#from a ‘stealing is morally neutral/positive even’ post

[rowanthestrange]

(Personal ‘Being A Certain Kind Of Autistic’ Moment:)

(You ever think you’re too hinged? I was gonna say for the internet but since covid so many of the neurotypicals in real life are actually worse.

Like someone has an inappropriately strong emotional reaction to the benign, and you’re like ‘okay they’re triggered, walk away with no eye contact’. Then you see other people doing it. And more and more. Not about the same things, different things, random things. And you’re just… Is it me? Am I too hinged?

I’m not saying I’m never triggered but I always tell myself ‘hey before you interact with anyone, stop being such a freak’ if I feel like I’m in danger of being rude to or about a Human Person. And I know that’s autism training, learning to catch yourself; but also clearly not everyone bothers, even the neurotypicals anymore hence irl situations where you’re just watching some 55 year old woman go off on a receptionist over literally nothing.

Like you’ll watch people stew themselves to a rolling boil over things they’ve…made up in their head? When they could just…not do that? Or could assume the best? Like they pre-order rage for things that haven’t even happened yet. Not like political things where you could argue that it could incentivise action but like raging about how film/book in a series/event is going to be so terrible, beyond simple mental prepping for disappointment.

It’s like I feel too mentally healthy compared to everyone else. But even plenty of irl people I know who absolutely wouldn’t consider themselves (or be considered by me as) mentally unwell in any regard are like this.

I know me having the flavour of autism where ‘everything has to have a reason, but when you understand what it is you don’t feel the need to be upset about it anymore’ kind of makes this worse. Because that’s not how real people feel things. But I dunno. Feels like it’s getting…more, doesn’t it? I mean it is, must be, had a Doctor Who episode kind of about it a week ago. But it’s got me feeling autistic alien again. Even on the autism site.)

[trappedinafantasy37]

✨Let's talk about OCs!✨How would you describe your OC's personality/aesthetic? What's your favourite thing about them? Tell us a fun fact(s) about your OC or their creation

❤️Send this to at least 3 people to spread some OC appreciation!❤️

YIPPEE! An excuse to yap about Daedra! Thanks for the ask @majorasnightmare

PERSONALITY

Daedra differs from a lot of drow in many ways in that she is not ambitious and she is not power hungry. The only thing she seeks is control over herself and control over her urges. So she only seeks the power that is necessary for self control, but does not go beyond what she needs. She does not care enough about other people to even want to rule over them as a god or a leader. Although she keeps finding herself in positions in which people demand she tells them what to do and she's surprisingly good at it when she tries. It is something that actually pissed off Lolth because Lolth did try to groom Daedra to be her Chosen and has thrown Daedra at Quenthel Baenre (Lolth's current Chosen) multiple times but Daedra won't fucking do what needs to be done! She is a lazy, unambitious little shit who doesn't like to be told what to do, doesn't like to be forced to live up to certain expectations, and would not stop defying Lolth at every fucking avenue. Lolth only puts up with her because Daedra is an incredibly efficient killer and has a power she desperately wants to leverage. Daedra can see multiple different versions of reality and is able to manipulate some of them (although Daedra does not know to full extent of her own power and doesn't realize she can manipulate reality if she wanted to, she only perceives herself as an observer who can only make informed choices about herself).

Daedra is neutral aligned and swings into chaotic at times as she doesn't like to follow rules and likes to do her own thing. But sometimes, the rules are fun to take advantage of when they suit her. Try to impose rules on her, she will go out of her way to break them, she is also a master of malicious compliance and will annoy the fuck out you until you realize that you cannot tell her what to do. Although she is neutral, she mostly chooses to evil and more selfish options. This isn't to say she is incapable of doing good things. But she really needs a good reason to do good things, but it will never be for morally good reasons. Such as, she will save your village from the monster as long as you pay her a lot of money. No, she actually won't just run off with the money because she likes killing things and enjoys the thrill of hunting monsters. Even though she often chooses evil aligned stuff, she does not go out of her way to do evil either. She also has to be compelled to do evil too.

Another thing about Daedra that sets her apart from other drow is that she is very affection and emotional. And this specifically refers to post-lobotomy Daedra. (Pre-lobotomy Daedra is just as emotionally constipated as Minthara is.) Daedra smiles, she laughs, she cries, and she is very affectionate. She loves to hug, she loves to kiss, she loves to cuddle, and she loves to hold hands. She will show affection both to her romantic partners and her friends.

AESTHETIC

I did initially steal a lot of Daedra's aesthetic from Bloodborne. No matter her dominant class, Ranger or Cleric, she is a hunter to her core. Because she is stealth oriented, she doesn't really need much armor and she needs to be light loaded at all times.

The following two pictures are kind the aesthetic that Daedra has and how I imagine her looking when I write her. The left is my recreation of Daedra in Elden Ring where she is wearing the full leather armor set. It does come with a cape although she's not really a cape kind of person. She's not flashy or a showoff and the cape itself doesn't have much use to her (but it's what ER gave me). And the right is just a random picture from Bloodborne fits both her aesthetic and her general combat style. I love the thigh high boots and the slight heel that it is. But it is also very practical. These two images are how I imagine Daedra when I write her in my fics. Although the style in BG3 is pretty great, it's not as stylish as I want it to be because BG3 is sadly more function over fashion and I'm a fashion over function kinda gal. This isn't to knock against the Spider Silk armor because it is a good armor set and does fit Daedra very well, but if I had a choice of the styles below, this is what I would go for.

FUN FACTS

Daedra is ambidextrous, double jointed, and has a maxed out Dexterity stat and has Acrobatics proficiency. She can do a standing backflip, get herself out of any bindings, and pick just about any lock on the planet.

She is a biter and is not afraid to use her teeth to crunch of fingers and rip out throats. Sometimes she bites when she experiences an emotional overload and bites affectionately.

She won't say it, she will never say it, but she likes being picked up and carried like a princess.

If given the opportunity, she will blow something up. No, she does not consider the possibility that the explosion might harm or kill her.

Daedra can partially transform into the Slayer without undergoing a full metamorphosis. She can pull on the power and speed of it, as well as grow spikes and claws. This allows her to stay in her small and agile form and take advantage of her natural speed and adds the strength of the Slayer to it. But the transformation is expensive (regardless if it is a full or partial transformation) and she is drained of all energy when shifting out of the Slayer. Her magic is minimal and she is rendered unable to really fight.

DEVELOPMENT

I essentially have 3 different versions of Daedra and she has undergone a lot of changes. These versions are so different and distinct that I treat them as different parts of Daedra's character growth. I was even able to canonize all of these different versions in TBFFTG's

At her inception, Daedra was not stupid. I only started really leaning into the 6 Int stat in TBFFTG's because I knew Minthara was going to be the team lead. But Daedra was a little too competent at that time that it didn't make sense why it wouldn't be Daedra. So, I shot Daedra with the stupid ray for Minthara's character development and it was the best decision I could have ever made. I love my chronic little dumbass!

I created Daedra to be Minthara's perfect little girlfriend and even gave her specific traits just for Minthara. But I also wanted her to be someone who would naturally challenge Minthara in areas such as religion and power. Although Daedra would mesh well with other companions, it is so difficult for me to actually write Daedra with anyone but Minthara because I made Daedra just for her.

[m0rtel]

starting  to  breathe  is  a  strange  feeling.  it's  not  like  drowning,  where  your  lungs  are  scratching  for  hair.  at  least,  not  at  first.  because  you  didn't  need  air  a  second  ago.  you  weren't  alive  a  second  ago.  you  woke  up  in  the  dark,  a  silk-lined  wooden  coffin  surrounding  you,  and  you  can  infer  what's  beyond  it.  you're  in  your  dad's  suit,  the  one  he  wore  to  your  college  graduation,  and  things  click  into  place  a  little  slower  than  they  should  have.   it   was   clear   now.   you  were  dead.  NOW YOU ARE NOT.

KAITO  MURAKAMI,  30,  HE+HIM,  PLAYED  BY  KENTO  YAMAZAKI.   POST-MORTEM  ORACLE.   WRITTEN BY ALICE.

legal name ... kaito murakami. meaning ... kaito, meaning "sea" and "to fly." murakami, meaning "village above." date of birth ...   14th of april, 1994. " date of death ...   26th of february, 2021. cause of death ...   car accident. age ... thirty. species ...   oracle. place of birth ... ithaca, new york. astrological sign ... aries. moral  alignment ...   true  neutral.  enneagram ...   type  5,  the  investigator. occupation ...   chronically unemployed.  current  residence ...   apartment above laundromat. bearhold, washington. three  positive  traits ...   clever,  loyal,  perceptive.  three  negative  traits ...   isolated, vitriolic,  sarcastic.  languages ...  english, japanese & french [spoken at home.]  sexuality ...   bisexual, kinsey scale 4. education ...   bachelor  of  arts in art history [cornell university] piercings ...   formerly had a lip ring on the left side of his lower lip, was removed for his funeral and healed during his resurrection. tattoos ...  a kitschy vintage tv set on his inner forearm, now faded and slashed through. family ...  jun murakami professor of business at cornell university, father. ayame murakami deceased, mother. colette bélanger murakami fiction writer, step-mother. utp bélanger murakami, half-sister.

history ... kaito  was  born  to  japanese  immigrants  in  ithaca,  new  york.  his  father,  jun,  was  a  professor  at  cornell.  unbeknownst  to  kaito's  mother,  ayame,  he  began  his  affair  with  colette  during  the  pregnancy.  so  it  follows  that  while  ayame's  death  while  giving  birth  to  their  son  was  oh,  so  tragic,  jun  must  have  felt  a  bit  of  relief.  he  and  colette  were  married  soon  after.  

even  though  he  spoke  french  and  colette  read  him  to  sleep,  kaito  knew  she  wasn't  his  mother  from  a  young  age,  but  it  didn't  really  stick  until  his  younger  sister  was  born.  when  all  he  heard  was  half-brother,  and  aren't  you  glad  to  have  one  of  your  own,  and  how  does  ayame's  boy  feel  about  it.  in  truth,  it  was  probably  the  first  thing  in  the  world  to  really  piss  him  off.  he  was  nine  when  he  started  letting  it  show.  he'd  made  colette  cry  at  bedtime  one  night  and  jun  was  furious.  

