is already the case with many American celebrities).

As for the governments, I will share with you this statement. People don't see genocide or ignore it and avoid admitting the severity of it because they don't see the people experiencing it as human. You have to actually acknowledge that someone deserves to live in order to acknowledge their death. I talked about the dehumanization of Palestinians here so you can know more.

Not to mention the economic situation. Israel has control over so many international companies and brands. When we decided to boycott Israeli products, we were surprised to find almost every brand to be related to israel. Such as McDonald's, Starbucks, Loreal, Pepsi, and so on even things like toothpaste brands. Also israel is in control of gas and oil reserves in palestine, as well as agriculture that Palestinian aren't allowed to have a say or a part in any of those things. For western governments, Israel pays you money, why would you turn against it?

I don't know if I answered your question satisfactorily, I hope you can reach out if you have any more questions or anything you want to know. I would love to be able to help.

Thank you for speaking up against the genocide 🙏

[aicosu]

Hellcheer Western Prompt

They're basically asleep when the neigh of a horse has them scrambling to their feet.

Eddie has to dive over the desk to shove his elbows down on Dustin's shoulders, both wrestling for a view out the broken shutters.

"People!" Dustin points out the obvious when he's pushed to the floor.

"Hide the guns!" Eddie barks, eyes still on the caravan of three kicking up dust through their two-manned ghost town.

"Which ones and where?"

They both turn to look at the piles of rifles, pistols, dynamite littering the surfaces of the entire building.

"Good point." Eddie palms his hair into his cheeks in thought. Fuck, strangers always meant acting. And that could be fun but lately it's been so stressful with the addition of their bounty posted from here to the north of winter's asshole. "Gimme the deputy badge."

"Nuh Uh!" Dustin scrambles up to protect his tin shield. "I hate being Sheriff!"

"No, I hate being Sheriff! They always want me to do shit for—"

"—last time I was Sheriff I had to change wheels—"

"—killing people constantly like I'm a fucking lawmen—"

"—and no one believes I'm old enough! No!"

"Gimme it!"

Another horse whinnies at the crack of a reign and Eddie tackles Dustin to the ground both scuffing spurs in a pathetic tussle on the jail building floor for less responsibility.

——

"Well, howdy."

"You the Sheriff?"

Eddie sucks his teeth with a cringe against the porch beam, and Dustin chuckles at his side. "Sure am."

"Place abandoned?"

It takes Eddie a second to realize the person he's talking to might be dame wearing a fake mustache. But he realizes it all the same, blinking against the dirt in the air and the sun in the sky. They have brown chopped hair and sharp angles in their face… plus pants on. So maybe a boy but… "Mine accident."

They whistle, unloading themselves from shotgun with shotgun. "Is it still safe for stopping?"

"We don't have hands for the saloon or board." Dustin rushes to say. Eddie pats him with approval. They really don't need stranger blowing their fake town cover.

"We have our own things. Provisions, linen, rafters, entertainment, and drink and most in the back would feel a mightier safer with a couple of lawmen to look out for bandits and wolves instead of me."

Eddie doesn't get a chance to protest.

"I'm the Ringer Robin by the way, should any introductions be made while we park our fares for just a few days. Ringer as in ringleader, leader as in—"

"It's a circus!" Dustin exclaims with a cough of excitement in his kiddy cheeks. He thumbs at the side of the caravan with a huge grin.

Eddie glares, leaning one way to see the painted canvas displayed on the three wagons. Circus. Real low in the laying.

"I don't think—"

"We'd do a show for you, Sheriff!"

God he hated being fucking called that.

"We're staying?" A voice flits from the back.

They all turn, and there in the shafts of sunlight burning gold into red on the edge of the world, forms a girl made from its last wink. A precious coin lost in dust. A delicate dandelion seed adrift in the west.

A lady.

She steps down from the caravan with grace he's not known, with clean hair and cleaner skin.

Adnorned in, uh, uhm, fuck, not much!

"Mm—hrnu-who—hungh-m-m-m—"

"Ma'am." Dustin achieves what he can't and has the decency to tip his hat all the way down to the ground as she quite literally traipses by in nothing but a strap suit that exposes her whole leg and backside, little hip ruffles not at all decent in covering anything more than what modesty she had left.

She chitters to Robin's side dangling finge and gems, great big, very valuable, and possible fence-able rhinestone eyes blinking at him.

At him. At him. At him!

