#i don't want to oversimplify or get it wrong

[the-real-list-of-ominous-threats]

if anyone has no idea what I've been talking about recently, I suggest you go to @fanonical or @nyancrimew , who explain this better than I ever could, but from what I can tell, basically staff has been ignoring reports of harassment against trans women, one member of staff was actively banning trans users, and the CEO started a smear campaign against a trans woman because she jokingly said she wished he would get exploded with hammers (you know, the kind of thing I say regularly--because he wasn't doing anything to protect trans users and hired the aforementioned transphobic staff member), claiming that it was 'a death threat' and that she was 'being violent'....nevermind that she was getting much worse anon harassment with actual death threats on the regular. And then when he banned her and she went to a different site, he followed her there to continue the smear campaign instead of being normal and dropping the subject.

[leconcombrerit]

A warm hug to Non, or when are we going to stop demanding perfection from victims

It's been forever since I thought about making this post but I've finally decided to write the goddamn thing.

Three disclaimers : one, I haven't yet managed to get past the first third of episode 9, so this whole thing is based on episodes 1-8 at best. Two, I'll block on sight again if I see victim blaming on this post. Finally, I'm by no means an expert on the subject. It's complex, I might get things wrong and I'll have to oversimplify at times for clarity and brevity's sake, please don't kill me for it. It's probably gonna be long enough as it is. I've tried my best to organize my thoughts in a way that would make sense, but. Well. I hope it does.

Trigger warning for mention of suicide, bullying, grooming, sexual assault, rape

Non started as the poor little baby everyone wanted to protect -both the audience and Jin ; for all the shit he got after filming Non and Keng, there are a lot of parallels to draw between him and the audience. Then the dreaded episode 7 happened and all hell broke loose. I won't include screenshots of the disgusting things I read from some viewers about Non, but Jin's reaction is pretty telling already.

The easy explanation would be that he's mad Non isn't returning his feelings, but I think it has more to do with Non not fitting his 'good victim' role anymore. There's sadness on his face, but the dominants are anger and betrayal. Non tries to regain agency and gets crucified for it.

So what's a good victim ?

Non, basically

If you want an examplary blueprint of what society defines as a good victim and survivor, someone worth justice, defending and loving, just take a look at Non. I broke it down in four marks that need to be checked :

-Innocence : none of the person's action prompted the abuse -Moral high ground : the person has values and displays kindness -Helplessness : the person cannot do anything about the situation they're stuck in -Accepting to be saved : self-explanatory. The person has to accept the help that's offered to them, traditionally by a love interest

Non is abused for being poor, something he's not responsible for. He's hardworking, honest, passionate about the things he loves and commits to his engagements. He's kind when talking with Jin. He's resilient in the face of the gang's bullying. None of what he could do or say would make it stop, neither can he help owing Por for a camera he hasn't broken nor get out of Tee's pyramid scheme. His mental illness only increases this impression of vulnerability. Jin doesn't have all these elements, but he's got more than enough to paint a very similar picture of Non as the audience.

As for accepting help, Jin repeatedly offers some -and Non finally lets him in during their conversation on the rooftop. What Jin offers may be little but it's still help ; Non smiles and even gives Jin a shove -what I think is the only time he initiates contact with Jin at all.

"Thank you so much, Jin, for helping me all along." "It's alright, I'm glad to. I just want to see you smile again, Non."

The audience gets even more of Non being happy and grateful to be saved : he calls his "♥" contact for help multiple times, smiles at the reminder to take his meds and, later on, clings to Phee for dear life after trying to kill himself. He doesn't fight him, he doesn't reach for the scattered pills. Hell, even accepting Tee's offer to make money could count as Non agreeing to be saved by everyone around him.

Non checks all the marks. Everyone in the audience is rooting for him, the other boys can all go get impaled on a branch, and Jin looks at him like he hung and lit all the stars in the sky.

Speaking of the other boys...

Tee and Por victims as well but don't get the same amount of sympathy, if any. Tee isn't responsible for being stuck in a criminal environment and can't get out of it ; no one has offered help, so he gets a pass. But he's been shown to be selfish, opportunist, often cowardly and sometimes gratuitously cruel.

As for Por, it's even worse : every actions he takes seems to confirm his dad's opinion of him. The only mark he ticks is accepting to be saved by his mother, which looks very bad taken on its own. I made a post about Por not too long ago if you want more.

The only way for them to redeem themselves and go from 'horrible people who should die' to 'maybe they don't suck they're my poor little meow meows' is penitence. Take Por ; he's the archetype of the rich son who gets abused by his dad and suffers from having so much money. Just like Kang in Dangerous Romance, or Tanthai in Laws of Attraction. Tee ? I don't have names from the top of my head, but he's that hardened jaded guy stuck in a mafiosi network who has to learn to love and be loved again (enters White). Yet the audience learnt to root for these characters.

Basically, nothing is set in stone. Your status as a good or bad victim can shift depending on your actions and the way they're framed. The usual narrative is to get those characters to grow into the acceptable victim pattern. DFF however is going for reverse development (Non, Jin) or stagnation (Por, Tee, Fluke). It makes for gritty yet very realistic storylines ; and while I'm the first to yell that the masked figures should get their ass stat, I also recognize that there's much more complexity to them than this. Except Top. I have yet to come up with a good explanation for what they're doing with Top, but I will at some point.

How did Non fall from grace if he's such a good example ?

Three points : Phee, the paradox of the demand for Non to seek agency but not too much, and his inacceptable betrayal.

Phee as a magnifying factor

I love this kid to bits but Phee's appearance in the flashbacks concurs with Non's flawless image being torn to shreds for a reason. He's a good, strong and caring person who loves and tries to protect Non -something the audience has wanted to do for weeks ; so we all gathered behind Phee and made him our emissary, carrying out the impossible task outsiders to the series' world couldn't : saving Non.

Since Phee voices the questions and concerns of the audience, we are Phee to an extent. Betraying Phee means betraying the hope and love and care the audience has for Non. Phee is the series' moral compass by that point. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. If not, consider it's a surprise tool that will help us later. When Phee gets hurt by Non or decides he'd be better off lost and dead.

For the record, in this poll Phee gets even fewer votes than White

Seek agency, but not too much

Discontent starts to rise with the helplessness point first as viewers start to question why Non doesn't ditch the group. Why he's putting himself through such trouble. Non changes from being subjected to others' action to being the subject in a grammatical sense. Yet Non has hiw own reasons to stay (how much does the movie mean to him ? How many hours and sleepless nights on the script ? How long would it take for him to find another chance to get enough funding ? How big of a dream is it for him ?). It's the first occurence of the audience claiming to know best what's good for Non.

Complaints quiet down when Non does try to leave for good only to be stopped by Jin. We saw him try, we saw him fail, he really couldn't leave so he's off the hook.

Jin also makes sure Non remains a perfect victim by bringing him back into the group. I'm not accusing Jin of trying to make Non suffer on purpose ; he's a good guy at heart, come fight me to death on this hill. But the only way for him to exist in Non's life is to remain a savior of sorts. If Non leaves, there's nothing to save him from. Which brings us to my next point.