his  teen  years  were  pockmarked  with  rebellion.  bleaching  his  hair,  skipping  school,  stealing  his  dad's  cigarettes.  when  he  was  fourteen  his  step-mom  started  publishing  books,  and  whilst  cornell  paid  well,  the  double  income  definitely  helped.  suddenly  he  was  a  rich  teenager  who  spoke  three  languages  and  hung  out  at  a  college.  at  the  height  of  the  indie  sleaze  period,  he  was  getting  a  little  popular.  

when  he  graduated  high-school,  his  dad  made  sure  he  went  to  cornell.  it  was  an  ivy  league,  and  he  was  a  smart  boy.  even  though  they  had  a  few  hiccups  through  the  years,  jun  was  sure  he'd  straighten  out.  until  he  majored  in  art  history.  

it  was  around  this  time  the  visions  started.  his  internship  at  the  johnson  museum  of  art  had  him  cataloguing  historical  art  pieces  from  all  around  the  world.  he'd  touched  a  painting  one  day  and  in  a  flash  of  light  he  saw  that  someone  had  forged  it.  no  one  believed  him,  this  college  kid  with  a  c  average  and  a  penchant  for  taking  more  smoke  breaks  than  there  were  hours,  until  a  verifier  overheard  him  and  took  a  closer  look.  he  was  right.

the  visions  never  stopped.  and  they  weren't  just  about  art.  he'd  bump  into  a  guy  on  the  street  and  find  out  he  was  a  serial  abductor.  it  was  horrible.  it  began  to  drive  him  crazy.  when  he  went  to  his  father  about  it,  jun  had  thought  the  same  thing,  and  kaito  couldn't  control  the  visions  enough  to  prove  it.  they  tried  treatment  when  kaito  grabbed  his  step-mother  hard  enough  to  bruise,  desperately  attempting  to  coax  out  a  vision.  nothing  worked.  eventually,  after  kaito  embarrassed  them  at  his  graduation,  jun  and  colette  kicked  him  out  when  he  was  24.  

he  spent  three  years  couch-surfing  and  working  odd  jobs  trying  to  get  on  his  feet.  kaito  had  resorted  to  less  savory  habits.  he'd  go  to  a  bar,  strike  up  a  conversation  with  any  single  he  could  find  in  hopes  he'd  find  a  place  to  stay  the  night.  he  was  riding  home  with  one  of  these  people  when  a  vision  came  too  late.  a  semitruck  hit  them  when  they  ran  a  redlight.  

kaito  was  buried  next  to  his  mother.  six  feet  underground,  his  parents  made  speeches  about  how  the  dirt  would  tuck  him  into  rest  at  last.  but  someone  was  giving  him  those  visions,  and  for  reasons  kaito  didn't  understand,  they  wouldn't  let  him  die.  he  had  to  crawl  his  way  through  six  feet  of  packed  soil,  but  he  followed  fading  visions  from  there  to  a  small  town  in  washington.  then,  the  visions  stopped  altogether.  

he  learned  about  the  supernatural  in  bearhold.  he  learned  he  was  probably  an  oracle,  but  he  was  nothing  anymore.  kaito  was  dead.  but  walking.  and  his  body  was  alive  but  not  really.  his  skin  had  a  tendency  to  form  back  together  after  a  time,  and  he  was  always  cold.  probably  from  being  embalmed.  his  blood  was  a  strange  color  from  the  embalming  too,  lighter  than  the  natural  dark  red,  and  technicolor  fluids  floated  on  top  like  an  oil  spill.  

he  didn't  really  need  to  work,  so  kaito  spends  most  of  his  time  at  a  bar  in  town.  he's  trying  to  figure  out  what  he  is,  even  now.  he's  trying  to  figure  out  how  he  got  to  be  this  way.

[unhonestlymirror]

A reply to this post from @eywind:

"Maria, you probably won't see my reply. But I will try to remind you of your own reality.

Since 2014, your leader and your team have refrained from condemning the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. Aleksei Navalny even stated that “Crimea is not a sandwich” and, in fact, proposed to hold some other referendums on the clearly illegally occupied territory of Ukraine out of some kind of fright.

Why is that? First, of course, this apparently largely coincides with your personal positions. But even if this is not so, and deep down in your soul, you really support Ukraine with all your heart, there is a critical “second”.

You, as politicians, miraculously understand that direct support for Ukraine - an absolutely moral, honest, and legal (corresponding to international law) position - actually means political death in Russia.

You know very well that you will not win popularity among the Russian people if you say directly that Russia must give up territories to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, pay reparations and repent for several decades more for the crimes committed. Although this is what would be right and moral.

You know very well that the majority of the Russian people either support the war or treat it with positive neutrality. Therefore, they are forced to shift the focus in their domestic political messages to the fight against corruption, which translates into “they steal, therefore they do not produce missiles that kill Ukrainians efficiently enough” (this would be as funny as jokes about a shark if there were no deaths).

You are afraid to take a moral position even after the start of a full-scale war. On international platforms, where naive Western leaders are happy to invite you, not a word is heard from you on the topic of Ukraine. You consider all the crimes of the Putin regime only from the standpoint of your personal suffering, in order, again, to shift the focus from the fact that the Russian people are not that much suffering now. That the Russians, even having got out from behind the Iron Curtain, do not even try to organize mass anti-war protests. How many of you left there, more than a million? Where are they?

Putin is taking away Russians' pensions and future. You are silent about what Putin takes from Ukrainians. Because the very Russians whose psyche you protect so much will stop loving you. Who voluntarily go to war (for evading the mobilization of ZERO criminal cases) and wish Ukrainians death every day in thousands of comments (and not all of them are bots).

Whereas an effective Russian state, if you build it for those people from whom you now want to earn the trust - Russian voters - it will be better to fight.

It turns out that you, indulging the immorality of your own people, taking an absolutely immoral and cynical position, designed for the political future, have the audacity to teach morality to Ukrainians.

Your calculation is wise and cunning. I would do the same in your place. With one caveat - if you put your political future in your country in the first place, then shut your mouth to the Ukrainians. You are not our friends, at best, negotiators, and your Putin is your problem (we will solve our problem, but you and collective Putin will still remain).

And if you really want to put morality in the first place and want Ukrainians to at least not show contempt for you (you won’t reach respect anyway), then put your system of values ​​in order."

"The Putin regime can be dismantled, but the Russian people will remain the same 100 millionth collective Putin.

Without revision and rethinking of Russian culture, politics, and everyday life as well, real changes in Russia are impossible.

That's why I don't trust FBK. They can not fail to understand this, but at the same time, they do nothing in this direction. This means that their goal is not real change in Russia, but simply to become a new regime themselves, which for the first conditional 10 years, will be friends with the West in order to accumulate funds again and then take revenge."

[toastedpopsicle]

It's morally neutral to download a copy of anything for any reason. Digital information is infinitely replicable and therefore impossible to steal. The act of digital piracy literally cannot cause material harm. The IP holder has not lost anything, and the pirate has been mentally or socially or artistically enriched; under a materialist harm-reduction based morality, digital piracy is actually a morally positive act.

And before anyone wants to start talking about 'lost sales' as a material deficit; money that was never given to you was never yours. IP holders may feel an entitlement to that potential sale, but that transaction is as real as the unicorn I'm gonna send you for reblogging this post.

And if you want to argue that piracy harms workers who deserve to be compensated for their work. It doesn't. They were. That's what a development budget is. The money that gets paid to the people who made the thing. In a lot of cases those workers have already received every penny of compensation they're going to earn off that work before it's even been released to the public. And definitely in the cases of a syndicated TV show or old movie or retro game, the only people benefitting from further sales are bourgeois parasites who have zero material connection to the creation of that work.

Hey not for nothing but this is exactly why I have no trust in digital media "purchases" that aren't physical and also why I am of the opinion that if a physical option isn't made possible then it should be considered morally neutral for me to download a copy for my own digital collection to view when offline.

[chaoskirin2]

An Open Letter to Brian May

OK. I’m sure he won’t see this, but I’m putting it out there just in case.

Dr. May. You’ve always had the best interests of the artistic community at heart. You are a wonderful, caring person. I have been watching you for many years, and I’ve seen you go to bat for amazing causes for your whole life.

You share art, which is something not a lot of people in your position do. It’s really nice to see all the works you post. Once, you even posted one of mine, and it was an amazing day for me.

So I’m coming to you from a position of respect, and I’m hoping to explain some things to you and hope you consider my words. Take your time. No need to respond. This is simply for you to think about.

You are a musician. You work hard on your music and would hate to see it stolen and repurposed. In fact, there was once even a point in history where legal action was taken against someone who took a riff from Queen and repurposed it into his own music without asking. So you definitely understand how this works, and how this isn’t merely “cheating” but outright theft. Queen was not credited when the song was released, and never would have been had legal action not been taken.

I know it hurt you to have to do this. But there is integrity in art that must be preserved if we as humans are to continue innovating. We cannot steal from each other. We must build each other up and give credit where credit is due.

What Nenu does is he takes photos and paintings from other people, repurposes those works without getting permission from the original artist, and then presents those works to you as original. Because you are acquainted with this person, you take him at his word that these are original works.

Unfortunately, in these cases, you aren’t aware that someone else (who has worked very hard on the original Nenu used as a base) was the originator of the art. The person who initially created the work would probably love to hear that you like it, but because they aren’t revealed as a contributor, they don’t receive any credit. Instead, someone who is extremely talented with art manipulation is gaining your love and admiration.

I am NOT coming to you as a person who has had their art used by Nenu, so I am a relatively neutral party here. I also do not currently do Queen art, so I am also not coming to you looking for attention. However, I am a professional artist, and I can provide my credentials if you need them.

What I am at my core is a person who wants to see people credited for their hard work. I of COURSE want Nenu to succeed, but I want him to do so on his own merits. I want him to credit the art he’s used to make the works he presents to you. And, Dr. May, it is my hope that you will start to ask him where he gets the bases for his work so that you can also appreciate the photos and art made by other people.

We spend our whole lives learning, and not knowing something is not a moral failing. With that in mind, I hope that reading this has taught you a little bit about rampant theft in the art world, and has piqued your interest enough to look into things a little more. I am confident you will at least consider these words, as you are always very considerate of other peoples’ feelings.