"This is our lady of trapeze, who should very much stay in the wagon until I sa—"

"I'm bloodless in my legs." She whispers back with the shyest dip of her cutest nose. And it's been exactly five months since Eddie's seen anything as beautiful as her. The last being a peek of a sweet family dinner from a window outside the city. And she's immensely more delicious. Her eyes find him with demure excitement. "We heard rumor that the Crow Killer is a town over—"

"Crow Killer! HA! How fun, who, uh—what's, what's that?" Dustin's voice is loud enough in protest that the horse's scamper.

"Nope! Sorry, my deputy forgets the Marshalls visit fortnights ago…" Eddie grabs him by the neck to squeeze him quieter as subtly as possible. "Our, uh, sad little town of grief has no business for the likes of that…. Degenerate! I'm sure!"

"Sheriff Eddie's right, no... no shadow caped killer of hundreds to be found here. Nope. No nightime burgles or larceny... no, no, no."

The trapeze artist has such gall to look disappointed that Eddie has to resist falling to his knees before her and handing her his bounty and screaming, it's me! It's me!

"We're better off, I'm sure," Robin squints. "Come on, Chrissy girl, let's get everyone roped over by the water tower."

"That's empty." Dustin lies. The only two left of them doing his goddamn job. "It's really not the best place to camp."

Chrissy, Chrissy, Chrissy. Not even a Mary Anne or a Harriet type aristocrat name to make him retch. But a little jingle jangle name like tying a Chrissy to a mill for luck! Help him!

"Have you caught many outlaws?" Chrissy distractedly asks him, not moving to help Robin or his sanity.

He stares down at sweet cream skin and caramel spun hair like it's a mirage for a hungry desperado out of luck. "Uh, well, I, I've uh, yes! Of, course! P-part of the job, little… lady. Little... bird. Miss. Ma'am!"

Now he really sounds like every other belt-belly tight police man whose only skil was turning locks.

"Maybe we'll stay awhile and you could tell us Sheriff stories by the fire?" She leans in even as Robin calls for her.

She smells like yarrow in milk and honey.

"You really can't stay." Dustin says urgently at his elbow. Eddie puts a hand on the kid's face to push him backward.

"Yes! I'd be honored, to uh, be at the service of a proper debutante." He grins wide. When she giggles he gets worse. "A proper artist—angel, even! Of the skies! A... sheriff of the cloud themselves! Y-yes."

"Oh, good!" She smiles.

Dustin groans into his palm long and loud.

[myf00djournal]

A chronological post run post.

Iiiiiii had a hard hard time man. In hindsight, I always knew our race was at 4pm so perhaps doing long runs at 6am was never going to help but I was so optimistic for cool weather in April. Nope 31 degrees. My worst fear. I was on pace and on the game plan up until around 8km which is when the course went from some shade to full sun. Told my running partner to push on without me which I had to say 5 times before he did listen 😛 I hate holding people back. The rest was an absolute slog. I thought about a DNF. I found a second wind around 13km and settled back into consistent trotting. Got through. They told us at the start the course was 20.5 which was a shame as it was advertised as a HM and then I saw a girl who was about a km ahead of me usually (because everyone we snaked past each other we did cute girl high fives) going in an opposite direction and I said don’t we turn left again? And she said nope the course was actually 18km. What the heck. Look my performance was not my best but I would’ve dragged myself another bit. Crossed the line and kept going with some other die hards who were also trying to make up km but I got to 19.8 and called it. The water station people were like oh we have cleared the course how much longer will you be and I was like you know what I’m done.

I’m annoyed because the organizers have a whole calendar of events and yet they were so shambolic. They delayed the start time, changed the course and then cut off a considerable distance for everyone. Also WHO KNOWS why the run was at 4/4:30pm in western Sydney but that’ll do me.

The 10km started an hour after us and then 5km after that so there was people always out on course but for a big event there was seriously maybe 60 people in each. So many DNS because we are legit flooded at the moment so I guess people couldn’t make it. A few people DNF. I saw the 5km fun run and wish I went in that because the first woman was 28:10 🥹 but I know it’s not about that.

My average km was around 7:30 which isn’t too bad considering I did a lot of walk/jog intervals for about 6km all up but Runna had me working at 6:25-6:30 as my goal which I was on but it really did fall away. My running partner did a great job and held around 6:40 which I am so happy for him.