Non must try to solve things by himself, sure. But not too much. Because when you thrash to regain control of your life, you might break a few things in the process. Especially if you have to wrest it away from well-intentioned but firm hands.

He rejected Jin's offers to help numerous times. He looked anything but thrilled when Phee put himself in danger to clear his name. He refused to change schools at first, only to begrudgingly agree when Phee insisted. This insistence is the heart of the matter : Phee is sure he knows best, so he bulldozes through Non's objections and hesitation : he doesn't consult him before asking his dad for help, he speaks in his place when Non doesn't answer his proposal, he puts the bracelet on his wrist. He asks him if he's taken his meds, just in case.

Phee has the audience's benediction in doing so. Part of it stems from our knowledge of future events : we know it's going to end bad for Non. We know he has to get the fuck out. We know whatever decision he makes will be a bad one. Kids and teenagers as a whole are often deemed unable, or not mature enough to make informed decisions anyway. Just look at Non's mother telling him to prioritize his studies so he can go abroad like his brother. Multiply it tenfold for people with mental illnesses ; they get babied on a daily basis. So Non cannot, I can't emphasize it enough, cannot do anything.

All of the above end with Phee getting his way. Non can't win against him, so he chooses to lie instead.

Aside from willing to be in charge of his own life, Non's refusal to let Phee help is also rooted in love and fear. While Phee would offer him an easy way out as he did for the bank accounts, it would most likely only be easy for Non and put Phee in danger. Both their survivals are held in that curt 'no'.

He's already straight up refused help, and now he loses the moral highground by lying (to his perfect holy savior Phee of all people). From here on out, any action he takes will be his -which is what Non wanted ; it's his life, and he won't be a bystander in it. But it also means that he jumped off the pedestal he'd been put on to land on thin ice.

And guess what, Non is a multi-dimentional character in a difficult situation who weighs more than a poor little damsel in distress. Of course said ice cracks. And the Non hate train gets started.

The betrayal

Lying and refusing help to go get it from the worst place he could have had was bad enough. But sleeping with his teacher while he had a boyfriend (Phee, for heaven's sake) ? Unforgivable. Cheating is the BL equivalent of every cardinal sin, the worst of the worst, and no matter the circumstances you'll get roasted for it.

And yet there are circumstances. One, especially, and it's called motherfucking grooming. I won't elaborate on this point cause I've done it over and over already, but Non was groomed by an adult. Does he see things that way ? Probably not. In his mind he's in control of the situation. He can lie to Phee about it because there's no reason for it to backfire. He does what he has to if he wants to save himself, using he one weapon he has : his body. It's cheating, but cheating in a game rigged for you to lose.

Society has two opinions about sex. It's either holy or gross. Take Jin, for instance.

See the look on his face. He's heartbroken, he's sad, he'll live through it. Witnessing Non having sex with his teacher when he has a boyfriend ? Now that's another story. That's a betrayal.

A betrayal of what, exactly ?

Of this goddamn image Jin had painted of Non. The same the audience was given to see prior to these events : Non was perfect and loveable and worth defending, an innocent, pure, helpless baby in need of saving. So when the illusion shatters in what society and especially BL culture hold as the worst action possible, people feel fooled. Stupid, if you will. And they turn their hatred to Non. Non lied to us ! He pretended to be good, dear god, to think I loved such filth ! My heart is so dirty now, ew.

But Non didn't lie. He lied to Phee, but that's it. Everything else was expectations and assumptions. Fail to meet them and suddenly everything is your fault. It's Non's fault for refusing to be dragged along in his own life anymore, Non's fault for lying in order to get some control, Non's fault for lying again not to lose Phee when caught by surprise, Non's fault for listening to Jin, Non's fault for resorting to use his only weapon to get out of a situation he was cornered in, Non's fault for being tricked into thinking any of the decisions he made regarding Keng were his own, Non's fault for everything.

He wanted to claim his life back and made a mistake, yes. He doubled-down on it when he realized it was too much for him to handle. He clung to it and did his best to keep it together. He dared not to be the perfect victim he was supposed to be ; to try when everyone knew he was bound to fail. And you know what, sometimes there's stuff that's someone's fault, consequences they didn't foresee, things they said, slips and falls, and they're still victims, just as much as they were before.

I believe that dealing with his debt himself is as important to Non as finishing the movie is. He's ready to be used and abused (by Keng in the former, the group for the latter) and to break his own heart, values, pride and sanity. He's the most resilient and dedicated character in the show to me.

But the world doesn't necessarily see it that way. So when Non realizes the mess he's made of everything, he fights Keng (who represents his desperate and violent search for complete independence) to reach for the bracelet he got from Phee. He wants help. He needs it. But he's not a victim anymore and any help is denied.

Both Phee and Jin later manage to reconcile their broken image of Non with the man he actually is. Too late to save him, but they still did. I have a hunch that things would have been different if Phee had beat up Keng and taken a crying Non in his arms, holding him tight while whispering none of it was his fault. But our moral compass fucked up, like the hurt kid he is.

What some people did by blaming and hating on Non is closer to the hateful comments he got on the video than Phee or Jin's reactions. They're far worse.

That's the big takeout. What if we stopped stigmatizing or idealizing sex ? What if we stopped demanding perfection and so-called purity for someone's trauma and status as a human being not to be negated ?

Anyway, here's a hug to Non and every victim who live in the paralyzing fear of a single slip. You can make mistakes just like the rest of us. You don't owe anyone perfection.

I'll end this rant on a bright, happy smile. I don't see a good ending for Non, but god knows he'd deserve it.

[autie-hobbit]

Autistic people need to change the way they talk about tantrums

I get it, seeing people that don't understand Autism or meltdowns seeing a child having a meltdown and deciding that they're just a misbehaving child and deserve to be punished is frustrating. But demonising tantrums should not be the way to battle that. Children having tantrums deserve just as much patience and kindness as those having a meltdown.

While, yes, meltdowns and tantrums do have differences, they often aren’t the ones pointed out by most Autistic people talking about this. What is usually explained as what a tantrum is is usually either oversimplified, or just straight up incorrect. And the differences between them really aren’t as black and white as people seem to think.

Meltdowns are involuntary reactions to an overwhelming emotion or stimuli, and a complete loss of control of their emotions and body.

Tantrums can be voluntary or involuntary, and are reactions to the overwhelming feeling of frustration or otherwise upset, and are a complete loss of control of their emotions.

Also, it’s important to note that meltdowns and tantrums can look the same while they are happening. You sometimes cannot tell which one is occurring until it’s over.

Now here’s the part that I really need people to understand. The problem is not that people don’t understand the differences between tantrums and meltdowns, and that’s why demonising kids having meltdowns is wrong. It’s that tantrums shouldn’t be demonised either.

We are talking about children. 

Children have tantrums for the same reason Autistic people have meltdowns. They have a poor emotional regulatory system, so when they feel a big emotion, that emotion takes over and they lose control. 