Respectfully and with admiration,

Aeryn

[claudeleine]

Did it ever occur to anyone that Wanda’s Roma background in the comics was BUILT on racist stereotypes? Similarly to M’Baku but also several others. And maybe that’s why the show runners stepped away from that..?

okay, so i think what we have here is someone who skimmed the original post in question (paragraph 2) and likely didn’t ready any of the links attached because that first message has been addressed already... but for anyone else in the same boat:

from gavia baker-whitelaw’s article:

Wanda and Pietro's Romani heritage was canon for decades (including in their non-mutant backstory), although this depiction often had problematic undertones. Wanda is literally a mysterious foreign witch, a damaging stereotype that acquired more nuance in later comics. But instead of updating Wanda and Pietro as modern Jewish/Romani superheroes (much like how Black Panther's charismatic M'Baku started out as a villain named "Man-Ape"), Disney whitewashed them. This casting choice was divisive in 2013, when The Atlantic highlighted the negative connotations of casting a white blonde actress as Scarlet Witch. Roma people are a marginalized ethnic minority, and Disney chose to erase their presence from the MCU.

...This rewrite was rather tone-deaf, because it involved Wanda and Pietro volunteering for neo-Nazi experiments. In the comics, their original parents were Holocaust survivors. Whedon also ignored the most obvious solution to Wanda and Pietro's non-mutant backstory: Django and Marya Maximoff, their Romani parents from the comics.

white washing characters is never the best solution. it doesn’t address the issue in so much as it just sweeps it under the rug. as well as perpetuating the idea that white is some unproblematic neutral that ppl can just default to. like can you imagine if in an attempt to “fix” how m��baku is portrayed in the comics, they just...put a white guy in the role? you can’t just remove a characters racial or ethnic background. no one is saying that her comic background hasn’t been problematic, but this isn’t the way to remedy that.

@scarlet--wiccan has an amazing post about the erasure of this whole family’s ethnic identity in the fox x-men films (x).

@villyns also has a good post outlining some examples of the mcu white washing rather than actually fixing the problem (x).

and here’s a decent article on white washing in media and why it’s a problem (x), quote from this article below:

Making a movie is not an easy feat; there are many things to take into account and even more people that you have to please, but there are also standards and morals to uphold. Whitewashing, blackface, brownface or yellowface is not just about denying jobs to minority actors, appropriating the stories of these groups, perpetuating stereotypes or keeping them invisible, it is about undermining their value as human beings and turning them into stepping stones, props, for white artists.

as for the second part. i think that’s entirely possible, actually. it’s done a lot to characters, where they won’t explicitly state their ethnicity but give them attributes from one (often stereotypes) and make them a caricature without making it, like i said, explicit. take the concept of jewish-coded villains in media. no one from disney has ever said that mother gothel in tangled is jewish, but it’s been pointed out by everyone that she’s jewish coded through stereotypes, ones specifically often used for “evil” witch-type characters, which is no coincidence: large, hooked nose, curly hair, greedy, etc. edit: hollywood uses coding like this often for racial/ethnic groups and the lgbtq+ community.

the maximoffs in the mcu and xmcu have never been explicitly made romani, with disney going so far as to change their parents romani names (django and marya) to oleg and irina. the name changes were unnecessary, except to distance the maximoffs from their original romani identity. the mcu changed their origins stories and cast non-romani actors to portray the maximoffs, and considering they went as far as to remove their jewish heritage as i mentioned before, it’s not a stretch that this is all an attempt to veil their romani background too. while they often joke about stealing and fortune tellers and poverty (the wv halloween episode really put it all in one place, but they’ve been doing it forever in the xmcu and mcu), i wouldn’t say this is an attempt to make them romani as much as it is to use a romani-esque caricature, to use it as a sort of “aesthetic” for the twins without acknowledging that it’s an ethnicity. the aspects they choose to keep are often either negative or painted in a negative light. i think the fact that el*zabeth ols*en continuously uses the g-slur to talk about wanda and costume design, speaks to that. 

and even if the mcu came out and said, “oh, our wanda is romani,” that wouldn’t change the fact that she’s played by a non-romani actress (who continues to use anti-romani slurs, despite knowing she shouldn’t) and that so far, they have not explicitly stated in the mcu that she is.

from gavia baker-whitelaw’s article:

Wanda and Pietro's whitewashing feels like an attempt to "neutralize" them. It frames their ethnicity as a problem to be avoided, rather than an opportunity to celebrate an under-represented group. This also meant that Marvel could cast famous white actors instead of sourcing an unknown Romani actor, during a period when the MCU was visibly uninterested in racial diversity.

But Marvel Studios wanted to have its cake and eat it, too. While Wanda is now white and Sokovian, her role isn't completely divorced from its Romani origins. It can't be, because everything in the MCU is informed by the comics. That's how we end up with El*zabeth Ols*n describing her Age of Ultron costume as "kind of this g*psy, vagabond feel"—terms that usually wouldn't come to mind for a simple black minidress and maroon jacket. Wanda's Romani heritage remains visible through veiled references and superficial costume choices, sidestepping any hint of meaningful representation.

from jessica reidy’s article:

Today, some Roma do call themselves witches, and serve as healers and spell-casters in a community, but make no mistake, being a witch is a job like any other. I was trained by my grandmother, I studied hard, I started a business, and I take bookings in my Google calendar. This is the context that most people miss when creating (or, in this case, adapting) Romani witch characters like Wanda Maximoff, and while the Scarlet Witch has plenty of magic, she does not need to fall into the stereotype, nor have her identity erased.

Representation matters. Wanda’s Romani ethnicity has been well-stated in the comic books, sometimes capturing the discrimination and violence that Roma face, and other times falling flat and stereotypical. Marvel also owes us, as Roma are often rendered as mentally unstable thieves, such as Dr. Doom, Wanda and Pietro’s community, and Wanda herself, and the entertainment giant capitalizes off of these stereotypes, reinforcing them all the while.

Every opportunity we get for accurate and positive representation is essential to us because it shapes the way people understand us.

linking the post i made again, because it has a list of articles and posts i’d recommend really taking the time to look through and engaging with them, as well as following folks like jessica reidy and @scarlet--wiccan​ on social media for more info from romani folks. 

[writing-in-april]

Made to Match

Frankie Morales x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary: Reader can’t stop stealing Frankie’s hat.

A/N: Hey everyone- this is my sixteenth fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April!!!! This is just a very fluffy sweet little fic I wrote for Frankie 😌 Side note- I wanted to thank everyone for being so kind after my last post ranting about my emotional breakdown today, thank you- so much it means a lot. Feel free to leave me an anon about anything here- I love hearing from people about anything (I promise I don’t bite lol) Thanks for reading and hope y’all enjoy!

Warnings: Frankie gets a little frisky by gettinbf close to grabbing Reader’s ass & one or two swear words

Main Masterlist Word Count: 1.5k

“You can’t keep stealing my hat!” Frankie shouted at you as you ran away from him with his hat perched on your head. All you did was giggle and scurry away faster.

You ran into your shared bedroom, looking around frantically for a quick place to hide. Realistically you knew Frankie would find you in a heartbeat, he had been trained to track stealthier people throughout his career. You were definitely no challenge considering you couldn’t even keep your mouth shut and stop laughing.

It was funny to see him pretend to get mad each time you’d pluck it off of his head, even though the look in his eyes showed how much he liked it.

The quickest place to hide was in the closet you both shared, choosing to hide in between both of your racks of hanging clothes. You posited that he might not check here, both of you preferred wearing the more casual clothes folded neatly in the dresser. The only thing Frankie regularly wore that was in here was a few of his nice flannels that he didn’t want getting creases in. He was never in here, so he wouldn’t think to check here

It was quiet, definitely too quiet. You bit your lip while holding your breath, afraid that he might somehow hear you. The silence was tense, your mind over analyzing every small noise you heard.

A small creak from the floorboards made you tense up even more, you were sure Frankie was close. That was soon after confirmed to you by a loud shout to scare you out of your hiding place, “Boo!”

Even though you had known he was close you still couldn’t help but let out a short scream, adrenaline now coursing through your veins as a result of being startled. Your shout dissolved back into laughter that infected the room once your mind fully processed that it was only Frankie. He pulled you out from the rack with a gentle grip on your wrist, starting to tickle your sides as soon as you emerged. The sounds of each other's laughter were addicting to both you and Frankie. You did have to eventually beg when tears came to your eyes, “I yield! You can have your hat back!”

He popped it off your head, plopping it back down where it belonged on his head. You draw your lips into the biggest pout you could manage, though you weren’t actually upset of course. It was fun to pull Frankie’s leg even if he knew you were pretending right off the bat.

“But- I look the best in it.” Frankie’s look on his face told you that your fake pout and dramatic words weren't swaying him at all.

“I don’t disagree with you. But, it’s still mine,” He teased, “Besides, mine is too big on you, you need one that fits better.”

—-

Frankie’s passing comment about getting you a baseball cap for yourself hadn’t stuck with you for very long, certainly not 2 months after. You had stolen his hat many times since then, it was too fun not too.

It was the furthest thing from your mind as you filled out some meaningless paperwork at your kitchen table. You were getting bored to tears, filling in blanks that basically just repeated the same information over and over again until you reached the end. You audibly sighed in relief when Frankie came in through the front door, back from work for the evening.

He set down his truck keys on the kitchen table, carefully avoiding revealing something he obviously was holding behind his back. He hadn’t said anything to you yet besides a simple greeting and telling you he missed you. Instead, deciding to stand, patiently waiting for you to finish what you were doing.

“What are you doing?” You questioned not bothering to finish the paperwork for now, standing up as he rocked back on his heels .

“I- Umm have something for you…” He pushed a package in your hand that he had been hiding behind his back after his admission. When he handed you his pocket knife to open the package you tore into it, carefully of course, in case it was something fragile. In the box held a hat, one that looked suspiciously similar to the one sat on his head. You pulled it out of the box, inspecting it in your hands, realizing it was an exact match for his.

“You got this for me?” You squeaked and he nodded in return, while you flipped it over in your hands, looking at every inch. It had a similar patch on the front that had the same ‘Standard Heating & Oil’ on the front. At first looking at it you thought he might have gotten it custom made for you, until you realized it was well loved just as his was. Well, maybe not as much considering Frankie’s hat had fallen apart at the seams until you had fixed it with some new stitching. It must have taken a while to track down a real one with the exact same logo as his. Your curiosity was peaked so you asked, “Where did you get this?”