Maybe next time I should do more than an 8 week training block. What am I saying with next time 🤦🏽‍♀️ haha never let me again please!!!! I just want to be a parkrun girly and maybe 10km???

Best of all Josh surprised me at the start line to see me off ❤️❤️❤️

The end. Also yes enjoy my post run glow - day ones will recognize the mirror. @taoistimmortal thank you for telling me to increase my cals by 500 cos yeah it’s going noice 👌🏻

[harukirai]

Queer history of Final Fantasy

I am replaying all the old final fantasies(mostly psp psone releases), first time with english localization and not the original jp.

Now i get it.

It all make sense now.

I couldn't understand the wave of "why shove the gays in our face" backlash of 16(even though, the non homophobic felt it was lacking since they didn't want to 'push it in yall face'). Like apperantly moat of the implication or straight up fruity moments in the old game was completely removed, or changed to the point of it being a 'silly thing'.

So lets clarify -

*Cecil(iv), your homeboy- an Non-binary (language is the best indication, but yeah i think it was a decision made for both female and male players to be able to relate to them, but yeah funny outcome non the less)

*Bartz(v)- outright bisexual, they didnt even hide it- next person on this list gonna make it make sense.

*faris(v)- an ftm transgender( at least in the original version, i know in some new iterations they scrapped the whole concept, but left it in in others?)- mainly speak about himself with (ore/boku- which is conventionally usally by male speakers), after finding out soem of the cast either use a female pronounce on him, but bartz constantly either avoid it or use male pronounce(or the nonbinary version which is usually reffered to kidz) but yeah, bartz was crushing on faris where he thought he was a cis male and unlike the other guy didnt shy away.

Lets jump a bit to 8-

Irvine(viii)- even though considered very handsome to the point he could get with any girl hed want, was even flirted with by selphie i think i need to remember, but he usually brush it off.

If anything he is either asexual, or gay(its very subtle, but its what called queer coding, and well see that allot from now on cause japan caught up to westerns norm on media)

Quina Quen (ix)- literally, a nonbinary- but i think they kept it in eng as well cause they are not human, but like black mages they have no sex, but unlike black mages they are 'genderless' and dont care for human norms.

Kuja(ix)- either gay/intersex/both.

Look at him.

Seriously that character confused a whole generation sexuality.

Like sephiroth, but unlike sephiroth he also have effeminate mannerisms, and until it was revealed by text it wasnt so obvious.sephiroth in jp have a confusing language because he himself is possed by jenova, so evem though i love this headcanon, sephiroth isnt trans actually.

Auron(x)- ahh yes, your favourite broody guy and probably where im gonna get tons of hate.

Auron is very subtle, but once you notice it its hard to deny.

I think Auron is gay, unlike jecht or braska- he did not have kids, denied arranged marriage, and followed jecht to dream zanarken just to save jecht only son- it was pretty obvious that auron loved jecht. He also loved braska but not as much, and it shows- that for auron it was more than friendship. You can see it with his attitude towards yuna vs tidus- with yuna he is nicer, politer. Liem you act when you babysit your friends /cousins child.

But to tidus, he is a full father figure.In their journey together they grow, and i think if he wasnt the boy of the man he loved he wouldn't treat tidus as his own. With all the scoldinngs in mind.

Paine(X-2)- qlmost forgot her, but yeah she's pretty gay for riku

I dont remember much though because if the mission structure of the game.

Larsa(xii) - ohh i see you boy, i see u. He is sus as hell. He is a kid so its pretty innocent(and relatable to us queer kidz)

Its pretty obvios that he is crushing on basch, innocently though. I know some ppl who shipped him with penelo, but canonically by spinoffs at least she and vann are an item.

Also they made sure it was obvious cause japan have this thing that a young character is crushing on a teacher,mentor , older characters in general(aka cc sakura- her friend crushing on a teacher, syaoran & sakura crushing on yukito, also happens in tons of pop culture media at that time, so im not surprised, but im happy this time its one sided, THANK GOD)

But yeah if you reached the ending its pretty obvious.

Fang & vanille(xiii)- the first lesbians couple! Terra(VI) was supposed to be the first but they were afraid it will make her less marketable so they scrapped her gf. They made them clear, but at the same time they tried to make sure pple wont be fetishizing them(they tried, at least).

I want to explain their story more but i think ill mess it up since i tend to mix up 13's lacie, falcie and all that jazz.