A child having a tantrum because they want candy is not having a tantrum because they think it’ll get them the candy. They’re having a tantrum because they’re upset over not getting candy, and they have little to no emotional regulatory system, and therefore cannot regulate that upset yet. It’s why tantrums usually stop at a certain age, once their emotional regulatory system improves, tantrums (for the most part) stop. 

This is also why tantrums (and meltdowns) will continue past the typical age in Autistic children, often continuing into adulthood. Because Autistic people have a poor emotional regulatory system that likely won’t improve as they get older.

[kateeorg]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks "Magneto was right" is bullshit? And really dangerous rhetoric to be spreading? I'm not really an X-Men fan, so maybe my opinion is invalid, but... (a venting rant, please ignore unless you are curious, not judgmental)

Look.

It's one thing for Magneto to be right within the universe of X-Men -- any X-Men iteration -- which gives a lot of evidence that the humans of that universe WON'T change and WILL see mutants dead before they are accepted.

Fine. Whatever.

But considering how so many see X-Men as a reflection of real world issues... we're really going this route? We're really saying violence and war is the only option?

Because people WILL map this onto real-world issues that they really shouldn't be. But the real world isn't a comic book. The conflicts are not oversimplified, and the "oppressed" and "oppressors" aren't always as clear as people think. More often, there is real hurt on both sides, and multiple facets the news can't capture.

Sometimes, both sides are violent assholes. And they will hold on to their rightness, to their feelings of being the only "oppressed" ones, to justify horrible things.

And who gets caught in the crossfire? We do. Ordinary people just trying to get by.

And the other thing is, violence and extremism makes for a better story, doesn't it? Better comics, better photos, better news readership. Peace... real peace is hard. It doesn't photograph well, like protest does. It needs to constantly be maintained, constant compromises. It doesn't make for a good movie, does it? Not a superhero movie, anyway. Or TV show.

It requires a maturity that most people? Will never reach.

Including the writers.

So screw your "Magneto was right". Maybe I'm wrong. I probably am! I'm probably letting my emotions about real world events get in the way. I don't like conflict or picking sides by nature, even when it's justified, and some will see that as a weakness of my character. Fine.

But I'm sorry, I just ... I refuse to accept that. Because I worry who is going to use that phrase as a rallying cry in the real world. And who will get hurt as a result because someone decided they "deserved" that.

This is also why I'm frankly not excited to bring the X-Men into the MCU. Because where there are X-Men, irrational hatred must follow, and I just... I don't want to see the MCU devolve into that. It will, of course, the die has been cast, but... I'm sad it came to that, because I'm not sure I trust the MCU writers as things stand to get this right.

In a world of superheroes and flying ships, the thing that takes real imagination is to see a world where peace is possible.

I'm not sure I'll ever have the writing chops to do it myself. But I endeavor to try harder than the X-Men writers clearly ever have.

Actually, I think Wonder Woman said it best: "It's not about deserve. It's about what you believe. And I believe in love."

[juniperhillpatient]

I know I'm terminally coffin-brained lately but hear me out it really bothers me that the perception of the Coffin of Andy & Leyley is ONLY "hehe incest cannibalism game" which is....not EXACTLY inaccurate but it certainly simplifies it ya know??? like I call it the incest cannibalism game too as a joke but I'm realizing there are a lot of people who think of it as like...a porn game? & btw I'm not AGAINST porny games or whatever I just think it's reductive & inaccurate to call Andy & Leyley that when in reality there is not even (so far) any textual sexual content beyond a demonic vision of a possible future. yes very obviously their relationship does have a sexual & romantic undertone, but it's compelling specifically because it's a complex story about siblings who have been genuinely fucked over by their parents & the world & they have developed a topically obsessive codependent relationship as a result.

like the initial conversation that the game's title is based on is Andrew casually half-jokingly talking about killing himself & it's just so..... narratively delicious. Ashley is not some horny one-dimensional slut who just wants to fuck her brother? Her reaction to Andrew talking about suicide is to joke that she'll race him to the balcony & he says back - semi sarcastically but we KNOW there's truth in his words, that he's clearly thought about this - that it would be too romantic, that they would be smashed together on the pavement, buried in the same coffin & like...the game proceeds from there with these two living in this intertwined fate, tangled together in ways neither of them can ever escape. it's romantic but it's also tragic & awful.

Andrew's love for Ashley will always be bitter & tinted with resentment because he was thrust with the responsibility of raising his little sister when he was only a child himself. he was made responsible for caring for Ashley with absolutely NO example of what caring for someone looked like & he was barely old enough to care for himself. Ashley never had anyone care for her in her entire life except Andrew & so she absolutely adores him to a dangerous & unhealthy degree.

like I hate it when people think Ashley is oh so abusive & manipulative or Andrew is so awful & selfish (she is manipulative & he is occasionally selfish) but like - as if there are not layers upon layers of WHY she treats Andrew the way she does & WHY he's so resentful. (as a side note I think debating who abuses who (aside from obviously the fact that they were both abused in different ways by their mother) or who's "worse" just...misses the whole ass point.)

and the cannibalism is initially about survival & the stakes are very apparent & built super well given the opening of the game spends a lot of time just demonstrating that they are literally starving to death to the point where Ashley is fainting & they're sharing a can of tomatoes out of the garbage joking that it's the best meal they've ever had. it is highly worth noting the way their actions escalate & get worse & worse with time as the game proceeds & you can see the way they're both getting more & more comfortable with violence & taboo. this game just would not compel me if it were just randomly "lol let's eat people!" get real

idk I just feel like people who don't know the game get the wrong idea about it when it's actually SO narratively rich okay bye

(this is not an anti Gravecest post either just to be clear, I fucking love the ship I just feel like it gets oversimplified often & also that Ashley especially is highly mischaracterized a lot, even in the game's marketing sometimes. at the core of the game are two deeply broken people who were fucked over bad & who are tied together in a way that neither of them can ever escape. it's love as horror & I loooove that about it)

[erinelliotc]

Some people (including myself) are Eddy apologists for this exact reason too- they can understand why he acts as he acts, where do come from his anger and insatisfaction with his life, and how he often gets a pretty unfair treatmente in some episodes (To Sir with Ed, Sorry Wrong Ed, X Marks the Ed, Who let The Ed In, The Good, The Bad and The Ed). On other side other characters (the kids) act just as bad as him and (almost) always come go unpunished. There several years ago Eddy got lots of hate, he was demonished and treated like a real monster and a sociopath by the fandom, devoid of any redeeming qualities. People who feel sympathy for him for his background and some of these episodes began to come to his defende and shows how he is a great character with a lot of good moments and a heart deep down.

Edd, on other side, always had the ''elite treament'', he was a angel, a perfect princess, who can do anything wrong in certain fans's eyes. Not to mention he pretty much overshadowed every other character on fanfics and fan arts, was everything about him. Another fans (usually Eddy fans) naturally got sick of this and started to push his flaws, the moments were he acted like a jerk, and how he's not above anyone on the show. And how not all his actions are (indeed) justifyable. Summing up, people were just sick of seeing Eddy being treated like a psychotic monster and Edd as the Jesus Christ figure.