He shifted his eyes back and forth, getting a little nervous that you might not like it. He did eventually find the words to tell you, “I was looking on um- EBay for one and then I happened to find one at a thrift store while looking for new flannels.”

“I- I love it, thank you so much baby.” You gasped in excitement and leaned forward to press a kiss to his burning cheeks. Something about it being made at a similar time as his made it all the more special, glad that Frankie was blessed with serendipity.

Frankie then shyly asked, “Can I put it on you?”

Almost immediately you answered, “Yes!” Frankie still looked rather bashful at your response, tugging his own cap down before grabbing your new one. Something about you being excited for his little gifts always seemed to make him extremely bashful, like he felt he didn’t deserve your praise. You made it your mission to change that each time he added to the list of little things that made you love him even more.

“This one will fit better on you than mine.” Your eyes went soft, the gesture so sweet that you suddenly wanted to cry for some reason. Frankie was always a very sweet man, each time he did something like this your heart melted into a puddle on the floor no matter how many times he’s done it.

He takes the bill of your new hat and places it on your head, swatting your hands away when you move to push it down so he could do it himself. The hat fits perfectly on your head, almost so perfect that you wouldn’t be surprised if Frankie had measured your head while you were sleeping and adjusted it accordingly. He tapped the top of the bill once while looking down at you with his own hat snug on his head making you giggle.

Moving his hands again to now smooth over the tops of your shoulders he inspected the fit of it with a smile. “It looks perfect- you look perfect.”

Bringing your lips to Frankie’s you then gave him a soft kiss while cupping his scratchy cheeks. It was slightly awkward to maneuver the bills of your caps to be able to have your lips meet properly, the corners of Frankie’s eyes crinkling in amusement as you huffed trying to adjust your mouth on his. You did eventually find the perfect angle to tilt both of your heads without bonking the curved bills together.

Sighing into the kiss, Frankie reciprocated, deepening it a little bit more. His hands were always wandering, trailing down from your shoulders to the small of your back, low enough that he was almost grabbing your ass. You couldn’t seem to stop giggling, something that Frankie loved, even while kissing.

“What are you doing?” You repeated your question from earlier, much more teasingly this time while his hand travelled down further.

“Nothing…” The way the pitch in his voice rose you could tell that was a lie. You quirked your eyebrow up at him in question, silently calling him a liar. He withered underneath your gaze and admitted, “Alright- maybe it’s something but, you just look so good in your hat.”

Teasing him was almost too easy sometimes, you could get him to be flustered with just a few simple words or even none at all, “Mmmm alright I’ll let it go, I do like this hat on me too. Thanks again for getting it for me baby.”

You both kept standing in your embrace like time had stopped ticking by, just enjoying the presence of the other. The hat was an amazing present from Frankie, matching perfectly with him. But, you weren’t going to lie, you'd miss stealing his hat so he would chase you around the house. You brought your head out from where it was tucked in his shoulder to ask, “Can I still steal yours sometimes?”

“Of course, but only if you let me steal yours.” You nodded your head, with a smile of course because there was almost never a time when you didn’t smile when you were around Frankie. Now you and Frankie would always match, like two peas in a pod.

Ask Me Anything

——

Tag lists (fill out this form to join): Strike through means tumblr won’t let me tag you (check your tumblr settings to see if you are unsearchable)

All works: @shotarosleftpinky @oreogutz @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg @boxofsparklingmuses @multixfandomwriter @takeyourleap-of-faith

All Pedro Pascal Characters: (no ones on this one yet 😊 & I’ll create a tag list only for Frankie if anybody wants it)

[theearloftophats]

this is not a good take. I respect the dedication but this post reeks of using buzzwords to sound intelligent and i think you have horribly mischaracterized Swatch, and I would like to talk about it.

I am so sick of this fandom and how it treats Swatch. And though i usually hate sticking my nose into things i just. i need to talk about them. Forgive me if this is ramble-ish its 4am and I haven't been in this fandom for a while so im working off a lot of memory.

To start with. They are a butler working for Queen. they may be the head butler, but they are literally a servant of hers. they would not have the power to speak up or disobey her to help Spamton even if they wanted to if they want to keep their job. The notion that they have a "higher place" in the social strata is an absurd one. the only dialogue we see from them is from the perspective of a costumer. they aren't going to be open and honest with you. they have to maintain a level of professionalism with Kris. Most of it reads as a scripted sales pitch if anything. because they're doing their job. and even then, there are multiple instances where their exasperation with Queen seeps through quite clearly.

I also want to point out the hypocrisy in saying Swatch, a butler, a SERVANT, is a class traitor, but saying that Spamton, who was a CAPITALIST who got rich and famous enough to live WITH THE MONARCH, who PARTOOK IN THE SYSTEM, is not? He WAS a crooked salesman as far as we know. his first boss fight is him trying to scam Kris out of their money and/or their soul. Swatch may work for Queen, but to say that they have abandoned the working class to favor the elites is ridiculous and to turn around and defend Spamton for doing exactly that is dishonest.

Continuing with the Spamton stuff, you cannot take a character who's entire theme is how lonely and angry at the world and the people in it at their word like that. Of course he is going to feel like Swatch "pretended to be his friend" because he probably feels BETRAYED. Granted, they probably participated in his downfall because of their position. but Spamton is an unreliable narrator, and a morally grey person at best. what makes Spamtons lines about being betrayed by queen and swatch the direct and whole truth, but Swatch lamenting about him being a "valued customer" them "playing coy". why does one character get to be objective in their perspective but the other is an evil bootlicking petite bourgeois.

They are lamenting that he fucked himself over by trying to use an old robot body to achieve the delusional dream of reaching "Heaven". if anything they're bitter ex posting on main lol.

I want to make a point of talking about this line specifically.

this line is so fucked to me. where. WHERE are you getting this level of CRUELTY from them? because they have personal issues with spam?? they very clearly have history together in some capacity and maybe they're a little more harsh about him but there is NOTHING about them in ANY of the rest of their dialogue that would suggest something like this. This is a very strange leap to take from them being offended that Spamton would steal their look to sneak into the basement.

Here are some bits of Swatch's dialogue that I feel give a little insight into them outside of just being a shopkeeper for Queen's cafe.

Especially that first one. They very clearly put on a persona when working to appear as professional and collected as possible. I think it is entirely unfair to base your opinions of a character on how they behave when you only see them through the POV of a customer. Especially without taking into account why they might behave that way. This idea that swatch is some sort of uncaring asshole is ridiculous to me, but its one i see all too often.

Swatch comes across as quiet, and reserved. their dialogue is almost entirely neutral and practiced, and when they do slip a little and they reveal irritation or displeasure, they apologize and/or correct themself. Maybe they're a little cold. but that doesn't make them a bad person.

Alright. So. Clearly this is a subject I have alot to say on lol. Im not mad tho just very passionate abt Swatch =] I would like to stress that this is not an attack against you, op, I just think that this is an extreme mischaracterization of a character I am quite attached to, who I feel gets given the short end of the stick a lot and is used as a scapegoat for spamton angst far too much by the fandom at large. You have cherrypicked dialogue to make a point, and then additionally chose to read it in the least charitable way possible. You are projecting a harsh political alignment on a character who doesnt have NEARLY enough screentime to warrant such a deep dive, and using dialogue from a character who is explicitly shown to be unreliable and possibly entirely insane (/affectionate), who also has a rocky personal history with, and thus and obvious bias against them as evidence to your claim. it is simply bad media analysis.

other than that, i hope you have a good day, and i wish you nothing but the best. /g

Why is Swatch a class traitor???

Thank you very much for asking :)

In this post I'll be using he/they pronouns interchangeably to refer to Swatch. I enjoy the idea of they-pronouns Swatch but at the same time I refuse to believe that the only instance of canon pronoun usage to refer to him is misgendering, as some people posted about before, because that's not how Toby flies.

That being said, before talking about Swatch specifically, I need to explain the logic behind this reading of them. Swatch being seen as a "class traitor" is derived from the marxist idea of class consciousness, or in different terms, the fact that people who are in the same economic position understand each other and therefore owe each other solidarity, the idea that people need to be conscious of their position in their society and side with people who will help their situation and improve their lives.

In this sense, a class traitor is a person who, despite understanding their position in the social strata, refuses to side with their peers and instead either shuns them to appeal to a higher social class, to "appear as one of them", so to speak, or completely refuses the idea that they are part of that class to begin with. A good, palpable example, are snobbish, classist doctors. Doctors are employed by someone – be it a hospital, a clinic, an insurance company, the government in some countries, even in private practice, etc, but they are not, by Marx's definitions, owners of capital, aka someone with the exorbitant amount of money that allows them to control production in a large scale (in other words, conglomerates and billionaires). However, having a higher material condition on average, and having attained this social position through study that was allowed by a higher material condition in the first place, some doctors don't realize that they are just as much of a proletariat as the poor man they are treating, and thus exhibit behavior like discrediting, ignoring or even being hostile to people they identify as lesser, despite the fact that they're supposed to be together, sociologically speaking.

What the fuck does that have to do with Swatch, you ask? Well, Swatch is, to put it bluntly, literally a servant to aristocracy. They are, by definition, part of the working class, and therefore they owe solidarity to their fellow workers. Spamton, in direct counterbalance, is a member of the working class who has been elevated, by one way or another, into a position that makes him just as, if not more powerful than aristocracy. Spamton had become burgoise, though he still retains his origin as a working class salesman, that much hasn't changed in him, as far as we can tell. This seems to be going on just fine, if we are to believe Spamton's response in the Q&A, until Spamton needs a support system, when his business goes belly up to the point that he ends up homeless.

I really need to emphasize this point. Spamton isn't a "funny little guy who lives in a non-house cuz it's funny", not even in-universe. He is, put it simply, destitute. He does not live in the trash because he wants to. And, I think that every clear-headed person understands this, you cannot go from being one of, if not the, richest person in your entire world, to a homeless man living in a garbage can who people pretend doesn't exist, unless your peers and your society have wronged you tremendously. Spamton didn't become a homeless man just because he fucked around and found out, he became a homeless man because he fucked around and found out, AND none of his peers from this time wanted to help him. And, most importantly, this includes Swatch.