So ill just say that basically there are 2 world in 13, pulse and cacoon. Pulse is basically earth and cacoon is the moon. There is a god for each world called a falcie.

Few of them but ine for each major ones. Our main gand from cacoon, branded by a falcie to be slaves(lacie) vanille and fang are from pulse, and slaves of pulse lacie, so basically they are with the task of creating Ragnarok which is like the end of time and but limw they dont know cause the gods in this game is like 'yeah imma give you a mission but wont tell you beside weird non undersandable feaver dream and you need to figure out and fast or youll become this universe version of zombie, and if you do complete it you become a ceystal living forever but like, sleeping beauty style. So lose lose situation.

The focus of them both is different from the gang, caus the falcie of cacoon is evil so he gove them focus destroying cocoon while if fang& vannile mannaged to ruin that falcie and bring ragnarok theyll become a crystal, and they used it to save coccon from falling and crushing killing all the people in it, basically became a pillar in eternal sleep when they hheld each other.

But they are saved in later game only to... Lightning return which we wont talk about cause i hate timers.

I love the story of xiii, big part of it is vanille & fang, i havent played in english yet, but i will say, their story is one of the more meaningful on this list, very well developed and i will do it disservice if id try to explain it in few sentences - so do yourself a favour and play or watch the playthrough.

Ignis& gladio(xv)- here is when localization ruimed it. I know cause i palyed on jp dub with eng sub and heard the differences live- first of all gladio and ignis are completely different in jp, as individuals and as a pair- they were supposed to be the first dion& terrence moment, but it got scrapped and they went the vannile& fang route, only that bec they are men, the localization team missed the mark.

Gladio got pissed at noctis in the train because of ignis.

In jp its clear their bond is beyond friends, and not mention the fact that their AI is always stuck together, and that gladio isnt a womenizer in jp at all, and there is no fiancee/girlfriend.

In jp he said suggested there is someone he wants to be with but bec of the state of the world and them both being constantly in the battlefront he couldnt ask.

(and ignis clear his throat when everyone is like oh great, very subtle but it was leading to that)

Every stop of the train or erea post blindness gladio was with ignis not leaving him .

Also tabata san also said that they are more than friends. So there's that too.

But its no secret 15 localization is tereible, the massacared prompto, he is so cringy in english, in jp yeah he is funny but like he says more stuff then random pop colture references, he breaks the 4th wall occasionally but not on the same level of the localization. Also, jp noctis is a little shit because he can and will, in localization he is more relatable while ignos and gladio are kimda mean. In jp its the other way around and up until chap 13 (when he is alone) noctis is a bratt. He has some moments when he is nicer, but when struggle shows he is a bratt about it- and its done purposely since he is a spoiled pronce who never done anything alone in his life.

Thats why in chap 13 he has a change of heart, because he was alone and learned to appriciate his friends when he was stuck alone in the dark with no weapons and i think it was a good call storytelling wise, but yeah the english localzation ruined it and made the whole chapter pointless .

Those are the implied/canon gays of final fantasy up to 15(we got a kiss so its obvious).

The series has always been kinda Fruity and i know some of yall will be like, 'but there's no proof'. Well, japanese speakers(who arent homophobic at least) will agree with me that we tend in media that is not specified like BL or GL to make things subtle. So what in the west is called 'queer coding' is very common in japanese media and it comes in way more shape and forms.usually implied with a desper conncetion relationship or linguistics.its funny cause in the 80's and very early 90's gay pple wasnt hidden in jp pop culture (no kisses or anything but it was straight out told to the viewer/player)

And only later 90's there was a trend of removing us completely from the media, but around that time a specific genre was created so it wasn't out completely.(like yaoi/yuri as erotic mangas existed aince the 80's but usually only love stories or main gay characters were mixed in with the straight media, kimda like what netflix does today, but around 96, 97 the shounen ai and shoujo ai genres rose in popularity(mainly cause of clamp) and things got seperated. In games- because it became a bigger deal in the west square took caution with how clear they gonna make stiff not to piss of the christians after the backlash of Pokemon (idk how it was really but through japanese media and news it seemed at the times that the american patents were pissed so game companies started sensoring their games from all things might piss off christians/monotheistics ).