Politely, just clarifying this to you. Good afternoon.

First of all, thanks for politely telling me all this! I wasn't really aware of all this because I only joined the fandom 5 months ago. And I totally get this, that's why I made the post. I saw some posts of people talking about those people who think Double D is an innocent little angel and I started to wonder if people think that about me, if I ever sounded like that, and I started to worry that someday I would sound like that in one of my future texts and videos talking about him. I hadn't thought about it when I made the post, but I hope it didn't come off as rude or an "attack" (???), I was just afraid that people would mistake me for one of those annoying people and just wanted to clarify that I'm not, because I really like this fandom and I don't want people to think that I'm annoying or that I make superficial analysis of the characters (because I personally think that oversimplifying Double D as good and Eddy as bad is something people do when they watch the show very superficially). I tend to be that type of person who feels the need to always clarify and justify myself for fear of others hating me, and also, I'm a little traumatized by Twitter where people tend to be very aggressive and mean to you for everything and assume things about you and not explain things to you etc etc... so I was a little anxious after making my post, afraid something like this might happen, but from everything I'm seeing, people on Tumblr seem so nice and kind in general. So I want to thank you again for being so kind and actually explaining the whole thing to me :)

Eddy is a character who's very easy to be wronged and misunderstood because he has great depth, several layers, insecurities and traumas that he covers with his false confidence and "jerky" attitude that he tries to copy from his brother. Obviously not justifying people treating him like a monster, just explaining that unfortunately we live in a world full of superficial people who aren't concerned with paying attention to details and stopping to really interpret and analyze things carefully and attentively, and understand that people are complex, characters are complex, and Eddy is a highly complex character. To these people, it ends up being more comfortable and convenient to just be content and cling to the character who, if seen superficially, is the "perfect little angel" who "suffers at the hands" of the "evil Eddy". I love analyzing and reflecting on things deeply, and it really irritates and frustrates me that people don't make the effort to do the same, and that happens in real life too. People quickly judge and have difficulty understanding that people are not simple and have different reasons for acting the way they do. I know it's hard to deal with people who act like jerks, I have a hard time myself, but I just wish there was a little more empathy in the world. That's one of the things Big Picture Show teaches us, right? Don't judge people because sometimes the jerk person is actually a very broken, insecure and frustrated person who just wants and needs to feel loved and accepted and doesn't really understand that. I think it's so important to learn that because it's true, sometimes people act mean not because they're actually mean, but because of so many other reasons that they themselves don't comprehend or don't want to show, and the "mean" disguise is just the way they found to defend themselves and survive.

I think (at least I hope?) it's noticeable in some of my posts that I also love Eddy (as a Double D kinnie I think it makes sense to be in love with him xD just an EddEddy joke to lighten up, but honestly I think people like Eddy are my type), I love analyzing and reading other people's analysis of his character and story, but my sympathy for him just grew in the last 5 months in fact, when I became hyperfixated on EEnE much more intensely than before and finally started to get to know about the whole story and characters. I even made a post once talking about thinking that he was my least favorite Ed, because before he actually was, but after rewatching the entire show now as an adult (the last time I watched I was a kid who didn't even understand a lot of the things that happened) and starting to analyze and read about it, now I'm very obsessed with him, I think his character is so interesting and deep, that he has the most interesting backstory and the best character development, and I even make more edits with him than with Double D (I think I tend to be obsessed with controversial and complex characters who are full of content to analyze from a psychological point of view like Eddy. A good example is Jinx from Arcane, I just love her character so much). I also recently realized that he's a lot like my brother, no wonder our mother often misunderstands him. But I get it, they (Eddy and my brother) are just people who are very hard to deal with because they carry several issues that you need to have good maturity and emotional structure to deal with, but it's so good when you can get to know a little more about them and help them get through these things when they open up and allow themselves to be discovered and helped.

Today I came across a post (which was honestly the trigger that made me make my post) from @eddfumo saying that they think Double D wants to be like Eddy in some way, and you know what? This is so true! I'll use my own experience to relate to him and explain him again, but anyway, I'm so envious of people/characters like Eddy. Even though they tend to irritate me and I even disapprove of many of their actions and decisions, they also have a determination, confidence (even if it's false, they're still able to act like confident people), attitude, audacity, strong personality, rebelliousness, extroversion and "not giving a shit" energy that I so wish I had too. I really admire these traits and I think Double D deep down does too (I like to headcanon him doing the same as I do and secretly fantasizing imaginary and hypothetical situations and discussions in which he acts more like Eddy, and he feels so good about himself afterwards, but feels frustrated that he doesn't have the nerve to do this outside of his imagination in real-life situations). Even though they have questionable morals, this type of person are so inspiring and you can still learn so much from them. It's no wonder Double D grows so much and becomes a more confident and less people-pleasing person because of Eddy's influence.

So yeah, it sucks when people simplify characters and see them as black and white, good and bad. The EEnE fandom is unfortunately not very big, but luckily here on Tumblr, at least currently, it's full of people who do in-depth analyses, and that makes me very happy!

EDIT (I'm editing to add one more thing because I forgot to mention another topic that complements what you said about the other kids acting badly too and not receiving any punishment): One of the many things I plan to do after rewatching the show a few more times to properly absorb everything (I need to rewatch things at least twice to really take it all. Plus, I rewatched it the first time with the Brazilian dub because nostalgia and now I want to rewatch it with the original lines) is count how many times the Eds do real scams. Because honestly, there are a lot of episodes where we can't really call what they're doing "scams" because they're not actually scamming anyone, they're just selling something honestly and without harming anyone, but things always go wrong even when they're not doing anything wrong (often because of the Kankers, for example) and this is frustrating as hell to Eddy.

Since I haven't rewatched everything twice yet (because I'm still in the process of subtitling the entire remastered version of the show to rewatch it properly because English isn't my first language), I don't remember all the episodes accurately and clearly. But the last one I subtitled was "In Like Ed" (season 2, episode 9), so it's the example I have freshest in mind, even if it's not the best one. I know, the Eds were inconvenient in this episode crashing Jimmy's party (even though I think it's so lame that they rarely get invited to anything because the kids exclude them), opening his presents and everything, but one thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that when Eddy opened the present in front of them and revealed the sewing machine, Jimmy just said: "I'm so misunderstood. I wanted a pony!". He didn't say anything about them ruining the surprise or anything, he just started crying and ran away because he didn't get a goddamn pony. He just complained about someone's present, despised the present right in front of the person, and all Kevin said was "There goes the birthday boy. You dorks wrecked another party!". Like?? Jimmy cried because he didn't get the present he wanted, and not because of the Eds. I could even consider the possibility of them giving him "preferential treatment" and ignoring him because he's younger, but there are times when Kevin doesn't give a shit about Jimmy being younger, like in "Know it All Ed" (season 2, episode 1) when he uses the squirt gun on him, mock him and call him "twerp". Anyway, regardless of being younger, he was so rude and no one gave a shit, and not only that but they even acted as if it was the Eds' fault that Jimmy cried and ran away.