As a servant, he must know what poverty looks like. He must know what having a material condition worse than the ones you surround yourself with is like. And they did nothing to help, or maybe even contributed to Spamton's isolation, which is a separate can of worms I don't have the energy to look at gameplay videos for at this time of night.

For real, does the guy who sells Spamton's bowties with the label removed, and refers to him as a "crooked salesman", and plays it coy and laments when Spamton goes off the deep end sound like they have class consciousness?

Do they sound like they wouldn't shoo off a poor, hungry plugboy from the palace's kitchen back door?

Swatch has apparently rejected his origin not only as a metaphorically working-class artist, but the fact that he could empathize with other working-class people as well, including the less fortunate and the desperate. This makes him a class traitor, by Marx's own theory.

Of course, there's a lot more nuance to Swatch and Spamton's relationship, especially the fact that Spamton isn't the perfect portrait of a poor victim and is very combative and aggressive, which doesn't make people very willing to empathize with him in the first place. There's also the power inbalance and dynamic involved in the fact that, when Spamton lived in the Pandora Palace, Swatch was his butler as well, and that might complicate things from Swatch's end.

At the end of the day, this is just my own takeaway from Swatch's words about Spamton, and Spamton's words about Swatch. This doesn't mean much for anything besides my own understanding of Deltarune and what sort of fun dynamics I can explore in fanworks, nor does it mean I am claiming it as truth, but I do think it's an interesting exercise in media analysis.

Edited to include a few more words on Spamton becoming burgoise cuz I meant to do that but forgor lmao

[sweetestpopcorn]

Targaryen antis are really going wild. Just read a post and argued with an ex friend about this.She was saying that Aegon, rhaenys and visenya were greedy and morally corrupt in conquering Westeros. Like damn🤐. And they shouldn't be using the dragons if they wanted respect from the lords 🥴. Quoted the starks on their honor and labnisters for their cunning. The height of delusion 🙄

I'm worried what ho*d will do.

Hi there, Anon!

Oh yes, because it was so selfless of the First Men and the Andals to steal from the lands that belonged to the Children of the Forest 🤗🤗🤗 They also didn't kill them, don't let anyone fool you. Nope. The children just committed mass suicide because they were bored. #goals #selfless #theyjustkeptongiving #peaceandproperity

Also great on the westerosi for not having a feudalistic system where lords and kings rule over smallfolk and have such amazing laws as the First Night! Like you go, girl! #equality #socialism

Seriously, Westeros was absolutely thriving before the EvIl CoNqUeRoRs came! EvIL!

Westeros was just a peaceful kingdom where there was equality for everyone. Riches were well distributed. And everyone was happy! Oh and btw, how great was that health care program the Kings in the North implemented? Wow! I wish I lived there!

Westeros before the Targaryens:

Westeros after the Targaryens:

For real now, I pity the antis/"neutrals". Must be sad to hate the best house and live under the illusion their favs are so much better 😔😥 and even sadder to have to try and make the Targaryens look bad so their favs can look good in comparisson. 

Allow me to play the World's smallest violin to express my sadness over their tragedy.

I hope one day they can overcome this.

For real now, Anon, you do you, but my advise is just stay away from those posts and people. There’s no point in trying to reason with those who don’t want to reason. People who need to put other characters down to make their own look super special. These are the kind of people who don’t want to succeed, they just want you to fail more than them, that way their own failure looks better by comparison.

Surround yourself with positivity. With things you like, not things that upset you. And try not to argue with anyone, just be like ok boo, you wrong, good luck with that and move on. It’s the best we can do. Because arguing on the internet is like a fight with pigs in the mud. The pigs get happy and you get dirty.

Enjoying fandom should be a positive thing. We should go there because we want more content about characters we love, either making it/enjoying it/both, not to bash other characters. Like love and let love. This should be for enjoyment, not hatred and conflict.

That being said, House Targaryen >>>>>>>>>> Everyone else. #haterscry 

All the best to you, Anon, and try to ignore the haters, and focus on the best House in the asoiaf universe 🥰 🐲🐲🐲

[baambastic]

In this analysis, I will be discussing three versions of the Marvel character Loki Laufeyson: Classic!Loki, the version from early Thor and Avengers comics; AoA!Loki, the modern version of Loki who was called Ikol until he stole the body of Kid Loki (who will not be discussed) and is most known for his Agent of Asgard storyline; and MCU!Loki, the version of Loki in the MCU played by actor Tom Hiddleston and an amalgam of both the dead and Variant versions of the same character.

Classic!Loki was a terrible adaptation of Myth!Loki in terms of faithfulness, more the God of Lies and Evil than the God of Mischief (who also referred to himself as Satan multiple times, so). He was a pure evil villain, going way too far past trickster and all the way to murderous and depraved sadist. Both AoA!Loki and Classic!Loki are accurate to Norse Mythology in that they are the son of Laufey and the the father of Hela, Fenris, and Jormungandr, though Myth!Loki is not the brother of Thor or the adoptive son of Odin.

AoA!Loki is a far more faithful adaptation of Myth!Loki, with moral ambiguity that skews towards a net positive, themes of change/fluidity/impermanence, and actually being genderfluid. He conned the devil Mephisto out of stealing the soul of Sigurd, snuck into Avengers Tower and erased all information on himself from their database, broke Sigurd out of one of the most secure cells in Asgardia without alerting the All-Mothers, faked his death in front of a future version of himself, and faced and talked down the Ones Who Sit Above In Shadow. This Loki is the God(dess) of Stories. This Loki is the God of Mischief, a true trickster god, even after he loses the ability to lie. And the stark differences between AoA!Loki and Classic!Loki can be clearly seen in the Agent of Asgard miniseries, when Loki comes into conflict with King Loki, a version of AoA!Loki from the future who gave up and trying to be a better person and chose to embrace his God of Lies and Evil title instead, killing everyone on Earth and Asgard, save for Thor; King Loki is basically a more intense version of Classic!Loki. This post goes into more depth on my thoughts on AoA!Loki.

Lastly, we have MCU!Loki, definitely the most boring of the three Marvel Lokis in this discussion, though whether or not he’s the least accurate is arguable. MCU!Loki starts out as a pure evil, power hungry villain, much like Classic!Loki minus the spandex and Satan comparisons. This Loki eventually develops into a neutral party who would only be defined as “good” through his love of/care for his brother, and is then killed. Unlike AoA!Loki, MCU!Loki does not carry themes of rebirth. Then, Variant!Loki, who will be mostly lumped in with the base MCU!Loki for the purposes of this analysis, develops into a morally good character who cares about others and is willing to sacrifice himself for them. On the technical side, MCU!Loki is by far the least accurate to Norse Mythology. This Loki is the brother of Hela and Thor, the adoptive son of Odin, and biologically unrelated to Fenris. In Norse mythology, Loki is the father of Hel and Fenrir and merely a companion to Odin and Thor. MCU!Loki’s one advantage over the other two Lokis in terms of accuracy is the fact that both he and Myth!Loki couldn’t manipulate their way out of a cardboard box.

Our three Marvel Lokis can be placed on a spectrum of moral ambiguity, with Classic!Loki at the far evil end, MCU!Loki pretty decently towards the far good end, and AoA!Loki siting comfortably near the middle, albeit a little more on the good side than the evil side.

So, overall, considering morality, personality, themes, and technical accuracies, AoA!Loki is the most faithful Marvel adaptation of Myth!Loki, Classic!Loki is the least faithful, and MCU!Loki sits in between.

[beckhcm]

rudy pankow, cis-man, he/him */   have you seen BECKHAM “ BECK ” CARLYLE lately ? yeah, i heard they're TWENTY-THREE years old and a WAITER now in charleston city. i mean, i don’t know if it’s their CAPRICORN vibes or that they’re -IRRESPONSIBLE and -MANIPULATIVE but also +SOCIABLE and +RESOURCEFUL but they remind me of THIS LIFE I HAVE by THE WRECKS. here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble around here. 

hello !  i’m  dani and this is my emotional support dumbass beck-  pls be nice to him he’s trying his best. if you’d like to plot give this post a like, hmu on discord ( 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐢 👻   *𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘶𝘬𝘦#5701) or tumblr ims.  xoxo gossip girl .

                BASICS !!

full name:  beckham “beck” francis carlyle

birthday:  january 16th, 1998

hometown: manhattan, ny.

sexuality:  bisexual

positive traits: charismatic, sociable, intelligent & resourceful.

negative traits:  irresponsible, selfish, aloof, & evasive

moral alignment: chaotic neutral

songs that remind me of him:  scumbag by goody grace, hotblack by oceanship, decided to break it by marianas trench, to be so lonely by harry styles & bad habits by fidlar

                BIOGRAPHY !!

once upon a time he used to wear his name with pride. his parents, sebastian and lilith carlyle were two of the most powerful people in new york. his father was a powerful business man with political influence while his mother worked for the AHRQ. they used to say the kid was spoiled rotten, being their only child he got everything he ever wanted, from the latest toys to a heard of nannies ready to meet all of his demands. his mother tried to make a good boy out of him, however, due to her packed schedule, she was hardly ever home. it didn’t affect him though  - or so he says-  he understood that his parents were important people, it was okay for them to miss birthdays, christmases, and piano recitals as long as he got to keep his lavish lifestyle.

like every other rich kid he went to private school, he was smart enough to get decent grades and rich enough to pay off teachers when it was needed. he never cared for people outside of his social circle, he wouldn’t spare you a second glance if you didn’t have money or connections. charismatic to those with power and an arrogant prick to those he deemed to be beneath him.

march 27th 2020 he woke up to someone banging on the door,  beck went down to the kitchen only to find his father in handcuffs. his mom held him and told him not to panic, that it was a mistake and it would be over soon. a day later their name was plastered all over the news. his father was nothing but a thief in a nice suit, he'd been stealing millions of dollars from charities and other government agencies to various bank accounts overseas. most, if not all of their fortune was acquired by screwing over regular hard-working people. overnight they became the most hated family in america, reporters blinded him with camera flashes whenever he dared to leave the house. a month later all of their accounts were frozen, and not too long after that they lost everything.

the fall from grace was humbling, he went from having everything to not knowing whether he'd be able to afford food for the rest of the week. tired of living in a city where everyone knew about his dirty laundry,  he sold whatever he could and used the money to move to charleston. now he has to live with a roommate (wink wink wanted connection)  and work at a shitty restaurant just to make ends meet.