*also i dont live in japan but i am mixed so i grew in a jp speaking house and family from there always sent games on holidays and birthdays+nhk was always running in the backround to check on the motherland😂

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Do we seriously think that other member fanbases have not posted about donations from China? The difference is that others have not had similar chart success as Jimin, especially in the US. I am not counting Seven here because how much ever the fandom wants to deny it, that song got everything a western artist song does, if not more. There is not much difference in their US streams for the same week considering Seven had double the versions and remixes. 16% of LC overall streams are coming from the US even after 5 months whereas it’s only 9% for Seven. We can see that Seven globally is being carried by asian countries where the number of Spotify users and the streams it is pulling is disproportionate. Even with all this BB is never going to call out Seven success because it has all the playlisting and radio which is what BB wants every artist to do. And who in this fandom is even ready to have this nuanced conversation. Because as soon as you point out all this you are immediately labelled an anti.

And so they were always going to make Jimin the scapegoat irrespective of anything. If not the fanbase funding then it would have been something else. But what I don’t understand is that you know all this and yet you threw shade at Jimin solos. There is this constant push by this fandom to portray Jimin solos as the worst. I’m not saying they are saints but all other member solos do the same shit and yet I see one being called out more than the other. And again if you point this out then you are labelled an anti. Because this fandom always throws Jimin under the bus to call out his solos. Anyways I know I am talking to the wall here because the standard response I see is that his solos are always victimising him or that you guys are in an echo chamber and we call out all solos. I am in enough OT7 spaces to know that is not true but no one would agree to this because then the question arises that maybe it has more to do with bias against Jimin than his solos.

***

You know, the best way to answer this is probably to pick this whole thing apart, line by line, to show for example where you’ve made fairly accurate observations but drawn the wrong conclusion, as solos and their diet versions and/or exiles typically do. Or to show where you’ve made observations that aren’t consistent with the facts as I know them but which also have carry-on effects to other observations you’ve made, and so on. That’s probably the best approach since I’m well aware these are the arguments and talking points in certain fandom spaces.

But we’ve been having this same conversation since March. It’s been six months of nonstop bullshit theories from PJMs, other solos, their enablers within ARMY, ARMY themselves, etc, and I’ve been writing about this the whole time as well, consistently repeating more or less the same things, noting the same misconceptions, reinforcing the same caution, etc, and now much of what I wrote turned out to be correct, but it seems to have entirely gone over your head in all that righteous indignation. I mean, just today, after reading an article like that, reading the ~5 posts I’ve pumped out on it only today, you still don’t get it. Your primary takeaway from this is that Jimin solos were singled out and shaded by me (and the fandom) and that this proves Jimin is possibly disproportionately hated by the fandom and we must all be hypocrites who don’t really care for him either way… You still can’t see beyond that singular point of view.

I’m tired lmao, and I really don’t see the point in continuing an exercise that’s already doomed to be futile if that ask is any indication. Since you already see this as you talking to a wall. I’m very comfortable with you thinking I’m a hypocrite or whatever else, and you having whatever conclusion you have about all this without me trying to persuade you. And anyway, like I said there’s no use crying over spilled milk. What’s done is done. Everyone who can glean whatever lessons they need to learn from this, will do that, and others won’t, which is probably why I’m nearly certain that when we have to do this all over again next year (or possibly later this year), we’ll have much of the same exact problems many of which will be caused by people who still don’t get it. I only hope at that point, that number will be fewer. That would make so much of our lives easier. If BigHit is actually efficient too and on the ball, then it would be even more so.

A couple more things:

1 - If you’re indeed staying in OT7 spaces Anon, then you’d know the focus has already shifted from all this BS, to preparing for PJM2 already, as well as the next releases (which of course currently take priority). PJM2 is what Jimin is focused on, and that’s what many of his fans/ARMY have shifted towards already - a shift that started in a few OT7 spaces since the third week of April after the screwed up Billboard changes, while most everyone else was coming up with every conspiracy theory in the book to explain how BigHit was secretly pulling the strings within Billboard to cause Billboard to shaft their own artist…

2 - A quick note I want to make on Western awards: By virtue of being a BTS member, Jimin’s chances were already slim. After that Billboard article they’re even slimmer, but he’s still got a chance. It might be an ice cube’s chance in hell, but it’s a chance nonetheless. And the hope I have is that he does get recognized.

Anyway, good luck Anon. You seem to be a bit familiar with my blog but I can’t say you’ve actually read my posts. Even if we clearly disagree I hope you’re working towards supporting his current and next releases, because that’s what I’m doing too. Anything else will make all of this entirely worthless.