So yeah! The kids (especially Kevin) always blame the Eds (especially Eddy) for everything that goes wrong, even when it's not really their fault. And as you said, they also act badly, but nothing happens to them.

[eleilinnrallin]

I wish in general discussion of ADHD that executive dysfunction wasn't used to just mean difficulty with task switching and task initiation.

Like, there's so much more that is a part of executive functioning! Executive functioning includes impulse control, emotional regulation, working memory, attention, awareness of time, goal formation, planning, and that's not even all of it. It's a broad catogory of cognitive processes, not just a single symptom.

ADHD symptoms do mostly fall under executive dysfunction because ADHD is an executive functioning disorder.

In general terms, it's not wrong to include difficulties in task switching and initiation in executive dysfunction! They are certainly a part of that! But oversimplifying executive dysfunction to only be task switching and initiation difficulties isn't accurate and gives an inaccurate picture of ADHD as a whole (or at least, from what I've seen, it impacts the discussion surrounding ADHD negatively).

It might just be me. idk. But discussing precise problems while calling them by a blanket term can make it hard to identify what exactly the block is. For example, if I'm having trouble getting started on a task and I just say "oh I'm struggling with executive dysfunction right now" that doesn't tell me anything about what's wrong. But if I say "I'm struggling with task initiation; I keep meaning to do it but don't know where to start" then I can think through the steps to start. Or if it's motivation, "I'm struggling with motivation" means I can think of how to overcome that. "This is overwhelming" means I can plan. "I don't want to stop what I'm doing/this is a task switching problem" means I can decide if I need to finish the task at hand or trick my brain into swapping.

(This is a separate problem but then you also have people saying execytive dysfunction is laziness or results in laziness when they are meaning that difficulty with task initiation. Even if it was true that difficulty with task initiation was laziness (it's not), saying that executive dysfunction = laziness is so incorrect. That would mean poor short term memory = laziness. That would mean hyperactivity = laziness. That would mean emotional dysregulation = laziness. And none of these are even CLOSE to true. That's another issue though.)

[celesteskingdom]

Character Rambles

As somebody who's taken a class or two about creative writing and has analyzed characters for projects, I just want it known how much I love them. On a surface level, there are cliches but not in the way where it's a cliche cliche. No, they go so much deeper than that! It makes my blood pump. First of all, you have the main protagonist. Nowadays, it's a bit hard finding a good female protagonist but here we are. Ashlyn does ballet and dance and yet--just as ballerinas actually are-- she's resilient and tough. Delicate? Soft? No. She'll kick your ass, so don't try her. An introvert that isn't shy, but she is socially inept. Aiden! Extrovert meets introvert! Will they be fast friends? Hell no! She ran away from him. Literally tried to stay away from him. I know people like to call him a psycho but he really isn't. He's a complex character; he's unhinged, yes. But calling him a psycho isn't right. Despite being an extrovert, he is socially inept. It's an interesting combo! Chaotic, easy-go-lucky, but one wrong move..and wow. Ben! Ah, my bias is strong for this one. Violent guy with anger issues. Oversimplified, honestly! Oh nooo, he's gonna be dangerous and hurt his friends! Just kidding; he's going to listen to music to calm down, or he'll literally simply walk away. While there are times he'll act on his impulses and his temper gets the best of him, he's never hurt any of his friends. It's only in extreme cases that he'll act on his impulses. God. His passion--his love--was taken away from him. He was quite literally failed by the system for not stopping the bullying before it became irreversible. He doesn't talk. Not even in the extreme and intense moments, he doesn't utter a single word. I love seeing selective mutism being represented in media. And yet, despite not talking, he's still able to communicate effectively. He's so, so caring and sweet too. You can tell in the backgrounds of many panels of how caring and sweet he is. And while he is still rather lost in the direction of his life, opting to simply follow Aiden around, you can see him enjoying his time with the rest of the team. It's like. Gradually allowing him to find himself again.

It's about to be 2 am as I'm writing this, so stay tuned for part two! (P.S. I do write scenarios!)

[max1461]

One of the most frustrating things is making a post that you think is right, and also important, but which unintentionally conveys something that you think is subtly wrong. Especially when the post gets popular. You want to keep it circulating, you want your point to keep spreading. But you worry that you're spreading something bad along with it, a misconception that your readers might not even know they're absorbing.

That post I made about the Meiji restoration a while ago was one of these. I ended up making in unrebloggable, mostly because I was just getting tired of that discourse. I think it was a good post and I stand by it. I criticized the Meiji government for an ideology that saw "Westernizing" and "industrializing/modernizing/becoming competitive with the Great Powers" as necessarily part-and-parcel, and I criticized contemporary political leaders who think the same thing. And I think that's a fair criticism in both cases.

But I did have a major concern about that post, which is that it I think it played into this idea that the Meiji restoration was some absolute break in Japanese history, where Japan stopped being... idk, "authentically Japanese" and started being "a Westernized country". Which is almost exactly the type of narrative I'm trying to critique! Like, no! Disregarding even the general dubiousness of those categories: there was serious continuity between pre-Meiji and post-Meiji Japan, this wasn't an early-Soviet-Union-level reshaping of society.

Maybe I shouldn't say that, I don't know enough about the early Soviet Union. But you get my point. I worry that my post made it sound as if the Meiji government were ripping up shrine gates and shit left and right, shredding kimonos and foisting Western suits upon people, and banishing nay-sayers to the gulag. No! That would not really be an accurate description of what happened.

So I worried about giving the wrong impression. I think I've posted about this already.

But my whole point, really, the point I was trying to make with that post and the point I am perennially trying to make, is that the modern world is not inherently "Western". Not in principle or in actual fact. Modernity was made across the whole globe. That sounds like a sort of trite statement, a meaningless inversion of the typical Western chauvinist narrative, but it isn't! The more you learn about early modern history the more clear this really becomes.

Japan was an early industrializer. Not among the very first wave, but ultimately still early. This means it was not only "on par", in terms of access to material wealth and technology, with many nations in Europe, but that its industrialization also meaningfully predated that of much of Europe, especially Eastern Europe. The core element of industrial society—the industrial factory—is a technology. A technology invented in Britain, which just like any technology spread first to nearby regions and later to far off regions. Of course in the increasingly interconnected modern world, sometimes technologies make big geographical jumps, as industrialism made to Japan in the nineteenth century.

And of course I'm oversimplifying the history here, but my point is that this is all ordinary. There's a narrative which sees the whole process of the spread of industrialism as almost mystically exceptional. A divine enlightenment was given to the West, which from then on separated the West and the Westernized in their very essence from the rest, the unenlightened masses, the savages. The White Man's Burden. But, aside from being a perennial justification for colonialism, this view is intellectually immature. It's a just-so story.