              PERSONALITY  !!!

right now beck is angry; at his dad, at the world, and at himself. now that he’s living outside of his bubble he’s realizing what a fucking tool he used to be. that being said, he’s nowhere close to being a saint, there’s still a sense of superiority he can’t quite shake off.

🎶 arrogant son of a bitch who can’t admit when he’s sorry 🎶

he’s fun to hang out with but hard to be friends with. he expects people to love him without doing much to deserve it. no one ever taught him how to love properly so this is all a learning curve. he’s very codependent which is why people tend to rotate in and out of his life every few years.  

if you were to meet him at a party you would think he’s an open book, he’s very good at conversing and making you feel like you’ve been best friends for years, however that’s all bullshit. he’s reserved about things that actually matter, he doesn’t like to talk about himself or his family or what happened in new york.

big dummy energy when it comes to basic life things. he grew up with people doing everything for him so now he’s learning how to be on his own. this boy can’t cook, clean, do laundry, or even shop for groceries. it’s definitely getting better but he’s still the type to set the kitchen on fire while making ramen.  ( picture paris and nicole in a simple life )

as far as relationships goes, he likes to fuck around without committing to anything. there’s a lot of self hatred going on right so how can he trust someone to love him when he can’t even love himself ?

btw full name him and he might punch you in the face js

W A N T E D    C O N N E C T I O N S  !!! ( link here )

P I N T E R E S T  !!! ( link here )

[ftherman]

       first of all, hello guys!! i'm excited to start writing! i haven't had time to write a super elaborate bio yet, but for plotting purposes i'll leave some stats and other key info about herman below, and i promise that later i'll post some other deeper stuff like his story and everything. feel free to call me here on tumblr or discord for plots! my name is sarah, btw! ( s*#6353 )

stats.

full name: herman gregory cipriani

nicknames: hesh, hermie

occupation: capo of drug dealers and thieves.

sexuality: bissexual

syndicate: the titans

day of birth:  june 1, 1996

zodiac sign: gemini 

mbti type: entp

moral alignment: chaotic neutral 

mother: may pearson, a former stripper in olympus lounge. 

father: ezekiel cipriani, deceased and a former capo in titans.

positive characteristics: astute, gregarious

negative characteristics: casuistic, dishonest

background.

herman was born and tartarus, in the back of the olympus lounge where his mother, may pearson, gave birth to him one early morning in june.

may became pregnant by a committed man, ezekiel cipriani, who at the time was a capo of the titans and engaged to a girl who came with him from italy to california, in search of a better life than they had in calabria, the poorest region in the country. ezekiel made a point of recognizing his son as his, which his fiancee certainly didn’t like. the two broke off their engagement, but over time his stepmother came to have a certain fondness for him, especially as he became more active in the titans' hq.

herman had a good relationship with his family in general. he was not very close to his father and lived his entire childhood in the olympus lounge where he accompanied his mother to work and that is why he always had her as his best friend. with ezekiel he honed his dowry for criminality, as he seemed to have been born with the talent for stealing and manipulating people.

at the olympus, while the men were having fun with the strippers, herman was even more entertained by stealing their wallets and stuffing his pockets with a few dollars and valuables. no wonder he and his mother lived a little better than most.

 personality. 

herman is elusive, and manages to get out of trouble with absurd ease, not only because of his ability to run longer without getting tired, but also because of his cunning and ability to come up with good plans.

despite not being the most trustworthy and honest person in the world, he is a great leader and this is due to his ability as a strategist and to pacify some conflicts.

he’s a nice person to have around, as he’s quite funny, knows how to be friendly and extroverted in the right measure so as not to become inconvenient. it's easy to get the impression that he doesn't take anything seriously, but deep down he's always attentive to details and absorbing information that would easily go unnoticed by others. he's quite treacherous, so to speak.

      well, i guess that's all i have in mind for him right now. i'm open to any kind of plot you might have thought of while reading the intro, but i'll leave some ideas here too! but if you’re adept at letting things happen, i'll be super cool with it too.

some plot ideas. 

backstabber: someone with whom herman had an apparent friendship ended up betraying that person in some way.

frenemy: nobody it’s certain if they like each other or not, but what they do know it’s that they are always in each other’s life in some way. 

hook ups: pls, he probably have a lot of them

flirtationship: someone he's always pestering with cheap pick-up lines just to see them nervous.

best friend and ‘’ secret ‘’ crush: this person is someone who has always been in herman's life and knows him better than even his own mother. herman has a huge crush on them and makes no effort to hide it, but the person probably doesn't take it seriously because they thinks it's just another one of his jokes.

friends in general

a boy squad

anything!!!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hi! Your analysis of GK is so great. In a past few weeks I read almost all of the chapter ramblings and so many times your predictions and observations were spot on.

I became intrigued by Ogata's character the most and your posts helped to structure the info about his place in the story. 

Even though we have zero info about his motivation for being in all this mess, I kinda think of him as an agent of chaos. Ogata played with the idea of killing Asirpa at least twice (although in Karafuto arc I think he had some kind of breakdown because of Asirpa's similarity to Yuusaku) which means at least twice he was ready to give up on gold. 

And that made me think that maybe Noda, plot wise, building him up to be the one who will destroy the gold or do something that no one can get it? Ogata's behavior mostly leans toward destruction so it would be logical for him to play the Joker of the series (Heath Ledger's Joker who could burn a ton of money just to show he dgaf)? 

Sorry for such a long ask and for my grammar, my English is not very good. Can't wait to read some more of your ramblings. 

Thank you for enjoying my analysis and welcome among those who’re intrigued by Ogata!

Please, don’t worry about your English, I’m not English speaker myself so really, I know how hard it is to write in a foreign language.

On another note I have to admit that, as I already said, I strongly disagree with the 99% of the cases in which the fandom refers to Ogata as a chaotic character, agent of chaos and so on so it’s up to you if you feel like continuing to read this reply.

If you do let’s get a bit into technicalities.

When nowadays you define a character a “chaotic one”?

When he fits the “chaotic character alignment”.

What’s a character alignment?

Originally in RPG it was a convenient shorthand for a given character's moral/ethical outlook on life, the universe and everything.

On the moral axis you have Good, Neutral, and Evil. Good focuses on improving others' well-being; Evil focuses on the self, even at the expense of others; and Neutral an intermediate position that either doesn't care or seeks balance between the two ends.

On the Ethical axis: Lawful, Neutral, and, of course, Chaotic. Lawful represents honor and obedience to the law; Chaotic leans toward personal freedom, without regards to the law; and Neutral is again an intermediate position that either doesn't care or seeks balance between the two ends.

You pair those 6 variants and get 9 possible alignments.

In the Chaotic case you get:

- Chaotic good: better example is Robin Hood, a thief (therefore chaotic because he doesn’t respect the law) who steals to the rich to give to the poor (therefore good). Doesn’t respect the law but he clearly does it for a morally good ending.

- Chaotic evil: better example the Joker in many of its versions. He is a criminal (so obviously chaotic) who commits any sort of crime either at the expenses of others or in order of having fun at hurting others (so evil).

- Chaotic neutral: they do what they want but they aren’t out to hurt or save anyone. They just want to do what they want. It’s a bit hard to find a character fitting for them. Some suggest Lupin III because, although he steals (so again he’s chaotic), he doesn’t aim to hurt anyone nor to help anyone but himself  (and this would make him neutral... though in Lupin’s case it’s a bit more complicate than that). Occasionally you can fit in this trope fantastic creatures (Gods, kenders, creatures from the mythologies or from a fantasy setting) that just don’t respect the law because... they’re written/drawn like that and don’t really have a motive for their own actions beyond that’s in their own nature... nature that the author created as such for fictional purposes.

Note that using those axis is good for oversimplified analysis or oversimplified characters and not for realistic characters like the ones of “Golden Kamuy” who’re neither good nor evil nor completely chaotic albeit hardly lawful but they are a huge mix of all that... like many real people are.

So back to GK... since no one in this story is respecting the law, if we really want to stuck people on the ethical axis EVERYONE falls on the chaotic alignment, starting with the convicts, who of course don’t respect law, to Tsurumi, who’s a rebel officer and going through Wilk and Kiro and Sofia (partisans/revolutionaries) and Sugimoto himself who’s hunting people, fighting the 7th (although we know the 7th is rebelling, since they’re still legally in charge, they still represent the law).

In this sense Ogata is also chaotic like everyone else and this is the only case in which I’m willing to acknowledge him as such, because, like everyone else, he’s not respecting the law but doing what he decided he needs to do to reach his goal.

But a part of the fandom use the term chaotic merely to imply he’s here to wreak havoc merely because he has fun doing others miserable.

This is not being chaotic, this is being evil, the poorly characterized evil who has no real motive for the things he does beyond that he’s evil and all his backstory is just an excuse, not a motive.

This would make Ogata an even poorly written character than Ueji, who’s a chaotic evil but whose backstory explains why he went insane and started to find fun in other’s people misery.

Ogata’s backstory doesn’t explain that, it explains his obsession for his father, for his approbation, for him to come back to him and his mother, for him to fit in a family OF HIS OWN CHOSING.

So, I’m not saying Noda can’t make Ogata be in the story wreaking havoc for the fun of it, just that if that’s the case Ogata is a poorly written character because he lacks a motive for his actions.

For Ogata to be well written, all his actions need to be possible to be explained according to his motive.

Noda for example has recently explained WHY Wilk changed, WHY Kiro killed him, WHY Tsurumi is obsessed with Wilk, WHY the Ainu slaughtered each other, WHY Wilk lost his face and ended up in Abashiri.

And once you know the reasons why all those people did X you might criticize them for their choices, because they might feel like stupid or immoral choices but they make sense in that setting.

So why Ogata tried killing Asirpa?

Why not?

We don’t know for which motive Ogata is in the gold hunt. We don’t know if he wants the gold. What if he’s in the gold hunt for a reason that’s not tied to the gold?

He was in a rebel group way before he knew Sugimoto or Asirpa existed.

Is he allied with Central or is he moved by a personal grudge?

We don’t know.