Like all inventions, the industrial factory and the technologies which emerged around it have a geographical place of origin. But like all inventions, they spread—both inside and outside the West—and people in the places to which they spread immediately started iterating on them and adapting them to local conditions and contributing to the larger sum-of-effects we call the modern world. Modernity was made all over the globe. Japanese modernity is not a mere Western importation, layered on top of indigenous pre-modernity. It was made right there in Japan, by Japanese people, in Japanese institutions, and so on and so forth. It drew from ideas developed elsewhere (as cultures always have! As Japan did with China just centuries before!), developed in France and Germany and Britain, and it contributed ideas which were then taken up in France and Germany and Britain.

And these kind of effects are easy to see with Japan, because it was an early industrializer, but once you pay attention you see them everywhere. The making of the modern world not as a unilateral imposition of the West upon the rest, but as a mutual engagement of many societies across the globe making something new together—sometimes cooperatively, usually competitively, and very often at the expense of the most marginal. But, still, together, as an aggregate process.

Our world was made everywhere. I do think it sounds completely trite, especially because I'm rather tired and don't have the wherewithal to source more specific examples. But I really do think this because meaningfully clear when you engage with the history.

[boreal-sea]

Hey, I have a question and I was wondering if you could help because it’s really been confusing me lately. If not, for any reason at all, you’d rather not I totally understand. You can just delete the ask.

With a lot of pro-ship arguments I see the phrase it’s “just fiction” and idea that fiction can’t harm anyone. However propaganda is still obviously dangerous and representation is important. I don’t know how exactly the rules are different for these things and I’d really appreciate any thoughts you had on the topic, if you have any. I might be missing some obvious part to this, my brain tends to do that

So it's not that the rules are different, it's that the entire context is different, including the intent, impact and scope.

I used to deal with this mental conflict as well, as a young person. I was raised republican, and one of their big tactics is oversimplifying things. So you learn "violence is bad", and then you see BLM protestors and the January 6th rioters, and the simplified world view says "if you think the BLM thugs are justified, then so were the January 6th patriots - they both rioted, they both fought for their rights against the establishment".

Now obviously, those two situations are absolutely not equivalent when you think about them for longer than a millisecond, but the simplified world view does not want you to think. In the simplified mindset, "destroying property" is always wrong, no matter the reason why. So if you are OK with it in one situation, you cannot disagree in another and vice versa. And that is the mindset Antis have when it comes to fanfic: if propaganda is bad and can negatively influence people, if giant blockbuster movies, famous novels, and popular TV shows can negatively influence stereotypes about people and cause other harm, then it is equally wrong to write about icky kinks on Ao3.

The thing is though, these are not at all equivalent situations. Propaganda is created with the explicit intent to influence people's opinions about a subject area. The scope and impact of famous authors and directors is way, way bigger than a fan author on Ao3 - and big-name folks like that do actually have to deal with the impact of their work. Spielberg regrets the negative impact Jaws had on sharks, for instance.

A fanfic you write for yourself and post on Ao3 for a niche audience of fans is going to get a couple thousand hits, at best. It's very unlikely to ever escape the awareness of people in your fandom. And especially if you have tagged it correctly, the only people who are going to read it in the first place are people who are already into that kink, or who are open to it. It is never going to influence culture at large. My kinky fanfic is not going to have the same cultural impact as Steven Spielberg's Jaws did in 1975. And no, my fanfic is not going to "normalize rape culture".

Any work of fiction can have unintended impacts. This is not a logical justification to not create art. "Problematic art" not only deserves to exist, it needs to exist. If you don't agree with that, then you might as well be on the side of the folks in red states across this nation who are banning books in schools, forcibly rewriting history to erase slavery from the USA's past, and thinking they can get rid of "problematic media" they claim is "grooming their children".

[charles-leclerc-official]

First, I just want to say that your analysis on the Suzuka race weekend was absolutely beautiful - thought out, concise, to the point and really well written!

I just have one question, since you seem really knowledgeable on the more physics - concerning aspects of a race - how is negative tyre deg even possible? I know what it is, the definition isn't the problem, what I don't get is how can it even happen? How can you go faster on older tyres, how does that possibly work? Considering physics point towards the maxima you, yourself mentioned - new tyres = ability to go faster. And yet negative deg is possible, which has me incredibly confused.

Admittedly, physics isn't my strongest subject, so forgive me if the answer to my question is something very obvious, I would still appreciate you taking the time to explain it!

Took me a while to get to this one because it is a very advanced concept as far as the physics are concerned, and full disclosure I am by no means a physics expert. I understand the principals at play but the calculations for these relationships are pretty advanced.

But the main thing for why this is possible has to do with a relationship between the suspension, the track temperature, the camber of the tyres, the specific setup a driver chooses for their car, and the driver and their driving during the race.

So the idea is if you have a car base that is gentle on the tyres like the SF-24 the tyres may not warm up quickly. Tyres that are warmed will be able to have better grip and thus go faster. So if you have a car that isn't warming the tyres on the first laps enough for maximum performance then there exists a window where it is possible to go faster in later laps. This window can be widened by a driver's specific car setup choices as well as driving. The wider a driver can keep this window the longer they can maintain zero to negative deg. This is I believe what is going on with the SF-24.

So basically if you drive and achieve almost zero deg at first, you are essentially still on new tyres and thus when you want to push to go faster or increase your speed you can. This is a very oversimplified explanation and it doesn't apply to every single instance where we have seen a driver achieve this but you get the idea.

You see this in miniature with some laps for some drivers, if they have a really clean lap you often see them able to do a slightly faster lap or an identical lap on the next one because they didn't degrade as much as expected. It's the sheer consistency in not wearing the tyres or achieving minimal wear over many many laps in a row that gets into the territory we saw with Charles in Suzuka.

However doing this in practice is difficult. The driver's personal setup and the way they drive plays a massive role. So in Suzuka for Charles to pull that off he essentially had to make zero mistakes when it came to slippage on the corners (and he was almost perfect minus that one slip we all saw onto the curb) If he'd made any consistent mistakes that would have added to the wear on the tyres and he wouldn't have been able to last anywhere near as long.

I will say that because a driver doesn't do this it doesn't mean they are doing something wrong. Most drivers operate under the expectation that the tyres will degrade at a predictable rate.

This is a phenomenon that also would not be possible every race, or at every track etc. Conditions do also have to be right. This will probably be impossible in say Qatar, the heat will just be too great for this to come up there.

It's very situation and skill dependent. Both things must align to achieve it. Also obviously you have to have a car that is gentle on the tyres, without that kind of base it doesn't matter how good you are the tyres will still degrade. There is a reason we've only seen this in the top 2 - 4 drivers on the grid at any given time, and that is because the skill to pull it off with so few mistakes is not to be under-stated.

Tyre data would be able to help us understand this better but detailed tyre telemetry is unfortunately not made available by teams. This telemetry records the rate of wear lap to lap, tyre temperature etc. So teams get to use this data to further understand these things in their car and their driver.

I hope this helps at least a little. This is really asking about one of the cutting edge physics topics in F1 that not even some teams fully understand. And since we don't get the detailed data it's really hard to look at what the actual relationships at play are.