Does he too believe finding the gold would be evil so he wants either to find the gold and hide it some other place or for nobody to find the gold?

We don’t know.

Did he allied with Kiro because he has ties with the Ainu or with some other partisan/revolutionary force?

We don’t know.

Is he merely trying to avoid the Central will sweep away the 7th once they steal the info on where the gold is from Tsurumi? Does he not want a Civil War in Hokkaido? Is he keeping some sort of promise?

We don’t know.

But Ogata can have tons of motives to be in this gold hunt (though I bet his motive is tied to his father so maybe does he want to prove something to him even if the guy is dead? Or avenge him in some way? Or himself because Tsurumi tricked him into thinking his father could love him when this clearly would never be the case? Those things are motives that can move his actions but that aren’t tied to him gaining the gold.

If that’s the case ‘finding the gold’ might not be his ultimate goal, his ultimate goal might be, for example, STOPPING TSURUMI FROM FINDING IT.

This doesn’t make him a chaotic character, it makes him Tsurumi’s antagonist/adversary/enemy.

In this case, if he can’t find it and move it away, killing Asirpa so that Tsurumi won’t get any clue from her, is a good way to accomplish his goal.

Still, even if he were to be interested in the gold, killing Asirpa would still be a good way to prevent others from finding it before him.

Asirpa isn’t going to tell him the key to the code, this was made clear in Karafuto when she kept on stalling even though she had no idea Ogata shoot her father.

Ogata has made clear he is not the type to torture a kid to get an info because he didn’t try to beat Asirpa to force her to talk. If she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t want to.

But Asirpa can give that info to others. To avoid this Tsurumi planned to jail her in an underground room.

Ogata has no basement to hide her.

If he can’t get the info himself, the only way to prevent others to get it is to kill Asirpa.

What’s more, Ogata might have grown to believe he doesn’t need Asirpa to find the gold. Maybe he thinks he can figure out the key on his own, or maybe, since he was with Asirpa when she remembered the key, he has figured the key was tied to the meaning of Wilk’s name, “Wolf”, had tried using “Horkey”, the Ainu way to say “Wolf” on the skins Hijikata had and has assumed that was the whole key.

Killing an Asirpa who won’t cooperate with him, is no big deal to him because, unless he’s willing to torture her (psychologically like Tsurumi is doing, or physically) she’s of no use to him.

If she joins Hijikata she might share the info with him but she’ll also stop Hijikata from taking him back.

If she’s carried to Tsurumi, Ogata knows Tsurumi will force her to talk which is precisely what Tsurumi has done.

In short, since he can’t get the info she has while others can, the only way for him not to end up with a huge disadvantage is to kill her.

The fact her death will throw into chaos his adversaries doesn’t mean him longing for chaos, means just that he knows if you create chaos in the enemy forces this will work at your advantage. It’s basic war strategy, nothing more

“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.” [Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”]

So no, if the idea is that Ogata is chaotic because he’s here to create chaos for the sake of creating chaos, I’m not embracing it in the slightest.

Of course this doesn’t mean I’m necessarily right, just that this is my view on him. I’m not Noda, I can, of course, be wrong.

Thank you for your ask!

[itsclydebitches]

Whether they’re critic or RWBY fanatic, I can’t stomach people who accuse Clover of being an idiot about the Tyrian situation. I actually saw someone say he was dumb for telling Qrow Robyn can only get help if he comes quietly (which is TRUE and there was NOTHING to suggest he wasn’t going to help her). It’s toxic victim blaming of the highest order, and another thing I can’t stand about this fandom.

I’m not a fan of it either. The writing and parts of the fandom both would benefit from acknowledging that responsibility for every Bad Thing in the show doesn’t reside solely at the feet of one individual. Likewise that disliking one character isn’t good grounds for blaming another. From what I witnessed over the course of the volume, a lot of people really liked Clover or were otherwise neutral towards him... up until he failed to toss Ironwood aside in favor of the heroes. Many of the posts working to blame Clover for that whole debacle seem to be less about Clover and more about Ironwood. If you support him you must be awful and you thus must be responsible for every awful thing that goes down... even as we get objective evidence of others making the bad decisions: Robyn attacks him, Qrow teams up with Tyrian, etc. 

What it comes down to is that the RWBYJNRQO group refuses to make sacrifices. You’re right that Clover was right. He told Qrow he needed to stop fighting him because Robyn needed help. That’s the truth. You attacked me, she got hurt in this crash, so now you need to cut that out so we can get her medical attention. Qrow was thus faced with a question: “Am I willing to let myself be arrested in order to get Robyn potentially life-saving help?” (they don’t know how seriously she was injured) and he answered, “No. I’m not. I’d rather try to take out Clover myself, then potentially deal with Tyrian myself - even though I got poisoned by him once - and figure out how to get Robyn help myself. Even though I’m wanted by all Atlas authorities and can’t radio in for assistance. Even though this cold is supposedly deadly and I’m wasting time with a fight.” It’s arrogance to think he can manage all this and selfish to prioritize that perfect scenario (coughRubycough) over Robyn’s safety. I love him but Qrow was the stupid one here and all that was before he decided, “Teaming up with the serial killer is a great idea.” 

And yes, we can flip things and demand that Clover make the sacrifice instead. “He should have told Qrow he’d no longer try to arrest him so they could get Robyn help. He cared more about the arrest than Robyn’s life” but there are so many more reasons why that’s a far bigger and less logical sacrifice for him to make. Robyn just tried to shoot him in the face. Qrow helped her try to take him out. So Clover is supposed to care for her and trust him? Coming into Atlas with an un-arrested Qrow is a risk to Clover’s position. Letting Qrow run off and lying about how he escaped isn’t something he’d want to do to Ironwood. There’s no scenario here in which Clover doesn’t risk too much whereas Qrow could have put the tinniest bit of trust in two friends to say, “If Ironwood is arresting us then my recently reckless niece must have done something pretty bad. I’ve expressed a desire to talk to Ironwood so yes, I’ll go with you in order to achieve that and hopefully work things out.” He should have done that in the airship. He absolutely should have done it when Robyn’s life was potentially on the line. Heroes make those kinds of sacrifices. 

All of which is wrapped up in the expectations attached to this storyline. People are inclined to blame Ironwood - and by extension Clover - because the whole “arresting the heroes” plot is always attached to an evil, corrupt system trying to take out innocent good guys. But RWBY failed to write that corrupt system or innocent protagonists. Ruby did lie to Ironwood. Blake and Yang did betray him. They did promise to stop the only plan they currently have to save lives. This isn’t a case of heroes resisting arrest because they’ve been set up, or because they know the system will kill/silence them, or even because they’re the only ones who can save the world and thus their freedom is necessary. The group did all the things they’re being arrested for, there’s no danger attached to that arrest, and their freedom is arguably doing harm to the people of Atlas. All of this reflects back on Clover where the audience is primed to say, “How dare he try to arrest our heroes! He’s awful” without thinking through whether RWBYJNORQO have done things lately worthy of arrest and whether their arrest would benefit the rest of the kingdom. In Volume 7 RT did not write a story where these arrests were undeserved or their freedom integral to others’ survival. They certainly didn’t write heroes who were willing to give up something of their own - in this case personal freedom for a time - in order to maintain an ally (Ruby) or to save another (Qrow). They’re written as selfish. 

It sucks (suuuuucks) to be living in 2020, looking at a cop-esque character arresting a minority supporting freedom fighter/a main protagonist and going, “Clover did nothing wrong here”... but that’s the stance I’m taking. RWBY is trying to capitalize on a lot of political themes but is failing to write the basic pieces necessary for that story: like military figures who are objectively in the wrong and heroes who are innocent of their accused crimes, or at least committed those crimes for persuasively good reasons. Yang betraying Ironwood when she knows nothing about Robyn is not comparable to something like, say, Jean Valjean stealing bread to feed himself in a poverty ridden France. Breaking bad laws for good reasons is SO COMMON in storytelling (and the real world!) yet somehow RT failed to craft any moment where I thought the heroes’ ideals outweighed their bad actions. The heroes were not thrust into an awful system that we were happy to see them dismantle. Clover could have resorted to violence right off the bat. Blake and Yang could have been innocents this whole volume. Ruby could have had a solid plan that Ironwood foolishly ignored. The Ace Ops could have been written as morally gray types whose arrest poses a threat to our heroes. They could have attacked first. Clover could have teamed up with Tyrian. Robyn could have tried to keep her head down and was faced with an unlawful arrest purely for associating with Qrow... we could have had a hundred different scenarios to make this setup work and get me to cheer as the group cleverly dodged persecution. RWBY ignored all of them. 

[melyzard]

Ummmm, so I will gladly take that 2000 word essay on Jyn’s fight scene in Jedha you mentioned in the tags... you know, if you’re offering...

Just for the record, I have already written a one shotcharacter study of this scene (Fire/Fight) but hey, I amalways down for more meta!

I just want to start by noting that awhile back @ladytharen posted something along the lines of “she was the best soldier in Saw’s cadre,can we talk about that a lot?”  AndI am 100% going to do that, because the sources that say she was Saw’s bestsoldier seem a lot more canon than the one prequel novel that claimed Jyn was sittingin her room playing with toys and not even talking to the other Partisans formost of her time with Saw. It just didn’t make any sense, so I’m ignoring thatand sticking to ‘Jyn was Saw’s beloved adopted daughter whom he stillabsolutely taught to be a child soldier because that’s how he protected her.’

So. Jyn and The Jedha fight scene. (I’m mostly focused on this scene from 1:10 - 1:40)

Let’s start with the scene’s setup: Jyn has just watched Partisans walk into an openmarketplace and open fire directly into an Imperial tank patrol. A moment toconsider what might be going through her head right now:

1.      That is a stupid tactical decision, and SawGerrera is way too smart and experienced to order it. Or at least, the Saw sheknew would never. So…what in the hell has happened to Saw?? Has he been usurped, corrupted, framed by these people pretending to be Partisans? Maybe he’s even dead,how would she know?

2.      The Partisans have been accused of being ‘terrorists’by the Imperial government for decades at this point. They’ve been the literalposter children for anti-rebellion propaganda from the Empire. HOWEVER, while Jyn was with Saw, all his targets (that I know about in canon) were military installations and Imperial researchfacilities, factories devoted to weaponry, and Imperial political lackeys anddecision makers. Now, what Saw did after leaving Jyn behind is a bit murkier. It does seem, given what we see in Jedha, that Sawhas allowed or even driven the Partisans into much less noble ground. But Jyn wasn’tthere to see the crossing of the moral event horizon, so the Partisans attacking a market fullof civilians probably shocked her to some degree. Maybe it even accounts for someof her reckless decision to dive across a kill zone of blaster fire to save alittle girl (mostly I will chalk that up to Jyn’s natural empathy and courage,but hey, there’s room for a tiny bit of residual guilt, too. These are notmy Partisans, she might have been thinking as she ran).

So, here is Jyn,looking at militant, dangerous strangers who should be familiar but aren’t. She’strapped in a war zone with a man who is essentially her jailor, who may haveorders to ‘neutralize’ her the moment he gets what he wants (i.e. a meetingwith Saw Gerrera). HOWEVER, not two minutes before the big fight scene I’mabout to discuss, Jyn watches Cassian shoot a Partisan to save her. Again, for emphasis, Jyn spins around and sees Cassian the rebel spy shoot a Partisan about to throw agrenade at her, then meets his eyes. His nod, her stunned expression, the cameraswitching deliberately back and forth between them in mirrored crouching poses –it all confirms that Jyn is absolutely aware of what he just did. She knowsthat her warden just intentionally compromised his own mission to save herskin. I feel like this is significant to the decision we see her make a minute later, when she’s in a rat’s maze of alleyways with stormtroopers closing infrom all sides and the only thing holding her to this position is one rebel spywith his back turned to her.

She could have run.In fact, everything we’ve been told about her to this point, everything we’veseen her do (her breakout from the ‘rescue’ on Wobani, the shackles around her wristsas she was led through Yavin’s hangar, Alliance rebels calling her a thief and a coward, her unhesitating willingness to rummagethrough someone else’s gear and steal his blaster, her implied willingness to fighthim to the death to keep that blaster), we as an audience have been primed tobelieve that Jyn would absolutely bolt to save her skin.Now of course, this is a Star Wars movie and the audience also expect heroics here, but if Jyn had run away right now,left Cassian to be surrounded by stormtroopers, well…it would have sucked, andit would have meant she was a different character than what we actually got, but it would havebeen believable.

But the Jyn we did get, the real Jyn - she stares at Cassian as he fires at one group of ‘troopers,his back turned to the second group coming up behind them, and she pulls hertruncheon. For one breathless moment, we are left to wonder – is she going to swingat him? Is she going to run?

And then she spins out of her alcove, truncheon alreadyswinging at the trooper who is focused on Cassian’s back and this, thisis the moment we know that she actually is a hero. This fight scene as Jyn’s real character-establishingmoment. Not the break out from Wobani, where we learn she’s dangerous anddesperate. Not the willingness to snoop and steal from the Alliance. Not the kybercrystal nor the way she definitely sees Baze hiding in the distant shadows nor evensaving the little girl. Those all tell us that Jyn has had a tough life and hasbecome tough in turn. They tell us that she lived in the darker, rougher areasof the galaxy far, far away and survived.

But who Jyn really is, what she iscapable of doing, and what makes her a distinct character in the gallery ofRebels is this moment, when she chooses to fight the Empire for no obviouspersonal gain. She will not be paid anything, the Alliance will give hernothing more than they have already promised, and she has no reason to believethat this reserved and somewhat cranky rebel spy will see her as anything morethan a prisoner and a means to an end regardless of what she does. Exactly whyshe chooses to stay and fight in this moment is also open to discussion – she hatesstormtroopers, she is furious at the destruction of Jedha, she actually kind oflikes this Cassian guy and won’t leave him to death or capture – whatever youbelieve of her motives, the crucial message of this scene is that shechooses to fight. Savingthe little girl from a random firefight just meant she was a fundamentally decent person, but not necessarily a rebel like Leia, or Luke Skywalker, or any of our favorite GFFA protagonists. Saving Cassian from stormtroopers, when Cassian is neither a helpless child nor even really herally at this point, is what marks Jyn Erso as a rebel hero.

Look, the implications of this 30 second long scene iskind of breathtaking in terms of Jyn’s character, okay? But let’s move on tothe technical aspects now.

Consider how this camera is oriented: we see only Jyn’s legsas she pulls free and flicks out the combat truncheon, but the silver weapon isitself front and center. Jyn’s baggy, dust-smeared, not even remotelyformfitting or sexy black trousers almost blend into the shadows of hercurrent hiding spot.  After the truncheonis established as being a giant metal murder weapon (seriously, compare thatthing to the length of her leg, it is enormous), the camera only shows Jyn fromthe waist up (except for a brief two seconds when it shows her full body in themiddle of the frame surrounded by collapsed stormtroopers). She is alwayscenter frame, the camera is pulled back far enough that we can see what all herenemies are doing all around her – I’m making a point of this because AT NOPOINT does the camera zoom in or center on on any aspect of her anatomy. No part of her is ever highlighted over the rest. Not her chest, nother butt, not her face and exposed neck, not her upper back/shoulders (if you didn’t know, Ihate to break it to you, but most ‘strong female’ fights have a specific shot of the heroine’supper back and at least one shot each of her exposed neck from front and back, always in close up, largely because this is absolutelyconsidered an erogenous zone in many cultures). At no point does the cameratreat Jyn’s fight as if it’s supposed to be visually titillating beyond ‘ooh fight scene!’ It’s not even treatedas if this is a significant fight. From Jyn’s POV, it isn’t. It’s just another desperateclaw for survival in a long chain of them – albeit this one she chose.

In the same vein, note how the choreography of this fight isnot even slightly suggestive. I mean, okay, look, sexy is subjective and Ipersonally find this fight scene hella awesome and all, but the point is that the camera andthe choreography don’t assume the audience is getting horny here. For contrast,watch any Black Widow fight scene. Important side note: I am NOT knocking BlackWidow. She’s a good character and an important one to many people. I’m justpointing out how many times her signature moves involve her wrapping her legsaround a man’s head, jerking her pelvis in suggestive movements, bendingbackwards in front of or on top of a man, kicking her leg up above her head ordoing the splits in mid air, landing with her legs splayed or thighs wrappedaround some part of a male opponent, and just in general posing in variouserotic ways while she fights. All while wearing a form-fitting suit that very specifically divides and accents each breast and butt cheek from the other. And this is pretty true of many, many femalefight scenes, so I’m not just picking on Black Widow. It’s just…common. (That last link is one of many stock photos I found. That’s right, ‘woman in monochrome catsuit fighting/knocked out after fighting’ is so common that there’s a whole stock photo industry about it).

But this fight on Jedha - Jyn smashing and bashing andshooting her way through a squad of armored soldiers while her tangled hair flies intoher eyes and her baggy clothes get coated in dirt and her teeth are bared in avery unattractive snarl – this fight could be anyone. I could imagine the fullyarmored Mandalorian have a scene exactly as dirty and grittyas this and it wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. If Jyn was written as a malecharacter, they could have shot this scene in exactly the same way (forcomparison, try watching Black Widow vs security guards in Iron Man 2, from 1:04– 1:45 and from 2:14 – 2:45, and try to imagine Tony Stark in Black Widow’splace. Or, I don’t know, any male hero. Take special noteof what’s in the center of the frame throughout these scenes. Also, don’t comeat me for hating on this fight scene, I actually really enjoyed it, but I feel itproves my point very very well).

Like I said, however, just because ascene isn’t shot and choreographed to be sexy doesn’t mean it doesn’t appeal tosomeone. And perhaps I just have my shipping goggles here, but I feellike the movie makes it pretty clear that Cassian Andor is…pretty fuckingimpressed. He spins around, rifle raised, panting from the exertion and theterror, fully prepared to fight to the death, and there’s the criminal he’ssupposed to be keeping on a careful leash, the woman whose father he is underorders to kill, the child of a possibly crazed old rebel too extreme for theAlliance -

And she’s dancing. It’s a brutal,vicious, take no prisoners dance, but there is a fluidity to it, a lack of anyhesitation or stumbling. It’s a single rebel against a squad of trained, armed,and armored soldiers – and she’s winning. We’re not even worried abouther, there’s not even a hint that one of the troopers is about to land a hit onher. Like the audience, Cassian can only watch in somewhat startled awe as Jynslams the last trooper into the dirt with extreme prejudice. It’s a brief butintense moment for the rebelcaptain fandom, and personally, I love it. Someonewrite me an essay on Cassian’s point of view and why he reacted like that,stat. Please?

Last point about this fight scene, and why it’s one of myall time favorite scenes in any movie ever: how it ends.

I’ve mentioned the fluidity of Jyn’s movements, the economyof how she transitions from one threat to another. You don’t get that kind of unrelenting, unhesitating success in a fight, folks, unless you’re operating on instinct and muscle memory. Jyn isn’t thinking about the war or Saw or Cassian or reallyanything at this point, just the fight. It’s made clear here that Jyn is agreat fighter, if a vicious one. She’s been trained, she’s had experience, and overtime she’s honed herself into a dangerous combatant, a creature of war.

And then she spins and shoots a KX droid. Which, yes,intellectually the audience knows is an Imperial-aligned droid, but thus far inthe entire Star Wars franchise we have only met one KX droid, and he is a goodguy. So on an emotional level, we have a moment of ‘oh crap!’ which is reflected in Jyn’sface too. And here’s where we learn the downside of her instinctive, brutal,take no prisoners fight style. Her ability to react to threats is great, until shegets the threat wrong. Now, we’re reassured a moment later that she did in factshoot the bad droid, and the good droid is right around the corner to prove itto us, and everything’s fine. But for one moment, we thought Jyn had killed afriendly, and so did Jyn. Which makes me think that, well, it’s happenedbefore. Pushed into a corner and driven to fight for survival, how many timeshas Jyn lashed out at what looked like an enemy only to realize a moment laterthat she may have done more damage than she meant? It is, at the least, a thoughtprovoking moment in the scene.

Also a great way to re-introduce K2SO back into the narrative.But anyway.

Alright, there it is, my roughly 2500 word essay on this 45second scene in a movie that is now 4 years old. Not including the story I alreadywrote about it.  It’s a poorly organized essay,really more of a rant, but time is my enemy right now and this is what I’vegot.

So. Your thoughts?