What we can do is look at the results we get, the lap times a car and driver generate and we can understand the car behavior that way.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm the autistic anon who build social scripts from fiction

Context link: https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/719878835443810304/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic719593202723

I've been thinking about it more since I sent the ask, and Elfwreck's reply about how normal interactions between characters need to be realistic for a story to work gave me more to chew on

The thing is, well written fiction was always a better source for my social scripts than the educational materials that are created with the purpose of helping autistic people develop social skills. Authors of fiction don't do it on purpose, they aren't putting on a show about how to act normal. They're just creating characters that feel like real people, and letting the reader see more of the character's thoughts and feelings than someone can see of a real person.

The educational material for autistics always feels very sterilized, oversimplified, and stilted. It would leave me going "I know that a smile expresses happiness and friendly good will, but how do I tell if they're laughing at me, laughing with me, flirting, being polite, or trying to lie? And more importantly, how I do make sure a smile expresses what I want it to express and I don't get a detail wrong?" And fiction actually delves into those more nuanced reasons by showing us how the characters actually process these kinds of interactions. Which ultimately shows the readers how the author does social interaction, and/or how they assume other people do.

So fiction gives us a window into how an actual person does social scripts that actually work, and the educational material tells us what we're supposed to do in a vacuum.

--

[comikadraws]

Whats tobirama's beef with the Uchiha?

Oh boi. More Tobirama. Once again, I am probably biased but these are my thoughts on him.

First of all, the guy definitely had beef with the Uchiha Clan, but I personally find the "racist" allegations he often gets to be... difficult, to say the least. There are some very oversimplified, black-and-white takes out there with zero nuance.

Not that I am necessarily better but I'm definitely trying xD

Tobirama's Prejudice

Tobirama doesn't "hate" the Uchiha Clan but considers them to be a danger to Konoha. That is because

The Uchiha were more loyal/attached to the concept of "clan" rather than the concept of "village" (which stood in conflict with one of Konoha's main philosophies). Hence Tobirama sees them as "rebellious".

The Uchiha are more likely to lose themselves to intense hatred (aka "Curse of Hatred"). And, in the world of Naruto, hate is one of the main motivations of war, ever since the Warring States.

Combine that with the several bad experiences Tobirama and other Senju have had with the Uchiha (centuries of recurring battles, the death of Kawarama and Itama, Madara leaving the village) and you can see why Tobirama would think the Uchiha Clan is dangerous. Beyond that, Tobirama's character actually makes a lot of sense - more so than if he didn't have any prejudice. The prejudice he has is realistic.

He also personally does not believe that he "hates" the Uchiha and describes his bias as "caution".

The Racist Allegations

As I have already covered in this post about the Curse of Hatred, there might be parallels to our world's definition of racism, but Tobirama is not intended as a racist by Kishimoto.

What is important to understand is that perceived themes of racism in fantasy settings (where made-up races can have all sorts of magical differences between them) do not equal actual racism in the real world (where racial differences are purely cosmetic) and often make for a bad analogy.

What I have also covered in the same post is that the Curse of Hatred very much does exist and Tobirama was right to assume that there is something "wrong" with the Uchiha.

Whether his theory was correct or not, however, is up to the audience's interpretation. I am specifically basing this on the exposition given by Hagoromo (chapters 670-671) and Zetsu (chapter 681) who are both relatively reliable sources and seem to imply that the Curse of Hatred mostly just affects Indra's reincarnates rather than the entire clan. Not that Tobirama could reasonably know about that detail, though. What he saw instead were centuries of war and Madara's defection, leading him to believe that there must be something influencing their decision-making.

Systemic Oppression of the Uchiha?

Another misconception that people apparently have is that Tobirama ostracized the Uchiha Clan, which is untrue. Yes, the guy was horrible, was far too wrapped up in his own trauma, and should not have become Hokage. Not even because I think he was a bad leader necessarily but simply out of principle.

That being said, the Uchiha were not being purposefully isolated from the rest of the village. The police force is neither entirely comprised of Uchihas nor are Uchihas forced to join the police. Instead, it is implied to be a choice in the manga.

Tobirama also practically gave away permanent leadership of the police. The police are part of the executive branch in any government, just like the military or, in this case, the ANBU - with the only difference being that the police don't require Hokage orders for everything they do. The Uchihas working at the police are in a position of power rather than in a position of suppression. It is also implied that they are able to arrest anybody they want (except ANBU members) without a warrant.

Keeping this in mind, the establishment of the Uchiha Military Police Force was (most likely) indeed a gesture of goodwill and trust. It was not a slight and it was not an attempt at ostrachization. If anything, it shows that Konoha (and by extension, the police) was corrupt and abusing power on a regular basis (though that is not the point of this post).

There are more misconceptions about Tobirama that are often twisted to fit people's agenda, but I'll leave it at that for now.

[dragon-central]

This is extraordinarily petty and honestly ill get blocked more for it but. Since Xaz blocked me after I replied to their condescending ass post where they used a bunch of strawman/oversimplified arguments and said stuff like "yall are just fucking mean" and we just need more "whimsy" in our hearts, I'm gonna put my thoughts in a new post.

1. Minor complaints are not mean. If you are harassing staff or people who like Dusthides, you are the problem.

2. This game is much larger than it was even a few years ago. Ancients are great! They were a wonderful solution. Everyone loves more dragons! I personally am fine with Dusthides existing, they are cute!

3. Nobody likes it when their favorites are criticized. But!! People who take time to criticize a game are usually the ones that love that game the most and want it to succeed. We worry about the behind the scenes management and decisions because so many other pet games, especially independent ones, have failed miserably after they started crunching and rushing content. Nobody wants this to happen to FR.

4. Critique is a natural and healthy part of any space, it is OK if there are no more unanimous loved updates when there are thousands and thousands of players!!!

So in conclusion, you all have to admit this is a bit of a baffling decision. Of course people are critiquing it! We used to get 1 ancient a year, than 2, now 3. This is unsustainable and could be a bad decision when they already have trouble with keeping up. I made a post about how great it is that they hired a writer! Hopefully that means good things. It's OK to like new ancients, and it's okay to not like them. That's healthy!!! Xaz was in their right to block people who disagree. You can too! But please don't call them mean, or act like they are horrible, joyless people for having opinions. That's incredibly rude! Especially when you say "it's just a game" in your post!

So to wrap up, because it goes both ways:

"just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad. Or that the person doing it is wrong. Or that the person doing it has to listen to you." -Xaz, 2024

[super-paper]

A bit of a vent, if that's okay; I think one of the most frustrating things regarding this chapter has been the overall behavior from the fandom, and this sort of mandatory love for anything from the manga. I get it, when we love something we can't bear other people talking bad about it (I'm the same way with some things), but it's annoying how a lot of us haven't been allowed to criticize or show any anger/disappointment about the chapter. It's upsetting, especially as an Izuku stan, to see other accounts (famous accounts too) claim that if we're disappointed with Izuku then we hate his character. That we're too stupid and cynical to think Izuku did anything wrong at all and wasn't allowed to defend himself. That we can't read if we think Izuku and Bakugo killed Kurogiri, or that Izuku wasn't able to save Shigaraki because after all he did free him from his abuser and made him recognize that he was in fact a crying child. And to each their own I suppose; but putting interpretations of arcs and narratives aside, this overall superiority of "there's nothing wrong with this chapter, you just don't get it so shut up" and the undermining of how a lot of fans feel is seriously infuriating. (Maybe this is how people felt when I'd argue that Armored Might wasn't character assassination lol). I'm just tired of getting called every name in the book for having my own criticisms, and getting accused of hating Izuku, or seeing Shigaraki stans undermined as if they weren't aloud to feel sad about it. Because it's exactly why people loved those characters and arcs so much that they feel such a strong reaction to 423. I'm upset with the weird ooc behavior and lack of introspection from Izuku because I love his character so much. And I'm upset with this chapter because I love this manga and wanna see a well written conclusion for the characters and story.

Nah, I definitely feel the same. So many fans have been taking the words of upset Tenko and Izuku fans out of context (or even outright twisting their words around) and using it as an excuse to be bullies. I'm sorry if folks have been harassing you.

At any rate, I think you have every right to criticize the chapter. Like, I'm very much a silver-lining-look-on-the-bright-side type of guy-- and even I'm having trouble finding anything to like about it lmao 😭. Basically, I liked AFO's conclusion... on the surface, at least. But then my mind goes right back to thinking about Tenko and how AFO's conclusion/treatment is yet another thing that ultimately contributed to his death, and I get mad all over again lmao. Like, an ending where Tenko gets turned into a "cautionary tale" that "everyone learns from" is pretty much the last thing I wanted for his character. It's basically ~*~building a better society~*~ on top of his corpse. And what exactly is his life/death cautioning against exactly? Grooming?? Stranger danger??? Being kidnapped by literally the worst guy alive when you're five years old and getting brainwashed into believing you were born evil???? LARPing????? Like.... it just feels like all of Tenko's suffering was ultimately just used as a stepping stone in order to finally rid the world of AFO-- and like, rationally, I know this isn't the case and I'm oversimplifying things, but like.. the way the rain stops and the sun starts shining as Tenko evaporates... uuuuoohhhgh---

*cough* Anyway! I'm also a staunch Iron Might defender, but like. In that particular case it was very obvious to me why Iron Might was necessary + a fitting end to Toshinori's arc. In Izuku's case, I simply cannot see how chapters 420-423 ultimately do right by his character. Since chapter 1, Izuku becoming "a great hero"/"more heroic than anyone else" was always tied to his drive to save when no one else is able (or willing) to. So these chapters being framed as the "climax/finale' of his character arc-- these chapters where he doesn't stop to think about saving Tenko at all and just focuses on wiping AFO out-- betray the very core of his character while also betraying the very premise of the series. Like. This is bad. This is bad bad and I sincerely, honestly want to believe Hori has something up his sleeve that'll somehow fix things. 😭But even if it is a fake out, and even if Hori reveals Izuku had some sort of plan all along... I don't think it'll undo the damage to the readers' trust atp, sadly.

(Like...! So many of Izuku's defining moments involve him standing up to abusers on behalf of their victims. The moments that define him as a hero have him encouraging those victims to fight back and reclaim agency over their bodies/powers-- but even though Tenko ultimately did fight back, it feels disingenuous to give Izuku any sort of actual credit in this situation bc, again, Izuku wasn't thinking of Tenko at all while he was beating Tenko's body AFO into dust lmao. Like I've been saying, so much of 423 is just indefensibly bad writing and Izuku and Tenko's characters deserved better than this).

[magicalmelancholy-blog1]

The problem with planning a Len'en fanfic with a wider scope is that Len'en is a series where so much is going on.

Like, while Tsubakura is trying to chill and getting their chill time interrupted by some incidents and the presence of Suzumi, there's this fucking political drama going on in the background. This bitch (Fumikado) wants to become the vessel for this dead guy because their grandfather thought he was the true emperor and it was his dream to revive this guy and Fumikado is going to fulfill that dream because their grandfather took them in after their parents died and they have to repay him. Only problem is they failed, and also screwed over some people along the way.

Like, they had this servant that was raised from childhood to always be loyal to them (Chouki), but at some point, said servant killed themself so they could come back as a spirit and play some magic soul controlling flute you can only play if you died once, because the ritual to revive the dead guy needs a hell lot of souls. Only problem is the servant got their breath taken away in the revival process so they couldn't play the flute, and Fumikado cut them out of the plan after that, so now Chouki is fucking pissed at them and they end up dedicating their life to revenge against Fumikado. At some point trying to beat them to becoming the emperor becomes part of that.

Of course, they have allies, such as another person Fumikado screwed over (Para), who Fumikado stole their body from (oh yeah Fumikado ended up switching to this stronger homunculus body their grandfather grew in a lab and spent a lot of time growing it into the perfect vessel) and now they're stuck in Fumikado's old child body (wait child body?). Apparently being a homunculus in this world mean you're born with all knowledge but it starts dripping away as you get older and Para didn't get to do shit with their infinite knowledge because they were sealed up (sometimes anyway, it depends on whether or not you count the person Tsubakura grew [Kurohebi] as a homunculus, and that person does not have this problem, guess pseudohumans are different).

Fumikado's chief advisor (Iyozane) used to be the heir to the royal family Fumikado was hoping to overthrow but they were locked under house arrest due to some conspiracy and ended up getting poisoned by their sibling (Mitori)(it was all but stated to be consensual). Some stuff happened (Iyozane's words not mine) and they came back to life, but when they did it they didn't become a spirit or lose their breath or anything so they can play the soul controlling flute. They chilled for a while (because being a pirate didn't work out) but they totally jumped on the chance to help Fumikado overthrow the royal family, but they got cocky and tried to scam the wrong person (Kuroji) and now both them and Fumikado are in debt. Not to mention they failed to overthrow the royal family. By the way, their sibling did manage to overthrow the royal family.

Also like, this guy Iyozane hired (Tsugumi) has beef with the Senri Shrine. The same Senri Shrine Tsubakura got isekaid to run. Like, it's implied to be a much more personal reason, but the fact that the previous priest of the Senri Shrine, Tsurubami, ruled over Mugenri with an iron fist definitely didn't help. A lot of people have problems with Tsurubami and Senri in general (Kunimitsu, Suzumi, and apparently Tsurubami leaving meant that people felt more free to act up so I assume there are others). A few people used to have homoerotic relationships with them (Tenkai, Xeno a, and Haiji has a weird parasocial thing going on).

Jesus Christ I was just gonna oversimplify things but there's like 5 paragraphs and there is still so much. Point is, you have to keep track of what everyone else has going on in case it ends up affecting your story. Don't even get me started on the incident of the game formula that the danmaku games use (a carryover from its Touhou inspirations) and trying to figure out whether or not you'd have to shove an incident into your story to keep it canon compliant. (The answer for me usually boils down to "Bitch do you know how much of this is built on headcanonning between the lines? This fic can go without a background incident.")